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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29768-8.txt b/29768-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4065cd --- /dev/null +++ b/29768-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11036 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August +1930, by Various + +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: Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 23, 2009 [EBook #29768] +[Last updated: March 20, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + ASTOUNDING + + STORIES + + OF SUPER-SCIENCE + + 20¢ + + + + _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ + + +W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor DR. DOUGLAS M. DOLD, +Consulting Editor + + +The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees + + _That_ the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by + leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions + approved by the Authors' League of America; + + _That_ such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by + American workmen; + + _That_ each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit; + + _That_ an intelligent censorship guards their advertising + pages. + +_The other Clayton magazines are_: + +ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS +MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY +MAGAZINE, and WESTERN ADVENTURES. + +_More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand +for Clayton Magazines._ + + * * * * * + + + + +VOL. III, No. 2 CONTENTS AUGUST, 1930 + + +COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI + _Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "The Planet of Dread."_ + +THE PLANET OF DREAD R. F. STARZL 147 + _A Stupid Blunder--and Mark Forepaugh Faces a Lifetime of Castaway + Loneliness in the Savage Welter of the Planet Inra's Monster-ridden + Jungles._ + +THE LORD OF SPACE VICTOR ROUSSEAU 158 + _A Black Caesar Had Arisen on Eros--and All Earth Trembled at His + Distant Menace._ + +THE SECOND SATELLITE EDMOND HAMILTON 175 + _Earth-men War on Frog-vampires for the Emancipation of the Human Cows + of Earth's Second Satellite._ (A Novelet.) + +SILVER DOME HARL VINCENT 192 + _In Her Deep-buried Kingdom of Theros, Phaestra Reveals the Amazing + Secret of the Silver Dome._ + +EARTH, THE MARAUDER ARTHUR J. BURKS 210 + _Deep in the Gnome-infested Tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and Jaska Are + Brought to Luar the Radiant Goddess Against Whose Minions the + Marauding Earth Had Struck in Vain._ (Part Two of a Three-Part + Novel.) + +MURDER MADNESS MURRAY LEINSTER 237 + _Bell Has Fought through Tremendous Obstacles to Find and Kill The + Master, Whose Diabolical Poison Makes Murder-mad Snakes of the Hands; + and, as He Faces the Monster at Last--His Own Hands Start to Writhe!_ + (Conclusion.) + +THE FLYING CITY H. THOMPSON RICH 260 + _From Space Came Cor's Disc-city of Vada--Its Mighty, Age-old Engines + Weakening--Its Horde of Dwarfs Hungry for the Earth!_ + +THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 279 + _A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories._ + + * * * * * + +Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, +$2.00 + +Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., +New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. +Entered as second-class matter December 7, 1929, at the Post Office at +New York, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a +Trade Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group--Men's +List. For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 +Vanderbilt Ave., New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago. + + * * * * * + + + + +The Planet of Dread + +_By R. F. Starzl_ + +[Illustration: _This time Forepaugh was ready for it._] + +[Sidenote: A stupid blunder--and Mark Forepaugh faces a life of +castaway loneliness in the savage welter of the planet Inra's +monster-ridden jungles.] + + +There was no use hiding from the truth. Somebody had blundered--a +fatal blunder--and they were going to pay for it! Mark Forepaugh +kicked the pile of hydrogen cylinders. Only a moment ago he had broken +the seals--the mendacious seals that certified to the world that the +flasks were fully charged. And the flasks were empty! The supply of +this precious power gas, which in an emergency should have been +sufficient for six years, simply did not exist. + +He walked over to the integrating machine, which as early as the year +2031 had begun to replace the older atomic processes, due to the +shortage of the radium series metals. It was bulky and heavy compared +to the atomic disintegrators, but it was much more economical and very +dependable. Dependable--provided some thick-headed stock clerk at a +terrestrial supply station did not check in empty hydrogen cylinders +instead of full ones. Forepaugh's unwonted curses brought a smile to +the stupid, good-natured face of his servant, Gunga--he who had been +banished for life from his native Mars for his impiety in closing his +single round eye during the sacred Ceremony of the Wells. + +The Earth man was at this steaming hot, unhealthful trading station +under the very shadow of the South Pole of the minor planet Inra for +an entirely different reason. One of the most popular of his set on +the Earth, an athletic hero, he had fallen in love, and the devoutly +wished-for marriage was only prevented by lack of funds. The +opportunity to take charge of this richly paid, though dangerous, +outpost of civilization had been no sooner offered than taken. In +another week or two the relief ship was due to take him and his +valuable collection of exotic Inranian orchids back to the Earth, back +to a fat bonus, Constance, and an assured future. + +It was a different young man who now stood tragically before the +useless power plant. His slim body was bowed, and his clean features +were drawn. Grimly he raked the cooling dust that had been forced in +the integrating chamber by the electronic rearrangement of the +original hydrogen atoms--finely powdered iron and silicon--the "ashes" +of the last tank of hydrogen. + + * * * * * + +Gunga chuckled. + +"What's the matter?" Forepaugh barked. "Going crazy already?" + +"Me, haw! Me, haw! Me thinkin'," Gunga rumbled. "Haw! We got, haw! +plenty hydr'gen." He pointed to the low metal roof of the trading +station. Though it was well insulated against sound, the place +continually vibrated to the low murmur of the Inranian rains that fell +interminably through the perpetual polar day. It was a rain such as is +never seen on Earth, even in the tropics. It came in drops as large as +a man's fist. It came in streams. It came in large, shattering masses +that broke before they fell and filled the air with spray. There was +little wind, but the steady green downpour of water and the brilliant +continuous flashing of lightning shamed the dull soggy twilight +produced by the large, hot, but hidden sun. + +"_Your_ idea of a joke!" Forepaugh growled in disgust. He understood +what Gunga's grim pleasantry referred to. There was indeed an +incalculable quantity of hydrogen at hand. If some means could be +found to separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen in the world of +water around them they would not lack for fuel. He thought of +electrolysis, and relaxed with a sigh. There was no power. The +generators were dead, the air drier and cooler had ceased its rhythmic +pulsing nearly an hour ago. Their lights were gone, and the automatic +radio utterly useless. + +"This is what comes of putting all your eggs in one basket," he +thought, and let his mind dwell vindictively on the engineers who had +designed the equipment on which his life depended. + +An exclamation from Gunga startled him. The Martian was pointing to +the ventilator opening, the only part of this strange building that +was not hermetically sealed against the hostile life of Inra. A dark +rim had appeared at its margin, a loathsome, black-green rim that was +moving, spreading out. It crept over the metal walls like the +low-lying smoke of a fire, yet it was a solid. From it emanated a +strong, miasmatic odor. + +"The giant mold!" Forepaugh cried. He rushed to his desk and took out +his flash pistol, quickly set the localizer so as to cover a large +area. When he turned he saw, to his horror, Gunga about to smash into +the mold with his ax. He sent the man spinning with a blow to the ear. + +"Want to scatter it and start it growing in a half-dozen places?" he +snapped. "Here!" + + * * * * * + +He pulled the trigger. There was a light, spiteful "ping" and for an +instant a cone of white light stood out in the dim room like a solid +thing. Then it was gone, and with it was gone the black mold, leaving +a circular area of blistered paint on the wall and an acrid odor in +the air. Forepaugh leaped to the ventilating louver and closed it +tightly. + +"It's going to be like this from now on," he remarked to the shaken +Gunga. "All these things wouldn't bother us as long as the machinery +kept the building dry and cool. They couldn't live in here. But it's +getting damp and hot. Look at the moisture condensing on the ceiling!" + +Gunga gave a guttural cry of despair. "It knows, Boss; look!" + +Through one of the round, heavily framed ports it could be seen, the +lower part of its large, shapeless body half-floating in the lashing +water that covered their rocky shelf to a depth of several feet, the +upper part spectral and gray. It was a giant amoeba, fully six feet in +diameter in its present spheroid form, but capable of assuming any +shape that would be useful. It had an envelope of tough, transparent +matter, and was filled with a fluid that was now cloudy and then +clear. Near the center there was a mass of darker matter, and this was +undoubtedly the seat of its intelligence. + +The Earth man recoiled in horror! A single cell with a brain! It was +unthinkable. It was a biological nightmare. Never before had he seen +one--had, in fact, dismissed the stories of the Inranian natives as a +bit of primitive superstition, had laughed at these gentle, stupid +amphibians with whom he traded when they, in their imperfect language, +tried to tell him of it. + +They had called it the Ul-lul. Well, let it be so. It was an amoeba, +and it was watching him. It floated in the downpour and watched him. +With what? It had no eyes. No matter, it was watching him. And then it +suddenly flowed outward until it became a disc rocking on the waves. +Again its fluid form changed, and by a series of elongations and +contractions it flowed through the water at an incredible speed. It +came straight for the window, struck the thick, unbreakable glass with +a shock that could be felt by the men inside. It flowed over the glass +and over the building. It was trying to eat them, building and all! +The part of its body over the port became so thin that it was almost +invisible. At last, its absolute limit reached, it dropped away, +baffled, vanishing amid the glare of the lightning and the frothing +waters like the shadows of a nightmare. + + * * * * * + +The heat was intolerable and the air was bad. + +"Haw, we have to open vent'lator, Boss!" gasped the Martian. + +Forepaugh nodded grimly. It wouldn't do to smother either. Though to +open the ventilator would be to invite another invasion by the black +mold, not to mention the amoebae and other fabulous monsters that had +up to now been kept at a safe distance by the repeller zone, a simple +adaptation of a very old discovery. A zone of mechanical vibrations, +of a frequency of 500,000 cycles per second, was created by a large +quartz crystal in the water, which was electrically operated. Without +power, the protective zone had vanished. + +"We watch?" asked Gunga. + +"You bet we watch. Every minute of the 'day' and 'night.'" + +He examined the two chronometers, assuring himself that they were well +wound, and congratulated himself that they were not dependent on the +defunct power plant for energy. They were his only means of measuring +the passage of time. The sun, which theoretically would seem to travel +round and round the horizon, rarely succeeded in making its exact +location known, but appeared to shift strangely from side to side at +the whim of the fog and water. + +"Th' fellas," Gunga remarked, coming out of a study. "Why not come?" +He referred to the Inranians. + +"Probably know something's wrong. They can tell the quartz oscillator +is stopped. Afraid of the Ul-lul, I suppose." + +"'Squeer," demurred the Martian. "Ul-lul not bother fellas." + +"You mean it doesn't follow them into the underbrush. But it would +find tough going there. Not enough water; trees there, four hundred +feet high with thorny roots and rough bark--they wouldn't like that. +Oh no, these natives ought to be pretty snug in their dens. Why, +they're as hard to catch as a muskrat! Don't know what a muskrat is, +huh? Well, it's the same as the Inranians, only different, and not so +ugly." + + * * * * * + +For the next six days they existed in their straitened quarters, one +guarding while the other slept, but such alarms as they experienced +were of a minor nature, easily disposed of by their flash pistol. It +had not been intended for continuous service, and under the frequent +drains it showed an alarming loss of power. Forepaugh repeatedly +warned Gunga to be more sparing in its use, but that worthy persisted +in his practice of using it against every trifling invasion of the +poisonous Inranian cave moss that threatened them, or the warm, soggy +water-spiders that hopefully explored the ventilator shaft in search +of living food. + +"Bash 'em with a broom, or something! Never mind if it isn't nice. +Save our flash gun for something bigger." + +Gunga only looked distressed. + +On the seventh day their position became untenable. Some kind of sea +creature, hidden under the ever-replenished storm waters, had found +the concrete emplacements of their trading post to its liking. Just +how it was done was never learned. It is doubtful that the creatures +could gnaw away the solid stone--more likely the process was chemical, +but none the less it was effective. The foundations crumbled; the +metal shell subsided, rolled half over so that silty water leaked in +through the straining seams, and threatened at any moment to be +buffeted and urged away on the surface of the flood toward that +distant vast sea which covers nine-tenths of the area of Inra. + +"Time to mush for the mountains," Forepaugh decided. + +Gunga grinned. The Mountains of Perdition were, to his point of view, +the only part of Inra even remotely inhabitable. They were sometimes +fairly cool, and though perpetually pelted with rain, blazing with +lightning and reverberating with thunder, they had caves that were +fairly dry and too cool for the black mold. Sometimes, under favorable +circumstances on their rugged peaks, one could get the full benefit of +the enormous hot sun for whose actinic rays the Martian's starved +system yearned. + +"Better pack a few cans of the food tablets," the white man ordered. +"Take a couple of waterproof sleeping bags for us, and a few hundred +fire pellets. You can have the flash pistol; it may have a few more +charges in it." + + * * * * * + +Forepaugh broke the glass case marked "Emergency Only" and removed two +more flash pistols. Well he knew that he would need them after passing +beyond the trading area--perhaps sooner. His eyes fell on his personal +chest, and he opened it for a brief examination. None of the contents +seemed of any value, and he was about to pass when he dragged out a +long, heavy, .45 caliber six-shooter in a holster, and a cartridge +belt filled with shells. The Martian stared. + +"Know what it is?" his master asked, handing him the weapon. + +"Gunga not know." He took it and examined it curiously. It was a fine +museum piece in an excellent state of preservation, the metal overlaid +with the patina of age, but free from rust and corrosion. + +"It's a weapon of the Ancients," Forepaugh explained. "It was a sort +of family heirloom and is over 300 years old. One of my grandfathers +used it in the famous Northwest Mounted Police. Wonder if it'll still +shoot." + +He leveled the weapon at a fat, sightless wriggler that came squirming +through a seam, squinting unaccustomed eyes along the barrel. There +was a violent explosion, and the wriggler disappeared in a smear of +dirty green. Gunga nearly fell over backward in fright, and even +Forepaugh was shaken. He was surprised that the ancient cartridge had +exploded at all, though he knew powder making had reached a high level +of perfection before explosive chemical weapons had yielded to the +newer, lighter, and infinitely more powerful ray weapons. The gun +would impede their progress. It would be of very little use against +the giant Carnivora of Inra. Yet something--perhaps a sentimental +attachment, perhaps what his ancestors would have called a +"hunch"--compelled him to strap it around his waist. He carefully +packed a few essentials in his knapsack, together with one chronometer +and a tiny gyroscopic compass. So equipped, they could travel with a +fair degree of precision toward the mountains some hundred miles on +the other side of a steaming forest, a-crawl with feral life, and hot +with blood-lust. + + * * * * * + +Man and master descended into the warm waters and, without a backward +glance, left the trading post to its fate. There was not even any use +in leaving a note. Their relief ship, soon due, would never find the +station without radio direction. + +The current was strong, but the water gradually became shallower as +they ascended the sloping rock. After half an hour they saw ahead of +them the loom of the forest, and with some trepidation they entered +the gloom cast by the towering, fernlike trees, whose tops disappeared +in murky fog. Tangled vines impeded their progress. Quagmires lay in +wait for them, and tough weeds tripped them, sometimes throwing one or +another into the mud among squirming small reptiles that lashed at +them with spiked, poisonous feet and then fell to pieces, each piece +to lie in the bubbling ooze until it grew again into a whole animal. + +Several times they almost walked under the bodies of great, +spheroidal creatures with massive short legs, whose tremendously long, +sinuous necks disappeared in the leafy murk above, swaying gently like +long-stalked lilies in a terrestial pond. These were azornacks, +mild-tempered vegetarians whose only defense lay in their thick, +blubbery hides. Filled with parasites, stinking and rancid, their +decaying covering of fat effectively concealed the tender flesh +underneath, protecting them from fangs and rending claws. + +Deeper in the forest the battering of the rain was mitigated. Giant +neo-palm leaves formed a roof that shut out not only most of the weak +daylight, but also the fury of the downpour. The water collected in +cataracts, ran down the boles of the trees, and roared through the +semi-circular canals of the snake trees, so named by early explorers +for their waving, rubbery tentacles, multiplied a millionfold, that +performed the duties of leaves. Water gurgled and chuckled everywhere, +spread in vast dim ponds and lakes writhing with tormented roots, +up-heaved by unseen, uncatalogued leviathans, rippled by translucent +discs of loathsome, luminescent jelly that quivered from place to +place in pursuit of microscopic prey. + +Yet the impression was one of calm and quiet, and the waifs from other +worlds felt a surcease of nervous tension. Unconsciously they relaxed. +Taking their bearings, they changed their course slightly for the +nesting place of the nearest tribe of Inranians where they hoped to +get food and at least partial shelter; for their food tablets had +mysteriously turned to an unpleasant viscous liquid, and their +sleeping bags were alive with giant bacteria easily visible to the +eye. + + * * * * * + +They were doomed to disappointment. After nearly twelve hours of +desperate struggling through the morass, through gloomy aisles, and +countless narrow escapes from prowling beasts of prey in which only +the speed and tremendous power of their flash pistols saved them from +instant death, they reached a rocky outcropping which led to the +comparatively dry rise of land on which a tribe of Inranians made its +home. Their faces were covered with welts made by the hanging +filaments of blood-sucking trees as fine as spider webs, and their +senses reeled with the oppressive stench of the abysmal jungle. If the +pampered ladies of the Inner Planets only knew where their +thousand-dollar orchids sprang from! + +Converging runways showed the opening of one of the underground dens, +almost hidden from view by a bewildering maze of roots, rendered more +formidable by long, sharp stakes made from the iron-hard thigh-bones +of the flying kabo. + +Forepaugh cupped his hands over his mouth and gave the call. + +"Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf!" + +He repeated it over and over, the jungle giving back his voice in a +muffled echo, while Gunga held a spare flash pistol and kept a sharp +lookout for a carnivore intent on getting an unwary Inranian. + +There was no answer. These timid creatures, who are often rated the +most intelligent life native to primitive Inra, had sensed disaster +and had fled. + +Forepaugh and Gunga slept in one of the foul, poorly ventilated dens, +ate of the hard, woody tubers that had not been worth taking along, +and wished they had a certain stock clerk at that place at that time. +They were awakened out of deep slumber by the threshing of an evil +looking creature which had become entangled among the sharpened +spikes. Its tremendous maw, splitting it almost in half, was opened in +roars of pain that showed great yellow fangs eight inches in length. +Its heavy flippers battered the stout roots and lacerated themselves +in the beast's insensate rage. It was quickly dispatched with a flash +pistol and Gunga cooked himself some of the meat, using a fire pellet; +but despite his hunger Forepaugh did not dare eat any of it, knowing +that this species, strange to him, might easily be one of the many on +Inra that are poisonous to terrestials. + + * * * * * + +They resumed their march toward the distant invisible mountains, and +were fortunate in finding somewhat better footing than they had on +their previous march. They covered about 25 miles on that "day," +without untoward incident. Their ray pistols gave them an insuperable +advantage over the largest and most ferocious beasts they could expect +to meet, so that they became more and more confident, despite the +knowledge that they were rapidly using up the energy stored in their +weapons. The first one had long ago been discarded, and the charge +indicators of the other two were approaching zero at a disquieting +rate. Forepaugh took them both, and from that time on he was careful +never to waste a discharge except in case of a direct and unavoidable +attack. This often entailed long waits or stealthy detours through +sucking mud, and came near to ending both their lives. + +The Earth man was in the lead when it happened. Seeking an uncertain +footing through a tangle of low-growing, thick, ghastly white +vegetation, he placed a foot on what seemed to be a broad, flat rock +projecting slightly above the ooze. Instantly there was a violent +upheaval of mud; the seeming rock flew up like a trap-door, disclosing +a cavernous mouth some seven feet across, and a thick, triangular +tentacle flew up from its concealment in the mud in a vicious arc. +Forepaugh leaped back barely in time to escape being swept in and +engulfed. The end of the tentacle struck him a heavy blow on the +chest, throwing him back with such force as to bowl Gunga over, and +whirling the pistols out of his hands into a slimy, bulbous growth +nearby, where they stuck in the phosphorescent cavities the force of +their impact had made. + + * * * * * + +There was no time to recover the weapons. With a bellow of rage the +beast was out of its bed and rushing at them. Nothing stayed its +progress. Tough, heavily scaled trees thicker than a man's body +shuddered and fell as its bulk brushed by them. But it was momentarily +confused, and its first rush carried it past its dodging quarry. This +momentary respite saved their lives. + +Rearing its plumed head to awesome heights, its knobby bark running +with brown rivulets of water, a giant tree, even for that world of +giants, offered refuge. The men scrambled up the rough trunk easily, +finding plenty of hand and footholds. They came to rest on one of the +shelflike circumvoluting rings, some twenty-five feet above the +ground. Soon the blunt brown tentacles slithered in search of them, +but failed to reach their refuge by inches. + +And now began the most terrible siege that interlopers in that +primitive world can endure. From that cavernous, distended throat came +a tremendous, world-shaking noise. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +Forepaugh put his hand to his head. It made him dizzy. He had not +believed that such noise could be. He knew that no creature could long +live amidst it. He tore strips from his shredded clothing and stuffed +his ears, but felt no relief. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +It throbbed in his brain. + +Gunga lay a-sprawl, staring with fascinated eye into the pulsating +scarlet gullet that was blasting the world with sound. Slowly, slowly +he was slipping. His master hauled him back. The Martian grinned at +him stupidly, slid again to the edge. + +Once more Forepaugh pulled him back. The Martian seemed to acquiesce. +His single eye closed to a mere slit. He moved to a position between +Forepaugh and the tree trunk, braced his feet. + +"No you don't!" The Earth man laughed uproariously. The din was making +him light-headed. It was so funny! Just in time he had caught that +cunning expression and prepared for the outlashing of feet designed to +plunge him into the red cavern below and to stop that hellish racket. + +"And now--" + +He swung his fist heavily, slamming the Martian against the tree. The +red eye closed wearily. He was unconscious, and lucky. + +Hungrily the Earth man stared at his distant flash pistols, plainly +visible in the luminescence of their fungus bedding. He began a slow, +cautious creep along the top of a vine some eight inches thick. If he +could reach them.... + + * * * * * + +Crash! He was almost knocked to the ground by the thud of a frantic +tentacle against the vine. His movement had been seen. Again the +tentacle struck with crushing force. The great vine swayed. He managed +to reach the shelf again in the very nick of time. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +A bolt of lightning struck a giant fern some distance away. The crash +of thunder was hardly noticeable. Forepaugh wondered if his tree would +be struck. Perhaps it might even start a fire, giving him a flaming +brand with which to torment his tormentor. Vain hope! The wood was +saturated with moisture. Even the fire pellets could not make it burn. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +The six-shooter! He had forgotten it. He jerked it from its holster +and pointed it at the red throat, emptied all the chambers. He saw the +flash of yellow flame, felt the recoil, but the sound of the +discharges was drowned in the Brobdignagian tumult. He drew back his +arm to throw the useless toy from him. But again that unexplainable, +senseless "hunch" restrained him. He reloaded the gun and returned it +to its holster. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +A thought had been struggling to reach his consciousness against the +pressure of the unbearable noise. The fire pellets! Couldn't they be +used in some way? These small chemical spheres, no larger than the end +of his little finger, had long ago supplanted actual fire along the +frontiers, where electricity was not available for cooking. In contact +with moisture they emitted terrific heat, a radiant heat which +penetrated meat, bone, and even metal. One such pellet would cook a +meal in ten minutes, with no sign of scorching or burning. And they +had several hundred in one of the standard moisture-proof containers. + + * * * * * + +As fast as his fingers could work the trigger of the dispenser +Forepaugh dropped the potent little pellets down the bellowing throat. +He managed to release about thirty before the bellowing stopped. A +veritable tornado of energy broke loose at the foot of the tree. The +giant maw was closed, and the shocking silence was broken only by the +thrashing of a giant body in its death agonies. The radiant heat, +penetrating through and through the beast's body, withered nearby +vegetation and could be easily felt on the perch up the tree. + +Gunga was slowly recovering. His iron constitution helped him to rally +from the powerful blow he had received, and by the time the jungle was +still he was sitting up mumbling apologies. + +"Never mind," said his master. "Shin down there and cut us off a good +helping of roast tongue, if it has a tongue, before something else +comes along and beats us out of a feast." + +"Him poison, maybe," Gunga demurred. They had killed a specimen new to +zoologists. + +"Might as well die of poison as starvation," Forepaugh countered. + +Without more ado the Martian descended, cut out some large, juicy +chunks as his fancy dictated, and brought his loot back up the tree. +The meat was delicious and apparently wholesome. They gorged +themselves and threw away what they could not eat, for food spoils +very quickly in the Inranian jungles and uneaten meat would only serve +to attract hordes of the gauzy-winged, glutinous Inranian swamp flies. +As they sank into slumber they could hear the beginning of a bedlam of +snarling and fighting as the lesser Carnivora fed on the body of the +fallen giant. + +When they awoke the chronometer recorded the passing of twelve hours, +and they had to tear a network of strong fibers with which the tree +had invested them preparatory to absorbing their bodies as food. For +so keen is the competition for life on Inra that practically all +vegetation is capable of absorbing animal food directly. Many an +Inranian explorer can tell tales of narrow escapes from some of the +more specialized flesh-eating plants; but they are now so well known +that they are easily avoided. + + * * * * * + +A clean-picked framework of crushed and broken giant bones was all +that was left of the late bellowing monster. Six-legged water dogs +were polishing them hopefully, or delving into them with their long, +sinuous snouts for the marrow. The Earth man fired a few shots with +his six-shooter, and they scattered, dragging the bodies of their +fallen companions to a safe distance to be eaten. + +Only one of the flash pistols was in working order. The other had been +trampled by heavy hoofs and was useless. A heavy handicap under which +to traverse fifty miles of abysmal jungle. They started with nothing +for breakfast except water, of which they had plenty. + +Fortunately the outcroppings of rocks and gravel washes were becoming +more and more frequent, and they were able to travel at much better +speed. As they left the low-lying jungle land they entered a zone +which was faintly reminiscent of a terrestial jungle. It was still +hot, soggy, and fetid, but gradually the most primitive aspects of the +scene were modified. The over-arching trees were less closely packed, +and they came across occasional rock clearings which were bare of +vegetation except for a dense carpet of brown, lichenlike vegetation +that secreted an astonishing amount of juice. They slipped and sloshed +through this, rousing swarms of odd, toothed birds, which darted +angrily around their heads and slashed at them with the razor-sharp +saw edges on the back of their legs. Annoying as they were, they could +be kept away with branches torn from trees, and their presence +connoted an absence of the deadly jungle flesh-eaters, permitting a +temporary relaxation of vigilance and saving the resources of the last +flash gun. + +They camped that "night" on the edge of one of these rock clearings. +For the first time in weeks it had stopped raining, although the sun +was still obscured. Dimly on the horizon could be seen the first of +the foothills. Here they gathered some of the giant, oblong fungus +that early explorers had taken for blocks of porous stone because of +their size and weight, and, by dint of the plentiful application of +fire pellets, managed to set it ablaze. The heat added nothing to +their comfort, but it dried them out and allowed them to sleep +unmolested. + + * * * * * + +An unwary winged eel served as their breakfast, and soon they were on +their way to those beckoning hills. It had started to rain again, but +the worst part of their journey was over. If they could reach the top +of one of the mountains there was a good chance that they would be +seen and rescued by their relief ship, provided they did not starve +first. The flyer would use the mountains as a base from which to +search for the trading station, and it was conceivable that the +skipper might actually have anticipated their desperate adventure and +would look for them in the Mountains of Perdition. + +They had crossed several ranges of the foothills and were beginning to +congratulate themselves when the diffused light from above was +suddenly blotted out. It was raining again, and above the +echo-augmented thunder they heard a shrill screeching. + +"A web serpent!" Gunga cried, throwing himself flat on the ground. + +Forepaugh eased into a rock cleft at his side. Just in time. A great +grotesque head bore down upon him, many-fanged as a medieval dragon. +Between obsidian eyes was a fissure whence emanated a wailing and a +foul odor. Hundreds of short, clawed legs slithered on the rocks under +a long sinuous body. Then it seemed to leap into the air again. Webs +grew taut between the legs, strumming as they caught a strong uphill +wind. Again it turned to the attack, and missed them. This time +Forepaugh was ready for it. He shot at it with his flash pistol. + + * * * * * + +Nothing happened. The fog made accurate shooting impossible, and the +gun lacked its former power. The web serpent continued to course back +and forth over their heads. + +"Guess we'd better run for it," Forepaugh murmured. + +"Go 'head!" + +They cautiously left their places of concealment. Instantly the +serpent was down again, persistent if inaccurate. It struck the place +of their first concealment and missed them. + +"Run!" + +They extended their weary muscles to the utmost, but it was soon +apparent that they could not escape long. A rock wall in their path +saved them. + +"Hole!" the Martian gasped. + +Forepaugh followed him into the rocky cleft. There was a strong draft +of dry air, and it would have been next to impossible to hold the +Martian back, so Forepaugh allowed him to lead on toward the source of +the draft. As long as it led into the mountains he didn't care. + +The natural passageway was untenanted. Evidently its coolness and +dryness made it untenable for most of Inra's humidity and heat loving +life. Yet the floor was so smooth that it must have been artificially +leveled. Faint illumination was provided by the rocks themselves. They +appeared to be covered by some microscopic phosphorescent vegetation. + +After hundreds of twists and turns and interminable straight galleries +the cleft turned more sharply upward, and they had a period of stiff +climbing. They must have gone several miles and climbed at least +20,000 feet. The air became noticeably thin, which only exhilarated +Gunga, but slowed the Earth man down. But at last they came to the end +of the cleft. They could go no further, but above them, at least 500 +feet higher, they saw a round patch of sky, miraculously bright blue +sky! + +"A pipe!" Forepaugh cried. + +He had often heard of these mysterious, almost fabulous structures +sometimes reported by passing travelers. Straight and true, smooth as +glass and apparently immune to the elements, they had been +occasionally seen standing on the very tops of the highest +mountains--seen for a few moments only before they were hidden again +by the clouds. Were they observatories of some ancient race, placed +thus to pierce the mysteries of outer space? They would find out. + + * * * * * + +The inside of the pipe had zigzagging rings of metal, conveniently +spaced for easy climbing. With Gunga leading, they soon reached the +top. But not quite. + +"Eh?" said Forepaugh. + +"Uh?" said Gunga. + +There had not been a sound, but a distinct, definite command had +registered on their minds. + +"Stop!" + +They tried to climb higher, but could not unclasp their hands. They +tried to descend, but could not lower their feet. + +The light was by now relatively bright, and as by command their eyes +sought the opposite wall. What they saw gave their jaded nerves an +unpleasant thrill--a mass of doughy matter of a blue-green color about +three feet in diameter, with something that resembled a cyst filled +with transparent liquid near its center. + +And this thing began to flow along the rods, much as tar flows. From +the mass extended a pseudopod; touched Gunga on the arm. Instantly the +arm was raw and bleeding. Terrified, immovable, he writhed in agony. +The pseudopod returned to the main mass, disappearing into its +interior with the strip of bloody skin. + +Its attention was centered so much on the luckless Martian that its +control slipped from Forepaugh. Seizing his flash pistol, he set the +localized for a small area and aimed it at the thing, intent on +burning it into nothingness. But again his hand was stayed. Against +the utmost of his will-power his fingers opened, letting the pistol +drop. The liquid in the cyst danced and bubbled. Was it laughing at +him? It had read his mind--thwarted his will again. + +Again a pseudopod stretched out and a strip of raw, red flesh adhered +to it and was consumed. Mad rage convulsed the Earth man. Should he +throw himself tooth and nail on the monster? And be engulfed? + +He thought of the six-shooter. It thrilled him. + +But wouldn't it make him drop that too? + + * * * * * + +A flash of atavistic cunning came to him. + +He began to reiterate in his mind a certain thought. + +"This thing is so I can see you better--this thing is so I can see you +better." + +He said it over and over, with all the passion and devotion of a +celibate's prayer over a uranium fountain. + +"This thing is harmless--but it will make me see you better!" + +Slowly he drew the six-shooter. In some occult way he knew it was +watching him. + +"Oh, this is harmless! This is an instrument to aid my weak eyes! It +will help me realize your mastery! This will enable me to know your +true greatness. This will enable me to know you as a god." + +Was it complacence or suspicion that stirred the liquid in the cyst so +smoothly? Was it susceptible to flattery? He sighted along the barrel. + +"In another moment your great intelligence will overwhelm me," +proclaimed his surface mind desperately, while the subconscious tensed +the trigger. And at that the clear liquid burst into a turmoil of +alarm. Too late. Forepaugh went limp, but not before he had loosed a +steel-jacketed bullet that shattered the mind cyst of the pipe +denizen. A horrible pain coursed through his every fibre and nerve. He +was safe in the arms of Gunga, being carried to the top of the pipe to +the clean dry air, and the blessed, blistering sun. + +The pipe denizen was dying. A viscous, inert mass, it dropped lower +and lower, lost contact at last, shattered into slime at the bottom. + + * * * * * + +Miraculous sun! For a luxurious fifteen minutes they roasted there on +the top of the pipe, the only solid thing in a sea of clouds as far as +the eye could reach. But no! That was a circular spot against the +brilliant white of the clouds, and it was rapidly coming closer. In a +few minutes it resolved itself into the _Comet_, fast relief ship of +the Terrestial, Inranian, Genidian, and Zydian Lines, Inc. With a low +buzz of her repulsion motors she drew alongside. Hooks were attached +and ports opened. A petty officer and a crew of roustabouts made her +fast. + +"What the hell's going on here?" asked the cocky little terrestial who +was skipper, stepping out and surveying the castaways. "We've been +looking for you ever since your directional wave failed. But come on +in--come on in!" + +He led the way to his stateroom, while the ship's surgeon took Gunga +in charge. Closing the door carefully, he delved into the bottom of +his locker and brought out a flask. + +"Can't be too careful," he remarked, filling a small tumbler for +himself and another for his guest. "Always apt to be some snooper to +report me. But say--you're wanted in the radio room." + +"Radio room nothing! When do we eat?" + +"Right away, but you'd better see him. Fellow from the Interplanetary +News Agency wants you to broadcast a copyrighted story. Good for about +three years' salary, old boy." + +"All right. I'll see him"--with a happy sigh--"just as soon as I put +through a personal message." + +[Advertisement: Everyone Is Invited +_To "Come Over in_ +'THE READERS' CORNER'!"] + + + + +The Lord of Space + +_By Victor Rousseau_ + +[Illustration] + +[Sidenote: A Black Caesar had arisen on Eros--and all Earth trembled +at his distant menace.] + + +"On the day of the next full moon every living thing on earth will be +wiped out of existence--unless you succeed in your mission, Lee." + +Nathaniel Lee looked into the face of Silas Stark, President of the +United States of the World, and nodded grimly. "I'll do my best, Sir," +he answered. + +"You have the facts. We know who this self-styled Black Caesar is, who +has declared war upon humanity. He is a Dane named Axelson, whose +father, condemned to life imprisonment for resisting the new +world-order, succeeded in obtaining possession of an interplanetary +liner. + +"He filled it with the gang of desperate men who had been associated +with him in his successful escape from the penitentiary. Together they +sailed into Space. They disappeared. It was supposed that they had +somehow met their death in the ether, beyond the range of human ken. + +"Thirty years passed, and then this son of Axelson, born, according to +his own story, of a woman whom the father had persuaded to accompany +him into Space, began to radio us. We thought at first it was some +practical joker who was cutting in. + +[Illustration: _It was like struggling with some vampire creatures in +a hideous dream._] + +"When our electricians demonstrated beyond doubt that the voice came +from outer space, it was supposed that some one in our Moon Colony had +acquired a transmitting machine. Then the ships we sent to the Moon +Colony for gold failed to return. As you know, for seven weeks there +has been no communication with the Moon. And at the last full moon +the--blow--fell. + +"The world depends upon you, Lee. The invisible rays that destroyed +every living thing from China to Australia--one-fifth of the human +race--will fall upon the eastern seaboard of America when the moon is +full again. That has been the gist of Axelson's repeated +communications. + +"We shall look to you to return, either with the arch-enemy of the +human race as your prisoner, or with the good news that mankind has +been set free from the menace that overhangs it. + +"God bless you, my boy!" The President of the United States of the +World gripped Nat's hand and stepped down the ladder that led from the +landing-stage of the great interplanetary space-ship. + + * * * * * + +The immense landing-field reserved for the ships of the Interplanetary +Line was situated a thousand feet above the heart of New York City, in +Westchester County. It was a flat space set on the top of five great +towers, strewn with electrified sand, whose glow had the property of +dispersing the sea fogs. There, at rest upon what resembled nothing so +much as iron claws, the long gray shape of the vacuum flyer bulked. + +Nat sneezed as he watched the operations of his men, for the common +cold, or coryza, seemed likely to be the last of the germ diseases +that would yield to medical science, and he had caught a bad one in +the Capitol, while listening to the debate in the Senate upon the +threat to humanity. And it was cold on the landing-stage, in contrast +to the perpetual summer of the glass-roofed city below. + +But Nat forgot the cold as he watched the preparations for the ship's +departure. Neon and nitrogen gas were being pumped under pressure into +the outer shell, where a minute charge of leucon, the newly discovered +element that helped to counteract gravitation, combined with them to +provide the power that would lift the vessel above the regions of the +stratosphere. + +In the low roof-buildings that surrounded the stage was a scene of +tremendous activity. The selenium discs were flashing signals, and the +radio receivers were shouting the late news; on the great power boards +dials and light signals stood out in the glow of the amylite tubes. On +a rotary stage a thousand feet above the ship a giant searchlight, +visible for a thousand miles, moved its shaft of dazzling luminosity +across the heavens. + +Now the spar-aluminite outer skin of the ship grew bright with the red +neon glare. Another ship, from China, dropped slowly to its stage near +by, and the unloaders swarmed about the pneumatic tubes to receive the +mail. The teleradio was shouting news of a failure of the Manchurian +wheat crop. Nat's chief officer, a short cockney named Brent, came up +to him. + +"Ready to start, Sir," he said. + + * * * * * + +Nat turned to him. "Your orders are clear?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Send Benson here." + +"I'm here, Sir." Benson, the ray-gunner in charge of the battery that +comprised the vessel's armament, a lean Yankee from Connecticut, +stepped forward. + +"You know your orders, Benson? Axelson has seized the Moon and the +gold-mines there. He's planning to obliterate the Earth. We've got to +go in like mad dogs and shoot to kill. No matter if we kill every +living thing there, even our own people who are inmates of the Moon's +penal settlement, we've got to account for Axelson." + +"Yes, Sir." + +"We can't guess how he got those gold-ships that returned with neon +and argon for the Moon colonists. But he mustn't get us. Let the men +understand that. That's all." + +"Very good, Sir." + +The teleradio suddenly began to splutter: A-A-A, it called. And +instantly every sound ceased about the landing-stage. For that was the +call of Axelson, somewhere upon the Moon. + +"Axelson speaking. At the next full moon all the American Province of +the World Federation will be annihilated, as the Chinese Province was +at the last. There's no hope for you, good people. Send out your +vacuum liners. I can use a few more of them. Within six months your +world will be depopulated, unless you flash me the signal of +surrender." + +Would the proud old Earth have to come to that? Daily those ominous +threats had been repeated, until popular fears had become frenzy. And +Nat was being sent out as a last hope. If he failed, there would be +nothing but surrender to this man, armed with a super-force that +enabled him to lay waste the Earth from the Moon. + +Within one hour, those invisible, death-dealing rays had destroyed +everything that inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon. The ray with which +the liner was equipped was a mere toy in comparison. It would kill at +no more than 500 miles, and its action was quite different. + +As a prelude to Earth's surrender, Axelson demanded that World +President Stark and a score of other dignitaries should depart for +the Moon as hostages. Every ray fortress in the world was to be +dismantled, every treasury was to send its gold to be piled up in a +great pyramid on the New York landing-stage. The Earth was to +acknowledge Axelson as its supreme master. + + * * * * * + +The iron claws were turning with a screwlike motion, extending +themselves, and slowly raising the interplanetary vessel until she +looked like a great metal fish with metal legs ending with suckerlike +disks. But already she was floating free as the softly purring engines +held her in equipoise. Nat climbed the short ladder that led to her +deck. Brent came up to him again. + +"That teleradio message from Axelson--" he began. + +"Yes?" Nat snapped out. + +"I don't believe it came from the Moon at all." + +"You don't? You think it's somebody playing a hoax on Earth? You think +that wiping out of China was just an Earth-joke?" + +"No, Sir." Brent stood steady under his superior's sarcasm. "But I was +chief teleradio operator at Greenwich before being promoted to the +Province of America. And what they don't know at Greenwich they don't +know anywhere." + +Brent spoke with that self-assurance of the born cockney that even the +centuries had failed to remove, though they had removed the cockney +accent. + +"Well, Brent?" + +"I was with the chief electrician in the receiving station when +Axelson was radioing last week. And I noticed that the waves of sound +were under a slight Doppler effect. With the immense magnification +necessary for transmitting from the Moon, such deflection might be +construed as a mere fan-like extension. But there was ten times the +magnification one would expect from the Moon; and I calculated that +those sound-waves were shifted somewhere." + +"Then what's your theory, Brent?" + +"Those sounds come from another planet. Somewhere on the Moon there's +an intercepting and re-transmitting plant. Axelson is deflecting his +rays to give the impression that he's on the Moon, and to lure our +ships there." + +"What do you advise?" asked Nat. + +"I don't know, Sir." + +"Neither do I. Set your course Moonward, and tell Mr. Benson to keep +his eyes peeled." + + * * * * * + +The Moon Colony, discovered in 1976, when Kramer, of Baltimore, first +proved the practicability of mixing neon with the inert new gas, +leucon, and so conquering gravitation, had proved to be just what it +had been suspected of being--a desiccated, airless desolation. +Nevertheless, within the depths of the craters a certain amount of the +Moon's ancient atmosphere still lingered, sufficient to sustain life +for the queer troglodytes, with enormous lung-boxes, who survived +there, browsing like beasts upon the stunted, aloe-like vegetation. + +Half man, half ape, and very much unlike either, these vestiges of a +species on a ruined globe had proved tractable and amenable to +discipline. They had become the laborers of the convict settlement +that had sprung up on the Moon. + +Thither all those who had opposed the establishment of the World +Federation, together with all persons convicted for the fourth time of +a felony, had been transported, to superintend the efforts of these +dumb, unhuman Moon dwellers. For it had been discovered that the Moon +craters were extraordinarily rich in gold, and gold was still the +medium of exchange on Earth. + +To supplement the vestigial atmosphere, huge stations had been set up, +which extracted the oxygen from the subterranean waters five miles +below the Moon's crust, and recombined it with the nitrogen with +which the surface layer was impregnated, thus creating an atmosphere +which was pumped to the workers. + +Then a curious discovery had been made. It was impossible for human +beings to exist without the addition of those elements existing in the +air in minute quantities--neon, krypton, and argon. And the ships that +brought the gold bars back from the Moon had conveyed these gaseous +elements there. + + * * * * * + +The droning of the sixteen atomic motors grew louder, and mingled with +the hum of gyroscopes. The ladder was drawn up and the port hole +sealed. On the enclosed bridge Nat threw the switch of durobronze that +released the non-conducting shutter which gave play to the sixteen +great magnets. Swiftly the great ship shot forward into the air. The +droning of the motors became a shrill whine, and then, growing too +shrill for human ears to follow it, gave place to silence. + +Nat set the speed lever to five hundred miles an hour, the utmost that +had been found possible in passing through the earth's atmosphere, +owing to the resistance, which tended to heat the vessel and damage +the delicate atomic engines. As soon as the ether was reached, the +speed would be increased to ten or twelve thousand. That meant a +twenty-two hour run to the Moon Colony--about the time usually taken. + +He pressed a lever, which set bells ringing in all parts of the ship. +By means of a complicated mechanism, the air was exhausted from each +compartment in turn, and then replaced, and as the bells rang, the men +at work trooped out of these compartments consecutively. This had been +originated for the purpose of destroying any life dangerous to man +that might unwittingly have been imported from the Moon, but on one +occasion it had resulted in the discovery of a stowaway. + +Then Nat descended the bridge to the upper deck. Here, on a platform, +were the two batteries of three ray-guns apiece, mounted on swivels, +and firing in any direction on the port and starboard sides +respectively. The guns were enclosed in a thin sheath of osmium, +through which the lethal rays penetrated unchanged; about them, thick +shields of lead protected the gunners. + +He talked with Benson for a while. "Don't let Axelson get the jump on +you," he said. "Be on the alert every moment." The gunners, +keen-looking men, graduates from the Annapolis gunnery school, grinned +and nodded. They were proud of their trade and its traditions; Nat +felt that the vessel was safe in their hands. + +The chief mate appeared at the head of the companion, accompanied by a +girl. "Stowaway, Sir," he reported laconically. "She tumbled out of +the repair shop annex when we let out the air!" + + * * * * * + +Nat stared at her in consternation, and the girl stared back at him. +She was a very pretty girl, hardly more than twenty-two or three, +attired in a businesslike costume consisting of a leather jacket, +knickers, and the black spiral puttees that had come into style in the +past decade. She came forward unabashed. + +"Well, who are you?" snapped Nat. + +"Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," she answered, +laughing. + +"The devil!" muttered Nat. "You people think you run the World +Federation since you got President Stark elected." + +"We certainly do," replied the girl, still laughing. + +"Well, you don't run this ship," said Nat. "How would you like a long +parachute drop back to Earth?" + +"Don't be foolish, my dear man," said Madge. "Don't you know you'll +get wrinkles if you scowl like that? Smile! Ah, that's better. Now, +honestly, Cap we just had to get the jump on everybody else in +interviewing Axelson. It means such a lot to me." + +Pouts succeeded smiles. "You're not going to be cross about it, are +you?" she pleaded. + +"Do you realize the risk you're running, young woman?" Nat demanded. +"Are you aware that our chances of ever getting back to Earth are +smaller than you ought to have dreamed of taking?" + +"Oh, that's all right," the girl responded. "And now that we're +friends again, would you mind asking the steward to get me something +to eat? I've been cooped up in that room downstairs for fifteen hours, +and I'm simply starving." + +Nat shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. He turned to the chief mate. +"Take Miss Dawes down to the saloon and see that Wang Ling supplies +her with a good meal," he ordered. "And put her in the Admiral's +cabin. That good enough for you?" he asked satirically. + +"Oh that'll be fine," answered the girl enthusiastically. "And I shall +rely on you to keep me posted about everything that's going on. And a +little later I'm going to take X-ray photographs of you and all these +men." She smiled at the grinning gunners. "That's the new fad, you +know, and we're going to offer prizes for the best developed skeletons +in the American Province, and pick a King and Queen of Beauty!" + + * * * * * + +"A radio, Sir!" + +Nat, who had snatched a brief interval of sleep, started up as the man +on duty handed him the message. The vessel had been constantly in +communication with Earth during her voyage, now nearing completion, +but the dreaded A-A-A that prefaced this message told Nat that it came +from Axelson. + +"Congratulations on your attempt," the message ran, "I have watched +your career with the greatest interest, Lee, through the medium of +such scraps of information as I have been able to pick up on the +Moon. When you are my guest to-morrow I shall hope to be able to offer +you a high post in the new World Government that I am planning to +establish. I need good men. Fraternally, the Black Caesar." + +Nat whirled about. Madge Dawes was standing behind him, trying to read +the message over his shoulder. + +"Spying, eh?" said Nat bitterly. + +"My dear man, isn't that my business?" + +"Well, read this, then," said Nat, handing her the message. "You're +likely to repent this crazy trick of yours before we get much +farther." + +And he pointed to the cosmic-ray skiagraph of the Moon on the curved +glass dome overhead. They were approaching the satellite rapidly. It +filled the whole dome, the craters great black hollows, the mountains +standing out clearly. Beneath the dome were the radium apparatus that +emitted the rays by which the satellite was photographed +cinematographically, and the gyroscope steering apparatus by which the +ship's course was directed. + +Suddenly a buzzer sounded a warning. Nat sprang to the tube. + +"Gravitational interference X40, gyroscopic aberrancy one minute 29," +he called. "Discharge static electricity from hull. Mr. Benson, stand +by." + +"What does that mean?" asked Madge. + +"It means I shall be obliged if you'll abstain from speaking to the +man at the controls," snapped Nat. + +"And what's that?" cried Madge in a shriller voice, pointing upward. + + * * * * * + +Across the patterned surface of the Moon, shown on the skiagraph, a +black, cigar-shaped form was passing. It looked like one of the +old-fashioned dirigibles, and the speed with which it moved was +evident from the fact that it was perceptibly traversing the Moon's +surface. Perhaps it was travelling at the rate of fifty thousand miles +an hour. + +Brent, the chief officer, burst up the companion. His face was livid. + +"Black ship approaching us from the Moon, Sir," he stammered. +"Benson's training his guns, but it must be twenty thousands miles +away." + +"Yes, even our ray-guns won't shoot that distance," answered Nat. +"Tell Benson to keep his guns trained as well as he can, and open fire +at five hundred." + +Brent disappeared. Madge and Nat were alone on the bridge. Nat was +shouting incomprehensible orders down the tube. He stopped and looked +up. The shadow of the approaching ship had crossed the Moon's disk and +disappeared. + +"Well, young lady, I think your goose is cooked," said Nat. "If I'm +not mistaken, that ship is Axelson's, and he's on his way to knock us +galley-west. And now oblige me by leaving the bridge." + +"I think he's a perfectly delightful character, to judge from that +message he sent you," answered Madge, "and--" + +Brent appeared again. "Triangulation shows ten thousand miles, Sir," +he informed Nat. + +"Take control," said Nat. "Keep on the gyroscopic course, allowing for +aberrancy, and make for the Crater of Pytho. I'll take command of the +guns." He hurried down the companion, with Madge at his heels. + + * * * * * + +The gunners stood by the ray-guns, three at each. Benson perched on a +revolving stool above the batteries. He was watching a periscopic +instrument that connected with the bridge dome by means of a tube, a +flat mirror in front of him showing all points of the compass. At one +edge the shadow of the black ship was creeping slowly forward. + +"Eight thousand miles, Sir," he told Nat. "One thousand is our extreme +range. And it looks as if she's making for our blind spot overhead." + +Nat stepped to the speaking-tube. "Try to ram her," he called up to +Brent. "We'll open with all guns, pointing forward." + +"Very good, Sir," the Cockney called back. + +The black shadow was now nearly in the centre of the mirror. It moved +upward, vanished. Suddenly the atomic motors began wheezing again. The +wheeze became a whine, a drone. + +"We've dropped to two thousand miles an hour, Sir," called Brent. + +Nat leaped for the companion. As he reached the top he could hear the +teleradio apparatus in the wireless room overhead begin to chatter: + +"A-A-A. Don't try to interfere. Am taking you to the Crater of Pytho. +Shall renew my offer there. Any resistance will be fatal. Axelson." + +And suddenly the droning of the motors became a whine again, then +silence. Nat stared at the instrument-board and uttered a cry. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Madge. + +Nat swung upon her. "The matter?" he bawled. "He's neutralized our +engines by some infernal means of his own, and he's towing us to the +Moon!" + + * * * * * + +The huge sphere of the Moon had long since covered the entire dome. +The huge Crater of Pytho now filled it, a black hollow fifty miles +across, into which they were gradually settling. And, as they settled, +the pale Earth light, white as that of the Moon on Earth, showed the +gaunt masses of bare rock, on which nothing grew, and the long +stalactites of glassy lava that hung from them. + +Then out of the depths beneath emerged the shadowy shape of the +landing-stage. + +"You are about to land," chattered the radio. "Don't try any tricks; +they will be useless. Above all, don't try to use your puny ray. You +are helpless." + +The ship was almost stationary. Little figures could be seen swarming +upon the landing-stage, ready to adjust the iron claws to clamp the +hull. With a gesture of helplessness, Nat left the bridge and went +down to the main deck where, in obedience to his orders, the crew had +all assembled. + +"Men, I'm putting it up to you," he said. "Axelson, the Black Caesar, +advises us not to attempt to use the Ray-guns. I won't order you to. +I'll leave the decision with you." + +"We tried it fifteen minutes ago, Sir," answered Benson. "I told +Larrigan to fire off the stern starboard gun to see if it was in +working order, and it wasn't!" + +At that moment the vessel settled with a slight jar into the clamps. +Once more the teleradio began to scream: + +"Open the port hold and file out slowly. Resistance is useless. I +should turn my ray upon you and obliterate you immediately. Assemble +on the landing-stage and wait for me!" + +"You'd best obey," Nat told his men. "We've got a passenger to +consider." He glared at Madge as he spoke, and Madge's smile was a +little more tremulous than it had been before. + +"This is the most thrilling experience of my life, Captain Lee," she +said. "And I'll never rest until I've got an X-Ray photograph of Mr. +Axelson's skeleton for the Universal News Syndicate." + + * * * * * + +One by one, Nat last, the crew filed down the ladder onto the +landing-stage, gasping and choking in the rarefied air that lay like a +blanket at the bottom of the crater. And the reason for this was only +too apparent to Nat as soon as he was on the level stage. + +Overhead, at an altitude of about a mile, the black ship hung, and +from its bow a stupendous searchlight played to and fro over the +bottom of the crater, making it as light as day. And where had been +the mining machinery, the great buildings that had housed convicts and +Moon people, and the huge edifice that contained the pumping station, +there was--nothing. + +The devilish ray of Axelson had not merely destroyed them, it had +obliterated all traces of them, and the crew of the liner were +breathing the remnants of the atmosphere that still lay at the bottom +of the Crater of Pytho. + +But beside the twin landing-stages, constructed by the World +Federation, another building arose, with an open front. And that front +was a huge mirror, now scintillating under the searchlight from the +black ship. + +"That's it, Sir!" shouted Brent. + +"That's what?" snapped Nat. + +"The deflecting mirror I was speaking of. That's what deflected the +ray that wiped out China. The ray didn't come from the Moon. And +that's the mirror that deflects the teleradio waves, the +super-Hertzian rays that carry the sound." + +Nat did not answer. Sick at heart at the failure of his mission, he +was watching the swarm of Moon men who were at work upon the +landing-stage, turning the steel clamps and regulating the mechanism +that controlled the apparatus. Dwarfed, apish creature, with tiny +limbs, and chests that stood out like barrels, they bustled about, +chattering in shrill voices that seemed like the piping of birds. + +It was evident that Axelson, though he had wiped out the Moon convicts +and the Moon people in the crater, had reserved a number of the latter +for personal use. + + * * * * * + +The black ship was dropping into its position at the second +landing-stage, connected with the first by a short bridge. The +starboard hold swung open, and a file of shrouded and hooded forms +appeared, masked men, breathing in condensed air from receptacles upon +their chests, and staring with goggle eyes at their captives. Each one +held in his hand a lethal tube containing the ray, and, as if by +command, they took up their stations about their prisoners. + +Then, at a signal from their leader, they suddenly doffed their masks. + +Nat looked at them in astonishment. He had not known whether these +would be Earth denizens or inhabitants of some other planet. But they +were Earth men. And they were old. + +Men of sixty or seventy, years, with long, gray beards and wrinkled +faces, and eyes that stared out from beneath penthouses of shaggy +eyebrows. Faces on which were imprinted despair and hopelessness. + +Then the first man took off his mask and Nat saw a man of different +character. + +A man in the prime of life, with a mass of jet black hair and a black +beard that swept to his waist, a nose like a hawk's, and a pair of +dark blue eyes that fixed themselves on Nat's with a look of +Luciferian pride. + +"Welcome, Nathaniel Lee," said the man, in deep tones that had a +curious accent which Nat could not place. "I ought to know your name, +since your teleradios on Earth have been shouting it for three days +past as that of the man who is to save Earth from the threat of +destruction. And you know me!" + +"Axelson--the Black Caesar," Nat muttered. For the moment he was taken +aback. He had anticipated any sort of person except this man, who +stood, looked, and spoke like a Viking, this incarnation of pride and +strength. + +Axelson smiled--and then his eyes lit upon Madge Dawes. And for a +moment he stood as if petrified into a block of massive granite. + +"What--who is this?" he growled. + +"Why, I'm Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," answered the +girl, smiling at Axelson in her irrepressible manner. "And I'm sure +you're not nearly such a bold, bad pirate as people think, and you're +going to let us all go free." + + * * * * * + +Instantly Axelson seemed to become transformed into a maniac. He +turned to the old men and shouted in some incomprehensible language. +Nat and Madge, Brent and Benson, and two others who wore the uniforms +of officers were seized and dragged across the bridge to the +landing-stage where the black ship was moored. The rest of the crew +were ordered into a double line. + +And then the slaughter began. + +Before Nat could even struggle to break away from the gibbering Moon +men to whom he and the other prisoners had been consigned, the aged +crew of the Black Caesar had begun their work of almost instantaneous +destruction. + +Streams of red and purple light shot from the ray-pistols that they +carried, and before them the crew of the ether-liner simply withered +up and vanished. They became mere masses of human débris piled on the +landing-stage, and upon these masses, too, the old men turned their +implements, until only a few heaps of charred carbon remained on the +landing-stage, impalpable as burned paper, and slowly rising in the +low atmospheric pressure until they drifted over the crater. + +Nat had cried out in horror at the sight, and tried to tear himself +free from the grasp of the Moon dwarfs who held him. So had the rest. +Never was struggle so futile. Despite their short arms and legs, the +Moon dwarfs held them in an unshakable grip, chattering and squealing +as they compressed them against their barrel-like chests until the +breath was all but crushed out of their bodies. + +"Devil!" cried Nat furiously, as Axelson came up to him. "Why don't +you kill us, too?" And he hurled furious taunts and abuse at him, in +the hope of goading him into making the same comparatively merciless +end of his prisoners. + +Axelson looked at him calmly, but made no reply. He looked at Madge +again, and his features were convulsed with some emotion that gave him +the aspect of a fiend. And then only did Nat realize that it was Madge +who was responsible for the Black Caesar's madness. + +Axelson spoke again, and the prisoners were hustled up the ladder and +on board the black vessel. + + * * * * * + +"The Kommandant-Kommissar will see you!" The door of their prison had +opened, letting in a shaft of light, and disclosing one of the +graybeards, who stood there, pointing at Nat. + +"The--who?" Nat demanded. + +"The Kommandant-Kommissar, Comrade Axelson," snarled the graybeard. + +Nat knew what that strange jargon meant. He had read books about the +political sect known as Socialists who flourished in the Nineteenth +and Twentieth Centuries, and, indeed, were even yet not everywhere +extinct. And with that a flash of intuition explained the presence of +these old men on board. + +These were the men who had been imprisoned in their youth, with +Axelson's father, and had escaped and made their way into space, and +had been supposed dead long since. Somewhere they must have survived. + +And here they were, speaking a jargon of past generations, and +ignorant that the world had changed, relics of the past, dead as the +dead Moon from which the black ship was winging away through the +ether. + +"Don't go, Captain," pleaded Madge. "Tell him we'll all go together." + +Nat shook his head. "Maybe I'll be able to make terms with him," he +answered, and stepped out upon the vessel's deck. + +The graybeard slammed the door and laughed savagely. "You'll make no +terms with the Black Caesar," he said. "This is the reign of the +proletariat. The bourgeois must die! So Lenin decreed!" + +But he stopped suddenly and passed his hand over his forehead like a +man awakening from a dream. + +"Surely the proletariat has already triumphed on earth?" he asked. "A +long time has passed, and daily we expect the summons to return and +establish the new world-order. What year is this? Is it not 2017? It +is so hard to reckon on Eros." + +"On Eros?" thought Nat. "This is the year 2044," he answered. "You've +been dreaming, my friend. We've had our new world-order, and it's not +in the least like the one you and your friends anticipated." + +"Gott!" screamed the old man. "Gott, you're lying to me, bourgeois! +You're lying, I tell you!" + + * * * * * + +So Eros was their destination! Eros, one of the asteroids, those tiny +fragments of a broken planet, lying outside the orbit of Mars. Some of +these little worlds, of which more than a thousand are known to exist, +are no larger than a gentleman's country estate; some are mere rocks +in space. Eros, Nat knew, was distinguished among them from the fact +that it had an eccentric orbit, which brought it at times nearer Earth +than any other heavenly body except the Moon. + +Also that it had only been known for thirty years, and that it was +supposed to be a double planet, having a dark companion. + +That was in Nat's mind as he ascended the bridge to where Axelson was +standing at the controls, with one of the graybeards beside him. The +door of his stateroom was open, and suddenly there scuttled out of it +one of the most bestial objects Nat had ever seen. + +It was a Moon woman, a dwarfish figure, clothed in a shapeless garment +of spun cellulose, and in her arms she held a heavy-headed Moon baby, +whose huge chest stood up like a pyramid, while the tiny arms and legs +hung dangling down. + +"Here is the bourgeois, Kommandant," said Nat's captor. + +Axelson looked at Nat, eye meeting eye in a slow stare. Then he +relinquished the controls to the graybeard beside him, and motioned +Nat to precede him into the stateroom. + +Nat entered. It was an ordinary room, much like that of the captain of +the ether-liner now stranded on the Moon. There were a bunk, chairs, a +desk and a radio receiver. + +Axelson shut the door. He tried to speak and failed to master his +emotion. At last he said: + +"I am prepared to offer you terms, Nathaniel Lee, in accordance with +my promise." + +"I'll make no terms with murderers," replied Nat bitterly. + + * * * * * + +Axelson stood looking at him. His great chest rose and fell. Suddenly +he put out one great hand and clapped Nat on the shoulder. + +"Wise men," he said, "recognize facts. Within three weeks I shall be +the undisputed ruler of Earth. Whether of a desert or of a cowed and +submissive subject-population, rests with the Earth men. I have never +been on Earth, for I was born on Eros. My mother died at my birth. I +have never seen another human woman until to-day." + +Nat looked at him, trying to follow what was in Axelson's mind. + +"My father fled to Eros, a little planet seventeen miles in diameter, +as we have found. He called it a heavenly paradise. It was his +intention to found there a colony of those who were in rebellion +against the tyrants of Earth. + +"His followers journeyed to the Moon and brought back Moon women for +wives. But there were no children of these unions. Later there were +dissensions and civil war. Three-fourths of the colony died in battle +with one another. + +"I was a young man. I seized the reins of power. The survivors--these +old men--were disillusioned and docile. I made myself absolute. I +brought Moon men and women to Eros to serve us as slaves. But in a few +years the last of my father's old compatriots will have died, and thus +it was I conceived of conquering Earth and having men to obey me. For +fifteen years I have been experimenting and constructing apparatus, +with which I now have Earth at my mercy. + +"But I shall need assistance, intelligent men who will obey me and aid +me in my plans. That is why I saved you and the other officers of +your ether-lines. If you will join me, you shall have the highest post +on Earth under me, Nathaniel Lee, and those others shall be under +you." + + * * * * * + +Axelson paused, and, loathing the man though he did, Nat was conscious +of a feeling of pity for him that he could not control. He saw his +lonely life on Eros, surrounded by those phantom humans of the past, +and he understood his longing for Earth rule--he the planetary exile, +the sole human being of all the planetary system outside Earth, +perhaps, except for his dwindling company of aged men. + +"To-day, Nathaniel Lee," Axelson went on, "my life was recast in a new +mould when I saw the woman you have brought with you. I did not know +before that women were beautiful to look on. I did not dream that +creatures such as she existed. She must be mine, Nathaniel Lee. + +"But that is immaterial. What is your answer to my offer?" + +Nat was trying to think, though passion distorted the mental images as +they arose in his brain. To Axelson it was evidently incomprehensible +that there would be any objection to his taking Madge. Nat saw that he +must temporize for Madge's sake. + +"I'll have to consult my companions," he answered. + +"Of course," answered Axelson. "That is reasonable. Tell them that +unless they agree to join me it will be necessary for them to die. Do +Earth men mind death? We hate it on Eros, and the Moon men hate it, +too, though they have a queer legend that something in the shape of an +invisible man raises from their ashes. My father told me that that +superstition existed on Earth in his time, too. Go and talk to your +companions, Nathaniel Lee." + +The Black Caesar's voice was almost friendly. He clapped Nat on the +shoulder again, and called the graybeard to conduct him back to his +prison. + +"Oh, Captain Lee, I'm so glad you're back!" exclaimed Madge. "We've +been afraid for you. Is he such a terrible man, this Black Caesar?" + +Nat sneered, then grinned malevolently. "Well, he's not exactly the +old-fashioned idea of a Sunday-school teacher," he answered. Of course +he could not tell the girl about Axelson's proposal. + + * * * * * + +The little group of prisoners stood on the upper deck of the black +ship and watched the Moon men scurrying about the landing-stage as she +hovered to her position. + +Axelson's father had not erred when he had called the tiny planet, +Eros, a heavenly paradise, for no other term could have described it. + +They were in an atmosphere so similar to that of Earth that they could +breathe with complete freedom, but there seemed to be a lightness and +a vigor in their limbs that indicated that the air was supercharged +with oxygen or ozone. The presence of this in large amounts was +indicated by the intense blueness of the sky, across which fleecy +clouds were drifting. + +And in that sky what looked like threescore moons were circling with +extraordinary swiftness. From thirty to forty full moons, of all +sizes, from that of a sun to that of a brilliant planet, and riding +black against the blue. + +The sun, hardly smaller than when seen from Earth, shone in the +zenith, and Earth and Mars hung in the east and north respectively, +each like a blood-red sun. + +The moons were some of the thousand other asteroids, weaving their +lacy patterns in and out among each other. But, stupendous as the +sight was, it was toward the terrestrial scene that the party turned +their eyes as the black ship settled. + +A sea of sapphire blue lapped sands of silver and broke into soft +lines of foam. To the water's edge extended a lawn of brightest green, +and behind this an arm of the sea extended into what looked like a +tropical forest. Most of the trees were palmlike, but towered to +immense heights, their foliage swaying in a gentle breeze. There were +apparently no elevations, and yet, so small was the little sphere that +the ascending curve gave the illusion of distant heights, while the +horizon, instead of seeming to rise, lay apparently perfectly flat, +producing an extraordinary feeling of insecurity. + +Near the water's edge a palatial mansion, built of hewn logs and of a +single story, stood in a garden of brilliant flowers. Nearer, beyond +the high landing-stage, were the great shipbuilding works, and near +them an immense and slightly concave mirror flashed back the light of +the sun. + +"The death ray!" whispered Brent to Nat. + +Axelson came up to the party as the ship settled down. "Welcome to +Eros," he said cordially. "My father told me that in some Earth tongue +that name meant 'love'." + + * * * * * + +Never, perhaps, was so strange a feast held as that with which Axelson +entertained his guests that day. Dwarfish Moon men passed viands and a +sort of palm wine in the great banquet-room, which singularly +resembled one of those early twentieth century interiors shown in +museums. Only the presence of a dozen of the aged guards, armed with +ray-rods, lent a grimness to the scene. + +Madge sat on Axelson's right, and Nat on his left. The girl's +lightheartedness had left her; her face grew strained as Axelson's +motives--which Nat had not dared disclose to her--disclosed themselves +in his manner. + +Once, when he laid his finger for a moment against her white throat, +she started, and for a moment it seemed as if the gathering storm must +break. + +For Nat had talked with his men, and all had agreed that they would +not turn traitor, though they intended to temporize as long as +possible, in the hope of catching the Black Caesar unawares. + +Then slowly a somber twilight began to fall, and Axelson rose. + +"Let us walk in the gardens during the reign of Erebos," he said. + +"Erebos?" asked Nat. + +"The black world that overshadows us each sleeping period," answered +Axelson. + +Nat knew what he meant. The dark companion of Eros revolves around it +every six hours; the day of Eros would therefore never be longer than +six hours, this without reckoning the revolution of Eros around the +sun. But owing to its small size, it was probable that it was bathed +in almost perpetual sunshine. + +The sweet scent of the flowers, much stronger than of any flowers on +earth, filled the air. They walked across the green lawn and entered a +jungle path, with bamboos and creeping plants on either side, and huge +palmlike trees. Behind them stalked the guards with their ray-rods. + +A lake of deepest black disclosed itself. Suddenly Madge uttered a +scream and clung to Nat. "Look, look!" she cried. "It's horrible!" + + * * * * * + +Suddenly Nat realized that the lake swarmed with monsters. They were +of crocodilian form, but twice the size of the largest crocodile, and +sprawled over one another in the shallows beside the margin. As the +party drew near, an enormous monster began waddling on its clawed feet +toward them. + +A mouth half the length of the creature opened, disclosing a purplish +tongue and hideous fangs. Madge screamed again. + +"Ah, so fear exists on Earth, too?" asked Axelson blandly. "That makes +my conquest sure. I suspected it, and yet I was not sure that science +had not conquered it. But there is no cause for fear. A magnetic field +protects us. See!" + +For the waddling monster suddenly stopped short as if brought up +sharply by the bars of a cage, and drew back. + +Axelson turned and wheezed in the Moon language--if the gibbering of +the dwarfs could be called speech--and one of the guards answered him. + +"These primitive dwellers on Eros I have preserved," said Axelson, "as +a means of discipline. The Moon animals are afraid of them. I keep a +supply of those who have transgressed my laws to feed them. See!" + +He turned and pointed. Two guards were bringing a gibbering, +screeching, struggling Moon man with them. Despite his strength, he +seemed incapable of making any resistance, but his whole body +quivered, and his hideous face was contorted with agony of terror. + +At a distance of some fifty feet they turned aside into a little +bypath through the jungle, reappearing close beside the Lake upon a +raised platform. And what happened next happened so swiftly that Nat +was unable to do anything to prevent it. + +The guards disappeared; the Moon man, as if propelled by some +invisible force, moved forward jerkily to the lake's edge. Instantly +one of the saurians had seized him in its jaws, and another had +wrenched half the body away, and the whole fighting, squirming mass +vanished in the depths. + +And from far away came the screeching chant of the Moon men, as if in +invocation to some hideous deity. + +And, moving perceptibly, the huge black orb of Eros's dark satellite +crept over the sky, completely covering it. + + * * * * * + +Axelson stepped forward to where Nat stood, supporting Madge in his +arms. The girl had fainted with horror at the scene. + +"Your answer Nathaniel Lee," he said softly. "I know you have been +postponing the decision. Now I will take the girl, and you shall give +me your answer. Will you and these men join me, or will you die as the +Moon man died?" He spoke wheezily, as if he, like Nat, had a cold. + +And he put his arm around Madge. + +Next moment something happened to him that had never happened in his +life before. The Black Caesar went down under a well-directed blow to +the jaw. + +He leaped to his feet trembling with fury and barked a command. +Instantly the old guards had hurled themselves forward. And behind +them a horde of Moon men came, ambling. + +While the guards covered their prisoners with their ray-rods, two Moon +men seized each of them, imprisoning him in their unbreakable grasp. + +Axelson pointed upward. "When the reign of Erebos is past," he said, +"you become food for the denizens of the lake, unless you have agreed +to serve me." + +And he raised Madge in his arms, laughing as the girl fought and +struggled to resist him. + +"Madge!" cried Nat, trying to run toward her. + +So furious were his struggles that for a moment he succeeded in +throwing off the Moon men's grasp. Then he was caught again, and, +fighting desperately, was borne off by the dwarfs through the shadows. + +They traversed the border of the lake until a small stone building +disclosed itself. Nat and the others were thrust inside into pitch +darkness. The door clanged; in vain they hurled themselves against it. +It was of wood, but it was as solid as the stone itself, and it did +not give an inch for all their struggles. + + * * * * * + +"Where is your Kommandant?" The whisper seemed in the stone hut +itself. "Your Nathaniel Lee. I must speak to him. I am the guard who +brought him to the Black Caesar on board the ship." + +"I'm here," said Nat. "Where are you?" + +"I am in the house of the ray. I am on guard there. I am speaking into +the telephone which runs only to where you are. You can speak anywhere +in the hut, and I shall hear you." + +"Well, what do you want?" asked Nat. + +"You love the Earth woman. I remember, when I was a boy, we used to +love. I had forgotten. There was a girl in Stamford.... Tell me, is it +true that this is the year 2044 and that the proletariat has not yet +triumphed?" + +"It's true," said Nat. "Those dreams are finished, We're proud of the +World Federation. Tell me about Madge Dawes--the Earth woman. Is she +safe?" + +"He has taken her to his house. I do not think she is harmed. He is +ill. He is closely guarded. There are rumors afoot. I do not know." + +"What do you want, then?" + +"If the Black Caesar dies will you take me back to Earth again? I long +so for the old Earth life. I will be your slave, if only I can set +foot on Earth before I die." + +"Can you rescue us?" Nat held his breath. + +"The Moon men are on guard." + +"They have no ray-guns and you have." + +"The penalty would be terrible. I should be thrown to the monsters." + +"Can you get us each a ray-gun? Will you risk it, to get back to +Earth?" asked Nat. + +A pause. Then, "My friend, I am coming." + +Nat heard Benson hissing in his ear, "If we can surprise them, we can +get possession of the black ship and return." + +"We must get Madge Dawes." + +"And smash the mirror," put in Brent. + +After that there was nothing to do but wait. + + * * * * * + +The door clicked open. An indistinct form stood in the entrance. It +was already growing light; the dark satellite that eclipsed Eros was +passing. + +"Hush! I have brought you ray-rods!" It was the old man with whom Nat +had spoken on the boat. Under his arm he held five metallic rods, +tipped with luminous glass. He handed one to each of the prisoners. +"Do you know how to use them?" he asked. + +Nat examined his. "It's an old-style rod that was used on earth fifty +years ago," he told his men. "I've seen them in museums. It came into +use in the Second World War of 1950 or thereabouts. You slip back the +safety catch and press this button, taking aim as one did with the +pistol. You fellows have seen pistols?" + +"My father had an old one," said the chief mate, Barnes. + +"How many times can they be fired without reloading?" Nat asked the +old guard. + +"Ten times; sometimes more; and they were all freshly loaded +yesterday." + +"Take us to where Axelson is." + +"First you must destroy the guards. I sent the one on duty here away +on some pretext. But the others may be here at any moment. Talk lower. +Are you going to kill them?" + +"We must," said Nat. + +The old fellow began to sob. "We were companions together. They seized +us and imprisoned us together, the capitalists, years ago. I thought +the proletariat would have won, and you say it is all different. I am +an old man, and life is sad and strange." + +"Listen. Is Axelson in the house?" demanded Nat. + +"He is in his secret room. I do not know the way. None of us has ever +entered it." + +"And Madge?" + +"She was with him. I do not know anything more." He sank down, +groaning, broken. + + * * * * * + +Nat pushed his way past him. It was fast growing light now. A ray of +sunshine shot from beneath the edge of the dark sphere overhead, which +still filled almost all the heavens. At that moment the hideous face +and squat body of one of the Moon men came into view at the end of +the path. The creature stopped, gibbering with surprise, and then +rushed forward, mewing like a cat. + +Nat aimed his ray-rod and pressed the button. The streak of light, not +quite aimed, in Nat's excitement, sheared off one side of the Moon +man's face. + +The creature rocked where it stood, raised its voice in a screech, and +rushed forward again, arms flailing. And this time Nat got home. The +streak passed right through the body of the monster, which collapsed +into a heap of calcined carbon. + +But its screech had brought the other dwarfs running to the scene. In +a moment the path was blocked by a score of the hideous monsters, +which, taking in what was happening, came forward in a yelling bunch. + +The ray-rods streaked their message of death into the thick of them. +Yet so fierce was the rush that some parts got home. Arms, legs, and +barrel chests, halves of men, covering the five with that impalpable +black powder into which their bodies were dissolving. Nat remembered +afterward the horror of a grinning face, apparently loose in the air, +and a flailing arm that lashed his chest. + +For fifteen seconds, perhaps, it was like struggling with some vampire +creatures in a hideous dream. And then, just when it seemed to Nat +that he was going mad, he found the path free, and the huddled +remnants of the Moon men piled up about him on every side. + +He emptied two more ray-shots into the writhing mass, and saw it cease +to quiver and then dissolve into the black powder. He turned and +looked at his companions. They, too, showed the horror of the strain +they had undergone. + +"We must kill the guards now," Nat panted. "And then find Madge and +save her." + +"We're with you," answered Brent, and together the five rushed into +the sunlight and the open. + + * * * * * + +There were no guards on duty at the entrance of the house, and the +door stood wide open. Nat rushed through the door at the head of his +men. A single guard was in the hall, but he only looked up as they +came in. And it was evident that he was in no condition to resist, for +he was in the grip of some terrible disease. + +His features were swollen so that they were hardly recognizable, and +hoarse, panting breaths came from his lungs. He was so far gone that +he hardly registered surprise at the advent of the five. + +"Where's Axelson?" demanded Nat. + +The guard pointed toward the end of the corridor, then let his arm +fall. Nat led his men along the half-dark passage. + +At the end of the corridor two more guards were on duty, but one was +collapsed upon the floor, apparently unconscious, and the other, +making a feeble attempt to draw his ray-rod, crumbled into ashes as +Brent fired. The five burst through the door. + +They found themselves in the banquet-hall. The remnants of the meal +were still upon the table, and three Moon men, looking as if they had +been poisoned, were writhing on the floor. At the farther end of the +hall was another door. + +This gave upon a central hall, with a door in each of its four sides, +and a blaze of sunlight coming through the crystal roof. The five +stopped, baffled. Then of a sudden Axelson's voice broke the +silence--his voice, yet changed almost beyond recognition, hoarse, +broken, and gasping: + +"Try the doors, Nathaniel Lee. Try each door in turn, and then go +back. And know that in an instant I can blast you to nothingness where +you stand!" + +And suddenly there came Madge's voice, "He can't! He can't, Nat. He's +dying, and he knows it. I won't let him, and he hasn't got the +strength to move." + +"Which door?" cried Nat in desperation. + +"None of the doors. They're a trick," came Madge's voice. "Go forward +and press the grooved panel upon the wall in front of you." + + * * * * * + +Nat stepped forward, found the panel, and pressed it. The wall swung +open, like two folded doors, revealing another room within, perfectly +circular. + +It contained a quantity of pieces of apparatus, some glowing with +light, some dark, and a radio transmitting set; it was evidently the +secret lair of the Black Caesar. And there he was, trapped at last by +the mortal illness that had overtaken him! + +He was lying upon the couch, his great form stretched out, his +features hideously swollen by the same disease that had attacked the +guards. + +Nat raised his ray-rod, but Axelson feebly put up his hand, and Nat +lowered the weapon. And, as the five gathered about the dying man, +again Nat felt that strange sense of pathos and pity for him. + +He had never known Earth life, and he was not to be measured by the +common standards applicable on Earth. + +"Don't fire, Nat," said Madge in a shaky voice. She was seated beside +Axelson, and--the wonder of it--she was sponging the foam from his +lips and moistening his forehead. She raised a crystal that contained +some fluid to his lips, and he drained it greedily. + +"So--Earth wins, Nathaniel Lee," whispered Axelson hoarsely. "I am +dying. I know it. It is the same dreaded disease that came to the Moon +at the time of my father's landing there. Three-fourths of the Moon +animals died. It is mortal. The lungs burn away. + +"My father told me that on Earth it is not mortal. He called it +'cold'--but I am burning hot." + +Then only did Nat understand, and the irony of it made him catch his +breath and grit his teeth to check his hysterical laughter. The Black +Caesar, the terror of Earth, was dying of a common cold which he +himself had given him. + +The coryza germ, almost harmless on Earth, among a population +habituated to it for countless generations, had assumed the potency of +a plague here, where no colds had ever been known--among the Moon men, +and even among the guards, after their lifetime in the germless +climate of Eros. + +"I've failed, Nathaniel Lee," came the Black Caesar's voice. "And yet +that hardly troubles me. There is something more that I do not +understand. She is a creature like ourselves--with will and reason. +She is not like the Moon women. She told me that she did not wish to +be queen of the Earth because she did not love me. I do not +understand. And so--I am glad to go." + + * * * * * + +A gasp came from Axelson's throat as he raised his head and tried to +speak, but the death-rattle was already in his throat. A slight +struggle, and the massive form upon the couch was nothing but +inanimate clay. + +Madge rose from beside him, and the tears were streaming down her +face. + +"He wasn't a bad man, Nat," she said. "He was--gentle with me. He +didn't understand; that was all. When I refused to be his queen, he +was overcome with bewilderment. Oh, Nat, I can never, never write this +story for the Universal News Syndicate." + +Nat led her, sobbing, from the room. + +Soon he succeeded in getting into teleradio communication with Earth. +He broadcast the news that the Black Caesar was dead, and that his +power for evil was at an end forever. + +Then, in the few hours of daylight that remained, he set his men to +work to smash the ray outfit that had destroyed China. There was some +principle involved which he did not altogether understand, though +Brent professed to have a clue to it, but it was evident that, except +for the ray, Axelson had possessed no knowledge superior to that of +the Earth scientists. + +Of the guards, a few were already recovering, principally those of +comparatively younger age. Not a Moon man, on the other hand, had +survived the epidemic. As soon as Nat had got the guards out of the +house, he reduced it to ashes by the aid of an old-fashioned box of +phosphoric matches. + +As the dark satellite was again creeping over Eros, the black ship set +sail. + + * * * * * + +But of the return journey to the Moon, where they transferred to their +own ship, of their landing at New York, and of the triumphal reception +that was accorded them, this is no place to speak. Nat's journey with +Madge from the center of the city, in what was the old Borough of +Westchester, to his home in the suburb of Hartford, was a continual +ovation. + +Crowds lined the air-route, and every few miles, so thick was the +air-traffic, he was forced to hover and address the cheering +multitudes. Hartford itself was _en fete_, and across the main road +the City Bosses had hung an old-fashioned banner, strung from house to +house on either side, bearing the legend: For World President: +NATHANIEL LEE! + +Nat turned to Madge, who was seated beside him silently. "Ever hear of +'getting married?'" he asked. + +"Of course I've heard of it," replied the girl indignantly. "Do you +think I'm as dumb as that, Nat Lee? Why, those old-fashioned novels +are part of the public schools' curriculum." + +"Pity those days can't come back. You ought to be a World +Presidentess, you know," said Nat. "I was thinking, if we registered +as companionates, I could take you into the White House, and you'd +have a swell time there taking X-rays on visiting days." + +"Well," answered Madge slowly. "I never thought of that. It might be +worth trying out." + + + + +The Second Satellite + +_By Edmond Hamilton_ + +[Illustration: _The city of the frog-men!_] + +[Sidenote: Earth-men war on frog-vampires for the emancipation of the +human cows of Earth's second satellite.] + + +Norman and Hackett, bulky in their thick flying suits, seemed to fill +the little office. Across the room Harding, the field superintendent, +contemplated them. Two planes were curving up into the dawn together +from the field outside, their motors thunderous as they roared over +the building. When their clamor had receded, Harding spoke: + +"I don't know which of you two is crazier," he said. "You, Norman, to +propose a fool trip like this, or you, Hackett, to go with him." + +Hackett grinned, but the long, lean face of Norman was earnest. "No +doubt it all sounds a little insane," he said, "but I'm convinced I'm +right." + +The field superintendent shook his head. "Norman, you ought to be +writing fiction instead of flying. A second satellite--and Fellows and +the others on it--what the devil!" + +"What other theory can account for their disappearance?" asked Norman +calmly. "You know that since the new X-type planes were introduced, +hundreds of fliers all over Earth have been trying for altitude +records in them. Twenty-five miles--thirty--thirty-five--the records +have been broken every day. But out of the hundreds of fliers who +have gone up to those immense heights, four have never come down nor +been seen again! + +"One vanished over northern Sweden, one over Australia, one over Lower +California, and one, Fellows, himself, right here over Long Island. +You saw the globe on which I marked those four spots, and you saw that +when connected they formed a perfect circle around the Earth. The only +explanation is that the four fliers when they reached a forty-mile +height were caught up by some body moving round Earth in that circular +orbit, some unknown moon circling Earth inside its atmosphere, a +second satellite of Earth's whose existence has until now never been +suspected!" + + * * * * * + +Harding shook his head again. "Norman, your theory would be all right +if it were not for the cold fact that no such satellite has ever been +glimpsed." + +"Can you glimpse a bullet passing you?" Norman retorted. "The two +fliers at Sweden and Lower California vanished within three hours of +each other, on opposite sides of the Earth. That means that this +second satellite, as I've computed, circles Earth once every six +hours, and travelling at that terrific speed it is no more visible to +us of Earth than a rifle bullet would be." + +"Moving through Earth's atmosphere at such speed, indeed, one would +expect it to burn up by its own friction with the air. But it does +not, because its own gravitational power would draw to itself enough +air to make a dense little atmosphere for itself that would cling to +it and shield it as it speeds through Earth's upper air. No, I'm +certain that this second satellite exists, Harding, and I'm as certain +that it's responsible for the vanishing of those four fliers." + +"And now you and Hackett have figured when it will be passing over +here and are going up in an X-type yourselves to look for it," +Harding said musingly. + +"Look for it?" echoed Hackett. "We're not going to climb forty miles +just to get a look at the damn thing--we're going to try landing on +it!" + +"You're crazy sure!" the field superintendent exploded. "If Fellows +and those others got caught by the thing and never came down again, +why in the name of all that's holy would you two want--" He stopped +suddenly. "Oh, I think I see," he said, awkwardly. "Fellows was rather +a buddy of you two, wasn't he?" + +"The best that ever flew a crippled Nieuport against three Fokkers to +pull us out of a hole," said Norman softly. "Weeks he's been gone, and +if it had been Hackett and I he'd be all over the sky looking for +us--the damned lunatic. Well, we're not going to let him down." + +"I see," Harding repeated. Then--"Well, here comes your mechanic, +Norman, so your ship must be ready. I'll go with you. It's an event to +see two Columbuses starting for another world." + + * * * * * + +The gray dawn-light over the flying field was flushing to faint rose +as the three strode out to where the long X-type stood, its strangely +curved wings, enclosed cabin and flat, fan-like tail gleaming dully. +Its motor was already roaring with power and the plane's stubby wheels +strained against the chocks. In their great suits Norman and Hackett +were like two immense ape-figures in the uncertain light, to the eyes +of those about them. + +"Well, all the luck," Harding told them. "You know I'm pulling for +you, but--I suppose it's useless to say anything about being careful." + +"I seem to have heard the words," Hackett grinned, as he and Norman +shook the field superintendent's hand. + +"It's all the craziest chance," Norman told the other. "And if we +don't come down in a reasonable time--well, you'll know that our +theory was right, and you can broadcast it or not as you please." + +"I hope for your sake that you're dead wrong," smiled the official. +"I've told you two to get off the Earth a lot of times, but I never +meant it seriously." + +Harding stepped back as the two clambered laboriously into the cramped +cabin. Norman took the controls, the door slammed, and as the chocks +were jerked back and the motor roared louder the long plane curved up +at a dizzy angle from the field into the dawn. Hackett waved a thick +arm down toward the diminishing figures on the field below; then +turned from the window to peer ahead with his companion. + +The plane flew in a narrow ascending spiral upward, at an angle that +would have been impossible to any ship save an X-type. Norman's eyes +roved steadily over the instrument as they rose, his ears +unconsciously alert for each explosion of the motor. Earth receded +swiftly into a great gray concave surface as they climbed higher and +higher. + +By the time the five-mile height was reached Earth's surface had +changed definitely from concave to convex. The plane was ascending by +then in a somewhat wider spiral, but its climb was as steady and sure +as ever. Frost begin to form quickly on the cabin's windows, creeping +out from the edges. Norman spoke a word over the motor's muffled +thunder, and Hackett snicked on the electrical radiators. The frost +crept back as their warm, clean heat flooded the cabin. + +Ten miles--fifteen--they had reached already altitudes impossible but +a few years before, though it was nothing to the X-types. As they +passed the ten-mile mark, Hackett set the compact oxygen-generator +going. A clean, tangy odor filled the cabin as it began functioning. +Twenty miles--twenty-two-- + + * * * * * + +After a time Norman pointed mutely to the clock on the instrument +board, and Hackett nodded. They were well within their time schedule, +having calculated to reach the forty-mile height at ten, the hour +when, by its computed orbit, the second satellite should be passing +overhead. "--26--27--28--" Hackett muttered the altimeter figures to +himself as the needle crept over them. + +Glancing obliquely down through the window he saw that Earth was now a +huge gray ball beneath them, white cloud-oceans obscuring the drab +details of its surface here and there. "--31--32--" The plane was +climbing more slowly, and at a lesser angle. Even the X-type had to +struggle to rise in the attenuated air now about them. Only the +super-light, super-powered plane could ever have reached the terrific +height. + +It was at the thirty-four mile level that the real battle for altitude +began. Norman kept the plane curving steadily upward, handling it with +surpassing skill in the rarefied air. Frost was on its windows now +despite the heating mechanism. Slowly the altimeter needle crept to +the forty mark. Norman kept the ship circling, its wings tilted +slightly, but not climbing, Earth a great gray misty ball beneath. + +"Can't keep this height long," he jerked. "If our second satellite +doesn't show up in minutes we've had a trip for nothing." + +"All seems mighty different up here," was Hackett's shouted comment. +"Easy enough to talk down there about hopping onto the thing, but up +here--hell, there's nothing but air and mighty little of that!" + +Norman grinned. "There'll be more. If I'm right about this thing we +won't need to hop it--its own atmosphere will pick us up." + +Both looked anxious as the motor sputtered briefly. But in a moment it +was again roaring steadily. Norman shook his head. + +"Maybe a fool's errand after all. No--I'm still sure we're right! But +it seems that we don't prove it this time." + +"Going down?" asked Hackett. + +"We'll have to, in minutes. Even with its own air-feed the motor can't +stand this height for--" + + * * * * * + +Norman never finished the words. There was a sound, a keen rising, +rushing sound of immense power that reached their ears over the +motor's roar. Then in an instant the universe seemed to go mad about +them: they saw the gray ball of Earth and the sun above skyrocketing +around them as the plane whirled madly. + +The rushing sound was in that moment thunderous, terrible, and as +winds smashed and rocked the plane like giant hands, Hackett glimpsed +another sphere that was not the sphere of Earth, a greenish globe that +expanded with lightning speed in the firmament beside their spinning +plane! The winds stilled; the green globe changed abruptly to a +landscape of green land and sea toward which the plane was falling! +Norman was fighting the controls--land and sea were gyrating up to +them with dizzy speed--crash! + +With that cracking crash the plane was motionless. Sunlight poured +through its windows, and great green growths were all around it. +Hackett, despite Norman's warning cry, forced the door open and was +bursting outside, Norman after him. They staggered and fell, with +curious lightness and slowness, on the ground outside, then clutched +the plane for support and gazed stupefiedly around them. + +The plane had crashed down into a thicket of giant green reeds that +rose a yard over their heads, its pancake landing having apparently +not damaged it. The ground beneath their feet was soft and soggy, the +air warm and balmy, and the giant reeds hid all the surrounding +landscape from view. + +In the sky the sun burned near one horizon with unusual brilliance. +But it was dwarfed, in size, by the huge gray circle that filled half +the heavens overhead. A giant gray sphere it was, screened here and +there by floating white mists and clouds, that had yet plain on it +the outlines of dark continents and gleaming seas. A quaking +realization held the two as they stared up at it. + + * * * * * + +"Earth!" Norman was babbling. "It's Earth, Hackett--above us; my God, +I can't believe even yet that we've done it!" + +"Then we're on--the satellite--the second satellite!--" Hackett fought +for reality. "Those winds that caught us--" + +"They were the atmosphere of this world, of the second satellite! They +caught us and carried us on inside this smaller world's atmosphere, +Hackett. We're moving with it around Earth at terrific speed now!" + +"The second satellite, and we on it!" Hackett whispered, +incredulously. "But these reeds--it can't all be like this--" + +They stepped together away from the plane. The effort sent each of +them sailing upward in a great, slow leap, to float down more than a +score of feet from the plane. But unheeding in their eagerness this +strange effect of the satellite's lesser gravitational power, they +moved on, each step a giant, clumsy leap. Four such steps took them +out of the towering reeds onto clear ground. + +It was a gentle, grassy slope they were on, stretching away along a +gray-green sea that extended out to the astoundingly near horizon on +their right. To the left it rose into low hills covered with dense +masses of green junglelike vegetation. Hackett and Norman, though, +gazed neither at sea or hills for the moment, but at the half-score +grotesque figures who had turned toward them as they emerged from the +reeds. A sick sense of the unreal held them as they gazed, frozen with +horror. For the great figures returning their gaze a few yards from +them were--frog-men! + + * * * * * + +Frog-men! Great mottled green shapes seven to eight feet in height, +with bowed, powerful legs and arms that ended in webbed paws. The +heads were bulbous ones in which wide, unwinking frog-eyes were set at +the sides, the mouths white-lipped and white-lined. Three of the +creatures held each a black metal tube-and-handle oddly like a +target-pistol. + +"Norman!" Hackett's voice was a crescendo of horror. "_Norman!_" + +"Back to the plane!" Norman cried thickly. "The plane--" + +The two staggered back, but the frog-men, recovering from their own +first surprise, were running forward with great hopping steps! The two +fliers flung themselves back in a floating leap toward the reeds, but +the green monsters were quick after them. A croaking cry came from one +and as another raised his tube-and-handle, something flicked from it +that burst close beside Norman. There was no sound or light as it +burst, but the reeds for a few feet around it vanished! + + * * * * * + +A hoarse cry from Hackett--the creatures had reached him, grasped him +at the edge of the reeds! Norman swerved in his floating leap to +strike the struggling flier and frog-men. The scene whirled around him +as he fought them, great paws reaching for him. With a sick, frantic +rage he felt his clenched fist drive against cold, green, billowy +bodies. Croaking cries sounded in his ears; then, Hackett and he were +jerked to their feet, held tightly by four of the creatures. + +"My God, Norman," panted Hackett, helpless. "What are +they--frog-things?--" + +"Steady, Hackett. They're the people of the second satellite, it +seems; wait!" + +One of the armed frog-men approached and inspected them, and then +croaked an order in a deep voice. Then, still holding the two tightly, +the party of monsters began to move along the slope, skirting the +sea's edge. In a few minutes they reached two curious objects resting +on the slope. They seemed long black metal boats, slender and with +sharp prow and stern. A compact mechanism and control-board filled +the prow, while at the stern and sides were long tubes mounted on +swivels like machine-guns. + +The frog-men motioned Norman and Hackett into one, fastening the two +prisoners and themselves into their seats with metal straps provided +for the purpose. Four had entered the one boat, the others that of the +captives. One at the prow moved his paws over the control-board and +with a purring of power the boat, followed by the other, rose smoothly +into the air. It headed out over the gray-green sea, land dropping +quickly from sight behind, the horizons water-bounded on all sides. +From their nearness Norman guessed that this second satellite of +Earth's was small indeed beside its mother planet. He had to look up +to earth's great gray sphere overhead to attain a sense of reality. + +Hackett was whispering beside him, the frog-men watchful. "Norman, it's +not real--it can't be real! These things--these boats--intelligent like +men--" + +The other sought to steady him. "It's a different world, Hackett. +Gravitation different, light different, everything different, and +evolution here has had a different course. On Earth men evolved to be +the most intelligent life-forms, but here the frog-races, it seems." + +"But where are they taking us? Could we ever find the plane again?" + +"God knows. If we ever get away from these things we might. And we've +got to find Fellows, too; I wonder where he is on this world." + + * * * * * + +For many minutes the two boats raced on at great speed over the +endless waters before the watery skyline was broken far ahead by +something dark and unmoving. Hackett and Norman peered with intense +interest toward it. It seemed at first a giant squat mountain rising +from the sea, but as they shot nearer they saw that its outline was +too regular, and that colossal as it was in size it was the work of +intelligence. They gasped as they came nearer and got a better view of +it. + +For it was a gigantic dome of black metal rising sheer from the lonely +sea, ten miles if anything in diameter, a third that in greatest +height. There was no gate or window or opening of any kind in it. Just +the colossal, smooth black dome rearing from the watery plain. Yet the +two boats were flashing lower toward it. + +"They can't be going inside!" Hackett conjectured. "There's no way in +and what could be in there? The whole thing's mad--" + +"There's some way," Norman said. "They're slowing--" + +The flying-boats were indeed slowing as they dipped lower. They were +very near the dome now, its curving wall a looming, sky-high barrier +before them. Suddenly the boats dipped sharply downward toward the +green sea. Before the two fliers could comprehend their purpose, could +do aught more than draw instinctive great breaths in preparation, the +two craft had shot down into the waters and were arrowing down through +the green depths. + +Blinded, flung against his metal strap by the resistance of the waters +they ripped through, Norman yet retained enough of consciousness to +glimpse beams of light that stabbed ahead from the prows of their +rushing boats, to see vaguely strange creatures of the deep blundering +in and out of those beams as the boats hurtled forward. The water that +forced its way between his lips was fresh, he was vaguely aware, and +even as he fought to hold his breath was aware too that the frog-men +seemed in no way incommoded by the sudden transition into the water, +their amphibian nature allowing them to stay under it far longer than +any human could do. + +The boats ripped through the waters at terrific speed and in a few +seconds there loomed before them the giant metal wall of the great +dome, going down into the depths here. Norman glimpsed vaguely that +the whole colossal dome rested on a vast pedestal-like mountain of +rock that rose from the sea's floor almost to the surface. Then a +great round opening in the wall; the boats flashed into it and were +hurtling along a water-filled tunnel. Norman felt his lungs near +bursting--when the tunnel turned sharply upward and the boats whizzed +up and abruptly out of the water-tunnel into air! + + * * * * * + +But it was not the open air again. They were beneath the gigantic +dome! For as Norman and Hackett breathed deep, awe fell on their faces +as they took in the scene. Far overhead stretched the dome's +colossally curving roof, and far out on all sides. It was lit beneath +that roof by a clear light that the two would have sworn was sunlight. +The dome was in effect the roof of a gigantic, illuminated building, +and upon its floor there stretched a mighty city. + +The city of the frog-men! Their boats were rising up over it and +Norman and Hackett saw it clear. Square mile upon square mile of +structures stretched beneath the dome, black buildings often of +immense size, varying in shape, but all of square, rectangular +proportions. Between them moved countless frog-hordes, swirling +throngs in streets and squares, and over the roofs darted thick swarms +of flying-boats. And at the city's center, in a great, circular, clear +space, lay a wide, round, green pool--the opening of the water-tunnel +up through which they had come. + +Norman pointed down toward it. "That's your answer!" he cried. "The +only entrance to this frog-city is from the sea, up through that +water-tunnel!" + +"Good God, an amphibian city!" Hackett was shaken, white-faced. + +The two boats were driving quickly over the city, through the swarming +craft. Norman glimpsed towering buildings that might have been +palaces, temples, laboratories. They slowed and dipped toward one +block-like building not far from the water-tunnel's opening. Armed +frog-guards were on its roof, and other boats rested there. The two +came to rest and the two captives were jerked out, the guards seizing +them. + +Half-dragged and half-floating they were led toward an opening in the +roof from which a stair led downward. They passed down thus into the +building's interior, lit by many windows. Norman glimpsed long halls +ending in barred doors, guards here and there. Tube-lines ran along +the walls and somewhere machines were throbbing dully. They came at +last to a barred door whose guard opened it at the croaking order of +the frog-men who held the two, and they were thrust inside, as the +door clanged. They turned, and exclaimed in amazement. The room held +fully a half-hundred men! + +They were men such as the two fliers had never seen before, like +humans except that their skins were a light green instead of the +normal white and pink. They were dressed in dark short tunics, and +kept talking to each other in a tongue quite unintelligible to Norman +and Hackett. They came closer, flocking curiously around the two men, +with a babel of voices quite meaningless to the two. Then one of the +men uttered an exclamation, and all turned. + + * * * * * + +The barred door had swung open and a half-dozen frog-guards entered, +followed by two frog-men carrying a square little mechanism from which +tubing led back out through the door. + +"Norman--these men--" Hackett was whispering rapidly. "If there are +men in this world too, it may be that--" + +"Quiet, Hackett--look at what they're doing." + +The two frog-men had set their mechanism in place and then croaked out +a brief word or order. Slowly, reluctantly, one of the green men moved +toward them. Quickly they removed a metal disk fastened to his arm, +exposing a small orifice like an unhealed wound. Onto this they +fastened a suckerlike object from which a transparent tube led back +through the mechanism. The machine hummed and at once a red stream +pulsed through the tube and back through the mechanism. The man to +whom it was attached was growing rapidly pale! + +Norman, sick with horror, clutched his companion. "Hackett--these +frog-men are sucking his blood from him!" + +"Good God! And look--they're doing it with another!" + +"All of these men--kept prisoners to furnish them with blood. It must +be the damned creatures' food! And we here with the others--" + +A common horror shook the two. It did not seem to affect the green men +in the room, though, who advanced to the mechanism one by one with a +reluctant air as of cows unwilling to be milked. Each was attached to +the mechanism by the sucking disk on his arm, and out of each the +blood poured through the tube. The metal disk was replaced on his arm +then and he went back to the others. Norman saw that the frog-men took +only from each an amount of blood that they could lose and yet live, +since, though each came back pale and weak from the mechanism, they +were able to walk. + +"It must be their food--human blood!" Norman repeated. "They may have +thousands on thousands of humans penned up like this, like so many +herds of cows, and perhaps they live entirely on the life-blood they +milk from them. Human cows--God!" + +"Norman--look--they're calling to us!" + + * * * * * + +The two stiffened. All the others in the room had taken their turn at +the blood-sucking mechanism and now the frog-men croaked their order +to the two fliers. They had forgotten their own predicament in the +horror of the scene, but now it became real to them. They backed +against the room's wall, quivering, dangerous. + +The frog-guards came forward to drag them to the machine. A webbed paw +was outstretched but Hackett with a wild blow drove the frog-man back +and downward. The frog-guards leaped, and Norman and Hackett struck +them back with all the greater strength the lesser gravitation gave +them. The room was in an uproar, the green men shouting hoarsely and +seeming on the point of rushing to their aid. + +But the menacing force-pistols of the other frog-guards held back the +shouting men and in moments the two fliers were overpowered by sheer +weight of frog-bodies. Norman felt himself dragged to the machine. + +Pain needled his upper arm as an incision was made. He felt the +sucking-disk attached; then the machine hummed, and a sickening nausea +swept him as the blood drained from his body. Held tightly by the +guards he went dizzy, weak, but at last felt the sucker removed and a +metal disk fastened over the incision. He was jerked aside and +Hackett, his face deathly white, was dragged into his place. In a +moment some of the latter's blood had been pumped from him also. + +The machine was withdrawn, Norman and Hackett were released, and the +frog-men, with their black force-pistols watchfully raised, withdrew, +the door clanging. The room settled back to quietness, the green men +stretching in lassitude on the metal bunks around it. The two fliers +crouched down near the door, shuddering nausea and weakness still +holding them. + +Norman found that Hackett was laughing weakly. "To think that +twenty-four hours ago I was in New York," he half-laughed, +half-sobbed. "On Earth--Earth--" + +The other gripped his arm. "It's horrible, Hackett, I know. But it +isn't instant death, and we've still a chance to escape. Hell, can +damn frog-men keep us here? Where's your nerve, man?" + +A voice beside them made them turn in amazement. "You are men from +Earth?" it asked, in queerly accented English. "From Earth?" + + * * * * * + +Astonishment held them as they saw who spoke. It was one of the green +men in the room, who had settled down by their side. A tall figure +with superb muscles and frank, clean countenance, his dark eyes afire +with eagerness. + +"English?" Norman exclaimed. "You know English--you understand me?" + +The other showed his teeth in a smile. "I know, yes. I'm Sarja, and I +learned to speak it from Fallas, in my city, before the Ralas caught +me." + +"Fallas--" Norman repeated, puzzled; then suddenly he flamed. "By God, +he means Fellows!" + +"Fallas, yes," said the other. "From the sky he fell into our city in +a strange flying-boat that was smashed. He was hurt but we cared for +him, and he taught me his speech, which I heard you talking now." + +"Then Fellows is in your city now?" asked Hackett eagerly. "Where is +that?" + +"Across this sea--back in the hills," the other waved. "It is far from +the sea but I was rash one day and came too near the water in my +flying-boat. The Ralas were out raiding and they saw me, caught me, +and brought me here. No escape now, until I die." + +"The Ralas--you mean these frog-men?" Norman asked. + +Sarja nodded. "Of course. They are the tyrants and oppressors of this +world. Our little world is but a tenth or less the size of your great +Earth which it circles, but it has its lands and rivers, and this one +great fresh-water sea into which the latter empty. In this sea long +ago developed the Ralas, the great frog-men who acquired such +intelligence and arts that they became lords of this world. + +"Through the centuries, while on the land our races of green men have +been struggling upward, the Ralas have oppressed them. Long ago the +Ralas left all their other cities to build this one great amphibian +city at the sea's center. Entrance to it is only by the water-tunnel +from without, and being frog-people entrance thus is easy for them +since they can move for many minutes under water, though they drown +like any other breathing animal if kept under too long. Humans dare +not try to enter it thus by the water-tunnel, since, before they could +find it and make their way up through it, they would have drowned. + + * * * * * + +"So the Ralas have ruled from this impregnable amphibian city. Its +colossal metal dome is invulnerable to ordinary attack, and though +solid and without openings it is always as light beneath the dome here +as outside, since the Ralas' scientists contrived light-condensers and +conductors that catch light outside and bring it in to release inside. +So when it is day outside the sunlight is as bright here, and when +night comes the Earth-light shines here the same as without. + +"From this city their raiding parties have gone out endlessly to swoop +down on the cities of us green men. Since we learned to make +flying-boats like theirs, with molecular-motors, and to make the guns +like theirs that fire shells filled with annihilating force, we have +resisted them stoutly but their raids have not ceased. And always they +have brought their prisoners back in to this, their city. + +"Tens of thousands of green men they have prisoned here like us, for +the sole purpose of supplying them with blood. For the Ralas live on +this blood alone, changing it chemically to fit their own bodies and +then taking it into their bodies. It eliminates all necessity for food +here for them. Every few days they drain blood from us, and since we +are well fed and cared for to keep us good blood-producers, we will be +here for a long time before we die." + +"But haven't you made any attempt to get out of here--to escape?" +Norman asked. + +Sarja smiled. "Who could escape the city of the Ralas? In all recorded +history it has never been done, for even if by some miracle you got a +flying-boat, the opening of the water-tunnel that leads outward is +guarded always." + +"Guards or no guards, we're going to try it and not sit here to +furnish blood for the Ralas," Norman declared. "Are you willing to +help, to try to get to Fellows and your city?" + +The green man considered. "It is hopeless," he said, "but as well to +die beneath the force-shells of the Ralas as live out a lifetime here. +Yes, I will help, though I cannot see how you expect to escape even +from this room." + +"I think we can manage that," Norman told him. "But first--not a word +to these others. We can't hope to escape with them all, and there is +no knowing what one might not betray us to the frog-men." + +He went on then to outline to the other two the idea that had come to +him. Both exclaimed at the simpleness of the idea, though Sarja +remained somewhat doubtful. While Hackett slept, weak still from his +loss of blood, Norman had the green man scratch on the metal floor as +well as possible a crude map of the satellite's surface, and found +that the city, where Fellows was, seemed some hundreds of miles back +from the sea. + + * * * * * + +While they talked, the sunlight, apparently sourceless, that came +through the heavily barred windows of the room faded rapidly, and dusk +settled over the great amphibian city beneath the giant dome, kept +from total darkness by a silvery pervading light that Norman reflected +must be the light from Earth's great sphere. With the dusk's coming +the activities in the frog-city lessened greatly. + +With dusk, too, frog-guards entered the room bearing long metal +troughs filled with a red jellylike substance, that they placed on +racks along the wall. As the guards withdrew the men in the room +rushed toward the troughs, elbowing each other aside and striking +each other to scoop up and eat as much of the red jelly as possible. +It was for all the world like the feeding of farm-animals, and Hackett +and Norman so sickened at the sight that they had no heart to try the +food. Sarja, though, had no such scruples and seemed to make a hearty +meal at one of the troughs. + +After the meal the green men sought the bunks and soon were stretched +in sonorous slumber. It was, Norman reflected, exactly the existence +of domesticated animals--to eat and sleep and give food to their +masters. A deeper horror of the frog-men shook him, and a deeper +determination to escape them. He waited until all in the room were +sleeping before beckoning to Sarja and Hackett. + +"Quiet now," he whispered to them. "If these others wake they'll make +such a clamor we won't have a chance in the world. Ready, Sarja?" + +The green man nodded. "Yes, though I still think such a thing's +impossible." + +"Probably is," Norman admitted. "But it's the one chance we've got, +the immensely greater strength of our Earth-muscle that the frog-men +must have forgotten when they put us in here." + +They moved silently to the room's great barred door, outside which a +frog-guard paced. They waited until he had passed the door and on down +the hall, then Norman and Hackett and Sarja grasped together one of +the door's vertical bars. It was an inch and a half in thickness, of +solid metal, and it seemed ridiculous that any men could bend it by +the sheer strength of their muscles. + +Norman, though, was relying on the fact that on the second satellite, +with its far lesser gravitational influence, their Earth-muscles gave +them enormous strength. He grasped the bar, Hackett and Sarja gripping +it below him, and then at a whispered word they pulled with all their +force. The bar resisted and again, with sweat starting on their +foreheads, they pulled. It gave a little. + + * * * * * + +They shrank back from it as the guard returned, moving past. Then +grasping the bar again they bent all their force once more upon it. +Each effort saw it bending more, the opening in the door's bars +widening. They gave a final great wrench and the bent bar squealed a +little. They shrank back, appalled, but the guard had not heard or +noticed. He moved past it on his return along the hall, and no sooner +was past it than Norman squeezed through the opening and leaped +silently for the great frog-man's back. + +It went down with a wild flurry of waving webbed paws and croaking +cries, stilled almost instantly by Norman's terrific blows. There was +silence then as Hackett and Sarja squeezed out after him, the +momentary clamor of the battle having aroused no one. + +The three leaped together toward the stairs. In two great floating +leaps they were on the floor above, Hackett and Norman dragging Sarja +between them. They were not seen, were sailing in giant steps up +another stair, hopes rising high. The last stair--the roof-opening +above; and then from beneath a great croaking cry swelled instantly +into chorus of a alarmed shouts. + +"They've found the door--the guard!" panted Hackett. + +They were bursting out onto the roof. Frog-guards were on it who came +in a hopping rush toward them, force-pistols raised. But a giant leap +took Hackett among them, to amaze them for a moment with great +flailing blows. Sarja had leaped for the nearest flying-boat resting +on the roof, and was calling in a frantic voice to Norman and Hackett. +Norman was turning toward Hackett, the center of a wild combat, but +the latter emerged from it for a brief second to motion him +frantically back. + +"No use, Norman--get away--get away!" he cried hoarsely, frenziedly. + +"Hackett--for God's sake--!" Norman half-leaped to the other, but an +arm caught him, pulled him desperately onto the boat's surface. It was +Sarja, the long craft flying over the roof beneath his control. + +"They come!" he panted. "Too late now--" Frog-men were pouring up onto +the roof from below. Sarja sent the craft rocketing upward, as Hackett +gestured them away for a last frantic time before going down beneath +the frog-men's onslaught. + + * * * * * + +The roof and the combat on it dropped back and beneath them like a +stone as their craft ripped across the silvery dusk over the mighty +frog-city. They were shooting toward the city's center, toward the +green pool that was the entrance to the water-tunnel, while behind and +beneath an increasing clamor of alarm spread swiftly. Norman raged +futilely. + +"Hackett--Hackett! We can't leave him--" + +"Too late!" Sarja cried. "We cannot help him but only be captured +again. We escape now and come back--come back--" + +The truth of it pierced Norman's brain even in the wild moment. +Hackett had fought and held back the frog-guards only that they might +escape. He shouted suddenly. + +"Sarja--the water-tunnel!" A half-dozen boats with frog-guards on them +were rising round it in answer to the alarm! + +"The force-gun!" cried the green man. "Beside you--!" + +Norman whirled, glimpsed the long tube on its swivel beside him, +trained it on the boats rising ahead as they rocketed nearer. He +fumbled frantically at a catch at the gun's rear, then felt a stream +of shells flicking out of it. Two of the boats ahead vanished as the +shells released their annihilating force, another sagged and fell. +From the remaining three invisible force-shells flicked around them, +but in an instant Sarja had whirled the boat through them and down +into the water-tunnel! + +Norman clung desperately to his seat as the boat flashed down through +the waters, and then, as Sarja sent it flying out through the great +tunnel's waters, glimpsed, close behind, the beams of the three Rala +boats as they pursued them through the tunnel, overtaking them. Could +the force-shells be fired under water? Norman did not know, but +desperately he swung the force-gun back as they rushed through the +waters, and pressed the catch. An instant later beams and boats behind +them in the tunnel vanished. + +His lungs were afire; it seemed that he must open them to the +strangling water. The boat was ripping the waters at such tremendous +speed that he felt himself being torn from his hold on it. Pain seemed +poured like molten metal through his chest--he could hold out no +longer; and then the boat stabbed up from the waters into clear air! + + * * * * * + +Norman panted, sobbed. Behind them rose the colossal metal dome of the +frog-city, gleaming dully in the silvery light that flooded the +far-stretching seas. That light poured down from a stupendous silver +crescent in the night skies. Norman saw dully the dark outlines on it +before he remembered. Earth! He laughed a little hysterically. Sarja +was driving the flying-boat out over the sea and away from the +frog-city at enormous speed. At last he glanced back. Far behind them +lay the great dome and up around it gleaming lights were pouring, +lights of pursuing Rala boats. + +"We escape," Sarja cried, "the city of the Ralas, from which none ever +before escaped!" + +Remembrance smote Norman. "Hackett! Held off those frog-men so we +could get away--we'll come back for him, by God!" + +"We come back!" said Sarja. "We come back with all the green men of +this world to the Ralas' city, yes! I know what Fallas has planned." + +"Can you find your way to him--to your city?" Norman asked. + +Sarja nodded, looking upward. "Before the next sun has come and gone +we can reach it." + +The boat flew onward, and the great dome and the searching lights +around it dropped beneath the horizon. Norman felt the warm wind +drying his drenched garments as they rushed onward. Crouched on the +boat he gazed up toward the silver crescent of Earth sinking toward +the horizon ahead. That meant, he told himself, that the satellite +turned slowly on its axis as it whirled around Earth. It came to him +that its night and day periods must be highly irregular. + +When the sun climbed from the waters behind them they were flying +still over a boundless waste of waters, but soon they sighted on the +horizon ahead the thin green line of land. Sarja slowed as they +reached it, took his bearings, and sent the craft flying onward. + +They passed over a green coastal plain and then over low hills joined +in long chains and mantled by dense and mighty jungles, towering green +growths of unfamiliar appearance to Norman. He thought he glimpsed, +more than once, huge beastlike forms moving in them. He did see twice +in the jungles great clearings where were fair-sized cities of +bright-green buildings, a metal tower rising from each. But when he +pointed to them Sarja shook his head. + + * * * * * + +At last, as they passed over another range of hills and came into +sight of a third green city with its looming tower, the other pointed, +his face alight. + +"My city," he said. "Fallas there." + +Fellows! Norman's heart beat faster. + +They shot closer and lower and he saw that the buildings were +obviously green to lend them a certain protective coloration similar +to that of the green jungles around them. The tower with its +surmounting cage puzzled him though, but before he could ask Sarja +concerning it his answer came in a different way. A long metal tube +poked slowly out of the cage on the tower's top and sent a hail of +force-shells flicking around them. + +"They're firing on us!" Norman cried. "This can't be your city!" + +"They see our black boat!" Sarja exclaimed. "They think we're Rala +raiders and unless we let them know they'll shoot us out of the air! +Stand up--wave to them--!" + +Both Norman and Sarja sprang to their feet and waved wildly to those +in the tower-cage, their flying-boat drifting slowly forward. +Instantly the force-shells ceased to hail toward them, and as they +moved nearer a sirenlike signal broke from the cage. At once scores of +flying-boats like their own, but glittering metal instead of black, +shot up from the city where they had lain until now, and surrounded +them. + +As Sarja called in his own tongue to them the green men on the +surrounding boats broke into resounding cries. They shot down toward +the city, Norman gazing tensely. Great crowds of green men in their +dark tunics had swarmed out into its streets with the passing of the +alarm, and their craft and the others came to rest in an open square +that was the juncture of several streets. + +The green men that crowded excitedly about Norman and Sarja gave way +to a half-dozen hurrying into the square from the greatest of the +buildings facing on it. All but one were green men like the others. +But that one--the laughing-eyed tanned face--the worn brown clothing, +the curious huge steps with which he came--Norman's heart leapt. + +"Fellows!" + +"Great God--Norman!" The other's face was thunderstruck. "Norman--how +by all that's holy did you get here?" + + * * * * * + +Norman, mind and body strained to the breaking point, was incoherent. +"We guessed how you'd gone--the second satellite, Fellows--Hackett +and I came after you--taken to that frog-city--" + +As Norman choked the tale, Fellows' face was a study. And when it was +finished he swallowed, and gripped Norman's hand viselike. + +"And you and Hackett figured it out and came after me--took that risk? +Crazy, both of you. Crazy--" + +"Fellows, Hackett's still there, if he's alive! In the Rala city!" + +Fellows' voice was grim, quick. "We'll have him out. Norman, if he +still lives. And living or dead, the Ralas will pay soon for this and +for all they've done upon this world in ages. Their time nears--yes." + +He led Norman, excited throngs of the green men about them, into the +great building from which he had emerged. There were big rooms inside, +workshops and laboratories that Norman but vaguely glimpsed in +passing. The room to which the other led him was one with a long metal +couch. Norman stretched protestingly upon it at the other's bidding, +drifted off almost at once into sleep. + +He woke to find the sunlight that had filled the room gone and +replaced by the silvery Earth-light. From the window he saw that the +silver-lit city outside now held tremendous activity, immense hordes +of green men surging through it with masses of weapons and equipment, +flying-boats pouring down out of the night from all directions. He +turned as the door of the room clicked open behind him. It was his old +friend Fellows. + +"I thought you'd be awake by now, Norman. Feeling fit?" + +"As though I'd slept a week," Norman said, and the other laughed his +old care-free laugh. + +"You almost have, at that. Two days and nights you've slept, but it +all adds up to hardly more than a dozen hours." + +"This world!" Norman's voice held all his incredulity. "To think that +we should be on it--a second satellite of Earth's--it seems almost +beyond belief." + + * * * * * + +"Sometimes it seems so to me, too," Fellows said thoughtfully. "But +it's not a bad world--not the human part of it, at least. When this +satellite's atmosphere caught me and pitchforked me down among these +green men, smashing the plane and almost myself, they took care of me. +You say three others vanished as I did? I never heard of them here; +they must have crashed into the sea or jungles. Of course, I'd have +got back to Earth on one of these flying-boats if I'd been able, but +their molecular power won't take them far from this world's surface, +so I couldn't. + +"As it was, the green men cared for me, and when I found how those +frog-men have dominated this world for ages, how that city of the +Ralas has spread endless terror among the humans here, I resolved to +smash those monsters whatever I did. I taught some of the green men +like Sarja my own speech, later learning theirs, and in the weeks I've +been here I've been working out a way to smash the Ralas. + +"You know that amphibian city is almost impregnable because humans can +hardly live long enough under the water to get into it, let alone +fight under water as the frog-men can. To meet them on even terms the +green men needed diving-helmets with an oxygen supply. They'd never +heard of such an idea, too afraid of the sea ever to experiment in it, +but I convinced them and they've made enough helmets for all their +forces. In them they can meet the Ralas under water on equal terms. + +"And there's a chance we can destroy that whole Rala city with their +help. It's built on a giant pedestal of rock rising from the sea's +floor, as you saw, and I've had some of the green men make huge +force-shells or force-bombs that ought to be powerful enough to split +that pedestal beneath the city. If we can get a chance to place those +bombs it may smash the frog-men forever on this world. But one thing +is sure: we're going to get Hackett out if he still lives!" + +"Then you're, going to attack the Rala city now?" Norman cried. + +Fellows nodded grimly. "While you have slept all the forces of the +green men on this world have been gathering. Your coming has only +precipitated our plans, Norman--the whole soul of the green races has +been set upon this attack for weeks!" + + * * * * * + +Norman, half bewildered at the swiftness with which events rushed upon +him, found himself striding with Fellows in great steps out through +the building into the great square. It was shadowed now by mass on +mass of flying-boats, crowded with green men, that hung over it and +over the streets. One boat, Sarja at its controls, waited on the +ground and as they entered and buckled themselves into the seats the +craft drove up to hang with the others. + +A shattering cheer greeted them. Norman saw that in the silvery light +of Earth's great crescent there stretched over the city and +surrounding jungle now a veritable plain of flying-boats. On each were +green men and each bristled with force-guns, and had as many great +goggled helmets fastened to it as it had occupants. He glimpsed larger +boats loaded with huge metal cylinders--the force-bombs Fellows had +mentioned. + +Fellows rose and spoke briefly in a clear voice to the assembled green +men on their craft, and another great shout roared from them, and from +these who watched in the city below. Then as he spoke a word, Sarja +sent their craft flying out over the city, and the great mass of +boats, fully a thousand in number, were hurtling in a compact column +after them. + +Fellows leaned to Norman as the great column of purring craft shot on +over the silver-lit jungles. "We'll make straight for the Rala city +and try setting into it before they understand what's happening." + +"Won't they have guards out?" + +"Probably, but we can beat them back into the city before their whole +forces can come out on us. That's the only way in which we can get +inside and reach Hackett. And while we're attacking the force-bombs +can be placed, though I don't rely too much on them." + +"If the attack only succeeds in getting us inside," Norman said, +grim-lipped, "we'll have a chance--" + +"It's on the knees of the gods. These green men are doing an +unprecedented thing in attacking the Ralas, the masters of this world, +remember. But they've got ages of oppression to avenge; they'll +fight." + +The fleet flew on, hills and rivers a silver-lit panorama unreeling +beneath them. Earth's crescent sank behind them, and by the time they +flashed out over the great fresh-water sea, the sun was rising like a +flaming eye from behind it. Land sank from sight behind and the green +men were silent, tense, as they saw stretching beneath only the gray +waters that for ages had been the base of the dread frog-men. But +still the fleet's column raced on. + + * * * * * + +At last the column slowed. Far ahead the merest bulge broke the level +line where sky and waters met. The amphibian city of the Ralas! At +Fellows' order-the flying-boats sank downward until they moved just +above the waters. Another order made the green hosts don the grotesque +helmets. Norman found that while cumbersome their oxygen supply was +unfailing. They shot on again at highest speed, but as the gigantic +black dome of the frog-city grew in their vision there darted up from +around it suddenly a far-flung swarm of black spots. + +"Rala boats!" + +The muffled exclamation was Fellows'. There needed now no order on his +part, though. Like hawks, leaping for prey, the fleet of the green men +sprang through the air. Norman, clutching the force-gun between his +knees, had time only to see that the Rala craft were a few hundred in +number and that, contemptuous of the greater odds that favored these +humans they had so long oppressed, they were flying straight to meet +them. Then the two fleets met--and were spinning side by side above +the waters. + +Norman saw the thing only as a wild whirl of Rala boats toward and +beside them, great green frog-men crowding the craft, their force-guns +hailing shells. Automatically, with the old air-fighting instinct, his +fingers had pressed the catch of the gun between his knees and as its +shells flicked toward the rushing boats he saw areas of nothingness +opening suddenly in their mass, shells striking and exploding in +annihilating invisibility there and in their own fleet. + +The two fleets mingled and merged momentarily, the battle becoming a +thing of madness, a huge whirl of black and glittering flying-boats +together, striking shells exploding nothingness about them. The Ralas +were fighting like demons. + +The merged, terrific combat lasted but moments; could last but +moments. Norman, his gun's magazine empty, seemed to see the mass of +struggling ships splittering, diverging; then saw that the black craft +were dropping, plummeting downward toward the waves! The Ralas, +stunned by that minute of terrific combat, were fleeing. Muffled cries +and cheers came from about him as the glittering flying-boats of the +green men shot after them. They crashed down into the waters and +curved deeply into their green-depths, toward the gigantic dome. + + * * * * * + +Ahead the Rala boats were in flight toward their city, and now their +pursuers were like sharks striking after them. There in the depths the +force-guns of black and glittering boats alike were spitting, and +giant waves and underwater convulsions rocked pursued and pursuers as +the exploding shells annihilated boats and water about them. The +tunnel! Its round opening yawned in the looming wall ahead, and Norman +saw the Rala craft, reduced to scores in number, hurtling into it, to +rouse all the forces of the great amphibian city. Their own boats were +flashing into the opening after them. He glimpsed as he glanced back +for a moment the larger craft with the great force-bombs veering aside +behind them. + +It was nightmare in the water-tunnel. Flashing beams of the craft +ahead and waters that rocked and smashed around them as in flight the +Ralas still rained back force-shells toward them in a chaos of action. +Once the frog-men turned to hold them back in the tunnel, but by sheer +weight the rushing ships of the green men crashed them onward. Boats +were going into nothingness all around them. A part of Norman's brain +wondered calmly why they survived even while another part kept his gun +again working, with refilled magazine. Fellows and Sarja were +grotesque shapes beside him. Abruptly the tunnel curved upward and as +they flashed up after the remaining Rala craft their boats ripped up +into clear air! They were beneath the giant dome! + +The frog-men chased inward spread out in all directions over their +mighty, swarming city and across it a terrific clamor of alarm ran +instantly as the green men emerged after them! Norman saw flying-boats +beginning to rise across all the city and realized that moments would +see all the immense force of the Ralas, the thousands of craft they +could muster, pouring upon them. He pointed out over the city to a +block-like building, and shouted madly through his helmet to Fellows +and Sarja: + +"Hackett!" + +But already Sarja had sent their craft whirling across the city toward +the structure, half their fleet behind it, with part still emerging +from the water-tunnel. Rala boats rose before them, but nothing could +stop them now, their force-shells raining ahead to clear a path for +their meteor-flight. They shot down toward the block-structure, and +Norman, half-crazed by now, saw that to descend and enter was suicide +in the face of the frog-forces rising now over all the city. He cried +to Fellows, and with two of the guns as they swooped lower they +sprayed force-shells along the building's side. + + * * * * * + +The shells struck and whiffed away the whole side, exposing the level +on the building's interior. Out from it rushed swarms of crazed green +men, sweeping aside the frog-men guards, while far over the city the +invading craft were loosing shells on the block-like buildings that +held the prisoners, tens of thousands of them swarming forth. In the +throng below as they raced madly forth Norman saw one, and shouted +wildly. The one brown garbed figure looked up, saw their boat swooping +lower, and leaped for it in a tremendous forty-foot spring that +brought his fingers to its edge. Norman pulled him frenziedly up. + +"Norman!" he babbled. "In God's name--Fellows--!" + +"That helmet, Hackett!" Fellows flung at him. "My God, look at those +prisoners--Norman!" + +The countless thousands of green men released from the buildings whose +walls had vanished under the shells of the invaders had poured forth +to make the amphibian city a chaos of madness. Oblivious to all else +they were throwing themselves upon the city's crowding frog-men in a +battle whose ferocity was beyond belief, disregarding all else in this +supreme chance to wreak vengeance on the monstrous beings who had fed +upon their blood. In the incredible insanity of that raging fury the +craft of the green men hanging over the city were all but forgotten. + +Suddenly the city and the mighty dome over it quivered violently, and +then again. There came from beneath a dull, vast, grinding roar. + +"The great force-bombs!" Fellows screamed. "They've set them off--the +city's sinking--out of here, for the love of God!" + +The boat whirled beneath Sarja's hands toward the pool of the +water-tunnel, all their fleet rushing with them. The grinding roar was +louder, terrible; dome and city were shaking violently now; but in the +insensate fury of their struggle the frog-men and their released +prisoners were hardly aware of it. The whole great dome seemed sinking +upon them and the city falling beneath it as Sarja's craft ripped down +into the tunnel's waters, and then out, at awful speed, as the great +tunnel's walls swayed and sank around them! They shot out into the +green depths from it to hear a dull, colossal crashing through the +waters from behind as the great pedestal of rock on which the city had +stood, shattered by the huge force-bombs, collapsed. And as their +boats flashed up into the open air they saw that the huge dome of the +city of the Ralas was gone. + +Beneath them was only a titanic whirlpool of foaming waters in which +only the curved top of the settling dome was visible for a moment as +it sank slowly and ponderously downward, with a roar as of the roar of +falling worlds. Buckling, collapsing, sinking, it vanished in the +foam-wild sea with all the frog-men who for ages had ruled the second +satellite, and with all those prisoners who had at the last dragged +them down with them to death! Ripping off their helmets, with all the +green men shouting crazily about them, Norman and Fellows and Hackett +stared down at the colossal maelstrom in the waters that was the tomb +of the masters of a world. + +Then the depression's sides collapsed, the waters rushing together ... +and beneath them was but troubled, tossing sea.... + + * * * * * + +Earth's great gray ball was overhead again and the sun was sinking +again to the horizon when the three soared upward in the long, +gleaming plane, its motor roaring. Norman, with Hackett and Fellows +crowding the narrow cabin beside him, waved with them through its +windows. For all around them were rising the flying-boats of the green +men. + +They were waving wildly, shouting their farewells, Sarja's tall figure +erect at the prow of one. Insistent they had been that the three +should stay, the three through whom the monstrous age-old tyranny of +the frog-men had been lifted, but Earth-sickness was on them, and they +had flown to where the plane lay still unharmed among the reeds, a +hundred willing hands dragging it forth for the take-off. + +The plane soared higher, motor thundering, and they saw the +flying-boats sinking back from around them. They caught the wave of +Sarja's hand still from the highest, and then that, too, was gone. + +Upward they flew toward the great gray sphere, their eyes on the dark +outlines of its continents and on one continent. Higher--higher--green +land and gray tea receding beneath them; Hackett and Fellows intent +and eager as Norman kept the plane rising. The satellite lay, a +greenish globe, under them. And as they went higher still a rushing +sound came louder to their ears. + +"The edge of the satellite's atmosphere?" Fellows asked, as Norman +nodded. + +"We're almost to it--here we go!" + +As he shot the plane higher, great forces smote it, gray Earth and +green satellite and yellow sun gyrating round it as it reeled and +plunged. Then suddenly it was falling steadily, gray Earth and its +dark continent now beneath, while with a dwindling rushing roar its +second satellite whirled away above them, passing and vanishing. +Passing as though, to Norman it seemed, all their strange sojourn on +it were passing; the frog-men and their mighty city, Sarja and their +mad flight, the green men and the last terrific battle; all whirling +away--whirling away. + + +HISTORIC EXPERIMENT PROVES EARTH'S ROTATION + +The famous experiment which proves that the "earth do move" by letting +the observer actually see it twisting underneath his feet, an +experiment invented by the French mathematician Jean B. L. Foucault +nearly a century ago was repeated recently under unusually impressive +circumstances before an international scientific congress at Florence, +Italy, the same city where Galileo once was persecuted for holding the +same opinion. + +From the center of the dome of the Church of Santa Maria di Fiore, +Father Guido Alfani, director of the Astronomical Observatory, +suspended a 200-pound weight on a wire 150 feet long. On the bottom of +this weight was a tiny projecting point which traced a line on a +table-top sprinkled with sand, as the great pendulum swung slowly back +and forth. At a given signal Father Alfani set the pendulum to +swinging. While the assembled scientists watched it, slowly the line +traced across the sand table-top changed direction. + +As Foucault proved long ago and as the watching scientists well knew, +the table was being twisted underneath the pendulum by the rotation of +the earth. + + +A REVOLUTIONARY AIRPLANE + +A new airplane propeller has recently been patented by J. Kalmanson of +Brooklyn, N. Y. Greater speed and marked saving in fuel is claimed for +the invention, which may be attached to any type of airplane. + +The device is in two parts, which may be used separately as front and +rear propellers or combined into a single blade. The principle is that +the front one acts to bring air to the other, giving the propeller +more of a hold, so to speak, and greater power. This is accomplished +by four air-spoons, one on each side of each blade of the propeller. + +It is said that the device can double the speed of an airplane and +raise it from the ground in ninety feet instead of the 200 feet most +airplanes now require. It is also claimed that the new propeller will +prevent the plane from making a nose drive unless the pilot forces it +to do so, and enable it to make a safe landing within a short +distance. Because of the increase in power and speed, the device would +save a large amount of gasoline and oil, as well as guarding the motor +from part of the strain on it. + +The device is said to be also applicable to ships, the same principle +operating in water as well as air. + + + + +Silver Dome + +_By Harl Vincent_ + +[Illustration: _Orris led the way to a great underground city._] + +[Sidenote: In her deep-buried kingdom of Theros, Phaestra reveals the +amazing secret of the Silver Dome.] + + +In a secluded spot among the hills of northern New Jersey stood the +old DeBost mansion, a rambling frame structure of many wings and +gables that was well-nigh hidden from the road by the half-mile or +more of second-growth timber which intervened. High on the hill it +stood, and it was only by virtue of its altitude that an occasional +glimpse might be obtained of weatherbeaten gable or partly +tumbled-down chimney. The place was reputed to be haunted since the +death of old DeBost, some seven years previously, and the path which +had once been a winding driveway was now seldom trod by human foot. + +It was now two years since Edwin Leland bought the estate for a song +and took up his residence in the gloomy old house. And it had then +been vacant for five years since DeBost shot himself in the northeast +bedroom. Leland's associates were sure he would repent of his bargain +in a very short time, but he stayed on and on in the place, with no +company save that of his man-servant, an aged hunch-back who was +known to outsiders only as Thomas. + +Leland was a scientist of note before he buried himself in the DeBost +place, and had been employed in the New York research laboratory of +one of the large electrical manufacturers, where he was much admired +and not a little envied by his fellow workers. These knew almost +nothing of his habits or of his personal affairs, and were much +surprised when he announced one day that he had come into a sizable +fortune and was leaving the organization to go in for private research +and study. Attempts to dissuade him were of no avail, and the purchase +of the DeBost property followed, after which Leland dropped from sight +for nearly two years. + + * * * * * + +Then, on a blustery winter day, a strange telephone call was received +at the laboratory where he had previously worked. It was from old +Thomas, out there in the DeBost mansion, and his quavering voice asked +for Frank Rowley, the genial young engineer whose work had been most +closely associated with Leland's. + +"Oh, Mr. Rowley," wailed the old man, when Frank responded to the +call, "I wish you would come out here right away. The master has been +acting very queerly of late, and to-day he has locked himself in his +laboratory and will not answer my knocks." + +"Why don't you break in the door?" asked Frank, looking through the +window at the snow storm that still raged. + +"I thought of that, Mr. Rowley, but it is of oak and very thick. +Besides, it is bound with steel or iron straps and is beyond my +powers." + +"Why not call the police?" growled Frank. He did not relish the idea +of a sixty or seventy mile drive in the blizzard. + +"Oh--no--no--no!" Old Thomas was panicky at the suggestion. "The +master told me he'd kill me if I ever did that." + +Before Frank could formulate a reply, there came a sharp gasp from the +other end of the line, a wailing cry and a thud as of a falling body; +then silence. All efforts to raise Leland's number merely resulted in +"busy" or "line out of order" reports. + +Frank Rowley was genuinely concerned. Though he had never been a close +friend of Leland's, the two had worked on many a knotty problem +together and were in daily contact during the nearly ten years that +the other man had worked in the same laboratory. + +"Say, Tommy," said Frank, replacing the receiver and turning to his +friend, Arnold Thompson, who sat at an adjoining desk, "something has +happened out at Leland's place in Sussex County. Want to take a drive +out there with me?" + +"What? On a day like this? Why not take the train?" + +"Don't be foolish, Tommy," said Frank. "The place is eight miles from +the nearest station, which is a flag stop out in the wilds. And, even +if you could find a cab there--which you couldn't--there isn't a taxi +driver in Jersey who'd take you up into those mountains on a day like +this. No, we'll have to drive. It'll be okay. I've got chains on the +rear and a heater in the old coupe, so it shouldn't be so bad. What do +you say?" + +So Tommy, who usually followed wherever Frank led, was prevailed upon +to make the trip. He had no particular feeling for Leland, but he +sensed an adventure, and, in Frank's company, he could ask for no +more. + + * * * * * + +Frank was a careful driver, and three hours were required to make the +sixty-mile journey. Consequently, it was late in the afternoon when +they arrived at the old DeBost estate. It had stopped snowing, but the +drifts were deep in spots, and Frank soon found that the car could not +be driven through the winding path from the road to the house. So +they left it half buried in a drift and proceeded on foot. + +It was a laborious task they had undertaken, and, by the time they set +foot on the dilapidated porch, even Frank, husky and athletic as was +his build, was puffing and snorting from his exertions. Little Tommy, +who tipped the scales at less than a hundred and twenty, could hardly +speak. They both were wet to the waist and in none too good humor. + +"Holy smoke!" gasped Tommy, stamping the clinging snow from his sodden +trouser legs and shoes, "if it snows any more, how in Sam Hill are we +going to get out of this place?" + +"Rotten trip I let you in for Tommy," growled Frank, "and I hope +Leland's worth it. But, darn it all, I just had to come." + +"It's all right with me, Frank. And maybe it'll be worth it yet. +Look--the front door's open." + + * * * * * + +He pointed to the huge oaken door and Frank saw that it was ajar. The +snow on the porch was not deep and they saw that footprints led from +the open door to a corner of the porch. At that point the snow on the +railing was disturbed, as if a hurrying man had clung to it a moment +before jumping over and into the drifts below. But the tracks led no +further, for the drifting snow had covered all excepting a hollow +where some body had landed. + +"Thomas!" exclaimed Frank. "And he was in a hustle, by the looks of +the tracks. Bet he was frightened while at the telephone and beat it." + +They entered the house and closed the door behind them. It was growing +quite dark and Frank searched for the light switch. This was near the +door, and, at pressure on the upper button, the spacious old hall with +its open staircase was revealed dimly by the single remaining bulb in +a cluster set in the center of the high ceiling. The hall was +unfurnished, excepting for a telephone table and chair, the chair +having fallen to the floor and the receiver of the telephone dangling +from the edge of the table by its cord. + +"You must have heard the chair fall," commented Tommy, "and it sure +does look as if Thomas left in a hurry. Wonder what it was that +frightened him?" + +The house was eerily silent and the words echoed awesomely through the +adjoining rooms which connected with the hall through large open +doorways. + +"Spooky place, isn't it?" returned Frank. + + * * * * * + +And then they were both startled into immobility by a rumble that +seemed to shake the foundations of the house. Heavier and heavier +became this vibration, as if some large machine was coming up to +speed. Louder and louder grew the rumble until it seemed that the +rickety old house must be shaken down about their ears. Then there +came a whistling scream from the depths of the earth--from far +underground it seemed to be--and this mounted in pitch until their +eardrums tingled. Then abruptly the sounds ceased, the vibration +stopped, and once more there was the eery silence. + +Rather white-faced, Tommy gazed at Frank. + +"No wonder old Thomas beat it!" he said. "What on earth do you suppose +that is?" + +"Search me," replied Frank. "But whatever it is, I'll bet it has +something to do with Leland's strange actions. And we're going to find +out." + +He had with him the large flashlamp from the car, and, by its light, +the two made their way from room to room searching for the iron-bound +door mentioned by Thomas. + +They found all rooms on the first and second floors dusty and unused +with the exception of two bedrooms, the kitchen and pantry, and the +library. It was a gloomy and spooky old house. Floor boards creaked +startlingly and unexpectedly and the sound of their footsteps echoed +dismally. + +"Where in time is that laboratory of Leland's?" exclaimed Frank, his +ruddy features showing impatient annoyance, exaggerated to an +appearance of ferocity by the light of the flashlamp. + +"How about the cellar?" suggested Tommy. + +"Probably where it is," agreed Frank, "but I don't relish this job so +much. I'd hate to find Leland stiff down there, if that's where he +is." + +"Me, too," said Tommy. "But we're here now, so let's finish the job +and get back home. It's cold here, too." + +"You said it. No steam in the pipes at all. He must have let the fire +go out in his furnace, and that's probably in the cellar too--usually +is." + + * * * * * + +While talking, Frank had opened each of the four doors that opened +from the kitchen, and the fourth revealed a stairway that led into the +blackness beneath. With the beam of his torch directed at the steps, +he proceeded to descend, and Tommy followed carefully. There was no +light button at the head of the stairs, where it would have been +placed in a more modern house, and it was not until they had reached +the furnace room that they located a light fixture with a pull cord. +An ordinary cellar, with furnace, coal bin, and a conglomeration of +dust-covered trunks and discarded furniture, was revealed. And, at its +far end, was the iron-bound door. + +The door was locked and could not be shaken by the combined efforts of +the two men. + +"Have to have a battering ram," grunted Frank, casting about for a +suitable implement. + +"Here you are," called Tommy, after a moment's search. "Just the thing +we are looking for." + + * * * * * + +He had come upon a pile of logs, and one of these, evidently a section +of an old telephone pole, was of some ten or twelve inches diameter +and about fifteen feet long. Frank pounced upon it eagerly, and, +supporting most of the weight himself, led the attack on the heavy +oak door with the iron bands. + +No sound from within greeted the thunderous poundings. Clearly, if +Leland was behind that door, he was either dead or unconscious. + +Finally the double lock gave way and Tommy and Frank were precipitated +headlong into the brightly lighted room beyond. Recovering their +balance, they took stock of their surroundings and were amazed at what +they saw--a huge laboratory, fitted out with every modern appliance +that money could buy. A completely equipped machine shop there was; +bench after bench covered with the familiar paraphernalia of the +chemical and physical laboratory; huge retorts and stills; complicated +electrical equipments; dozens of cabinets holding crucibles, flasks, +bottles, glass tubing, and what not. + +"Good Lord!" gasped Tommy. "Here's a laboratory to more than match our +own. Why, Leland's got a fortune invested here!" + +"I should say so. And a lot of stuff that our company does not even +have. Some of it I don't know even the use of. But where is Leland?" + + * * * * * + +There was no sign of the man they had come to help. He was not in the +laboratory, though the door had been locked from within and the lights +left burning throughout. + +With painstaking care they searched every nook and cranny of the large +single room and were about to give up in despair when Tommy happened +to observe an ivory button set into the wall at the only point in the +room where there were no machines or benches at hand. Experimentally +he pressed the button, and, at the answering rumble from under his +feet, jumped back in alarm. Slowly there opened in the paneled oak +wall a rectangular door, a door of large enough size to admit a man. +From the recess beyond there came a breath of air, foul with the +musty odor of decayed vegetation, dank as the air of a tomb. + +"Ah-h-h!" breathed Frank. "So that is where Ed Leland is hiding! The +secret retreat of the gloomy scientist!" + +He spoke half jestingly, yet when he squeezed his stalwart bulk +through the opening and flashed the beam of his light into the +darkness of a narrow passage ahead he was assailed with vague +forebodings. Tommy followed close behind and spoke not a word. + + * * * * * + +The passage floor was thick with dust, but the marks of many footsteps +going and returning gave mute evidence of the frequency of Leland's +visits. The air was heavy and oppressive and the temperature and +humidity increased as they progressed along the winding length of the +rock-walled passageway. The floor sloped, ever downward and, in spots, +was slippery with slimy seepage. It seemed that they turned back on +their course on several occasions but were descending deeper and +deeper into the heart of the mountain. Then, abruptly, the passage +ended at the mouth of a shaft, which dropped vertically from almost +beneath their feet. