diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-8.txt | 10276 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 180223 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 687073 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/29919-h.htm | 10239 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 42390 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 27126 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_002.jpg | bin | 0 -> 13517 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_003.jpg | bin | 0 -> 41976 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43121 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_005_01.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39311 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_005_02.jpg | bin | 0 -> 9873 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_006.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31410 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_007.jpg | bin | 0 -> 36673 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_008.jpg | bin | 0 -> 37982 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_009.jpg | bin | 0 -> 34669 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_010.jpg | bin | 0 -> 48770 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_011.jpg | bin | 0 -> 51408 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_a.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1749 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_a1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2326 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1774 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_b1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1966 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_c.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1746 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_d.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2028 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_d1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1268 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_e.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1748 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_e1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2276 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_f.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1496 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_g.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1902 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_g1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2313 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_h.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1865 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_i.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1161 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_i1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1541 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_k.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2142 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_l.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1105 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_l1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1349 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_m.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2144 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_m1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2924 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_n.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1897 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_n1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2177 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_o.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2152 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_p.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1652 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_r.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1978 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1848 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_t.jpg | bin | 0 -> 18522 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_t1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2055 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_v.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1855 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919-h/images/image_w.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2243 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919.txt | 10276 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 29919.zip | bin | 0 -> 180193 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
52 files changed, 30807 insertions, 0 deletions
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/29919-8.txt b/29919-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91f0ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10276 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +November, 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, November, 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 6, 2009 [EBook #29919] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, NOVEMBER 1930 *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + ASTOUNDING + + STORIES + + OF SUPER-SCIENCE + + 20¢ + + + _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ + + + W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher + HARRY BATES, Editor + 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. IV, No. 2 CONTENTS NOVEMBER, 1930 + +COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI + + _Painted in Water-Colors from a Scene in "The Pirate Planet."_ + +THE WALL OF DEATH VICTOR ROUSSEAU 151 + + _Out of the Antarctic It Came--a Wall of Viscid, Grey, Half-Human + Jelly, Absorbing and Destroying All Life That It Encountered._ + +THE PIRATE PLANET CHARLES W. DIFFIN 168 + + _A Strange Light Blinks on Venus, and Over Old Earth Hovers a + Mysterious Visitant--Dread Harbinger of Interplanetary War._ + (Beginning a Four-Part Novel.) + +THE DESTROYER WILLIAM MERRIAM ROUSE 198 + + _Slowly, Insidiously, There Stole Over Allen Parker Something + Uncanny. He Could No Longer Control His Hands--Even His Brain!_ + +THE GRAY PLAGUE L. A. ESHBACH 210 + + _Maimed and Captive, in the Depths of an Interplanetary Meteor-Craft, + Lay the Only Possible Savior of Plague-Ridden Earth._ + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS RAY CUMMINGS 230 + + _Black-Garbed Figures Move in Ghastly Greenness As the Invisible Flyer + Speeds on Its Business of Ransom._ (Conclusion.) + +VAGABONDS OF SPACE HARL VINCENT 244 + + _From the Depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space Came the Thought-Warning, + "Turn Back!" But Carr and His Martian Friend Found It Was Too Late!_ + (A Complete Novelette.) + +THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 271 + +_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; Francis P. Pace, 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 Wall of Death + +_By Victor Rousseau_ + +[Illustration: And then Kay had broken through and was hewing madly +with great sweeps of the ax.] + +[Sidenote: Out of the Antarctic it came--a wall of viscid, grey, +half-human jelly, absorbing and destroying all life that it +encountered.] + + +"This news," said Cliff Hynes, pointing to the newspaper, "means the +end of _homo Americanus_." + +The newspaper in question was the hour-sheet of the International +Broadcast Association, just delivered by pneumatic tube at the +laboratory. It was stamped 1961, Month 13, Day 7, Horometer 3, and the +headlines on the front page confirmed the news of the decisive defeat +of the American military and naval forces at the hands of the Chinese +Republic. + +A gallant fight for days against hopeless odds; failure of the army +dynamos; airships cut off from ground guidance; battleships ripped to +pieces by the Chinese disintegrators; and, finally, the great wave of +black death that had wiped out two hundred thousand men. + +Kay Bevan--to use the old-fashioned names which still persisted, +despite the official numerical nomenclature--glanced through the +account. He threw the sheet away. "We deserved it, Cliff," he said. + +Cliff nodded. "You saw that bit about the new Chinese disintegrator? +If the Government had seriously considered our Crumbler--" + +Kay glanced at the huge, humming top that filled the center of the +laboratory. It spun so fast that it appeared as nothing but a +spherical shadow, through which one could see the sparse furnishings, +the table, the apparatus ranged upon it, and the window over-looking +the upper streets of New York. + +"Yes--_if!