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Frank. "Another step and I'd have dropped into it. +That's probably what happened to Leland." + +He knelt at the rim of the circular opening and looked into the depths +of the pit, Tommy following suit. The feeble ray of the flashlight was +lost in the blackness below. + +"Say, Frank," whispered Tommy, "turn off the flash. I think I saw a +light down there." + +And, with the snapping of the catch, there came darkness. But, miles +below them, it seemed, there was a tiny pin-point of brilliance--an +eery green light that was like a wavering phosphorescence of +will-o'-the-wisp. For a moment it shone and was gone. Then came the +dreadful vibration they had experienced in the hall of the house--the +whistling scream that grew louder and louder until it seemed they +must be deafened. The penetrating wail rose from the depths of the +pit, and the vibration was all around them, in the damp rock floor on +which they knelt, and in the very air of the cavern. Hastily Frank +snapped on the light of his flash. + +"Oh boy!" he whispered. "Leland is certainly up to something down +there and no mistake! How're we going to get down?" + +"Get down?" asked Tommy. "You don't want to go down there, do you?" + +"Sure thing. We're this far now and, by George, we're going to find +out all there is to learn." + +"How deep do you suppose it is?" + +"Pretty deep, Tommy. But we can get an idea by dropping a stone and +counting the seconds until it strikes." + + * * * * * + +He played the light of the flash over the floor and soon located a +smooth round stone of the size of a baseball. This he tossed over the +rim of the pit and awaited results. + +"Good grief!" exclaimed Tommy. "It's not falling!" + +What he said was true, for the stone poised lightly over the opening +and drifted like a feather. Then slowly it moved, settling gradually +into oblivion. Frank turned the flash downward and they watched in +astonishment as the two-pound pebble floated deliberately down the +center of the shaft at the rate of not more than one foot in each +second. + +"Well, I'll be doggoned," breathed Frank admiringly. "Leland has done +it. He has conquered gravity. For, in that pit at least, there is no +gravity, or at any rate not enough to mention. It has been almost +completely counteracted by some force he has discovered and now we +know how to follow him down there. Come on Tommy, let's go!" + +And, suiting action to his words, Frank jumped into the mouth of the +pit where he bobbed about for a moment as if he had jumped into a +pool of water. Then slowly he sank from view, and Tommy followed him. + + * * * * * + +It was a most unique experience, that drop into the heart of the +mountain. Practically weightless, the two young men found it quite +difficult to negotiate the passage. For the first hundred or more feet +they continued to bump about in the narrow shaft and each sustained +painful bruises before he learned that the best and simplest method of +accommodating himself to the strange condition was to remain +absolutely motionless and allow the greatly weakened gravity to take +its course. Each movement of an arm or leg was accompanied by a change +in direction of movement, and contact with the hard stone walls +followed. If they endeavored to push themselves from the contact the +result was likely to be an even more serious bump on the opposite side +of the shaft. So they continued the leisurely drop into the unknown +depth of the pit. + +Frank had turned off the flashlamp, for its battery was giving out and +he wished to conserve its remaining energy for eventualities. Thus +they were in Stygian darkness for nearly a half-hour, though the green +luminosity far beneath them grew stronger with each passing minute. It +now revealed itself as a clearly defined disc of light that flickered +and sputtered continually, frequently lighting the lower end of the +shaft with an unusual burst of brilliance. Remotely distant it seemed +though, and unconscionably slow in drawing nearer. + +"How far do you think we must drop?" called Tommy to Frank, who was +probably fifty feet below him in the shaft. + +"Well, I figure we have fallen about a thousand feet so far," came the +reply, "and my guess is that we are about one third of the way down." + +"Then this shaft is over a half-mile deep, you think?" + +"Yes, at least a thousand yards, I should say. And I hope his gravity +neutralizing machinery doesn't quit all of a sudden and let us down." + +"Me, too," called Tommy, who had not thought of that possibility. + + * * * * * + +This was no joke, this falling into an unknown region so far beneath +the surface of good old mother earth, thought Tommy. And how they +would ever return was another thing that was not so funny. Frank was +always rushing into things like this without counting the possible +cost and--well--this might be the last time. + +Gradually the mysterious light became stronger and soon they could +make out the conformation of the rock walls they were passing at such +a snail's pace. Layers of vari-colored rock showed here and there, +and, at one point there was a stratum of gold-bearing or mica-filled +rock that glistened with a million reflections and re-reflections. The +air grew warmer and more humid as they neared the mysterious light +source. They moved steadily, without acceleration, and Frank estimated +the rate at about forty feet a minute. Then, with blinding suddenness, +the light was immediately below and they drifted into a tremendous +cavern that was illuminated by its glow. + +Directly beneath the lower end of the shaft through which they had +passed, there was a glowing disc of metal about fifteen feet in +diameter. They drifted to its surface and sprawled awkwardly where +they fell. Scrambling to gain a footing, they bounced and floated +about like toy balloons before realizing that it would be necessary to +creep slowly from the influence of that repelling force which had made +the long drop possible without injury. Gravity met them at the disc's +edge with what seemed to be unusual violence. + + * * * * * + +At first it seemed that their bodies weighed twice the normal amount, +but this feeling soon passed and they looked about them with +incredulous amazement. The metal disc was quite evidently the medium +through which the repelling force was set up in the shaft, and to this +disc was connected a series of heavy cables that led to a pedestal +nearby. On the pedestal was a controlling lever and this moved over a +quadrant that was graduated in degrees, one end of the quadrant being +labeled "Up" and the other "Down." The lever now stood at a point but +a very few degrees from the center or "Zero" mark and on the down +side. Frank pulled this lever over to the full "Down" position and +they found that they could walk over the disc with normal gravity. + +"I suppose," said Frank, "that if the lever is at the other end of the +scale one would fall upward with full gravity acceleration--reversed. +At zero, gravity is exactly neutralized, and the intermediate +positions are useful in conveying materials or human beings up and +down the shaft as desired. Very clever; but what is the reason for it +all?" + +In the precise center of the great cavern there was a dome or +hemisphere of polished metal, and it was from this dome that the eery +light emanated. At times, when the light died down, this dome gleamed +with dull flickerings that threatened to vanish entirely. Then +suddenly it would resume full brilliance, and the sight was marvelous +beyond description. A slight hissing sound came from the direction of +the dome, and this varied in intensity as did the light. + +"Gosh!" said Tommy. "That looks like silver to me. And, if it is, what +a wealthy man our friend Leland has become. He has spent his fortune +well, even if he used it all to get to this." + +"Yes, but where is he?" commented Frank. Then: "Leland! Leland!" he +called. + + * * * * * + +His voice echoed through the huge vault and re-echoed hollowly. But +there was no reply save renewed flickerings from the dome. + +Leaving the vicinity of the gravity disc, the two men advanced in the +direction of the shining dome, which was about a quarter-mile from +where they stood. Both perspired freely, for the air was very close +and the temperature high. But the light of the dome was as cold as the +light of a firefly and they had no hesitancy in drawing near. It was a +beautiful sight, this dome of silver with its flickering lights and +perfect contour. + +"By George, I believe it _is_ silver," exclaimed Frank, when they were +within a few feet of the dome. "No other metal has that precise color. +And look! There is a wheelbarrow and some mining tools. Leland has +been cutting away some of the material." + +Sure enough, there was indisputable evidence of the truth of his +statement. And the material was undoubtedly silver! + +"Silver Dome," breathed Tommy, holding a lump of the metal in his +hand. "A solid dome of pure silver--fifty feet high and a hundred in +diameter. How much does that figure in dollars and cents, Frank?" + +"Maybe it isn't solid," said Frank dryly, "though it's worth a +sizeable fortune even if it is hollow. And we haven't found Leland." + + * * * * * + +They circled the dome twice and looked into every corner of the great +cavern, but there was no sign of the man for whom they searched. The +wheelbarrow was half filled with lumps of the heavy metal, and maul +and drill lay where they had been dropped by the lone miner. A cavity +three feet across, and as many deep, appeared in the side of the dome +to show that considerably more than one wheelbarrow load had been +removed. + +"Funny," grunted Tommy. "Seems almost like the old dome had swallowed +him up." + +At his words there came the terrific vibration. The light of the dome +died out, leaving them in utter darkness, and from its interior there +rose the mounting scream that had frightened old Thomas away. From so +close by it was hideous, devastating; and the two men clung to each +other in fright, expecting momentarily that the earth would give way +beneath their feet and precipitate them into some terrible depth from +which there could be no return. + +Then the sound abruptly ceased and a gleam of light came from under +the dome of silver. A crack appeared between its lower edge and the +rocky floor of the cavern, and through this crack there shone a light +of dazzling brilliancy--a warm light of rosy hue. Wider grew the +opening until there was a full three feet between the floor and the +bottom of the dome. Impelled by some irresistible force from within, +the two men stumbled blindly to the opening, fell to the floor and +rolled inside. + +There was a heavy thud and the dome had returned to its normal +position, with Frank and Tommy prisoners within its spacious hollow. +The warm light bathed them with fearful intensity for a moment, then +faded to a rosy glow that dulled their senses and quieted their +nerves. Morpheus claimed them. + + * * * * * + +When Frank awoke he found himself between silken covers, and for a +moment he gazed thoughtfully at a high arched ceiling that was +entirely unfamiliar. Then, remembering, he sprang from the downy bed +to his feet. The room, the furnishings, his silken robe, everything +was strange. His bed, he saw, was a high one, and the frame was of the +same gleaming silver as the dome under which they had been trapped. +The arched ceiling glowed softly with the same rosy hue as had the +inner surface of the dome. A large pool of water invited him, the +surface of the pool being no more than a foot below the point where it +was built into the tile floor of the room. A large open doorway +connected with a similar adjoining room, where he suspected Tommy had +been taken. On his bare toes, he moved silently to the other room and +saw that his guess had been correct. Tommy lay sleeping quietly +beneath covers as soft as his own and amidst equal luxury of +surroundings. + +"Well," he whispered, "this doesn't look as though we would come to +any harm. And I might as well take a dive in that pool." + +Returning to his own room, he removed the silken garment with which he +had been provided and was quietly immersed in the cool, invigorating +water of the bath. His head cleared instantly. + +"Hi there!" called Tommy from the doorway. "Why didn't you wake me up? +Where are we, anyway?" + +With dripping head and shoulders above the water, Frank was compelled +to laugh at the sleepy-eyed, wondering expression on the blue-jowled +face of his friend. "Thought you were dead to the world," he returned, +"you old sleepy-head. And I don't know where we are, excepting that it +is somewhere under the silver dome. What's more, I don't much care. +You should get into this water. It's great!" + + * * * * * + +So saying, he dived to the bottom of the pool and stood on his hands, +his feet waving ludicrously above the surface. Tommy sniffed once and +then made a quick dash for the pool in his own room. He was not to be +outdone by his more energetic partner. + +A half-hour later, shaved and attired in their own garments, which had +been cleaned and pressed and hung neatly in the closets, they settled +themselves for a discussion of the situation. Having tried the doors +of both rooms and found them locked from the outside, there was no +other course open to them. They must await developments. + +"Looks like Leland has quite an establishment down here inside the +mountain," ventured Tommy. + +"Hm!" snorted Frank, "this place is none of Leland's work. He is +probably a prisoner here, as are we. He just stumbled on to the +silver dome and was captured by whatever race is living down here +beneath it, the same as we were. Who the real inhabitants are, and +what the purpose of all this is, remains to be seen." + +"You think we are in friendly hands?" + +"These quarters do not look much like prison cells, Tommy, but I must +admit that we are locked in. Anyhow, I'm not worrying, and we will +soon learn our fate and have to be ready to meet it. The people who +own this place must have everything they want, and they sure have some +scientific knowledge that is not known to us on the surface." + +"Wonder if they are humans?" + +"Certainly they are. You never heard of wild beasts sleeping in beds +like these, did you?" + + * * * * * + +Tommy laughed at he examined the exquisite hand-wrought figures on the +silver bedstead. "No, I didn't," he admitted; "but where on earth did +they come from, and what are they doing here?" + +"You ask too many questions," replied Frank, shrugging his broad +shoulders. "We must simply wait for the answers to reveal themselves." + +There was a soft rap at the door of Frank's room, where the two men +were talking. + +"Come in," called Frank, chuckling at the idea of such consideration +from their captors. + +A key rattled in the lock and the door swung open to admit the +handsomest man they had ever set eyes on. He was taller than Frank by +several inches, standing no less than six feet five in his thin-soled +sandals, and he carried himself with the air for an emperor. His +marble-white body was uncovered with the exception of a loin cloth of +silver hue, and lithe muscles rippled beneath his smooth skin as he +advanced to meet the prisoners. His head, surmounted by curly hair of +ebon darkness, was large, and his forehead high. The features were +classic and perfectly regular. The corners of his mouth drew upward in +a benign smile. + +"Greetings," he said, in perfect English and in a soft voice, "to the +domain of Theros. You need fear no harm from our people and will be +returned to the upper world when the time comes. We hope to make your +stay with us enjoyable and instructive, and that you will carry back +kind memories of us. The morning meal awaits you now." + + * * * * * + +So taken aback were the two young Americans that they stared foolishly +agape for a space. Then a tinkling laugh from the tall stranger set +them once more at ease. + +"You will pardon us, I hope," apologized Frank, "but this is all so +unexpected and so unbelievable that your words struck me speechless. +And I know that my friend was similarly affected--We place ourselves +in your hands." + +The handsome giant nodded understanding. "No offense was taken," he +murmured, "since none was intended. And your feelings are not to be +wondered at. You may call me Orrin." + +He turned toward the open door and signified that they were to follow +him. They fell in at his side with alacrity, both suddenly realizing +that they were very hungry. + +They followed in silent wonderment as Orrin led the way to a broad +balcony that overlooked a great underground city--a city lighted by the +soft glow from some vast lighting system incorporated in its vaulted +ceiling high overhead. The balcony was many levels above the streets, +which were alive with active beings of similar appearance to Orrin, +these speeding hither and yon by means of the many lanes of traveling +ways of which the streets were composed. The buildings--endless rows of +them lining the orderly streets--were octagonal in shape and rose to +the height of about twenty stories, as nearly as could be judged by +earthly standards. There were no windows, but at about every fifth floor +there was an outer silver-railed balcony similar to the one on which +they walked. The air was filled with bowl-shaped flying ships that sped +over the roof tops in endless procession and without visible means of +support or propulsion. Yet the general effect of the busy scene was one +of precise orderliness, unmarred by confusion or distracting noises. + + * * * * * + +Orrin vouchsafed no explanations and they soon reentered the large +building of which the balcony was a part. Here they were conducted to +a sumptuously furnished dining room where their breakfast awaited +them. + +During the meal, which consisted of several courses of fruits and +cereals entirely strange to Frank and Tommy, they were tended by Orrin +with the utmost deference and most painstaking attention. He +anticipated their every want and their thoughts as well. For, when +Frank endeavored to ask one of the many questions with which his mind +was filled, he was interrupted by a wave of the hand and a smile from +their placid host. + +"It is quite clear to me that you have many questions to propound," +said Orrin, "and this is not a matter of wonder. But it is not +permitted that I enlighten you on the points you have in mind. You +must first finish your meal. Then it is to be my privilege to conduct +you to the presence of Phaestra, Empress of Theros, who will reveal +all. May I ask that you be patient until then?" + +So friendly was his smile and so polished his manner that they +restrained their impatience and finished the excellent breakfast in +polite silence. + +And Orrin was as good as his word, for, no sooner had they finished +when he led them from the room and showed the way to the elevator +which conveyed them to the upper floor of the building. + +From the silver-grilled cage of the lift they stepped into a room of +such beauty and magnificence of decoration that they gazed about them +in wondering admiration. The paneling and mouldings were of hammered +silver that gleamed with polished splendor in the soft rose glow of +the hidden lights. The hangings were of heavy plush of deep green hue +and bore intricate designs of silver thread woven into the material. +At the opposite side of the room there was a pair of huge double doors +of chased silver and on either side of this pretentious portal there +stood an attendant attired as was Orrin, but bearing a silver scepter +to denote his official capacity. + +"Phaestra awaits the visitors from above," intoned one of the +attendants. Both bowed stiffly from the waist when Orrin led the two +young scientists through the great doors which had opened silently and +majestically at their approach. + + * * * * * + +If the outer room was astonishing in its sumptuousness of decoration +and furnishing, the one they now entered was positively breath-taking. +On every side there were the exquisite green and silver hangings. +Tables, divans, and rugs of priceless design and workmanship. But the +beauty of the surroundings faded into insignificance when they saw the +empress. + +A canopied dais in the center of the room drew their attention and +they saw that Phaestra had risen from her seat in a deeply cushioned +divan and now stood at its side in an attitude of welcome. Nearly as +tall as Frank, she was a figure of commanding and imperious beauty. +The whiteness of her body was accentuated by the silver embroidered +and tightly fitted black vestments that covered yet did not conceal +its charms. A halo of glorious golden hair surmounted a head that was +poised expectantly alert above the perfectly rounded shoulders. The +exquisite oval of her face was chiseled in features of transcendent +loveliness. She spoke, and, at sound of her musical voice, Frank and +Tommy were enslaved. + + * * * * * + +"Gentlemen of the upper world," she said gently, "you are welcome to +Theros. Your innermost thoughts have been recorded by our scientists +and found good. With a definite purpose in mind, you learned of the +existence of the silver dome of Theros, yet you came without greed or +malice and we have taken you in to enlighten you on the many questions +that are in your minds and to return you to mankind with a knowledge +of Theros--which you must keep secret. You are about to delve into a +mystery of the ages; to see and learn many things that are beyond the +ken of your kind. It is a privilege never before accorded to beings +from above." + +"We thank you, oh, Queen," spoke Frank humbly, his eyes rivetted to +the gaze of those violet orbs that seemed to see into his very soul. +Tommy mumbled some commonplace. + +"Orrin--the sphere!" Phaestra, slightly embarrassed by Frank's stare, +clapped her hands. + +At her command, Orrin, who had stood quietly by, stepped to the wall +and manipulated some mechanism that was hidden by the hangings. There +was a musical purr from beneath the floor, and, through a circular +opening which appeared as if by magic, there rose a crystal sphere of +some four feet in diameter. Slowly it rose until it reached the level +of their eyes and there it came to rest. The empress raised her hands +as if in invocation and the soft glow of the lights died down, leaving +them in momentary darkness. There came a slight murmur from the +sphere, and it lighted with the eery green flickerings they had +observed in the dome of silver. + + * * * * * + +Fascinated by the weaving lights within, they gazed into the depths of +the crystal with awed expectancy. Phaestra spoke. + +"Men from the surface," she said, "you, Frank Rowley, and you, Arnold +Thompson, are about to witness the powers of that hemisphere of metal +you were pleased to term 'Silver Dome.' As you rightly surmised, the +dome is of silver--mostly. There are small percentages of platinum, +iridium, and other elements, but it is more than nine-tenths pure +silver. To you of the surface the alloy is highly valuable for its +intrinsic worth by your own standards, but to us the value of the dome +lies in its function in revealing to us the past and present events of +our universe. The dome is the 'eye' of a complicated apparatus which +enables us to see and hear any desired happening on the surface of the +earth, beneath its surface, or on the many inhabited planets of the +heavens. This is accomplished by means of extremely complex vibrations +radiated from the hemisphere, these vibrations penetrating earth, +metals, buildings, space itself, and returning to our viewing and +sound reproducing spheres to reveal the desired past or present +occurrences at the point at which the rays of vibrations are directed. + + * * * * * + +"In order to view the past on our own planet, the rays, which travel +at the speed of light, are sent out in a huge circle through space, +returning to earth after having spent the requisite number of years in +transit. Instantaneous effect is secured by a connecting beam that +ties together the ends of the enormous arc. This, of course, is beyond +your comprehension, since the Ninth Dimension is involved. When it is +desired that events of the present be observed, the rays are projected +direct. The future can not be viewed, since, in order to accomplish +this, it would be necessary that the rays travel at a speed greater +than that of light, which is manifestly impossible." + +"Great guns!" gasped Frank. "This crystal sphere then, is capable of +bringing to our eyes and ears the happenings of centuries past?" + +"It is, my dear Frank," said Phaestra, "and I would that I were able +to describe the process more clearly." She smiled, and in the +unearthly light of the sphere she appeared more beautiful than before, +if such a thing were possible. + +On the pedestal which supported the sphere there was a glittering +array of dials and levers. Several of these controls were now adjusted +by Phaestra, the delicate motions of her tapered fingers being watched +by the visitors with intense admiration. There came a change in the +note of the sphere, a steadying of the flickerings within. + +"Behold!" exclaimed Phaestra. + + * * * * * + +They gazed into the depths of the sphere and lost all sense of +detachment from the scene depicted therein. It seemed they were at a +point several thousand miles from the surface of a planet. A great +continent spread beneath them, its irregular shore line being clearly +outlined against a large body of water. Here and there the surface was +obscured by great white patches of clouds that cast their shadows +below. + +"Atlantis!" breathed Phaestra reverently. + +The lost continent of mythology! The fabled body of land that was +engulfed by the Atlantic thousands of years ago--a fact! + +Tommy glanced at Frank, noting that he had withdrawn his gaze from the +sphere and was devouring Phaestra with his eyes. As if drawn by the +ardor of his observation, she raised her own eyes from the sphere to +meet those of the handsome visitor. Obviously confused, she dropped +her long lashes and turned nervously to the controls. Tommy +experienced a sudden feeling of dread. Surely his pal was not falling +in love with this Theronian empress! + +Then there came another change in the note of the sphere and once more +they lost themselves in contemplation of the scene within. The surface +of the lost continent was rushing madly to meet them. With terrific +velocity they seemed to be falling. An involuntary gasp was forced +from Tommy's lips. Mountains, valleys, rivers could now be discerned. + + * * * * * + +Then the scene shifted slightly and they were stationary, directly +above a large seacoast city. A city of great beauty it was, and its +buildings were of the same octagonal shape as were those of Theros! +There could be but one inference--the Theronians were direct +descendants of those inhabitants of ancient Atlantis. + +"Yes," sighed Phaestra, in answer to the thought she had read, "our +ancestors were those you now see in the streets of this city of +Atlantis. A marvelous race they were, too. When the rest of the world +was still savage and unenlightened, they knew more of the arts and +sciences than is known on the surface to-day. The mysteries of the +Fourth Dimension they had already solved. Their telescopes were of +such power that they knew of the existence of intelligent beings on +Mars and Venus. They had conquered the air. They knew of the relation +between gravity and magnetism but recently propounded by your +Einstein. They were prosperous, happy. Then--but watch!" + +Faint sounds of the life of the city came to their ears. A swarm of +monoplanes roared past just beneath them. The streets were crowded +with rapidly moving vehicles, the roof-tops with air-craft. Then +suddenly the scene darkened; a deep rumbling came from the sea. As +they watched in fascinated wonder, a great chasm opened up through the +heart of the city. Tall buildings swayed and crumbled, falling into +heaps of twisted metal and crushed masonry and burying hundreds of the +populace in their fall. The confusion was indescribable, the uproar +terrific, and within the space of a very few minutes the entire city +was a mass of ruins, fully half of the wrecked area having been +swallowed up by the heaving waters of the ocean. + + * * * * * + +Phaestra stifled a sob. "Thus it began," she stated. "Trovus was +first--the city you just saw--then came three more of the cities of +the western coast in rapid succession. Computations of the scientists +showed that the upheaval was widespread and that the entire continent +was to be engulfed in a very short time. The exodus began, but it was +too late, and only a few hundred people were able to escape the +continent before it was finally destroyed. The ocean became the tomb +of two hundred millions. The handful of survivors reached the coast of +what is now North America. But the rigors of the climate proved severe +and more than three-quarters of them perished within a few days after +their planes landed. Then the rest took to the caves along the shore, +and for a while were safe." + +She manipulated the controls once more and there was a quick shift to +another coast, a rugged, wave-beaten shore. Closer they drew until +they observed a lofty palisade that extended for miles along the +barren waterfront. They saw a fire atop this elevation and active men +and women at various tasks within the narrow circle of its warmth. A +cave mouth opened at the brink of the precipice near the spot they +occupied. + +Then came a repetition of the upheaval at Trovus. The ocean rushed in +and beat against the cliff with such ferocity that its spray was +tossed hundreds of feet in the air. The earth shook and the group of +people around the fire made a hasty retreat to the mouth of the cave. +The sky darkened and the winds howled with demoniac fury. Quake after +quake rent the rugged cliffs: huge sections toppled into the angry +waters. Then a great tidal wave swept in and covered everything, +cliffs, cave mouths and all. Nought remained where they had been but +the seething waters. + + * * * * * + +"But some escaped!" exulted Phaestra, "and these discovered Theros. +Though many miles of the eastern seaboard of your United States were +submerged and the coastline entirely altered, these few were saved. +Their cave connected with a long passage, a tunnel that led into the +bowels of the earth. With the outer entrance blocked by the upheaval +they had no alternative save to continue downward." + +"They traveled for days and days. Some were overcome by hunger and +fell by the wayside. The most hardy survived to reach Theros, a series +of enormous caverns that extends for hundreds of miles under the +surface of your country. Here they found subterranean lakes of pure +water; forests, game. They had a few tools and weapons and they +established themselves in this underground world. From that small +beginning came this!" + +Phaestra's slim fingers worked rapidly at the controls. The scenes +shifted in quick succession. They were once more in the present, and +seemed to be traveling speedily through the underground reaches of +Theros. Now they were racing through a long lighted passage; now over +a great city similar to the one in which they had arrived. Here they +visited a huge workshop or laboratory; there a mine where radium or +cobalt or platinum was being wrested from the vitals of the unwilling +earth. Then they visited a typical Theronian household, saw the +perfect peace and happiness in which the family lived. Again they were +in a large power plant where direct application of the internal heat +of the earth as obtained through deep shafts bored into the interior +was utilized in generating electricity. + +They saw vast quantities of supplies, fifty-ton masses of machinery, +moved from place to place as lightly as feathers by use of the gravity +discs, those heavily charged plates whose emanations counteracted the +earth's attraction. In one busy laboratory they saw an immense +television apparatus and heard scientists discussing moot questions +with inhabitants of Venus, whose images were depicted on the screen. +They witnessed a severe electrical storm in the huge cavern arch over +one of the cities, a storm that condensed moisture from the +artificially oxygenated and humidified atmosphere in such blinding +sheets as to easily explain the necessity for well-roofed buildings in +the underground realm. And, in all the speech and activities of the +Theronians, there was evident that all-pervading feeling of absolute +contentment and freedom from care. + +"What I can not understand," said Frank, during a quiet interval, "is +why the Theronians have never migrated to the surface. Surely, with +all your command of science and mechanics, that would be easy." + +"Why? Why?" Phaestra's voice spoke volumes. "Here--I'll show you the +reason." + + * * * * * + +And again the scene in the sphere changed. They were on the surface +and a few years in the past--at Chateau Thierry. They saw their fellow +men mangled and broken; saw human beings shot down by hundreds in +withering bursts of machine-gun fire; saw them in hand-to-hand bayonet +fights; gassed and in delirium from the horror of it all. + +They traveled over the ocean; saw a big passenger liner the victim of +torpedo fire; saw babies tossed into the water by distracted mothers +who jumped in after them to join them in death. + +A few years were passed by and they saw gang wars in Chicago and New +York; saw militia and picketing strikers in mortal combat; saw wealthy +brokers and bank presidents turn pistols on themselves following a +crash in the stock market; government officials serving penitentiary +terms for betrayal of the people's trust; opium dens, speakeasies, sex +crimes. It was a fearful indictment. + +"Ah, no," said Phaestra kindly, "the surface world has not yet emerged +from savagery. We should be unwelcome were we to venture outside. And +now we come to the reason for your visit. You come in search of one +Edwin Leland, a fellow worker at one time. Your motives are above +reproach. But Leland came as a greedy searcher of riches. We brought +him within to teach him the error of his ways and to beg him to desist +from his efforts at destroying the dome of silver. He alone knew the +secret." + +"Then you followed him and we took you in for similar reasons, though +our scientists found very quickly that your mental reactions were of +entirely different type from Leland's and that the secret would be +safe in your keeping. Leland remains obdurate. He threatens us with +physical violence, and his reactions to the thought-reading machines +are of the most treacherous sort. We must keep him with us. He shall +remain unharmed, but he must not be allowed to return. That is the +story. You two are free to leave when you choose. I ask not that you +give your word to keep the secret of 'Silver Dome.' I know it is not +necessary." + + * * * * * + +The lights had resumed their normal glow, and the marvelous sphere +returned to its receptacle beneath the floor. Phaestra resumed her +seat on the canopied divan. Frank dropped to a seat on the edge of the +dais. Tommy and Orrin remained standing, Tommy lost in thought and +Orrin stolidly mute. The empress avoided Frank's gaze studiously. Her +cheeks were flushed; her eyes bright with emotion. + +Frank was first to break the silence. "Leland is in solitary +confinement?" he asked. + +"For the present he is under guard," replied Phaestra. "He was quite +violent and it was necessary to disarm him after he had killed one of +my attendants with a shot from his automatic pistol. When he agrees to +submit peacefully, he shall be given the freedom of Theros for the +remainder of his life." + +"Perhaps," suggested Frank, "if I spoke to him...." + +"The very thing." Phaestra thanked him with her wondrous eyes. + +A high pitched note rang out from behind the hangings, and, in rapid +syllables of the language of Theros, a voice broke forth from the +concealed amplifiers. Orrin, startled from his stoicism, sprang to the +side of his empress. She rose from her seat as the voice completed its +excited message. + +"It is Leland," she said calmly. "He has escaped and recovered his +pistol. I have been told that he is now at large in the palace, +terrorizing the household. We have no weapons here, you see." + +"Good God!" shouted Frank. "Suppose he should come here?" + + * * * * * + +He jumped to his feet just as a shot rang out in the antechamber. +Orrin dashed to the portal when a second shot spat forth from the +automatic which must certainly be in the hands of a madman. The doors +swung wide and Leland, hair disarranged and bloodshot eyes staring, +burst into the room. Orrin went down at the next shot and the hardly +recognizable scientist advanced toward the dais. + +When he saw Frank and Tommy he stopped in his tracks. "So you two have +been following me!" he snarled. "Well, you won't keep me from my +purpose. I'm here to kill this queen of hell!" + +Once more he raised his automatic, but Frank had been watching closely +and he literally dove from the steps of the dais to the knees of the +deranged Leland. As beautiful a tackle as he had ever made in his +college football days laid the maniac low with a crashing thud that +told of a fractured skull. The bullet intended for Phaestra went wide, +striking Tommy in the shoulder. + +Spun half way around by the impact of the heavy bullet, Tommy fought +to retain his balance. But his knees went suddenly awry and gave way +beneath him. He crumpled helplessly to the floor, staring foolishly at +the prostrate figure of Leland and at Frank, who had risen to his feet +and now faced the beautiful empress of Theros. Strange lights danced +before Tommy's eyes, and he found it difficult to keep the pair in +focus. But he was sure of one thing--his pal was unharmed. Then the +two figures seemed to merge into one and he blinked his eyes rapidly +to clear his failing vision. By George, they were in each other's +arms! Funny world--above or below--it didn't seem to make any +difference. But it was a tough break for Frank--morganatic marriage +and all that. No chance--well-- + +Tommy succumbed to his overpowering drowsiness. + + * * * * * + +The awakening was slow, but not painful. Rather there was a feeling of +utter contentment, of joy at being alive. A delicious languor pervaded +Tommy's being as he turned his head on a snow white silken pillow and +stared at the figure of the white-capped nurse who was fussing with +the bottles and instruments that lay on an enameled table beside the +bed. Memory came to him immediately. He felt remarkably well and +refreshed. Experimentally he moved his left shoulder. There was +absolutely no pain and it felt perfectly normal. He sat erect in his +surprise and felt the shoulder with his right hand. There was no +bandage, no wound. Had he dreamed of the hammer blow of that +forty-five caliber bullet? + +His nurse, observing that her patient had recovered consciousness, +broke forth in a torrent of unintelligible Theronian, then rushed from +the room. + +He was still examining his unscarred shoulder in wonder, when the +nurse returned, with Frank Rowley at her heels. Frank laughed at the +expression of his friend's face. + +"What's wrong, old-timer?" he asked. + +"Why--I--thought that fool of a Leland had shot me in the shoulder," +stammered Tommy, "but I guess I dreamed it. Where are we? Still in +Theros?" + +"We are." Frank sobered instantly, and Tommy noted with alarm that his +usually cheerful features were haggard and drawn and his eyes hollow +from loss of sleep. "And you didn't dream that Leland shot you. That +shoulder of yours was mangled and torn beyond belief. He was using +soft nosed bullets, the hell-hound!" + +"Then how--?" + + * * * * * + +"Tommy, these Theronians are marvelous. We rushed you to this hospital +and a half-dozen doctors started working on you at once. They repaired +the shattered bones by an instantaneous grafting process, tied the +severed veins and arteries and closed the gaping wound by filling it +with a plastic compound and drawing the edges together with clamps. +You were anaesthetized and some ray machine was used to heal the +shoulder. This required but ten hours and they now say that your arm +is as good as ever. How does it feel?" + +"Perfectly natural. In fact I feel better than I have in a month." +Tommy observed that the nurse had left the room and he jumped from his +bed and capered like a school boy. + +This drew no sign of merriment from Frank, and Tommy scrutinized him +once more in consternation. "And you," he said, "what is wrong with +you?" + +"Don't worry about me," replied Frank impatiently. Then, irrelevantly, +he said "Leland's dead." + +"Should be. I knew we shouldn't have started out to help him. But, +Frank, I'm concerned about you. You look badly." Tommy was getting +into his clothes as he spoke. + +"Forget it, Tommy. You've been sleeping for two days, you know--part +of the cure--and I haven't had much rest during that time. That is +all." + +"It's that Phaestra woman," Tommy accused him. + +"Well, perhaps. But I'll get over it, I suppose. Tommy, I love her. +But there's no chance for me. Haven't seen her since the row in the +palace. Her council surrounds her continually and I have been advised +to-day that we are to be returned as quickly as you are up and around. +That means immediately now." + +"Good. The sooner the better. And you just forget about this queen as +soon as you are able. She's a peach, of course, but not for you. +There's lots more back in little old New York." But Frank had no reply +to this sally. + + * * * * * + +There came a knock at the door and Tommy called, "Come in." + +"I see you have fully recovered," said the smiling Theronian who +entered at the bidding, "and we are overjoyed to know this. You have +the gratitude of the entire realm for your part in the saving of our +empress from the bullets of the madman." + +"I?" + +"Yes. You and your friend. And now, may I ask, are you ready to return +to your own land?" + +Tommy stared. "Sure thing," he said, "or rather, I will be in a few +minutes." + +"Thank you. We shall await you in the transmitting room." The +Theronian bowed and was gone. + +"Well, I like that," said Tommy. "He hands me an undeserved compliment +and then asks how soon we can beat it. A 'here's your hat, what's your +hurry' sort of thing." + +"It's me they're anxious to be rid of," remarked Frank, shrugging his +broad shoulders, "and perhaps it is just as well." + +"You bet it is!" agreed Tommy enthusiastically, "and I'm in favor of +making it good and snappy." He completed his toilet as rapidly as +possible and then turned to face the down-hearted Frank. + +"How do we go? The way we came?" he asked. + + * * * * * + +"No, Tommy. They have closed off the shaft that led from the cavern of +the silver dome. They are taking no more chances. It seems that the +shaft down which we floated was constructed by the Theronians; not by +Leland. They had used it and the gravity disc to transport casual +visitors to the surface, who occasionally mixed with our people in +order to learn the languages of the upper world and to actually touch +and handle the things they were otherwise able to see only through the +medium of Silver Dome and the crystal spheres. Further visits to the +surface are now forbidden, and we are to be returned by a remarkable +process of beam transmission of our disintegrated bodies." + +"Disintegrated?" + +"Yes. It seems they have learned to dissociate the atoms of which the +human body is composed and to transmit them to any desired point over +a beam of etheric vibrations, then to reassemble them in the original +living condition." + +"What? You mean to say we are to be shot to the surface through the +intervening rock and earth? Disintegrated and reintegrated? And we'll +not even be bent, let alone busted?" + + * * * * * + +This time he was rewarded by a laugh. "That's right. And I have gone +through the calculations with one of the Theronian engineers and can +find no flaw in the scheme. We're safe in their hands." + +"If you say so, Frank, it's okay with me. Let's go!" + +Reluctantly his friend lifted his athletic bulk from the chair. In +silence he led the way to the transmitting room of the Theronian +scientists. + +Here they were greeted by two savants with whom Frank was already +acquainted, Clarux and Rhonus by name. A bewildering array of complex +mechanisms was crowded into the high-ceilinged chamber and, prominent +among them, was one of the crystal spheres, this one of somewhat +smaller size than the one in the palace of Phaestra. + +"Where do you wish to arrive?" asked Clarux. + +"As near to my automobile as possible," replied Frank, taking sudden +interest in the proceedings. "It is parked in the lane between +Leland's house and the road." + +Tommy looked quickly in his direction, encouraged by the apparent +change in his attitude. The scientists proceeded to energize the +crystal sphere. They were bent upon speeding the parting guests. Their +beloved empress was to be saved from her own emotions. + +Quick adjustments of the controls resulted in the locating of Frank's +car, which was still buried to its axles in snow. The scene included +Leland's house, or rather its site, for it appeared to have been +utterly demolished by some explosion within. + + * * * * * + +Tommy raised questioning eyebrows. + +"It was necessary," explained Rhonus, "to destroy the house in +obliterating all traces of our former means of egress. It has been +commanded that you two be returned safely, and we are authorized to +trust implicitly in your future silence regarding the existence of +Theros. This is satisfactory, I presume?" + +Both Tommy and Frank nodded agreement. + +"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked Clarux, who was adjusting a +mechanism that resembled a huge radio transmitter. Its twelve giant +vacuum tubes glowed into life as he spoke. + +"We are," chimed the two visitors. + +They were requested to step to a small circular platform that was +raised about a foot from the floor by means of insulating legs. Above +the table there was an inverted bowl of silver in the shape of a large +parabolic reflector. + +"There will be no alarming sensations," averred Clarux. "When I close +the switch the disintegrating energy from the reflector above will +bathe your bodies for a moment in visible rays of a deep purple hue. +You may possibly experience a slight momentary feeling of nausea. +Then--presto!--you have arrived." + +"Shoot!" growled Frank from his position on the stand. + +Clarux pulled the switch and there was a murmur as of distant thunder. +Tommy blinked involuntarily in the brilliant purple glow that +surrounded him. Then all was confusion in the transmitting room. +Somebody had rushed through the open door shouting, "Frank! Frank!" It +was the empress Phaestra. + + * * * * * + +In a growing daze Tommy saw her dash to the platform, seize Frank in a +clutch of desperation. There was a violent wrench as if some monster +were twisting at his vitals. He closed his eyes against the blinding +light, then realized that utter silence had followed the erstwhile +confusion. He sat in Frank's car--alone. + +The journey was over, and Frank was left behind. With awful finality +it came to him that there was nothing he could do. It was clear that +Phaestra had wanted his pal, needed him--come for him. From the fact +that Frank remained behind it was evident that she had succeeded in +retaining him. A sickening fear came to Tommy that she had been too +late; that Frank's body was already partly disintegrated and that he +might have paid the price of her love with his life. But a little +reflection convinced him that if this were the case a portion of his +friend's body would have reached the intended destination. Then, +unexplainably, he received a mental message that all was well. + + * * * * * + +Considerably heartened, he pressed the starter button and the cold +motor of Frank's coupe turned over slowly, protestingly. Finally it +coughed a few times, and, after considerable coaxing by use of the +choke, ran smoothly. He proceeded to back carefully through the drifts +toward the road, casting an occasional regretful glance in the +direction of the demolished mansion. + +He would have some explaining to do when he returned to New York. +Perhaps--yes, almost certainly, he would be questioned by the police +regarding Frank's disappearance. But he would never betray the trust +of Phaestra. Who indeed would believe him if he told the story? +Instead, he would concoct a weird fabrication regarding an explosion +in Leland's laboratory, of his own miraculous escape. They could not +hold him, could not accuse him of murder without producing a body--the +_corpus delicti_, or whatever they called it. + +Anyway, Frank was content. So was Phaestra. + +Tommy swung the heavy car into the road and turned toward New York, +alone and lonely--but somehow happy; happy for his friend. + +[Advertisement: ASTOUNDING STORIES + +_Appears on Newsstands_ + +THE FIRST THURSDAY IN EACH MONTH] + + + + +Earth, the Marauder + +PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL + +_By Arthur J. Burks_ + +[Illustration: Closer and closer they came.] + +[Sidenote: Deep in the gnome-infested tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and +Jaska are brought to Luar, the radiant goddess against whose minions +the marauding Earth had struck in vain.] + + +WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE + +The Earth was dying. Ever since Sarka the First, king of scientists, +had given mankind the Secret of Life, which prolonged life +indefinitely, the Earthlings had multiplied beyond all count, and been +forced to burrow deep into the ground and high into the air in the +desperate search for the mere room in which to live. There was much +civil war. The plight of the children of men was desperate. Something +had to be done. + +[Illustration] + +Then Sarka the Third called the Spokesmen of the Gens of Earth around +him, and proposed to them a new scheme which had come to him in his +laboratory atop the Himalayas. He would swing the Earth from its +orbit!--send it careening through space toward the Moon!--there to +destroy its inhabitants and supplant them with a colony of Earthlings! +And then they would surge on to Mars! + +One by one the twelve Spokesmen, each the head and representative of +the teeming trillions comprising his Gens, acceded. Even Dalis, the +jealous rival of Sarka, finally gave his sulky consent. + +So, under Sarka's commands, the Earth's hordes were mobilized; and in +tune with the Master Beryl in Sarka's laboratory all the Beryls of the +Earth vibrated, freeing the Earth from her age-old orbit and swinging +her out towards the Moon. + +The Gens of Dalis--the trillions of people who swore allegiance to +him--would lead the attack on the Moon. When within fifty thousand +miles, they darted out, clad only in their tight green clothing and +the helmets that held the anti-gravitational ovoids, which +neutralized gravity for them and enabled them to instantly fly where +they willed. Their only weapons were hand atom-disintegrators. And out +from the Moon came mysterious aircars, with long clutching +tentacles--the weapons of the Moon's minions! The war of the worlds +was begun! + +Yet Dalis, leader of the Gens that now engaged the Moon's aircars, was +still in the laboratory with Sarka. For Dalis' treacherous mind +coveted control of the Earth, and though the urge to lead his Gens +into battle was tremendous, still he stayed, watching Sarka closely, +waiting for the moment when he could trick Sarka and assume control. + +And at the head of the Gens of Dalis was a woman, Jaska, whom Sarka +loved. The Moon's aircars swept away the Gens of Dalis, and out from +Earth poured the Gens of Cleric, who was Jaska's father. The newcomers +fought desperately to save Jaska from the deadly clutches of the +aircars. + +Dalis could stand it no longer. He sped forth from the laboratory, to +reorganize his beaten Gens. Jaska flew for home; but behind her a +single aircar, splashed with crimson, reached forth its tentacles to +clutch her--and Sarka groaned with the agony of his impotence to help +the woman he loved. + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Escape--and Dalis' Laughter_ + +But Sarka was not to be so easily beaten. There still remained an +infinite number of possible changes of speed by manipulation of ovidum +by vibration set up by the Beryls, without which this flight from the +beginning would have been impossible. But for two hours, while the +white robed men of Cleric fought against the car of the crimson +splashes to prevent the capture of the daughter of their +Spokesman--and died by hundreds in the grip of those grim +tentacles--Sarka was forced to labor with the Beryls until +perspiration bathed his whole body and his heart was heavy as he +foresaw failure. And failure meant death or worse for Jaska. + +But at the end of two hours, while the men of Cleric fought like men +inspired against the aircar of the crimson slashes, a cessation in the +outward speed of the earth could be noted. At the end of three hours +the body of Jaska, all this time fighting manfully to attain to +landing place on the Earth, was at last bulking larger; but the +tentacles of the aircar were groping after her, reaching for her, +striving to catch and clasp her to her death. + +The two Sarkas watched and prayed while the might of the Beryls, +traveling at top speed, fought against the force of whatever was used +by the Moon-men to compel the Moon to withdraw. Still the men of +Cleric fought that single car, and died by hundreds in the fighting. +White robed figures which became shriveled and black in the grip of +those tentacles. + + * * * * * + +Countless of the men of Cleric deliberately cast themselves against +those tentacles, throwing their lives away to give Jaska more leeway +in her race for life. + +"Will she make it, father?" queried Sarka in a whisper. + +"If the courage and loyalty of her people stand for anything, she will +make it," he replied. + +On she came at top speed, and now through the micro-telescopes the +Sarkas could see the agony of effort on her face, even through the +smooth mask used by the people of Earth for flight in space where +there was no atmosphere. Courage was there, and the will of +never-say-die; and Jaska, moreover, was coming back to the man she +loved. In a nebulous sort of way Sarka realized this, for though these +two had not mated there was a resonant inner sympathy between them +which had rounded into an emotion of overpowering force since Jaska +had proved to Sarka that she was to be trusted--that he had been +something less than a faithful lover when he had mistrusted her, ever +so little. + +Closer now and closer, and at last the aircar of the crimson splashes +was drawing away, losing in the race for life. It was falling back, as +though minded to turn about and race back for the Moon, now a ball in +the sky, far away, the outlines of its craters growing dim and misty +with distance. Now the men of Cleric, those who remained, were +breaking contact with the aircar, and forming a valiant rear-guard for +the retreat of Jaska. + + * * * * * + +Throughout the Earth, as the Beryls fought with ever increasing speed +to lower the rate of the earth's outward race from the Moon, was such +a trembling, such a vibration induced by conflicting, alien forces as +there had not been even in that moment when back there in its orbit, +the Earth could have either been kept within its orbit, or hurled +outward into space at the touch of a finger. + +Now Jaska, surrounded by her father's men, was almost close enough to +touch the Earth. + +She made it, weak and weary, and rested for a moment while her +father's men steadied her. Then, thrusting them aside, with gestures +bidding them return to their Gens, she lifted into the air again, and +fled straight for the laboratory of Sarka. + +She entered tiredly through the exit dome, and all but collapsed into the +arms of Sarka. Gently he removed her helmet of the anti-gravitational +ovoid, noting as she leaned against him the tumultuous beating of her +heart. Then her gentle eyes opened and she whispered to Sarka. + +"You trust me now?" + +For answer he bent and kissed her softly on the lips--for the kiss, +from the far distant time when the first baby was kissed by the first +mother, had been the favored caress of mankind. Her face was +transfigured as she read his answer in his eyes, and the touch of his +lips. Then, remembering, fear flashed across her face. She +straightened, and grasping Sarka by the hand, hurried with him into +the observatory. + + * * * * * + +She took the seat in which Dalis had sat before he had gone out to the +command of his Gens, studied for many minutes the battle in space +between the two alien worlds. + +"Dalis is winning," said the Elder Sarka quietly, "apparently!" + +"The qualification is a just one," said Jaska softly. "'Apparently,' +indeed! You will note now that, though men of the Gens of Dalis swarm +all about the aircars, and even clamber atop them, no more are dying +in the grasp of those tentacles? Is Dalis arranging a treacherous +truce with the Moon-men?" + +"I have been wondering about that," said Sarka softly, "for it is my +belief that nothing not conducive to his own selfish interests would +have forced Dalis to leave this place and take command of his Gens, as +I had first ordered, unless he had schemes planned of which father and +I could know nothing. Now that I think of it, Jaska, how did Dalis +know our secret code of fingers?" + +Jaska started, and turned a blanched face to Sarka. + +"_Did_ he know?" she cried. "Did he? If he did that proves a suspicion +that I have entertained since the first moment when Dalis swept into +the fight, and I sensed that alien signals were being flashed back and +forth!" + +"Flashed back and forth!" ejaculated Sarka. "How do you mean? That +Dalis was somehow able to communicate with the Moon-men in their own +language, or through their own signals?" + + * * * * * + +"Why not? He knew our secret code, did he not? I never gave it to him, +and I know that you did not. No, Dalis has some means, never +discovered or suspected by you Sarkas, whereby he is able to +understand alien tongues and alien sign manuals!" + +"That means," said Sarka the Elder in a dead voice, "that by forcing +Dalis to go out at the head of his Gens...." + +"We have," interrupted Sarka the Younger, "placed a new weapon of +treason in his hands! Dalis, at the very moment of contact with the +aircars, loaded with Moon-men, broke in on their signals--they must +have had some means of signalling one another--and communicated with +them in their own way! Do you think it possible that, with all his +Gens, he may go over to the Moon-men, form an alliance with them?" + +For many moments no one dared to answer the question; yet, from what +the Sarkas knew of him, it was not impossible at all. For Dalis was +the master egotist always, and never overlooked opportunity to gain +something for himself. + +It was Jaska who broke the silence. + +"Did you note carefully," she said, "those aircars which were +partially destroyed by our ray directors and atom-disintegrators?" + +The Sarkas nodded. + +"Did you note that no men, formed like our own, no creatures of any +sort whatever, fell from the cars?" + + * * * * * + +Again the awesome silence, and the keen brains of the Sarkas wrestled +with this vague hint of the uncanny. + +"You mean, Jaska ... you mean...." + +"That the occupants of aircars are part of the cars, but--Beings of +the Moon! That they are either metal monsters endowed with brains or +tiny creatures irrevocably attached to the cars themselves!" + +"But how," said Sarka at last, "are we to be sure? I can understand +what Dalis might do if the Moon-men granted his wish for an alliance +with them. It is easy to understand why his Gens would follow his +lead, for with the Moon forced outward from the Earth faster than his +Gens could retreat, there is but one direction for his Gens to +go--toward the Moon! They would go to the Moon as captives and trust +the keen brain of Dalis to gain the mastery, sooner or later, over the +Moon-men. And then...." + +"And then--?" repeated Sarka the Elder. + +"Then, Dalis has already been inspired by the speed with which those +aircars travel! You will remember that he did not take kindly to +leaving the Earth and making his abode on some other planet! But why +could he not do so, combine forces and knowledge with the people of +that planet--and then return to Earth in alliance with them?--after we +have depleted our forces by placing a large portion of our people on +Mars and Venus and Saturn?" + +"Sarka, my son," said Sarka's father, "before we continue with our +flight to Mars, we must know the truth! We must somehow learn exactly +what is going on on the Moon! If you could reach the Moon, alone, +undetected, and bring back a report...." + + * * * * * + +For a moment he left it there, and the faces of all three were gray +with worry and abysmal fear. + +"I can't go bodily, father," said Sarka at last, "but you remember my +secret exit dome, to the right of the observatory, from which I have +never yet dared exit from this place for fear that it might cost me my +life?" + +Sarka the Elder nodded, while Jaska looked puzzled. Another evidence +of the fact that Sarka had not always trusted her, for she knew +nothing of a secret exit dome. Sarka's eyes, as he looked at Jaska, +mutely asked her forgiveness, which she gave him with her smile. + +"I remember, son, and now?..." + +"Surely it is worth risking one's life to know what new menace looms +over the children of men!" + +"What is the use of this secret dome?" asked Jaska softly. + +"It is merely an elaboration of the regular exit dome, combined with +certain phases of our atom-distintegrators, and the principle involved +in the anti-gravitational ovoids. I step into the secret exit dome, +garbed for flight Outside, and will myself to appear bodily in a +certain place. It is instantaneous. I step into the dome, for +example, and will myself to appear whole upon the Moon, and there I +will appear!" + +"You mean that during the period of transposition you are invisible?" + +"Yes, invisible because non-existent, except for the essential +elements of me, broken down by the secret exit dome, reassembled at +the place willed in their entirety! I can't fly there, for a million +eyes would see me approach! I must go in secret, as a spy, and wearing +the clothing and insignia of a member of the Gens of Dalis!" + +Silence in the observatory for a brief breathing space, and then Jaska +spoke that speech out of the books of antiquity, which remains the +classic expression of loyalty. + +"Whithersoever thou goest, there will I go also!" + +From the laboratory came a sudden burst of laughter, the laughter +which all three recognized as the laughter of Dalis; but when they +entered the place of the Revolving Beryl, there was no one there--and +a feeling of dread, all encompassing, held them thralled for the space +of several heart-beats. Dalis, they knew, was thousands of miles away, +upon the Moon; yet here in the place of the Master Beryl they all +three had just heard his sardonic laughter! + + +CHAPTER XII + +_Ashes of the Moon_ + +Through the micro-telescopes it was possible to see what had happened +after Dalis had assumed command of the Gens of Dalis. For even though +the Moon, in spite of the speed of the Beryls, was being forced +further and further from the Earth, the eyes of the micro-telescopes +picked out and enlarged details to such an extent that the battle +seemed to be transpiring under the eyes of the beholders. + +A terrific jumble, in which Earthlings and aircars were all tumbled +together in mad chaos, a great mass of writhing, green-garbed figures. +Infinite in number--in the midst of which were the gigantic aircars, +like monster beetles being beset by armies upon armies of ants. + +Then, by the time Jaska had seated herself in the observatory atop the +Himalayas, to watch what developed, the battle seemed to be over, and +the Moon-men had won. For the huge cars swung around between the +myriads of the Gens of Dalis, and seemed to be herding them toward the +Moon, as though they were prisoners. + +Telepathically, Sarka and his father had been able to catch some hint +of the thoughts of the Earthlings in the battle, and these thoughts +had been tinged with doubt, fear and horror, so that even thus to +receive them, by mental telepathy, was to feel the searing heat of +their fear. + + * * * * * + +Now, in the instant when the battle in Space seemed to be over and the +Gens of Dalis were prisoners, the thought waves were no more, and a +brooding silence took their place. Dalis, the Sarkas knew, possessed +the power to mask his thoughts, for it was a power possessed in common +by all the scientists of Earth. But the common people of his Gens did +not posses that power. However, for the moment Sarka had forgotten an +all important something: that, when people were outside the roof of +the world, they were subservient to the will of a common commander to +whom they had sworn allegiance. + +If, therefore, Dalis could mask his own thoughts from the brains of +men, he could also mask the thoughts of the people of his Gens, merely +by willing it! So Sarka and his father and Jaska could not know +whether the Gens of Dalis had gone over in a body with him, in a truce +with the people of the Moon, or whether they were dual prisoners--of +Dalis and of the Moon-men! + +More than ever was it necessary for someone to somehow reach the Moon +and make a thorough investigation, discover just what Dalis was doing, +what mischief he was hatching. + +The secret exit dome seemed to be the answer. + +"You can manage without me, father?" asked Sarka. + + * * * * * + +The elder Sarka nodded. + +"Of the other Spokesmen of Earth," went on Sarka, "I trust Gerd the +most. Might I suggest that you bring him here, trust him in all +details, and let him take my place wherever possible? Or, better +still, keep Jaska here with you! I ... I may not be able to return! +I'll try to find a way, but--we can always communicate telepathically. +Jaska...." + +"Jaska," said that young lady grimly, "goes with Sarka wherever Sarka +goes!" + +"But it may mean death! We can only guess at the cunning of the Moon +dwellers! They may have been in secret communication with Dalis for +centuries! Dalis, who somehow discovered our secret finger code, may +also know of the secret exit dome, and the principle upon which it +operates! If he does, he may know how to combat it! Perhaps that +explains his laughter! Perhaps he heard and understood every word we +spoke, hears and understands every word we speak now! Who knows? He +may wait until I have passed through the secret exit dome, and then +make it impossible for me to be reincarnated on the Moon--or +elsewhere!" + +"No matter," said Jaska softly, "wherever Sarka goes, there goes +Jaska! It is useless to attempt to dissuade me, and it is time you +learned that!" + +In spite of himself Sarka smiled, and his father met his smile with a +quizzical one of his own. Both men had the same thought. + +"The eternal woman!" said Sarka the Elder. "No man has ever understood +her--no man ever will! And all men are ruled by her!" + +Sarka shrugged, and Jaska spoke again. + +"Don't you think it is time we tried this new experiment?" + + * * * * * + +Sarka nodded, and his face was suddenly alight with the excitement +which burned within him. + +"First," he said, "we need accoutrements of the Gens of Dalis for two +people!" + +Jaska smiled. + +"Forseeing that we might have need of such equipment, I had several +complete outfits sent here when I took charge of the Gens of Dalis as +its Spokesman!" + +Two minutes later, arrayed in the green clothing of the House of +Dalis, swathed in it from neck to toe, wearing their belts and the +masks which were necessary to life in space where there was no +atmosphere, the whole topped by the gleaming helmets whose skull-pans +held the infinitesimally small anti-gravitational ovoids, Jaska and +Sarka entered the secret exit dome, side by-side. + +On the breast and back of each showed the yellow stars of the Gens of +Dalis. There was no hiding their identity otherwise, and if any of the +Gens saw them, both would be immediately recognized--for Jaska had +commanded the Gens, and Sarka was the world's greatest scientist known +to every human being. But they planned on carrying out their +investigations by stealth. + +"Father," said Sarka, "when the inner door is closed upon us, you have +but to press the button to the right of the door. Press it when the +light beside it glows red, which will indicate that we have willed +ourselves to go to a certain destination!" + + * * * * * + +The inner door closed upon Sarka and Jaska, and, hand in hand, side by +side, their bodies glowing with knowledge of warm, sympathetic +contact, they waited for a miracle which had never before been +attempted. + +"Are you afraid, beloved?" queried Sarka. + +"When I am with you," she said softly, "I have no fear." + +"Then face the outer door, and will to go wherever I will to take +you!" + +Side by side, hand-in-hand still, they faced the outer door, and Sarka +willed: + +"Let us appear together in a deserted spot, within sight but unseen, +of the Moon crater from which those aircars were sent against us!" + +A sudden blur, a cessation of all knowledge, and then.... + +Sarka and Jaska stood side by side in a desolate expanse surrounded by +bleak and appalling mountains of grotesque shape, in a light that was +weirdly, awesomely blue. Their feet were invisible, deeply rooted in +some soft, fine material which looked like snow. + +After a swift glance around to see if anything lived or moved in this +awful desolation, Sarka stooped and dipped up some of the fine stuff +with his fingers, touched it to his lips. + + * * * * * + +The material seemed to be fine blue ashes and on his tongue it had a +soapy savor. He peered at Jaska, whose eyes were glowing with +excitement, whose lips were parted with anticipation, and instantly he +opened a mental conversation with her. + +"We must speak with each other telepathically, but do not speak with +me until I have explained to you how to mask your thoughts from all +persons save the one with whom you hold converse! First, I love you! +Second, let us see if, searching the sky, we can find the Earth!" + +In a few brief, highly technical words, Sarka told his beloved how to +talk with him in the manner which he had never before explained to +her. They had used telepathy before, countless times, but they had not +cared who heard--while now secrecy in all things was the prime +essential for success, even for life. + +When he had told her, and she replied, "I understand perfectly, and it +seems quite easy," they turned and surveyed the heavens, out of which, +by this new miracle of the secret exit dome, they had dropped to the +face of the Moon. + +Away across the space between worlds, its transfiguration plainly +visible to the two, they could make out and identify the world from +which they had come. Save that they knew themselves standing on the +Moon, they would have thought as far as appearances went, that the +place where they had come was the Moon, many times enlarged. It seemed +incredible that they had come so far in the twinkling of an eye; but +that they had was proved by the fact of their physical presence. + +"Look, Jaska!" said Sarka suddenly. "See how our Earth glows, as +though it were afire inside!" + + * * * * * + +They stared at the great circular yellowish flame that he pointed out, +and Sarka, always the scientist whose science was one of exactness, +tried to estimate just where, on the Earth's surface, the glow was. + +"Jaska," he said again, "that glow comes out of the heart of the Gens area +which Dalis ruled! And no one lives there, since Dalis' Gens flew out to do +battle! That's why we did not know of it before we left! That glow, +somehow, beloved, is the cause of the outward-from-the-Earth journey of the +Moon! First we must locate the Moon-source of the glow, and render it +incapable of further forcing itself away! For do you realize that, unless +we do so, we will never again see home?" + +Jaska said nothing, but her eyes were troubled for a moment. Then she +smiled again. + +"What care I if I become a prisoner on the Moon, if you are with me?" + +Sarka was just now realizing the wonder of this raven-haired woman +whom, knowing her for half a century as he had, he had just known so +little after all. + +"If we seem in danger of discovery, Jaska," he said to her, "drop down +instantly into the ashes, for if we are discovered by Dalis...." + +He left it there and, with a deep intake of breath, started away for +the nearest and highest hill. They desired to walk, yet found walking +almost impossible, as they could not keep their feet on the ground +save by the exercise of a really incredible effort of will. So, +despairing of keeping their feet in contact with the ashes, they flew +just above them, heading for the nearest weird-looking ridge. + + * * * * * + +In the strange light, which was oddly like moonlight in some painted +desert of Earth, shapes were distorted and somehow menacing, colors +were raw, almost bleeding--and distances that seemed but a step +required hours to traverse. + +Ever and anon, as they traveled they looked back up at the Earth which +was their home. It still was visible, though plainly smaller with +distance, and for a time Sarka's heart misgave him; but he only +clasped tighter the hand of Jaska and moved on. + +They were just at the base of the first hill, which had now become a +mountain of gloomy, forbidding aspect, when the first sound they had +heard on the moon came to them. A sound that was a commingling of the +laughter of Dalis, the barking of jackals of the olden times, the +humming of a million Beryls revolving at top speed, and a strident +buzzing such as neither had ever heard. + +Had they been discovered? Was the sound a warning? They could not +know; but as they stared at the crest of the hill, two long, snaky, +waving things appeared above the crest, undulating, waving to and +fro, as though questing for something. They crouched low in the white +ashes at the base of the mountain, and waited, scarcely breathing. + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_The Lunar Cubes_ + +For a long time Sarka and Jaska remained still, like sentinels, +listening to the strange discord which seemed to emanate from behind +the hill at whose base they crouched. + +"Look!" said Sarka at last. "There against the sky, beyond and between +those two waving tentacles! Note that column of light, scarcely +lighter than the light which surrounds it everywhere? It looks like a +massive column just lighter than everything around it, yet so little +lighter that you have to watch closely to see it at all?" + +Jaska stared for all of a minute, before she thought back her answer. + +"I see it," she said. + +"Note now whether it goes, as it reaches outward into Space!" + +Jaska followed the mighty height of the thing, outward and outward, +and then gasped. + +"Sarka," she said, "its end touches the Earth in the very heart of +that strange glow we spoke about!" + +"Exactly! And people of Earth know nothing about it, because it is +invisible to them! It is only from Outside that the glow it makes +against the Earth is visible! If we can divert its direction, or +render it useless in any way, the Moon will no longer be thrust away +by its force!" + +A pause of indecision, then Sarka thought again: + +"Let us go, Jaska! Keep behind me, right on my heels!" + +Slowly, fighting against something that seemed determined to pull, or +hurl, them outward from the surface of the Moon with each forward +movement they made, they essayed the side of the hill, pausing at the +end of what seemed like hours in a sort of hollow just large enough +to mask their bodies and stared over its edge into one of the craters +of the Moon. Out of the depths of that crater came the discordant +sounds, which now were almost deafening, and out of that crater too +came the almost invisibly bluish column whose outer tip touched the +Earth. + + * * * * * + +Right before them, so close that they all but rested in its shadow, +was one of those monster aircars, its tentacles moving to and fro as +though wafted into motion by some vagrant breeze. But since neither +Sarka nor Jaska could feel the breeze, Sarka knew that it was life +which caused the waving motion of those tentacles of terror. + +"Note," he said to Jaska, "that there is a tiny trap-door in the +bottom of the aircar, and that the thing rests on a half-dozen of +those tentacles!" + +"I see," came Jaska's reply. + +Jaska went on: + +"Note the gleaming thing on the ground, right below the aircar? I +wonder what it is?" + +They studied the thing there, which seemed to be a huge jewel of some +sort that glittered balefully in the eery light of the Moon. It was, +perhaps, twice the size of an average man's torso, and was almost +exactly cubical in shape. As Sarka studied the thing, he sensed that +feeling flowed out of it--that the cube, whatever it was, was alive! + +He tore his glance away from it, and realized that he accomplished the +feat with a distinct effort of will--as though the cube had willed to +hold his gaze, knew he was there. His eyes, peering around the inner +slope of the crater--which dipped over, some hundreds of feet down, +and plunged downward to some unknown depth--noted a broad, flat stone, +off to his right; and around the rim of the crater he counted a full +hundred of the aircars, all with their tentacles waving as if they +belonged to sentient creatures. + + * * * * * + +Below each one, as he studied them and strained his eyes to make out +details, he caught the baleful gleam of other cubes like the first he +had seen. The aircars, it seemed, were either sentinels, at the lip of +the crater, or were the dwelling places of sentinels--and the cubes +were those sentinels! + +It seemed absurd, but it came to Sarka in a flash that that was the +answer, and his eyes came back to the first cube, because it was +nearer and more easy to study. + +"I will not be swayed by the will of the thing," Sarka told himself. +"Nor will I allow it to analyze me! Jaska, do you do likewise!" + +Beside him, Jaska shivered. He turned to look at her. Her face was +coldly white, and her eyes were big with terror and fascination as she +stared at that first cube, resting so balefully there under the first +aircar. + +He shook her, and she seemed to bring her eyes to his with a terrific, +will-straining effort. + +"Look at me!" he told her, telepathically. "Keep your eyes on me, for +to look at the cube spells danger!" + +But his own eyes went back to the thing, and he studied it closely. A +cold chill raced through his body as he noted that its gleam was +becoming dull, fading slowly out. It had gleamed brightly at first, +and now was losing its sheen, fading away to invisibility. He thought +he should be able, regardless of gleam or color, to see its outline; +but its outline, too, seemed to be becoming faint, indistinct. + + * * * * * + +Then, in a trice, it was gone, and a feeling of uneasiness, more +compelling than he had ever known before, coursed through the soul of +Sarka. Where had the cube gone? What was it? What was its purpose? He +tore his eyes away from the spot where he had last seen it, and stared +away to the shadow beneath the second nearest aircar, where he had +glimpsed another of the cubes. + +The cube there, too, was fading out. + +"Sarka! Sarka! Look!" came to his brain the thoughts of Jaska. + +Sarka turned and stared at her, and a feeling of fear for which he +could not account at all took fast hold of him. The eyes of Jaska, +wide and staring as they had been when he commanded her to look away +from the cube under the aircar, were staring at that flat, table-like +rock, off to his right. + +There, almost in the center of the rock, a gleaming something was +taking shape! Just a dull spot, in the center of the yellow glow; then +the beginning of the outline of a cube. Then, all at once, the cube +itself, gleaming and baleful! + +Sarka gasped in terror. He had seen the cube vanish, its glow +disappear, and now here it was, almost close enough to touch, on a +rock beside him, gleaming and baleful as before! That it was the same +cube he had seen under the first aircar, he somehow knew without being +told. That it was a sentient _thing_ he also knew, for now there was +no mistaking the fact that, but for the presence in the little hollow +of Jaska and Sarka, the cube would not have moved. + + * * * * * + +Swift as light, Sarka's right hand darted to his belt, where his ray +director should be nestled against his need of it. And with his first +movement, the cube's brilliance vanished instantly, the cube +disappeared, and appeared again right before the face of Sarka, so +close he could touch it! Yet he did not turn the ray director against +it, nor did he extend his hand to touch the thing--because he was +afraid to do so! + +Even as the cube appeared before his eyes, thrice baleful and menacing +in its close proximity, his eyes darted back to that broad flat rock, +where the second gleaming cube now appeared! + +"Great God, Jaska!" he sent mentally, "what does it mean?" + +"These," she answered bravely back, "are Moon-soldiers! And, unless +we manage not to appear furtive, we are undone!" + +Still Sarka made no move, while other gleaming cubes appeared on the +flat rock. Five other cubes appeared beside the first, at the rim of +the hollow which held the forms of Jaska and Sarka. The cubes were +closing on them, oddly like a squad of Earthlings in the olden times, +advancing by rushes against an entrenched enemy! + +The buzzing sound which they had first heard now seemed accentuated, +but, instead of being outside of the listeners, seemed inside them, +hammering against their very brains! Messages were being sent to them, +or passed back and forth between and among the cube-men about +them--and they hadn't the slightest idea how to make answer, know +whether an answer was expected of them, or what the cube-men thought +about them! + +Since there was nothing else to do, they lay there, hands clasped, as +children in the dark clasp hands, and waited for what might transpire. + + * * * * * + +Suddenly the discord from the inside of the crater ceased, and all was +still, while it came to Sarka that the cube-men who stood before him +were in grim communication with something invisible to Sarka and +Jaska, somebody, perhaps, deep in the bowels of the Moon, over inside +the crater. + +They knew, those two, that the cube-soldiers were reporting their +presence, and asking instructions; that the Moon had gone silent to +listen, and that within a few moments their fate would be decided. +What should they do? + +In his hand Sarka held his ray director, with which he knew he could +blast one or all of the cubes into nothingness. But still he held his +hand, made no move. + +Something, however, had to be done, for the discord was starting +again, growing in volume. It made Sarka think, oddly enough, of a deaf +mute fighting for speech! Then came the first intelligible sound.... + +A burst, from the depths of the crater, of sardonic laughter! + +"Dalis!" said Sarka, and moved. While Sarka moved, Jaska held fast to +his arm. Casting her fear to the winds, furious because of the +laughter of Dalis, Sarka thrust his ray director back into his belt +and stood upright. + +Bending over he seized the first of the gleaming cubes and hurled it +over the edge of the crater, saw it start plummeting down. But even +before it fell out of sight within the crater its gleam had dulled +until it was almost impossible to see the thing. Racing as though +racing against time, Sarka caught up cube after cube and hurled them +all after the first. + + * * * * * + +Out of the crater there came no sound of heavy objects striking, +though Sarka felt there should have, for the cubes were almost as +heavy as a man. + +Then his hair almost stood on end under his helmet, for under that +first aircar, where he had first seen it, the initial cube was again +gleaming into life! + +The thing had dissolved while being hurled over the rim, and reformed +in its proper place, its station as silent sentinel under the aircar! + +These cubes then, were indeed sentinels--sentinels impossible to +injure. Though no force had been used against Sarka and Jaska, Sarka +had the feeling that they were powerless, and that here on the edge of +a crater of the Moon awful forces were being mustered against them. +Mustered slowly, sluggishly, yet surely, as though the mentality which +mustered them knew them helpless, and that there was no need to hurry! + +As for Jaska, she merely clung to Sarka and waited--trusting him no +matter what might transpire. + +On a blind chance, Sarka brought out his ray director again, turned +its muzzle toward that invisibly-blue column, pressed with his +fingers, moving the director back and forth. + +Instantly the blue column seemed to break short off, while the broken +upper portion started racing outward toward the Earth. Sarka watched +it, and noted that the yellowish glow on the Earth, even as he +watched, was fading out--disappearing! + +"If the ray will smash the blue column, Jaska," he said, "it will also +destroy its source! Come! We will go look for it!" + +And, holding her hand tightly, he rose to his feet and strode boldly +down the inner slope of the vast crater. + + +CHAPTER XIV + +_The Crater Gnomes_ + +It seemed to Sarka, as he moved down the inner slope of the crater, +that the cubes were somehow making sport of him, laughing at him, +though no hint of laughter or anything resembling laughter emanated +from them. + +But, shutting his lips grimly, holding fast to Jaska's hand, he +proceeded on, reached the lower portion of the inner slope, where it +dropped off into a seeming black abyss, and dropped, keeping to a safe +speed because of the fact that both he and Jaska were attired for +movement in the air--though their manner of aerial transportation +could scarcely be called flying. + +The anti-gravitational ovoids simply rendered ineffectual the law of +gravity. + +Down they dropped, endlessly it seemed, while all about them, growing +gradually, a bluish glow began to make itself manifest. Sarka turned +and looked at the face of Jaska and noted that it--all her being--was +glowing with this strange radiance. + +He smiled at her, and she smiled back. + +Looking down now, to what seemed still a vast depth, they could see +figures moving, tiny, almost infinitesimal, about a great circular +cone, out of the depths of which came that strange bluish column whose +outer tip touched the Earth. + + * * * * * + +Some inner sense warned Sarka not to touch that column, or to permit +Jaska to do so. They dropped down beside it, while Sarka, for no +reason that he could assign, once more took his ray director in his +free hand and held it in readiness. It seemed so tiny and futile--so +foolish for two people, one of them a woman--to go into the very heart +of an alien world, against an unknown enemy, armed with such a tiny +weapon. Two people against unguessed myriads, whose very nature was an +enigma, even to Sarka. + +Closer now appeared the bottom of the crater, whose floor seemed to be +covered with something that looked like blue sand, or rock. From this +bluish substance the glow which bathed the two Earthlings seemed to +emanate. + +The funnel of the crater had now given away to the immensities of +space, in all directions, and the cold of outside was being replaced +by a warmth which promised soon to be even uncomfortable. + +Then, without a jar, the two landed at the bottom of the crater, side +by side, close enough almost to that great cone to touch it. Out of +the cone came that bluish column, to shoot up through the funnel down +which the two had lightly dropped ... and the motion of the--whatever +it was--was accompanied by a muted moaning sound, like that of a +distant waterfall. + +They paused there, in amazement, taking stock of their surroundings. +Huge tunnels, whose roofs were lost to invisibility in the bluish +haze, whose extremities could only be guessed at, reached off in all +directions. As far as the two could tell they were the only living +souls within the crater, though both knew better. + +Sarka had the feeling, and he knew Jaska shared it with him, that +innumerable eyes were studying them, innumerable intellects were +cataloguing them. And somehow he sensed the presence, somewhere near, +of the traitor Dalis! + + * * * * * + +Then that discordant sound again, breaking so swiftly that it fell +upon the eardrums of Sarka and Jaska like the crack of doom. Out of +the many tunnels, from all directions, came hordes of beings which +would have made the nightmares of Paracelsus--first of the scientists +of Earth--pale to insignificance. + +Paracelsus had written and illustrated his nightmares. Had hinted of +strange acts of flesh-grafting--as the grafting of legs on the head of +man. He had spoken, and written about, ghastly operations, from which +men came forth as part men, part spiders; part men, part scorpions, +dogs, cats, crocodiles.... + +Sarka thought, as his mind went back to those ancient books of his +people in which still remained vestiges of the theories of Paracelsus, +that somehow, in his dreams, Paracelsus must have visited the craters +of the Moon. + +These people ... if they could be called people.... + +They had heads like the heads of Earthlings, broad-domed of brow, +lacking eyelashes or lids, so that their eyes were perpetually +staring. They possessed no bodies at all, and their legs, thin and +attenuated to the size of the wrists of average men, seemed to support +the massive heads with difficulty! + +From all directions they came, looking like spiders such as Sarka the +First had described to Sarka, when Sarka had been a mere boy. They +came on the floor, out of the tunnels; they dropped from the walls of +the tunnels, and down from the invisible roofs, landing on the floor +as lightly as feathers--and all converged on Jaska and Sarka. + +They seemed to have no fear at all, but only a vast curiosity. + +Closer and closer they came. + + * * * * * + +Jaska's grip tightened on the hand of Sarka, for one of the creatures, +with a spiderish leap, had jumped upon her, fastening its legs in her +tight-fitting costume, where he hung, his face within an inch or two +of hers. His lidless eyes, unblinking, stared deeply into hers. + +Others jumped up beside the first, and still others clambered over +Sarka, until both Sarka and Jaska were covered by them like beetles +attacked by ants. But these strange gnomelike creatures, who did not +fear these strangers, apparently meant them no harm. + +Then, after a thorough scrutiny, began the strangest talking Sarka had +ever heard. The crater-Gnomes seemed to communicate by making strange +clucking sounds with their tongues, sounds which were unmusical and +discordant, and which, as the Gnomes who stood back from them, because +already the two were covered until no more could cling to Jaska or +Sarka, joined in the speech--mounted in the cavern to a vast crescendo +of sound. + +Sarka knew then that this was the sound which had come out to them +while they crouched at the crater rim. These were people of the Moon: +but if these were Moon-men, what, or who, were those gleaming cubes? + +"Stand perfectly still," Sarka mentally admonished Jaska, "they +apparently mean us no harm!" + +He had not spoken aloud, had not allowed his thought to reach any but +Jaska; yet instantly the discordant clucking ceased, and the Gnomes +were quiet, as though they politely listened to someone who had +interrupted them, yet whose interruption they resented, or were +curious about. + + * * * * * + +Wondering how the creature would regard his action, Sarka reached +forth and plucked away the first Gnome which had jumped upon Jaska, +and placed him gently on the ground. The thing merely stared at Sarka +with his lidless eyes, as though wondering at Sarka's meaning. Then +his lips, which were triangular, rather than straight as those of +Earthlings, began again that strange clucking. + +Immediately the Gnomes which clung to Jaska and Sarka dropped away, +and scuttled into the midst of the myriads that stood and watched. +They did not understand the speech of these Earthlings, but they were +unusually clever in comprehending the meaning of gestures. + +"Hold fast to me, Jaska," thought Sarka toward her--and wondered anew +as the Gnomes instantly ceased their clucking sounds--"for I am going +to try an experiment." + +Holding her hand still, he turned and strode straight toward the huge +cone out of which rose the bluish column. + +Instantly the Gnomes broke into a frightful clucking of tongues, a +sound that mounted to ear-drum-breaking intensity, and in a trice, +climbing over one another to get into position, they moved in between +Sarka and the cone. So eager were they to bar his further progress +that they stood atop one another, until the depth of them was as tall +as Sarka standing upright. + +Yet, though they plainly said to Sarka: "You must not approach the +cone," they did not seem to be angry with their visitors, but only +curious. Sarka looked at Jaska, noted how wanly she smiled. + +Then he turned, and headed for the nearest of the monster tunnels. + + * * * * * + +Instantly he detected a surprising eagerness in the renewed clucking +of tongues, while the Gnomes raced ahead, behind, all about the two, +capering like pet animals, showing these strangers the way into the +tunnel. + +As they entered it, Sarka tried to discover whence came the bluish +glow. The floor seemed to be of bluish sandstone, though its color, +too, might have been caused by the glow. It was warm, too, so warm +that perspiration was breaking out on the cheeks of Sarka. + +Whence came the glow? Apparently from the very walls of the tunnel, or +its roof; but surely from somewhere, surely from some secret place, +whence it was diffused all over. + +"And Jaska," said Sarka, "the Moon, according to my father's +researches, is literally honeycombed with craters like this one!" + +Again, as he thought, that strange, sudden cessation of the clucking +of the Gnomes. Whither were they leading them? It was plain to be seen +that the Gnomes were heading for some destination, almost herding +Sarka and Jaska toward it. Capering creatures, who behaved witlessly, +yet were far from witless. If Sarka were not sadly mistaken, these +were Moon-men--and women, too, perhaps, since he could not tell the +sex of them--and those gleaming cubes were their outer guards, perhaps +slaves. + +If the cubes were really of metal--they had felt warm to Sarka's +touch--then these Moon-men had gone further in science than +Earthlings, as they had imbued at least some metals, or stones, with +intelligence sufficiently advanced for them to perform actions +independently of their masters' wills. + + * * * * * + +Sarka, too, was remembering another thing: that he had touched one of +these Gnomes, to remove it from Jaska--and had felt a distinct shock +that was patently electrical! + +The bluish glow was increasing, becoming more soft and mellow, shading +gradually into golden, as they advanced--shading still as they +preceded until it was almost white, almost blinding, in its radiance. + +Then, of a sudden, the clucking of the Gnomes ended, and the creatures +ceased their capering, fell into something that might have been an +ordered military formation, and with Jaska and Sarka in the midst of +them, moved straight toward a broad expanse of the tunnel wall, in the +face of which appeared three long lines, deeply cut in the shape of a +triangle. + +The Gnome who had first leaped upon Jaska advanced to the wall, paused +with his face almost against the lower line of the triangle, and +remained there, intently staring, while the other Gnomes remained +mute and unmoving. + +Stronger and stronger appeared the blinding light. Slowly the inner +portion of the triangle began to give inward, like a door. And out of +the opening came that blinding radiance. + +As the triangular door stood entirely open, Sarka and Jaska stood in +thunderstruck silence, staring like people bereft of their senses. For +there, standing in the opening, the now white radiance itself a mantle +to cover her, was a woman, unclothed save for the radiance, who might +have been of the Earth, save that she was more beautiful than any +woman of Earth. + +Beside her the radiant beauty of Jaska paled, became wan and sickly. + +But Sarka noted immediately her eyes, whose depths bewildered, amazed +him. For in them he could see no expression, no feeling, but only +abysmal cruelty. That she was Sarka's master, and Jaska's master, and +master of all these Gnomes, became instantly apparent for +telepathically she addressed Sarka. + +"I am busy now. The Moon-people will hold you prisoners in the Place +of the Blue light, until I am ready to give you to the Cone!" + + +CHAPTER XV + +_The Place of the Blue Light_ + +So the Gnomes were Moon-people, masters of the Moon cubes! And people +and cubes were ruled by a woman who resembled a woman of Earth! + +The Gnomes took them back the way they had come. + +Where, Sarka wondered, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? And where +was Dalis himself! Sarka was sure that, in those first discords which +had come out of the crater, he had heard at least a hint of the +laughter of Dalis. + +And this woman clothed in radiance--who was she? And what? That she +was a creature of the Moon, and yet resembled in all ways a woman of +Earth, save that she was more beautiful than any woman Sarka had ever +seen, seemed almost impossible to believe. Yet he had seen her. So had +Jaska, and as Sarka and Jaska, with the capering Gnomes still about +them, were led away to a fate at which they could only guess, Sarka +wondered at Jaska's silence and at the strange lack of expression on +her face. + +He pressed her hand, but somehow she failed to return the pressure, +mystifying more than ever. This sudden coldness was not like Jaska. + +Back they went through the vast cavern where the cone of the bluish +column still moaned and murmured. Sarka moved as close to the cone as +the Gnomes would permit, and peered up along the mighty length of the +column. At its tip was still the Earth, like a star viewed from the +bottom of a deep well. + +Smaller, too, it seemed, which proved that Sarka's breaking of the +blue column had been but momentary, that the column had almost +instantly regained its contact with the Earth. What was its source, +what the composition of the column? + + * * * * * + +At the moment there could be no answer to the question. Now the Gnomes +were escorting them into another tunnel, whose glow was even bluer +than that which the two had experienced in the other tunnels. And the +deeper they penetrated, the more distant from the cavern of the Cone, +the deeper in color became that light. + +Finally the Gnome who had mentally asked permission of the Radiant +Woman to show her Jaska and Sarka passed before another expanse of +wall, identical in appearance with that of the wall of the triangle +from which the Radiant Woman had appeared. + +This time the Gnome managed ingress by a strange clucking sound, with +his triangular lips held close to the base-line of the triangle. + +Now the door swung open; but the radiance which now came out was not +clear white, as in the case of the outer door, but deeply, coldly +blue. For the first time the Gnomes used force with their prisoners, +thus proving to them that they were indeed prisoners. Their tiny feet +caught at Sarka and at Jaska, and forced them through the door, which +swung shut behind them. + +Sarka looked at Jaska who, in this strange new light, had taken on the +color of indigo, and smiled at her. She did not return his smile, but +her eyes looked deeply, somewhat sorrowfully, into his. As though she +asked him a question he could not understand, to which he could +therefore give no answer. + + * * * * * + +Sarka was now conscious of the fact that the heat of their +prison-house--whose character they did not as yet know--was becoming +almost unbearable. They were alone, too, for the Gnomes had not +entered the door of triangle. Sarka partially removed his life mask, +and testing the atmosphere of the place, found it capable of being +breathed without the mask. He signalled mentally to Jaska to remove +her mask, and when the girl had done so he took her in his arms and +kissed her on the lips. + +She accepted his caress, but did not return it, and her eyes still +peered deeply into his. + +"Well, beloved," he said. "I am terribly sorry. But I did not want you +to come because I was afraid that something of this sort would +happen." + +She did not answer. + +"What is it, Jaska?" he said at last. + +"What did you think of that woman?" she asked softly. + +"Beautiful!" he said enthusiastically. "Fearfully beautiful! But did +you see her eyes? She had no more mercy in her heart than if she were +made of stone! And she hated us both the moment she saw us!" + +"And you, Sarka--did you hate her, too?" + +Sarka stared at her, not comprehending. + +"I feel," he said, "that if we are ever to escape her, we must kill +her, or render her incapable of retaining us!" + +Then, of her own accord, Jaska placed her arms around Sarka, and gave +him her lips. Her new behavior was as incomprehensible to Sarka as her +former enigmatic expression had been. Wise in the ways of science was +Sarka, but he knew nothing of women! + + * * * * * + +Now hand in hand again, they began a survey of their prison house. The +bluish glow was unbearable to the eyes, and tears came unbidden and +ran down the cheeks of the prisoners. In a minute or two, perspiration +was literally bathing the bodies of the two. After a questioning +exchange of glances, Sarka swiftly divested himself of his costume, +stripping down to the gray toga of Earth's manhood. With a shrug, +Jaska removed her clothing to her own toga, and the two suits Sarka +carried under his arm. + +They started ahead, exploring, then sprang back with a cry of fright. +Sarka did not know whether it was Jaska or himself who had cried out; +for just as they moved forward, a rent opened in the floor at their +feet, and their eyes for a moment--they could stand no longer--peered +into a bluely flaming abyss which, save for the color, reminded Sarka +of the word pictures of Hell he had read in Earth's books of +antiquity! + +As the two stepped back, the rent in the floor closed instantly. Sarka +had noted where the end of it had been, and started to detour, his +eyes on the floor. + +Over to his left the bluely glowing wall reached up to invisible +immensity. But as he would have passed along the wall, the rent opened +again, effectually barring his way. + +Beyond the rent he could see a vast continuation of the cavern, and he +felt that, could they only pass the rent, they might reach a place +where the heat was not so unbearable, and they could stay and talk in +comfort. + + * * * * * + +Releasing Jaska, he stepped back and prepared to leap the spot where +the rent had been. High he jumped, and far, surprised at the length of +his own leap. He landed lightly, far beyond the area where the rent +had been, and even as he landed, a rent opened again at his feet, thus +effectually barring further progress! + +"It could just as easily," he told himself, "have opened under my +feet, and dropped me into the abyss!" + +From behind him came the sudden sound of screaming. He whirled to look +back, to see Jaska standing there, arms outstretched toward him, her +eyes wide with fear and horror, and as he stood watching, she raced to +him, unmindful of abysses that might open under her feet, and flung +herself into his arms. + +"Come back!" she moaned. "Come back! Don't you see? _They_ don't wish +you to explore further! We are in their power, and must simply await +their pleasure, whoever or whatever they are! They see all we do!" + +So they turned back, and stood against the door which held them +prisoners; and the heat of the place seemed to enter into them, to +gnaw at their very vitals. After a time Sarka found himself almost +tearing at his throat, fighting for breath. + + * * * * * + +Gasping, the tears bathing their cheeks until even their tears and +their perspiration would flow no more, they huddled now just inside +the massive stone door, arms about each other, and almost prayed for +death. Sarka at least prayed for death for both of them; but Jaska +prayed for a way of deliverance, prayed that herself and Sarka might +somehow win free, and be together again. + +Sarka, who knew little of women, marveled at the grandeur of her +courage, and wondered that he really knew this radiant woman so +little. He compared her in his mind with the unclothed woman who had +ordered them here as prisoners, and it came to him that Jaska was all +perfection, all tender womanhood, while the Radiant Woman was a +monster, without soul or compassion--a creature of horror who mocked +God with her outward seeming of perfection. + +Jaska read his thoughts, and smiled wanly to herself, and Sarka +wondered how, suffering as he knew she must be suffering, she could +find the courage to smile. + +Then, for a time, the two became comatose, mastered by the blue heat, +and in dreamlike imaginings wandered in strange fields which could +only, to these two, have been racial memories, since neither had ever +seen such fields. There were cool streams, all a-murmur, and breezes +which cooled their sun-tanned cheeks. Water touched their tongues, and +cooled their whole bodies as they gratefully imbibed it. + + * * * * * + +In their wanderings, in which Sarka was a faun and Jaska a nymph, they +talked together in a language which only these two comprehended--a +language which dealt in figures of speech, a language which depended +upon handclasps for periods, glances of the eyes for commas, and the +singing of their hearts for complete understanding. + +Then a cool breeze, cool by comparison, caressed their pain-distorted +cheeks, and the Gnomes came in, found them lying there, and clucked +endlessly as though wondering what to do with them. + +From hand to tiny hand, their feet serving as hands, the Gnomes passed +garments--garments of the Gens of Dalis, and clothed again the two +whom the Place of the Blue Light had all but slain. Of that ghastly +experiment Sarka retained but one real memory.... + +That bluish light, in the midst of the abyss, shifting and swaying +like blue serpents swimming in Hades ... that bluish light of the +Cone, which he had broken up for a brief moment by the use of his ray +director. Was this bluish light in the abyss the source of the light +in the Cone? If one were to destroy it at its source.... + +The two regained consciousness completely as the triangular door +closed behind Sarka and Jaska and the Gnomes, and they were taken into +the refreshing coolness of the tunnel, led back again in the direction +of the room where they had seen the Radiant Woman. Both Jaska and +Sarka noticed that they were clothed in new clothing, and a shy blush +tinged the cheeks of Jaska as her eyes met those of Sarka. + + * * * * * + +This time they entered the vast chamber of radiance behind the first +triangular door, and were forced to their knees to do obeisance to the +Radiant Woman, who sat on a gleaming yellow stone for dais! The guards +who forced Sarka and Jaska to their knees, were clothed in the green +of the Gens of Dalis, and Dalis himself, his face stern, but bearing +no sign of recognition of these two, stood at the right hand of the +Radiant Woman! + +"You come to us as spies," the thought of the Radiant Woman impinged +upon the brains of Sarka and of Jaska, "and as spies you should be +given to the Cone. But if you swear eternal allegiance to me, to obey +me in all things, to forego your allegiance to Earth, your lives will +be spared! What say you?" + +Boldly Sarka stared into the almost opaque eyes of the woman. Then his +glance went to the face of Dalis. + +"What," he asked boldly, in the language of Earth, "does the traitor +Dalis say?" + +"I have sworn allegiance to Luar, who addresses you, and am her ally +in all things! I have but one addition to make to what she says: Jaska +belongs to me!" + +The sudden leering grin of Dalis was hideous. + +Sarka peered at Jaska, framing his answer. But Jaska spoke first. + +"For myself, O Dalis," she said swiftly, "I can answer in but one way. +Return me to the Place of the Blue Light, and forget me there!" + +Sarka smiled, while his heart leaped with joy. + +"And I, O Luar," he said mentally to the Radiant Woman, "prefer death +with Jaska, at the Place of the Blue Light, than life as a traitor to +the world of my nativity!" + +Instantly Luar began the clucking sound which was the language of the +Gnomes, at the same time allowing her thoughts as she spoke to impress +themselves upon the brains of the prisoners. + +"Take them away! Take them to the Cavern of the Cone, and when they +have suffered as much as such inferior beings are capable of +suffering, thrust them into the base of the Cone!" + + +CHAPTER XVI + +_Cavern of the Cone_ + +The Gnomes had been bidden to take the prisoners to the Cavern of the +Cone, but to the surprise of Sarka and Jaska, they were taken back to +the Place of the Blue Light! This time the Gnomes entered the place +with them, closing and securing the door behind them. + +But the Place of the Blue Light had changed! + +Now it had no floor of blue, as it had had before, but only a corridor +perhaps wide enough to allow the passage of four grown men, walking +side by side, while the abyss of which the two had got but the merest +hint through the opening and closing rents filled all the center of +the place! + +The Gnomes seemed impervious to the unendurable heat, and these, +moving together, one behind the other, one beside the other, one atop +the other, formed a living wall between Sarka and Jaska and the rim of +the flaming blue abyss, to protect them from the heat. + +Yet through the bodies of this living wall of Gnomes, a wall which was +higher than the heads of Sarka and Jaska, the heat forced its way to +the prisoners, and burned them anew with its agony. + +To what dread rendezvous were they going? Where, save for the few +guards at the house of Luar, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? +Sarka felt, somehow, that the answers to all these questions would +soon be made manifest, and a feeling of exaltation he could not +explain was possessing him as he advanced. Around the corridor, whose +one side was the wall reaching up to invisibility, whose other side +dropped off into the abyss, the Gnomes herded the prisoners. + + * * * * * + +The leader of the Gnomes was again the Gnome who had first leaped upon +Jaska to examine her curiously. Now, watching the lidless eyes of this +being, Sarka fancied he could detect a hint of some expression. The +Gnome was excited at some prospect, some climax which they were +approaching. What? On and on they moved. The blue flames from the +abyss, roaring in a way that neither of the prisoners had ever +experienced, reached upward in searing tongues toward the invisible +roof of this place. + +Then, when they had progressed far from the door of entry, Sarka +gasped at a new manifestation. Out of the abyss, some distance ahead, +came a gleaming thing, something that had apparently evolved itself +out of the flames of the abyss. Blue of color it was, because of the +flames from the pit; but Sarka recognized it with a start which he +could not suppress nor understand. + +It was one of those cubes, such as he and Jaska had seen at the lip of +the Moon-crater! As they approached, guided by the Gnomes, other cubes +appeared out of the abyss, others in numbers swiftly augmented, until +a veritable battalion of them had marshalled itself, there at the lip +of the abyss. + + * * * * * + +Straight toward these cubes the Gnomes led Sarka and Jaska, and when +they had reached the center of the group, they halted, forming a +circle, still a wall to mask the prisoners from the heat of the abyss. +The leader of the Gnomes stopped with his face, his lidless eyes, +close to one of the cubes. + +For a moment he paused thus, and Sarka felt sure that somehow the +Gnome was holding thought converse with the cube; but, try as he +might, he could find no meaning in the weird conversation for himself. +It was oddly like listening to a conversation in a code beyond his +knowledge. + +Then the Gnome turned back to Sarka and Jaska. By a pressure of tiny +feet, he tried to indicate that Sarka and Jaska should unclasp their +hands. But they only clung the tighter, and now threw their arms about +each other. + +The Gnome desisted, much to the joy of the lovers, while Sarka studied +the cubes, wondering what their mission was with Jaska and himself. + +Slowly, together, the cubes began to lose their bluish glow, their +cube shape--to vanish utterly. + +In a trice, still locked in each other's arms, Sarka and Jaska saw the +Gnomes through what appeared to be an even bluer haze. Besides, the +heat of the abyss no longer tortured them, and their bodies were +cooling in a way that was unbelievably refreshing. + +"What is it, beloved?" whispered Jaska. "What is it?" + + * * * * * + +Sarka stared at the Gnomes, now in retreat, capering as they had first +capered when the two had fallen into their hands, toward the door by +which all had entered. Mystified, Sarka put forth his hand. It came in +contact with something solid, and oddly warm, which stirred an +instantly responsive chord in the brain of Sarka. + +This feeling was the same as he experienced when he had lifted those +cubes and hurled them into the crater--where they had dissolved in +falling, and instantly reappeared, each under its own aircar! + +"Jaska!" he explained. "Jaska! The cubes have dissolved themselves, +and have reformed in the shape of a globe, as a protective covering +about us, to protect us from the heat of the abyss! Apparently we are +not to be killed at once! These cubes are slaves of the Gnomes, of +whom Luar is ruler!" + +They were indeed locked inside a globe, a globe whose integral parts +were the cubes of their acquaintance; and the atmosphere of the +interior was not uncomfortable, but otherwise. Sarka and Jaska were +feeling normal for the first time since they had landed on the Moon. +But what was the meaning of this strange imprisonment? + +They were soon to know! + +For the globe which enclosed them, moved to the edge of the flaming +abyss, and dropped into the bluish glow! It did not drop heavily, like +a falling object on Earth, but rather floated downward, right into the +heart of the flames. At this new manifestation of the strangeness of +science on the Moon, Sarka was at once all scientist himself, striving +to find adequate answers for things which, from cause to effect, were +entirely new to him. With Jaska still clasped close against him, he +seated himself in the base of the globe and studied the area through +which they were passing. + +Blue flames which seemed to be born somewhere, an infinite distance +below them; blue flames which he knew to be the element that, shot +outward from the great cone, had forced the Moon away from the Earth. + +No sound of the roaring flames came through the globe, but every +movement of them was visible. + + * * * * * + +Sarka turned and peered through the bottom of the globe; but all he +could see below were the flames, a molten indigo lake of them. Now, as +they floated downward, the glow was giving away to lighter blue, to +white, almost pure white, like the radiance which covered Luar like a +mantle. + +Sarka felt himself on the eve of vast important discoveries, and the +scientist in him made him, for the moment, almost forget the woman at +his side. Jaska, unbothered about anything, now that Sarka was at her +side, regarded his expression of deep concentration with a tolerant +smile. + +Whiter now was the light, and faster fell the globe which held the +two. + +The color of the globe, now fallen below the area of blue, had taken +on, chameleonlike, the color of the white flames that bathed it. + +Then, apparently right in the center of a lake of white flames, though +Sarka could see no solid place on which the globe had landed, the +globe came to rest. + +Now everything was plain to see, and Sarka studied his surroundings +with new interest. He felt a mounting sensation of scalp-prickling +horror. + +For, scattered throughout the lake of white flames, in all directions, +as far as the eye could reach--standing alone, suffering untold +agonies, from the expressions on their faces--were people of the Gens +of Dalis! + + * * * * * + +No longer were they clothed in green and wearing on breast and back +the yellow stars of their Gens. Now they were nude as they had come +into the world and standing there, each was holding out hands in +horror, to hold back myriads of the Gnomes, who would have forced them +to submerge themselves in the white flames of the lake! + +Was the Gens of Dalis being burned alive? What was the meaning of +this? + +For a moment, filled with horror, Sarka looked away from the +spectacle. Off to his right, as he sat, he noted that the flames, +which here seemed lighter than they had in high levels, were +converging on a single spot toward the side of the lake of white +flames--as smoke converges on the base of a chimney leading outward to +the air! + +He knew as he stared that he was gazing at the spot where the bluish +column of the cone was born! + +Shaking his head, he turned back to the mighty spectacle of this +horrible thing that was being done to the people of the Gens of Dalis. + +In his brain there suddenly crashed a thought whose source he could +only guess at, whose meaning mystified him more than anything yet +experienced. The thought might have emanated from Luar, or from Dalis. +But the more he thought of the matter, the more he thought how the +phrasing of the thought was like the telepathy of Sarka the Second, +now thousands of miles away, upon the Earth. And this was the thought: + +"If they fight the flames, the flames will destroy them! If they go +into them freely, voluntarily, they will be rendered immune to heat +and to cold, to life and to death. But it is better that they die, for +Earth's sake!" + +What did it mean? + + * * * * * + +Sarka thought of the radiant white light which perpetually bathed the +person of Luar, and thought that he had somehow been given a hint of +its source. If the Gens of Dalis were voluntarily bathed in the lake +of white flames, would they become as Luar? + +Somehow, though he knew that such bathing would save their lives, the +idea filled him anew with horror. He found himself torn between two +duties. If he sent his thought out there to the Gens of Dalis, people +of Earth, his people, they would be saved, but might forever become +allies of the people of the Moon. If Sarka did not tell them, they +would die--and there were millions of them. + +But his science had always been a science of Life, and it still was. + +"Enter the flames!" he telepathically bade his people. "Enter the +flames!" + +But they did not heed him, and for the first time the atmosphere of +the interior of the globe seemed filled with savage, abysmal menace! +Plain to Sarka was the meaning of that menace: The cubes which +composed this globe were loyal to their masters, the masters to a +mistress, Luar, and would countenance no meddling. + +Likewise it was impossible, if the Gnomes willed it to the cubes, for +Sarka to transmit his thoughts to the Gens of Dalis through the +transparent walls of the globe! + +They were prisoners, indeed, of Dalis and of Luar! + + * * * * * + +But could Sarka and Jaska turn their new-found knowledge to their own +use? Sarka was thinking back, back to one of the ancient tomes of his +people. It spoke, someplace, of a man who had got trapped in the heart +of a seething volcano, where the heat of it had cured him of his +illnesses, made him whole again, given him new youth and freshness. + +But since the cubes could forestall his transmission of thought, and +perhaps could read and understand thoughts, how was he to tell Jaska? +How show her that a way of deliverance had been given into their +hands, if they only possessed the courage to use it! + +Again came that thought, which Sarka recognized as the telepathy of +his father: + +"Courage! You will win, and Jaska with you!" + +Thoughts could come in to them then, but could not go out. Or did it +mean that the cubes, or the masters of the cubes, did not care if the +prisoners received messages from outside, because they knew themselves +capable of frustrating anything the prisoners planned? Perhaps. More +than likely that was it. + +But, looking through the bottom of the globe, into the sea of white +flames below, Sarka gripped more tightly his ray director, and tried +to marshal the forces of his courage. There was surely some way of +escape. Some way out of their strange predicament. + + +CHAPTER XVII + +_Casting the Die_ + +Somehow Sarka believed that this white radiance of the abyss held the +secret of the omnipotence of Luar, if omnipotence she possessed. That +she did seemed sure, else Dalis would not have been with her. Besides, +she had asked Sarka and Jaska to swear allegiance to her. Yes the +secret was here, in the heart of the lake of white flames. + +It might have been the Moon Fountain of Youth, or of omnipotence. +There was no telling, unless Sarka tried an experiment. + +His fury at Dalis now knew no bounds, and he was conscious of a +desire, too poignant almost to be borne, in some way to circumvent the +arch-traitor. For here in the craters of the Moon Dalis was working +out a strange amplification of the scheme which he had, centuries +before, proposed to Sarka the First. He was subjecting the people of +his Gens to the white flames. + +If they immersed themselves voluntarily, they became as Luar was, but +still subservient to the will of Dalis--and, in his hands, invincible +instruments of war! Dalis had doubtless already been bathed in the +flames. Sarka was not sure, for in the home of Luar the white light +was so blinding it would have been impossible to make sure that the +white radiance clothed the others with Luar. + +"That's it!" said Sarka to himself. "That's it! Dalis and those guards +at the dais of Luar have already been subjected to the white flames! +The rest who immerse themselves, voluntarily, come forth as Luar and +Dalis! Who do not, die. Dalis' manner of forcing the survival of the +fittest! His idea of the flood in grandfather's time, only now he +causes his selection by flames instead of flood! He believes that only +those worthy to survive, and to stand at his back in whatever he +conceives to be his need, will guess the secret of the immersion. The +others will die!" + + * * * * * + +What a terrible alternative, when Dalis could as easily have given the +secret to all his people! Could have told them how to save themselves! +But it was not Dalis' way. Here, in the beginning of what was to +become a dual sovereignty of the Moon, Dalis had already taken thought +on the matter of over-population, and was destroying the many that the +few--the strongest, most ruthless--might survive! Hundreds of +thousands, millions of the Gens of Dalis, stood at the door of life, +and did not know how to enter, merely because Dalis withheld the key! +And, pausing in terror before the flames, they died, when a step and a +plunge would have saved them all! + +"If he lives to be a million, if he lives through everlasting life," +said Sarka to himself, "and does penance through a thousand +reincarnations, Dalis can never atone for this wholesale destruction +of humanity! But I ... I wonder!" + +Sarka realized the nicety of the revenge of Dalis upon Jaska and +himself. Dalis had not given the secret to the prisoners, but by his +use of the cubes, he had plunged them into the very heart of the +horror, where they could see the suffering of the people of the Gens. +Then, when they had seen and appreciated the horror of it all, they +would follow the people of the Gens to death! + +But Luar had spoken of thrusting them into the base of the Cone! + + * * * * * + +Then they were not for the flames after all! How could it be done? The +globe composed of the cubes had but to transport the prisoners to the +base of the Cone, press against that base, and open to let the +prisoners free--and in the heart of the white-blue column they would +be hurled outward from the Moon, into space. The mere prospect of such +horror caused the perspiration to break forth anew on the body of +Sarka. + +But there might be a way. + +"I wonder," he asked himself, "if the Earth people in _this_ crater +could read my thoughts in spite of their agonies, if I could get my +thought to them through the globe? I wonder if, reading my thoughts, +they would obey?" + +Bit by bit, as parts of a puzzle fall into place, he made his plan, +and his heart beat high with excitement. Jaska bent before him to look +into his eyes, and he knew that she was trying to read his face. She +knew, wise Jaska, that this brilliant lover of hers was making a plan, +and she believed in the sure success of it because it would be _his_! + +She smiled at him, her courage high, and waited! + +Holding the ray director between his body and that of Jaska, he took a +terrible, ghastly chance. Dalis had known the secret sign manual of +these two; but would the intelligence of the cubes comprehend it? He +must take the chance, slender as it seemed. His free hand began to +spell out, with all speed, the mad plan he had conceived. + +"The white flames are harmless if one plunges into them voluntarily. +Are you afraid to attempt it? No? Then unfasten your clothing, and +have it so arranged that you can drop entirely out of it when I give +you the signal, which will be a mere widening of the eyes, like this! +You understand? We must go nude into the flames, so that they will +bathe our whole bodies! But, when you slip out of your clothing, tear +your anti-gravitational ovoid from the skull-pan of your helmet, and +hold it in your mouth! Then depend upon me, and have no fear!" + +"I have no fear," replied the fingers of Jaska. "I go to death with +you if you wish--or to Life!" + + * * * * * + +Feeling the menace of the cubes almost gripping at his throat as he +got into action, Sarka unfastened his own clothing, ripped the ovoid +from his helmet, placed it in his mouth. Then, looking at Jaska, he +gave her the signal. + +Instantly, at her nod, he brought forth the ray director, pressed it +with his fingers, directing its muzzle toward the curve of the globe, +swinging it around in a circle, cutting out the bottom of the globe of +cubes. + +The action must have been one of untold surprise to the cubes which +made up the globe, for before anything could be done to stay the hand +of Sarka, his ray director had cut out the bottom of the globe, and +Jaska and himself, divested now of all clothing, had fallen from the +globe. + +Unbearable heat slashed and tore at them. They still held hands, and +when their feet touched upon something solid, they were gasping with +the unbelievable heat; and it was ripping at their lungs like talons +of white hot steel. But, pausing not at all, Sarka raced ahead with +Jaska, and dived straight into the lake of white flames. + +As he dived he directed his thoughts toward the people of the Gens who +stood, undecided, dying by slow inches, on their little oases in the +lake. And this was the thought, which was a command. + +"Plunge into the flames! They will not hurt you! Plunge in, and obey +my commands, O people of the Gens of Dalis! I, Sarka, command that you +obey me! Jaska, who commanded you at the will of Dalis, also commands. +Gather with Jaska and me at the base of the Cone! You have but to +follow the converging of the flames!" + + * * * * * + +Together the two plunged in, and it seemed all at once as though the +fire had gone out of the white flames, for they were cool and soothing +to the touch. Sarka could feel new life being borne in him, could feel +himself revitalized, exalted, lifted to the heights. He suddenly +experienced the desire to run, and shout his joy for all to hear. But +reason held him. Not thus easily would Luar and Dalis, the traitor, +give over their designs against these two. + +But in the heart of the flames, they dropped down, while they turned +their faces toward the base of the Cone, or where they thought the +base to be, even as Sarka gave another command to the now invisible +people of the Gens of Dalis. + +"Hold your ovoids in your mouths and follow! Obey my will!" + +They dropped now to what seemed to be cool flagstones, while above +them showed an orifice in a wall, into which those tongues of flame +were darting. They paused there, side by side, their faces radiant, +and looked back the way they had come. + +Coming out of the white flames, like battalions on parade, were the +people of the Gens of Dalis--scores and hundreds of them, who had +sensed and heeded the mental commands of Sarka. Like genii appearing +out of the flames they came, to muster about Sarka and Jaska. + +Then, when it seemed that no more were coming, Sarka turned to the +base of the Cone, his face high shining with courage and confidence, +and stepped straight into the flames that led into the Cone. Beside +him came Jaska, while behind him came the people of the Gens of Dalis +who dared to do as he had commanded. + +They were sucked into the Cone like chips sucked into a whirlpool, and +Sarka willed a last command as they entered: + +"Quit the column at the lip of the crater, and muster about the +aircars!" + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +_The People of Radiance_ + +The exaltation of Sarka knew no bounds, and looking into the eyes of +Jaska, he knew she felt it, too. For her face was shining, and all of +her, the wondrous shining brilliance of her, was bathed in the white +radiance that mantled Luar. And now, since Jaska too knew that +radiance, her beauty was greater even than that of Luar. Sarka +thrilled anew at the glory of her. + +But even as he stepped into the base of the Cone, he stepped out of +the blue column at the lip of the Moon-crater. Swift as light, and +swifter, had been the flight upward from the Cavern of the Cone; yet, +so keen were his perceptions, he knew when he had passed through the +chamber of the bluish glow, into which he and Jaska had first dropped +upon arrival. + +Now they were on the lip of the crater, and the people of the Gens who +had followed him, were slipping out of the blue column, like insects +out of a flame, and converging on the aircars whose tentacles still +waved as they had when Sarka had last seen them. + +Sarka looked at these people in amazement. To him there was a divinity +now about their nudeness which nudity never before had suggested to +him. For the people shone, and there was something glorious in those +divinely white bodies. They reminded Sarka of his people's books of +antiquity, and his childhood's pictures of angels.... + +But the effect of those white flames!... + + * * * * * + +There was no explaining it. But Sarka felt that whatever he willed to +do he could do; that whatever he wished for was his, whether it was +his by right or no. He felt that he could move mountains, with only +the aid of his hands. Looking at Jaska he conceived all sorts of new +beauty in her, for she was the brightest, to him, of all the people +who had passed through the lake of white flames, and been cleansed in +their heat. + +"No wonder Luar has mastered the Moon!" he cried to Jaska. "For when +she was bathed in the white flames, her will is paramount!" + +"But how, if she passes the people of the Gens of Dalis through the +flames, will she retain her sovereignty?" + +"Because Dalis, too, has passed through, and his will is the will of +the Gens! They will obey him, and he has sworn allegiance to Luar, or +given some sort of oath of fealty!" + +"How strange that but one person on the Moon has been bathed in the +white flames!" + +"How do we know," Sarka almost whispered it, "that she is, originally, +of the Moon? Does she not look too much like our people, to be from +another world entirely?" + +"I do not know, but ... you mean ... you mean...?" + +"I scarcely know; but Dalis would swear allegiance to no man, much +less to a woman, unless he knew that man, or woman, far better than he +has had opportunity, in a matter of hours only, to know Luar!" + +He left it there then, as he strode boldly, with Jaska by his side, to +the nearest of the aircars. + + * * * * * + +As he approached the car, the gleam cube beneath it seemed to gleam +brighter and brighter, as though it echoed the radiance of Sarka. +Sarka knew, studying this phenomenon, that he possessed at least a +hint of the secret of Luar's omnipotence. There had been a hint +before, but by now its meaning was clearer. The white flames, out of +the heart of the dying Moon, gave new life, exaltation, not only to +the bodies but to the brains of those who passed through it, and with +their brains quickened, they possessed such knowledge as men of Earth, +for ages, had wished to possess. + +Transmutation of metals ... the ability, at will, to endow the higher, +more selective metals with intelligence ... and the ability to retain +command of the intelligences thus endowed. This explained the power of +Luar over the Gnomes, and the power of the Gnomes over the cubes--if +they possessed that power. + +But the Gnomes, what of them? What were they? + +But for a space Sarka must await the answer to that question, for +there was little time. Already he knew that the tale of his escape, +and his taking over of a portion of the Gens of Dalis, must have gone +like wildfire through all the crater, and from this crater, perhaps, +had been transmitted to all the craters of the Moon. All the +craters.... + + * * * * * + +That explained to him the absence from the lake of white flames, where +he had seen so few, comparatively, of the people of Dalis' Gens. The +Moon was honeycombed by such craters, and perhaps the white flame +connected them all, made them all one. And Luar commanded all from her +dais in this crater Sarka and his people were escaping. The millions +of the Gens had been swallowed by the craters of the Moon, at command +of Luar, acceded to by Dalis--and all over the Moon the very things +which Sarka and Jaska had witnessed were taking place. + +Even now, as Sarka raced for the aircar, and Jaska with him, he could +feel a backward pulling that was well-nigh invincible. Someone was +willing him to return, willing the Gnomes to pursue him, willing the +cubes to refuse obedience to him; but he laughed and stepped to the +aircar, passing by the nearest writhing tentacle as though he knew it +possessed no power to harm him. The tentacle swept aside, and did not +try to bar him, while he sent his will crashing against that brightly +gleaming cube. "Into the aircar! We enter with you!" + +The cube vanished instantly, and it seemed to Sarka that invisible +hands caught at his feet, lifting him up through the trap-door in the +belly of the aircar, up and inside. The door swung shut, and in the +forward end of the vast aircar gleamed the cube which had obeyed his +command! + + * * * * * + +Sarka sent one thought careening outward from the aircar, a command to +the cubes which stood watch beneath the other aircars. + +"Obey the Radiant People, and through them, _me_!" + +The light of the cube made the interior of the aircar as light as day, +and Sarka was struck at once with another phenomenon. He could see +through the sides of the car in any direction. + +And what he saw filled him with a sudden fear! + +Out of the crater poured myriads of the Gnomes, and up the sides of it +came myriads of the gleaming cubes, all racing toward the cars. + +"Get back! Get back!" he commanded the Gnomes and the cubes. + +At the same time he issued his commands to the cube within his own +car, and to the cubes which by now were inside the other aircars, +realizing that the cubes themselves were the motive power of the +aircars--and that his will was the will of these individual cubes. + +"Fly at once! Fly outward at top speed toward the Earth!" + +Instantly, as though a single signal had started all the cars, a dozen +aircars rose majestically from the crater, while Sarka studied the +Gnomes and the cubes in turmoil on the rim. He noted then, a strange +circumstance: that when he commanded the Gnomes and the pursuing cubes +to keep back, they hesitated, dazedly, as though they did not know +whether to advance or to retreat; that when he merely watched them, +they came on. + +He laughed aloud at this measuring of mental swords with Luar, and +with Dalis. For he could sense the conflict very plainly. She +commanded the Gnomes and the cubes to attack, he commanded them to +retreat, and they remained undecided, like people drawn between two +extremities, and uncertain which direction to take. + +Upward, side by side now, floated the aircars of the Moon, and in the +forepeak of each, one of the gleaming cubes, like--like +anti-gravitational ovoids of the Moon! At the fast falling rim of the +crater boiled the Gnomes and the cubes, stirring and tumbling, +hampered by their very numbers, as they tried to attack at will of +Luar and retreated in confusion at the will of Sarka. + +Then there was Jaska beside Sarka, her face fearful, as he pointed off +across the gloomy expanse of the Moon. + +From all sides, from all directions, from other craters which these +two had not even seen, came scores and hundreds of the monster cars! + +They had beaten Luar and Dalis but for a moment, then! Now, at her +command, the countless other aircars were coming in to head them off, +to fight them back to the surface of the Moon. It would be a race +against time, and against death. But of at least a dozen of the +aircars, Sarka was master, and he did not fear the issue. That strange +exaltation which the white flames had given him filled him with a +confidence that nothing could shake. + +He shot a thought at the gleaming cube in the forepeak. + +"Faster! Faster! There is no limit to your speed! Faster! Faster! Even +faster!" + +Instantly the Moon seemed literally to drop away beneath the dozen +aircars which carried the Radiant People, while the aircars of Luar +and of Dalis fell hopelessly behind. + +Sure that they would win in this race now, since he was just beginning +to realize the vastness of his power--the all-encompassing, +all-mastering power of the human mind and will, which the white flames +of the Moon had made almost god-like--Sarka turned his eyes toward a +coldly gleaming sphere in the star-spangled heavens ahead. + + * * * * * + +It was the Earth, and it seemed ringed in flames! From its edges there +seemed to shoot long streamers of yellow or golden flames, which broke +into sunlike pinwheels of radiance at their tips. Something, there on +the precious Earth, was decidedly wrong! + +Instantly, telepathically, he sought to gain mental contact with his +father. + +"Father, we are coming!" he said, across those countless miles. "What +is happening?" + +For a full minute there was no answer. Then it came, feeble, broken, +weighted with fear; but it was a thought-message, unmistakably, of +Sarka the Second. + +"Hurry, son! Hurry! For Dalis has indeed betrayed us! I could not +maintain control of the Earth with the Beryls, for some strange +catastrophe has destroyed all the Beryls in the area Dalis ruled! The +shifting of positions of the Earth and the Moon has so altered the +relative effects of the pull of gravity exerted by the planets that +Mars has been brought into dangerous proximity to us and is already so +close that her ether-lights are playing over us! Surely you must be +able to see them! We have received messages, but as yet I have only +been partially able to decode them! What I have decoded, however, +presages catastrophe--for I am sure that Mars and the Moon are in +confederation, and that the Moon-people have deliberately forced us +into contact with her ally!" + +Cold fear clutched at the throat of Sarka as he caught the message. He +decided not to tell Jaska for the moment. He looked to right and left, +at the aircars on either side of him, then issued his commands. + +"Faster! Faster! Be prepared to land in the area of the Gens of +Cleric, as close as possible to my laboratory!" + +A strange, awesome sight, that flight of the rebels of Dalis' Gens +from the Moon to the Earth--like gleaming stars across the void. Far +out in Space they fled at terrific speed through almost utter +darkness, but their light was still blinding, lighting the way. + +(_Concluded in the next issue_) + + + + +Murder Madness + +CONCLUSION OF A FOUR-PART NOVEL + +_By Murray Leinster_ + +[Illustration: _The deck was covered with panic-stricken folk who had +come in awful terror to watch. And all were slaves to The Master._] + +[Sidenote: Bell has fought through tremendous obstacles to find and +kill The Master, whose diabolical poison makes murder-mad snakes of +the hands; and, as he faces the monster at last--his own hands start +to writhe!] + + +CHAPTER XV + +The door of the car swung wide, and Ortiz's pale grim face peered in +behind the blue steel barrel of his automatic. He smiled queerly as +Jamison, with a grunt of relief, tapped Bell's wrist in sign to put +away his weapon. + +"Ah, very well," said Ortiz, with the same queer smile upon his face. +"One moment." + +He disappeared. On the instant there was the thunderous crashing of a +weapon. Bell started up, but Jamison thrust him back. Then Ortiz +appeared again with smoke still trickling from the barrel of his +pistol. + +"I have just done something that I have long wished to do," he +observed coolly. "I have killed the chauffeur and his companion. You +may alight, now. I believe we will have half an hour or more. It will +do excellently." + +He offered his hand to Paula as she stepped out. She seemed to shudder +a little as she took it. + +"I do not blame you for shuddering, Senorita," he said politely, "but +men who are about to die may indulge in petty spites. And the +chauffeur was a favorite with the deputy for whom I am substituting. +Like all favorites of despots, he had power to abuse, and abused it. I +could tell you tales, but refrain." + + * * * * * + +The car had come to a stop in what seemed to be a huge warehouse, and +by the sound of water round about, it was either near or entirely +built out over the harbor. A large section near the outer end was +walled off. Boxes, bales, parcels and packages of every sort were +heaped all about. Bell saw crated air engines lying in a row against +one wall. There were a dozen or more of them. Machinery, huge cases of +foodstuffs.... + +"The Buenos Aires depot," said Ortiz almost gaily. "This was the point +of receipt for all the manufactured goods which went to the _fazenda_ +of Cuyaba, Senor Bell. Since you destroyed that place, it has not been +so much used. However, it will serve excellently as a tomb. There are +cases of hand grenades yonder. I advise you to carry a certain number +with you. The machine guns for the air-craft, with their ammunition, +are here...." + +He was hurrying them toward the great walled-off space as he talked, +his automatic serving as a pointer when he indicated the various +objects. + +"Now, here," he added as he unlocked the door, "is your vessel. The +Master bought only amphibian planes of late. Those for Cuyaba were +assembled in this little dock and took off from the water. Your +destruction up there, Senor Bell, left one quite complete but +undelivered. I think another, crated, is still in the warehouse. I +have been very busy, but if you can fuel and load it before we are +attacked...." + +They were in a roofed and walled but floorless shed, built into the +warehouse itself. Water surged about below them, and on it floated a +five passenger plane, fully assembled and apparently ready to fly, +but brand new and so far unused. + + * * * * * + +"I'll look it over," said Bell, briefly. He swung down the catwalk +painted on the wings. He began a swift and hasty survey. Soot on the +exhaust stacks proved that the motors had been tried, at least. +Everything seemed trim and new and glistening in the cabin. The fuel +tanks showed the barest trace of fuel. The oil tanks were full to +their filling-plugs. + +He swung back up. + +"Taking a chance, of course," he said curtly. "If the motors were all +right when they were tried, they probably are all right now. They may +have been tuned up, and may not. I tried the controls, and they seem +to work. For a new ship, of course, a man would like to go over it +carefully, but if we've got to hurry...." + +"I think," said Ortiz, and laughed, "that haste would be desirable. +Herr Wiedkind--No! _Amigo mio_, it was that damned Antonio Calles who +listened to us last night. I found pencil marks beside the listening +instrument. He must have sat there and eavesdropped upon me many weary +hours, and scribbled as men do to pass the time. He had a pretty taste +in monograms.... I gave all the orders that were needful for you to +take off from the flying field. I even went there myself and gave +additional orders. And Calles was there. Also others of The Master's +subjects. My treason would provoke a terrible revenge from The Master, +so they thought to prove their loyalty by permitting me to disclose my +plan and foil it at its beginning. + +"I would have made the journey with you to The Master, but as a +prisoner with the tale of my treason written out. So I returned and +changed the orders to the chauffeur, when all the Master's loyal +subjects were waiting at the flying field. But soon it will occur to +them what I have done. They will come here. Therefore, hasten!" + +"We want food," said Bell evenly, "and arms, but mostly we want fuel. +We'll get busy." + + * * * * * + +He shed his coat and picked up a hand-truck. He rammed it under a drum +of gasoline and ran it to the walkway nearest to the floating plane. +Coiled against the wall there was a long hose with a funnel at its +upper end. In seconds he had the hose end in one of the wing +fuel-tanks. In seconds more he had propped the funnel into place and +was watching the gasoline gurgling down the hose. + +"Paula," he said curtly, "watch this. When it's empty roll the drum +away so I can put another in its place." + +She moved quickly beside it, throwing him a little smile. She set +absorbedly about her task. + +Jamison arrived with another drum of gas before the first was emptied, +and Bell was there with a third while the second still gurgled. They +heaped the full drums in place, and Jamison suddenly abandoned his +truck to swear wrathfully and tear off his spectacles and fling them +against the wall. The bushy eyebrows and beard peeled off. His coat +went down. He began to rush loads of foodstuffs, arms, and other +objects to a point from which they could be loaded on the plane. Ortiz +pointed out the things he pantingly demanded. + +In minutes, it seemed, he was demanding: "How much can we take? Any +more than that?" + +"No more," said Bell. "All the weight we can spare goes for fuel. See +if you can find another hose and funnel and get to work on the other +tank. I'm going to rustle oil." + +He came staggering back with heavy drums of it. A thought struck him. + +"How do we get out? What works the harbor door?" + + * * * * * + +Ortiz pointed, smiling. + +"A button, Senor, and a motor does the rest." He looked at his watch. +"I had better see if my fellow subjects have come." + +He vanished, smiling his same queer smile. Bell worked frantically. He +saw Ortiz coming back, pausing to light a cigarette, and taking up a +hatchet, with which he attacked a packing case. + +"They are outside, Senor," he called. "They have found the signs of +the car entering, and now are discussing." + +He plucked something carefully from the packing box and went leisurely +back toward the door. Bell began to load the food and stores into the +cabin, with sweat streaming down his face. + +There was the sound of a terrific explosion, and Bell jumped savagely +to solid ground. + +"Keep loading! I'll hold them back!" he snapped to Jamison. + +But when he went pounding to the back of the warehouse he found Ortiz +laughing. + +"A hand grenade, Senor," he said in wholly unnatural levity. "Among +the subjects of The Master. I believe that I am going mad, to take +such pleasure in destruction. But since I am to die so shortly, why +not go mad, if it gives me pleasure?" + + * * * * * + +He peered out a tiny hole and aimed his automatic carefully. It +spurted out all the seven shots that were left. + +"The man who poisoned me," he said pleasantly. "I think he is dead. Go +back and make ready to leave, Senor Bell, because they will probably +try to storm this place soon, and then the police will come, and +then.... It is amusing that I am the one man to whom those enslaved +among the city authorities would look for The Master's orders." + +Bell stared out. He saw a small horde of people, frantically agitated, +milling in the cramped and unattractive little street of Buenos Aires' +waterfront. Sheer desperation seemed to impel them, desperation and a +frantic fear. They surged forward--and Ortiz flung a hand grenade. Its +explosion was terrific, but he had perhaps purposely flung it short. +Bell suddenly saw police uniforms, fighting a way through to the front +of the crowd and the source of all this disturbance. + +"Go back," said Ortiz seriously. "I shall die, Senor Bell. There is +nothing else for me to do. But I wish to die with Latin melodrama." He +managed a smile. "I will give you ten minutes more. I can hold off the +police themselves for so long. But you must hasten, because there are +police launches." + + * * * * * + +He held out his hand. Bell took it. + +"Good luck," said Ortiz. + +"You can come--" began Bell, wrenched by the gaiety on Ortiz's face. + +"Absurd," said Ortiz, smiling. "I should be murder mad within three +days. This is a preferable death, I assure you. Ten minutes, no more!" + +And Bell went racing back and found Jamison rolling away the last of +the fuel drums and Paula looking anxiously for him. + +"Tanks full," said Jamison curtly. "Everything set. What next?" + +"Engines," said Bell. + +He swung down and jerked a prop over. Again, and again.... The motor +caught. He went plunging to the other. Minutes.... They caught. He +throttled them down to the proper warming up roaring, while the air in +the enclosed space grew foul. + + * * * * * + +Once more to the warehouse. Ortiz shouted and waved his hand. He was +filling his pockets with hand grenades. Bell made a gesture of +farewell and Ortiz seemed to smile as he went back to hold the +entrance for a little longer. + +"We're going," said Bell grimly. "Get your guns ready, Jamison, for +when the door goes up." + +He pressed on the button Ortiz had pointed out. There were more +explosions and the rattle of firearms from the front of the warehouse. +There was a sudden rumble of machinery and the blank front of the +little covered dock rose suddenly. The sunlit waters of Buenos Aires +harbor spread out before them. To Bell, who had not looked on sunlight +that day, the effect was dazzling. He blinked, and then saw a fast +little launch approaching. There were uniformed figures crowded about +its bows. + +"All set!" he snapped. "I'm going to give her the gun." + +"Go to it," said Jamison. "We're--" + +The motors bellowed and drowned out the rest. The plane shuddered and +began to move. The sound of explosions from the back of the warehouse +was loud and continuous, now. Out into the bright sunlight the plane +moved, at first heavily, then swiftly.... + +Bell saw arms waving wildly in the launch with the uniformed men. +Sunlight glittered suddenly on rifle barrels. Puffs of vapor shot out. +Something spat through the wall beside Bell. But the roaring of the +motors kept up, and the pounding of the waves against the curved bow +of the boat-body grew more and more violent.... Sweat came out on +Bell's face. The ship was not lifting.... + + * * * * * + +But it did lift. Slowly, very slowly, carrying every pound with which +it could have risen from the water. It swept past the police launch at +ninety miles an hour, but no more than five feet above the waves. A +big, clumsy tramp flying the Norwegian flag splashed up river with its +propeller half out of water. Bell dared to rise a little so he could +bank and dodge it. He could not rise above it. + +He had one glimpse of blonde, astonished beards staring over the stern +of the tramp as he swept by it, his wing tips level with its rail and +barely twenty feet away. And then he went on and on, out to sea. + +He began to spiral for height fully four miles offshore, and looked +back at the sprawling city. Down by the waterfront a thick, curling +mass of smoke was rising from one spot abutting on the water. It +swayed aside and Bell saw the rectangular opening out of which the +plane had come. + +"Ortiz's in there," he said, sick at heart. "Dying as he planned." + +But there was a sudden upheaval of timbers and roof. A colossal burst +of smoke. A long time later the concussion of a vast explosion. There +was nothing left where the warehouse had been. + +Bell looked, and swore softly to himself, and felt a fresh surge of +the hatred he bore to The Master and all his works. And then filmy +clouds loomed up but a little above the rising plane, and Bell shot +into them and straightened out for the south. + + * * * * * + +For many long hours the plane floated on to southward, high above a +gray ocean which seemed deceptively placid beneath a canopy of thin +clouds. The motors roared steadily in the main, though once Bell +instructed Jamison briefly in the maintenance of a proper course and +height, and swung out into the terrific blast of air that swept past +the wings. He clung to struts and handholds and made his way out on +the catwalk to make some fine adjustment in one motor, with six +thousand feet of empty space below the swaying wing. + +"Carburetter wrong," he explained when he had closed the cabin window +behind him again and the motors' roar was once more dulled. "It was +likely to make a lot of carbon in the cylinders. O.K., now." + +Paula's hand touched his shyly. He smiled abstractedly at her and went +back to the controls. + +And then the plane kept on steadily. Time and space have become purely +relative in these days, in startling verification of Mr. Einstein, and +the distance between Buenos Aires and Magellan Strait is great or +small, a perilous journey or a mere day's travel, according to the +mind and the transportation facilities of the voyager. Before four +o'clock in the afternoon the coast was low and sandy to the westward, +and it continued sterile and bare for long hours while the plane hung +high against the sky with a following wind driving it on vastly more +swiftly than its own engines could have contrived. + + * * * * * + +It was little before sunset when the character of the shore changed +yet again, and the sun was low behind a bank of angry clouds when the +stubby forefinger of rock that Magellan optimistically named the Cape +of the Eleven Thousand Virgins reached upward from the seemingly +placid water. Bell swept lower, then, much lower, looking for a +landing place. He found it eight or nine miles farther on, on a wide +sandy beach some three miles from a lighthouse. The little plane +splashed down into tumbling sea and, half supported by the waves and +half by the lift remaining to its wings, ran for yards up upon the +hard packed sand. + +The landing had been made at late twilight, and Bell moved stiffly +when he rose from the pilot's seat. + +"I'm going over to that lighthouse," he said curtly. "There won't be +enough men there to be dangerous and they probably haven't frequent +communication with the town. I'll learn something, anyway. You two +stay with the plane." + +Jamison lifted his eyebrows and was about to speak, but looked at +Bell's expression and stopped. Leadership is everywhere a matter of +emotion and brains together, and though Jamison had his share of +brains, he had not Bell's corroding, withering passion of hatred +against The Master and all who served him gladly. All the way down the +coast Bell had been remembering things he had seen of The Master's +doing. His power was solely that of fear, and the deputies of his +selection had necessarily been men who would spread that terror with +an unholy zest. The nature of his hold upon his subjects was such that +no honorable man would ever serve him willingly, and for deputies he +had need of men even of enthusiasm. His deputies, then, were men who +found in the assigned authority of The Master full scope for the +satisfaction of their own passions. And Bell had seen what those +passions brought about, and there was a dull flame of hatred burning +in his eyes that would never quite leave them until those men were +powerless and The Master dead. + + * * * * * + +"You'll look after the ship and Paula," said Bell impatiently. "All +right?" + +Jamison nodded. Paula looked appealingly at Bell, but he had become a +man with an obsession. Perhaps the death of Ortiz had cemented it, but +certainly he was unable to think of anything, now, but the necessity +of smashing the ghastly hold of The Master upon all the folk he had +entrapped. Subconsciously, perhaps, Bell saw in the triumph of The +Master a blow to all civilization. Less vaguely, he foresaw an attempt +at the extension of The Master's rule to his own nation. But when Bell +thought of The Master, mainly he remembered certain disconnected +incidents. The girl at Ribiera's luxurious _fazenda_ outside of Rio, +who had been ordered to persuade him to be her lover, on penalty of a +horrible madness for her infant son if she failed. Of a pale and +stricken _fazendiero_ on the Rio Laurenço who thought him a deputy and +humbly implored the grace of The Master for a moody twelve year old +girl. Of a young man who kept his father, murder mad, in a barred room +in his house and waited despairingly for that madness to be meted out +upon himself and on his wife and children. Of a white man who had been +kept in a cage in Cuyaba, with other men.... + + * * * * * + +Bell trudged on through the deepening night with his soul a burning +flame of hatred. He clambered amid boulders, guided by the tall +lighthouse of Cape Possession with the little white dwelling he had +seen at its base before nightfall. He fell, and rose, and forced his +way on and upward, and at last was knocking heavily at a trim and +neatly painted door. + +He was so absorbed in his rage that his talk with the lighthouse +keeper seemed vague in his memory, afterward. The keeper was a wizened +little Welshman from the Chibut who spoke English with an +extraordinary mixture of a Spanish intonation and a Cimbrian accent. +Bell listened heavily and spoke more heavily still. At the end he went +back to the plane with a spindle-shanked boy with a lantern +accompanying him. + +"All settled," he said grimly, when Jamison came out into the darkness +with a ready revolver to investigate the approaching light. "We get a +boat from the lighthouse keeper to go to Punta Arenas in. He's a +devout member of some peculiar sect, and he's seen enough of the hell +Punta Arenas amounts to, to believe what I told him of its cause. His +wife will look after Paula, and this boy will hitch a team to the +plane and haul it out of sight early in the morning. With the help of +God, we'll kill Ribiera and The Master before sunset to-morrow." + + +CHAPTER XVI + +But they did not kill The Master before nightfall. It was not quite +practicable. Bell and Jamison started out well before dawn with a +favorable wind and tide, in the small launch the wizened Welshman +placed at their disposal. His air was one of dour piety, but he +accepted Bell's offer of money with an obvious relief, and criticized +his Paraguayan currency with an acid frankness until Jamison produced +Argentine pesos sufficient to pay for the boat three times over. + +"I think," said Jamison dryly, "that Pau--that Miss Canalejas is safe +enough until we come back. The keeper is a godly man and knows we +have money. She'll be in no danger, except of her soul. They may try +to save that." + +Bell did not answer. He could think of nothing but the mission he had +set himself. He tinkered with the engine to make it speed up, and set +the sails with infinite care to take every possible advantage of the +stiff breeze that blew. During the day, those sails proved almost as +much of a nuisance as a help. The fiendish, sullen williwaws that blow +furiously and without warning about the Strait required watching, and +more than once it was necessary to reef everything and depend on the +motor alone. + +Bell watched the horizon ahead with smouldering eyes. Jamison watched +him almost worriedly. + +"Look here, Bell," he said at last, "you'll get nowhere feeling like +you do. I know you've done The Master more damage than I have, but +you'll just run your head into a trap unless you use your brains. For +instance, you didn't ask about communications. There's a direct +telegraph wire from Cape Virgins to Buenos Aires, and there's +telephonic communication between the Cape and Punta Arenas. Do you +imagine that the plane wasn't seen when it came in the Cape? And do +you imagine The Master doesn't know we're here?" + + * * * * * + +Bell turned, then, and frowned blackly. + +"I hadn't thought of it," he said grimly, "but I put some hand +grenades in the locker, there." + +"You damned fool!" said Jamison angrily. "Stop being bloodthirsty and +use your head! You haven't even asked what I've done! I've done +something, anyhow. That bundle I chucked in the bow has a couple of +sheepmen's outfits in it. Lots of sheep raised around here. We'll put +'em on before we land. And like a good general, I arranged a method of +retreat before we left B. A. There'll be a naval vessel here in two or +three days. She's carrying a party of Government scientists. She'll +anchor in Punta Arenas harbor and announce a case of some infectious +disease on board. No shore leave, you see, and nobody from shore +permitted on board her. And she has one or two damned good analytical +chemists with a damned good laboratory on board her, too. It's a long +gamble, but if we can get hold of some of The Master's poison.... Do +you see?" + +"Yes," said Bell heavily. "I see. But you haven't been through what +I've been through. What I've done, fighting that devil, has caused men +to be deserted after being enslaved. There's one place, Cuyaba...." + +His face twitched. That place was in his dreams, now. That place and +others where human beings had watched their bodies go mad, and had +been carried about screaming with horror at the crimes those bodies +committed.... + +"I'm going to kill The Master," he rasped. "That's all." + +He settled down to his grim watch for the city. All during the cloudy, +overcast day he strained his eyes ahead. Jamison could make nothing of +him. In the end he had to leave Bell to his moody waiting. + + * * * * * + +The morning passed, and midday, and a long afternoon. Three times Bell +came restlessly back to the engine and tried to coax more speed out of +it. But when darkness fell the town was still not in sight. They kept +on, then, steering by the stars with the motor putt-putt-putting +sturdily away in the stern. The water splashed and washed all about +them. The little boat rose, and fell, and rose and fell again. + +"That's the town," said Bell grimly. + +It was eleven at night, or later. Lights began to appear, very far +away, dancing miragelike on the edge of the water. They grew nearer +with almost infinite slowness. Two wide bands of many lights, with a +darker space in which a few much brighter lights showed clearly. +Presently a single red light appeared, the Punta Arenas harbor light, +twenty-five feet up on an iron pole. They passed it. + +"Bell," said Jamison curtly, "it's time you showed some sense, now. +We're going to find out some things before we get reckless. This town +isn't a big one, but it always was a hell on earth. No extradition +from here. It's full of wanted men. It's dying, now, from the old days +when all ships passed the Straits before the Panama Canal opened up, +but it ought to be still a hell on earth. And we're going to put on +these sheepmen outfits, and put up at some low caste sailors' and +sheepmen's hotel on shore, and find out what is what. In the morning, +if you like--" + +"In the morning," said Bell coldly, "I'm going to settle with The +Master." + + * * * * * + +They found a small and filthy hotel, in a still filthier street where +the houses were alternately black and silent and empty, and filled +with the squalid hilarity most seaport towns can somehow manage to +support. The street lamps were white and cold. The dirt and squalor +showed the more plainly by their light. There were sailors from the +few ships in harbor, and women so haggard and bedraggled that shrill +laughter and lavish endearments remained their only allure. And Bell +and Jamison plodded to the reeking place in which a half-drunk +sheepman pointed, and there Bell sat grimly in the vermin infested +room while Jamison, swearing wryly, went out. + +He came back later, much later. His breath was strong of bad whiskey +and he looked like a man who feels that a bath would be very +desirable. He looked like a man who feels unclean. + +"Give me a cigarette," he said shortly. "I found out most of what we +want to know." + + * * * * * + +Bell gave him a cigarette and waited. + +"Good thing you stayed behind," said Jamison. "I want to vomit. Why +people go in hell holes for fun.... But I was very drunk and very +amorous. Picked up a woman and fed her liquor. Young, too. Damnation! +She got crying drunk and told me everything she knew. I gave her money +and left. Punta Arenas is The Master's, body and soul." + +"One could have guessed it," said Bell grimly. + +"Nothing like it is," said Jamison. "Every living creature, man, +woman, and child, has been fed that devilish poison of his. The +keepers of the dives go fawning to the local officials for the +antidote. The _jefe politico_ is driven in his carriage to be cured +when red spots form before his eyes. The damned place is full of +suicides, and women, and--oh, my God! It's horrible!" + +A humming, buzzing noise set up off in the night somewhere. It kept up +for a long time, throttled down. Suddenly it seemed to grow louder, +changed in pitch, and dwindled as if into the far, far distance. + +"That's one of The Master's planes now, no doubt," said Jamison +savagely, "going off on some errand for him. He uses this place +practically as an experiment station. The human beings here are his +guinea pigs. The deputies get a standardized form of the stuff, but +he's got it worked out in different doses so he can make a man go mad +in hours, if he chooses, instead of after a delay. I don't know how. +And The Master--" + + * * * * * + +He checked himself sharply. There were shuffling footsteps in the hall +outside. A timid tap on the door. Jamison opened it, while Bell +dropped one hand inconspicuously to a weapon inside his shapeless +clothing. + +The toothless and filthy old man who kept the hotel beamed in at them. + +"_Senores_," he cackled. "_Vdes son de Porvenir, no es verdad?_" + +Jamison hiccoughed, as one who has been out and been drunken ought to +do. + +"_No, viejo_," he rumbled tipsily, "_somos de la estancia del Señor +Rubio. Vaya._" + +The old man seemed to mourn that they did not come from the sheep +ranches about Porvenir Bay. But he produced a bottle with a shaking +hand, still beaming. + +"_Tengo muchos amigos en Porvenir_," he chirped amiably. "_Y questa +botella--_" + +"_Démela_," rumbled Jamison. He reached out his hand. + +"_No mas que poquito!_" said the old man, beaming but anxious as +Jamison tilted it to his lips. "_Es visky de gentes...._" + +He beamed upon Bell, and Bell swallowed a spoonful and seemed to +swallow vastly more. He lay back lazily while Jamison in the part of a +tipsy sheepherder bullied the old man amiably and eventually chased +him out. + +"You're amused?" asked Jamison sardonically, when there were no more +sounds outside. "Because I said you didn't want to meet the young +senorita who loved you when she saw you downstairs? Well, Bell, if you +used your brain you didn't swallow any of that stuff." + +Bell started up. Jamison caught him by the shoulder. + +"I'm not sure," he said sharply. "Of course not. But it's damned funny +for a Spanish hotel keeper to give something for nothing, even when he +seemed just to want to gossip about his friends. Here. Drink this +water. It looks vile enough to take the place of mustard...." + + * * * * * + +Next morning the hotel keeper beamed upon them both as they went out +of the place. A slatternly, dark haired girl who leaned on his +shoulder smiled invitingly at Bell. And Bell, in his character of a +loutish sheepman from one of the ranches that dot the shores of the +Strait, grinned awkwardly back. But he went on with Jamison. + +"We separate," said Jamison under his breath. "We want to find where +The Master lives, mostly, and then we want to find the laboratory +where his stuff is mixed. We don't want to do any killing until that's +settled. After all, the Trade has something to say!" + +Bell codded indifferently and began to wander idly about the streets, +turning here and there as if moved by nothing more than the vaguest +curiosity. But gradually he was working through the sections in which +the larger buildings stood. Concrete structures, astonishingly modern, +dotted the business section. But none of them had the air that would +surround a place where a man with power of life or death would be. In +a town the size of Punta Arenas there would be unmistakable evidences +about The Master's residence, even if it were only that those who +passed it did so hurriedly and with a twinge of fear. + + * * * * * + +There were prosperous men in plenty on the streets, mingled with +deserting sailors, stockmen and farmers from the villages along the +Strait, and even a few grimy men who looked like miners. But there is +a lignite mine not far from the city, and a narrow gauge railroad +running to it. Of the prosperous-seeming men, however, Bell picked out +one here and there toward whom all passersby adopted a manner of +cringing respect. Bell lounged against a pole and studied them +thoughtfully. Men with an air of amused and careless scorn which only +men with unlimited power may adopt. He saw one grossly fat man with +hard and cruel eyes. The uniformed policemen drove all traffic +abjectly out of the way of his carriage, and stood with lifted hat +until he had passed. The fat man gave no faintest sign of +acknowledgment. + +"I wonder," said Bell slowly, and very grimly, "if that's The Master?" + +And then a passerby dodged quickly past his shoulder, brushing against +him, and waited humbly in the street. Bell turned. A party of men were +taking up nearly all the sidewalk. There were half a dozen of them in +all. And nearly in the middle was the bulky, immaculate, pigmented +Ribiera. + +Bell stiffened. But to move, beyond clearing the way, would be to +attract attention. He backed clumsily off the curbing as if making +way.... + +And Ribiera looked at his face. + + * * * * * + +Bell's hand drifted near his hidden weapon. But Ribiera looked neither +surprised nor alarmed. He halted and chuckled. + +"Ah, the Senhor Bell!" + +Bell said nothing, looking as stupid as possible, merely because there +was nothing else to do. + +"Ah, do not deny my acquaintance!" said Ribiera. He laughed. "I advise +you to go and look at the view, over the harbor. Good day, Senhor +Bell." + +Laughing, he went off along the street. And Bell felt a cold horror +creeping over him as he realized what Ribiera might mean. Ribiera had +entirely too much against him to greet him only, in a town where even +the dogs dared not bark without The Master's express command. He had +guards with him, men who would have shot Bell down at a nod from +Ribiera. + +Bell burst into a mad run for the waterfront. When the bay spread out +before his eyes he saw what Ribiera meant, and something seemed to +snap in his brain. + +The plane in which he and Jamison and Paula had escaped in was +floating out in the harbor. It was unmistakable. A larger, bulkier +seaplane floated beside it. The buzzing in the air the night +before.... The arrival of the plane had been telephoned from Cape +Virgins. Through a glass, perhaps, even its alighting had been +watched. And a big seaplane had gone out to bring it back. Footprints +in the sand would lead toward the lighthouse. There would be plenty of +men to storm that, if necessary, to take the three fugitives. But they +would have found only Paula. It was quite possible that the plane had +only been sent for after Bell and Jamison had been seen to land in +Punta Arenas. And Paula in The Master's hands would explain Ribiera's +amusement perfectly. + + * * * * * + +Bell found Jamison looking unhurriedly for him. And Jamison glanced at +his utterly white face and said softly: + +"We want to get where we can't be seen, to talk. There's the devil to +pay." + +"No use hiding," said Bell. His lips seemed stiff. "Paula--" + +"Hide anyway," snapped Jamison. He fairly thrust Bell into an alleyway +between two houses and thrust two rounded objects beneath his loose +fitting coat. "Two grenades. I have two more. The boat we came in is +taken--" + +"So is the plane," said Bell emotionlessly. + +"And there is a sign, in English, posted where we tied it up. The sign +says, '_The Senores Bell and Jamison may recover their boat on +application to The Master, and may also receive news of a late +traveling companion from him._" + +"We're known," Bell told him--and amazingly found it possible to smile +faintly--"Ribiera met me on the street and spoke to me and laughed and +went on." + +Jamison stared. Bell's manner was almost entirely normal again. Then +Jamison shrugged. + +"The sense of what you're saying," he observed wryly, "is that we're +licked. Let us, then, go to see The Master. I confess I feel some +curiosity to know just what he's like." + + * * * * * + +Bell was smiling. Being in an entirely abnormal state, he had a +curious certitude of the proper course to adopt. He went up to a +policeman and said politely, in Spanish: + +"I am desired to report to The Master, himself. Will you direct me?" + +The policeman abased himself instantly and trotted with them as a +guide. And Bell walked naturally, now, with his head up and his +shoulders back, and smoked leisurely as he went, and the policeman's +abasement became abject. All who walked with that air of amused +superiority in Punta Arenas were high in the service of The Master. +Obviously, the two men in these dejected clothes must also be high in +the service of The Master, and had adopted their disguise for purposes +into which a mere policeman and a slave of The Master should not dare +enquire. + +Jamison was rather grim and still. Jamison thought he was walking to +his death. But Bell smiled peculiarly and talked almost gaily and--as +Jamison thought--almost irrationally. + + * * * * * + +They came to a house set in a fairly spacious lawn behind a rather +high wall. There were greenhouses behind it, and there were flowers +growing as well as any flowers can be expected to grow in such high +altitudes. It was an extraordinarily cheerful dwelling to be found in +Punta Arenas, but the shuddering fear with which the little policeman +removed his hat as he entered the gateway was instructive. + +They were confronted by four other policemen, on guard inside the +gate. + +"_Estos Señores_--" began the abject one. + +"Take us to The Master," commanded Bell in a species of amused and +superior scorn. + +"It is required, Senor," said the leader of the four on guard, very +respectfully, "it is required that none enter without being searched +for weapons." + +Bell laughed. + +"Does The Master manage things so?" he asked scornfully. "Now, where I +am deputy no man would dare to think of a weapon to be used against +me! If it is The Master's rule, though...." + +The policeman cringed. Bell scornfully thrust an automatic out. + +"Take it," he snapped. "And go and tell The Master that the Senores +Bell and Jamison await his pleasure, and that they have given up +their weapons." + +The policeman scuttled toward the house. Bell smiled at his cigarette. + +"Do you know, Bell," said Jamison dryly, in English, "I'd hate to play +poker with you." + +"I'm not bluffing," said Bell. "Not altogether. I've a four card +flush, with the draw to come." + + * * * * * + +Almost instantly the policeman returned, more abject still. He had +stammered out Bell's message, just as it was given him. And the slaves +of The Master did not usually disobey orders, especially orders +designed to prevent any danger of a doomed man or woman trying to +assassinate The Master before madness was complete. Bell and Jamison +were received by liveried servants in utter silence and conducted +through a long passageway, too long to have been contained entirely in +the house as seen from the front. Indeed, they came out into a great +open greenhouse, in which the smell of flowers was heavy. There were +flowers everywhere, and a benign, small old man with a snowy beard and +hair, sat at a desk as if chatting of amiable trivialities with the +frock-coated men who stood about him. The white haired old man lifted +a blossom delicately to his nostrils and inhaled its perfume with a +sensitive delight. He looked up and smiled benignly upon the two. + +It was then that Jamison got a shock surpassing all the rest. Bell's +hands were writhing at the ends of his wrists, writhing as if they +were utterly beyond his control and as if they were longing to rend +and tear.... + +And Bell suddenly looked down at them, and his expression was that of +a man who sees cobras at the ends of his arms. + + +CHAPTER XVII + +There was a long pause. Bell was very calm. He seemed to tear his eyes +from the writhing hands that were peculiarly sensate, as if under the +control of in intelligence alien to his own. + +"I believe," said Bell steadily, "that The Master wishes to speak to +me." + +With an apparent tremendous effort of will, he thrust his hands into +his pockets. Jamison cursed softly. Bell had taken the direction of +things entirely out of his hands. It only remained to play up. + +"To be sure," said a mild, benevolent voice. The man with the snowy +beard regarded Bell exactly in the fashion of an elderly +philanthropist. "I am The Master, Senor Bell. You have interested me +greatly. I have grown to have a great admiration for you. Will you be +seated? Your companion also pleases me. I would like"--and the mild +brown eyes beamed at him--"I would like to have your friendship, Senor +Bell." + +"Pull out a chair for me, Jamison," said Bell in a strained voice. +"And--I'd like to have a cigarette." + +Jamison, cursing under his breath, put a chair behind Bell and stuck a +cigarette between his lips. He held a match, though his hands shook. + +"You might sit down, too," said Bell steadily. "From the manner of The +Master, I imagine that the conversation will take some time." + + * * * * * + +He inhaled deeply of his cigarette, and faced the little man again. +And The Master looked so benevolent that he seemed absolutely +cherubic, and there was absolutely no sign of anything but the utmost +saintliness about him. His eyes were clear and mild. His complexion +was fresh and translucent. The wrinkles that showed upon his face were +those of an amiable and a serene soul filled with benevolence and +charity. He looked like one of those irritatingly optimistic old +gentlemen who habitually carry small coins and stray bits of candy in +their pockets for such small children as they may converse with under +the smiling eyes of nurses. + +"Ah, Senor Bell," he said gently. "You do cause me to admire you. May +I see your hands again?" + +Bell held them out. He seemed to have conquered their writhing to some +extent. But he could not hold them quite still. Sweat stood out on his +forehead. He thrust them abruptly out of sight again. + +"Sad," said The Master gently. "Very sad." He sighed faintly and laid +down the rose he had been toying with. His fingers caressed the soft +petals delicately. "Fortunately," he said benevolently, "it is not yet +too late for me to relieve the strain under which you labor, Senor. +May I send for a certain medicine which will dispose of those symptoms +in a very short time?" + +"We'll talk first," said Bell harshly. "I want to hear what you have +to say." + + * * * * * + +The Master nodded, his fingers touching the rose petals as if in a +sensitive pleasure in their texture. + +"Always courageous," he said benignly. "I admire it while I combat it. +But the Senor Jamison...." + +Jamison had been looking fascinatedly at his own hands, opening and +closing the fingers with a savage abruptness. They obeyed him, though +they trembled. + +"I didn't drink the damned stuff that hotel keeper brought us last +night," he growled. "Bell did. And I--" + +"Wait a minute, Jamison," said Bell evenly. "Let's talk to The Master +for a while. I swore, sir," he said grimly, "that I'd kill you. I've +seen what your devilish poison does, in the hands of the men you've +chosen to distribute it. I've seen"--he swallowed and said +harshly--"I've seen enough to make me desire nothing so much as to see +you roast in hell! But you wanted to talk to me. Go ahead!" + + * * * * * + +The Master beamed at him, and then glanced about at the frock-coated +men who had been attending him. Bell glanced at them. Ribiera was +there, chuckling. + +"I told you, _tio mio_," he said familiarly, "that he would not be +polite. You can do nothing with him. Better have him shot." + +Francia, of Paraguay, nodded amusedly to Bell as their eyes met. But +The Master shook his really rather beautiful head. An old man can be +good to look at, and with a saintly aureole of snow-white hair and the +patriarchal white beard, The Master was the picture of benign and +beautiful old age. + +"Ah, you do not understand," he protested mildly. "The more the Senor +Bell shows his courage, _hijo mio_, the more we must persuade him." He +turned to Bell. "I realise," he said gently, "that there are hardships +connected with the administration of my power, Senor. It is +inevitable. But the Latin races of the continent which is now nearly +mine require strong handling. They require a strong man to lead them. +They are comfortable only under despotism. The task I have chosen for +you is different, entirely. _Los Americanos del Norte_ will not +respond to the treatment which is necessary for those _del Sud_. Their +governments, their traditions, are entirely unlike. If you become my +deputy and viceroy for all your nation, you shall rule as you will. A +benevolent, yet strong, rule is needed for your people. It may even +be--I will permit it--that the democratic institutions of your nation +may continue if you so desire. I am offering you, Senor, the position +of the absolute ruler of your nation. You may interfere with the +present government not at all, if you choose, provided only that my +own commands are obeyed when relayed through you. I choose you because +you have courage, and resource, and because you have the _Yanqui_ +cleverness which will understand your nation and cope with it." + + * * * * * + +Bell inhaled deeply. + +"In other words," he said bitterly, "you're saying indirectly that you +offer me a chance to be the sort of ruler Americans will submit to +without too much fuss, because you think one of Ribiera's stamp would +drive them to rebellion." + +The fine dark eyes twinkled. + +"You have much virtue, Senor. My nephew--though he is to be my +successor--has a weakness for a pretty face. Would you prefer that I +give him the task of subduing your nation?" + +"You might try it," said Bell. His eyes gleamed. "He'd be dead within +a week." + +The Master laughed softly. + +"I like you, Senor. I do like you indeed. I have not been so defied +since another _Americano del Norte_ defied me in this same room. But +he had not your resource. He had been enslaved with much less +difficulty than yourself. I do not remember what happened to him...." + +"He was taken, Master," said a fat man with hard eyes, obsequiously, +"he was taken in Bolivia." It was the man whom Bell had seen earlier +that morning in a carriage. "You gave him to me. He had insulted me +when I ordered him sent to you. I had him killed, but he was very +obstinate." + +"Ah, yes," said The Master meditatively. "You told me the details." He +seemed to recall small facts in benevolent retrospection. "But you, +Senor Bell, I have need of you. In fact, I shall insist upon your +friendship. And therefore--" + +He beamed upon Bell. + +"I give you back the Senorita Canalejas." + + * * * * * + +He shook his head reproachfully at the utterly grim look in Bell's +eyes. + +"I shall give you one single portion of the antidote to the medicine +which makes your hands behave so badly. You may take it when you +please. The Senor Jamison I shall keep and enslave. I do not think he +will be as obstinate as you are, but he has excellent qualities. If +you prove obdurate, I may yet persuade him to undertake certain tasks +for me. But you and the Senorita Canalejas are free. Your boat has +been reprovisioned and provided with fuel. You may go from here where +you will." + +Ribiera snarled. + +"_Tio mio_," he protested angrily, "you promised me--" + +"Your will in many things," said The Master gently, "but not in all. +Remember that you have much to learn, _hijo mio_. I have taught you to +prepare my little medicine, it is true. That is so you can take my +place if age infirmity shall carry me away." The Master folded his +hands with an air of pious resignation. "But you must learn policy. +The Senorita Canalejas belongs to the Senor Bell." + +Jamison was staring, now, but Bell's eyes had narrowed to mere slits. + +"You see," said The Master gently, to him, "I desire your friendship. +You may go where you will. You may take the Senorita Canalejas with +you. You will have enough of the antidote to my little medicine to +keep you sane for perhaps a week. In one week you may go far, with +her. You may do many things. But you cannot find a place of safety for +her. I still have a little power, Senor. If you take her with you, +your hands will writhe again. Your body will become uncontrollable. +Your eyes, staring and horror-struck, will observe your own hands +rending her. While your brain is yet sane you will see this body of +yours which now desires her so ardently, tearing at and crushing that +delicate figure, gouging out her eyes, battering her tender flesh, +destroying her.... Have you ever seen what a man who has taken my +little medicine does to a human being at his mercy?" + + * * * * * + +The figures about The Master were peculiarly tense. The fat man with +the hard eyes laughed suddenly. It was a horrible laugh. Francia of +Paraguay took out his handkerchief and delicately wiped his lips. He +was smiling. Ribiera looked at Bell's face and chuckled. His whole +gross figure shook with his amusement. + +"And of course," said The Master benignly, "if you prefer to commit +suicide, if you prefer to leave her here--well, my nephew knows little +expedients to reduce her will to compliance. You recall _Yagué_, among +others." + +Bell's face was a white mask of horror and fury. He tried to speak, +and failed. He raised his hand to his throat--and it tore at the +flesh, insanely. + +"Let--let me see her," croaked Bell, as if strangling. + +Jamison stiffened. Bell seemed to be trying to get his hands into his +pockets. They were apparently uncontrollable. He thrust them under his +coat as there was a stirring at the door. + + * * * * * + +And Paula was brought in, as if she had been waiting. She was entirely +colorless, but she smiled at Bell. She came quickly to his side. + +"I heard," she said in a clear and even little voice. "We will go +together, Charles. If there is a week in which we can be together, it +will be so much of happiness. And when you are--The Master's victim, +we will let the little boat sink, and sink with it. I do not wish to +live without you, Charles, and you do not wish to live as his slave." + +Bell gave utterance to a sudden laugh that was like a bark. His hands +came out from under his coat. Dangling from each one was a small, +pear-shaped globule of metal. A staff projected upward from each one, +and he held those staffs in his writhing hands. About each wrist was a +tiny loop of cord that went down to a pin at the base of the staffs. + +"Close to me, Paula," he said coldly. She clung to his arm. He moved +forward, with half-a-dozen revolver muzzles pointed at his breast. + +"If one of you damned fools fires," he said harshly, "I'll let go. +When I let go--these are Mills grenades, and they go off in three +seconds after they leave the hand. Stand still!" + + * * * * * + +There was a terrible, frozen silence. Then a movement from behind +Bell. Jamison was rising with a grunt. + +"Some day, Bell," he observed coolly, "I'll be on to all of your +curves. This is the best one yet. But you're likely to let go at any +second, aren't you?" + +"Like hell!" raged Bell. "I drank some of your poison," he snarled at +The Master. "Yes! I was fool enough to do it! But I took what measures +any man will take who finds he's swallowed poison. I got it out of my +stomach at once. And if you or one of these deputies tries to +move...." + +Ribiera had blanched to a pasty gray. The Master was frozen. But Bell +saw Ribiera's eyes move in swift calculation. There was a solid wall +behind The Master. It seemed as if the greenhouse were a sort of +passageway between two larger structures. And there was a door almost +immediately behind Ribiera. Ribiera glanced right--left-- + +He flung himself through that door. He knew the secret of The Master's +power. He was The Master's appointed successor. If The Master and all +his deputies died, Ribiera.... + +But Bell snapped into action like a bent spring released. His arm shot +forward. A grenade went hurtling through the door through which +Ribiera had fled. There was an instantaneous, terrific explosion. The +solid wall shook and shivered and, with a vast deliberation, +collapsed. The greenhouse was full of crushed plaster dust. Panes of +glass shivered.... + +But Bell was upon The Master. He had struck the little man down and +stood over him, his remaining automatic replacing the grenade he had +thrown. + +"Ribiera's dead," he snapped, "and if I'm shot The Master dies too and +you all go mad! Stand back!" + +The deputies stood frozen. + +"I think," said Jamison composedly, "I take a hand now. I'll pick him +up, Bell.... Right. I've got him. With a grenade hanging down his +back. If he jerks away from me, or I from him, it will blow his spine +to bits." + +"Hold him so," said Bell coldly. + + * * * * * + +He went coolly to where he could look over the heap of the collapsed +wall. He saw a bundle of torn clothing that had been a man. It was +flung against a cracked and tottering chimney. + +"Right," he said evenly. "Ribiera's dead, all right." + +He turned to the deputies, whose revolvers were still in their hands. + +"The Master's carriage, please," he said politely. "To the door. You +may accompany us if you please, but in other carriages. I am working +for the release of all the Master's slaves, and you among them if you +choose. But you can see very easily that there is no hope of the +release of The Master without the meeting of my terms." + +The Master spoke, softly and mildly and without fear. + +"It is my order that the Senor Bell is to be obeyed. I shall return. +You need have no fear of my death. My carriage." + +A man went stiffly, half-paralyzed with terror, to where chattering +scared servants were grouped in the awful fear that came upon the +slaves of The Master at any threat to his rule. + +But Bell and Paula and Jamison went slowly and cautiously--though they +held the whip hand--to the entrance door of the house, and out to the +entrance gate. A carriage was already before the door when they +reached it, and others were drawing up in a line behind it. + +"Get in," said Bell briefly. "Down to the waterfront." + +He turned to the group of frock-coated, stricken men who had followed. + +"Some of you men," he said coldly, "had better go on ahead and warn +the police and the public generally about the certainty of The +Master's death if any attempt is made to rescue him." + +Francia, of Paraguay, summoned a swagger and raised his hand to the +second carriage. It drew in to the curb. + +"I will attend to it, Senor Bell," he said politely. "Ah, when I think +that I once raised my revolver to shoot you and refrained!" + +He drove off swiftly. + + * * * * * + +Bell's eyes were glowing. He got into the carriage, and such a +procession drove through the streets of Punta Arenas as has rarely +moved through the streets of any city in the world. The long line of +carriages moved at a funereal pace amid a surging, terrified mob. The +Master beamed placidly as he looked out over white, starkly agonized +faces. Some of the people groaned audibly. A few cursed The Master in +their despair. More cursed Bell, not daring to strike or fire on him. +But he would have been torn to bits if he had stepped from the +carriage for an instant. + +"Bell," said Jamison dryly, "considering that I'm prepared to be blown +apart on three seconds notice, it is peculiar that this mob frightens +me." + +The Master's eyes twinkled benignly. He seemed totally insensible to +fear. + +"You need not be afraid," he said gently. "They will not touch you +unless I order them." + +Jamison stared down at the little man whose collar he held firmly, +with a Mills grenade dangling down at the base of his neck. + +"I wouldn't order them to attack, if I were you," he said coldly. "I +haven't Bell's brains, but I have just as much dislike for you as he +has." + + * * * * * + +They came to the harbor. Bell spoke again. + +"The carriage is to drive out to the end of one of the docks, and no +one else is to go out on that dock." + +The Master relayed the order in his mild voice, but as the coachman +obeyed him he clucked his tongue commiseratingly. + +"Senor Bell," he protested gently. "You do not expect to escape! Not +after killing me! Why that is absurd!" + +Bell said nothing. He alighted from the carriage, his face set grimly, +and stared ashore at the long, long row of terrified faces staring out +at him. The whole waterfront seemed to be lined with staring faces. +Wails came from that mass of enslaved human beings. + +"Hold him here, Jamison," he said drearily. "I'm going out to look at +that big plane. There's a rowboat tied to the dock, here." + +He swung down the side into the dock and rowed off into the harbor, +while the horses attached to The Master's carriage pawed impatiently +at the wooden flooring of the dock. Bell reached the two planes +anchored on the still harbor water. The smaller one had brought them +down from Buenos Aires. The larger one had gone after the beached +amphibian and brought it and Paula on to the city. Bell, from the +shore, was seen to be investigating the larger one. He came rowing +back. + +His head appeared above the dock edge. + +"All right," he said tiredly. "The Master has a rule requiring all his +ships ready for instant flight. Very useful. The big plane is fueled +and full of oil. We'll go out to it and take off." + + * * * * * + +Jamison lifted The Master to his feet and with a surge of muscles +swept him down to the flooring of the dock. + +"Paula first," said Bell, "and then The Master, and then you, +Jamison." + +"One moment," said The Master reproachfully. "It would be cruel not to +let me reassure my subjects. I will give an order." + +Bell and Jamison listened suspiciously. But he spoke gently to the +coachman. + +"You will tell the deputies," said The Master in Spanish, "that a +month's supply of medicine for all my subjects will be found in my +laboratory. And you may tell them that I shall return before the end +of that time." + +The coachman's eyes filled with a passionate relief. + +"Now," said The Master placidly, "I am ready for our little jaunt." + +Paula descended the ladder and seated herself in the bow of the boat. +Bell covered The Master grimly with his automatic as he descended, +with surprising agility. Jamison came down last, and resumed his +former grip on The Master's collar. Bell rowed out to the big plane. + + * * * * * + +Jamison kept close watch while Bell started the four huge motors and +throttled them down to warming up speed, and while he hauled up the +anchor with which the huge seaplane was anchored. + +The dock was covered with a swarm of panic stricken folk. Everywhere, +all the inhabitants of the city who were slaves to The Master had come +in awful terror to watch. And all the inhabitants of the city were +slaves to The Master. Some of them fell to their knees and held out +imploring arms to Bell, begging him for mercy and the return of The +Master. Some cursed wildly. + +But, with his jaws set grimly, Bell gave the motors the gun. + +The big plane moved heavily, then more swiftly through the water. It +lifted slowly, and rose, and rose, and dwindled to a speck high in the +air. + +And all through the streets and ways of Punta Arenas, fear stalked +almost as a tangible thing. Panic hovered over the housetops, always +ready to descend. Terror was in the air that every man breathed, and +every human being looked at every other human being with staring, +haunted eyes. Punta Arenas was waiting for its murder madness to +begin. + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +There were four motors to pull the big plane through the air, and +their roaring was a vast thundering noise which the earth re-echoed. +But inside the cabin that tumult was reduced to a not intolerable +humming sound. + +"What'll I do with this devil, Bell?" asked Jamison. "Now that we're +aloft, I confess this grenade makes me nervous. I'm holding it so +tightly my fingers are getting cramped." + +"Tie him up," said Bell, without looking. "He'll talk presently." + +Movements. The plane flew on, swaying slightly in the way of big +sea-planes everywhere. A williwaw began in the hills ahead and swept +out and set the ship to reeling crazily in its erratic currents. The +Strait vanished and there were tumbled hills below them. Minutes +passed. + +"Got him fixed up," said Jamison coolly, "I'll guarantee he won't +break loose. Got any plans, Bell?" + +"No time," said Bell. "I haven't had time to make any. The first thing +is to get where his folk will never find us. Then we'll see what we +can do with him." + +Paula looked at the now bound figure of The Master. And the little old +man beamed at her. + +"He--he's smiling!" said Paula, in a voice that was full of a peculiar +horrified shock. + + * * * * * + +Bell shrugged. Punta Arenas was all of twenty-five miles behind, and +the earth over which they flew began to take on the shape of an +island. Water appeared beyond it, and innumerable small islands. Bell +began to rack his brain for the infinitesimal scraps of knowledge he +had about this section of the world. It was pitifully scanty. Punta +Arenas was the southernmost point of the continental mass. All about +it was an archipelago and a maze of waterways, thinly inhabited +everywhere and largely without any inhabitants at all. The only solid +ground between Cape Horn and the Antarctic ice pack was Diego Ramirez +and the South Shetlands.... + +Nothing to go on. But any sufficiently isolated and desolate spot +would do. Almost anywhere along the southern edge of the continental +islands should serve. + +The plane roared on monotonously, while Bell began to wrestle with +another and more serious problem. In three days--two, now--an American +naval vessel would turn up, with scientists and chemists on board. It +was to be doubted whether anything like an overt act would be risked +by that vessel. If all the governments of South America were under The +Master's thumb, then cabled orders from his deputies would race three +navies to the spot. And the government of the United States does not +like to start war, anywhere. Certainly it would not willingly enter +into a conflict with the whole southern continent for the solution of +a problem that so far affected that continent alone. The Master's +kidnapping had solved nothing, so far. + + * * * * * + +Jamison tapped his shoulder. + +"No pursuit, so far," he observed coolly. "I've looked." Bell nodded. + +"They don't dare. Not yet, anyhow. They're depending on The Master. +How is he?" + +"Smiling peacefully to himself, damn him!" snarled Jamison. "Do you +know what we're up against?" + +"Ourselves," said Bell coldly. "But I'm nearly licked. He's got to +talk!" + +Jamison moved away again. The earth below looked as if it had been +torn to shreds in some titanic convulsion of ages past. The sea was +everywhere, and so was land! There were little threads of silver +interlacing and crossing and wavering erratically in every conceivable +direction. And there were specks of islands--rocks only yards in +extent--and islands of every imaginable size and shape, with their +surfaces in every possible state of upheaval and distortion. A broader +mass of land appeared ahead and to the left. + +"Tierra del Fuego again," muttered Bell. "If we cross it...." + +For fifteen minutes the plane thundered across desolate, rocky hills. +Then the maze of islets again. Bell scanned them keenly, and saw a +tiny steamer traveling smokily, for no conceivable reason, among the +scattered bits of stone. The sea appeared, stretching out toward +infinity. + +Bell rose, to survey a wider space. He swung to the left, so that he +was heading nearly southeast, and went on down toward that desolation +of desolations, the stormy cape which faces the eternal ice of the +antarctic. He was five thousand feet up, then, and scanning sea and +earth and sky.... + +And suddenly he swung sharply to the right and headed out toward the +open sea. He felt a small figure pressing against his shoulder. +Presently fingers closed tightly upon his sleeve. He glanced down at +Paula and managed to smile. + +"There are some rocks out there," he told her quietly. "Islands, I +think, and Diego Ramirez, at a guess." + + * * * * * + +They were specks, no more, but they were vastly more distinct from the +plane than from Mount Beaufoy. That is on Henderson Island in New Year +Sound, and its seventeen-hundred-foot peak was almost below Bell when +he sighted the islands. But the islands have been seen full fifty +miles from there. + +It took the plane nearly forty minutes to cover the space, but long +before that the islands had become distinct. Two tiny groups of +scattered rocks, the whole group hardly five miles in length and by +far the greater number no more than boulders surrounded by sheets of +foam from breakers. Two of them merited the name of islands. The +nearer was high and bare and precipitous. No trace of vegetation +showed upon it. The farther was smaller, and at its northern corner a +little cove showed, nearly land-locked. + +Bell descended steeply. The big plane plunged wildly in the air eddies +about the taller island at five hundred feet, but steadied and went +winging on down lower, and lower.... The waves between the two +islands were not high, but the seaplane alighted with a mighty, a +tremendous splashing, and Bell navigated it grimly though clumsily +into the mouth of the cove. There a small beach showed. He went very +slowly toward it. Presently he swung abruptly about. A wing tip float +grounded close to the shore. + +The motors cut off and left a thunderous silence. Bell climbed atop +the cabin and let go the anchor. + +"We're here," he said shortly. "Bring The Master and we'll go ashore." + + * * * * * + +The catwalk painted on the lower wing guided them. Bell jumped to the +rocks first, and stumbled, and then rose to lift Paula down and take +The Master's small, frail body from Jamison's arms. + +"You looked for a gun?" asked Bell + +"He'd nothing to fight with," said Jamison heavily. He had been facing +the same problem Bell had worked on desperately, and had found no +answer. But he shuddered a little as he looked about the island. + +There was nothing in sight but rock. No moss. No lichens. Not even +stringy grass or the tufty scrub bushes that seemed able to grow +anywhere. + +Bell untied The Master, carefully but without solicitude. The little +man sat up, and brushed himself off carefully, and arranged himself in +a comfortable position. + +"I am an old man," said The Master in mild reproach. "You might at +least have given me a cushion to sit upon." + +Bell sat down and lighted a cigarette with fingers that did not +tremble in the least. + +"Suppose," he said hardly, "you talk. First, of what your poison is +made. Second, of what the antidote is made. Third, how we may be sure +you tell the truth." + + * * * * * + +The Master looked at him with bright, shrewd, and apparently kindly +old eyes. + +"_Hijo mio_," he said mildly, "I am an old man. But I am obstinate. I +will tell you nothing." + +Bell's eyes glowed coldly. + +"Does it occur to you," he asked grimly, "that it's too important a +matter for us to have any scruples about? That we can--and will--make +you talk?" + +"You may kill me," said The Master benignly, "but that is all." + +"And," said Bell, still more grimly, "we have only to get back in the +plane yonder, and go away...." + +The Master beamed at him. Presently he began to laugh softly. + +"_Hijo mio_," he said gently, "let us stop this little byplay. You +will take me back in my airplane, and you will land me at Punta +Arenas. And then you will fly away. I concede you freedom, but that is +all. You cannot leave me here." + +"Paula," said Bell coldly, "get in the plane again. Jamison--" + +Paula rose doubtfully. Jamison stood up. The Master continued to +chuckle amiably. + +"You see," he said cherubically, "you happen to be a gentleman, Senor +Bell. Every man has some weakness. That is yours. And you will not +leave me here to die, because you have killed my nephew, who was the +only other man who knew how to prepare my little medicine. And you +know, Senor, that all my subjects will wish to die. Those who do, in +fact," he added mildly, "will be fortunate. The effect of my little +medicine does not make for happiness without its antidote." + + * * * * * + +Bell's hands clenched. + +"You know," said The Master comfortably, "that there are many +thousands of people whose hands will writhe, very soon. The city of +Punta Arenas will be turned into a snarling place of maniacs within a +very little while--if I do not return. Would you like, Senor, to think +in after days of that pleasant city filled with men and women tearing +each other like beasts? Of little children, even, crouching, and +crushing and rending the tender flesh of other little children? Of +lisping little ones gone--" + +"Stop!" snarled Bell, in a frenzy. "Damn your soul! You're right! I +can't! You win--so far!" + +"Always," said The Master benevolently. "I win always. And you forget, +Senor. You have seen the worst side of my rule. The revolutions, the +rebellions that have made men free, were they pretty things to watch? +Always, _amigo_, the worst comes. But when my rule is secure, then you +shall see." + + * * * * * + +He waved a soft, beautifully formed hand. From every possible aspect +the situation was a contradiction of all reason. The bare, black, salt +encrusted rocks with no trace of vegetation showing. The gray water +rumbling and surging among the uneven rocks at the base of the shore, +while gulls screamed hoarsely overhead. The white haired little man +with his benevolent face, smiling confidently at the two grim men. + +"The time will come," said The Master gently, and in the tone of utter +confidence with which one states an inescapable fact, "the time will +come when all the earth will know my rule. The taking of my little +medicine will be as commonplace a thing as the smoking of tobacco, +which I abhor, Senores. You are mistaken about there being an antidote +and a poison. It is one medicine only. One little compound. A +vegetable substance, Senor Bell, combined with a product of modern +chemistry. It is a synthetic drug. Modern chemistry is a magnificent +science, and my little medicine is its triumph. Even my deputies have +not heard me speak so, Senores." + +Bell snarled wordlessly, but if one had noticed his eyes they would +have been seen to be curiously cool and alert and waiting. The Master +leaned forward, and for once spoke seriously, almost reverently. + +"There shall be a forward step, Senores, in the race of men. Do you +know the difference between the brain of a man and that of an +anthropoid ape? It consists only of a filmy layer of cortex, a film of +gray nerve cells which the ape has not. And that little layer creates +the difference between ape and man. And I have discovered more. My +little medicine acts upon that film. Administered in the tiny +quantities I have given to my slaves, it has no perceptible effect. It +is merely a compound of a vegetable substance and a synthetic organic +base. It is not excreted from the body. Like lead, it remains always +in solution in the blood. But in or out of the blood it changes, +always, to the substance which causes murder madness. Fresh or +changed, my little medicine acts upon the brain." + + * * * * * + +He smiled brightly upon them. + +"But though in tiny quantities it has but little effect, in larger +quantities--when fresh it makes the functioning of the gray cells of +the human brain as far superior to the unmedicated gray cells, as +those human gray cells are to the white cells of the ape! That is what +I have to offer to the human race! Intelligence for every man, which +shall be as the genius of the past!" + +He laughed softly. + +"Think, Senores! Compare the estate of men with the estate of apes! +Compare the civilization which will arise upon the earth when men's +brains are as far above their present level as the present level is +above the anthropoid! The upward steps of the human race under my rule +will parallel, will surpass the advance from the brutish caveman to +intellectual genius. But I have seen, Senores, the one danger in my +offering." + +There was silence. Jamison shook his head despairingly. The Master +could not see him. He formed the word with his lips. + +"Crazy!" + + * * * * * + +But Bell said coldly: + +"Go on." + +"I must rule," said The Master soberly. "It is essential. If my little +secret were known, intelligences would be magnified, but under many +flags and with many aims. Scientists, with genius beside which +Newton's pales, would seek out deadly weapons for war. The world would +destroy itself of its own genius. But under my rule--" + +"Men go mad," said Bell coldly. + +The Master smiled reproachfully. + +"Ah, you are trying to make me angry, so that I will betray something! +You are clever, Senor Bell. With my little medicine, in such +quantities as I would administer it to you...." + +"You describe it," said Bell harshly and dogmatically, "as a brain +stimulant. But it drives men mad." + +"To be sure," said The Master mildly. "It does. It is not excreted +from the body save very, very slowly. But it changes in the blood +stream. As--let us say--sugar changes into alcohol in digestion. The +end-product of my little medicine is a poison which attacks the brain. +But the slightest bit of unchanged medicine is an antidote. It is"--he +smiled amiably--"it is as if sugar in the body changed to alcohol, and +alcohol was a poison, but sugar--unchanged--was an antidote. That is +it exactly. You see that I have taken my little medicine for years, +and it has not harmed me." + +"Which," said Bell--and somehow his manner made utter silence fall so +that each word fell separately into a vast stillness--"which, thank +God, is the one thing that wins finally, for me!" + + * * * * * + +He stood up and laughed. Quite a genuine laugh. + +"Paula," he said comfortably, "get on the plane. In the cabin. Jamison +and I are going to strip The Master." + +Paula stared. The Master looked at him blankly. Jamison frowned +bewilderedly, but stood up grimly to obey. + +"But Senor," said The Master in gentle dignity, "merely to humiliate +me--" + +"Not for that," said Bell. He laughed again. "But all the time I've +been hearing about the stuff, I've noticed that nobody thought of it +as a drug. It was a poison. People were poisoned. They did not become +addicts. But you--you are the only addict to your drug." + +He turned to Jamison, his eyes gleaming. + +"Jamison," he said softly, "did you ever know of a drug addict who +could bear to think of ever being without a supply of his drug--_right +on his person_?" + +Jamison literally jumped. + +"By God! No!" + +The Master was quick. He was swarming up the plane-wing tip before +Jamison reached him, and he kicked frenziedly when Jamison plucked him +off. But then it was wholly, entirely, utterly horrible that the +little white haired man, whose face and manner had seemed so cherubic +and so bland, should shriek in so complete a blind panic as they +forced his fingers open and took a fountain pen away from him. + +"This is it," said Bell in a deep satisfaction. "This is his point of +weakness." + + * * * * * + +The Master was ghastly to look at, now. Jamison held him gently +enough, considering everything, but The Master looked at that fountain +pen as one might look at Paradise. + +"I--I swear," he gasped. "I--swear I will give you the formula!" + +"You might lie," said Jamison grimly. + +"I swear it!" panted The Master in agony. "It--If the formula is known +it--can be duplicated! It--the excretion can be hastened! It can all +be forced from the body! Simply! So simply! If only you know! I will +tell you how it is done! The medicine is the cacodylate of--" + +Bell was leaning forward, now, like a runner breasting the tape at the +end of a long and exhausting race. + +"I'll trade," he said softly. "Half the contents of the pen for the +formula. The other half we'll need for analysis. Half the stuff in the +pen for the formula for freeing your slaves!" + +The Master sobbed. + +"A--a pencil!" he gasped. "I swear--" + +Jamison gave him a pencil and a notebook. He wrote, his hands shaking. +Jamison read inscrutably. + +"It doesn't mean anything to me," he said soberly, "but you can read +it. It's legible." + +Bell smiled faintly. With steady finger he took his own fountain pen +from his pocket. He emptied it of ink, and put a scrupulous half of a +milky liquid from The Master's pen into it. He passed it over. + +"Your medicine," said Bell quietly, "may taste somewhat of ink, but it +will not be poisonous. Now, what do we do with you? I give you your +choice. If we take you with us, you will be held very secretly as a +prisoner until the truth of the information you have given us can be +proven. And if your slaves have all been freed, then I suppose you +will be tried...." + + * * * * * + +The Master was drawn and haggard. He looked very, very old and beaten. + +"I--I would prefer," he said dully, "that you did not tell where I am, +and that you go away and leave me here. I--I may have some subjects +who will search for me, and--they may discover me here.... But I am +beaten, Senor. You know that you have won." + +Bell swung up on the wing of the plane. He explored about in the +cabin. He came back. + +"There are emergency supplies," he said coldly. "We will leave them +with you, with such things as may be useful to allow you to hope as +long as possible. I do not think you will ever be found here." + +"I--prefer it, Senor," said The Master dully. "I--I will catch +fish...." + +Jamison helped put the packages ashore. The Master shivered. Bell +stripped off his coat and put it on top of the heap of packages. The +Master did not stir. Bell laid a revolver on top of his coat. He went +out to the plane and started the motors. The Master watched +apathetically as the big seaplane pulled clumsily out of the little +cove. The rumble of the engines became a mighty roar. It started +forward with a rush, skimmed the water for two hundred yards or so, +and suddenly lifted clear to go floating away through the air toward +the north. + + * * * * * + +Paula was the only one who looked back. + +"He's crying," she said uncomfortably. + +"It isn't fear," said Bell quietly. "It's grief at the loss of his +ambition. It may not seem so to you two, but I believe he meant all +that stuff he told me. He was probably really aiming, in his own way, +for an improved world for men to live in." + +The plane roared on. Presently Bell said shortly: + +"That stuff he has won't last indefinitely. I'm glad I left him that +revolver." + +Jamison stirred suddenly. He dug down in his pocket and fished out a +cigar. + +"Since I feel that I may live long enough to finish smoking this," he +observed dryly, "I think I'll light it. I haven't felt that I had +twenty minutes of life ahead of me for a long time, now. A sense of +economy made me smoke cigarettes. It wouldn't be so much waste if you +left half a cigarette behind you when you were killed." + + * * * * * + +The tight little cabin began to reek of the tobacco. Paula pressed +close to Bell. + +"But--Charles," she asked hopefully, "is--is it really all right, +now?" + +"I think so," said Bell, frowning. "Our job's over, anyhow. We go up +the Chilean coast and find that navy boat. We turn our stuff over to +them. They'll take over the task of seeing that every doctor, +everywhere in South America, knows how to get The Master's poison out +of the system of anybody who's affected. Some of them won't be +reached, but most of them will. I looked at his formula. Standard +drugs, all of them. There won't be any trouble getting the news +spread. The Master's slaves will nearly go crazy with joy. And," he +added grimly, "I'm going to see to it that the Rio police take back +what they said about us. I think we'll have enough pull to demand that +much!" + +He was silent for a moment or so, thinking. + +"I do think, Jamison," he said presently, "we did a pretty good job." + +Jamison grunted. + +"If--if it's really over," said Paula hopefully, "Charles--" + +"What?" + +"You--will be able to think about me sometimes," asked Paula +wistfully, "instead of about The Master always?" + +Bell stared down at her. + +"Good Lord!" he groaned. "I have been a brute, Paula! But I've been +loving you--" He stopped, and then said with the elaborate politeness +and something of the customary idiotic air of a man making such an +announcement. "I say, Jamison, did you know Paula and I were to be +married?" + +Jamison snorted. Then he said placidly: + +"No. Of course not. I never dreamed of such a thing. When did this +remarkably original idea occur to you?" + +He puffed a huge cloud of smoke from his cigar. It was an unusually +vile cigar. Bell scowled at him helplessly for a moment and then said +wrathfully: + +"Oh, go to hell!" + +And he bent over and kissed Paula. + +(_The End._) + +[Advertisement: IN THE NEXT ISSUE + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS +_Beginning an Exciting Three-Part Novel of the Nares Deep_ +By Ray Cummings + +AN ATTACK FROM SPACE +_A Sequel to "Beyond the Heaviside Layer"_ +By Captain S. P. Meek + +MAROONED UNDER THE SEA +_A Thrilling Novelet of the Ocean Floor_ +By Paul Ernst + +EARTH, THE MARAUDER +_The Conclusion of the Tremendous Novel_ +By Arthur J. Burks + +----_AND OTHERS!_] + + + + +The Flying City + +_By H. Thompson Rich_ + +[Illustration: The ray shot down--and squadrons of planes frizzled +like moths in the air.] + +[Sidenote: From Space came Cor's disc-city of Vada--its mighty, +age-old engines weakening--its horde of dwarfs hungry for the Earth!] + + +In the burning solitude of the great Arizona desert, some two miles +south of Ajo, a young scientist was about to perform an experiment +that might have far-reaching results for humanity. + +The scientist was Gordon Kendrick--a tall, tanned, robust chap who +looked more like a prospector in search of gold than a professor of +physics from the State University of Tucson. + +Indeed, he was in a way, a prospector, since it was gold he +sought--some practical method of tapping the vast radio-energetic +treasure of the sun--and it was an apparatus designed to accomplish +just this that he was about to test. + +The primary unit of the mechanism comprised a spheroidal vacuum-tube +measuring a little over a foot across its long axis, mounted in a +steel bracket that held it horizontal with the ground. Down through +its short axis ran a shaft on which was centered a light cross of +aluminum wire, carrying four vanes of mica, one face of each coated +with lampblack. A flexible cable led from the bottom of this shaft to +the base of the bracket, where it was geared to a small electric motor +driven by two dry cells. A rheostat-switch for delivering and +controlling the current was mounted nearby. + +[Illustration] + +At the wide arc of the egg-shaped tube was a concave platinum cathode, +at the narrow arc a nib of some sort, ending in a socket. From this +socket, two heavy insulated wires extended sixty feet or so across the +sand to the secondary unit of the mechanism, which was roughly a +series of resistance coils, resembling those in an ordinary electric +heater. + + * * * * * + +As Kendrick prepared to test this delicate apparatus that represented +so much of his time and thought, held so much of his hope locked up in +it, a turmoil was in his heart, though his brown face was calm. + +If his theories were right, that revolving cross would tap and draw +into its vanes radio-energetic waves of force, much as the whirling +armature of a dynamo draws into its coils electro-magnetic waves of +force. For the blackened sides of the vanes, absorbing more radiation +than the bright sides, would cause the molecules to rebound from the +warmer surfaces with greater velocity, setting up an alternate +pressure and bringing the rays to a focus on the cathode, where they +would be reflected to the nib as waves of _heatricity_, to use the +word he had coined. + +Those were Kendrick's theories, and now he moved to put them to the +supreme test. Switching on the current, he set the motor going. In +response, the cross began to revolve, slowly at first--then faster, +faster, as he opened the rheostat wider. + +Eyes fixed on his resistance coils, he gave a sudden cry of triumph. +Yes, there was no doubt about it! They were growing red, glowing +brightly, whitely, above the intense desert sunlight. + +Here was a means of convening solar radiation into heat, then, that +offered tremendous commercial possibilities! + +But even as he exulted, there came a blinding flash--and the overtaxed +coils burst into flame. + + * * * * * + +Shielding his eyes from the glare, he reached for the rheostat, shut +off the current, rushed to his secondary unit--where he beheld an +amazing sight. Not only had this part of the apparatus completely +disintegrated, but the sand of the desert floor under it as well. On +the spot quivered a miniature lake of molten glass! + +As Kendrick stood ruefully beside that fiery pool, meditating on the +spectacular but not altogether gratifying results of his experiment, a +peculiar low humming sound reached his ears. Rushing back to his +primary unit, with the thought that perhaps by some chance he had not +fully closed the rheostat, he looked at the cross. But no, the vanes +were still. + +The humming increased, however--grew into a vibration that made his +eardrums ache. + +Puzzled, he looked around. What on earth could it be? Had his unruly +experiment called into play some tremendous, unsuspected force of the +universe. Was he to bring the world to ruin, as a result of his blind +groping after this new giant of power? + +Such predictions had often been made by the ignorant, to be dismissed +by scientists as the veriest nonsense. But was there some truth in the +universal fear, after all? Was he to be the Prometheus who stole fire +from Olympus, the Samson who toppled down the temple? + +Chilled, dizzied with the pain of the ever-increasing vibration, he +gritted his teeth, awaiting he knew not what. + +Then it came--a spectacle so staggering that he went rigid with awe as +he regarded it, all power of motion utterly numbed for the moment. The +vibration ceased. The thing appeared. + +It was a city--a city in the air--a flying city! + + * * * * * + +As Kendrick stood staring at this phenomenon, he could scarcely credit +his senses. + +Had the magic carpet of Bagdad suddenly materialized before him, he +would not have been more astounded. And indeed, it was in a way a +magic carpet--a great disclike affair, several miles in diameter, its +myriad towers and spires glinting like gold under the noonday sun, +while its vast shadow fell athwart the desert like the pall of an +eclipse. + +The lower portion, he noted, was in the main flat, though a number of +wartish protuberances jutted down from it, ejecting a pale violet +emanation. Whatever this was it seemed to have the effect of holding +the thing motionless in the air, for it hovered there quite easily, a +hundred yards or so above the ground. + +But what was it? Where was it from? What had brought it? + +Those were the questions he wanted answered; and they were to be, +sooner than he knew. + +As he stood there speculating, a device like a trap-door opened in the +base of the disc, and creatures resembling human beings began +descending. Began floating down, rather. + +Whereupon Kendrick did what any sensible man would have done, under +similar circumstances. He reacted into motion. In short, he ran. + + * * * * * + +Glancing back over his shoulder after a minute or two, however, he +drew up sheepishly. Of that strange apparition and those who had +descended from it there was not a trace, not a shadow! + +But the peculiar humming had recommenced, he realized in the next +breath--and at the same instant he felt himself seized by invisible +hands. + +There was a struggle, but it was brief and futile. When it was over +his captors became visible once more. They were singular little beings +about four feet tall, with strange, wise, leathery faces, their heads +grotesquely bald. + +The humming had ceased again. The disc, too, was once more visible. + +What happened next was something even more astounding, if there could +be any further degrees of wonder possible for the utterly baffled +young scientist. He felt himself lifted up, leaving the desert floor, +whirling away toward that incredible phenomenon hovering there. + +Another moment or two and he had been borne up through its trap-door +opening, was standing in a dark space bounded by solid metal walls. +Then he was thrust into a cylinder with several of his tiny guards, +shot swiftly upward. + + * * * * * + +A door opened as they came to rest, and he was led out into a vast +court of gleaming amber crystal. Something like a taxi slid up, with +irridescent planes, and he was bundled into it, whirled away again. + +Down broad, gleaming avenues they passed, where similar traffic flowed +densely, but under marvelous control. Towering skyscrapers loomed to +right and left. Tier on tier of upper and lower boulevards revealed +themselves, all crowded with automotive and pedestrian activity. + +At length a stupendous concourse was reached. Thousands of these taxis +and similar vehicles were parked along its broad flanks, while literal +swarms of diminutive individuals circulated to and fro. + +Assisted from the vehicle that had brought him to this obvious center +of the disc's activities. Kendrick was led into a monumental structure +of jade-green stone that towered a full hundred, stories above the +street level. There he was escorted into another of those +projectilelike elevators, shot up, up--till at length it came to rest. +The door opened and he was led out into a small lobby of the same +amber crystal he had observed before. + +By now his guards had diminished to two, but he no longer made any +effort to escape. Wherever this amazing adventure might lead, he was +resolved to follow it through. + +One of the guards had advanced to a jewelled door and was pressing a +button. In response, the door opened. A golden-robed, regal creature +stood there. + + * * * * * + +Though dwarfed to four feet, like his fellow, he was obviously their +mental superior to a prodigious degree. Not only was his symmetrical +bald head of large brain content, but the finely-cut features of his +parchment face bore the unmistakable stamp of a powerful intellect. + +"_Ao-chaa!_" commanded this evident monarch of the disc, addressing +the guards. + +They bowed and departed, abruptly. + +"My dear Kendrick!" the regal personage now said, in thin, precise +English. "It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you to my humble +quarters. Pray enter and make yourself comfortable." + +Whereupon he ushered him into a dazzling apartment that was one vast +mosaic of precious gems, indicated a richly carved chair, into which +the young scientist dropped wonderingly. + +"Now then, Professor," continued the mighty little dwarf, when he was +seated in a chair even more sumptuous, "suppose we have a friendly +little discussion. I have been much interested in your experiments on +heat radiation. What you demonstrated this morning, in particular, was +most absorbing. You have hit upon a rather profound scientific +principle, yes?" + +"Possibly," Kendrick admitted, quite conscious that he was being +patronized. + +"Oh, don't be modest, my dear fellow!" smiled the dwarf. "I am the +last one to belittle your achievement. Indeed, it is because of it +that I have invited you here to-day. Permit me to introduce myself, +and to make clear one or two possibly perplexing matters. Then I am +sure we shall have a most agreeable chat." + + * * * * * + +His name was Cor, he said, and he was in truth the monarch of this +strange realm. His people had come from the one-time planet of Vada, +far distant in the universe. A thousand years ago, this planet had +been doomed by the approach of an alien star. Their great scientist, +Ravv, had met the emergency by inventing the disc, into whose +construction they had poured all their resources. The pick of their +populace had been salvaged on this giant life-raft. The rest had +perished when that destroying star had crashed down on the doomed +Vada. + +Since then these survivors and their descendants had been voyaging +through space on their marvelous disc. For hundreds of years they had +given no thought to the future, content to drift on and on in the +interstellar void, breathing an atmosphere produced artificially. But +at length the inevitable had happened. This superb piece of mechanism +devised by their super-genius, Ravv, was beginning to show signs of +wear. Some of its mighty engines were nearing the exhaustion point. +Either they must soon find a planet comparable with the one they had +once known, where they could pause and rehabilitate their machinery, +or they must disintegrate and pass into oblivion. + +Faced with that crisis, Cor had long been seeking such a planet. He +had found it, at last, in the earth--and had resolved that this was +where they were going to alight and transplant the civilization of +ancient Vada, pending such time as they could take to space again. + + * * * * * + +For some months now they had been hovering over various portions of +the earth, studying its geography and its peoples, with the result +that they had concluded the United States offered the most logical +point for launching the attack. Once this country was subdued, they +were in possession of the richest and most advanced section of the +planet. The conquest of the rest of it could await their leisure. + +With such an invasion in view, their scientists had mastered the +language of the country. This had been accomplished very easily, since +in addition to their power of mingling with the populace in an +invisible form, they had the principles of radio developed to a high +degree and were able to tune in on any station they wanted. + +Kendrick sat there, stunned, as Cor followed his astounding revelation +of their origin with this calm plan for the conquest of America, of +the world. Why, of all people on earth, had he alone been singled out +for this disclosure? + +He asked the question now. + +"My dear Professor, can't you really guess?" replied Cor, with that +leathery smile. "Hasn't it dawned that you were a little too near our +own field with that machine of yours? A trifle more research, a +slightly different application--and you would have become a dangerous +enemy." + +"You--you mean--?" + +"I mean there isn't a great deal of difference between the experiments +you have been making and those our great Ravv once made. For instance, +had you broadcast your heatricity, as you call it, instead of trying +to transmit it on wires--well, picture a receiving apparatus in each +home of the land, like your commercial radio sets. You would have +become a billionaire, don't you see?" + + * * * * * + +Kendrick saw indeed. It was simple, so simple! Fool--why hadn't he +thought of it? + +"But your invention will never make you wealthy now, my dear fellow," +Cor went on, tauntingly. "You will be our guest, here, until we have +taken over your interesting country. After that, if there is any need +for the broadcasting of heat, we will furnish it ourselves. We have +those facilities, among others, fully developed. Would you care to see +our plant?" + +Kendrick naturally admitted that he would, so the dwarf led him +through a rear door and up a winding flight of stairs. They emerged +presently into a great laboratory housed in the glass-roofed pinnacle +of the tower. + +There he beheld a sight that left him breathless. Never before had he +seen such an assemblage of scientific apparatus. Its vastness and +strangeness were fairly overpowering, even to a man as well versed in +physio-chemical paraphernalia as he was. + +Before his eyes could take in a tenth part of the spectacle, Cor had +led him to the left wall. + +"There," he said, "you will observe a development of your heat +generator." + +Kendrick looked--to see a long bank of large vacuum-tubes, each about +three feet high and a foot wide, connected by a central shaft that +caused series of little vanes in each of them to revolve at lightning +speed. + +Around the apparatus moved numerous small attendants, oiling, wiping, +adjusting its many delicate parts. + +"Well, what do you think now?" asked Cor. + +Kendrick made no reply, though he was thinking plenty. + +"You see, it is your invention, my dear Professor," the dwarf went on +in his taunting voice, "only anteceded by a thousand years--and rather +more perfected, you must admit." + + * * * * * + +He walked now to the center of the laboratory, where stood a huge dial +of white crystal, ranked with many levers and switches, all capped +with the same material. + +"Behold!" he said, throwing over one. + +Instantly there came again that peculiar low humming that had so +puzzled him a few minutes before--and the entire room, its engines, +its attendants, Cor himself, leapt into invisibility. Only Kendrick +remained, facing the faintly visible crystal dial. + +Then he saw a switch move, as though automatically. But no, for the +dwarf's hand was on it now. Visibility had returned. The vibration +ceased. + +"That is the central control," said Cor. "Our city and all its +inhabitants become invisible when that switch is thrown. Only the dial +remains, for the guidance of the operator, and even that cannot be +seen at a distance of more than fifty feet. But now behold!" + +He raised his hand, touched a watch-like device strapped to his +wrist--and was instantly invisible. But the laboratory and every +machine and person in it remained in plain view. Nor was there any +vibration now. + + * * * * * + +The next moment, having touched that curious little device again, Cor +reappeared. + +"That is the local control," he said. "Every one of our inhabitants, +except those under discipline, has one of these little mechanisms. It +enables us to make ourselves invisible at will. A convenience at +times, you must admit." + +"Decidedly," Kendrick agreed. "And the principle?" + +"Quite simple. One of those, in fact, that lies behind your +researches. Doubtless you would have hit upon it yourself in time. +Your own scientist, Faraday, you may recall, held the opinion that the +various forms under which the forces of matter manifest themselves +have a common origin. We of the disc, thanks to our great Ravv, have +found that common origin." + +It was the origin of matter itself, Cor said, which lay in the ether +of interstellar space--energy, raw, cosmic--vibrations, rays. + +By harnessing and controlling these various rays, his people had been +able to accomplish their seeming miracles--miracles that the people of +earth, too, were beginning to achieve--as in electricity, for +instance, and its further application, radio. + +But the people of Vada had long since mastered such simple rays, and +now, in possession of vastly more powerful ones, had the elemental +forces of the universe at their disposal. + + * * * * * + +The disc was propelled through space by short rays of tremendously +high frequency, up above the ultra-violet. The same rays, directed +downward instead of outward, enabled them to overcome the pull of +gravity when in a planet's influence, as at present. And the escalator +rays, by which they could proceed to and from the disc, were also of +high frequency, as were their invisibility rays. + +"But you, Professor, are more interested in low frequency rays, the +long ones down below infra-red," continued Cor. "You have seen our +development of the heat-dynamo principle. It utilizes, I might add, +not only solar radiation but that of the stars as well. There being a +billion and a half of these in the universe, many of them a thousand +times or more as large as your own sun, we naturally have quite an +efficient little heating plant here. It provides us with our weapon of +warfare, as well as keeping us warm. Permit me to demonstrate." + +He led the way to a gleaming circle of glass like an inverted +telescope, about a yard in diameter, mounted in the floor. + +"Look!" said the dwarf. + +Kendrick did so--and there, spread below him, lay the floor of the +desert. His camp, his apparatus, were just as he had left them. + +Cor now moved toward the dial. + +"Behold!" he said, pulling a lever. + +Instantly the scene below was an inferno. Stricken by a blast of +stupendous heat, the whole area went molten, lay quivering like a lake +of lava in the crater of an active volcano. + +"Suppose, my dear Professor," smiled the dwarf, strolling back from +the dial, "just suppose, for instance, that instead of the lonely +camp of an obscure scientist, your proud city of New York had been +below there!" + + * * * * * + +Kendrick shuddered. + +Well he knew now the terrible power, the appalling menace of this +strange invader. + +"I would prefer not to make such a supposition," he said, quietly, +with a last thoughtful glance at that witches' caldron below. + +"Then let us think of pleasanter things. You are my guest of honor, +sir--America's foremost scientist, though she may never realize it," +with a piping chuckle. "To-night there will be a great banquet in your +honor. Meanwhile, suppose I show you to your quarters." + +Nettled, fuming, though outwardly calm, Kendrick permitted himself to +be escorted from the laboratory to an ornate apartment on one of the +lower floors. + +There Cor left him, with the polite hint that he would find plenty of +attendants handy should he require anything. + +Alone now, in the midst of this vast, nightmarish metropolis, he paced +back and forth, back and forth--knowing the hideous fate that +threatened the world but powerless to issue one word of warning, much +less avert it. + + * * * * * + +Kendrick was still thinking and brooding along these lines when he saw +the door of the apartment swiftly open and close again. + +Someone had entered, invisible! + +Backing away, he waited, tense. Then, suddenly, his visitor +materialized. With a gasp, he saw standing before him a beautiful +girl. + +She was a young woman, rather, in her early twenties. Not one of these +pigmies of the disc either, but a tall, slender creature of his own +world. + +Her hair was dark, modishly bobbed. Her eyes were a deep, clear brown, +her skin a warm olive. And she was dressed as though she had just +stepped off Fifth Avenue--which indeed she had, not so long ago, as +he was soon to learn. + +"I hope I haven't startled you too much, Mr. Kendrick," she said, in a +rich, husky murmur, "but--well, there wasn't any other way." + +"Oh, I guess I'll get over it," he replied with a smile. "But you have +the advantage of me, since you know my name." + +Hers was Marjorie Blake, she told him then. + +"Not the daughter of Henderson Blake?" he gasped. + +"Yes," with a tremor, "his only daughter." + +Whereupon Kendrick knew the solution of a mystery that had baffled the +police for weeks. The newspapers had been full of it at the time. This +beautiful girl, whose father was one of America's richest men and +president of its largest bank, had disappeared as though the earth had +swallowed her. She had left their summer estate at Great Neck, Long +Island, on a bright June morning, bound for New York on a shopping +tour--and had simply vanished. + + * * * * * + +Suicide had been hinted by some of the papers, but had not been taken +seriously, since she had no apparent motive for ending her life. +Abduction seemed to be the more logical explanation, and huge rewards +had been offered by her frantic parents--all to no avail. + +What had happened was, she now explained, that after visiting several +shops and making a number of purchases, she had stepped into Central +Park at the Plaza for a breath of fresh air before lunching at the +Sherry-Netherlands, where she planned to meet some friends. + +But before advancing a hundred yards along the secluded path, she had +been seized by invisible hands--had felt something strapped to her +wrist, before anyone came in sight--and then, invisible too, had been +lifted up, whirled away into a vast, humming vibration that sounded +through the air. + +Once on the disc, it had swept off into space at incredible speed, +pausing only when some hundreds of miles above the earth and invisible +from below without mechanical aid. When its vibration finally ceased +that amazing city had leapt before her eyes. + +Then, her own visibility restored, she had been led into the presence +of that mighty little monarch, Cor, who explained that she had been +seized as a hostage and would be held as an ace in the hole, pending +conquest of her country. Since when she had been a prisoner aboard the +disc. + + * * * * * + +Learning of Kendrick's capture, from gossip among the women, she had +taken the first opportunity of coming to him, in the hope that between +them they might devise some means of escape. + +Indeed, that was his own fondest hope--their imperative need, if the +people of America and of the earth were to be saved from this +appalling menace. But what basis was there for such a fantastic hope? +Just one, that he could see. + +"That thing on your wrist," he said, voicing it. "I'm surprised they +let you wear one of those." + +"They don't," she smiled. "I stole it!--from one of the maids in my +apartment. It was the only way I could get here without being seen. I +felt I must see you at once. We've got to do something, soon, or it'll +be too late. I felt that, as a scientist, you might have some idea how +we could get off." + +"How do the people themselves get off?" he asked. "That escalator +ray--do you know how they use it?" + +"No, I've never been able to find out. They don't let me go near that +part of the city." + +Kendrick reflected a moment. + +"Let's have a look at that invisibility affair," he said. + +She removed it from her wrist, handed it to him. Somewhat in awe, he +examined it. + + * * * * * + +The mechanism portion, which was linked in a strap of elastic metal, +resembled only superficially a watch, he now saw. Rather it had the +appearance of some delicate electric switch. Rectangular in shape, it +was divided into two halves by a band of white crystal. In each of +these halves were two little buttons of the same material, those on +one side round, on the other square. + +"Which buttons control the invisibility?" he asked. + +"The square ones," she replied. "One's pushed in now, you see. If you +should push the other, the first would come out--and you'd pass out of +the picture, so to speak." + +Kendrick was half tempted to try the thing then and there, but +deferred the impulse. + +"What are the round buttons for?" he inquired instead. + +Marjorie didn't know, but thought they were probably an emergency +pair, in case something went wrong with the square ones. In any event, +nothing happened when you pushed them. + +Kendrick pushed one, just to see. It was true. Nothing happened--but +he seemed to sense a faint, peculiar vibration and a wave of giddiness +swept over him. On pushing the other, which released the first, it +stopped. + + * * * * * + +He handed the device back to Marjorie. + +"There's your bracelet. Now, if I can just get one like it, I think +we'll get down to earth all right." + +"Oh, Mr. Kendrick!" Her eyes lit up eagerly. "Then you've thought of a +way?" + +"Not exactly. I think I've discovered their own way. I can't be +certain, but I'm willing to gamble on it, if you are." + +"Then you--you think those round buttons are connected with the +escalator rays?" + +"Exactly! I think they control individual descent and ascent, just as +the square ones control individual visibility and invisibility. At +any rate, it's the hunch I'm going to act on right now, if you're with +me." + +"Oh, I'm with, you!" she breathed. "Anything, death almost, would be +preferable to this." + +"Then stand by, invisible. I'm going to get one of my jailors in here +and relieve him of his wrist-watch." + +Marjorie touched that little square button on her own. She instantly +became invisible. + +Kendrick touched a button too, a button he had noticed beside the +door. As he had supposed, it brought one of the Vadans. + +Shutting the door quietly, he seized the fellow before he could move +his hand to his wrist. Thwarted in his attempt to vanish from sight, +the diminutive guard attempted an outcry. But Kendrick promptly +throttled him. + + * * * * * + +Marjorie had reappeared by now and together they bound him to a chair +with a gilded cord torn from the drapery. + +Removing the precious mechanism from his wrist, Kendrick slipped it on +his own. + +"Now let's go!" he said, pressing the protruding square button of the +device. "We haven't a minute to--my golly, what a peculiar sensation!" + +"It is rather odd, isn't it?" she laughed, pressing her own and +joining him in that invisible realm. + +"Feels like a combination electric massage and cold shower! Where are +you, anyway? I can't see you." + +"Of course you can't!" came an unseen tinkle. "Here!" + +He felt her brush him. + +"Better hold hands," he suggested, then gave an invisible flush he was +glad she couldn't see. + +"All right. A good idea." + +Her delicate hand came into his, soft, warm. Heart vibrating even +faster than his body, his whole being a-quiver with a strange +exaltation, Kendrick opened the door, and they left the apartment. + + * * * * * + +The next half-hour was the tensest either of then had ever +experienced. Every foot of the way was fraught with peril. + +Not only did they have to carefully avoid the visible swarms of little +people who hurried everywhere, but had to be on their guard as well +against any who might be moving about like themselves under cover of +invisibility. + +Nor could they use any elevator or public conveyances, but were +obliged to make their way down to the concourse by heaven knew how +many flights of stairs, and cross heaven knew how many teeming streets +on foot, before they reached the amber court, below which the +trap-door and their hope of freedom. + +They got there at last, however, descended, and peered down from that +yawning brink upon the desert floor--to draw back with gasps of +dismay. For the area still gleamed semi-molten from the stupendous +blast that had wiped out Kendrick's camp. + +"W-what is it?" she gasped. + +Swiftly he told her. + +"But isn't there any way around it? Look, over there to the left. One +edge of the crater seems to end almost underneath us." + +It was true that the center of the caldron was far to the right of +where they stood, and that its left rim was only a little within their +direct line of descent. But to land even one foot inside that inferno +would be as fatal as to alight in its very midst. + + * * * * * + +Kendrick was thinking fast. + +"There's just a chance," he said. "It all depends upon how wide the +zone of these escalator rays is, and whether we can tune in on them. +At least, I can probably answer the latter question." + +Pushing the protrudent round button on his mysterious bracelet as he +spoke, he leaned over the edge of the trap-door and awaited results. + +They were not long in coming. The vibration he was already under from +the invisibility rays seemed to double. Alternate waves of giddiness +and depression, of push and pull, swept over him. + +A minute of it was enough. He pressed the round button that now +protruded, ending this influence, and faced Marjorie, stating: + +"I'm positive now that these things control descent and ascent. As +nearly as I can figure, the rays work on the principle of an endless +belt. If you're up here, you get carried down, and vice versa. As to +how wide the belt is, and whether you can move sideways on it, remains +to be seen. Anyway, I'm going to take a chance. I'll go first. If my +guess is wrong, you--well, needn't follow." + +"No, I'm going with you!" she declared resolutely. "We've come this +far together. I shan't be left alone now. Let's go!" + +And again her soft, warm hand was in his. + +Lord, what a girl! How many would be brave enough to take a gamble +like that, on a fellow's mere supposition? + +"All right--go it is!" he said. "Push your round button, like this." +He showed her the way he thought was right, pushed his own. "Ready?" + +"Ready!" + + * * * * * + +Their voices were grave. It was a grim prospect, stepping off into +space like that, with only a guess between them and death. + +"Then jump!" + +They jumped, gripping each other's hands tightly--and instead of +dropping like plummets were caught in a powerful field of force and +whirled gently downward. + +"Oh, you were right!" gasped Marjorie, awed. "See, we--" + +Then she paused, horror-stricken, for it was obvious that they were to +descend within that lake of molten glass, unless they could change +their course at once. + +"Quick!" he called. "Hold fast! Now--run!" + +Breathless, they raced to the left, across that invisible descending +belt. + +Too far, Kendrick knew, and they would plunge outside its zone, fall +crushed and mangled. Not far enough, and they would meet cremation. It +was a fearful hazard, either way, but it had to be taken. + +They were almost down, now, and still not quite far enough to the +left. The heat of that yawning crater rose toward them. + +"Faster--_faster_!" he cried, fairly dragging her along with him. + +A last dash--a breathless instant--and they stood there on the ground, +not three feet from the edge of doom. + +Swooning with the heat, Marjorie swayed against him, murmured an +incoherent prayer. + +"Take heart!" he whispered, lifting her bodily and bearing her some +yards away. "We're down--safe!" + + * * * * * + +Their safety was but relative, however, Kendrick well knew. Until they +could put miles between them and this monstrous disc, they were not +really safe. No telling how soon their escape might be discovered. No +telling what terrible means Cor might take of curbing their flight. + +So as soon as Marjorie had recovered sufficiently to proceed, they +headed off across the desert at a fast walk toward Ajo, where he hoped +to catch the afternoon train for Gila Bend. From there, they could +board the limited for Tucson and points east, when it came through +from Yuma that night. + +They had tuned out on the escalator rays, but continued on still +invisible--for the disc hung above them in plain view and it would +have been suicide to let themselves be seen. + +Even so, Kendrick soon began to have an uneasy feeling of being +followed. He looked around from time to time, but could see nothing. +Were some of those invisible little creatures on their trail? + +He said nothing to Marjorie of his anxiety, but presently she too +began glancing backward uneasily, every few steps. + +"They are near us!" she said at length, in a whisper. "I can sense +them." + +It was more than sense, they soon discovered. Little paddings became +quite audible, and once or twice they saw the sand scuffed up, not +twenty feet away, as though by a foot passing over it. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile they were climbing a rise of ground, broken by many small +hummocks and dotted with thorny shrubs. On the other side, at the foot +of a long down-slope, lay Ajo. + +Once they reached the summit, Kendrick felt sure they could +outdistance their pursuers on the descent. Already, if his watch was +right, the train was preparing to pull out. It would be a breathless +dash, but he was confident they could make it. + +So he reassured Marjorie as best he could, and helped her on up the +slope. + +They were practically on the summit and already in view of the little +railroad station and huddle of shacks below--when suddenly he felt +himself tripped and flung violently to the ground. At the same +instant, his companion emitted a scream, as she felt herself seized by +invisible hands. + +Leaping to his feet, Kendrick flailed out with solid fists at their +attackers. Groans answered the impacts and he knew his blows were +taking effect. + + * * * * * + +Free for a moment he dashed to Marjorie, felt for the midgets who +swarmed around her. Seizing one of the invisible forms, he lifted it +and flung it crashing to the ground. Another, likewise, and another. + +Then he threshed his legs, where two of the creatures clung, trying to +drag him down again. They flew through the air, with cries of fright. + +"Well, so far, so good!" he exclaimed. "We won't wait to see if there +are any more. Come on--let's go!" + +"Right!" + +Reaching for each other's hands, they raced down the slope. + +Halfway there they saw a warning blast of steam rise from the engine, +followed by a whistle. + +"They'll be pulling out in a minute now!" he gasped, increasing speed. +"We've got to make it!--our only chance!" + +"We _will_ make it!" she sobbed through clenched teeth, meeting his +pace. + +Glancing over his shoulder, after another fifteen seconds, Kendrick +saw that the disc was no longer visible. Since there was no vibration +he realized with relief that it was now hidden behind the slope they +were descending. + +"Quick--push your button!" he said, pushing his own. + +They came out of the influence of the invisibility rays, raced +breathless on down the slope--gained the station platform just as the +train was getting under way. + +Helping the exhausted girl aboard, he mounted the steps himself, led +her through the vestibule into its single passenger coach. + +Dropping into a seat, they sat there panting as the train gathered +speed. + + * * * * * + +By the time the decrepit but life-saving little local drew into Gila +Bend they had somewhat recovered from their harrowing experience. + +Marjorie was still pale, however, as Kendrick helped her from the +train. + +"I may recover," she said with a wan smile, "but I'll never look the +same! An old saying, but I know what it means now." + +He thought better of a sudden impulse to tell her she looked quite all +right to him. Instead, he said grimly: + +"I know now what a lot of things mean!" + +The Tucson limited would not be through for over an hour, they +learned. That would give them time to hunt up the authorities and +sound a warning of the ominous invader that was in the vicinity. +Perhaps, by prompt military action, it might be destroyed, or at least +crippled. + +But first they went to the telegraph office, where Marjorie got off a +message that would bring joy to her grieved family. + +While standing there outside the barred window, odors of food wafting +to them from a nearby lunch-room. + +"Um-m!" she sniffed. "That smells good to me! I haven't tasted any +earthly cooking for ages. Everything on that horrible disc was +synthetic." + +"Then I suggest we have ham and eggs, at once," he said. "Or would you +prefer a steak?" + +"I think I'll have both!" + + * * * * * + +As they walked into the lunch-room, Kendrick told her of the banquet +in his honor Cor had promised for that night. + +"I guess I didn't miss much," he ended. + +"You certainly didn't!" she assured him, with a smile. "It would have +opened with a purée of split-molecule soup, continued with an entrée +of breaded electrons, and closed with an ionic café." + +He laughed. + +"I'm just as well satisfied. I was unable to attend! Humble as it is, +I think this will prove to be much more wholesome food." + +Night had fallen by the time they left the lunch-room. Glancing at his +watch, Kendrick saw that they still had better than a half-hour before +the limited was due, so they betook themselves to the police station. + +It was only a block away and in consequence they weren't long reaching +it. + +The chief had gone home, the officer at the desk informed them, but if +there was anything they cared to report, he would be glad to make note +of it. + +A big raw-boned westerner, he shifted his quid as he spoke and spat +resoundingly in a cuspidor at his feet. + +"All right, then--get your pencil ready!" said Kendrick with a smile. +"This is Miss Marjorie Blake, daughter of Henderson Blake, of New +York. Perhaps you read of her disappearance, a few weeks ago. And +I...." + +As he introduced himself and told briefly of their astounding +experience, the officer's eyes bulged with amazement. + +"Say, what yuh-all tryin' to hand me?" he snorted finally. "D'yuh +think I was born simple?" + +"Press your button!" whispered Marjorie. "Show him how the +invisibility ray works. It'll save a lot of argument." + +"Right!" + + * * * * * + +He held up his wrist. + +"See this? Now watch!" + +Whereupon he pressed the button. But to their dismay, nothing +happened. + +"Wa-al. I'm still watchin'!" drawled the officer. "Who's loony now?" + +Kendrick examined the mechanism in impatience, pressed that little +button repeatedly: but still nothing happened. + +"Try yours!" he told Marjorie finally. + +She did so, with similar results--or lack of them, rather. + +"Something's wrong," he said at length. "The ray isn't working." + +"Wrong is right!" declared the officer with a contemptuous flood of +tobacco juice. "Yuh folks better go catch yuhr train 'fore yuh ferget +where it is." + +Chagrined, embarrassed, they took their leave, headed back toward the +railroad station. + +"Of all the utterly silly things!" declared Marjorie, as they walked +along. "Why do you suppose it didn't work?" + +Kendrick didn't reply at once. When he did, his voice was grave. + +"Because the disc has gone!" he said. "We are outside its zone of +influence. That's my hunch, at least, and I think we'd better act on +it." + +"You mean...?" + +"I mean our escape has probably caused them to hurry their plans. +They're probably over New York right now. I think we'd better get +there the quickest possible way." + + * * * * * + +The result was that when the train came, they remained on it only to +Tucson. There they chartered a fast plane and started east at once. + +At sunset the following day the plane swooped out of the sky and slid +to rest on the broad grounds of the Blake estate at Great Neck. + +As Kendrick stepped from the cabin and helped Marjorie down, a tall, +distinguished-looking man with graying hair and close-cropped mustache +came hurrying toward them. + +"Daddy!" she cried, rushing into his arms. "Oh, Daddy--Daddy!" + +Even without this demonstration. Kendrick would have recognized +Henderson Blake from pictures he had seen recently in the papers. + +Now he was introduced, and Blake was gripping his hand warmly. + +"I don't quite know what this is all about, Professor," he heard the +great financier say. "Marjorie's telegram last night was as cryptic as +it was over-joying. But I do know that I owe you a deep debt of +gratitude." + +"Yes, and you owe our pilot about a thousand dollars, too!" put in the +daughter of the house, clinging to her father's arm. "Please give him +a check--then we'll go inside and I'll explain all about it." + +"A matter very much easier dispatched than my debt to Professor +Kendrick," said Blake, complying. + +The check was for two thousand, not one, the pilot saw when he +received it. + +"Thank you very much, sir!" he said, saluting. + +"Don't mention it. Good night--and good luck to you!" + + * * * * * + +The pilot returned to his plane, it lifted from the lawn, droned off +into the twilight. + +Then they approached the cool white villa that stood invitingly a +hundred yards or so away beyond sunken gardens. + +As they neared it, a handsome, well-preserved woman whose face +reflected Marjorie's own beauty came toward them. Lines of suffering +were still evident around her sensitive mouth, but her dark eyes were +radiant. + +"Mother!" + +"My poor darling!" + +They rushed into each other's arms, clung, sobbing and laughing. + +Kendrick was glad when these intimate greetings were over and he had +met Mrs. Blake. + +They were in the drawing-room now, listening to a somewhat more lucid +account of their daughter's experiences and those of her rescuer. +Marjorie was doing most of the talking, but every now and again she +would turn to Kendrick for verification. + +"Heavens!" gasped Mrs. Blake, finally. "Can such things be possible?" + +"Almost anything seems possible nowadays, my dear," her husband told +her. "And you say, Professor, that you have brought back samples of +this invisibility device?" + +"Yes, we have, but I can't promise they'll work. I'll try, however." + +Whereupon, sceptically, he pressed that little square button--and +instantly faded out of sight. + +"Good Lord!" cried Blake, leaping to his feet. "That proves it! Why, +this is positively--" + + * * * * * + +His remarks were cut short by a scream of terror from his wife. + +"Marjorie--Marjorie!" she shrieked. + +Wheeling, he faced the chair where his daughter had sat. It was empty, +so far as human eyes could see. + +"Don't worry Mother--Daddy!" came a calm voice from it. "I'm quite all +right--coming back--steady." + +And back she came, as did Kendrick, from the empty chair beside her. + +His face was grave. The success of the demonstration, which had proved +their story to practical-minded Henderson Blake, had proved to him +something altogether more significant. The disc, as he had surmised, +had rushed eastward immediately on learning of their escape, and was +now probably hovering right over New York. + +"Marvelous--marvelous!" declared Blake. "But that heat ray, Professor. +That sounds bad. You are convinced it is as powerful as they make +out!" + +"Positively! That blast they let go in the desert would have utterly +destroyed New York." + +"Hm! Yes, no doubt you're right. I fully realize how the fearful +menace of this thing. Do you think the military authorities will be +able to cope with it?" + +"I don't know. Perhaps, if they are prompt enough." + +"And is there no other way--no scientific way?" + + * * * * * + +Kendrick grew thoughtful. + +"I wonder," he said at last. "There's just a possibility--something +running through my mind--an experiment I'd like to make, if I had the +facilities of some large electrical laboratory." + +"You shall have them to-morrow!" Blake promised. "I'm one of the +directors of Consolidated Electric. Their experimental laboratory in +Brooklyn is the finest of its kind in America. I'll see that you have +the run of it." + +"That will be very kind," said Kendrick. "But don't expect anything to +come from it, necessarily. It's just a theory I want to work out." + +A butler entered at this moment and announced dinner. + +"Well, theories are mighty these days!" beamed Blake, as they rose, +clapping the younger man on the shoulder. "You go ahead with your +theories--and I'll bring a few facts to bear. To-morrow noon I'll +escore some military men and others of my friends over to the +laboratory to hear and see something of this menace direct. Meanwhile, +and during this crisis, it will honor me to have you as my guest." + +"Our guest!" amended Marjorie, with a warm smile. + + * * * * * + +Next morning Blake motored Kendrick out to the Brooklyn Laboratory of +the Consolidated Electric Utilities Corporation and installed him +there. + +Then he left--to return at noon with the promised delegation of +generals, admirals, statesmen and financiers. + +They were all frankly sceptical, though realizing that Henderson Blake +was not a man given to exaggeration. Nor did their scepticism +altogether vanish when Kendrick had ended his bizarre story with a +demonstration of the invisibility device. + +Murmurs of amazement ran around the laboratory, it is true, but the +more hard-headed of his spectators charged him with having invented +the apparatus himself. Though they didn't come right out and say so, +they seemed to imply that he was seeking publicity. + +Annoyedly, Kendrick tried to refute their charges. But even as he was +summoning words, refutation utter and complete came from the air. + +A low, humming vibration sounded, grew in volume till it filled the +room--and as suddenly ceased: The light of midday faded to twilight. + +"_The disc!_" gasped Kendrick, rushing to the west windows. + +They followed, tense with awe. And there, between earth and sun, its +myriad towers and spires refracting a weird radiance, hovered that +vast flying city. + +"My God!" muttered a famous general, staring as though he had seen a +ghost. + +A great statesman opened his lips, but no words came. + +"Appalling! Incredible!" burst from others of that stunned assemblage. + + * * * * * + +Their comments were cut short by a broadcast voice, thin and clear, +tremendously amplified, a voice Kendrick recognized at once as that of +Cor. + +"People of America!" it said. "We of the planet Vada have come to +conquer your country. You will be given forty-eight hours to lay down +your arms. If complete surrender has not been made by high noon, two +days from now, New York will be destroyed." + +The voice ceased. The humming recommenced--waned in volume till it +died away. Twilight turned once more to midday. + +Peering fixedly through the west windows of the laboratory, the little +assemblage saw the disc swallowed up in the clear blue sky. + +Then they turned, faced one another gravely. + +Outside, on the streets, confusion reigned. In newspaper plants, +presses were whirling. In telegraph and cable offices, keys were +ticking. From radio towers, waves were speeding. + +Within an hour, the nation and the world knew of this planetary +invader and its staggering ultimatum. + +Naturally, the government at Washington refused to meet these shameful +terms. Military and naval forces were rushed to the threatened +metropolis. The Atlantic Fleet steamed up from Hampton Roads under +forced draught and assembled in the outer harbor. Thousands of planes +gathered at Mitchell Field and other nearby aerodromes. + + * * * * * + +But where was the enemy? He must be miles up in space, Kendrick knew, +as he toiled feverishly in the laboratory over his experiment after a +sleepless night. For had that flying city been nearer earth, it could +not have maintained invisibility without that peculiar humming +vibration. + +Scout planes urged on by impatient squadron commanders, climbed till +they reached their ceilings, searching in vain. They could encounter +nothing, see nothing of the invader. + +Thus passed a morning of growing tension. + +But by noon of that day, with a bare twenty-four hours left before +the expiration of the ultimatum, the disc came down, showed itself +boldly. + +There followed stunning disasters. + +One salvo, and the ray shot down--the Atlantic Fleet, the pride of +America, burst and melted in flaming hell. Squadrons of planes, +carrying tons of bombs, frizzled like moths in the air. Mighty +projectiles hurled by land batteries were deflected off on wild +trajectories. + +Appalled, the nation and the world followed in lurid extras these +crushing defeats. + +By nightfall of that day, all seemed lost. All opposition had been +obliterated. America must capitulate or perish. It had until the next +noon to decide which. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, in that great Brooklyn laboratory, Kendrick was working +against time, besieged by frantic delegations of the nation's leaders. +They knew now that their one hope lay in him. Was he succeeding? Was +there even any hope? + +Face haggard, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, he waved them away, +went on with his work. + +"I will tell you--as soon as I know." + +That was all he would say. + +Followed a night that was the blackest in all history, though the +myriad stars of heaven shone tauntingly brilliant in the summer sky. + +At length, as dawn was breaking. Kendrick paused in his labors. + +"There!" he said, grimly, surveying an apparatus that seemed to +involve the entire facilities of the laboratory. "It is done! Now +then--will it work?" + +The delegation were called to witness the test. + +Henderson Blake was among them, as was Marjorie. She stepped forward, +as he prepared to make the demonstration. + +"I _know_, somehow, you're going to be successful!" she murmured, +pressing his hand, meeting his eyes with a smile of confidence. + +"I hope you're right--Marjorie!" he replied, letting slip the last +word almost unconsciously. + +Her face colored warmly as the stepped back and rejoined her father. + +Kendrick's heart was beating fast as he turned to his instruments. How +could he fail, with faith like that behind him?--love, even, perhaps! +He mustn't fail--nor would he, if his theories were sound. + + * * * * * + +Addressing the assemblage, he explained briefly the complicated +apparatus. + +"These towers," he said, pointing to four steel structures about ten +feet high, arranged at the corners of a square roughly twenty feet +across, "are miniature radio masts. The area enclosed by them, we will +assume, is the city of New York. That metal disc suspended above the +area represents the invader. It contains a miniature heat-generator +such as I was experimenting with recently in the Arizona desert." + +He paused, threw a switch. Somewhere in the laboratory a dynamo began +to whir. + +"I am now sending electro-magnetic waves from the four towers," he +resumed. "But instead of broadcasting them in every direction. I am +bending them in concave cathode of force over the city. You may +picture this cathode as an invisible shield, if you choose, but it is +more than that. It it a reflector. If my theories are right, the +radio-energetic ray I am about to project upon it from my miniature +disc will be flung back to its source as though it had been a ray of +light falling on a mirror. The success of the experiment depends upon +what the result will be." + + * * * * * + +Kendrick ceased, moved toward a rheostat. + +As he made ready to touch it, a breathless tension settled upon the +assemblage. Upon the outcome of what was now to happen rested the fate +of America--and the world. + +Calmly, though every fiber of his being was at breaking stress, the +young scientist opened the rheostat. + +For an instant, the ray seared down--then, as it boomeranged back, the +disc burst into flame, dissolved, disintegrated. A thin dust, like +carbon, slowly settled to the laboratory floor. + +Cutting off the current from the radio towers, Kendrick faced them, a +light of triumph in his tired eyes. + +"You see--it works," he said. + +They saw. Beyond a doubt, it worked! + +And what Kendrick saw, as his eyes met Marjorie's, made him forget his +fatigue. + + * * * * * + +The rest was a mad scramble of preparation. Only a few brief hours +remained, and much was to be done. + +The application of the principle that had just been demonstrated +involved a hook-up from the Consolidated Electric laboratory with +every broadcasting station in the metropolitan area, power being +supplied by commandeering every generating plant within a radius of +fifty miles. + +The city, moreover, had to be evacuated of all but the few brave +hundreds who volunteered to stand by their posts at radio stations and +generating plants. + +As for Kendrick, it was the busiest, most hectic morning he had ever +experienced. Only the realization of a girl's love and a nation's +trust enabled him to overcome the exhaustion of two sleepless nights. + +At length, a little before eleven, all was in readiness. Just two +questions troubled the young scientist's mind. Had the people of the +disc learned of their preparations to counter the attack? And would +the improvised broadcasting apparatus of the area stand the stupendous +strain that would be placed upon it if the ray came down? + +The first of these questions was answered, staggeringly, at a quarter +after eleven. + +"Kendrick--oh, my God!" cried Blake, bursting into the laboratory. +"Marjorie--they've got her again! Look! Read this!" + +He thrust out a piece of paper. Kendrick took it, read: + + Your daughter will be my queen, after this noon. + +"Where'd you get it?" he gasped. + +"One of the invisible devils thrust it into my hand right out in the +street, not five minutes ago," Blake explained, trembling with +anguish. "Do you realize what this means, Kendrick? She's on the disc +now--and in a scant three-quarters of an hour...." + +"Yes, I realize!" his voice came grimly. "And I realize, too, that +they don't know their fate. They'll stay. There's forty-five minutes +yet. We can't abandon our defense against the ray, not even for +Marjorie. But I'll go, I'll rescue her--or die with her!" + +And even as Blake mutely reached out his hand to grip that of the +determined young man who stood before him. Kendrick touched his wrist +mechanism and went invisible. + + * * * * * + +Once on the street, he pressed the escalator button as well--and by +the strength of the vibrations that followed, he knew he must be very +close within that mysterious lifting zone. + +Running west a block, he found it growing stronger. + +Fairly racing now, he continued on toward the river, progress +unhampered in the deserted streets. Suddenly, with a thrill of +exultation, he felt himself swept up, whirled away toward that great +shimmering hulk against the sun. + +"What hope?" he was thinking. "What possible hope?" And the answer +came: Cor! + +Reaching the disc, he switched out the escalator influence and +hastened across the city to that monumental structure of jade-green +stone. + +The mighty little dwarf would be up there in his glittering mosaic +apartment, or in his pinnacle laboratory, perhaps, ready to pull the +lever that would release that stupendous blast of heat. + +Gaining the jewelled door of the monarch's quarters at last, after +escaping detection by a hair's breadth more than once, he pressed the +button outside, just as the guard had done that first time. + +In response, the door opened--and there stood Cor. + + * * * * * + +He stood there an instant, that is, while the expression on his +leathery face went from inquiry to alarm. Then, as Kendrick burst into +the room and shut the door, he went invisible. + +In that same instant, the young scientist's eyes beheld a sight that +caused his heart to leap. There sat Marjorie, bound in a chair, an +expression half of hope, half of dejection, on her face. + +"It's I--Gordon!" he called. "Take courage!" + +"Oh, I prayed so you'd come--and you came!" she murmured as her face +lighted. Then, tensely, she added, "The door--look out!" + +Kendrick wheeled, and just in time. The door was opening. + +"Not so fast!" he called, lunging. + +His hands gripped the dwarf, yanked him back, throttled him before he +could emit a cry, pushed the door shut. + +Cor struggled like a madman, but it was futile. Kendrick's hands cut +into his throat like a vice. After a moment or two, he gasped, +relaxed. + +Releasing his grip then, Kendrick felt for his wrist, stripped off his +bracelet--whereupon the dwarf became visible. His face was +putty-white. He was either dead or unconscious. + +Restoring his own visibility then, he advanced to Marjorie, swiftly +freed her. + +"Take this!" he said, handing her Cor's bracelet. + +She slipped it on. + +"Now let's tie him and get out of here. He may be dead, but we can't +take any chances." + + * * * * * + +The dwarf wasn't dead, however, for he groaned and opened his eyes as +they lifted him into the chair. + +"You win, Professor--but it avails you nothing!" He smiled +maliciously. "My capture, my death even, will not prevent the ray. The +orders have been given. It will be projected sharp at twelve. You but +go to your doom!" + +"That," said Kendrick, "is a matter of opinion." + +Swiftly they bound him, gagged him. + +"And now," he added, "we wish you good day--and such fate as you +deserve!" + +Then, turning to Marjorie: + +"Your hand again!" + +There was a new tenderness in its soft warmth that thrilled him. + +They touched their buttons, went invisible. + +Silently, then, they stole from the apartment. Swiftly they made their +way down to the concourse, raced across the city to the amber court, +descended to the trap-door. + +It must be nearly twelve, Kendrick knew. He couldn't look at his +watch, for it as well as himself was invisible. Indeed, even as they +stood there, poised for the plunge, a faint whistle rose from below. + +Marjorie trembled. + +"Steady!" he spoke. "Some of them always blow a minute or two before. +Are you ready?" + +"Yes!" + +"Then press your button--jump!" + +Even as they leapt, the sickening thought came that perhaps the +escalator ray was no longer running. But the fear was unwarranted. +They were caught up, whirled gently downward. + +Moving along laterally, as they descended, they were able to land +without difficulty in the middle of a deserted street near the +Consolidated Electric laboratory. + +"Thank heaven!" she sighed, as their feet touched solid ground. They +pressed off both buttons, becoming visible once more. + +"Echo!" he agreed. "So let's--" + + * * * * * + +But Kendrick never completed that sentence--for now whistles all over +the metropolitan area, rising from the generating plants, announced +the ominous hour. + +It was high noon. The ultimatum had expired. + +Lifting tense faces to the disc, they waited. Would that stupendous +ray be hurled back upon itself? Or would it sear through their +makeshift defense, plunging them and the whole great metropolis into +oblivion? + +Suddenly, cataclysmically, the answer came. + +There burst a withering whirlwind from the disc. It struck that mighty +concave cathode of interlaced waves above the city. There followed an +instant's clash of titanic forces. Then the cathode triumphed, hurled +it back. + +Rocked by a concussion as of two worlds in impact, blinded by a glare +that made the sunlight seem feeble in comparison. Marjorie and +Kendrick clung together, while the disc grew into a satellite of +calcium fire in the sky. + +Presently, as the conflagration waned, they opened their eyes. +Gravely, but with deep thanksgiving, they searched each other's faces. +In them they read deep understanding, too, and a new hope. + +"I think we'd better go and find father," she said at length, quietly. + +"I think so too!" he agreed. + +As they headed toward the laboratory, a fine, powdery dust, like +volcanic ash was falling. + +It continued to fall until the city streets were covered to a depth of +an inch or more. + +Thus passed the menace of Vada. + +[Advertisement: NO ONE MUST FORGET + +_That he has a standing +invitation to_ + +"Come Over In +'THE READERS' CORNER'" + +_And join in the general +discussion of stories, +authors, likes, dislikes--everything +pertaining +to_ + +ASTOUNDING STORIES + +_And Science-Fiction_] + + + + +The Readers' Corner + +_A Meeting Place for Readers of_ Astounding Stories + +[Illustration:] + + +_To the Rescue_ + + Dear Editor: + + I hope you can see fit to print this letter in the July + issue of Astounding Stories. This letter is written in + defence of Ray Cummings and in reply to the letter of C. + Harry Jaeger, 2900 Jordan Road, Oakland, California. + + Following is an extract of Mr. Jaeger's letter: "Also I like + my authors to make an original contribution to whatever + theory of science they develop fictionally. This, Ray + Cummings does not do in his very interesting story, + "Phantoms of Reality." His beginning is palpably borrowed + from Francis Flagg's story, "The Blue Dimension," which + appeared in a Science Fiction magazine in 1927." Another + paragraph is devoted to explaining his claim. He claims that + Cummings' method of transporting his characters from one + dimension or planet to another is practically copied from + Flagg's story. The method, that is, not the narration. I + hope to prove that if any borrowing was done, it was done by + Flagg. Incidentally, Flagg's story "The Blue Dimension" was + printed in 1928, not 1927, as Mr. Jaeger says. + + I have in my possession a story by Ray Cummings named "Into + the Fourth Dimension" and published in another magazine + during the last month of 1926 and first ones of 1927. And in + this story--printed two years before Flagg's story--Cummings + uses almost the same apparatus of passing from one dimension + to another as is used in "Phantoms of Reality." I will not + discuss whether this procedure is to be approved or not. + + This letter is not to be construed as an attack on Mr. + Jaeger, or Mr. Flagg, or on either of the two stories under + discussion. + + If Mr. Jaeger will let me know I will send him Ray Cumming's + story "Into the Fourth Dimension," as clipped from the + magazines. + + I write this letter to the magazine, instead of Mr. Jaeger, + so that if any one was misled by Mr. Jaeger's well meant but + mistaken criticism they will be straightened out.--Donald + Coneyon, Petoskey, Michigan. + + +_A Wish for Success_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read both of your first issues. I am writing to say + that I wish you success with your new magazine, which I know + will succeed. + + Also to say I wish you would get more of the "Carnes and Dr. + Bird Stories" by Captain S. P. Meek, for I think everybody, + including myself, likes them. I also enjoyed "Creatures of + the Light."--Thomas D. Taylor, 415 So. 7th St., Boise, + Idaho. + + +_No Kick Any More_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have been a reader of Astounding Stories ever since you + started it, and I guess I'm getting too particular as I + don't get the kick out of it any more that I did out of the + first issues. That is, I don't get the kick out of ALL of + the stories as I did at first. However, "Murder Madness" + sure is a hot one. Why not print a story by Sax Rohmer, H. + G. Wells, or some of them?--H. Elsworth Jones, Box 340, R. + R. 6, Battle Creek, Mich. + + +_Via Postcard_ + + Dear Editor: + + Astounding Stories is an astounding magazine. It has really + astounding stories. It couldn't be better. There's hardly + room for improvement. May Astounding Stories be more + astounding yet. I like it!--Monroe Hood Stinson, 1742, 12th + Ave., Oakland, California. + + +_Only Fiction!_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished a story in the February, 1930, issue of + Astounding Stories entitled "Into Space," by Sterner St. + Paul. + + I would like to know if it is a true story, if the actions + described in it really happened, or is it merely a story of + fiction.--Dan S. Scherrer, Shawneetown, Ill. + + +_Perhaps--Soon_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished reading your new magazine, Astounding + Stories. It is the best magazine I have ever read. Keep up + the good work and you will find me a constant reader. I have + only one suggestion to make: Let Astounding Stories come out + every other Thursday.--Harold Kulko, 433 Palmer E., Detroit, + Michigan. + + +_More Preferences_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read with great interest the second issue of + Astounding Stories and note your invitation for readers to + express themselves. + + I enjoyed the whole magazine, finding the literary quality + surprisingly high. Especially good were "Spawn of the + Stars," and "Creatures of the Light." Harl Vincent's tale + was the best of his I have read; and Captain Meek's are + always good. "The Corpse on the Grating," however, was + merely Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" done over, and not + half so well. + + As for the sort of tales I like, here they are in order of + preference: + + 1. Tales of weird mystery--Merritt's "Moon Pool" and his + others; Taine's "White Lily." + + 2. Interplanetary Adventure--"A Columbus of Space," by + Serviss; "The Skylark of Space," by Smith. + + 3. "Different stories," that defy classification, based on + new ideas of science--most of Wells' short stories are + examples. 4. Detective, Fourth Dimension, and air + adventure--only well done.--Jack Williamson, Box 661 Canyon, + Texas. + + +_A Brick or Two_ + + Dear Editor: + + For the last three years we have been reading any and all of + the various Science Fiction magazines which have appeared + upon the market. We therefore feel that we are as well + qualified as anyone to offer the criticism and advice that + follows. + + First, the stories. We feel that it would be a good idea to + get your stories from the same authors whose work has been + and is being accepted by the other magazines in this field. + In one case you have already done this, and I consider his + stories to be the best in each issue. I believe that you + will be forced to do this eventually, anyhow, because the + people who read this magazine will naturally be readers of + the others also, and will therefore, be used to the + standards set by those publications. Then, you should have + someone who is well qualified to pass upon the science in + the stories. + + Second, the cover design and the pictures at the beginning + of each story. Up to this time the cover and inside pictures + have contained many mistakes. The cover of the March issue + was especially atrocious. In the first place a voyager in + outer space would find it jet black and studded with stars, + instead of blue and apparently empty, except for a few + tremendously oversize planets, a moon with entirely too many + craters, and a total eclipse of the sun with a very much + distorted corona visible beside the earth. Illustrations by + your cover artist also appear in another publication, but + these are much superior to the ones in Astounding Stories. + Here also a scientific advisor would be welcome. + + Third, I think it would be a good idea to have a department + in which readers could write their opinions of the stories + and suggest improvements in the conduct of the magazine. + + Fourth, I think there should be a scientific editorial in + each issue by some eminent scientist. This is also a feature + in the other magazines. + + We hope that you take these criticisms and suggestions, as + they were offered, in good faith. We also hope that the + circulation will increase as the magazine becomes + better.--George L. Williams and Harry Heillisan, 5714 Howe + St., Pittsburgh, Pa. + + +"_Wonderful_" + + Dear Editor: + + I received your magazine last week, Astounding Stories, and + I think it is wonderful. I am very glad that I subscribed + for it. I can hardly wait to get the latest one which I + hoped to receive to-day and was very much disappointed when + it did not arrive. I hope you will consider a quarterly or + at least an annual in the near future. + + I wish you success with this magazine, and hope you will + forgive my writing you so often in reference to your + magazine--Louis Wentzler, 1935, Woodbine St., Brooklyn, New + York. + + +--_But We Made Our Bow Only Last January!_ + + Dear Editor: + + Last month my boy brought one copy of this magazine home, + and I want to ask you if you would send me the copies from + last January, 1929, up to December, 1929. If you charge no + more than $3.00 would you send them C. O. D.? Do you have + the issues for 1928, too? + + I never knew there was a magazine like that on the market. I + never bought one because most of them are no good, and when + one has children one has to be doubly careful. + + But this magazine is just right. No silly love stories and + mushy stuff in them. It sure keeps your mind from unpleasant + things. We can get them from the newsstand but I would like + to subscribe for them. + + Keep up the good work and please send me the last year's + copies and let me know if I could get 1928, too.--Mrs. M. + Ristan, 4684, No. Broadway, Denver, Colorado. + + +"_Best One Yet_" + + Dear Editor: + + The April issue is the best one you have put out yet. Arthur + J. Burks is GOOD. I hope to see much of him in the future. + "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings, is getting better + with each instalment. The stories of Dr. Bird are always + interesting. I would like to see one in each issue, if you + could arrange for it. + + As long as the other readers like the size of Astounding + stories, I will, too, but please cut all edges smooth like + the latest issue of Five Novels Monthly. I would like to see + a full-page illustration with each story, and if possible by + Wesso. + + I am glad that you are starting another serial in the May + issue of Astounding Stories. I like serials and I hope that + you will always have two in each issue. + + Your schedule for the May issue looks good, and I'm sure it + will be, with such authors as Murray Leinster, Victor + Rousseau, Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent and Sewell P. Wright. + + I am still waiting for a different colored cover.--Jack + Darrow, 4225, N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Illinois. + + +_An Enthusiastic Reader_ + + Dear Editor: + + As a reader of long standing of Science Fiction I feel I am + qualified to make some remarks and give my opinion of the + wonderful Astounding Stories magazine lately put out. + Although I read three other Science Fiction magazines none + of them have aroused in me such a wonderful enthusiasm as + Astounding Stories. Before I forget it I want to mention + that I read two quarterlies also. + + The reason, or rather reasons, for my enthusiasm I will now + enumerate. (1) The stories are wonderful. (2) The binding is + very strong and efficient. (3) The print is just right, and + soothing to the eyes of one who reads much. The paper is + good, and the size and price of the magazine is just right. + The covers are excellent, and with the addition of "The + Readers' Corner" the magazine becomes absolutely perfect. + Truly a wonderful start. See that it is kept up. The only + thing that can still spoil the magazine is poor stories. + Science Fiction stories that contain no science. + + In "Vampires of Venus" the plot was rather weak. Even if the + Venerians knew nothing of entomology, they should have + brains enough to get rid of the vampires the way Leslie + Larner did without having to call an Earthman to help them. + Another thing: the Venerians kept only insects that were not + harmful to the crops. On Earth there are such insects who + help the farmer by eating harmful insects. If the harmful + insects were exterminated--an almost impossible and gigantic + task--the harmless insects would change their diet and + become harmful too. And it seems funny, too, that such a + highly civilized planet as Venus should still depend on + domesticated animals for food, drink and clothing instead of + manufacturing what they need synthetically. + + The April cover on your magazine was wonderful. + + Before I close I wish to say a word about the Science + Correspondence Club of which I am a proud member. There is + little to say, however, after reading Conrad Ruppert's + letter in the April issue. The membership has increased to + over 300 now, numbering among them quite a number of famous + scientists and authors. All I can say is that I hope every + scientifically inclined person of whatever nationality, + creed, color or sex they may be, will join this wonderful + and rapidly progressing club. I will now close thanking the + publishers of Astounding Stories for issuing such a + wonderful magazine--Stan Osowski, E2, Railroad St., Central + Falls, R. I. + + +_But--Conniston Was An Impostor!_ + + Dear Editor: + + I read with interest Mr. Ray Cummings' story, "Brigands of + the Moon," in the March number of Astounding Stories. The + tale was a worthy one from the pen of so clever a writer. I + do think, however, that the author might have left out the + point about Sir Arthur Conniston, an English gentleman, + turning traitor. This sort of thing is hardly calculated to + bring about a friendly feeling between England and America, + the two greatest countries in the world. I have the greatest + admiration for the United States, and though we may have a + little fun at each other's expense, there is no ill feeling + meant, but I really hope you will not publish any other + story like that one.--An Englishman, Montreal, Canada. + + +_Likes the Romance_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished my second copy of Astounding Stories + and I wish to say I have enjoyed every story. + + For some time I have been a reader of Science Fiction, but + none will compare to Astounding Stories. These stories seem + to have the proper amount of romance in them to make them + really interesting, and it adds the proper touch. + + I have no criticism to make. May I wish you a great success + with this magazine--Frank I. Sontag, 825 Prescott Ave., + Scranton, Pa. + + +_High Praise_ + + Dear Editor: + + Allow me to congratulate you upon the establishment of "The + Readers' Corner." I do not know which was the first issue of + your delightful magazine, but I have been buying it + regularly for quite a few months. + + I may not be an experienced critic, but it can be easily + seen by anyone that this magazine is one of the best on + sale. I, for one, enjoy your stories more than any other + stories I have ever read. + + I have just finished the second part of the four-part serial + entitled "Brigands of the Moon." I thing Ray Cummings is the + best author I have ever met up with in stories. The drawings + are fine, the print is excellent, but I think the paper + could be improved. But by no means change the size of your + little magazine. The size is just right. + + In your April issue I read in "The Readers' Corner" about a + Science Correspondence Club. Believe me when I say I'm + sending immediately for an application blank. I think the + idea of this club is excellent. + + Truly you have contributed a great gift to Science Fiction + readers in offering this magazine to the receptive + public.--Theodore L. Page, 2361 Los Angeles Ave., + Pittsburgh, Pa. + + +"_Don't Do It!_" + + Dear Editor: + + This afternoon I saw Astounding Stories for the first time + and immediately grabbed a copy, as I have read others of the + Clayton group, and moreover am a Science Fiction fan. + + The newsstand has no back numbers, and I simply must have + the March 1930 issue, as I wish to read "Brigands of the + Moon," so here is 25¢, in stamps to cover purchase price and + cost of mailing me a copy of that issue. + + Have you a complete file since Vol. 1, No. 1? If so, what is + the cost including charges? I'm sorry that I missed this + magazine before, but you can rest assured that I'll miss no + more. + + In the "Readers' Corner" I notice a call from Stephen Takacs + for a change in size. DON'T DO IT! The size and shape are O. + K., and to make it the awkward size of most magazines + (including two of the Science Fiction magazines that I am + now a confirmed reader of), would not improve it a bit. + + You have two of my favorite authors in the April number; no, + I see it is three--Burks, Cummings and Meek. They are O. K., + but don't forget a few others, such as Burroughs, Verrill, + Hamilton, Coblentz, Keller, Quinn, Williamson, Leinster, + Repp, Vincent, Flagg--oh, why continue; you certainly know + all the good authors of OUR kind of fiction; try them all. + Of course, the other Science Fiction magazines that I take + are full of stories by my favorites, but you can get stories + by them too. + + From this one issue that I have read I can see only praise + for your publication. Here's to a long life and a happy one. + + Don't forget to send me the March issue as fast as the mail + can get it here--Robert J. Hyatt, 1353 Kenyon St., N. W., + Washington D. C. + + +"_Worst Ever Read_" + + Dear Editor: + + Since you invite criticism as well as praise, I am impelled + to state that by far the worst story I ever read in any + Science Fiction magazine was "Vampires of Venus," by Anthony + Pelcher, which appeared in your April issue. It was so + idiotic, so flat and inane, that it might have passed for a + burlesque rather than a straight story, were it not + painfully evident that the author was serious. The yarn was + unworthy of Astounding Stories and did not belong in this + magazine. + + The other stories, except for an amateurish attempt called + "The Man Who Was Dead," were deeply engrossing and of + unusual merit.--Sears Langell, 1214 Boston Road, New York. + + +"_The Readers' Corner_" + +All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come +over in 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of +stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities--everything +that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories. + +Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this +is a department primarily for _Readers_, and we want you to make full +use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, +brickbats, suggestions--everything's welcome here; so "come over in +'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us! + +--_The Editor._ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +August 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29768-8.txt or 29768-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/6/29768/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, 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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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: Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 23, 2009 [EBook #29768] +[Last updated: March 20, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" width="360" height="545" /></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="500" height="214" alt="20¢ +ASTOUNDING STORIES OF SUPER-SCIENCE" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h1>ASTOUNDING</h1> + <h2>STORIES<br /> + OF SUPER-SCIENCE</h2> + +<h3>20¢</h3> + +<h3><i>On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month</i></h3> +<p>W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor DR. DOUGLAS M. DOLD, +Consulting Editor</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees</h3> +<blockquote><p><i>That</i> the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by +leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions +approved by the Authors' League of America;</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/image_002.jpg" width="150" height="301" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><i>That</i> such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by +American workmen;</p> + +<p><i>That</i> each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;</p> + +<p><i>That</i> an intelligent censorship guards their advertising +pages.</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>The other Clayton magazines are</i>:</p> + +<p class="center"> +ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS +MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY +MAGAZINE, and WESTERN ADVENTURES. +</p> + +<p><i>More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand +for Clayton Magazines.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>VOL. III, No. 2 CONTENTS AUGUST, 1930</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td><b>COVER DESIGN</b></td> +<td><b>H. W. WESSOLOWSKI</b></td> +<td></td> +<td></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "The Planet of Dread."</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#The_Planet_of_Dread">THE PLANET OF DREAD</a></b></td> +<td><b>R. F. STARZL</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>A Stupid Blunder—and Mark Forepaugh Faces a Lifetime of Castaway Loneliness in the +Savage Welter of the Planet Inra's Monster-ridden Jungles.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#The_Lord_of_Space">THE LORD OF SPACE</a></b></td> +<td><b>VICTOR ROUSSEAU</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>A Black Caesar Had Arisen on Eros—and All Earth Trembled at His Distant Menace.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#The_Second_Satellite">THE SECOND SATELLITE</a></b></td> +<td><b>EDMOND HAMILTON</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Earth-men War on Frog-vampires for the Emancipation of the Human Cows of Earth's +Second Satellite.</i> (A Novelet.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#Silver_Dome">SILVER DOME</a></b></td> +<td><b>HARL VINCENT</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>In Her Deep-buried Kingdom of Theros, Phaestra Reveals the Amazing Secret of the +Silver Dome.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#Earth_the_Marauder">EARTH, THE MARAUDER</a></b></td> +<td><b>ARTHUR J. BURKS</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Deep in the Gnome-infested Tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and Jaska Are Brought to +Luar the Radiant Goddess Against Whose Minions the Marauding Earth Had +Struck in Vain.</i> (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#Murder_Madness">MURDER MADNESS</a></b></td> +<td><b>MURRAY LEINSTER</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Bell Has Fought through Tremendous Obstacles to Find and Kill The Master, Whose +Diabolical Poison Makes Murder-mad Snakes of the Hands; and, as He Faces the +Monster at Last—His Own Hands Start to Writhe!</i> (Conclusion.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#The_Flying_City">THE FLYING CITY</a></b></td> +<td><b>H. THOMPSON RICH</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>From Space Came Cor's Disc-city of Vada—Its Mighty, Age-old Engines Weakening— +Its Horde of Dwarfs Hungry for the Earth!</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><b><a href="#The_Readers_Corner">THE READERS' CORNER</a></b></td> +<td><b>ALL OF US</b></td> +<td class="tocpg"> </td> +<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><b>Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, +$2.00</b></p> + +<p>Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., +New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. +Entered as second-class matter December 7, 1929, at the Post Office at +New York, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a +Trade Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group—Men's +List. For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 +Vanderbilt Ave., New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_003.jpg" width="600" height="467" alt="This time Forepaugh was ready for it." /> +<span class="caption">This time Forepaugh was ready for it.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="The_Planet_of_Dread" id="The_Planet_of_Dread"></a>The Planet of Dread</h2> + +<h2><i>By R. F. Starzl</i></h2> + +<div class="sidenote">A stupid blunder—and Mark Forepaugh faces a life of +castaway loneliness in the savage welter of the planet Inra's +monster-ridden jungles.</div> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was no use hiding from the truth. Somebody had blundered—a +fatal blunder—and they were going to pay for it! Mark Forepaugh +kicked the pile of hydrogen cylinders. Only a moment ago he had broken +the seals—the mendacious seals that certified to the world that the +flasks were fully charged. And the flasks were empty! The supply of +this precious power gas, which in an emergency should have been +sufficient for six years, simply did not exist.</p> + +<p>He walked over to the integrating machine, which as early as the year +2031 had begun to replace the older atomic processes, due to the +shortage of the radium series metals. It was bulky and heavy compared +to the atomic disintegrators, but it was much more economical and very +dependable. Dependable—provided some thick-headed stock clerk at a +terrestrial supply station did not check in empty hydrogen cylinders +instead of full ones. Forepaugh's unwonted curses brought a smile to +the stupid, good-natured face of his servant, Gunga—he who had been +banished for life from his native Mars for his impiety in closing his +single round eye during the sacred Ceremony of the Wells.</p> + +<p>The Earth man was at this steaming hot, unhealthful trading station +under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> the very shadow of the South Pole of the minor planet Inra for +an entirely different reason. One of the most popular of his set on +the Earth, an athletic hero, he had fallen in love, and the devoutly +wished-for marriage was only prevented by lack of funds. The +opportunity to take charge of this richly paid, though dangerous, +outpost of civilization had been no sooner offered than taken. In +another week or two the relief ship was due to take him and his +valuable collection of exotic Inranian orchids back to the Earth, back +to a fat bonus, Constance, and an assured future.</p> + +<p>It was a different young man who now stood tragically before the +useless power plant. His slim body was bowed, and his clean features +were drawn. Grimly he raked the cooling dust that had been forced in +the integrating chamber by the electronic rearrangement of the +original hydrogen atoms—finely powdered iron and silicon—the "ashes" +of the last tank of hydrogen.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_g.jpg" alt="G" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>unga chuckled.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" Forepaugh barked. "Going crazy already?"</p> + +<p>"Me, haw! Me, haw! Me thinkin'," Gunga rumbled. "Haw! We got, haw! +plenty hydr'gen." He pointed to the low metal roof of the trading +station. Though it was well insulated against sound, the place +continually vibrated to the low murmur of the Inranian rains that fell +interminably through the perpetual polar day. It was a rain such as is +never seen on Earth, even in the tropics. It came in drops as large as +a man's fist. It came in streams. It came in large, shattering masses +that broke before they fell and filled the air with spray. There was +little wind, but the steady green downpour of water and the brilliant +continuous flashing of lightning shamed the dull soggy twilight +produced by the large, hot, but hidden sun.</p> + +<p>"<i>Your</i> idea of a joke!" Forepaugh growled in disgust. He understood +what Gunga's grim pleasantry referred to. There was indeed an +incalculable quantity of hydrogen at hand. If some means could be +found to separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen in the world of +water around them they would not lack for fuel. He thought of +electrolysis, and relaxed with a sigh. There was no power. The +generators were dead, the air drier and cooler had ceased its rhythmic +pulsing nearly an hour ago. Their lights were gone, and the automatic +radio utterly useless.</p> + +<p>"This is what comes of putting all your eggs in one basket," he +thought, and let his mind dwell vindictively on the engineers who had +designed the equipment on which his life depended.</p> + +<p>An exclamation from Gunga startled him. The Martian was pointing to +the ventilator opening, the only part of this strange building that +was not hermetically sealed against the hostile life of Inra. A dark +rim had appeared at its margin, a loathsome, black-green rim that was +moving, spreading out. It crept over the metal walls like the +low-lying smoke of a fire, yet it was a solid. From it emanated a +strong, miasmatic odor.</p> + +<p>"The giant mold!" Forepaugh cried. He rushed to his desk and took out +his flash pistol, quickly set the localizer so as to cover a large +area. When he turned he saw, to his horror, Gunga about to smash into +the mold with his ax. He sent the man spinning with a blow to the ear.</p> + +<p>"Want to scatter it and start it growing in a half-dozen places?" he +snapped. "Here!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e pulled the trigger. There was a light, spiteful "ping" and for an +instant a cone of white light stood out in the dim room like a solid +thing. Then it was gone, and with it was gone the black mold, leaving +a circular area of blistered paint on the wall and an acrid odor in +the air. Forepaugh leaped to the ventilating louver and closed it +tightly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's going to be like this from now on," he remarked to the shaken +Gunga. "All these things wouldn't bother us as long as the machinery +kept the building dry and cool. They couldn't live in here. But it's +getting damp and hot. Look at the moisture condensing on the ceiling!"</p> + +<p>Gunga gave a guttural cry of despair. "It knows, Boss; look!"</p> + +<p>Through one of the round, heavily framed ports it could be seen, the +lower part of its large, shapeless body half-floating in the lashing +water that covered their rocky shelf to a depth of several feet, the +upper part spectral and gray. It was a giant amoeba, fully six feet in +diameter in its present spheroid form, but capable of assuming any +shape that would be useful. It had an envelope of tough, transparent +matter, and was filled with a fluid that was now cloudy and then +clear. Near the center there was a mass of darker matter, and this was +undoubtedly the seat of its intelligence.</p> + +<p>The Earth man recoiled in horror! A single cell with a brain! It was +unthinkable. It was a biological nightmare. Never before had he seen +one—had, in fact, dismissed the stories of the Inranian natives as a +bit of primitive superstition, had laughed at these gentle, stupid +amphibians with whom he traded when they, in their imperfect language, +tried to tell him of it.</p> + +<p>They had called it the Ul-lul. Well, let it be so. It was an amoeba, +and it was watching him. It floated in the downpour and watched him. +With what? It had no eyes. No matter, it was watching him. And then it +suddenly flowed outward until it became a disc rocking on the waves. +Again its fluid form changed, and by a series of elongations and +contractions it flowed through the water at an incredible speed. It +came straight for the window, struck the thick, unbreakable glass with +a shock that could be felt by the men inside. It flowed over the glass +and over the building. It was trying to eat them, building and all! +The part of its body over the port became so thin that it was almost +invisible. At last, its absolute limit reached, it dropped away, +baffled, vanishing amid the glare of the lightning and the frothing +waters like the shadows of a nightmare.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he heat was intolerable and the air was bad.</p> + +<p>"Haw, we have to open vent'lator, Boss!" gasped the Martian.</p> + +<p>Forepaugh nodded grimly. It wouldn't do to smother either. Though to +open the ventilator would be to invite another invasion by the black +mold, not to mention the amoebae and other fabulous monsters that had +up to now been kept at a safe distance by the repeller zone, a simple +adaptation of a very old discovery. A zone of mechanical vibrations, +of a frequency of 500,000 cycles per second, was created by a large +quartz crystal in the water, which was electrically operated. Without +power, the protective zone had vanished.</p> + +<p>"We watch?" asked Gunga.</p> + +<p>"You bet we watch. Every minute of the 'day' and 'night.'"</p> + +<p>He examined the two chronometers, assuring himself that they were well +wound, and congratulated himself that they were not dependent on the +defunct power plant for energy. They were his only means of measuring +the passage of time. The sun, which theoretically would seem to travel +round and round the horizon, rarely succeeded in making its exact +location known, but appeared to shift strangely from side to side at +the whim of the fog and water.</p> + +<p>"Th' fellas," Gunga remarked, coming out of a study. "Why not come?" +He referred to the Inranians.</p> + +<p>"Probably know something's wrong. They can tell the quartz oscillator +is stopped. Afraid of the Ul-lul, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"'Squeer," demurred the Martian. "Ul-lul not bother fellas."</p> + +<p>"You mean it doesn't follow them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> into the underbrush. But it would +find tough going there. Not enough water; trees there, four hundred +feet high with thorny roots and rough bark—they wouldn't like that. +Oh no, these natives ought to be pretty snug in their dens. Why, +they're as hard to catch as a muskrat! Don't know what a muskrat is, +huh? Well, it's the same as the Inranians, only different, and not so +ugly."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or the next six days they existed in their straitened quarters, one +guarding while the other slept, but such alarms as they experienced +were of a minor nature, easily disposed of by their flash pistol. It +had not been intended for continuous service, and under the frequent +drains it showed an alarming loss of power. Forepaugh repeatedly +warned Gunga to be more sparing in its use, but that worthy persisted +in his practice of using it against every trifling invasion of the +poisonous Inranian cave moss that threatened them, or the warm, soggy +water-spiders that hopefully explored the ventilator shaft in search +of living food.</p> + +<p>"Bash 'em with a broom, or something! Never mind if it isn't nice. +Save our flash gun for something bigger."</p> + +<p>Gunga only looked distressed.</p> + +<p>On the seventh day their position became untenable. Some kind of sea +creature, hidden under the ever-replenished storm waters, had found +the concrete emplacements of their trading post to its liking. Just +how it was done was never learned. It is doubtful that the creatures +could gnaw away the solid stone—more likely the process was chemical, +but none the less it was effective. The foundations crumbled; the +metal shell subsided, rolled half over so that silty water leaked in +through the straining seams, and threatened at any moment to be +buffeted and urged away on the surface of the flood toward that +distant vast sea which covers nine-tenths of the area of Inra.</p> + +<p>"Time to mush for the mountains," Forepaugh decided.</p> + +<p>Gunga grinned. The Mountains of Perdition were, to his point of view, +the only part of Inra even remotely inhabitable. They were sometimes +fairly cool, and though perpetually pelted with rain, blazing with +lightning and reverberating with thunder, they had caves that were +fairly dry and too cool for the black mold. Sometimes, under favorable +circumstances on their rugged peaks, one could get the full benefit of +the enormous hot sun for whose actinic rays the Martian's starved +system yearned.</p> + +<p>"Better pack a few cans of the food tablets," the white man ordered. +"Take a couple of waterproof sleeping bags for us, and a few hundred +fire pellets. You can have the flash pistol; it may have a few more +charges in it."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>orepaugh broke the glass case marked "Emergency Only" and removed two +more flash pistols. Well he knew that he would need them after passing +beyond the trading area—perhaps sooner. His eyes fell on his personal +chest, and he opened it for a brief examination. None of the contents +seemed of any value, and he was about to pass when he dragged out a +long, heavy, .45 caliber six-shooter in a holster, and a cartridge +belt filled with shells. The Martian stared.</p> + +<p>"Know what it is?" his master asked, handing him the weapon.</p> + +<p>"Gunga not know." He took it and examined it curiously. It was a fine +museum piece in an excellent state of preservation, the metal overlaid +with the patina of age, but free from rust and corrosion.</p> + +<p>"It's a weapon of the Ancients," Forepaugh explained. "It was a sort +of family heirloom and is over 300 years old. One of my grandfathers +used it in the famous Northwest Mounted Police. Wonder if it'll still +shoot."</p> + +<p>He leveled the weapon at a fat, sightless wriggler that came squirming +through a seam, squinting unaccus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>tomed eyes along the barrel. There +was a violent explosion, and the wriggler disappeared in a smear of +dirty green. Gunga nearly fell over backward in fright, and even +Forepaugh was shaken. He was surprised that the ancient cartridge had +exploded at all, though he knew powder making had reached a high level +of perfection before explosive chemical weapons had yielded to the +newer, lighter, and infinitely more powerful ray weapons. The gun +would impede their progress. It would be of very little use against +the giant Carnivora of Inra. Yet something—perhaps a sentimental +attachment, perhaps what his ancestors would have called a +"hunch"—compelled him to strap it around his waist. He carefully +packed a few essentials in his knapsack, together with one chronometer +and a tiny gyroscopic compass. So equipped, they could travel with a +fair degree of precision toward the mountains some hundred miles on +the other side of a steaming forest, a-crawl with feral life, and hot +with blood-lust.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>an and master descended into the warm waters and, without a backward +glance, left the trading post to its fate. There was not even any use +in leaving a note. Their relief ship, soon due, would never find the +station without radio direction.</p> + +<p>The current was strong, but the water gradually became shallower as +they ascended the sloping rock. After half an hour they saw ahead of +them the loom of the forest, and with some trepidation they entered +the gloom cast by the towering, fernlike trees, whose tops disappeared +in murky fog. Tangled vines impeded their progress. Quagmires lay in +wait for them, and tough weeds tripped them, sometimes throwing one or +another into the mud among squirming small reptiles that lashed at +them with spiked, poisonous feet and then fell to pieces, each piece +to lie in the bubbling ooze until it grew again into a whole animal.</p> + +<p>Several times they almost walked under the bodies of great, +spheroidal creatures with massive short legs, whose tremendously long, +sinuous necks disappeared in the leafy murk above, swaying gently like +long-stalked lilies in a terrestial pond. These were azornacks, +mild-tempered vegetarians whose only defense lay in their thick, +blubbery hides. Filled with parasites, stinking and rancid, their +decaying covering of fat effectively concealed the tender flesh +underneath, protecting them from fangs and rending claws.</p> + +<p>Deeper in the forest the battering of the rain was mitigated. Giant +neo-palm leaves formed a roof that shut out not only most of the weak +daylight, but also the fury of the downpour. The water collected in +cataracts, ran down the boles of the trees, and roared through the +semi-circular canals of the snake trees, so named by early explorers +for their waving, rubbery tentacles, multiplied a millionfold, that +performed the duties of leaves. Water gurgled and chuckled everywhere, +spread in vast dim ponds and lakes writhing with tormented roots, +up-heaved by unseen, uncatalogued leviathans, rippled by translucent +discs of loathsome, luminescent jelly that quivered from place to +place in pursuit of microscopic prey.</p> + +<p>Yet the impression was one of calm and quiet, and the waifs from other +worlds felt a surcease of nervous tension. Unconsciously they relaxed. +Taking their bearings, they changed their course slightly for the +nesting place of the nearest tribe of Inranians where they hoped to +get food and at least partial shelter; for their food tablets had +mysteriously turned to an unpleasant viscous liquid, and their +sleeping bags were alive with giant bacteria easily visible to the +eye.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were doomed to disappointment. After nearly twelve hours of +desperate struggling through the morass, through gloomy aisles, and +countless narrow escapes from prowling beasts of prey in which only +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> speed and tremendous power of their flash pistols saved them from +instant death, they reached a rocky outcropping which led to the +comparatively dry rise of land on which a tribe of Inranians made its +home. Their faces were covered with welts made by the hanging +filaments of blood-sucking trees as fine as spider webs, and their +senses reeled with the oppressive stench of the abysmal jungle. If the +pampered ladies of the Inner Planets only knew where their +thousand-dollar orchids sprang from!</p> + +<p>Converging runways showed the opening of one of the underground dens, +almost hidden from view by a bewildering maze of roots, rendered more +formidable by long, sharp stakes made from the iron-hard thigh-bones +of the flying kabo.</p> + +<p>Forepaugh cupped his hands over his mouth and gave the call.</p> + +<p>"Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf!"</p> + +<p>He repeated it over and over, the jungle giving back his voice in a +muffled echo, while Gunga held a spare flash pistol and kept a sharp +lookout for a carnivore intent on getting an unwary Inranian.</p> + +<p>There was no answer. These timid creatures, who are often rated the +most intelligent life native to primitive Inra, had sensed disaster +and had fled.</p> + +<p>Forepaugh and Gunga slept in one of the foul, poorly ventilated dens, +ate of the hard, woody tubers that had not been worth taking along, +and wished they had a certain stock clerk at that place at that time. +They were awakened out of deep slumber by the threshing of an evil +looking creature which had become entangled among the sharpened +spikes. Its tremendous maw, splitting it almost in half, was opened in +roars of pain that showed great yellow fangs eight inches in length. +Its heavy flippers battered the stout roots and lacerated themselves +in the beast's insensate rage. It was quickly dispatched with a flash +pistol and Gunga cooked himself some of the meat, using a fire pellet; +but despite his hunger Forepaugh did not dare eat any of it, knowing +that this species, strange to him, might easily be one of the many on +Inra that are poisonous to terrestials.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey resumed their march toward the distant invisible mountains, and +were fortunate in finding somewhat better footing than they had on +their previous march. They covered about 25 miles on that "day," +without untoward incident. Their ray pistols gave them an insuperable +advantage over the largest and most ferocious beasts they could expect +to meet, so that they became more and more confident, despite the +knowledge that they were rapidly using up the energy stored in their +weapons. The first one had long ago been discarded, and the charge +indicators of the other two were approaching zero at a disquieting +rate. Forepaugh took them both, and from that time on he was careful +never to waste a discharge except in case of a direct and unavoidable +attack. This often entailed long waits or stealthy detours through +sucking mud, and came near to ending both their lives.</p> + +<p>The Earth man was in the lead when it happened. Seeking an uncertain +footing through a tangle of low-growing, thick, ghastly white +vegetation, he placed a foot on what seemed to be a broad, flat rock +projecting slightly above the ooze. Instantly there was a violent +upheaval of mud; the seeming rock flew up like a trap-door, disclosing +a cavernous mouth some seven feet across, and a thick, triangular +tentacle flew up from its concealment in the mud in a vicious arc. +Forepaugh leaped back barely in time to escape being swept in and +engulfed. The end of the tentacle struck him a heavy blow on the +chest, throwing him back with such force as to bowl Gunga over, and +whirling the pistols out of his hands into a slimy, bulbous growth +nearby, where they stuck in the phosphorescent cavities the force of +their impact had made.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was no time to recover the weapons. With a bellow of rage the +beast was out of its bed and rushing at them. Nothing stayed its +progress. Tough, heavily scaled trees thicker than a man's body +shuddered and fell as its bulk brushed by them. But it was momentarily +confused, and its first rush carried it past its dodging quarry. This +momentary respite saved their lives.</p> + +<p>Rearing its plumed head to awesome heights, its knobby bark running +with brown rivulets of water, a giant tree, even for that world of +giants, offered refuge. The men scrambled up the rough trunk easily, +finding plenty of hand and footholds. They came to rest on one of the +shelflike circumvoluting rings, some twenty-five feet above the +ground. Soon the blunt brown tentacles slithered in search of them, +but failed to reach their refuge by inches.</p> + +<p>And now began the most terrible siege that interlopers in that +primitive world can endure. From that cavernous, distended throat came +a tremendous, world-shaking noise.</p> + +<p>"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"</p> + +<p>Forepaugh put his hand to his head. It made him dizzy. He had not +believed that such noise could be. He knew that no creature could long +live amidst it. He tore strips from his shredded clothing and stuffed +his ears, but felt no relief.</p> + +<p>"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"</p> + +<p>It throbbed in his brain.</p> + +<p>Gunga lay a-sprawl, staring with fascinated eye into the pulsating +scarlet gullet that was blasting the world with sound. Slowly, slowly +he was slipping. His master hauled him back. The Martian grinned at +him stupidly, slid again to the edge.</p> + +<p>Once more Forepaugh pulled him back. The Martian seemed to acquiesce. +His single eye closed to a mere slit. He moved to a position between +Forepaugh and the tree trunk, braced his feet.</p> + +<p>"No you don't!" The Earth man laughed uproariously. The din was making +him light-headed. It was so funny! Just in time he had caught that +cunning expression and prepared for the outlashing of feet designed to +plunge him into the red cavern below and to stop that hellish racket.</p> + +<p>"And now—"</p> + +<p>He swung his fist heavily, slamming the Martian against the tree. The +red eye closed wearily. He was unconscious, and lucky.</p> + +<p>Hungrily the Earth man stared at his distant flash pistols, plainly +visible in the luminescence of their fungus bedding. He began a slow, +cautious creep along the top of a vine some eight inches thick. If he +could reach them....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>rash! He was almost knocked to the ground by the thud of a frantic +tentacle against the vine. His movement had been seen. Again the +tentacle struck with crushing force. The great vine swayed. He managed +to reach the shelf again in the very nick of time.</p> + +<p>"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"</p> + +<p>A bolt of lightning struck a giant fern some distance away. The crash +of thunder was hardly noticeable. Forepaugh wondered if his tree would +be struck. Perhaps it might even start a fire, giving him a flaming +brand with which to torment his tormentor. Vain hope! The wood was +saturated with moisture. Even the fire pellets could not make it burn.</p> + +<p>"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"</p> + +<p>The six-shooter! He had forgotten it. He jerked it from its holster +and pointed it at the red throat, emptied all the chambers. He saw the +flash of yellow flame, felt the recoil, but the sound of the +discharges was drowned in the Brobdignagian tumult. He drew back his +arm to throw the useless toy from him. But again that unexplainable, +senseless "hunch" restrained him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> He reloaded the gun and returned it +to its holster.</p> + +<p>"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!"</p> + +<p>A thought had been struggling to reach his consciousness against the +pressure of the unbearable noise. The fire pellets! Couldn't they be +used in some way? These small chemical spheres, no larger than the end +of his little finger, had long ago supplanted actual fire along the +frontiers, where electricity was not available for cooking. In contact +with moisture they emitted terrific heat, a radiant heat which +penetrated meat, bone, and even metal. One such pellet would cook a +meal in ten minutes, with no sign of scorching or burning. And they +had several hundred in one of the standard moisture-proof containers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s fast as his fingers could work the trigger of the dispenser +Forepaugh dropped the potent little pellets down the bellowing throat. +He managed to release about thirty before the bellowing stopped. A +veritable tornado of energy broke loose at the foot of the tree. The +giant maw was closed, and the shocking silence was broken only by the +thrashing of a giant body in its death agonies. The radiant heat, +penetrating through and through the beast's body, withered nearby +vegetation and could be easily felt on the perch up the tree.</p> + +<p>Gunga was slowly recovering. His iron constitution helped him to rally +from the powerful blow he had received, and by the time the jungle was +still he was sitting up mumbling apologies.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said his master. "Shin down there and cut us off a good +helping of roast tongue, if it has a tongue, before something else +comes along and beats us out of a feast."</p> + +<p>"Him poison, maybe," Gunga demurred. They had killed a specimen new to +zoologists.</p> + +<p>"Might as well die of poison as starvation," Forepaugh countered.</p> + +<p>Without more ado the Martian descended, cut out some large, juicy +chunks as his fancy dictated, and brought his loot back up the tree. +The meat was delicious and apparently wholesome. They gorged +themselves and threw away what they could not eat, for food spoils +very quickly in the Inranian jungles and uneaten meat would only serve +to attract hordes of the gauzy-winged, glutinous Inranian swamp flies. +As they sank into slumber they could hear the beginning of a bedlam of +snarling and fighting as the lesser Carnivora fed on the body of the +fallen giant.</p> + +<p>When they awoke the chronometer recorded the passing of twelve hours, +and they had to tear a network of strong fibers with which the tree +had invested them preparatory to absorbing their bodies as food. For +so keen is the competition for life on Inra that practically all +vegetation is capable of absorbing animal food directly. Many an +Inranian explorer can tell tales of narrow escapes from some of the +more specialized flesh-eating plants; but they are now so well known +that they are easily avoided.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> clean-picked framework of crushed and broken giant bones was all +that was left of the late bellowing monster. Six-legged water dogs +were polishing them hopefully, or delving into them with their long, +sinuous snouts for the marrow. The Earth man fired a few shots with +his six-shooter, and they scattered, dragging the bodies of their +fallen companions to a safe distance to be eaten.</p> + +<p>Only one of the flash pistols was in working order. The other had been +trampled by heavy hoofs and was useless. A heavy handicap under which +to traverse fifty miles of abysmal jungle. They started with nothing +for breakfast except water, of which they had plenty.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the outcroppings of rocks and gravel washes were becoming +more and more frequent, and they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> able to travel at much better +speed. As they left the low-lying jungle land they entered a zone +which was faintly reminiscent of a terrestial jungle. It was still +hot, soggy, and fetid, but gradually the most primitive aspects of the +scene were modified. The over-arching trees were less closely packed, +and they came across occasional rock clearings which were bare of +vegetation except for a dense carpet of brown, lichenlike vegetation +that secreted an astonishing amount of juice. They slipped and sloshed +through this, rousing swarms of odd, toothed birds, which darted +angrily around their heads and slashed at them with the razor-sharp +saw edges on the back of their legs. Annoying as they were, they could +be kept away with branches torn from trees, and their presence +connoted an absence of the deadly jungle flesh-eaters, permitting a +temporary relaxation of vigilance and saving the resources of the last +flash gun.</p> + +<p>They camped that "night" on the edge of one of these rock clearings. +For the first time in weeks it had stopped raining, although the sun +was still obscured. Dimly on the horizon could be seen the first of +the foothills. Here they gathered some of the giant, oblong fungus +that early explorers had taken for blocks of porous stone because of +their size and weight, and, by dint of the plentiful application of +fire pellets, managed to set it ablaze. The heat added nothing to +their comfort, but it dried them out and allowed them to sleep +unmolested.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>n unwary winged eel served as their breakfast, and soon they were on +their way to those beckoning hills. It had started to rain again, but +the worst part of their journey was over. If they could reach the top +of one of the mountains there was a good chance that they would be +seen and rescued by their relief ship, provided they did not starve +first. The flyer would use the mountains as a base from which to +search for the trading station, and it was conceivable that the +skipper might actually have anticipated their desperate adventure and +would look for them in the Mountains of Perdition.</p> + +<p>They had crossed several ranges of the foothills and were beginning to +congratulate themselves when the diffused light from above was +suddenly blotted out. It was raining again, and above the +echo-augmented thunder they heard a shrill screeching.</p> + +<p>"A web serpent!" Gunga cried, throwing himself flat on the ground.</p> + +<p>Forepaugh eased into a rock cleft at his side. Just in time. A great +grotesque head bore down upon him, many-fanged as a medieval dragon. +Between obsidian eyes was a fissure whence emanated a wailing and a +foul odor. Hundreds of short, clawed legs slithered on the rocks under +a long sinuous body. Then it seemed to leap into the air again. Webs +grew taut between the legs, strumming as they caught a strong uphill +wind. Again it turned to the attack, and missed them. This time +Forepaugh was ready for it. He shot at it with his flash pistol.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>othing happened. The fog made accurate shooting impossible, and the +gun lacked its former power. The web serpent continued to course back +and forth over their heads.</p> + +<p>"Guess we'd better run for it," Forepaugh murmured.</p> + +<p>"Go 'head!"</p> + +<p>They cautiously left their places of concealment. Instantly the +serpent was down again, persistent if inaccurate. It struck the place +of their first concealment and missed them.</p> + +<p>"Run!"</p> + +<p>They extended their weary muscles to the utmost, but it was soon +apparent that they could not escape long. A rock wall in their path +saved them.</p> + +<p>"Hole!" the Martian gasped.</p> + +<p>Forepaugh followed him into the rocky cleft. There was a strong draft +of dry air, and it would have been next<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> to impossible to hold the +Martian back, so Forepaugh allowed him to lead on toward the source of +the draft. As long as it led into the mountains he didn't care.</p> + +<p>The natural passageway was untenanted. Evidently its coolness and +dryness made it untenable for most of Inra's humidity and heat loving +life. Yet the floor was so smooth that it must have been artificially +leveled. Faint illumination was provided by the rocks themselves. They +appeared to be covered by some microscopic phosphorescent vegetation.</p> + +<p>After hundreds of twists and turns and interminable straight galleries +the cleft turned more sharply upward, and they had a period of stiff +climbing. They must have gone several miles and climbed at least +20,000 feet. The air became noticeably thin, which only exhilarated +Gunga, but slowed the Earth man down. But at last they came to the end +of the cleft. They could go no further, but above them, at least 500 +feet higher, they saw a round patch of sky, miraculously bright blue +sky!</p> + +<p>"A pipe!" Forepaugh cried.</p> + +<p>He had often heard of these mysterious, almost fabulous structures +sometimes reported by passing travelers. Straight and true, smooth as +glass and apparently immune to the elements, they had been +occasionally seen standing on the very tops of the highest +mountains—seen for a few moments only before they were hidden again +by the clouds. Were they observatories of some ancient race, placed +thus to pierce the mysteries of outer space? They would find out.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he inside of the pipe had zigzagging rings of metal, conveniently +spaced for easy climbing. With Gunga leading, they soon reached the +top. But not quite.</p> + +<p>"Eh?" said Forepaugh.</p> + +<p>"Uh?" said Gunga.</p> + +<p>There had not been a sound, but a distinct, definite command had +registered on their minds.</p> + +<p>"Stop!"</p> + +<p>They tried to climb higher, but could not unclasp their hands. They +tried to descend, but could not lower their feet.</p> + +<p>The light was by now relatively bright, and as by command their eyes +sought the opposite wall. What they saw gave their jaded nerves an +unpleasant thrill—a mass of doughy matter of a blue-green color about +three feet in diameter, with something that resembled a cyst filled +with transparent liquid near its center.</p> + +<p>And this thing began to flow along the rods, much as tar flows. From +the mass extended a pseudopod; touched Gunga on the arm. Instantly the +arm was raw and bleeding. Terrified, immovable, he writhed in agony. +The pseudopod returned to the main mass, disappearing into its +interior with the strip of bloody skin.</p> + +<p>Its attention was centered so much on the luckless Martian that its +control slipped from Forepaugh. Seizing his flash pistol, he set the +localized for a small area and aimed it at the thing, intent on +burning it into nothingness. But again his hand was stayed. Against +the utmost of his will-power his fingers opened, letting the pistol +drop. The liquid in the cyst danced and bubbled. Was it laughing at +him? It had read his mind—thwarted his will again.</p> + +<p>Again a pseudopod stretched out and a strip of raw, red flesh adhered +to it and was consumed. Mad rage convulsed the Earth man. Should he +throw himself tooth and nail on the monster? And be engulfed?</p> + +<p>He thought of the six-shooter. It thrilled him.</p> + +<p>But wouldn't it make him drop that too?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> flash of atavistic cunning came to him.</p> + +<p>He began to reiterate in his mind a certain thought.</p> + +<p>"This thing is so I can see you better—this thing is so I can see you +better."</p> + +<p>He said it over and over, with all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> passion and devotion of a +celibate's prayer over a uranium fountain.</p> + +<p>"This thing is harmless—but it will make me see you better!"</p> + +<p>Slowly he drew the six-shooter. In some occult way he knew it was +watching him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is harmless! This is an instrument to aid my weak eyes! It +will help me realize your mastery! This will enable me to know your +true greatness. This will enable me to know you as a god."</p> + +<p>Was it complacence or suspicion that stirred the liquid in the cyst so +smoothly? Was it susceptible to flattery? He sighted along the barrel.</p> + +<p>"In another moment your great intelligence will overwhelm me," +proclaimed his surface mind desperately, while the subconscious tensed +the trigger. And at that the clear liquid burst into a turmoil of +alarm. Too late. Forepaugh went limp, but not before he had loosed a +steel-jacketed bullet that shattered the mind cyst of the pipe +denizen. A horrible pain coursed through his every fibre and nerve. He +was safe in the arms of Gunga, being carried to the top of the pipe to +the clean dry air, and the blessed, blistering sun.</p> + +<p>The pipe denizen was dying. A viscous, inert mass, it dropped lower +and lower, lost contact at last, shattered into slime at the bottom.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>iraculous sun! For a luxurious fifteen minutes they roasted there on +the top of the pipe, the only solid thing in a sea of clouds as far as +the eye could reach. But no! That was a circular spot against the +brilliant white of the clouds, and it was rapidly coming closer. In a +few minutes it resolved itself into the <i>Comet</i>, fast relief ship of +the Terrestial, Inranian, Genidian, and Zydian Lines, Inc. With a low +buzz of her repulsion motors she drew alongside. Hooks were attached +and ports opened. A petty officer and a crew of roustabouts made her +fast.</p> + +<p>"What the hell's going on here?" asked the cocky little terrestial who +was skipper, stepping out and surveying the castaways. "We've been +looking for you ever since your directional wave failed. But come on +in—come on in!"</p> + +<p>He led the way to his stateroom, while the ship's surgeon took Gunga +in charge. Closing the door carefully, he delved into the bottom of +his locker and brought out a flask.</p> + +<p>"Can't be too careful," he remarked, filling a small tumbler for +himself and another for his guest. "Always apt to be some snooper to +report me. But say—you're wanted in the radio room."</p> + +<p>"Radio room nothing! When do we eat?"</p> + +<p>"Right away, but you'd better see him. Fellow from the Interplanetary +News Agency wants you to broadcast a copyrighted story. Good for about +three years' salary, old boy."</p> + +<p>"All right. I'll see him"—with a happy sigh—"just as soon as I put +through a personal message."</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_004.jpg" width="600" height="203" alt="Everyone Is Invited +To "Come Over in +'THE READERS' CORNER'!"" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_005.jpg" width="600" height="544" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="The_Lord_of_Space" id="The_Lord_of_Space"></a>The Lord of Space</h2> + +<h2><i>By Victor Rousseau</i></h2> + + +<div class="sidenote">A Black Caesar had arisen on Eros—and all Earth trembled +at his distant menace.</div> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o1.jpg" alt="O" width="63" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the day of the next full moon every living thing on earth will be +wiped out of existence—unless you succeed in your mission, Lee."</p> + +<p>Nathaniel Lee looked into the face of Silas Stark, President of the +United States of the World, and nodded grimly. "I'll do my best, Sir," +he answered.</p> + +<p>"You have the facts. We know who this self-styled Black Caesar is, who +has declared war upon humanity. He is a Dane named Axelson, whose +father, condemned to life imprisonment for resisting the new +world-order, succeeded in obtaining possession of an interplanetary +liner.</p> + +<p>"He filled it with the gang of desperate men who had been associated +with him in his successful escape from the penitentiary. Together they +sailed into Space. They disappeared. It was supposed that they had +somehow met their death in the ether, beyond the range of human ken.</p> + +<p>"Thirty years passed, and then this son of Axelson, born, according to +his own story, of a woman whom the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> father had persuaded to accompany +him into Space, began to radio us. We thought at first it was some +practical joker who was cutting in.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_006.jpg" width="600" height="521" alt="It was like struggling with some vampire creatures in +a hideous dream." /> +<span class="caption">It was like struggling with some vampire creatures in +a hideous dream.</span> +</div> + +<p>"When our electricians demonstrated beyond doubt that the voice came +from outer space, it was supposed that some one in our Moon Colony had +acquired a transmitting machine. Then the ships we sent to the Moon +Colony for gold failed to return. As you know, for seven weeks there +has been no communication with the Moon. And at the last full moon +the—blow—fell.</p> + +<p>"The world depends upon you, Lee. The invisible rays that destroyed +every living thing from China to Australia—one-fifth of the human +race—will fall upon the eastern seaboard of America when the moon is +full again. That has been the gist of Axelson's repeated +communications.</p> + +<p>"We shall look to you to return, either with the arch-enemy of the +human race as your prisoner, or with the good news that mankind has +been set free from the menace that overhangs it.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, my boy!" The President of the United States of the +World gripped Nat's hand and stepped down the ladder that led from the +landing-stage of the great interplanetary space-ship.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he immense landing-field reserved for the ships of the Interplanetary +Line was situated a thousand feet above the heart of New York City, in +Westchester County. It was a flat space set on the top of five great +towers, strewn with electrified sand, whose glow had the property of +dispersing the sea fogs. There, at rest upon what resembled nothing so +much as iron claws, the long gray shape of the vacuum flyer bulked.</p> + +<p>Nat sneezed as he watched the operations of his men, for the common +cold, or coryza, seemed likely to be the last of the germ diseases +that would yield to medical science, and he had caught a bad one in +the Capitol, while listening to the debate in the Senate upon the +threat to humanity. And it was cold on the landing-stage, in contrast +to the perpetual summer of the glass-roofed city below.</p> + +<p>But Nat forgot the cold as he watched the preparations for the ship's +departure. Neon and nitrogen gas were being pumped under pressure into +the outer shell, where a minute charge of leucon, the newly discovered +element that helped to counteract gravitation, combined with them to +provide the power that would lift the vessel above the regions of the +stratosphere.</p> + +<p>In the low roof-buildings that surrounded the stage was a scene of +tremendous activity. The selenium discs were flashing signals, and the +radio receivers were shouting the late news; on the great power boards +dials and light signals stood out in the glow of the amylite tubes. On +a rotary stage a thousand feet above the ship a giant searchlight, +visible for a thousand miles, moved its shaft of dazzling luminosity +across the heavens.</p> + +<p>Now the spar-aluminite outer skin of the ship grew bright with the red +neon glare. Another ship, from China, dropped slowly to its stage near +by, and the unloaders swarmed about the pneumatic tubes to receive the +mail. The teleradio was shouting news of a failure of the Manchurian +wheat crop. Nat's chief officer, a short cockney named Brent, came up +to him.</p> + +<p>"Ready to start, Sir," he said.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>at turned to him. "Your orders are clear?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir."</p> + +<p>"Send Benson here."</p> + +<p>"I'm here, Sir." Benson, the ray-gunner in charge of the battery that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +comprised the vessel's armament, a lean Yankee from Connecticut, +stepped forward.</p> + +<p>"You know your orders, Benson? Axelson has seized the Moon and the +gold-mines there. He's planning to obliterate the Earth. We've got to +go in like mad dogs and shoot to kill. No matter if we kill every +living thing there, even our own people who are inmates of the Moon's +penal settlement, we've got to account for Axelson."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir."</p> + +<p>"We can't guess how he got those gold-ships that returned with neon +and argon for the Moon colonists. But he mustn't get us. Let the men +understand that. That's all."</p> + +<p>"Very good, Sir."</p> + +<p>The teleradio suddenly began to splutter: A-A-A, it called. And +instantly every sound ceased about the landing-stage. For that was the +call of Axelson, somewhere upon the Moon.</p> + +<p>"Axelson speaking. At the next full moon all the American Province of +the World Federation will be annihilated, as the Chinese Province was +at the last. There's no hope for you, good people. Send out your +vacuum liners. I can use a few more of them. Within six months your +world will be depopulated, unless you flash me the signal of +surrender."</p> + +<p>Would the proud old Earth have to come to that? Daily those ominous +threats had been repeated, until popular fears had become frenzy. And +Nat was being sent out as a last hope. If he failed, there would be +nothing but surrender to this man, armed with a super-force that +enabled him to lay waste the Earth from the Moon.</p> + +<p>Within one hour, those invisible, death-dealing rays had destroyed +everything that inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon. The ray with which +the liner was equipped was a mere toy in comparison. It would kill at +no more than 500 miles, and its action was quite different.</p> + +<p>As a prelude to Earth's surrender, Axelson demanded that World +President Stark and a score of other dignitaries should depart for +the Moon as hostages. Every ray fortress in the world was to be +dismantled, every treasury was to send its gold to be piled up in a +great pyramid on the New York landing-stage. The Earth was to +acknowledge Axelson as its supreme master.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he iron claws were turning with a screwlike motion, extending +themselves, and slowly raising the interplanetary vessel until she +looked like a great metal fish with metal legs ending with suckerlike +disks. But already she was floating free as the softly purring engines +held her in equipoise. Nat climbed the short ladder that led to her +deck. Brent came up to him again.</p> + +<p>"That teleradio message from Axelson—" he began.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" Nat snapped out.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it came from the Moon at all."</p> + +<p>"You don't? You think it's somebody playing a hoax on Earth? You think +that wiping out of China was just an Earth-joke?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sir." Brent stood steady under his superior's sarcasm. "But I was +chief teleradio operator at Greenwich before being promoted to the +Province of America. And what they don't know at Greenwich they don't +know anywhere."</p> + +<p>Brent spoke with that self-assurance of the born cockney that even the +centuries had failed to remove, though they had removed the cockney +accent.</p> + +<p>"Well, Brent?"</p> + +<p>"I was with the chief electrician in the receiving station when +Axelson was radioing last week. And I noticed that the waves of sound +were under a slight Doppler effect. With the immense magnification +necessary for transmitting from the Moon, such deflection might be +construed as a mere fan-like extension. But there was ten times the +magnification one would expect from the Moon; and I calculated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> that +those sound-waves were shifted somewhere."</p> + +<p>"Then what's your theory, Brent?"</p> + +<p>"Those sounds come from another planet. Somewhere on the Moon there's +an intercepting and re-transmitting plant. Axelson is deflecting his +rays to give the impression that he's on the Moon, and to lure our +ships there."</p> + +<p>"What do you advise?" asked Nat.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Sir."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I. Set your course Moonward, and tell Mr. Benson to keep +his eyes peeled."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Moon Colony, discovered in 1976, when Kramer, of Baltimore, first +proved the practicability of mixing neon with the inert new gas, +leucon, and so conquering gravitation, had proved to be just what it +had been suspected of being—a desiccated, airless desolation. +Nevertheless, within the depths of the craters a certain amount of the +Moon's ancient atmosphere still lingered, sufficient to sustain life +for the queer troglodytes, with enormous lung-boxes, who survived +there, browsing like beasts upon the stunted, aloe-like vegetation.</p> + +<p>Half man, half ape, and very much unlike either, these vestiges of a +species on a ruined globe had proved tractable and amenable to +discipline. They had become the laborers of the convict settlement +that had sprung up on the Moon.</p> + +<p>Thither all those who had opposed the establishment of the World +Federation, together with all persons convicted for the fourth time of +a felony, had been transported, to superintend the efforts of these +dumb, unhuman Moon dwellers. For it had been discovered that the Moon +craters were extraordinarily rich in gold, and gold was still the +medium of exchange on Earth.</p> + +<p>To supplement the vestigial atmosphere, huge stations had been set up, +which extracted the oxygen from the subterranean waters five miles +below the Moon's crust, and recombined it with the nitrogen with +which the surface layer was impregnated, thus creating an atmosphere +which was pumped to the workers.</p> + +<p>Then a curious discovery had been made. It was impossible for human +beings to exist without the addition of those elements existing in the +air in minute quantities—neon, krypton, and argon. And the ships that +brought the gold bars back from the Moon had conveyed these gaseous +elements there.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he droning of the sixteen atomic motors grew louder, and mingled with +the hum of gyroscopes. The ladder was drawn up and the port hole +sealed. On the enclosed bridge Nat threw the switch of durobronze that +released the non-conducting shutter which gave play to the sixteen +great magnets. Swiftly the great ship shot forward into the air. The +droning of the motors became a shrill whine, and then, growing too +shrill for human ears to follow it, gave place to silence.</p> + +<p>Nat set the speed lever to five hundred miles an hour, the utmost that +had been found possible in passing through the earth's atmosphere, +owing to the resistance, which tended to heat the vessel and damage +the delicate atomic engines. As soon as the ether was reached, the +speed would be increased to ten or twelve thousand. That meant a +twenty-two hour run to the Moon Colony—about the time usually taken.</p> + +<p>He pressed a lever, which set bells ringing in all parts of the ship. +By means of a complicated mechanism, the air was exhausted from each +compartment in turn, and then replaced, and as the bells rang, the men +at work trooped out of these compartments consecutively. This had been +originated for the purpose of destroying any life dangerous to man +that might unwittingly have been imported from the Moon, but on one +occasion it had resulted in the discovery of a stowaway.</p> + +<p>Then Nat descended the bridge to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> the upper deck. Here, on a platform, +were the two batteries of three ray-guns apiece, mounted on swivels, +and firing in any direction on the port and starboard sides +respectively. The guns were enclosed in a thin sheath of osmium, +through which the lethal rays penetrated unchanged; about them, thick +shields of lead protected the gunners.</p> + +<p>He talked with Benson for a while. "Don't let Axelson get the jump on +you," he said. "Be on the alert every moment." The gunners, +keen-looking men, graduates from the Annapolis gunnery school, grinned +and nodded. They were proud of their trade and its traditions; Nat +felt that the vessel was safe in their hands.</p> + +<p>The chief mate appeared at the head of the companion, accompanied by a +girl. "Stowaway, Sir," he reported laconically. "She tumbled out of +the repair shop annex when we let out the air!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>at stared at her in consternation, and the girl stared back at him. +She was a very pretty girl, hardly more than twenty-two or three, +attired in a businesslike costume consisting of a leather jacket, +knickers, and the black spiral puttees that had come into style in the +past decade. She came forward unabashed.</p> + +<p>"Well, who are you?" snapped Nat.</p> + +<p>"Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," she answered, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"The devil!" muttered Nat. "You people think you run the World +Federation since you got President Stark elected."</p> + +<p>"We certainly do," replied the girl, still laughing.</p> + +<p>"Well, you don't run this ship," said Nat. "How would you like a long +parachute drop back to Earth?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be foolish, my dear man," said Madge. "Don't you know you'll +get wrinkles if you scowl like that? Smile! Ah, that's better. Now, +honestly, Cap we just had to get the jump on everybody else in +interviewing Axelson. It means such a lot to me."</p> + +<p>Pouts succeeded smiles. "You're not going to be cross about it, are +you?" she pleaded.</p> + +<p>"Do you realize the risk you're running, young woman?" Nat demanded. +"Are you aware that our chances of ever getting back to Earth are +smaller than you ought to have dreamed of taking?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," the girl responded. "And now that we're +friends again, would you mind asking the steward to get me something +to eat? I've been cooped up in that room downstairs for fifteen hours, +and I'm simply starving."</p> + +<p>Nat shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. He turned to the chief mate. +"Take Miss Dawes down to the saloon and see that Wang Ling supplies +her with a good meal," he ordered. "And put her in the Admiral's +cabin. That good enough for you?" he asked satirically.</p> + +<p>"Oh that'll be fine," answered the girl enthusiastically. "And I shall +rely on you to keep me posted about everything that's going on. And a +little later I'm going to take X-ray photographs of you and all these +men." She smiled at the grinning gunners. "That's the new fad, you +know, and we're going to offer prizes for the best developed skeletons +in the American Province, and pick a King and Queen of Beauty!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a1.jpg" alt="A" width="59" height="50" /></div> +<p> radio, Sir!"</p> + +<p>Nat, who had snatched a brief interval of sleep, started up as the man +on duty handed him the message. The vessel had been constantly in +communication with Earth during her voyage, now nearing completion, +but the dreaded A-A-A that prefaced this message told Nat that it came +from Axelson.</p> + +<p>"Congratulations on your attempt," the message ran, "I have watched +your career with the greatest interest, Lee, through the medium of +such scraps of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> information as I have been able to pick up on the +Moon. When you are my guest to-morrow I shall hope to be able to offer +you a high post in the new World Government that I am planning to +establish. I need good men. Fraternally, the Black Caesar."</p> + +<p>Nat whirled about. Madge Dawes was standing behind him, trying to read +the message over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Spying, eh?" said Nat bitterly.</p> + +<p>"My dear man, isn't that my business?"</p> + +<p>"Well, read this, then," said Nat, handing her the message. "You're +likely to repent this crazy trick of yours before we get much +farther."</p> + +<p>And he pointed to the cosmic-ray skiagraph of the Moon on the curved +glass dome overhead. They were approaching the satellite rapidly. It +filled the whole dome, the craters great black hollows, the mountains +standing out clearly. Beneath the dome were the radium apparatus that +emitted the rays by which the satellite was photographed +cinematographically, and the gyroscope steering apparatus by which the +ship's course was directed.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a buzzer sounded a warning. Nat sprang to the tube.</p> + +<p>"Gravitational interference X40, gyroscopic aberrancy one minute 29," +he called. "Discharge static electricity from hull. Mr. Benson, stand +by."</p> + +<p>"What does that mean?" asked Madge.</p> + +<p>"It means I shall be obliged if you'll abstain from speaking to the +man at the controls," snapped Nat.</p> + +<p>"And what's that?" cried Madge in a shriller voice, pointing upward.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>cross the patterned surface of the Moon, shown on the skiagraph, a +black, cigar-shaped form was passing. It looked like one of the +old-fashioned dirigibles, and the speed with which it moved was +evident from the fact that it was perceptibly traversing the Moon's +surface. Perhaps it was travelling at the rate of fifty thousand miles +an hour.</p> + +<p>Brent, the chief officer, burst up the companion. His face was livid.</p> + +<p>"Black ship approaching us from the Moon, Sir," he stammered. +"Benson's training his guns, but it must be twenty thousands miles +away."</p> + +<p>"Yes, even our ray-guns won't shoot that distance," answered Nat. +"Tell Benson to keep his guns trained as well as he can, and open fire +at five hundred."</p> + +<p>Brent disappeared. Madge and Nat were alone on the bridge. Nat was +shouting incomprehensible orders down the tube. He stopped and looked +up. The shadow of the approaching ship had crossed the Moon's disk and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Well, young lady, I think your goose is cooked," said Nat. "If I'm +not mistaken, that ship is Axelson's, and he's on his way to knock us +galley-west. And now oblige me by leaving the bridge."</p> + +<p>"I think he's a perfectly delightful character, to judge from that +message he sent you," answered Madge, "and—"</p> + +<p>Brent appeared again. "Triangulation shows ten thousand miles, Sir," +he informed Nat.</p> + +<p>"Take control," said Nat. "Keep on the gyroscopic course, allowing for +aberrancy, and make for the Crater of Pytho. I'll take command of the +guns." He hurried down the companion, with Madge at his heels.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he gunners stood by the ray-guns, three at each. Benson perched on a +revolving stool above the batteries. He was watching a periscopic +instrument that connected with the bridge dome by means of a tube, a +flat mirror in front of him showing all points of the compass. At one +edge the shadow of the black ship was creeping slowly forward.</p> + +<p>"Eight thousand miles, Sir," he told Nat. "One thousand is our extreme +range. And it looks as if she's making for our blind spot overhead."</p> + +<p>Nat stepped to the speaking-tube. "Try to ram her," he called up to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +Brent. "We'll open with all guns, pointing forward."</p> + +<p>"Very good, Sir," the Cockney called back.</p> + +<p>The black shadow was now nearly in the centre of the mirror. It moved +upward, vanished. Suddenly the atomic motors began wheezing again. The +wheeze became a whine, a drone.</p> + +<p>"We've dropped to two thousand miles an hour, Sir," called Brent.</p> + +<p>Nat leaped for the companion. As he reached the top he could hear the +teleradio apparatus in the wireless room overhead begin to chatter:</p> + +<p>"A-A-A. Don't try to interfere. Am taking you to the Crater of Pytho. +Shall renew my offer there. Any resistance will be fatal. Axelson."</p> + +<p>And suddenly the droning of the motors became a whine again, then +silence. Nat stared at the instrument-board and uttered a cry.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" demanded Madge.</p> + +<p>Nat swung upon her. "The matter?" he bawled. "He's neutralized our +engines by some infernal means of his own, and he's towing us to the +Moon!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he huge sphere of the Moon had long since covered the entire dome. +The huge Crater of Pytho now filled it, a black hollow fifty miles +across, into which they were gradually settling. And, as they settled, +the pale Earth light, white as that of the Moon on Earth, showed the +gaunt masses of bare rock, on which nothing grew, and the long +stalactites of glassy lava that hung from them.</p> + +<p>Then out of the depths beneath emerged the shadowy shape of the +landing-stage.</p> + +<p>"You are about to land," chattered the radio. "Don't try any tricks; +they will be useless. Above all, don't try to use your puny ray. You +are helpless."</p> + +<p>The ship was almost stationary. Little figures could be seen swarming +upon the landing-stage, ready to adjust the iron claws to clamp the +hull. With a gesture of helplessness, Nat left the bridge and went +down to the main deck where, in obedience to his orders, the crew had +all assembled.</p> + +<p>"Men, I'm putting it up to you," he said. "Axelson, the Black Caesar, +advises us not to attempt to use the Ray-guns. I won't order you to. +I'll leave the decision with you."</p> + +<p>"We tried it fifteen minutes ago, Sir," answered Benson. "I told +Larrigan to fire off the stern starboard gun to see if it was in +working order, and it wasn't!"</p> + +<p>At that moment the vessel settled with a slight jar into the clamps. +Once more the teleradio began to scream:</p> + +<p>"Open the port hold and file out slowly. Resistance is useless. I +should turn my ray upon you and obliterate you immediately. Assemble +on the landing-stage and wait for me!"</p> + +<p>"You'd best obey," Nat told his men. "We've got a passenger to +consider." He glared at Madge as he spoke, and Madge's smile was a +little more tremulous than it had been before.</p> + +<p>"This is the most thrilling experience of my life, Captain Lee," she +said. "And I'll never rest until I've got an X-Ray photograph of Mr. +Axelson's skeleton for the Universal News Syndicate."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ne by one, Nat last, the crew filed down the ladder onto the +landing-stage, gasping and choking in the rarefied air that lay like a +blanket at the bottom of the crater. And the reason for this was only +too apparent to Nat as soon as he was on the level stage.</p> + +<p>Overhead, at an altitude of about a mile, the black ship hung, and +from its bow a stupendous searchlight played to and fro over the +bottom of the crater, making it as light as day. And where had been +the mining machinery, the great buildings that had housed convicts and +Moon people, and the huge edifice that contained the pumping station, +there was—nothing.</p> + +<p>The devilish ray of Axelson had not merely destroyed them, it had +obliterated all traces of them, and the crew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> of the liner were +breathing the remnants of the atmosphere that still lay at the bottom +of the Crater of Pytho.</p> + +<p>But beside the twin landing-stages, constructed by the World +Federation, another building arose, with an open front. And that front +was a huge mirror, now scintillating under the searchlight from the +black ship.</p> + +<p>"That's it, Sir!" shouted Brent.</p> + +<p>"That's what?" snapped Nat.</p> + +<p>"The deflecting mirror I was speaking of. That's what deflected the +ray that wiped out China. The ray didn't come from the Moon. And +that's the mirror that deflects the teleradio waves, the +super-Hertzian rays that carry the sound."</p> + +<p>Nat did not answer. Sick at heart at the failure of his mission, he +was watching the swarm of Moon men who were at work upon the +landing-stage, turning the steel clamps and regulating the mechanism +that controlled the apparatus. Dwarfed, apish creature, with tiny +limbs, and chests that stood out like barrels, they bustled about, +chattering in shrill voices that seemed like the piping of birds.</p> + +<p>It was evident that Axelson, though he had wiped out the Moon convicts +and the Moon people in the crater, had reserved a number of the latter +for personal use.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he black ship was dropping into its position at the second +landing-stage, connected with the first by a short bridge. The +starboard hold swung open, and a file of shrouded and hooded forms +appeared, masked men, breathing in condensed air from receptacles upon +their chests, and staring with goggle eyes at their captives. Each one +held in his hand a lethal tube containing the ray, and, as if by +command, they took up their stations about their prisoners.</p> + +<p>Then, at a signal from their leader, they suddenly doffed their masks.</p> + +<p>Nat looked at them in astonishment. He had not known whether these +would be Earth denizens or inhabitants of some other planet. But they +were Earth men. And they were old.</p> + +<p>Men of sixty or seventy, years, with long, gray beards and wrinkled +faces, and eyes that stared out from beneath penthouses of shaggy +eyebrows. Faces on which were imprinted despair and hopelessness.</p> + +<p>Then the first man took off his mask and Nat saw a man of different +character.</p> + +<p>A man in the prime of life, with a mass of jet black hair and a black +beard that swept to his waist, a nose like a hawk's, and a pair of +dark blue eyes that fixed themselves on Nat's with a look of +Luciferian pride.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, Nathaniel Lee," said the man, in deep tones that had a +curious accent which Nat could not place. "I ought to know your name, +since your teleradios on Earth have been shouting it for three days +past as that of the man who is to save Earth from the threat of +destruction. And you know me!"</p> + +<p>"Axelson—the Black Caesar," Nat muttered. For the moment he was taken +aback. He had anticipated any sort of person except this man, who +stood, looked, and spoke like a Viking, this incarnation of pride and +strength.</p> + +<p>Axelson smiled—and then his eyes lit upon Madge Dawes. And for a +moment he stood as if petrified into a block of massive granite.