_" he answered bitterly. "And I'm willing to bet the Chinese +have an inferior machine, built upon the plans that Chinese servant +stole from us last year." + +"We deserved it, Cliff," said Kay again. "For ten years we've harried +and enslaved the yellow man, and taken a hundred thousand of his men +and women to sacrifice to the Earth Giants. What would we have done, +if conditions had been reversed?" + +"Self-preservation," Cliff suggested. + +"Exactly. The law of the survival of the fittest. They thought that +they were fitter to survive. I tell you they had right on their side, +Cliff, and that's what's beaten us. Now--a hundred thousand of our +_own_ boys and girls must be fed into the maw of these monsters every +year. God, suppose it were Ruth!" + +"Or you or I," said Cliff. "If only we could perfect the Crumbler!" + +"What use would that be against the Earth Giants? There's nothing +organic about them, not even bones. Pure protoplasm!" + +"We could have used it against the Chinese," said Cliff. "Now--" He +shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. + + * * * * * + +And if explorers had been content to leave the vast unknown Antarctic +Continent alone, they would never have taught the imprisoned Giants to +cross the great ice barrier. But that crossing had taken place fifteen +years ago, and already the mind of man had become accustomed to the +grim facts. + +Who could have dreamed that the supposed table-land was merely a rim +of ice-mountains, surrounding a valley twice the size of Europe, so +far below sea-level that it was warmed to tropic heat by Earth's +interior fires? Or that this valley was peopled with what could best +be described as organized protoplasm? + +Enormous, half-transparent, gelatinous organism, attaining a height of +about a hundred feet, and crudely organized into forms not unlike +those of men? + +Half the members of the Rawlins Expedition, which had first entered +this valley, had fallen victims to the monsters. Most of the rest had +gone raving mad. And the stories of the two who returned, sane, to +Buenos Aires, were discredited and scoffed at as those of madmen. + +But of a second expedition none had survived, and it was the solitary +survivor of the third who had confirmed the amazing story. The giant +monsters, actuated by some flickering human intelligence, had found +their way out of the central valley, where they had subsisted by +enfolding their vegetable and small animal prey with pseudopods, that +it to say, temporary projections of arms from the gelatinous bulk of +their substance. + +They had floated across the shallow seas between the tip of the +Antarctic Continent and Cape Horn, as toy balloons float on water. +Then they had spread northward, extending in a wall that reached from +the Atlantic to the Andes. And, as they moved, they had devoured all +vegetables and animal life in their path. Behind them lay one great +bare, absolutely lifeless area. + + * * * * * + +How many of them were there? That was the hideous fact that had to be +faced. Their numbers could not be counted because, after attaining a +height of about a hundred feet, they reproduced by budding! + +And within a few weeks these buds, in turn, attained their full +development. + +The Argentine Government had sent a force of twenty thousand men +against them, armed with cannon, machine-guns, tanks, airplanes, +poison gas, and the new death-ray. And in the night, when it was +bivouacking, after what it had thought was glorious victory, it had +been overwhelmed _and eaten_! + +Proof against the poison gas, the hideous monsters were, and +invulnerable to shot and shell. Divided and sub-divided, slashed into +ribbons, blown to fragments by bombs, each of the pieces simply became +the nucleus of a new organism, able, within a few hours, to assume the +outlines of a dwarf man, and to seize and devour its prey. + +But the Argentine expedition had done worse than it at first dreamed +of. _It had given the monsters a taste for human flesh!_ + +After that, the wave of devastation had obliterated life in every city +clear up to the Amazonian forests. And then it had been discovered +that, by feeding these devils human flesh, they could be rendered +torpid and their advance stayed--so long as the periodical meals +continued! + +At first criminals had been supplied them, then natives, then Chinese, +obtained by periodical war raids. What would you have? The savage +regions of the earth had already been depopulated, and a frenzy of +fear had taken possession of the whole world. + +Now the Chinese had defeated the annual American invasion, and the +Earth Giants were budding and swarming through the heart of Brazil. + + * * * * * + +"Man," said the Theosophists, "is the fifth of the great root-races +that have inhabited this planet. The fourth were the Atlanteans. The +third were the Lemurians, half-human beings of whom the Australian +aborigines are the survivors. The second race was not fully organized +into human form. Of the first, nothing is known. + +"These are the second race, surviving in the Antarctic valleys. +Half-human objects, groping toward that perfection of humanity of +which we ourselves fall very far short. As the Kabbala says, man, +before Adam, reached from heaven to earth." + +Kay Bevan and Cliff Hynes had been working feverishly to perfect +their Crumbler for use in the Chinese wars. Convinced, as were all +fair-minded men, that these annual raids were unjustified, they +yielded to the logic of the facts. Should America sacrifice a hundred +thousand of her boys and girls each year, when human life was cheap in +China? _Boys and girls!_ + +It had been discovered that the Earth Giants required the flesh of +women as well as of men. Some subtle chemical constituent then +produced the state of torpidity during which the advance and the +budding of the monsters was stayed. During the ten past years their +northward advance had been almost inappreciable. Brazil had even sent +another army against them. + +But the deadliest gases had failed to destroy the tenacious life of +these protoplasmic creatures, and the tanks, which had driven through +and through them, had become entangled and blocked in the gelatinous +exudations, and their occupants eaten. + +All over the world scientists were striving to invent some way of +removing this menace to the world. Moreover, airplanes sent to the +polar continent had reported fresh masses mobilizing for the advance +northward. A second wave would probably burst through the Amazon +forest barrier and sweep over the Isthmus and overrun North America. + +Five days after the news of the Chinese disaster was confirmed, Cliff +Hynes came back from the capital of the American Confederation, +Washington. + +"It's no use, Kay," he said. "The Government won't even look at the +Crumbler. I told them it would disintegrate every inorganic substance +to powder, and they laughed at me. And it's true, Kay: they've given +up the attempt to enslave China. Henceforward a hundred thousand of +our own citizens are to be sacrificed each year. Eaten alive, Kay! +God, if only the Crumbler would destroy organic forms as well!" + + * * * * * + +The first year's quota of fifty thousand boys and fifty thousand +girls, thrown to the maw of the monsters to save humanity, nearly +disrupted the Confederation. Despite the utmost secrecy, despite the +penalty of death for publishing news of the sacrifice, despite the +fact that those who drew the fatal lots were snatched from their homes +at dead of night, everything became known. + +On the vast pampas in the extreme north of the Argentine Republic, +where Bolivia, the Argentine, Paraguay and Brazil unite, was the place +of sacrifice. Thousands of acres, white with the bones of those whom +the monsters had engulfed. Brainless, devoid of intelligence, +sightless, because even the sense had not become differentiated in +them, yet by some infernal instinct the Earth Giants had become aware +that this was their feasting ground. + +By some tacit compact, the guards who had annually brought their +victims to be devoured had been unmolested, the vast wall of +semi-human shapes withdrawing into the shelter of the surrounding +forests while the Chinese were staked out in rows. Death, which would +have been a mercy, had been denied them. It was living flesh that the +Earth Giants craved. And here, on the spot known as Golgotha, the +hideous sacrifice had been annually repeated. + +That first year, when the chosen victims were transported to the fatal +spot, all America went mad. Frenzied parents attacked the offices of +the Federation in every city. The cry was raised that Spanish +Americans had been selected in preference to those of more northern +blood. Civil war loomed imminent. + +And year after year these scenes must be repeated. Boys and girls, +from fifteen to twenty years of age, the flower of the Federation, a +hundred thousand of them, must die a hideous death to save humanity. +Now the choice of the second year's victims was at hand. + +In their laboratory, removed to the heart of the Adirondacks +wilderness, Cliff and Kay were working frantically. + +"It's the last chance, Kay," said Cliff. "If I've not solved the +secret this time, it means another year's delay. The secret of +dissolving organic forms as well as inorganic ones! What is this +mysterious power that enables organic forms to withstand the terrific +bombardment of the W-ray?" + +The W-ray was the Millikan cosmic ray, imprisoned and adapted for +human use. It was a million times more powerful than the highest known +voltage of electricity. Beneath it, even the diamond, the hardest +substance known, dissolved into a puff of dust; and yet the most +fragile plant growth remained unaffected. + + * * * * * + +The laboratory in the Adirondacks was open at one end. Here, against a +background of big forest trees, a curious medley of substances had +been assembled: old chairs, a couple of broken-down airplanes, a large +disused dynamo, a heap of discarded clothing, a miscellany of kitchen +utensils on a table, a gas stove, and a heap of metal junk of all +kinds. The place looked, in fact, like a junk heap. + +The great top was set in a socket in a heavy bar of craolite, the new +metal that combined the utmost tensile strength with complete +infusibility, even in the electric furnace. About six feet in height, +it looked like nothing but what it was, a gyroscope in gimbals, with a +long and extremely narrow slit extending all around the central +bulge, but closed on the operator's side by a sliding cover of the +same craolite. + +Within this top, which, by its motion, generated a field of electrical +force between the arms of an interior magnet, the W-rays were +generated in accordance with a secret formula; the speed of gyration, +exceeding anything known on earth, multiplied their force a +billionfold, converting them to wave-lengths shorter than the shortest +known to physical science. Like all great inventions, the top was of +the simplest construction. + +"Well," said Cliff, "you'd better bring out Susie." + +Kay left the laboratory and went to the cabin beside the lake that the +two men occupied. From her box in front of the stove a lady porcupine +looked up lazily and grunted. Kay raised the porcupine; in the box, of +course. Susie was constitutionally indolent, but one does not handle +porcupines, however smooth their quills may lie. + +Kay brought her to the heap of junk and placed the box on top of it. +He went inside the laboratory. "I may as well tell you, Cliff. I +wouldn't have brought Susie if I'd thought the experiment had the +least chance of success," he said. + +Cliff said nothing. He was bending over the wheel, adjusting a +micrometer. "All ready, Kay?" he asked. + + * * * * * + +Kay nodded and stepped back. He swallowed hard. He hated sacrificing +Susie to the cause of science; he almost hoped the experiment would +fail. + +Cliff pressed a lever, and slowly the ponderous top began to revolve +upon its axis. Faster, faster, till it was nothing but a blur. Faster +yet, until only its outlines were visible. Cliff pressed a lever on +the other side. + +Nothing happened apparently, except for a cloudy appearance of the air +at the open end of the laboratory. Cliff touched a foot lever. The top +began to grow visible, its rotations could be seen; it ran slower, +began to come to a stop. + +The cloud was gone. Where the airplanes and other junk had been, was +nothing but a heap of grayish dust. It was this that had made the +cloud. + +Nothing remained, except that impalpable powder against the background +of the trees. + +Kay caught Cliff's arm. "Look out!" he shouted, pointing to the heap. +"Something's moving in there!" + +Something was. A very angry lady porcupine was scrambling out, a +_quillless_ porcupine, with a white skin, looking like nothing so much +as a large, hairless rat. Cliff turned to Kay. + +"We've failed," he said briefly. "Too late for this year now." + +"But--the quills?" + +"Inorganic material. But even the bones remain intact because there's +circulation in the marrow, you see. And the Earth Giants haven't even +bones. They're safe--this year!" + +He flung himself down under a tree, staring up at the sky in abject +despair. + + * * * * * + +"Look, Kay, I've got my number!" Ruth Meade smiled as she handed Kay +the ticket issued by the Government announcing the lottery number +provided for each citizen. + +One hundred thousand young people between the ages of fifteen and +twenty would be drawn for the sacrifice, and Ruth, being nineteen, had +come within the limits, but this would be her last year. In a few +weeks the Government would announce the numbers--drawn by a second +lottery--of those who were condemned. + +Then, before these had been made public, the victims would already +have been seized and hurried to the airship depots in a hundred +places, for conveyance to the hideous Golgotha of the pampas. + +The chance that any individual would be among the fated ones was +reasonably small. It was the fashion to make a jest of the whole +business. Ruth smiled as she showed her ticket. + +Kay stared at it. "Ruth, if--if anything happened to you I'd go +insane. I'd--" + +"Why this sudden ardor, Kay?" + + * * * * * + +Kay took Ruth's small hand in his. "Ruth, you mustn't play with me any +more. You know I love you. And the sight of that thing makes me almost +insane. You do care, don't you?" And, as Ruth remained silent, "Ruth, +it isn't Cliff Hymes, is it? I know you two are old friends. I'd +rather it were Cliff than anybody else, if it had to be some one, +but--tell me, Ruth!" + +"It isn't Cliff," said Ruth slowly. + +"Is it--some one else?" + +"It's you, dear," answered Ruth. "It's always been you. It might have +been Cliff if you hadn't come along. But he knows now it can never be +he." + +"Does he know it's me?" asked Kay, greatly relieved. + +Ruth inclined her head. "He took it very finely," she said. "He said +just what you've said about him. Oh, Kay, if only your experiment had +succeeded, and the world could be free of this nightmare! What +happened? Why couldn't you and Cliff make it destroy life?" + +"I don't know, dear," answered Kay. "Iron and steel melt into powder +at the least impact of the rays. They are so powerful that there was +even a leakage through the rubber and anelektron container. Even the +craolite socket was partly fused, and that is supposed to be an +impossibility. And there was a hole in the ground seven feet deep +where the very mineral water in the earth had been dissolved. But +against organic substances the W-ray is powerless. + +"Next year, dear--next year we'll have solved our problem, and then +we'll free the world of this menace, this nightmare. Ruth--don't let's +talk about that now. I love you!" + +They kissed. The Earth Giants faded out of their consciousness even +while Ruth held that ominous ticket in her hand. + + * * * * * + +Kay said nothing to Cliff about it, but Cliff knew. Perhaps he had put +his fate to the test with Ruth and learned the truth from her. Ruth +made no reference to the matter when she saw Kay. But between the two +men, friends for years, a coolness was inexorably developing. + +They had gone to work on the new machine. They were hopeful. When they +were working, they forgot their rivalry. + +"You see, Kay," said Cliff, "we mustn't forget that the Millikan rays +have been bombarding Earth since Earth became a planet, out of the +depths of space. It is their very nature not to injure organic life, +otherwise all life on Earth would have been destroyed long ago. Now, +our process is only an adaptation of these cosmic rays. We haven't +changed their nature." + +"No," agreed Kay. "What we want is a death-ray strong enough to +obliterate these monsters, without simply disintegrating them and +creating new fragments to bud into