</p> + +<p>"What—who is this?" he growled.</p> + +<p>"Why, I'm Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," answered the +girl, smiling at Axelson in her irrepressible manner. "And I'm sure +you're not nearly such a bold, bad pirate as people think, and you're +going to let us all go free."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>nstantly Axelson seemed to become transformed into a maniac. He +turned to the old men and shouted in some incomprehensible language. +Nat and Madge, Brent and Benson, and two others who wore the uniforms +of officers were seized and dragged across the bridge to the +landing-stage where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> the black ship was moored. The rest of the crew +were ordered into a double line.</p> + +<p>And then the slaughter began.</p> + +<p>Before Nat could even struggle to break away from the gibbering Moon +men to whom he and the other prisoners had been consigned, the aged +crew of the Black Caesar had begun their work of almost instantaneous +destruction.</p> + +<p>Streams of red and purple light shot from the ray-pistols that they +carried, and before them the crew of the ether-liner simply withered +up and vanished. They became mere masses of human débris piled on the +landing-stage, and upon these masses, too, the old men turned their +implements, until only a few heaps of charred carbon remained on the +landing-stage, impalpable as burned paper, and slowly rising in the +low atmospheric pressure until they drifted over the crater.</p> + +<p>Nat had cried out in horror at the sight, and tried to tear himself +free from the grasp of the Moon dwarfs who held him. So had the rest. +Never was struggle so futile. Despite their short arms and legs, the +Moon dwarfs held them in an unshakable grip, chattering and squealing +as they compressed them against their barrel-like chests until the +breath was all but crushed out of their bodies.</p> + +<p>"Devil!" cried Nat furiously, as Axelson came up to him. "Why don't +you kill us, too?" And he hurled furious taunts and abuse at him, in +the hope of goading him into making the same comparatively merciless +end of his prisoners.</p> + +<p>Axelson looked at him calmly, but made no reply. He looked at Madge +again, and his features were convulsed with some emotion that gave him +the aspect of a fiend. And then only did Nat realize that it was Madge +who was responsible for the Black Caesar's madness.</p> + +<p>Axelson spoke again, and the prisoners were hustled up the ladder and +on board the black vessel.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="70" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Kommandant-Kommissar will see you!" The door of their prison had +opened, letting in a shaft of light, and disclosing one of the +graybeards, who stood there, pointing at Nat.</p> + +<p>"The—who?" Nat demanded.</p> + +<p>"The Kommandant-Kommissar, Comrade Axelson," snarled the graybeard.</p> + +<p>Nat knew what that strange jargon meant. He had read books about the +political sect known as Socialists who flourished in the Nineteenth +and Twentieth Centuries, and, indeed, were even yet not everywhere +extinct. And with that a flash of intuition explained the presence of +these old men on board.</p> + +<p>These were the men who had been imprisoned in their youth, with +Axelson's father, and had escaped and made their way into space, and +had been supposed dead long since. Somewhere they must have survived.</p> + +<p>And here they were, speaking a jargon of past generations, and +ignorant that the world had changed, relics of the past, dead as the +dead Moon from which the black ship was winging away through the +ether.</p> + +<p>"Don't go, Captain," pleaded Madge. "Tell him we'll all go together."</p> + +<p>Nat shook his head. "Maybe I'll be able to make terms with him," he +answered, and stepped out upon the vessel's deck.</p> + +<p>The graybeard slammed the door and laughed savagely. "You'll make no +terms with the Black Caesar," he said. "This is the reign of the +proletariat. The bourgeois must die! So Lenin decreed!"</p> + +<p>But he stopped suddenly and passed his hand over his forehead like a +man awakening from a dream.</p> + +<p>"Surely the proletariat has already triumphed on earth?" he asked. "A +long time has passed, and daily we expect the summons to return and +establish the new world-order. What year is this? Is it not 2017? It +is so hard to reckon on Eros."</p> + +<p>"On Eros?" thought Nat. "This is the year 2044," he answered. "You've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +been dreaming, my friend. We've had our new world-order, and it's not +in the least like the one you and your friends anticipated."</p> + +<p>"Gott!" screamed the old man. "Gott, you're lying to me, bourgeois! +You're lying, I tell you!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>o Eros was their destination! Eros, one of the asteroids, those tiny +fragments of a broken planet, lying outside the orbit of Mars. Some of +these little worlds, of which more than a thousand are known to exist, +are no larger than a gentleman's country estate; some are mere rocks +in space. Eros, Nat knew, was distinguished among them from the fact +that it had an eccentric orbit, which brought it at times nearer Earth +than any other heavenly body except the Moon.</p> + +<p>Also that it had only been known for thirty years, and that it was +supposed to be a double planet, having a dark companion.</p> + +<p>That was in Nat's mind as he ascended the bridge to where Axelson was +standing at the controls, with one of the graybeards beside him. The +door of his stateroom was open, and suddenly there scuttled out of it +one of the most bestial objects Nat had ever seen.</p> + +<p>It was a Moon woman, a dwarfish figure, clothed in a shapeless garment +of spun cellulose, and in her arms she held a heavy-headed Moon baby, +whose huge chest stood up like a pyramid, while the tiny arms and legs +hung dangling down.</p> + +<p>"Here is the bourgeois, Kommandant," said Nat's captor.</p> + +<p>Axelson looked at Nat, eye meeting eye in a slow stare. Then he +relinquished the controls to the graybeard beside him, and motioned +Nat to precede him into the stateroom.</p> + +<p>Nat entered. It was an ordinary room, much like that of the captain of +the ether-liner now stranded on the Moon. There were a bunk, chairs, a +desk and a radio receiver.</p> + +<p>Axelson shut the door. He tried to speak and failed to master his +emotion. At last he said:</p> + +<p>"I am prepared to offer you terms, Nathaniel Lee, in accordance with +my promise."</p> + +<p>"I'll make no terms with murderers," replied Nat bitterly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>xelson stood looking at him. His great chest rose and fell. Suddenly +he put out one great hand and clapped Nat on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Wise men," he said, "recognize facts. Within three weeks I shall be +the undisputed ruler of Earth. Whether of a desert or of a cowed and +submissive subject-population, rests with the Earth men. I have never +been on Earth, for I was born on Eros. My mother died at my birth. I +have never seen another human woman until to-day."</p> + +<p>Nat looked at him, trying to follow what was in Axelson's mind.</p> + +<p>"My father fled to Eros, a little planet seventeen miles in diameter, +as we have found. He called it a heavenly paradise. It was his +intention to found there a colony of those who were in rebellion +against the tyrants of Earth.</p> + +<p>"His followers journeyed to the Moon and brought back Moon women for +wives. But there were no children of these unions. Later there were +dissensions and civil war. Three-fourths of the colony died in battle +with one another.</p> + +<p>"I was a young man. I seized the reins of power. The survivors—these +old men—were disillusioned and docile. I made myself absolute. I +brought Moon men and women to Eros to serve us as slaves. But in a few +years the last of my father's old compatriots will have died, and thus +it was I conceived of conquering Earth and having men to obey me. For +fifteen years I have been experimenting and constructing apparatus, +with which I now have Earth at my mercy.</p> + +<p>"But I shall need assistance, intelligent men who will obey me and aid +me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> in my plans. That is why I saved you and the other officers of +your ether-lines. If you will join me, you shall have the highest post +on Earth under me, Nathaniel Lee, and those others shall be under +you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>xelson paused, and, loathing the man though he did, Nat was conscious +of a feeling of pity for him that he could not control. He saw his +lonely life on Eros, surrounded by those phantom humans of the past, +and he understood his longing for Earth rule—he the planetary exile, +the sole human being of all the planetary system outside Earth, +perhaps, except for his dwindling company of aged men.</p> + +<p>"To-day, Nathaniel Lee," Axelson went on, "my life was recast in a new +mould when I saw the woman you have brought with you. I did not know +before that women were beautiful to look on. I did not dream that +creatures such as she existed. She must be mine, Nathaniel Lee.</p> + +<p>"But that is immaterial. What is your answer to my offer?"</p> + +<p>Nat was trying to think, though passion distorted the mental images as +they arose in his brain. To Axelson it was evidently incomprehensible +that there would be any objection to his taking Madge. Nat saw that he +must temporize for Madge's sake.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to consult my companions," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Of course," answered Axelson. "That is reasonable. Tell them that +unless they agree to join me it will be necessary for them to die. Do +Earth men mind death? We hate it on Eros, and the Moon men hate it, +too, though they have a queer legend that something in the shape of an +invisible man raises from their ashes. My father told me that that +superstition existed on Earth in his time, too. Go and talk to your +companions, Nathaniel Lee."</p> + +<p>The Black Caesar's voice was almost friendly. He clapped Nat on the +shoulder again, and called the graybeard to conduct him back to his +prison.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Captain Lee, I'm so glad you're back!" exclaimed Madge. "We've +been afraid for you. Is he such a terrible man, this Black Caesar?"</p> + +<p>Nat sneered, then grinned malevolently. "Well, he's not exactly the +old-fashioned idea of a Sunday-school teacher," he answered. Of course +he could not tell the girl about Axelson's proposal.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he little group of prisoners stood on the upper deck of the black +ship and watched the Moon men scurrying about the landing-stage as she +hovered to her position.</p> + +<p>Axelson's father had not erred when he had called the tiny planet, +Eros, a heavenly paradise, for no other term could have described it.</p> + +<p>They were in an atmosphere so similar to that of Earth that they could +breathe with complete freedom, but there seemed to be a lightness and +a vigor in their limbs that indicated that the air was supercharged +with oxygen or ozone. The presence of this in large amounts was +indicated by the intense blueness of the sky, across which fleecy +clouds were drifting.</p> + +<p>And in that sky what looked like threescore moons were circling with +extraordinary swiftness. From thirty to forty full moons, of all +sizes, from that of a sun to that of a brilliant planet, and riding +black against the blue.</p> + +<p>The sun, hardly smaller than when seen from Earth, shone in the +zenith, and Earth and Mars hung in the east and north respectively, +each like a blood-red sun.</p> + +<p>The moons were some of the thousand other asteroids, weaving their +lacy patterns in and out among each other. But, stupendous as the +sight was, it was toward the terrestrial scene that the party turned +their eyes as the black ship settled.</p> + +<p>A sea of sapphire blue lapped sands of silver and broke into soft +lines of foam. To the water's edge extended a lawn of brightest green, +and behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> this an arm of the sea extended into what looked like a +tropical forest. Most of the trees were palmlike, but towered to +immense heights, their foliage swaying in a gentle breeze. There were +apparently no elevations, and yet, so small was the little sphere that +the ascending curve gave the illusion of distant heights, while the +horizon, instead of seeming to rise, lay apparently perfectly flat, +producing an extraordinary feeling of insecurity.</p> + +<p>Near the water's edge a palatial mansion, built of hewn logs and of a +single story, stood in a garden of brilliant flowers. Nearer, beyond +the high landing-stage, were the great shipbuilding works, and near +them an immense and slightly concave mirror flashed back the light of +the sun.</p> + +<p>"The death ray!" whispered Brent to Nat.</p> + +<p>Axelson came up to the party as the ship settled down. "Welcome to +Eros," he said cordially. "My father told me that in some Earth tongue +that name meant 'love'."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>ever, perhaps, was so strange a feast held as that with which Axelson +entertained his guests that day. Dwarfish Moon men passed viands and a +sort of palm wine in the great banquet-room, which singularly +resembled one of those early twentieth century interiors shown in +museums. Only the presence of a dozen of the aged guards, armed with +ray-rods, lent a grimness to the scene.</p> + +<p>Madge sat on Axelson's right, and Nat on his left. The girl's +lightheartedness had left her; her face grew strained as Axelson's +motives—which Nat had not dared disclose to her—disclosed themselves +in his manner.</p> + +<p>Once, when he laid his finger for a moment against her white throat, +she started, and for a moment it seemed as if the gathering storm must +break.</p> + +<p>For Nat had talked with his men, and all had agreed that they would +not turn traitor, though they intended to temporize as long as +possible, in the hope of catching the Black Caesar unawares.</p> + +<p>Then slowly a somber twilight began to fall, and Axelson rose.</p> + +<p>"Let us walk in the gardens during the reign of Erebos," he said.</p> + +<p>"Erebos?" asked Nat.</p> + +<p>"The black world that overshadows us each sleeping period," answered +Axelson.</p> + +<p>Nat knew what he meant. The dark companion of Eros revolves around it +every six hours; the day of Eros would therefore never be longer than +six hours, this without reckoning the revolution of Eros around the +sun. But owing to its small size, it was probable that it was bathed +in almost perpetual sunshine.</p> + +<p>The sweet scent of the flowers, much stronger than of any flowers on +earth, filled the air. They walked across the green lawn and entered a +jungle path, with bamboos and creeping plants on either side, and huge +palmlike trees. Behind them stalked the guards with their ray-rods.</p> + +<p>A lake of deepest black disclosed itself. Suddenly Madge uttered a +scream and clung to Nat. "Look, look!" she cried. "It's horrible!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>uddenly Nat realized that the lake swarmed with monsters. They were +of crocodilian form, but twice the size of the largest crocodile, and +sprawled over one another in the shallows beside the margin. As the +party drew near, an enormous monster began waddling on its clawed feet +toward them.</p> + +<p>A mouth half the length of the creature opened, disclosing a purplish +tongue and hideous fangs. Madge screamed again.</p> + +<p>"Ah, so fear exists on Earth, too?" asked Axelson blandly. "That makes +my conquest sure. I suspected it, and yet I was not sure that science +had not conquered it. But there is no cause for fear. A magnetic field +protects us. See!"</p> + +<p>For the waddling monster suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> stopped short as if brought up +sharply by the bars of a cage, and drew back.</p> + +<p>Axelson turned and wheezed in the Moon language—if the gibbering of +the dwarfs could be called speech—and one of the guards answered him.</p> + +<p>"These primitive dwellers on Eros I have preserved," said Axelson, "as +a means of discipline. The Moon animals are afraid of them. I keep a +supply of those who have transgressed my laws to feed them. See!"</p> + +<p>He turned and pointed. Two guards were bringing a gibbering, +screeching, struggling Moon man with them. Despite his strength, he +seemed incapable of making any resistance, but his whole body +quivered, and his hideous face was contorted with agony of terror.</p> + +<p>At a distance of some fifty feet they turned aside into a little +bypath through the jungle, reappearing close beside the Lake upon a +raised platform. And what happened next happened so swiftly that Nat +was unable to do anything to prevent it.</p> + +<p>The guards disappeared; the Moon man, as if propelled by some +invisible force, moved forward jerkily to the lake's edge. Instantly +one of the saurians had seized him in its jaws, and another had +wrenched half the body away, and the whole fighting, squirming mass +vanished in the depths.</p> + +<p>And from far away came the screeching chant of the Moon men, as if in +invocation to some hideous deity.</p> + +<p>And, moving perceptibly, the huge black orb of Eros's dark satellite +crept over the sky, completely covering it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>xelson stepped forward to where Nat stood, supporting Madge in his +arms. The girl had fainted with horror at the scene.</p> + +<p>"Your answer Nathaniel Lee," he said softly. "I know you have been +postponing the decision. Now I will take the girl, and you shall give +me your answer. Will you and these men join me, or will you die as the +Moon man died?" He spoke wheezily, as if he, like Nat, had a cold.</p> + +<p>And he put his arm around Madge.</p> + +<p>Next moment something happened to him that had never happened in his +life before. The Black Caesar went down under a well-directed blow to +the jaw.</p> + +<p>He leaped to his feet trembling with fury and barked a command. +Instantly the old guards had hurled themselves forward. And behind +them a horde of Moon men came, ambling.</p> + +<p>While the guards covered their prisoners with their ray-rods, two Moon +men seized each of them, imprisoning him in their unbreakable grasp.</p> + +<p>Axelson pointed upward. "When the reign of Erebos is past," he said, +"you become food for the denizens of the lake, unless you have agreed +to serve me."</p> + +<p>And he raised Madge in his arms, laughing as the girl fought and +struggled to resist him.</p> + +<p>"Madge!" cried Nat, trying to run toward her.</p> + +<p>So furious were his struggles that for a moment he succeeded in +throwing off the Moon men's grasp. Then he was caught again, and, +fighting desperately, was borne off by the dwarfs through the shadows.</p> + +<p>They traversed the border of the lake until a small stone building +disclosed itself. Nat and the others were thrust inside into pitch +darkness. The door clanged; in vain they hurled themselves against it. +It was of wood, but it was as solid as the stone itself, and it did +not give an inch for all their struggles.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="106" height="50" /></div> +<p>here is your Kommandant?" The whisper seemed in the stone hut +itself. "Your Nathaniel Lee. I must speak to him. I am the guard who +brought him to the Black Caesar on board the ship."</p> + +<p>"I'm here," said Nat. "Where are you?"</p> + +<p>"I am in the house of the ray. I am on guard there. I am speaking into +the telephone which runs only to where you are. You can speak anywhere +in the hut, and I shall hear you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, what do you want?" asked Nat.</p> + +<p>"You love the Earth woman. I remember, when I was a boy, we used to +love. I had forgotten. There was a girl in Stamford.... Tell me, is it +true that this is the year 2044 and that the proletariat has not yet +triumphed?"</p> + +<p>"It's true," said Nat. "Those dreams are finished, We're proud of the +World Federation. Tell me about Madge Dawes—the Earth woman. Is she +safe?"</p> + +<p>"He has taken her to his house. I do not think she is harmed. He is +ill. He is closely guarded. There are rumors afoot. I do not know."</p> + +<p>"What do you want, then?"</p> + +<p>"If the Black Caesar dies will you take me back to Earth again? I long +so for the old Earth life. I will be your slave, if only I can set +foot on Earth before I die."</p> + +<p>"Can you rescue us?" Nat held his breath.</p> + +<p>"The Moon men are on guard."</p> + +<p>"They have no ray-guns and you have."</p> + +<p>"The penalty would be terrible. I should be thrown to the monsters."</p> + +<p>"Can you get us each a ray-gun? Will you risk it, to get back to +Earth?" asked Nat.</p> + +<p>A pause. Then, "My friend, I am coming."</p> + +<p>Nat heard Benson hissing in his ear, "If we can surprise them, we can +get possession of the black ship and return."</p> + +<p>"We must get Madge Dawes."</p> + +<p>"And smash the mirror," put in Brent.</p> + +<p>After that there was nothing to do but wait.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he door clicked open. An indistinct form stood in the entrance. It +was already growing light; the dark satellite that eclipsed Eros was +passing.</p> + +<p>"Hush! I have brought you ray-rods!" It was the old man with whom Nat +had spoken on the boat. Under his arm he held five metallic rods, +tipped with luminous glass. He handed one to each of the prisoners. +"Do you know how to use them?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Nat examined his. "It's an old-style rod that was used on earth fifty +years ago," he told his men. "I've seen them in museums. It came into +use in the Second World War of 1950 or thereabouts. You slip back the +safety catch and press this button, taking aim as one did with the +pistol. You fellows have seen pistols?"</p> + +<p>"My father had an old one," said the chief mate, Barnes.</p> + +<p>"How many times can they be fired without reloading?" Nat asked the +old guard.</p> + +<p>"Ten times; sometimes more; and they were all freshly loaded +yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Take us to where Axelson is."</p> + +<p>"First you must destroy the guards. I sent the one on duty here away +on some pretext. But the others may be here at any moment. Talk lower. +Are you going to kill them?"</p> + +<p>"We must," said Nat.</p> + +<p>The old fellow began to sob. "We were companions together. They seized +us and imprisoned us together, the capitalists, years ago. I thought +the proletariat would have won, and you say it is all different. I am +an old man, and life is sad and strange."</p> + +<p>"Listen. Is Axelson in the house?" demanded Nat.</p> + +<p>"He is in his secret room. I do not know the way. None of us has ever +entered it."</p> + +<p>"And Madge?"</p> + +<p>"She was with him. I do not know anything more." He sank down, +groaning, broken.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>at pushed his way past him. It was fast growing light now. A ray of +sunshine shot from beneath the edge of the dark sphere overhead, which +still filled almost all the heavens. At that moment the hideous face +and squat body of one of the Moon men came into view at the end of +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> path. The creature stopped, gibbering with surprise, and then +rushed forward, mewing like a cat.</p> + +<p>Nat aimed his ray-rod and pressed the button. The streak of light, not +quite aimed, in Nat's excitement, sheared off one side of the Moon +man's face.</p> + +<p>The creature rocked where it stood, raised its voice in a screech, and +rushed forward again, arms flailing. And this time Nat got home. The +streak passed right through the body of the monster, which collapsed +into a heap of calcined carbon.</p> + +<p>But its screech had brought the other dwarfs running to the scene. In +a moment the path was blocked by a score of the hideous monsters, +which, taking in what was happening, came forward in a yelling bunch.</p> + +<p>The ray-rods streaked their message of death into the thick of them. +Yet so fierce was the rush that some parts got home. Arms, legs, and +barrel chests, halves of men, covering the five with that impalpable +black powder into which their bodies were dissolving. Nat remembered +afterward the horror of a grinning face, apparently loose in the air, +and a flailing arm that lashed his chest.</p> + +<p>For fifteen seconds, perhaps, it was like struggling with some vampire +creatures in a hideous dream. And then, just when it seemed to Nat +that he was going mad, he found the path free, and the huddled +remnants of the Moon men piled up about him on every side.</p> + +<p>He emptied two more ray-shots into the writhing mass, and saw it cease +to quiver and then dissolve into the black powder. He turned and +looked at his companions. They, too, showed the horror of the strain +they had undergone.</p> + +<p>"We must kill the guards now," Nat panted. "And then find Madge and +save her."</p> + +<p>"We're with you," answered Brent, and together the five rushed into +the sunlight and the open.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here were no guards on duty at the entrance of the house, and the +door stood wide open. Nat rushed through the door at the head of his +men. A single guard was in the hall, but he only looked up as they +came in. And it was evident that he was in no condition to resist, for +he was in the grip of some terrible disease.</p> + +<p>His features were swollen so that they were hardly recognizable, and +hoarse, panting breaths came from his lungs. He was so far gone that +he hardly registered surprise at the advent of the five.</p> + +<p>"Where's Axelson?" demanded Nat.</p> + +<p>The guard pointed toward the end of the corridor, then let his arm +fall. Nat led his men along the half-dark passage.</p> + +<p>At the end of the corridor two more guards were on duty, but one was +collapsed upon the floor, apparently unconscious, and the other, +making a feeble attempt to draw his ray-rod, crumbled into ashes as +Brent fired. The five burst through the door.</p> + +<p>They found themselves in the banquet-hall. The remnants of the meal +were still upon the table, and three Moon men, looking as if they had +been poisoned, were writhing on the floor. At the farther end of the +hall was another door.</p> + +<p>This gave upon a central hall, with a door in each of its four sides, +and a blaze of sunlight coming through the crystal roof. The five +stopped, baffled. Then of a sudden Axelson's voice broke the +silence—his voice, yet changed almost beyond recognition, hoarse, +broken, and gasping:</p> + +<p>"Try the doors, Nathaniel Lee. Try each door in turn, and then go +back. And know that in an instant I can blast you to nothingness where +you stand!"</p> + +<p>And suddenly there came Madge's voice, "He can't! He can't, Nat. He's +dying, and he knows it. I won't let him, and he hasn't got the +strength to move."</p> + +<p>"Which door?" cried Nat in desperation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>"None of the doors. They're a trick," came Madge's voice. "Go forward +and press the grooved panel upon the wall in front of you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>at stepped forward, found the panel, and pressed it. The wall swung +open, like two folded doors, revealing another room within, perfectly +circular.</p> + +<p>It contained a quantity of pieces of apparatus, some glowing with +light, some dark, and a radio transmitting set; it was evidently the +secret lair of the Black Caesar. And there he was, trapped at last by +the mortal illness that had overtaken him!</p> + +<p>He was lying upon the couch, his great form stretched out, his +features hideously swollen by the same disease that had attacked the +guards.</p> + +<p>Nat raised his ray-rod, but Axelson feebly put up his hand, and Nat +lowered the weapon. And, as the five gathered about the dying man, +again Nat felt that strange sense of pathos and pity for him.</p> + +<p>He had never known Earth life, and he was not to be measured by the +common standards applicable on Earth.</p> + +<p>"Don't fire, Nat," said Madge in a shaky voice. She was seated beside +Axelson, and—the wonder of it—she was sponging the foam from his +lips and moistening his forehead. She raised a crystal that contained +some fluid to his lips, and he drained it greedily.</p> + +<p>"So—Earth wins, Nathaniel Lee," whispered Axelson hoarsely. "I am +dying. I know it. It is the same dreaded disease that came to the Moon +at the time of my father's landing there. Three-fourths of the Moon +animals died. It is mortal. The lungs burn away.</p> + +<p>"My father told me that on Earth it is not mortal. He called it +'cold'—but I am burning hot."</p> + +<p>Then only did Nat understand, and the irony of it made him catch his +breath and grit his teeth to check his hysterical laughter. The Black +Caesar, the terror of Earth, was dying of a common cold which he +himself had given him.</p> + +<p>The coryza germ, almost harmless on Earth, among a population +habituated to it for countless generations, had assumed the potency of +a plague here, where no colds had ever been known—among the Moon men, +and even among the guards, after their lifetime in the germless +climate of Eros.</p> + +<p>"I've failed, Nathaniel Lee," came the Black Caesar's voice. "And yet +that hardly troubles me. There is something more that I do not +understand. She is a creature like ourselves—with will and reason. +She is not like the Moon women. She told me that she did not wish to +be queen of the Earth because she did not love me. I do not +understand. And so—I am glad to go."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> gasp came from Axelson's throat as he raised his head and tried to +speak, but the death-rattle was already in his throat. A slight +struggle, and the massive form upon the couch was nothing but +inanimate clay.</p> + +<p>Madge rose from beside him, and the tears were streaming down her +face.</p> + +<p>"He wasn't a bad man, Nat," she said. "He was—gentle with me. He +didn't understand; that was all. When I refused to be his queen, he +was overcome with bewilderment. Oh, Nat, I can never, never write this +story for the Universal News Syndicate."</p> + +<p>Nat led her, sobbing, from the room.</p> + +<p>Soon he succeeded in getting into teleradio communication with Earth. +He broadcast the news that the Black Caesar was dead, and that his +power for evil was at an end forever.</p> + +<p>Then, in the few hours of daylight that remained, he set his men to +work to smash the ray outfit that had destroyed China. There was some +principle involved which he did not altogether understand, though +Brent professed to have a clue to it, but it was evident that, except +for the ray, Axel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>son had possessed no knowledge superior to that of +the Earth scientists.</p> + +<p>Of the guards, a few were already recovering, principally those of +comparatively younger age. Not a Moon man, on the other hand, had +survived the epidemic. As soon as Nat had got the guards out of the +house, he reduced it to ashes by the aid of an old-fashioned box of +phosphoric matches.</p> + +<p>As the dark satellite was again creeping over Eros, the black ship set +sail.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut of the return journey to the Moon, where they transferred to their +own ship, of their landing at New York, and of the triumphal reception +that was accorded them, this is no place to speak. Nat's journey with +Madge from the center of the city, in what was the old Borough of +Westchester, to his home in the suburb of Hartford, was a continual +ovation.</p> + +<p>Crowds lined the air-route, and every few miles, so thick was the +air-traffic, he was forced to hover and address the cheering +multitudes. Hartford itself was <i>en fete</i>, and across the main road +the City Bosses had hung an old-fashioned banner, strung from house to +house on either side, bearing the legend: For World President: +NATHANIEL LEE!</p> + +<p>Nat turned to Madge, who was seated beside him silently. "Ever hear of +'getting married?'" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Of course I've heard of it," replied the girl indignantly. "Do you +think I'm as dumb as that, Nat Lee? Why, those old-fashioned novels +are part of the public schools' curriculum."</p> + +<p>"Pity those days can't come back. You ought to be a World +Presidentess, you know," said Nat. "I was thinking, if we registered +as companionates, I could take you into the White House, and you'd +have a swell time there taking X-rays on visiting days."</p> + +<p>"Well," answered Madge slowly. "I never thought of that. It might be +worth trying out."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_007.jpg" width="600" height="507" alt="The city of the frog-men!" /> +<span class="caption">The city of the frog-men!</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="The_Second_Satellite" id="The_Second_Satellite"></a>The Second Satellite</h2> + +<h2><i>By Edmond Hamilton</i></h2> + +<div class="sidenote">Earth-men war on frog-vampires for the emancipation of the +human cows of Earth's second satellite.</div> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>orman and Hackett, bulky in their thick flying suits, seemed to fill +the little office. Across the room Harding, the field superintendent, +contemplated them. Two planes were curving up into the dawn together +from the field outside, their motors thunderous as they roared over +the building. When their clamor had receded, Harding spoke:</p> + +<p>"I don't know which of you two is crazier," he said. "You, Norman, to +propose a fool trip like this, or you, Hackett, to go with him."</p> + +<p>Hackett grinned, but the long, lean face of Norman was earnest. "No +doubt it all sounds a little insane," he said, "but I'm convinced I'm +right."</p> + +<p>The field superintendent shook his head. "Norman, you ought to be +writing fiction instead of flying. A second satellite—and Fellows and +the others on it—what the devil!"</p> + +<p>"What other theory can account for their disappearance?" asked Norman +calmly. "You know that since the new X-type planes were introduced, +hundreds of fliers all over Earth have been trying for altitude +records in them. Twenty-five miles—thirty—thirty-five—the records +have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> broken every day. But out of the hundreds of fliers who +have gone up to those immense heights, four have never come down nor +been seen again!</p> + +<p>"One vanished over northern Sweden, one over Australia, one over Lower +California, and one, Fellows, himself, right here over Long Island. +You saw the globe on which I marked those four spots, and you saw that +when connected they formed a perfect circle around the Earth. The only +explanation is that the four fliers when they reached a forty-mile +height were caught up by some body moving round Earth in that circular +orbit, some unknown moon circling Earth inside its atmosphere, a +second satellite of Earth's whose existence has until now never been +suspected!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>arding shook his head again. "Norman, your theory would be all right +if it were not for the cold fact that no such satellite has ever been +glimpsed."</p> + +<p>"Can you glimpse a bullet passing you?" Norman retorted. "The two +fliers at Sweden and Lower California vanished within three hours of +each other, on opposite sides of the Earth. That means that this +second satellite, as I've computed, circles Earth once every six +hours, and travelling at that terrific speed it is no more visible to +us of Earth than a rifle bullet would be."</p> + +<p>"Moving through Earth's atmosphere at such speed, indeed, one would +expect it to burn up by its own friction with the air. But it does +not, because its own gravitational power would draw to itself enough +air to make a dense little atmosphere for itself that would cling to +it and shield it as it speeds through Earth's upper air. No, I'm +certain that this second satellite exists, Harding, and I'm as certain +that it's responsible for the vanishing of those four fliers."</p> + +<p>"And now you and Hackett have figured when it will be passing over +here and are going up in an X-type yourselves to look for it," +Harding said musingly.</p> + +<p>"Look for it?" echoed Hackett. "We're not going to climb forty miles +just to get a look at the damn thing—we're going to try landing on +it!"</p> + +<p>"You're crazy sure!" the field superintendent exploded. "If Fellows +and those others got caught by the thing and never came down again, +why in the name of all that's holy would you two want—" He stopped +suddenly. "Oh, I think I see," he said, awkwardly. "Fellows was rather +a buddy of you two, wasn't he?"</p> + +<p>"The best that ever flew a crippled Nieuport against three Fokkers to +pull us out of a hole," said Norman softly. "Weeks he's been gone, and +if it had been Hackett and I he'd be all over the sky looking for +us—the damned lunatic. Well, we're not going to let him down."</p> + +<p>"I see," Harding repeated. Then—"Well, here comes your mechanic, +Norman, so your ship must be ready. I'll go with you. It's an event to +see two Columbuses starting for another world."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he gray dawn-light over the flying field was flushing to faint rose +as the three strode out to where the long X-type stood, its strangely +curved wings, enclosed cabin and flat, fan-like tail gleaming dully. +Its motor was already roaring with power and the plane's stubby wheels +strained against the chocks. In their great suits Norman and Hackett +were like two immense ape-figures in the uncertain light, to the eyes +of those about them.</p> + +<p>"Well, all the luck," Harding told them. "You know I'm pulling for +you, but—I suppose it's useless to say anything about being careful."</p> + +<p>"I seem to have heard the words," Hackett grinned, as he and Norman +shook the field superintendent's hand.</p> + +<p>"It's all the craziest chance," Norman told the other. "And if we +don't come down in a reasonable time—well, you'll know that our +theory was right, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> you can broadcast it or not as you please."</p> + +<p>"I hope for your sake that you're dead wrong," smiled the official. +"I've told you two to get off the Earth a lot of times, but I never +meant it seriously."</p> + +<p>Harding stepped back as the two clambered laboriously into the cramped +cabin. Norman took the controls, the door slammed, and as the chocks +were jerked back and the motor roared louder the long plane curved up +at a dizzy angle from the field into the dawn. Hackett waved a thick +arm down toward the diminishing figures on the field below; then +turned from the window to peer ahead with his companion.</p> + +<p>The plane flew in a narrow ascending spiral upward, at an angle that +would have been impossible to any ship save an X-type. Norman's eyes +roved steadily over the instrument as they rose, his ears +unconsciously alert for each explosion of the motor. Earth receded +swiftly into a great gray concave surface as they climbed higher and +higher.</p> + +<p>By the time the five-mile height was reached Earth's surface had +changed definitely from concave to convex. The plane was ascending by +then in a somewhat wider spiral, but its climb was as steady and sure +as ever. Frost begin to form quickly on the cabin's windows, creeping +out from the edges. Norman spoke a word over the motor's muffled +thunder, and Hackett snicked on the electrical radiators. The frost +crept back as their warm, clean heat flooded the cabin.</p> + +<p>Ten miles—fifteen—they had reached already altitudes impossible but +a few years before, though it was nothing to the X-types. As they +passed the ten-mile mark, Hackett set the compact oxygen-generator +going. A clean, tangy odor filled the cabin as it began functioning. +Twenty miles—twenty-two—</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>fter a time Norman pointed mutely to the clock on the instrument +board, and Hackett nodded. They were well within their time schedule, +having calculated to reach the forty-mile height at ten, the hour +when, by its computed orbit, the second satellite should be passing +overhead. "—26—27—28—" Hackett muttered the altimeter figures to +himself as the needle crept over them.</p> + +<p>Glancing obliquely down through the window he saw that Earth was now a +huge gray ball beneath them, white cloud-oceans obscuring the drab +details of its surface here and there. "—31—32—" The plane was +climbing more slowly, and at a lesser angle. Even the X-type had to +struggle to rise in the attenuated air now about them. Only the +super-light, super-powered plane could ever have reached the terrific +height.</p> + +<p>It was at the thirty-four mile level that the real battle for altitude +began. Norman kept the plane curving steadily upward, handling it with +surpassing skill in the rarefied air. Frost was on its windows now +despite the heating mechanism. Slowly the altimeter needle crept to +the forty mark. Norman kept the ship circling, its wings tilted +slightly, but not climbing, Earth a great gray misty ball beneath.</p> + +<p>"Can't keep this height long," he jerked. "If our second satellite +doesn't show up in minutes we've had a trip for nothing."</p> + +<p>"All seems mighty different up here," was Hackett's shouted comment. +"Easy enough to talk down there about hopping onto the thing, but up +here—hell, there's nothing but air and mighty little of that!"</p> + +<p>Norman grinned. "There'll be more. If I'm right about this thing we +won't need to hop it—its own atmosphere will pick us up."</p> + +<p>Both looked anxious as the motor sputtered briefly. But in a moment it +was again roaring steadily. Norman shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Maybe a fool's errand after all. No—I'm still sure we're right! But +it seems that we don't prove it this time."</p> + +<p>"Going down?" asked Hackett.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll have to, in minutes. Even with its own air-feed the motor can't +stand this height for—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>orman never finished the words. There was a sound, a keen rising, +rushing sound of immense power that reached their ears over the +motor's roar. Then in an instant the universe seemed to go mad about +them: they saw the gray ball of Earth and the sun above skyrocketing +around them as the plane whirled madly.</p> + +<p>The rushing sound was in that moment thunderous, terrible, and as +winds smashed and rocked the plane like giant hands, Hackett glimpsed +another sphere that was not the sphere of Earth, a greenish globe that +expanded with lightning speed in the firmament beside their spinning +plane! The winds stilled; the green globe changed abruptly to a +landscape of green land and sea toward which the plane was falling! +Norman was fighting the controls—land and sea were gyrating up to +them with dizzy speed—crash!</p> + +<p>With that cracking crash the plane was motionless. Sunlight poured +through its windows, and great green growths were all around it. +Hackett, despite Norman's warning cry, forced the door open and was +bursting outside, Norman after him. They staggered and fell, with +curious lightness and slowness, on the ground outside, then clutched +the plane for support and gazed stupefiedly around them.</p> + +<p>The plane had crashed down into a thicket of giant green reeds that +rose a yard over their heads, its pancake landing having apparently +not damaged it. The ground beneath their feet was soft and soggy, the +air warm and balmy, and the giant reeds hid all the surrounding +landscape from view.</p> + +<p>In the sky the sun burned near one horizon with unusual brilliance. +But it was dwarfed, in size, by the huge gray circle that filled half +the heavens overhead. A giant gray sphere it was, screened here and +there by floating white mists and clouds, that had yet plain on it +the outlines of dark continents and gleaming seas. A quaking +realization held the two as they stared up at it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_e1.jpg" alt="E" width="71" height="50" /></div> +<p>arth!" Norman was babbling. "It's Earth, Hackett—above us; my God, +I can't believe even yet that we've done it!"</p> + +<p>"Then we're on—the satellite—the second satellite!—" Hackett fought +for reality. "Those winds that caught us—"</p> + +<p>"They were the atmosphere of this world, of the second satellite! They +caught us and carried us on inside this smaller world's atmosphere, +Hackett. We're moving with it around Earth at terrific speed now!"</p> + +<p>"The second satellite, and we on it!" Hackett whispered, +incredulously. "But these reeds—it can't all be like this—"</p> + +<p>They stepped together away from the plane. The effort sent each of +them sailing upward in a great, slow leap, to float down more than a +score of feet from the plane. But unheeding in their eagerness this +strange effect of the satellite's lesser gravitational power, they +moved on, each step a giant, clumsy leap. Four such steps took them +out of the towering reeds onto clear ground.</p> + +<p>It was a gentle, grassy slope they were on, stretching away along a +gray-green sea that extended out to the astoundingly near horizon on +their right. To the left it rose into low hills covered with dense +masses of green junglelike vegetation. Hackett and Norman, though, +gazed neither at sea or hills for the moment, but at the half-score +grotesque figures who had turned toward them as they emerged from the +reeds. A sick sense of the unreal held them as they gazed, frozen with +horror. For the great figures returning their gaze a few yards from +them were—frog-men!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>rog-men! Great mottled green shapes seven to eight feet in height, +with bowed, powerful legs and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> arms that ended in webbed paws. The +heads were bulbous ones in which wide, unwinking frog-eyes were set at +the sides, the mouths white-lipped and white-lined. Three of the +creatures held each a black metal tube-and-handle oddly like a +target-pistol.</p> + +<p>"Norman!" Hackett's voice was a crescendo of horror. "<i>Norman!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Back to the plane!" Norman cried thickly. "The plane—"</p> + +<p>The two staggered back, but the frog-men, recovering from their own +first surprise, were running forward with great hopping steps! The two +fliers flung themselves back in a floating leap toward the reeds, but +the green monsters were quick after them. A croaking cry came from one +and as another raised his tube-and-handle, something flicked from it +that burst close beside Norman. There was no sound or light as it +burst, but the reeds for a few feet around it vanished!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> hoarse cry from Hackett—the creatures had reached him, grasped him +at the edge of the reeds! Norman swerved in his floating leap to +strike the struggling flier and frog-men. The scene whirled around him +as he fought them, great paws reaching for him. With a sick, frantic +rage he felt his clenched fist drive against cold, green, billowy +bodies. Croaking cries sounded in his ears; then, Hackett and he were +jerked to their feet, held tightly by four of the creatures.</p> + +<p>"My God, Norman," panted Hackett, helpless. "What are +they—frog-things?—"</p> + +<p>"Steady, Hackett. They're the people of the second satellite, it +seems; wait!"</p> + +<p>One of the armed frog-men approached and inspected them, and then +croaked an order in a deep voice. Then, still holding the two tightly, +the party of monsters began to move along the slope, skirting the +sea's edge. In a few minutes they reached two curious objects resting +on the slope. They seemed long black metal boats, slender and with +sharp prow and stern. A compact mechanism and control-board filled +the prow, while at the stern and sides were long tubes mounted on +swivels like machine-guns.</p> + +<p>The frog-men motioned Norman and Hackett into one, fastening the two +prisoners and themselves into their seats with metal straps provided +for the purpose. Four had entered the one boat, the others that of the +captives. One at the prow moved his paws over the control-board and +with a purring of power the boat, followed by the other, rose smoothly +into the air. It headed out over the gray-green sea, land dropping +quickly from sight behind, the horizons water-bounded on all sides. +From their nearness Norman guessed that this second satellite of +Earth's was small indeed beside its mother planet. He had to look up +to earth's great gray sphere overhead to attain a sense of reality.</p> + +<p>Hackett was whispering beside him, the frog-men watchful. "Norman, it's +not real—it can't be real! These things—these boats—intelligent like +men—"</p> + +<p>The other sought to steady him. "It's a different world, Hackett. +Gravitation different, light different, everything different, and +evolution here has had a different course. On Earth men evolved to be +the most intelligent life-forms, but here the frog-races, it seems."</p> + +<p>"But where are they taking us? Could we ever find the plane again?"</p> + +<p>"God knows. If we ever get away from these things we might. And we've +got to find Fellows, too; I wonder where he is on this world."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or many minutes the two boats raced on at great speed over the +endless waters before the watery skyline was broken far ahead by +something dark and unmoving. Hackett and Norman peered with intense +interest toward it. It seemed at first a giant squat mountain rising +from the sea, but as they shot nearer they saw that its outline was +too regular, and that colossal as it was in size it was the work of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +intelligence. They gasped as they came nearer and got a better view of +it.</p> + +<p>For it was a gigantic dome of black metal rising sheer from the lonely +sea, ten miles if anything in diameter, a third that in greatest +height. There was no gate or window or opening of any kind in it. Just +the colossal, smooth black dome rearing from the watery plain. Yet the +two boats were flashing lower toward it.</p> + +<p>"They can't be going inside!" Hackett conjectured. "There's no way in +and what could be in there? The whole thing's mad—"</p> + +<p>"There's some way," Norman said. "They're slowing—"</p> + +<p>The flying-boats were indeed slowing as they dipped lower. They were +very near the dome now, its curving wall a looming, sky-high barrier +before them. Suddenly the boats dipped sharply downward toward the +green sea. Before the two fliers could comprehend their purpose, could +do aught more than draw instinctive great breaths in preparation, the +two craft had shot down into the waters and were arrowing down through +the green depths.</p> + +<p>Blinded, flung against his metal strap by the resistance of the waters +they ripped through, Norman yet retained enough of consciousness to +glimpse beams of light that stabbed ahead from the prows of their +rushing boats, to see vaguely strange creatures of the deep blundering +in and out of those beams as the boats hurtled forward. The water that +forced its way between his lips was fresh, he was vaguely aware, and +even as he fought to hold his breath was aware too that the frog-men +seemed in no way incommoded by the sudden transition into the water, +their amphibian nature allowing them to stay under it far longer than +any human could do.</p> + +<p>The boats ripped through the waters at terrific speed and in a few +seconds there loomed before them the giant metal wall of the great +dome, going down into the depths here. Norman glimpsed vaguely that +the whole colossal dome rested on a vast pedestal-like mountain of +rock that rose from the sea's floor almost to the surface. Then a +great round opening in the wall; the boats flashed into it and were +hurtling along a water-filled tunnel. Norman felt his lungs near +bursting—when the tunnel turned sharply upward and the boats whizzed +up and abruptly out of the water-tunnel into air!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut it was not the open air again. They were beneath the gigantic +dome! For as Norman and Hackett breathed deep, awe fell on their faces +as they took in the scene. Far overhead stretched the dome's +colossally curving roof, and far out on all sides. It was lit beneath +that roof by a clear light that the two would have sworn was sunlight. +The dome was in effect the roof of a gigantic, illuminated building, +and upon its floor there stretched a mighty city.</p> + +<p>The city of the frog-men! Their boats were rising up over it and +Norman and Hackett saw it clear. Square mile upon square mile of +structures stretched beneath the dome, black buildings often of +immense size, varying in shape, but all of square, rectangular +proportions. Between them moved countless frog-hordes, swirling +throngs in streets and squares, and over the roofs darted thick swarms +of flying-boats. And at the city's center, in a great, circular, clear +space, lay a wide, round, green pool—the opening of the water-tunnel +up through which they had come.</p> + +<p>Norman pointed down toward it. "That's your answer!" he cried. "The +only entrance to this frog-city is from the sea, up through that +water-tunnel!"</p> + +<p>"Good God, an amphibian city!" Hackett was shaken, white-faced.</p> + +<p>The two boats were driving quickly over the city, through the swarming +craft. Norman glimpsed towering buildings that might have been +palaces, temples, laboratories. They slowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> and dipped toward one +block-like building not far from the water-tunnel's opening. Armed +frog-guards were on its roof, and other boats rested there. The two +came to rest and the two captives were jerked out, the guards seizing +them.</p> + +<p>Half-dragged and half-floating they were led toward an opening in the +roof from which a stair led downward. They passed down thus into the +building's interior, lit by many windows. Norman glimpsed long halls +ending in barred doors, guards here and there. Tube-lines ran along +the walls and somewhere machines were throbbing dully. They came at +last to a barred door whose guard opened it at the croaking order of +the frog-men who held the two, and they were thrust inside, as the +door clanged. They turned, and exclaimed in amazement. The room held +fully a half-hundred men!</p> + +<p>They were men such as the two fliers had never seen before, like +humans except that their skins were a light green instead of the +normal white and pink. They were dressed in dark short tunics, and +kept talking to each other in a tongue quite unintelligible to Norman +and Hackett. They came closer, flocking curiously around the two men, +with a babel of voices quite meaningless to the two. Then one of the +men uttered an exclamation, and all turned.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he barred door had swung open and a half-dozen frog-guards entered, +followed by two frog-men carrying a square little mechanism from which +tubing led back out through the door.</p> + +<p>"Norman—these men—" Hackett was whispering rapidly. "If there are +men in this world too, it may be that—"</p> + +<p>"Quiet, Hackett—look at what they're doing."</p> + +<p>The two frog-men had set their mechanism in place and then croaked out +a brief word or order. Slowly, reluctantly, one of the green men moved +toward them. Quickly they removed a metal disk fastened to his arm, +exposing a small orifice like an unhealed wound. Onto this they +fastened a suckerlike object from which a transparent tube led back +through the mechanism. The machine hummed and at once a red stream +pulsed through the tube and back through the mechanism. The man to +whom it was attached was growing rapidly pale!</p> + +<p>Norman, sick with horror, clutched his companion. "Hackett—these +frog-men are sucking his blood from him!"</p> + +<p>"Good God! And look—they're doing it with another!"</p> + +<p>"All of these men—kept prisoners to furnish them with blood. It must +be the damned creatures' food! And we here with the others—"</p> + +<p>A common horror shook the two. It did not seem to affect the green men +in the room, though, who advanced to the mechanism one by one with a +reluctant air as of cows unwilling to be milked. Each was attached to +the mechanism by the sucking disk on his arm, and out of each the +blood poured through the tube. The metal disk was replaced on his arm +then and he went back to the others. Norman saw that the frog-men took +only from each an amount of blood that they could lose and yet live, +since, though each came back pale and weak from the mechanism, they +were able to walk.</p> + +<p>"It must be their food—human blood!" Norman repeated. "They may have +thousands on thousands of humans penned up like this, like so many +herds of cows, and perhaps they live entirely on the life-blood they +milk from them. Human cows—God!"</p> + +<p>"Norman—look—they're calling to us!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he two stiffened. All the others in the room had taken their turn at +the blood-sucking mechanism and now the frog-men croaked their order +to the two fliers. They had forgotten their own predicament in the +horror of the scene, but now it became real to them. They backed +against the room's wall, quivering, dangerous.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>The frog-guards came forward to drag them to the machine. A webbed paw +was outstretched but Hackett with a wild blow drove the frog-man back +and downward. The frog-guards leaped, and Norman and Hackett struck +them back with all the greater strength the lesser gravitation gave +them. The room was in an uproar, the green men shouting hoarsely and +seeming on the point of rushing to their aid.</p> + +<p>But the menacing force-pistols of the other frog-guards held back the +shouting men and in moments the two fliers were overpowered by sheer +weight of frog-bodies. Norman felt himself dragged to the machine.</p> + +<p>Pain needled his upper arm as an incision was made. He felt the +sucking-disk attached; then the machine hummed, and a sickening nausea +swept him as the blood drained from his body. Held tightly by the +guards he went dizzy, weak, but at last felt the sucker removed and a +metal disk fastened over the incision. He was jerked aside and +Hackett, his face deathly white, was dragged into his place. In a +moment some of the latter's blood had been pumped from him also.</p> + +<p>The machine was withdrawn, Norman and Hackett were released, and the +frog-men, with their black force-pistols watchfully raised, withdrew, +the door clanging. The room settled back to quietness, the green men +stretching in lassitude on the metal bunks around it. The two fliers +crouched down near the door, shuddering nausea and weakness still +holding them.</p> + +<p>Norman found that Hackett was laughing weakly. "To think that +twenty-four hours ago I was in New York," he half-laughed, +half-sobbed. "On Earth—Earth—"</p> + +<p>The other gripped his arm. "It's horrible, Hackett, I know. But it +isn't instant death, and we've still a chance to escape. Hell, can +damn frog-men keep us here? Where's your nerve, man?"</p> + +<p>A voice beside them made them turn in amazement. "You are men from +Earth?" it asked, in queerly accented English. "From Earth?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>stonishment held them as they saw who spoke. It was one of the green +men in the room, who had settled down by their side. A tall figure +with superb muscles and frank, clean countenance, his dark eyes afire +with eagerness.</p> + +<p>"English?" Norman exclaimed. "You know English—you understand me?"</p> + +<p>The other showed his teeth in a smile. "I know, yes. I'm Sarja, and I +learned to speak it from Fallas, in my city, before the Ralas caught +me."</p> + +<p>"Fallas—" Norman repeated, puzzled; then suddenly he flamed. "By God, +he means Fellows!"</p> + +<p>"Fallas, yes," said the other. "From the sky he fell into our city in +a strange flying-boat that was smashed. He was hurt but we cared for +him, and he taught me his speech, which I heard you talking now."</p> + +<p>"Then Fellows is in your city now?" asked Hackett eagerly. "Where is +that?"</p> + +<p>"Across this sea—back in the hills," the other waved. "It is far from +the sea but I was rash one day and came too near the water in my +flying-boat. The Ralas were out raiding and they saw me, caught me, +and brought me here. No escape now, until I die."</p> + +<p>"The Ralas—you mean these frog-men?" Norman asked.</p> + +<p>Sarja nodded. "Of course. They are the tyrants and oppressors of this +world. Our little world is but a tenth or less the size of your great +Earth which it circles, but it has its lands and rivers, and this one +great fresh-water sea into which the latter empty. In this sea long +ago developed the Ralas, the great frog-men who acquired such +intelligence and arts that they became lords of this world.</p> + +<p>"Through the centuries, while on the land our races of green men have +been struggling upward, the Ralas have oppressed them. Long ago the +Ralas left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> all their other cities to build this one great amphibian +city at the sea's center. Entrance to it is only by the water-tunnel +from without, and being frog-people entrance thus is easy for them +since they can move for many minutes under water, though they drown +like any other breathing animal if kept under too long. Humans dare +not try to enter it thus by the water-tunnel, since, before they could +find it and make their way up through it, they would have drowned.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s1.jpg" alt="S" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>o the Ralas have ruled from this impregnable amphibian city. Its +colossal metal dome is invulnerable to ordinary attack, and though +solid and without openings it is always as light beneath the dome here +as outside, since the Ralas' scientists contrived light-condensers and +conductors that catch light outside and bring it in to release inside. +So when it is day outside the sunlight is as bright here, and when +night comes the Earth-light shines here the same as without.</p> + +<p>"From this city their raiding parties have gone out endlessly to swoop +down on the cities of us green men. Since we learned to make +flying-boats like theirs, with molecular-motors, and to make the guns +like theirs that fire shells filled with annihilating force, we have +resisted them stoutly but their raids have not ceased. And always they +have brought their prisoners back in to this, their city.</p> + +<p>"Tens of thousands of green men they have prisoned here like us, for +the sole purpose of supplying them with blood. For the Ralas live on +this blood alone, changing it chemically to fit their own bodies and +then taking it into their bodies. It eliminates all necessity for food +here for them. Every few days they drain blood from us, and since we +are well fed and cared for to keep us good blood-producers, we will be +here for a long time before we die."</p> + +<p>"But haven't you made any attempt to get out of here—to escape?" +Norman asked.</p> + +<p>Sarja smiled. "Who could escape the city of the Ralas? In all recorded +history it has never been done, for even if by some miracle you got a +flying-boat, the opening of the water-tunnel that leads outward is +guarded always."</p> + +<p>"Guards or no guards, we're going to try it and not sit here to +furnish blood for the Ralas," Norman declared. "Are you willing to +help, to try to get to Fellows and your city?"</p> + +<p>The green man considered. "It is hopeless," he said, "but as well to +die beneath the force-shells of the Ralas as live out a lifetime here. +Yes, I will help, though I cannot see how you expect to escape even +from this room."</p> + +<p>"I think we can manage that," Norman told him. "But first—not a word +to these others. We can't hope to escape with them all, and there is +no knowing what one might not betray us to the frog-men."</p> + +<p>He went on then to outline to the other two the idea that had come to +him. Both exclaimed at the simpleness of the idea, though Sarja +remained somewhat doubtful. While Hackett slept, weak still from his +loss of blood, Norman had the green man scratch on the metal floor as +well as possible a crude map of the satellite's surface, and found +that the city, where Fellows was, seemed some hundreds of miles back +from the sea.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>hile they talked, the sunlight, apparently sourceless, that came +through the heavily barred windows of the room faded rapidly, and dusk +settled over the great amphibian city beneath the giant dome, kept +from total darkness by a silvery pervading light that Norman reflected +must be the light from Earth's great sphere. With the dusk's coming +the activities in the frog-city lessened greatly.</p> + +<p>With dusk, too, frog-guards entered the room bearing long metal +troughs filled with a red jellylike substance, that they placed on +racks along the wall. As the guards withdrew the men in the room +rushed toward the troughs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> elbowing each other aside and striking +each other to scoop up and eat as much of the red jelly as possible. +It was for all the world like the feeding of farm-animals, and Hackett +and Norman so sickened at the sight that they had no heart to try the +food. Sarja, though, had no such scruples and seemed to make a hearty +meal at one of the troughs.</p> + +<p>After the meal the green men sought the bunks and soon were stretched +in sonorous slumber. It was, Norman reflected, exactly the existence +of domesticated animals—to eat and sleep and give food to their +masters. A deeper horror of the frog-men shook him, and a deeper +determination to escape them. He waited until all in the room were +sleeping before beckoning to Sarja and Hackett.</p> + +<p>"Quiet now," he whispered to them. "If these others wake they'll make +such a clamor we won't have a chance in the world. Ready, Sarja?"</p> + +<p>The green man nodded. "Yes, though I still think such a thing's +impossible."</p> + +<p>"Probably is," Norman admitted. "But it's the one chance we've got, +the immensely greater strength of our Earth-muscle that the frog-men +must have forgotten when they put us in here."</p> + +<p>They moved silently to the room's great barred door, outside which a +frog-guard paced. They waited until he had passed the door and on down +the hall, then Norman and Hackett and Sarja grasped together one of +the door's vertical bars. It was an inch and a half in thickness, of +solid metal, and it seemed ridiculous that any men could bend it by +the sheer strength of their muscles.</p> + +<p>Norman, though, was relying on the fact that on the second satellite, +with its far lesser gravitational influence, their Earth-muscles gave +them enormous strength. He grasped the bar, Hackett and Sarja gripping +it below him, and then at a whispered word they pulled with all their +force. The bar resisted and again, with sweat starting on their +foreheads, they pulled. It gave a little.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey shrank back from it as the guard returned, moving past. Then +grasping the bar again they bent all their force once more upon it. +Each effort saw it bending more, the opening in the door's bars +widening. They gave a final great wrench and the bent bar squealed a +little. They shrank back, appalled, but the guard had not heard or +noticed. He moved past it on his return along the hall, and no sooner +was past it than Norman squeezed through the opening and leaped +silently for the great frog-man's back.</p> + +<p>It went down with a wild flurry of waving webbed paws and croaking +cries, stilled almost instantly by Norman's terrific blows. There was +silence then as Hackett and Sarja squeezed out after him, the +momentary clamor of the battle having aroused no one.</p> + +<p>The three leaped together toward the stairs. In two great floating +leaps they were on the floor above, Hackett and Norman dragging Sarja +between them. They were not seen, were sailing in giant steps up +another stair, hopes rising high. The last stair—the roof-opening +above; and then from beneath a great croaking cry swelled instantly +into chorus of a alarmed shouts.</p> + +<p>"They've found the door—the guard!" panted Hackett.</p> + +<p>They were bursting out onto the roof. Frog-guards were on it who came +in a hopping rush toward them, force-pistols raised. But a giant leap +took Hackett among them, to amaze them for a moment with great +flailing blows. Sarja had leaped for the nearest flying-boat resting +on the roof, and was calling in a frantic voice to Norman and Hackett. +Norman was turning toward Hackett, the center of a wild combat, but +the latter emerged from it for a brief second to motion him +frantically back.</p> + +<p>"No use, Norman—get away—get away!" he cried hoarsely, frenziedly.</p> + +<p>"Hackett—for God's sake—!" Nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>man half-leaped to the other, but an +arm caught him, pulled him desperately onto the boat's surface. It was +Sarja, the long craft flying over the roof beneath his control.</p> + +<p>"They come!" he panted. "Too late now—" Frog-men were pouring up onto +the roof from below. Sarja sent the craft rocketing upward, as Hackett +gestured them away for a last frantic time before going down beneath +the frog-men's onslaught.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he roof and the combat on it dropped back and beneath them like a +stone as their craft ripped across the silvery dusk over the mighty +frog-city. They were shooting toward the city's center, toward the +green pool that was the entrance to the water-tunnel, while behind and +beneath an increasing clamor of alarm spread swiftly. Norman raged +futilely.</p> + +<p>"Hackett—Hackett! We can't leave him—"</p> + +<p>"Too late!" Sarja cried. "We cannot help him but only be captured +again. We escape now and come back—come back—"</p> + +<p>The truth of it pierced Norman's brain even in the wild moment. +Hackett had fought and held back the frog-guards only that they might +escape. He shouted suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Sarja—the water-tunnel!" A half-dozen boats with frog-guards on them +were rising round it in answer to the alarm!</p> + +<p>"The force-gun!" cried the green man. "Beside you—!"</p> + +<p>Norman whirled, glimpsed the long tube on its swivel beside him, +trained it on the boats rising ahead as they rocketed nearer. He +fumbled frantically at a catch at the gun's rear, then felt a stream +of shells flicking out of it. Two of the boats ahead vanished as the +shells released their annihilating force, another sagged and fell. +From the remaining three invisible force-shells flicked around them, +but in an instant Sarja had whirled the boat through them and down +into the water-tunnel!</p> + +<p>Norman clung desperately to his seat as the boat flashed down through +the waters, and then, as Sarja sent it flying out through the great +tunnel's waters, glimpsed, close behind, the beams of the three Rala +boats as they pursued them through the tunnel, overtaking them. Could +the force-shells be fired under water? Norman did not know, but +desperately he swung the force-gun back as they rushed through the +waters, and pressed the catch. An instant later beams and boats behind +them in the tunnel vanished.</p> + +<p>His lungs were afire; it seemed that he must open them to the +strangling water. The boat was ripping the waters at such tremendous +speed that he felt himself being torn from his hold on it. Pain seemed +poured like molten metal through his chest—he could hold out no +longer; and then the boat stabbed up from the waters into clear air!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>orman panted, sobbed. Behind them rose the colossal metal dome of the +frog-city, gleaming dully in the silvery light that flooded the +far-stretching seas. That light poured down from a stupendous silver +crescent in the night skies. Norman saw dully the dark outlines on it +before he remembered. Earth! He laughed a little hysterically. Sarja +was driving the flying-boat out over the sea and away from the +frog-city at enormous speed. At last he glanced back. Far behind them +lay the great dome and up around it gleaming lights were pouring, +lights of pursuing Rala boats.</p> + +<p>"We escape," Sarja cried, "the city of the Ralas, from which none ever +before escaped!"</p> + +<p>Remembrance smote Norman. "Hackett! Held off those frog-men so we +could get away—we'll come back for him, by God!"</p> + +<p>"We come back!" said Sarja. "We come back with all the green men of +this world to the Ralas' city, yes! I know what Fallas has planned."</p> + +<p>"Can you find your way to him—to your city?" Norman asked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sarja nodded, looking upward. "Before the next sun has come and gone +we can reach it."</p> + +<p>The boat flew onward, and the great dome and the searching lights +around it dropped beneath the horizon. Norman felt the warm wind +drying his drenched garments as they rushed onward. Crouched on the +boat he gazed up toward the silver crescent of Earth sinking toward +the horizon ahead. That meant, he told himself, that the satellite +turned slowly on its axis as it whirled around Earth. It came to him +that its night and day periods must be highly irregular.</p> + +<p>When the sun climbed from the waters behind them they were flying +still over a boundless waste of waters, but soon they sighted on the +horizon ahead the thin green line of land. Sarja slowed as they +reached it, took his bearings, and sent the craft flying onward.</p> + +<p>They passed over a green coastal plain and then over low hills joined +in long chains and mantled by dense and mighty jungles, towering green +growths of unfamiliar appearance to Norman. He thought he glimpsed, +more than once, huge beastlike forms moving in them. He did see twice +in the jungles great clearings where were fair-sized cities of +bright-green buildings, a metal tower rising from each. But when he +pointed to them Sarja shook his head.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t last, as they passed over another range of hills and came into +sight of a third green city with its looming tower, the other pointed, +his face alight.</p> + +<p>"My city," he said. "Fallas there."</p> + +<p>Fellows! Norman's heart beat faster.</p> + +<p>They shot closer and lower and he saw that the buildings were +obviously green to lend them a certain protective coloration similar +to that of the green jungles around them. The tower with its +surmounting cage puzzled him though, but before he could ask Sarja +concerning it his answer came in a different way. A long metal tube +poked slowly out of the cage on the tower's top and sent a hail of +force-shells flicking around them.</p> + +<p>"They're firing on us!" Norman cried. "This can't be your city!"</p> + +<p>"They see our black boat!" Sarja exclaimed. "They think we're Rala +raiders and unless we let them know they'll shoot us out of the air! +Stand up—wave to them—!"</p> + +<p>Both Norman and Sarja sprang to their feet and waved wildly to those +in the tower-cage, their flying-boat drifting slowly forward. +Instantly the force-shells ceased to hail toward them, and as they +moved nearer a sirenlike signal broke from the cage. At once scores of +flying-boats like their own, but glittering metal instead of black, +shot up from the city where they had lain until now, and surrounded +them.</p> + +<p>As Sarja called in his own tongue to them the green men on the +surrounding boats broke into resounding cries. They shot down toward +the city, Norman gazing tensely. Great crowds of green men in their +dark tunics had swarmed out into its streets with the passing of the +alarm, and their craft and the others came to rest in an open square +that was the juncture of several streets.</p> + +<p>The green men that crowded excitedly about Norman and Sarja gave way +to a half-dozen hurrying into the square from the greatest of the +buildings facing on it. All but one were green men like the others. +But that one—the laughing-eyed tanned face—the worn brown clothing, +the curious huge steps with which he came—Norman's heart leapt.</p> + +<p>"Fellows!"</p> + +<p>"Great God—Norman!" The other's face was thunderstruck. "Norman—how +by all that's holy did you get here?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>orman, mind and body strained to the breaking point, was incoherent. +"We guessed how you'd gone—the second satellite, Fellows—Hackett<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +and I came after you—taken to that frog-city—"</p> + +<p>As Norman choked the tale, Fellows' face was a study. And when it was +finished he swallowed, and gripped Norman's hand viselike.</p> + +<p>"And you and Hackett figured it out and came after me—took that risk? +Crazy, both of you. Crazy—"</p> + +<p>"Fellows, Hackett's still there, if he's alive! In the Rala city!"</p> + +<p>Fellows' voice was grim, quick. "We'll have him out. Norman, if he +still lives. And living or dead, the Ralas will pay soon for this and +for all they've done upon this world in ages. Their time nears—yes."</p> + +<p>He led Norman, excited throngs of the green men about them, into the +great building from which he had emerged. There were big rooms inside, +workshops and laboratories that Norman but vaguely glimpsed in +passing. The room to which the other led him was one with a long metal +couch. Norman stretched protestingly upon it at the other's bidding, +drifted off almost at once into sleep.</p> + +<p>He woke to find the sunlight that had filled the room gone and +replaced by the silvery Earth-light. From the window he saw that the +silver-lit city outside now held tremendous activity, immense hordes +of green men surging through it with masses of weapons and equipment, +flying-boats pouring down out of the night from all directions. He +turned as the door of the room clicked open behind him. It was his old +friend Fellows.</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd be awake by now, Norman. Feeling fit?"</p> + +<p>"As though I'd slept a week," Norman said, and the other laughed his +old care-free laugh.</p> + +<p>"You almost have, at that. Two days and nights you've slept, but it +all adds up to hardly more than a dozen hours."</p> + +<p>"This world!" Norman's voice held all his incredulity. "To think that +we should be on it—a second satellite of Earth's—it seems almost +beyond belief."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s1.jpg" alt="S" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>ometimes it seems so to me, too," Fellows said thoughtfully. "But +it's not a bad world—not the human part of it, at least. When this +satellite's atmosphere caught me and pitchforked me down among these +green men, smashing the plane and almost myself, they took care of me. +You say three others vanished as I did? I never heard of them here; +they must have crashed into the sea or jungles. Of course, I'd have +got back to Earth on one of these flying-boats if I'd been able, but +their molecular power won't take them far from this world's surface, +so I couldn't.</p> + +<p>"As it was, the green men cared for me, and when I found how those +frog-men have dominated this world for ages, how that city of the +Ralas has spread endless terror among the humans here, I resolved to +smash those monsters whatever I did. I taught some of the green men +like Sarja my own speech, later learning theirs, and in the weeks I've +been here I've been working out a way to smash the Ralas.</p> + +<p>"You know that amphibian city is almost impregnable because humans can +hardly live long enough under the water to get into it, let alone +fight under water as the frog-men can. To meet them on even terms the +green men needed diving-helmets with an oxygen supply. They'd never +heard of such an idea, too afraid of the sea ever to experiment in it, +but I convinced them and they've made enough helmets for all their +forces. In them they can meet the Ralas under water on equal terms.</p> + +<p>"And there's a chance we can destroy that whole Rala city with their +help. It's built on a giant pedestal of rock rising from the sea's +floor, as you saw, and I've had some of the green men make huge +force-shells or force-bombs that ought to be powerful enough to split +that pedestal beneath the city. If we can get a chance to place those +bombs it may smash the frog-men forever on this world. But one thing +is sure: we're going to get Hackett out if he still lives!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then you're, going to attack the Rala city now?" Norman cried.</p> + +<p>Fellows nodded grimly. "While you have slept all the forces of the +green men on this world have been gathering. Your coming has only +precipitated our plans, Norman—the whole soul of the green races has +been set upon this attack for weeks!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>orman, half bewildered at the swiftness with which events rushed upon +him, found himself striding with Fellows in great steps out through +the building into the great square. It was shadowed now by mass on +mass of flying-boats, crowded with green men, that hung over it and +over the streets. One boat, Sarja at its controls, waited on the +ground and as they entered and buckled themselves into the seats the +craft drove up to hang with the others.</p> + +<p>A shattering cheer greeted them. Norman saw that in the silvery light +of Earth's great crescent there stretched over the city and +surrounding jungle now a veritable plain of flying-boats. On each were +green men and each bristled with force-guns, and had as many great +goggled helmets fastened to it as it had occupants. He glimpsed larger +boats loaded with huge metal cylinders—the force-bombs Fellows had +mentioned.</p> + +<p>Fellows rose and spoke briefly in a clear voice to the assembled green +men on their craft, and another great shout roared from them, and from +these who watched in the city below. Then as he spoke a word, Sarja +sent their craft flying out over the city, and the great mass of +boats, fully a thousand in number, were hurtling in a compact column +after them.</p> + +<p>Fellows leaned to Norman as the great column of purring craft shot on +over the silver-lit jungles. "We'll make straight for the Rala city +and try setting into it before they understand what's happening."</p> + +<p>"Won't they have guards out?"</p> + +<p>"Probably, but we can beat them back into the city before their whole +forces can come out on us. That's the only way in which we can get +inside and reach Hackett. And while we're attacking the force-bombs +can be placed, though I don't rely too much on them."</p> + +<p>"If the attack only succeeds in getting us inside," Norman said, +grim-lipped, "we'll have a chance—"</p> + +<p>"It's on the knees of the gods. These green men are doing an +unprecedented thing in attacking the Ralas, the masters of this world, +remember. But they've got ages of oppression to avenge; they'll +fight."</p> + +<p>The fleet flew on, hills and rivers a silver-lit panorama unreeling +beneath them. Earth's crescent sank behind them, and by the time they +flashed out over the great fresh-water sea, the sun was rising like a +flaming eye from behind it. Land sank from sight behind and the green +men were silent, tense, as they saw stretching beneath only the gray +waters that for ages had been the base of the dread frog-men. But +still the fleet's column raced on.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t last the column slowed. Far ahead the merest bulge broke the level +line where sky and waters met. The amphibian city of the Ralas! At +Fellows' order-the flying-boats sank downward until they moved just +above the waters. Another order made the green hosts don the grotesque +helmets. Norman found that while cumbersome their oxygen supply was +unfailing. They shot on again at highest speed, but as the gigantic +black dome of the frog-city grew in their vision there darted up from +around it suddenly a far-flung swarm of black spots.</p> + +<p>"Rala boats!"</p> + +<p>The muffled exclamation was Fellows'. There needed now no order on his +part, though. Like hawks, leaping for prey, the fleet of the green men +sprang through the air. Norman, clutching the force-gun between his +knees, had time only to see that the Rala craft were a few hundred in +number and that, contemptuous of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> greater odds that favored these +humans they had so long oppressed, they were flying straight to meet +them. Then the two fleets met—and were spinning side by side above +the waters.</p> + +<p>Norman saw the thing only as a wild whirl of Rala boats toward and +beside them, great green frog-men crowding the craft, their force-guns +hailing shells. Automatically, with the old air-fighting instinct, his +fingers had pressed the catch of the gun between his knees and as its +shells flicked toward the rushing boats he saw areas of nothingness +opening suddenly in their mass, shells striking and exploding in +annihilating invisibility there and in their own fleet.</p> + +<p>The two fleets mingled and merged momentarily, the battle becoming a +thing of madness, a huge whirl of black and glittering flying-boats +together, striking shells exploding nothingness about them. The Ralas +were fighting like demons.</p> + +<p>The merged, terrific combat lasted but moments; could last but +moments. Norman, his gun's magazine empty, seemed to see the mass of +struggling ships splittering, diverging; then saw that the black craft +were dropping, plummeting downward toward the waves! The Ralas, +stunned by that minute of terrific combat, were fleeing. Muffled cries +and cheers came from about him as the glittering flying-boats of the +green men shot after them. They crashed down into the waters and +curved deeply into their green-depths, toward the gigantic dome.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>head the Rala boats were in flight toward their city, and now their +pursuers were like sharks striking after them. There in the depths the +force-guns of black and glittering boats alike were spitting, and +giant waves and underwater convulsions rocked pursued and pursuers as +the exploding shells annihilated boats and water about them. The +tunnel! Its round opening yawned in the looming wall ahead, and Norman +saw the Rala craft, reduced to scores in number, hurtling into it, to +rouse all the forces of the great amphibian city. Their own boats were +flashing into the opening after them. He glimpsed as he glanced back +for a moment the larger craft with the great force-bombs veering aside +behind them.</p> + +<p>It was nightmare in the water-tunnel. Flashing beams of the craft +ahead and waters that rocked and smashed around them as in flight the +Ralas still rained back force-shells toward them in a chaos of action. +Once the frog-men turned to hold them back in the tunnel, but by sheer +weight the rushing ships of the green men crashed them onward. Boats +were going into nothingness all around them. A part of Norman's brain +wondered calmly why they survived even while another part kept his gun +again working, with refilled magazine. Fellows and Sarja were +grotesque shapes beside him. Abruptly the tunnel curved upward and as +they flashed up after the remaining Rala craft their boats ripped up +into clear air! They were beneath the giant dome!</p> + +<p>The frog-men chased inward spread out in all directions over their +mighty, swarming city and across it a terrific clamor of alarm ran +instantly as the green men emerged after them! Norman saw flying-boats +beginning to rise across all the city and realized that moments would +see all the immense force of the Ralas, the thousands of craft they +could muster, pouring upon them. He pointed out over the city to a +block-like building, and shouted madly through his helmet to Fellows +and Sarja:</p> + +<p>"Hackett!"</p> + +<p>But already Sarja had sent their craft whirling across the city toward +the structure, half their fleet behind it, with part still emerging +from the water-tunnel. Rala boats rose before them, but nothing could +stop them now, their force-shells raining ahead to clear a path for +their meteor-flight. They shot down toward the block-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>structure, and +Norman, half-crazed by now, saw that to descend and enter was suicide +in the face of the frog-forces rising now over all the city. He cried +to Fellows, and with two of the guns as they swooped lower they +sprayed force-shells along the building's side.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he shells struck and whiffed away the whole side, exposing the level +on the building's interior. Out from it rushed swarms of crazed green +men, sweeping aside the frog-men guards, while far over the city the +invading craft were loosing shells on the block-like buildings that +held the prisoners, tens of thousands of them swarming forth. In the +throng below as they raced madly forth Norman saw one, and shouted +wildly. The one brown garbed figure looked up, saw their boat swooping +lower, and leaped for it in a tremendous forty-foot spring that +brought his fingers to its edge. Norman pulled him frenziedly up.</p> + +<p>"Norman!" he babbled. "In God's name—Fellows—!"</p> + +<p>"That helmet, Hackett!" Fellows flung at him. "My God, look at those +prisoners—Norman!"</p> + +<p>The countless thousands of green men released from the buildings whose +walls had vanished under the shells of the invaders had poured forth +to make the amphibian city a chaos of madness. Oblivious to all else +they were throwing themselves upon the city's crowding frog-men in a +battle whose ferocity was beyond belief, disregarding all else in this +supreme chance to wreak vengeance on the monstrous beings who had fed +upon their blood. In the incredible insanity of that raging fury the +craft of the green men hanging over the city were all but forgotten.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the city and the mighty dome over it quivered violently, and +then again. There came from beneath a dull, vast, grinding roar.</p> + +<p>"The great force-bombs!" Fellows screamed. "They've set them off—the +city's sinking—out of here, for the love of God!"</p> + +<p>The boat whirled beneath Sarja's hands toward the pool of the +water-tunnel, all their fleet rushing with them. The grinding roar was +louder, terrible; dome and city were shaking violently now; but in the +insensate fury of their struggle the frog-men and their released +prisoners were hardly aware of it. The whole great dome seemed sinking +upon them and the city falling beneath it as Sarja's craft ripped down +into the tunnel's waters, and then out, at awful speed, as the great +tunnel's walls swayed and sank around them! They shot out into the +green depths from it to hear a dull, colossal crashing through the +waters from behind as the great pedestal of rock on which the city had +stood, shattered by the huge force-bombs, collapsed. And as their +boats flashed up into the open air they saw that the huge dome of the +city of the Ralas was gone.</p> + +<p>Beneath them was only a titanic whirlpool of foaming waters in which +only the curved top of the settling dome was visible for a moment as +it sank slowly and ponderously downward, with a roar as of the roar of +falling worlds. Buckling, collapsing, sinking, it vanished in the +foam-wild sea with all the frog-men who for ages had ruled the second +satellite, and with all those prisoners who had at the last dragged +them down with them to death! Ripping off their helmets, with all the +green men shouting crazily about them, Norman and Fellows and Hackett +stared down at the colossal maelstrom in the waters that was the tomb +of the masters of a world.</p> + +<p>Then the depression's sides collapsed, the waters rushing together ... +and beneath them was but troubled, tossing sea....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_e.jpg" alt="E" width="44" height="50" /></div> +<p>arth's great gray ball was overhead again and the sun was sinking +again to the horizon when the three soared upward in the long, +gleaming plane, its motor roaring. Norman, with Hackett and Fellows +crowding the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> narrow cabin beside him, waved with them through its +windows. For all around them were rising the flying-boats of the green +men.</p> + +<p>They were waving wildly, shouting their farewells, Sarja's tall figure +erect at the prow of one. Insistent they had been that the three +should stay, the three through whom the monstrous age-old tyranny of +the frog-men had been lifted, but Earth-sickness was on them, and they +had flown to where the plane lay still unharmed among the reeds, a +hundred willing hands dragging it forth for the take-off.</p> + +<p>The plane soared higher, motor thundering, and they saw the +flying-boats sinking back from around them. They caught the wave of +Sarja's hand still from the highest, and then that, too, was gone.</p> + +<p>Upward they flew toward the great gray sphere, their eyes on the dark +outlines of its continents and on one continent. Higher—higher—green +land and gray tea receding beneath them; Hackett and Fellows intent +and eager as Norman kept the plane rising. The satellite lay, a +greenish globe, under them. And as they went higher still a rushing +sound came louder to their ears.</p> + +<p>"The edge of the satellite's atmosphere?" Fellows asked, as Norman +nodded.</p> + +<p>"We're almost to it—here we go!"</p> + +<p>As he shot the plane higher, great forces smote it, gray Earth and +green satellite and yellow sun gyrating round it as it reeled and +plunged. Then suddenly it was falling steadily, gray Earth and its +dark continent now beneath, while with a dwindling rushing roar its +second satellite whirled away above them, passing and vanishing. +Passing as though, to Norman it seemed, all their strange sojourn on +it were passing; the frog-men and their mighty city, Sarja and their +mad flight, the green men and the last terrific battle; all whirling +away—whirling away.</p> + + +<h4>HISTORIC EXPERIMENT PROVES EARTH'S ROTATION</h4> +<p>The famous experiment which proves that the "earth do move" by letting +the observer actually see it twisting underneath his feet, an +experiment invented by the French mathematician Jean B. L. Foucault +nearly a century ago was repeated recently under unusually impressive +circumstances before an international scientific congress at Florence, +Italy, the same city where Galileo once was persecuted for holding the +same opinion.</p> + +<p>From the center of the dome of the Church of Santa Maria di Fiore, +Father Guido Alfani, director of the Astronomical Observatory, +suspended a 200-pound weight on a wire 150 feet long. On the bottom of +this weight was a tiny projecting point which traced a line on a +table-top sprinkled with sand, as the great pendulum swung slowly back +and forth. At a given signal Father Alfani set the pendulum to +swinging. While the assembled scientists watched it, slowly the line +traced across the sand table-top changed direction.</p> + +<p>As Foucault proved long ago and as the watching scientists well knew, +the table was being twisted underneath the pendulum by the rotation of +the earth.</p> + + +<h4>A REVOLUTIONARY AIRPLANE</h4> +<p>A new airplane propeller has recently been patented by J. Kalmanson of +Brooklyn, N. Y. Greater speed and marked saving in fuel is claimed for +the invention, which may be attached to any type of airplane.</p> + +<p>The device is in two parts, which may be used separately as front and +rear propellers or combined into a single blade. The principle is that +the front one acts to bring air to the other, giving the propeller +more of a hold, so to speak, and greater power. This is accomplished +by four air-spoons, one on each side of each blade of the propeller.</p> + +<p>It is said that the device can double the speed of an airplane and +raise it from the ground in ninety feet instead of the 200 feet most +airplanes now require. It is also claimed that the new propeller will +prevent the plane from making a nose drive unless the pilot forces it +to do so, and enable it to make a safe landing within a short +distance. Because of the increase in power and speed, the device would +save a large amount of gasoline and oil, as well as guarding the motor +from part of the strain on it.</p> + +<p>The device is said to be also applicable to ships, the same principle +operating in water as well as air.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_008.jpg" width="600" height="531" alt="Orris led the way to a great underground city." /> +<span class="caption">Orris led the way to a great underground city.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="Silver_Dome" id="Silver_Dome"></a>Silver Dome</h2> + +<h2><i>By Harl Vincent</i></h2> + +<div class="sidenote">In her deep-buried kingdom of Theros, Phaestra reveals the +amazing secret of the Silver Dome.</div> + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>n a secluded spot among the hills of northern New Jersey stood the +old DeBost mansion, a rambling frame structure of many wings and +gables that was well-nigh hidden from the road by the half-mile or +more of second-growth timber which intervened. High on the hill it +stood, and it was only by virtue of its altitude that an occasional +glimpse might be obtained of weatherbeaten gable or partly +tumbled-down chimney. The place was reputed to be haunted since the +death of old DeBost, some seven years previously, and the path which +had once been a winding driveway was now seldom trod by human foot.</p> + +<p>It was now two years since Edwin Leland bought the estate for a song +and took up his residence in the gloomy old house. And it had then +been vacant for five years since DeBost shot himself in the northeast +bedroom. Leland's associates were sure he would repent of his bargain +in a very short time, but he stayed on and on in the place, with no +company save<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> that of his man-servant, an aged hunch-back who was +known to outsiders only as Thomas.</p> + +<p>Leland was a scientist of note before he buried himself in the DeBost +place, and had been employed in the New York research laboratory of +one of the large electrical manufacturers, where he was much admired +and not a little envied by his fellow workers. These knew almost +nothing of his habits or of his personal affairs, and were much +surprised when he announced one day that he had come into a sizable +fortune and was leaving the organization to go in for private research +and study. Attempts to dissuade him were of no avail, and the purchase +of the DeBost property followed, after which Leland dropped from sight +for nearly two years.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen, on a blustery winter day, a strange telephone call was received +at the laboratory where he had previously worked. It was from old +Thomas, out there in the DeBost mansion, and his quavering voice asked +for Frank Rowley, the genial young engineer whose work had been most +closely associated with Leland's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Rowley," wailed the old man, when Frank responded to the +call, "I wish you would come out here right away. The master has been +acting very queerly of late, and to-day he has locked himself in his +laboratory and will not answer my knocks."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you break in the door?" asked Frank, looking through the +window at the snow storm that still raged.</p> + +<p>"I thought of that, Mr. Rowley, but it is of oak and very thick. +Besides, it is bound with steel or iron straps and is beyond my +powers."</p> + +<p>"Why not call the police?" growled Frank. He did not relish the idea +of a sixty or seventy mile drive in the blizzard.</p> + +<p>"Oh—no—no—no!" Old Thomas was panicky at the suggestion. "The +master told me he'd kill me if I ever did that."</p> + +<p>Before Frank could formulate a reply, there came a sharp gasp from the +other end of the line, a wailing cry and a thud as of a falling body; +then silence. All efforts to raise Leland's number merely resulted in +"busy" or "line out of order" reports.</p> + +<p>Frank Rowley was genuinely concerned. Though he had never been a close +friend of Leland's, the two had worked on many a knotty problem +together and were in daily contact during the nearly ten years that +the other man had worked in the same laboratory.</p> + +<p>"Say, Tommy," said Frank, replacing the receiver and turning to his +friend, Arnold Thompson, who sat at an adjoining desk, "something has +happened out at Leland's place in Sussex County. Want to take a drive +out there with me?"</p> + +<p>"What? On a day like this? Why not take the train?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be foolish, Tommy," said Frank. "The place is eight miles from +the nearest station, which is a flag stop out in the wilds. And, even +if you could find a cab there—which you couldn't—there isn't a taxi +driver in Jersey who'd take you up into those mountains on a day like +this. No, we'll have to drive. It'll be okay. I've got chains on the +rear and a heater in the old coupe, so it shouldn't be so bad. What do +you say?"</p> + +<p>So Tommy, who usually followed wherever Frank led, was prevailed upon +to make the trip. He had no particular feeling for Leland, but he +sensed an adventure, and, in Frank's company, he could ask for no +more.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>rank was a careful driver, and three hours were required to make the +sixty-mile journey. Consequently, it was late in the afternoon when +they arrived at the old DeBost estate. It had stopped snowing, but the +drifts were deep in spots, and Frank soon found that the car could not +be driven through the winding path from the road to the house. So<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +they left it half buried in a drift and proceeded on foot.</p> + +<p>It was a laborious task they had undertaken, and, by the time they set +foot on the dilapidated porch, even Frank, husky and athletic as was +his build, was puffing and snorting from his exertions. Little Tommy, +who tipped the scales at less than a hundred and twenty, could hardly +speak. They both were wet to the waist and in none too good humor.</p> + +<p>"Holy smoke!" gasped Tommy, stamping the clinging snow from his sodden +trouser legs and shoes, "if it snows any more, how in Sam Hill are we +going to get out of this place?"</p> + +<p>"Rotten trip I let you in for Tommy," growled Frank, "and I hope +Leland's worth it. But, darn it all, I just had to come."</p> + +<p>"It's all right with me, Frank. And maybe it'll be worth it yet. +Look—the front door's open."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e pointed to the huge oaken door and Frank saw that it was ajar. The +snow on the porch was not deep and they saw that footprints led from +the open door to a corner of the porch. At that point the snow on the +railing was disturbed, as if a hurrying man had clung to it a moment +before jumping over and into the drifts below. But the tracks led no +further, for the drifting snow had covered all excepting a hollow +where some body had landed.</p> + +<p>"Thomas!" exclaimed Frank. "And he was in a hustle, by the looks of +the tracks. Bet he was frightened while at the telephone and beat it."</p> + +<p>They entered the house and closed the door behind them. It was growing +quite dark and Frank searched for the light switch. This was near the +door, and, at pressure on the upper button, the spacious old hall with +its open staircase was revealed dimly by the single remaining bulb in +a cluster set in the center of the high ceiling. The hall was +unfurnished, excepting for a telephone table and chair, the chair +having fallen to the floor and the receiver of the telephone dangling +from the edge of the table by its cord.</p> + +<p>"You must have heard the chair fall," commented Tommy, "and it sure +does look as if Thomas left in a hurry. Wonder what it was that +frightened him?"</p> + +<p>The house was eerily silent and the words echoed awesomely through the +adjoining rooms which connected with the hall through large open +doorways.</p> + +<p>"Spooky place, isn't it?" returned Frank.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd then they were both startled into immobility by a rumble that +seemed to shake the foundations of the house. Heavier and heavier +became this vibration, as if some large machine was coming up to +speed. Louder and louder grew the rumble until it seemed that the +rickety old house must be shaken down about their ears. Then there +came a whistling scream from the depths of the earth—from far +underground it seemed to be—and this mounted in pitch until their +eardrums tingled. Then abruptly the sounds ceased, the vibration +stopped, and once more there was the eery silence.</p> + +<p>Rather white-faced, Tommy gazed at Frank.</p> + +<p>"No wonder old Thomas beat it!" he said. "What on earth do you suppose +that is?"</p> + +<p>"Search me," replied Frank. "But whatever it is, I'll bet it has +something to do with Leland's strange actions. And we're going to find +out."</p> + +<p>He had with him the large flashlamp from the car, and, by its light, +the two made their way from room to room searching for the iron-bound +door mentioned by Thomas.</p> + +<p>They found all rooms on the first and second floors dusty and unused +with the exception of two bedrooms, the kitchen and pantry, and the +library. It was a gloomy and spooky old house. Floor boards creaked +startlingly and unexpectedly and the sound of their footsteps echoed +dismally.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where in time is that laboratory of Leland's?" exclaimed Frank, his +ruddy features showing impatient annoyance, exaggerated to an +appearance of ferocity by the light of the flashlamp.</p> + +<p>"How about the cellar?" suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Probably where it is," agreed Frank, "but I don't relish this job so +much. I'd hate to find Leland stiff down there, if that's where he +is."</p> + +<p>"Me, too," said Tommy. "But we're here now, so let's finish the job +and get back home. It's cold here, too."</p> + +<p>"You said it. No steam in the pipes at all. He must have let the fire +go out in his furnace, and that's probably in the cellar too—usually +is."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>hile talking, Frank had opened each of the four doors that opened +from the kitchen, and the fourth revealed a stairway that led into the +blackness beneath. With the beam of his torch directed at the steps, +he proceeded to descend, and Tommy followed carefully. There was no +light button at the head of the stairs, where it would have been +placed in a more modern house, and it was not until they had reached +the furnace room that they located a light fixture with a pull cord. +An ordinary cellar, with furnace, coal bin, and a conglomeration of +dust-covered trunks and discarded furniture, was revealed. And, at its +far end, was the iron-bound door.</p> + +<p>The door was locked and could not be shaken by the combined efforts of +the two men.</p> + +<p>"Have to have a battering ram," grunted Frank, casting about for a +suitable implement.</p> + +<p>"Here you are," called Tommy, after a moment's search. "Just the thing +we are looking for."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e had come upon a pile of logs, and one of these, evidently a section +of an old telephone pole, was of some ten or twelve inches diameter +and about fifteen feet long. Frank pounced upon it eagerly, and, +supporting most of the weight himself, led the attack on the heavy +oak door with the iron bands.</p> + +<p>No sound from within greeted the thunderous poundings. Clearly, if +Leland was behind that door, he was either dead or unconscious.</p> + +<p>Finally the double lock gave way and Tommy and Frank were precipitated +headlong into the brightly lighted room beyond. Recovering their +balance, they took stock of their surroundings and were amazed at what +they saw—a huge laboratory, fitted out with every modern appliance +that money could buy. A completely equipped machine shop there was; +bench after bench covered with the familiar paraphernalia of the +chemical and physical laboratory; huge retorts and stills; complicated +electrical equipments; dozens of cabinets holding crucibles, flasks, +bottles, glass tubing, and what not.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" gasped Tommy. "Here's a laboratory to more than match our +own. Why, Leland's got a fortune invested here!"</p> + +<p>"I should say so. And a lot of stuff that our company does not even +have. Some of it I don't know even the use of. But where is Leland?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was no sign of the man they had come to help. He was not in the +laboratory, though the door had been locked from within and the lights +left burning throughout.</p> + +<p>With painstaking care they searched every nook and cranny of the large +single room and were about to give up in despair when Tommy happened +to observe an ivory button set into the wall at the only point in the +room where there were no machines or benches at hand. Experimentally +he pressed the button, and, at the answering rumble from under his +feet, jumped back in alarm. Slowly there opened in the paneled oak +wall a rectangular door, a door of large enough size to admit a man. +From the recess beyond there came a breath of air, foul with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> the +musty odor of decayed vegetation, dank as the air of a tomb.</p> + +<p>"Ah-h-h!" breathed Frank. "So that is where Ed Leland is hiding! The +secret retreat of the gloomy scientist!"</p> + +<p>He spoke half jestingly, yet when he squeezed his stalwart bulk +through the opening and flashed the beam of his light into the +darkness of a narrow passage ahead he was assailed with vague +forebodings. Tommy followed close behind and spoke not a word.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he passage floor was thick with dust, but the marks of many footsteps +going and returning gave mute evidence of the frequency of Leland's +visits. The air was heavy and oppressive and the temperature and +humidity increased as they progressed along the winding length of the +rock-walled passageway. The floor sloped, ever downward and, in spots, +was slippery with slimy seepage. It seemed that they turned back on +their course on several occasions but were descending deeper and +deeper into the heart of the mountain. Then, abruptly, the passage +ended at the mouth of a shaft, which dropped vertically from almost +beneath their feet.</p> + +<p>"Whew!" exclaimed Frank. "Another step and I'd have dropped into it. +That's probably what happened to Leland."</p> + +<p>He knelt at the rim of the circular opening and looked into the depths +of the pit, Tommy following suit. The feeble ray of the flashlight was +lost in the blackness below.</p> + +<p>"Say, Frank," whispered Tommy, "turn off the flash. I think I saw a +light down there."</p> + +<p>And, with the snapping of the catch, there came darkness. But, miles +below them, it seemed, there was a tiny pin-point of brilliance—an +eery green light that was like a wavering phosphorescence of +will-o'-the-wisp. For a moment it shone and was gone. Then came the +dreadful vibration they had experienced in the hall of the house—the +whistling scream that grew louder and louder until it seemed they +must be deafened. The penetrating wail rose from the depths of the +pit, and the vibration was all around them, in the damp rock floor on +which they knelt, and in the very air of the cavern. Hastily Frank +snapped on the light of his flash.</p> + +<p>"Oh boy!" he whispered. "Leland is certainly up to something down +there and no mistake! How're we going to get down?"</p> + +<p>"Get down?" asked Tommy. "You don't want to go down there, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Sure thing. We're this far now and, by George, we're going to find +out all there is to learn."</p> + +<p>"How deep do you suppose it is?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty deep, Tommy. But we can get an idea by dropping a stone and +counting the seconds until it strikes."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e played the light of the flash over the floor and soon located a +smooth round stone of the size of a baseball. This he tossed over the +rim of the pit and awaited results.</p> + +<p>"Good grief!" exclaimed Tommy. "It's not falling!"</p> + +<p>What he said was true, for the stone poised lightly over the opening +and drifted like a feather. Then slowly it moved, settling gradually +into oblivion. Frank turned the flash downward and they watched in +astonishment as the two-pound pebble floated deliberately down the +center of the shaft at the rate of not more than one foot in each +second.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll be doggoned," breathed Frank admiringly. "Leland has done +it. He has conquered gravity. For, in that pit at least, there is no +gravity, or at any rate not enough to mention. It has been almost +completely counteracted by some force he has discovered and now we +know how to follow him down there. Come on Tommy, let's go!"</p> + +<p>And, suiting action to his words, Frank jumped into the mouth of the +pit where he bobbed about for a moment as if he had jumped into a +pool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> of water. Then slowly he sank from view, and Tommy followed him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was a most unique experience, that drop into the heart of the +mountain. Practically weightless, the two young men found it quite +difficult to negotiate the passage. For the first hundred or more feet +they continued to bump about in the narrow shaft and each sustained +painful bruises before he learned that the best and simplest method of +accommodating himself to the strange condition was to remain +absolutely motionless and allow the greatly weakened gravity to take +its course. Each movement of an arm or leg was accompanied by a change +in direction of movement, and contact with the hard stone walls +followed. If they endeavored to push themselves from the contact the +result was likely to be an even more serious bump on the opposite side +of the shaft. So they continued the leisurely drop into the unknown +depth of the pit.</p> + +<p>Frank had turned off the flashlamp, for its battery was giving out and +he wished to conserve its remaining energy for eventualities. Thus +they were in Stygian darkness for nearly a half-hour, though the green +luminosity far beneath them grew stronger with each passing minute. It +now revealed itself as a clearly defined disc of light that flickered +and sputtered continually, frequently lighting the lower end of the +shaft with an unusual burst of brilliance. Remotely distant it seemed +though, and unconscionably slow in drawing nearer.</p> + +<p>"How far do you think we must drop?" called Tommy to Frank, who was +probably fifty feet below him in the shaft.</p> + +<p>"Well, I figure we have fallen about a thousand feet so far," came the +reply, "and my guess is that we are about one third of the way down."</p> + +<p>"Then this shaft is over a half-mile deep, you think?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, at least a thousand yards, I should say. And I hope his gravity +neutralizing machinery doesn't quit all of a sudden and let us down."</p> + +<p>"Me, too," called Tommy, who had not thought of that possibility.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>his was no joke, this falling into an unknown region so far beneath +the surface of good old mother earth, thought Tommy. And how they +would ever return was another thing that was not so funny. Frank was +always rushing into things like this without counting the possible +cost and—well—this might be the last time.</p> + +<p>Gradually the mysterious light became stronger and soon they could +make out the conformation of the rock walls they were passing at such +a snail's pace. Layers of vari-colored rock showed here and there, +and, at one point there was a stratum of gold-bearing or mica-filled +rock that glistened with a million reflections and re-reflections. The +air grew warmer and more humid as they neared the mysterious light +source. They moved steadily, without acceleration, and Frank estimated +the rate at about forty feet a minute. Then, with blinding suddenness, +the light was immediately below and they drifted into a tremendous +cavern that was illuminated by its glow.</p> + +<p>Directly beneath the lower end of the shaft through which they had +passed, there was a glowing disc of metal about fifteen feet in +diameter. They drifted to its surface and sprawled awkwardly where +they fell. Scrambling to gain a footing, they bounced and floated +about like toy balloons before realizing that it would be necessary to +creep slowly from the influence of that repelling force which had made +the long drop possible without injury. Gravity met them at the disc's +edge with what seemed to be unusual violence.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t first it seemed that their bodies weighed twice the normal amount, +but this feeling soon passed and they looked about them with +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>credulous amazement. The metal disc was quite evidently the medium +through which the repelling force was set up in the shaft, and to this +disc was connected a series of heavy cables that led to a pedestal +nearby. On the pedestal was a controlling lever and this moved over a +quadrant that was graduated in degrees, one end of the quadrant being +labeled "Up" and the other "Down." The lever now stood at a point but +a very few degrees from the center or "Zero" mark and on the down +side. Frank pulled this lever over to the full "Down" position and +they found that they could walk over the disc with normal gravity.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Frank, "that if the lever is at the other end of the +scale one would fall upward with full gravity acceleration—reversed. +At zero, gravity is exactly neutralized, and the intermediate +positions are useful in conveying materials or human beings up and +down the shaft as desired. Very clever; but what is the reason for it +all?"</p> + +<p>In the precise center of the great cavern there was a dome or +hemisphere of polished metal, and it was from this dome that the eery +light emanated. At times, when the light died down, this dome gleamed +with dull flickerings that threatened to vanish entirely. Then +suddenly it would resume full brilliance, and the sight was marvelous +beyond description. A slight hissing sound came from the direction of +the dome, and this varied in intensity as did the light.</p> + +<p>"Gosh!" said Tommy. "That looks like silver to me. And, if it is, what +a wealthy man our friend Leland has become. He has spent his fortune +well, even if he used it all to get to this."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but where is he?" commented Frank. Then: "Leland! Leland!" he +called.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is voice echoed through the huge vault and re-echoed hollowly. But +there was no reply save renewed flickerings from the dome.</p> + +<p>Leaving the vicinity of the gravity disc, the two men advanced in the +direction of the shining dome, which was about a quarter-mile from +where they stood. Both perspired freely, for the air was very close +and the temperature high. But the light of the dome was as cold as the +light of a firefly and they had no hesitancy in drawing near. It was a +beautiful sight, this dome of silver with its flickering lights and +perfect contour.</p> + +<p>"By George, I believe it <i>is</i> silver," exclaimed Frank, when they were +within a few feet of the dome. "No other metal has that precise color. +And look! There is a wheelbarrow and some mining tools. Leland has +been cutting away some of the material."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, there was indisputable evidence of the truth of his +statement. And the material was undoubtedly silver!</p> + +<p>"Silver Dome," breathed Tommy, holding a lump of the metal in his +hand. "A solid dome of pure silver—fifty feet high and a hundred in +diameter. How much does that figure in dollars and cents, Frank?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe it isn't solid," said Frank dryly, "though it's worth a +sizeable fortune even if it is hollow. And we haven't found Leland."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey circled the dome twice and looked into every corner of the great +cavern, but there was no sign of the man for whom they searched. The +wheelbarrow was half filled with lumps of the heavy metal, and maul +and drill lay where they had been dropped by the lone miner. A cavity +three feet across, and as many deep, appeared in the side of the dome +to show that considerably more than one wheelbarrow load had been +removed.</p> + +<p>"Funny," grunted Tommy. "Seems almost like the old dome had swallowed +him up."</p> + +<p>At his words there came the terrific vibration. The light of the dome +died out, leaving them in utter darkness, and from its interior there +rose the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> mounting scream that had frightened old Thomas away. From so +close by it was hideous, devastating; and the two men clung to each +other in fright, expecting momentarily that the earth would give way +beneath their feet and precipitate them into some terrible depth from +which there could be no return.</p> + +<p>Then the sound abruptly ceased and a gleam of light came from under +the dome of silver. A crack appeared between its lower edge and the +rocky floor of the cavern, and through this crack there shone a light +of dazzling brilliancy—a warm light of rosy hue. Wider grew the +opening until there was a full three feet between the floor and the +bottom of the dome. Impelled by some irresistible force from within, +the two men stumbled blindly to the opening, fell to the floor and +rolled inside.</p> + +<p>There was a heavy thud and the dome had returned to its normal +position, with Frank and Tommy prisoners within its spacious hollow. +The warm light bathed them with fearful intensity for a moment, then +faded to a rosy glow that dulled their senses and quieted their +nerves. Morpheus claimed them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen Frank awoke he found himself between silken covers, and for a +moment he gazed thoughtfully at a high arched ceiling that was +entirely unfamiliar. Then, remembering, he sprang from the downy bed +to his feet. The room, the furnishings, his silken robe, everything +was strange. His bed, he saw, was a high one, and the frame was of the +same gleaming silver as the dome under which they had been trapped. +The arched ceiling glowed softly with the same rosy hue as had the +inner surface of the dome. A large pool of water invited him, the +surface of the pool being no more than a foot below the point where it +was built into the tile floor of the room. A large open doorway +connected with a similar adjoining room, where he suspected Tommy had +been taken. On his bare toes, he moved silently to the other room and +saw that his guess had been correct. Tommy lay sleeping quietly +beneath covers as soft as his own and amidst equal luxury of +surroundings.</p> + +<p>"Well," he whispered, "this doesn't look as though we would come to +any harm. And I might as well take a dive in that pool."</p> + +<p>Returning to his own room, he removed the silken garment with which he +had been provided and was quietly immersed in the cool, invigorating +water of the bath. His head cleared instantly.</p> + +<p>"Hi there!" called Tommy from the doorway. "Why didn't you wake me up? +Where are we, anyway?"</p> + +<p>With dripping head and shoulders above the water, Frank was compelled +to laugh at the sleepy-eyed, wondering expression on the blue-jowled +face of his friend. "Thought you were dead to the world," he returned, +"you old sleepy-head. And I don't know where we are, excepting that it +is somewhere under the silver dome. What's more, I don't much care. +You should get into this water. It's great!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>o saying, he dived to the bottom of the pool and stood on his hands, +his feet waving ludicrously above the surface. Tommy sniffed once and +then made a quick dash for the pool in his own room. He was not to be +outdone by his more energetic partner.</p> + +<p>A half-hour later, shaved and attired in their own garments, which had +been cleaned and pressed and hung neatly in the closets, they settled +themselves for a discussion of the situation. Having tried the doors +of both rooms and found them locked from the outside, there was no +other course open to them. They must await developments.</p> + +<p>"Looks like Leland has quite an establishment down here inside the +mountain," ventured Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Hm!" snorted Frank, "this place is none of Leland's work. He is +prob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>ably a prisoner here, as are we. He just stumbled on to the +silver dome and was captured by whatever race is living down here +beneath it, the same as we were. Who the real inhabitants are, and +what the purpose of all this is, remains to be seen."</p> + +<p>"You think we are in friendly hands?"</p> + +<p>"These quarters do not look much like prison cells, Tommy, but I must +admit that we are locked in. Anyhow, I'm not worrying, and we will +soon learn our fate and have to be ready to meet it. The people who +own this place must have everything they want, and they sure have some +scientific knowledge that is not known to us on the surface."</p> + +<p>"Wonder if they are humans?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly they are. You never heard of wild beasts sleeping in beds +like these, did you?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>ommy laughed at he examined the exquisite hand-wrought figures on the +silver bedstead. "No, I didn't," he admitted; "but where on earth did +they come from, and what are they doing here?"</p> + +<p>"You ask too many questions," replied Frank, shrugging his broad +shoulders. "We must simply wait for the answers to reveal themselves."</p> + +<p>There was a soft rap at the door of Frank's room, where the two men +were talking.</p> + +<p>"Come in," called Frank, chuckling at the idea of such consideration +from their captors.</p> + +<p>A key rattled in the lock and the door swung open to admit the +handsomest man they had ever set eyes on. He was taller than Frank by +several inches, standing no less than six feet five in his thin-soled +sandals, and he carried himself with the air for an emperor. His +marble-white body was uncovered with the exception of a loin cloth of +silver hue, and lithe muscles rippled beneath his smooth skin as he +advanced to meet the prisoners. His head, surmounted by curly hair of +ebon darkness, was large, and his forehead high. The features were +classic and perfectly regular. The corners of his mouth drew upward in +a benign smile.</p> + +<p>"Greetings," he said, in perfect English and in a soft voice, "to the +domain of Theros. You need fear no harm from our people and will be +returned to the upper world when the time comes. We hope to make your +stay with us enjoyable and instructive, and that you will carry back +kind memories of us. The morning meal awaits you now."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>o taken aback were the two young Americans that they stared foolishly +agape for a space. Then a tinkling laugh from the tall stranger set +them once more at ease.</p> + +<p>"You will pardon us, I hope," apologized Frank, "but this is all so +unexpected and so unbelievable that your words struck me speechless. +And I know that my friend was similarly affected—We place ourselves +in your hands."</p> + +<p>The handsome giant nodded understanding. "No offense was taken," he +murmured, "since none was intended. And your feelings are not to be +wondered at. You may call me Orrin."</p> + +<p>He turned toward the open door and signified that they were to follow +him. They fell in at his side with alacrity, both suddenly realizing +that they were very hungry.</p> + +<p>They followed in silent wonderment as Orrin led the way to a broad +balcony that overlooked a great underground city—a city lighted by the +soft glow from some vast lighting system incorporated in its vaulted +ceiling high overhead. The balcony was many levels above the streets, +which were alive with active beings of similar appearance to Orrin, +these speeding hither and yon by means of the many lanes of traveling +ways of which the streets were composed. The buildings—endless rows of +them lining the orderly streets—were octagonal in shape and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> rose to +the height of about twenty stories, as nearly as could be judged by +earthly standards. There were no windows, but at about every fifth floor +there was an outer silver-railed balcony similar to the one on which +they walked. The air was filled with bowl-shaped flying ships that sped +over the roof tops in endless procession and without visible means of +support or propulsion. Yet the general effect of the busy scene was one +of precise orderliness, unmarred by confusion or distracting noises.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>rrin vouchsafed no explanations and they soon reentered the large +building of which the balcony was a part. Here they were conducted to +a sumptuously furnished dining room where their breakfast awaited +them.</p> + +<p>During the meal, which consisted of several courses of fruits and +cereals entirely strange to Frank and Tommy, they were tended by Orrin +with the utmost deference and most painstaking attention. He +anticipated their every want and their thoughts as well. For, when +Frank endeavored to ask one of the many questions with which his mind +was filled, he was interrupted by a wave of the hand and a smile from +their placid host.</p> + +<p>"It is quite clear to me that you have many questions to propound," +said Orrin, "and this is not a matter of wonder. But it is not +permitted that I enlighten you on the points you have in mind. You +must first finish your meal. Then it is to be my privilege to conduct +you to the presence of Phaestra, Empress of Theros, who will reveal +all. May I ask that you be patient until then?"</p> + +<p>So friendly was his smile and so polished his manner that they +restrained their impatience and finished the excellent breakfast in +polite silence.</p> + +<p>And Orrin was as good as his word, for, no sooner had they finished +when he led them from the room and showed the way to the elevator +which conveyed them to the upper floor of the building.</p> + +<p>From the silver-grilled cage of the lift they stepped into a room of +such beauty and magnificence of decoration that they gazed about them +in wondering admiration. The paneling and mouldings were of hammered +silver that gleamed with polished splendor in the soft rose glow of +the hidden lights. The hangings were of heavy plush of deep green hue +and bore intricate designs of silver thread woven into the material. +At the opposite side of the room there was a pair of huge double doors +of chased silver and on either side of this pretentious portal there +stood an attendant attired as was Orrin, but bearing a silver scepter +to denote his official capacity.</p> + +<p>"Phaestra awaits the visitors from above," intoned one of the +attendants. Both bowed stiffly from the waist when Orrin led the two +young scientists through the great doors which had opened silently and +majestically at their approach.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>f the outer room was astonishing in its sumptuousness of decoration +and furnishing, the one they now entered was positively breath-taking. +On every side there were the exquisite green and silver hangings. +Tables, divans, and rugs of priceless design and workmanship. But the +beauty of the surroundings faded into insignificance when they saw the +empress.</p> + +<p>A canopied dais in the center of the room drew their attention and +they saw that Phaestra had risen from her seat in a deeply cushioned +divan and now stood at its side in an attitude of welcome. Nearly as +tall as Frank, she was a figure of commanding and imperious beauty. +The whiteness of her body was accentuated by the silver embroidered +and tightly fitted black vestments that covered yet did not conceal +its charms. A halo of glorious golden hair surmounted a head that was +poised expectantly alert above the perfectly rounded shoulders. The +exquisite oval of her face was chiseled in features of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> transcendent +loveliness. She spoke, and, at sound of her musical voice, Frank and +Tommy were enslaved.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_g1.jpg" alt="G" width="69" height="50" /></div> +<p>entlemen of the upper world," she said gently, "you are welcome to +Theros. Your innermost thoughts have been recorded by our scientists +and found good. With a definite purpose in mind, you learned of the +existence of the silver dome of Theros, yet you came without greed or +malice and we have taken you in to enlighten you on the many questions +that are in your minds and to return you to mankind with a knowledge +of Theros—which you must keep secret. You are about to delve into a +mystery of the ages; to see and learn many things that are beyond the +ken of your kind. It is a privilege never before accorded to beings +from above."</p> + +<p>"We thank you, oh, Queen," spoke Frank humbly, his eyes rivetted to +the gaze of those violet orbs that seemed to see into his very soul. +Tommy mumbled some commonplace.</p> + +<p>"Orrin—the sphere!" Phaestra, slightly embarrassed by Frank's stare, +clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>At her command, Orrin, who had stood quietly by, stepped to the wall +and manipulated some mechanism that was hidden by the hangings. There +was a musical purr from beneath the floor, and, through a circular +opening which appeared as if by magic, there rose a crystal sphere of +some four feet in diameter. Slowly it rose until it reached the level +of their eyes and there it came to rest. The empress raised her hands +as if in invocation and the soft glow of the lights died down, leaving +them in momentary darkness. There came a slight murmur from the +sphere, and it lighted with the eery green flickerings they had +observed in the dome of silver.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>ascinated by the weaving lights within, they gazed into the depths of +the crystal with awed expectancy. Phaestra spoke.</p> + +<p>"Men from the surface," she said, "you, Frank Rowley, and you, Arnold +Thompson, are about to witness the powers of that hemisphere of metal +you were pleased to term 'Silver Dome.' As you rightly surmised, the +dome is of silver—mostly. There are small percentages of platinum, +iridium, and other elements, but it is more than nine-tenths pure +silver. To you of the surface the alloy is highly valuable for its +intrinsic worth by your own standards, but to us the value of the dome +lies in its function in revealing to us the past and present events of +our universe. The dome is the 'eye' of a complicated apparatus which +enables us to see and hear any desired happening on the surface of the +earth, beneath its surface, or on the many inhabited planets of the +heavens. This is accomplished by means of extremely complex vibrations +radiated from the hemisphere, these vibrations penetrating earth, +metals, buildings, space itself, and returning to our viewing and +sound reproducing spheres to reveal the desired past or present +occurrences at the point at which the rays of vibrations are directed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>n order to view the past on our own planet, the rays, which travel +at the speed of light, are sent out in a huge circle through space, +returning to earth after having spent the requisite number of years in +transit. Instantaneous effect is secured by a connecting beam that +ties together the ends of the enormous arc. This, of course, is beyond +your comprehension, since the Ninth Dimension is involved. When it is +desired that events of the present be observed, the rays are projected +direct. The future can not be viewed, since, in order to accomplish +this, it would be necessary that the rays travel at a speed greater +than that of light, which is manifestly impossible."</p> + +<p>"Great guns!" gasped Frank. "This crystal sphere then, is capable of +bringing to our eyes and ears the happenings of centuries past?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is, my dear Frank," said Phaestra, "and I would that I were able +to describe the process more clearly." She smiled, and in the +unearthly light of the sphere she appeared more beautiful than before, +if such a thing were possible.</p> + +<p>On the pedestal which supported the sphere there was a glittering +array of dials and levers. Several of these controls were now adjusted +by Phaestra, the delicate motions of her tapered fingers being watched +by the visitors with intense admiration. There came a change in the +note of the sphere, a steadying of the flickerings within.</p> + +<p>"Behold!" exclaimed Phaestra.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey gazed into the depths of the sphere and lost all sense of +detachment from the scene depicted therein. It seemed they were at a +point several thousand miles from the surface of a planet. A great +continent spread beneath them, its irregular shore line being clearly +outlined against a large body of water. Here and there the surface was +obscured by great white patches of clouds that cast their shadows +below.</p> + +<p>"Atlantis!" breathed Phaestra reverently.</p> + +<p>The lost continent of mythology! The fabled body of land that was +engulfed by the Atlantic thousands of years ago—a fact!</p> + +<p>Tommy glanced at Frank, noting that he had withdrawn his gaze from the +sphere and was devouring Phaestra with his eyes. As if drawn by the +ardor of his observation, she raised her own eyes from the sphere to +meet those of the handsome visitor. Obviously confused, she dropped +her long lashes and turned nervously to the controls. Tommy +experienced a sudden feeling of dread. Surely his pal was not falling +in love with this Theronian empress!</p> + +<p>Then there came another change in the note of the sphere and once more +they lost themselves in contemplation of the scene within. The surface +of the lost continent was rushing madly to meet them. With terrific +velocity they seemed to be falling. An involuntary gasp was forced +from Tommy's lips. Mountains, valleys, rivers could now be discerned.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen the scene shifted slightly and they were stationary, directly +above a large seacoast city. A city of great beauty it was, and its +buildings were of the same octagonal shape as were those of Theros! +There could be but one inference—the Theronians were direct +descendants of those inhabitants of ancient Atlantis.</p> + +<p>"Yes," sighed Phaestra, in answer to the thought she had read, "our +ancestors were those you now see in the streets of this city of +Atlantis. A marvelous race they were, too. When the rest of the world +was still savage and unenlightened, they knew more of the arts and +sciences than is known on the surface to-day. The mysteries of the +Fourth Dimension they had already solved. Their telescopes were of +such power that they knew of the existence of intelligent beings on +Mars and Venus. They had conquered the air. They knew of the relation +between gravity and magnetism but recently propounded by your +Einstein. They were prosperous, happy. Then—but watch!"</p> + +<p>Faint sounds of the life of the city came to their ears. A swarm of +monoplanes roared past just beneath them. The streets were crowded +with rapidly moving vehicles, the roof-tops with air-craft. Then +suddenly the scene darkened; a deep rumbling came from the sea. As +they watched in fascinated wonder, a great chasm opened up through the +heart of the city. Tall buildings swayed and crumbled, falling into +heaps of twisted metal and crushed masonry and burying hundreds of the +populace in their fall. The confusion was indescribable, the uproar +terrific, and within the space of a very few minutes the entire city +was a mass of ruins, fully half of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> wrecked area having been +swallowed up by the heaving waters of the ocean.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>haestra stifled a sob. "Thus it began," she stated. "Trovus was +first—the city you just saw—then came three more of the cities of +the western coast in rapid succession. Computations of the scientists +showed that the upheaval was widespread and that the entire continent +was to be engulfed in a very short time. The exodus began, but it was +too late, and only a few hundred people were able to escape the +continent before it was finally destroyed. The ocean became the tomb +of two hundred millions. The handful of survivors reached the coast of +what is now North America. But the rigors of the climate proved severe +and more than three-quarters of them perished within a few days after +their planes landed. Then the rest took to the caves along the shore, +and for a while were safe."</p> + +<p>She manipulated the controls once more and there was a quick shift to +another coast, a rugged, wave-beaten shore. Closer they drew until +they observed a lofty palisade that extended for miles along the +barren waterfront. They saw a fire atop this elevation and active men +and women at various tasks within the narrow circle of its warmth. A +cave mouth opened at the brink of the precipice near the spot they +occupied.</p> + +<p>Then came a repetition of the upheaval at Trovus. The ocean rushed in +and beat against the cliff with such ferocity that its spray was +tossed hundreds of feet in the air. The earth shook and the group of +people around the fire made a hasty retreat to the mouth of the cave. +The sky darkened and the winds howled with demoniac fury. Quake after +quake rent the rugged cliffs: huge sections toppled into the angry +waters. Then a great tidal wave swept in and covered everything, +cliffs, cave mouths and all. Nought remained where they had been but +the seething waters.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b1.jpg" alt="B" width="64" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut some escaped!" exulted Phaestra, "and these discovered Theros. +Though many miles of the eastern seaboard of your United States were +submerged and the coastline entirely altered, these few were saved. +Their cave connected with a long passage, a tunnel that led into the +bowels of the earth. With the outer entrance blocked by the upheaval +they had no alternative save to continue downward."</p> + +<p>"They traveled for days and days. Some were overcome by hunger and +fell by the wayside. The most hardy survived to reach Theros, a series +of enormous caverns that extends for hundreds of miles under the +surface of your country. Here they found subterranean lakes of pure +water; forests, game. They had a few tools and weapons and they +established themselves in this underground world. From that small +beginning came this!"</p> + +<p>Phaestra's slim fingers worked rapidly at the controls. The scenes +shifted in quick succession. They were once more in the present, and +seemed to be traveling speedily through the underground reaches of +Theros. Now they were racing through a long lighted passage; now over +a great city similar to the one in which they had arrived. Here they +visited a huge workshop or laboratory; there a mine where radium or +cobalt or platinum was being wrested from the vitals of the unwilling +earth. Then they visited a typical Theronian household, saw the +perfect peace and happiness in which the family lived. Again they were +in a large power plant where direct application of the internal heat +of the earth as obtained through deep shafts bored into the interior +was utilized in generating electricity.</p> + +<p>They saw vast quantities of supplies, fifty-ton masses of machinery, +moved from place to place as lightly as feathers by use of the gravity +discs, those heavily charged plates whose emanations counteracted the +earth's attraction. In one busy laboratory they saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> an immense +television apparatus and heard scientists discussing moot questions +with inhabitants of Venus, whose images were depicted on the screen. +They witnessed a severe electrical storm in the huge cavern arch over +one of the cities, a storm that condensed moisture from the +artificially oxygenated and humidified atmosphere in such blinding +sheets as to easily explain the necessity for well-roofed buildings in +the underground realm. And, in all the speech and activities of the +Theronians, there was evident that all-pervading feeling of absolute +contentment and freedom from care.</p> + +<p>"What I can not understand," said Frank, during a quiet interval, "is +why the Theronians have never migrated to the surface. Surely, with +all your command of science and mechanics, that would be easy."</p> + +<p>"Why? Why?" Phaestra's voice spoke volumes. "Here—I'll show you the +reason."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd again the scene in the sphere changed. They were on the surface +and a few years in the past—at Chateau Thierry. They saw their fellow +men mangled and broken; saw human beings shot down by hundreds in +withering bursts of machine-gun fire; saw them in hand-to-hand bayonet +fights; gassed and in delirium from the horror of it all.</p> + +<p>They traveled over the ocean; saw a big passenger liner the victim of +torpedo fire; saw babies tossed into the water by distracted mothers +who jumped in after them to join them in death.</p> + +<p>A few years were passed by and they saw gang wars in Chicago and New +York; saw militia and picketing strikers in mortal combat; saw wealthy +brokers and bank presidents turn pistols on themselves following a +crash in the stock market; government officials serving penitentiary +terms for betrayal of the people's trust; opium dens, speakeasies, sex +crimes. It was a fearful indictment.</p> + +<p>"Ah, no," said Phaestra kindly, "the surface world has not yet emerged +from savagery. We should be unwelcome were we to venture outside. And +now we come to the reason for your visit. You come in search of one +Edwin Leland, a fellow worker at one time. Your motives are above +reproach. But Leland came as a greedy searcher of riches. We brought +him within to teach him the error of his ways and to beg him to desist +from his efforts at destroying the dome of silver. He alone knew the +secret."</p> + +<p>"Then you followed him and we took you in for similar reasons, though +our scientists found very quickly that your mental reactions were of +entirely different type from Leland's and that the secret would be +safe in your keeping. Leland remains obdurate. He threatens us with +physical violence, and his reactions to the thought-reading machines +are of the most treacherous sort. We must keep him with us. He shall +remain unharmed, but he must not be allowed to return. That is the +story. You two are free to leave when you choose. I ask not that you +give your word to keep the secret of 'Silver Dome.' I know it is not +necessary."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he lights had resumed their normal glow, and the marvelous sphere +returned to its receptacle beneath the floor. Phaestra resumed her +seat on the canopied divan. Frank dropped to a seat on the edge of the +dais. Tommy and Orrin remained standing, Tommy lost in thought and +Orrin stolidly mute. The empress avoided Frank's gaze studiously. Her +cheeks were flushed; her eyes bright with emotion.</p> + +<p>Frank was first to break the silence. "Leland is in solitary +confinement?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"For the present he is under guard," replied Phaestra. "He was quite +violent and it was necessary to disarm him after he had killed one of +my attendants with a shot from his automatic pistol. When he agrees to +sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>mit peacefully, he shall be given the freedom of Theros for the +remainder of his life."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," suggested Frank, "if I spoke to him...."</p> + +<p>"The very thing." Phaestra thanked him with her wondrous eyes.</p> + +<p>A high pitched note rang out from behind the hangings, and, in rapid +syllables of the language of Theros, a voice broke forth from the +concealed amplifiers. Orrin, startled from his stoicism, sprang to the +side of his empress. She rose from her seat as the voice completed its +excited message.</p> + +<p>"It is Leland," she said calmly. "He has escaped and recovered his +pistol. I have been told that he is now at large in the palace, +terrorizing the household. We have no weapons here, you see."</p> + +<p>"Good God!" shouted Frank. "Suppose he should come here?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e jumped to his feet just as a shot rang out in the antechamber. +Orrin dashed to the portal when a second shot spat forth from the +automatic which must certainly be in the hands of a madman. The doors +swung wide and Leland, hair disarranged and bloodshot eyes staring, +burst into the room. Orrin went down at the next shot and the hardly +recognizable scientist advanced toward the dais.</p> + +<p>When he saw Frank and Tommy he stopped in his tracks. "So you two have +been following me!" he snarled. "Well, you won't keep me from my +purpose. I'm here to kill this queen of hell!"</p> + +<p>Once more he raised his automatic, but Frank had been watching closely +and he literally dove from the steps of the dais to the knees of the +deranged Leland. As beautiful a tackle as he had ever made in his +college football days laid the maniac low with a crashing thud that +told of a fractured skull. The bullet intended for Phaestra went wide, +striking Tommy in the shoulder.</p> + +<p>Spun half way around by the impact of the heavy bullet, Tommy fought +to retain his balance. But his knees went suddenly awry and gave way +beneath him. He crumpled helplessly to the floor, staring foolishly at +the prostrate figure of Leland and at Frank, who had risen to his feet +and now faced the beautiful empress of Theros. Strange lights danced +before Tommy's eyes, and he found it difficult to keep the pair in +focus. But he was sure of one thing—his pal was unharmed. Then the +two figures seemed to merge into one and he blinked his eyes rapidly +to clear his failing vision. By George, they were in each other's +arms! Funny world—above or below—it didn't seem to make any +difference. But it was a tough break for Frank—morganatic marriage +and all that. No chance—well—</p> + +<p>Tommy succumbed to his overpowering drowsiness.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he awakening was slow, but not painful. Rather there was a feeling of +utter contentment, of joy at being alive. A delicious languor pervaded +Tommy's being as he turned his head on a snow white silken pillow and +stared at the figure of the white-capped nurse who was fussing with +the bottles and instruments that lay on an enameled table beside the +bed. Memory came to him immediately. He felt remarkably well and +refreshed. Experimentally he moved his left shoulder. There was +absolutely no pain and it felt perfectly normal. He sat erect in his +surprise and felt the shoulder with his right hand. There was no +bandage, no wound. Had he dreamed of the hammer blow of that +forty-five caliber bullet?</p> + +<p>His nurse, observing that her patient had recovered consciousness, +broke forth in a torrent of unintelligible Theronian, then rushed from +the room.</p> + +<p>He was still examining his unscarred shoulder in wonder, when the +nurse returned, with Frank Rowley at her heels. Frank laughed at the +expression of his friend's face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's wrong, old-timer?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why—I—thought that fool of a Leland had shot me in the shoulder," +stammered Tommy, "but I guess I dreamed it. Where are we? Still in +Theros?"</p> + +<p>"We are." Frank sobered instantly, and Tommy noted with alarm that his +usually cheerful features were haggard and drawn and his eyes hollow +from loss of sleep. "And you didn't dream that Leland shot you. That +shoulder of yours was mangled and torn beyond belief. He was using +soft nosed bullets, the hell-hound!"</p> + +<p>"Then how—?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="70" height="50" /></div> +<p>ommy, these Theronians are marvelous. We rushed you to this hospital +and a half-dozen doctors started working on you at once. They repaired +the shattered bones by an instantaneous grafting process, tied the +severed veins and arteries and closed the gaping wound by filling it +with a plastic compound and drawing the edges together with clamps. +You were anaesthetized and some ray machine was used to heal the +shoulder. This required but ten hours and they now say that your arm +is as good as ever. How does it feel?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly natural. In fact I feel better than I have in a month." +Tommy observed that the nurse had left the room and he jumped from his +bed and capered like a school boy.</p> + +<p>This drew no sign of merriment from Frank, and Tommy scrutinized him +once more in consternation. "And you," he said, "what is wrong with +you?"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about me," replied Frank impatiently. Then, irrelevantly, +he said "Leland's dead."</p> + +<p>"Should be. I knew we shouldn't have started out to help him. But, +Frank, I'm concerned about you. You look badly." Tommy was getting +into his clothes as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Forget it, Tommy. You've been sleeping for two days, you know—part +of the cure—and I haven't had much rest during that time. That is +all."</p> + +<p>"It's that Phaestra woman," Tommy accused him.</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps. But I'll get over it, I suppose. Tommy, I love her. +But there's no chance for me. Haven't seen her since the row in the +palace. Her council surrounds her continually and I have been advised +to-day that we are to be returned as quickly as you are up and around. +That means immediately now."</p> + +<p>"Good. The sooner the better. And you just forget about this queen as +soon as you are able. She's a peach, of course, but not for you. +There's lots more back in little old New York." But Frank had no reply +to this sally.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here came a knock at the door and Tommy called, "Come in."</p> + +<p>"I see you have fully recovered," said the smiling Theronian who +entered at the bidding, "and we are overjoyed to know this. You have +the gratitude of the entire realm for your part in the saving of our +empress from the bullets of the madman."</p> + +<p>"I?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. You and your friend. And now, may I ask, are you ready to return +to your own land?"</p> + +<p>Tommy stared. "Sure thing," he said, "or rather, I will be in a few +minutes."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. We shall await you in the transmitting room." The +Theronian bowed and was gone.</p> + +<p>"Well, I like that," said Tommy. "He hands me an undeserved compliment +and then asks how soon we can beat it. A 'here's your hat, what's your +hurry' sort of thing."</p> + +<p>"It's me they're anxious to be rid of," remarked Frank, shrugging his +broad shoulders, "and perhaps it is just as well."</p> + +<p>"You bet it is!" agreed Tommy enthusiastically, "and I'm in favor of +making it good and snappy." He completed his toilet as rapidly as +possible and then turned to face the down-hearted Frank.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How do we go? The way we came?" he asked.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n1.jpg" alt="N" width="76" height="50" /></div> +<p>o, Tommy. They have closed off the shaft that led from the cavern of +the silver dome. They are taking no more chances. It seems that the +shaft down which we floated was constructed by the Theronians; not by +Leland. They had used it and the gravity disc to transport casual +visitors to the surface, who occasionally mixed with our people in +order to learn the languages of the upper world and to actually touch +and handle the things they were otherwise able to see only through the +medium of Silver Dome and the crystal spheres. Further visits to the +surface are now forbidden, and we are to be returned by a remarkable +process of beam transmission of our disintegrated bodies."</p> + +<p>"Disintegrated?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It seems they have learned to dissociate the atoms of which the +human body is composed and to transmit them to any desired point over +a beam of etheric vibrations, then to reassemble them in the original +living condition."</p> + +<p>"What? You mean to say we are to be shot to the surface through the +intervening rock and earth? Disintegrated and reintegrated? And we'll +not even be bent, let alone busted?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>his time he was rewarded by a laugh. "That's right. And I have gone +through the calculations with one of the Theronian engineers and can +find no flaw in the scheme. We're safe in their hands."</p> + +<p>"If you say so, Frank, it's okay with me. Let's go!"</p> + +<p>Reluctantly his friend lifted his athletic bulk from the chair. In +silence he led the way to the transmitting room of the Theronian +scientists.</p> + +<p>Here they were greeted by two savants with whom Frank was already +acquainted, Clarux and Rhonus by name. A bewildering array of complex +mechanisms was crowded into the high-ceilinged chamber and, prominent +among them, was one of the crystal spheres, this one of somewhat +smaller size than the one in the palace of Phaestra.</p> + +<p>"Where do you wish to arrive?" asked Clarux.</p> + +<p>"As near to my automobile as possible," replied Frank, taking sudden +interest in the proceedings. "It is parked in the lane between +Leland's house and the road."</p> + +<p>Tommy looked quickly in his direction, encouraged by the apparent +change in his attitude. The scientists proceeded to energize the +crystal sphere. They were bent upon speeding the parting guests. Their +beloved empress was to be saved from her own emotions.</p> + +<p>Quick adjustments of the controls resulted in the locating of Frank's +car, which was still buried to its axles in snow. The scene included +Leland's house, or rather its site, for it appeared to have been +utterly demolished by some explosion within.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>ommy raised questioning eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"It was necessary," explained Rhonus, "to destroy the house in +obliterating all traces of our former means of egress. It has been +commanded that you two be returned safely, and we are authorized to +trust implicitly in your future silence regarding the existence of +Theros. This is satisfactory, I presume?"</p> + +<p>Both Tommy and Frank nodded agreement.</p> + +<p>"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked Clarux, who was adjusting a +mechanism that resembled a huge radio transmitter. Its twelve giant +vacuum tubes glowed into life as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"We are," chimed the two visitors.</p> + +<p>They were requested to step to a small circular platform that was +raised about a foot from the floor by means of insulating legs. Above +the table there was an inverted bowl of silver in the shape of a large +parabolic reflector.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There will be no alarming sensations," averred Clarux. "When I close +the switch the disintegrating energy from the reflector above will +bathe your bodies for a moment in visible rays of a deep purple hue. +You may possibly experience a slight momentary feeling of nausea. +Then—presto!—you have arrived."</p> + +<p>"Shoot!" growled Frank from his position on the stand.</p> + +<p>Clarux pulled the switch and there was a murmur as of distant thunder. +Tommy blinked involuntarily in the brilliant purple glow that +surrounded him. Then all was confusion in the transmitting room. +Somebody had rushed through the open door shouting, "Frank! Frank!" It +was the empress Phaestra.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>n a growing daze Tommy saw her dash to the platform, seize Frank in a +clutch of desperation. There was a violent wrench as if some monster +were twisting at his vitals. He closed his eyes against the blinding +light, then realized that utter silence had followed the erstwhile +confusion. He sat in Frank's car—alone.</p> + +<p>The journey was over, and Frank was left behind. With awful finality +it came to him that there was nothing he could do. It was clear that +Phaestra had wanted his pal, needed him—come for him. From the fact +that Frank remained behind it was evident that she had succeeded in +retaining him. A sickening fear came to Tommy that she had been too +late; that Frank's body was already partly disintegrated and that he +might have paid the price of her love with his life. But a little +reflection convinced him that if this were the case a portion of his +friend's body would have reached the intended destination. Then, +unexplainably, he received a mental message that all was well.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>onsiderably heartened, he pressed the starter button and the cold +motor of Frank's coupe turned over slowly, protestingly. Finally it +coughed a few times, and, after considerable coaxing by use of the +choke, ran smoothly. He proceeded to back carefully through the drifts +toward the road, casting an occasional regretful glance in the +direction of the demolished mansion.</p> + +<p>He would have some explaining to do when he returned to New York. +Perhaps—yes, almost certainly, he would be questioned by the police +regarding Frank's disappearance. But he would never betray the trust +of Phaestra. Who indeed would believe him if he told the story? +Instead, he would concoct a weird fabrication regarding an explosion +in Leland's laboratory, of his own miraculous escape. They could not +hold him, could not accuse him of murder without producing a body—the +<i>corpus delicti</i>, or whatever they called it.</p> + +<p>Anyway, Frank was content. So was Phaestra.</p> + +<p>Tommy swung the heavy car into the road and turned toward New York, +alone and lonely—but somehow happy; happy for his friend.</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_009.jpg" width="600" height="185" alt="ASTOUNDING STORIES + +Appears on Newsstands + +THE FIRST THURSDAY IN EACH MONTH" /> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_010.jpg" width="500" height="546" alt="Closer and closer they came." /> +<span class="caption">Closer and closer they came.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="Earth_the_Marauder" id="Earth_the_Marauder"></a>Earth, the Marauder</h2> + +<h4>PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL</h4> +<h2><i>By Arthur J. Burks</i></h2> + +<p class="p1">WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE</p> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Earth was dying. Ever since Sarka the First, king of scientists, +had given mankind the Secret of Life, which prolonged life +indefinitely, the Earthlings had multiplied beyond all count, and been +forced to burrow deep into the ground and high into the air in the +desperate search for the mere room in which to live. There was much +civil war. The plight of the children of men was desperate. Something +had to be done.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_011.jpg" width="500" height="587" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Then Sarka the Third called the Spokesmen of the Gens of Earth around +him, and proposed to them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> a new scheme which had come to him in his +laboratory atop the Himalayas. He would swing the Earth from its +orbit!—send it careening through space toward the Moon!—there to +destroy its inhabitants and supplant them with a colony of Earthlings! +And then they would surge on to Mars!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Deep in the gnome-infested tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and +Jaska are brought to Luar, the radiant goddess against whose minions +the marauding Earth had struck in vain.</div> + +<p>One by one the twelve Spokesmen, each the head and representative of +the teeming trillions comprising his Gens, acceded. Even Dalis, the +jealous rival of Sarka, finally gave his sulky consent.</p> + +<p>So, under Sarka's commands, the Earth's hordes were mobilized; and in +tune with the Master Beryl in Sarka's laboratory all the Beryls of the +Earth vibrated, freeing the Earth from her age-old orbit and swinging +her out towards the Moon.</p> + +<p>The Gens of Dalis—the trillions of people who swore allegiance to +him—would lead the attack on the Moon. When within fifty thousand +miles, they darted out, clad only in their tight green clothing and +the helmets that held the anti-gravitational ovoids,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> which +neutralized gravity for them and enabled them to instantly fly where +they willed. Their only weapons were hand atom-disintegrators. And out +from the Moon came mysterious aircars, with long clutching +tentacles—the weapons of the Moon's minions! The war of the worlds +was begun!</p> + +<p>Yet Dalis, leader of the Gens that now engaged the Moon's aircars, was +still in the laboratory with Sarka. For Dalis' treacherous mind +coveted control of the Earth, and though the urge to lead his Gens +into battle was tremendous, still he stayed, watching Sarka closely, +waiting for the moment when he could trick Sarka and assume control.</p> + +<p>And at the head of the Gens of Dalis was a woman, Jaska, whom Sarka +loved. The Moon's aircars swept away the Gens of Dalis, and out from +Earth poured the Gens of Cleric, who was Jaska's father. The newcomers +fought desperately to save Jaska from the deadly clutches of the +aircars.</p> + +<p>Dalis could stand it no longer. He sped forth from the laboratory, to +reorganize his beaten Gens. Jaska flew for home; but behind her a +single aircar, splashed with crimson, reached forth its tentacles to +clutch her—and Sarka groaned with the agony of his impotence to help +the woman he loved.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> +<h4><i>Escape—and Dalis' Laughter</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut Sarka was not to be so easily beaten. There still remained an +infinite number of possible changes of speed by manipulation of ovidum +by vibration set up by the Beryls, without which this flight from the +beginning would have been impossible. But for two hours, while the +white robed men of Cleric fought against the car of the crimson +splashes to prevent the capture of the daughter of their +Spokesman—and died by hundreds in the grip of those grim +tentacles—Sarka was forced to labor with the Beryls until +perspiration bathed his whole body and his heart was heavy as he +foresaw failure. And failure meant death or worse for Jaska.</p> + +<p>But at the end of two hours, while the men of Cleric fought like men +inspired against the aircar of the crimson slashes, a cessation in the +outward speed of the earth could be noted. At the end of three hours +the body of Jaska, all this time fighting manfully to attain to +landing place on the Earth, was at last bulking larger; but the +tentacles of the aircar were groping after her, reaching for her, +striving to catch and clasp her to her death.</p> + +<p>The two Sarkas watched and prayed while the might of the Beryls, +traveling at top speed, fought against the force of whatever was used +by the Moon-men to compel the Moon to withdraw. Still the men of +Cleric fought that single car, and died by hundreds in the fighting. +White robed figures which became shriveled and black in the grip of +those tentacles.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>ountless of the men of Cleric deliberately cast themselves against +those tentacles, throwing their lives away to give Jaska more leeway +in her race for life.</p> + +<p>"Will she make it, father?" queried Sarka in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"If the courage and loyalty of her people stand for anything, she will +make it," he replied.</p> + +<p>On she came at top speed, and now through the micro-telescopes the +Sarkas could see the agony of effort on her face, even through the +smooth mask used by the people of Earth for flight in space where +there was no atmosphere. Courage was there, and the will of +never-say-die; and Jaska, moreover, was coming back to the man she +loved. In a nebulous sort of way Sarka realized this, for though these +two had not mated there was a resonant inner sympathy between them +which had rounded into an emotion of overpowering force since Jaska +had proved to Sarka that she was to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> trusted—that he had been +something less than a faithful lover when he had mistrusted her, ever +so little.</p> + +<p>Closer now and closer, and at last the aircar of the crimson splashes +was drawing away, losing in the race for life. It was falling back, as +though minded to turn about and race back for the Moon, now a ball in +the sky, far away, the outlines of its craters growing dim and misty +with distance. Now the men of Cleric, those who remained, were +breaking contact with the aircar, and forming a valiant rear-guard for +the retreat of Jaska.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hroughout the Earth, as the Beryls fought with ever increasing speed +to lower the rate of the earth's outward race from the Moon, was such +a trembling, such a vibration induced by conflicting, alien forces as +there had not been even in that moment when back there in its orbit, +the Earth could have either been kept within its orbit, or hurled +outward into space at the touch of a finger.</p> + +<p>Now Jaska, surrounded by her father's men, was almost close enough to +touch the Earth.</p> + +<p>She made it, weak and weary, and rested for a moment while her +father's men steadied her. Then, thrusting them aside, with gestures +bidding them return to their Gens, she lifted into the air again, and +fled straight for the laboratory of Sarka.</p> + +<p>She entered tiredly through the exit dome, and all but collapsed into the +arms of Sarka. Gently he removed her helmet of the anti-gravitational +ovoid, noting as she leaned against him the tumultuous beating of her +heart. Then her gentle eyes opened and she whispered to Sarka.</p> + +<p>"You trust me now?"</p> + +<p>For answer he bent and kissed her softly on the lips—for the kiss, +from the far distant time when the first baby was kissed by the first +mother, had been the favored caress of mankind. Her face was +transfigured as she read his answer in his eyes, and the touch of his +lips. Then, remembering, fear flashed across her face. She +straightened, and grasping Sarka by the hand, hurried with him into +the observatory.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>he took the seat in which Dalis had sat before he had gone out to the +command of his Gens, studied for many minutes the battle in space +between the two alien worlds.</p> + +<p>"Dalis is winning," said the Elder Sarka quietly, "apparently!"</p> + +<p>"The qualification is a just one," said Jaska softly. "'Apparently,' +indeed! You will note now that, though men of the Gens of Dalis swarm +all about the aircars, and even clamber atop them, no more are dying +in the grasp of those tentacles? Is Dalis arranging a treacherous +truce with the Moon-men?"</p> + +<p>"I have been wondering about that," said Sarka softly, "for it is my +belief that nothing not conducive to his own selfish interests would +have forced Dalis to leave this place and take command of his Gens, as +I had first ordered, unless he had schemes planned of which father and +I could know nothing. Now that I think of it, Jaska, how did Dalis +know our secret code of fingers?"</p> + +<p>Jaska started, and turned a blanched face to Sarka.</p> + +<p>"<i>Did</i> he know?" she cried. "Did he? If he did that proves a suspicion +that I have entertained since the first moment when Dalis swept into +the fight, and I sensed that alien signals were being flashed back and +forth!"</p> + +<p>"Flashed back and forth!" ejaculated Sarka. "How do you mean? That +Dalis was somehow able to communicate with the Moon-men in their own +language, or through their own signals?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w1.jpg" alt="W" width="106" height="50" /></div> +<p>hy not? He knew our secret code, did he not? I never gave it to him, +and I know that you did not. No, Dalis has some means, never +discovered or suspected by you Sarkas, whereby he is able to +under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>stand alien tongues and alien sign manuals!"</p> + +<p>"That means," said Sarka the Elder in a dead voice, "that by forcing +Dalis to go out at the head of his Gens...."</p> + +<p>"We have," interrupted Sarka the Younger, "placed a new weapon of +treason in his hands! Dalis, at the very moment of contact with the +aircars, loaded with Moon-men, broke in on their signals—they must +have had some means of signalling one another—and communicated with +them in their own way! Do you think it possible that, with all his +Gens, he may go over to the Moon-men, form an alliance with them?"</p> + +<p>For many moments no one dared to answer the question; yet, from what +the Sarkas knew of him, it was not impossible at all. For Dalis was +the master egotist always, and never overlooked opportunity to gain +something for himself.</p> + +<p>It was Jaska who broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"Did you note carefully," she said, "those aircars which were +partially destroyed by our ray directors and atom-disintegrators?"</p> + +<p>The Sarkas nodded.</p> + +<p>"Did you note that no men, formed like our own, no creatures of any +sort whatever, fell from the cars?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>gain the awesome silence, and the keen brains of the Sarkas wrestled +with this vague hint of the uncanny.</p> + +<p>"You mean, Jaska ... you mean...."</p> + +<p>"That the occupants of aircars are part of the cars, but—Beings of +the Moon! That they are either metal monsters endowed with brains or +tiny creatures irrevocably attached to the cars themselves!"</p> + +<p>"But how," said Sarka at last, "are we to be sure? I can understand +what Dalis might do if the Moon-men granted his wish for an alliance +with them. It is easy to understand why his Gens would follow his +lead, for with the Moon forced outward from the Earth faster than his +Gens could retreat, there is but one direction for his Gens to +go—toward the Moon! They would go to the Moon as captives and trust +the keen brain of Dalis to gain the mastery, sooner or later, over the +Moon-men. And then...."</p> + +<p>"And then—?" repeated Sarka the Elder.</p> + +<p>"Then, Dalis has already been inspired by the speed with which those +aircars travel! You will remember that he did not take kindly to +leaving the Earth and making his abode on some other planet! But why +could he not do so, combine forces and knowledge with the people of +that planet—and then return to Earth in alliance with them?—after we +have depleted our forces by placing a large portion of our people on +Mars and Venus and Saturn?"</p> + +<p>"Sarka, my son," said Sarka's father, "before we continue with our +flight to Mars, we must know the truth! We must somehow learn exactly +what is going on on the Moon! If you could reach the Moon, alone, +undetected, and bring back a report...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or a moment he left it there, and the faces of all three were gray +with worry and abysmal fear.</p> + +<p>"I can't go bodily, father," said Sarka at last, "but you remember my +secret exit dome, to the right of the observatory, from which I have +never yet dared exit from this place for fear that it might cost me my +life?"</p> + +<p>Sarka the Elder nodded, while Jaska looked puzzled. Another evidence +of the fact that Sarka had not always trusted her, for she knew +nothing of a secret exit dome. Sarka's eyes, as he looked at Jaska, +mutely asked her forgiveness, which she gave him with her smile.</p> + +<p>"I remember, son, and now?..."</p> + +<p>"Surely it is worth risking one's life to know what new menace looms +over the children of men!"</p> + +<p>"What is the use of this secret dome?" asked Jaska softly.</p> + +<p>"It is merely an elaboration of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> regular exit dome, combined with +certain phases of our atom-distintegrators, and the principle involved +in the anti-gravitational ovoids. I step into the secret exit dome, +garbed for flight Outside, and will myself to appear bodily in a +certain place. It is instantaneous. I step into the dome, for +example, and will myself to appear whole upon the Moon, and there I +will appear!"</p> + +<p>"You mean that during the period of transposition you are invisible?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, invisible because non-existent, except for the essential +elements of me, broken down by the secret exit dome, reassembled at +the place willed in their entirety! I can't fly there, for a million +eyes would see me approach! I must go in secret, as a spy, and wearing +the clothing and insignia of a member of the Gens of Dalis!"</p> + +<p>Silence in the observatory for a brief breathing space, and then Jaska +spoke that speech out of the books of antiquity, which remains the +classic expression of loyalty.</p> + +<p>"Whithersoever thou goest, there will I go also!"</p> + +<p>From the laboratory came a sudden burst of laughter, the laughter +which all three recognized as the laughter of Dalis; but when they +entered the place of the Revolving Beryl, there was no one there—and +a feeling of dread, all encompassing, held them thralled for the space +of several heart-beats. Dalis, they knew, was thousands of miles away, +upon the Moon; yet here in the place of the Master Beryl they all +three had just heard his sardonic laughter!</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> +<h4><i>Ashes of the Moon</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hrough the micro-telescopes it was possible to see what had happened +after Dalis had assumed command of the Gens of Dalis. For even though +the Moon, in spite of the speed of the Beryls, was being forced +further and further from the Earth, the eyes of the micro-telescopes +picked out and enlarged details to such an extent that the battle +seemed to be transpiring under the eyes of the beholders.</p> + +<p>A terrific jumble, in which Earthlings and aircars were all tumbled +together in mad chaos, a great mass of writhing, green-garbed figures. +Infinite in number—in the midst of which were the gigantic aircars, +like monster beetles being beset by armies upon armies of ants.</p> + +<p>Then, by the time Jaska had seated herself in the observatory atop the +Himalayas, to watch what developed, the battle seemed to be over, and +the Moon-men had won. For the huge cars swung around between the +myriads of the Gens of Dalis, and seemed to be herding them toward the +Moon, as though they were prisoners.</p> + +<p>Telepathically, Sarka and his father had been able to catch some hint +of the thoughts of the Earthlings in the battle, and these thoughts +had been tinged with doubt, fear and horror, so that even thus to +receive them, by mental telepathy, was to feel the searing heat of +their fear.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>ow, in the instant when the battle in Space seemed to be over and the +Gens of Dalis were prisoners, the thought waves were no more, and a +brooding silence took their place. Dalis, the Sarkas knew, possessed +the power to mask his thoughts, for it was a power possessed in common +by all the scientists of Earth. But the common people of his Gens did +not posses that power. However, for the moment Sarka had forgotten an +all important something: that, when people were outside the roof of +the world, they were subservient to the will of a common commander to +whom they had sworn allegiance.</p> + +<p>If, therefore, Dalis could mask his own thoughts from the brains of +men, he could also mask the thoughts of the people of his Gens, merely +by willing it! So Sarka and his father and Jaska<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> could not know +whether the Gens of Dalis had gone over in a body with him, in a truce +with the people of the Moon, or whether they were dual prisoners—of +Dalis and of the Moon-men!</p> + +<p>More than ever was it necessary for someone to somehow reach the Moon +and make a thorough investigation, discover just what Dalis was doing, +what mischief he was hatching.</p> + +<p>The secret exit dome seemed to be the answer.</p> + +<p>"You can manage without me, father?" asked Sarka.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he elder Sarka nodded.</p> + +<p>"Of the other Spokesmen of Earth," went on Sarka, "I trust Gerd the +most. Might I suggest that you bring him here, trust him in all +details, and let him take my place wherever possible? Or, better +still, keep Jaska here with you! I ... I may not be able to return! +I'll try to find a way, but—we can always communicate telepathically. +Jaska...."</p> + +<p>"Jaska," said that young lady grimly, "goes with Sarka wherever Sarka +goes!"</p> + +<p>"But it may mean death! We can only guess at the cunning of the Moon +dwellers! They may have been in secret communication with Dalis for +centuries! Dalis, who somehow discovered our secret finger code, may +also know of the secret exit dome, and the principle upon which it +operates! If he does, he may know how to combat it! Perhaps that +explains his laughter! Perhaps he heard and understood every word we +spoke, hears and understands every word we speak now! Who knows? He +may wait until I have passed through the secret exit dome, and then +make it impossible for me to be reincarnated on the Moon—or +elsewhere!"</p> + +<p>"No matter," said Jaska softly, "wherever Sarka goes, there goes +Jaska! It is useless to attempt to dissuade me, and it is time you +learned that!"</p> + +<p>In spite of himself Sarka smiled, and his father met his smile with a +quizzical one of his own. Both men had the same thought.</p> + +<p>"The eternal woman!" said Sarka the Elder. "No man has ever understood +her—no man ever will! And all men are ruled by her!"</p> + +<p>Sarka shrugged, and Jaska spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it is time we tried this new experiment?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka nodded, and his face was suddenly alight with the excitement +which burned within him.</p> + +<p>"First," he said, "we need accoutrements of the Gens of Dalis for two +people!"</p> + +<p>Jaska smiled.</p> + +<p>"Forseeing that we might have need of such equipment, I had several +complete outfits sent here when I took charge of the Gens of Dalis as +its Spokesman!"</p> + +<p>Two minutes later, arrayed in the green clothing of the House of +Dalis, swathed in it from neck to toe, wearing their belts and the +masks which were necessary to life in space where there was no +atmosphere, the whole topped by the gleaming helmets whose skull-pans +held the infinitesimally small anti-gravitational ovoids, Jaska and +Sarka entered the secret exit dome, side by-side.</p> + +<p>On the breast and back of each showed the yellow stars of the Gens of +Dalis. There was no hiding their identity otherwise, and if any of the +Gens saw them, both would be immediately recognized—for Jaska had +commanded the Gens, and Sarka was the world's greatest scientist known +to every human being. But they planned on carrying out their +investigations by stealth.</p> + +<p>"Father," said Sarka, "when the inner door is closed upon us, you have +but to press the button to the right of the door. Press it when the +light beside it glows red, which will indicate that we have willed +ourselves to go to a certain destination!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he inner door closed upon Sarka and Jaska, and, hand in hand, side by +side, their bodies glowing with knowledge of warm, sympathetic +contact, they waited for a miracle which had never before been +attempted.</p> + +<p>"Are you afraid, beloved?" queried Sarka.</p> + +<p>"When I am with you," she said softly, "I have no fear."</p> + +<p>"Then face the outer door, and will to go wherever I will to take +you!"</p> + +<p>Side by side, hand-in-hand still, they faced the outer door, and Sarka +willed:</p> + +<p>"Let us appear together in a deserted spot, within sight but unseen, +of the Moon crater from which those aircars were sent against us!"</p> + +<p>A sudden blur, a cessation of all knowledge, and then....</p> + +<p>Sarka and Jaska stood side by side in a desolate expanse surrounded by +bleak and appalling mountains of grotesque shape, in a light that was +weirdly, awesomely blue. Their feet were invisible, deeply rooted in +some soft, fine material which looked like snow.</p> + +<p>After a swift glance around to see if anything lived or moved in this +awful desolation, Sarka stooped and dipped up some of the fine stuff +with his fingers, touched it to his lips.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he material seemed to be fine blue ashes and on his tongue it had a +soapy savor. He peered at Jaska, whose eyes were glowing with +excitement, whose lips were parted with anticipation, and instantly he +opened a mental conversation with her.</p> + +<p>"We must speak with each other telepathically, but do not speak with +me until I have explained to you how to mask your thoughts from all +persons save the one with whom you hold converse! First, I love you! +Second, let us see if, searching the sky, we can find the Earth!"</p> + +<p>In a few brief, highly technical words, Sarka told his beloved how to +talk with him in the manner which he had never before explained to +her. They had used telepathy before, countless times, but they had not +cared who heard—while now secrecy in all things was the prime +essential for success, even for life.</p> + +<p>When he had told her, and she replied, "I understand perfectly, and it +seems quite easy," they turned and surveyed the heavens, out of which, +by this new miracle of the secret exit dome, they had dropped to the +face of the Moon.</p> + +<p>Away across the space between worlds, its transfiguration plainly +visible to the two, they could make out and identify the world from +which they had come. Save that they knew themselves standing on the +Moon, they would have thought as far as appearances went, that the +place where they had come was the Moon, many times enlarged. It seemed +incredible that they had come so far in the twinkling of an eye; but +that they had was proved by the fact of their physical presence.</p> + +<p>"Look, Jaska!" said Sarka suddenly. "See how our Earth glows, as +though it were afire inside!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey stared at the great circular yellowish flame that he pointed out, +and Sarka, always the scientist whose science was one of exactness, +tried to estimate just where, on the Earth's surface, the glow was.</p> + +<p>"Jaska," he said again, "that glow comes out of the heart of the Gens area +which Dalis ruled! And no one lives there, since Dalis' Gens flew out to do +battle! That's why we did not know of it before we left! That glow, +somehow, beloved, is the cause of the outward-from-the-Earth journey of the +Moon! First we must locate the Moon-source of the glow, and render it +incapable of further forcing itself away! For do you realize that, unless +we do so, we will never again see home?"</p> + +<p>Jaska said nothing, but her eyes were troubled for a moment. Then she +smiled again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What care I if I become a prisoner on the Moon, if you are with me?"</p> + +<p>Sarka was just now realizing the wonder of this raven-haired woman +whom, knowing her for half a century as he had, he had just known so +little after all.</p> + +<p>"If we seem in danger of discovery, Jaska," he said to her, "drop down +instantly into the ashes, for if we are discovered by Dalis...."</p> + +<p>He left it there and, with a deep intake of breath, started away for +the nearest and highest hill. They desired to walk, yet found walking +almost impossible, as they could not keep their feet on the ground +save by the exercise of a really incredible effort of will. So, +despairing of keeping their feet in contact with the ashes, they flew +just above them, heading for the nearest weird-looking ridge.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the strange light, which was oddly like moonlight in some painted +desert of Earth, shapes were distorted and somehow menacing, colors +were raw, almost bleeding—and distances that seemed but a step +required hours to traverse.</p> + +<p>Ever and anon, as they traveled they looked back up at the Earth which +was their home. It still was visible, though plainly smaller with +distance, and for a time Sarka's heart misgave him; but he only +clasped tighter the hand of Jaska and moved on.</p> + +<p>They were just at the base of the first hill, which had now become a +mountain of gloomy, forbidding aspect, when the first sound they had +heard on the moon came to them. A sound that was a commingling of the +laughter of Dalis, the barking of jackals of the olden times, the +humming of a million Beryls revolving at top speed, and a strident +buzzing such as neither had ever heard.</p> + +<p>Had they been discovered? Was the sound a warning? They could not +know; but as they stared at the crest of the hill, two long, snaky, +waving things appeared above the crest, undulating, waving to and +fro, as though questing for something. They crouched low in the white +ashes at the base of the mountain, and waited, scarcely breathing.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3> +<h4><i>The Lunar Cubes</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or a long time Sarka and Jaska remained still, like sentinels, +listening to the strange discord which seemed to emanate from behind +the hill at whose base they crouched.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said Sarka at last. "There against the sky, beyond and between +those two waving tentacles! Note that column of light, scarcely +lighter than the light which surrounds it everywhere? It looks like a +massive column just lighter than everything around it, yet so little +lighter that you have to watch closely to see it at all?"</p> + +<p>Jaska stared for all of a minute, before she thought back her answer.</p> + +<p>"I see it," she said.</p> + +<p>"Note now whether it goes, as it reaches outward into Space!"</p> + +<p>Jaska followed the mighty height of the thing, outward and outward, +and then gasped.</p> + +<p>"Sarka," she said, "its end touches the Earth in the very heart of +that strange glow we spoke about!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly! And people of Earth know nothing about it, because it is +invisible to them! It is only from Outside that the glow it makes +against the Earth is visible! If we can divert its direction, or +render it useless in any way, the Moon will no longer be thrust away +by its force!"</p> + +<p>A pause of indecision, then Sarka thought again:</p> + +<p>"Let us go, Jaska! Keep behind me, right on my heels!"</p> + +<p>Slowly, fighting against something that seemed determined to pull, or +hurl, them outward from the surface of the Moon with each forward +movement they made, they essayed the side of the hill, pausing at the +end of what seemed like hours in a sort of hollow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> just large enough +to mask their bodies and stared over its edge into one of the craters +of the Moon. Out of the depths of that crater came the discordant +sounds, which now were almost deafening, and out of that crater too +came the almost invisibly bluish column whose outer tip touched the +Earth.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_r.jpg" alt="R" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ight before them, so close that they all but rested in its shadow, +was one of those monster aircars, its tentacles moving to and fro as +though wafted into motion by some vagrant breeze. But since neither +Sarka nor Jaska could feel the breeze, Sarka knew that it was life +which caused the waving motion of those tentacles of terror.</p> + +<p>"Note," he said to Jaska, "that there is a tiny trap-door in the +bottom of the aircar, and that the thing rests on a half-dozen of +those tentacles!"</p> + +<p>"I see," came Jaska's reply.</p> + +<p>Jaska went on:</p> + +<p>"Note the gleaming thing on the ground, right below the aircar? I +wonder what it is?"</p> + +<p>They studied the thing there, which seemed to be a huge jewel of some +sort that glittered balefully in the eery light of the Moon. It was, +perhaps, twice the size of an average man's torso, and was almost +exactly cubical in shape. As Sarka studied the thing, he sensed that +feeling flowed out of it—that the cube, whatever it was, was alive!</p> + +<p>He tore his glance away from it, and realized that he accomplished the +feat with a distinct effort of will—as though the cube had willed to +hold his gaze, knew he was there. His eyes, peering around the inner +slope of the crater—which dipped over, some hundreds of feet down, +and plunged downward to some unknown depth—noted a broad, flat stone, +off to his right; and around the rim of the crater he counted a full +hundred of the aircars, all with their tentacles waving as if they +belonged to sentient creatures.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>elow each one, as he studied them and strained his eyes to make out +details, he caught the baleful gleam of other cubes like the first he +had seen. The aircars, it seemed, were either sentinels, at the lip of +the crater, or were the dwelling places of sentinels—and the cubes +were those sentinels!</p> + +<p>It seemed absurd, but it came to Sarka in a flash that that was the +answer, and his eyes came back to the first cube, because it was +nearer and more easy to study.</p> + +<p>"I will not be swayed by the will of the thing," Sarka told himself. +"Nor will I allow it to analyze me! Jaska, do you do likewise!"</p> + +<p>Beside him, Jaska shivered. He turned to look at her. Her face was +coldly white, and her eyes were big with terror and fascination as she +stared at that first cube, resting so balefully there under the first +aircar.</p> + +<p>He shook her, and she seemed to bring her eyes to his with a terrific, +will-straining effort.</p> + +<p>"Look at me!" he told her, telepathically. "Keep your eyes on me, for +to look at the cube spells danger!"</p> + +<p>But his own eyes went back to the thing, and he studied it closely. A +cold chill raced through his body as he noted that its gleam was +becoming dull, fading slowly out. It had gleamed brightly at first, +and now was losing its sheen, fading away to invisibility. He thought +he should be able, regardless of gleam or color, to see its outline; +but its outline, too, seemed to be becoming faint, indistinct.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen, in a trice, it was gone, and a feeling of uneasiness, more +compelling than he had ever known before, coursed through the soul of +Sarka. Where had the cube gone? What was it? What was its purpose? He +tore his eyes away from the spot where he had last seen it, and stared +away to the shadow beneath the second nearest aircar, where he had +glimpsed another of the cubes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<p>The cube there, too, was fading out.</p> + +<p>"Sarka! Sarka! Look!" came to his brain the thoughts of Jaska.</p> + +<p>Sarka turned and stared at her, and a feeling of fear for which he +could not account at all took fast hold of him. The eyes of Jaska, +wide and staring as they had been when he commanded her to look away +from the cube under the aircar, were staring at that flat, table-like +rock, off to his right.</p> + +<p>There, almost in the center of the rock, a gleaming something was +taking shape! Just a dull spot, in the center of the yellow glow; then +the beginning of the outline of a cube. Then, all at once, the cube +itself, gleaming and baleful!</p> + +<p>Sarka gasped in terror. He had seen the cube vanish, its glow +disappear, and now here it was, almost close enough to touch, on a +rock beside him, gleaming and baleful as before! That it was the same +cube he had seen under the first aircar, he somehow knew without being +told. That it was a sentient <i>thing</i> he also knew, for now there was +no mistaking the fact that, but for the presence in the little hollow +of Jaska and Sarka, the cube would not have moved.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>wift as light, Sarka's right hand darted to his belt, where his ray +director should be nestled against his need of it. And with his first +movement, the cube's brilliance vanished instantly, the cube +disappeared, and appeared again right before the face of Sarka, so +close he could touch it! Yet he did not turn the ray director against +it, nor did he extend his hand to touch the thing—because he was +afraid to do so!</p> + +<p>Even as the cube appeared before his eyes, thrice baleful and menacing +in its close proximity, his eyes darted back to that broad flat rock, +where the second gleaming cube now appeared!</p> + +<p>"Great God, Jaska!" he sent mentally, "what does it mean?"</p> + +<p>"These," she answered bravely back, "are Moon-soldiers! And, unless +we manage not to appear furtive, we are undone!"</p> + +<p>Still Sarka made no move, while other gleaming cubes appeared on the +flat rock. Five other cubes appeared beside the first, at the rim of +the hollow which held the forms of Jaska and Sarka. The cubes were +closing on them, oddly like a squad of Earthlings in the olden times, +advancing by rushes against an entrenched enemy!</p> + +<p>The buzzing sound which they had first heard now seemed accentuated, +but, instead of being outside of the listeners, seemed inside them, +hammering against their very brains! Messages were being sent to them, +or passed back and forth between and among the cube-men about +them—and they hadn't the slightest idea how to make answer, know +whether an answer was expected of them, or what the cube-men thought +about them!</p> + +<p>Since there was nothing else to do, they lay there, hands clasped, as +children in the dark clasp hands, and waited for what might transpire.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>uddenly the discord from the inside of the crater ceased, and all was +still, while it came to Sarka that the cube-men who stood before him +were in grim communication with something invisible to Sarka and +Jaska, somebody, perhaps, deep in the bowels of the Moon, over inside +the crater.</p> + +<p>They knew, those two, that the cube-soldiers were reporting their +presence, and asking instructions; that the Moon had gone silent to +listen, and that within a few moments their fate would be decided. +What should they do?</p> + +<p>In his hand Sarka held his ray director, with which he knew he could +blast one or all of the cubes into nothingness. But still he held his +hand, made no move.</p> + +<p>Something, however, had to be done, for the discord was starting +again, growing in volume. It made Sarka think, oddly enough, of a deaf +mute fighting for speech! Then came the first intelligible sound....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>A burst, from the depths of the crater, of sardonic laughter!</p> + +<p>"Dalis!" said Sarka, and moved. While Sarka moved, Jaska held fast to +his arm. Casting her fear to the winds, furious because of the +laughter of Dalis, Sarka thrust his ray director back into his belt +and stood upright.</p> + +<p>Bending over he seized the first of the gleaming cubes and hurled it +over the edge of the crater, saw it start plummeting down. But even +before it fell out of sight within the crater its gleam had dulled +until it was almost impossible to see the thing. Racing as though +racing against time, Sarka caught up cube after cube and hurled them +all after the first.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut of the crater there came no sound of heavy objects striking, +though Sarka felt there should have, for the cubes were almost as +heavy as a man.</p> + +<p>Then his hair almost stood on end under his helmet, for under that +first aircar, where he had first seen it, the initial cube was again +gleaming into life!</p> + +<p>The thing had dissolved while being hurled over the rim, and reformed +in its proper place, its station as silent sentinel under the aircar!</p> + +<p>These cubes then, were indeed sentinels—sentinels impossible to +injure. Though no force had been used against Sarka and Jaska, Sarka +had the feeling that they were powerless, and that here on the edge of +a crater of the Moon awful forces were being mustered against them. +Mustered slowly, sluggishly, yet surely, as though the mentality which +mustered them knew them helpless, and that there was no need to hurry!</p> + +<p>As for Jaska, she merely clung to Sarka and waited—trusting him no +matter what might transpire.</p> + +<p>On a blind chance, Sarka brought out his ray director again, turned +its muzzle toward that invisibly-blue column, pressed with his +fingers, moving the director back and forth.</p> + +<p>Instantly the blue column seemed to break short off, while the broken +upper portion started racing outward toward the Earth. Sarka watched +it, and noted that the yellowish glow on the Earth, even as he +watched, was fading out—disappearing!</p> + +<p>"If the ray will smash the blue column, Jaska," he said, "it will also +destroy its source! Come! We will go look for it!"</p> + +<p>And, holding her hand tightly, he rose to his feet and strode boldly +down the inner slope of the vast crater.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3> +<h4><i>The Crater Gnomes</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>t seemed to Sarka, as he moved down the inner slope of the crater, +that the cubes were somehow making sport of him, laughing at him, +though no hint of laughter or anything resembling laughter emanated +from them.</p> + +<p>But, shutting his lips grimly, holding fast to Jaska's hand, he +proceeded on, reached the lower portion of the inner slope, where it +dropped off into a seeming black abyss, and dropped, keeping to a safe +speed because of the fact that both he and Jaska were attired for +movement in the air—though their manner of aerial transportation +could scarcely be called flying.</p> + +<p>The anti-gravitational ovoids simply rendered ineffectual the law of +gravity.</p> + +<p>Down they dropped, endlessly it seemed, while all about them, growing +gradually, a bluish glow began to make itself manifest. Sarka turned +and looked at the face of Jaska and noted that it—all her being—was +glowing with this strange radiance.</p> + +<p>He smiled at her, and she smiled back.</p> + +<p>Looking down now, to what seemed still a vast depth, they could see +figures moving, tiny, almost infinitesimal, about a great circular +cone, out of the depths of which came that strange bluish column whose +outer tip touched the Earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>ome inner sense warned Sarka not to touch that column, or to permit +Jaska to do so. They dropped down beside it, while Sarka, for no +reason that he could assign, once more took his ray director in his +free hand and held it in readiness. It seemed so tiny and futile—so +foolish for two people, one of them a woman—to go into the very heart +of an alien world, against an unknown enemy, armed with such a tiny +weapon. Two people against unguessed myriads, whose very nature was an +enigma, even to Sarka.</p> + +<p>Closer now appeared the bottom of the crater, whose floor seemed to be +covered with something that looked like blue sand, or rock. From this +bluish substance the glow which bathed the two Earthlings seemed to +emanate.</p> + +<p>The funnel of the crater had now given away to the immensities of +space, in all directions, and the cold of outside was being replaced +by a warmth which promised soon to be even uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>Then, without a jar, the two landed at the bottom of the crater, side +by side, close enough almost to that great cone to touch it. Out of +the cone came that bluish column, to shoot up through the funnel down +which the two had lightly dropped ... and the motion of the—whatever +it was—was accompanied by a muted moaning sound, like that of a +distant waterfall.</p> + +<p>They paused there, in amazement, taking stock of their surroundings. +Huge tunnels, whose roofs were lost to invisibility in the bluish +haze, whose extremities could only be guessed at, reached off in all +directions. As far as the two could tell they were the only living +souls within the crater, though both knew better.</p> + +<p>Sarka had the feeling, and he knew Jaska shared it with him, that +innumerable eyes were studying them, innumerable intellects were +cataloguing them. And somehow he sensed the presence, somewhere near, +of the traitor Dalis!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen that discordant sound again, breaking so swiftly that it fell +upon the eardrums of Sarka and Jaska like the crack of doom. Out of +the many tunnels, from all directions, came hordes of beings which +would have made the nightmares of Paracelsus—first of the scientists +of Earth—pale to insignificance.</p> + +<p>Paracelsus had written and illustrated his nightmares. Had hinted of +strange acts of flesh-grafting—as the grafting of legs on the head of +man. He had spoken, and written about, ghastly operations, from which +men came forth as part men, part spiders; part men, part scorpions, +dogs, cats, crocodiles....</p> + +<p>Sarka thought, as his mind went back to those ancient books of his +people in which still remained vestiges of the theories of Paracelsus, +that somehow, in his dreams, Paracelsus must have visited the craters +of the Moon.</p> + +<p>These people ... if they could be called people....</p> + +<p>They had heads like the heads of Earthlings, broad-domed of brow, +lacking eyelashes or lids, so that their eyes were perpetually +staring. They possessed no bodies at all, and their legs, thin and +attenuated to the size of the wrists of average men, seemed to support +the massive heads with difficulty!</p> + +<p>From all directions they came, looking like spiders such as Sarka the +First had described to Sarka, when Sarka had been a mere boy. They +came on the floor, out of the tunnels; they dropped from the walls of +the tunnels, and down from the invisible roofs, landing on the floor +as lightly as feathers—and all converged on Jaska and Sarka.</p> + +<p>They seemed to have no fear at all, but only a vast curiosity.</p> + +<p>Closer and closer they came.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>aska's grip tightened on the hand of Sarka, for one of the creatures, +with a spiderish leap, had jumped upon her, fastening its legs in her +tight-fit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>ting costume, where he hung, his face within an inch or two +of hers. His lidless eyes, unblinking, stared deeply into hers.</p> + +<p>Others jumped up beside the first, and still others clambered over +Sarka, until both Sarka and Jaska were covered by them like beetles +attacked by ants. But these strange gnomelike creatures, who did not +fear these strangers, apparently meant them no harm.</p> + +<p>Then, after a thorough scrutiny, began the strangest talking Sarka had +ever heard. The crater-Gnomes seemed to communicate by making strange +clucking sounds with their tongues, sounds which were unmusical and +discordant, and which, as the Gnomes who stood back from them, because +already the two were covered until no more could cling to Jaska or +Sarka, joined in the speech—mounted in the cavern to a vast crescendo +of sound.</p> + +<p>Sarka knew then that this was the sound which had come out to them +while they crouched at the crater rim. These were people of the Moon: +but if these were Moon-men, what, or who, were those gleaming cubes?</p> + +<p>"Stand perfectly still," Sarka mentally admonished Jaska, "they +apparently mean us no harm!"</p> + +<p>He had not spoken aloud, had not allowed his thought to reach any but +Jaska; yet instantly the discordant clucking ceased, and the Gnomes +were quiet, as though they politely listened to someone who had +interrupted them, yet whose interruption they resented, or were +curious about.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>ondering how the creature would regard his action, Sarka reached +forth and plucked away the first Gnome which had jumped upon Jaska, +and placed him gently on the ground. The thing merely stared at Sarka +with his lidless eyes, as though wondering at Sarka's meaning. Then +his lips, which were triangular, rather than straight as those of +Earthlings, began again that strange clucking.</p> + +<p>Immediately the Gnomes which clung to Jaska and Sarka dropped away, +and scuttled into the midst of the myriads that stood and watched. +They did not understand the speech of these Earthlings, but they were +unusually clever in comprehending the meaning of gestures.</p> + +<p>"Hold fast to me, Jaska," thought Sarka toward her—and wondered anew +as the Gnomes instantly ceased their clucking sounds—"for I am going +to try an experiment."</p> + +<p>Holding her hand still, he turned and strode straight toward the huge +cone out of which rose the bluish column.</p> + +<p>Instantly the Gnomes broke into a frightful clucking of tongues, a +sound that mounted to ear-drum-breaking intensity, and in a trice, +climbing over one another to get into position, they moved in between +Sarka and the cone. So eager were they to bar his further progress +that they stood atop one another, until the depth of them was as tall +as Sarka standing upright.</p> + +<p>Yet, though they plainly said to Sarka: "You must not approach the +cone," they did not seem to be angry with their visitors, but only +curious. Sarka looked at Jaska, noted how wanly she smiled.</p> + +<p>Then he turned, and headed for the nearest of the monster tunnels.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>nstantly he detected a surprising eagerness in the renewed clucking +of tongues, while the Gnomes raced ahead, behind, all about the two, +capering like pet animals, showing these strangers the way into the +tunnel.</p> + +<p>As they entered it, Sarka tried to discover whence came the bluish +glow. The floor seemed to be of bluish sandstone, though its color, +too, might have been caused by the glow. It was warm, too, so warm +that perspiration was breaking out on the cheeks of Sarka.</p> + +<p>Whence came the glow? Apparently from the very walls of the tunnel, or +its roof; but surely from somewhere, surely from some secret place, +whence it was diffused all over.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And Jaska," said Sarka, "the Moon, according to my father's +researches, is literally honeycombed with craters like this one!"</p> + +<p>Again, as he thought, that strange, sudden cessation of the clucking +of the Gnomes. Whither were they leading them? It was plain to be seen +that the Gnomes were heading for some destination, almost herding +Sarka and Jaska toward it. Capering creatures, who behaved witlessly, +yet were far from witless. If Sarka were not sadly mistaken, these +were Moon-men—and women, too, perhaps, since he could not tell the +sex of them—and those gleaming cubes were their outer guards, perhaps +slaves.</p> + +<p>If the cubes were really of metal—they had felt warm to Sarka's +touch—then these Moon-men had gone further in science than +Earthlings, as they had imbued at least some metals, or stones, with +intelligence sufficiently advanced for them to perform actions +independently of their masters' wills.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka, too, was remembering another thing: that he had touched one of +these Gnomes, to remove it from Jaska—and had felt a distinct shock +that was patently electrical!</p> + +<p>The bluish glow was increasing, becoming more soft and mellow, shading +gradually into golden, as they advanced—shading still as they +preceded until it was almost white, almost blinding, in its radiance.</p> + +<p>Then, of a sudden, the clucking of the Gnomes ended, and the creatures +ceased their capering, fell into something that might have been an +ordered military formation, and with Jaska and Sarka in the midst of +them, moved straight toward a broad expanse of the tunnel wall, in the +face of which appeared three long lines, deeply cut in the shape of a +triangle.</p> + +<p>The Gnome who had first leaped upon Jaska advanced to the wall, paused +with his face almost against the lower line of the triangle, and +remained there, intently staring, while the other Gnomes remained +mute and unmoving.</p> + +<p>Stronger and stronger appeared the blinding light. Slowly the inner +portion of the triangle began to give inward, like a door. And out of +the opening came that blinding radiance.</p> + +<p>As the triangular door stood entirely open, Sarka and Jaska stood in +thunderstruck silence, staring like people bereft of their senses. For +there, standing in the opening, the now white radiance itself a mantle +to cover her, was a woman, unclothed save for the radiance, who might +have been of the Earth, save that she was more beautiful than any +woman of Earth.</p> + +<p>Beside her the radiant beauty of Jaska paled, became wan and sickly.</p> + +<p>But Sarka noted immediately her eyes, whose depths bewildered, amazed +him. For in them he could see no expression, no feeling, but only +abysmal cruelty. That she was Sarka's master, and Jaska's master, and +master of all these Gnomes, became instantly apparent for +telepathically she addressed Sarka.</p> + +<p>"I am busy now. The Moon-people will hold you prisoners in the Place +of the Blue light, until I am ready to give you to the Cone!"</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XV</h3> +<h4><i>The Place of the Blue Light</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>o the Gnomes were Moon-people, masters of the Moon cubes! And people +and cubes were ruled by a woman who resembled a woman of Earth!</p> + +<p>The Gnomes took them back the way they had come.</p> + +<p>Where, Sarka wondered, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? And where +was Dalis himself! Sarka was sure that, in those first discords which +had come out of the crater, he had heard at least a hint of the +laughter of Dalis.</p> + +<p>And this woman clothed in radiance—who was she? And what? That she +was a creature of the Moon, and yet resembled in all ways a woman of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +Earth, save that she was more beautiful than any woman Sarka had ever +seen, seemed almost impossible to believe. Yet he had seen her. So had +Jaska, and as Sarka and Jaska, with the capering Gnomes still about +them, were led away to a fate at which they could only guess, Sarka +wondered at Jaska's silence and at the strange lack of expression on +her face.</p> + +<p>He pressed her hand, but somehow she failed to return the pressure, +mystifying more than ever. This sudden coldness was not like Jaska.</p> + +<p>Back they went through the vast cavern where the cone of the bluish +column still moaned and murmured. Sarka moved as close to the cone as +the Gnomes would permit, and peered up along the mighty length of the +column. At its tip was still the Earth, like a star viewed from the +bottom of a deep well.</p> + +<p>Smaller, too, it seemed, which proved that Sarka's breaking of the +blue column had been but momentary, that the column had almost +instantly regained its contact with the Earth. What was its source, +what the composition of the column?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t the moment there could be no answer to the question. Now the Gnomes +were escorting them into another tunnel, whose glow was even bluer +than that which the two had experienced in the other tunnels. And the +deeper they penetrated, the more distant from the cavern of the Cone, +the deeper in color became that light.</p> + +<p>Finally the Gnome who had mentally asked permission of the Radiant +Woman to show her Jaska and Sarka passed before another expanse of +wall, identical in appearance with that of the wall of the triangle +from which the Radiant Woman had appeared.</p> + +<p>This time the Gnome managed ingress by a strange clucking sound, with +his triangular lips held close to the base-line of the triangle.</p> + +<p>Now the door swung open; but the radiance which now came out was not +clear white, as in the case of the outer door, but deeply, coldly +blue. For the first time the Gnomes used force with their prisoners, +thus proving to them that they were indeed prisoners. Their tiny feet +caught at Sarka and at Jaska, and forced them through the door, which +swung shut behind them.</p> + +<p>Sarka looked at Jaska who, in this strange new light, had taken on the +color of indigo, and smiled at her. She did not return his smile, but +her eyes looked deeply, somewhat sorrowfully, into his. As though she +asked him a question he could not understand, to which he could +therefore give no answer.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka was now conscious of the fact that the heat of their +prison-house—whose character they did not as yet know—was becoming +almost unbearable. They were alone, too, for the Gnomes had not +entered the door of triangle. Sarka partially removed his life mask, +and testing the atmosphere of the place, found it capable of being +breathed without the mask. He signalled mentally to Jaska to remove +her mask, and when the girl had done so he took her in his arms and +kissed her on the lips.</p> + +<p>She accepted his caress, but did not return it, and her eyes still +peered deeply into his.</p> + +<p>"Well, beloved," he said. "I am terribly sorry. But I did not want you +to come because I was afraid that something of this sort would +happen."</p> + +<p>She did not answer.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Jaska?" he said at last.</p> + +<p>"What did you think of that woman?" she asked softly.</p> + +<p>"Beautiful!" he said enthusiastically. "Fearfully beautiful! But did +you see her eyes? She had no more mercy in her heart than if she were +made of stone! And she hated us both the moment she saw us!"</p> + +<p>"And you, Sarka—did you hate her, too?"</p> + +<p>Sarka stared at her, not comprehending.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I feel," he said, "that if we are ever to escape her, we must kill +her, or render her incapable of retaining us!"</p> + +<p>Then, of her own accord, Jaska placed her arms around Sarka, and gave +him her lips. Her new behavior was as incomprehensible to Sarka as her +former enigmatic expression had been. Wise in the ways of science was +Sarka, but he knew nothing of women!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>ow hand in hand again, they began a survey of their prison house. The +bluish glow was unbearable to the eyes, and tears came unbidden and +ran down the cheeks of the prisoners. In a minute or two, perspiration +was literally bathing the bodies of the two. After a questioning +exchange of glances, Sarka swiftly divested himself of his costume, +stripping down to the gray toga of Earth's manhood. With a shrug, +Jaska removed her clothing to her own toga, and the two suits Sarka +carried under his arm.</p> + +<p>They started ahead, exploring, then sprang back with a cry of fright. +Sarka did not know whether it was Jaska or himself who had cried out; +for just as they moved forward, a rent opened in the floor at their +feet, and their eyes for a moment—they could stand no longer—peered +into a bluely flaming abyss which, save for the color, reminded Sarka +of the word pictures of Hell he had read in Earth's books of +antiquity!</p> + +<p>As the two stepped back, the rent in the floor closed instantly. Sarka +had noted where the end of it had been, and started to detour, his +eyes on the floor.</p> + +<p>Over to his left the bluely glowing wall reached up to invisible +immensity. But as he would have passed along the wall, the rent opened +again, effectually barring his way.</p> + +<p>Beyond the rent he could see a vast continuation of the cavern, and he +felt that, could they only pass the rent, they might reach a place +where the heat was not so unbearable, and they could stay and talk in +comfort.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_r.jpg" alt="R" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>eleasing Jaska, he stepped back and prepared to leap the spot where +the rent had been. High he jumped, and far, surprised at the length of +his own leap. He landed lightly, far beyond the area where the rent +had been, and even as he landed, a rent opened again at his feet, thus +effectually barring further progress!</p> + +<p>"It could just as easily," he told himself, "have opened under my +feet, and dropped me into the abyss!"</p> + +<p>From behind him came the sudden sound of screaming. He whirled to look +back, to see Jaska standing there, arms outstretched toward him, her +eyes wide with fear and horror, and as he stood watching, she raced to +him, unmindful of abysses that might open under her feet, and flung +herself into his arms.</p> + +<p>"Come back!" she moaned. "Come back! Don't you see? <i>They</i> don't wish +you to explore further! We are in their power, and must simply await +their pleasure, whoever or whatever they are! They see all we do!"</p> + +<p>So they turned back, and stood against the door which held them +prisoners; and the heat of the place seemed to enter into them, to +gnaw at their very vitals. After a time Sarka found himself almost +tearing at his throat, fighting for breath.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_g.jpg" alt="G" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>asping, the tears bathing their cheeks until even their tears and +their perspiration would flow no more, they huddled now just inside +the massive stone door, arms about each other, and almost prayed for +death. Sarka at least prayed for death for both of them; but Jaska +prayed for a way of deliverance, prayed that herself and Sarka might +somehow win free, and be together again.</p> + +<p>Sarka, who knew little of women, marveled at the grandeur of her +courage, and wondered that he really knew this radiant woman so +little. He com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>pared her in his mind with the unclothed woman who had +ordered them here as prisoners, and it came to him that Jaska was all +perfection, all tender womanhood, while the Radiant Woman was a +monster, without soul or compassion—a creature of horror who mocked +God with her outward seeming of perfection.</p> + +<p>Jaska read his thoughts, and smiled wanly to herself, and Sarka +wondered how, suffering as he knew she must be suffering, she could +find the courage to smile.</p> + +<p>Then, for a time, the two became comatose, mastered by the blue heat, +and in dreamlike imaginings wandered in strange fields which could +only, to these two, have been racial memories, since neither had ever +seen such fields. There were cool streams, all a-murmur, and breezes +which cooled their sun-tanned cheeks. Water touched their tongues, and +cooled their whole bodies as they gratefully imbibed it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>n their wanderings, in which Sarka was a faun and Jaska a nymph, they +talked together in a language which only these two comprehended—a +language which dealt in figures of speech, a language which depended +upon handclasps for periods, glances of the eyes for commas, and the +singing of their hearts for complete understanding.</p> + +<p>Then a cool breeze, cool by comparison, caressed their pain-distorted +cheeks, and the Gnomes came in, found them lying there, and clucked +endlessly as though wondering what to do with them.</p> + +<p>From hand to tiny hand, their feet serving as hands, the Gnomes passed +garments—garments of the Gens of Dalis, and clothed again the two +whom the Place of the Blue Light had all but slain. Of that ghastly +experiment Sarka retained but one real memory....</p> + +<p>That bluish light, in the midst of the abyss, shifting and swaying +like blue serpents swimming in Hades ... that bluish light of the +Cone, which he had broken up for a brief moment by the use of his ray +director. Was this bluish light in the abyss the source of the light +in the Cone? If one were to destroy it at its source....</p> + +<p>The two regained consciousness completely as the triangular door +closed behind Sarka and Jaska and the Gnomes, and they were taken into +the refreshing coolness of the tunnel, led back again in the direction +of the room where they had seen the Radiant Woman. Both Jaska and +Sarka noticed that they were clothed in new clothing, and a shy blush +tinged the cheeks of Jaska as her eyes met those of Sarka.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>his time they entered the vast chamber of radiance behind the first +triangular door, and were forced to their knees to do obeisance to the +Radiant Woman, who sat on a gleaming yellow stone for dais! The guards +who forced Sarka and Jaska to their knees, were clothed in the green +of the Gens of Dalis, and Dalis himself, his face stern, but bearing +no sign of recognition of these two, stood at the right hand of the +Radiant Woman!</p> + +<p>"You come to us as spies," the thought of the Radiant Woman impinged +upon the brains of Sarka and of Jaska, "and as spies you should be +given to the Cone. But if you swear eternal allegiance to me, to obey +me in all things, to forego your allegiance to Earth, your lives will +be spared! What say you?"</p> + +<p>Boldly Sarka stared into the almost opaque eyes of the woman. Then his +glance went to the face of Dalis.</p> + +<p>"What," he asked boldly, in the language of Earth, "does the traitor +Dalis say?"</p> + +<p>"I have sworn allegiance to Luar, who addresses you, and am her ally +in all things! I have but one addition to make to what she says: Jaska +belongs to me!"</p> + +<p>The sudden leering grin of Dalis was hideous.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sarka peered at Jaska, framing his answer. But Jaska spoke first.</p> + +<p>"For myself, O Dalis," she said swiftly, "I can answer in but one way. +Return me to the Place of the Blue Light, and forget me there!"</p> + +<p>Sarka smiled, while his heart leaped with joy.</p> + +<p>"And I, O Luar," he said mentally to the Radiant Woman, "prefer death +with Jaska, at the Place of the Blue Light, than life as a traitor to +the world of my nativity!"</p> + +<p>Instantly Luar began the clucking sound which was the language of the +Gnomes, at the same time allowing her thoughts as she spoke to impress +themselves upon the brains of the prisoners.</p> + +<p>"Take them away! Take them to the Cavern of the Cone, and when they +have suffered as much as such inferior beings are capable of +suffering, thrust them into the base of the Cone!"</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3> +<h4><i>Cavern of the Cone</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Gnomes had been bidden to take the prisoners to the Cavern of the +Cone, but to the surprise of Sarka and Jaska, they were taken back to +the Place of the Blue Light! This time the Gnomes entered the place +with them, closing and securing the door behind them.</p> + +<p>But the Place of the Blue Light had changed!</p> + +<p>Now it had no floor of blue, as it had had before, but only a corridor +perhaps wide enough to allow the passage of four grown men, walking +side by side, while the abyss of which the two had got but the merest +hint through the opening and closing rents filled all the center of +the place!</p> + +<p>The Gnomes seemed impervious to the unendurable heat, and these, +moving together, one behind the other, one beside the other, one atop +the other, formed a living wall between Sarka and Jaska and the rim of +the flaming blue abyss, to protect them from the heat.</p> + +<p>Yet through the bodies of this living wall of Gnomes, a wall which was +higher than the heads of Sarka and Jaska, the heat forced its way to +the prisoners, and burned them anew with its agony.</p> + +<p>To what dread rendezvous were they going? Where, save for the few +guards at the house of Luar, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? +Sarka felt, somehow, that the answers to all these questions would +soon be made manifest, and a feeling of exaltation he could not +explain was possessing him as he advanced. Around the corridor, whose +one side was the wall reaching up to invisibility, whose other side +dropped off into the abyss, the Gnomes herded the prisoners.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he leader of the Gnomes was again the Gnome who had first leaped upon +Jaska to examine her curiously. Now, watching the lidless eyes of this +being, Sarka fancied he could detect a hint of some expression. The +Gnome was excited at some prospect, some climax which they were +approaching. What? On and on they moved. The blue flames from the +abyss, roaring in a way that neither of the prisoners had ever +experienced, reached upward in searing tongues toward the invisible +roof of this place.</p> + +<p>Then, when they had progressed far from the door of entry, Sarka +gasped at a new manifestation. Out of the abyss, some distance ahead, +came a gleaming thing, something that had apparently evolved itself +out of the flames of the abyss. Blue of color it was, because of the +flames from the pit; but Sarka recognized it with a start which he +could not suppress nor understand.</p> + +<p>It was one of those cubes, such as he and Jaska had seen at the lip of +the Moon-crater! As they approached, guided by the Gnomes, other cubes +appeared out of the abyss, others in numbers swiftly augmented, until +a veritable battalion of them had marshalled itself, there at the lip +of the abyss.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>traight toward these cubes the Gnomes led Sarka and Jaska, and when +they had reached the center of the group, they halted, forming a +circle, still a wall to mask the prisoners from the heat of the abyss. +The leader of the Gnomes stopped with his face, his lidless eyes, +close to one of the cubes.</p> + +<p>For a moment he paused thus, and Sarka felt sure that somehow the +Gnome was holding thought converse with the cube; but, try as he +might, he could find no meaning in the weird conversation for himself. +It was oddly like listening to a conversation in a code beyond his +knowledge.</p> + +<p>Then the Gnome turned back to Sarka and Jaska. By a pressure of tiny +feet, he tried to indicate that Sarka and Jaska should unclasp their +hands. But they only clung the tighter, and now threw their arms about +each other.</p> + +<p>The Gnome desisted, much to the joy of the lovers, while Sarka studied +the cubes, wondering what their mission was with Jaska and himself.</p> + +<p>Slowly, together, the cubes began to lose their bluish glow, their +cube shape—to vanish utterly.</p> + +<p>In a trice, still locked in each other's arms, Sarka and Jaska saw the +Gnomes through what appeared to be an even bluer haze. Besides, the +heat of the abyss no longer tortured them, and their bodies were +cooling in a way that was unbelievably refreshing.</p> + +<p>"What is it, beloved?" whispered Jaska. "What is it?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka stared at the Gnomes, now in retreat, capering as they had first +capered when the two had fallen into their hands, toward the door by +which all had entered. Mystified, Sarka put forth his hand. It came in +contact with something solid, and oddly warm, which stirred an +instantly responsive chord in the brain of Sarka.</p> + +<p>This feeling was the same as he experienced when he had lifted those +cubes and hurled them into the crater—where they had dissolved in +falling, and instantly reappeared, each under its own aircar!</p> + +<p>"Jaska!" he explained. "Jaska! The cubes have dissolved themselves, +and have reformed in the shape of a globe, as a protective covering +about us, to protect us from the heat of the abyss! Apparently we are +not to be killed at once! These cubes are slaves of the Gnomes, of +whom Luar is ruler!"</p> + +<p>They were indeed locked inside a globe, a globe whose integral parts +were the cubes of their acquaintance; and the atmosphere of the +interior was not uncomfortable, but otherwise. Sarka and Jaska were +feeling normal for the first time since they had landed on the Moon. +But what was the meaning of this strange imprisonment?</p> + +<p>They were soon to know!</p> + +<p>For the globe which enclosed them, moved to the edge of the flaming +abyss, and dropped into the bluish glow! It did not drop heavily, like +a falling object on Earth, but rather floated downward, right into the +heart of the flames. At this new manifestation of the strangeness of +science on the Moon, Sarka was at once all scientist himself, striving +to find adequate answers for things which, from cause to effect, were +entirely new to him. With Jaska still clasped close against him, he +seated himself in the base of the globe and studied the area through +which they were passing.</p> + +<p>Blue flames which seemed to be born somewhere, an infinite distance +below them; blue flames which he knew to be the element that, shot +outward from the great cone, had forced the Moon away from the Earth.</p> + +<p>No sound of the roaring flames came through the globe, but every +movement of them was visible.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka turned and peered through the bottom of the globe; but all he +could see below were the flames, a molten indigo lake of them. Now, as +they floated downward, the glow was giving away to lighter blue, to +white,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> almost pure white, like the radiance which covered Luar like a +mantle.</p> + +<p>Sarka felt himself on the eve of vast important discoveries, and the +scientist in him made him, for the moment, almost forget the woman at +his side. Jaska, unbothered about anything, now that Sarka was at her +side, regarded his expression of deep concentration with a tolerant +smile.</p> + +<p>Whiter now was the light, and faster fell the globe which held the +two.</p> + +<p>The color of the globe, now fallen below the area of blue, had taken +on, chameleonlike, the color of the white flames that bathed it.</p> + +<p>Then, apparently right in the center of a lake of white flames, though +Sarka could see no solid place on which the globe had landed, the +globe came to rest.</p> + +<p>Now everything was plain to see, and Sarka studied his surroundings +with new interest. He felt a mounting sensation of scalp-prickling +horror.</p> + +<p>For, scattered throughout the lake of white flames, in all directions, +as far as the eye could reach—standing alone, suffering untold +agonies, from the expressions on their faces—were people of the Gens +of Dalis!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>o longer were they clothed in green and wearing on breast and back +the yellow stars of their Gens. Now they were nude as they had come +into the world and standing there, each was holding out hands in +horror, to hold back myriads of the Gnomes, who would have forced them +to submerge themselves in the white flames of the lake!</p> + +<p>Was the Gens of Dalis being burned alive? What was the meaning of +this?</p> + +<p>For a moment, filled with horror, Sarka looked away from the +spectacle. Off to his right, as he sat, he noted that the flames, +which here seemed lighter than they had in high levels, were +converging on a single spot toward the side of the lake of white +flames—as smoke converges on the base of a chimney leading outward to +the air!</p> + +<p>He knew as he stared that he was gazing at the spot where the bluish +column of the cone was born!</p> + +<p>Shaking his head, he turned back to the mighty spectacle of this +horrible thing that was being done to the people of the Gens of Dalis.</p> + +<p>In his brain there suddenly crashed a thought whose source he could +only guess at, whose meaning mystified him more than anything yet +experienced. The thought might have emanated from Luar, or from Dalis. +But the more he thought of the matter, the more he thought how the +phrasing of the thought was like the telepathy of Sarka the Second, +now thousands of miles away, upon the Earth. And this was the thought:</p> + +<p>"If they fight the flames, the flames will destroy them! If they go +into them freely, voluntarily, they will be rendered immune to heat +and to cold, to life and to death. But it is better that they die, for +Earth's sake!"</p> + +<p>What did it mean?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka thought of the radiant white light which perpetually bathed the +person of Luar, and thought that he had somehow been given a hint of +its source. If the Gens of Dalis were voluntarily bathed in the lake +of white flames, would they become as Luar?</p> + +<p>Somehow, though he knew that such bathing would save their lives, the +idea filled him anew with horror. He found himself torn between two +duties. If he sent his thought out there to the Gens of Dalis, people +of Earth, his people, they would be saved, but might forever become +allies of the people of the Moon. If Sarka did not tell them, they +would die—and there were millions of them.</p> + +<p>But his science had always been a science of Life, and it still was.</p> + +<p>"Enter the flames!" he telepathically bade his people. "Enter the +flames!"</p> + +<p>But they did not heed him, and for the first time the atmosphere of +the interior of the globe seemed filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> savage, abysmal menace! +Plain to Sarka was the meaning of that menace: The cubes which +composed this globe were loyal to their masters, the masters to a +mistress, Luar, and would countenance no meddling.</p> + +<p>Likewise it was impossible, if the Gnomes willed it to the cubes, for +Sarka to transmit his thoughts to the Gens of Dalis through the +transparent walls of the globe!</p> + +<p>They were prisoners, indeed, of Dalis and of Luar!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut could Sarka and Jaska turn their new-found knowledge to their own +use? Sarka was thinking back, back to one of the ancient tomes of his +people. It spoke, someplace, of a man who had got trapped in the heart +of a seething volcano, where the heat of it had cured him of his +illnesses, made him whole again, given him new youth and freshness.</p> + +<p>But since the cubes could forestall his transmission of thought, and +perhaps could read and understand thoughts, how was he to tell Jaska? +How show her that a way of deliverance had been given into their +hands, if they only possessed the courage to use it!</p> + +<p>Again came that thought, which Sarka recognized as the telepathy of +his father:</p> + +<p>"Courage! You will win, and Jaska with you!"</p> + +<p>Thoughts could come in to them then, but could not go out. Or did it +mean that the cubes, or the masters of the cubes, did not care if the +prisoners received messages from outside, because they knew themselves +capable of frustrating anything the prisoners planned? Perhaps. More +than likely that was it.</p> + +<p>But, looking through the bottom of the globe, into the sea of white +flames below, Sarka gripped more tightly his ray director, and tried +to marshal the forces of his courage. There was surely some way of +escape. Some way out of their strange predicament.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII</h3> +<h4><i>Casting the Die</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>omehow Sarka believed that this white radiance of the abyss held the +secret of the omnipotence of Luar, if omnipotence she possessed. That +she did seemed sure, else Dalis would not have been with her. Besides, +she had asked Sarka and Jaska to swear allegiance to her. Yes the +secret was here, in the heart of the lake of white flames.</p> + +<p>It might have been the Moon Fountain of Youth, or of omnipotence. +There was no telling, unless Sarka tried an experiment.</p> + +<p>His fury at Dalis now knew no bounds, and he was conscious of a +desire, too poignant almost to be borne, in some way to circumvent the +arch-traitor. For here in the craters of the Moon Dalis was working +out a strange amplification of the scheme which he had, centuries +before, proposed to Sarka the First. He was subjecting the people of +his Gens to the white flames.</p> + +<p>If they immersed themselves voluntarily, they became as Luar was, but +still subservient to the will of Dalis—and, in his hands, invincible +instruments of war! Dalis had doubtless already been bathed in the +flames. Sarka was not sure, for in the home of Luar the white light +was so blinding it would have been impossible to make sure that the +white radiance clothed the others with Luar.</p> + +<p>"That's it!" said Sarka to himself. "That's it! Dalis and those guards +at the dais of Luar have already been subjected to the white flames! +The rest who immerse themselves, voluntarily, come forth as Luar and +Dalis! Who do not, die. Dalis' manner of forcing the survival of the +fittest! His idea of the flood in grandfather's time, only now he +causes his selection by flames instead of flood! He believes that only +those worthy to survive, and to stand at his back in whatever he +conceives to be his need, will guess the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> secret of the immersion. The +others will die!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>hat a terrible alternative, when Dalis could as easily have given the +secret to all his people! Could have told them how to save themselves! +But it was not Dalis' way. Here, in the beginning of what was to +become a dual sovereignty of the Moon, Dalis had already taken thought +on the matter of over-population, and was destroying the many that the +few—the strongest, most ruthless—might survive! Hundreds of +thousands, millions of the Gens of Dalis, stood at the door of life, +and did not know how to enter, merely because Dalis withheld the key! +And, pausing in terror before the flames, they died, when a step and a +plunge would have saved them all!</p> + +<p>"If he lives to be a million, if he lives through everlasting life," +said Sarka to himself, "and does penance through a thousand +reincarnations, Dalis can never atone for this wholesale destruction +of humanity! But I ... I wonder!"</p> + +<p>Sarka realized the nicety of the revenge of Dalis upon Jaska and +himself. Dalis had not given the secret to the prisoners, but by his +use of the cubes, he had plunged them into the very heart of the +horror, where they could see the suffering of the people of the Gens. +Then, when they had seen and appreciated the horror of it all, they +would follow the people of the Gens to death!</p> + +<p>But Luar had spoken of thrusting them into the base of the Cone!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen they were not for the flames after all! How could it be done? The +globe composed of the cubes had but to transport the prisoners to the +base of the Cone, press against that base, and open to let the +prisoners free—and in the heart of the white-blue column they would +be hurled outward from the Moon, into space. The mere prospect of such +horror caused the perspiration to break forth anew on the body of +Sarka.</p> + +<p>But there might be a way.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," he asked himself, "if the Earth people in <i>this</i> crater +could read my thoughts in spite of their agonies, if I could get my +thought to them through the globe? I wonder if, reading my thoughts, +they would obey?"</p> + +<p>Bit by bit, as parts of a puzzle fall into place, he made his plan, +and his heart beat high with excitement. Jaska bent before him to look +into his eyes, and he knew that she was trying to read his face. She +knew, wise Jaska, that this brilliant lover of hers was making a plan, +and she believed in the sure success of it because it would be <i>his</i>!</p> + +<p>She smiled at him, her courage high, and waited!</p> + +<p>Holding the ray director between his body and that of Jaska, he took a +terrible, ghastly chance. Dalis had known the secret sign manual of +these two; but would the intelligence of the cubes comprehend it? He +must take the chance, slender as it seemed. His free hand began to +spell out, with all speed, the mad plan he had conceived.</p> + +<p>"The white flames are harmless if one plunges into them voluntarily. +Are you afraid to attempt it? No? Then unfasten your clothing, and +have it so arranged that you can drop entirely out of it when I give +you the signal, which will be a mere widening of the eyes, like this! +You understand? We must go nude into the flames, so that they will +bathe our whole bodies! But, when you slip out of your clothing, tear +your anti-gravitational ovoid from the skull-pan of your helmet, and +hold it in your mouth! Then depend upon me, and have no fear!"</p> + +<p>"I have no fear," replied the fingers of Jaska. "I go to death with +you if you wish—or to Life!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>eeling the menace of the cubes almost gripping at his throat as he +got into action, Sarka unfastened his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> own clothing, ripped the ovoid +from his helmet, placed it in his mouth. Then, looking at Jaska, he +gave her the signal.</p> + +<p>Instantly, at her nod, he brought forth the ray director, pressed it +with his fingers, directing its muzzle toward the curve of the globe, +swinging it around in a circle, cutting out the bottom of the globe of +cubes.</p> + +<p>The action must have been one of untold surprise to the cubes which +made up the globe, for before anything could be done to stay the hand +of Sarka, his ray director had cut out the bottom of the globe, and +Jaska and himself, divested now of all clothing, had fallen from the +globe.</p> + +<p>Unbearable heat slashed and tore at them. They still held hands, and +when their feet touched upon something solid, they were gasping with +the unbelievable heat; and it was ripping at their lungs like talons +of white hot steel. But, pausing not at all, Sarka raced ahead with +Jaska, and dived straight into the lake of white flames.</p> + +<p>As he dived he directed his thoughts toward the people of the Gens who +stood, undecided, dying by slow inches, on their little oases in the +lake. And this was the thought, which was a command.</p> + +<p>"Plunge into the flames! They will not hurt you! Plunge in, and obey +my commands, O people of the Gens of Dalis! I, Sarka, command that you +obey me! Jaska, who commanded you at the will of Dalis, also commands. +Gather with Jaska and me at the base of the Cone! You have but to +follow the converging of the flames!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>ogether the two plunged in, and it seemed all at once as though the +fire had gone out of the white flames, for they were cool and soothing +to the touch. Sarka could feel new life being borne in him, could feel +himself revitalized, exalted, lifted to the heights. He suddenly +experienced the desire to run, and shout his joy for all to hear. But +reason held him. Not thus easily would Luar and Dalis, the traitor, +give over their designs against these two.</p> + +<p>But in the heart of the flames, they dropped down, while they turned +their faces toward the base of the Cone, or where they thought the +base to be, even as Sarka gave another command to the now invisible +people of the Gens of Dalis.</p> + +<p>"Hold your ovoids in your mouths and follow! Obey my will!"</p> + +<p>They dropped now to what seemed to be cool flagstones, while above +them showed an orifice in a wall, into which those tongues of flame +were darting. They paused there, side by side, their faces radiant, +and looked back the way they had come.</p> + +<p>Coming out of the white flames, like battalions on parade, were the +people of the Gens of Dalis—scores and hundreds of them, who had +sensed and heeded the mental commands of Sarka. Like genii appearing +out of the flames they came, to muster about Sarka and Jaska.</p> + +<p>Then, when it seemed that no more were coming, Sarka turned to the +base of the Cone, his face high shining with courage and confidence, +and stepped straight into the flames that led into the Cone. Beside +him came Jaska, while behind him came the people of the Gens of Dalis +who dared to do as he had commanded.</p> + +<p>They were sucked into the Cone like chips sucked into a whirlpool, and +Sarka willed a last command as they entered:</p> + +<p>"Quit the column at the lip of the crater, and muster about the +aircars!"</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII</h3> +<h4><i>The People of Radiance</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he exaltation of Sarka knew no bounds, and looking into the eyes of +Jaska, he knew she felt it, too. For her face was shining, and all of +her, the wondrous shining brilliance of her, was bathed in the white +radiance that mantled Luar. And now, since Jaska<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> too knew that +radiance, her beauty was greater even than that of Luar. Sarka +thrilled anew at the glory of her.</p> + +<p>But even as he stepped into the base of the Cone, he stepped out of +the blue column at the lip of the Moon-crater. Swift as light, and +swifter, had been the flight upward from the Cavern of the Cone; yet, +so keen were his perceptions, he knew when he had passed through the +chamber of the bluish glow, into which he and Jaska had first dropped +upon arrival.</p> + +<p>Now they were on the lip of the crater, and the people of the Gens who +had followed him, were slipping out of the blue column, like insects +out of a flame, and converging on the aircars whose tentacles still +waved as they had when Sarka had last seen them.</p> + +<p>Sarka looked at these people in amazement. To him there was a divinity +now about their nudeness which nudity never before had suggested to +him. For the people shone, and there was something glorious in those +divinely white bodies. They reminded Sarka of his people's books of +antiquity, and his childhood's pictures of angels....</p> + +<p>But the effect of those white flames!...</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was no explaining it. But Sarka felt that whatever he willed to +do he could do; that whatever he wished for was his, whether it was +his by right or no. He felt that he could move mountains, with only +the aid of his hands. Looking at Jaska he conceived all sorts of new +beauty in her, for she was the brightest, to him, of all the people +who had passed through the lake of white flames, and been cleansed in +their heat.</p> + +<p>"No wonder Luar has mastered the Moon!" he cried to Jaska. "For when +she was bathed in the white flames, her will is paramount!"</p> + +<p>"But how, if she passes the people of the Gens of Dalis through the +flames, will she retain her sovereignty?"</p> + +<p>"Because Dalis, too, has passed through, and his will is the will of +the Gens! They will obey him, and he has sworn allegiance to Luar, or +given some sort of oath of fealty!"</p> + +<p>"How strange that but one person on the Moon has been bathed in the +white flames!"</p> + +<p>"How do we know," Sarka almost whispered it, "that she is, originally, +of the Moon? Does she not look too much like our people, to be from +another world entirely?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, but ... you mean ... you mean...?"</p> + +<p>"I scarcely know; but Dalis would swear allegiance to no man, much +less to a woman, unless he knew that man, or woman, far better than he +has had opportunity, in a matter of hours only, to know Luar!"</p> + +<p>He left it there then, as he strode boldly, with Jaska by his side, to +the nearest of the aircars.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s he approached the car, the gleam cube beneath it seemed to gleam +brighter and brighter, as though it echoed the radiance of Sarka. +Sarka knew, studying this phenomenon, that he possessed at least a +hint of the secret of Luar's omnipotence. There had been a hint +before, but by now its meaning was clearer. The white flames, out of +the heart of the dying Moon, gave new life, exaltation, not only to +the bodies but to the brains of those who passed through it, and with +their brains quickened, they possessed such knowledge as men of Earth, +for ages, had wished to possess.</p> + +<p>Transmutation of metals ... the ability, at will, to endow the higher, +more selective metals with intelligence ... and the ability to retain +command of the intelligences thus endowed. This explained the power of +Luar over the Gnomes, and the power of the Gnomes over the cubes—if +they possessed that power.</p> + +<p>But the Gnomes, what of them? What were they?</p> + +<p>But for a space Sarka must await the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> answer to that question, for +there was little time. Already he knew that the tale of his escape, +and his taking over of a portion of the Gens of Dalis, must have gone +like wildfire through all the crater, and from this crater, perhaps, +had been transmitted to all the craters of the Moon. All the +craters....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hat explained to him the absence from the lake of white flames, where +he had seen so few, comparatively, of the people of Dalis' Gens. The +Moon was honeycombed by such craters, and perhaps the white flame +connected them all, made them all one. And Luar commanded all from her +dais in this crater Sarka and his people were escaping. The millions +of the Gens had been swallowed by the craters of the Moon, at command +of Luar, acceded to by Dalis—and all over the Moon the very things +which Sarka and Jaska had witnessed were taking place.</p> + +<p>Even now, as Sarka raced for the aircar, and Jaska with him, he could +feel a backward pulling that was well-nigh invincible. Someone was +willing him to return, willing the Gnomes to pursue him, willing the +cubes to refuse obedience to him; but he laughed and stepped to the +aircar, passing by the nearest writhing tentacle as though he knew it +possessed no power to harm him. The tentacle swept aside, and did not +try to bar him, while he sent his will crashing against that brightly +gleaming cube. "Into the aircar! We enter with you!"</p> + +<p>The cube vanished instantly, and it seemed to Sarka that invisible +hands caught at his feet, lifting him up through the trap-door in the +belly of the aircar, up and inside. The door swung shut, and in the +forward end of the vast aircar gleamed the cube which had obeyed his +command!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>arka sent one thought careening outward from the aircar, a command to +the cubes which stood watch beneath the other aircars.</p> + +<p>"Obey the Radiant People, and through them, <i>me</i>!"</p> + +<p>The light of the cube made the interior of the aircar as light as day, +and Sarka was struck at once with another phenomenon. He could see +through the sides of the car in any direction.</p> + +<p>And what he saw filled him with a sudden fear!</p> + +<p>Out of the crater poured myriads of the Gnomes, and up the sides of it +came myriads of the gleaming cubes, all racing toward the cars.</p> + +<p>"Get back! Get back!" he commanded the Gnomes and the cubes.</p> + +<p>At the same time he issued his commands to the cube within his own +car, and to the cubes which by now were inside the other aircars, +realizing that the cubes themselves were the motive power of the +aircars—and that his will was the will of these individual cubes.</p> + +<p>"Fly at once! Fly outward at top speed toward the Earth!"</p> + +<p>Instantly, as though a single signal had started all the cars, a dozen +aircars rose majestically from the crater, while Sarka studied the +Gnomes and the cubes in turmoil on the rim. He noted then, a strange +circumstance: that when he commanded the Gnomes and the pursuing cubes +to keep back, they hesitated, dazedly, as though they did not know +whether to advance or to retreat; that when he merely watched them, +they came on.</p> + +<p>He laughed aloud at this measuring of mental swords with Luar, and +with Dalis. For he could sense the conflict very plainly. She +commanded the Gnomes and the cubes to attack, he commanded them to +retreat, and they remained undecided, like people drawn between two +extremities, and uncertain which direction to take.</p> + +<p>Upward, side by side now, floated the aircars of the Moon, and in the +forepeak of each, one of the gleaming cubes, like—like +anti-gravitational ovoids of the Moon! At the fast falling rim of the +crater boiled the Gnomes and the cubes, stirring and tumbling,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +hampered by their very numbers, as they tried to attack at will of +Luar and retreated in confusion at the will of Sarka.</p> + +<p>Then there was Jaska beside Sarka, her face fearful, as he pointed off +across the gloomy expanse of the Moon.</p> + +<p>From all sides, from all directions, from other craters which these +two had not even seen, came scores and hundreds of the monster cars!</p> + +<p>They had beaten Luar and Dalis but for a moment, then! Now, at her +command, the countless other aircars were coming in to head them off, +to fight them back to the surface of the Moon. It would be a race +against time, and against death. But of at least a dozen of the +aircars, Sarka was master, and he did not fear the issue. That strange +exaltation which the white flames had given him filled him with a +confidence that nothing could shake.</p> + +<p>He shot a thought at the gleaming cube in the forepeak.</p> + +<p>"Faster! Faster! There is no limit to your speed! Faster! Faster! Even +faster!"</p> + +<p>Instantly the Moon seemed literally to drop away beneath the dozen +aircars which carried the Radiant People, while the aircars of Luar +and of Dalis fell hopelessly behind.</p> + +<p>Sure that they would win in this race now, since he was just beginning +to realize the vastness of his power—the all-encompassing, +all-mastering power of the human mind and will, which the white flames +of the Moon had made almost god-like—Sarka turned his eyes toward a +coldly gleaming sphere in the star-spangled heavens ahead.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was the Earth, and it seemed ringed in flames! From its edges there +seemed to shoot long streamers of yellow or golden flames, which broke +into sunlike pinwheels of radiance at their tips. Something, there on +the precious Earth, was decidedly wrong!</p> + +<p>Instantly, telepathically, he sought to gain mental contact with his +father.</p> + +<p>"Father, we are coming!" he said, across those countless miles. "What +is happening?"</p> + +<p>For a full minute there was no answer. Then it came, feeble, broken, +weighted with fear; but it was a thought-message, unmistakably, of +Sarka the Second.</p> + +<p>"Hurry, son! Hurry! For Dalis has indeed betrayed us! I could not +maintain control of the Earth with the Beryls, for some strange +catastrophe has destroyed all the Beryls in the area Dalis ruled! The +shifting of positions of the Earth and the Moon has so altered the +relative effects of the pull of gravity exerted by the planets that +Mars has been brought into dangerous proximity to us and is already so +close that her ether-lights are playing over us! Surely you must be +able to see them! We have received messages, but as yet I have only +been partially able to decode them! What I have decoded, however, +presages catastrophe—for I am sure that Mars and the Moon are in +confederation, and that the Moon-people have deliberately forced us +into contact with her ally!"</p> + +<p>Cold fear clutched at the throat of Sarka as he caught the message. He +decided not to tell Jaska for the moment. He looked to right and left, +at the aircars on either side of him, then issued his commands.</p> + +<p>"Faster! Faster! Be prepared to land in the area of the Gens of +Cleric, as close as possible to my laboratory!"</p> + +<p>A strange, awesome sight, that flight of the rebels of Dalis' Gens +from the Moon to the Earth—like gleaming stars across the void. Far +out in Space they fled at terrific speed through almost utter +darkness, but their light was still blinding, lighting the way.</p> + +<p class="center">(<i>Concluded in the next issue</i>)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_012.jpg" width="600" height="481" alt="The deck was covered with panic-stricken folk who had +come in awful terror to watch. + +And all were slaves to The Master." /> +<span class="caption">The deck was covered with panic-stricken folk who had +come in awful terror to watch. + +And all were slaves to The Master.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="Murder_Madness" id="Murder_Madness"></a>Murder Madness</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION OF A FOUR-PART NOVEL</h3> +<h2><i>By Murray Leinster</i></h2> + + + +<p class="p1">CHAPTER XV</p> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he door of the car swung wide, and Ortiz's pale grim face peered in +behind the blue steel barrel of his automatic. He smiled queerly as +Jamison, with a grunt of relief, tapped Bell's wrist in sign to put +away his weapon.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bell has fought through tremendous obstacles to find and +kill The Master, whose diabolical poison makes murder-mad snakes of +the hands; and, as he faces the monster at last—his own hands start +to writhe!</div> + +<p>"Ah, very well," said Ortiz, with the same queer smile upon his face. +"One moment."</p> + +<p>He disappeared. On the instant there was the thunderous crashing of a +weapon. Bell started up, but Jamison thrust him back. Then Ortiz +appeared again with smoke still trickling from the barrel of his +pistol.</p> + +<p>"I have just done something that I have long wished to do," he +observed coolly. "I have killed the chauffeur and his companion. You +may alight, now. I believe we will have half an hour or more. It will +do excellently."</p> + +<p>He offered his hand to Paula as she stepped out. She seemed to shudder +a little as she took it.</p> + +<p>"I do not blame you for shuddering, Senorita," he said politely, "but +men who are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> about to die may indulge in petty spites. And the +chauffeur was a favorite with the deputy for whom I am substituting. +Like all favorites of despots, he had power to abuse, and abused it. I +could tell you tales, but refrain."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he car had come to a stop in what seemed to be a huge warehouse, and +by the sound of water round about, it was either near or entirely +built out over the harbor. A large section near the outer end was +walled off. Boxes, bales, parcels and packages of every sort were +heaped all about. Bell saw crated air engines lying in a row against +one wall. There were a dozen or more of them. Machinery, huge cases of +foodstuffs....</p> + +<p>"The Buenos Aires depot," said Ortiz almost gaily. "This was the point +of receipt for all the manufactured goods which went to the <i>fazenda</i> +of Cuyaba, Senor Bell. Since you destroyed that place, it has not been +so much used. However, it will serve excellently as a tomb. There are +cases of hand grenades yonder. I advise you to carry a certain number +with you. The machine guns for the air-craft, with their ammunition, +are here...."</p> + +<p>He was hurrying them toward the great walled-off space as he talked, +his automatic serving as a pointer when he indicated the various +objects.</p> + +<p>"Now, here," he added as he unlocked the door, "is your vessel. The +Master bought only amphibian planes of late. Those for Cuyaba were +assembled in this little dock and took off from the water. Your +destruction up there, Senor Bell, left one quite complete but +undelivered. I think another, crated, is still in the warehouse. I +have been very busy, but if you can fuel and load it before we are +attacked...."</p> + +<p>They were in a roofed and walled but floorless shed, built into the +warehouse itself. Water surged about below them, and on it floated a +five passenger plane, fully assembled and apparently ready to fly, +but brand new and so far unused.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>'ll look it over," said Bell, briefly. He swung down the catwalk +painted on the wings. He began a swift and hasty survey. Soot on the +exhaust stacks proved that the motors had been tried, at least. +Everything seemed trim and new and glistening in the cabin. The fuel +tanks showed the barest trace of fuel. The oil tanks were full to +their filling-plugs.</p> + +<p>He swung back up.</p> + +<p>"Taking a chance, of course," he said curtly. "If the motors were all +right when they were tried, they probably are all right now. They may +have been tuned up, and may not. I tried the controls, and they seem +to work. For a new ship, of course, a man would like to go over it +carefully, but if we've got to hurry...."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Ortiz, and laughed, "that haste would be desirable. +Herr Wiedkind—No! <i>Amigo mio</i>, it was that damned Antonio Calles who +listened to us last night. I found pencil marks beside the listening +instrument. He must have sat there and eavesdropped upon me many weary +hours, and scribbled as men do to pass the time. He had a pretty taste +in monograms.... I gave all the orders that were needful for you to +take off from the flying field. I even went there myself and gave +additional orders. And Calles was there. Also others of The Master's +subjects. My treason would provoke a terrible revenge from The Master, +so they thought to prove their loyalty by permitting me to disclose my +plan and foil it at its beginning.</p> + +<p>"I would have made the journey with you to The Master, but as a +prisoner with the tale of my treason written out. So I returned and +changed the orders to the chauffeur, when all the Master's loyal +subjects were waiting at the flying field. But soon it will occur to +them what I have done. They will come here. Therefore, hasten!"</p> + +<p>"We want food," said Bell evenly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> "and arms, but mostly we want fuel. +We'll get busy."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e shed his coat and picked up a hand-truck. He rammed it under a drum +of gasoline and ran it to the walkway nearest to the floating plane. +Coiled against the wall there was a long hose with a funnel at its +upper end. In seconds he had the hose end in one of the wing +fuel-tanks. In seconds more he had propped the funnel into place and +was watching the gasoline gurgling down the hose.</p> + +<p>"Paula," he said curtly, "watch this. When it's empty roll the drum +away so I can put another in its place."</p> + +<p>She moved quickly beside it, throwing him a little smile. She set +absorbedly about her task.</p> + +<p>Jamison arrived with another drum of gas before the first was emptied, +and Bell was there with a third while the second still gurgled. They +heaped the full drums in place, and Jamison suddenly abandoned his +truck to swear wrathfully and tear off his spectacles and fling them +against the wall. The bushy eyebrows and beard peeled off. His coat +went down. He began to rush loads of foodstuffs, arms, and other +objects to a point from which they could be loaded on the plane. Ortiz +pointed out the things he pantingly demanded.</p> + +<p>In minutes, it seemed, he was demanding: "How much can we take? Any +more than that?"</p> + +<p>"No more," said Bell. "All the weight we can spare goes for fuel. See +if you can find another hose and funnel and get to work on the other +tank. I'm going to rustle oil."</p> + +<p>He came staggering back with heavy drums of it. A thought struck him.</p> + +<p>"How do we get out? What works the harbor door?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>rtiz pointed, smiling.</p> + +<p>"A button, Senor, and a motor does the rest." He looked at his watch. +"I had better see if my fellow subjects have come."</p> + +<p>He vanished, smiling his same queer smile. Bell worked frantically. He +saw Ortiz coming back, pausing to light a cigarette, and taking up a +hatchet, with which he attacked a packing case.</p> + +<p>"They are outside, Senor," he called. "They have found the signs of +the car entering, and now are discussing."</p> + +<p>He plucked something carefully from the packing box and went leisurely +back toward the door. Bell began to load the food and stores into the +cabin, with sweat streaming down his face.</p> + +<p>There was the sound of a terrific explosion, and Bell jumped savagely +to solid ground.</p> + +<p>"Keep loading! I'll hold them back!" he snapped to Jamison.</p> + +<p>But when he went pounding to the back of the warehouse he found Ortiz +laughing.</p> + +<p>"A hand grenade, Senor," he said in wholly unnatural levity. "Among +the subjects of The Master. I believe that I am going mad, to take +such pleasure in destruction. But since I am to die so shortly, why +not go mad, if it gives me pleasure?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e peered out a tiny hole and aimed his automatic carefully. It +spurted out all the seven shots that were left.</p> + +<p>"The man who poisoned me," he said pleasantly. "I think he is dead. Go +back and make ready to leave, Senor Bell, because they will probably +try to storm this place soon, and then the police will come, and +then.... It is amusing that I am the one man to whom those enslaved +among the city authorities would look for The Master's orders."</p> + +<p>Bell stared out. He saw a small horde of people, frantically agitated, +milling in the cramped and unattractive little street of Buenos Aires' +waterfront. Sheer desperation seemed to impel them, desperation and a +frantic fear. They surged forward—and Ortiz flung a hand grenade. Its +explo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>sion was terrific, but he had perhaps purposely flung it short. +Bell suddenly saw police uniforms, fighting a way through to the front +of the crowd and the source of all this disturbance.</p> + +<p>"Go back," said Ortiz seriously. "I shall die, Senor Bell. There is +nothing else for me to do. But I wish to die with Latin melodrama." He +managed a smile. "I will give you ten minutes more. I can hold off the +police themselves for so long. But you must hasten, because there are +police launches."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e held out his hand. Bell took it.</p> + +<p>"Good luck," said Ortiz.</p> + +<p>"You can come—" began Bell, wrenched by the gaiety on Ortiz's face.</p> + +<p>"Absurd," said Ortiz, smiling. "I should be murder mad within three +days. This is a preferable death, I assure you. Ten minutes, no more!"</p> + +<p>And Bell went racing back and found Jamison rolling away the last of +the fuel drums and Paula looking anxiously for him.</p> + +<p>"Tanks full," said Jamison curtly. "Everything set. What next?"</p> + +<p>"Engines," said Bell.</p> + +<p>He swung down and jerked a prop over. Again, and again.... The motor +caught. He went plunging to the other. Minutes.... They caught. He +throttled them down to the proper warming up roaring, while the air in +the enclosed space grew foul.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>nce more to the warehouse. Ortiz shouted and waved his hand. He was +filling his pockets with hand grenades. Bell made a gesture of +farewell and Ortiz seemed to smile as he went back to hold the +entrance for a little longer.</p> + +<p>"We're going," said Bell grimly. "Get your guns ready, Jamison, for +when the door goes up."</p> + +<p>He pressed on the button Ortiz had pointed out. There were more +explosions and the rattle of firearms from the front of the warehouse. +There was a sudden rumble of machinery and the blank front of the +little covered dock rose suddenly. The sunlit waters of Buenos Aires +harbor spread out before them. To Bell, who had not looked on sunlight +that day, the effect was dazzling. He blinked, and then saw a fast +little launch approaching. There were uniformed figures crowded about +its bows.</p> + +<p>"All set!" he snapped. "I'm going to give her the gun."</p> + +<p>"Go to it," said Jamison. "We're—"</p> + +<p>The motors bellowed and drowned out the rest. The plane shuddered and +began to move. The sound of explosions from the back of the warehouse +was loud and continuous, now. Out into the bright sunlight the plane +moved, at first heavily, then swiftly....</p> + +<p>Bell saw arms waving wildly in the launch with the uniformed men. +Sunlight glittered suddenly on rifle barrels. Puffs of vapor shot out. +Something spat through the wall beside Bell. But the roaring of the +motors kept up, and the pounding of the waves against the curved bow +of the boat-body grew more and more violent.... Sweat came out on +Bell's face. The ship was not lifting....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut it did lift. Slowly, very slowly, carrying every pound with which +it could have risen from the water. It swept past the police launch at +ninety miles an hour, but no more than five feet above the waves. A +big, clumsy tramp flying the Norwegian flag splashed up river with its +propeller half out of water. Bell dared to rise a little so he could +bank and dodge it. He could not rise above it.</p> + +<p>He had one glimpse of blonde, astonished beards staring over the stern +of the tramp as he swept by it, his wing tips level with its rail and +barely twenty feet away. And then he went on and on, out to sea.</p> + +<p>He began to spiral for height fully four miles offshore, and looked +back at the sprawling city. Down by the waterfront a thick, curling +mass of smoke was rising from one spot abut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>ting on the water. It +swayed aside and Bell saw the rectangular opening out of which the +plane had come.</p> + +<p>"Ortiz's in there," he said, sick at heart. "Dying as he planned."</p> + +<p>But there was a sudden upheaval of timbers and roof. A colossal burst +of smoke. A long time later the concussion of a vast explosion. There +was nothing left where the warehouse had been.</p> + +<p>Bell looked, and swore softly to himself, and felt a fresh surge of +the hatred he bore to The Master and all his works. And then filmy +clouds loomed up but a little above the rising plane, and Bell shot +into them and straightened out for the south.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or many long hours the plane floated on to southward, high above a +gray ocean which seemed deceptively placid beneath a canopy of thin +clouds. The motors roared steadily in the main, though once Bell +instructed Jamison briefly in the maintenance of a proper course and +height, and swung out into the terrific blast of air that swept past +the wings. He clung to struts and handholds and made his way out on +the catwalk to make some fine adjustment in one motor, with six +thousand feet of empty space below the swaying wing.</p> + +<p>"Carburetter wrong," he explained when he had closed the cabin window +behind him again and the motors' roar was once more dulled. "It was +likely to make a lot of carbon in the cylinders. O.K., now."</p> + +<p>Paula's hand touched his shyly. He smiled abstractedly at her and went +back to the controls.</p> + +<p>And then the plane kept on steadily. Time and space have become purely +relative in these days, in startling verification of Mr. Einstein, and +the distance between Buenos Aires and Magellan Strait is great or +small, a perilous journey or a mere day's travel, according to the +mind and the transportation facilities of the voyager. Before four +o'clock in the afternoon the coast was low and sandy to the westward, +and it continued sterile and bare for long hours while the plane hung +high against the sky with a following wind driving it on vastly more +swiftly than its own engines could have contrived.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was little before sunset when the character of the shore changed +yet again, and the sun was low behind a bank of angry clouds when the +stubby forefinger of rock that Magellan optimistically named the Cape +of the Eleven Thousand Virgins reached upward from the seemingly +placid water. Bell swept lower, then, much lower, looking for a +landing place. He found it eight or nine miles farther on, on a wide +sandy beach some three miles from a lighthouse. The little plane +splashed down into tumbling sea and, half supported by the waves and +half by the lift remaining to its wings, ran for yards up upon the +hard packed sand.</p> + +<p>The landing had been made at late twilight, and Bell moved stiffly +when he rose from the pilot's seat.</p> + +<p>"I'm going over to that lighthouse," he said curtly. "There won't be +enough men there to be dangerous and they probably haven't frequent +communication with the town. I'll learn something, anyway. You two +stay with the plane."</p> + +<p>Jamison lifted his eyebrows and was about to speak, but looked at +Bell's expression and stopped. Leadership is everywhere a matter of +emotion and brains together, and though Jamison had his share of +brains, he had not Bell's corroding, withering passion of hatred +against The Master and all who served him gladly. All the way down the +coast Bell had been remembering things he had seen of The Master's +doing. His power was solely that of fear, and the deputies of his +selection had necessarily been men who would spread that terror with +an unholy zest. The nature of his hold upon his subjects was such that +no honorable man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> would ever serve him willingly, and for deputies he +had need of men even of enthusiasm. His deputies, then, were men who +found in the assigned authority of The Master full scope for the +satisfaction of their own passions. And Bell had seen what those +passions brought about, and there was a dull flame of hatred burning +in his eyes that would never quite leave them until those men were +powerless and The Master dead.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_y1.jpg" alt="Y" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>ou'll look after the ship and Paula," said Bell impatiently. "All +right?"</p> + +<p>Jamison nodded. Paula looked appealingly at Bell, but he had become a +man with an obsession. Perhaps the death of Ortiz had cemented it, but +certainly he was unable to think of anything, now, but the necessity +of smashing the ghastly hold of The Master upon all the folk he had +entrapped. Subconsciously, perhaps, Bell saw in the triumph of The +Master a blow to all civilization. Less vaguely, he foresaw an attempt +at the extension of The Master's rule to his own nation. But when Bell +thought of The Master, mainly he remembered certain disconnected +incidents. The girl at Ribiera's luxurious <i>fazenda</i> outside of Rio, +who had been ordered to persuade him to be her lover, on penalty of a +horrible madness for her infant son if she failed. Of a pale and +stricken <i>fazendiero</i> on the Rio Laurenço who thought him a deputy and +humbly implored the grace of The Master for a moody twelve year old +girl. Of a young man who kept his father, murder mad, in a barred room +in his house and waited despairingly for that madness to be meted out +upon himself and on his wife and children. Of a white man who had been +kept in a cage in Cuyaba, with other men....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell trudged on through the deepening night with his soul a burning +flame of hatred. He clambered amid boulders, guided by the tall +lighthouse of Cape Possession with the little white dwelling he had +seen at its base before nightfall. He fell, and rose, and forced his +way on and upward, and at last was knocking heavily at a trim and +neatly painted door.</p> + +<p>He was so absorbed in his rage that his talk with the lighthouse +keeper seemed vague in his memory, afterward. The keeper was a wizened +little Welshman from the Chibut who spoke English with an +extraordinary mixture of a Spanish intonation and a Cimbrian accent. +Bell listened heavily and spoke more heavily still. At the end he went +back to the plane with a spindle-shanked boy with a lantern +accompanying him.</p> + +<p>"All settled," he said grimly, when Jamison came out into the darkness +with a ready revolver to investigate the approaching light. "We get a +boat from the lighthouse keeper to go to Punta Arenas in. He's a +devout member of some peculiar sect, and he's seen enough of the hell +Punta Arenas amounts to, to believe what I told him of its cause. His +wife will look after Paula, and this boy will hitch a team to the +plane and haul it out of sight early in the morning. With the help of +God, we'll kill Ribiera and The Master before sunset to-morrow."</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut they did not kill The Master before nightfall. It was not quite +practicable. Bell and Jamison started out well before dawn with a +favorable wind and tide, in the small launch the wizened Welshman +placed at their disposal. His air was one of dour piety, but he +accepted Bell's offer of money with an obvious relief, and criticized +his Paraguayan currency with an acid frankness until Jamison produced +Argentine pesos sufficient to pay for the boat three times over.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Jamison dryly, "that Pau—that Miss Canalejas is safe +enough until we come back. The keeper is a godly man and knows we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +have money. She'll be in no danger, except of her soul. They may try +to save that."</p> + +<p>Bell did not answer. He could think of nothing but the mission he had +set himself. He tinkered with the engine to make it speed up, and set +the sails with infinite care to take every possible advantage of the +stiff breeze that blew. During the day, those sails proved almost as +much of a nuisance as a help. The fiendish, sullen williwaws that blow +furiously and without warning about the Strait required watching, and +more than once it was necessary to reef everything and depend on the +motor alone.</p> + +<p>Bell watched the horizon ahead with smouldering eyes. Jamison watched +him almost worriedly.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Bell," he said at last, "you'll get nowhere feeling like +you do. I know you've done The Master more damage than I have, but +you'll just run your head into a trap unless you use your brains. For +instance, you didn't ask about communications. There's a direct +telegraph wire from Cape Virgins to Buenos Aires, and there's +telephonic communication between the Cape and Punta Arenas. Do you +imagine that the plane wasn't seen when it came in the Cape? And do +you imagine The Master doesn't know we're here?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell turned, then, and frowned blackly.</p> + +<p>"I hadn't thought of it," he said grimly, "but I put some hand +grenades in the locker, there."</p> + +<p>"You damned fool!" said Jamison angrily. "Stop being bloodthirsty and +use your head! You haven't even asked what I've done! I've done +something, anyhow. That bundle I chucked in the bow has a couple of +sheepmen's outfits in it. Lots of sheep raised around here. We'll put +'em on before we land. And like a good general, I arranged a method of +retreat before we left B. A. There'll be a naval vessel here in two or +three days. She's carrying a party of Government scientists. She'll +anchor in Punta Arenas harbor and announce a case of some infectious +disease on board. No shore leave, you see, and nobody from shore +permitted on board her. And she has one or two damned good analytical +chemists with a damned good laboratory on board her, too. It's a long +gamble, but if we can get hold of some of The Master's poison.... Do +you see?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Bell heavily. "I see. But you haven't been through what +I've been through. What I've done, fighting that devil, has caused men +to be deserted after being enslaved. There's one place, Cuyaba...."</p> + +<p>His face twitched. That place was in his dreams, now. That place and +others where human beings had watched their bodies go mad, and had +been carried about screaming with horror at the crimes those bodies +committed....</p> + +<p>"I'm going to kill The Master," he rasped. "That's all."</p> + +<p>He settled down to his grim watch for the city. All during the cloudy, +overcast day he strained his eyes ahead. Jamison could make nothing of +him. In the end he had to leave Bell to his moody waiting.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he morning passed, and midday, and a long afternoon. Three times Bell +came restlessly back to the engine and tried to coax more speed out of +it. But when darkness fell the town was still not in sight. They kept +on, then, steering by the stars with the motor putt-putt-putting +sturdily away in the stern. The water splashed and washed all about +them. The little boat rose, and fell, and rose and fell again.</p> + +<p>"That's the town," said Bell grimly.</p> + +<p>It was eleven at night, or later. Lights began to appear, very far +away, dancing miragelike on the edge of the water. They grew nearer +with almost infinite slowness. Two wide bands of many lights, with a +darker space in which a few much brighter lights showed clearly. +Presently a single red<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> light appeared, the Punta Arenas harbor light, +twenty-five feet up on an iron pole. They passed it.</p> + +<p>"Bell," said Jamison curtly, "it's time you showed some sense, now. +We're going to find out some things before we get reckless. This town +isn't a big one, but it always was a hell on earth. No extradition +from here. It's full of wanted men. It's dying, now, from the old days +when all ships passed the Straits before the Panama Canal opened up, +but it ought to be still a hell on earth. And we're going to put on +these sheepmen outfits, and put up at some low caste sailors' and +sheepmen's hotel on shore, and find out what is what. In the morning, +if you like—"</p> + +<p>"In the morning," said Bell coldly, "I'm going to settle with The +Master."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey found a small and filthy hotel, in a still filthier street where +the houses were alternately black and silent and empty, and filled +with the squalid hilarity most seaport towns can somehow manage to +support. The street lamps were white and cold. The dirt and squalor +showed the more plainly by their light. There were sailors from the +few ships in harbor, and women so haggard and bedraggled that shrill +laughter and lavish endearments remained their only allure. And Bell +and Jamison plodded to the reeking place in which a half-drunk +sheepman pointed, and there Bell sat grimly in the vermin infested +room while Jamison, swearing wryly, went out.</p> + +<p>He came back later, much later. His breath was strong of bad whiskey +and he looked like a man who feels that a bath would be very +desirable. He looked like a man who feels unclean.</p> + +<p>"Give me a cigarette," he said shortly. "I found out most of what we +want to know."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell gave him a cigarette and waited.</p> + +<p>"Good thing you stayed behind," said Jamison. "I want to vomit. Why +people go in hell holes for fun.... But I was very drunk and very +amorous. Picked up a woman and fed her liquor. Young, too. Damnation! +She got crying drunk and told me everything she knew. I gave her money +and left. Punta Arenas is The Master's, body and soul."</p> + +<p>"One could have guessed it," said Bell grimly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing like it is," said Jamison. "Every living creature, man, +woman, and child, has been fed that devilish poison of his. The +keepers of the dives go fawning to the local officials for the +antidote. The <i>jefe politico</i> is driven in his carriage to be cured +when red spots form before his eyes. The damned place is full of +suicides, and women, and—oh, my God! It's horrible!"</p> + +<p>A humming, buzzing noise set up off in the night somewhere. It kept up +for a long time, throttled down. Suddenly it seemed to grow louder, +changed in pitch, and dwindled as if into the far, far distance.</p> + +<p>"That's one of The Master's planes now, no doubt," said Jamison +savagely, "going off on some errand for him. He uses this place +practically as an experiment station. The human beings here are his +guinea pigs. The deputies get a standardized form of the stuff, but +he's got it worked out in different doses so he can make a man go mad +in hours, if he chooses, instead of after a delay. I don't know how. +And The Master—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e checked himself sharply. There were shuffling footsteps in the hall +outside. A timid tap on the door. Jamison opened it, while Bell +dropped one hand inconspicuously to a weapon inside his shapeless +clothing.</p> + +<p>The toothless and filthy old man who kept the hotel beamed in at them.</p> + +<p>"<i>Senores</i>," he cackled. "<i>Vdes son de Porvenir, no es verdad?</i>"</p> + +<p>Jamison hiccoughed, as one who has been out and been drunken ought to +do.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>No, viejo</i>," he rumbled tipsily, "<i>somos de la estancia del Señor +Rubio. Vaya.</i>"</p> + +<p>The old man seemed to mourn that they did not come from the sheep +ranches about Porvenir Bay. But he produced a bottle with a shaking +hand, still beaming.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tengo muchos amigos en Porvenir</i>," he chirped amiably. "<i>Y questa +botella—</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Démela</i>," rumbled Jamison. He reached out his hand.</p> + +<p>"<i>No mas que poquito!</i>" said the old man, beaming but anxious as +Jamison tilted it to his lips. "<i>Es visky de gentes....</i>"</p> + +<p>He beamed upon Bell, and Bell swallowed a spoonful and seemed to +swallow vastly more. He lay back lazily while Jamison in the part of a +tipsy sheepherder bullied the old man amiably and eventually chased +him out.</p> + +<p>"You're amused?" asked Jamison sardonically, when there were no more +sounds outside. "Because I said you didn't want to meet the young +senorita who loved you when she saw you downstairs? Well, Bell, if you +used your brain you didn't swallow any of that stuff."</p> + +<p>Bell started up. Jamison caught him by the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure," he said sharply. "Of course not. But it's damned funny +for a Spanish hotel keeper to give something for nothing, even when he +seemed just to want to gossip about his friends. Here. Drink this +water. It looks vile enough to take the place of mustard...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>ext morning the hotel keeper beamed upon them both as they went out +of the place. A slatternly, dark haired girl who leaned on his +shoulder smiled invitingly at Bell. And Bell, in his character of a +loutish sheepman from one of the ranches that dot the shores of the +Strait, grinned awkwardly back. But he went on with Jamison.</p> + +<p>"We separate," said Jamison under his breath. "We want to find where +The Master lives, mostly, and then we want to find the laboratory +where his stuff is mixed. We don't want to do any killing until that's +settled. After all, the Trade has something to say!"</p> + +<p>Bell codded indifferently and began to wander idly about the streets, +turning here and there as if moved by nothing more than the vaguest +curiosity. But gradually he was working through the sections in which +the larger buildings stood. Concrete structures, astonishingly modern, +dotted the business section. But none of them had the air that would +surround a place where a man with power of life or death would be. In +a town the size of Punta Arenas there would be unmistakable evidences +about The Master's residence, even if it were only that those who +passed it did so hurriedly and with a twinge of fear.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here were prosperous men in plenty on the streets, mingled with +deserting sailors, stockmen and farmers from the villages along the +Strait, and even a few grimy men who looked like miners. But there is +a lignite mine not far from the city, and a narrow gauge railroad +running to it. Of the prosperous-seeming men, however, Bell picked out +one here and there toward whom all passersby adopted a manner of +cringing respect. Bell lounged against a pole and studied them +thoughtfully. Men with an air of amused and careless scorn which only +men with unlimited power may adopt. He saw one grossly fat man with +hard and cruel eyes. The uniformed policemen drove all traffic +abjectly out of the way of his carriage, and stood with lifted hat +until he had passed. The fat man gave no faintest sign of +acknowledgment.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Bell slowly, and very grimly, "if that's The Master?"</p> + +<p>And then a passerby dodged quickly past his shoulder, brushing against +him, and waited humbly in the street. Bell turned. A party of men were +tak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>ing up nearly all the sidewalk. There were half a dozen of them in +all. And nearly in the middle was the bulky, immaculate, pigmented +Ribiera.</p> + +<p>Bell stiffened. But to move, beyond clearing the way, would be to +attract attention. He backed clumsily off the curbing as if making +way....</p> + +<p>And Ribiera looked at his face.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell's hand drifted near his hidden weapon. But Ribiera looked neither +surprised nor alarmed. He halted and chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Ah, the Senhor Bell!"</p> + +<p>Bell said nothing, looking as stupid as possible, merely because there +was nothing else to do.</p> + +<p>"Ah, do not deny my acquaintance!" said Ribiera. He laughed. "I advise +you to go and look at the view, over the harbor. Good day, Senhor +Bell."</p> + +<p>Laughing, he went off along the street. And Bell felt a cold horror +creeping over him as he realized what Ribiera might mean. Ribiera had +entirely too much against him to greet him only, in a town where even +the dogs dared not bark without The Master's express command. He had +guards with him, men who would have shot Bell down at a nod from +Ribiera.</p> + +<p>Bell burst into a mad run for the waterfront. When the bay spread out +before his eyes he saw what Ribiera meant, and something seemed to +snap in his brain.</p> + +<p>The plane in which he and Jamison and Paula had escaped in was +floating out in the harbor. It was unmistakable. A larger, bulkier +seaplane floated beside it. The buzzing in the air the night +before.... The arrival of the plane had been telephoned from Cape +Virgins. Through a glass, perhaps, even its alighting had been +watched. And a big seaplane had gone out to bring it back. Footprints +in the sand would lead toward the lighthouse. There would be plenty of +men to storm that, if necessary, to take the three fugitives. But they +would have found only Paula. It was quite possible that the plane had +only been sent for after Bell and Jamison had been seen to land in +Punta Arenas. And Paula in The Master's hands would explain Ribiera's +amusement perfectly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell found Jamison looking unhurriedly for him. And Jamison glanced at +his utterly white face and said softly:</p> + +<p>"We want to get where we can't be seen, to talk. There's the devil to +pay."</p> + +<p>"No use hiding," said Bell. His lips seemed stiff. "Paula—"</p> + +<p>"Hide anyway," snapped Jamison. He fairly thrust Bell into an alleyway +between two houses and thrust two rounded objects beneath his loose +fitting coat. "Two grenades. I have two more. The boat we came in is +taken—"</p> + +<p>"So is the plane," said Bell emotionlessly.</p> + +<p>"And there is a sign, in English, posted where we tied it up. The sign +says, '<i>The Senores Bell and Jamison may recover their boat on +application to The Master, and may also receive news of a late +traveling companion from him.</i>"</p> + +<p>"We're known," Bell told him—and amazingly found it possible to smile +faintly—"Ribiera met me on the street and spoke to me and laughed and +went on."</p> + +<p>Jamison stared. Bell's manner was almost entirely normal again. Then +Jamison shrugged.</p> + +<p>"The sense of what you're saying," he observed wryly, "is that we're +licked. Let us, then, go to see The Master. I confess I feel some +curiosity to know just what he's like."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell was smiling. Being in an entirely abnormal state, he had a +curious certitude of the proper course to adopt. He went up to a +policeman and said politely, in Spanish:</p> + +<p>"I am desired to report to The Master, himself. Will you direct me?"</p> + +<p>The policeman abased himself instantly and trotted with them as a +guide. And Bell walked naturally, now,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> with his head up and his +shoulders back, and smoked leisurely as he went, and the policeman's +abasement became abject. All who walked with that air of amused +superiority in Punta Arenas were high in the service of The Master. +Obviously, the two men in these dejected clothes must also be high in +the service of The Master, and had adopted their disguise for purposes +into which a mere policeman and a slave of The Master should not dare +enquire.</p> + +<p>Jamison was rather grim and still. Jamison thought he was walking to +his death. But Bell smiled peculiarly and talked almost gaily and—as +Jamison thought—almost irrationally.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey came to a house set in a fairly spacious lawn behind a rather +high wall. There were greenhouses behind it, and there were flowers +growing as well as any flowers can be expected to grow in such high +altitudes. It was an extraordinarily cheerful dwelling to be found in +Punta Arenas, but the shuddering fear with which the little policeman +removed his hat as he entered the gateway was instructive.</p> + +<p>They were confronted by four other policemen, on guard inside the +gate.</p> + +<p>"<i>Estos Señores</i>—" began the abject one.</p> + +<p>"Take us to The Master," commanded Bell in a species of amused and +superior scorn.</p> + +<p>"It is required, Senor," said the leader of the four on guard, very +respectfully, "it is required that none enter without being searched +for weapons."</p> + +<p>Bell laughed.</p> + +<p>"Does The Master manage things so?" he asked scornfully. "Now, where I +am deputy no man would dare to think of a weapon to be used against +me! If it is The Master's rule, though...."</p> + +<p>The policeman cringed. Bell scornfully thrust an automatic out.</p> + +<p>"Take it," he snapped. "And go and tell The Master that the Senores +Bell and Jamison await his pleasure, and that they have given up +their weapons."</p> + +<p>The policeman scuttled toward the house. Bell smiled at his cigarette.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Bell," said Jamison dryly, in English, "I'd hate to play +poker with you."</p> + +<p>"I'm not bluffing," said Bell. "Not altogether. I've a four card +flush, with the draw to come."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>lmost instantly the policeman returned, more abject still. He had +stammered out Bell's message, just as it was given him. And the slaves +of The Master did not usually disobey orders, especially orders +designed to prevent any danger of a doomed man or woman trying to +assassinate The Master before madness was complete. Bell and Jamison +were received by liveried servants in utter silence and conducted +through a long passageway, too long to have been contained entirely in +the house as seen from the front. Indeed, they came out into a great +open greenhouse, in which the smell of flowers was heavy. There were +flowers everywhere, and a benign, small old man with a snowy beard and +hair, sat at a desk as if chatting of amiable trivialities with the +frock-coated men who stood about him. The white haired old man lifted +a blossom delicately to his nostrils and inhaled its perfume with a +sensitive delight. He looked up and smiled benignly upon the two.</p> + +<p>It was then that Jamison got a shock surpassing all the rest. Bell's +hands were writhing at the ends of his wrists, writhing as if they +were utterly beyond his control and as if they were longing to rend +and tear....</p> + +<p>And Bell suddenly looked down at them, and his expression was that of +a man who sees cobras at the ends of his arms.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was a long pause. Bell was very calm. He seemed to tear his eyes +from the writhing hands that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> were peculiarly sensate, as if under the +control of in intelligence alien to his own.</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Bell steadily, "that The Master wishes to speak to +me."</p> + +<p>With an apparent tremendous effort of will, he thrust his hands into +his pockets. Jamison cursed softly. Bell had taken the direction of +things entirely out of his hands. It only remained to play up.</p> + +<p>"To be sure," said a mild, benevolent voice. The man with the snowy +beard regarded Bell exactly in the fashion of an elderly +philanthropist. "I am The Master, Senor Bell. You have interested me +greatly. I have grown to have a great admiration for you. Will you be +seated? Your companion also pleases me. I would like"—and the mild +brown eyes beamed at him—"I would like to have your friendship, Senor +Bell."</p> + +<p>"Pull out a chair for me, Jamison," said Bell in a strained voice. +"And—I'd like to have a cigarette."</p> + +<p>Jamison, cursing under his breath, put a chair behind Bell and stuck a +cigarette between his lips. He held a match, though his hands shook.</p> + +<p>"You might sit down, too," said Bell steadily. "From the manner of The +Master, I imagine that the conversation will take some time."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e inhaled deeply of his cigarette, and faced the little man again. +And The Master looked so benevolent that he seemed absolutely +cherubic, and there was absolutely no sign of anything but the utmost +saintliness about him. His eyes were clear and mild. His complexion +was fresh and translucent. The wrinkles that showed upon his face were +those of an amiable and a serene soul filled with benevolence and +charity. He looked like one of those irritatingly optimistic old +gentlemen who habitually carry small coins and stray bits of candy in +their pockets for such small children as they may converse with under +the smiling eyes of nurses.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Senor Bell," he said gently. "You do cause me to admire you. May +I see your hands again?"</p> + +<p>Bell held them out. He seemed to have conquered their writhing to some +extent. But he could not hold them quite still. Sweat stood out on his +forehead. He thrust them abruptly out of sight again.</p> + +<p>"Sad," said The Master gently. "Very sad." He sighed faintly and laid +down the rose he had been toying with. His fingers caressed the soft +petals delicately. "Fortunately," he said benevolently, "it is not yet +too late for me to relieve the strain under which you labor, Senor. +May I send for a certain medicine which will dispose of those symptoms +in a very short time?"</p> + +<p>"We'll talk first," said Bell harshly. "I want to hear what you have +to say."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Master nodded, his fingers touching the rose petals as if in a +sensitive pleasure in their texture.</p> + +<p>"Always courageous," he said benignly. "I admire it while I combat it. +But the Senor Jamison...."</p> + +<p>Jamison had been looking fascinatedly at his own hands, opening and +closing the fingers with a savage abruptness. They obeyed him, though +they trembled.</p> + +<p>"I didn't drink the damned stuff that hotel keeper brought us last +night," he growled. "Bell did. And I—"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, Jamison," said Bell evenly. "Let's talk to The Master +for a while. I swore, sir," he said grimly, "that I'd kill you. I've +seen what your devilish poison does, in the hands of the men you've +chosen to distribute it. I've seen"—he swallowed and said +harshly—"I've seen enough to make me desire nothing so much as to see +you roast in hell! But you wanted to talk to me. Go ahead!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Master beamed at him, and then glanced about at the frock-coated +men who had been attending him. Bell glanced at them. Ribiera was +there, chuckling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I told you, <i>tio mio</i>," he said familiarly, "that he would not be +polite. You can do nothing with him. Better have him shot."</p> + +<p>Francia, of Paraguay, nodded amusedly to Bell as their eyes met. But +The Master shook his really rather beautiful head. An old man can be +good to look at, and with a saintly aureole of snow-white hair and the +patriarchal white beard, The Master was the picture of benign and +beautiful old age.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you do not understand," he protested mildly. "The more the Senor +Bell shows his courage, <i>hijo mio</i>, the more we must persuade him." He +turned to Bell. "I realise," he said gently, "that there are hardships +connected with the administration of my power, Senor. It is +inevitable. But the Latin races of the continent which is now nearly +mine require strong handling. They require a strong man to lead them. +They are comfortable only under despotism. The task I have chosen for +you is different, entirely. <i>Los Americanos del Norte</i> will not +respond to the treatment which is necessary for those <i>del Sud</i>. Their +governments, their traditions, are entirely unlike. If you become my +deputy and viceroy for all your nation, you shall rule as you will. A +benevolent, yet strong, rule is needed for your people. It may even +be—I will permit it—that the democratic institutions of your nation +may continue if you so desire. I am offering you, Senor, the position +of the absolute ruler of your nation. You may interfere with the +present government not at all, if you choose, provided only that my +own commands are obeyed when relayed through you. I choose you because +you have courage, and resource, and because you have the <i>Yanqui</i> +cleverness which will understand your nation and cope with it."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell inhaled deeply.</p> + +<p>"In other words," he said bitterly, "you're saying indirectly that you +offer me a chance to be the sort of ruler Americans will submit to +without too much fuss, because you think one of Ribiera's stamp would +drive them to rebellion."</p> + +<p>The fine dark eyes twinkled.</p> + +<p>"You have much virtue, Senor. My nephew—though he is to be my +successor—has a weakness for a pretty face. Would you prefer that I +give him the task of subduing your nation?"</p> + +<p>"You might try it," said Bell. His eyes gleamed. "He'd be dead within +a week."</p> + +<p>The Master laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"I like you, Senor. I do like you indeed. I have not been so defied +since another <i>Americano del Norte</i> defied me in this same room. But +he had not your resource. He had been enslaved with much less +difficulty than yourself. I do not remember what happened to him...."</p> + +<p>"He was taken, Master," said a fat man with hard eyes, obsequiously, +"he was taken in Bolivia." It was the man whom Bell had seen earlier +that morning in a carriage. "You gave him to me. He had insulted me +when I ordered him sent to you. I had him killed, but he was very +obstinate."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," said The Master meditatively. "You told me the details." He +seemed to recall small facts in benevolent retrospection. "But you, +Senor Bell, I have need of you. In fact, I shall insist upon your +friendship. And therefore—"</p> + +<p>He beamed upon Bell.</p> + +<p>"I give you back the Senorita Canalejas."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e shook his head reproachfully at the utterly grim look in Bell's +eyes.</p> + +<p>"I shall give you one single portion of the antidote to the medicine +which makes your hands behave so badly. You may take it when you +please. The Senor Jamison I shall keep and enslave. I do not think he +will be as obstinate as you are, but he has excellent qualities. If +you prove obdurate, I may yet persuade him to under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>take certain tasks +for me. But you and the Senorita Canalejas are free. Your boat has +been reprovisioned and provided with fuel. You may go from here where +you will."</p> + +<p>Ribiera snarled.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tio mio</i>," he protested angrily, "you promised me—"</p> + +<p>"Your will in many things," said The Master gently, "but not in all. +Remember that you have much to learn, <i>hijo mio</i>. I have taught you to +prepare my little medicine, it is true. That is so you can take my +place if age infirmity shall carry me away." The Master folded his +hands with an air of pious resignation. "But you must learn policy. +The Senorita Canalejas belongs to the Senor Bell."</p> + +<p>Jamison was staring, now, but Bell's eyes had narrowed to mere slits.</p> + +<p>"You see," said The Master gently, to him, "I desire your friendship. +You may go where you will. You may take the Senorita Canalejas with +you. You will have enough of the antidote to my little medicine to +keep you sane for perhaps a week. In one week you may go far, with +her. You may do many things. But you cannot find a place of safety for +her. I still have a little power, Senor. If you take her with you, +your hands will writhe again. Your body will become uncontrollable. +Your eyes, staring and horror-struck, will observe your own hands +rending her. While your brain is yet sane you will see this body of +yours which now desires her so ardently, tearing at and crushing that +delicate figure, gouging out her eyes, battering her tender flesh, +destroying her.... Have you ever seen what a man who has taken my +little medicine does to a human being at his mercy?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he figures about The Master were peculiarly tense. The fat man with +the hard eyes laughed suddenly. It was a horrible laugh. Francia of +Paraguay took out his handkerchief and delicately wiped his lips. He +was smiling. Ribiera looked at Bell's face and chuckled. His whole +gross figure shook with his amusement.</p> + +<p>"And of course," said The Master benignly, "if you prefer to commit +suicide, if you prefer to leave her here—well, my nephew knows little +expedients to reduce her will to compliance. You recall <i>Yagué</i>, among +others."</p> + +<p>Bell's face was a white mask of horror and fury. He tried to speak, +and failed. He raised his hand to his throat—and it tore at the +flesh, insanely.</p> + +<p>"Let—let me see her," croaked Bell, as if strangling.</p> + +<p>Jamison stiffened. Bell seemed to be trying to get his hands into his +pockets. They were apparently uncontrollable. He thrust them under his +coat as there was a stirring at the door.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nd Paula was brought in, as if she had been waiting. She was entirely +colorless, but she smiled at Bell. She came quickly to his side.</p> + +<p>"I heard," she said in a clear and even little voice. "We will go +together, Charles. If there is a week in which we can be together, it +will be so much of happiness. And when you are—The Master's victim, +we will let the little boat sink, and sink with it. I do not wish to +live without you, Charles, and you do not wish to live as his slave."</p> + +<p>Bell gave utterance to a sudden laugh that was like a bark. His hands +came out from under his coat. Dangling from each one was a small, +pear-shaped globule of metal. A staff projected upward from each one, +and he held those staffs in his writhing hands. About each wrist was a +tiny loop of cord that went down to a pin at the base of the staffs.</p> + +<p>"Close to me, Paula," he said coldly. She clung to his arm. He moved +forward, with half-a-dozen revolver muzzles pointed at his breast.</p> + +<p>"If one of you damned fools fires," he said harshly, "I'll let go. +When I let go—these are Mills grenades, and they go off in three +seconds after they leave the hand. Stand still!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was a terrible, frozen silence. Then a movement from behind +Bell. Jamison was rising with a grunt.</p> + +<p>"Some day, Bell," he observed coolly, "I'll be on to all of your +curves. This is the best one yet. But you're likely to let go at any +second, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Like hell!" raged Bell. "I drank some of your poison," he snarled at +The Master. "Yes! I was fool enough to do it! But I took what measures +any man will take who finds he's swallowed poison. I got it out of my +stomach at once. And if you or one of these deputies tries to +move...."</p> + +<p>Ribiera had blanched to a pasty gray. The Master was frozen. But Bell +saw Ribiera's eyes move in swift calculation. There was a solid wall +behind The Master. It seemed as if the greenhouse were a sort of +passageway between two larger structures. And there was a door almost +immediately behind Ribiera. Ribiera glanced right—left—</p> + +<p>He flung himself through that door. He knew the secret of The Master's +power. He was The Master's appointed successor. If The Master and all +his deputies died, Ribiera....</p> + +<p>But Bell snapped into action like a bent spring released. His arm shot +forward. A grenade went hurtling through the door through which +Ribiera had fled. There was an instantaneous, terrific explosion. The +solid wall shook and shivered and, with a vast deliberation, +collapsed. The greenhouse was full of crushed plaster dust. Panes of +glass shivered....</p> + +<p>But Bell was upon The Master. He had struck the little man down and +stood over him, his remaining automatic replacing the grenade he had +thrown.</p> + +<p>"Ribiera's dead," he snapped, "and if I'm shot The Master dies too and +you all go mad! Stand back!"</p> + +<p>The deputies stood frozen.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Jamison composedly, "I take a hand now. I'll pick him +up, Bell.... Right. I've got him. With a grenade hanging down his +back. If he jerks away from me, or I from him, it will blow his spine +to bits."</p> + +<p>"Hold him so," said Bell coldly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e went coolly to where he could look over the heap of the collapsed +wall. He saw a bundle of torn clothing that had been a man. It was +flung against a cracked and tottering chimney.</p> + +<p>"Right," he said evenly. "Ribiera's dead, all right."</p> + +<p>He turned to the deputies, whose revolvers were still in their hands.</p> + +<p>"The Master's carriage, please," he said politely. "To the door. You +may accompany us if you please, but in other carriages. I am working +for the release of all the Master's slaves, and you among them if you +choose. But you can see very easily that there is no hope of the +release of The Master without the meeting of my terms."</p> + +<p>The Master spoke, softly and mildly and without fear.</p> + +<p>"It is my order that the Senor Bell is to be obeyed. I shall return. +You need have no fear of my death. My carriage."</p> + +<p>A man went stiffly, half-paralyzed with terror, to where chattering +scared servants were grouped in the awful fear that came upon the +slaves of The Master at any threat to his rule.</p> + +<p>But Bell and Paula and Jamison went slowly and cautiously—though they +held the whip hand—to the entrance door of the house, and out to the +entrance gate. A carriage was already before the door when they +reached it, and others were drawing up in a line behind it.</p> + +<p>"Get in," said Bell briefly. "Down to the waterfront."</p> + +<p>He turned to the group of frock-coated, stricken men who had followed.</p> + +<p>"Some of you men," he said coldly, "had better go on ahead and warn +the police and the public generally about the certainty of The +Master's death if any attempt is made to rescue him."</p> + +<p>Francia, of Paraguay, summoned a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> swagger and raised his hand to the +second carriage. It drew in to the curb.</p> + +<p>"I will attend to it, Senor Bell," he said politely. "Ah, when I think +that I once raised my revolver to shoot you and refrained!"</p> + +<p>He drove off swiftly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell's eyes were glowing. He got into the carriage, and such a +procession drove through the streets of Punta Arenas as has rarely +moved through the streets of any city in the world. The long line of +carriages moved at a funereal pace amid a surging, terrified mob. The +Master beamed placidly as he looked out over white, starkly agonized +faces. Some of the people groaned audibly. A few cursed The Master in +their despair. More cursed Bell, not daring to strike or fire on him. +But he would have been torn to bits if he had stepped from the +carriage for an instant.</p> + +<p>"Bell," said Jamison dryly, "considering that I'm prepared to be blown +apart on three seconds notice, it is peculiar that this mob frightens +me."</p> + +<p>The Master's eyes twinkled benignly. He seemed totally insensible to +fear.</p> + +<p>"You need not be afraid," he said gently. "They will not touch you +unless I order them."</p> + +<p>Jamison stared down at the little man whose collar he held firmly, +with a Mills grenade dangling down at the base of his neck.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't order them to attack, if I were you," he said coldly. "I +haven't Bell's brains, but I have just as much dislike for you as he +has."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey came to the harbor. Bell spoke again.</p> + +<p>"The carriage is to drive out to the end of one of the docks, and no +one else is to go out on that dock."</p> + +<p>The Master relayed the order in his mild voice, but as the coachman +obeyed him he clucked his tongue commiseratingly.</p> + +<p>"Senor Bell," he protested gently. "You do not expect to escape! Not +after killing me! Why that is absurd!"</p> + +<p>Bell said nothing. He alighted from the carriage, his face set grimly, +and stared ashore at the long, long row of terrified faces staring out +at him. The whole waterfront seemed to be lined with staring faces. +Wails came from that mass of enslaved human beings.</p> + +<p>"Hold him here, Jamison," he said drearily. "I'm going out to look at +that big plane. There's a rowboat tied to the dock, here."</p> + +<p>He swung down the side into the dock and rowed off into the harbor, +while the horses attached to The Master's carriage pawed impatiently +at the wooden flooring of the dock. Bell reached the two planes +anchored on the still harbor water. The smaller one had brought them +down from Buenos Aires. The larger one had gone after the beached +amphibian and brought it and Paula on to the city. Bell, from the +shore, was seen to be investigating the larger one. He came rowing +back.</p> + +<p>His head appeared above the dock edge.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said tiredly. "The Master has a rule requiring all his +ships ready for instant flight. Very useful. The big plane is fueled +and full of oil. We'll go out to it and take off."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>amison lifted The Master to his feet and with a surge of muscles +swept him down to the flooring of the dock.</p> + +<p>"Paula first," said Bell, "and then The Master, and then you, +Jamison."</p> + +<p>"One moment," said The Master reproachfully. "It would be cruel not to +let me reassure my subjects. I will give an order."</p> + +<p>Bell and Jamison listened suspiciously. But he spoke gently to the +coachman.</p> + +<p>"You will tell the deputies," said The Master in Spanish, "that a +month's supply of medicine for all my subjects will be found in my +laboratory. And you may tell them that I shall return before the end +of that time."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> + +<p>The coachman's eyes filled with a passionate relief.</p> + +<p>"Now," said The Master placidly, "I am ready for our little jaunt."</p> + +<p>Paula descended the ladder and seated herself in the bow of the boat. +Bell covered The Master grimly with his automatic as he descended, +with surprising agility. Jamison came down last, and resumed his +former grip on The Master's collar. Bell rowed out to the big plane.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>amison kept close watch while Bell started the four huge motors and +throttled them down to warming up speed, and while he hauled up the +anchor with which the huge seaplane was anchored.</p> + +<p>The dock was covered with a swarm of panic stricken folk. Everywhere, +all the inhabitants of the city who were slaves to The Master had come +in awful terror to watch. And all the inhabitants of the city were +slaves to The Master. Some of them fell to their knees and held out +imploring arms to Bell, begging him for mercy and the return of The +Master. Some cursed wildly.</p> + +<p>But, with his jaws set grimly, Bell gave the motors the gun.</p> + +<p>The big plane moved heavily, then more swiftly through the water. It +lifted slowly, and rose, and rose, and dwindled to a speck high in the +air.</p> + +<p>And all through the streets and ways of Punta Arenas, fear stalked +almost as a tangible thing. Panic hovered over the housetops, always +ready to descend. Terror was in the air that every man breathed, and +every human being looked at every other human being with staring, +haunted eyes. Punta Arenas was waiting for its murder madness to +begin.</p> + + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here were four motors to pull the big plane through the air, and +their roaring was a vast thundering noise which the earth re-echoed. +But inside the cabin that tumult was reduced to a not intolerable +humming sound.</p> + +<p>"What'll I do with this devil, Bell?" asked Jamison. "Now that we're +aloft, I confess this grenade makes me nervous. I'm holding it so +tightly my fingers are getting cramped."</p> + +<p>"Tie him up," said Bell, without looking. "He'll talk presently."</p> + +<p>Movements. The plane flew on, swaying slightly in the way of big +sea-planes everywhere. A williwaw began in the hills ahead and swept +out and set the ship to reeling crazily in its erratic currents. The +Strait vanished and there were tumbled hills below them. Minutes +passed.</p> + +<p>"Got him fixed up," said Jamison coolly, "I'll guarantee he won't +break loose. Got any plans, Bell?"</p> + +<p>"No time," said Bell. "I haven't had time to make any. The first thing +is to get where his folk will never find us. Then we'll see what we +can do with him."</p> + +<p>Paula looked at the now bound figure of The Master. And the little old +man beamed at her.</p> + +<p>"He—he's smiling!" said Paula, in a voice that was full of a peculiar +horrified shock.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell shrugged. Punta Arenas was all of twenty-five miles behind, and +the earth over which they flew began to take on the shape of an +island. Water appeared beyond it, and innumerable small islands. Bell +began to rack his brain for the infinitesimal scraps of knowledge he +had about this section of the world. It was pitifully scanty. Punta +Arenas was the southernmost point of the continental mass. All about +it was an archipelago and a maze of waterways, thinly inhabited +everywhere and largely without any inhabitants at all. The only solid +ground between Cape Horn and the Antarctic ice pack was Diego Ramirez +and the South Shetlands....</p> + +<p>Nothing to go on. But any sufficiently isolated and desolate spot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +would do. Almost anywhere along the southern edge of the continental +islands should serve.</p> + +<p>The plane roared on monotonously, while Bell began to wrestle with +another and more serious problem. In three days—two, now—an American +naval vessel would turn up, with scientists and chemists on board. It +was to be doubted whether anything like an overt act would be risked +by that vessel. If all the governments of South America were under The +Master's thumb, then cabled orders from his deputies would race three +navies to the spot. And the government of the United States does not +like to start war, anywhere. Certainly it would not willingly enter +into a conflict with the whole southern continent for the solution of +a problem that so far affected that continent alone. The Master's +kidnapping had solved nothing, so far.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_j.jpg" alt="J" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>amison tapped his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"No pursuit, so far," he observed coolly. "I've looked." Bell nodded.</p> + +<p>"They don't dare. Not yet, anyhow. They're depending on The Master. +How is he?"</p> + +<p>"Smiling peacefully to himself, damn him!" snarled Jamison. "Do you +know what we're up against?"</p> + +<p>"Ourselves," said Bell coldly. "But I'm nearly licked. He's got to +talk!"</p> + +<p>Jamison moved away again. The earth below looked as if it had been +torn to shreds in some titanic convulsion of ages past. The sea was +everywhere, and so was land! There were little threads of silver +interlacing and crossing and wavering erratically in every conceivable +direction. And there were specks of islands—rocks only yards in +extent—and islands of every imaginable size and shape, with their +surfaces in every possible state of upheaval and distortion. A broader +mass of land appeared ahead and to the left.</p> + +<p>"Tierra del Fuego again," muttered Bell. "If we cross it...."</p> + +<p>For fifteen minutes the plane thundered across desolate, rocky hills. +Then the maze of islets again. Bell scanned them keenly, and saw a +tiny steamer traveling smokily, for no conceivable reason, among the +scattered bits of stone. The sea appeared, stretching out toward +infinity.</p> + +<p>Bell rose, to survey a wider space. He swung to the left, so that he +was heading nearly southeast, and went on down toward that desolation +of desolations, the stormy cape which faces the eternal ice of the +antarctic. He was five thousand feet up, then, and scanning sea and +earth and sky....</p> + +<p>And suddenly he swung sharply to the right and headed out toward the +open sea. He felt a small figure pressing against his shoulder. +Presently fingers closed tightly upon his sleeve. He glanced down at +Paula and managed to smile.</p> + +<p>"There are some rocks out there," he told her quietly. "Islands, I +think, and Diego Ramirez, at a guess."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were specks, no more, but they were vastly more distinct from the +plane than from Mount Beaufoy. That is on Henderson Island in New Year +Sound, and its seventeen-hundred-foot peak was almost below Bell when +he sighted the islands. But the islands have been seen full fifty +miles from there.</p> + +<p>It took the plane nearly forty minutes to cover the space, but long +before that the islands had become distinct. Two tiny groups of +scattered rocks, the whole group hardly five miles in length and by +far the greater number no more than boulders surrounded by sheets of +foam from breakers. Two of them merited the name of islands. The +nearer was high and bare and precipitous. No trace of vegetation +showed upon it. The farther was smaller, and at its northern corner a +little cove showed, nearly land-locked.</p> + +<p>Bell descended steeply. The big plane plunged wildly in the air eddies +about the taller island at five hundred feet, but steadied and went +winging on down lower, and lower.... The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> waves between the two +islands were not high, but the seaplane alighted with a mighty, a +tremendous splashing, and Bell navigated it grimly though clumsily +into the mouth of the cove. There a small beach showed. He went very +slowly toward it. Presently he swung abruptly about. A wing tip float +grounded close to the shore.</p> + +<p>The motors cut off and left a thunderous silence. Bell climbed atop +the cabin and let go the anchor.</p> + +<p>"We're here," he said shortly. "Bring The Master and we'll go ashore."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he catwalk painted on the lower wing guided them. Bell jumped to the +rocks first, and stumbled, and then rose to lift Paula down and take +The Master's small, frail body from Jamison's arms.</p> + +<p>"You looked for a gun?" asked Bell</p> + +<p>"He'd nothing to fight with," said Jamison heavily. He had been facing +the same problem Bell had worked on desperately, and had found no +answer. But he shuddered a little as he looked about the island.</p> + +<p>There was nothing in sight but rock. No moss. No lichens. Not even +stringy grass or the tufty scrub bushes that seemed able to grow +anywhere.</p> + +<p>Bell untied The Master, carefully but without solicitude. The little +man sat up, and brushed himself off carefully, and arranged himself in +a comfortable position.</p> + +<p>"I am an old man," said The Master in mild reproach. "You might at +least have given me a cushion to sit upon."</p> + +<p>Bell sat down and lighted a cigarette with fingers that did not +tremble in the least.</p> + +<p>"Suppose," he said hardly, "you talk. First, of what your poison is +made. Second, of what the antidote is made. Third, how we may be sure +you tell the truth."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Master looked at him with bright, shrewd, and apparently kindly +old eyes.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hijo mio</i>," he said mildly, "I am an old man. But I am obstinate. I +will tell you nothing."</p> + +<p>Bell's eyes glowed coldly.</p> + +<p>"Does it occur to you," he asked grimly, "that it's too important a +matter for us to have any scruples about? That we can—and will—make +you talk?"</p> + +<p>"You may kill me," said The Master benignly, "but that is all."</p> + +<p>"And," said Bell, still more grimly, "we have only to get back in the +plane yonder, and go away...."</p> + +<p>The Master beamed at him. Presently he began to laugh softly.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hijo mio</i>," he said gently, "let us stop this little byplay. You +will take me back in my airplane, and you will land me at Punta +Arenas. And then you will fly away. I concede you freedom, but that is +all. You cannot leave me here."</p> + +<p>"Paula," said Bell coldly, "get in the plane again. Jamison—"</p> + +<p>Paula rose doubtfully. Jamison stood up. The Master continued to +chuckle amiably.</p> + +<p>"You see," he said cherubically, "you happen to be a gentleman, Senor +Bell. Every man has some weakness. That is yours. And you will not +leave me here to die, because you have killed my nephew, who was the +only other man who knew how to prepare my little medicine. And you +know, Senor, that all my subjects will wish to die. Those who do, in +fact," he added mildly, "will be fortunate. The effect of my little +medicine does not make for happiness without its antidote."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ell's hands clenched.</p> + +<p>"You know," said The Master comfortably, "that there are many +thousands of people whose hands will writhe, very soon. The city of +Punta Arenas will be turned into a snarling place of maniacs within a +very little while—if I do not return. Would you like, Senor, to think +in after days of that pleasant city filled with men and women tearing +each other like beasts?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> Of little children, even, crouching, and +crushing and rending the tender flesh of other little children? Of +lisping little ones gone—"</p> + +<p>"Stop!" snarled Bell, in a frenzy. "Damn your soul! You're right! I +can't! You win—so far!"</p> + +<p>"Always," said The Master benevolently. "I win always. And you forget, +Senor. You have seen the worst side of my rule. The revolutions, the +rebellions that have made men free, were they pretty things to watch? +Always, <i>amigo</i>, the worst comes. But when my rule is secure, then you +shall see."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e waved a soft, beautifully formed hand. From every possible aspect +the situation was a contradiction of all reason. The bare, black, salt +encrusted rocks with no trace of vegetation showing. The gray water +rumbling and surging among the uneven rocks at the base of the shore, +while gulls screamed hoarsely overhead. The white haired little man +with his benevolent face, smiling confidently at the two grim men.</p> + +<p>"The time will come," said The Master gently, and in the tone of utter +confidence with which one states an inescapable fact, "the time will +come when all the earth will know my rule. The taking of my little +medicine will be as commonplace a thing as the smoking of tobacco, +which I abhor, Senores. You are mistaken about there being an antidote +and a poison. It is one medicine only. One little compound. A +vegetable substance, Senor Bell, combined with a product of modern +chemistry. It is a synthetic drug. Modern chemistry is a magnificent +science, and my little medicine is its triumph. Even my deputies have +not heard me speak so, Senores."</p> + +<p>Bell snarled wordlessly, but if one had noticed his eyes they would +have been seen to be curiously cool and alert and waiting. The Master +leaned forward, and for once spoke seriously, almost reverently.</p> + +<p>"There shall be a forward step, Senores, in the race of men. Do you +know the difference between the brain of a man and that of an +anthropoid ape? It consists only of a filmy layer of cortex, a film of +gray nerve cells which the ape has not. And that little layer creates +the difference between ape and man. And I have discovered more. My +little medicine acts upon that film. Administered in the tiny +quantities I have given to my slaves, it has no perceptible effect. It +is merely a compound of a vegetable substance and a synthetic organic +base. It is not excreted from the body. Like lead, it remains always +in solution in the blood. But in or out of the blood it changes, +always, to the substance which causes murder madness. Fresh or +changed, my little medicine acts upon the brain."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e smiled brightly upon them.</p> + +<p>"But though in tiny quantities it has but little effect, in larger +quantities—when fresh it makes the functioning of the gray cells of +the human brain as far superior to the unmedicated gray cells, as +those human gray cells are to the white cells of the ape! That is what +I have to offer to the human race! Intelligence for every man, which +shall be as the genius of the past!"</p> + +<p>He laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"Think, Senores! Compare the estate of men with the estate of apes! +Compare the civilization which will arise upon the earth when men's +brains are as far above their present level as the present level is +above the anthropoid! The upward steps of the human race under my rule +will parallel, will surpass the advance from the brutish caveman to +intellectual genius. But I have seen, Senores, the one danger in my +offering."</p> + +<p>There was silence. Jamison shook his head despairingly. The Master +could not see him. He formed the word with his lips.</p> + +<p>"Crazy!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut Bell said coldly:</p> + +<p>"Go on."</p> + +<p>"I must rule," said The Master soberly. "It is essential. If my little +secret were known, intelligences would be magnified, but under many +flags and with many aims. Scientists, with genius beside which +Newton's pales, would seek out deadly weapons for war. The world would +destroy itself of its own genius. But under my rule—"</p> + +<p>"Men go mad," said Bell coldly.</p> + +<p>The Master smiled reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are trying to make me angry, so that I will betray something! +You are clever, Senor Bell. With my little medicine, in such +quantities as I would administer it to you...."</p> + +<p>"You describe it," said Bell harshly and dogmatically, "as a brain +stimulant. But it drives men mad."</p> + +<p>"To be sure," said The Master mildly. "It does. It is not excreted +from the body save very, very slowly. But it changes in the blood +stream. As—let us say—sugar changes into alcohol in digestion. The +end-product of my little medicine is a poison which attacks the brain. +But the slightest bit of unchanged medicine is an antidote. It is"—he +smiled amiably—"it is as if sugar in the body changed to alcohol, and +alcohol was a poison, but sugar—unchanged—was an antidote. That is +it exactly. You see that I have taken my little medicine for years, +and it has not harmed me."</p> + +<p>"Which," said Bell—and somehow his manner made utter silence fall so +that each word fell separately into a vast stillness—"which, thank +God, is the one thing that wins finally, for me!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e stood up and laughed. Quite a genuine laugh.</p> + +<p>"Paula," he said comfortably, "get on the plane. In the cabin. Jamison +and I are going to strip The Master."</p> + +<p>Paula stared. The Master looked at him blankly. Jamison frowned +bewilderedly, but stood up grimly to obey.</p> + +<p>"But Senor," said The Master in gentle dignity, "merely to humiliate +me—"</p> + +<p>"Not for that," said Bell. He laughed again. "But all the time I've +been hearing about the stuff, I've noticed that nobody thought of it +as a drug. It was a poison. People were poisoned. They did not become +addicts. But you—you are the only addict to your drug."</p> + +<p>He turned to Jamison, his eyes gleaming.</p> + +<p>"Jamison," he said softly, "did you ever know of a drug addict who +could bear to think of ever being without a supply of his drug—<i>right +on his person</i>?"</p> + +<p>Jamison literally jumped.</p> + +<p>"By God! No!"</p> + +<p>The Master was quick. He was swarming up the plane-wing tip before +Jamison reached him, and he kicked frenziedly when Jamison plucked him +off. But then it was wholly, entirely, utterly horrible that the +little white haired man, whose face and manner had seemed so cherubic +and so bland, should shriek in so complete a blind panic as they +forced his fingers open and took a fountain pen away from him.</p> + +<p>"This is it," said Bell in a deep satisfaction. "This is his point of +weakness."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Master was ghastly to look at, now. Jamison held him gently +enough, considering everything, but The Master looked at that fountain +pen as one might look at Paradise.</p> + +<p>"I—I swear," he gasped. "I—swear I will give you the formula!"</p> + +<p>"You might lie," said Jamison grimly.</p> + +<p>"I swear it!" panted The Master in agony. "It—If the formula is known +it—can be duplicated! It—the excretion can be hastened! It can all +be forced from the body! Simply! So simply! If only you know! I will +tell you how it is done! The medicine is the cacodylate of—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bell was leaning forward, now, like a runner breasting the tape at the +end of a long and exhausting race.</p> + +<p>"I'll trade," he said softly. "Half the contents of the pen for the +formula. The other half we'll need for analysis. Half the stuff in the +pen for the formula for freeing your slaves!"</p> + +<p>The Master sobbed.</p> + +<p>"A—a pencil!" he gasped. "I swear—"</p> + +<p>Jamison gave him a pencil and a notebook. He wrote, his hands shaking. +Jamison read inscrutably.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't mean anything to me," he said soberly, "but you can read +it. It's legible."</p> + +<p>Bell smiled faintly. With steady finger he took his own fountain pen +from his pocket. He emptied it of ink, and put a scrupulous half of a +milky liquid from The Master's pen into it. He passed it over.</p> + +<p>"Your medicine," said Bell quietly, "may taste somewhat of ink, but it +will not be poisonous. Now, what do we do with you? I give you your +choice. If we take you with us, you will be held very secretly as a +prisoner until the truth of the information you have given us can be +proven. And if your slaves have all been freed, then I suppose you +will be tried...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Master was drawn and haggard. He looked very, very old and beaten.</p> + +<p>"I—I would prefer," he said dully, "that you did not tell where I am, +and that you go away and leave me here. I—I may have some subjects +who will search for me, and—they may discover me here.... But I am +beaten, Senor. You know that you have won."</p> + +<p>Bell swung up on the wing of the plane. He explored about in the +cabin. He came back.</p> + +<p>"There are emergency supplies," he said coldly. "We will leave them +with you, with such things as may be useful to allow you to hope as +long as possible. I do not think you will ever be found here."</p> + +<p>"I—prefer it, Senor," said The Master dully. "I—I will catch +fish...."</p> + +<p>Jamison helped put the packages ashore. The Master shivered. Bell +stripped off his coat and put it on top of the heap of packages. The +Master did not stir. Bell laid a revolver on top of his coat. He went +out to the plane and started the motors. The Master watched +apathetically as the big seaplane pulled clumsily out of the little +cove. The rumble of the engines became a mighty roar. It started +forward with a rush, skimmed the water for two hundred yards or so, +and suddenly lifted clear to go floating away through the air toward +the north.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>aula was the only one who looked back.</p> + +<p>"He's crying," she said uncomfortably.</p> + +<p>"It isn't fear," said Bell quietly. "It's grief at the loss of his +ambition. It may not seem so to you two, but I believe he meant all +that stuff he told me. He was probably really aiming, in his own way, +for an improved world for men to live in."</p> + +<p>The plane roared on. Presently Bell said shortly:</p> + +<p>"That stuff he has won't last indefinitely. I'm glad I left him that +revolver."</p> + +<p>Jamison stirred suddenly. He dug down in his pocket and fished out a +cigar.</p> + +<p>"Since I feel that I may live long enough to finish smoking this," he +observed dryly, "I think I'll light it. I haven't felt that I had +twenty minutes of life ahead of me for a long time, now. A sense of +economy made me smoke cigarettes. It wouldn't be so much waste if you +left half a cigarette behind you when you were killed."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he tight little cabin began to reek of the tobacco. Paula pressed +close to Bell.</p> + +<p>"But—Charles," she asked hopefully, "is—is it really all right, +now?"</p> + +<p>"I think so," said Bell, frowning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> "Our job's over, anyhow. We go up +the Chilean coast and find that navy boat. We turn our stuff over to +them. They'll take over the task of seeing that every doctor, +everywhere in South America, knows how to get The Master's poison out +of the system of anybody who's affected. Some of them won't be +reached, but most of them will. I looked at his formula. Standard +drugs, all of them. There won't be any trouble getting the news +spread. The Master's slaves will nearly go crazy with joy. And," he +added grimly, "I'm going to see to it that the Rio police take back +what they said about us. I think we'll have enough pull to demand that +much!"</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment or so, thinking.</p> + +<p>"I do think, Jamison," he said presently, "we did a pretty good job."</p> + +<p>Jamison grunted.</p> + +<p>"If—if it's really over," said Paula hopefully, "Charles—"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"You—will be able to think about me sometimes," asked Paula +wistfully, "instead of about The Master always?"</p> + +<p>Bell stared down at her.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" he groaned. "I have been a brute, Paula! But I've been +loving you—" He stopped, and then said with the elaborate politeness +and something of the customary idiotic air of a man making such an +announcement. "I say, Jamison, did you know Paula and I were to be +married?"</p> + +<p>Jamison snorted. Then he said placidly:</p> + +<p>"No. Of course not. I never dreamed of such a thing. When did this +remarkably original idea occur to you?"</p> + +<p>He puffed a huge cloud of smoke from his cigar. It was an unusually +vile cigar. Bell scowled at him helplessly for a moment and then said +wrathfully:</p> + +<p>"Oh, go to hell!"</p> + +<p>And he bent over and kissed Paula.</p> + +<p class="center">(<i>The End.</i>)</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_013.jpg" width="600" height="449" alt="IN THE NEXT ISSUE + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS +Beginning an Exciting Three-Part Novel of the Nares Deep +By Ray Cummings + +AN ATTACK FROM SPACE +A Sequel to "Beyond the Heaviside Layer" +By Captain S. P. Meek + +MAROONED UNDER THE SEA +A Thrilling Novelet of the Ocean Floor +By Paul Ernst + +EARTH, THE MARAUDER +The Conclusion of the Tremendous Novel +By Arthur J. Burks + +——AND OTHERS!" /> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_014.jpg" width="600" height="530" alt="The ray shot down—and squadrons of planes frizzled +like moths in the air." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The ray shot down—and squadrons of planes frizzled +like moths in the air.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="The_Flying_City" id="The_Flying_City"></a>The Flying City</h2> + +<h2><i>By H. Thompson Rich</i></h2> + +<div class="sidenote">From Space came Cor's disc-city of Vada—its mighty, +age-old engines weakening—its horde of dwarfs hungry for the Earth!</div> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="14" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the burning solitude of the great Arizona desert, some two miles +south of Ajo, a young scientist was about to perform an experiment +that might have far-reaching results for humanity.</p> + +<p>The scientist was Gordon Kendrick—a tall, tanned, robust chap who +looked more like a prospector in search of gold than a professor of +physics from the State University of Tucson.</p> + +<p>Indeed, he was in a way, a prospector, since it was gold he +sought—some practical method of tapping the vast radio-energetic +treasure of the sun—and it was an apparatus designed to accomplish +just this that he was about to test.</p> + +<p>The primary unit of the mechanism comprised a spheroidal vacuum-tube +measuring a little over a foot across its long axis, mounted in a +steel bracket that held it horizontal with the ground. Down through +its short axis ran a shaft on which was centered a light cross of +aluminum wire, carrying four vanes of mica, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> face of each coated +with lampblack. A flexible cable led from the bottom of this shaft to +the base of the bracket, where it was geared to a small electric motor +driven by two dry cells. A rheostat-switch for delivering and +controlling the current was mounted nearby.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_015.jpg" width="600" height="553" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p>At the wide arc of the egg-shaped tube was a concave platinum cathode, +at the narrow arc a nib of some sort, ending in a socket. From this +socket, two heavy insulated wires extended sixty feet or so across the +sand to the secondary unit of the mechanism, which was roughly a +series of resistance coils, resembling those in an ordinary electric +heater.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s Kendrick prepared to test this delicate apparatus that represented +so much of his time and thought, held so much of his hope locked up in +it, a turmoil was in his heart, though his brown face was calm.</p> + +<p>If his theories were right, that revolving cross would tap and draw +into its vanes radio-energetic waves of force, much as the whirling +armature of a dynamo draws into its coils electro-magnetic waves of +force. For the blackened sides of the vanes, absorbing more radiation +than the bright sides, would cause the molecules to rebound from the +warmer surfaces with greater velocity, setting up an alternate +pressure and bringing the rays to a focus on the cathode, where they +would be reflected to the nib as waves of <i>heatricity</i>, to use the +word he had coined.</p> + +<p>Those were Kendrick's theories, and now he moved to put them to the +supreme test. Switching on the current, he set the motor going. In +response, the cross began to revolve, slowly at first—then faster, +faster, as he opened the rheostat wider.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p> + +<p>Eyes fixed on his resistance coils, he gave a sudden cry of triumph. +Yes, there was no doubt about it! They were growing red, glowing +brightly, whitely, above the intense desert sunlight.</p> + +<p>Here was a means of convening solar radiation into heat, then, that +offered tremendous commercial possibilities!</p> + +<p>But even as he exulted, there came a blinding flash—and the overtaxed +coils burst into flame.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>hielding his eyes from the glare, he reached for the rheostat, shut +off the current, rushed to his secondary unit—where he beheld an +amazing sight. Not only had this part of the apparatus completely +disintegrated, but the sand of the desert floor under it as well. On +the spot quivered a miniature lake of molten glass!</p> + +<p>As Kendrick stood ruefully beside that fiery pool, meditating on the +spectacular but not altogether gratifying results of his experiment, a +peculiar low humming sound reached his ears. Rushing back to his +primary unit, with the thought that perhaps by some chance he had not +fully closed the rheostat, he looked at the cross. But no, the vanes +were still.</p> + +<p>The humming increased, however—grew into a vibration that made his +eardrums ache.</p> + +<p>Puzzled, he looked around. What on earth could it be? Had his unruly +experiment called into play some tremendous, unsuspected force of the +universe. Was he to bring the world to ruin, as a result of his blind +groping after this new giant of power?</p> + +<p>Such predictions had often been made by the ignorant, to be dismissed +by scientists as the veriest nonsense. But was there some truth in the +universal fear, after all? Was he to be the Prometheus who stole fire +from Olympus, the Samson who toppled down the temple?</p> + +<p>Chilled, dizzied with the pain of the ever-increasing vibration, he +gritted his teeth, awaiting he knew not what.</p> + +<p>Then it came—a spectacle so staggering that he went rigid with awe as +he regarded it, all power of motion utterly numbed for the moment. The +vibration ceased. The thing appeared.</p> + +<p>It was a city—a city in the air—a flying city!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s Kendrick stood staring at this phenomenon, he could scarcely credit +his senses.</p> + +<p>Had the magic carpet of Bagdad suddenly materialized before him, he +would not have been more astounded. And indeed, it was in a way a +magic carpet—a great disclike affair, several miles in diameter, its +myriad towers and spires glinting like gold under the noonday sun, +while its vast shadow fell athwart the desert like the pall of an +eclipse.</p> + +<p>The lower portion, he noted, was in the main flat, though a number of +wartish protuberances jutted down from it, ejecting a pale violet +emanation. Whatever this was it seemed to have the effect of holding +the thing motionless in the air, for it hovered there quite easily, a +hundred yards or so above the ground.</p> + +<p>But what was it? Where was it from? What had brought it?</p> + +<p>Those were the questions he wanted answered; and they were to be, +sooner than he knew.</p> + +<p>As he stood there speculating, a device like a trap-door opened in the +base of the disc, and creatures resembling human beings began +descending. Began floating down, rather.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Kendrick did what any sensible man would have done, under +similar circumstances. He reacted into motion. In short, he ran.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_g.jpg" alt="G" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>lancing back over his shoulder after a minute or two, however, he +drew up sheepishly. Of that strange apparition and those who had +descended from it there was not a trace, not a shadow!</p> + +<p>But the peculiar humming had recommenced, he realized in the next<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +breath—and at the same instant he felt himself seized by invisible +hands.</p> + +<p>There was a struggle, but it was brief and futile. When it was over +his captors became visible once more. They were singular little beings +about four feet tall, with strange, wise, leathery faces, their heads +grotesquely bald.</p> + +<p>The humming had ceased again. The disc, too, was once more visible.</p> + +<p>What happened next was something even more astounding, if there could +be any further degrees of wonder possible for the utterly baffled +young scientist. He felt himself lifted up, leaving the desert floor, +whirling away toward that incredible phenomenon hovering there.</p> + +<p>Another moment or two and he had been borne up through its trap-door +opening, was standing in a dark space bounded by solid metal walls. +Then he was thrust into a cylinder with several of his tiny guards, +shot swiftly upward.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> door opened as they came to rest, and he was led out into a vast +court of gleaming amber crystal. Something like a taxi slid up, with +irridescent planes, and he was bundled into it, whirled away again.</p> + +<p>Down broad, gleaming avenues they passed, where similar traffic flowed +densely, but under marvelous control. Towering skyscrapers loomed to +right and left. Tier on tier of upper and lower boulevards revealed +themselves, all crowded with automotive and pedestrian activity.</p> + +<p>At length a stupendous concourse was reached. Thousands of these taxis +and similar vehicles were parked along its broad flanks, while literal +swarms of diminutive individuals circulated to and fro.</p> + +<p>Assisted from the vehicle that had brought him to this obvious center +of the disc's activities. Kendrick was led into a monumental structure +of jade-green stone that towered a full hundred, stories above the +street level. There he was escorted into another of those +projectilelike elevators, shot up, up—till at length it came to rest. +The door opened and he was led out into a small lobby of the same +amber crystal he had observed before.</p> + +<p>By now his guards had diminished to two, but he no longer made any +effort to escape. Wherever this amazing adventure might lead, he was +resolved to follow it through.</p> + +<p>One of the guards had advanced to a jewelled door and was pressing a +button. In response, the door opened. A golden-robed, regal creature +stood there.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hough dwarfed to four feet, like his fellow, he was obviously their +mental superior to a prodigious degree. Not only was his symmetrical +bald head of large brain content, but the finely-cut features of his +parchment face bore the unmistakable stamp of a powerful intellect.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ao-chaa!</i>" commanded this evident monarch of the disc, addressing +the guards.</p> + +<p>They bowed and departed, abruptly.</p> + +<p>"My dear Kendrick!" the regal personage now said, in thin, precise +English. "It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you to my humble +quarters. Pray enter and make yourself comfortable."</p> + +<p>Whereupon he ushered him into a dazzling apartment that was one vast +mosaic of precious gems, indicated a richly carved chair, into which +the young scientist dropped wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Professor," continued the mighty little dwarf, when he was +seated in a chair even more sumptuous, "suppose we have a friendly +little discussion. I have been much interested in your experiments on +heat radiation. What you demonstrated this morning, in particular, was +most absorbing. You have hit upon a rather profound scientific +principle, yes?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly," Kendrick admitted, quite conscious that he was being +patronized.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be modest, my dear fellow!" smiled the dwarf. "I am the +last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> one to belittle your achievement. Indeed, it is because of it +that I have invited you here to-day. Permit me to introduce myself, +and to make clear one or two possibly perplexing matters. Then I am +sure we shall have a most agreeable chat."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is name was Cor, he said, and he was in truth the monarch of this +strange realm. His people had come from the one-time planet of Vada, +far distant in the universe. A thousand years ago, this planet had +been doomed by the approach of an alien star. Their great scientist, +Ravv, had met the emergency by inventing the disc, into whose +construction they had poured all their resources. The pick of their +populace had been salvaged on this giant life-raft. The rest had +perished when that destroying star had crashed down on the doomed +Vada.</p> + +<p>Since then these survivors and their descendants had been voyaging +through space on their marvelous disc. For hundreds of years they had +given no thought to the future, content to drift on and on in the +interstellar void, breathing an atmosphere produced artificially. But +at length the inevitable had happened. This superb piece of mechanism +devised by their super-genius, Ravv, was beginning to show signs of +wear. Some of its mighty engines were nearing the exhaustion point. +Either they must soon find a planet comparable with the one they had +once known, where they could pause and rehabilitate their machinery, +or they must disintegrate and pass into oblivion.</p> + +<p>Faced with that crisis, Cor had long been seeking such a planet. He +had found it, at last, in the earth—and had resolved that this was +where they were going to alight and transplant the civilization of +ancient Vada, pending such time as they could take to space again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>or some months now they had been hovering over various portions of +the earth, studying its geography and its peoples, with the result +that they had concluded the United States offered the most logical +point for launching the attack. Once this country was subdued, they +were in possession of the richest and most advanced section of the +planet. The conquest of the rest of it could await their leisure.