the complete being. Why do you +suppose they are so tenacious of life, Cliff?" + +"They represent primeval man, life itself, striving to organize +itself, and nothing is more tenacious than the life principle," +answered Cliff. + +Meanwhile the fatal weeks were passing. A few days after the tickets +had been distributed, a Government notice was broadcasted and +published, ordaining that, in view of former dissensions, no +substitutes for the condemned persons would be permitted. Rich or +poor, each of the victims chosen by lot must meet his fate. + + * * * * * + +And the monsters were growing active. There had been an extension of +their activities. Tongues had been creeping up the rivers that ran +into the Amazon. Suddenly a dense mass of the devils had appeared on +the north coast, near Georgetown. They had overleaped the Amazon; they +were overrunning British Guiana, eating up everything on their way. +Georgetown was abandoned; the monsters were in complete control. + +"They will be cut off from the main herd," the optimistic reports +announced. "We shall deal with the main herd first. This year the +sacrifice will have to be made, but it will be the last. Scientists +have at last hit upon an infallible toxin which will utterly destroy +this menace within a few months." + +Nobody believed that story, for everything had been tried and failed. +In their laboratory Cliff and Kay were working frantically. And now +the coldness that had developed between them was affecting their +collaboration too. Cliff was keeping something back from Kay. + + * * * * * + +Kay knew it. Cliff had made some discovery that he was not sharing +with his partner. Often Kay, entering the laboratory, would find Cliff +furtively attempting to conceal some operation that he was in the +midst of. Kay said nothing, but a brooding anger began to fill his +heart. So Cliff was trying to get all the credit for the result of +their years of work together! + +And always, in the back of his mind, there was a vision of the little +Government ticket in Ruth's hand, with the numbers in staring black +type. They had burned into his brain. He could never forget them. +Often at night, after a hard day's work, he would suddenly awaken out +of a hideous nightmare, in which he saw Ruth taken away by the agents +of the Government, to be thrown as a sacrifice to the monsters. + +And Cliff was hiding something! That made the situation unbearable. + +The coolness between the two men was rapidly changing into open +animosity. And then one day, quite by chance, in Cliff's absence, Kay +came upon evidence of Cliff's activities. + +Cliff was no longer experimenting with the W-ray! He was using a new +type of ray altogether, the next series, the psenium electron +emanation discovered only a few years before, which had the peculiar +property of non-alternation, even when the psenium electron changed +its orbit around the central nucleus of the psenium atom. + +Instead of discontinuity, the psenium electron had been found to emit +radiation steadily, and this had upset the classic theories of matter +for the ninth time in the past fifteen years. + + * * * * * + +And Kay's wrath broke loose in a storm of reproaches when Cliff came +into the laboratory. + +"You've been deliberately keeping me in the dark!" he shouted. "You're +a nice sort of partner to have! Here's where we split up the +combination, Hynes!" + +"I've been thinking that for a long time," sneered Cliff. "The fact +is, Kay, you're a little too elementary in your ideas to suit me. It's +due to you that I kept hammering away on the wrong tack for years. The +sooner we part, the better." + +"No time like now," said Kay. "Keep your laboratory. You put most of +the money into it, anyway. I'll build me another--where I can work +without being hampered by a partner who's out for himself all the +time. Good luck to you in your researches, and I hope you'll get all +the credit when you find a way of annihilating the Earth Giants." + +And he stormed out of the laboratory, jumped into his plane, and +winged his way southward toward his apartment in New York. + + * * * * * + +Crowds in the streets of every town on the way. In villages and +hamlets, swarming like ants, and hurrying along the highways! Kay, who +flew one of the slow, old-fashioned planes, averaging little more than +a hundred miles an hour, winged his way methodically overhead, too +much absorbed in his anger against Cliff to pay much attention to this +phenomenon at first. But gradually it was borne in upon him that +something was wrong. + +He flew lower, and now he was passing over a substantial town, and he +could hear the shouts of anger that came up to him. The whole town was +in a ferment, gathered in the town square. + +Suddenly the reason came home to Kay. He saw the adjoining airport, +and dropped like a plummet, hovering down until his wheels touched the +ground. Without waiting to taxi into one of the public hangars, he +leaped out and ran through the deserted grounds into the square. + +Groans, yells, shrieks of derision rent the air. The whole crowd had +gone maniacal. And it was as Kay had thought. Upon a white background +high up on the town ball building, the numbers of the local boys and +girls who had been picked for sacrifices were being shown. + + * * * * * + +Eight boys and fifteen girls, already on their way into the wastes of +South America, to meet a hideous death. + +"They took my Sally," screamed a wizened woman, the tears raining down +her checks. "Kidnapped her at the street corner after dark. I didn't +know why she hadn't come home last night. God, my Sally, my little +girl, gone--gone--" + +"People, you must be patient," boomed the Government announcer. "The +President feels with you in your affliction. But by next year a means +will have been devised of destroying these monsters. Your children +will have their sacrifice recorded in the Hall of Fame. They are true +soldiers who--" + +"To hell with the Government!" roared a man. "Stop that damn talk +machine! Break her, fellows! Then we'll hang President Bogart from the +top of the Capitol!" + +Yells answered him, and the crowd surged forward toward the building. + +"Stand back!" shrieked the announcer. "It's death to set foot on the +step. We are now electrified. Last warning!" + +The first ranks of the mob recoiled as a charge of electricity at a +voltage just short of that required to take life coursed through their +bodies. Shrieks of agony rang out. Files of writhing forms covered the +ground. + + * * * * * + +Kay rushed to the automatic clerk at the window beside the metal +steps, taking care to avoid contact with them. Within six feet, the +temperature of his body brought the thermostatic control into action; +the window slid upward and the dummy appeared. He turned the dial to +Albany. + +"I want New York Division, Sub-station F, Loyalist Registration," he +called. "Give me Z numbers of the lottery, please." + +"No numbers will be given out until Horometer 13," the dummy boomed. + +"But I tell you I must know immediately!" Kay pleaded frantically. + +"Stand away, please!" + +"I've got to know, I tell you!" + +"We are now electrified. Last warning!" + +"Listen to me. My name's Kay Bevan. I--" + +A mighty buffet in the chest hurled Kay ten feet backward upon the +ground. He rose, came within the electric zone, felt his arms twisted +in a giant's grasp, staggered back again and sat down gasping. The +window went down noiselessly, the dummy swung back into place. Kay got +upon his feet again, choking with impotent rage. + +All about him men and women were milling in a frantic mob. He broke +through them, went back to where his plane was standing. A minute +later he was driving madly toward the district airport in New York +within three blocks of Ruth's apartment. + + * * * * * + +He dropped into a vacant landing place, checked hastily, and rushed +into the elevator. Once in the upper street, he bounded to the middle +platform, and, not satisfied to let it convey him at eight miles an +hour, strode on through the indignant throng until he reached his +destination. Hurling the crowds right and left he gained the exit, +and a half-minute later was on the upper level of the apartment block. + +He pushed past the janitor and raced along the corridor to Ruth's +apartment. She would be in if all was well; she worked for the +Broadcast Association, correcting the proofs that came from the +district headquarters by pneumatic tube. He stopped outside the door. +The little dial of white light showed him that