</p> + +<p>With such an invasion in view, their scientists had mastered the +language of the country. This had been accomplished very easily, since +in addition to their power of mingling with the populace in an +invisible form, they had the principles of radio developed to a high +degree and were able to tune in on any station they wanted.</p> + +<p>Kendrick sat there, stunned, as Cor followed his astounding revelation +of their origin with this calm plan for the conquest of America, of +the world. Why, of all people on earth, had he alone been singled out +for this disclosure?</p> + +<p>He asked the question now.</p> + +<p>"My dear Professor, can't you really guess?" replied Cor, with that +leathery smile. "Hasn't it dawned that you were a little too near our +own field with that machine of yours? A trifle more research, a +slightly different application—and you would have become a dangerous +enemy."</p> + +<p>"You—you mean—?"</p> + +<p>"I mean there isn't a great deal of difference between the experiments +you have been making and those our great Ravv once made. For instance, +had you broadcast your heatricity, as you call it, instead of trying +to transmit it on wires—well, picture a receiving apparatus in each +home of the land, like your commercial radio sets. You would have +become a billionaire, don't you see?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="50" height="52" /></div> +<p>endrick saw indeed. It was simple, so simple! Fool—why hadn't he +thought of it?</p> + +<p>"But your invention will never make you wealthy now, my dear fellow," +Cor went on, tauntingly. "You will be our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> guest, here, until we have +taken over your interesting country. After that, if there is any need +for the broadcasting of heat, we will furnish it ourselves. We have +those facilities, among others, fully developed. Would you care to see +our plant?"</p> + +<p>Kendrick naturally admitted that he would, so the dwarf led him +through a rear door and up a winding flight of stairs. They emerged +presently into a great laboratory housed in the glass-roofed pinnacle +of the tower.</p> + +<p>There he beheld a sight that left him breathless. Never before had he +seen such an assemblage of scientific apparatus. Its vastness and +strangeness were fairly overpowering, even to a man as well versed in +physio-chemical paraphernalia as he was.</p> + +<p>Before his eyes could take in a tenth part of the spectacle, Cor had +led him to the left wall.</p> + +<p>"There," he said, "you will observe a development of your heat +generator."</p> + +<p>Kendrick looked—to see a long bank of large vacuum-tubes, each about +three feet high and a foot wide, connected by a central shaft that +caused series of little vanes in each of them to revolve at lightning +speed.</p> + +<p>Around the apparatus moved numerous small attendants, oiling, wiping, +adjusting its many delicate parts.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think now?" asked Cor.</p> + +<p>Kendrick made no reply, though he was thinking plenty.</p> + +<p>"You see, it is your invention, my dear Professor," the dwarf went on +in his taunting voice, "only anteceded by a thousand years—and rather +more perfected, you must admit."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e walked now to the center of the laboratory, where stood a huge dial +of white crystal, ranked with many levers and switches, all capped +with the same material.</p> + +<p>"Behold!" he said, throwing over one.</p> + +<p>Instantly there came again that peculiar low humming that had so +puzzled him a few minutes before—and the entire room, its engines, +its attendants, Cor himself, leapt into invisibility. Only Kendrick +remained, facing the faintly visible crystal dial.</p> + +<p>Then he saw a switch move, as though automatically. But no, for the +dwarf's hand was on it now. Visibility had returned. The vibration +ceased.</p> + +<p>"That is the central control," said Cor. "Our city and all its +inhabitants become invisible when that switch is thrown. Only the dial +remains, for the guidance of the operator, and even that cannot be +seen at a distance of more than fifty feet. But now behold!"</p> + +<p>He raised his hand, touched a watch-like device strapped to his +wrist—and was instantly invisible. But the laboratory and every +machine and person in it remained in plain view. Nor was there any +vibration now.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he next moment, having touched that curious little device again, Cor +reappeared.</p> + +<p>"That is the local control," he said. "Every one of our inhabitants, +except those under discipline, has one of these little mechanisms. It +enables us to make ourselves invisible at will. A convenience at +times, you must admit."</p> + +<p>"Decidedly," Kendrick agreed. "And the principle?"</p> + +<p>"Quite simple. One of those, in fact, that lies behind your +researches. Doubtless you would have hit upon it yourself in time. +Your own scientist, Faraday, you may recall, held the opinion that the +various forms under which the forces of matter manifest themselves +have a common origin. We of the disc, thanks to our great Ravv, have +found that common origin."</p> + +<p>It was the origin of matter itself, Cor said, which lay in the ether +of interstellar space—energy, raw, cosmic—vibrations, rays.</p> + +<p>By harnessing and controlling these various rays, his people had been +able to accomplish their seeming miracles—miracles that the people of +earth, too, were beginning to achieve—as in elec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>tricity, for +instance, and its further application, radio.</p> + +<p>But the people of Vada had long since mastered such simple rays, and +now, in possession of vastly more powerful ones, had the elemental +forces of the universe at their disposal.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he disc was propelled through space by short rays of tremendously +high frequency, up above the ultra-violet. The same rays, directed +downward instead of outward, enabled them to overcome the pull of +gravity when in a planet's influence, as at present. And the escalator +rays, by which they could proceed to and from the disc, were also of +high frequency, as were their invisibility rays.</p> + +<p>"But you, Professor, are more interested in low frequency rays, the +long ones down below infra-red," continued Cor. "You have seen our +development of the heat-dynamo principle. It utilizes, I might add, +not only solar radiation but that of the stars as well. There being a +billion and a half of these in the universe, many of them a thousand +times or more as large as your own sun, we naturally have quite an +efficient little heating plant here. It provides us with our weapon of +warfare, as well as keeping us warm. Permit me to demonstrate."</p> + +<p>He led the way to a gleaming circle of glass like an inverted +telescope, about a yard in diameter, mounted in the floor.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said the dwarf.</p> + +<p>Kendrick did so—and there, spread below him, lay the floor of the +desert. His camp, his apparatus, were just as he had left them.</p> + +<p>Cor now moved toward the dial.</p> + +<p>"Behold!" he said, pulling a lever.</p> + +<p>Instantly the scene below was an inferno. Stricken by a blast of +stupendous heat, the whole area went molten, lay quivering like a lake +of lava in the crater of an active volcano.</p> + +<p>"Suppose, my dear Professor," smiled the dwarf, strolling back from +the dial, "just suppose, for instance, that instead of the lonely +camp of an obscure scientist, your proud city of New York had been +below there!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="50" height="52" /></div> +<p>endrick shuddered.</p> + +<p>Well he knew now the terrible power, the appalling menace of this +strange invader.</p> + +<p>"I would prefer not to make such a supposition," he said, quietly, +with a last thoughtful glance at that witches' caldron below.</p> + +<p>"Then let us think of pleasanter things. You are my guest of honor, +sir—America's foremost scientist, though she may never realize it," +with a piping chuckle. "To-night there will be a great banquet in your +honor. Meanwhile, suppose I show you to your quarters."</p> + +<p>Nettled, fuming, though outwardly calm, Kendrick permitted himself to +be escorted from the laboratory to an ornate apartment on one of the +lower floors.</p> + +<p>There Cor left him, with the polite hint that he would find plenty of +attendants handy should he require anything.</p> + +<p>Alone now, in the midst of this vast, nightmarish metropolis, he paced +back and forth, back and forth—knowing the hideous fate that +threatened the world but powerless to issue one word of warning, much +less avert it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="50" height="52" /></div> +<p>endrick was still thinking and brooding along these lines when he saw +the door of the apartment swiftly open and close again.</p> + +<p>Someone had entered, invisible!</p> + +<p>Backing away, he waited, tense. Then, suddenly, his visitor +materialized. With a gasp, he saw standing before him a beautiful +girl.</p> + +<p>She was a young woman, rather, in her early twenties. Not one of these +pigmies of the disc either, but a tall, slender creature of his own +world.</p> + +<p>Her hair was dark, modishly bobbed. Her eyes were a deep, clear brown, +her skin a warm olive. And she was dressed as though she had just +stepped off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> Fifth Avenue—which indeed she had, not so long ago, as +he was soon to learn.</p> + +<p>"I hope I haven't startled you too much, Mr. Kendrick," she said, in a +rich, husky murmur, "but—well, there wasn't any other way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess I'll get over it," he replied with a smile. "But you have +the advantage of me, since you know my name."</p> + +<p>Hers was Marjorie Blake, she told him then.</p> + +<p>"Not the daughter of Henderson Blake?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"Yes," with a tremor, "his only daughter."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Kendrick knew the solution of a mystery that had baffled the +police for weeks. The newspapers had been full of it at the time. This +beautiful girl, whose father was one of America's richest men and +president of its largest bank, had disappeared as though the earth had +swallowed her. She had left their summer estate at Great Neck, Long +Island, on a bright June morning, bound for New York on a shopping +tour—and had simply vanished.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>uicide had been hinted by some of the papers, but had not been taken +seriously, since she had no apparent motive for ending her life. +Abduction seemed to be the more logical explanation, and huge rewards +had been offered by her frantic parents—all to no avail.</p> + +<p>What had happened was, she now explained, that after visiting several +shops and making a number of purchases, she had stepped into Central +Park at the Plaza for a breath of fresh air before lunching at the +Sherry-Netherlands, where she planned to meet some friends.</p> + +<p>But before advancing a hundred yards along the secluded path, she had +been seized by invisible hands—had felt something strapped to her +wrist, before anyone came in sight—and then, invisible too, had been +lifted up, whirled away into a vast, humming vibration that sounded +through the air.</p> + +<p>Once on the disc, it had swept off into space at incredible speed, +pausing only when some hundreds of miles above the earth and invisible +from below without mechanical aid. When its vibration finally ceased +that amazing city had leapt before her eyes.</p> + +<p>Then, her own visibility restored, she had been led into the presence +of that mighty little monarch, Cor, who explained that she had been +seized as a hostage and would be held as an ace in the hole, pending +conquest of her country. Since when she had been a prisoner aboard the +disc.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>earning of Kendrick's capture, from gossip among the women, she had +taken the first opportunity of coming to him, in the hope that between +them they might devise some means of escape.</p> + +<p>Indeed, that was his own fondest hope—their imperative need, if the +people of America and of the earth were to be saved from this +appalling menace. But what basis was there for such a fantastic hope? +Just one, that he could see.</p> + +<p>"That thing on your wrist," he said, voicing it. "I'm surprised they +let you wear one of those."</p> + +<p>"They don't," she smiled. "I stole it!—from one of the maids in my +apartment. It was the only way I could get here without being seen. I +felt I must see you at once. We've got to do something, soon, or it'll +be too late. I felt that, as a scientist, you might have some idea how +we could get off."</p> + +<p>"How do the people themselves get off?" he asked. "That escalator +ray—do you know how they use it?"</p> + +<p>"No, I've never been able to find out. They don't let me go near that +part of the city."</p> + +<p>Kendrick reflected a moment.</p> + +<p>"Let's have a look at that invisibility affair," he said.</p> + +<p>She removed it from her wrist, handed it to him. Somewhat in awe, he +examined it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he mechanism portion, which was linked in a strap of elastic metal, +resembled only superficially a watch, he now saw. Rather it had the +appearance of some delicate electric switch. Rectangular in shape, it +was divided into two halves by a band of white crystal. In each of +these halves were two little buttons of the same material, those on +one side round, on the other square.</p> + +<p>"Which buttons control the invisibility?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The square ones," she replied. "One's pushed in now, you see. If you +should push the other, the first would come out—and you'd pass out of +the picture, so to speak."</p> + +<p>Kendrick was half tempted to try the thing then and there, but +deferred the impulse.</p> + +<p>"What are the round buttons for?" he inquired instead.</p> + +<p>Marjorie didn't know, but thought they were probably an emergency +pair, in case something went wrong with the square ones. In any event, +nothing happened when you pushed them.</p> + +<p>Kendrick pushed one, just to see. It was true. Nothing happened—but +he seemed to sense a faint, peculiar vibration and a wave of giddiness +swept over him. On pushing the other, which released the first, it +stopped.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e handed the device back to Marjorie.</p> + +<p>"There's your bracelet. Now, if I can just get one like it, I think +we'll get down to earth all right."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Kendrick!" Her eyes lit up eagerly. "Then you've thought of a +way?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly. I think I've discovered their own way. I can't be +certain, but I'm willing to gamble on it, if you are."</p> + +<p>"Then you—you think those round buttons are connected with the +escalator rays?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly! I think they control individual descent and ascent, just as +the square ones control individual visibility and invisibility. At +any rate, it's the hunch I'm going to act on right now, if you're with +me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm with, you!" she breathed. "Anything, death almost, would be +preferable to this."</p> + +<p>"Then stand by, invisible. I'm going to get one of my jailors in here +and relieve him of his wrist-watch."</p> + +<p>Marjorie touched that little square button on her own. She instantly +became invisible.</p> + +<p>Kendrick touched a button too, a button he had noticed beside the +door. As he had supposed, it brought one of the Vadans.</p> + +<p>Shutting the door quietly, he seized the fellow before he could move +his hand to his wrist. Thwarted in his attempt to vanish from sight, +the diminutive guard attempted an outcry. But Kendrick promptly +throttled him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>arjorie had reappeared by now and together they bound him to a chair +with a gilded cord torn from the drapery.</p> + +<p>Removing the precious mechanism from his wrist, Kendrick slipped it on +his own.</p> + +<p>"Now let's go!" he said, pressing the protruding square button of the +device. "We haven't a minute to—my golly, what a peculiar sensation!"</p> + +<p>"It is rather odd, isn't it?" she laughed, pressing her own and +joining him in that invisible realm.</p> + +<p>"Feels like a combination electric massage and cold shower! Where are +you, anyway? I can't see you."</p> + +<p>"Of course you can't!" came an unseen tinkle. "Here!"</p> + +<p>He felt her brush him.</p> + +<p>"Better hold hands," he suggested, then gave an invisible flush he was +glad she couldn't see.</p> + +<p>"All right. A good idea."</p> + +<p>Her delicate hand came into his, soft, warm. Heart vibrating even +faster than his body, his whole being a-quiver with a strange +exaltation, Kendrick opened the door, and they left the apartment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he next half-hour was the tensest either of then had ever +experienced. Every foot of the way was fraught with peril.</p> + +<p>Not only did they have to carefully avoid the visible swarms of little +people who hurried everywhere, but had to be on their guard as well +against any who might be moving about like themselves under cover of +invisibility.</p> + +<p>Nor could they use any elevator or public conveyances, but were +obliged to make their way down to the concourse by heaven knew how +many flights of stairs, and cross heaven knew how many teeming streets +on foot, before they reached the amber court, below which the +trap-door and their hope of freedom.</p> + +<p>They got there at last, however, descended, and peered down from that +yawning brink upon the desert floor—to draw back with gasps of +dismay. For the area still gleamed semi-molten from the stupendous +blast that had wiped out Kendrick's camp.</p> + +<p>"W-what is it?" she gasped.</p> + +<p>Swiftly he told her.</p> + +<p>"But isn't there any way around it? Look, over there to the left. One +edge of the crater seems to end almost underneath us."</p> + +<p>It was true that the center of the caldron was far to the right of +where they stood, and that its left rim was only a little within their +direct line of descent. But to land even one foot inside that inferno +would be as fatal as to alight in its very midst.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="50" height="52" /></div> +<p>endrick was thinking fast.</p> + +<p>"There's just a chance," he said. "It all depends upon how wide the +zone of these escalator rays is, and whether we can tune in on them. +At least, I can probably answer the latter question."</p> + +<p>Pushing the protrudent round button on his mysterious bracelet as he +spoke, he leaned over the edge of the trap-door and awaited results.</p> + +<p>They were not long in coming. The vibration he was already under from +the invisibility rays seemed to double. Alternate waves of giddiness +and depression, of push and pull, swept over him.</p> + +<p>A minute of it was enough. He pressed the round button that now +protruded, ending this influence, and faced Marjorie, stating:</p> + +<p>"I'm positive now that these things control descent and ascent. As +nearly as I can figure, the rays work on the principle of an endless +belt. If you're up here, you get carried down, and vice versa. As to +how wide the belt is, and whether you can move sideways on it, remains +to be seen. Anyway, I'm going to take a chance. I'll go first. If my +guess is wrong, you—well, needn't follow."</p> + +<p>"No, I'm going with you!" she declared resolutely. "We've come this +far together. I shan't be left alone now. Let's go!"</p> + +<p>And again her soft, warm hand was in his.</p> + +<p>Lord, what a girl! How many would be brave enough to take a gamble +like that, on a fellow's mere supposition?</p> + +<p>"All right—go it is!" he said. "Push your round button, like this." +He showed her the way he thought was right, pushed his own. "Ready?"</p> + +<p>"Ready!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>heir voices were grave. It was a grim prospect, stepping off into +space like that, with only a guess between them and death.</p> + +<p>"Then jump!"</p> + +<p>They jumped, gripping each other's hands tightly—and instead of +dropping like plummets were caught in a powerful field of force and +whirled gently downward.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you were right!" gasped Marjorie, awed. "See, we—"</p> + +<p>Then she paused, horror-stricken, for it was obvious that they were to +descend within that lake of molten glass, unless they could change +their course at once.</p> + +<p>"Quick!" he called. "Hold fast! Now—run!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></p> + +<p>Breathless, they raced to the left, across that invisible descending +belt.</p> + +<p>Too far, Kendrick knew, and they would plunge outside its zone, fall +crushed and mangled. Not far enough, and they would meet cremation. It +was a fearful hazard, either way, but it had to be taken.</p> + +<p>They were almost down, now, and still not quite far enough to the +left. The heat of that yawning crater rose toward them.</p> + +<p>"Faster—<i>faster</i>!" he cried, fairly dragging her along with him.</p> + +<p>A last dash—a breathless instant—and they stood there on the ground, +not three feet from the edge of doom.</p> + +<p>Swooning with the heat, Marjorie swayed against him, murmured an +incoherent prayer.</p> + +<p>"Take heart!" he whispered, lifting her bodily and bearing her some +yards away. "We're down—safe!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>heir safety was but relative, however, Kendrick well knew. Until they +could put miles between them and this monstrous disc, they were not +really safe. No telling how soon their escape might be discovered. No +telling what terrible means Cor might take of curbing their flight.</p> + +<p>So as soon as Marjorie had recovered sufficiently to proceed, they +headed off across the desert at a fast walk toward Ajo, where he hoped +to catch the afternoon train for Gila Bend. From there, they could +board the limited for Tucson and points east, when it came through +from Yuma that night.</p> + +<p>They had tuned out on the escalator rays, but continued on still +invisible—for the disc hung above them in plain view and it would +have been suicide to let themselves be seen.</p> + +<p>Even so, Kendrick soon began to have an uneasy feeling of being +followed. He looked around from time to time, but could see nothing. +Were some of those invisible little creatures on their trail?</p> + +<p>He said nothing to Marjorie of his anxiety, but presently she too +began glancing backward uneasily, every few steps.</p> + +<p>"They are near us!" she said at length, in a whisper. "I can sense +them."</p> + +<p>It was more than sense, they soon discovered. Little paddings became +quite audible, and once or twice they saw the sand scuffed up, not +twenty feet away, as though by a foot passing over it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>eanwhile they were climbing a rise of ground, broken by many small +hummocks and dotted with thorny shrubs. On the other side, at the foot +of a long down-slope, lay Ajo.</p> + +<p>Once they reached the summit, Kendrick felt sure they could +outdistance their pursuers on the descent. Already, if his watch was +right, the train was preparing to pull out. It would be a breathless +dash, but he was confident they could make it.</p> + +<p>So he reassured Marjorie as best he could, and helped her on up the +slope.</p> + +<p>They were practically on the summit and already in view of the little +railroad station and huddle of shacks below—when suddenly he felt +himself tripped and flung violently to the ground. At the same +instant, his companion emitted a scream, as she felt herself seized by +invisible hands.</p> + +<p>Leaping to his feet, Kendrick flailed out with solid fists at their +attackers. Groans answered the impacts and he knew his blows were +taking effect.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>ree for a moment he dashed to Marjorie, felt for the midgets who +swarmed around her. Seizing one of the invisible forms, he lifted it +and flung it crashing to the ground. Another, likewise, and another.</p> + +<p>Then he threshed his legs, where two of the creatures clung, trying to +drag him down again. They flew through the air, with cries of fright.</p> + +<p>"Well, so far, so good!" he exclaimed. "We won't wait to see if there +are any more. Come on—let's go!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Right!"</p> + +<p>Reaching for each other's hands, they raced down the slope.</p> + +<p>Halfway there they saw a warning blast of steam rise from the engine, +followed by a whistle.</p> + +<p>"They'll be pulling out in a minute now!" he gasped, increasing speed. +"We've got to make it!—our only chance!"</p> + +<p>"We <i>will</i> make it!" she sobbed through clenched teeth, meeting his +pace.</p> + +<p>Glancing over his shoulder, after another fifteen seconds, Kendrick +saw that the disc was no longer visible. Since there was no vibration +he realized with relief that it was now hidden behind the slope they +were descending.</p> + +<p>"Quick—push your button!" he said, pushing his own.</p> + +<p>They came out of the influence of the invisibility rays, raced +breathless on down the slope—gained the station platform just as the +train was getting under way.</p> + +<p>Helping the exhausted girl aboard, he mounted the steps himself, led +her through the vestibule into its single passenger coach.</p> + +<p>Dropping into a seat, they sat there panting as the train gathered +speed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>y the time the decrepit but life-saving little local drew into Gila +Bend they had somewhat recovered from their harrowing experience.</p> + +<p>Marjorie was still pale, however, as Kendrick helped her from the +train.</p> + +<p>"I may recover," she said with a wan smile, "but I'll never look the +same! An old saying, but I know what it means now."</p> + +<p>He thought better of a sudden impulse to tell her she looked quite all +right to him. Instead, he said grimly:</p> + +<p>"I know now what a lot of things mean!"</p> + +<p>The Tucson limited would not be through for over an hour, they +learned. That would give them time to hunt up the authorities and +sound a warning of the ominous invader that was in the vicinity. +Perhaps, by prompt military action, it might be destroyed, or at least +crippled.</p> + +<p>But first they went to the telegraph office, where Marjorie got off a +message that would bring joy to her grieved family.</p> + +<p>While standing there outside the barred window, odors of food wafting +to them from a nearby lunch-room.</p> + +<p>"Um-m!" she sniffed. "That smells good to me! I haven't tasted any +earthly cooking for ages. Everything on that horrible disc was +synthetic."</p> + +<p>"Then I suggest we have ham and eggs, at once," he said. "Or would you +prefer a steak?"</p> + +<p>"I think I'll have both!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>s they walked into the lunch-room, Kendrick told her of the banquet +in his honor Cor had promised for that night.</p> + +<p>"I guess I didn't miss much," he ended.</p> + +<p>"You certainly didn't!" she assured him, with a smile. "It would have +opened with a purée of split-molecule soup, continued with an entrée +of breaded electrons, and closed with an ionic café."</p> + +<p>He laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'm just as well satisfied. I was unable to attend! Humble as it is, +I think this will prove to be much more wholesome food."</p> + +<p>Night had fallen by the time they left the lunch-room. Glancing at his +watch, Kendrick saw that they still had better than a half-hour before +the limited was due, so they betook themselves to the police station.</p> + +<p>It was only a block away and in consequence they weren't long reaching +it.</p> + +<p>The chief had gone home, the officer at the desk informed them, but if +there was anything they cared to report, he would be glad to make note +of it.</p> + +<p>A big raw-boned westerner, he shifted his quid as he spoke and spat +resoundingly in a cuspidor at his feet.</p> + +<p>"All right, then—get your pencil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> ready!" said Kendrick with a smile. +"This is Miss Marjorie Blake, daughter of Henderson Blake, of New +York. Perhaps you read of her disappearance, a few weeks ago. And +I...."</p> + +<p>As he introduced himself and told briefly of their astounding +experience, the officer's eyes bulged with amazement.</p> + +<p>"Say, what yuh-all tryin' to hand me?" he snorted finally. "D'yuh +think I was born simple?"</p> + +<p>"Press your button!" whispered Marjorie. "Show him how the +invisibility ray works. It'll save a lot of argument."</p> + +<p>"Right!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e held up his wrist.</p> + +<p>"See this? Now watch!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon he pressed the button. But to their dismay, nothing +happened.</p> + +<p>"Wa-al. I'm still watchin'!" drawled the officer. "Who's loony now?"</p> + +<p>Kendrick examined the mechanism in impatience, pressed that little +button repeatedly: but still nothing happened.</p> + +<p>"Try yours!" he told Marjorie finally.</p> + +<p>She did so, with similar results—or lack of them, rather.</p> + +<p>"Something's wrong," he said at length. "The ray isn't working."</p> + +<p>"Wrong is right!" declared the officer with a contemptuous flood of +tobacco juice. "Yuh folks better go catch yuhr train 'fore yuh ferget +where it is."</p> + +<p>Chagrined, embarrassed, they took their leave, headed back toward the +railroad station.</p> + +<p>"Of all the utterly silly things!" declared Marjorie, as they walked +along. "Why do you suppose it didn't work?"</p> + +<p>Kendrick didn't reply at once. When he did, his voice was grave.</p> + +<p>"Because the disc has gone!" he said. "We are outside its zone of +influence. That's my hunch, at least, and I think we'd better act on +it."</p> + +<p>"You mean...?"</p> + +<p>"I mean our escape has probably caused them to hurry their plans. +They're probably over New York right now. I think we'd better get +there the quickest possible way."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he result was that when the train came, they remained on it only to +Tucson. There they chartered a fast plane and started east at once.</p> + +<p>At sunset the following day the plane swooped out of the sky and slid +to rest on the broad grounds of the Blake estate at Great Neck.</p> + +<p>As Kendrick stepped from the cabin and helped Marjorie down, a tall, +distinguished-looking man with graying hair and close-cropped mustache +came hurrying toward them.</p> + +<p>"Daddy!" she cried, rushing into his arms. "Oh, Daddy—Daddy!"</p> + +<p>Even without this demonstration. Kendrick would have recognized +Henderson Blake from pictures he had seen recently in the papers.</p> + +<p>Now he was introduced, and Blake was gripping his hand warmly.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know what this is all about, Professor," he heard the +great financier say. "Marjorie's telegram last night was as cryptic as +it was over-joying. But I do know that I owe you a deep debt of +gratitude."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you owe our pilot about a thousand dollars, too!" put in the +daughter of the house, clinging to her father's arm. "Please give him +a check—then we'll go inside and I'll explain all about it."</p> + +<p>"A matter very much easier dispatched than my debt to Professor +Kendrick," said Blake, complying.</p> + +<p>The check was for two thousand, not one, the pilot saw when he +received it.</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much, sir!" he said, saluting.</p> + +<p>"Don't mention it. Good night—and good luck to you!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he pilot returned to his plane, it lifted from the lawn, droned off +into the twilight.</p> + +<p>Then they approached the cool white villa that stood invitingly a +hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> yards or so away beyond sunken gardens.</p> + +<p>As they neared it, a handsome, well-preserved woman whose face +reflected Marjorie's own beauty came toward them. Lines of suffering +were still evident around her sensitive mouth, but her dark eyes were +radiant.</p> + +<p>"Mother!"</p> + +<p>"My poor darling!"</p> + +<p>They rushed into each other's arms, clung, sobbing and laughing.</p> + +<p>Kendrick was glad when these intimate greetings were over and he had +met Mrs. Blake.</p> + +<p>They were in the drawing-room now, listening to a somewhat more lucid +account of their daughter's experiences and those of her rescuer. +Marjorie was doing most of the talking, but every now and again she +would turn to Kendrick for verification.</p> + +<p>"Heavens!" gasped Mrs. Blake, finally. "Can such things be possible?"</p> + +<p>"Almost anything seems possible nowadays, my dear," her husband told +her. "And you say, Professor, that you have brought back samples of +this invisibility device?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we have, but I can't promise they'll work. I'll try, however."</p> + +<p>Whereupon, sceptically, he pressed that little square button—and +instantly faded out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" cried Blake, leaping to his feet. "That proves it! Why, +this is positively—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>is remarks were cut short by a scream of terror from his wife.</p> + +<p>"Marjorie—Marjorie!" she shrieked.</p> + +<p>Wheeling, he faced the chair where his daughter had sat. It was empty, +so far as human eyes could see.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry Mother—Daddy!" came a calm voice from it. "I'm quite all +right—coming back—steady."</p> + +<p>And back she came, as did Kendrick, from the empty chair beside her.</p> + +<p>His face was grave. The success of the demonstration, which had proved +their story to practical-minded Henderson Blake, had proved to him +something altogether more significant. The disc, as he had surmised, +had rushed eastward immediately on learning of their escape, and was +now probably hovering right over New York.</p> + +<p>"Marvelous—marvelous!" declared Blake. "But that heat ray, Professor. +That sounds bad. You are convinced it is as powerful as they make +out!"</p> + +<p>"Positively! That blast they let go in the desert would have utterly +destroyed New York."</p> + +<p>"Hm! Yes, no doubt you're right. I fully realize how the fearful +menace of this thing. Do you think the military authorities will be +able to cope with it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Perhaps, if they are prompt enough."</p> + +<p>"And is there no other way—no scientific way?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="50" height="52" /></div> +<p>endrick grew thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," he said at last. "There's just a possibility—something +running through my mind—an experiment I'd like to make, if I had the +facilities of some large electrical laboratory."</p> + +<p>"You shall have them to-morrow!" Blake promised. "I'm one of the +directors of Consolidated Electric. Their experimental laboratory in +Brooklyn is the finest of its kind in America. I'll see that you have +the run of it."</p> + +<p>"That will be very kind," said Kendrick. "But don't expect anything to +come from it, necessarily. It's just a theory I want to work out."</p> + +<p>A butler entered at this moment and announced dinner.</p> + +<p>"Well, theories are mighty these days!" beamed Blake, as they rose, +clapping the younger man on the shoulder. "You go ahead with your +theories—and I'll bring a few facts to bear. To-morrow noon I'll +escore some military men and others of my friends over to the +laboratory to hear and see something of this menace direct. Meanwhile, +and during this crisis, it will honor me to have you as my guest."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our guest!" amended Marjorie, with a warm smile.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div> +<p>ext morning Blake motored Kendrick out to the Brooklyn Laboratory of +the Consolidated Electric Utilities Corporation and installed him +there.</p> + +<p>Then he left—to return at noon with the promised delegation of +generals, admirals, statesmen and financiers.</p> + +<p>They were all frankly sceptical, though realizing that Henderson Blake +was not a man given to exaggeration. Nor did their scepticism +altogether vanish when Kendrick had ended his bizarre story with a +demonstration of the invisibility device.</p> + +<p>Murmurs of amazement ran around the laboratory, it is true, but the +more hard-headed of his spectators charged him with having invented +the apparatus himself. Though they didn't come right out and say so, +they seemed to imply that he was seeking publicity.</p> + +<p>Annoyedly, Kendrick tried to refute their charges. But even as he was +summoning words, refutation utter and complete came from the air.</p> + +<p>A low, humming vibration sounded, grew in volume till it filled the +room—and as suddenly ceased: The light of midday faded to twilight.</p> + +<p>"<i>The disc!</i>" gasped Kendrick, rushing to the west windows.</p> + +<p>They followed, tense with awe. And there, between earth and sun, its +myriad towers and spires refracting a weird radiance, hovered that +vast flying city.</p> + +<p>"My God!" muttered a famous general, staring as though he had seen a +ghost.</p> + +<p>A great statesman opened his lips, but no words came.</p> + +<p>"Appalling! Incredible!" burst from others of that stunned assemblage.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>heir comments were cut short by a broadcast voice, thin and clear, +tremendously amplified, a voice Kendrick recognized at once as that of +Cor.</p> + +<p>"People of America!" it said. "We of the planet Vada have come to +conquer your country. You will be given forty-eight hours to lay down +your arms. If complete surrender has not been made by high noon, two +days from now, New York will be destroyed."</p> + +<p>The voice ceased. The humming recommenced—waned in volume till it +died away. Twilight turned once more to midday.</p> + +<p>Peering fixedly through the west windows of the laboratory, the little +assemblage saw the disc swallowed up in the clear blue sky.</p> + +<p>Then they turned, faced one another gravely.</p> + +<p>Outside, on the streets, confusion reigned. In newspaper plants, +presses were whirling. In telegraph and cable offices, keys were +ticking. From radio towers, waves were speeding.</p> + +<p>Within an hour, the nation and the world knew of this planetary +invader and its staggering ultimatum.</p> + +<p>Naturally, the government at Washington refused to meet these shameful +terms. Military and naval forces were rushed to the threatened +metropolis. The Atlantic Fleet steamed up from Hampton Roads under +forced draught and assembled in the outer harbor. Thousands of planes +gathered at Mitchell Field and other nearby aerodromes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut where was the enemy? He must be miles up in space, Kendrick knew, +as he toiled feverishly in the laboratory over his experiment after a +sleepless night. For had that flying city been nearer earth, it could +not have maintained invisibility without that peculiar humming +vibration.</p> + +<p>Scout planes urged on by impatient squadron commanders, climbed till +they reached their ceilings, searching in vain. They could encounter +nothing, see nothing of the invader.</p> + +<p>Thus passed a morning of growing tension.</p> + +<p>But by noon of that day, with a bare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> twenty-four hours left before +the expiration of the ultimatum, the disc came down, showed itself +boldly.</p> + +<p>There followed stunning disasters.</p> + +<p>One salvo, and the ray shot down—the Atlantic Fleet, the pride of +America, burst and melted in flaming hell. Squadrons of planes, +carrying tons of bombs, frizzled like moths in the air. Mighty +projectiles hurled by land batteries were deflected off on wild +trajectories.</p> + +<p>Appalled, the nation and the world followed in lurid extras these +crushing defeats.</p> + +<p>By nightfall of that day, all seemed lost. All opposition had been +obliterated. America must capitulate or perish. It had until the next +noon to decide which.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div> +<p>eanwhile, in that great Brooklyn laboratory, Kendrick was working +against time, besieged by frantic delegations of the nation's leaders. +They knew now that their one hope lay in him. Was he succeeding? Was +there even any hope?</p> + +<p>Face haggard, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, he waved them away, +went on with his work.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you—as soon as I know."</p> + +<p>That was all he would say.</p> + +<p>Followed a night that was the blackest in all history, though the +myriad stars of heaven shone tauntingly brilliant in the summer sky.</p> + +<p>At length, as dawn was breaking. Kendrick paused in his labors.</p> + +<p>"There!" he said, grimly, surveying an apparatus that seemed to +involve the entire facilities of the laboratory. "It is done! Now +then—will it work?"</p> + +<p>The delegation were called to witness the test.</p> + +<p>Henderson Blake was among them, as was Marjorie. She stepped forward, +as he prepared to make the demonstration.</p> + +<p>"I <i>know</i>, somehow, you're going to be successful!" she murmured, +pressing his hand, meeting his eyes with a smile of confidence.</p> + +<p>"I hope you're right—Marjorie!" he replied, letting slip the last +word almost unconsciously.</p> + +<p>Her face colored warmly as the stepped back and rejoined her father.</p> + +<p>Kendrick's heart was beating fast as he turned to his instruments. How +could he fail, with faith like that behind him?—love, even, perhaps! +He mustn't fail—nor would he, if his theories were sound.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>ddressing the assemblage, he explained briefly the complicated +apparatus.</p> + +<p>"These towers," he said, pointing to four steel structures about ten +feet high, arranged at the corners of a square roughly twenty feet +across, "are miniature radio masts. The area enclosed by them, we will +assume, is the city of New York. That metal disc suspended above the +area represents the invader. It contains a miniature heat-generator +such as I was experimenting with recently in the Arizona desert."</p> + +<p>He paused, threw a switch. Somewhere in the laboratory a dynamo began +to whir.</p> + +<p>"I am now sending electro-magnetic waves from the four towers," he +resumed. "But instead of broadcasting them in every direction. I am +bending them in concave cathode of force over the city. You may +picture this cathode as an invisible shield, if you choose, but it is +more than that. It it a reflector. If my theories are right, the +radio-energetic ray I am about to project upon it from my miniature +disc will be flung back to its source as though it had been a ray of +light falling on a mirror. The success of the experiment depends upon +what the result will be."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="50" height="52" /></div> +<p>endrick ceased, moved toward a rheostat.</p> + +<p>As he made ready to touch it, a breathless tension settled upon the +assemblage. Upon the outcome of what was now to happen rested the fate +of America—and the world.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> + +<p>Calmly, though every fiber of his being was at breaking stress, the +young scientist opened the rheostat.</p> + +<p>For an instant, the ray seared down—then, as it boomeranged back, the +disc burst into flame, dissolved, disintegrated. A thin dust, like +carbon, slowly settled to the laboratory floor.</p> + +<p>Cutting off the current from the radio towers, Kendrick faced them, a +light of triumph in his tired eyes.</p> + +<p>"You see—it works," he said.</p> + +<p>They saw. Beyond a doubt, it worked!</p> + +<p>And what Kendrick saw, as his eyes met Marjorie's, made him forget his +fatigue.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he rest was a mad scramble of preparation. Only a few brief hours +remained, and much was to be done.</p> + +<p>The application of the principle that had just been demonstrated +involved a hook-up from the Consolidated Electric laboratory with +every broadcasting station in the metropolitan area, power being +supplied by commandeering every generating plant within a radius of +fifty miles.</p> + +<p>The city, moreover, had to be evacuated of all but the few brave +hundreds who volunteered to stand by their posts at radio stations and +generating plants.</p> + +<p>As for Kendrick, it was the busiest, most hectic morning he had ever +experienced. Only the realization of a girl's love and a nation's +trust enabled him to overcome the exhaustion of two sleepless nights.</p> + +<p>At length, a little before eleven, all was in readiness. Just two +questions troubled the young scientist's mind. Had the people of the +disc learned of their preparations to counter the attack? And would +the improvised broadcasting apparatus of the area stand the stupendous +strain that would be placed upon it if the ray came down?</p> + +<p>The first of these questions was answered, staggeringly, at a quarter +after eleven.</p> + +<p>"Kendrick—oh, my God!" cried Blake, bursting into the laboratory. +"Marjorie—they've got her again! Look! Read this!"</p> + +<p>He thrust out a piece of paper. Kendrick took it, read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Your daughter will be my queen, after this noon.</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Where'd you get it?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"One of the invisible devils thrust it into my hand right out in the +street, not five minutes ago," Blake explained, trembling with +anguish. "Do you realize what this means, Kendrick? She's on the disc +now—and in a scant three-quarters of an hour...."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I realize!" his voice came grimly. "And I realize, too, that +they don't know their fate. They'll stay. There's forty-five minutes +yet. We can't abandon our defense against the ray, not even for +Marjorie. But I'll go, I'll rescue her—or die with her!"</p> + +<p>And even as Blake mutely reached out his hand to grip that of the +determined young man who stood before him. Kendrick touched his wrist +mechanism and went invisible.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>nce on the street, he pressed the escalator button as well—and by +the strength of the vibrations that followed, he knew he must be very +close within that mysterious lifting zone.</p> + +<p>Running west a block, he found it growing stronger.</p> + +<p>Fairly racing now, he continued on toward the river, progress +unhampered in the deserted streets. Suddenly, with a thrill of +exultation, he felt himself swept up, whirled away toward that great +shimmering hulk against the sun.</p> + +<p>"What hope?" he was thinking. "What possible hope?" And the answer +came: Cor!</p> + +<p>Reaching the disc, he switched out the escalator influence and +hastened across the city to that monumental structure of jade-green +stone.</p> + +<p>The mighty little dwarf would be up there in his glittering mosaic +apartment, or in his pinnacle laboratory,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> perhaps, ready to pull the +lever that would release that stupendous blast of heat.</p> + +<p>Gaining the jewelled door of the monarch's quarters at last, after +escaping detection by a hair's breadth more than once, he pressed the +button outside, just as the guard had done that first time.</p> + +<p>In response, the door opened—and there stood Cor.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>e stood there an instant, that is, while the expression on his +leathery face went from inquiry to alarm. Then, as Kendrick burst into +the room and shut the door, he went invisible.</p> + +<p>In that same instant, the young scientist's eyes beheld a sight that +caused his heart to leap. There sat Marjorie, bound in a chair, an +expression half of hope, half of dejection, on her face.</p> + +<p>"It's I—Gordon!" he called. "Take courage!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I prayed so you'd come—and you came!" she murmured as her face +lighted. Then, tensely, she added, "The door—look out!"</p> + +<p>Kendrick wheeled, and just in time. The door was opening.</p> + +<p>"Not so fast!" he called, lunging.</p> + +<p>His hands gripped the dwarf, yanked him back, throttled him before he +could emit a cry, pushed the door shut.</p> + +<p>Cor struggled like a madman, but it was futile. Kendrick's hands cut +into his throat like a vice. After a moment or two, he gasped, +relaxed.</p> + +<p>Releasing his grip then, Kendrick felt for his wrist, stripped off his +bracelet—whereupon the dwarf became visible. His face was +putty-white. He was either dead or unconscious.</p> + +<p>Restoring his own visibility then, he advanced to Marjorie, swiftly +freed her.</p> + +<p>"Take this!" he said, handing her Cor's bracelet.</p> + +<p>She slipped it on.</p> + +<p>"Now let's tie him and get out of here. He may be dead, but we can't +take any chances."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he dwarf wasn't dead, however, for he groaned and opened his eyes as +they lifted him into the chair.</p> + +<p>"You win, Professor—but it avails you nothing!" He smiled +maliciously. "My capture, my death even, will not prevent the ray. The +orders have been given. It will be projected sharp at twelve. You but +go to your doom!"</p> + +<p>"That," said Kendrick, "is a matter of opinion."</p> + +<p>Swiftly they bound him, gagged him.</p> + +<p>"And now," he added, "we wish you good day—and such fate as you +deserve!"</p> + +<p>Then, turning to Marjorie:</p> + +<p>"Your hand again!"</p> + +<p>There was a new tenderness in its soft warmth that thrilled him.</p> + +<p>They touched their buttons, went invisible.</p> + +<p>Silently, then, they stole from the apartment. Swiftly they made their +way down to the concourse, raced across the city to the amber court, +descended to the trap-door.</p> + +<p>It must be nearly twelve, Kendrick knew. He couldn't look at his +watch, for it as well as himself was invisible. Indeed, even as they +stood there, poised for the plunge, a faint whistle rose from below.</p> + +<p>Marjorie trembled.</p> + +<p>"Steady!" he spoke. "Some of them always blow a minute or two before. +Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>"Yes!"</p> + +<p>"Then press your button—jump!"</p> + +<p>Even as they leapt, the sickening thought came that perhaps the +escalator ray was no longer running. But the fear was unwarranted. +They were caught up, whirled gently downward.</p> + +<p>Moving along laterally, as they descended, they were able to land +without difficulty in the middle of a deserted street near the +Consolidated Electric laboratory.</p> + +<p>"Thank heaven!" she sighed, as their feet touched solid ground. They +pressed off both buttons, becoming visible once more.</p> + +<p>"Echo!" he agreed. "So let's—"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ut Kendrick never completed that sentence—for now whistles all over +the metropolitan area, rising from the generating plants, announced +the ominous hour.</p> + +<p>It was high noon. The ultimatum had expired.</p> + +<p>Lifting tense faces to the disc, they waited. Would that stupendous +ray be hurled back upon itself? Or would it sear through their +makeshift defense, plunging them and the whole great metropolis into +oblivion?</p> + +<p>Suddenly, cataclysmically, the answer came.</p> + +<p>There burst a withering whirlwind from the disc. It struck that mighty +concave cathode of interlaced waves above the city. There followed an +instant's clash of titanic forces. Then the cathode triumphed, hurled +it back.</p> + +<p>Rocked by a concussion as of two worlds in impact, blinded by a glare +that made the sunlight seem feeble in comparison. Marjorie and +Kendrick clung together, while the disc grew into a satellite of +calcium fire in the sky.</p> + +<p>Presently, as the conflagration waned, they opened their eyes. +Gravely, but with deep thanksgiving, they searched each other's faces. +In them they read deep understanding, too, and a new hope.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better go and find father," she said at length, quietly.</p> + +<p>"I think so too!" he agreed.</p> + +<p>As they headed toward the laboratory, a fine, powdery dust, like +volcanic ash was falling.</p> + +<p>It continued to fall until the city streets were covered to a depth of +an inch or more.</p> + +<p>Thus passed the menace of Vada.</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_016.jpg" width="600" height="517" alt="NO ONE MUST FORGET + +That he has a standing +invitation to + +"Come Over In +'THE READERS' CORNER'" + +And join in the general +discussion of stories, +authors, likes, dislikes—everything +pertaining +to + +ASTOUNDING STORIES + +And Science-Fiction" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="The_Readers_Corner" id="The_Readers_Corner"></a> +<img src="images/image_017.jpg" width="600" height="548" alt="" /> +</div> + +<h3><i>A Meeting Place for Readers of</i> Astounding Stories</h3> + +<h2>The Readers' Corner</h2> + +<p class="p2"><i>To the Rescue</i></p> +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I hope you can see fit to print this letter in the July +issue of Astounding Stories. This letter is written in +defence of Ray Cummings and in reply to the letter of C. +Harry Jaeger, 2900 Jordan Road, Oakland, California.</p> + +<p>Following is an extract of Mr. Jaeger's letter: "Also I like +my authors to make an original contribution to whatever +theory of science they develop fictionally. This, Ray +Cummings does not do in his very interesting story, +"Phantoms of Reality." His beginning is palpably borrowed +from Francis Flagg's story, "The Blue Dimension," which +appeared in a Science Fiction magazine in 1927." Another +paragraph is devoted to explaining his claim. He claims that +Cummings' method of transporting his characters from one +dimension or planet to another is practically copied from +Flagg's story. The method, that is, not the narration. I +hope to prove that if any borrowing was done, it was done by +Flagg. Incidentally, Flagg's story "The Blue Dimension" was +printed in 1928, not 1927, as Mr. Jaeger says.</p> + +<p>I have in my possession a story by Ray Cummings named "Into +the Fourth Dimension" and published in another magazine +during the last month of 1926 and first ones of 1927. And in +this story—printed two years before Flagg's story—Cummings +uses almost the same apparatus of passing from one dimension +to another as is used in "Phantoms of Reality." I will not +discuss whether this procedure is to be approved or not.</p> + +<p>This letter is not to be construed as an attack on Mr. +Jaeger, or Mr. Flagg, or on either of the two stories under +discussion.</p> + +<p>If Mr. Jaeger will let me know I will send him Ray Cumming's +story "Into the Fourth Dimension," as clipped from the +magazines.</p> + +<p>I write this letter to the magazine, instead of Mr. Jaeger, +so that if any one was misled by Mr. Jaeger's well meant but +mistaken criticism they will be straightened out.—Donald +Coneyon, Petoskey, Michigan.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>A Wish for Success</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have read both of your first issues. I am writing to say +that I wish you success with your new magazine, which I know +will succeed.</p> + +<p>Also to say I wish you would get more of the "Carnes and Dr. +Bird Stories" by Captain S. P. Meek, for I think everybody, +including myself, likes them. I also enjoyed "Creatures of +the Light."—Thomas D. Taylor, 415 So. 7th St., Boise, +Idaho.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> +<p class="p2"><i>No Kick Any More</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have been a reader of Astounding Stories ever since you +started it, and I guess I'm getting too particular as I +don't get the kick out of it any more that I did out of the +first issues. That is, I don't get the kick out of ALL of +the stories as I did at first. However, "Murder Madness" +sure is a hot one. Why not print a story by Sax Rohmer, H. +G. Wells, or some of them?—H. Elsworth Jones, Box 340, R. +R. 6, Battle Creek, Mich.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>Via Postcard</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Astounding Stories is an astounding magazine. It has really +astounding stories. It couldn't be better. There's hardly +room for improvement. May Astounding Stories be more +astounding yet. I like it!—Monroe Hood Stinson, 1742, 12th +Ave., Oakland, California.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>Only Fiction!</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished a story in the February, 1930, issue of +Astounding Stories entitled "Into Space," by Sterner St. +Paul.</p> + +<p>I would like to know if it is a true story, if the actions +described in it really happened, or is it merely a story of +fiction.—Dan S. Scherrer, Shawneetown, Ill.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>Perhaps—Soon</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished reading your new magazine, Astounding +Stories. It is the best magazine I have ever read. Keep up +the good work and you will find me a constant reader. I have +only one suggestion to make: Let Astounding Stories come out +every other Thursday.—Harold Kulko, 433 Palmer E., Detroit, +Michigan.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>More Preferences</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have read with great interest the second issue of +Astounding Stories and note your invitation for readers to +express themselves.</p> + +<p>I enjoyed the whole magazine, finding the literary quality +surprisingly high. Especially good were "Spawn of the +Stars," and "Creatures of the Light." Harl Vincent's tale +was the best of his I have read; and Captain Meek's are +always good. "The Corpse on the Grating," however, was +merely Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" done over, and not +half so well.</p> + +<p>As for the sort of tales I like, here they are in order of +preference:</p> + +<p>1. Tales of weird mystery—Merritt's "Moon Pool" and his +others; Taine's "White Lily."</p> + +<p>2. Interplanetary Adventure—"A Columbus of Space," by +Serviss; "The Skylark of Space," by Smith.</p> + +<p>3. "Different stories," that defy classification, based on +new ideas of science—most of Wells' short stories are +examples. 4. Detective, Fourth Dimension, and air +adventure—only well done.—Jack Williamson, Box 661 Canyon, +Texas.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>A Brick or Two</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>For the last three years we have been reading any and all of +the various Science Fiction magazines which have appeared +upon the market. We therefore feel that we are as well +qualified as anyone to offer the criticism and advice that +follows.</p> + +<p>First, the stories. We feel that it would be a good idea to +get your stories from the same authors whose work has been +and is being accepted by the other magazines in this field. +In one case you have already done this, and I consider his +stories to be the best in each issue. I believe that you +will be forced to do this eventually, anyhow, because the +people who read this magazine will naturally be readers of +the others also, and will therefore, be used to the +standards set by those publications. Then, you should have +someone who is well qualified to pass upon the science in +the stories.</p> + +<p>Second, the cover design and the pictures at the beginning +of each story. Up to this time the cover and inside pictures +have contained many mistakes. The cover of the March issue +was especially atrocious. In the first place a voyager in +outer space would find it jet black and studded with stars, +instead of blue and apparently empty, except for a few +tremendously oversize planets, a moon with entirely too many +craters, and a total eclipse of the sun with a very much +distorted corona visible beside the earth. Illustrations by +your cover artist also appear in another publication, but +these are much superior to the ones in Astounding Stories. +Here also a scientific advisor would be welcome.</p> + +<p>Third, I think it would be a good idea to have a department +in which readers could write their opinions of the stories +and suggest improvements in the conduct of the magazine.</p> + +<p>Fourth, I think there should be a scientific editorial in +each issue by some eminent scientist. This is also a feature +in the other magazines.</p> + +<p>We hope that you take these criticisms and suggestions, as +they were offered, in good faith. We also hope that the +circulation will increase as the magazine becomes +better.—George L. Williams and Harry Heillisan, 5714 Howe +St., Pittsburgh, Pa.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2">"<i>Wonderful</i>"</p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I received your magazine last week, Astounding Stories, and +I think it is wonderful. I am very glad that I subscribed +for it. I can hardly wait to get the latest one which I +hoped to receive to-day and was very much disappointed when +it did not arrive. I hope you will consider a quarterly or +at least an annual in the near future.</p> + +<p>I wish you success with this magazine, and hope you will +forgive my writing you so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> often in reference to your +magazine—Louis Wentzler, 1935, Woodbine St., Brooklyn, New +York.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2">—<i>But We Made Our Bow Only Last January!</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Last month my boy brought one copy of this magazine home, +and I want to ask you if you would send me the copies from +last January, 1929, up to December, 1929. If you charge no +more than $3.00 would you send them C. O. D.? Do you have +the issues for 1928, too?</p> + +<p>I never knew there was a magazine like that on the market. I +never bought one because most of them are no good, and when +one has children one has to be doubly careful.</p> + +<p>But this magazine is just right. No silly love stories and +mushy stuff in them. It sure keeps your mind from unpleasant +things. We can get them from the newsstand but I would like +to subscribe for them.</p> + +<p>Keep up the good work and please send me the last year's +copies and let me know if I could get 1928, too.—Mrs. M. +Ristan, 4684, No. Broadway, Denver, Colorado.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2">"<i>Best One Yet</i>"</p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>The April issue is the best one you have put out yet. Arthur +J. Burks is GOOD. I hope to see much of him in the future. +"Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings, is getting better +with each instalment. The stories of Dr. Bird are always +interesting. I would like to see one in each issue, if you +could arrange for it.</p> + +<p>As long as the other readers like the size of Astounding +stories, I will, too, but please cut all edges smooth like +the latest issue of Five Novels Monthly. I would like to see +a full-page illustration with each story, and if possible by +Wesso.</p> + +<p>I am glad that you are starting another serial in the May +issue of Astounding Stories. I like serials and I hope that +you will always have two in each issue.</p> + +<p>Your schedule for the May issue looks good, and I'm sure it +will be, with such authors as Murray Leinster, Victor +Rousseau, Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent and Sewell P. Wright.</p> + +<p>I am still waiting for a different colored cover.—Jack +Darrow, 4225, N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Illinois.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>An Enthusiastic Reader</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>As a reader of long standing of Science Fiction I feel I am +qualified to make some remarks and give my opinion of the +wonderful Astounding Stories magazine lately put out. +Although I read three other Science Fiction magazines none +of them have aroused in me such a wonderful enthusiasm as +Astounding Stories. Before I forget it I want to mention +that I read two quarterlies also.</p> + +<p>The reason, or rather reasons, for my enthusiasm I will now +enumerate. (1) The stories are wonderful. (2) The binding is +very strong and efficient. (3) The print is just right, and +soothing to the eyes of one who reads much. The paper is +good, and the size and price of the magazine is just right. +The covers are excellent, and with the addition of "The +Readers' Corner" the magazine becomes absolutely perfect. +Truly a wonderful start. See that it is kept up. The only +thing that can still spoil the magazine is poor stories. +Science Fiction stories that contain no science.</p> + +<p>In "Vampires of Venus" the plot was rather weak. Even if the +Venerians knew nothing of entomology, they should have +brains enough to get rid of the vampires the way Leslie +Larner did without having to call an Earthman to help them. +Another thing: the Venerians kept only insects that were not +harmful to the crops. On Earth there are such insects who +help the farmer by eating harmful insects. If the harmful +insects were exterminated—an almost impossible and gigantic +task—the harmless insects would change their diet and +become harmful too. And it seems funny, too, that such a +highly civilized planet as Venus should still depend on +domesticated animals for food, drink and clothing instead of +manufacturing what they need synthetically.</p> + +<p>The April cover on your magazine was wonderful.</p> + +<p>Before I close I wish to say a word about the Science +Correspondence Club of which I am a proud member. There is +little to say, however, after reading Conrad Ruppert's +letter in the April issue. The membership has increased to +over 300 now, numbering among them quite a number of famous +scientists and authors. All I can say is that I hope every +scientifically inclined person of whatever nationality, +creed, color or sex they may be, will join this wonderful +and rapidly progressing club. I will now close thanking the +publishers of Astounding Stories for issuing such a +wonderful magazine—Stan Osowski, E2, Railroad St., Central +Falls, R. I.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>But—Conniston Was An Impostor!</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I read with interest Mr. Ray Cummings' story, "Brigands of +the Moon," in the March number of Astounding Stories. The +tale was a worthy one from the pen of so clever a writer. I +do think, however, that the author might have left out the +point about Sir Arthur Conniston, an English gentleman, +turning traitor. This sort of thing is hardly calculated to +bring about a friendly feeling between England and America, +the two greatest countries in the world. I have the greatest +admiration for the United States, and though we may have a +little fun at each other's expense, there is no ill feeling +meant, but I really hope you will not publish any other +story like that one.—An Englishman, Montreal, Canada.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="p2"><i>Likes the Romance</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished my second copy of Astounding Stories +and I wish to say I have enjoyed every story.</p> + +<p>For some time I have been a reader of Science Fiction, but +none will compare to Astounding Stories. These stories seem +to have the proper amount of romance in them to make them +really interesting, and it adds the proper touch.</p> + +<p>I have no criticism to make. May I wish you a great success +with this magazine—Frank I. Sontag, 825 Prescott Ave., +Scranton, Pa.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2"><i>High Praise</i></p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Allow me to congratulate you upon the establishment of "The +Readers' Corner." I do not know which was the first issue of +your delightful magazine, but I have been buying it +regularly for quite a few months.</p> + +<p>I may not be an experienced critic, but it can be easily +seen by anyone that this magazine is one of the best on +sale. I, for one, enjoy your stories more than any other +stories I have ever read.</p> + +<p>I have just finished the second part of the four-part serial +entitled "Brigands of the Moon." I thing Ray Cummings is the +best author I have ever met up with in stories. The drawings +are fine, the print is excellent, but I think the paper +could be improved. But by no means change the size of your +little magazine. The size is just right.</p> + +<p>In your April issue I read in "The Readers' Corner" about a +Science Correspondence Club. Believe me when I say I'm +sending immediately for an application blank. I think the +idea of this club is excellent.</p> + +<p>Truly you have contributed a great gift to Science Fiction +readers in offering this magazine to the receptive +public.—Theodore L. Page, 2361 Los Angeles Ave., +Pittsburgh, Pa.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2">"<i>Don't Do It!</i>"</p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>This afternoon I saw Astounding Stories for the first time +and immediately grabbed a copy, as I have read others of the +Clayton group, and moreover am a Science Fiction fan.</p> + +<p>The newsstand has no back numbers, and I simply must have +the March 1930 issue, as I wish to read "Brigands of the +Moon," so here is 25¢, in stamps to cover purchase price and +cost of mailing me a copy of that issue.</p> + +<p>Have you a complete file since Vol. 1, No. 1? If so, what is +the cost including charges? I'm sorry that I missed this +magazine before, but you can rest assured that I'll miss no +more.</p> + +<p>In the "Readers' Corner" I notice a call from Stephen Takacs +for a change in size. DON'T DO IT! The size and shape are O. +K., and to make it the awkward size of most magazines +(including two of the Science Fiction magazines that I am +now a confirmed reader of), would not improve it a bit.</p> + +<p>You have two of my favorite authors in the April number; no, +I see it is three—Burks, Cummings and Meek. They are O. K., +but don't forget a few others, such as Burroughs, Verrill, +Hamilton, Coblentz, Keller, Quinn, Williamson, Leinster, +Repp, Vincent, Flagg—oh, why continue; you certainly know +all the good authors of OUR kind of fiction; try them all. +Of course, the other Science Fiction magazines that I take +are full of stories by my favorites, but you can get stories +by them too.</p> + +<p>From this one issue that I have read I can see only praise +for your publication. Here's to a long life and a happy one.</p> + +<p>Don't forget to send me the March issue as fast as the mail +can get it here—Robert J. Hyatt, 1353 Kenyon St., N. W., +Washington D. C.</p></blockquote> + + +<p class="p2">"<i>Worst Ever Read</i>"</p> + +<blockquote><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Since you invite criticism as well as praise, I am impelled +to state that by far the worst story I ever read in any +Science Fiction magazine was "Vampires of Venus," by Anthony +Pelcher, which appeared in your April issue. It was so +idiotic, so flat and inane, that it might have passed for a +burlesque rather than a straight story, were it not +painfully evident that the author was serious. The yarn was +unworthy of Astounding Stories and did not belong in this +magazine.</p> + +<p>The other stories, except for an amateurish attempt called +"The Man Who Was Dead," were deeply engrossing and of +unusual merit.—Sears Langell, 1214 Boston Road, New York.</p></blockquote> + + +<h3>"<i>The Readers' Corner</i>"</h3> +<p>All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come +over in 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of +stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities—everything +that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories.</p> + +<p>Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this +is a department primarily for <i>Readers</i>, and we want you to make full +use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, +brickbats, suggestions—everything's welcome here; so "come over in +'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us!</p> + +<p class="p3">—<i>The Editor.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +August 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29768-h.htm or 29768-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/6/29768/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, 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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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: Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 23, 2009 [EBook #29768] +[Last updated: March 20, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + ASTOUNDING + + STORIES + + OF SUPER-SCIENCE + + 20c + + + + _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ + + +W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor DR. DOUGLAS M. DOLD, +Consulting Editor + + +The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees + + _That_ the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by + leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions + approved by the Authors' League of America; + + _That_ such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by + American workmen; + + _That_ each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit; + + _That_ an intelligent censorship guards their advertising + pages. + +_The other Clayton magazines are_: + +ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES, COWBOY STORIES, CLUES, FIVE-NOVELS +MONTHLY, ALL STAR DETECTIVE STORIES, RANGELAND LOVE STORY +MAGAZINE, and WESTERN ADVENTURES. + +_More than Two Million Copies Required to Supply the Monthly Demand +for Clayton Magazines._ + + * * * * * + + + + +VOL. III, No. 2 CONTENTS AUGUST, 1930 + + +COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI + _Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "The Planet of Dread."_ + +THE PLANET OF DREAD R. F. STARZL 147 + _A Stupid Blunder--and Mark Forepaugh Faces a Lifetime of Castaway + Loneliness in the Savage Welter of the Planet Inra's Monster-ridden + Jungles._ + +THE LORD OF SPACE VICTOR ROUSSEAU 158 + _A Black Caesar Had Arisen on Eros--and All Earth Trembled at His + Distant Menace._ + +THE SECOND SATELLITE EDMOND HAMILTON 175 + _Earth-men War on Frog-vampires for the Emancipation of the Human Cows + of Earth's Second Satellite._ (A Novelet.) + +SILVER DOME HARL VINCENT 192 + _In Her Deep-buried Kingdom of Theros, Phaestra Reveals the Amazing + Secret of the Silver Dome._ + +EARTH, THE MARAUDER ARTHUR J. BURKS 210 + _Deep in the Gnome-infested Tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and Jaska Are + Brought to Luar the Radiant Goddess Against Whose Minions the + Marauding Earth Had Struck in Vain._ (Part Two of a Three-Part + Novel.) + +MURDER MADNESS MURRAY LEINSTER 237 + _Bell Has Fought through Tremendous Obstacles to Find and Kill The + Master, Whose Diabolical Poison Makes Murder-mad Snakes of the Hands; + and, as He Faces the Monster at Last--His Own Hands Start to Writhe!_ + (Conclusion.) + +THE FLYING CITY H. THOMPSON RICH 260 + _From Space Came Cor's Disc-city of Vada--Its Mighty, Age-old Engines + Weakening--Its Horde of Dwarfs Hungry for the Earth!_ + +THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 279 + _A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories._ + + * * * * * + +Single Copies, 20 Cents (In Canada, 25 Cents) Yearly Subscription, +$2.00 + +Issued monthly by Publishers' Fiscal Corporation, 80 Lafayette St., +New York, N. Y. W. M. Clayton, President; Nathan Goldmann, Secretary. +Entered as second-class matter December 7, 1929, at the Post Office at +New York, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered as a +Trade Mark in the U. S. Patent Office. Member Newsstand Group--Men's +List. For advertising rates address E. R. Crowe & Co., Inc., 25 +Vanderbilt Ave., New York; or 225 North Michigan Ave., Chicago. + + * * * * * + + + + +The Planet of Dread + +_By R. F. Starzl_ + +[Illustration: _This time Forepaugh was ready for it._] + +[Sidenote: A stupid blunder--and Mark Forepaugh faces a life of +castaway loneliness in the savage welter of the planet Inra's +monster-ridden jungles.] + + +There was no use hiding from the truth. Somebody had blundered--a +fatal blunder--and they were going to pay for it! Mark Forepaugh +kicked the pile of hydrogen cylinders. Only a moment ago he had broken +the seals--the mendacious seals that certified to the world that the +flasks were fully charged. And the flasks were empty! The supply of +this precious power gas, which in an emergency should have been +sufficient for six years, simply did not exist. + +He walked over to the integrating machine, which as early as the year +2031 had begun to replace the older atomic processes, due to the +shortage of the radium series metals. It was bulky and heavy compared +to the atomic disintegrators, but it was much more economical and very +dependable. Dependable--provided some thick-headed stock clerk at a +terrestrial supply station did not check in empty hydrogen cylinders +instead of full ones. Forepaugh's unwonted curses brought a smile to +the stupid, good-natured face of his servant, Gunga--he who had been +banished for life from his native Mars for his impiety in closing his +single round eye during the sacred Ceremony of the Wells. + +The Earth man was at this steaming hot, unhealthful trading station +under the very shadow of the South Pole of the minor planet Inra for +an entirely different reason. One of the most popular of his set on +the Earth, an athletic hero, he had fallen in love, and the devoutly +wished-for marriage was only prevented by lack of funds. The +opportunity to take charge of this richly paid, though dangerous, +outpost of civilization had been no sooner offered than taken. In +another week or two the relief ship was due to take him and his +valuable collection of exotic Inranian orchids back to the Earth, back +to a fat bonus, Constance, and an assured future. + +It was a different young man who now stood tragically before the +useless power plant. His slim body was bowed, and his clean features +were drawn. Grimly he raked the cooling dust that had been forced in +the integrating chamber by the electronic rearrangement of the +original hydrogen atoms--finely powdered iron and silicon--the "ashes" +of the last tank of hydrogen. + + * * * * * + +Gunga chuckled. + +"What's the matter?" Forepaugh barked. "Going crazy already?" + +"Me, haw! Me, haw! Me thinkin'," Gunga rumbled. "Haw! We got, haw! +plenty hydr'gen." He pointed to the low metal roof of the trading +station. Though it was well insulated against sound, the place +continually vibrated to the low murmur of the Inranian rains that fell +interminably through the perpetual polar day. It was a rain such as is +never seen on Earth, even in the tropics. It came in drops as large as +a man's fist. It came in streams. It came in large, shattering masses +that broke before they fell and filled the air with spray. There was +little wind, but the steady green downpour of water and the brilliant +continuous flashing of lightning shamed the dull soggy twilight +produced by the large, hot, but hidden sun. + +"_Your_ idea of a joke!" Forepaugh growled in disgust. He understood +what Gunga's grim pleasantry referred to. There was indeed an +incalculable quantity of hydrogen at hand. If some means could be +found to separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen in the world of +water around them they would not lack for fuel. He thought of +electrolysis, and relaxed with a sigh. There was no power. The +generators were dead, the air drier and cooler had ceased its rhythmic +pulsing nearly an hour ago. Their lights were gone, and the automatic +radio utterly useless. + +"This is what comes of putting all your eggs in one basket," he +thought, and let his mind dwell vindictively on the engineers who had +designed the equipment on which his life depended. + +An exclamation from Gunga startled him. The Martian was pointing to +the ventilator opening, the only part of this strange building that +was not hermetically sealed against the hostile life of Inra. A dark +rim had appeared at its margin, a loathsome, black-green rim that was +moving, spreading out. It crept over the metal walls like the +low-lying smoke of a fire, yet it was a solid. From it emanated a +strong, miasmatic odor. + +"The giant mold!" Forepaugh cried. He rushed to his desk and took out +his flash pistol, quickly set the localizer so as to cover a large +area. When he turned he saw, to his horror, Gunga about to smash into +the mold with his ax. He sent the man spinning with a blow to the ear. + +"Want to scatter it and start it growing in a half-dozen places?" he +snapped. "Here!" + + * * * * * + +He pulled the trigger. There was a light, spiteful "ping" and for an +instant a cone of white light stood out in the dim room like a solid +thing. Then it was gone, and with it was gone the black mold, leaving +a circular area of blistered paint on the wall and an acrid odor in +the air. Forepaugh leaped to the ventilating louver and closed it +tightly. + +"It's going to be like this from now on," he remarked to the shaken +Gunga. "All these things wouldn't bother us as long as the machinery +kept the building dry and cool. They couldn't live in here. But it's +getting damp and hot. Look at the moisture condensing on the ceiling!" + +Gunga gave a guttural cry of despair. "It knows, Boss; look!" + +Through one of the round, heavily framed ports it could be seen, the +lower part of its large, shapeless body half-floating in the lashing +water that covered their rocky shelf to a depth of several feet, the +upper part spectral and gray. It was a giant amoeba, fully six feet in +diameter in its present spheroid form, but capable of assuming any +shape that would be useful. It had an envelope of tough, transparent +matter, and was filled with a fluid that was now cloudy and then +clear. Near the center there was a mass of darker matter, and this was +undoubtedly the seat of its intelligence. + +The Earth man recoiled in horror! A single cell with a brain! It was +unthinkable. It was a biological nightmare. Never before had he seen +one--had, in fact, dismissed the stories of the Inranian natives as a +bit of primitive superstition, had laughed at these gentle, stupid +amphibians with whom he traded when they, in their imperfect language, +tried to tell him of it. + +They had called it the Ul-lul. Well, let it be so. It was an amoeba, +and it was watching him. It floated in the downpour and watched him. +With what? It had no eyes. No matter, it was watching him. And then it +suddenly flowed outward until it became a disc rocking on the waves. +Again its fluid form changed, and by a series of elongations and +contractions it flowed through the water at an incredible speed. It +came straight for the window, struck the thick, unbreakable glass with +a shock that could be felt by the men inside. It flowed over the glass +and over the building. It was trying to eat them, building and all! +The part of its body over the port became so thin that it was almost +invisible. At last, its absolute limit reached, it dropped away, +baffled, vanishing amid the glare of the lightning and the frothing +waters like the shadows of a nightmare. + + * * * * * + +The heat was intolerable and the air was bad. + +"Haw, we have to open vent'lator, Boss!" gasped the Martian. + +Forepaugh nodded grimly. It wouldn't do to smother either. Though to +open the ventilator would be to invite another invasion by the black +mold, not to mention the amoebae and other fabulous monsters that had +up to now been kept at a safe distance by the repeller zone, a simple +adaptation of a very old discovery. A zone of mechanical vibrations, +of a frequency of 500,000 cycles per second, was created by a large +quartz crystal in the water, which was electrically operated. Without +power, the protective zone had vanished. + +"We watch?" asked Gunga. + +"You bet we watch. Every minute of the 'day' and 'night.'" + +He examined the two chronometers, assuring himself that they were well +wound, and congratulated himself that they were not dependent on the +defunct power plant for energy. They were his only means of measuring +the passage of time. The sun, which theoretically would seem to travel +round and round the horizon, rarely succeeded in making its exact +location known, but appeared to shift strangely from side to side at +the whim of the fog and water. + +"Th' fellas," Gunga remarked, coming out of a study. "Why not come?" +He referred to the Inranians. + +"Probably know something's wrong. They can tell the quartz oscillator +is stopped. Afraid of the Ul-lul, I suppose." + +"'Squeer," demurred the Martian. "Ul-lul not bother fellas." + +"You mean it doesn't follow them into the underbrush. But it would +find tough going there. Not enough water; trees there, four hundred +feet high with thorny roots and rough bark--they wouldn't like that. +Oh no, these natives ought to be pretty snug in their dens. Why, +they're as hard to catch as a muskrat! Don't know what a muskrat is, +huh? Well, it's the same as the Inranians, only different, and not so +ugly." + + * * * * * + +For the next six days they existed in their straitened quarters, one +guarding while the other slept, but such alarms as they experienced +were of a minor nature, easily disposed of by their flash pistol. It +had not been intended for continuous service, and under the frequent +drains it showed an alarming loss of power. Forepaugh repeatedly +warned Gunga to be more sparing in its use, but that worthy persisted +in his practice of using it against every trifling invasion of the +poisonous Inranian cave moss that threatened them, or the warm, soggy +water-spiders that hopefully explored the ventilator shaft in search +of living food. + +"Bash 'em with a broom, or something! Never mind if it isn't nice. +Save our flash gun for something bigger." + +Gunga only looked distressed. + +On the seventh day their position became untenable. Some kind of sea +creature, hidden under the ever-replenished storm waters, had found +the concrete emplacements of their trading post to its liking. Just +how it was done was never learned. It is doubtful that the creatures +could gnaw away the solid stone--more likely the process was chemical, +but none the less it was effective. The foundations crumbled; the +metal shell subsided, rolled half over so that silty water leaked in +through the straining seams, and threatened at any moment to be +buffeted and urged away on the surface of the flood toward that +distant vast sea which covers nine-tenths of the area of Inra. + +"Time to mush for the mountains," Forepaugh decided. + +Gunga grinned. The Mountains of Perdition were, to his point of view, +the only part of Inra even remotely inhabitable. They were sometimes +fairly cool, and though perpetually pelted with rain, blazing with +lightning and reverberating with thunder, they had caves that were +fairly dry and too cool for the black mold. Sometimes, under favorable +circumstances on their rugged peaks, one could get the full benefit of +the enormous hot sun for whose actinic rays the Martian's starved +system yearned. + +"Better pack a few cans of the food tablets," the white man ordered. +"Take a couple of waterproof sleeping bags for us, and a few hundred +fire pellets. You can have the flash pistol; it may have a few more +charges in it." + + * * * * * + +Forepaugh broke the glass case marked "Emergency Only" and removed two +more flash pistols. Well he knew that he would need them after passing +beyond the trading area--perhaps sooner. His eyes fell on his personal +chest, and he opened it for a brief examination. None of the contents +seemed of any value, and he was about to pass when he dragged out a +long, heavy, .45 caliber six-shooter in a holster, and a cartridge +belt filled with shells. The Martian stared. + +"Know what it is?" his master asked, handing him the weapon. + +"Gunga not know." He took it and examined it curiously. It was a fine +museum piece in an excellent state of preservation, the metal overlaid +with the patina of age, but free from rust and corrosion. + +"It's a weapon of the Ancients," Forepaugh explained. "It was a sort +of family heirloom and is over 300 years old. One of my grandfathers +used it in the famous Northwest Mounted Police. Wonder if it'll still +shoot." + +He leveled the weapon at a fat, sightless wriggler that came squirming +through a seam, squinting unaccustomed eyes along the barrel. There +was a violent explosion, and the wriggler disappeared in a smear of +dirty green. Gunga nearly fell over backward in fright, and even +Forepaugh was shaken. He was surprised that the ancient cartridge had +exploded at all, though he knew powder making had reached a high level +of perfection before explosive chemical weapons had yielded to the +newer, lighter, and infinitely more powerful ray weapons. The gun +would impede their progress. It would be of very little use against +the giant Carnivora of Inra. Yet something--perhaps a sentimental +attachment, perhaps what his ancestors would have called a +"hunch"--compelled him to strap it around his waist. He carefully +packed a few essentials in his knapsack, together with one chronometer +and a tiny gyroscopic compass. So equipped, they could travel with a +fair degree of precision toward the mountains some hundred miles on +the other side of a steaming forest, a-crawl with feral life, and hot +with blood-lust. + + * * * * * + +Man and master descended into the warm waters and, without a backward +glance, left the trading post to its fate. There was not even any use +in leaving a note. Their relief ship, soon due, would never find the +station without radio direction. + +The current was strong, but the water gradually became shallower as +they ascended the sloping rock. After half an hour they saw ahead of +them the loom of the forest, and with some trepidation they entered +the gloom cast by the towering, fernlike trees, whose tops disappeared +in murky fog. Tangled vines impeded their progress. Quagmires lay in +wait for them, and tough weeds tripped them, sometimes throwing one or +another into the mud among squirming small reptiles that lashed at +them with spiked, poisonous feet and then fell to pieces, each piece +to lie in the bubbling ooze until it grew again into a whole animal. + +Several times they almost walked under the bodies of great, +spheroidal creatures with massive short legs, whose tremendously long, +sinuous necks disappeared in the leafy murk above, swaying gently like +long-stalked lilies in a terrestial pond. These were azornacks, +mild-tempered vegetarians whose only defense lay in their thick, +blubbery hides. Filled with parasites, stinking and rancid, their +decaying covering of fat effectively concealed the tender flesh +underneath, protecting them from fangs and rending claws. + +Deeper in the forest the battering of the rain was mitigated. Giant +neo-palm leaves formed a roof that shut out not only most of the weak +daylight, but also the fury of the downpour. The water collected in +cataracts, ran down the boles of the trees, and roared through the +semi-circular canals of the snake trees, so named by early explorers +for their waving, rubbery tentacles, multiplied a millionfold, that +performed the duties of leaves. Water gurgled and chuckled everywhere, +spread in vast dim ponds and lakes writhing with tormented roots, +up-heaved by unseen, uncatalogued leviathans, rippled by translucent +discs of loathsome, luminescent jelly that quivered from place to +place in pursuit of microscopic prey. + +Yet the impression was one of calm and quiet, and the waifs from other +worlds felt a surcease of nervous tension. Unconsciously they relaxed. +Taking their bearings, they changed their course slightly for the +nesting place of the nearest tribe of Inranians where they hoped to +get food and at least partial shelter; for their food tablets had +mysteriously turned to an unpleasant viscous liquid, and their +sleeping bags were alive with giant bacteria easily visible to the +eye. + + * * * * * + +They were doomed to disappointment. After nearly twelve hours of +desperate struggling through the morass, through gloomy aisles, and +countless narrow escapes from prowling beasts of prey in which only +the speed and tremendous power of their flash pistols saved them from +instant death, they reached a rocky outcropping which led to the +comparatively dry rise of land on which a tribe of Inranians made its +home. Their faces were covered with welts made by the hanging +filaments of blood-sucking trees as fine as spider webs, and their +senses reeled with the oppressive stench of the abysmal jungle. If the +pampered ladies of the Inner Planets only knew where their +thousand-dollar orchids sprang from! + +Converging runways showed the opening of one of the underground dens, +almost hidden from view by a bewildering maze of roots, rendered more +formidable by long, sharp stakes made from the iron-hard thigh-bones +of the flying kabo. + +Forepaugh cupped his hands over his mouth and gave the call. + +"Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf! Ouf!" + +He repeated it over and over, the jungle giving back his voice in a +muffled echo, while Gunga held a spare flash pistol and kept a sharp +lookout for a carnivore intent on getting an unwary Inranian. + +There was no answer. These timid creatures, who are often rated the +most intelligent life native to primitive Inra, had sensed disaster +and had fled. + +Forepaugh and Gunga slept in one of the foul, poorly ventilated dens, +ate of the hard, woody tubers that had not been worth taking along, +and wished they had a certain stock clerk at that place at that time. +They were awakened out of deep slumber by the threshing of an evil +looking creature which had become entangled among the sharpened +spikes. Its tremendous maw, splitting it almost in half, was opened in +roars of pain that showed great yellow fangs eight inches in length. +Its heavy flippers battered the stout roots and lacerated themselves +in the beast's insensate rage. It was quickly dispatched with a flash +pistol and Gunga cooked himself some of the meat, using a fire pellet; +but despite his hunger Forepaugh did not dare eat any of it, knowing +that this species, strange to him, might easily be one of the many on +Inra that are poisonous to terrestials. + + * * * * * + +They resumed their march toward the distant invisible mountains, and +were fortunate in finding somewhat better footing than they had on +their previous march. They covered about 25 miles on that "day," +without untoward incident. Their ray pistols gave them an insuperable +advantage over the largest and most ferocious beasts they could expect +to meet, so that they became more and more confident, despite the +knowledge that they were rapidly using up the energy stored in their +weapons. The first one had long ago been discarded, and the charge +indicators of the other two were approaching zero at a disquieting +rate. Forepaugh took them both, and from that time on he was careful +never to waste a discharge except in case of a direct and unavoidable +attack. This often entailed long waits or stealthy detours through +sucking mud, and came near to ending both their lives. + +The Earth man was in the lead when it happened. Seeking an uncertain +footing through a tangle of low-growing, thick, ghastly white +vegetation, he placed a foot on what seemed to be a broad, flat rock +projecting slightly above the ooze. Instantly there was a violent +upheaval of mud; the seeming rock flew up like a trap-door, disclosing +a cavernous mouth some seven feet across, and a thick, triangular +tentacle flew up from its concealment in the mud in a vicious arc. +Forepaugh leaped back barely in time to escape being swept in and +engulfed. The end of the tentacle struck him a heavy blow on the +chest, throwing him back with such force as to bowl Gunga over, and +whirling the pistols out of his hands into a slimy, bulbous growth +nearby, where they stuck in the phosphorescent cavities the force of +their impact had made. + + * * * * * + +There was no time to recover the weapons. With a bellow of rage the +beast was out of its bed and rushing at them. Nothing stayed its +progress. Tough, heavily scaled trees thicker than a man's body +shuddered and fell as its bulk brushed by them. But it was momentarily +confused, and its first rush carried it past its dodging quarry. This +momentary respite saved their lives. + +Rearing its plumed head to awesome heights, its knobby bark running +with brown rivulets of water, a giant tree, even for that world of +giants, offered refuge. The men scrambled up the rough trunk easily, +finding plenty of hand and footholds. They came to rest on one of the +shelflike circumvoluting rings, some twenty-five feet above the +ground. Soon the blunt brown tentacles slithered in search of them, +but failed to reach their refuge by inches. + +And now began the most terrible siege that interlopers in that +primitive world can endure. From that cavernous, distended throat came +a tremendous, world-shaking noise. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +Forepaugh put his hand to his head. It made him dizzy. He had not +believed that such noise could be. He knew that no creature could long +live amidst it. He tore strips from his shredded clothing and stuffed +his ears, but felt no relief. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +It throbbed in his brain. + +Gunga lay a-sprawl, staring with fascinated eye into the pulsating +scarlet gullet that was blasting the world with sound. Slowly, slowly +he was slipping. His master hauled him back. The Martian grinned at +him stupidly, slid again to the edge. + +Once more Forepaugh pulled him back. The Martian seemed to acquiesce. +His single eye closed to a mere slit. He moved to a position between +Forepaugh and the tree trunk, braced his feet. + +"No you don't!" The Earth man laughed uproariously. The din was making +him light-headed. It was so funny! Just in time he had caught that +cunning expression and prepared for the outlashing of feet designed to +plunge him into the red cavern below and to stop that hellish racket. + +"And now--" + +He swung his fist heavily, slamming the Martian against the tree. The +red eye closed wearily. He was unconscious, and lucky. + +Hungrily the Earth man stared at his distant flash pistols, plainly +visible in the luminescence of their fungus bedding. He began a slow, +cautious creep along the top of a vine some eight inches thick. If he +could reach them.... + + * * * * * + +Crash! He was almost knocked to the ground by the thud of a frantic +tentacle against the vine. His movement had been seen. Again the +tentacle struck with crushing force. The great vine swayed. He managed +to reach the shelf again in the very nick of time. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +A bolt of lightning struck a giant fern some distance away. The crash +of thunder was hardly noticeable. Forepaugh wondered if his tree would +be struck. Perhaps it might even start a fire, giving him a flaming +brand with which to torment his tormentor. Vain hope! The wood was +saturated with moisture. Even the fire pellets could not make it burn. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +The six-shooter! He had forgotten it. He jerked it from its holster +and pointed it at the red throat, emptied all the chambers. He saw the +flash of yellow flame, felt the recoil, but the sound of the +discharges was drowned in the Brobdignagian tumult. He drew back his +arm to throw the useless toy from him. But again that unexplainable, +senseless "hunch" restrained him. He reloaded the gun and returned it +to its holster. + +"HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM! HOOM!" + +A thought had been struggling to reach his consciousness against the +pressure of the unbearable noise. The fire pellets! Couldn't they be +used in some way? These small chemical spheres, no larger than the end +of his little finger, had long ago supplanted actual fire along the +frontiers, where electricity was not available for cooking. In contact +with moisture they emitted terrific heat, a radiant heat which +penetrated meat, bone, and even metal. One such pellet would cook a +meal in ten minutes, with no sign of scorching or burning. And they +had several hundred in one of the standard moisture-proof containers. + + * * * * * + +As fast as his fingers could work the trigger of the dispenser +Forepaugh dropped the potent little pellets down the bellowing throat. +He managed to release about thirty before the bellowing stopped. A +veritable tornado of energy broke loose at the foot of the tree. The +giant maw was closed, and the shocking silence was broken only by the +thrashing of a giant body in its death agonies. The radiant heat, +penetrating through and through the beast's body, withered nearby +vegetation and could be easily felt on the perch up the tree. + +Gunga was slowly recovering. His iron constitution helped him to rally +from the powerful blow he had received, and by the time the jungle was +still he was sitting up mumbling apologies. + +"Never mind," said his master. "Shin down there and cut us off a good +helping of roast tongue, if it has a tongue, before something else +comes along and beats us out of a feast." + +"Him poison, maybe," Gunga demurred. They had killed a specimen new to +zoologists. + +"Might as well die of poison as starvation," Forepaugh countered. + +Without more ado the Martian descended, cut out some large, juicy +chunks as his fancy dictated, and brought his loot back up the tree. +The meat was delicious and apparently wholesome. They gorged +themselves and threw away what they could not eat, for food spoils +very quickly in the Inranian jungles and uneaten meat would only serve +to attract hordes of the gauzy-winged, glutinous Inranian swamp flies. +As they sank into slumber they could hear the beginning of a bedlam of +snarling and fighting as the lesser Carnivora fed on the body of the +fallen giant. + +When they awoke the chronometer recorded the passing of twelve hours, +and they had to tear a network of strong fibers with which the tree +had invested them preparatory to absorbing their bodies as food. For +so keen is the competition for life on Inra that practically all +vegetation is capable of absorbing animal food directly. Many an +Inranian explorer can tell tales of narrow escapes from some of the +more specialized flesh-eating plants; but they are now so well known +that they are easily avoided. + + * * * * * + +A clean-picked framework of crushed and broken giant bones was all +that was left of the late bellowing monster. Six-legged water dogs +were polishing them hopefully, or delving into them with their long, +sinuous snouts for the marrow. The Earth man fired a few shots with +his six-shooter, and they scattered, dragging the bodies of their +fallen companions to a safe distance to be eaten. + +Only one of the flash pistols was in working order. The other had been +trampled by heavy hoofs and was useless. A heavy handicap under which +to traverse fifty miles of abysmal jungle. They started with nothing +for breakfast except water, of which they had plenty. + +Fortunately the outcroppings of rocks and gravel washes were becoming +more and more frequent, and they were able to travel at much better +speed. As they left the low-lying jungle land they entered a zone +which was faintly reminiscent of a terrestial jungle. It was still +hot, soggy, and fetid, but gradually the most primitive aspects of the +scene were modified. The over-arching trees were less closely packed, +and they came across occasional rock clearings which were bare of +vegetation except for a dense carpet of brown, lichenlike vegetation +that secreted an astonishing amount of juice. They slipped and sloshed +through this, rousing swarms of odd, toothed birds, which darted +angrily around their heads and slashed at them with the razor-sharp +saw edges on the back of their legs. Annoying as they were, they could +be kept away with branches torn from trees, and their presence +connoted an absence of the deadly jungle flesh-eaters, permitting a +temporary relaxation of vigilance and saving the resources of the last +flash gun. + +They camped that "night" on the edge of one of these rock clearings. +For the first time in weeks it had stopped raining, although the sun +was still obscured. Dimly on the horizon could be seen the first of +the foothills. Here they gathered some of the giant, oblong fungus +that early explorers had taken for blocks of porous stone because of +their size and weight, and, by dint of the plentiful application of +fire pellets, managed to set it ablaze. The heat added nothing to +their comfort, but it dried them out and allowed them to sleep +unmolested. + + * * * * * + +An unwary winged eel served as their breakfast, and soon they were on +their way to those beckoning hills. It had started to rain again, but +the worst part of their journey was over. If they could reach the top +of one of the mountains there was a good chance that they would be +seen and rescued by their relief ship, provided they did not starve +first. The flyer would use the mountains as a base from which to +search for the trading station, and it was conceivable that the +skipper might actually have anticipated their desperate adventure and +would look for them in the Mountains of Perdition. + +They had crossed several ranges of the foothills and were beginning to +congratulate themselves when the diffused light from above was +suddenly blotted out. It was raining again, and above the +echo-augmented thunder they heard a shrill screeching. + +"A web serpent!" Gunga cried, throwing himself flat on the ground. + +Forepaugh eased into a rock cleft at his side. Just in time. A great +grotesque head bore down upon him, many-fanged as a medieval dragon. +Between obsidian eyes was a fissure whence emanated a wailing and a +foul odor. Hundreds of short, clawed legs slithered on the rocks under +a long sinuous body. Then it seemed to leap into the air again. Webs +grew taut between the legs, strumming as they caught a strong uphill +wind. Again it turned to the attack, and missed them. This time +Forepaugh was ready for it. He shot at it with his flash pistol. + + * * * * * + +Nothing happened. The fog made accurate shooting impossible, and the +gun lacked its former power. The web serpent continued to course back +and forth over their heads. + +"Guess we'd better run for it," Forepaugh murmured. + +"Go 'head!" + +They cautiously left their places of concealment. Instantly the +serpent was down again, persistent if inaccurate. It struck the place +of their first concealment and missed them. + +"Run!" + +They extended their weary muscles to the utmost, but it was soon +apparent that they could not escape long. A rock wall in their path +saved them. + +"Hole!" the Martian gasped. + +Forepaugh followed him into the rocky cleft. There was a strong draft +of dry air, and it would have been next to impossible to hold the +Martian back, so Forepaugh allowed him to lead on toward the source of +the draft. As long as it led into the mountains he didn't care. + +The natural passageway was untenanted. Evidently its coolness and +dryness made it untenable for most of Inra's humidity and heat loving +life. Yet the floor was so smooth that it must have been artificially +leveled. Faint illumination was provided by the rocks themselves. They +appeared to be covered by some microscopic phosphorescent vegetation. + +After hundreds of twists and turns and interminable straight galleries +the cleft turned more sharply upward, and they had a period of stiff +climbing. They must have gone several miles and climbed at least +20,000 feet. The air became noticeably thin, which only exhilarated +Gunga, but slowed the Earth man down. But at last they came to the end +of the cleft. They could go no further, but above them, at least 500 +feet higher, they saw a round patch of sky, miraculously bright blue +sky! + +"A pipe!" Forepaugh cried. + +He had often heard of these mysterious, almost fabulous structures +sometimes reported by passing travelers. Straight and true, smooth as +glass and apparently immune to the elements, they had been +occasionally seen standing on the very tops of the highest +mountains--seen for a few moments only before they were hidden again +by the clouds. Were they observatories of some ancient race, placed +thus to pierce the mysteries of outer space? They would find out. + + * * * * * + +The inside of the pipe had zigzagging rings of metal, conveniently +spaced for easy climbing. With Gunga leading, they soon reached the +top. But not quite. + +"Eh?" said Forepaugh. + +"Uh?" said Gunga. + +There had not been a sound, but a distinct, definite command had +registered on their minds. + +"Stop!" + +They tried to climb higher, but could not unclasp their hands. They +tried to descend, but could not lower their feet. + +The light was by now relatively bright, and as by command their eyes +sought the opposite wall. What they saw gave their jaded nerves an +unpleasant thrill--a mass of doughy matter of a blue-green color about +three feet in diameter, with something that resembled a cyst filled +with transparent liquid near its center. + +And this thing began to flow along the rods, much as tar flows. From +the mass extended a pseudopod; touched Gunga on the arm. Instantly the +arm was raw and bleeding. Terrified, immovable, he writhed in agony. +The pseudopod returned to the main mass, disappearing into its +interior with the strip of bloody skin. + +Its attention was centered so much on the luckless Martian that its +control slipped from Forepaugh. Seizing his flash pistol, he set the +localized for a small area and aimed it at the thing, intent on +burning it into nothingness. But again his hand was stayed. Against +the utmost of his will-power his fingers opened, letting the pistol +drop. The liquid in the cyst danced and bubbled. Was it laughing at +him? It had read his mind--thwarted his will again. + +Again a pseudopod stretched out and a strip of raw, red flesh adhered +to it and was consumed. Mad rage convulsed the Earth man. Should he +throw himself tooth and nail on the monster? And be engulfed? + +He thought of the six-shooter. It thrilled him. + +But wouldn't it make him drop that too? + + * * * * * + +A flash of atavistic cunning came to him. + +He began to reiterate in his mind a certain thought. + +"This thing is so I can see you better--this thing is so I can see you +better." + +He said it over and over, with all the passion and devotion of a +celibate's prayer over a uranium fountain. + +"This thing is harmless--but it will make me see you better!" + +Slowly he drew the six-shooter. In some occult way he knew it was +watching him. + +"Oh, this is harmless! This is an instrument to aid my weak eyes! It +will help me realize your mastery! This will enable me to know your +true greatness. This will enable me to know you as a god." + +Was it complacence or suspicion that stirred the liquid in the cyst so +smoothly? Was it susceptible to flattery? He sighted along the barrel. + +"In another moment your great intelligence will overwhelm me," +proclaimed his surface mind desperately, while the subconscious tensed +the trigger. And at that the clear liquid burst into a turmoil of +alarm. Too late. Forepaugh went limp, but not before he had loosed a +steel-jacketed bullet that shattered the mind cyst of the pipe +denizen. A horrible pain coursed through his every fibre and nerve. He +was safe in the arms of Gunga, being carried to the top of the pipe to +the clean dry air, and the blessed, blistering sun. + +The pipe denizen was dying. A viscous, inert mass, it dropped lower +and lower, lost contact at last, shattered into slime at the bottom. + + * * * * * + +Miraculous sun! For a luxurious fifteen minutes they roasted there on +the top of the pipe, the only solid thing in a sea of clouds as far as +the eye could reach. But no! That was a circular spot against the +brilliant white of the clouds, and it was rapidly coming closer. In a +few minutes it resolved itself into the _Comet_, fast relief ship of +the Terrestial, Inranian, Genidian, and Zydian Lines, Inc. With a low +buzz of her repulsion motors she drew alongside. Hooks were attached +and ports opened. A petty officer and a crew of roustabouts made her +fast. + +"What the hell's going on here?" asked the cocky little terrestial who +was skipper, stepping out and surveying the castaways. "We've been +looking for you ever since your directional wave failed. But come on +in--come on in!" + +He led the way to his stateroom, while the ship's surgeon took Gunga +in charge. Closing the door carefully, he delved into the bottom of +his locker and brought out a flask. + +"Can't be too careful," he remarked, filling a small tumbler for +himself and another for his guest. "Always apt to be some snooper to +report me. But say--you're wanted in the radio room." + +"Radio room nothing! When do we eat?" + +"Right away, but you'd better see him. Fellow from the Interplanetary +News Agency wants you to broadcast a copyrighted story. Good for about +three years' salary, old boy." + +"All right. I'll see him"--with a happy sigh--"just as soon as I put +through a personal message." + +[Advertisement: Everyone Is Invited +_To "Come Over in_ +'THE READERS' CORNER'!"] + + + + +The Lord of Space + +_By Victor Rousseau_ + +[Illustration] + +[Sidenote: A Black Caesar had arisen on Eros--and all Earth trembled +at his distant menace.] + + +"On the day of the next full moon every living thing on earth will be +wiped out of existence--unless you succeed in your mission, Lee." + +Nathaniel Lee looked into the face of Silas Stark, President of the +United States of the World, and nodded grimly. "I'll do my best, Sir," +he answered. + +"You have the facts. We know who this self-styled Black Caesar is, who +has declared war upon humanity. He is a Dane named Axelson, whose +father, condemned to life imprisonment for resisting the new +world-order, succeeded in obtaining possession of an interplanetary +liner. + +"He filled it with the gang of desperate men who had been associated +with him in his successful escape from the penitentiary. Together they +sailed into Space. They disappeared. It was supposed that they had +somehow met their death in the ether, beyond the range of human ken. + +"Thirty years passed, and then this son of Axelson, born, according to +his own story, of a woman whom the father had persuaded to accompany +him into Space, began to radio us. We thought at first it was some +practical joker who was cutting in. + +[Illustration: _It was like struggling with some vampire creatures in +a hideous dream._] + +"When our electricians demonstrated beyond doubt that the voice came +from outer space, it was supposed that some one in our Moon Colony had +acquired a transmitting machine. Then the ships we sent to the Moon +Colony for gold failed to return. As you know, for seven weeks there +has been no communication with the Moon. And at the last full moon +the--blow--fell. + +"The world depends upon you, Lee. The invisible rays that destroyed +every living thing from China to Australia--one-fifth of the human +race--will fall upon the eastern seaboard of America when the moon is +full again. That has been the gist of Axelson's repeated +communications. + +"We shall look to you to return, either with the arch-enemy of the +human race as your prisoner, or with the good news that mankind has +been set free from the menace that overhangs it. + +"God bless you, my boy!" The President of the United States of the +World gripped Nat's hand and stepped down the ladder that led from the +landing-stage of the great interplanetary space-ship. + + * * * * * + +The immense landing-field reserved for the ships of the Interplanetary +Line was situated a thousand feet above the heart of New York City, in +Westchester County. It was a flat space set on the top of five great +towers, strewn with electrified sand, whose glow had the property of +dispersing the sea fogs. There, at rest upon what resembled nothing so +much as iron claws, the long gray shape of the vacuum flyer bulked. + +Nat sneezed as he watched the operations of his men, for the common +cold, or coryza, seemed likely to be the last of the germ diseases +that would yield to medical science, and he had caught a bad one in +the Capitol, while listening to the debate in the Senate upon the +threat to humanity. And it was cold on the landing-stage, in contrast +to the perpetual summer of the glass-roofed city below. + +But Nat forgot the cold as he watched the preparations for the ship's +departure. Neon and nitrogen gas were being pumped under pressure into +the outer shell, where a minute charge of leucon, the newly discovered +element that helped to counteract gravitation, combined with them to +provide the power that would lift the vessel above the regions of the +stratosphere. + +In the low roof-buildings that surrounded the stage was a scene of +tremendous activity. The selenium discs were flashing signals, and the +radio receivers were shouting the late news; on the great power boards +dials and light signals stood out in the glow of the amylite tubes. On +a rotary stage a thousand feet above the ship a giant searchlight, +visible for a thousand miles, moved its shaft of dazzling luminosity +across the heavens. + +Now the spar-aluminite outer skin of the ship grew bright with the red +neon glare. Another ship, from China, dropped slowly to its stage near +by, and the unloaders swarmed about the pneumatic tubes to receive the +mail. The teleradio was shouting news of a failure of the Manchurian +wheat crop. Nat's chief officer, a short cockney named Brent, came up +to him. + +"Ready to start, Sir," he said. + + * * * * * + +Nat turned to him. "Your orders are clear?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Send Benson here." + +"I'm here, Sir." Benson, the ray-gunner in charge of the battery that +comprised the vessel's armament, a lean Yankee from Connecticut, +stepped forward. + +"You know your orders, Benson? Axelson has seized the Moon and the +gold-mines there. He's planning to obliterate the Earth. We've got to +go in like mad dogs and shoot to kill. No matter if we kill every +living thing there, even our own people who are inmates of the Moon's +penal settlement, we've got to account for Axelson." + +"Yes, Sir." + +"We can't guess how he got those gold-ships that returned with neon +and argon for the Moon colonists. But he mustn't get us. Let the men +understand that. That's all." + +"Very good, Sir." + +The teleradio suddenly began to splutter: A-A-A, it called. And +instantly every sound ceased about the landing-stage. For that was the +call of Axelson, somewhere upon the Moon. + +"Axelson speaking. At the next full moon all the American Province of +the World Federation will be annihilated, as the Chinese Province was +at the last. There's no hope for you, good people. Send out your +vacuum liners. I can use a few more of them. Within six months your +world will be depopulated, unless you flash me the signal of +surrender." + +Would the proud old Earth have to come to that? Daily those ominous +threats had been repeated, until popular fears had become frenzy. And +Nat was being sent out as a last hope. If he failed, there would be +nothing but surrender to this man, armed with a super-force that +enabled him to lay waste the Earth from the Moon. + +Within one hour, those invisible, death-dealing rays had destroyed +everything that inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon. The ray with which +the liner was equipped was a mere toy in comparison. It would kill at +no more than 500 miles, and its action was quite different. + +As a prelude to Earth's surrender, Axelson demanded that World +President Stark and a score of other dignitaries should depart for +the Moon as hostages. Every ray fortress in the world was to be +dismantled, every treasury was to send its gold to be piled up in a +great pyramid on the New York landing-stage. The Earth was to +acknowledge Axelson as its supreme master. + + * * * * * + +The iron claws were turning with a screwlike motion, extending +themselves, and slowly raising the interplanetary vessel until she +looked like a great metal fish with metal legs ending with suckerlike +disks. But already she was floating free as the softly purring engines +held her in equipoise. Nat climbed the short ladder that led to her +deck. Brent came up to him again. + +"That teleradio message from Axelson--" he began. + +"Yes?" Nat snapped out. + +"I don't believe it came from the Moon at all." + +"You don't? You think it's somebody playing a hoax on Earth? You think +that wiping out of China was just an Earth-joke?" + +"No, Sir." Brent stood steady under his superior's sarcasm. "But I was +chief teleradio operator at Greenwich before being promoted to the +Province of America. And what they don't know at Greenwich they don't +know anywhere." + +Brent spoke with that self-assurance of the born cockney that even the +centuries had failed to remove, though they had removed the cockney +accent. + +"Well, Brent?" + +"I was with the chief electrician in the receiving station when +Axelson was radioing last week. And I noticed that the waves of sound +were under a slight Doppler effect. With the immense magnification +necessary for transmitting from the Moon, such deflection might be +construed as a mere fan-like extension. But there was ten times the +magnification one would expect from the Moon; and I calculated that +those sound-waves were shifted somewhere." + +"Then what's your theory, Brent?" + +"Those sounds come from another planet. Somewhere on the Moon there's +an intercepting and re-transmitting plant. Axelson is deflecting his +rays to give the impression that he's on the Moon, and to lure our +ships there." + +"What do you advise?" asked Nat. + +"I don't know, Sir." + +"Neither do I. Set your course Moonward, and tell Mr. Benson to keep +his eyes peeled." + + * * * * * + +The Moon Colony, discovered in 1976, when Kramer, of Baltimore, first +proved the practicability of mixing neon with the inert new gas, +leucon, and so conquering gravitation, had proved to be just what it +had been suspected of being--a desiccated, airless desolation. +Nevertheless, within the depths of the craters a certain amount of the +Moon's ancient atmosphere still lingered, sufficient to sustain life +for the queer troglodytes, with enormous lung-boxes, who survived +there, browsing like beasts upon the stunted, aloe-like vegetation. + +Half man, half ape, and very much unlike either, these vestiges of a +species on a ruined globe had proved tractable and amenable to +discipline. They had become the laborers of the convict settlement +that had sprung up on the Moon. + +Thither all those who had opposed the establishment of the World +Federation, together with all persons convicted for the fourth time of +a felony, had been transported, to superintend the efforts of these +dumb, unhuman Moon dwellers. For it had been discovered that the Moon +craters were extraordinarily rich in gold, and gold was still the +medium of exchange on Earth. + +To supplement the vestigial atmosphere, huge stations had been set up, +which extracted the oxygen from the subterranean waters five miles +below the Moon's crust, and recombined it with the nitrogen with +which the surface layer was impregnated, thus creating an atmosphere +which was pumped to the workers. + +Then a curious discovery had been made. It was impossible for human +beings to exist without the addition of those elements existing in the +air in minute quantities--neon, krypton, and argon. And the ships that +brought the gold bars back from the Moon had conveyed these gaseous +elements there. + + * * * * * + +The droning of the sixteen atomic motors grew louder, and mingled with +the hum of gyroscopes. The ladder was drawn up and the port hole +sealed. On the enclosed bridge Nat threw the switch of durobronze that +released the non-conducting shutter which gave play to the sixteen +great magnets. Swiftly the great ship shot forward into the air. The +droning of the motors became a shrill whine, and then, growing too +shrill for human ears to follow it, gave place to silence. + +Nat set the speed lever to five hundred miles an hour, the utmost that +had been found possible in passing through the earth's atmosphere, +owing to the resistance, which tended to heat the vessel and damage +the delicate atomic engines. As soon as the ether was reached, the +speed would be increased to ten or twelve thousand. That meant a +twenty-two hour run to the Moon Colony--about the time usually taken. + +He pressed a lever, which set bells ringing in all parts of the ship. +By means of a complicated mechanism, the air was exhausted from each +compartment in turn, and then replaced, and as the bells rang, the men +at work trooped out of these compartments consecutively. This had been +originated for the purpose of destroying any life dangerous to man +that might unwittingly have been imported from the Moon, but on one +occasion it had resulted in the discovery of a stowaway. + +Then Nat descended the bridge to the upper deck. Here, on a platform, +were the two batteries of three ray-guns apiece, mounted on swivels, +and firing in any direction on the port and starboard sides +respectively. The guns were enclosed in a thin sheath of osmium, +through which the lethal rays penetrated unchanged; about them, thick +shields of lead protected the gunners. + +He talked with Benson for a while. "Don't let Axelson get the jump on +you," he said. "Be on the alert every moment." The gunners, +keen-looking men, graduates from the Annapolis gunnery school, grinned +and nodded. They were proud of their trade and its traditions; Nat +felt that the vessel was safe in their hands. + +The chief mate appeared at the head of the companion, accompanied by a +girl. "Stowaway, Sir," he reported laconically. "She tumbled out of +the repair shop annex when we let out the air!" + + * * * * * + +Nat stared at her in consternation, and the girl stared back at him. +She was a very pretty girl, hardly more than twenty-two or three, +attired in a businesslike costume consisting of a leather jacket, +knickers, and the black spiral puttees that had come into style in the +past decade. She came forward unabashed. + +"Well, who are you?" snapped Nat. + +"Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," she answered, +laughing. + +"The devil!" muttered Nat. "You people think you run the World +Federation since you got President Stark elected." + +"We certainly do," replied the girl, still laughing. + +"Well, you don't run this ship," said Nat. "How would you like a long +parachute drop back to Earth?" + +"Don't be foolish, my dear man," said Madge. "Don't you know you'll +get wrinkles if you scowl like that? Smile! Ah, that's better. Now, +honestly, Cap we just had to get the jump on everybody else in +interviewing Axelson. It means such a lot to me." + +Pouts succeeded smiles. "You're not going to be cross about it, are +you?" she pleaded. + +"Do you realize the risk you're running, young woman?" Nat demanded. +"Are you aware that our chances of ever getting back to Earth are +smaller than you ought to have dreamed of taking?" + +"Oh, that's all right," the girl responded. "And now that we're +friends again, would you mind asking the steward to get me something +to eat? I've been cooped up in that room downstairs for fifteen hours, +and I'm simply starving." + +Nat shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. He turned to the chief mate. +"Take Miss Dawes down to the saloon and see that Wang Ling supplies +her with a good meal," he ordered. "And put her in the Admiral's +cabin. That good enough for you?" he asked satirically. + +"Oh that'll be fine," answered the girl enthusiastically. "And I shall +rely on you to keep me posted about everything that's going on. And a +little later I'm going to take X-ray photographs of you and all these +men." She smiled at the grinning gunners. "That's the new fad, you +know, and we're going to offer prizes for the best developed skeletons +in the American Province, and pick a King and Queen of Beauty!" + + * * * * * + +"A radio, Sir!" + +Nat, who had snatched a brief interval of sleep, started up as the man +on duty handed him the message. The vessel had been constantly in +communication with Earth during her voyage, now nearing completion, +but the dreaded A-A-A that prefaced this message told Nat that it came +from Axelson. + +"Congratulations on your attempt," the message ran, "I have watched +your career with the greatest interest, Lee, through the medium of +such scraps of information as I have been able to pick up on the +Moon. When you are my guest to-morrow I shall hope to be able to offer +you a high post in the new World Government that I am planning to +establish. I need good men. Fraternally, the Black Caesar." + +Nat whirled about. Madge Dawes was standing behind him, trying to read +the message over his shoulder. + +"Spying, eh?" said Nat bitterly. + +"My dear man, isn't that my business?" + +"Well, read this, then," said Nat, handing her the message. "You're +likely to repent this crazy trick of yours before we get much +farther." + +And he pointed to the cosmic-ray skiagraph of the Moon on the curved +glass dome overhead. They were approaching the satellite rapidly. It +filled the whole dome, the craters great black hollows, the mountains +standing out clearly. Beneath the dome were the radium apparatus that +emitted the rays by which the satellite was photographed +cinematographically, and the gyroscope steering apparatus by which the +ship's course was directed. + +Suddenly a buzzer sounded a warning. Nat sprang to the tube. + +"Gravitational interference X40, gyroscopic aberrancy one minute 29," +he called. "Discharge static electricity from hull. Mr. Benson, stand +by." + +"What does that mean?" asked Madge. + +"It means I shall be obliged if you'll abstain from speaking to the +man at the controls," snapped Nat. + +"And what's that?" cried Madge in a shriller voice, pointing upward. + + * * * * * + +Across the patterned surface of the Moon, shown on the skiagraph, a +black, cigar-shaped form was passing. It looked like one of the +old-fashioned dirigibles, and the speed with which it moved was +evident from the fact that it was perceptibly traversing the Moon's +surface. Perhaps it was travelling at the rate of fifty thousand miles +an hour. + +Brent, the chief officer, burst up the companion. His face was livid. + +"Black ship approaching us from the Moon, Sir," he stammered. +"Benson's training his guns, but it must be twenty thousands miles +away." + +"Yes, even our ray-guns won't shoot that distance," answered Nat. +"Tell Benson to keep his guns trained as well as he can, and open fire +at five hundred." + +Brent disappeared. Madge and Nat were alone on the bridge. Nat was +shouting incomprehensible orders down the tube. He stopped and looked +up. The shadow of the approaching ship had crossed the Moon's disk and +disappeared. + +"Well, young lady, I think your goose is cooked," said Nat. "If I'm +not mistaken, that ship is Axelson's, and he's on his way to knock us +galley-west. And now oblige me by leaving the bridge." + +"I think he's a perfectly delightful character, to judge from that +message he sent you," answered Madge, "and--" + +Brent appeared again. "Triangulation shows ten thousand miles, Sir," +he informed Nat. + +"Take control," said Nat. "Keep on the gyroscopic course, allowing for +aberrancy, and make for the Crater of Pytho. I'll take command of the +guns." He hurried down the companion, with Madge at his heels. + + * * * * * + +The gunners stood by the ray-guns, three at each. Benson perched on a +revolving stool above the batteries. He was watching a periscopic +instrument that connected with the bridge dome by means of a tube, a +flat mirror in front of him showing all points of the compass. At one +edge the shadow of the black ship was creeping slowly forward. + +"Eight thousand miles, Sir," he told Nat. "One thousand is our extreme +range. And it looks as if she's making for our blind spot overhead." + +Nat stepped to the speaking-tube. "Try to ram her," he called up to +Brent. "We'll open with all guns, pointing forward." + +"Very good, Sir," the Cockney called back. + +The black shadow was now nearly in the centre of the mirror. It moved +upward, vanished. Suddenly the atomic motors began wheezing again. The +wheeze became a whine, a drone. + +"We've dropped to two thousand miles an hour, Sir," called Brent. + +Nat leaped for the companion. As he reached the top he could hear the +teleradio apparatus in the wireless room overhead begin to chatter: + +"A-A-A. Don't try to interfere. Am taking you to the Crater of Pytho. +Shall renew my offer there. Any resistance will be fatal. Axelson." + +And suddenly the droning of the motors became a whine again, then +silence. Nat stared at the instrument-board and uttered a cry. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Madge. + +Nat swung upon her. "The matter?" he bawled. "He's neutralized our +engines by some infernal means of his own, and he's towing us to the +Moon!" + + * * * * * + +The huge sphere of the Moon had long since covered the entire dome. +The huge Crater of Pytho now filled it, a black hollow fifty miles +across, into which they were gradually settling. And, as they settled, +the pale Earth light, white as that of the Moon on Earth, showed the +gaunt masses of bare rock, on which nothing grew, and the long +stalactites of glassy lava that hung from them. + +Then out of the depths beneath emerged the shadowy shape of the +landing-stage. + +"You are about to land," chattered the radio. "Don't try any tricks; +they will be useless. Above all, don't try to use your puny ray. You +are helpless." + +The ship was almost stationary. Little figures could be seen swarming +upon the landing-stage, ready to adjust the iron claws to clamp the +hull. With a gesture of helplessness, Nat left the bridge and went +down to the main deck where, in obedience to his orders, the crew had +all assembled. + +"Men, I'm putting it up to you," he said. "Axelson, the Black Caesar, +advises us not to attempt to use the Ray-guns. I won't order you to. +I'll leave the decision with you." + +"We tried it fifteen minutes ago, Sir," answered Benson. "I told +Larrigan to fire off the stern starboard gun to see if it was in +working order, and it wasn't!" + +At that moment the vessel settled with a slight jar into the clamps. +Once more the teleradio began to scream: + +"Open the port hold and file out slowly. Resistance is useless. I +should turn my ray upon you and obliterate you immediately. Assemble +on the landing-stage and wait for me!" + +"You'd best obey," Nat told his men. "We've got a passenger to +consider." He glared at Madge as he spoke, and Madge's smile was a +little more tremulous than it had been before. + +"This is the most thrilling experience of my life, Captain Lee," she +said. "And I'll never rest until I've got an X-Ray photograph of Mr. +Axelson's skeleton for the Universal News Syndicate." + + * * * * * + +One by one, Nat last, the crew filed down the ladder onto the +landing-stage, gasping and choking in the rarefied air that lay like a +blanket at the bottom of the crater. And the reason for this was only +too apparent to Nat as soon as he was on the level stage. + +Overhead, at an altitude of about a mile, the black ship hung, and +from its bow a stupendous searchlight played to and fro over the +bottom of the crater, making it as light as day. And where had been +the mining machinery, the great buildings that had housed convicts and +Moon people, and the huge edifice that contained the pumping station, +there was--nothing. + +The devilish ray of Axelson had not merely destroyed them, it had +obliterated all traces of them, and the crew of the liner were +breathing the remnants of the atmosphere that still lay at the bottom +of the Crater of Pytho. + +But beside the twin landing-stages, constructed by the World +Federation, another building arose, with an open front. And that front +was a huge mirror, now scintillating under the searchlight from the +black ship. + +"That's it, Sir!" shouted Brent. + +"That's what?" snapped Nat. + +"The deflecting mirror I was speaking of. That's what deflected the +ray that wiped out China. The ray didn't come from the Moon. And +that's the mirror that deflects the teleradio waves, the +super-Hertzian rays that carry the sound." + +Nat did not answer. Sick at heart at the failure of his mission, he +was watching the swarm of Moon men who were at work upon the +landing-stage, turning the steel clamps and regulating the mechanism +that controlled the apparatus. Dwarfed, apish creature, with tiny +limbs, and chests that stood out like barrels, they bustled about, +chattering in shrill voices that seemed like the piping of birds. + +It was evident that Axelson, though he had wiped out the Moon convicts +and the Moon people in the crater, had reserved a number of the latter +for personal use. + + * * * * * + +The black ship was dropping into its position at the second +landing-stage, connected with the first by a short bridge. The +starboard hold swung open, and a file of shrouded and hooded forms +appeared, masked men, breathing in condensed air from receptacles upon +their chests, and staring with goggle eyes at their captives. Each one +held in his hand a lethal tube containing the ray, and, as if by +command, they took up their stations about their prisoners. + +Then, at a signal from their leader, they suddenly doffed their masks. + +Nat looked at them in astonishment. He had not known whether these +would be Earth denizens or inhabitants of some other planet. But they +were Earth men. And they were old. + +Men of sixty or seventy, years, with long, gray beards and wrinkled +faces, and eyes that stared out from beneath penthouses of shaggy +eyebrows. Faces on which were imprinted despair and hopelessness. + +Then the first man took off his mask and Nat saw a man of different +character. + +A man in the prime of life, with a mass of jet black hair and a black +beard that swept to his waist, a nose like a hawk's, and a pair of +dark blue eyes that fixed themselves on Nat's with a look of +Luciferian pride. + +"Welcome, Nathaniel Lee," said the man, in deep tones that had a +curious accent which Nat could not place. "I ought to know your name, +since your teleradios on Earth have been shouting it for three days +past as that of the man who is to save Earth from the threat of +destruction. And you know me!" + +"Axelson--the Black Caesar," Nat muttered. For the moment he was taken +aback. He had anticipated any sort of person except this man, who +stood, looked, and spoke like a Viking, this incarnation of pride and +strength. + +Axelson smiled--and then his eyes lit upon Madge Dawes. And for a +moment he stood as if petrified into a block of massive granite. + +"What--who is this?" he growled. + +"Why, I'm Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," answered the +girl, smiling at Axelson in her irrepressible manner. "And I'm sure +you're not nearly such a bold, bad pirate as people think, and you're +going to let us all go free." + + * * * * * + +Instantly Axelson seemed to become transformed into a maniac. He +turned to the old men and shouted in some incomprehensible language. +Nat and Madge, Brent and Benson, and two others who wore the uniforms +of officers were seized and dragged across the bridge to the +landing-stage where the black ship was moored. The rest of the crew +were ordered into a double line. + +And then the slaughter began. + +Before Nat could even struggle to break away from the gibbering Moon +men to whom he and the other prisoners had been consigned, the aged +crew of the Black Caesar had begun their work of almost instantaneous +destruction. + +Streams of red and purple light shot from the ray-pistols that they +carried, and before them the crew of the ether-liner simply withered +up and vanished. They became mere masses of human debris piled on the +landing-stage, and upon these masses, too, the old men turned their +implements, until only a few heaps of charred carbon remained on the +landing-stage, impalpable as burned paper, and slowly rising in the +low atmospheric pressure until they drifted over the crater. + +Nat had cried out in horror at the sight, and tried to tear himself +free from the grasp of the Moon dwarfs who held him. So had the rest. +Never was struggle so futile. Despite their short arms and legs, the +Moon dwarfs held them in an unshakable grip, chattering and squealing +as they compressed them against their barrel-like chests until the +breath was all but crushed out of their bodies. + +"Devil!" cried Nat furiously, as Axelson came up to him. "Why don't +you kill us, too?" And he hurled furious taunts and abuse at him, in +the hope of goading him into making the same comparatively merciless +end of his prisoners. + +Axelson looked at him calmly, but made no reply. He looked at Madge +again, and his features were convulsed with some emotion that gave him +the aspect of a fiend. And then only did Nat realize that it was Madge +who was responsible for the Black Caesar's madness. + +Axelson spoke again, and the prisoners were hustled up the ladder and +on board the black vessel. + + * * * * * + +"The Kommandant-Kommissar will see you!" The door of their prison had +opened, letting in a shaft of light, and disclosing one of the +graybeards, who stood there, pointing at Nat. + +"The--who?" Nat demanded. + +"The Kommandant-Kommissar, Comrade Axelson," snarled the graybeard. + +Nat knew what that strange jargon meant. He had read books about the +political sect known as Socialists who flourished in the Nineteenth +and Twentieth Centuries, and, indeed, were even yet not everywhere +extinct. And with that a flash of intuition explained the presence of +these old men on board. + +These were the men who had been imprisoned in their youth, with +Axelson's father, and had escaped and made their way into space, and +had been supposed dead long since. Somewhere they must have survived. + +And here they were, speaking a jargon of past generations, and +ignorant that the world had changed, relics of the past, dead as the +dead Moon from which the black ship was winging away through the +ether. + +"Don't go, Captain," pleaded Madge. "Tell him we'll all go together." + +Nat shook his head. "Maybe I'll be able to make terms with him," he +answered, and stepped out upon the vessel's deck. + +The graybeard slammed the door and laughed savagely. "You'll make no +terms with the Black Caesar," he said. "This is the reign of the +proletariat. The bourgeois must die! So Lenin decreed!" + +But he stopped suddenly and passed his hand over his forehead like a +man awakening from a dream. + +"Surely the proletariat has already triumphed on earth?" he asked. "A +long time has passed, and daily we expect the summons to return and +establish the new world-order. What year is this? Is it not 2017? It +is so hard to reckon on Eros." + +"On Eros?" thought Nat. "This is the year 2044," he answered. "You've +been dreaming, my friend. We've had our new world-order, and it's not +in the least like the one you and your friends anticipated." + +"Gott!" screamed the old man. "Gott, you're lying to me, bourgeois! +You're lying, I tell you!" + + * * * * * + +So Eros was their destination! Eros, one of the asteroids, those tiny +fragments of a broken planet, lying outside the orbit of Mars. Some of +these little worlds, of which more than a thousand are known to exist, +are no larger than a gentleman's country estate; some are mere rocks +in space. Eros, Nat knew, was distinguished among them from the fact +that it had an eccentric orbit, which brought it at times nearer Earth +than any other heavenly body except the Moon. + +Also that it had only been known for thirty years, and that it was +supposed to be a double planet, having a dark companion. + +That was in Nat's mind as he ascended the bridge to where Axelson was +standing at the controls, with one of the graybeards beside him. The +door of his stateroom was open, and suddenly there scuttled out of it +one of the most bestial objects Nat had ever seen. + +It was a Moon woman, a dwarfish figure, clothed in a shapeless garment +of spun cellulose, and in her arms she held a heavy-headed Moon baby, +whose huge chest stood up like a pyramid, while the tiny arms and legs +hung dangling down. + +"Here is the bourgeois, Kommandant," said Nat's captor. + +Axelson looked at Nat, eye meeting eye in a slow stare. Then he +relinquished the controls to the graybeard beside him, and motioned +Nat to precede him into the stateroom. + +Nat entered. It was an ordinary room, much like that of the captain of +the ether-liner now stranded on the Moon. There were a bunk, chairs, a +desk and a radio receiver. + +Axelson shut the door. He tried to speak and failed to master his +emotion. At last he said: + +"I am prepared to offer you terms, Nathaniel Lee, in accordance with +my promise." + +"I'll make no terms with murderers," replied Nat bitterly. + + * * * * * + +Axelson stood looking at him. His great chest rose and fell. Suddenly +he put out one great hand and clapped Nat on the shoulder. + +"Wise men," he said, "recognize facts. Within three weeks I shall be +the undisputed ruler of Earth. Whether of a desert or of a cowed and +submissive subject-population, rests with the Earth men. I have never +been on Earth, for I was born on Eros. My mother died at my birth. I +have never seen another human woman until to-day." + +Nat looked at him, trying to follow what was in Axelson's mind. + +"My father fled to Eros, a little planet seventeen miles in diameter, +as we have found. He called it a heavenly paradise. It was his +intention to found there a colony of those who were in rebellion +against the tyrants of Earth. + +"His followers journeyed to the Moon and brought back Moon women for +wives. But there were no children of these unions. Later there were +dissensions and civil war. Three-fourths of the colony died in battle +with one another. + +"I was a young man. I seized the reins of power. The survivors--these +old men--were disillusioned and docile. I made myself absolute. I +brought Moon men and women to Eros to serve us as slaves. But in a few +years the last of my father's old compatriots will have died, and thus +it was I conceived of conquering Earth and having men to obey me. For +fifteen years I have been experimenting and constructing apparatus, +with which I now have Earth at my mercy. + +"But I shall need assistance, intelligent men who will obey me and aid +me in my plans. That is why I saved you and the other officers of +your ether-lines. If you will join me, you shall have the highest post +on Earth under me, Nathaniel Lee, and those others shall be under +you." + + * * * * * + +Axelson paused, and, loathing the man though he did, Nat was conscious +of a feeling of pity for him that he could not control. He saw his +lonely life on Eros, surrounded by those phantom humans of the past, +and he understood his longing for Earth rule--he the planetary exile, +the sole human being of all the planetary system outside Earth, +perhaps, except for his dwindling company of aged men. + +"To-day, Nathaniel Lee," Axelson went on, "my life was recast in a new +mould when I saw the woman you have brought with you. I did not know +before that women were beautiful to look on. I did not dream that +creatures such as she existed. She must be mine, Nathaniel Lee. + +"But that is immaterial. What is your answer to my offer?" + +Nat was trying to think, though passion distorted the mental images as +they arose in his brain. To Axelson it was evidently incomprehensible +that there would be any objection to his taking Madge. Nat saw that he +must temporize for Madge's sake. + +"I'll have to consult my companions," he answered. + +"Of course," answered Axelson. "That is reasonable. Tell them that +unless they agree to join me it will be necessary for them to die. Do +Earth men mind death? We hate it on Eros, and the Moon men hate it, +too, though they have a queer legend that something in the shape of an +invisible man raises from their ashes. My father told me that that +superstition existed on Earth in his time, too. Go and talk to your +companions, Nathaniel Lee." + +The Black Caesar's voice was almost friendly. He clapped Nat on the +shoulder again, and called the graybeard to conduct him back to his +prison. + +"Oh, Captain Lee, I'm so glad you're back!" exclaimed Madge. "We've +been afraid for you. Is he such a terrible man, this Black Caesar?" + +Nat sneered, then grinned malevolently. "Well, he's not exactly the +old-fashioned idea of a Sunday-school teacher," he answered. Of course +he could not tell the girl about Axelson's proposal. + + * * * * * + +The little group of prisoners stood on the upper deck of the black +ship and watched the Moon men scurrying about the landing-stage as she +hovered to her position. + +Axelson's father had not erred when he had called the tiny planet, +Eros, a heavenly paradise, for no other term could have described it. + +They were in an atmosphere so similar to that of Earth that they could +breathe with complete freedom, but there seemed to be a lightness and +a vigor in their limbs that indicated that the air was supercharged +with oxygen or ozone. The presence of this in large amounts was +indicated by the intense blueness of the sky, across which fleecy +clouds were drifting. + +And in that sky what looked like threescore moons were circling with +extraordinary swiftness. From thirty to forty full moons, of all +sizes, from that of a sun to that of a brilliant planet, and riding +black against the blue. + +The sun, hardly smaller than when seen from Earth, shone in the +zenith, and Earth and Mars hung in the east and north respectively, +each like a blood-red sun. + +The moons were some of the thousand other asteroids, weaving their +lacy patterns in and out among each other. But, stupendous as the +sight was, it was toward the terrestrial scene that the party turned +their eyes as the black ship settled. + +A sea of sapphire blue lapped sands of silver and broke into soft +lines of foam. To the water's edge extended a lawn of brightest green, +and behind this an arm of the sea extended into what looked like a +tropical forest. Most of the trees were palmlike, but towered to +immense heights, their foliage swaying in a gentle breeze. There were +apparently no elevations, and yet, so small was the little sphere that +the ascending curve gave the illusion of distant heights, while the +horizon, instead of seeming to rise, lay apparently perfectly flat, +producing an extraordinary feeling of insecurity. + +Near the water's edge a palatial mansion, built of hewn logs and of a +single story, stood in a garden of brilliant flowers. Nearer, beyond +the high landing-stage, were the great shipbuilding works, and near +them an immense and slightly concave mirror flashed back the light of +the sun. + +"The death ray!" whispered Brent to Nat. + +Axelson came up to the party as the ship settled down. "Welcome to +Eros," he said cordially. "My father told me that in some Earth tongue +that name meant 'love'." + + * * * * * + +Never, perhaps, was so strange a feast held as that with which Axelson +entertained his guests that day. Dwarfish Moon men passed viands and a +sort of palm wine in the great banquet-room, which singularly +resembled one of those early twentieth century interiors shown in +museums. Only the presence of a dozen of the aged guards, armed with +ray-rods, lent a grimness to the scene. + +Madge sat on Axelson's right, and Nat on his left. The girl's +lightheartedness had left her; her face grew strained as Axelson's +motives--which Nat had not dared disclose to her--disclosed themselves +in his manner. + +Once, when he laid his finger for a moment against her white throat, +she started, and for a moment it seemed as if the gathering storm must +break. + +For Nat had talked with his men, and all had agreed that they would +not turn traitor, though they intended to temporize as long as +possible, in the hope of catching the Black Caesar unawares. + +Then slowly a somber twilight began to fall, and Axelson rose. + +"Let us walk in the gardens during the reign of Erebos," he said. + +"Erebos?" asked Nat. + +"The black world that overshadows us each sleeping period," answered +Axelson. + +Nat knew what he meant. The dark companion of Eros revolves around it +every six hours; the day of Eros would therefore never be longer than +six hours, this without reckoning the revolution of Eros around the +sun. But owing to its small size, it was probable that it was bathed +in almost perpetual sunshine. + +The sweet scent of the flowers, much stronger than of any flowers on +earth, filled the air. They walked across the green lawn and entered a +jungle path, with bamboos and creeping plants on either side, and huge +palmlike trees. Behind them stalked the guards with their ray-rods. + +A lake of deepest black disclosed itself. Suddenly Madge uttered a +scream and clung to Nat. "Look, look!" she cried. "It's horrible!" + + * * * * * + +Suddenly Nat realized that the lake swarmed with monsters. They were +of crocodilian form, but twice the size of the largest crocodile, and +sprawled over one another in the shallows beside the margin. As the +party drew near, an enormous monster began waddling on its clawed feet +toward them. + +A mouth half the length of the creature opened, disclosing a purplish +tongue and hideous fangs. Madge screamed again. + +"Ah, so fear exists on Earth, too?" asked Axelson blandly. "That makes +my conquest sure. I suspected it, and yet I was not sure that science +had not conquered it. But there is no cause for fear. A magnetic field +protects us. See!" + +For the waddling monster suddenly stopped short as if brought up +sharply by the bars of a cage, and drew back. + +Axelson turned and wheezed in the Moon language--if the gibbering of +the dwarfs could be called speech--and one of the guards answered him. + +"These primitive dwellers on Eros I have preserved," said Axelson, "as +a means of discipline. The Moon animals are afraid of them. I keep a +supply of those who have transgressed my laws to feed them. See!" + +He turned and pointed. Two guards were bringing a gibbering, +screeching, struggling Moon man with them. Despite his strength, he +seemed incapable of making any resistance, but his whole body +quivered, and his hideous face was contorted with agony of terror. + +At a distance of some fifty feet they turned aside into a little +bypath through the jungle, reappearing close beside the Lake upon a +raised platform. And what happened next happened so swiftly that Nat +was unable to do anything to prevent it. + +The guards disappeared; the Moon man, as if propelled by some +invisible force, moved forward jerkily to the lake's edge. Instantly +one of the saurians had seized him in its jaws, and another had +wrenched half the body away, and the whole fighting, squirming mass +vanished in the depths. + +And from far away came the screeching chant of the Moon men, as if in +invocation to some hideous deity. + +And, moving perceptibly, the huge black orb of Eros's dark satellite +crept over the sky, completely covering it. + + * * * * * + +Axelson stepped forward to where Nat stood, supporting Madge in his +arms. The girl had fainted with horror at the scene. + +"Your answer Nathaniel Lee," he said softly. "I know you have been +postponing the decision. Now I will take the girl, and you shall give +me your answer. Will you and these men join me, or will you die as the +Moon man died?" He spoke wheezily, as if he, like Nat, had a cold. + +And he put his arm around Madge. + +Next moment something happened to him that had never happened in his +life before. The Black Caesar went down under a well-directed blow to +the jaw. + +He leaped to his feet trembling with fury and barked a command. +Instantly the old guards had hurled themselves forward. And behind +them a horde of Moon men came, ambling. + +While the guards covered their prisoners with their ray-rods, two Moon +men seized each of them, imprisoning him in their unbreakable grasp. + +Axelson pointed upward. "When the reign of Erebos is past," he said, +"you become food for the denizens of the lake, unless you have agreed +to serve me." + +And he raised Madge in his arms, laughing as the girl fought and +struggled to resist him. + +"Madge!" cried Nat, trying to run toward her. + +So furious were his struggles that for a moment he succeeded in +throwing off the Moon men's grasp. Then he was caught again, and, +fighting desperately, was borne off by the dwarfs through the shadows. + +They traversed the border of the lake until a small stone building +disclosed itself. Nat and the others were thrust inside into pitch +darkness. The door clanged; in vain they hurled themselves against it. +It was of wood, but it was as solid as the stone itself, and it did +not give an inch for all their struggles. + + * * * * * + +"Where is your Kommandant?" The whisper seemed in the stone hut +itself. "Your Nathaniel Lee. I must speak to him. I am the guard who +brought him to the Black Caesar on board the ship." + +"I'm here," said Nat. "Where are you?" + +"I am in the house of the ray. I am on guard there. I am speaking into +the telephone which runs only to where you are. You can speak anywhere +in the hut, and I shall hear you." + +"Well, what do you want?" asked Nat. + +"You love the Earth woman. I remember, when I was a boy, we used to +love. I had forgotten. There was a girl in Stamford.... Tell me, is it +true that this is the year 2044 and that the proletariat has not yet +triumphed?" + +"It's true," said Nat. "Those dreams are finished, We're proud of the +World Federation. Tell me about Madge Dawes--the Earth woman. Is she +safe?" + +"He has taken her to his house. I do not think she is harmed. He is +ill. He is closely guarded. There are rumors afoot. I do not know." + +"What do you want, then?" + +"If the Black Caesar dies will you take me back to Earth again? I long +so for the old Earth life. I will be your slave, if only I can set +foot on Earth before I die." + +"Can you rescue us?" Nat held his breath. + +"The Moon men are on guard." + +"They have no ray-guns and you have." + +"The penalty would be terrible. I should be thrown to the monsters." + +"Can you get us each a ray-gun? Will you risk it, to get back to +Earth?" asked Nat. + +A pause. Then, "My friend, I am coming." + +Nat heard Benson hissing in his ear, "If we can surprise them, we can +get possession of the black ship and return." + +"We must get Madge Dawes." + +"And smash the mirror," put in Brent. + +After that there was nothing to do but wait. + + * * * * * + +The door clicked open. An indistinct form stood in the entrance. It +was already growing light; the dark satellite that eclipsed Eros was +passing. + +"Hush! I have brought you ray-rods!" It was the old man with whom Nat +had spoken on the boat. Under his arm he held five metallic rods, +tipped with luminous glass. He handed one to each of the prisoners. +"Do you know how to use them?" he asked. + +Nat examined his. "It's an old-style rod that was used on earth fifty +years ago," he told his men. "I've seen them in museums. It came into +use in the Second World War of 1950 or thereabouts. You slip back the +safety catch and press this button, taking aim as one did with the +pistol. You fellows have seen pistols?" + +"My father had an old one," said the chief mate, Barnes. + +"How many times can they be fired without reloading?" Nat asked the +old guard. + +"Ten times; sometimes more; and they were all freshly loaded +yesterday." + +"Take us to where Axelson is." + +"First you must destroy the guards. I sent the one on duty here away +on some pretext. But the others may be here at any moment. Talk lower. +Are you going to kill them?" + +"We must," said Nat. + +The old fellow began to sob. "We were companions together. They seized +us and imprisoned us together, the capitalists, years ago. I thought +the proletariat would have won, and you say it is all different. I am +an old man, and life is sad and strange." + +"Listen. Is Axelson in the house?" demanded Nat. + +"He is in his secret room. I do not know the way. None of us has ever +entered it." + +"And Madge?" + +"She was with him. I do not know anything more." He sank down, +groaning, broken. + + * * * * * + +Nat pushed his way past him. It was fast growing light now. A ray of +sunshine shot from beneath the edge of the dark sphere overhead, which +still filled almost all the heavens. At that moment the hideous face +and squat body of one of the Moon men came into view at the end of +the path. The creature stopped, gibbering with surprise, and then +rushed forward, mewing like a cat. + +Nat aimed his ray-rod and pressed the button. The streak of light, not +quite aimed, in Nat's excitement, sheared off one side of the Moon +man's face. + +The creature rocked where it stood, raised its voice in a screech, and +rushed forward again, arms flailing. And this time Nat got home. The +streak passed right through the body of the monster, which collapsed +into a heap of calcined carbon. + +But its screech had brought the other dwarfs running to the scene. In +a moment the path was blocked by a score of the hideous monsters, +which, taking in what was happening, came forward in a yelling bunch. + +The ray-rods streaked their message of death into the thick of them. +Yet so fierce was the rush that some parts got home. Arms, legs, and +barrel chests, halves of men, covering the five with that impalpable +black powder into which their bodies were dissolving. Nat remembered +afterward the horror of a grinning face, apparently loose in the air, +and a flailing arm that lashed his chest. + +For fifteen seconds, perhaps, it was like struggling with some vampire +creatures in a hideous dream. And then, just when it seemed to Nat +that he was going mad, he found the path free, and the huddled +remnants of the Moon men piled up about him on every side. + +He emptied two more ray-shots into the writhing mass, and saw it cease +to quiver and then dissolve into the black powder. He turned and +looked at his companions. They, too, showed the horror of the strain +they had undergone. + +"We must kill the guards now," Nat panted. "And then find Madge and +save her." + +"We're with you," answered Brent, and together the five rushed into +the sunlight and the open. + + * * * * * + +There were no guards on duty at the entrance of the house, and the +door stood wide open. Nat rushed through the door at the head of his +men. A single guard was in the hall, but he only looked up as they +came in. And it was evident that he was in no condition to resist, for +he was in the grip of some terrible disease. + +His features were swollen so that they were hardly recognizable, and +hoarse, panting breaths came from his lungs. He was so far gone that +he hardly registered surprise at the advent of the five. + +"Where's Axelson?" demanded Nat. + +The guard pointed toward the end of the corridor, then let his arm +fall. Nat led his men along the half-dark passage. + +At the end of the corridor two more guards were on duty, but one was +collapsed upon the floor, apparently unconscious, and the other, +making a feeble attempt to draw his ray-rod, crumbled into ashes as +Brent fired. The five burst through the door. + +They found themselves in the banquet-hall. The remnants of the meal +were still upon the table, and three Moon men, looking as if they had +been poisoned, were writhing on the floor. At the farther end of the +hall was another door. + +This gave upon a central hall, with a door in each of its four sides, +and a blaze of sunlight coming through the crystal roof. The five +stopped, baffled. Then of a sudden Axelson's voice broke the +silence--his voice, yet changed almost beyond recognition, hoarse, +broken, and gasping: + +"Try the doors, Nathaniel Lee. Try each door in turn, and then go +back. And know that in an instant I can blast you to nothingness where +you stand!" + +And suddenly there came Madge's voice, "He can't! He can't, Nat. He's +dying, and he knows it. I won't let him, and he hasn't got the +strength to move." + +"Which door?" cried Nat in desperation. + +"None of the doors. They're a trick," came Madge's voice. "Go forward +and press the grooved panel upon the wall in front of you." + + * * * * * + +Nat stepped forward, found the panel, and pressed it. The wall swung +open, like two folded doors, revealing another room within, perfectly +circular. + +It contained a quantity of pieces of apparatus, some glowing with +light, some dark, and a radio transmitting set; it was evidently the +secret lair of the Black Caesar. And there he was, trapped at last by +the mortal illness that had overtaken him! + +He was lying upon the couch, his great form stretched out, his +features hideously swollen by the same disease that had attacked the +guards. + +Nat raised his ray-rod, but Axelson feebly put up his hand, and Nat +lowered the weapon. And, as the five gathered about the dying man, +again Nat felt that strange sense of pathos and pity for him. + +He had never known Earth life, and he was not to be measured by the +common standards applicable on Earth. + +"Don't fire, Nat," said Madge in a shaky voice. She was seated beside +Axelson, and--the wonder of it--she was sponging the foam from his +lips and moistening his forehead. She raised a crystal that contained +some fluid to his lips, and he drained it greedily. + +"So--Earth wins, Nathaniel Lee," whispered Axelson hoarsely. "I am +dying. I know it. It is the same dreaded disease that came to the Moon +at the time of my father's landing there. Three-fourths of the Moon +animals died. It is mortal. The lungs burn away. + +"My father told me that on Earth it is not mortal. He called it +'cold'--but I am burning hot." + +Then only did Nat understand, and the irony of it made him catch his +breath and grit his teeth to check his hysterical laughter. The Black +Caesar, the terror of Earth, was dying of a common cold which he +himself had given him. + +The coryza germ, almost harmless on Earth, among a population +habituated to it for countless generations, had assumed the potency of +a plague here, where no colds had ever been known--among the Moon men, +and even among the guards, after their lifetime in the germless +climate of Eros. + +"I've failed, Nathaniel Lee," came the Black Caesar's voice. "And yet +that hardly troubles me. There is something more that I do not +understand. She is a creature like ourselves--with will and reason. +She is not like the Moon women. She told me that she did not wish to +be queen of the Earth because she did not love me. I do not +understand. And so--I am glad to go." + + * * * * * + +A gasp came from Axelson's throat as he raised his head and tried to +speak, but the death-rattle was already in his throat. A slight +struggle, and the massive form upon the couch was nothing but +inanimate clay. + +Madge rose from beside him, and the tears were streaming down her +face. + +"He wasn't a bad man, Nat," she said. "He was--gentle with me. He +didn't understand; that was all. When I refused to be his queen, he +was overcome with bewilderment. Oh, Nat, I can never, never write this +story for the Universal News Syndicate." + +Nat led her, sobbing, from the room. + +Soon he succeeded in getting into teleradio communication with Earth. +He broadcast the news that the Black Caesar was dead, and that his +power for evil was at an end forever. + +Then, in the few hours of daylight that remained, he set his men to +work to smash the ray outfit that had destroyed China. There was some +principle involved which he did not altogether understand, though +Brent professed to have a clue to it, but it was evident that, except +for the ray, Axelson had possessed no knowledge superior to that of +the Earth scientists. + +Of the guards, a few were already recovering, principally those of +comparatively younger age. Not a Moon man, on the other hand, had +survived the epidemic. As soon as Nat had got the guards out of the +house, he reduced it to ashes by the aid of an old-fashioned box of +phosphoric matches. + +As the dark satellite was again creeping over Eros, the black ship set +sail. + + * * * * * + +But of the return journey to the Moon, where they transferred to their +own ship, of their landing at New York, and of the triumphal reception +that was accorded them, this is no place to speak. Nat's journey with +Madge from the center of the city, in what was the old Borough of +Westchester, to his home in the suburb of Hartford, was a continual +ovation. + +Crowds lined the air-route, and every few miles, so thick was the +air-traffic, he was forced to hover and address the cheering +multitudes. Hartford itself was _en fete_, and across the main road +the City Bosses had hung an old-fashioned banner, strung from house to +house on either side, bearing the legend: For World President: +NATHANIEL LEE! + +Nat turned to Madge, who was seated beside him silently. "Ever hear of +'getting married?'" he asked. + +"Of course I've heard of it," replied the girl indignantly. "Do you +think I'm as dumb as that, Nat Lee? Why, those old-fashioned novels +are part of the public schools' curriculum." + +"Pity those days can't come back. You ought to be a World +Presidentess, you know," said Nat. "I was thinking, if we registered +as companionates, I could take you into the White House, and you'd +have a swell time there taking X-rays on visiting days." + +"Well," answered Madge slowly. "I never thought of that. It might be +worth trying out." + + + + +The Second Satellite + +_By Edmond Hamilton_ + +[Illustration: _The city of the frog-men!_] + +[Sidenote: Earth-men war on frog-vampires for the emancipation of the +human cows of Earth's second satellite.] + + +Norman and Hackett, bulky in their thick flying suits, seemed to fill +the little office. Across the room Harding, the field superintendent, +contemplated them. Two planes were curving up into the dawn together +from the field outside, their motors thunderous as they roared over +the building. When their clamor had receded, Harding spoke: + +"I don't know which of you two is crazier," he said. "You, Norman, to +propose a fool trip like this, or you, Hackett, to go with him." + +Hackett grinned, but the long, lean face of Norman was earnest. "No +doubt it all sounds a little insane," he said, "but I'm convinced I'm +right." + +The field superintendent shook his head. "Norman, you ought to be +writing fiction instead of flying. A second satellite--and Fellows and +the others on it--what the devil!" + +"What other theory can account for their disappearance?" asked Norman +calmly. "You know that since the new X-type planes were introduced, +hundreds of fliers all over Earth have been trying for altitude +records in them. Twenty-five miles--thirty--thirty-five--the records +have been broken every day. But out of the hundreds of fliers who +have gone up to those immense heights, four have never come down nor +been seen again! + +"One vanished over northern Sweden, one over Australia, one over Lower +California, and one, Fellows, himself, right here over Long Island. +You saw the globe on which I marked those four spots, and you saw that +when connected they formed a perfect circle around the Earth. The only +explanation is that the four fliers when they reached a forty-mile +height were caught up by some body moving round Earth in that circular +orbit, some unknown moon circling Earth inside its atmosphere, a +second satellite of Earth's whose existence has until now never been +suspected!" + + * * * * * + +Harding shook his head again. "Norman, your theory would be all right +if it were not for the cold fact that no such satellite has ever been +glimpsed." + +"Can you glimpse a bullet passing you?" Norman retorted. "The two +fliers at Sweden and Lower California vanished within three hours of +each other, on opposite sides of the Earth. That means that this +second satellite, as I've computed, circles Earth once every six +hours, and travelling at that terrific speed it is no more visible to +us of Earth than a rifle bullet would be." + +"Moving through Earth's atmosphere at such speed, indeed, one would +expect it to burn up by its own friction with the air. But it does +not, because its own gravitational power would draw to itself enough +air to make a dense little atmosphere for itself that would cling to +it and shield it as it speeds through Earth's upper air. No, I'm +certain that this second satellite exists, Harding, and I'm as certain +that it's responsible for the vanishing of those four fliers." + +"And now you and Hackett have figured when it will be passing over +here and are going up in an X-type yourselves to look for it," +Harding said musingly. + +"Look for it?" echoed Hackett. "We're not going to climb forty miles +just to get a look at the damn thing--we're going to try landing on +it!" + +"You're crazy sure!" the field superintendent exploded. "If Fellows +and those others got caught by the thing and never came down again, +why in the name of all that's holy would you two want--" He stopped +suddenly. "Oh, I think I see," he said, awkwardly. "Fellows was rather +a buddy of you two, wasn't he?" + +"The best that ever flew a crippled Nieuport against three Fokkers to +pull us out of a hole," said Norman softly. "Weeks he's been gone, and +if it had been Hackett and I he'd be all over the sky looking for +us--the damned lunatic. Well, we're not going to let him down." + +"I see," Harding repeated. Then--"Well, here comes your mechanic, +Norman, so your ship must be ready. I'll go with you. It's an event to +see two Columbuses starting for another world." + + * * * * * + +The gray dawn-light over the flying field was flushing to faint rose +as the three strode out to where the long X-type stood, its strangely +curved wings, enclosed cabin and flat, fan-like tail gleaming dully. +Its motor was already roaring with power and the plane's stubby wheels +strained against the chocks. In their great suits Norman and Hackett +were like two immense ape-figures in the uncertain light, to the eyes +of those about them. + +"Well, all the luck," Harding told them. "You know I'm pulling for +you, but--I suppose it's useless to say anything about being careful." + +"I seem to have heard the words," Hackett grinned, as he and Norman +shook the field superintendent's hand. + +"It's all the craziest chance," Norman told the other. "And if we +don't come down in a reasonable time--well, you'll know that our +theory was right, and you can broadcast it or not as you please." + +"I hope for your sake that you're dead wrong," smiled the official. +"I've told you two to get off the Earth a lot of times, but I never +meant it seriously." + +Harding stepped back as the two clambered laboriously into the cramped +cabin. Norman took the controls, the door slammed, and as the chocks +were jerked back and the motor roared louder the long plane curved up +at a dizzy angle from the field into the dawn. Hackett waved a thick +arm down toward the diminishing figures on the field below; then +turned from the window to peer ahead with his companion. + +The plane flew in a narrow ascending spiral upward, at an angle that +would have been impossible to any ship save an X-type. Norman's eyes +roved steadily over the instrument as they rose, his ears +unconsciously alert for each explosion of the motor. Earth receded +swiftly into a great gray concave surface as they climbed higher and +higher. + +By the time the five-mile height was reached Earth's surface had +changed definitely from concave to convex. The plane was ascending by +then in a somewhat wider spiral, but its climb was as steady and sure +as ever. Frost begin to form quickly on the cabin's windows, creeping +out from the edges. Norman spoke a word over the motor's muffled +thunder, and Hackett snicked on the electrical radiators. The frost +crept back as their warm, clean heat flooded the cabin. + +Ten miles--fifteen--they had reached already altitudes impossible but +a few years before, though it was nothing to the X-types. As they +passed the ten-mile mark, Hackett set the compact oxygen-generator +going. A clean, tangy odor filled the cabin as it began functioning. +Twenty miles--twenty-two-- + + * * * * * + +After a time Norman pointed mutely to the clock on the instrument +board, and Hackett nodded. They were well within their time schedule, +having calculated to reach the forty-mile height at ten, the hour +when, by its computed orbit, the second satellite should be passing +overhead. "--26--27--28--" Hackett muttered the altimeter figures to +himself as the needle crept over them. + +Glancing obliquely down through the window he saw that Earth was now a +huge gray ball beneath them, white cloud-oceans obscuring the drab +details of its surface here and there. "--31--32--" The plane was +climbing more slowly, and at a lesser angle. Even the X-type had to +struggle to rise in the attenuated air now about them. Only the +super-light, super-powered plane could ever have reached the terrific +height. + +It was at the thirty-four mile level that the real battle for altitude +began. Norman kept the plane curving steadily upward, handling it with +surpassing skill in the rarefied air. Frost was on its windows now +despite the heating mechanism. Slowly the altimeter needle crept to +the forty mark. Norman kept the ship circling, its wings tilted +slightly, but not climbing, Earth a great gray misty ball beneath. + +"Can't keep this height long," he jerked. "If our second satellite +doesn't show up in minutes we've had a trip for nothing." + +"All seems mighty different up here," was Hackett's shouted comment. +"Easy enough to talk down there about hopping onto the thing, but up +here--hell, there's nothing but air and mighty little of that!" + +Norman grinned. "There'll be more. If I'm right about this thing we +won't need to hop it--its own atmosphere will pick us up." + +Both looked anxious as the motor sputtered briefly. But in a moment it +was again roaring steadily. Norman shook his head. + +"Maybe a fool's errand after all. No--I'm still sure we're right! But +it seems that we don't prove it this time." + +"Going down?" asked Hackett. + +"We'll have to, in minutes. Even with its own air-feed the motor can't +stand this height for--" + + * * * * * + +Norman never finished the words. There was a sound, a keen rising, +rushing sound of immense power that reached their ears over the +motor's roar. Then in an instant the universe seemed to go mad about +them: they saw the gray ball of Earth and the sun above skyrocketing +around them as the plane whirled madly. + +The rushing sound was in that moment thunderous, terrible, and as +winds smashed and rocked the plane like giant hands, Hackett glimpsed +another sphere that was not the sphere of Earth, a greenish globe that +expanded with lightning speed in the firmament beside their spinning +plane! The winds stilled; the green globe changed abruptly to a +landscape of green land and sea toward which the plane was falling! +Norman was fighting the controls--land and sea were gyrating up to +them with dizzy speed--crash! + +With that cracking crash the plane was motionless. Sunlight poured +through its windows, and great green growths were all around it. +Hackett, despite Norman's warning cry, forced the door open and was +bursting outside, Norman after him. They staggered and fell, with +curious lightness and slowness, on the ground outside, then clutched +the plane for support and gazed stupefiedly around them. + +The plane had crashed down into a thicket of giant green reeds that +rose a yard over their heads, its pancake landing having apparently +not damaged it. The ground beneath their feet was soft and soggy, the +air warm and balmy, and the giant reeds hid all the surrounding +landscape from view. + +In the sky the sun burned near one horizon with unusual brilliance. +But it was dwarfed, in size, by the huge gray circle that filled half +the heavens overhead. A giant gray sphere it was, screened here and +there by floating white mists and clouds, that had yet plain on it +the outlines of dark continents and gleaming seas. A quaking +realization held the two as they stared up at it. + + * * * * * + +"Earth!" Norman was babbling. "It's Earth, Hackett--above us; my God, +I can't believe even yet that we've done it!" + +"Then we're on--the satellite--the second satellite!