the apartment was +unoccupied. + +As he stood there in a daze, hoping against hope, he saw a thread +hanging from the crevice between door and frame. He pulled at it, and +drew out a tiny strip of scandium, the new compressible metal that had +become fashionable for engagement rings. Plastic, all but invisible, +it could be compressed to the thickness of a sheet of paper: it was +the token of secret lovers, and Kay had given Ruth a ring of it. + +It was the signal, the dreaded signal that Ruth had been on the +lottery list--the only signal that she had been able to convey, since +stringent precautions were taken to prevent the victims becoming known +until all possibility of rescue was removed. + + * * * * * + +No chance of rescuing her! From a hundred airports the great +Government airships had long since sailed into the skies, carrying +those selected by the wheel at Washington for sacrifice to the Earth +Giants. Only one chance remained. If Cliff had discovered the secret +that had so long eluded them, surely he would reveal it to him now! + +Their quarrel was forgotten. Kay only knew that the woman he loved was +even then speeding southward to be thrown to the maw of the vile +monsters that held the world in terror. Surely Cliff would bend every +effort to save her! + +Only a few hours had passed since Kay had stormed out of the +laboratory in the Adirondacks in a rage when he was back on their +little private landing field. He leaped from the plane and ran up the +trail beside the lake between the trees. The cabin was dark; and, when +Kay reached the laboratory he found it dark too. + +"Cliff! Cliff!" he shouted. + +No answer came, and with a sinking heart he snapped the button at the +door. It failed to throw the expected flood of light through the +interior. With shaking hand Kay pulled the little electron torch from +his pocket, and its bright beam showed that the door was padlocked. He +moved round to the window. The glass was unbreakable, but the ray from +the torch showed that the interior of the laboratory had been +dismantled, and the great top was gone. + +In those few hours Cliff, for reasons best known to himself, had +removed the top, Kay's one hope of saving Ruth. And he was gone. + + * * * * * + +In that moment Kay went insane. He raved and cursed, calling down +vengeance upon Cliff's head. Cliff's very motive was incredible. That +he had deliberately removed the top in order that Ruth should die was +not, of course, conceivable. But in that first outburst of fury Kay +did not consider that. + +Presently Kay's madness burned itself out. There was still one thing +that he could do. His plane, slow though it was, would carry him to +the pampas. He could get fresh fuel at numerous bootleg petrol +stations, even though the regulations against intersectional flight +were rigid. With luck he could reach the pampas, perhaps before the +sluggish monsters had fallen upon their prey. It was said that the +victims sometimes waited for days! + +Something was rubbing against his leg, pricking it through his +anklets. Kay looked down. A lady porcupine, with tiny new quills, was +showing recognition, even affection, if such a spiny beast could be +said to possess that quality. + +Somehow the presence of the beast restored Kay's mind to normal. + +"Well, he's left us both in the lurch, Susie," he said. "Good luck to +you, beastie, and may you find a secure hiding place until your quills +have grown." + + * * * * * + +Drowning men catch at straws. Kay snatched out his watch, and the +illuminated dial showed that it was already two quintets past +horometer 13. He darted back to the cabin. The door was unfastened, +and his torch showed him that, though Cliff had evidently departed, +and taken his things, the interior was much as it had been. When Kay +picked up the telephotophone, the oblong dial flashed out. The +instrument was in working order. + +He turned the crank, and swiftly a succession of scenes flashed over +the dial. On this little patch of glassite, Kay was actually making +the spatial journey to Albany, each minutest movement of the crank +representing a distance covered. The building of the New York Division +appeared, and its appearance signified that Kay was telephonically +connected. But there was no automatic voice attachment, an expense +that Kay and Cliff had decided would be unjustified. He had to rely +upon the old-fashioned telephone, such as was still widely in use in +rural districts. He took up the receiver. + +"Sub-Station F, Loyalist Registration, please," he called. + +"Speaking," said a girl's voice presently. + +"I want the Z numbers. All from Z5 to ZA," said Kay. + +And thus, in the dark hut, he listened to the doom pronounced, miles +away, by a more or less indifferent operator. When the fatal number +was read out, he thanked her and hung up. He released the crank, which +moved back to its position, putting out the light on the dial. + + * * * * * + +For a moment or two he stood there motionless, in a sort of daze, +though actually he was gathering all his reserves of resolution for +the task confronting him. Simply to find Ruth among the hundred +thousand victims, and die with her. A task stupendous in itself, and +yet Kay had no doubt that he would succeed, that he would be holding +her in his arms when the tide of hell flowed over them. + +He knew the manner of that death. The irresistible onset of the giant +masses of protoplasm, the extrusion of temporary arms, or feelers, +that would grasp them, drag them into the heart of the yielding +substance, and slowly smother them to death while the life was drained +from their bodies. It had been said the death was painless, but that +was Government propaganda. But he would be holding Ruth in his arms. +He'd find her: he had no doubt of that at all. + +And, strangely enough, now that Kay knew the worst, now that not the +slightest doubt remained, he was conscious of an elevation of spirits, +a sort of mad recklessness that was perfectly indefinable. + + * * * * * + +Kay turned his torch into a corner of the kitchen. Yes, there was the +thing subconsciousness had prompted him to seek. A long-shafted, heavy +woodsman's ax, a formidable weapon at close quarters. Because it is +the instinct of _homo Americanus_ to die with a weapon in his hands, +rather than let himself be butchered helplessly, Kay snatched it up. +He ran back to his plane. The gas tank was nearly empty, but there was +petrol in the ice house beside the lake. + +Kay wheeled the machine up to it, and filled up with gas and oil. All +ready now! He leaped in, pressed the starter, soared vertically, +helicopter wings fluttering like a soaring hawk's. Up to the passenger +air lane at nine thousand: higher to twelve, the track of the +international and supply ships; higher still, to the fourteen thousand +ceiling of the antiquated machine. He banked, turned southward. + +It was freezing cold up there, and Kay had no flying suit on him, +but, between the passenger lane and the lane of the heliospheres, at +thirty thousand, there was no air police. And he could afford to take +no chances. The Government police would be on the lookout for a score +such desperate men as he, bent on a similar mission. He drove the +plane toward the Atlantic till a red glow began to diffuse itself +beneath him, an area of conflagration covering square miles of +territory. + +Swooping lower, Kay could hear the sound of detonations, the roar of +old-fashioned guns, while through the pall of lurid smoke came the +long, violet flashes of atomic guns, cleaving lanes of devastation. +New York was burning. + +The frenzied populace had broken into revolt, seized the guns stored +in the arsenals, and attacked the great Bronx fortress that stood like +a mighty sentinel to protect the port. + +A swarm of airships came into view, swirling in savage fight. Kay +zoomed. It was not his battle. + + * * * * * + +Now New York lay behind him, and he was winging southward over the +Atlantic. All night he flew. At dawn he came down in a coast hamlet +for bootleg petrol and oil. + +"You come from New York?" asked the Georgian. "Hear there's war broke +out up there." + +"My war's down in Brazil," muttered Kay. + +"Say, if them Giants comes up here yuh know what us folks is going to +do? We're going to set the hounds on 'em. Yes, sirree, we've got a +pack of bloodhounds, raised for jest that purpose. I guess that's +something them wisecrackers at Washington ain't thought of. They took +two little fellers from Hopetown, but they won't take nobody from +here." + +Kay fuelled up and resumed his flight southward. + +After that it was a nightmare. The sun rose and set, alternating with +the staring moon and stars. Kay crossed the Caribbean, sighted the +South American coast, swept southward over the jungles of Brazil. He +drank, but no food passed his lips. He had become a mechanism, set for +on special purpose--self-immolation. + + * * * * * + +It was in a wide savannah among the jungles that he first caught sight +of the monsters. At first he thought it was the rising dawn mist; then +he began to distinguish a certain horrible resemblance to human forms, +and swooped down, banking round and round the opening in the jungle +until he could see clearly. + +There were perhaps a score of them, an advance guard that had pushed +forward from one of the main divisions. Men? Anthropoids, rather, for +their sex was indistinguishable! Human forms ranging from a few feet +to a hundred, composed apparently of a grayish jelly, propelling +themselves clumsily on two feet, but floating rather than walking. +Translucent, semi-transparent. Most horrible of all, these shadowy, +spheroid creatures exhibited here and there buds of various sizes, +which were taking on the similitude of fresh forms. And among them +were the young, the buds that had fallen from the parent stems, fully +formed humans of perhaps five or six feet, bouncing with a horrible +playfulness among their sires. + +As Kay soared some three hundred feet overhead, a young tapir came +leaping out of the jungle and ran, apparently unconscious of their +presence, right toward the monsters. Suddenly it stopped, and Kay saw +that it was already encircled by coils of protoplasm, resembling arms, +which had shot forth from the bodies of the devils. + + * * * * * + +Swiftly, despite its struggles and bleatings, the tapir was drawn into +the substance of the monsters, which seemed to fuse together and form +a solid wall of protoplasm in all respects like the agglutination of +bacteria under certain conditions. + +Then the beast vanished in the wall, whose agitated churnings alone +gave proof of its existence. + +For perhaps ten minutes longer Kay remained hovering above the +clearing. Then the bodies divided, resuming their separate shapes. And +the white bones of the tapir lay in a huddled mass in the open. + +Kay went mad. Deliberately he set down his plane, and, hatchet in +hand, advanced upon the sluggish monsters. Shouting wildly, he leaped +into their midst. + +The fight that followed was like a nightmare fight. He lopped off the +slow tentacles that sought to envelop him, he slashed the devils into +long ribbons of writhing jelly, slashed until the substance blunted +the ax; wiped it clean and leaped into their midst again, hewing until +he could no longer raise his arm. Then he drew back and surveyed the +scene before him. + +It was dreadful enough to drive the last remnants of sanity from his +brain. For every piece that he had cut from the monsters, every +protoplasmic ribbon was reorganizing before his eyes into the +semblance of a new creature. Where there had been a score, there were +now five hundred! + +Kay ran back to his plane, leaped in, and soared southward. His face +was a grotesque mask of madness, and his cries rang out through the +ether. + + * * * * * + +The victims were no longer chained to stakes. The Federation, which +always acted with complete secrecy, had gone one better. It had +engaged electrical engineers, kept them housed in secret places, +transported them to Golgotha; and there a vast electrified field had +been established, an open space whose boundaries were marked out by +pillars of electron steel. + +Between these pillars ran lines of electric force. To attempt to pass +them meant--not death, for dead boys and girls were spurned by the +devils--but a violent shock that hurled one backward. + +On this great plain the hundred thousand victims sat huddled in the +open. Food they had none, for no purpose was to be served by +mitigating their last agonies. No shelter either, for the sight of +buildings might delay the final phase. But high above the doomed there +floated the flag of the Federation, on a lofty pole, a touch of ironic +sentimentality that had commended itself to some mind at Washington. + +Over a square mile of territory, ringed with jungle the victims lay. +The majority of them ringed this terrain; that is to say, attempting +to escape, they had been hurled back by the electrical charge, and, +having no strength or will remaining, they had dropped where they had +been hurled, and lay in apathetic resignation. + +There had been screams and cries for mercy, and piteous scenes when +the Government airships had deposited them there and flown away, but +now an intense silence had descended upon the doomed. Resigned to +their fate, they sat or lay in little silent groups, all eyes turned +toward the gloomy jungle. + + * * * * * + +And everywhere within this jungle a wraith-like mist was forming at +this dawn hour. From a thousand miles around, the devils were +mustering for their prey, agglutinating, in order that the meal of one +might become the meal of all. + +Wisps of protoplasmic fog were stealing out through the trees, +changing shape every instant, but always advancing: now presenting the +appearance of an aligned regiment of huge, shadowy men, now nothing +but a wall of semi-solid vapor. And still, with eyeballs straining in +their sockets, the victims watched. + +Suddenly all were seized with the same spasm of mad terror. Again they +hurled themselves against the electrified lines, and again they were +hurled back, masses of boys and girls tumbling against one another, +and screaming in one wail that, could it have been heard in +Washington, would have driven all insane. Again and again, till they +fell back, panting and helpless. And solidly the wall of devils was +creeping up from every side. + +Ruth Deane, one of the few who had themselves in control, lay some +distance back from the electrified field. From the moment when she was +surprised in her apartment by the Government representatives, she had +known that there was no hope of escape. + + * * * * * + +She had slipped the ring off her finger, snapped the plastic metal, +and attached it to a thread torn from her dress. She had managed to +insert it in the door, hoping that Kay would find it. It would serve +as a last message of love to him. + +Every removal of a selected victim was in the nature of a kidnapping. +At dead of night her apartment had been opened. She had been ordered +to dress. Nothing could be written, no arrangements made. She was +already considered as one dead. + +She had been hurried out of the upper entrance to the monorail, which +conveyed her in a special car to the landing station. A few minutes +later she had been on her way to join the camp of other victims, a +hundred miles away. Within two hours she was on her way southward. + +Stunned by the tragedy, none of the victims had made much of an +outcry. They had been given water by the airship police. No food for +boys and girls already dead. Days and nights had passed, and now she +was here, faint from exhaustion, and wondering at the despair shown by +those others. What difference would it make in half an hour? Besides, +that Government pamphlet had insisted that this death was painless! + +But an immense longing to see Kay once more came over her. There had +been a time when she thought she loved Cliff; then Kay had come into +her life, and she had known that other affair was folly. She had +never told Kay of the bitter scene between Cliff and herself, how he +had raved against Kay and sworn to win her in the end. + +Cliff had calmed down and apologized, and Ruth had never seen him +again. She wished he had not taken it like that. But above all she +wanted to see Kay, just to say good-by. + +And she tried to send out her whole heart to him in an unspoken +message of love that would surely somehow convey itself to him. + + * * * * * + +The wall of devils was creeping up on every side, slowly, +lethargically. The monsters took their time, because they knew they +were invincible. The sobs and shrieks had died away. Collected into a +mass almost as rigid as that of the Earth Giants, the victims waited, +palsied as a rabbit that awaits the approach of the serpent. + +A humming overhead. An airplane shooting down from the sky. Rescue? +No. Only a solitary pilot, armed with a woodsman's ax. + +Kay drifted down, touched ground, leaped to his feet. Chance had +brought him within five hundred yards of where Ruth was standing. But +Ruth had known who that lone flyer must be. She broke through the +throng; she rushed to meet him. Her arms were around him. + +"Kay, darling Kay!" + +"Ruth, dearest!" + +"I knew you'd come." + +"I've come to die beside you!" + + * * * * * + +It was perhaps odd that it did not enter the head of either as a +possibility that Kay should simply place Ruth in the plane and fly +away with here to safety. Had the thought occurred to Kay, he might +have been tempted. But such black treachery was something +inconceivable by either. So long as the Federation remained, so long +as man moved in an organized society, he was bound to his fellows, to +fight, suffer, and die with them. + +"Stand by me, Ruth. We're going down fighting." + +They moved back toward the throng, which, momentarily stirred to hope +by Kay's appearance, had fallen into the former apathy of despair. And +now the monsters were beginning to enter the electrified zone at one +point. As they passed the line of posts, the high tension current made +their bodies luminous, but it had no appreciable effect upon them. +They moved on, inevitably. + +A score or so of semi-human forms, agglutinated into a mass, and yet +individually discernible. They bore down slowly upon the crowd of +victims, who pressed backward as they advanced. On the other sides, +though they almost encircled the field of death, the monsters were +making no maneuvers to entrap their prey. Their sluggish minds were +incapable of conceiving anything of the kind. But for the electrified +zone, the great majority of the victims could have effected their +escape. The monsters were simply pressing forward to their meal; they +did not interpret its capture in terms of strategy at all. + + * * * * * + +A new frenzy of horror seized the crowd. They fled, struggling back +until the foremost in flight reached the other side of Golgotha, to be +repulsed by the electrified zone there. They fell in tumbled heaps. +Appalling shrieks rang through the air. + +Another line of the monsters was seeping forward, converging toward +the first. As the two lines met, they coalesced into a wall of +protoplasm, a thousand feet in length by a hundred high. A wall out of +which leered phantasmal faces, like those in a frieze. + +Kay stood alone, his arm around Ruth. To follow the flying mob would +but prolong the agony. He raised the ax. He looked into the girl's +eyes. She understood, and nodded. + +One last embrace, one kiss, and Kay placed her behind him. He sprang +forward, shouting, and plunged into the very heart of the wall. + +And Ruth, watching with eyes dilated with horror, saw it yield with a +sucking sound, and saw Kay disappear within it. + + * * * * * + +She saw the hideous mass fold itself upon him, and a hundred extruded +tentacles wave in the air as they blindly grappled for him. And then +Kay had broken through, and was hewing madly with great sweeps of the +ax that slashed great streamers of the amorphous tissue from the wall +of protoplasm. + +It recoiled and then folded once more, and Kay's mighty sweeps were +slashing phantom limbs from phantom bodies; and lopping off tentacles +that curled and coiled, and put forth caricatures of hands and +fingers, and then, uniting with other slashed off tentacles, began to +mould themselves into the likeness of dwarf monsters. Kay's struggle +was like that of a man fighting a fog, for again and again he broke +through the wall, and always it reunited. + +And behind it another wall of protoplasm was pressing forward, and on +another side a wall was drifting up. As Kay stopped, panting, and +momentarily free, Ruth saw that they were almost encircled. + +She saw the nature of that fight. Inevitably that wall would close +about them; and, though the bones of last year's victims had been +gathered up and carried away by the Federation, she guessed what would +occur. + +She ran to Kay and dragged him back through the closing gap. It met +behind them, and again they stood face to face with the devils. Only +this time, instead of a wall of protoplasm, it was a veritable +mountain that confronted them, and there could be no more breaking +through. + +Kay thought afterward that the one touch of absolute horror was that +the reforming monsters, the young ones growing visibly before his +eyes, had the gamboling instinct of young lambs or other creatures. +They were much more lively than the parent creatures. + + * * * * * + +By this time perhaps a third of the space within the electrified lines +had been occupied by the devils. The wall was slowly and sluggishly +advancing, and a fresh infiltration was drifting in on another side. +As the victims were pressed closer and closer together in their +flight, half of them seemed to go insane. They raced to and fro, +laughing and screaming, flinging their arms aloft in extravagant +gestures. One young fellow, rushing across the ground, hurled himself +like a bolt from a catapult into the heart of the grisly mass, which +opened and received him. + +There was a struggle, a convulsion; then the mass moved on. + +Kay wiped his ax. He stood beside Ruth, gathering strength and breath +to fight again. What else was there to do? + +Suddenly a humming sound came to his ears. Still some little distance +from the monsters, he glanced back. The victims were shouting, staring +upward. Over the tops of the jungle trees Kay saw a second airplane +flying toward them, a larger one than the plane which he had flown. + +It opened its helicopter wings and drifted downward. Kay saw a single +pilot, and, in the baggage compartment something that at first he did +not recognize. Then he recognized both this object and the aviator. + +"It's Cliff," he whispered hoarsely. "He's brought the top!" + + * * * * * + +The crowd was milling about Cliff as he stepped out of the plane. Kay +broke through their midst, shouting to them to clear a space, that it +was their chance, their only chance. They heard him and obeyed. And +Cliff and Kay clasped hands, and there was Ruth beside them. + +The two men carried the top out of the baggage compartment and set it +up. + +"Thank God I came in time," Cliff hissed. "How long have we got, Kay?" + +"Five minutes, I think," Kay answered, glancing at the oncoming wall. +"They're slow. Will it work, Cliff? God, when I found you'd gone last +night--" + +Cliff did not answer. Ignoring Kay's offer of assistance, he fitted +the top tightly into its socket of craolite, much heavier than the +former one. Beneath this, three heavy craolite legs formed a sort of +tripod. + +"I looked forward to this possibility, Kay," said Cliff, as he +adjusted the top and turned the clamps that held it in position. +"Sorry I had to deceive you, but you we're so set on the cosmic rays, +and I knew the psenium emanations wouldn't appeal to you. You wouldn't +have believed. I had a hunch Ruth would draw one of those numbers.... +_How long?_" + +The swaying masses of gray jelly were very near them. Cliff worked +feverishly at the top. + +"Let me help. Cliff!" + +"No! I'm through! Stand back!" shouted Cliff. + + * * * * * + +Even then--he regretted it afterward, and knew that he would regret it +to his dying day--even then the thought flashed through Kay's mind +that Cliff wanted all the glory. Behind him the milling, screaming +crowd was huddling, as if for protection. Slowly a wisp-like tentacle +protruded from the advancing wall. Kay swung his ax and lopped it from +the phantom body. But the wall was almost upon them, and from the +other side it was advancing rapidly. + +"I'm ready! Stand back!" Cliff turned upon Kay, his face white, his +voice hoarse. "I've one request to make, Kay. Keep everybody back, +including you and Ruth. Nobody is to come within twenty-five yards of +this machine!" + +"That shall be done," said Kay, a little bitterness in his tone. + +"Ruth, I think I'm going to save you all." Cliff looked into the +girl's face for a moment. "Please stand back twenty-five yards," he +repeated. + +Kay took Ruth by the arm and drew her back. The crowd moved back, +their pressure moving back the vast multitudes behind them. The vast +mob was almost packed into the quarter of the Golgotha; there was +scarcely room to move. + +Kay saw Cliff press the lever. + + * * * * * + +Slowly the giant top began to whirl. Faster ... faster.... Now it was +revolving so fast that it had become totally invisible. But Cliff was +almost surrounded by the wall of jelly. Only his back could be seen, +and then space was narrowing fast. + +Kay