--" Hackett fought +for reality. "Those winds that caught us--" + +"They were the atmosphere of this world, of the second satellite! They +caught us and carried us on inside this smaller world's atmosphere, +Hackett. We're moving with it around Earth at terrific speed now!" + +"The second satellite, and we on it!" Hackett whispered, +incredulously. "But these reeds--it can't all be like this--" + +They stepped together away from the plane. The effort sent each of +them sailing upward in a great, slow leap, to float down more than a +score of feet from the plane. But unheeding in their eagerness this +strange effect of the satellite's lesser gravitational power, they +moved on, each step a giant, clumsy leap. Four such steps took them +out of the towering reeds onto clear ground. + +It was a gentle, grassy slope they were on, stretching away along a +gray-green sea that extended out to the astoundingly near horizon on +their right. To the left it rose into low hills covered with dense +masses of green junglelike vegetation. Hackett and Norman, though, +gazed neither at sea or hills for the moment, but at the half-score +grotesque figures who had turned toward them as they emerged from the +reeds. A sick sense of the unreal held them as they gazed, frozen with +horror. For the great figures returning their gaze a few yards from +them were--frog-men! + + * * * * * + +Frog-men! Great mottled green shapes seven to eight feet in height, +with bowed, powerful legs and arms that ended in webbed paws. The +heads were bulbous ones in which wide, unwinking frog-eyes were set at +the sides, the mouths white-lipped and white-lined. Three of the +creatures held each a black metal tube-and-handle oddly like a +target-pistol. + +"Norman!" Hackett's voice was a crescendo of horror. "_Norman!_" + +"Back to the plane!" Norman cried thickly. "The plane--" + +The two staggered back, but the frog-men, recovering from their own +first surprise, were running forward with great hopping steps! The two +fliers flung themselves back in a floating leap toward the reeds, but +the green monsters were quick after them. A croaking cry came from one +and as another raised his tube-and-handle, something flicked from it +that burst close beside Norman. There was no sound or light as it +burst, but the reeds for a few feet around it vanished! + + * * * * * + +A hoarse cry from Hackett--the creatures had reached him, grasped him +at the edge of the reeds! Norman swerved in his floating leap to +strike the struggling flier and frog-men. The scene whirled around him +as he fought them, great paws reaching for him. With a sick, frantic +rage he felt his clenched fist drive against cold, green, billowy +bodies. Croaking cries sounded in his ears; then, Hackett and he were +jerked to their feet, held tightly by four of the creatures. + +"My God, Norman," panted Hackett, helpless. "What are +they--frog-things?--" + +"Steady, Hackett. They're the people of the second satellite, it +seems; wait!" + +One of the armed frog-men approached and inspected them, and then +croaked an order in a deep voice. Then, still holding the two tightly, +the party of monsters began to move along the slope, skirting the +sea's edge. In a few minutes they reached two curious objects resting +on the slope. They seemed long black metal boats, slender and with +sharp prow and stern. A compact mechanism and control-board filled +the prow, while at the stern and sides were long tubes mounted on +swivels like machine-guns. + +The frog-men motioned Norman and Hackett into one, fastening the two +prisoners and themselves into their seats with metal straps provided +for the purpose. Four had entered the one boat, the others that of the +captives. One at the prow moved his paws over the control-board and +with a purring of power the boat, followed by the other, rose smoothly +into the air. It headed out over the gray-green sea, land dropping +quickly from sight behind, the horizons water-bounded on all sides. +From their nearness Norman guessed that this second satellite of +Earth's was small indeed beside its mother planet. He had to look up +to earth's great gray sphere overhead to attain a sense of reality. + +Hackett was whispering beside him, the frog-men watchful. "Norman, it's +not real--it can't be real! These things--these boats--intelligent like +men--" + +The other sought to steady him. "It's a different world, Hackett. +Gravitation different, light different, everything different, and +evolution here has had a different course. On Earth men evolved to be +the most intelligent life-forms, but here the frog-races, it seems." + +"But where are they taking us? Could we ever find the plane again?" + +"God knows. If we ever get away from these things we might. And we've +got to find Fellows, too; I wonder where he is on this world." + + * * * * * + +For many minutes the two boats raced on at great speed over the +endless waters before the watery skyline was broken far ahead by +something dark and unmoving. Hackett and Norman peered with intense +interest toward it. It seemed at first a giant squat mountain rising +from the sea, but as they shot nearer they saw that its outline was +too regular, and that colossal as it was in size it was the work of +intelligence. They gasped as they came nearer and got a better view of +it. + +For it was a gigantic dome of black metal rising sheer from the lonely +sea, ten miles if anything in diameter, a third that in greatest +height. There was no gate or window or opening of any kind in it. Just +the colossal, smooth black dome rearing from the watery plain. Yet the +two boats were flashing lower toward it. + +"They can't be going inside!" Hackett conjectured. "There's no way in +and what could be in there? The whole thing's mad--" + +"There's some way," Norman said. "They're slowing--" + +The flying-boats were indeed slowing as they dipped lower. They were +very near the dome now, its curving wall a looming, sky-high barrier +before them. Suddenly the boats dipped sharply downward toward the +green sea. Before the two fliers could comprehend their purpose, could +do aught more than draw instinctive great breaths in preparation, the +two craft had shot down into the waters and were arrowing down through +the green depths. + +Blinded, flung against his metal strap by the resistance of the waters +they ripped through, Norman yet retained enough of consciousness to +glimpse beams of light that stabbed ahead from the prows of their +rushing boats, to see vaguely strange creatures of the deep blundering +in and out of those beams as the boats hurtled forward. The water that +forced its way between his lips was fresh, he was vaguely aware, and +even as he fought to hold his breath was aware too that the frog-men +seemed in no way incommoded by the sudden transition into the water, +their amphibian nature allowing them to stay under it far longer than +any human could do. + +The boats ripped through the waters at terrific speed and in a few +seconds there loomed before them the giant metal wall of the great +dome, going down into the depths here. Norman glimpsed vaguely that +the whole colossal dome rested on a vast pedestal-like mountain of +rock that rose from the sea's floor almost to the surface. Then a +great round opening in the wall; the boats flashed into it and were +hurtling along a water-filled tunnel. Norman felt his lungs near +bursting--when the tunnel turned sharply upward and the boats whizzed +up and abruptly out of the water-tunnel into air! + + * * * * * + +But it was not the open air again. They were beneath the gigantic +dome! For as Norman and Hackett breathed deep, awe fell on their faces +as they took in the scene. Far overhead stretched the dome's +colossally curving roof, and far out on all sides. It was lit beneath +that roof by a clear light that the two would have sworn was sunlight. +The dome was in effect the roof of a gigantic, illuminated building, +and upon its floor there stretched a mighty city. + +The city of the frog-men! Their boats were rising up over it and +Norman and Hackett saw it clear. Square mile upon square mile of +structures stretched beneath the dome, black buildings often of +immense size, varying in shape, but all of square, rectangular +proportions. Between them moved countless frog-hordes, swirling +throngs in streets and squares, and over the roofs darted thick swarms +of flying-boats. And at the city's center, in a great, circular, clear +space, lay a wide, round, green pool--the opening of the water-tunnel +up through which they had come. + +Norman pointed down toward it. "That's your answer!" he cried. "The +only entrance to this frog-city is from the sea, up through that +water-tunnel!" + +"Good God, an amphibian city!" Hackett was shaken, white-faced. + +The two boats were driving quickly over the city, through the swarming +craft. Norman glimpsed towering buildings that might have been +palaces, temples, laboratories. They slowed and dipped toward one +block-like building not far from the water-tunnel's opening. Armed +frog-guards were on its roof, and other boats rested there. The two +came to rest and the two captives were jerked out, the guards seizing +them. + +Half-dragged and half-floating they were led toward an opening in the +roof from which a stair led downward. They passed down thus into the +building's interior, lit by many windows. Norman glimpsed long halls +ending in barred doors, guards here and there. Tube-lines ran along +the walls and somewhere machines were throbbing dully. They came at +last to a barred door whose guard opened it at the croaking order of +the frog-men who held the two, and they were thrust inside, as the +door clanged. They turned, and exclaimed in amazement. The room held +fully a half-hundred men! + +They were men such as the two fliers had never seen before, like +humans except that their skins were a light green instead of the +normal white and pink. They were dressed in dark short tunics, and +kept talking to each other in a tongue quite unintelligible to Norman +and Hackett. They came closer, flocking curiously around the two men, +with a babel of voices quite meaningless to the two. Then one of the +men uttered an exclamation, and all turned. + + * * * * * + +The barred door had swung open and a half-dozen frog-guards entered, +followed by two frog-men carrying a square little mechanism from which +tubing led back out through the door. + +"Norman--these men--" Hackett was whispering rapidly. "If there are +men in this world too, it may be that--" + +"Quiet, Hackett--look at what they're doing." + +The two frog-men had set their mechanism in place and then croaked out +a brief word or order. Slowly, reluctantly, one of the green men moved +toward them. Quickly they removed a metal disk fastened to his arm, +exposing a small orifice like an unhealed wound. Onto this they +fastened a suckerlike object from which a transparent tube led back +through the mechanism. The machine hummed and at once a red stream +pulsed through the tube and back through the mechanism. The man to +whom it was attached was growing rapidly pale! + +Norman, sick with horror, clutched his companion. "Hackett--these +frog-men are sucking his blood from him!" + +"Good God! And look--they're doing it with another!" + +"All of these men--kept prisoners to furnish them with blood. It must +be the damned creatures' food! And we here with the others--" + +A common horror shook the two. It did not seem to affect the green men +in the room, though, who advanced to the mechanism one by one with a +reluctant air as of cows unwilling to be milked. Each was attached to +the mechanism by the sucking disk on his arm, and out of each the +blood poured through the tube. The metal disk was replaced on his arm +then and he went back to the others. Norman saw that the frog-men took +only from each an amount of blood that they could lose and yet live, +since, though each came back pale and weak from the mechanism, they +were able to walk. + +"It must be their food--human blood!" Norman repeated. "They may have +thousands on thousands of humans penned up like this, like so many +herds of cows, and perhaps they live entirely on the life-blood they +milk from them. Human cows--God!" + +"Norman--look--they're calling to us!" + + * * * * * + +The two stiffened. All the others in the room had taken their turn at +the blood-sucking mechanism and now the frog-men croaked their order +to the two fliers. They had forgotten their own predicament in the +horror of the scene, but now it became real to them. They backed +against the room's wall, quivering, dangerous. + +The frog-guards came forward to drag them to the machine. A webbed paw +was outstretched but Hackett with a wild blow drove the frog-man back +and downward. The frog-guards leaped, and Norman and Hackett struck +them back with all the greater strength the lesser gravitation gave +them. The room was in an uproar, the green men shouting hoarsely and +seeming on the point of rushing to their aid. + +But the menacing force-pistols of the other frog-guards held back the +shouting men and in moments the two fliers were overpowered by sheer +weight of frog-bodies. Norman felt himself dragged to the machine. + +Pain needled his upper arm as an incision was made. He felt the +sucking-disk attached; then the machine hummed, and a sickening nausea +swept him as the blood drained from his body. Held tightly by the +guards he went dizzy, weak, but at last felt the sucker removed and a +metal disk fastened over the incision. He was jerked aside and +Hackett, his face deathly white, was dragged into his place. In a +moment some of the latter's blood had been pumped from him also. + +The machine was withdrawn, Norman and Hackett were released, and the +frog-men, with their black force-pistols watchfully raised, withdrew, +the door clanging. The room settled back to quietness, the green men +stretching in lassitude on the metal bunks around it. The two fliers +crouched down near the door, shuddering nausea and weakness still +holding them. + +Norman found that Hackett was laughing weakly. "To think that +twenty-four hours ago I was in New York," he half-laughed, +half-sobbed. "On Earth--Earth--" + +The other gripped his arm. "It's horrible, Hackett, I know. But it +isn't instant death, and we've still a chance to escape. Hell, can +damn frog-men keep us here? Where's your nerve, man?" + +A voice beside them made them turn in amazement. "You are men from +Earth?" it asked, in queerly accented English. "From Earth?" + + * * * * * + +Astonishment held them as they saw who spoke. It was one of the green +men in the room, who had settled down by their side. A tall figure +with superb muscles and frank, clean countenance, his dark eyes afire +with eagerness. + +"English?" Norman exclaimed. "You know English--you understand me?" + +The other showed his teeth in a smile. "I know, yes. I'm Sarja, and I +learned to speak it from Fallas, in my city, before the Ralas caught +me." + +"Fallas--" Norman repeated, puzzled; then suddenly he flamed. "By God, +he means Fellows!" + +"Fallas, yes," said the other. "From the sky he fell into our city in +a strange flying-boat that was smashed. He was hurt but we cared for +him, and he taught me his speech, which I heard you talking now." + +"Then Fellows is in your city now?" asked Hackett eagerly. "Where is +that?" + +"Across this sea--back in the hills," the other waved. "It is far from +the sea but I was rash one day and came too near the water in my +flying-boat. The Ralas were out raiding and they saw me, caught me, +and brought me here. No escape now, until I die." + +"The Ralas--you mean these frog-men?" Norman asked. + +Sarja nodded. "Of course. They are the tyrants and oppressors of this +world. Our little world is but a tenth or less the size of your great +Earth which it circles, but it has its lands and rivers, and this one +great fresh-water sea into which the latter empty. In this sea long +ago developed the Ralas, the great frog-men who acquired such +intelligence and arts that they became lords of this world. + +"Through the centuries, while on the land our races of green men have +been struggling upward, the Ralas have oppressed them. Long ago the +Ralas left all their other cities to build this one great amphibian +city at the sea's center. Entrance to it is only by the water-tunnel +from without, and being frog-people entrance thus is easy for them +since they can move for many minutes under water, though they drown +like any other breathing animal if kept under too long. Humans dare +not try to enter it thus by the water-tunnel, since, before they could +find it and make their way up through it, they would have drowned. + + * * * * * + +"So the Ralas have ruled from this impregnable amphibian city. Its +colossal metal dome is invulnerable to ordinary attack, and though +solid and without openings it is always as light beneath the dome here +as outside, since the Ralas' scientists contrived light-condensers and +conductors that catch light outside and bring it in to release inside. +So when it is day outside the sunlight is as bright here, and when +night comes the Earth-light shines here the same as without. + +"From this city their raiding parties have gone out endlessly to swoop +down on the cities of us green men. Since we learned to make +flying-boats like theirs, with molecular-motors, and to make the guns +like theirs that fire shells filled with annihilating force, we have +resisted them stoutly but their raids have not ceased. And always they +have brought their prisoners back in to this, their city. + +"Tens of thousands of green men they have prisoned here like us, for +the sole purpose of supplying them with blood. For the Ralas live on +this blood alone, changing it chemically to fit their own bodies and +then taking it into their bodies. It eliminates all necessity for food +here for them. Every few days they drain blood from us, and since we +are well fed and cared for to keep us good blood-producers, we will be +here for a long time before we die." + +"But haven't you made any attempt to get out of here--to escape?" +Norman asked. + +Sarja smiled. "Who could escape the city of the Ralas? In all recorded +history it has never been done, for even if by some miracle you got a +flying-boat, the opening of the water-tunnel that leads outward is +guarded always." + +"Guards or no guards, we're going to try it and not sit here to +furnish blood for the Ralas," Norman declared. "Are you willing to +help, to try to get to Fellows and your city?" + +The green man considered. "It is hopeless," he said, "but as well to +die beneath the force-shells of the Ralas as live out a lifetime here. +Yes, I will help, though I cannot see how you expect to escape even +from this room." + +"I think we can manage that," Norman told him. "But first--not a word +to these others. We can't hope to escape with them all, and there is +no knowing what one might not betray us to the frog-men." + +He went on then to outline to the other two the idea that had come to +him. Both exclaimed at the simpleness of the idea, though Sarja +remained somewhat doubtful. While Hackett slept, weak still from his +loss of blood, Norman had the green man scratch on the metal floor as +well as possible a crude map of the satellite's surface, and found +that the city, where Fellows was, seemed some hundreds of miles back +from the sea. + + * * * * * + +While they talked, the sunlight, apparently sourceless, that came +through the heavily barred windows of the room faded rapidly, and dusk +settled over the great amphibian city beneath the giant dome, kept +from total darkness by a silvery pervading light that Norman reflected +must be the light from Earth's great sphere. With the dusk's coming +the activities in the frog-city lessened greatly. + +With dusk, too, frog-guards entered the room bearing long metal +troughs filled with a red jellylike substance, that they placed on +racks along the wall. As the guards withdrew the men in the room +rushed toward the troughs, elbowing each other aside and striking +each other to scoop up and eat as much of the red jelly as possible. +It was for all the world like the feeding of farm-animals, and Hackett +and Norman so sickened at the sight that they had no heart to try the +food. Sarja, though, had no such scruples and seemed to make a hearty +meal at one of the troughs. + +After the meal the green men sought the bunks and soon were stretched +in sonorous slumber. It was, Norman reflected, exactly the existence +of domesticated animals--to eat and sleep and give food to their +masters. A deeper horror of the frog-men shook him, and a deeper +determination to escape them. He waited until all in the room were +sleeping before beckoning to Sarja and Hackett. + +"Quiet now," he whispered to them. "If these others wake they'll make +such a clamor we won't have a chance in the world. Ready, Sarja?" + +The green man nodded. "Yes, though I still think such a thing's +impossible." + +"Probably is," Norman admitted. "But it's the one chance we've got, +the immensely greater strength of our Earth-muscle that the frog-men +must have forgotten when they put us in here." + +They moved silently to the room's great barred door, outside which a +frog-guard paced. They waited until he had passed the door and on down +the hall, then Norman and Hackett and Sarja grasped together one of +the door's vertical bars. It was an inch and a half in thickness, of +solid metal, and it seemed ridiculous that any men could bend it by +the sheer strength of their muscles. + +Norman, though, was relying on the fact that on the second satellite, +with its far lesser gravitational influence, their Earth-muscles gave +them enormous strength. He grasped the bar, Hackett and Sarja gripping +it below him, and then at a whispered word they pulled with all their +force. The bar resisted and again, with sweat starting on their +foreheads, they pulled. It gave a little. + + * * * * * + +They shrank back from it as the guard returned, moving past. Then +grasping the bar again they bent all their force once more upon it. +Each effort saw it bending more, the opening in the door's bars +widening. They gave a final great wrench and the bent bar squealed a +little. They shrank back, appalled, but the guard had not heard or +noticed. He moved past it on his return along the hall, and no sooner +was past it than Norman squeezed through the opening and leaped +silently for the great frog-man's back. + +It went down with a wild flurry of waving webbed paws and croaking +cries, stilled almost instantly by Norman's terrific blows. There was +silence then as Hackett and Sarja squeezed out after him, the +momentary clamor of the battle having aroused no one. + +The three leaped together toward the stairs. In two great floating +leaps they were on the floor above, Hackett and Norman dragging Sarja +between them. They were not seen, were sailing in giant steps up +another stair, hopes rising high. The last stair--the roof-opening +above; and then from beneath a great croaking cry swelled instantly +into chorus of a alarmed shouts. + +"They've found the door--the guard!" panted Hackett. + +They were bursting out onto the roof. Frog-guards were on it who came +in a hopping rush toward them, force-pistols raised. But a giant leap +took Hackett among them, to amaze them for a moment with great +flailing blows. Sarja had leaped for the nearest flying-boat resting +on the roof, and was calling in a frantic voice to Norman and Hackett. +Norman was turning toward Hackett, the center of a wild combat, but +the latter emerged from it for a brief second to motion him +frantically back. + +"No use, Norman--get away--get away!" he cried hoarsely, frenziedly. + +"Hackett--for God's sake--!" Norman half-leaped to the other, but an +arm caught him, pulled him desperately onto the boat's surface. It was +Sarja, the long craft flying over the roof beneath his control. + +"They come!" he panted. "Too late now--" Frog-men were pouring up onto +the roof from below. Sarja sent the craft rocketing upward, as Hackett +gestured them away for a last frantic time before going down beneath +the frog-men's onslaught. + + * * * * * + +The roof and the combat on it dropped back and beneath them like a +stone as their craft ripped across the silvery dusk over the mighty +frog-city. They were shooting toward the city's center, toward the +green pool that was the entrance to the water-tunnel, while behind and +beneath an increasing clamor of alarm spread swiftly. Norman raged +futilely. + +"Hackett--Hackett! We can't leave him--" + +"Too late!" Sarja cried. "We cannot help him but only be captured +again. We escape now and come back--come back--" + +The truth of it pierced Norman's brain even in the wild moment. +Hackett had fought and held back the frog-guards only that they might +escape. He shouted suddenly. + +"Sarja--the water-tunnel!" A half-dozen boats with frog-guards on them +were rising round it in answer to the alarm! + +"The force-gun!" cried the green man. "Beside you--!" + +Norman whirled, glimpsed the long tube on its swivel beside him, +trained it on the boats rising ahead as they rocketed nearer. He +fumbled frantically at a catch at the gun's rear, then felt a stream +of shells flicking out of it. Two of the boats ahead vanished as the +shells released their annihilating force, another sagged and fell. +From the remaining three invisible force-shells flicked around them, +but in an instant Sarja had whirled the boat through them and down +into the water-tunnel! + +Norman clung desperately to his seat as the boat flashed down through +the waters, and then, as Sarja sent it flying out through the great +tunnel's waters, glimpsed, close behind, the beams of the three Rala +boats as they pursued them through the tunnel, overtaking them. Could +the force-shells be fired under water? Norman did not know, but +desperately he swung the force-gun back as they rushed through the +waters, and pressed the catch. An instant later beams and boats behind +them in the tunnel vanished. + +His lungs were afire; it seemed that he must open them to the +strangling water. The boat was ripping the waters at such tremendous +speed that he felt himself being torn from his hold on it. Pain seemed +poured like molten metal through his chest--he could hold out no +longer; and then the boat stabbed up from the waters into clear air! + + * * * * * + +Norman panted, sobbed. Behind them rose the colossal metal dome of the +frog-city, gleaming dully in the silvery light that flooded the +far-stretching seas. That light poured down from a stupendous silver +crescent in the night skies. Norman saw dully the dark outlines on it +before he remembered. Earth! He laughed a little hysterically. Sarja +was driving the flying-boat out over the sea and away from the +frog-city at enormous speed. At last he glanced back. Far behind them +lay the great dome and up around it gleaming lights were pouring, +lights of pursuing Rala boats. + +"We escape," Sarja cried, "the city of the Ralas, from which none ever +before escaped!" + +Remembrance smote Norman. "Hackett! Held off those frog-men so we +could get away--we'll come back for him, by God!" + +"We come back!" said Sarja. "We come back with all the green men of +this world to the Ralas' city, yes! I know what Fallas has planned." + +"Can you find your way to him--to your city?" Norman asked. + +Sarja nodded, looking upward. "Before the next sun has come and gone +we can reach it." + +The boat flew onward, and the great dome and the searching lights +around it dropped beneath the horizon. Norman felt the warm wind +drying his drenched garments as they rushed onward. Crouched on the +boat he gazed up toward the silver crescent of Earth sinking toward +the horizon ahead. That meant, he told himself, that the satellite +turned slowly on its axis as it whirled around Earth. It came to him +that its night and day periods must be highly irregular. + +When the sun climbed from the waters behind them they were flying +still over a boundless waste of waters, but soon they sighted on the +horizon ahead the thin green line of land. Sarja slowed as they +reached it, took his bearings, and sent the craft flying onward. + +They passed over a green coastal plain and then over low hills joined +in long chains and mantled by dense and mighty jungles, towering green +growths of unfamiliar appearance to Norman. He thought he glimpsed, +more than once, huge beastlike forms moving in them. He did see twice +in the jungles great clearings where were fair-sized cities of +bright-green buildings, a metal tower rising from each. But when he +pointed to them Sarja shook his head. + + * * * * * + +At last, as they passed over another range of hills and came into +sight of a third green city with its looming tower, the other pointed, +his face alight. + +"My city," he said. "Fallas there." + +Fellows! Norman's heart beat faster. + +They shot closer and lower and he saw that the buildings were +obviously green to lend them a certain protective coloration similar +to that of the green jungles around them. The tower with its +surmounting cage puzzled him though, but before he could ask Sarja +concerning it his answer came in a different way. A long metal tube +poked slowly out of the cage on the tower's top and sent a hail of +force-shells flicking around them. + +"They're firing on us!" Norman cried. "This can't be your city!" + +"They see our black boat!" Sarja exclaimed. "They think we're Rala +raiders and unless we let them know they'll shoot us out of the air! +Stand up--wave to them--!" + +Both Norman and Sarja sprang to their feet and waved wildly to those +in the tower-cage, their flying-boat drifting slowly forward. +Instantly the force-shells ceased to hail toward them, and as they +moved nearer a sirenlike signal broke from the cage. At once scores of +flying-boats like their own, but glittering metal instead of black, +shot up from the city where they had lain until now, and surrounded +them. + +As Sarja called in his own tongue to them the green men on the +surrounding boats broke into resounding cries. They shot down toward +the city, Norman gazing tensely. Great crowds of green men in their +dark tunics had swarmed out into its streets with the passing of the +alarm, and their craft and the others came to rest in an open square +that was the juncture of several streets. + +The green men that crowded excitedly about Norman and Sarja gave way +to a half-dozen hurrying into the square from the greatest of the +buildings facing on it. All but one were green men like the others. +But that one--the laughing-eyed tanned face--the worn brown clothing, +the curious huge steps with which he came--Norman's heart leapt. + +"Fellows!" + +"Great God--Norman!" The other's face was thunderstruck. "Norman--how +by all that's holy did you get here?" + + * * * * * + +Norman, mind and body strained to the breaking point, was incoherent. +"We guessed how you'd gone--the second satellite, Fellows--Hackett +and I came after you--taken to that frog-city--" + +As Norman choked the tale, Fellows' face was a study. And when it was +finished he swallowed, and gripped Norman's hand viselike. + +"And you and Hackett figured it out and came after me--took that risk? +Crazy, both of you. Crazy--" + +"Fellows, Hackett's still there, if he's alive! In the Rala city!" + +Fellows' voice was grim, quick. "We'll have him out. Norman, if he +still lives. And living or dead, the Ralas will pay soon for this and +for all they've done upon this world in ages. Their time nears--yes." + +He led Norman, excited throngs of the green men about them, into the +great building from which he had emerged. There were big rooms inside, +workshops and laboratories that Norman but vaguely glimpsed in +passing. The room to which the other led him was one with a long metal +couch. Norman stretched protestingly upon it at the other's bidding, +drifted off almost at once into sleep. + +He woke to find the sunlight that had filled the room gone and +replaced by the silvery Earth-light. From the window he saw that the +silver-lit city outside now held tremendous activity, immense hordes +of green men surging through it with masses of weapons and equipment, +flying-boats pouring down out of the night from all directions. He +turned as the door of the room clicked open behind him. It was his old +friend Fellows. + +"I thought you'd be awake by now, Norman. Feeling fit?" + +"As though I'd slept a week," Norman said, and the other laughed his +old care-free laugh. + +"You almost have, at that. Two days and nights you've slept, but it +all adds up to hardly more than a dozen hours." + +"This world!" Norman's voice held all his incredulity. "To think that +we should be on it--a second satellite of Earth's--it seems almost +beyond belief." + + * * * * * + +"Sometimes it seems so to me, too," Fellows said thoughtfully. "But +it's not a bad world--not the human part of it, at least. When this +satellite's atmosphere caught me and pitchforked me down among these +green men, smashing the plane and almost myself, they took care of me. +You say three others vanished as I did? I never heard of them here; +they must have crashed into the sea or jungles. Of course, I'd have +got back to Earth on one of these flying-boats if I'd been able, but +their molecular power won't take them far from this world's surface, +so I couldn't. + +"As it was, the green men cared for me, and when I found how those +frog-men have dominated this world for ages, how that city of the +Ralas has spread endless terror among the humans here, I resolved to +smash those monsters whatever I did. I taught some of the green men +like Sarja my own speech, later learning theirs, and in the weeks I've +been here I've been working out a way to smash the Ralas. + +"You know that amphibian city is almost impregnable because humans can +hardly live long enough under the water to get into it, let alone +fight under water as the frog-men can. To meet them on even terms the +green men needed diving-helmets with an oxygen supply. They'd never +heard of such an idea, too afraid of the sea ever to experiment in it, +but I convinced them and they've made enough helmets for all their +forces. In them they can meet the Ralas under water on equal terms. + +"And there's a chance we can destroy that whole Rala city with their +help. It's built on a giant pedestal of rock rising from the sea's +floor, as you saw, and I've had some of the green men make huge +force-shells or force-bombs that ought to be powerful enough to split +that pedestal beneath the city. If we can get a chance to place those +bombs it may smash the frog-men forever on this world. But one thing +is sure: we're going to get Hackett out if he still lives!" + +"Then you're, going to attack the Rala city now?" Norman cried. + +Fellows nodded grimly. "While you have slept all the forces of the +green men on this world have been gathering. Your coming has only +precipitated our plans, Norman--the whole soul of the green races has +been set upon this attack for weeks!" + + * * * * * + +Norman, half bewildered at the swiftness with which events rushed upon +him, found himself striding with Fellows in great steps out through +the building into the great square. It was shadowed now by mass on +mass of flying-boats, crowded with green men, that hung over it and +over the streets. One boat, Sarja at its controls, waited on the +ground and as they entered and buckled themselves into the seats the +craft drove up to hang with the others. + +A shattering cheer greeted them. Norman saw that in the silvery light +of Earth's great crescent there stretched over the city and +surrounding jungle now a veritable plain of flying-boats. On each were +green men and each bristled with force-guns, and had as many great +goggled helmets fastened to it as it had occupants. He glimpsed larger +boats loaded with huge metal cylinders--the force-bombs Fellows had +mentioned. + +Fellows rose and spoke briefly in a clear voice to the assembled green +men on their craft, and another great shout roared from them, and from +these who watched in the city below. Then as he spoke a word, Sarja +sent their craft flying out over the city, and the great mass of +boats, fully a thousand in number, were hurtling in a compact column +after them. + +Fellows leaned to Norman as the great column of purring craft shot on +over the silver-lit jungles. "We'll make straight for the Rala city +and try setting into it before they understand what's happening." + +"Won't they have guards out?" + +"Probably, but we can beat them back into the city before their whole +forces can come out on us. That's the only way in which we can get +inside and reach Hackett. And while we're attacking the force-bombs +can be placed, though I don't rely too much on them." + +"If the attack only succeeds in getting us inside," Norman said, +grim-lipped, "we'll have a chance--" + +"It's on the knees of the gods. These green men are doing an +unprecedented thing in attacking the Ralas, the masters of this world, +remember. But they've got ages of oppression to avenge; they'll +fight." + +The fleet flew on, hills and rivers a silver-lit panorama unreeling +beneath them. Earth's crescent sank behind them, and by the time they +flashed out over the great fresh-water sea, the sun was rising like a +flaming eye from behind it. Land sank from sight behind and the green +men were silent, tense, as they saw stretching beneath only the gray +waters that for ages had been the base of the dread frog-men. But +still the fleet's column raced on. + + * * * * * + +At last the column slowed. Far ahead the merest bulge broke the level +line where sky and waters met. The amphibian city of the Ralas! At +Fellows' order-the flying-boats sank downward until they moved just +above the waters. Another order made the green hosts don the grotesque +helmets. Norman found that while cumbersome their oxygen supply was +unfailing. They shot on again at highest speed, but as the gigantic +black dome of the frog-city grew in their vision there darted up from +around it suddenly a far-flung swarm of black spots. + +"Rala boats!" + +The muffled exclamation was Fellows'. There needed now no order on his +part, though. Like hawks, leaping for prey, the fleet of the green men +sprang through the air. Norman, clutching the force-gun between his +knees, had time only to see that the Rala craft were a few hundred in +number and that, contemptuous of the greater odds that favored these +humans they had so long oppressed, they were flying straight to meet +them. Then the two fleets met--and were spinning side by side above +the waters. + +Norman saw the thing only as a wild whirl of Rala boats toward and +beside them, great green frog-men crowding the craft, their force-guns +hailing shells. Automatically, with the old air-fighting instinct, his +fingers had pressed the catch of the gun between his knees and as its +shells flicked toward the rushing boats he saw areas of nothingness +opening suddenly in their mass, shells striking and exploding in +annihilating invisibility there and in their own fleet. + +The two fleets mingled and merged momentarily, the battle becoming a +thing of madness, a huge whirl of black and glittering flying-boats +together, striking shells exploding nothingness about them. The Ralas +were fighting like demons. + +The merged, terrific combat lasted but moments; could last but +moments. Norman, his gun's magazine empty, seemed to see the mass of +struggling ships splittering, diverging; then saw that the black craft +were dropping, plummeting downward toward the waves! The Ralas, +stunned by that minute of terrific combat, were fleeing. Muffled cries +and cheers came from about him as the glittering flying-boats of the +green men shot after them. They crashed down into the waters and +curved deeply into their green-depths, toward the gigantic dome. + + * * * * * + +Ahead the Rala boats were in flight toward their city, and now their +pursuers were like sharks striking after them. There in the depths the +force-guns of black and glittering boats alike were spitting, and +giant waves and underwater convulsions rocked pursued and pursuers as +the exploding shells annihilated boats and water about them. The +tunnel! Its round opening yawned in the looming wall ahead, and Norman +saw the Rala craft, reduced to scores in number, hurtling into it, to +rouse all the forces of the great amphibian city. Their own boats were +flashing into the opening after them. He glimpsed as he glanced back +for a moment the larger craft with the great force-bombs veering aside +behind them. + +It was nightmare in the water-tunnel. Flashing beams of the craft +ahead and waters that rocked and smashed around them as in flight the +Ralas still rained back force-shells toward them in a chaos of action. +Once the frog-men turned to hold them back in the tunnel, but by sheer +weight the rushing ships of the green men crashed them onward. Boats +were going into nothingness all around them. A part of Norman's brain +wondered calmly why they survived even while another part kept his gun +again working, with refilled magazine. Fellows and Sarja were +grotesque shapes beside him. Abruptly the tunnel curved upward and as +they flashed up after the remaining Rala craft their boats ripped up +into clear air! They were beneath the giant dome! + +The frog-men chased inward spread out in all directions over their +mighty, swarming city and across it a terrific clamor of alarm ran +instantly as the green men emerged after them! Norman saw flying-boats +beginning to rise across all the city and realized that moments would +see all the immense force of the Ralas, the thousands of craft they +could muster, pouring upon them. He pointed out over the city to a +block-like building, and shouted madly through his helmet to Fellows +and Sarja: + +"Hackett!" + +But already Sarja had sent their craft whirling across the city toward +the structure, half their fleet behind it, with part still emerging +from the water-tunnel. Rala boats rose before them, but nothing could +stop them now, their force-shells raining ahead to clear a path for +their meteor-flight. They shot down toward the block-structure, and +Norman, half-crazed by now, saw that to descend and enter was suicide +in the face of the frog-forces rising now over all the city. He cried +to Fellows, and with two of the guns as they swooped lower they +sprayed force-shells along the building's side. + + * * * * * + +The shells struck and whiffed away the whole side, exposing the level +on the building's interior. Out from it rushed swarms of crazed green +men, sweeping aside the frog-men guards, while far over the city the +invading craft were loosing shells on the block-like buildings that +held the prisoners, tens of thousands of them swarming forth. In the +throng below as they raced madly forth Norman saw one, and shouted +wildly. The one brown garbed figure looked up, saw their boat swooping +lower, and leaped for it in a tremendous forty-foot spring that +brought his fingers to its edge. Norman pulled him frenziedly up. + +"Norman!" he babbled. "In God's name--Fellows--!" + +"That helmet, Hackett!" Fellows flung at him. "My God, look at those +prisoners--Norman!" + +The countless thousands of green men released from the buildings whose +walls had vanished under the shells of the invaders had poured forth +to make the amphibian city a chaos of madness. Oblivious to all else +they were throwing themselves upon the city's crowding frog-men in a +battle whose ferocity was beyond belief, disregarding all else in this +supreme chance to wreak vengeance on the monstrous beings who had fed +upon their blood. In the incredible insanity of that raging fury the +craft of the green men hanging over the city were all but forgotten. + +Suddenly the city and the mighty dome over it quivered violently, and +then again. There came from beneath a dull, vast, grinding roar. + +"The great force-bombs!" Fellows screamed. "They've set them off--the +city's sinking--out of here, for the love of God!" + +The boat whirled beneath Sarja's hands toward the pool of the +water-tunnel, all their fleet rushing with them. The grinding roar was +louder, terrible; dome and city were shaking violently now; but in the +insensate fury of their struggle the frog-men and their released +prisoners were hardly aware of it. The whole great dome seemed sinking +upon them and the city falling beneath it as Sarja's craft ripped down +into the tunnel's waters, and then out, at awful speed, as the great +tunnel's walls swayed and sank around them! They shot out into the +green depths from it to hear a dull, colossal crashing through the +waters from behind as the great pedestal of rock on which the city had +stood, shattered by the huge force-bombs, collapsed. And as their +boats flashed up into the open air they saw that the huge dome of the +city of the Ralas was gone. + +Beneath them was only a titanic whirlpool of foaming waters in which +only the curved top of the settling dome was visible for a moment as +it sank slowly and ponderously downward, with a roar as of the roar of +falling worlds. Buckling, collapsing, sinking, it vanished in the +foam-wild sea with all the frog-men who for ages had ruled the second +satellite, and with all those prisoners who had at the last dragged +them down with them to death! Ripping off their helmets, with all the +green men shouting crazily about them, Norman and Fellows and Hackett +stared down at the colossal maelstrom in the waters that was the tomb +of the masters of a world. + +Then the depression's sides collapsed, the waters rushing together ... +and beneath them was but troubled, tossing sea.... + + * * * * * + +Earth's great gray ball was overhead again and the sun was sinking +again to the horizon when the three soared upward in the long, +gleaming plane, its motor roaring. Norman, with Hackett and Fellows +crowding the narrow cabin beside him, waved with them through its +windows. For all around them were rising the flying-boats of the green +men. + +They were waving wildly, shouting their farewells, Sarja's tall figure +erect at the prow of one. Insistent they had been that the three +should stay, the three through whom the monstrous age-old tyranny of +the frog-men had been lifted, but Earth-sickness was on them, and they +had flown to where the plane lay still unharmed among the reeds, a +hundred willing hands dragging it forth for the take-off. + +The plane soared higher, motor thundering, and they saw the +flying-boats sinking back from around them. They caught the wave of +Sarja's hand still from the highest, and then that, too, was gone. + +Upward they flew toward the great gray sphere, their eyes on the dark +outlines of its continents and on one continent. Higher--higher--green +land and gray tea receding beneath them; Hackett and Fellows intent +and eager as Norman kept the plane rising. The satellite lay, a +greenish globe, under them. And as they went higher still a rushing +sound came louder to their ears. + +"The edge of the satellite's atmosphere?" Fellows asked, as Norman +nodded. + +"We're almost to it--here we go!" + +As he shot the plane higher, great forces smote it, gray Earth and +green satellite and yellow sun gyrating round it as it reeled and +plunged. Then suddenly it was falling steadily, gray Earth and its +dark continent now beneath, while with a dwindling rushing roar its +second satellite whirled away above them, passing and vanishing. +Passing as though, to Norman it seemed, all their strange sojourn on +it were passing; the frog-men and their mighty city, Sarja and their +mad flight, the green men and the last terrific battle; all whirling +away--whirling away. + + +HISTORIC EXPERIMENT PROVES EARTH'S ROTATION + +The famous experiment which proves that the "earth do move" by letting +the observer actually see it twisting underneath his feet, an +experiment invented by the French mathematician Jean B. L. Foucault +nearly a century ago was repeated recently under unusually impressive +circumstances before an international scientific congress at Florence, +Italy, the same city where Galileo once was persecuted for holding the +same opinion. + +From the center of the dome of the Church of Santa Maria di Fiore, +Father Guido Alfani, director of the Astronomical Observatory, +suspended a 200-pound weight on a wire 150 feet long. On the bottom of +this weight was a tiny projecting point which traced a line on a +table-top sprinkled with sand, as the great pendulum swung slowly back +and forth. At a given signal Father Alfani set the pendulum to +swinging. While the assembled scientists watched it, slowly the line +traced across the sand table-top changed direction. + +As Foucault proved long ago and as the watching scientists well knew, +the table was being twisted underneath the pendulum by the rotation of +the earth. + + +A REVOLUTIONARY AIRPLANE + +A new airplane propeller has recently been patented by J. Kalmanson of +Brooklyn, N. Y. Greater speed and marked saving in fuel is claimed for +the invention, which may be attached to any type of airplane. + +The device is in two parts, which may be used separately as front and +rear propellers or combined into a single blade. The principle is that +the front one acts to bring air to the other, giving the propeller +more of a hold, so to speak, and greater power. This is accomplished +by four air-spoons, one on each side of each blade of the propeller. + +It is said that the device can double the speed of an airplane and +raise it from the ground in ninety feet instead of the 200 feet most +airplanes now require. It is also claimed that the new propeller will +prevent the plane from making a nose drive unless the pilot forces it +to do so, and enable it to make a safe landing within a short +distance. Because of the increase in power and speed, the device would +save a large amount of gasoline and oil, as well as guarding the motor +from part of the strain on it. + +The device is said to be also applicable to ships, the same principle +operating in water as well as air. + + + + +Silver Dome + +_By Harl Vincent_ + +[Illustration: _Orris led the way to a great underground city._] + +[Sidenote: In her deep-buried kingdom of Theros, Phaestra reveals the +amazing secret of the Silver Dome.] + + +In a secluded spot among the hills of northern New Jersey stood the +old DeBost mansion, a rambling frame structure of many wings and +gables that was well-nigh hidden from the road by the half-mile or +more of second-growth timber which intervened. High on the hill it +stood, and it was only by virtue of its altitude that an occasional +glimpse might be obtained of weatherbeaten gable or partly +tumbled-down chimney. The place was reputed to be haunted since the +death of old DeBost, some seven years previously, and the path which +had once been a winding driveway was now seldom trod by human foot. + +It was now two years since Edwin Leland bought the estate for a song +and took up his residence in the gloomy old house. And it had then +been vacant for five years since DeBost shot himself in the northeast +bedroom. Leland's associates were sure he would repent of his bargain +in a very short time, but he stayed on and on in the place, with no +company save that of his man-servant, an aged hunch-back who was +known to outsiders only as Thomas. + +Leland was a scientist of note before he buried himself in the DeBost +place, and had been employed in the New York research laboratory of +one of the large electrical manufacturers, where he was much admired +and not a little envied by his fellow workers. These knew almost +nothing of his habits or of his personal affairs, and were much +surprised when he announced one day that he had come into a sizable +fortune and was leaving the organization to go in for private research +and study. Attempts to dissuade him were of no avail, and the purchase +of the DeBost property followed, after which Leland dropped from sight +for nearly two years. + + * * * * * + +Then, on a blustery winter day, a strange telephone call was received +at the laboratory where he had previously worked. It was from old +Thomas, out there in the DeBost mansion, and his quavering voice asked +for Frank Rowley, the genial young engineer whose work had been most +closely associated with Leland's. + +"Oh, Mr. Rowley," wailed the old man, when Frank responded to the +call, "I wish you would come out here right away. The master has been +acting very queerly of late, and to-day he has locked himself in his +laboratory and will not answer my knocks." + +"Why don't you break in the door?" asked Frank, looking through the +window at the snow storm that still raged. + +"I thought of that, Mr. Rowley, but it is of oak and very thick. +Besides, it is bound with steel or iron straps and is beyond my +powers." + +"Why not call the police?" growled Frank. He did not relish the idea +of a sixty or seventy mile drive in the blizzard. + +"Oh--no--no--no!" Old Thomas was panicky at the suggestion. "The +master told me he'd kill me if I ever did that." + +Before Frank could formulate a reply, there came a sharp gasp from the +other end of the line, a wailing cry and a thud as of a falling body; +then silence. All efforts to raise Leland's number merely resulted in +"busy" or "line out of order" reports. + +Frank Rowley was genuinely concerned. Though he had never been a close +friend of Leland's, the two had worked on many a knotty problem +together and were in daily contact during the nearly ten years that +the other man had worked in the same laboratory. + +"Say, Tommy," said Frank, replacing the receiver and turning to his +friend, Arnold Thompson, who sat at an adjoining desk, "something has +happened out at Leland's place in Sussex County. Want to take a drive +out there with me?" + +"What? On a day like this? Why not take the train?" + +"Don't be foolish, Tommy," said Frank. "The place is eight miles from +the nearest station, which is a flag stop out in the wilds. And, even +if you could find a cab there--which you couldn't--there isn't a taxi +driver in Jersey who'd take you up into those mountains on a day like +this. No, we'll have to drive. It'll be okay. I've got chains on the +rear and a heater in the old coupe, so it shouldn't be so bad. What do +you say?" + +So Tommy, who usually followed wherever Frank led, was prevailed upon +to make the trip. He had no particular feeling for Leland, but he +sensed an adventure, and, in Frank's company, he could ask for no +more. + + * * * * * + +Frank was a careful driver, and three hours were required to make the +sixty-mile journey. Consequently, it was late in the afternoon when +they arrived at the old DeBost estate. It had stopped snowing, but the +drifts were deep in spots, and Frank soon found that the car could not +be driven through the winding path from the road to the house. So +they left it half buried in a drift and proceeded on foot. + +It was a laborious task they had undertaken, and, by the time they set +foot on the dilapidated porch, even Frank, husky and athletic as was +his build, was puffing and snorting from his exertions. Little Tommy, +who tipped the scales at less than a hundred and twenty, could hardly +speak. They both were wet to the waist and in none too good humor. + +"Holy smoke!" gasped Tommy, stamping the clinging snow from his sodden +trouser legs and shoes, "if it snows any more, how in Sam Hill are we +going to get out of this place?" + +"Rotten trip I let you in for Tommy," growled Frank, "and I hope +Leland's worth it. But, darn it all, I just had to come." + +"It's all right with me, Frank. And maybe it'll be worth it yet. +Look--the front door's open." + + * * * * * + +He pointed to the huge oaken door and Frank saw that it was ajar. The +snow on the porch was not deep and they saw that footprints led from +the open door to a corner of the porch. At that point the snow on the +railing was disturbed, as if a hurrying man had clung to it a moment +before jumping over and into the drifts below. But the tracks led no +further, for the drifting snow had covered all excepting a hollow +where some body had landed. + +"Thomas!" exclaimed Frank. "And he was in a hustle, by the looks of +the tracks. Bet he was frightened while at the telephone and beat it." + +They entered the house and closed the door behind them. It was growing +quite dark and Frank searched for the light switch. This was near the +door, and, at pressure on the upper button, the spacious old hall with +its open staircase was revealed dimly by the single remaining bulb in +a cluster set in the center of the high ceiling. The hall was +unfurnished, excepting for a telephone table and chair, the chair +having fallen to the floor and the receiver of the telephone dangling +from the edge of the table by its cord. + +"You must have heard the chair fall," commented Tommy, "and it sure +does look as if Thomas left in a hurry. Wonder what it was that +frightened him?" + +The house was eerily silent and the words echoed awesomely through the +adjoining rooms which connected with the hall through large open +doorways. + +"Spooky place, isn't it?" returned Frank. + + * * * * * + +And then they were both startled into immobility by a rumble that +seemed to shake the foundations of the house. Heavier and heavier +became this vibration, as if some large machine was coming up to +speed. Louder and louder grew the rumble until it seemed that the +rickety old house must be shaken down about their ears. Then there +came a whistling scream from the depths of the earth--from far +underground it seemed to be--and this mounted in pitch until their +eardrums tingled. Then abruptly the sounds ceased, the vibration +stopped, and once more there was the eery silence. + +Rather white-faced, Tommy gazed at Frank. + +"No wonder old Thomas beat it!" he said. "What on earth do you suppose +that is?" + +"Search me," replied Frank. "But whatever it is, I'll bet it has +something to do with Leland's strange actions. And we're going to find +out." + +He had with him the large flashlamp from the car, and, by its light, +the two made their way from room to room searching for the iron-bound +door mentioned by Thomas. + +They found all rooms on the first and second floors dusty and unused +with the exception of two bedrooms, the kitchen and pantry, and the +library. It was a gloomy and spooky old house. Floor boards creaked +startlingly and unexpectedly and the sound of their footsteps echoed +dismally. + +"Where in time is that laboratory of Leland's?" exclaimed Frank, his +ruddy features showing impatient annoyance, exaggerated to an +appearance of ferocity by the light of the flashlamp. + +"How about the cellar?" suggested Tommy. + +"Probably where it is," agreed Frank, "but I don't relish this job so +much. I'd hate to find Leland stiff down there, if that's where he +is." + +"Me, too," said Tommy. "But we're here now, so let's finish the job +and get back home. It's cold here, too." + +"You said it. No steam in the pipes at all. He must have let the fire +go out in his furnace, and that's probably in the cellar too--usually +is." + + * * * * * + +While talking, Frank had opened each of the four doors that opened +from the kitchen, and the fourth revealed a stairway that led into the +blackness beneath. With the beam of his torch directed at the steps, +he proceeded to descend, and Tommy followed carefully. There was no +light button at the head of the stairs, where it would have been +placed in a more modern house, and it was not until they had reached +the furnace room that they located a light fixture with a pull cord. +An ordinary cellar, with furnace, coal bin, and a conglomeration of +dust-covered trunks and discarded furniture, was revealed. And, at its +far end, was the iron-bound door. + +The door was locked and could not be shaken by the combined efforts of +the two men. + +"Have to have a battering ram," grunted Frank, casting about for a +suitable implement. + +"Here you are," called Tommy, after a moment's search. "Just the thing +we are looking for." + + * * * * * + +He had come upon a pile of logs, and one of these, evidently a section +of an old telephone pole, was of some ten or twelve inches diameter +and about fifteen feet long. Frank pounced upon it eagerly, and, +supporting most of the weight himself, led the attack on the heavy +oak door with the iron bands. + +No sound from within greeted the thunderous poundings. Clearly, if +Leland was behind that door, he was either dead or unconscious. + +Finally the double lock gave way and Tommy and Frank were precipitated +headlong into the brightly lighted room beyond. Recovering their +balance, they took stock of their surroundings and were amazed at what +they saw--a huge laboratory, fitted out with every modern appliance +that money could buy. A completely equipped machine shop there was; +bench after bench covered with the familiar paraphernalia of the +chemical and physical laboratory; huge retorts and stills; complicated +electrical equipments; dozens of cabinets holding crucibles, flasks, +bottles, glass tubing, and what not. + +"Good Lord!" gasped Tommy. "Here's a laboratory to more than match our +own. Why, Leland's got a fortune invested here!" + +"I should say so. And a lot of stuff that our company does not even +have. Some of it I don't know even the use of. But where is Leland?" + + * * * * * + +There was no sign of the man they had come to help. He was not in the +laboratory, though the door had been locked from within and the lights +left burning throughout. + +With painstaking care they searched every nook and cranny of the large +single room and were about to give up in despair when Tommy happened +to observe an ivory button set into the wall at the only point in the +room where there were no machines or benches at hand. Experimentally +he pressed the button, and, at the answering rumble from under his +feet, jumped back in alarm. Slowly there opened in the paneled oak +wall a rectangular door, a door of large enough size to admit a man. +From the recess beyond there came a breath of air, foul with the +musty odor of decayed vegetation, dank as the air of a tomb. + +"Ah-h-h!" breathed Frank. "So that is where Ed Leland is hiding! The +secret retreat of the gloomy scientist!" + +He spoke half jestingly, yet when he squeezed his stalwart bulk +through the opening and flashed the beam of his light into the +darkness of a narrow passage ahead he was assailed with vague +forebodings. Tommy followed close behind and spoke not a word. + + * * * * * + +The passage floor was thick with dust, but the marks of many footsteps +going and returning gave mute evidence of the frequency of Leland's +visits. The air was heavy and oppressive and the temperature and +humidity increased as they progressed along the winding length of the +rock-walled passageway. The floor sloped, ever downward and, in spots, +was slippery with slimy seepage. It seemed that they turned back on +their course on several occasions but were descending deeper and +deeper into the heart of the mountain. Then, abruptly, the passage +ended at the mouth of a shaft, which dropped vertically from almost +beneath their feet. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Frank. "Another step and I'd have dropped into it. +That's probably what happened to Leland." + +He knelt at the rim of the circular opening and looked into the depths +of the pit, Tommy following suit. The feeble ray of the flashlight was +lost in the blackness below. + +"Say, Frank," whispered Tommy, "turn off the flash. I think I saw a +light down there." + +And, with the snapping of the catch, there came darkness. But, miles +below them, it seemed, there was a tiny pin-point of brilliance--an +eery green light that was like a wavering phosphorescence of +will-o'-the-wisp. For a moment it shone and was gone. Then came the +dreadful vibration they had experienced in the hall of the house--the +whistling scream that grew louder and louder until it seemed they +must be deafened. The penetrating wail rose from the depths of the +pit, and the vibration was all around them, in the damp rock floor on +which they knelt, and in the very air of the cavern. Hastily Frank +snapped on the light of his flash. + +"Oh boy!" he whispered. "Leland is certainly up to something down +there and no mistake! How're we going to get down?" + +"Get down?" asked Tommy. "You don't want to go down there, do you?" + +"Sure thing. We're this far now and, by George, we're going to find +out all there is to learn." + +"How deep do you suppose it is?" + +"Pretty deep, Tommy. But we can get an idea by dropping a stone and +counting the seconds until it strikes." + + * * * * * + +He played the light of the flash over the floor and soon located a +smooth round stone of the size of a baseball. This he tossed over the +rim of the pit and awaited results. + +"Good grief!" exclaimed Tommy. "It's not falling!" + +What he said was true, for the stone poised lightly over the opening +and drifted like a feather. Then slowly it moved, settling gradually +into oblivion. Frank turned the flash downward and they watched in +astonishment as the two-pound pebble floated deliberately down the +center of the shaft at the rate of not more than one foot in each +second. + +"Well, I'll be doggoned," breathed Frank admiringly. "Leland has done +it. He has conquered gravity. For, in that pit at least, there is no +gravity, or at any rate not enough to mention. It has been almost +completely counteracted by some force he has discovered and now we +know how to follow him down there. Come on Tommy, let's go!" + +And, suiting action to his words, Frank jumped into the mouth of the +pit where he bobbed about for a moment as if he had jumped into a +pool of water. Then slowly he sank from view, and Tommy followed him. + + * * * * * + +It was a most unique experience, that drop into the heart of the +mountain. Practically weightless, the two young men found it quite +difficult to negotiate the passage. For the first hundred or more feet +they continued to bump about in the narrow shaft and each sustained +painful bruises before he learned that the best and simplest method of +accommodating himself to the strange condition was to remain +absolutely motionless and allow the greatly weakened gravity to take +its course. Each movement of an arm or leg was accompanied by a change +in direction of movement, and contact with the hard stone walls +followed. If they endeavored to push themselves from the contact the +result was likely to be an even more serious bump on the opposite side +of the shaft. So they continued the leisurely drop into the unknown +depth of the pit. + +Frank had turned off the flashlamp, for its battery was giving out and +he wished to conserve its remaining energy for eventualities. Thus +they were in Stygian darkness for nearly a half-hour, though the green +luminosity far beneath them grew stronger with each passing minute. It +now revealed itself as a clearly defined disc of light that flickered +and sputtered continually, frequently lighting the lower end of the +shaft with an unusual burst of brilliance. Remotely distant it seemed +though, and unconscionably slow in drawing nearer. + +"How far do you think we must drop?" called Tommy to Frank, who was +probably fifty feet below him in the shaft. + +"Well, I figure we have fallen about a thousand feet so far," came the +reply, "and my guess is that we are about one third of the way down." + +"Then this shaft is over a half-mile deep, you think?" + +"Yes, at least a thousand yards, I should say. And I hope his gravity +neutralizing machinery doesn't quit all of a sudden and let us down." + +"Me, too," called Tommy, who had not thought of that possibility. + + * * * * * + +This was no joke, this falling into an unknown region so far beneath +the surface of good old mother earth, thought Tommy. And how they +would ever return was another thing that was not so funny. Frank was +always rushing into things like this without counting the possible +cost and--well--this might be the last time. + +Gradually the mysterious light became stronger and soon they could +make out the conformation of the rock walls they were passing at such +a snail's pace. Layers of vari-colored rock showed here and there, +and, at one point there was a stratum of gold-bearing or mica-filled +rock that glistened with a million reflections and re-reflections. The +air grew warmer and more humid as they neared the mysterious light +source. They moved steadily, without acceleration, and Frank estimated +the rate at about forty feet a minute. Then, with blinding suddenness, +the light was immediately below and they drifted into a tremendous +cavern that was illuminated by its glow. + +Directly beneath the lower end of the shaft through which they had +passed, there was a glowing disc of metal about fifteen feet in +diameter. They drifted to its surface and sprawled awkwardly where +they fell. Scrambling to gain a footing, they bounced and floated +about like toy balloons before realizing that it would be necessary to +creep slowly from the influence of that repelling force which had made +the long drop possible without injury. Gravity met them at the disc's +edge with what seemed to be unusual violence. + + * * * * * + +At first it seemed that their bodies weighed twice the normal amount, +but this feeling soon passed and they looked about them with +incredulous amazement. The metal disc was quite evidently the medium +through which the repelling force was set up in the shaft, and to this +disc was connected a series of heavy cables that led to a pedestal +nearby. On the pedestal was a controlling lever and this moved over a +quadrant that was graduated in degrees, one end of the quadrant being +labeled "Up" and the other "Down." The lever now stood at a point but +a very few degrees from the center or "Zero" mark and on the down +side. Frank pulled this lever over to the full "Down" position and +they found that they could walk over the disc with normal gravity. + +"I suppose," said Frank, "that if the lever is at the other end of the +scale one would fall upward with full gravity acceleration--reversed. +At zero, gravity is exactly neutralized, and the intermediate +positions are useful in conveying materials or human beings up and +down the shaft as desired. Very clever; but what is the reason for it +all?" + +In the precise center of the great cavern there was a dome or +hemisphere of polished metal, and it was from this dome that the eery +light emanated. At times, when the light died down, this dome gleamed +with dull flickerings that threatened to vanish entirely. Then +suddenly it would resume full brilliance, and the sight was marvelous +beyond description. A slight hissing sound came from the direction of +the dome, and this varied in intensity as did the light. + +"Gosh!" said Tommy. "That looks like silver to me. And, if it is, what +a wealthy man our friend Leland has become. He has spent his fortune +well, even if he used it all to get to this." + +"Yes, but where is he?" commented Frank. Then: "Leland! Leland!" he +called. + + * * * * * + +His voice echoed through the huge vault and re-echoed hollowly. But +there was no reply save renewed flickerings from the dome. + +Leaving the vicinity of the gravity disc, the two men advanced in the +direction of the shining dome, which was about a quarter-mile from +where they stood. Both perspired freely, for the air was very close +and the temperature high. But the light of the dome was as cold as the +light of a firefly and they had no hesitancy in drawing near. It was a +beautiful sight, this dome of silver with its flickering lights and +perfect contour. + +"By George, I believe it _is_ silver," exclaimed Frank, when they were +within a few feet of the dome. "No other metal has that precise color. +And look! There is a wheelbarrow and some mining tools. Leland has +been cutting away some of the material." + +Sure enough, there was indisputable evidence of the truth of his +statement. And the material was undoubtedly silver! + +"Silver Dome," breathed Tommy, holding a lump of the metal in his +hand. "A solid dome of pure silver--fifty feet high and a hundred in +diameter. How much does that figure in dollars and cents, Frank?" + +"Maybe it isn't solid," said Frank dryly, "though it's worth a +sizeable fortune even if it is hollow. And we haven't found Leland." + + * * * * * + +They circled the dome twice and looked into every corner of the great +cavern, but there was no sign of the man for whom they searched. The +wheelbarrow was half filled with lumps of the heavy metal, and maul +and drill lay where they had been dropped by the lone miner. A cavity +three feet across, and as many deep, appeared in the side of the dome +to show that considerably more than one wheelbarrow load had been +removed. + +"Funny," grunted Tommy. "Seems almost like the old dome had swallowed +him up." + +At his words there came the terrific vibration. The light of the dome +died out, leaving them in utter darkness, and from its interior there +rose the mounting scream that had frightened old Thomas away. From so +close by it was hideous, devastating; and the two men clung to each +other in fright, expecting momentarily that the earth would give way +beneath their feet and precipitate them into some terrible depth from +which there could be no return. + +Then the sound abruptly ceased and a gleam of light came from under +the dome of silver. A crack appeared between its lower edge and the +rocky floor of the cavern, and through this crack there shone a light +of dazzling brilliancy--a warm light of rosy hue. Wider grew the +opening until there was a full three feet between the floor and the +bottom of the dome. Impelled by some irresistible force from within, +the two men stumbled blindly to the opening, fell to the floor and +rolled inside. + +There was a heavy thud and the dome had returned to its normal +position, with Frank and Tommy prisoners within its spacious hollow. +The warm light bathed them with fearful intensity for a moment, then +faded to a rosy glow that dulled their senses and quieted their +nerves. Morpheus claimed them. + + * * * * * + +When Frank awoke he found himself between silken covers, and for a +moment he gazed thoughtfully at a high arched ceiling that was +entirely unfamiliar. Then, remembering, he sprang from the downy bed +to his feet. The room, the furnishings, his silken robe, everything +was strange. His bed, he saw, was a high one, and the frame was of the +same gleaming silver as the dome under which they had been trapped. +The arched ceiling glowed softly with the same rosy hue as had the +inner surface of the dome. A large pool of water invited him, the +surface of the pool being no more than a foot below the point where it +was built into the tile floor of the room. A large open doorway +connected with a similar adjoining room, where he suspected Tommy had +been taken. On his bare toes, he moved silently to the other room and +saw that his guess had been correct. Tommy lay sleeping quietly +beneath covers as soft as his own and amidst equal luxury of +surroundings. + +"Well," he whispered, "this doesn't look as though we would come to +any harm. And I might as well take a dive in that pool." + +Returning to his own room, he removed the silken garment with which he +had been provided and was quietly immersed in the cool, invigorating +water of the bath. His head cleared instantly. + +"Hi there!" called Tommy from the doorway. "Why didn't you wake me up? +Where are we, anyway?" + +With dripping head and shoulders above the water, Frank was compelled +to laugh at the sleepy-eyed, wondering expression on the blue-jowled +face of his friend. "Thought you were dead to the world," he returned, +"you old sleepy-head. And I don't know where we are, excepting that it +is somewhere under the silver dome. What's more, I don't much care. +You should get into this water. It's great!" + + * * * * * + +So saying, he dived to the bottom of the pool and stood on his hands, +his feet waving ludicrously above the surface. Tommy sniffed once and +then made a quick dash for the pool in his own room. He was not to be +outdone by his more energetic partner. + +A half-hour later, shaved and attired in their own garments, which had +been cleaned and pressed and hung neatly in the closets, they settled +themselves for a discussion of the situation. Having tried the doors +of both rooms and found them locked from the outside, there was no +other course open to them. They must await developments. + +"Looks like Leland has quite an establishment down here inside the +mountain," ventured Tommy. + +"Hm!" snorted Frank, "this place is none of Leland's work. He is +probably a prisoner here, as are we. He just stumbled on to the +silver dome and was captured by whatever race is living down here +beneath it, the same as we were. Who the real inhabitants are, and +what the purpose of all this is, remains to be seen." + +"You think we are in friendly hands?" + +"These quarters do not look much like prison cells, Tommy, but I must +admit that we are locked in. Anyhow, I'm not worrying, and we will +soon learn our fate and have to be ready to meet it. The people who +own this place must have everything they want, and they sure have some +scientific knowledge that is not known to us on the surface." + +"Wonder if they are humans?" + +"Certainly they are. You never heard of wild beasts sleeping in beds +like these, did you?" + + * * * * * + +Tommy laughed at he examined the exquisite hand-wrought figures on the +silver bedstead. "No, I didn't," he admitted; "but where on earth did +they come from, and what are they doing here?" + +"You ask too many questions," replied Frank, shrugging his broad +shoulders. "We must simply wait for the answers to reveal themselves." + +There was a soft rap at the door of Frank's room, where the two men +were talking. + +"Come in," called Frank, chuckling at the idea of such consideration +from their captors. + +A key rattled in the lock and the door swung open to admit the +handsomest man they had ever set eyes on. He was taller than Frank by +several inches, standing no less than six feet five in his thin-soled +sandals, and he carried himself with the air for an emperor. His +marble-white body was uncovered with the exception of a loin cloth of +silver hue, and lithe muscles rippled beneath his smooth skin as he +advanced to meet the prisoners. His head, surmounted by curly hair of +ebon darkness, was large, and his forehead high. The features were +classic and perfectly regular. The corners of his mouth drew upward in +a benign smile. + +"Greetings," he said, in perfect English and in a soft voice, "to the +domain of Theros. You need fear no harm from our people and will be +returned to the upper world when the time comes. We hope to make your +stay with us enjoyable and instructive, and that you will carry back +kind memories of us. The morning meal awaits you now." + + * * * * * + +So taken aback were the two young Americans that they stared foolishly +agape for a space. Then a tinkling laugh from the tall stranger set +them once more at ease. + +"You will pardon us, I hope," apologized Frank, "but this is all so +unexpected and so unbelievable that your words struck me speechless. +And I know that my friend was similarly affected--We place ourselves +in your hands." + +The handsome giant nodded understanding. "No offense was taken," he +murmured, "since none was intended. And your feelings are not to be +wondered at. You may call me Orrin." + +He turned toward the open door and signified that they were to follow +him. They fell in at his side with alacrity, both suddenly realizing +that they were very hungry. + +They followed in silent wonderment as Orrin led the way to a broad +balcony that overlooked a great underground city--a city lighted by the +soft glow from some vast lighting system incorporated in its vaulted +ceiling high overhead. The balcony was many levels above the streets, +which were alive with active beings of similar appearance to Orrin, +these speeding hither and yon by means of the many lanes of traveling +ways of which the streets were composed. The buildings--endless rows of +them lining the orderly streets--were octagonal in shape and rose to +the height of about twenty stories, as nearly as could be judged by +earthly standards. There were no windows, but at about every fifth floor +there was an outer silver-railed balcony similar to the one on which +they walked. The air was filled with bowl-shaped flying ships that sped +over the roof tops in endless procession and without visible means of +support or propulsion. Yet the general effect of the busy scene was one +of precise orderliness, unmarred by confusion or distracting noises. + + * * * * * + +Orrin vouchsafed no explanations and they soon reentered the large +building of which the balcony was a part. Here they were conducted to +a sumptuously furnished dining room where their breakfast awaited +them. + +During the meal, which consisted of several courses of fruits and +cereals entirely strange to Frank and Tommy, they were tended by Orrin +with the utmost deference and most painstaking attention. He +anticipated their every want and their thoughts as well. For, when +Frank endeavored to ask one of the many questions with which his mind +was filled, he was interrupted by a wave of the hand and a smile from +their placid host. + +"It is quite clear to me that you have many questions to propound," +said Orrin, "and this is not a matter of wonder. But it is not +permitted that I enlighten you on the points you have in mind. You +must first finish your meal. Then it is to be my privilege to conduct +you to the presence of Phaestra, Empress of Theros, who will reveal +all. May I ask that you be patient until then?" + +So friendly was his smile and so polished his manner that they +restrained their impatience and finished the excellent breakfast in +polite silence. + +And Orrin was as good as his word, for, no sooner had they finished +when he led them from the room and showed the way to the elevator +which conveyed them to the upper floor of the building. + +From the silver-grilled cage of the lift they stepped into a room of +such beauty and magnificence of decoration that they gazed about them +in wondering admiration. The paneling and mouldings were of hammered +silver that gleamed with polished splendor in the soft rose glow of +the hidden lights. The hangings were of heavy plush of deep green hue +and bore intricate designs of silver thread woven into the material. +At the opposite side of the room there was a pair of huge double doors +of chased silver and on either side of this pretentious portal there +stood an attendant attired as was Orrin, but bearing a silver scepter +to denote his official capacity. + +"Phaestra awaits the visitors from above," intoned one of the +attendants. Both bowed stiffly from the waist when Orrin led the two +young scientists through the great doors which had opened silently and +majestically at their approach. + + * * * * * + +If the outer room was astonishing in its sumptuousness of decoration +and furnishing, the one they now entered was positively breath-taking. +On every side there were the exquisite green and silver hangings. +Tables, divans, and rugs of priceless design and workmanship. But the +beauty of the surroundings faded into insignificance when they saw the +empress. + +A canopied dais in the center of the room drew their attention and +they saw that Phaestra had risen from her seat in a deeply cushioned +divan and now stood at its side in an attitude of welcome. Nearly as +tall as Frank, she was a figure of commanding and imperious beauty. +The whiteness of her body was accentuated by the silver embroidered +and tightly fitted black vestments that covered yet did not conceal +its charms. A halo of glorious golden hair surmounted a head that was +poised expectantly alert above the perfectly rounded shoulders. The +exquisite oval of her face was chiseled in features of transcendent +loveliness. She spoke, and, at sound of her musical voice, Frank and +Tommy were enslaved. + + * * * * * + +"Gentlemen of the upper world," she said gently, "you are welcome to +Theros. Your innermost thoughts have been recorded by our scientists +and found good. With a definite purpose in mind, you learned of the +existence of the silver dome of Theros, yet you came without greed or +malice and we have taken you in to enlighten you on the many questions +that are in your minds and to return you to mankind with a knowledge +of Theros--which you must keep secret. You are about to delve into a +mystery of the ages; to see and learn many things that are beyond the +ken of your kind. It is a privilege never before accorded to beings +from above." + +"We thank you, oh, Queen," spoke Frank humbly, his eyes rivetted to +the gaze of those violet orbs that seemed to see into his very soul. +Tommy mumbled some commonplace. + +"Orrin--the sphere!" Phaestra, slightly embarrassed by Frank's stare, +clapped her hands. + +At her command, Orrin, who had stood quietly by, stepped to the wall +and manipulated some mechanism that was hidden by the hangings. There +was a musical purr from beneath the floor, and, through a circular +opening which appeared as if by magic, there rose a crystal sphere of +some four feet in diameter. Slowly it rose until it reached the level +of their eyes and there it came to rest. The empress raised her hands +as if in invocation and the soft glow of the lights died down, leaving +them in momentary darkness. There came a slight murmur from the +sphere, and it lighted with the eery green flickerings they had +observed in the dome of silver. + + * * * * * + +Fascinated by the weaving lights within, they gazed into the depths of +the crystal with awed expectancy. Phaestra spoke. + +"Men from the surface," she said, "you, Frank Rowley, and you, Arnold +Thompson, are about to witness the powers of that hemisphere of metal +you were pleased to term 'Silver Dome.' As you rightly surmised, the +dome is of silver--mostly. There are small percentages of platinum, +iridium, and other elements, but it is more than nine-tenths pure +silver. To you of the surface the alloy is highly valuable for its +intrinsic worth by your own standards, but to us the value of the dome +lies in its function in revealing to us the past and present events of +our universe. The dome is the 'eye' of a complicated apparatus which +enables us to see and hear any desired happening on the surface of the +earth, beneath its surface, or on the many inhabited planets of the +heavens. This is accomplished by means of extremely complex vibrations +radiated from the hemisphere, these vibrations penetrating earth, +metals, buildings, space itself, and returning to our viewing and +sound reproducing spheres to reveal the desired past or present +occurrences at the point at which the rays of vibrations are directed. + + * * * * * + +"In order to view the past on our own planet, the rays, which travel +at the speed of light, are sent out in a huge circle through space, +returning to earth after having spent the requisite number of years in +transit. Instantaneous effect is secured by a connecting beam that +ties together the ends of the enormous arc. This, of course, is beyond +your comprehension, since the Ninth Dimension is involved. When it is +desired that events of the present be observed, the rays are projected +direct. The future can not be viewed, since, in order to accomplish +this, it would be necessary that the rays travel at a speed greater +than that of light, which is manifestly impossible." + +"Great guns!" gasped Frank. "This crystal sphere then, is capable of +bringing to our eyes and ears the happenings of centuries past?" + +"It is, my dear Frank," said Phaestra, "and I would that I were able +to describe the process more clearly." She smiled, and in the +unearthly light of the sphere she appeared more beautiful than before, +if such a thing were possible. + +On the pedestal which supported the sphere there was a glittering +array of dials and levers. Several of these controls were now adjusted +by Phaestra, the delicate motions of her tapered fingers being watched +by the visitors with intense admiration. There came a change in the +note of the sphere, a steadying of the flickerings within. + +"Behold!" exclaimed Phaestra. + + * * * * * + +They gazed into the depths of the sphere and lost all sense of +detachment from the scene depicted therein. It seemed they were at a +point several thousand miles from the surface of a planet. A great +continent spread beneath them, its irregular shore line being clearly +outlined against a large body of water. Here and there the surface was +obscured by great white patches of clouds that cast their shadows +below. + +"Atlantis!" breathed Phaestra reverently. + +The lost continent of mythology! The fabled body of land that was +engulfed by the Atlantic thousands of years ago--a fact! + +Tommy glanced at Frank, noting that he had withdrawn his gaze from the +sphere and was devouring Phaestra with his eyes. As if drawn by the +ardor of his observation, she raised her own eyes from the sphere to +meet those of the handsome visitor. Obviously confused, she dropped +her long lashes and turned nervously to the controls. Tommy +experienced a sudden feeling of dread. Surely his pal was not falling +in love with this Theronian empress! + +Then there came another change in the note of the sphere and once more +they lost themselves in contemplation of the scene within. The surface +of the lost continent was rushing madly to meet them. With terrific +velocity they seemed to be falling. An involuntary gasp was forced +from Tommy's lips. Mountains, valleys, rivers could now be discerned. + + * * * * * + +Then the scene shifted slightly and they were stationary, directly +above a large seacoast city. A city of great beauty it was, and its +buildings were of the same octagonal shape as were those of Theros! +There could be but one inference--the Theronians were direct +descendants of those inhabitants of ancient Atlantis. + +"Yes," sighed Phaestra, in answer to the thought she had read, "our +ancestors were those you now see in the streets of this city of +Atlantis. A marvelous race they were, too. When the rest of the world +was still savage and unenlightened, they knew more of the arts and +sciences than is known on the surface to-day. The mysteries of the +Fourth Dimension they had already solved. Their telescopes were of +such power that they knew of the existence of intelligent beings on +Mars and Venus. They had conquered the air. They knew of the relation +between gravity and magnetism but recently propounded by your +Einstein. They were prosperous, happy. Then--but watch!" + +Faint sounds of the life of the city came to their ears. A swarm of +monoplanes roared past just beneath them. The streets were crowded +with rapidly moving vehicles, the roof-tops with air-craft. Then +suddenly the scene darkened; a deep rumbling came from the sea. As +they watched in fascinated wonder, a great chasm opened up through the +heart of the city. Tall buildings swayed and crumbled, falling into +heaps of twisted metal and crushed masonry and burying hundreds of the +populace in their fall. The confusion was indescribable, the uproar +terrific, and within the space of a very few minutes the entire city +was a mass of ruins, fully half of the wrecked area having been +swallowed up by the heaving waters of the ocean. + + * * * * * + +Phaestra stifled a sob. "Thus it began," she stated. "Trovus was +first--the city you just saw--then came three more of the cities of +the western coast in rapid succession. Computations of the scientists +showed that the upheaval was widespread and that the entire continent +was to be engulfed in a very short time. The exodus began, but it was +too late, and only a few hundred people were able to escape the +continent before it was finally destroyed. The ocean became the tomb +of two hundred millions. The handful of survivors reached the coast of +what is now North America. But the rigors of the climate proved severe +and more than three-quarters of them perished within a few days after +their planes landed. Then the rest took to the caves along the shore, +and for a while were safe." + +She manipulated the controls once more and there was a quick shift to +another coast, a rugged, wave-beaten shore. Closer they drew until +they observed a lofty palisade that extended for miles along the +barren waterfront. They saw a fire atop this elevation and active men +and women at various tasks within the narrow circle of its warmth. A +cave mouth opened at the brink of the precipice near the spot they +occupied. + +Then came a repetition of the upheaval at Trovus. The ocean rushed in +and beat against the cliff with such ferocity that its spray was +tossed hundreds of feet in the air. The earth shook and the group of +people around the fire made a hasty retreat to the mouth of the cave. +The sky darkened and the winds howled with demoniac fury. Quake after +quake rent the rugged cliffs: huge sections toppled into the angry +waters. Then a great tidal wave swept in and covered everything, +cliffs, cave mouths and all. Nought remained where they had been but +the seething waters. + + * * * * * + +"But some escaped!" exulted Phaestra, "and these discovered Theros. +Though many miles of the eastern seaboard of your United States were +submerged and the coastline entirely altered, these few were saved. +Their cave connected with a long passage, a tunnel that led into the +bowels of the earth. With the outer entrance blocked by the upheaval +they had no alternative save to continue downward." + +"They traveled for days and days. Some were overcome by hunger and +fell by the wayside. The most hardy survived to reach Theros, a series +of enormous caverns that extends for hundreds of miles under the +surface of your country. Here they found subterranean lakes of pure +water; forests, game. They had a few tools and weapons and they +established themselves in this underground world. From that small +beginning came this!" + +Phaestra's slim fingers worked rapidly at the controls. The scenes +shifted in quick succession. They were once more in the present, and +seemed to be traveling speedily through the underground reaches of +Theros. Now they were racing through a long lighted passage; now over +a great city similar to the one in which they had arrived. Here they +visited a huge workshop or laboratory; there a mine where radium or +cobalt or platinum was being wrested from the vitals of the unwilling +earth. Then they visited a typical Theronian household, saw the +perfect peace and happiness in which the family lived. Again they were +in a large power plant where direct application of the internal heat +of the earth as obtained through deep shafts bored into the interior +was utilized in generating electricity. + +They saw vast quantities of supplies, fifty-ton masses of machinery, +moved from place to place as lightly as feathers by use of the gravity +discs, those heavily charged plates whose emanations counteracted the +earth's attraction. In one busy laboratory they saw an immense +television apparatus and heard scientists discussing moot questions +with inhabitants of Venus, whose images were depicted on the screen. +They witnessed a severe electrical storm in the huge cavern arch over +one of the cities, a storm that condensed moisture from the +artificially oxygenated and humidified atmosphere in such blinding +sheets as to easily explain the necessity for well-roofed buildings in +the underground realm. And, in all the speech and activities of the +Theronians, there was evident that all-pervading feeling of absolute +contentment and freedom from care. + +"What I can not understand," said Frank, during a quiet interval, "is +why the Theronians have never migrated to the surface. Surely, with +all your command of science and mechanics, that would be easy." + +"Why? Why?" Phaestra's voice spoke volumes. "Here--I'll show you the +reason." + + * * * * * + +And again the scene in the sphere changed. They were on the surface +and a few years in the past--at Chateau Thierry. They saw their fellow +men mangled and broken; saw human beings shot down by hundreds in +withering bursts of machine-gun fire; saw them in hand-to-hand bayonet +fights; gassed and in delirium from the horror of it all. + +They traveled over the ocean; saw a big passenger liner the victim of +torpedo fire; saw babies tossed into the water by distracted mothers +who jumped in after them to join them in death. + +A few years were passed by and they saw gang wars in Chicago and New +York; saw militia and picketing strikers in mortal combat; saw wealthy +brokers and bank presidents turn pistols on themselves following a +crash in the stock market; government officials serving penitentiary +terms for betrayal of the people's trust; opium dens, speakeasies, sex +crimes. It was a fearful indictment. + +"Ah, no," said Phaestra kindly, "the surface world has not yet emerged +from savagery. We should be unwelcome were we to venture outside. And +now we come to the reason for your visit. You come in search of one +Edwin Leland, a fellow worker at one time. Your motives are above +reproach. But Leland came as a greedy searcher of riches. We brought +him within to teach him the error of his ways and to beg him to desist +from his efforts at destroying the dome of silver. He alone knew the +secret." + +"Then you followed him and we took you in for similar reasons, though +our scientists found very quickly that your mental reactions were of +entirely different type from Leland's and that the secret would be +safe in your keeping. Leland remains obdurate. He threatens us with +physical violence, and his reactions to the thought-reading machines +are of the most treacherous sort. We must keep him with us. He shall +remain unharmed, but he must not be allowed to return. That is the +story. You two are free to leave when you choose. I ask not that you +give your word to keep the secret of 'Silver Dome.' I know it is not +necessary." + + * * * * * + +The lights had resumed their normal glow, and the marvelous sphere +returned to its receptacle beneath the floor. Phaestra resumed her +seat on the canopied divan. Frank dropped to a seat on the edge of the +dais. Tommy and Orrin remained standing, Tommy lost in thought and +Orrin stolidly mute. The empress avoided Frank's gaze studiously. Her +cheeks were flushed; her eyes bright with emotion. + +Frank was first to break the silence. "Leland is in solitary +confinement?" he asked. + +"For the present he is under guard," replied Phaestra. "He was quite +violent and it was necessary to disarm him after he had killed one of +my attendants with a shot from his automatic pistol. When he agrees to +submit peacefully, he shall be given the freedom of Theros for the +remainder of his life." + +"Perhaps," suggested Frank, "if I spoke to him...." + +"The very thing." Phaestra thanked him with her wondrous eyes. + +A high pitched note rang out from behind the hangings, and, in rapid +syllables of the language of Theros, a voice broke forth from the +concealed amplifiers. Orrin, startled from his stoicism, sprang to the +side of his empress. She rose from her seat as the voice completed its +excited message. + +"It is Leland," she said calmly. "He has escaped and recovered his +pistol. I have been told that he is now at large in the palace, +terrorizing the household. We have no weapons here, you see." + +"Good God!" shouted Frank. "Suppose he should come here?" + + * * * * * + +He jumped to his feet just as a shot rang out in the antechamber. +Orrin dashed to the portal when a second shot spat forth from the +automatic which must certainly be in the hands of a madman. The doors +swung wide and Leland, hair disarranged and bloodshot eyes staring, +burst into the room. Orrin went down at the next shot and the hardly +recognizable scientist advanced toward the dais. + +When he saw Frank and Tommy he stopped in his tracks. "So you two have +been following me!" he snarled. "Well, you won't keep me from my +purpose. I'm here to kill this queen of hell!" + +Once more he raised his automatic, but Frank had been watching closely +and he literally dove from the steps of the dais to the knees of the +deranged Leland. As beautiful a tackle as he had ever made in his +college football days laid the maniac low with a crashing thud that +told of a fractured skull. The bullet intended for Phaestra went wide, +striking Tommy in the shoulder. + +Spun half way around by the impact of the heavy bullet, Tommy fought +to retain his balance. But his knees went suddenly awry and gave way +beneath him. He crumpled helplessly to the floor, staring foolishly at +the prostrate figure of Leland and at Frank, who had risen to his feet +and now faced the beautiful empress of Theros. Strange lights danced +before Tommy's eyes, and he found it difficult to keep the pair in +focus. But he was sure of one thing--his pal was unharmed. Then the +two figures seemed to merge into one and he blinked his eyes rapidly +to clear his failing vision. By George, they were in each other's +arms! Funny world--above or below--it didn't seem to make any +difference. But it was a tough break for Frank--morganatic marriage +and all that. No chance--well-- + +Tommy succumbed to his overpowering drowsiness. + + * * * * * + +The awakening was slow, but not painful. Rather there was a feeling of +utter contentment, of joy at being alive. A delicious languor pervaded +Tommy's being as he turned his head on a snow white silken pillow and +stared at the figure of the white-capped nurse who was fussing with +the bottles and instruments that lay on an enameled table beside the +bed. Memory came to him immediately. He felt remarkably well and +refreshed. Experimentally he moved his left shoulder. There was +absolutely no pain and it felt perfectly normal. He sat erect in his +surprise and felt the shoulder with his right hand. There was no +bandage, no wound. Had he dreamed of the hammer blow of that +forty-five caliber bullet? + +His nurse, observing that her patient had recovered consciousness, +broke forth in a torrent of unintelligible Theronian, then rushed from +the room. + +He was still examining his unscarred shoulder in wonder, when the +nurse returned, with Frank Rowley at her heels. Frank laughed at the +expression of his friend's face. + +"What's wrong, old-timer?" he asked. + +"Why--I--thought that fool of a Leland had shot me in the shoulder," +stammered Tommy, "but I guess I dreamed it. Where are we? Still in +Theros?" + +"We are." Frank sobered instantly, and Tommy noted with alarm that his +usually cheerful features were haggard and drawn and his eyes hollow +from loss of sleep. "And you didn't dream that Leland shot you. That +shoulder of yours was mangled and torn beyond belief. He was using +soft nosed bullets, the hell-hound!" + +"Then how--?" + + * * * * * + +"Tommy, these Theronians are marvelous. We rushed you to this hospital +and a half-dozen doctors started working on you at once. They repaired +the shattered bones by an instantaneous grafting process, tied the +severed veins and arteries and closed the gaping wound by filling it +with a plastic compound and drawing the edges together with clamps. +You were anaesthetized and some ray machine was used to heal the +shoulder. This required but ten hours and they now say that your arm +is as good as ever. How does it feel?" + +"Perfectly natural. In fact I feel better than I have in a month." +Tommy observed that the nurse had left the room and he jumped from his +bed and capered like a school boy. + +This drew no sign of merriment from Frank, and Tommy scrutinized him +once more in consternation. "And you," he said, "what is wrong with +you?" + +"Don't worry about me," replied Frank impatiently. Then, irrelevantly, +he said "Leland's dead." + +"Should be. I knew we shouldn't have started out to help him. But, +Frank, I'm concerned about you. You look badly." Tommy was getting +into his clothes as he spoke. + +"Forget it, Tommy. You've been sleeping for two days, you know--part +of the cure--and I haven't had much rest during that time. That is +all." + +"It's that Phaestra woman," Tommy accused him. + +"Well, perhaps. But I'll get over it, I suppose. Tommy, I love her. +But there's no chance for me. Haven't seen her since the row in the +palace. Her council surrounds her continually and I have been advised +to-day that we are to be returned as quickly as you are up and around. +That means immediately now." + +"Good. The sooner the better. And you just forget about this queen as +soon as you are able. She's a peach, of course, but not for you. +There's lots more back in little old New York." But Frank had no reply +to this sally. + + * * * * * + +There came a knock at the door and Tommy called, "Come in." + +"I see you have fully recovered," said the smiling Theronian who +entered at the bidding, "and we are overjoyed to know this. You have +the gratitude of the entire realm for your part in the saving of our +empress from the bullets of the madman." + +"I?" + +"Yes. You and your friend. And now, may I ask, are you ready to return +to your own land?" + +Tommy stared. "Sure thing," he said, "or rather, I will be in a few +minutes." + +"Thank you. We shall await you in the transmitting room." The +Theronian bowed and was gone. + +"Well, I like that," said Tommy. "He hands me an undeserved compliment +and then asks how soon we can beat it. A 'here's your hat, what's your +hurry' sort of thing." + +"It's me they're anxious to be rid of," remarked Frank, shrugging his +broad shoulders, "and perhaps it is just as well." + +"You bet it is!" agreed Tommy enthusiastically, "and I'm in favor of +making it good and snappy." He completed his toilet as rapidly as +possible and then turned to face the down-hearted Frank. + +"How do we go? The way we came?" he asked. + + * * * * * + +"No, Tommy. They have closed off the shaft that led from the cavern of +the silver dome. They are taking no more chances. It seems that the +shaft down which we floated was constructed by the Theronians; not by +Leland. They had used it and the gravity disc to transport casual +visitors to the surface, who occasionally mixed with our people in +order to learn the languages of the upper world and to actually touch +and handle the things they were otherwise able to see only through the +medium of Silver Dome and the crystal spheres. Further visits to the +surface are now forbidden, and we are to be returned by a remarkable +process of beam transmission of our disintegrated bodies." + +"Disintegrated?" + +"Yes. It seems they have learned to dissociate the atoms of which the +human body is composed and to transmit them to any desired point over +a beam of etheric vibrations, then to reassemble them in the original +living condition." + +"What? You mean to say we are to be shot to the surface through the +intervening rock and earth? Disintegrated and reintegrated? And we'll +not even be bent, let alone busted?" + + * * * * * + +This time he was rewarded by a laugh. "That's right. And I have gone +through the calculations with one of the Theronian engineers and can +find no flaw in the scheme. We're safe in their hands." + +"If you say so, Frank, it's okay with me. Let's go!" + +Reluctantly his friend lifted his athletic bulk from the chair. In +silence he led the way to the transmitting room of the Theronian +scientists. + +Here they were greeted by two savants with whom Frank was already +acquainted, Clarux and Rhonus by name. A bewildering array of complex +mechanisms was crowded into the high-ceilinged chamber and, prominent +among them, was one of the crystal spheres, this one of somewhat +smaller size than the one in the palace of Phaestra. + +"Where do you wish to arrive?" asked Clarux. + +"As near to my automobile as possible," replied Frank, taking sudden +interest in the proceedings. "It is parked in the lane between +Leland's house and the road." + +Tommy looked quickly in his direction, encouraged by the apparent +change in his attitude. The scientists proceeded to energize the +crystal sphere. They were bent upon speeding the parting guests. Their +beloved empress was to be saved from her own emotions. + +Quick adjustments of the controls resulted in the locating of Frank's +car, which was still buried to its axles in snow. The scene included +Leland's house, or rather its site, for it appeared to have been +utterly demolished by some explosion within. + + * * * * * + +Tommy raised questioning eyebrows. + +"It was necessary," explained Rhonus, "to destroy the house in +obliterating all traces of our former means of egress. It has been +commanded that you two be returned safely, and we are authorized to +trust implicitly in your future silence regarding the existence of +Theros. This is satisfactory, I presume?" + +Both Tommy and Frank nodded agreement. + +"Are you ready, gentlemen?" asked Clarux, who was adjusting a +mechanism that resembled a huge radio transmitter. Its twelve giant +vacuum tubes glowed into life as he spoke. + +"We are," chimed the two visitors. + +They were requested to step to a small circular platform that was +raised about a foot from the floor by means of insulating legs. Above +the table there was an inverted bowl of silver in the shape of a large +parabolic reflector. + +"There will be no alarming sensations," averred Clarux. "When I close +the switch the disintegrating energy from the reflector above will +bathe your bodies for a moment in visible rays of a deep purple hue. +You may possibly experience a slight momentary feeling of nausea. +Then--presto!--you have arrived." + +"Shoot!" growled Frank from his position on the stand. + +Clarux pulled the switch and there was a murmur as of distant thunder. +Tommy blinked involuntarily in the brilliant purple glow that +surrounded him. Then all was confusion in the transmitting room. +Somebody had rushed through the open door shouting, "Frank! Frank!" It +was the empress Phaestra. + + * * * * * + +In a growing daze Tommy saw her dash to the platform, seize Frank in a +clutch of desperation. There was a violent wrench as if some monster +were twisting at his vitals. He closed his eyes against the blinding +light, then realized that utter silence had followed the erstwhile +confusion. He sat in Frank's car--alone. + +The journey was over, and Frank was left behind. With awful finality +it came to him that there was nothing he could do. It was clear that +Phaestra had wanted his pal, needed him--come for him. From the fact +that Frank remained behind it was evident that she had succeeded in +retaining him. A sickening fear came to Tommy that she had been too +late; that Frank's body was already partly disintegrated and that he +might have paid the price of her love with his life. But a little +reflection convinced him that if this were the case a portion of his +friend's body would have reached the intended destination. Then, +unexplainably, he received a mental message that all was well. + + * * * * * + +Considerably heartened, he pressed the starter button and the cold +motor of Frank's coupe turned over slowly, protestingly. Finally it +coughed a few times, and, after considerable coaxing by use of the +choke, ran smoothly. He proceeded to back carefully through the drifts +toward the road, casting an occasional regretful glance in the +direction of the demolished mansion. + +He would have some explaining to do when he returned to New York. +Perhaps--yes, almost certainly, he would be questioned by the police +regarding Frank's disappearance. But he would never betray the trust +of Phaestra. Who indeed would believe him if he told the story? +Instead, he would concoct a weird fabrication regarding an explosion +in Leland's laboratory, of his own miraculous escape. They could not +hold him, could not accuse him of murder without producing a body--the +_corpus delicti_, or whatever they called it. + +Anyway, Frank was content. So was Phaestra. + +Tommy swung the heavy car into the road and turned toward New York, +alone and lonely--but somehow happy; happy for his friend. + +[Advertisement: ASTOUNDING STORIES + +_Appears on Newsstands_ + +THE FIRST THURSDAY IN EACH MONTH] + + + + +Earth, the Marauder + +PART TWO OF A THREE-PART NOVEL + +_By Arthur J. Burks_ + +[Illustration: Closer and closer they came.] + +[Sidenote: Deep in the gnome-infested tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and +Jaska are brought to Luar, the radiant goddess against whose minions +the marauding Earth had struck in vain.] + + +WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE + +The Earth was dying. Ever since Sarka the First, king of scientists, +had given mankind the Secret of Life, which prolonged life +indefinitely, the Earthlings had multiplied beyond all count, and been +forced to burrow deep into the ground and high into the air in the +desperate search for the mere room in which to live. There was much +civil war. The plight of the children of men was desperate. Something +had to be done. + +[Illustration] + +Then Sarka the Third called the Spokesmen of the Gens of Earth around +him, and proposed to them a new scheme which had come to him in his +laboratory atop the Himalayas. He would swing the Earth from its +orbit!--send it careening through space toward the Moon!--there to +destroy its inhabitants and supplant them with a colony of Earthlings! +And then they would surge on to Mars! + +One by one the twelve Spokesmen, each the head and representative of +the teeming trillions comprising his Gens, acceded. Even Dalis, the +jealous rival of Sarka, finally gave his sulky consent. + +So, under Sarka's commands, the Earth's hordes were mobilized; and in +tune with the Master Beryl in Sarka's laboratory all the Beryls of the +Earth vibrated, freeing the Earth from her age-old orbit and swinging +her out towards the Moon. + +The Gens of Dalis--the trillions of people who swore allegiance to +him--would lead the attack on the Moon. When within fifty thousand +miles, they darted out, clad only in their tight green clothing and +the helmets that held the anti-gravitational ovoids, which +neutralized gravity for them and enabled them to instantly fly where +they willed. Their only weapons were hand atom-disintegrators. And out +from the Moon came mysterious aircars, with long clutching +tentacles--the weapons of the Moon's minions! The war of the worlds +was begun! + +Yet Dalis, leader of the Gens that now engaged the Moon's aircars, was +still in the laboratory with Sarka. For Dalis' treacherous mind +coveted control of the Earth, and though the urge to lead his Gens +into battle was tremendous, still he stayed, watching Sarka closely, +waiting for the moment when he could trick Sarka and assume control. + +And at the head of the Gens of Dalis was a woman, Jaska, whom Sarka +loved. The Moon's aircars swept away the Gens of Dalis, and out from +Earth poured the Gens of Cleric, who was Jaska's father. The newcomers +fought desperately to save Jaska from the deadly clutches of the +aircars. + +Dalis could stand it no longer. He sped forth from the laboratory, to +reorganize his beaten Gens. Jaska flew for home; but behind her a +single aircar, splashed with crimson, reached forth its tentacles to +clutch her--and Sarka groaned with the agony of his impotence to help +the woman he loved. + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Escape--and Dalis' Laughter_ + +But Sarka was not to be so easily beaten. There still remained an +infinite number of possible changes of speed by manipulation of ovidum +by vibration set up by the Beryls, without which this flight from the +beginning would have been impossible. But for two hours, while the +white robed men of Cleric fought against the car of the crimson +splashes to prevent the capture of the daughter of their +Spokesman--and died by hundreds in the grip of those grim +tentacles--Sarka was forced to labor with the Beryls until +perspiration bathed his whole body and his heart was heavy as he +foresaw failure. And failure meant death or worse for Jaska. + +But at the end of two hours, while the men of Cleric fought like men +inspired against the aircar of the crimson slashes, a cessation in the +outward speed of the earth could be noted. At the end of three hours +the body of Jaska, all this time fighting manfully to attain to +landing place on the Earth, was at last bulking larger; but the +tentacles of the aircar were groping after her, reaching for her, +striving to catch and clasp her to her death. + +The two Sarkas watched and prayed while the might of the Beryls, +traveling at top speed, fought against the force of whatever was used +by the Moon-men to compel the Moon to withdraw. Still the men of +Cleric fought that single car, and died by hundreds in the fighting. +White robed figures which became shriveled and black in the grip of +those tentacles. + + * * * * * + +Countless of the men of Cleric deliberately cast themselves against +those tentacles, throwing their lives away to give Jaska more leeway +in her race for life. + +"Will she make it, father?" queried Sarka in a whisper. + +"If the courage and loyalty of her people stand for anything, she will +make it," he replied. + +On she came at top speed, and now through the micro-telescopes the +Sarkas could see the agony of effort on her face, even through the +smooth mask used by the people of Earth for flight in space where +there was no atmosphere. Courage was there, and the will of +never-say-die; and Jaska, moreover, was coming back to the man she +loved. In a nebulous sort of way Sarka realized this, for though these +two had not mated there was a resonant inner sympathy between them +which had rounded into an emotion of overpowering force since Jaska +had proved to Sarka that she was to be trusted--that he had been +something less than a faithful lover when he had mistrusted her, ever +so little. + +Closer now and closer, and at last the aircar of the crimson splashes +was drawing away, losing in the race for life. It was falling back, as +though minded to turn about and race back for the Moon, now a ball in +the sky, far away, the outlines of its craters growing dim and misty +with distance. Now the men of Cleric, those who remained, were +breaking contact with the aircar, and forming a valiant rear-guard for +the retreat of Jaska. + + * * * * * + +Throughout the Earth, as the Beryls fought with ever increasing speed +to lower the rate of the earth's outward race from the Moon, was such +a trembling, such a vibration induced by conflicting, alien forces as +there had not been even in that moment when back there in its orbit, +the Earth could have either been kept within its orbit, or hurled +outward into space at the touch of a finger. + +Now Jaska, surrounded by her father's men, was almost close enough to +touch the Earth. + +She made it, weak and weary, and rested for a moment while her +father's men steadied her. Then, thrusting them aside, with gestures +bidding them return to their Gens, she lifted into the air again, and +fled straight for the laboratory of Sarka. + +She entered tiredly through the exit dome, and all but collapsed into the +arms of Sarka. Gently he removed her helmet of the anti-gravitational +ovoid, noting as she leaned against him the tumultuous beating of her +heart. Then her gentle eyes opened and she whispered to Sarka. + +"You trust me now?" + +For answer he bent and kissed her softly on the lips--for the kiss, +from the far distant time when the first baby was kissed by the first +mother, had been the favored caress of mankind. Her face was +transfigured as she read his answer in his eyes, and the touch of his +lips. Then, remembering, fear flashed across her face. She +straightened, and grasping Sarka by the hand, hurried with him into +the observatory. + + * * * * * + +She took the seat in which Dalis had sat before he had gone out to the +command of his Gens, studied for many minutes the battle in space +between the two alien worlds. + +"Dalis is winning," said the Elder Sarka quietly, "apparently!" + +"The qualification is a just one," said Jaska softly. "'Apparently,' +indeed! You will note now that, though men of the Gens of Dalis swarm +all about the aircars, and even clamber atop them, no more are dying +in the grasp of those tentacles? Is Dalis arranging a treacherous +truce with the Moon-men?" + +"I have been wondering about that," said Sarka softly, "for it is my +belief that nothing not conducive to his own selfish interests would +have forced Dalis to leave this place and take command of his Gens, as +I had first ordered, unless he had schemes planned of which father and +I could know nothing. Now that I think of it, Jaska, how did Dalis +know our secret code of fingers?" + +Jaska started, and turned a blanched face to Sarka. + +"_Did_ he know?" she cried. "Did he? If he did that proves a suspicion +that I have entertained since the first moment when Dalis swept into +the fight, and I sensed that alien signals were being flashed back and +forth!" + +"Flashed back and forth!" ejaculated Sarka. "How do you mean? That +Dalis was somehow able to communicate with the Moon-men in their own +language, or through their own signals?" + + * * * * * + +"Why not? He knew our secret code, did he not? I never gave it to him, +and I know that you did not. No, Dalis has some means, never +discovered or suspected by you Sarkas, whereby he is able to +understand alien tongues and alien sign manuals!" + +"That means," said Sarka the Elder in a dead voice, "that by forcing +Dalis to go out at the head of his Gens...." + +"We have," interrupted Sarka the Younger, "placed a new weapon of +treason in his hands! Dalis, at the very moment of contact with the +aircars, loaded with Moon-men, broke in on their signals--they must +have had some means of signalling one another--and communicated with +them in their own way! Do you think it possible that, with all his +Gens, he may go over to the Moon-men, form an alliance with them?" + +For many moments no one dared to answer the question; yet, from what +the Sarkas knew of him, it was not impossible at all. For Dalis was +the master egotist always, and never overlooked opportunity to gain +something for himself. + +It was Jaska who broke the silence. + +"Did you note carefully," she said, "those aircars which were +partially destroyed by our ray directors and atom-disintegrators?" + +The Sarkas nodded. + +"Did you note that no men, formed like our own, no creatures of any +sort whatever, fell from the cars?" + + * * * * * + +Again the awesome silence, and the keen brains of the Sarkas wrestled +with this vague hint of the uncanny. + +"You mean, Jaska ... you mean...." + +"That the occupants of aircars are part of the cars, but--Beings of +the Moon! That they are either metal monsters endowed with brains or +tiny creatures irrevocably attached to the cars themselves!" + +"But how," said Sarka at last, "are we to be sure? I can understand +what Dalis might do if the Moon-men granted his wish for an alliance +with them. It is easy to understand why his Gens would follow his +lead, for with the Moon forced outward from the Earth faster than his +Gens could retreat, there is but one direction for his Gens to +go--toward the Moon! They would go to the Moon as captives and trust +the keen brain of Dalis to gain the mastery, sooner or later, over the +Moon-men. And then...." + +"And then--?" repeated Sarka the Elder. + +"Then, Dalis has already been inspired by the speed with which those +aircars travel! You will remember that he did not take kindly to +leaving the Earth and making his abode on some other planet! But why +could he not do so, combine forces and knowledge with the people of +that planet--and then return to Earth in alliance with them?--after we +have depleted our forces by placing a large portion of our people on +Mars and Venus and Saturn?" + +"Sarka, my son," said Sarka's father, "before we continue with our +flight to Mars, we must know the truth! We must somehow learn exactly +what is going on on the Moon! If you could reach the Moon, alone, +undetected, and bring back a report...." + + * * * * * + +For a moment he left it there, and the faces of all three were gray +with worry and abysmal fear. + +"I can't go bodily, father," said Sarka at last, "but you remember my +secret exit dome, to the right of the observatory, from which I have +never yet dared exit from this place for fear that it might cost me my +life?" + +Sarka the Elder nodded, while Jaska looked puzzled. Another evidence +of the fact that Sarka had not always trusted her, for she knew +nothing of a secret exit dome. Sarka's eyes, as he looked at Jaska, +mutely asked her forgiveness, which she gave him with her smile. + +"I remember, son, and now?..." + +"Surely it is worth risking one's life to know what new menace looms +over the children of men!" + +"What is the use of this secret dome?" asked Jaska softly. + +"It is merely an elaboration of the regular exit dome, combined with +certain phases of our atom-distintegrators, and the principle involved +in the anti-gravitational ovoids. I step into the secret exit dome, +garbed for flight Outside, and will myself to appear bodily in a +certain place. It is instantaneous. I step into the dome, for +example, and will myself to appear whole upon the Moon, and there I +will appear!" + +"You mean that during the period of transposition you are invisible?" + +"Yes, invisible because non-existent, except for the essential +elements of me, broken down by the secret exit dome, reassembled at +the place willed in their entirety! I can't fly there, for a million +eyes would see me approach! I must go in secret, as a spy, and wearing +the clothing and insignia of a member of the Gens of Dalis!" + +Silence in the observatory for a brief breathing space, and then Jaska +spoke that speech out of the books of antiquity, which remains the +classic expression of loyalty. + +"Whithersoever thou goest, there will I go also!" + +From the laboratory came a sudden burst of laughter, the laughter +which all three recognized as the laughter of Dalis; but when they +entered the place of the Revolving Beryl, there was no one there--and +a feeling of dread, all encompassing, held them thralled for the space +of several heart-beats. Dalis, they knew, was thousands of miles away, +upon the Moon; yet here in the place of the Master Beryl they all +three had just heard his sardonic laughter! + + +CHAPTER XII + +_Ashes of the Moon_ + +Through the micro-telescopes it was possible to see what had happened +after Dalis had assumed command of the Gens of Dalis. For even though +the Moon, in spite of the speed of the Beryls, was being forced +further and further from the Earth, the eyes of the micro-telescopes +picked out and enlarged details to such an extent that the battle +seemed to be transpiring under the eyes of the beholders. + +A terrific jumble, in which Earthlings and aircars were all tumbled +together in mad chaos, a great mass of writhing, green-garbed figures. +Infinite in number--in the midst of which were the gigantic aircars, +like monster beetles being beset by armies upon armies of ants. + +Then, by the time Jaska had seated herself in the observatory atop the +Himalayas, to watch what developed, the battle seemed to be over, and +the Moon-men had won. For the huge cars swung around between the +myriads of the Gens of Dalis, and seemed to be herding them toward the +Moon, as though they were prisoners. + +Telepathically, Sarka and his father had been able to catch some hint +of the thoughts of the Earthlings in the battle, and these thoughts +had been tinged with doubt, fear and horror, so that even thus to +receive them, by mental telepathy, was to feel the searing heat of +their fear. + + * * * * * + +Now, in the instant when the battle in Space seemed to be over and the +Gens of Dalis were prisoners, the thought waves were no more, and a +brooding silence took their place. Dalis, the Sarkas knew, possessed +the power to mask his thoughts, for it was a power possessed in common +by all the scientists of Earth. But the common people of his Gens did +not posses that power. However, for the moment Sarka had forgotten an +all important something: that, when people were outside the roof of +the world, they were subservient to the will of a common commander to +whom they had sworn allegiance. + +If, therefore, Dalis could mask his own thoughts from the brains of +men, he could also mask the thoughts of the people of his Gens, merely +by willing it! So Sarka and his father and Jaska could not know +whether the Gens of Dalis had gone over in a body with him, in a truce +with the people of the Moon, or whether they were dual prisoners--of +Dalis and of the Moon-men! + +More than ever was it necessary for someone to somehow reach the Moon +and make a thorough investigation, discover just what Dalis was doing, +what mischief he was hatching. + +The secret exit dome seemed to be the answer. + +"You can manage without me, father?" asked Sarka. + + * * * * * + +The elder Sarka nodded. + +"Of the other Spokesmen of Earth," went on Sarka, "I trust Gerd the +most. Might I suggest that you bring him here, trust him in all +details, and let him take my place wherever possible? Or, better +still, keep Jaska here with you! I ... I may not be able to return! +I'll try to find a way, but--we can always communicate telepathically. +Jaska...." + +"Jaska," said that young lady grimly, "goes with Sarka wherever Sarka +goes!" + +"But it may mean death! We can only guess at the cunning of the Moon +dwellers! They may have been in secret communication with Dalis for +centuries! Dalis, who somehow discovered our secret finger code, may +also know of the secret exit dome, and the principle upon which it +operates! If he does, he may know how to combat it! Perhaps that +explains his laughter! Perhaps he heard and understood every word we +spoke, hears and understands every word we speak now! Who knows? He +may wait until I have passed through the secret exit dome, and then +make it impossible for me to be reincarnated on the Moon--or +elsewhere!" + +"No matter," said Jaska softly, "wherever Sarka goes, there goes +Jaska! It is useless to attempt to dissuade me, and it is time you +learned that!" + +In spite of himself Sarka smiled, and his father met his smile with a +quizzical one of his own. Both men had the same thought. + +"The eternal woman!" said Sarka the Elder. "No man has ever understood +her--no man ever will! And all men are ruled by her!" + +Sarka shrugged, and Jaska spoke again. + +"Don't you think it is time we tried this new experiment?" + + * * * * * + +Sarka nodded, and his face was suddenly alight with the excitement +which burned within him. + +"First," he said, "we need accoutrements of the Gens of Dalis for two +people!" + +Jaska smiled. + +"Forseeing that we might have need of such equipment, I had several +complete outfits sent here when I took charge of the Gens of Dalis as +its Spokesman!" + +Two minutes later, arrayed in the green clothing of the House of +Dalis, swathed in it from neck to toe, wearing their belts and the +masks which were necessary to life in space where there was no +atmosphere, the whole topped by the gleaming helmets whose skull-pans +held the infinitesimally small anti-gravitational ovoids, Jaska and +Sarka entered the secret exit dome, side by-side. + +On the breast and back of each showed the yellow stars of the Gens of +Dalis. There was no hiding their identity otherwise, and if any of the +Gens saw them, both would be immediately recognized--for Jaska had +commanded the Gens, and Sarka was the world's greatest scientist known +to every human being. But they planned on carrying out their +investigations by stealth. + +"Father," said Sarka, "when the inner door is closed upon us, you have +but to press the button to the right of the door. Press it when the +light beside it glows red, which will indicate that we have willed +ourselves to go to a certain destination!" + + * * * * * + +The inner door closed upon Sarka and Jaska, and, hand in hand, side by +side, their bodies glowing with knowledge of warm, sympathetic +contact, they waited for a miracle which had never before been +attempted. + +"Are you afraid, beloved?" queried Sarka. + +"When I am with you," she said softly, "I have no fear." + +"Then face the outer door, and will to go wherever I will to take +you!" + +Side by side, hand-in-hand still, they faced the outer door, and Sarka +willed: + +"Let us appear together in a deserted spot, within sight but unseen, +of the Moon crater from which those aircars were sent against us!" + +A sudden blur, a cessation of all knowledge, and then.... + +Sarka and Jaska stood side by side in a desolate expanse surrounded by +bleak and appalling mountains of grotesque shape, in a light that was +weirdly, awesomely blue. Their feet were invisible, deeply rooted in +some soft, fine material which looked like snow. + +After a swift glance around to see if anything lived or moved in this +awful desolation, Sarka stooped and dipped up some of the fine stuff +with his fingers, touched it to his lips. + + * * * * * + +The material seemed to be fine blue ashes and on his tongue it had a +soapy savor. He peered at Jaska, whose eyes were glowing with +excitement, whose lips were parted with anticipation, and instantly he +opened a mental conversation with her. + +"We must speak with each other telepathically, but do not speak with +me until I have explained to you how to mask your thoughts from all +persons save the one with whom you hold converse! First, I love you! +Second, let us see if, searching the sky, we can find the Earth!" + +In a few brief, highly technical words, Sarka told his beloved how to +talk with him in the manner which he had never before explained to +her. They had used telepathy before, countless times, but they had not +cared who heard--while now secrecy in all things was the prime +essential for success, even for life. + +When he had told her, and she replied, "I understand perfectly, and it +seems quite easy," they turned and surveyed the heavens, out of which, +by this new miracle of the secret exit dome, they had dropped to the +face of the Moon. + +Away across the space between worlds, its transfiguration plainly +visible to the two, they could make out and identify the world from +which they had come. Save that they knew themselves standing on the +Moon, they would have thought as far as appearances went, that the +place where they had come was the Moon, many times enlarged. It seemed +incredible that they had come so far in the twinkling of an eye; but +that they had was proved by the fact of their physical presence. + +"Look, Jaska!" said Sarka suddenly. "See how our Earth glows, as +though it were afire inside!" + + * * * * * + +They stared at the great circular yellowish flame that he pointed out, +and Sarka, always the scientist whose science was one of exactness, +tried to estimate just where, on the Earth's surface, the glow was. + +"Jaska," he said again, "that glow comes out of the heart of the Gens area +which Dalis ruled! And no one lives there, since Dalis' Gens flew out to do +battle! That's why we did not know of it before we left! That glow, +somehow, beloved, is the cause of the outward-from-the-Earth journey of the +Moon! First we must locate the Moon-source of the glow, and render it +incapable of further forcing itself away! For do you realize that, unless +we do so, we will never again see home?" + +Jaska said nothing, but her eyes were troubled for a moment. Then she +smiled again. + +"What care I if I become a prisoner on the Moon, if you are with me?" + +Sarka was just now realizing the wonder of this raven-haired woman +whom, knowing her for half a century as he had, he had just known so +little after all. + +"If we seem in danger of discovery, Jaska," he said to her, "drop down +instantly into the ashes, for if we are discovered by Dalis...." + +He left it there and, with a deep intake of breath, started away for +the nearest and highest hill. They desired to walk, yet found walking +almost impossible, as they could not keep their feet on the ground +save by the exercise of a really incredible effort of will. So, +despairing of keeping their feet in contact with the ashes, they flew +just above them, heading for the nearest weird-looking ridge. + + * * * * * + +In the strange light, which was oddly like moonlight in some painted +desert of Earth, shapes were distorted and somehow menacing, colors +were raw, almost bleeding--and distances that seemed but a step +required hours to traverse. + +Ever and anon, as they traveled they looked back up at the Earth which +was their home. It still was visible, though plainly smaller with +distance, and for a time Sarka's heart misgave him; but he only +clasped tighter the hand of Jaska and moved on. + +They were just at the base of the first hill, which had now become a +mountain of gloomy, forbidding aspect, when the first sound they had +heard on the moon came to them. A sound that was a commingling of the +laughter of Dalis, the barking of jackals of the olden times, the +humming of a million Beryls revolving at top speed, and a strident +buzzing such as neither had ever heard. + +Had they been discovered? Was the sound a warning? They could not +know; but as they stared at the crest of the hill, two long, snaky, +waving things appeared above the crest, undulating, waving to and +fro, as though questing for something. They crouched low in the white +ashes at the base of the mountain, and waited, scarcely breathing. + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_The Lunar Cubes_ + +For a long time Sarka and Jaska remained still, like sentinels, +listening to the strange discord which seemed to emanate from behind +the hill at whose base they crouched. + +"Look!" said Sarka at last. "There against the sky, beyond and between +those two waving tentacles! Note that column of light, scarcely +lighter than the light which surrounds it everywhere? It looks like a +massive column just lighter than everything around it, yet so little +lighter that you have to watch closely to see it at all?" + +Jaska stared for all of a minute, before she thought back her answer. + +"I see it," she said. + +"Note now whether it goes, as it reaches outward into Space!" + +Jaska followed the mighty height of the thing, outward and outward, +and then gasped. + +"Sarka," she said, "its end touches the Earth in the very heart of +that strange glow we spoke about!" + +"Exactly! And people of Earth know nothing about it, because it is +invisible to them! It is only from Outside that the glow it makes +against the Earth is visible! If we can divert its direction, or +render it useless in any way, the Moon will no longer be thrust away +by its force!" + +A pause of indecision, then Sarka thought again: + +"Let us go, Jaska! Keep behind me, right on my heels!" + +Slowly, fighting against something that seemed determined to pull, or +hurl, them outward from the surface of the Moon with each forward +movement they made, they essayed the side of the hill, pausing at the +end of what seemed like hours in a sort of hollow just large enough +to mask their bodies and stared over its edge into one of the craters +of the Moon. Out of the depths of that crater came the discordant +sounds, which now were almost deafening, and out of that crater too +came the almost invisibly bluish column whose outer tip touched the +Earth. + + * * * * * + +Right before them, so close that they all but rested in its shadow, +was one of those monster aircars, its tentacles moving to and fro as +though wafted into motion by some vagrant breeze. But since neither +Sarka nor Jaska could feel the breeze, Sarka knew that it was life +which caused the waving motion of those tentacles of terror. + +"Note," he said to Jaska, "that there is a tiny trap-door in the +bottom of the aircar, and that the thing rests on a half-dozen of +those tentacles!" + +"I see," came Jaska's reply. + +Jaska went on: + +"Note the gleaming thing on the ground, right below the aircar? I +wonder what it is?" + +They studied the thing there, which seemed to be a huge jewel of some +sort that glittered balefully in the eery light of the Moon. It was, +perhaps, twice the size of an average man's torso, and was almost +exactly cubical in shape. As Sarka studied the thing, he sensed that +feeling flowed out of it--that the cube, whatever it was, was alive! + +He tore his glance away from it, and realized that he accomplished the +feat with a distinct effort of will--as though the cube had willed to +hold his gaze, knew he was there. His eyes, peering around the inner +slope of the crater--which dipped over, some hundreds of feet down, +and plunged downward to some unknown depth--noted a broad, flat stone, +off to his right; and around the rim of the crater he counted a full +hundred of the aircars, all with their tentacles waving as if they +belonged to sentient creatures. + + * * * * * + +Below each one, as he studied them and strained his eyes to make out +details, he caught the baleful gleam of other cubes like the first he +had seen. The aircars, it seemed, were either sentinels, at the lip of +the crater, or were the dwelling places of sentinels--and the cubes +were those sentinels! + +It seemed absurd, but it came to Sarka in a flash that that was the +answer, and his eyes came back to the first cube, because it was +nearer and more easy to study. + +"I will not be swayed by the will of the thing," Sarka told himself. +"Nor will I allow it to analyze me! Jaska, do you do likewise!" + +Beside him, Jaska shivered. He turned to look at her. Her face was +coldly white, and her eyes were big with terror and fascination as she +stared at that first cube, resting so balefully there under the first +aircar. + +He shook her, and she seemed to bring her eyes to his with a terrific, +will-straining effort. + +"Look at me!" he told her, telepathically. "Keep your eyes on me, for +to look at the cube spells danger!" + +But his own eyes went back to the thing, and he studied it closely. A +cold chill raced through his body as he noted that its gleam was +becoming dull, fading slowly out. It had gleamed brightly at first, +and now was losing its sheen, fading away to invisibility. He thought +he should be able, regardless of gleam or color, to see its outline; +but its outline, too, seemed to be becoming faint, indistinct. + + * * * * * + +Then, in a trice, it was gone, and a feeling of uneasiness, more +compelling than he had ever known before, coursed through the soul of +Sarka. Where had the cube gone? What was it? What was its purpose? He +tore his eyes away from the spot where he had last seen it, and stared +away to the shadow beneath the second nearest aircar, where he had +glimpsed another of the cubes. + +The cube there, too, was fading out. + +"Sarka! Sarka! Look!" came to his brain the thoughts of Jaska. + +Sarka turned and stared at her, and a feeling of fear for which he +could not account at all took fast hold of him. The eyes of Jaska, +wide and staring as they had been when he commanded her to look away +from the cube under the aircar, were staring at that flat, table-like +rock, off to his right. + +There, almost in the center of the rock, a gleaming something was +taking shape! Just a dull spot, in the center of the yellow glow; then +the beginning of the outline of a cube. Then, all at once, the cube +itself, gleaming and baleful! + +Sarka gasped in terror. He had seen the cube vanish, its glow +disappear, and now here it was, almost close enough to touch, on a +rock beside him, gleaming and baleful as before! That it was the same +cube he had seen under the first aircar, he somehow knew without being +told. That it was a sentient _thing_ he also knew, for now there was +no mistaking the fact that, but for the presence in the little hollow +of Jaska and Sarka, the cube would not have moved. + + * * * * * + +Swift as light, Sarka's right hand darted to his belt, where his ray +director should be nestled against his need of it. And with his first +movement, the cube's brilliance vanished instantly, the cube +disappeared, and appeared again right before the face of Sarka, so +close he could touch it! Yet he did not turn the ray director against +it, nor did he extend his hand to touch the thing--because he was +afraid to do so! + +Even as the cube appeared before his eyes, thrice baleful and menacing +in its close proximity, his eyes darted back to that broad flat rock, +where the second gleaming cube now appeared! + +"Great God, Jaska!" he sent mentally, "what does it mean?" + +"These," she answered bravely back, "are Moon-soldiers! And, unless +we manage not to appear furtive, we are undone!" + +Still Sarka made no move, while other gleaming cubes appeared on the +flat rock. Five other cubes appeared beside the first, at the rim of +the hollow which held the forms of Jaska and Sarka. The cubes were +closing on them, oddly like a squad of Earthlings in the olden times, +advancing by rushes against an entrenched enemy! + +The buzzing sound which they had first heard now seemed accentuated, +but, instead of being outside of the listeners, seemed inside them, +hammering against their very brains! Messages were being sent to them, +or passed back and forth between and among the cube-men about +them--and they hadn't the slightest idea how to make answer, know +whether an answer was expected of them, or what the cube-men thought +about them! + +Since there was nothing else to do, they lay there, hands clasped, as +children in the dark clasp hands, and waited for what might transpire. + + * * * * * + +Suddenly the discord from the inside of the crater ceased, and all was +still, while it came to Sarka that the cube-men who stood before him +were in grim communication with something invisible to Sarka and +Jaska, somebody, perhaps, deep in the bowels of the Moon, over inside +the crater. + +They knew, those two, that the cube-soldiers were reporting their +presence, and asking instructions; that the Moon had gone silent to +listen, and that within a few moments their fate would be decided. +What should they do? + +In his hand Sarka held his ray director, with which he knew he could +blast one or all of the cubes into nothingness. But still he held his +hand, made no move. + +Something, however, had to be done, for the discord was starting +again, growing in volume. It made Sarka think, oddly enough, of a deaf +mute fighting for speech! Then came the first intelligible sound.... + +A burst, from the depths of the crater, of sardonic laughter! + +"Dalis!" said Sarka, and moved. While Sarka moved, Jaska held fast to +his arm. Casting her fear to the winds, furious because of the +laughter of Dalis, Sarka thrust his ray director back into his belt +and stood upright. + +Bending over he seized the first of the gleaming cubes and hurled it +over the edge of the crater, saw it start plummeting down. But even +before it fell out of sight within the crater its gleam had dulled +until it was almost impossible to see the thing. Racing as though +racing against time, Sarka caught up cube after cube and hurled them +all after the first. + + * * * * * + +Out of the crater there came no sound of heavy objects striking, +though Sarka felt there should have, for the cubes were almost as +heavy as a man. + +Then his hair almost stood on end under his helmet, for under that +first aircar, where he had first seen it, the initial cube was again +gleaming into life! + +The thing had dissolved while being hurled over the rim, and reformed +in its proper place, its station as silent sentinel under the aircar! + +These cubes then, were indeed sentinels--sentinels impossible to +injure. Though no force had been used against Sarka and Jaska, Sarka +had the feeling that they were powerless, and that here on the edge of +a crater of the Moon awful forces were being mustered against them. +Mustered slowly, sluggishly, yet surely, as though the mentality which +mustered them knew them helpless, and that there was no need to hurry! + +As for Jaska, she merely clung to Sarka and waited--trusting him no +matter what might transpire. + +On a blind chance, Sarka brought out his ray director again, turned +its muzzle toward that invisibly-blue column, pressed with his +fingers, moving the director back and forth. + +Instantly the blue column seemed to break short off, while the broken +upper portion started racing outward toward the Earth. Sarka watched +it, and noted that the yellowish glow on the Earth, even as he +watched, was fading out--disappearing! + +"If the ray will smash the blue column, Jaska," he said, "it will also +destroy its source! Come! We will go look for it!" + +And, holding her hand tightly, he rose to his feet and strode boldly +down the inner slope of the vast crater. + + +CHAPTER XIV + +_The Crater Gnomes_ + +It seemed to Sarka, as he moved down the inner slope of the crater, +that the cubes were somehow making sport of him, laughing at him, +though no hint of laughter or anything resembling laughter emanated +from them. + +But, shutting his lips grimly, holding fast to Jaska's hand, he +proceeded on, reached the lower portion of the inner slope, where it +dropped off into a seeming black abyss, and dropped, keeping to a safe +speed because of the fact that both he and Jaska were attired for +movement in the air--though their manner of aerial transportation +could scarcely be called flying. + +The anti-gravitational ovoids simply rendered ineffectual the law of +gravity. + +Down they dropped, endlessly it seemed, while all about them, growing +gradually, a bluish glow began to make itself manifest. Sarka turned +and looked at the face of Jaska and noted that it--all her being--was +glowing with this strange radiance. + +He smiled at her, and she smiled back. + +Looking down now, to what seemed still a vast depth, they could see +figures moving, tiny, almost infinitesimal, about a great circular +cone, out of the depths of which came that strange bluish column whose +outer tip touched the Earth. + + * * * * * + +Some inner sense warned Sarka not to touch that column, or to permit +Jaska to do so. They dropped down beside it, while Sarka, for no +reason that he could assign, once more took his ray director in his +free hand and held it in readiness. It seemed so tiny and futile--so +foolish for two people, one of them a woman--to go into the very heart +of an alien world, against an unknown enemy, armed with such a tiny +weapon. Two people against unguessed myriads, whose very nature was an +enigma, even to Sarka. + +Closer now appeared the bottom of the crater, whose floor seemed to be +covered with something that looked like blue sand, or rock. From this +bluish substance the glow which bathed the two Earthlings seemed to +emanate. + +The funnel of the crater had now given away to the immensities of +space, in all directions, and the cold of outside was being replaced +by a warmth which promised soon to be even uncomfortable. + +Then, without a jar, the two landed at the bottom of the crater, side +by side, close enough almost to that great cone to touch it. Out of +the cone came that bluish column, to shoot up through the funnel down +which the two had lightly dropped ... and the motion of the--whatever +it was--was accompanied by a muted moaning sound, like that of a +distant waterfall. + +They paused there, in amazement, taking stock of their surroundings. +Huge tunnels, whose roofs were lost to invisibility in the bluish +haze, whose extremities could only be guessed at, reached off in all +directions. As far as the two could tell they were the only living +souls within the crater, though both knew better. + +Sarka had the feeling, and he knew Jaska shared it with him, that +innumerable eyes were studying them, innumerable intellects were +cataloguing them. And somehow he sensed the presence, somewhere near, +of the traitor Dalis! + + * * * * * + +Then that discordant sound again, breaking so swiftly that it fell +upon the eardrums of Sarka and Jaska like the crack of doom. Out of +the many tunnels, from all directions, came hordes of beings which +would have made the nightmares of Paracelsus--first of the scientists +of Earth--pale to insignificance. + +Paracelsus had written and illustrated his nightmares. Had hinted of +strange acts of flesh-grafting--as the grafting of legs on the head of +man. He had spoken, and written about, ghastly operations, from which +men came forth as part men, part spiders; part men, part scorpions, +dogs, cats, crocodiles.... + +Sarka thought, as his mind went back to those ancient books of his +people in which still remained vestiges of the theories of Paracelsus, +that somehow, in his dreams, Paracelsus must have visited the craters +of the Moon. + +These people ... if they could be called people.... + +They had heads like the heads of Earthlings, broad-domed of brow, +lacking eyelashes or lids, so that their eyes were perpetually +staring. They possessed no bodies at all, and their legs, thin and +attenuated to the size of the wrists of average men, seemed to support +the massive heads with difficulty! + +From all directions they came, looking like spiders such as Sarka the +First had described to Sarka, when Sarka had been a mere boy. They +came on the floor, out of the tunnels; they dropped from the walls of +the tunnels, and down from the invisible roofs, landing on the floor +as lightly as feathers--and all converged on Jaska and Sarka. + +They seemed to have no fear at all, but only a vast curiosity. + +Closer and closer they came. + + * * * * * + +Jaska's grip tightened on the hand of Sarka, for one of the creatures, +with a spiderish leap, had jumped upon her, fastening its legs in her +tight-fitting costume, where he hung, his face within an inch or two +of hers. His lidless eyes, unblinking, stared deeply into hers. + +Others jumped up beside the first, and still others clambered over +Sarka, until both Sarka and Jaska were covered by them like beetles +attacked by ants. But these strange gnomelike creatures, who did not +fear these strangers, apparently meant them no harm. + +Then, after a thorough scrutiny, began the strangest talking Sarka had +ever heard. The crater-Gnomes seemed to communicate by making strange +clucking sounds with their tongues, sounds which were unmusical and +discordant, and which, as the Gnomes who stood back from them, because +already the two were covered until no more could cling to Jaska or +Sarka, joined in the speech--mounted in the cavern to a vast crescendo +of sound. + +Sarka knew then that this was the sound which had come out to them +while they crouched at the crater rim. These were people of the Moon: +but if these were Moon-men, what, or who, were those gleaming cubes? + +"Stand perfectly still," Sarka mentally admonished Jaska, "they +apparently mean us no harm!" + +He had not spoken aloud, had not allowed his thought to reach any but +Jaska; yet instantly the discordant clucking ceased, and the Gnomes +were quiet, as though they politely listened to someone who had +interrupted them, yet whose interruption they resented, or were +curious about. + + * * * * * + +Wondering how the creature would regard his action, Sarka reached +forth and plucked away the first Gnome which had jumped upon Jaska, +and placed him gently on the ground. The thing merely stared at Sarka +with his lidless eyes, as though wondering at Sarka's meaning. Then +his lips, which were triangular, rather than straight as those of +Earthlings, began again that strange clucking. + +Immediately the Gnomes which clung to Jaska and Sarka dropped away, +and scuttled into the midst of the myriads that stood and watched. +They did not understand the speech of these Earthlings, but they were +unusually clever in comprehending the meaning of gestures. + +"Hold fast to me, Jaska," thought Sarka toward her--and wondered anew +as the Gnomes instantly ceased their clucking sounds--"for I am going +to try an experiment." + +Holding her hand still, he turned and strode straight toward the huge +cone out of which rose the bluish column. + +Instantly the Gnomes broke into a frightful clucking of tongues, a +sound that mounted to ear-drum-breaking intensity, and in a trice, +climbing over one another to get into position, they moved in between +Sarka and the cone. So eager were they to bar his further progress +that they stood atop one another, until the depth of them was as tall +as Sarka standing upright. + +Yet, though they plainly said to Sarka: "You must not approach the +cone," they did not seem to be angry with their visitors, but only +curious. Sarka looked at Jaska, noted how wanly she smiled. + +Then he turned, and headed for the nearest of the monster tunnels. + + * * * * * + +Instantly he detected a surprising eagerness in the renewed clucking +of tongues, while the Gnomes raced ahead, behind, all about the two, +capering like pet animals, showing these strangers the way into the +tunnel. + +As they entered it, Sarka tried to discover whence came the bluish +glow. The floor seemed to be of bluish sandstone, though its color, +too, might have been caused by the glow. It was warm, too, so warm +that perspiration was breaking out on the cheeks of Sarka. + +Whence came the glow? Apparently from the very walls of the tunnel, or +its roof; but surely from somewhere, surely from some secret place, +whence it was diffused all over. + +"And Jaska," said Sarka, "the Moon, according to my father's +researches, is literally honeycombed with craters like this one!" + +Again, as he thought, that strange, sudden cessation of the clucking +of the Gnomes. Whither were they leading them? It was plain to be seen +that the Gnomes were heading for some destination, almost herding +Sarka and Jaska toward it. Capering creatures, who behaved witlessly, +yet were far from witless. If Sarka were not sadly mistaken, these +were Moon-men--and women, too, perhaps, since he could not tell the +sex of them--and those gleaming cubes were their outer guards, perhaps +slaves. + +If the cubes were really of metal--they had felt warm to Sarka's +touch--then these Moon-men had gone further in science than +Earthlings, as they had imbued at least some metals, or stones, with +intelligence sufficiently advanced for them to perform actions +independently of their masters' wills. + + * * * * * + +Sarka, too, was remembering another thing: that he had touched one of +these Gnomes, to remove it from Jaska--and had felt a distinct shock +that was patently electrical! + +The bluish glow was increasing, becoming more soft and mellow, shading +gradually into golden, as they advanced--shading still as they +preceded until it was almost white, almost blinding, in its radiance. + +Then, of a sudden, the clucking of the Gnomes ended, and the creatures +ceased their capering, fell into something that might have been an +ordered military formation, and with Jaska and Sarka in the midst of +them, moved straight toward a broad expanse of the tunnel wall, in the +face of which appeared three long lines, deeply cut in the shape of a +triangle. + +The Gnome who had first leaped upon Jaska advanced to the wall, paused +with his face almost against the lower line of the triangle, and +remained there, intently staring, while the other Gnomes remained +mute and unmoving. + +Stronger and stronger appeared the blinding light. Slowly the inner +portion of the triangle began to give inward, like a door. And out of +the opening came that blinding radiance. + +As the triangular door stood entirely open, Sarka and Jaska stood in +thunderstruck silence, staring like people bereft of their senses. For +there, standing in the opening, the now white radiance itself a mantle +to cover her, was a woman, unclothed save for the radiance, who might +have been of the Earth, save that she was more beautiful than any +woman of Earth. + +Beside her the radiant beauty of Jaska paled, became wan and sickly. + +But Sarka noted immediately her eyes, whose depths bewildered, amazed +him. For in them he could see no expression, no feeling, but only +abysmal cruelty. That she was Sarka's master, and Jaska's master, and +master of all these Gnomes, became instantly apparent for +telepathically she addressed Sarka. + +"I am busy now. The Moon-people will hold you prisoners in the Place +of the Blue light, until I am ready to give you to the Cone!" + + +CHAPTER XV + +_The Place of the Blue Light_ + +So the Gnomes were Moon-people, masters of the Moon cubes! And people +and cubes were ruled by a woman who resembled a woman of Earth! + +The Gnomes took them back the way they had come. + +Where, Sarka wondered, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? And where +was Dalis himself! Sarka was sure that, in those first discords which +had come out of the crater, he had heard at least a hint of the +laughter of Dalis. + +And this woman clothed in radiance--who was she? And what? That she +was a creature of the Moon, and yet resembled in all ways a woman of +Earth, save that she was more beautiful than any woman Sarka had ever +seen, seemed almost impossible to believe. Yet he had seen her. So had +Jaska, and as Sarka and Jaska, with the capering Gnomes still about +them, were led away to a fate at which they could only guess, Sarka +wondered at Jaska's silence and at the strange lack of expression on +her face. + +He pressed her hand, but somehow she failed to return the pressure, +mystifying more than ever. This sudden coldness was not like Jaska. + +Back they went through the vast cavern where the cone of the bluish +column still moaned and murmured. Sarka moved as close to the cone as +the Gnomes would permit, and peered up along the mighty length of the +column. At its tip was still the Earth, like a star viewed from the +bottom of a deep well. + +Smaller, too, it seemed, which proved that Sarka's breaking of the +blue column had been but momentary, that the column had almost +instantly regained its contact with the Earth. What was its source, +what the composition of the column? + + * * * * * + +At the moment there could be no answer to the question. Now the Gnomes +were escorting them into another tunnel, whose glow was even bluer +than that which the two had experienced in the other tunnels. And the +deeper they penetrated, the more distant from the cavern of the Cone, +the deeper in color became that light. + +Finally the Gnome who had mentally asked permission of the Radiant +Woman to show her Jaska and Sarka passed before another expanse of +wall, identical in appearance with that of the wall of the triangle +from which the Radiant Woman had appeared. + +This time the Gnome managed ingress by a strange clucking sound, with +his triangular lips held close to the base-line of the triangle. + +Now the door swung open; but the radiance which now came out was not +clear white, as in the case of the outer door, but deeply, coldly +blue. For the first time the Gnomes used force with their prisoners, +thus proving to them that they were indeed prisoners. Their tiny feet +caught at Sarka and at Jaska, and forced them through the door, which +swung shut behind them. + +Sarka looked at Jaska who, in this strange new light, had taken on the +color of indigo, and smiled at her. She did not return his smile, but +her eyes looked deeply, somewhat sorrowfully, into his. As though she +asked him a question he could not understand, to which he could +therefore give no answer. + + * * * * * + +Sarka was now conscious of the fact that the heat of their +prison-house--whose character they did not as yet know--was becoming +almost unbearable. They were alone, too, for the Gnomes had not +entered the door of triangle. Sarka partially removed his life mask, +and testing the atmosphere of the place, found it capable of being +breathed without the mask. He signalled mentally to Jaska to remove +her mask, and when the girl had done so he took her in his arms and +kissed her on the lips. + +She accepted his caress, but did not return it, and her eyes still +peered deeply into his. + +"Well, beloved," he said. "I am terribly sorry. But I did not want you +to come because I was afraid that something of this sort would +happen." + +She did not answer. + +"What is it, Jaska?" he said at last. + +"What did you think of that woman?" she asked softly. + +"Beautiful!" he said enthusiastically. "Fearfully beautiful! But did +you see her eyes? She had no more mercy in her heart than if she were +made of stone! And she hated us both the moment she saw us!" + +"And you, Sarka--did you hate her, too?" + +Sarka stared at her, not comprehending. + +"I feel," he said, "that if we are ever to escape her, we must kill +her, or render her incapable of retaining us!" + +Then, of her own accord, Jaska placed her arms around Sarka, and gave +him her lips. Her new behavior was as incomprehensible to Sarka as her +former enigmatic expression had been. Wise in the ways of science was +Sarka, but he knew nothing of women! + + * * * * * + +Now hand in hand again, they began a survey of their prison house. The +bluish glow was unbearable to the eyes, and tears came unbidden and +ran down the cheeks of the prisoners. In a minute or two, perspiration +was literally bathing the bodies of the two. After a questioning +exchange of glances, Sarka swiftly divested himself of his costume, +stripping down to the gray toga of Earth's manhood. With a shrug, +Jaska removed her clothing to her own toga, and the two suits Sarka +carried under his arm. + +They started ahead, exploring, then sprang back with a cry of fright. +Sarka did not know whether it was Jaska or himself who had cried out; +for just as they moved forward, a rent opened in the floor at their +feet, and their eyes for a moment--they could stand no longer--peered +into a bluely flaming abyss which, save for the color, reminded Sarka +of the word pictures of Hell he had read in Earth's books of +antiquity! + +As the two stepped back, the rent in the floor closed instantly. Sarka +had noted where the end of it had been, and started to detour, his +eyes on the floor. + +Over to his left the bluely glowing wall reached up to invisible +immensity. But as he would have passed along the wall, the rent opened +again, effectually barring his way. + +Beyond the rent he could see a vast continuation of the cavern, and he +felt that, could they only pass the rent, they might reach a place +where the heat was not so unbearable, and they could stay and talk in +comfort. + + * * * * * + +Releasing Jaska, he stepped back and prepared to leap the spot where +the rent had been. High he jumped, and far, surprised at the length of +his own leap. He landed lightly, far beyond the area where the rent +had been, and even as he landed, a rent opened again at his feet, thus +effectually barring further progress! + +"It could just as easily," he told himself, "have opened under my +feet, and dropped me into the abyss!" + +From behind him came the sudden sound of screaming. He whirled to look +back, to see Jaska standing there, arms outstretched toward him, her +eyes wide with fear and horror, and as he stood watching, she raced to +him, unmindful of abysses that might open under her feet, and flung +herself into his arms. + +"Come back!" she moaned. "Come back! Don't you see? _They_ don't wish +you to explore further! We are in their power, and must simply await +their pleasure, whoever or whatever they are! They see all we do!" + +So they turned back, and stood against the door which held them +prisoners; and the heat of the place seemed to enter into them, to +gnaw at their very vitals. After a time Sarka found himself almost +tearing at his throat, fighting for breath. + + * * * * * + +Gasping, the tears bathing their cheeks until even their tears and +their perspiration would flow no more, they huddled now just inside +the massive stone door, arms about each other, and almost prayed for +death. Sarka at least prayed for death for both of them; but Jaska +prayed for a way of deliverance, prayed that herself and Sarka might +somehow win free, and be together again. + +Sarka, who knew little of women, marveled at the grandeur of her +courage, and wondered that he really knew this radiant woman so +little. He compared her in his mind with the unclothed woman who had +ordered them here as prisoners, and it came to him that Jaska was all +perfection, all tender womanhood, while the Radiant Woman was a +monster, without soul or compassion--a creature of horror who mocked +God with her outward seeming of perfection. + +Jaska read his thoughts, and smiled wanly to herself, and Sarka +wondered how, suffering as he knew she must be suffering, she could +find the courage to smile. + +Then, for a time, the two became comatose, mastered by the blue heat, +and in dreamlike imaginings wandered in strange fields which could +only, to these two, have been racial memories, since neither had ever +seen such fields. There were cool streams, all a-murmur, and breezes +which cooled their sun-tanned cheeks. Water touched their tongues, and +cooled their whole bodies as they gratefully imbibed it. + + * * * * * + +In their wanderings, in which Sarka was a faun and Jaska a nymph, they +talked together in a language which only these two comprehended--a +language which dealt in figures of speech, a language which depended +upon handclasps for periods, glances of the eyes for commas, and the +singing of their hearts for complete understanding. + +Then a cool breeze, cool by comparison, caressed their pain-distorted +cheeks, and the Gnomes came in, found them lying there, and clucked +endlessly as though wondering what to do with them. + +From hand to tiny hand, their feet serving as hands, the Gnomes passed +garments--garments of the Gens of Dalis, and clothed again the two +whom the Place of the Blue Light had all but slain. Of that ghastly +experiment Sarka retained but one real memory.... + +That bluish light, in the midst of the abyss, shifting and swaying +like blue serpents swimming in Hades ... that bluish light of the +Cone, which he had broken up for a brief moment by the use of his ray +director. Was this bluish light in the abyss the source of the light +in the Cone? If one were to destroy it at its source.... + +The two regained consciousness completely as the triangular door +closed behind Sarka and Jaska and the Gnomes, and they were taken into +the refreshing coolness of the tunnel, led back again in the direction +of the room where they had seen the Radiant Woman. Both Jaska and +Sarka noticed that they were clothed in new clothing, and a shy blush +tinged the cheeks of Jaska as her eyes met those of Sarka. + + * * * * * + +This time they entered the vast chamber of radiance behind the first +triangular door, and were forced to their knees to do obeisance to the +Radiant Woman, who sat on a gleaming yellow stone for dais! The guards +who forced Sarka and Jaska to their knees, were clothed in the green +of the Gens of Dalis, and Dalis himself, his face stern, but bearing +no sign of recognition of these two, stood at the right hand of the +Radiant Woman! + +"You come to us as spies," the thought of the Radiant Woman impinged +upon the brains of Sarka and of Jaska, "and as spies you should be +given to the Cone. But if you swear eternal allegiance to me, to obey +me in all things, to forego your allegiance to Earth, your lives will +be spared! What say you?" + +Boldly Sarka stared into the almost opaque eyes of the woman. Then his +glance went to the face of Dalis. + +"What," he asked boldly, in the language of Earth, "does the traitor +Dalis say?" + +"I have sworn allegiance to Luar, who addresses you, and am her ally +in all things! I have but one addition to make to what she says: Jaska +belongs to me!" + +The sudden leering grin of Dalis was hideous. + +Sarka peered at Jaska, framing his answer. But Jaska spoke first. + +"For myself, O Dalis," she said swiftly, "I can answer in but one way. +Return me to the Place of the Blue Light, and forget me there!" + +Sarka smiled, while his heart leaped with joy. + +"And I, O Luar," he said mentally to the Radiant Woman, "prefer death +with Jaska, at the Place of the Blue Light, than life as a traitor to +the world of my nativity!" + +Instantly Luar began the clucking sound which was the language of the +Gnomes, at the same time allowing her thoughts as she spoke to impress +themselves upon the brains of the prisoners. + +"Take them away! Take them to the Cavern of the Cone, and when they +have suffered as much as such inferior beings are capable of +suffering, thrust them into the base of the Cone!" + + +CHAPTER XVI + +_Cavern of the Cone_ + +The Gnomes had been bidden to take the prisoners to the Cavern of the +Cone, but to the surprise of Sarka and Jaska, they were taken back to +the Place of the Blue Light! This time the Gnomes entered the place +with them, closing and securing the door behind them. + +But the Place of the Blue Light had changed! + +Now it had no floor of blue, as it had had before, but only a corridor +perhaps wide enough to allow the passage of four grown men, walking +side by side, while the abyss of which the two had got but the merest +hint through the opening and closing rents filled all the center of +the place! + +The Gnomes seemed impervious to the unendurable heat, and these, +moving together, one behind the other, one beside the other, one atop +the other, formed a living wall between Sarka and Jaska and the rim of +the flaming blue abyss, to protect them from the heat. + +Yet through the bodies of this living wall of Gnomes, a wall which was +higher than the heads of Sarka and Jaska, the heat forced its way to +the prisoners, and burned them anew with its agony. + +To what dread rendezvous were they going? Where, save for the few +guards at the house of Luar, were the people of the Gens of Dalis? +Sarka felt, somehow, that the answers to all these questions would +soon be made manifest, and a feeling of exaltation he could not +explain was possessing him as he advanced. Around the corridor, whose +one side was the wall reaching up to invisibility, whose other side +dropped off into the abyss, the Gnomes herded the prisoners. + + * * * * * + +The leader of the Gnomes was again the Gnome who had first leaped upon +Jaska to examine her curiously. Now, watching the lidless eyes of this +being, Sarka fancied he could detect a hint of some expression. The +Gnome was excited at some prospect, some climax which they were +approaching. What? On and on they moved. The blue flames from the +abyss, roaring in a way that neither of the prisoners had ever +experienced, reached upward in searing tongues toward the invisible +roof of this place. + +Then, when they had progressed far from the door of entry, Sarka +gasped at a new manifestation. Out of the abyss, some distance ahead, +came a gleaming thing, something that had apparently evolved itself +out of the flames of the abyss. Blue of color it was, because of the +flames from the pit; but Sarka recognized it with a start which he +could not suppress nor understand. + +It was one of those cubes, such as he and Jaska had seen at the lip of +the Moon-crater! As they approached, guided by the Gnomes, other cubes +appeared out of the abyss, others in numbers swiftly augmented, until +a veritable battalion of them had marshalled itself, there at the lip +of the abyss. + + * * * * * + +Straight toward these cubes the Gnomes led Sarka and Jaska, and when +they had reached the center of the group, they halted, forming a +circle, still a wall to mask the prisoners from the heat of the abyss. +The leader of the Gnomes stopped with his face, his lidless eyes, +close to one of the cubes. + +For a moment he paused thus, and Sarka felt sure that somehow the +Gnome was holding thought converse with the cube; but, try as he +might, he could find no meaning in the weird conversation for himself. +It was oddly like listening to a conversation in a code beyond his +knowledge. + +Then the Gnome turned back to Sarka and Jaska. By a pressure of tiny +feet, he tried to indicate that Sarka and Jaska should unclasp their +hands. But they only clung the tighter, and now threw their arms about +each other. + +The Gnome desisted, much to the joy of the lovers, while Sarka studied +the cubes, wondering what their mission was with Jaska and himself. + +Slowly, together, the cubes began to lose their bluish glow, their +cube shape--to vanish utterly. + +In a trice, still locked in each other's arms, Sarka and Jaska saw the +Gnomes through what appeared to be an even bluer haze. Besides, the +heat of the abyss no longer tortured them, and their bodies were +cooling in a way that was unbelievably refreshing. + +"What is it, beloved?" whispered Jaska. "What is it?" + + * * * * * + +Sarka stared at the Gnomes, now in retreat, capering as they had first +capered when the two had fallen into their hands, toward the door by +which all had entered. Mystified, Sarka put forth his hand. It came in +contact with something solid, and oddly warm, which stirred an +instantly responsive chord in the brain of Sarka. + +This feeling was the same as he experienced when he had lifted those +cubes and hurled them into the crater--where they had dissolved in +falling, and instantly reappeared, each under its own aircar! + +"Jaska!" he explained. "Jaska! The cubes have dissolved themselves, +and have reformed in the shape of a globe, as a protective covering +about us, to protect us from the heat of the abyss! Apparently we are +not to be killed at once! These cubes are slaves of the Gnomes, of +whom Luar is ruler!" + +They were indeed locked inside a globe, a globe whose integral parts +were the cubes of their acquaintance; and the atmosphere of the +interior was not uncomfortable, but otherwise. Sarka and Jaska were +feeling normal for the first time since they had landed on the Moon. +But what was the meaning of this strange imprisonment? + +They were soon to know! + +For the globe which enclosed them, moved to the edge of the flaming +abyss, and dropped into the bluish glow! It did not drop heavily, like +a falling object on Earth, but rather floated downward, right into the +heart of the flames. At this new manifestation of the strangeness of +science on the Moon, Sarka was at once all scientist himself, striving +to find adequate answers for things which, from cause to effect, were +entirely new to him. With Jaska still clasped close against him, he +seated himself in the base of the globe and studied the area through +which they were passing. + +Blue flames which seemed to be born somewhere, an infinite distance +below them; blue flames which he knew to be the element that, shot +outward from the great cone, had forced the Moon away from the Earth. + +No sound of the roaring flames came through the globe, but every +movement of them was visible. + + * * * * * + +Sarka turned and peered through the bottom of the globe; but all he +could see below were the flames, a molten indigo lake of them. Now, as +they floated downward, the glow was giving away to lighter blue, to +white, almost pure white, like the radiance which covered Luar like a +mantle. + +Sarka felt himself on the eve of vast important discoveries, and the +scientist in him made him, for the moment, almost forget the woman at +his side. Jaska, unbothered about anything, now that Sarka was at her +side, regarded his expression of deep concentration with a tolerant +smile. + +Whiter now was the light, and faster fell the globe which held the +two. + +The color of the globe, now fallen below the area of blue, had taken +on, chameleonlike, the color of the white flames that bathed it. + +Then, apparently right in the center of a lake of white flames, though +Sarka could see no solid place on which the globe had landed, the +globe came to rest. + +Now everything was plain to see, and Sarka studied his surroundings +with new interest. He felt a mounting sensation of scalp-prickling +horror. + +For, scattered throughout the lake of white flames, in all directions, +as far as the eye could reach--standing alone, suffering untold +agonies, from the expressions on their faces--were people of the Gens +of Dalis! + + * * * * * + +No longer were they clothed in green and wearing on breast and back +the yellow stars of their Gens. Now they were nude as they had come +into the world and standing there, each was holding out hands in +horror, to hold back myriads of the Gnomes, who would have forced them +to submerge themselves in the white flames of the lake! + +Was the Gens of Dalis being burned alive? What was the meaning of +this? + +For a moment, filled with horror, Sarka looked away from the +spectacle. Off to his right, as he sat, he noted that the flames, +which here seemed lighter than they had in high levels, were +converging on a single spot toward the side of the lake of white +flames--as smoke converges on the base of a chimney leading outward to +the air! + +He knew as he stared that he was gazing at the spot where the bluish +column of the cone was born! + +Shaking his head, he turned back to the mighty spectacle of this +horrible thing that was being done to the people of the Gens of Dalis. + +In his brain there suddenly crashed a thought whose source he could +only guess at, whose meaning mystified him more than anything yet +experienced. The thought might have emanated from Luar, or from Dalis. +But the more he thought of the matter, the more he thought how the +phrasing of the thought was like the telepathy of Sarka the Second, +now thousands of miles away, upon the Earth. And this was the thought: + +"If they fight the flames, the flames will destroy them! If they go +into them freely, voluntarily, they will be rendered immune to heat +and to cold, to life and to death. But it is better that they die, for +Earth's sake!" + +What did it mean? + + * * * * * + +Sarka thought of the radiant white light which perpetually bathed the +person of Luar, and thought that he had somehow been given a hint of +its source. If the Gens of Dalis were voluntarily bathed in the lake +of white flames, would they become as Luar? + +Somehow, though he knew that such bathing would save their lives, the +idea filled him anew with horror. He found himself torn between two +duties. If he sent his thought out there to the Gens of Dalis, people +of Earth, his people, they would be saved, but might forever become +allies of the people of the Moon. If Sarka did not tell them, they +would die--and there were millions of them. + +But his science had always been a science of Life, and it still was. + +"Enter the flames!" he telepathically bade his people. "Enter the +flames!" + +But they did not heed him, and for the first time the atmosphere of +the interior of the globe seemed filled with savage, abysmal menace! +Plain to Sarka was the meaning of that menace: The cubes which +composed this globe were loyal to their masters, the masters to a +mistress, Luar, and would countenance no meddling. + +Likewise it was impossible, if the Gnomes willed it to the cubes, for +Sarka to transmit his thoughts to the Gens of Dalis through the +transparent walls of the globe! + +They were prisoners, indeed, of Dalis and of Luar! + + * * * * * + +But could Sarka and Jaska turn their new-found knowledge to their own +use? Sarka was thinking back, back to one of the ancient tomes of his +people. It spoke, someplace, of a man who had got trapped in the heart +of a seething volcano, where the heat of it had cured him of his +illnesses, made him whole again, given him new youth and freshness. + +But since the cubes could forestall his transmission of thought, and +perhaps could read and understand thoughts, how was he to tell Jaska? +How show her that a way of deliverance had been given into their +hands, if they only possessed the courage to use it! + +Again came that thought, which Sarka recognized as the telepathy of +his father: + +"Courage! You will win, and Jaska with you!" + +Thoughts could come in to them then, but could not go out. Or did it +mean that the cubes, or the masters of the cubes, did not care if the +prisoners received messages from outside, because they knew themselves +capable of frustrating anything the prisoners planned? Perhaps. More +than likely that was it. + +But, looking through the bottom of the globe, into the sea of white +flames below, Sarka gripped more tightly his ray director, and tried +to marshal the forces of his courage. There was surely some way of +escape. Some way out of their strange predicament. + + +CHAPTER XVII + +_Casting the Die_ + +Somehow Sarka believed that this white radiance of the abyss held the +secret of the omnipotence of Luar, if omnipotence she possessed. That +she did seemed sure, else Dalis would not have been with her. Besides, +she had asked Sarka and Jaska to swear allegiance to her. Yes the +secret was here, in the heart of the lake of white flames. + +It might have been the Moon Fountain of Youth, or of omnipotence. +There was no telling, unless Sarka tried an experiment. + +His fury at Dalis now knew no bounds, and he was conscious of a +desire, too poignant almost to be borne, in some way to circumvent the +arch-traitor. For here in the craters of the Moon Dalis was working +out a strange amplification of the scheme which he had, centuries +before, proposed to Sarka the First. He was subjecting the people of +his Gens to the white flames. + +If they immersed themselves voluntarily, they became as Luar was, but +still subservient to the will of Dalis--and, in his hands, invincible +instruments of war! Dalis had doubtless already been bathed in the +flames. Sarka was not sure, for in the home of Luar the white light +was so blinding it would have been impossible to make sure that the +white radiance clothed the others with Luar. + +"That's it!" said Sarka to himself. "That's it! Dalis and those guards +at the dais of Luar have already been subjected to the white flames! +The rest who immerse themselves, voluntarily, come forth as Luar and +Dalis! Who do not, die. Dalis' manner of forcing the survival of the +fittest! His idea of the flood in grandfather's time, only now he +causes his selection by flames instead of flood! He believes that only +those worthy to survive, and to stand at his back in whatever he +conceives to be his need, will guess the secret of the immersion. The +others will die!" + + * * * * * + +What a terrible alternative, when Dalis could as easily have given the +secret to all his people! Could have told them how to save themselves! +But it was not Dalis' way. Here, in the beginning of what was to +become a dual sovereignty of the Moon, Dalis had already taken thought +on the matter of over-population, and was destroying the many that the +few--the strongest, most ruthless--might survive! Hundreds of +thousands, millions of the Gens of Dalis, stood at the door of life, +and did not know how to enter, merely because Dalis withheld the key! +And, pausing in terror before the flames, they died, when a step and a +plunge would have saved them all! + +"If he lives to be a million, if he lives through everlasting life," +said Sarka to himself, "and does penance through a thousand +reincarnations, Dalis can never atone for this wholesale destruction +of humanity! But I ... I wonder!" + +Sarka realized the nicety of the revenge of Dalis upon Jaska and +himself. Dalis had not given the secret to the prisoners, but by his +use of the cubes, he had plunged them into the very heart of the +horror, where they could see the suffering of the people of the Gens. +Then, when they had seen and appreciated the horror of it all, they +would follow the people of the Gens to death! + +But Luar had spoken of thrusting them into the base of the Cone! + + * * * * * + +Then they were not for the flames after all! How could it be done? The +globe composed of the cubes had but to transport the prisoners to the +base of the Cone, press against that base, and open to let the +prisoners free--and in the heart of the white-blue column they would +be hurled outward from the Moon, into space. The mere prospect of such +horror caused the perspiration to break forth anew on the body of +Sarka. + +But there might be a way. + +"I wonder," he asked himself, "if the Earth people in _this_ crater +could read my thoughts in spite of their agonies, if I could get my +thought to them through the globe? I wonder if, reading my thoughts, +they would obey?" + +Bit by bit, as parts of a puzzle fall into place, he made his plan, +and his heart beat high with excitement. Jaska bent before him to look +into his eyes, and he knew that she was trying to read his face. She +knew, wise Jaska, that this brilliant lover of hers was making a plan, +and she believed in the sure success of it because it would be _his_! + +She smiled at him, her courage high, and waited! + +Holding the ray director between his body and that of Jaska, he took a +terrible, ghastly chance. Dalis had known the secret sign manual of +these two; but would the intelligence of the cubes comprehend it? He +must take the chance, slender as it seemed. His free hand began to +spell out, with all speed, the mad plan he had conceived. + +"The white flames are harmless if one plunges into them voluntarily. +Are you afraid to attempt it? No? Then unfasten your clothing, and +have it so arranged that you can drop entirely out of it when I give +you the signal, which will be a mere widening of the eyes, like this! +You understand? We must go nude into the flames, so that they will +bathe our whole bodies! But, when you slip out of your clothing, tear +your anti-gravitational ovoid from the skull-pan of your helmet, and +hold it in your mouth! Then depend upon me, and have no fear!" + +"I have no fear," replied the fingers of Jaska. "I go to death with +you if you wish--or to Life!" + + * * * * * + +Feeling the menace of the cubes almost gripping at his throat as he +got into action, Sarka unfastened his own clothing, ripped the ovoid +from his helmet, placed it in his mouth. Then, looking at Jaska, he +gave her the signal. + +Instantly, at her nod, he brought forth the ray director, pressed it +with his fingers, directing its muzzle toward the curve of the globe, +swinging it around in a circle, cutting out the bottom of the globe of +cubes. + +The action must have been one of untold surprise to the cubes which +made up the globe, for before anything could be done to stay the hand +of Sarka, his ray director had cut out the bottom of the globe, and +Jaska and himself, divested now of all clothing, had fallen from the +globe. + +Unbearable heat slashed and tore at them. They still held hands, and +when their feet touched upon something solid, they were gasping with +the unbelievable heat; and it was ripping at their lungs like talons +of white hot steel. But, pausing not at all, Sarka raced ahead with +Jaska, and dived straight into the lake of white flames. + +As he dived he directed his thoughts toward the people of the Gens who +stood, undecided, dying by slow inches, on their little oases in the +lake. And this was the thought, which was a command. + +"Plunge into the flames! They will not hurt you! Plunge in, and obey +my commands, O people of the Gens of Dalis! I, Sarka, command that you +obey me! Jaska, who commanded you at the will of Dalis, also commands. +Gather with Jaska and me at the base of the Cone! You have but to +follow the converging of the flames!" + + * * * * * + +Together the two plunged in, and it seemed all at once as though the +fire had gone out of the white flames, for they were cool and soothing +to the touch. Sarka could feel new life being borne in him, could feel +himself revitalized, exalted, lifted to the heights. He suddenly +experienced the desire to run, and shout his joy for all to hear. But +reason held him. Not thus easily would Luar and Dalis, the traitor, +give over their designs against these two. + +But in the heart of the flames, they dropped down, while they turned +their faces toward the base of the Cone, or where they thought the +base to be, even as Sarka gave another command to the now invisible +people of the Gens of Dalis. + +"Hold your ovoids in your mouths and follow! Obey my will!" + +They dropped now to what seemed to be cool flagstones, while above +them showed an orifice in a wall, into which those tongues of flame +were darting. They paused there, side by side, their faces radiant, +and looked back the way they had come. + +Coming out of the white flames, like battalions on parade, were the +people of the Gens of Dalis--scores and hundreds of them, who had +sensed and heeded the mental commands of Sarka. Like genii appearing +out of the flames they came, to muster about Sarka and Jaska. + +Then, when it seemed that no more were coming, Sarka turned to the +base of the Cone, his face high shining with courage and confidence, +and stepped straight into the flames that led into the Cone. Beside +him came Jaska, while behind him came the people of the Gens of Dalis +who dared to do as he had commanded. + +They were sucked into the Cone like chips sucked into a whirlpool, and +Sarka willed a last command as they entered: + +"Quit the column at the lip of the crater, and muster about the +aircars!" + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +_The People of Radiance_ + +The exaltation of Sarka knew no bounds, and looking into the eyes of +Jaska, he knew she felt it, too. For her face was shining, and all of +her, the wondrous shining brilliance of her, was bathed in the white +radiance that mantled Luar. And now, since Jaska too knew that +radiance, her beauty was greater even than that of Luar. Sarka +thrilled anew at the glory of her. + +But even as he stepped into the base of the Cone, he stepped out of +the blue column at the lip of the Moon-crater. Swift as light, and +swifter, had been the flight upward from the Cavern of the Cone; yet, +so keen were his perceptions, he knew when he had passed through the +chamber of the bluish glow, into which he and Jaska had first dropped +upon arrival. + +Now they were on the lip of the crater, and the people of the Gens who +had followed him, were slipping out of the blue column, like insects +out of a flame, and converging on the aircars whose tentacles still +waved as they had when Sarka had last seen them. + +Sarka looked at these people in amazement. To him there was a divinity +now about their nudeness which nudity never before had suggested to +him. For the people shone, and there was something glorious in those +divinely white bodies. They reminded Sarka of his people's books of +antiquity, and his childhood's pictures of angels.... + +But the effect of those white flames!... + + * * * * * + +There was no explaining it. But Sarka felt that whatever he willed to +do he could do; that whatever he wished for was his, whether it was +his by right or no. He felt that he could move mountains, with only +the aid of his hands. Looking at Jaska he conceived all sorts of new +beauty in her, for she was the brightest, to him, of all the people +who had passed through the lake of white flames, and been cleansed in +their heat. + +"No wonder Luar has mastered the Moon!" he cried to Jaska. "For when +she was bathed in the white flames, her will is paramount!" + +"But how, if she passes the people of the Gens of Dalis through the +flames, will she retain her sovereignty?" + +"Because Dalis, too, has passed through, and his will is the will of +the Gens! They will obey him, and he has sworn allegiance to Luar, or +given some sort of oath of fealty!" + +"How strange that but one person on the Moon has been bathed in the +white flames!" + +"How do we know," Sarka almost whispered it, "that she is, originally, +of the Moon? Does she not look too much like our people, to be from +another world entirely?" + +"I do not know, but ... you mean ... you mean...?" + +"I scarcely know; but Dalis would swear allegiance to no man, much +less to a woman, unless he knew that man, or woman, far better than he +has had opportunity, in a matter of hours only, to know Luar!" + +He left it there then, as he strode boldly, with Jaska by his side, to +the nearest of the aircars. + + * * * * * + +As he approached the car, the gleam cube beneath it seemed to gleam +brighter and brighter, as though it echoed the radiance of Sarka. +Sarka knew, studying this phenomenon, that he possessed at least a +hint of the secret of Luar's omnipotence. There had been a hint +before, but by now its meaning was clearer. The white flames, out of +the heart of the dying Moon, gave new life, exaltation, not only to +the bodies but to the brains of those who passed through it, and with +their brains quickened, they possessed such knowledge as men of Earth, +for ages, had wished to possess. + +Transmutation of metals ... the ability, at will, to endow the higher, +more selective metals with intelligence ... and the ability to retain +command of the intelligences thus endowed. This explained the power of +Luar over the Gnomes, and the power of the Gnomes over the cubes--if +they possessed that power. + +But the Gnomes, what of them? What were they? + +But for a space Sarka must await the answer to that question, for +there was little time. Already he knew that the tale of his escape, +and his taking over of a portion of the Gens of Dalis, must have gone +like wildfire through all the crater, and from this crater, perhaps, +had been transmitted to all the craters of the Moon. All the +craters.... + + * * * * * + +That explained to him the absence from the lake of white flames, where +he had seen so few, comparatively, of the people of Dalis' Gens. The +Moon was honeycombed by such craters, and perhaps the white flame +connected them all, made them all one. And Luar commanded all from her +dais in this crater Sarka and his people were escaping. The millions +of the Gens had been swallowed by the craters of the Moon, at command +of Luar, acceded to by Dalis--and all over the Moon the very things +which Sarka and Jaska had witnessed were taking place. + +Even now, as Sarka raced for the aircar, and Jaska with him, he could +feel a backward pulling that was well-nigh invincible. Someone was +willing him to return, willing the Gnomes to pursue him, willing the +cubes to refuse obedience to him; but he laughed and stepped to the +aircar, passing by the nearest writhing tentacle as though he knew it +possessed no power to harm him. The tentacle swept aside, and did not +try to bar him, while he sent his will crashing against that brightly +gleaming cube. "Into the aircar! We enter with you!" + +The cube vanished instantly, and it seemed to Sarka that invisible +hands caught at his feet, lifting him up through the trap-door in the +belly of the aircar, up and inside. The door swung shut, and in the +forward end of the vast aircar gleamed the cube which had obeyed his +command! + + * * * * * + +Sarka sent one thought careening outward from the aircar, a command to +the cubes which stood watch beneath the other aircars. + +"Obey the Radiant People, and through them, _me_!" + +The light of the cube made the interior of the aircar as light as day, +and Sarka was struck at once with another phenomenon. He could see +through the sides of the car in any direction. + +And what he saw filled him with a sudden fear! + +Out of the crater poured myriads of the Gnomes, and up the sides of it +came myriads of the gleaming cubes, all racing toward the cars. + +"Get back! Get back!" he commanded the Gnomes and the cubes. + +At the same time he issued his commands to the cube within his own +car, and to the cubes which by now were inside the other aircars, +realizing that the cubes themselves were the motive power of the +aircars--and that his will was the will of these individual cubes. + +"Fly at once! Fly outward at top speed toward the Earth!" + +Instantly, as though a single signal had started all the cars, a dozen +aircars rose majestically from the crater, while Sarka studied the +Gnomes and the cubes in turmoil on the rim. He noted then, a strange +circumstance: that when he commanded the Gnomes and the pursuing cubes +to keep back, they hesitated, dazedly, as though they did not know +whether to advance or to retreat; that when he merely watched them, +they came on. + +He laughed aloud at this measuring of mental swords with Luar, and +with Dalis. For he could sense the conflict very plainly. She +commanded the Gnomes and the cubes to attack, he commanded them to +retreat, and they remained undecided, like people drawn between two +extremities, and uncertain which direction to take. + +Upward, side by side now, floated the aircars of the Moon, and in the +forepeak of each, one of the gleaming cubes, like--like +anti-gravitational ovoids of the Moon! At the fast falling rim of the +crater boiled the Gnomes and the cubes, stirring and tumbling, +hampered by their very numbers, as they tried to attack at will of +Luar and retreated in confusion at the will of Sarka. + +Then there was Jaska beside Sarka, her face fearful, as he pointed off +across the gloomy expanse of the Moon. + +From all sides, from all directions, from other craters which these +two had not even seen, came scores and hundreds of the monster cars! + +They had beaten Luar and Dalis but for a moment, then! Now, at her +command, the countless other aircars were coming in to head them off, +to fight them back to the surface of the Moon. It would be a race +against time, and against death. But of at least a dozen of the +aircars, Sarka was master, and he did not fear the issue. That strange +exaltation which the white flames had given him filled him with a +confidence that nothing could shake. + +He shot a thought at the gleaming cube in the forepeak. + +"Faster! Faster! There is no limit to your speed! Faster! Faster! Even +faster!" + +Instantly the Moon seemed literally to drop away beneath the dozen +aircars which carried the Radiant People, while the aircars of Luar +and of Dalis fell hopelessly behind. + +Sure that they would win in this race now, since he was just beginning +to realize the vastness of his power--the all-encompassing, +all-mastering power of the human mind and will, which the white flames +of the Moon had made almost god-like--Sarka turned his eyes toward a +coldly gleaming sphere in the star-spangled heavens ahead. + + * * * * * + +It was the Earth, and it seemed ringed in flames! From its edges there +seemed to shoot long streamers of yellow or golden flames, which broke +into sunlike pinwheels of radiance at their tips. Something, there on +the precious Earth, was decidedly wrong! + +Instantly, telepathically, he sought to gain mental contact with his +father. + +"Father, we are coming!" he said, across those countless miles. "What +is happening?" + +For a full minute there was no answer. Then it came, feeble, broken, +weighted with fear; but it was a thought-message, unmistakably, of +Sarka the Second. + +"Hurry, son! Hurry! For Dalis has indeed betrayed us! I could not +maintain control of the Earth with the Beryls, for some strange +catastrophe has destroyed all the Beryls in the area Dalis ruled! The +shifting of positions of the Earth and the Moon has so altered the +relative effects of the pull of gravity exerted by the planets that +Mars has been brought into dangerous proximity to us and is already so +close that her ether-lights are playing over us! Surely you must be +able to see them! We have received messages, but as yet I have only +been partially able to decode them! What I have decoded, however, +presages catastrophe--for I am sure that Mars and the Moon are in +confederation, and that the Moon-people have deliberately forced us +into contact with her ally!" + +Cold fear clutched at the throat of Sarka as he caught the message. He +decided not to tell Jaska for the moment. He looked to right and left, +at the aircars on either side of him, then issued his commands. + +"Faster! Faster! Be prepared to land in the area of the Gens of +Cleric, as close as possible to my laboratory!" + +A strange, awesome sight, that flight of the rebels of Dalis' Gens +from the Moon to the Earth--like gleaming stars across the void. Far +out in Space they fled at terrific speed through almost utter +darkness, but their light was still blinding, lighting the way. + +(_Concluded in the next issue_) + + + + +Murder Madness + +CONCLUSION OF A FOUR-PART NOVEL + +_By Murray Leinster_ + +[Illustration: _The deck was covered with panic-stricken folk who had +come in awful terror to watch. And all were slaves to The Master._] + +[Sidenote: Bell has fought through tremendous obstacles to find and +kill The Master, whose diabolical poison makes murder-mad snakes of +the hands; and, as he faces the monster at last--his own hands start +to writhe!] + + +CHAPTER XV + +The door of the car swung wide, and Ortiz's pale grim face peered in +behind the blue steel barrel of his automatic. He smiled queerly as +Jamison, with a grunt of relief, tapped Bell's wrist in sign to put +away his weapon. + +"Ah, very well," said Ortiz, with the same queer smile upon his face. +"One moment." + +He disappeared. On the instant there was the thunderous crashing of a +weapon. Bell started up, but Jamison thrust him back. Then Ortiz +appeared again with smoke still trickling from the barrel of his +pistol. + +"I have just done something that I have long wished to do," he +observed coolly. "I have killed the chauffeur and his companion. You +may alight, now. I believe we will have half an hour or more. It will +do excellently." + +He offered his hand to Paula as she stepped out. She seemed to shudder +a little as she took it. + +"I do not blame you for shuddering, Senorita," he said politely, "but +men who are about to die may indulge in petty spites. And the +chauffeur was a favorite with the deputy for whom I am substituting. +Like all favorites of despots, he had power to abuse, and abused it. I +could tell you tales, but refrain." + + * * * * * + +The car had come to a stop in what seemed to be a huge warehouse, and +by the sound of water round about, it was either near or entirely +built out over the harbor. A large section near the outer end was +walled off. Boxes, bales, parcels and packages of every sort were +heaped all about. Bell saw crated air engines lying in a row against +one wall. There were a dozen or more of them. Machinery, huge cases of +foodstuffs.... + +"The Buenos Aires depot," said Ortiz almost gaily. "This was the point +of receipt for all the manufactured goods which went to the _fazenda_ +of Cuyaba, Senor Bell. Since you destroyed that place, it has not been +so much used. However, it will serve excellently as a tomb. There are +cases of hand grenades yonder. I advise you to carry a certain number +with you. The machine guns for the air-craft, with their ammunition, +are here...." + +He was hurrying them toward the great walled-off space as he talked, +his automatic serving as a pointer when he indicated the various +objects. + +"Now, here," he added as he unlocked the door, "is your vessel. The +Master bought only amphibian planes of late. Those for Cuyaba were +assembled in this little dock and took off from the water. Your +destruction up there, Senor Bell, left one quite complete but +undelivered. I think another, crated, is still in the warehouse. I +have been very busy, but if you can fuel and load it before we are +attacked...." + +They were in a roofed and walled but floorless shed, built into the +warehouse itself. Water surged about below them, and on it floated a +five passenger plane, fully assembled and apparently ready to fly, +but brand new and so far unused. + + * * * * * + +"I'll look it over," said Bell, briefly. He swung down the catwalk +painted on the wings. He began a swift and hasty survey. Soot on the +exhaust stacks proved that the motors had been tried, at least. +Everything seemed trim and new and glistening in the cabin. The fuel +tanks showed the barest trace of fuel. The oil tanks were full to +their filling-plugs. + +He swung back up. + +"Taking a chance, of course," he said curtly. "If the motors were all +right when they were tried, they probably are all right now. They may +have been tuned up, and may not. I tried the controls, and they seem +to work. For a new ship, of course, a man would like to go over it +carefully, but if we've got to hurry...." + +"I think," said Ortiz, and laughed, "that haste would be desirable. +Herr Wiedkind--No! _Amigo mio_, it was that damned Antonio Calles who +listened to us last night. I found pencil marks beside the listening +instrument. He must have sat there and eavesdropped upon me many weary +hours, and scribbled as men do to pass the time. He had a pretty taste +in monograms.... I gave all the orders that were needful for you to +take off from the flying field. I even went there myself and gave +additional orders. And Calles was there. Also others of The Master's +subjects. My treason would provoke a terrible revenge from The Master, +so they thought to prove their loyalty by permitting me to disclose my +plan and foil it at its beginning. + +"I would have made the journey with you to The Master, but as a +prisoner with the tale of my treason written out. So I returned and +changed the orders to the chauffeur, when all the Master's loyal +subjects were waiting at the flying field. But soon it will occur to +them what I have done. They will come here. Therefore, hasten!" + +"We want food," said Bell evenly, "and arms, but mostly we want fuel. +We'll get busy." + + * * * * * + +He shed his coat and picked up a hand-truck. He rammed it under a drum +of gasoline and ran it to the walkway nearest to the floating plane. +Coiled against the wall there was a long hose with a funnel at its +upper end. In seconds he had the hose end in one of the wing +fuel-tanks. In seconds more he had propped the funnel into place and +was watching the gasoline gurgling down the hose. + +"Paula," he said curtly, "watch this. When it's empty roll the drum +away so I can put another in its place." + +She moved quickly beside it, throwing him a little smile. She set +absorbedly about her task. + +Jamison arrived with another drum of gas before the first was emptied, +and Bell was there with a third while the second still gurgled. They +heaped the full drums in place, and Jamison suddenly abandoned his +truck to swear wrathfully and tear off his spectacles and fling them +against the wall. The bushy eyebrows and beard peeled off. His coat +went down. He began to rush loads of foodstuffs, arms, and other +objects to a point from which they could be loaded on the plane. Ortiz +pointed out the things he pantingly demanded. + +In minutes, it seemed, he was demanding: "How much can we take? Any +more than that?" + +"No more," said Bell. "All the weight we can spare goes for fuel. See +if you can find another hose and funnel and get to work on the other +tank. I'm going to rustle oil." + +He came staggering back with heavy drums of it. A thought struck him. + +"How do we get out? What works the harbor door?" + + * * * * * + +Ortiz pointed, smiling. + +"A button, Senor, and a motor does the rest." He looked at his watch. +"I had better see if my fellow subjects have come." + +He vanished, smiling his same queer smile. Bell worked frantically. He +saw Ortiz coming back, pausing to light a cigarette, and taking up a +hatchet, with which he attacked a packing case. + +"They are outside, Senor," he called. "They have found the signs of +the car entering, and now are discussing." + +He plucked something carefully from the packing box and went leisurely +back toward the door. Bell began to load the food and stores into the +cabin, with sweat streaming down his face. + +There was the sound of a terrific explosion, and Bell jumped savagely +to solid ground. + +"Keep loading! I'll hold them back!" he snapped to Jamison. + +But when he went pounding to the back of the warehouse he found Ortiz +laughing. + +"A hand grenade, Senor," he said in wholly unnatural levity. "Among +the subjects of The Master. I believe that I am going mad, to take +such pleasure in destruction. But since I am to die so shortly, why +not go mad, if it gives me pleasure?" + + * * * * * + +He peered out a tiny hole and aimed his automatic carefully. It +spurted out all the seven shots that were left. + +"The man who poisoned me," he said pleasantly. "I think he is dead. Go +back and make ready to leave, Senor Bell, because they will probably +try to storm this place soon, and then the police will come, and +then.... It is amusing that I am the one man to whom those enslaved +among the city authorities would look for The Master's orders." + +Bell stared out. He saw a small horde of people, frantically agitated, +milling in the cramped and unattractive little street of Buenos Aires' +waterfront. Sheer desperation seemed to impel them, desperation and a +frantic fear. They surged forward--and Ortiz flung a hand grenade. Its +explosion was terrific, but he had perhaps purposely flung it short. +Bell suddenly saw police uniforms, fighting a way through to the front +of the crowd and the source of all this disturbance. + +"Go back," said Ortiz seriously. "I shall die, Senor Bell. There is +nothing else for me to do. But I wish to die with Latin melodrama." He +managed a smile. "I will give you ten minutes more. I can hold off the +police themselves for so long. But you must hasten, because there are +police launches." + + * * * * * + +He held out his hand. Bell took it. + +"Good luck," said Ortiz. + +"You can come--" began Bell, wrenched by the gaiety on Ortiz's face. + +"Absurd," said Ortiz, smiling. "I should be murder mad within three +days. This is a preferable death, I assure you. Ten minutes, no more!" + +And Bell went racing back and found Jamison rolling away the last of +the fuel drums and Paula looking anxiously for him. + +"Tanks full," said Jamison curtly. "Everything set. What next?" + +"Engines," said Bell. + +He swung down and jerked a prop over. Again, and again.... The motor +caught. He went plunging to the other. Minutes.... They caught. He +throttled them down to the proper warming up roaring, while the air in +the enclosed space grew foul. + + * * * * * + +Once more to the warehouse. Ortiz shouted and waved his hand. He was +filling his pockets with hand grenades. Bell made a gesture of +farewell and Ortiz seemed to smile as he went back to hold the +entrance for a little longer. + +"We're going," said Bell grimly. "Get your guns ready, Jamison, for +when the door goes up." + +He pressed on the button Ortiz had pointed out. There were more +explosions and the rattle of firearms from the front of the warehouse. +There was a sudden rumble of machinery and the blank front of the +little covered dock rose suddenly. The sunlit waters of Buenos Aires +harbor spread out before them. To Bell, who had not looked on sunlight +that day, the effect was dazzling. He blinked, and then saw a fast +little launch approaching. There were uniformed figures crowded about +its bows. + +"All set!" he snapped. "I'm going to give her the gun." + +"Go to it," said Jamison. "We're--" + +The motors bellowed and drowned out the rest. The plane shuddered and +began to move. The sound of explosions from the back of the warehouse +was loud and continuous, now. Out into the bright sunlight the plane +moved, at first heavily, then swiftly.... + +Bell saw arms waving wildly in the launch with the uniformed men. +Sunlight glittered suddenly on rifle barrels. Puffs of vapor shot out. +Something spat through the wall beside Bell. But the roaring of the +motors kept up, and the pounding of the waves against the curved bow +of the boat-body grew more and more violent.... Sweat came out on +Bell's face. The ship was not lifting.... + + * * * * * + +But it did lift. Slowly, very slowly, carrying every pound with which +it could have risen from the water. It swept past the police launch at +ninety miles an hour, but no more than five feet above the waves. A +big, clumsy tramp flying the Norwegian flag splashed up river with its +propeller half out of water. Bell dared to rise a little so he could +bank and dodge it. He could not rise above it. + +He had one glimpse of blonde, astonished beards staring over the stern +of the tramp as he swept by it, his wing tips level with its rail and +barely twenty feet away. And then he went on and on, out to sea. + +He began to spiral for height fully four miles offshore, and looked +back at the sprawling city. Down by the waterfront a thick, curling +mass of smoke was rising from one spot abutting on the water. It +swayed aside and Bell saw the rectangular opening out of which the +plane had come. + +"Ortiz's in there," he said, sick at heart. "Dying as he planned." + +But there was a sudden upheaval of timbers and roof. A colossal burst +of smoke. A long time later the concussion of a vast explosion. There +was nothing left where the warehouse had been. + +Bell looked, and swore softly to himself, and felt a fresh surge of +the hatred he bore to The Master and all his works. And then filmy +clouds loomed up but a little above the rising plane, and Bell shot +into them and straightened out for the south. + + * * * * * + +For many long hours the plane floated on to southward, high above a +gray ocean which seemed deceptively placid beneath a canopy of thin +clouds. The motors roared steadily in the main, though once Bell +instructed Jamison briefly in the maintenance of a proper course and +height, and swung out into the terrific blast of air that swept past +the wings. He clung to struts and handholds and made his way out on +the catwalk to make some fine adjustment in one motor, with six +thousand feet of empty space below the swaying wing. + +"Carburetter wrong," he explained when he had closed the cabin window +behind him again and the motors' roar was once more dulled. "It was +likely to make a lot of carbon in the cylinders. O.K., now." + +Paula's hand touched his shyly. He smiled abstractedly at her and went +back to the controls. + +And then the plane kept on steadily. Time and space have become purely +relative in these days, in startling verification of Mr. Einstein, and +the distance between Buenos Aires and Magellan Strait is great or +small, a perilous journey or a mere day's travel, according to the +mind and the transportation facilities of the voyager. Before four +o'clock in the afternoon the coast was low and sandy to the westward, +and it continued sterile and bare for long hours while the plane hung +high against the sky with a following wind driving it on vastly more +swiftly than its own engines could have contrived. + + * * * * * + +It was little before sunset when the character of the shore changed +yet again, and the sun was low behind a bank of angry clouds when the +stubby forefinger of rock that Magellan optimistically named the Cape +of the Eleven Thousand Virgins reached upward from the seemingly +placid water. Bell swept lower, then, much lower, looking for a +landing place. He found it eight or nine miles farther on, on a wide +sandy beach some three miles from a lighthouse. The little plane +splashed down into tumbling sea and, half supported by the waves and +half by the lift remaining to its wings, ran for yards up upon the +hard packed sand. + +The landing had been made at late twilight, and Bell moved stiffly +when he rose from the pilot's seat. + +"I'm going over to that lighthouse," he said curtly. "There won't be +enough men there to be dangerous and they probably haven't frequent +communication with the town. I'll learn something, anyway. You two +stay with the plane." + +Jamison lifted his eyebrows and was about to speak, but looked at +Bell's expression and stopped. Leadership is everywhere a matter of +emotion and brains together, and though Jamison had his share of +brains, he had not Bell's corroding, withering passion of hatred +against The Master and all who served him gladly. All the way down the +coast Bell had been remembering things he had seen of The Master's +doing. His power was solely that of fear, and the deputies of his +selection had necessarily been men who would spread that terror with +an unholy zest. The nature of his hold upon his subjects was such that +no honorable man would ever serve him willingly, and for deputies he +had need of men even of enthusiasm. His deputies, then, were men who +found in the assigned authority of The Master full scope for the +satisfaction of their own passions. And Bell had seen what those +passions brought about, and there was a dull flame of hatred burning +in his eyes that would never quite leave them until those men were +powerless and The Master dead. + + * * * * * + +"You'll look after the ship and Paula," said Bell impatiently. "All +right?" + +Jamison nodded. Paula looked appealingly at Bell, but he had become a +man with an obsession. Perhaps the death of Ortiz had cemented it, but +certainly he was unable to think of anything, now, but the necessity +of smashing the ghastly hold of The Master upon all the folk he had +entrapped. Subconsciously, perhaps, Bell saw in the triumph of The +Master a blow to all civilization. Less vaguely, he foresaw an attempt +at the extension of The Master's rule to his own nation. But when Bell +thought of The Master, mainly he remembered certain disconnected +incidents. The girl at Ribiera's luxurious _fazenda_ outside of Rio, +who had been ordered to persuade him to be her lover, on penalty of a +horrible madness for her infant son if she failed. Of a pale and +stricken _fazendiero_ on the Rio Laurenco who thought him a deputy and +humbly implored the grace of The Master for a moody twelve year old +girl. Of a young man who kept his father, murder mad, in a barred room +in his house and waited despairingly for that madness to be meted out +upon himself and on his wife and children. Of a white man who had been +kept in a cage in Cuyaba, with other men.... + + * * * * * + +Bell trudged on through the deepening night with his soul a burning +flame of hatred. He clambered amid boulders, guided by the tall +lighthouse of Cape Possession with the little white dwelling he had +seen at its base before nightfall. He fell, and rose, and forced his +way on and upward, and at last was knocking heavily at a trim and +neatly painted door. + +He was so absorbed in his rage that his talk with the lighthouse +keeper seemed vague in his memory, afterward. The keeper was a wizened +little Welshman from the Chibut who spoke English with an +extraordinary mixture of a Spanish intonation and a Cimbrian accent. +Bell listened heavily and spoke more heavily still. At the end he went +back to the plane with a spindle-shanked boy with a lantern +accompanying him. + +"All settled," he said grimly, when Jamison came out into the darkness +with a ready revolver to investigate the approaching light. "We get a +boat from the lighthouse keeper to go to Punta Arenas in. He's a +devout member of some peculiar sect, and he's seen enough of the hell +Punta Arenas amounts to, to believe what I told him of its cause. His +wife will look after Paula, and this boy will hitch a team to the +plane and haul it out of sight early in the morning. With the help of +God, we'll kill Ribiera and The Master before sunset to-morrow." + + +CHAPTER XVI + +But they did not kill The Master before nightfall. It was not quite +practicable. Bell and Jamison started out well before dawn with a +favorable wind and tide, in the small launch the wizened Welshman +placed at their disposal. His air was one of dour piety, but he +accepted Bell's offer of money with an obvious relief, and criticized +his Paraguayan currency with an acid frankness until Jamison produced +Argentine pesos sufficient to pay for the boat three times over. + +"I think," said Jamison dryly, "that Pau--that Miss Canalejas is safe +enough until we come back. The keeper is a godly man and knows we +have money. She'll be in no danger, except of her soul. They may try +to save that." + +Bell did not answer. He could think of nothing but the mission he had +set himself. He tinkered with the engine to make it speed up, and set +the sails with infinite care to take every possible advantage of the +stiff breeze that blew. During the day, those sails proved almost as +much of a nuisance as a help. The fiendish, sullen williwaws that blow +furiously and without warning about the Strait required watching, and +more than once it was necessary to reef everything and depend on the +motor alone. + +Bell watched the horizon ahead with smouldering eyes. Jamison watched +him almost worriedly. + +"Look here, Bell," he said at last, "you'll get nowhere feeling like +you do. I know you've done The Master more damage than I have, but +you'll just run your head into a trap unless you use your brains. For +instance, you didn't ask about communications. There's a direct +telegraph wire from Cape Virgins to Buenos Aires, and there's +telephonic communication between the Cape and Punta Arenas. Do you +imagine that the plane wasn't seen when it came in the Cape? And do +you imagine The Master doesn't know we're here?" + + * * * * * + +Bell turned, then, and frowned blackly. + +"I hadn't thought of it," he said grimly, "but I put some hand +grenades in the locker, there." + +"You damned fool!" said Jamison angrily. "Stop being bloodthirsty and +use your head! You haven't even asked what I've done! I've done +something, anyhow. That bundle I chucked in the bow has a couple of +sheepmen's outfits in it. Lots of sheep raised around here. We'll put +'em on before we land. And like a good general, I arranged a method of +retreat before we left B. A. There'll be a naval vessel here in two or +three days. She's carrying a party of Government scientists. She'll +anchor in Punta Arenas harbor and announce a case of some infectious +disease on board. No shore leave, you see, and nobody from shore +permitted on board her. And she has one or two damned good analytical +chemists with a damned good laboratory on board her, too. It's a long +gamble, but if we can get hold of some of The Master's poison.... Do +you see?" + +"Yes," said Bell heavily. "I see. But you haven't been through what +I've been through. What I've done, fighting that devil, has caused men +to be deserted after being enslaved. There's one place, Cuyaba...." + +His face twitched. That place was in his dreams, now. That place and +others where human beings had watched their bodies go mad, and had +been carried about screaming with horror at the crimes those bodies +committed.... + +"I'm going to kill The Master," he rasped. "That's all." + +He settled down to his grim watch for the city. All during the cloudy, +overcast day he strained his eyes ahead. Jamison could make nothing of +him. In the end he had to leave Bell to his moody waiting. + + * * * * * + +The morning passed, and midday, and a long afternoon. Three times Bell +came restlessly back to the engine and tried to coax more speed out of +it. But when darkness fell the town was still not in sight. They kept +on, then, steering by the stars with the motor putt-putt-putting +sturdily away in the stern. The water splashed and washed all about +them. The little boat rose, and fell, and rose and fell again. + +"That's the town," said Bell grimly. + +It was eleven at night, or later. Lights began to appear, very far +away, dancing miragelike on the edge of the water. They grew nearer +with almost infinite slowness. Two wide bands of many lights, with a +darker space in which a few much brighter lights showed clearly. +Presently a single red light appeared, the Punta Arenas harbor light, +twenty-five feet up on an iron pole. They passed it. + +"Bell," said Jamison curtly, "it's time you showed some sense, now. +We're going to find out some things before we get reckless. This town +isn't a big one, but it always was a hell on earth. No extradition +from here. It's full of wanted men. It's dying, now, from the old days +when all ships passed the Straits before the Panama Canal opened up, +but it ought to be still a hell on earth. And we're going to put on +these sheepmen outfits, and put up at some low caste sailors' and +sheepmen's hotel on shore, and find out what is what. In the morning, +if you like--" + +"In the morning," said Bell coldly, "I'm going to settle with The +Master." + + * * * * * + +They found a small and filthy hotel, in a still filthier street where +the houses were alternately black and silent and empty, and filled +with the squalid hilarity most seaport towns can somehow manage to +support. The street lamps were white and cold. The dirt and squalor +showed the more plainly by their light. There were sailors from the +few ships in harbor, and women so haggard and bedraggled that shrill +laughter and lavish endearments remained their only allure. And Bell +and Jamison plodded to the reeking place in which a half-drunk +sheepman pointed, and there Bell sat grimly in the vermin infested +room while Jamison, swearing wryly, went out. + +He came back later, much later. His breath was strong of bad whiskey +and he looked like a man who feels that a bath would be very +desirable. He looked like a man who feels unclean. + +"Give me a cigarette," he said shortly. "I found out most of what we +want to know." + + * * * * * + +Bell gave him a cigarette and waited. + +"Good thing you stayed behind," said Jamison. "I want to vomit. Why +people go in hell holes for fun.... But I was very drunk and very +amorous. Picked up a woman and fed her liquor. Young, too. Damnation! +She got crying drunk and told me everything she knew. I gave her money +and left. Punta Arenas is The Master's, body and soul." + +"One could have guessed it," said Bell grimly. + +"Nothing like it is," said Jamison. "Every living creature, man, +woman, and child, has been fed that devilish poison of his. The +keepers of the dives go fawning to the local officials for the +antidote. The _jefe politico_ is driven in his carriage to be cured +when red spots form before his eyes. The damned place is full of +suicides, and women, and--oh, my God! It's horrible!" + +A humming, buzzing noise set up off in the night somewhere. It kept up +for a long time, throttled down. Suddenly it seemed to grow louder, +changed in pitch, and dwindled as if into the far, far distance. + +"That's one of The Master's planes now, no doubt," said Jamison +savagely, "going off on some errand for him. He uses this place +practically as an experiment station. The human beings here are his +guinea pigs. The deputies get a standardized form of the stuff, but +he's got it worked out in different doses so he can make a man go mad +in hours, if he chooses, instead of after a delay. I don't know how. +And The Master--" + + * * * * * + +He checked himself sharply. There were shuffling footsteps in the hall +outside. A timid tap on the door. Jamison opened it, while Bell +dropped one hand inconspicuously to a weapon inside his shapeless +clothing. + +The toothless and filthy old man who kept the hotel beamed in at them. + +"_Senores_," he cackled. "_Vdes son de Porvenir, no es verdad?_" + +Jamison hiccoughed, as one who has been out and been drunken ought to +do. + +"_No, viejo_," he rumbled tipsily, "_somos de la estancia del Senor +Rubio. Vaya._" + +The old man seemed to mourn that they did not come from the sheep +ranches about Porvenir Bay. But he produced a bottle with a shaking +hand, still beaming. + +"_Tengo muchos amigos en Porvenir_," he chirped amiably. "_Y questa +botella--_" + +"_Demela_," rumbled Jamison. He reached out his hand. + +"_No mas que poquito!_" said the old man, beaming but anxious as +Jamison tilted it to his lips. "_Es visky de gentes...._" + +He beamed upon Bell, and Bell swallowed a spoonful and seemed to +swallow vastly more. He lay back lazily while Jamison in the part of a +tipsy sheepherder bullied the old man amiably and eventually chased +him out. + +"You're amused?" asked Jamison sardonically, when there were no more +sounds outside. "Because I said you didn't want to meet the young +senorita who loved you when she saw you downstairs? Well, Bell, if you +used your brain you didn't swallow any of that stuff." + +Bell started up. Jamison caught him by the shoulder. + +"I'm not sure," he said sharply. "Of course not. But it's damned funny +for a Spanish hotel keeper to give something for nothing, even when he +seemed just to want to gossip about his friends. Here. Drink this +water. It looks vile enough to take the place of mustard...." + + * * * * * + +Next morning the hotel keeper beamed upon them both as they went out +of the place. A slatternly, dark haired girl who leaned on his +shoulder smiled invitingly at Bell. And Bell, in his character of a +loutish sheepman from one of the ranches that dot the shores of the +Strait, grinned awkwardly back. But he went on with Jamison. + +"We separate," said Jamison under his breath. "We want to find where +The Master lives, mostly, and then we want to find the laboratory +where his stuff is mixed. We don't want to do any killing until that's +settled. After all, the Trade has something to say!" + +Bell codded indifferently and began to wander idly about the streets, +turning here and there as if moved by nothing more than the vaguest +curiosity. But gradually he was working through the sections in which +the larger buildings stood. Concrete structures, astonishingly modern, +dotted the business section. But none of them had the air that would +surround a place where a man with power of life or death would be. In +a town the size of Punta Arenas there would be unmistakable evidences +about The Master's residence, even if it were only that those who +passed it did so hurriedly and with a twinge of fear. + + * * * * * + +There were prosperous men in plenty on the streets, mingled with +deserting sailors, stockmen and farmers from the villages along the +Strait, and even a few grimy men who looked like miners. But there is +a lignite mine not far from the city, and a narrow gauge railroad +running to it. Of the prosperous-seeming men, however, Bell picked out +one here and there toward whom all passersby adopted a manner of +cringing respect. Bell lounged against a pole and studied them +thoughtfully. Men with an air of amused and careless scorn which only +men with unlimited power may adopt. He saw one grossly fat man with +hard and cruel eyes. The uniformed policemen drove all traffic +abjectly out of the way of his carriage, and stood with lifted hat +until he had passed. The fat man gave no faintest sign of +acknowledgment. + +"I wonder," said Bell slowly, and very grimly, "if that's The Master?" + +And then a passerby dodged quickly past his shoulder, brushing against +him, and waited humbly in the street. Bell turned. A party of men were +taking up nearly all the sidewalk. There were half a dozen of them in +all. And nearly in the middle was the bulky, immaculate, pigmented +Ribiera. + +Bell stiffened. But to move, beyond clearing the way, would be to +attract attention. He backed clumsily off the curbing as if making +way.... + +And Ribiera looked at his face. + + * * * * * + +Bell's hand drifted near his hidden weapon. But Ribiera looked neither +surprised nor alarmed. He halted and chuckled. + +"Ah, the Senhor Bell!" + +Bell said nothing, looking as stupid as possible, merely because there +was nothing else to do. + +"Ah, do not deny my acquaintance!" said Ribiera. He laughed. "I advise +you to go and look at the view, over the harbor. Good day, Senhor +Bell." + +Laughing, he went off along the street. And Bell felt a cold horror +creeping over him as he realized what Ribiera might mean. Ribiera had +entirely too much against him to greet him only, in a town where even +the dogs dared not bark without The Master's express command. He had +guards with him, men who would have shot Bell down at a nod from +Ribiera. + +Bell burst into a mad run for the waterfront. When the bay spread out +before his eyes he saw what Ribiera meant, and something seemed to +snap in his brain. + +The plane in which he and Jamison and Paula had escaped in was +floating out in the harbor. It was unmistakable. A larger, bulkier +seaplane floated beside it. The buzzing in the air the night +before.... The arrival of the plane had been telephoned from Cape +Virgins. Through a glass, perhaps, even its alighting had been +watched. And a big seaplane had gone out to bring it back. Footprints +in the sand would lead toward the lighthouse. There would be plenty of +men to storm that, if necessary, to take the three fugitives. But they +would have found only Paula. It was quite possible that the plane had +only been sent for after Bell and Jamison had been seen to land in +Punta Arenas. And Paula in The Master's hands would explain Ribiera's +amusement perfectly. + + * * * * * + +Bell found Jamison looking unhurriedly for him. And Jamison glanced at +his utterly white face and said softly: + +"We want to get where we can't be seen, to talk. There's the devil to +pay." + +"No use hiding," said Bell. His lips seemed stiff. "Paula--" + +"Hide anyway," snapped Jamison. He fairly thrust Bell into an alleyway +between two houses and thrust two rounded objects beneath his loose +fitting coat. "Two grenades. I have two more. The boat we came in is +taken--" + +"So is the plane," said Bell emotionlessly. + +"And there is a sign, in English, posted where we tied it up. The sign +says, '_The Senores Bell and Jamison may recover their boat on +application to The Master, and may also receive news of a late +traveling companion from him._" + +"We're known," Bell told him--and amazingly found it possible to smile +faintly--"Ribiera met me on the street and spoke to me and laughed and +went on." + +Jamison stared. Bell's manner was almost entirely normal again. Then +Jamison shrugged. + +"The sense of what you're saying," he observed wryly, "is that we're +licked. Let us, then, go to see The Master. I confess I feel some +curiosity to know just what he's like." + + * * * * * + +Bell was smiling. Being in an entirely abnormal state, he had a +curious certitude of the proper course to adopt. He went up to a +policeman and said politely, in Spanish: + +"I am desired to report to The Master, himself. Will you direct me?" + +The policeman abased himself instantly and trotted with them as a +guide. And Bell walked naturally, now, with his head up and his +shoulders back, and smoked leisurely as he went, and the policeman's +abasement became abject. All who walked with that air of amused +superiority in Punta Arenas were high in the service of The Master. +Obviously, the two men in these dejected clothes must also be high in +the service of The Master, and had adopted their disguise for purposes +into which a mere policeman and a slave of The Master should not dare +enquire. + +Jamison was rather grim and still. Jamison thought he was walking to +his death. But Bell smiled peculiarly and talked almost gaily and--as +Jamison thought--almost irrationally. + + * * * * * + +They came to a house set in a fairly spacious lawn behind a rather +high wall. There were greenhouses behind it, and there were flowers +growing as well as any flowers can be expected to grow in such high +altitudes. It was an extraordinarily cheerful dwelling to be found in +Punta Arenas, but the shuddering fear with which the little policeman +removed his hat as he entered the gateway was instructive. + +They were confronted by four other policemen, on guard inside the +gate. + +"_Estos Senores_--" began the abject one. + +"Take us to The Master," commanded Bell in a species of amused and +superior scorn. + +"It is required, Senor," said the leader of the four on guard, very +respectfully, "it is required that none enter without being searched +for weapons." + +Bell laughed. + +"Does The Master manage things so?" he asked scornfully. "Now, where I +am deputy no man would dare to think of a weapon to be used against +me! If it is The Master's rule, though...." + +The policeman cringed. Bell scornfully thrust an automatic out. + +"Take it," he snapped. "And go and tell The Master that the Senores +Bell and Jamison await his pleasure, and that they have given up +their weapons." + +The policeman scuttled toward the house. Bell smiled at his cigarette. + +"Do you know, Bell," said Jamison dryly, in English, "I'd hate to play +poker with you." + +"I'm not bluffing," said Bell. "Not altogether. I've a four card +flush, with the draw to come." + + * * * * * + +Almost instantly the policeman returned, more abject still. He had +stammered out Bell's message, just as it was given him. And the slaves +of The Master did not usually disobey orders, especially orders +designed to prevent any danger of a doomed man or woman trying to +assassinate The Master before madness was complete. Bell and Jamison +were received by liveried servants in utter silence and conducted +through a long passageway, too long to have been contained entirely in +the house as seen from the front. Indeed, they came out into a great +open greenhouse, in which the smell of flowers was heavy. There were +flowers everywhere, and a benign, small old man with a snowy beard and +hair, sat at a desk as if chatting of amiable trivialities with the +frock-coated men who stood about him. The white haired old man lifted +a blossom delicately to his nostrils and inhaled its perfume with a +sensitive delight. He looked up and smiled benignly upon the two. + +It was then that Jamison got a shock surpassing all the rest. Bell's +hands were writhing at the ends of his wrists, writhing as if they +were utterly beyond his control and as if they were longing to rend +and tear.... + +And Bell suddenly looked down at them, and his expression was that of +a man who sees cobras at the ends of his arms. + + +CHAPTER XVII + +There was a long pause. Bell was very calm. He seemed to tear his eyes +from the writhing hands that were peculiarly sensate, as if under the +control of in intelligence alien to his own. + +"I believe," said Bell steadily, "that The Master wishes to speak to +me." + +With an apparent tremendous effort of will, he thrust his hands into +his pockets. Jamison cursed softly. Bell had taken the direction of +things entirely out of his hands. It only remained to play up. + +"To be sure," said a mild, benevolent voice. The man with the snowy +beard regarded Bell exactly in the fashion of an elderly +philanthropist. "I am The Master, Senor Bell. You have interested me +greatly. I have grown to have a great admiration for you. Will you be +seated? Your companion also pleases me. I would like"--and the mild +brown eyes beamed at him--"I would like to have your friendship, Senor +Bell." + +"Pull out a chair for me, Jamison," said Bell in a strained voice. +"And--I'd like to have a cigarette." + +Jamison, cursing under his breath, put a chair behind Bell and stuck a +cigarette between his lips. He held a match, though his hands shook. + +"You might sit down, too," said Bell steadily. "From the manner of The +Master, I imagine that the conversation will take some time." + + * * * * * + +He inhaled deeply of his cigarette, and faced the little man again. +And The Master looked so benevolent that he seemed absolutely +cherubic, and there was absolutely no sign of anything but the utmost +saintliness about him. His eyes were clear and mild. His complexion +was fresh and translucent. The wrinkles that showed upon his face were +those of an amiable and a serene soul filled with benevolence and +charity. He looked like one of those irritatingly optimistic old +gentlemen who habitually carry small coins and stray bits of candy in +their pockets for such small children as they may converse with under +the smiling eyes of nurses. + +"Ah, Senor Bell," he said gently. "You do cause me to admire you. May +I see your hands again?" + +Bell held them out. He seemed to have conquered their writhing to some +extent. But he could not hold them quite still. Sweat stood out on his +forehead. He thrust them abruptly out of sight again. + +"Sad," said The Master gently. "Very sad." He sighed faintly and laid +down the rose he had been toying with. His fingers caressed the soft +petals delicately. "Fortunately," he said benevolently, "it is not yet +too late for me to relieve the strain under which you labor, Senor. +May I send for a certain medicine which will dispose of those symptoms +in a very short time?" + +"We'll talk first," said Bell harshly. "I want to hear what you have +to say." + + * * * * * + +The Master nodded, his fingers touching the rose petals as if in a +sensitive pleasure in their texture. + +"Always courageous," he said benignly. "I admire it while I combat it. +But the Senor Jamison...." + +Jamison had been looking fascinatedly at his own hands, opening and +closing the fingers with a savage abruptness. They obeyed him, though +they trembled. + +"I didn't drink the damned stuff that hotel keeper brought us last +night," he growled. "Bell did. And I--" + +"Wait a minute, Jamison," said Bell evenly. "Let's talk to The Master +for a while. I swore, sir," he said grimly, "that I'd kill you. I've +seen what your devilish poison does, in the hands of the men you've +chosen to distribute it. I've seen"--he swallowed and said +harshly--"I've seen enough to make me desire nothing so much as to see +you roast in hell! But you wanted to talk to me. Go ahead!" + + * * * * * + +The Master beamed at him, and then glanced about at the frock-coated +men who had been attending him. Bell glanced at them. Ribiera was +there, chuckling. + +"I told you, _tio mio_," he said familiarly, "that he would not be +polite. You can do nothing with him. Better have him shot." + +Francia, of Paraguay, nodded amusedly to Bell as their eyes met. But +The Master shook his really rather beautiful head. An old man can be +good to look at, and with a saintly aureole of snow-white hair and the +patriarchal white beard, The Master was the picture of benign and +beautiful old age. + +"Ah, you do not understand," he protested mildly. "The more the Senor +Bell shows his courage, _hijo mio_, the more we must persuade him." He +turned to Bell. "I realise," he said gently, "that there are hardships +connected with the administration of my power, Senor. It is +inevitable. But the Latin races of the continent which is now nearly +mine require strong handling. They require a strong man to lead them. +They are comfortable only under despotism. The task I have chosen for +you is different, entirely. _Los Americanos del Norte_ will not +respond to the treatment which is necessary for those _del Sud_. Their +governments, their traditions, are entirely unlike. If you become my +deputy and viceroy for all your nation, you shall rule as you will. A +benevolent, yet strong, rule is needed for your people. It may even +be--I will permit it--that the democratic institutions of your nation +may continue if you so desire. I am offering you, Senor, the position +of the absolute ruler of your nation. You may interfere with the +present government not at all, if you choose, provided only that my +own commands are obeyed when relayed through you. I choose you because +you have courage, and resource, and because you have the _Yanqui_ +cleverness which will understand your nation and cope with it." + + * * * * * + +Bell inhaled deeply. + +"In other words," he said bitterly, "you're saying indirectly that you +offer me a chance to be the sort of ruler Americans will submit to +without too much fuss, because you think one of Ribiera's stamp would +drive them to rebellion." + +The fine dark eyes twinkled. + +"You have much virtue, Senor. My nephew--though he is to be my +successor--has a weakness for a pretty face. Would you prefer that I +give him the task of subduing your nation?" + +"You might try it," said Bell. His eyes gleamed. "He'd be dead within +a week." + +The Master laughed softly. + +"I like you, Senor. I do like you indeed. I have not been so defied +since another _Americano del Norte_ defied me in this same room. But +he had not your resource. He had been enslaved with much less +difficulty than yourself. I do not remember what happened to him...." + +"He was taken, Master," said a fat man with hard eyes, obsequiously, +"he was taken in Bolivia." It was the man whom Bell had seen earlier +that morning in a carriage. "You gave him to me. He had insulted me +when I ordered him sent to you. I had him killed, but he was very +obstinate." + +"Ah, yes," said The Master meditatively. "You told me the details." He +seemed to recall small facts in benevolent retrospection. "But you, +Senor Bell, I have need of you. In fact, I shall insist upon your +friendship. And therefore--" + +He beamed upon Bell. + +"I give you back the Senorita Canalejas." + + * * * * * + +He shook his head reproachfully at the utterly grim look in Bell's +eyes. + +"I shall give you one single portion of the antidote to the medicine +which makes your hands behave so badly. You may take it when you +please. The Senor Jamison I shall keep and enslave. I do not think he +will be as obstinate as you are, but he has excellent qualities. If +you prove obdurate, I may yet persuade him to undertake certain tasks +for me. But you and the Senorita Canalejas are free. Your boat has +been reprovisioned and provided with fuel. You may go from here where +you will." + +Ribiera snarled. + +"_Tio mio_," he protested angrily, "you promised me--" + +"Your will in many things," said The Master gently, "but not in all. +Remember that you have much to learn, _hijo mio_. I have taught you to +prepare my little medicine, it is true. That is so you can take my +place if age infirmity shall carry me away." The Master folded his +hands with an air of pious resignation. "But you must learn policy. +The Senorita Canalejas belongs to the Senor Bell." + +Jamison was staring, now, but Bell's eyes had narrowed to mere slits. + +"You see," said The Master gently, to him, "I desire your friendship. +You may go where you will. You may take the Senorita Canalejas with +you. You will have enough of the antidote to my little medicine to +keep you sane for perhaps a week. In one week you may go far, with +her. You may do many things. But you cannot find a place of safety for +her. I still have a little power, Senor. If you take her with you, +your hands will writhe again. Your body will become uncontrollable. +Your eyes, staring and horror-struck, will observe your own hands +rending her. While your brain is yet sane you will see this body of +yours which now desires her so ardently, tearing at and crushing that +delicate figure, gouging out her eyes, battering her tender flesh, +destroying her.... Have you ever seen what a man who has taken my +little medicine does to a human being at his mercy?" + + * * * * * + +The figures about The Master were peculiarly tense. The fat man with +the hard eyes laughed suddenly. It was a horrible laugh. Francia of +Paraguay took out his handkerchief and delicately wiped his lips. He +was smiling. Ribiera looked at Bell's face and chuckled. His whole +gross figure shook with his amusement. + +"And of course," said The Master benignly, "if you prefer to commit +suicide, if you prefer to leave her here--well, my nephew knows little +expedients to reduce her will to compliance. You recall _Yague_, among +others." + +Bell's face was a white mask of horror and fury. He tried to speak, +and failed. He raised his hand to his throat--and it tore at the +flesh, insanely. + +"Let--let me see her," croaked Bell, as if strangling. + +Jamison stiffened. Bell seemed to be trying to get his hands into his +pockets. They were apparently uncontrollable. He thrust them under his +coat as there was a stirring at the door. + + * * * * * + +And Paula was brought in, as if she had been waiting. She was entirely +colorless, but she smiled at Bell. She came quickly to his side. + +"I heard," she said in a clear and even little voice. "We will go +together, Charles. If there is a week in which we can be together, it +will be so much of happiness. And when you are--The Master's victim, +we will let the little boat sink, and sink with it. I do not wish to +live without you, Charles, and you do not wish to live as his slave." + +Bell gave utterance to a sudden laugh that was like a bark. His hands +came out from under his coat. Dangling from each one was a small, +pear-shaped globule of metal. A staff projected upward from each one, +and he held those staffs in his writhing hands. About each wrist was a +tiny loop of cord that went down to a pin at the base of the staffs. + +"Close to me, Paula," he said coldly. She clung to his arm. He moved +forward, with half-a-dozen revolver muzzles pointed at his breast. + +"If one of you damned fools fires," he said harshly, "I'll let go. +When I let go--these are Mills grenades, and they go off in three +seconds after they leave the hand. Stand still!" + + * * * * * + +There was a terrible, frozen silence. Then a movement from behind +Bell. Jamison was rising with a grunt. + +"Some day, Bell," he observed coolly, "I'll be on to all of your +curves. This is the best one yet. But you're likely to let go at any +second, aren't you?" + +"Like hell!" raged Bell. "I drank some of your poison," he snarled at +The Master. "Yes! I was fool enough to do it! But I took what measures +any man will take who finds he's swallowed poison. I got it out of my +stomach at once. And if you or one of these deputies tries to +move...." + +Ribiera had blanched to a pasty gray. The Master was frozen. But Bell +saw Ribiera's eyes move in swift calculation. There was a solid wall +behind The Master. It seemed as if the greenhouse were a sort of +passageway between two larger structures. And there was a door almost +immediately behind Ribiera. Ribiera glanced right--left-- + +He flung himself through that door. He knew the secret of The Master's +power. He was The Master's appointed successor. If The Master and all +his deputies died, Ribiera.... + +But Bell snapped into action like a bent spring released. His arm shot +forward. A grenade went hurtling through the door through which +Ribiera had fled. There was an instantaneous, terrific explosion. The +solid wall shook and shivered and, with a vast deliberation, +collapsed. The greenhouse was full of crushed plaster dust. Panes of +glass shivered.... + +But Bell was upon The Master. He had struck the little man down and +stood over him, his remaining automatic replacing the grenade he had +thrown. + +"Ribiera's dead," he snapped, "and if I'm shot The Master dies too and +you all go mad! Stand back!" + +The deputies stood frozen. + +"I think," said Jamison composedly, "I take a hand now. I'll pick him +up, Bell.... Right. I've got him. With a grenade hanging down his +back. If he jerks away from me, or I from him, it will blow his spine +to bits." + +"Hold him so," said Bell coldly. + + * * * * * + +He went coolly to where he could look over the heap of the collapsed +wall. He saw a bundle of torn clothing that had been a man. It was +flung against a cracked and tottering chimney. + +"Right," he said evenly. "Ribiera's dead, all right." + +He turned to the deputies, whose revolvers were still in their hands. + +"The Master's carriage, please," he said politely. "To the door. You +may accompany us if you please, but in other carriages. I am working +for the release of all the Master's slaves, and you among them if you +choose. But you can see very easily that there is no hope of the +release of The Master without the meeting of my terms." + +The Master spoke, softly and mildly and without fear. + +"It is my order that the Senor Bell is to be obeyed. I shall return. +You need have no fear of my death. My carriage." + +A man went stiffly, half-paralyzed with terror, to where chattering +scared servants were grouped in the awful fear that came upon the +slaves of The Master at any threat to his rule. + +But Bell and Paula and Jamison went slowly and cautiously--though they +held the whip hand--to the entrance door of the house, and out to the +entrance gate. A carriage was already before the door when they +reached it, and others were drawing up in a line behind it. + +"Get in," said Bell briefly. "Down to the waterfront." + +He turned to the group of frock-coated, stricken men who had followed. + +"Some of you men," he said coldly, "had better go on ahead and warn +the police and the public generally about the certainty of The +Master's death if any attempt is made to rescue him." + +Francia, of Paraguay, summoned a swagger and raised his hand to the +second carriage. It drew in to the curb. + +"I will attend to it, Senor Bell," he said politely. "Ah, when I think +that I once raised my revolver to shoot you and refrained!" + +He drove off swiftly. + + * * * * * + +Bell's eyes were glowing. He got into the carriage, and such a +procession drove through the streets of Punta Arenas as has rarely +moved through the streets of any city in the world. The long line of +carriages moved at a funereal pace amid a surging, terrified mob. The +Master beamed placidly as he looked out over white, starkly agonized +faces. Some of the people groaned audibly. A few cursed The Master in +their despair. More cursed Bell, not daring to strike or fire on him. +But he would have been torn to bits if he had stepped from the +carriage for an instant. + +"Bell," said Jamison dryly, "considering that I'm prepared to be blown +apart on three seconds notice, it is peculiar that this mob frightens +me." + +The Master's eyes twinkled benignly. He seemed totally insensible to +fear. + +"You need not be afraid," he said gently. "They will not touch you +unless I order them." + +Jamison stared down at the little man whose collar he held firmly, +with a Mills grenade dangling down at the base of his neck. + +"I wouldn't order them to attack, if I were you," he said coldly. "I +haven't Bell's brains, but I have just as much dislike for you as he +has." + + * * * * * + +They came to the harbor. Bell spoke again. + +"The carriage is to drive out to the end of one of the docks, and no +one else is to go out on that dock." + +The Master relayed the order in his mild voice, but as the coachman +obeyed him he clucked his tongue commiseratingly. + +"Senor Bell," he protested gently. "You do not expect to escape! Not +after killing me! Why that is absurd!" + +Bell said nothing. He alighted from the carriage, his face set grimly, +and stared ashore at the long, long row of terrified faces staring out +at him. The whole waterfront seemed to be lined with staring faces. +Wails came from that mass of enslaved human beings. + +"Hold him here, Jamison," he said drearily. "I'm going out to look at +that big plane. There's a rowboat tied to the dock, here." + +He swung down the side into the dock and rowed off into the harbor, +while the horses attached to The Master's carriage pawed impatiently +at the wooden flooring of the dock. Bell reached the two planes +anchored on the still harbor water. The smaller one had brought them +down from Buenos Aires. The larger one had gone after the beached +amphibian and brought it and Paula on to the city. Bell, from the +shore, was seen to be investigating the larger one. He came rowing +back. + +His head appeared above the dock edge. + +"All right," he said tiredly. "The Master has a rule requiring all his +ships ready for instant flight. Very useful. The big plane is fueled +and full of oil. We'll go out to it and take off." + + * * * * * + +Jamison lifted The Master to his feet and with a surge of muscles +swept him down to the flooring of the dock. + +"Paula first," said Bell, "and then The Master, and then you, +Jamison." + +"One moment," said The Master reproachfully. "It would be cruel not to +let me reassure my subjects. I will give an order." + +Bell and Jamison listened suspiciously. But he spoke gently to the +coachman. + +"You will tell the deputies," said The Master in Spanish, "that a +month's supply of medicine for all my subjects will be found in my +laboratory. And you may tell them that I shall return before the end +of that time." + +The coachman's eyes filled with a passionate relief. + +"Now," said The Master placidly, "I am ready for our little jaunt." + +Paula descended the ladder and seated herself in the bow of the boat. +Bell covered The Master grimly with his automatic as he descended, +with surprising agility. Jamison came down last, and resumed his +former grip on The Master's collar. Bell rowed out to the big plane. + + * * * * * + +Jamison kept close watch while Bell started the four huge motors and +throttled them down to warming up speed, and while he hauled up the +anchor with which the huge seaplane was anchored. + +The dock was covered with a swarm of panic stricken folk. Everywhere, +all the inhabitants of the city who were slaves to The Master had come +in awful terror to watch. And all the inhabitants of the city were +slaves to The Master. Some of them fell to their knees and held out +imploring arms to Bell, begging him for mercy and the return of The +Master. Some cursed wildly. + +But, with his jaws set grimly, Bell gave the motors the gun. + +The big plane moved heavily, then more swiftly through the water. It +lifted slowly, and rose, and rose, and dwindled to a speck high in the +air. + +And all through the streets and ways of Punta Arenas, fear stalked +almost as a tangible thing. Panic hovered over the housetops, always +ready to descend. Terror was in the air that every man breathed, and +every human being looked at every other human being with staring, +haunted eyes. Punta Arenas was waiting for its murder madness to +begin. + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +There were four motors to pull the big plane through the air, and +their roaring was a vast thundering noise which the earth re-echoed. +But inside the cabin that tumult was reduced to a not intolerable +humming sound. + +"What'll I do with this devil, Bell?" asked Jamison. "Now that we're +aloft, I confess this grenade makes me nervous. I'm holding it so +tightly my fingers are getting cramped." + +"Tie him up," said Bell, without looking. "He'll talk presently." + +Movements. The plane flew on, swaying slightly in the way of big +sea-planes everywhere. A williwaw began in the hills ahead and swept +out and set the ship to reeling crazily in its erratic currents. The +Strait vanished and there were tumbled hills below them. Minutes +passed. + +"Got him fixed up," said Jamison coolly, "I'll guarantee he won't +break loose. Got any plans, Bell?" + +"No time," said Bell. "I haven't had time to make any. The first thing +is to get where his folk will never find us. Then we'll see what we +can do with him." + +Paula looked at the now bound figure of The Master. And the little old +man beamed at her. + +"He--he's smiling!" said Paula, in a voice that was full of a peculiar +horrified shock. + + * * * * * + +Bell shrugged. Punta Arenas was all of twenty-five miles behind, and +the earth over which they flew began to take on the shape of an +island. Water appeared beyond it, and innumerable small islands. Bell +began to rack his brain for the infinitesimal scraps of knowledge he +had about this section of the world. It was pitifully scanty. Punta +Arenas was the southernmost point of the continental mass. All about +it was an archipelago and a maze of waterways, thinly inhabited +everywhere and largely without any inhabitants at all. The only solid +ground between Cape Horn and the Antarctic ice pack was Diego Ramirez +and the South Shetlands.... + +Nothing to go on. But any sufficiently isolated and desolate spot +would do. Almost anywhere along the southern edge of the continental +islands should serve. + +The plane roared on monotonously, while Bell began to wrestle with +another and more serious problem. In three days--two, now--an American +naval vessel would turn up, with scientists and chemists on board. It +was to be doubted whether anything like an overt act would be risked +by that vessel. If all the governments of South America were under The +Master's thumb, then cabled orders from his deputies would race three +navies to the spot. And the government of the United States does not +like to start war, anywhere. Certainly it would not willingly enter +into a conflict with the whole southern continent for the solution of +a problem that so far affected that continent alone. The Master's +kidnapping had solved nothing, so far. + + * * * * * + +Jamison tapped his shoulder. + +"No pursuit, so far," he observed coolly. "I've looked." Bell nodded. + +"They don't dare. Not yet, anyhow. They're depending on The Master. +How is he?" + +"Smiling peacefully to himself, damn him!" snarled Jamison. "Do you +know what we're up against?" + +"Ourselves," said Bell coldly. "But I'm nearly licked. He's got to +talk!" + +Jamison moved away again. The earth below looked as if it had been +torn to shreds in some titanic convulsion of ages past. The sea was +everywhere, and so was land! There were little threads of silver +interlacing and crossing and wavering erratically in every conceivable +direction. And there were specks of islands--rocks only yards in +extent--and islands of every imaginable size and shape, with their +surfaces in every possible state of upheaval and distortion. A broader +mass of land appeared ahead and to the left. + +"Tierra del Fuego again," muttered Bell. "If we cross it...." + +For fifteen minutes the plane thundered across desolate, rocky hills. +Then the maze of islets again. Bell scanned them keenly, and saw a +tiny steamer traveling smokily, for no conceivable reason, among the +scattered bits of stone. The sea appeared, stretching out toward +infinity. + +Bell rose, to survey a wider space. He swung to the left, so that he +was heading nearly southeast, and went on down toward that desolation +of desolations, the stormy cape which faces the eternal ice of the +antarctic. He was five thousand feet up, then, and scanning sea and +earth and sky.... + +And suddenly he swung sharply to the right and headed out toward the +open sea. He felt a small figure pressing against his shoulder. +Presently fingers closed tightly upon his sleeve. He glanced down at +Paula and managed to smile. + +"There are some rocks out there," he told her quietly. "Islands, I +think, and Diego Ramirez, at a guess." + + * * * * * + +They were specks, no more, but they were vastly more distinct from the +plane than from Mount Beaufoy. That is on Henderson Island in New Year +Sound, and its seventeen-hundred-foot peak was almost below Bell when +he sighted the islands. But the islands have been seen full fifty +miles from there. + +It took the plane nearly forty minutes to cover the space, but long +before that the islands had become distinct. Two tiny groups of +scattered rocks, the whole group hardly five miles in length and by +far the greater number no more than boulders surrounded by sheets of +foam from breakers. Two of them merited the name of islands. The +nearer was high and bare and precipitous. No trace of vegetation +showed upon it. The farther was smaller, and at its northern corner a +little cove showed, nearly land-locked. + +Bell descended steeply. The big plane plunged wildly in the air eddies +about the taller island at five hundred feet, but steadied and went +winging on down lower, and lower.... The waves between the two +islands were not high, but the seaplane alighted with a mighty, a +tremendous splashing, and Bell navigated it grimly though clumsily +into the mouth of the cove. There a small beach showed. He went very +slowly toward it. Presently he swung abruptly about. A wing tip float +grounded close to the shore. + +The motors cut off and left a thunderous silence. Bell climbed atop +the cabin and let go the anchor. + +"We're here," he said shortly. "Bring The Master and we'll go ashore." + + * * * * * + +The catwalk painted on the lower wing guided them. Bell jumped to the +rocks first, and stumbled, and then rose to lift Paula down and take +The Master's small, frail body from Jamison's arms. + +"You looked for a gun?" asked Bell + +"He'd nothing to fight with," said Jamison heavily. He had been facing +the same problem Bell had worked on desperately, and had found no +answer. But he shuddered a little as he looked about the island. + +There was nothing in sight but rock. No moss. No lichens. Not even +stringy grass or the tufty scrub bushes that seemed able to grow +anywhere. + +Bell untied The Master, carefully but without solicitude. The little +man sat up, and brushed himself off carefully, and arranged himself in +a comfortable position. + +"I am an old man," said The Master in mild reproach. "You might at +least have given me a cushion to sit upon." + +Bell sat down and lighted a cigarette with fingers that did not +tremble in the least. + +"Suppose," he said hardly, "you talk. First, of what your poison is +made. Second, of what the antidote is made. Third, how we may be sure +you tell the truth." + + * * * * * + +The Master looked at him with bright, shrewd, and apparently kindly +old eyes. + +"_Hijo mio_," he said mildly, "I am an old man. But I am obstinate. I +will tell you nothing." + +Bell's eyes glowed coldly. + +"Does it occur to you," he asked grimly, "that it's too important a +matter for us to have any scruples about? That we can--and will--make +you talk?" + +"You may kill me," said The Master benignly, "but that is all." + +"And," said Bell, still more grimly, "we have only to get back in the +plane yonder, and go away...." + +The Master beamed at him. Presently he began to laugh softly. + +"_Hijo mio_," he said gently, "let us stop this little byplay. You +will take me back in my airplane, and you will land me at Punta +Arenas. And then you will fly away. I concede you freedom, but that is +all. You cannot leave me here." + +"Paula," said Bell coldly, "get in the plane again. Jamison--" + +Paula rose doubtfully. Jamison stood up. The Master continued to +chuckle amiably. + +"You see," he said cherubically, "you happen to be a gentleman, Senor +Bell. Every man has some weakness. That is yours. And you will not +leave me here to die, because you have killed my nephew, who was the +only other man who knew how to prepare my little medicine. And you +know, Senor, that all my subjects will wish to die. Those who do, in +fact," he added mildly, "will be fortunate. The effect of my little +medicine does not make for happiness without its antidote." + + * * * * * + +Bell's hands clenched. + +"You know," said The Master comfortably, "that there are many +thousands of people whose hands will writhe, very soon. The city of +Punta Arenas will be turned into a snarling place of maniacs within a +very little while--if I do not return. Would you like, Senor, to think +in after days of that pleasant city filled with men and women tearing +each other like beasts? Of little children, even, crouching, and +crushing and rending the tender flesh of other little children? Of +lisping little ones gone--" + +"Stop!" snarled Bell, in a frenzy. "Damn your soul! You're right! I +can't! You win--so far!" + +"Always," said The Master benevolently. "I win always. And you forget, +Senor. You have seen the worst side of my rule. The revolutions, the +rebellions that have made men free, were they pretty things to watch? +Always, _amigo_, the worst comes. But when my rule is secure, then you +shall see." + + * * * * * + +He waved a soft, beautifully formed hand. From every possible aspect +the situation was a contradiction of all reason. The bare, black, salt +encrusted rocks with no trace of vegetation showing. The gray water +rumbling and surging among the uneven rocks at the base of the shore, +while gulls screamed hoarsely overhead. The white haired little man +with his benevolent face, smiling confidently at the two grim men. + +"The time will come," said The Master gently, and in the tone of utter +confidence with which one states an inescapable fact, "the time will +come when all the earth will know my rule. The taking of my little +medicine will be as commonplace a thing as the smoking of tobacco, +which I abhor, Senores. You are mistaken about there being an antidote +and a poison. It is one medicine only. One little compound. A +vegetable substance, Senor Bell, combined with a product of modern +chemistry. It is a synthetic drug. Modern chemistry is a magnificent +science, and my little medicine is its triumph. Even my deputies have +not heard me speak so, Senores." + +Bell snarled wordlessly, but if one had noticed his eyes they would +have been seen to be curiously cool and alert and waiting. The Master +leaned forward, and for once spoke seriously, almost reverently. + +"There shall be a forward step, Senores, in the race of men. Do you +know the difference between the brain of a man and that of an +anthropoid ape? It consists only of a filmy layer of cortex, a film of +gray nerve cells which the ape has not. And that little layer creates +the difference between ape and man. And I have discovered more. My +little medicine acts upon that film. Administered in the tiny +quantities I have given to my slaves, it has no perceptible effect. It +is merely a compound of a vegetable substance and a synthetic organic +base. It is not excreted from the body. Like lead, it remains always +in solution in the blood. But in or out of the blood it changes, +always, to the substance which causes murder madness. Fresh or +changed, my little medicine acts upon the brain." + + * * * * * + +He smiled brightly upon them. + +"But though in tiny quantities it has but little effect, in larger +quantities--when fresh it makes the functioning of the gray cells of +the human brain as far superior to the unmedicated gray cells, as +those human gray cells are to the white cells of the ape! That is what +I have to offer to the human race! Intelligence for every man, which +shall be as the genius of the past!" + +He laughed softly. + +"Think, Senores! Compare the estate of men with the estate of apes! +Compare the civilization which will arise upon the earth when men's +brains are as far above their present level as the present level is +above the anthropoid! The upward steps of the human race under my rule +will parallel, will surpass the advance from the brutish caveman to +intellectual genius. But I have seen, Senores, the one danger in my +offering." + +There was silence. Jamison shook his head despairingly. The Master +could not see him. He formed the word with his lips. + +"Crazy!" + + * * * * * + +But Bell said coldly: + +"Go on." + +"I must rule," said The Master soberly. "It is essential. If my little +secret were known, intelligences would be magnified, but under many +flags and with many aims. Scientists, with genius beside which +Newton's pales, would seek out deadly weapons for war. The world would +destroy itself of its own genius. But under my rule--" + +"Men go mad," said Bell coldly. + +The Master smiled reproachfully. + +"Ah, you are trying to make me angry, so that I will betray something! +You are clever, Senor Bell. With my little medicine, in such +quantities as I would administer it to you...." + +"You describe it," said Bell harshly and dogmatically, "as a brain +stimulant. But it drives men mad." + +"To be sure," said The Master mildly. "It does. It is not excreted +from the body save very, very slowly. But it changes in the blood +stream. As--let us say--sugar changes into alcohol in digestion. The +end-product of my little medicine is a poison which attacks the brain. +But the slightest bit of unchanged medicine is an antidote. It is"--he +smiled amiably--"it is as if sugar in the body changed to alcohol, and +alcohol was a poison, but sugar--unchanged--was an antidote. That is +it exactly. You see that I have taken my little medicine for years, +and it has not harmed me." + +"Which," said Bell--and somehow his manner made utter silence fall so +that each word fell separately into a vast stillness--"which, thank +God, is the one thing that wins finally, for me!" + + * * * * * + +He stood up and laughed. Quite a genuine laugh. + +"Paula," he said comfortably, "get on the plane. In the cabin. Jamison +and I are going to strip The Master." + +Paula stared. The Master looked at him blankly. Jamison frowned +bewilderedly, but stood up grimly to obey. + +"But Senor," said The Master in gentle dignity, "merely to humiliate +me--" + +"Not for that," said Bell. He laughed again. "But all the time I've +been hearing about the stuff, I've noticed that nobody thought of it +as a drug. It was a poison. People were poisoned. They did not become +addicts. But you--you are the only addict to your drug." + +He turned to Jamison, his eyes gleaming. + +"Jamison," he said softly, "did you ever know of a drug addict who +could bear to think of ever being without a supply of his drug--_right +on his person_?" + +Jamison literally jumped. + +"By God! No!" + +The Master was quick. He was swarming up the plane-wing tip before +Jamison reached him, and he kicked frenziedly when Jamison plucked him +off. But then it was wholly, entirely, utterly horrible that the +little white haired man, whose face and manner had seemed so cherubic +and so bland, should shriek in so complete a blind panic as they +forced his fingers open and took a fountain pen away from him. + +"This is it," said Bell in a deep satisfaction. "This is his point of +weakness." + + * * * * * + +The Master was ghastly to look at, now. Jamison held him gently +enough, considering everything, but The Master looked at that fountain +pen as one might look at Paradise. + +"I--I swear," he gasped. "I--swear I will give you the formula!" + +"You might lie," said Jamison grimly. + +"I swear it!" panted The Master in agony. "It--If the formula is known +it--can be duplicated! It--the excretion can be hastened! It can all +be forced from the body! Simply! So simply! If only you know! I will +tell you how it is done! The medicine is the cacodylate of--" + +Bell was leaning forward, now, like a runner breasting the tape at the +end of a long and exhausting race. + +"I'll trade," he said softly. "Half the contents of the pen for the +formula. The other half we'll need for analysis. Half the stuff in the +pen for the formula for freeing your slaves!" + +The Master sobbed. + +"A--a pencil!" he gasped. "I swear--" + +Jamison gave him a pencil and a notebook. He wrote, his hands shaking. +Jamison read inscrutably. + +"It doesn't mean anything to me," he said soberly, "but you can read +it. It's legible." + +Bell smiled faintly. With steady finger he took his own fountain pen +from his pocket. He emptied it of ink, and put a scrupulous half of a +milky liquid from The Master's pen into it. He passed it over. + +"Your medicine," said Bell quietly, "may taste somewhat of ink, but it +will not be poisonous. Now, what do we do with you? I give you your +choice. If we take you with us, you will be held very secretly as a +prisoner until the truth of the information you have given us can be +proven. And if your slaves have all been freed, then I suppose you +will be tried...." + + * * * * * + +The Master was drawn and haggard. He looked very, very old and beaten. + +"I--I would prefer," he said dully, "that you did not tell where I am, +and that you go away and leave me here. I--I may have some subjects +who will search for me, and--they may discover me here.... But I am +beaten, Senor. You know that you have won." + +Bell swung up on the wing of the plane. He explored about in the +cabin. He came back. + +"There are emergency supplies," he said coldly. "We will leave them +with you, with such things as may be useful to allow you to hope as +long as possible. I do not think you will ever be found here." + +"I--prefer it, Senor," said The Master dully. "I--I will catch +fish...." + +Jamison helped put the packages ashore. The Master shivered. Bell +stripped off his coat and put it on top of the heap of packages. The +Master did not stir. Bell laid a revolver on top of his coat. He went +out to the plane and started the motors. The Master watched +apathetically as the big seaplane pulled clumsily out of the little +cove. The rumble of the engines became a mighty roar. It started +forward with a rush, skimmed the water for two hundred yards or so, +and suddenly lifted clear to go floating away through the air toward +the north. + + * * * * * + +Paula was the only one who looked back. + +"He's crying," she said uncomfortably. + +"It isn't fear," said Bell quietly. "It's grief at the loss of his +ambition. It may not seem so to you two, but I believe he meant all +that stuff he told me. He was probably really aiming, in his own way, +for an improved world for men to live in." + +The plane roared on. Presently Bell said shortly: + +"That stuff he has won't last indefinitely. I'm glad I left him that +revolver." + +Jamison stirred suddenly. He dug down in his pocket and fished out a +cigar. + +"Since I feel that I may live long enough to finish smoking this," he +observed dryly, "I think I'll light it. I haven't felt that I had +twenty minutes of life ahead of me for a long time, now. A sense of +economy made me smoke cigarettes. It wouldn't be so much waste if you +left half a cigarette behind you when you were killed." + + * * * * * + +The tight little cabin began to reek of the tobacco. Paula pressed +close to Bell. + +"But--Charles," she asked hopefully, "is--is it really all right, +now?" + +"I think so," said Bell, frowning. "Our job's over, anyhow. We go up +the Chilean coast and find that navy boat. We turn our stuff over to +them. They'll take over the task of seeing that every doctor, +everywhere in South America, knows how to get The Master's poison out +of the system of anybody who's affected. Some of them won't be +reached, but most of them will. I looked at his formula. Standard +drugs, all of them. There won't be any trouble getting the news +spread. The Master's slaves will nearly go crazy with joy. And," he +added grimly, "I'm going to see to it that the Rio police take back +what they said about us. I think we'll have enough pull to demand that +much!" + +He was silent for a moment or so, thinking. + +"I do think, Jamison," he said presently, "we did a pretty good job." + +Jamison grunted. + +"If--if it's really over," said Paula hopefully, "Charles--" + +"What?" + +"You--will be able to think about me sometimes," asked Paula +wistfully, "instead of about The Master always?" + +Bell stared down at her. + +"Good Lord!" he groaned. "I have been a brute, Paula! But I've been +loving you--" He stopped, and then said with the elaborate politeness +and something of the customary idiotic air of a man making such an +announcement. "I say, Jamison, did you know Paula and I were to be +married?" + +Jamison snorted. Then he said placidly: + +"No. Of course not. I never dreamed of such a thing. When did this +remarkably original idea occur to you?" + +He puffed a huge cloud of smoke from his cigar. It was an unusually +vile cigar. Bell scowled at him helplessly for a moment and then said +wrathfully: + +"Oh, go to hell!" + +And he bent over and kissed Paula. + +(_The End._) + +[Advertisement: IN THE NEXT ISSUE + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS +_Beginning an Exciting Three-Part Novel of the Nares Deep_ +By Ray Cummings + +AN ATTACK FROM SPACE +_A Sequel to "Beyond the Heaviside Layer"_ +By Captain S. P. Meek + +MAROONED UNDER THE SEA +_A Thrilling Novelet of the Ocean Floor_ +By Paul Ernst + +EARTH, THE MARAUDER +_The Conclusion of the Tremendous Novel_ +By Arthur J. Burks + +----_AND OTHERS!_] + + + + +The Flying City + +_By H. Thompson Rich_ + +[Illustration: The ray shot down--and squadrons of planes frizzled +like moths in the air.] + +[Sidenote: From Space came Cor's disc-city of Vada--its mighty, +age-old engines weakening--its horde of dwarfs hungry for the Earth!] + + +In the burning solitude of the great Arizona desert, some two miles +south of Ajo, a young scientist was about to perform an experiment +that might have far-reaching results for humanity. + +The scientist was Gordon Kendrick--a tall, tanned, robust chap who +looked more like a prospector in search of gold than a professor of +physics from the State University of Tucson. + +Indeed, he was in a way, a prospector, since it was gold he +sought--some practical method of tapping the vast radio-energetic +treasure of the sun--and it was an apparatus designed to accomplish +just this that he was about to test. + +The primary unit of the mechanism comprised a spheroidal vacuum-tube +measuring a little over a foot across its long axis, mounted in a +steel bracket that held it horizontal with the ground. Down through +its short axis ran a shaft on which was centered a light cross of +aluminum wire, carrying four vanes of mica, one face of each coated +with lampblack. A flexible cable led from the bottom of this shaft to +the base of the bracket, where it was geared to a small electric motor +driven by two dry cells. A rheostat-switch for delivering and +controlling the current was mounted nearby. + +[Illustration] + +At the wide arc of the egg-shaped tube was a concave platinum cathode, +at the narrow arc a nib of some sort, ending in a socket. From this +socket, two heavy insulated wires extended sixty feet or so across the +sand to the secondary unit of the mechanism, which was roughly a +series of resistance coils, resembling those in an ordinary electric +heater. + + * * * * * + +As Kendrick prepared to test this delicate apparatus that represented +so much of his time and thought, held so much of his hope locked up in +it, a turmoil was in his heart, though his brown face was calm. + +If his theories were right, that revolving cross would tap and draw +into its vanes radio-energetic waves of force, much as the whirling +armature of a dynamo draws into its coils electro-magnetic waves of +force. For the blackened sides of the vanes, absorbing more radiation +than the bright sides, would cause the molecules to rebound from the +warmer surfaces with greater velocity, setting up an alternate +pressure and bringing the rays to a focus on the cathode, where they +would be reflected to the nib as waves of _heatricity_, to use the +word he had coined. + +Those were Kendrick's theories, and now he moved to put them to the +supreme test. Switching on the current, he set the motor going. In +response, the cross began to revolve, slowly at first--then faster, +faster, as he opened the rheostat wider. + +Eyes fixed on his resistance coils, he gave a sudden cry of triumph. +Yes, there was no doubt about it! They were growing red, glowing +brightly, whitely, above the intense desert sunlight. + +Here was a means of convening solar radiation into heat, then, that +offered tremendous commercial possibilities! + +But even as he exulted, there came a blinding flash--and the overtaxed +coils burst into flame. + + * * * * * + +Shielding his eyes from the glare, he reached for the rheostat, shut +off the current, rushed to his secondary unit--where he beheld an +amazing sight. Not only had this part of the apparatus completely +disintegrated, but the sand of the desert floor under it as well. On +the spot quivered a miniature lake of molten glass! + +As Kendrick stood ruefully beside that fiery pool, meditating on the +spectacular but not altogether gratifying results of his experiment, a +peculiar low humming sound reached his ears. Rushing back to his +primary unit, with the thought that perhaps by some chance he had not +fully closed the rheostat, he looked at the cross. But no, the vanes +were still. + +The humming increased, however--grew into a vibration that made his +eardrums ache. + +Puzzled, he looked around. What on earth could it be? Had his unruly +experiment called into play some tremendous, unsuspected force of the +universe. Was he to bring the world to ruin, as a result of his blind +groping after this new giant of power? + +Such predictions had often been made by the ignorant, to be dismissed +by scientists as the veriest nonsense. But was there some truth in the +universal fear, after all? Was he to be the Prometheus who stole fire +from Olympus, the Samson who toppled down the temple? + +Chilled, dizzied with the pain of the ever-increasing vibration, he +gritted his teeth, awaiting he knew not what. + +Then it came--a spectacle so staggering that he went rigid with awe as +he regarded it, all power of motion utterly numbed for the moment. The +vibration ceased. The thing appeared. + +It was a city--a city in the air--a flying city! + + * * * * * + +As Kendrick stood staring at this phenomenon, he could scarcely credit +his senses. + +Had the magic carpet of Bagdad suddenly materialized before him, he +would not have been more astounded. And indeed, it was in a way a +magic carpet--a great disclike affair, several miles in diameter, its +myriad towers and spires glinting like gold under the noonday sun, +while its vast shadow fell athwart the desert like the pall of an +eclipse. + +The lower portion, he noted, was in the main flat, though a number of +wartish protuberances jutted down from it, ejecting a pale violet +emanation. Whatever this was it seemed to have the effect of holding +the thing motionless in the air, for it hovered there quite easily, a +hundred yards or so above the ground. + +But what was it? Where was it from? What had brought it? + +Those were the questions he wanted answered; and they were to be, +sooner than he knew. + +As he stood there speculating, a device like a trap-door opened in the +base of the disc, and creatures resembling human beings began +descending. Began floating down, rather. + +Whereupon Kendrick did what any sensible man would have done, under +similar circumstances. He reacted into motion. In short, he ran. + + * * * * * + +Glancing back over his shoulder after a minute or two, however, he +drew up sheepishly. Of that strange apparition and those who had +descended from it there was not a trace, not a shadow! + +But the peculiar humming had recommenced, he realized in the next +breath--and at the same instant he felt himself seized by invisible +hands. + +There was a struggle, but it was brief and futile. When it was over +his captors became visible once more. They were singular little beings +about four feet tall, with strange, wise, leathery faces, their heads +grotesquely bald. + +The humming had ceased again. The disc, too, was once more visible. + +What happened next was something even more astounding, if there could +be any further degrees of wonder possible for the utterly baffled +young scientist. He felt himself lifted up, leaving the desert floor, +whirling away toward that incredible phenomenon hovering there. + +Another moment or two and he had been borne up through its trap-door +opening, was standing in a dark space bounded by solid metal walls. +Then he was thrust into a cylinder with several of his tiny guards, +shot swiftly upward. + + * * * * * + +A door opened as they came to rest, and he was led out into a vast +court of gleaming amber crystal. Something like a taxi slid up, with +irridescent planes, and he was bundled into it, whirled away again. + +Down broad, gleaming avenues they passed, where similar traffic flowed +densely, but under marvelous control. Towering skyscrapers loomed to +right and left. Tier on tier of upper and lower boulevards revealed +themselves, all crowded with automotive and pedestrian activity. + +At length a stupendous concourse was reached. Thousands of these taxis +and similar vehicles were parked along its broad flanks, while literal +swarms of diminutive individuals circulated to and fro. + +Assisted from the vehicle that had brought him to this obvious center +of the disc's activities. Kendrick was led into a monumental structure +of jade-green stone that towered a full hundred, stories above the +street level. There he was escorted into another of those +projectilelike elevators, shot up, up--till at length it came to rest. +The door opened and he was led out into a small lobby of the same +amber crystal he had observed before. + +By now his guards had diminished to two, but he no longer made any +effort to escape. Wherever this amazing adventure might lead, he was +resolved to follow it through. + +One of the guards had advanced to a jewelled door and was pressing a +button. In response, the door opened. A golden-robed, regal creature +stood there. + + * * * * * + +Though dwarfed to four feet, like his fellow, he was obviously their +mental superior to a prodigious degree. Not only was his symmetrical +bald head of large brain content, but the finely-cut features of his +parchment face bore the unmistakable stamp of a powerful intellect. + +"_Ao-chaa!_" commanded this evident monarch of the disc, addressing +the guards. + +They bowed and departed, abruptly. + +"My dear Kendrick!" the regal personage now said, in thin, precise +English. "It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you to my humble +quarters. Pray enter and make yourself comfortable." + +Whereupon he ushered him into a dazzling apartment that was one vast +mosaic of precious gems, indicated a richly carved chair, into which +the young scientist dropped wonderingly. + +"Now then, Professor," continued the mighty little dwarf, when he was +seated in a chair even more sumptuous, "suppose we have a friendly +little discussion. I have been much interested in your experiments on +heat radiation. What you demonstrated this morning, in particular, was +most absorbing. You have hit upon a rather profound scientific +principle, yes?" + +"Possibly," Kendrick admitted, quite conscious that he was being +patronized. + +"Oh, don't be modest, my dear fellow!" smiled the dwarf. "I am the +last one to belittle your achievement. Indeed, it is because of it +that I have invited you here to-day. Permit me to introduce myself, +and to make clear one or two possibly perplexing matters. Then I am +sure we shall have a most agreeable chat." + + * * * * * + +His name was Cor, he said, and he was in truth the monarch of this +strange realm. His people had come from the one-time planet of Vada, +far distant in the universe. A thousand years ago, this planet had +been doomed by the approach of an alien star. Their great scientist, +Ravv, had met the emergency by inventing the disc, into whose +construction they had poured all their resources. The pick of their +populace had been salvaged on this giant life-raft. The rest had +perished when that destroying star had crashed down on the doomed +Vada. + +Since then these survivors and their descendants had been voyaging +through space on their marvelous disc. For hundreds of years they had +given no thought to the future, content to drift on and on in the +interstellar void, breathing an atmosphere produced artificially. But +at length the inevitable had happened. This superb piece of mechanism +devised by their super-genius, Ravv, was beginning to show signs of +wear. Some of its mighty engines were nearing the exhaustion point. +Either they must soon find a planet comparable with the one they had +once known, where they could pause and rehabilitate their machinery, +or they must disintegrate and pass into oblivion. + +Faced with that crisis, Cor had long been seeking such a planet. He +had found it, at last, in the earth--and had resolved that this was +where they were going to alight and transplant the civilization of +ancient Vada, pending such time as they could take to space again. + + * * * * * + +For some months now they had been hovering over various portions of +the earth, studying its geography and its peoples, with the result +that they had concluded the United States offered the most logical +point for launching the attack. Once this country was subdued, they +were in possession of the richest and most advanced section of the +planet. The conquest of the rest of it could await their leisure. + +With such an invasion in view, their scientists had mastered the +language of the country. This had been accomplished very easily, since +in addition to their power of mingling with the populace in an +invisible form, they had the principles of radio developed to a high +degree and were able to tune in on any station they wanted. + +Kendrick sat there, stunned, as Cor followed his astounding revelation +of their origin with this calm plan for the conquest of America, of +the world. Why, of all people on earth, had he alone been singled out +for this disclosure? + +He asked the question now. + +"My dear Professor, can't you really guess?" replied Cor, with that +leathery smile. "Hasn't it dawned that you were a little too near our +own field with that machine of yours? A trifle more research, a +slightly different application--and you would have become a dangerous +enemy." + +"You--you mean--?" + +"I mean there isn't a great deal of difference between the experiments +you have been making and those our great Ravv once made. For instance, +had you broadcast your heatricity, as you call it, instead of trying +to transmit it on wires--well, picture a receiving apparatus in each +home of the land, like your commercial radio sets. You would have +become a billionaire, don't you see?" + + * * * * * + +Kendrick saw indeed. It was simple, so simple! Fool--why hadn't he +thought of it? + +"But your invention will never make you wealthy now, my dear fellow," +Cor went on, tauntingly. "You will be our guest, here, until we have +taken over your interesting country. After that, if there is any need +for the broadcasting of heat, we will furnish it ourselves. We have +those facilities, among others, fully developed. Would you care to see +our plant?" + +Kendrick naturally admitted that he would, so the dwarf led him +through a rear door and up a winding flight of stairs. They emerged +presently into a great laboratory housed in the glass-roofed pinnacle +of the tower. + +There he beheld a sight that left him breathless. Never before had he +seen such an assemblage of scientific apparatus. Its vastness and +strangeness were fairly overpowering, even to a man as well versed in +physio-chemical paraphernalia as he was. + +Before his eyes could take in a tenth part of the spectacle, Cor had +led him to the left wall. + +"There," he said, "you will observe a development of your heat +generator." + +Kendrick looked--to see a long bank of large vacuum-tubes, each about +three feet high and a foot wide, connected by a central shaft that +caused series of little vanes in each of them to revolve at lightning +speed. + +Around the apparatus moved numerous small attendants, oiling, wiping, +adjusting its many delicate parts. + +"Well, what do you think now?" asked Cor. + +Kendrick made no reply, though he was thinking plenty. + +"You see, it is your invention, my dear Professor," the dwarf went on +in his taunting voice, "only anteceded by a thousand years--and rather +more perfected, you must admit." + + * * * * * + +He walked now to the center of the laboratory, where stood a huge dial +of white crystal, ranked with many levers and switches, all capped +with the same material. + +"Behold!" he said, throwing over one. + +Instantly there came again that peculiar low humming that had so +puzzled him a few minutes before--and the entire room, its engines, +its attendants, Cor himself, leapt into invisibility. Only Kendrick +remained, facing the faintly visible crystal dial. + +Then he saw a switch move, as though automatically. But no, for the +dwarf's hand was on it now. Visibility had returned. The vibration +ceased. + +"That is the central control," said Cor. "Our city and all its +inhabitants become invisible when that switch is thrown. Only the dial +remains, for the guidance of the operator, and even that cannot be +seen at a distance of more than fifty feet. But now behold!" + +He raised his hand, touched a watch-like device strapped to his +wrist--and was instantly invisible. But the laboratory and every +machine and person in it remained in plain view. Nor was there any +vibration now. + + * * * * * + +The next moment, having touched that curious little device again, Cor +reappeared. + +"That is the local control," he said. "Every one of our inhabitants, +except those under discipline, has one of these little mechanisms. It +enables us to make ourselves invisible at will. A convenience at +times, you must admit." + +"Decidedly," Kendrick agreed. "And the principle?" + +"Quite simple. One of those, in fact, that lies behind your +researches. Doubtless you would have hit upon it yourself in time. +Your own scientist, Faraday, you may recall, held the opinion that the +various forms under which the forces of matter manifest themselves +have a common origin. We of the disc, thanks to our great Ravv, have +found that common origin." + +It was the origin of matter itself, Cor said, which lay in the ether +of interstellar space--energy, raw, cosmic--vibrations, rays. + +By harnessing and controlling these various rays, his people had been +able to accomplish their seeming miracles--miracles that the people of +earth, too, were beginning to achieve--as in electricity, for +instance, and its further application, radio. + +But the people of Vada had long since mastered such simple rays, and +now, in possession of vastly more powerful ones, had the elemental +forces of the universe at their disposal. + + * * * * * + +The disc was propelled through space by short rays of tremendously +high frequency, up above the ultra-violet. The same rays, directed +downward instead of outward, enabled them to overcome the pull of +gravity when in a planet's influence, as at present. And the escalator +rays, by which they could proceed to and from the disc, were also of +high frequency, as were their invisibility rays. + +"But you, Professor, are more interested in low frequency rays, the +long ones down below infra-red," continued Cor. "You have seen our +development of the heat-dynamo principle. It utilizes, I might add, +not only solar radiation but that of the stars as well. There being a +billion and a half of these in the universe, many of them a thousand +times or more as large as your own sun, we naturally have quite an +efficient little heating plant here. It provides us with our weapon of +warfare, as well as keeping us warm. Permit me to demonstrate." + +He led the way to a gleaming circle of glass like an inverted +telescope, about a yard in diameter, mounted in the floor. + +"Look!" said the dwarf. + +Kendrick did so--and there, spread below him, lay the floor of the +desert. His camp, his apparatus, were just as he had left them. + +Cor now moved toward the dial. + +"Behold!" he said, pulling a lever. + +Instantly the scene below was an inferno. Stricken by a blast of +stupendous heat, the whole area went molten, lay quivering like a lake +of lava in the crater of an active volcano. + +"Suppose, my dear Professor," smiled the dwarf, strolling back from +the dial, "just suppose, for instance, that instead of the lonely +camp of an obscure scientist, your proud city of New York had been +below there!" + + * * * * * + +Kendrick shuddered. + +Well he knew now the terrible power, the appalling menace of this +strange invader. + +"I would prefer not to make such a supposition," he said, quietly, +with a last thoughtful glance at that witches' caldron below. + +"Then let us think of pleasanter things. You are my guest of honor, +sir--America's foremost scientist, though she may never realize it," +with a piping chuckle. "To-night there will be a great banquet in your +honor. Meanwhile, suppose I show you to your quarters." + +Nettled, fuming, though outwardly calm, Kendrick permitted himself to +be escorted from the laboratory to an ornate apartment on one of the +lower floors. + +There Cor left him, with the polite hint that he would find plenty of +attendants handy should he require anything. + +Alone now, in the midst of this vast, nightmarish metropolis, he paced +back and forth, back and forth--knowing the hideous fate that +threatened the world but powerless to issue one word of warning, much +less avert it. + + * * * * * + +Kendrick was still thinking and brooding along these lines when he saw +the door of the apartment swiftly open and close again. + +Someone had entered, invisible! + +Backing away, he waited, tense. Then, suddenly, his visitor +materialized. With a gasp, he saw standing before him a beautiful +girl. + +She was a young woman, rather, in her early twenties. Not one of these +pigmies of the disc either, but a tall, slender creature of his own +world. + +Her hair was dark, modishly bobbed. Her eyes were a deep, clear brown, +her skin a warm olive. And she was dressed as though she had just +stepped off Fifth Avenue--which indeed she had, not so long ago, as +he was soon to learn. + +"I hope I haven't startled you too much, Mr. Kendrick," she said, in a +rich, husky murmur, "but--well, there wasn't any other way." + +"Oh, I guess I'll get over it," he replied with a smile. "But you have +the advantage of me, since you know my name." + +Hers was Marjorie Blake, she told him then. + +"Not the daughter of Henderson Blake?" he gasped. + +"Yes," with a tremor, "his only daughter." + +Whereupon Kendrick knew the solution of a mystery that had baffled the +police for weeks. The newspapers had been full of it at the time. This +beautiful girl, whose father was one of America's richest men and +president of its largest bank, had disappeared as though the earth had +swallowed her. She had left their summer estate at Great Neck, Long +Island, on a bright June morning, bound for New York on a shopping +tour--and had simply vanished. + + * * * * * + +Suicide had been hinted by some of the papers, but had not been taken +seriously, since she had no apparent motive for ending her life. +Abduction seemed to be the more logical explanation, and huge rewards +had been offered by her frantic parents--all to no avail. + +What had happened was, she now explained, that after visiting several +shops and making a number of purchases, she had stepped into Central +Park at the Plaza for a breath of fresh air before lunching at the +Sherry-Netherlands, where she planned to meet some friends. + +But before advancing a hundred yards along the secluded path, she had +been seized by invisible hands--had felt something strapped to her +wrist, before anyone came in sight--and then, invisible too, had been +lifted up, whirled away into a vast, humming vibration that sounded +through the air. + +Once on the disc, it had swept off into space at incredible speed, +pausing only when some hundreds of miles above the earth and invisible +from below without mechanical aid. When its vibration finally ceased +that amazing city had leapt before her eyes. + +Then, her own visibility restored, she had been led into the presence +of that mighty little monarch, Cor, who explained that she had been +seized as a hostage and would be held as an ace in the hole, pending +conquest of her country. Since when she had been a prisoner aboard the +disc. + + * * * * * + +Learning of Kendrick's capture, from gossip among the women, she had +taken the first opportunity of coming to him, in the hope that between +them they might devise some means of escape. + +Indeed, that was his own fondest hope--their imperative need, if the +people of America and of the earth were to be saved from this +appalling menace. But what basis was there for such a fantastic hope? +Just one, that he could see. + +"That thing on your wrist," he said, voicing it. "I'm surprised they +let you wear one of those." + +"They don't," she smiled. "I stole it!--from one of the maids in my +apartment. It was the only way I could get here without being seen. I +felt I must see you at once. We've got to do something, soon, or it'll +be too late. I felt that, as a scientist, you might have some idea how +we could get off." + +"How do the people themselves get off?" he asked. "That escalator +ray--do you know how they use it?" + +"No, I've never been able to find out. They don't let me go near that +part of the city." + +Kendrick reflected a moment. + +"Let's have a look at that invisibility affair," he said. + +She removed it from her wrist, handed it to him. Somewhat in awe, he +examined it. + + * * * * * + +The mechanism portion, which was linked in a strap of elastic metal, +resembled only superficially a watch, he now saw. Rather it had the +appearance of some delicate electric switch. Rectangular in shape, it +was divided into two halves by a band of white crystal. In each of +these halves were two little buttons of the same material, those on +one side round, on the other square. + +"Which buttons control the invisibility?" he asked. + +"The square ones," she replied. "One's pushed in now, you see. If you +should push the other, the first would come out--and you'd pass out of +the picture, so to speak." + +Kendrick was half tempted to try the thing then and there, but +deferred the impulse. + +"What are the round buttons for?" he inquired instead. + +Marjorie didn't know, but thought they were probably an emergency +pair, in case something went wrong with the square ones. In any event, +nothing happened when you pushed them. + +Kendrick pushed one, just to see. It was true. Nothing happened--but +he seemed to sense a faint, peculiar vibration and a wave of giddiness +swept over him. On pushing the other, which released the first, it +stopped. + + * * * * * + +He handed the device back to Marjorie. + +"There's your bracelet. Now, if I can just get one like it, I think +we'll get down to earth all right." + +"Oh, Mr. Kendrick!" Her eyes lit up eagerly. "Then you've thought of a +way?" + +"Not exactly. I think I've discovered their own way. I can't be +certain, but I'm willing to gamble on it, if you are." + +"Then you--you think those round buttons are connected with the +escalator rays?" + +"Exactly! I think they control individual descent and ascent, just as +the square ones control individual visibility and invisibility. At +any rate, it's the hunch I'm going to act on right now, if you're with +me." + +"Oh, I'm with, you!" she breathed. "Anything, death almost, would be +preferable to this." + +"Then stand by, invisible. I'm going to get one of my jailors in here +and relieve him of his wrist-watch." + +Marjorie touched that little square button on her own. She instantly +became invisible. + +Kendrick touched a button too, a button he had noticed beside the +door. As he had supposed, it brought one of the Vadans. + +Shutting the door quietly, he seized the fellow before he could move +his hand to his wrist. Thwarted in his attempt to vanish from sight, +the diminutive guard attempted an outcry. But Kendrick promptly +throttled him. + + * * * * * + +Marjorie had reappeared by now and together they bound him to a chair +with a gilded cord torn from the drapery. + +Removing the precious mechanism from his wrist, Kendrick slipped it on +his own. + +"Now let's go!" he said, pressing the protruding square button of the +device. "We haven't a minute to--my golly, what a peculiar sensation!" + +"It is rather odd, isn't it?" she laughed, pressing her own and +joining him in that invisible realm. + +"Feels like a combination electric massage and cold shower! Where are +you, anyway? I can't see you." + +"Of course you can't!" came an unseen tinkle. "Here!" + +He felt her brush him. + +"Better hold hands," he suggested, then gave an invisible flush he was +glad she couldn't see. + +"All right. A good idea." + +Her delicate hand came into his, soft, warm. Heart vibrating even +faster than his body, his whole being a-quiver with a strange +exaltation, Kendrick opened the door, and they left the apartment. + + * * * * * + +The next half-hour was the tensest either of then had ever +experienced. Every foot of the way was fraught with peril. + +Not only did they have to carefully avoid the visible swarms of little +people who hurried everywhere, but had to be on their guard as well +against any who might be moving about like themselves under cover of +invisibility. + +Nor could they use any elevator or public conveyances, but were +obliged to make their way down to the concourse by heaven knew how +many flights of stairs, and cross heaven knew how many teeming streets +on foot, before they reached the amber court, below which the +trap-door and their hope of freedom. + +They got there at last, however, descended, and peered down from that +yawning brink upon the desert floor--to draw back with gasps of +dismay. For the area still gleamed semi-molten from the stupendous +blast that had wiped out Kendrick's camp. + +"W-what is it?" she gasped. + +Swiftly he told her. + +"But isn't there any way around it? Look, over there to the left. One +edge of the crater seems to end almost underneath us." + +It was true that the center of the caldron was far to the right of +where they stood, and that its left rim was only a little within their +direct line of descent. But to land even one foot inside that inferno +would be as fatal as to alight in its very midst. + + * * * * * + +Kendrick was thinking fast. + +"There's just a chance," he said. "It all depends upon how wide the +zone of these escalator rays is, and whether we can tune in on them. +At least, I can probably answer the latter question." + +Pushing the protrudent round button on his mysterious bracelet as he +spoke, he leaned over the edge of the trap-door and awaited results. + +They were not long in coming. The vibration he was already under from +the invisibility rays seemed to double. Alternate waves of giddiness +and depression, of push and pull, swept over him. + +A minute of it was enough. He pressed the round button that now +protruded, ending this influence, and faced Marjorie, stating: + +"I'm positive now that these things control descent and ascent. As +nearly as I can figure, the rays work on the principle of an endless +belt. If you're up here, you get carried down, and vice versa. As to +how wide the belt is, and whether you can move sideways on it, remains +to be seen. Anyway, I'm going to take a chance. I'll go first. If my +guess is wrong, you--well, needn't follow." + +"No, I'm going with you!" she declared resolutely. "We've come this +far together. I shan't be left alone now. Let's go!" + +And again her soft, warm hand was in his. + +Lord, what a girl! How many would be brave enough to take a gamble +like that, on a fellow's mere supposition? + +"All right--go it is!" he said. "Push your round button, like this." +He showed her the way he thought was right, pushed his own. "Ready?" + +"Ready!" + + * * * * * + +Their voices were grave. It was a grim prospect, stepping off into +space like that, with only a guess between them and death. + +"Then jump!" + +They jumped, gripping each other's hands tightly--and instead of +dropping like plummets were caught in a powerful field of force and +whirled gently downward. + +"Oh, you were right!" gasped Marjorie, awed. "See, we--" + +Then she paused, horror-stricken, for it was obvious that they were to +descend within that lake of molten glass, unless they could change +their course at once. + +"Quick!" he called. "Hold fast! Now--run!" + +Breathless, they raced to the left, across that invisible descending +belt. + +Too far, Kendrick knew, and they would plunge outside its zone, fall +crushed and mangled. Not far enough, and they would meet cremation. It +was a fearful hazard, either way, but it had to be taken. + +They were almost down, now, and still not quite far enough to the +left. The heat of that yawning crater rose toward them. + +"Faster--_faster_!" he cried, fairly dragging her along with him. + +A last dash--a breathless instant--and they stood there on the ground, +not three feet from the edge of doom. + +Swooning with the heat, Marjorie swayed against him, murmured an +incoherent prayer. + +"Take heart!" he whispered, lifting her bodily and bearing her some +yards away. "We're down--safe!" + + * * * * * + +Their safety was but relative, however, Kendrick well knew. Until they +could put miles between them and this monstrous disc, they were not +really safe. No telling how soon their escape might be discovered. No +telling what terrible means Cor might take of curbing their flight. + +So as soon as Marjorie had recovered sufficiently to proceed, they +headed off across the desert at a fast walk toward Ajo, where he hoped +to catch the afternoon train for Gila Bend. From there, they could +board the limited for Tucson and points east, when it came through +from Yuma that night. + +They had tuned out on the escalator rays, but continued on still +invisible--for the disc hung above them in plain view and it would +have been suicide to let themselves be seen. + +Even so, Kendrick soon began to have an uneasy feeling of being +followed. He looked around from time to time, but could see nothing. +Were some of those invisible little creatures on their trail? + +He said nothing to Marjorie of his anxiety, but presently she too +began glancing backward uneasily, every few steps. + +"They are near us!" she said at length, in a whisper. "I can sense +them." + +It was more than sense, they soon discovered. Little paddings became +quite audible, and once or twice they saw the sand scuffed up, not +twenty feet away, as though by a foot passing over it. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile they were climbing a rise of ground, broken by many small +hummocks and dotted with thorny shrubs. On the other side, at the foot +of a long down-slope, lay Ajo. + +Once they reached the summit, Kendrick felt sure they could +outdistance their pursuers on the descent. Already, if his watch was +right, the train was preparing to pull out. It would be a breathless +dash, but he was confident they could make it. + +So he reassured Marjorie as best he could, and helped her on up the +slope. + +They were practically on the summit and already in view of the little +railroad station and huddle of shacks below--when suddenly he felt +himself tripped and flung violently to the ground. At the same +instant, his companion emitted a scream, as she felt herself seized by +invisible hands. + +Leaping to his feet, Kendrick flailed out with solid fists at their +attackers. Groans answered the impacts and he knew his blows were +taking effect. + + * * * * * + +Free for a moment he dashed to Marjorie, felt for the midgets who +swarmed around her. Seizing one of the invisible forms, he lifted it +and flung it crashing to the ground. Another, likewise, and another. + +Then he threshed his legs, where two of the creatures clung, trying to +drag him down again. They flew through the air, with cries of fright. + +"Well, so far, so good!" he exclaimed. "We won't wait to see if there +are any more. Come on--let's go!" + +"Right!" + +Reaching for each other's hands, they raced down the slope. + +Halfway there they saw a warning blast of steam rise from the engine, +followed by a whistle. + +"They'll be pulling out in a minute now!" he gasped, increasing speed. +"We've got to make it!--our only chance!" + +"We _will_ make it!" she sobbed through clenched teeth, meeting his +pace. + +Glancing over his shoulder, after another fifteen seconds, Kendrick +saw that the disc was no longer visible. Since there was no vibration +he realized with relief that it was now hidden behind the slope they +were descending. + +"Quick--push your button!" he said, pushing his own. + +They came out of the influence of the invisibility rays, raced +breathless on down the slope--gained the station platform just as the +train was getting under way. + +Helping the exhausted girl aboard, he mounted the steps himself, led +her through the vestibule into its single passenger coach. + +Dropping into a seat, they sat there panting as the train gathered +speed. + + * * * * * + +By the time the decrepit but life-saving little local drew into Gila +Bend they had somewhat recovered from their harrowing experience. + +Marjorie was still pale, however, as Kendrick helped her from the +train. + +"I may recover," she said with a wan smile, "but I'll never look the +same! An old saying, but I know what it means now." + +He thought better of a sudden impulse to tell her she looked quite all +right to him. Instead, he said grimly: + +"I know now what a lot of things mean!" + +The Tucson limited would not be through for over an hour, they +learned. That would give them time to hunt up the authorities and +sound a warning of the ominous invader that was in the vicinity. +Perhaps, by prompt military action, it might be destroyed, or at least +crippled. + +But first they went to the telegraph office, where Marjorie got off a +message that would bring joy to her grieved family. + +While standing there outside the barred window, odors of food wafting +to them from a nearby lunch-room. + +"Um-m!" she sniffed. "That smells good to me! I haven't tasted any +earthly cooking for ages. Everything on that horrible disc was +synthetic." + +"Then I suggest we have ham and eggs, at once," he said. "Or would you +prefer a steak?" + +"I think I'll have both!" + + * * * * * + +As they walked into the lunch-room, Kendrick told her of the banquet +in his honor Cor had promised for that night. + +"I guess I didn't miss much," he ended. + +"You certainly didn't!" she assured him, with a smile. "It would have +opened with a puree of split-molecule soup, continued with an entree +of breaded electrons, and closed with an ionic cafe." + +He laughed. + +"I'm just as well satisfied. I was unable to attend! Humble as it is, +I think this will prove to be much more wholesome food." + +Night had fallen by the time they left the lunch-room. Glancing at his +watch, Kendrick saw that they still had better than a half-hour before +the limited was due, so they betook themselves to the police station. + +It was only a block away and in consequence they weren't long reaching +it. + +The chief had gone home, the officer at the desk informed them, but if +there was anything they cared to report, he would be glad to make note +of it. + +A big raw-boned westerner, he shifted his quid as he spoke and spat +resoundingly in a cuspidor at his feet. + +"All right, then--get your pencil ready!" said Kendrick with a smile. +"This is Miss Marjorie Blake, daughter of Henderson Blake, of New +York. Perhaps you read of her disappearance, a few weeks ago. And +I...." + +As he introduced himself and told briefly of their astounding +experience, the officer's eyes bulged with amazement. + +"Say, what yuh-all tryin' to hand me?" he snorted finally. "D'yuh +think I was born simple?" + +"Press your button!" whispered Marjorie. "Show him how the +invisibility ray works. It'll save a lot of argument." + +"Right!" + + * * * * * + +He held up his wrist. + +"See this? Now watch!" + +Whereupon he pressed the button. But to their dismay, nothing +happened. + +"Wa-al. I'm still watchin'!" drawled the officer. "Who's loony now?" + +Kendrick examined the mechanism in impatience, pressed that little +button repeatedly: but still nothing happened. + +"Try yours!" he told Marjorie finally. + +She did so, with similar results--or lack of them, rather. + +"Something's wrong," he said at length. "The ray isn't working." + +"Wrong is right!" declared the officer with a contemptuous flood of +tobacco juice. "Yuh folks better go catch yuhr train 'fore yuh ferget +where it is." + +Chagrined, embarrassed, they took their leave, headed back toward the +railroad station. + +"Of all the utterly silly things!" declared Marjorie, as they walked +along. "Why do you suppose it didn't work?" + +Kendrick didn't reply at once. When he did, his voice was grave. + +"Because the disc has gone!" he said. "We are outside its zone of +influence. That's my hunch, at least, and I think we'd better act on +it." + +"You mean...?" + +"I mean our escape has probably caused them to hurry their plans. +They're probably over New York right now. I think we'd better get +there the quickest possible way." + + * * * * * + +The result was that when the train came, they remained on it only to +Tucson. There they chartered a fast plane and started east at once. + +At sunset the following day the plane swooped out of the sky and slid +to rest on the broad grounds of the Blake estate at Great Neck. + +As Kendrick stepped from the cabin and helped Marjorie down, a tall, +distinguished-looking man with graying hair and close-cropped mustache +came hurrying toward them. + +"Daddy!" she cried, rushing into his arms. "Oh, Daddy--Daddy!" + +Even without this demonstration. Kendrick would have recognized +Henderson Blake from pictures he had seen recently in the papers. + +Now he was introduced, and Blake was gripping his hand warmly. + +"I don't quite know what this is all about, Professor," he heard the +great financier say. "Marjorie's telegram last night was as cryptic as +it was over-joying. But I do know that I owe you a deep debt of +gratitude." + +"Yes, and you owe our pilot about a thousand dollars, too!" put in the +daughter of the house, clinging to her father's arm. "Please give him +a check--then we'll go inside and I'll explain all about it." + +"A matter very much easier dispatched than my debt to Professor +Kendrick," said Blake, complying. + +The check was for two thousand, not one, the pilot saw when he +received it. + +"Thank you very much, sir!" he said, saluting. + +"Don't mention it. Good night--and good luck to you!" + + * * * * * + +The pilot returned to his plane, it lifted from the lawn, droned off +into the twilight. + +Then they approached the cool white villa that stood invitingly a +hundred yards or so away beyond sunken gardens. + +As they neared it, a handsome, well-preserved woman whose face +reflected Marjorie's own beauty came toward them. Lines of suffering +were still evident around her sensitive mouth, but her dark eyes were +radiant. + +"Mother!" + +"My poor darling!" + +They rushed into each other's arms, clung, sobbing and laughing. + +Kendrick was glad when these intimate greetings were over and he had +met Mrs. Blake. + +They were in the drawing-room now, listening to a somewhat more lucid +account of their daughter's experiences and those of her rescuer. +Marjorie was doing most of the talking, but every now and again she +would turn to Kendrick for verification. + +"Heavens!" gasped Mrs. Blake, finally. "Can such things be possible?" + +"Almost anything seems possible nowadays, my dear," her husband told +her. "And you say, Professor, that you have brought back samples of +this invisibility device?" + +"Yes, we have, but I can't promise they'll work. I'll try, however." + +Whereupon, sceptically, he pressed that little square button--and +instantly faded out of sight. + +"Good Lord!" cried Blake, leaping to his feet. "That proves it! Why, +this is positively--" + + * * * * * + +His remarks were cut short by a scream of terror from his wife. + +"Marjorie--Marjorie!" she shrieked. + +Wheeling, he faced the chair where his daughter had sat. It was empty, +so far as human eyes could see. + +"Don't worry Mother--Daddy!" came a calm voice from it. "I'm quite all +right--coming back--steady." + +And back she came, as did Kendrick, from the empty chair beside her. + +His face was grave. The success of the demonstration, which had proved +their story to practical-minded Henderson Blake, had proved to him +something altogether more significant. The disc, as he had surmised, +had rushed eastward immediately on learning of their escape, and was +now probably hovering right over New York. + +"Marvelous--marvelous!" declared Blake. "But that heat ray, Professor. +That sounds bad. You are convinced it is as powerful as they make +out!" + +"Positively! That blast they let go in the desert would have utterly +destroyed New York." + +"Hm! Yes, no doubt you're right. I fully realize how the fearful +menace of this thing. Do you think the military authorities will be +able to cope with it?" + +"I don't know. Perhaps, if they are prompt enough." + +"And is there no other way--no scientific way?" + + * * * * * + +Kendrick grew thoughtful. + +"I wonder," he said at last. "There's just a possibility--something +running through my mind--an experiment I'd like to make, if I had the +facilities of some large electrical laboratory." + +"You shall have them to-morrow!" Blake promised. "I'm one of the +directors of Consolidated Electric. Their experimental laboratory in +Brooklyn is the finest of its kind in America. I'll see that you have +the run of it." + +"That will be very kind," said Kendrick. "But don't expect anything to +come from it, necessarily. It's just a theory I want to work out." + +A butler entered at this moment and announced dinner. + +"Well, theories are mighty these days!" beamed Blake, as they rose, +clapping the younger man on the shoulder. "You go ahead with your +theories--and I'll bring a few facts to bear. To-morrow noon I'll +escore some military men and others of my friends over to the +laboratory to hear and see something of this menace direct. Meanwhile, +and during this crisis, it will honor me to have you as my guest." + +"Our guest!" amended Marjorie, with a warm smile. + + * * * * * + +Next morning Blake motored Kendrick out to the Brooklyn Laboratory of +the Consolidated Electric Utilities Corporation and installed him +there. + +Then he left--to return at noon with the promised delegation of +generals, admirals, statesmen and financiers. + +They were all frankly sceptical, though realizing that Henderson Blake +was not a man given to exaggeration. Nor did their scepticism +altogether vanish when Kendrick had ended his bizarre story with a +demonstration of the invisibility device. + +Murmurs of amazement ran around the laboratory, it is true, but the +more hard-headed of his spectators charged him with having invented +the apparatus himself. Though they didn't come right out and say so, +they seemed to imply that he was seeking publicity. + +Annoyedly, Kendrick tried to refute their charges. But even as he was +summoning words, refutation utter and complete came from the air. + +A low, humming vibration sounded, grew in volume till it filled the +room--and as suddenly ceased: The light of midday faded to twilight. + +"_The disc!_" gasped Kendrick, rushing to the west windows. + +They followed, tense with awe. And there, between earth and sun, its +myriad towers and spires refracting a weird radiance, hovered that +vast flying city. + +"My God!" muttered a famous general, staring as though he had seen a +ghost. + +A great statesman opened his lips, but no words came. + +"Appalling! Incredible!" burst from others of that stunned assemblage. + + * * * * * + +Their comments were cut short by a broadcast voice, thin and clear, +tremendously amplified, a voice Kendrick recognized at once as that of +Cor. + +"People of America!" it said. "We of the planet Vada have come to +conquer your country. You will be given forty-eight hours to lay down +your arms. If complete surrender has not been made by high noon, two +days from now, New York will be destroyed." + +The voice ceased. The humming recommenced--waned in volume till it +died away. Twilight turned once more to midday. + +Peering fixedly through the west windows of the laboratory, the little +assemblage saw the disc swallowed up in the clear blue sky. + +Then they turned, faced one another gravely. + +Outside, on the streets, confusion reigned. In newspaper plants, +presses were whirling. In telegraph and cable offices, keys were +ticking. From radio towers, waves were speeding. + +Within an hour, the nation and the world knew of this planetary +invader and its staggering ultimatum. + +Naturally, the government at Washington refused to meet these shameful +terms. Military and naval forces were rushed to the threatened +metropolis. The Atlantic Fleet steamed up from Hampton Roads under +forced draught and assembled in the outer harbor. Thousands of planes +gathered at Mitchell Field and other nearby aerodromes. + + * * * * * + +But where was the enemy? He must be miles up in space, Kendrick knew, +as he toiled feverishly in the laboratory over his experiment after a +sleepless night. For had that flying city been nearer earth, it could +not have maintained invisibility without that peculiar humming +vibration. + +Scout planes urged on by impatient squadron commanders, climbed till +they reached their ceilings, searching in vain. They could encounter +nothing, see nothing of the invader. + +Thus passed a morning of growing tension. + +But by noon of that day, with a bare twenty-four hours left before +the expiration of the ultimatum, the disc came down, showed itself +boldly. + +There followed stunning disasters. + +One salvo, and the ray shot down--the Atlantic Fleet, the pride of +America, burst and melted in flaming hell. Squadrons of planes, +carrying tons of bombs, frizzled like moths in the air. Mighty +projectiles hurled by land batteries were deflected off on wild +trajectories. + +Appalled, the nation and the world followed in lurid extras these +crushing defeats. + +By nightfall of that day, all seemed lost. All opposition had been +obliterated. America must capitulate or perish. It had until the next +noon to decide which. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, in that great Brooklyn laboratory, Kendrick was working +against time, besieged by frantic delegations of the nation's leaders. +They knew now that their one hope lay in him. Was he succeeding? Was +there even any hope? + +Face haggard, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, he waved them away, +went on with his work. + +"I will tell you--as soon as I know." + +That was all he would say. + +Followed a night that was the blackest in all history, though the +myriad stars of heaven shone tauntingly brilliant in the summer sky. + +At length, as dawn was breaking. Kendrick paused in his labors. + +"There!" he said, grimly, surveying an apparatus that seemed to +involve the entire facilities of the laboratory. "It is done! Now +then--will it work?" + +The delegation were called to witness the test. + +Henderson Blake was among them, as was Marjorie. She stepped forward, +as he prepared to make the demonstration. + +"I _know_, somehow, you're going to be successful!" she murmured, +pressing his hand, meeting his eyes with a smile of confidence. + +"I hope you're right--Marjorie!" he replied, letting slip the last +word almost unconsciously. + +Her face colored warmly as the stepped back and rejoined her father. + +Kendrick's heart was beating fast as he turned to his instruments. How +could he fail, with faith like that behind him?--love, even, perhaps! +He mustn't fail--nor would he, if his theories were sound. + + * * * * * + +Addressing the assemblage, he explained briefly the complicated +apparatus. + +"These towers," he said, pointing to four steel structures about ten +feet high, arranged at the corners of a square roughly twenty feet +across, "are miniature radio masts. The area enclosed by them, we will +assume, is the city of New York. That metal disc suspended above the +area represents the invader. It contains a miniature heat-generator +such as I was experimenting with recently in the Arizona desert." + +He paused, threw a switch. Somewhere in the laboratory a dynamo began +to whir. + +"I am now sending electro-magnetic waves from the four towers," he +resumed. "But instead of broadcasting them in every direction. I am +bending them in concave cathode of force over the city. You may +picture this cathode as an invisible shield, if you choose, but it is +more than that. It it a reflector. If my theories are right, the +radio-energetic ray I am about to project upon it from my miniature +disc will be flung back to its source as though it had been a ray of +light falling on a mirror. The success of the experiment depends upon +what the result will be." + + * * * * * + +Kendrick ceased, moved toward a rheostat. + +As he made ready to touch it, a breathless tension settled upon the +assemblage. Upon the outcome of what was now to happen rested the fate +of America--and the world. + +Calmly, though every fiber of his being was at breaking stress, the +young scientist opened the rheostat. + +For an instant, the ray seared down--then, as it boomeranged back, the +disc burst into flame, dissolved, disintegrated. A thin dust, like +carbon, slowly settled to the laboratory floor. + +Cutting off the current from the radio towers, Kendrick faced them, a +light of triumph in his tired eyes. + +"You see--it works," he said. + +They saw. Beyond a doubt, it worked! + +And what Kendrick saw, as his eyes met Marjorie's, made him forget his +fatigue. + + * * * * * + +The rest was a mad scramble of preparation. Only a few brief hours +remained, and much was to be done. + +The application of the principle that had just been demonstrated +involved a hook-up from the Consolidated Electric laboratory with +every broadcasting station in the metropolitan area, power being +supplied by commandeering every generating plant within a radius of +fifty miles. + +The city, moreover, had to be evacuated of all but the few brave +hundreds who volunteered to stand by their posts at radio stations and +generating plants. + +As for Kendrick, it was the busiest, most hectic morning he had ever +experienced. Only the realization of a girl's love and a nation's +trust enabled him to overcome the exhaustion of two sleepless nights. + +At length, a little before eleven, all was in readiness. Just two +questions troubled the young scientist's mind. Had the people of the +disc learned of their preparations to counter the attack? And would +the improvised broadcasting apparatus of the area stand the stupendous +strain that would be placed upon it if the ray came down? + +The first of these questions was answered, staggeringly, at a quarter +after eleven. + +"Kendrick--oh, my God!" cried Blake, bursting into the laboratory. +"Marjorie--they've got her again! Look! Read this!" + +He thrust out a piece of paper. Kendrick took it, read: + + Your daughter will be my queen, after this noon. + +"Where'd you get it?" he gasped. + +"One of the invisible devils thrust it into my hand right out in the +street, not five minutes ago," Blake explained, trembling with +anguish. "Do you realize what this means, Kendrick? She's on the disc +now--and in a scant three-quarters of an hour...." + +"Yes, I realize!" his voice came grimly. "And I realize, too, that +they don't know their fate. They'll stay. There's forty-five minutes +yet. We can't abandon our defense against the ray, not even for +Marjorie. But I'll go, I'll rescue her--or die with her!" + +And even as Blake mutely reached out his hand to grip that of the +determined young man who stood before him. Kendrick touched his wrist +mechanism and went invisible. + + * * * * * + +Once on the street, he pressed the escalator button as well--and by +the strength of the vibrations that followed, he knew he must be very +close within that mysterious lifting zone. + +Running west a block, he found it growing stronger. + +Fairly racing now, he continued on toward the river, progress +unhampered in the deserted streets. Suddenly, with a thrill of +exultation, he felt himself swept up, whirled away toward that great +shimmering hulk against the sun. + +"What hope?" he was thinking. "What possible hope?" And the answer +came: Cor! + +Reaching the disc, he switched out the escalator influence and +hastened across the city to that monumental structure of jade-green +stone. + +The mighty little dwarf would be up there in his glittering mosaic +apartment, or in his pinnacle laboratory, perhaps, ready to pull the +lever that would release that stupendous blast of heat. + +Gaining the jewelled door of the monarch's quarters at last, after +escaping detection by a hair's breadth more than once, he pressed the +button outside, just as the guard had done that first time. + +In response, the door opened--and there stood Cor. + + * * * * * + +He stood there an instant, that is, while the expression on his +leathery face went from inquiry to alarm. Then, as Kendrick burst into +the room and shut the door, he went invisible. + +In that same instant, the young scientist's eyes beheld a sight that +caused his heart to leap. There sat Marjorie, bound in a chair, an +expression half of hope, half of dejection, on her face. + +"It's I--Gordon!" he called. "Take courage!" + +"Oh, I prayed so you'd come--and you came!" she murmured as her face +lighted. Then, tensely, she added, "The door--look out!" + +Kendrick wheeled, and just in time. The door was opening. + +"Not so fast!" he called, lunging. + +His hands gripped the dwarf, yanked him back, throttled him before he +could emit a cry, pushed the door shut. + +Cor struggled like a madman, but it was futile. Kendrick's hands cut +into his throat like a vice. After a moment or two, he gasped, +relaxed. + +Releasing his grip then, Kendrick felt for his wrist, stripped off his +bracelet--whereupon the dwarf became visible. His face was +putty-white. He was either dead or unconscious. + +Restoring his own visibility then, he advanced to Marjorie, swiftly +freed her. + +"Take this!" he said, handing her Cor's bracelet. + +She slipped it on. + +"Now let's tie him and get out of here. He may be dead, but we can't +take any chances." + + * * * * * + +The dwarf wasn't dead, however, for he groaned and opened his eyes as +they lifted him into the chair. + +"You win, Professor--but it avails you nothing!" He smiled +maliciously. "My capture, my death even, will not prevent the ray. The +orders have been given. It will be projected sharp at twelve. You but +go to your doom!" + +"That," said Kendrick, "is a matter of opinion." + +Swiftly they bound him, gagged him. + +"And now," he added, "we wish you good day--and such fate as you +deserve!" + +Then, turning to Marjorie: + +"Your hand again!" + +There was a new tenderness in its soft warmth that thrilled him. + +They touched their buttons, went invisible. + +Silently, then, they stole from the apartment. Swiftly they made their +way down to the concourse, raced across the city to the amber court, +descended to the trap-door. + +It must be nearly twelve, Kendrick knew. He couldn't look at his +watch, for it as well as himself was invisible. Indeed, even as they +stood there, poised for the plunge, a faint whistle rose from below. + +Marjorie trembled. + +"Steady!" he spoke. "Some of them always blow a minute or two before. +Are you ready?" + +"Yes!" + +"Then press your button--jump!" + +Even as they leapt, the sickening thought came that perhaps the +escalator ray was no longer running. But the fear was unwarranted. +They were caught up, whirled gently downward. + +Moving along laterally, as they descended, they were able to land +without difficulty in the middle of a deserted street near the +Consolidated Electric laboratory. + +"Thank heaven!" she sighed, as their feet touched solid ground. They +pressed off both buttons, becoming visible once more. + +"Echo!" he agreed. "So let's--" + + * * * * * + +But Kendrick never completed that sentence--for now whistles all over +the metropolitan area, rising from the generating plants, announced +the ominous hour. + +It was high noon. The ultimatum had expired. + +Lifting tense faces to the disc, they waited. Would that stupendous +ray be hurled back upon itself? Or would it sear through their +makeshift defense, plunging them and the whole great metropolis into +oblivion? + +Suddenly, cataclysmically, the answer came. + +There burst a withering whirlwind from the disc. It struck that mighty +concave cathode of interlaced waves above the city. There followed an +instant's clash of titanic forces. Then the cathode triumphed, hurled +it back. + +Rocked by a concussion as of two worlds in impact, blinded by a glare +that made the sunlight seem feeble in comparison. Marjorie and +Kendrick clung together, while the disc grew into a satellite of +calcium fire in the sky. + +Presently, as the conflagration waned, they opened their eyes. +Gravely, but with deep thanksgiving, they searched each other's faces. +In them they read deep understanding, too, and a new hope. + +"I think we'd better go and find father," she said at length, quietly. + +"I think so too!" he agreed. + +As they headed toward the laboratory, a fine, powdery dust, like +volcanic ash was falling. + +It continued to fall until the city streets were covered to a depth of +an inch or more. + +Thus passed the menace of Vada. + +[Advertisement: NO ONE MUST FORGET + +_That he has a standing +invitation to_ + +"Come Over In +'THE READERS' CORNER'" + +_And join in the general +discussion of stories, +authors, likes, dislikes--everything +pertaining +to_ + +ASTOUNDING STORIES + +_And Science-Fiction_] + + + + +The Readers' Corner + +_A Meeting Place for Readers of_ Astounding Stories + +[Illustration:] + + +_To the Rescue_ + + Dear Editor: + + I hope you can see fit to print this letter in the July + issue of Astounding Stories. This letter is written in + defence of Ray Cummings and in reply to the letter of C. + Harry Jaeger, 2900 Jordan Road, Oakland, California. + + Following is an extract of Mr. Jaeger's letter: "Also I like + my authors to make an original contribution to whatever + theory of science they develop fictionally. This, Ray + Cummings does not do in his very interesting story, + "Phantoms of Reality." His beginning is palpably borrowed + from Francis Flagg's story, "The Blue Dimension," which + appeared in a Science Fiction magazine in 1927." Another + paragraph is devoted to explaining his claim. He claims that + Cummings' method of transporting his characters from one + dimension or planet to another is practically copied from + Flagg's story. The method, that is, not the narration. I + hope to prove that if any borrowing was done, it was done by + Flagg. Incidentally, Flagg's story "The Blue Dimension" was + printed in 1928, not 1927, as Mr. Jaeger says. + + I have in my possession a story by Ray Cummings named "Into + the Fourth Dimension" and published in another magazine + during the last month of 1926 and first ones of 1927. And in + this story--printed two years before Flagg's story--Cummings + uses almost the same apparatus of passing from one dimension + to another as is used in "Phantoms of Reality." I will not + discuss whether this procedure is to be approved or not. + + This letter is not to be construed as an attack on Mr. + Jaeger, or Mr. Flagg, or on either of the two stories under + discussion. + + If Mr. Jaeger will let me know I will send him Ray Cumming's + story "Into the Fourth Dimension," as clipped from the + magazines. + + I write this letter to the magazine, instead of Mr. Jaeger, + so that if any one was misled by Mr. Jaeger's well meant but + mistaken criticism they will be straightened out.--Donald + Coneyon, Petoskey, Michigan. + + +_A Wish for Success_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read both of your first issues. I am writing to say + that I wish you success with your new magazine, which I know + will succeed. + + Also to say I wish you would get more of the "Carnes and Dr. + Bird Stories" by Captain S. P. Meek, for I think everybody, + including myself, likes them. I also enjoyed "Creatures of + the Light."--Thomas D. Taylor, 415 So. 7th St., Boise, + Idaho. + + +_No Kick Any More_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have been a reader of Astounding Stories ever since you + started it, and I guess I'm getting too particular as I + don't get the kick out of it any more that I did out of the + first issues. That is, I don't get the kick out of ALL of + the stories as I did at first. However, "Murder Madness" + sure is a hot one. Why not print a story by Sax Rohmer, H. + G. Wells, or some of them?--H. Elsworth Jones, Box 340, R. + R. 6, Battle Creek, Mich. + + +_Via Postcard_ + + Dear Editor: + + Astounding Stories is an astounding magazine. It has really + astounding stories. It couldn't be better. There's hardly + room for improvement. May Astounding Stories be more + astounding yet. I like it!--Monroe Hood Stinson, 1742, 12th + Ave., Oakland, California. + + +_Only Fiction!_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished a story in the February, 1930, issue of + Astounding Stories entitled "Into Space," by Sterner St. + Paul. + + I would like to know if it is a true story, if the actions + described in it really happened, or is it merely a story of + fiction.--Dan S. Scherrer, Shawneetown, Ill. + + +_Perhaps--Soon_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished reading your new magazine, Astounding + Stories. It is the best magazine I have ever read. Keep up + the good work and you will find me a constant reader. I have + only one suggestion to make: Let Astounding Stories come out + every other Thursday.--Harold Kulko, 433 Palmer E., Detroit, + Michigan. + + +_More Preferences_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read with great interest the second issue of + Astounding Stories and note your invitation for readers to + express themselves. + + I enjoyed the whole magazine, finding the literary quality + surprisingly high. Especially good were "Spawn of the + Stars," and "Creatures of the Light." Harl Vincent's tale + was the best of his I have read; and Captain Meek's are + always good. "The Corpse on the Grating," however, was + merely Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" done over, and not + half so well. + + As for the sort of tales I like, here they are in order of + preference: + + 1. Tales of weird mystery--Merritt's "Moon Pool" and his + others; Taine's "White Lily." + + 2. Interplanetary Adventure--"A Columbus of Space," by + Serviss; "The Skylark of Space," by Smith. + + 3. "Different stories," that defy classification, based on + new ideas of science--most of Wells' short stories are + examples. 4. Detective, Fourth Dimension, and air + adventure--only well done.--Jack Williamson, Box 661 Canyon, + Texas. + + +_A Brick or Two_ + + Dear Editor: + + For the last three years we have been reading any and all of + the various Science Fiction magazines which have appeared + upon the market. We therefore feel that we are as well + qualified as anyone to offer the criticism and advice that + follows. + + First, the stories. We feel that it would be a good idea to + get your stories from the same authors whose work has been + and is being accepted by the other magazines in this field. + In one case you have already done this, and I consider his + stories to be the best in each issue. I believe that you + will be forced to do this eventually, anyhow, because the + people who read this magazine will naturally be readers of + the others also, and will therefore, be used to the + standards set by those publications. Then, you should have + someone who is well qualified to pass upon the science in + the stories. + + Second, the cover design and the pictures at the beginning + of each story. Up to this time the cover and inside pictures + have contained many mistakes. The cover of the March issue + was especially atrocious. In the first place a voyager in + outer space would find it jet black and studded with stars, + instead of blue and apparently empty, except for a few + tremendously oversize planets, a moon with entirely too many + craters, and a total eclipse of the sun with a very much + distorted corona visible beside the earth. Illustrations by + your cover artist also appear in another publication, but + these are much superior to the ones in Astounding Stories. + Here also a scientific advisor would be welcome. + + Third, I think it would be a good idea to have a department + in which readers could write their opinions of the stories + and suggest improvements in the conduct of the magazine. + + Fourth, I think there should be a scientific editorial in + each issue by some eminent scientist. This is also a feature + in the other magazines. + + We hope that you take these criticisms and suggestions, as + they were offered, in good faith. We also hope that the + circulation will increase as the magazine becomes + better.--George L. Williams and Harry Heillisan, 5714 Howe + St., Pittsburgh, Pa. + + +"_Wonderful_" + + Dear Editor: + + I received your magazine last week, Astounding Stories, and + I think it is wonderful. I am very glad that I subscribed + for it. I can hardly wait to get the latest one which I + hoped to receive to-day and was very much disappointed when + it did not arrive. I hope you will consider a quarterly or + at least an annual in the near future. + + I wish you success with this magazine, and hope you will + forgive my writing you so often in reference to your + magazine--Louis Wentzler, 1935, Woodbine St., Brooklyn, New + York. + + +--_But We Made Our Bow Only Last January!_ + + Dear Editor: + + Last month my boy brought one copy of this magazine home, + and I want to ask you if you would send me the copies from + last January, 1929, up to December, 1929. If you charge no + more than $3.00 would you send them C. O. D.? Do you have + the issues for 1928, too? + + I never knew there was a magazine like that on the market. I + never bought one because most of them are no good, and when + one has children one has to be doubly careful. + + But this magazine is just right. No silly love stories and + mushy stuff in them. It sure keeps your mind from unpleasant + things. We can get them from the newsstand but I would like + to subscribe for them. + + Keep up the good work and please send me the last year's + copies and let me know if I could get 1928, too.--Mrs. M. + Ristan, 4684, No. Broadway, Denver, Colorado. + + +"_Best One Yet_" + + Dear Editor: + + The April issue is the best one you have put out yet. Arthur + J. Burks is GOOD. I hope to see much of him in the future. + "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings, is getting better + with each instalment. The stories of Dr. Bird are always + interesting. I would like to see one in each issue, if you + could arrange for it. + + As long as the other readers like the size of Astounding + stories, I will, too, but please cut all edges smooth like + the latest issue of Five Novels Monthly. I would like to see + a full-page illustration with each story, and if possible by + Wesso. + + I am glad that you are starting another serial in the May + issue of Astounding Stories. I like serials and I hope that + you will always have two in each issue. + + Your schedule for the May issue looks good, and I'm sure it + will be, with such authors as Murray Leinster, Victor + Rousseau, Ray Cummings, Harl Vincent and Sewell P. Wright. + + I am still waiting for a different colored cover.--Jack + Darrow, 4225, N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Illinois. + + +_An Enthusiastic Reader_ + + Dear Editor: + + As a reader of long standing of Science Fiction I feel I am + qualified to make some remarks and give my opinion of the + wonderful Astounding Stories magazine lately put out. + Although I read three other Science Fiction magazines none + of them have aroused in me such a wonderful enthusiasm as + Astounding Stories. Before I forget it I want to mention + that I read two quarterlies also. + + The reason, or rather reasons, for my enthusiasm I will now + enumerate. (1) The stories are wonderful. (2) The binding is + very strong and efficient. (3) The print is just right, and + soothing to the eyes of one who reads much. The paper is + good, and the size and price of the magazine is just right. + The covers are excellent, and with the addition of "The + Readers' Corner" the magazine becomes absolutely perfect. + Truly a wonderful start. See that it is kept up. The only + thing that can still spoil the magazine is poor stories. + Science Fiction stories that contain no science. + + In "Vampires of Venus" the plot was rather weak. Even if the + Venerians knew nothing of entomology, they should have + brains enough to get rid of the vampires the way Leslie + Larner did without having to call an Earthman to help them. + Another thing: the Venerians kept only insects that were not + harmful to the crops. On Earth there are such insects who + help the farmer by eating harmful insects. If the harmful + insects were exterminated--an almost impossible and gigantic + task--the harmless insects would change their diet and + become harmful too. And it seems funny, too, that such a + highly civilized planet as Venus should still depend on + domesticated animals for food, drink and clothing instead of + manufacturing what they need synthetically. + + The April cover on your magazine was wonderful. + + Before I close I wish to say a word about the Science + Correspondence Club of which I am a proud member. There is + little to say, however, after reading Conrad Ruppert's + letter in the April issue. The membership has increased to + over 300 now, numbering among them quite a number of famous + scientists and authors. All I can say is that I hope every + scientifically inclined person of whatever nationality, + creed, color or sex they may be, will join this wonderful + and rapidly progressing club. I will now close thanking the + publishers of Astounding Stories for issuing such a + wonderful magazine--Stan Osowski, E2, Railroad St., Central + Falls, R. I. + + +_But--Conniston Was An Impostor!_ + + Dear Editor: + + I read with interest Mr. Ray Cummings' story, "Brigands of + the Moon," in the March number of Astounding Stories. The + tale was a worthy one from the pen of so clever a writer. I + do think, however, that the author might have left out the + point about Sir Arthur Conniston, an English gentleman, + turning traitor. This sort of thing is hardly calculated to + bring about a friendly feeling between England and America, + the two greatest countries in the world. I have the greatest + admiration for the United States, and though we may have a + little fun at each other's expense, there is no ill feeling + meant, but I really hope you will not publish any other + story like that one.--An Englishman, Montreal, Canada. + + +_Likes the Romance_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished my second copy of Astounding Stories + and I wish to say I have enjoyed every story. + + For some time I have been a reader of Science Fiction, but + none will compare to Astounding Stories. These stories seem + to have the proper amount of romance in them to make them + really interesting, and it adds the proper touch. + + I have no criticism to make. May I wish you a great success + with this magazine--Frank I. Sontag, 825 Prescott Ave., + Scranton, Pa. + + +_High Praise_ + + Dear Editor: + + Allow me to congratulate you upon the establishment of "The + Readers' Corner." I do not know which was the first issue of + your delightful magazine, but I have been buying it + regularly for quite a few months. + + I may not be an experienced critic, but it can be easily + seen by anyone that this magazine is one of the best on + sale. I, for one, enjoy your stories more than any other + stories I have ever read. + + I have just finished the second part of the four-part serial + entitled "Brigands of the Moon." I thing Ray Cummings is the + best author I have ever met up with in stories. The drawings + are fine, the print is excellent, but I think the paper + could be improved. But by no means change the size of your + little magazine. The size is just right. + + In your April issue I read in "The Readers' Corner" about a + Science Correspondence Club. Believe me when I say I'm + sending immediately for an application blank. I think the + idea of this club is excellent. + + Truly you have contributed a great gift to Science Fiction + readers in offering this magazine to the receptive + public.--Theodore L. Page, 2361 Los Angeles Ave., + Pittsburgh, Pa. + + +"_Don't Do It!_" + + Dear Editor: + + This afternoon I saw Astounding Stories for the first time + and immediately grabbed a copy, as I have read others of the + Clayton group, and moreover am a Science Fiction fan. + + The newsstand has no back numbers, and I simply must have + the March 1930 issue, as I wish to read "Brigands of the + Moon," so here is 25c, in stamps to cover purchase price and + cost of mailing me a copy of that issue. + + Have you a complete file since Vol. 1, No. 1? If so, what is + the cost including charges? I'm sorry that I missed this + magazine before, but you can rest assured that I'll miss no + more. + + In the "Readers' Corner" I notice a call from Stephen Takacs + for a change in size. DON'T DO IT! The size and shape are O. + K., and to make it the awkward size of most magazines + (including two of the Science Fiction magazines that I am + now a confirmed reader of), would not improve it a bit. + + You have two of my favorite authors in the April number; no, + I see it is three--Burks, Cummings and Meek. They are O. K., + but don't forget a few others, such as Burroughs, Verrill, + Hamilton, Coblentz, Keller, Quinn, Williamson, Leinster, + Repp, Vincent, Flagg--oh, why continue; you certainly know + all the good authors of OUR kind of fiction; try them all. + Of course, the other Science Fiction magazines that I take + are full of stories by my favorites, but you can get stories + by them too. + + From this one issue that I have read I can see only praise + for your publication. Here's to a long life and a happy one. + + Don't forget to send me the March issue as fast as the mail + can get it here--Robert J. Hyatt, 1353 Kenyon St., N. W., + Washington D. C. + + +"_Worst Ever Read_" + + Dear Editor: + + Since you invite criticism as well as praise, I am impelled + to state that by far the worst story I ever read in any + Science Fiction magazine was "Vampires of Venus," by Anthony + Pelcher, which appeared in your April issue. It was so + idiotic, so flat and inane, that it might have passed for a + burlesque rather than a straight story, were it not + painfully evident that the author was serious. The yarn was + unworthy of Astounding Stories and did not belong in this + magazine. + + The other stories, except for an amateurish attempt called + "The Man Who Was Dead," were deeply engrossing and of + unusual merit.--Sears Langell, 1214 Boston Road, New York. + + +"_The Readers' Corner_" + +All Readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come +over in 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of +stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities--everything +that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories. + +Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this +is a department primarily for _Readers_, and we want you to make full +use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, +brickbats, suggestions--everything's welcome here; so "come over in +'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us! + +--_The Editor._ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +August 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29768.txt or 29768.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/6/29768/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, 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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