gripped Ruth's arm tightly. He held his breath. The crowd, of whom +only a small part knew what was taking place, was screaming with +terror as the mass of jelly on the other side pressed them inexorably +backward. And Cliff had almost vanished. Would the machine work? Was +it possible that the psenium emanations would succeed where the +Millikan rays, the W-ray had failed? + +Then of a sudden the air grew dark as night. Kay began to sneeze. He +gasped for air. He was choking. He could see nothing, and he strained +Ruth to him convulsively, while the terrified multitudes behind him +set up a last wail of despair. + +He could see nothing, and he stood with the ax ready for the onset of +the monsters, more terrible now, in their invisibility, than before. +Then of a sudden there sounded subterranean rumblings. The ground +seemed to open almost under Kay's feet. + +He leaped back, dragging Ruth with him. Slowly the dust was settling, +the darkness lessening. A faint, luminous glow overhead revealed the +sun. Kay was aware that Cliff had swung the top, so that the psenium +rays were being brought to bear upon the second mass of the monsters +on the other side. + +The sun vanished in appalling blackness. Again the dust-choked air was +almost unbreathable. The shrieks of the crowd died away in wheezing +gasps; and then a wilder clamor began. + +"The earthquake! The earthquake!" a girl was shrilling. "God help us +all!" + +Kay stood still, clutching Ruth tightly in his arms. He dared not +stir, for all the world seemed to be dissolving into chaos. + + * * * * * + +Slowly the dust began to settle again. Perhaps five minutes passed +before the sunbeams began to struggle through. A cloud of grey dust +still obscured everything. But the wall of protoplasm was gone! + +Cliff's voice came moaning out of the murk, calling Kay's name. + +Kay moved forward cautiously, still holding Ruth. He seemed to be +skirting the edge of a vast crater. At the edge of it he found the +top, revolving slowly. And Cliff's voice came from beside the top. + +"Kay, we've won. Don't look at me. Don't let Ruth see me! Look down!" + +Kay looked down into the bottomless pit, extending clear across the +plain to the distant jungle. An enormous canyon cloven in the earth, +filled with the slowly settling cloud of dust. + +"They're there, Kay. Don't look this way!" + +But Kay looked--and could see nothing except a pile of debris, from +the bottom of which Cliff's voice issued. + +"Cliff, you're not hurt?" + +"A--a little. You must listen while I tell you how to clean up the +monsters. It's the psenium emanation. It has the same effect when our +method is applied to it. It disintegrates everything inorganic--not +organic. + +"I thought, if I couldn't get them, I'd crumble the earth away--bury +them. They're underneath the debris, Kay, a mile deep, buried, beneath +the impalpable powder that represented the inorganic salts and +minerals of the earth. They'll never get out of that. Protoplasm needs +oxygen. They'll trouble us no more. + +"You must take the top, Kay. Use our old method. You'll find its +application to the psenium emanation written in a book fastened +beneath the hood. Wipe out the rest of them. If any more come, you'll +know how to deal with them." + +"Cliff, you're not badly hurt?" Kay asked again. + +"Don't look, I tell you! Keep Ruth away!" + + * * * * * + +But the dust was settling fast, and suddenly Ruth uttered a scream of +fear. + +And a strangled cry broke from Kay's throat as he looked down at what +had been Cliff Hynes. + +The man seemed to have become resolved into the same sort of +protoplasm as the Earth Giants. He lay, a little heap, incredibly +small, incredibly distorted. Flesh without bones, shapeless lumps of +flesh where arms and legs and body frame should have been. + +Cliff's voice came faintly. "You remember the leakage through the +rubber and analektron container, Kay. The W-rays even fused the +craolite socket. The psenium rays are stronger. They destroy even +bone. They're fatal to the man who operates the machine, unless he +follows the directions. I've written them out for you, but I had--no +time--to apply them." + +His voice broke off. Then, "Good luck to you and--Ruth, Kay," he +whispered, absent inaudibly. "Don't let--her--look at me." + +Kay led Ruth gently away. "Did you hear that?" she whispered, sobbing. +"He died to save us Kay." + + * * * * * + +It was like a return from the grave for the amazed boys and girls +who--since the onset of the monsters had destroyed the electric +lines--poured out of the plain of Golgotha to life and freedom. + +Many of them had gone mad, a few had died of fright, but the rest +would come back to normal, and the world was saved. + +Hunger was their greatest problem, for, despite Kay's hurried flight +to the nearest occupied post, it was difficult to convince the +Federation officials that the devils were really gone, buried beneath +a mile of crumbled earth. And Kay had to be back to mop up other, +smaller bands that had spread through the forests. + +It was six months before the last of the monsters had been +obliterated, and then Kay, now one of the highest officials in the +Federation's service, was granted a lunarian's leave of absence +pending his taking command of an Antarctic expedition for the purpose +of destroying the remaining monsters in their lair. + +He took this opportunity to be married to Ruth, in the church in his +native town, which was _en fête_ for the occasion. + +"Thinking of Cliff?" Kay asked his bride, as she settled in his plane +preparatory to their starting for the honeymoon in the Adirondacks. "I +think he would be happy if he knew. He saved the world, dear; he gave +his best. And that was all he wanted." + + * * * * * + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Pirate Planet + +BEGINNING A FOUR-PART NOVEL + +_By Charles W. Diffin_ + +[Illustration: Like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling.] + +[Sidenote: A strange light blinks on Venus, and over old Earth hovers +a mysterious visitant--dread harbinger of interplanetary war.] + + +CHAPTER I + +Lieutenant McGuire threw open his coat with its winged insignia of the +air force and leaned back in his chair to read more comfortably the +newspaper article. + +He glanced at Captain Blake across the table. The captain was deep in +a game of solitaire, but he looked up at McGuire's audible chuckle. + +"Gay old girl!" said Lieutenant McGuire and smoothed the paper across +his knees. "She's getting flirtatious." + +The captain swore softly as he gathered up his cards. "Not +interested," he announced; "too hot to-night. Keep her away." + +"Oh, she's far enough away," McGuire responded; "about seventy million +miles. Don't get excited." + +"What are you talking about?" The captain shuffled his cards +irritably. + +"Venus. She's winking at us, the old reprobate. One of these +star-gazers up on Mount Lawson saw the flashes a week or so ago. If +you'll cut out your solitaire and listen, I'll read you something to +improve your mind." He ignored the other's disrespectful remark and +held the paper closer to see the paragraphs. + +"Is Venus Signalling?" inquired the caption which Lieutenant McGuire +read. "Professor Sykes of Mt. Lawson Observatory Reports Flashes. + +"The planet Venus, now a brilliant spectacle in the evening sky, is +behaving strangely according to a report from the local observatory on +Mount Lawson. This sister star, most like Earth of all the planets, is +now at its eastern elongation, showing like a half-moon in the big +telescopes on Mt. Lawson. Shrouded in impenetrable clouds, its surface +has never been seen, but something is happening there. Professor Sykes +reports seeing a distinct flash of light upon the terminator, or +margin of light. It lasted for several seconds and was not repeated. + +"No explanation of the phenomenon is offered by scientists, as +conditions on the planet's surface are unknown. Is there life there? +Are the people of Venus trying to communicate? One guess is as good as +another. But it is interesting to recall that our scientists recently +proposed to send a similar signal from Earth to Mars by firing a +tremendous flare of magnesium. + +"Venus is now approaching the earth; she comes the nearest of all +planets. Have the Venusians penetrated their cloak of cloud masses +with a visible light? The planet will be watched with increased +interest as it swings toward us in space, in hope of there being a +repetition of the unexplained flash." + + * * * * * + +"There," said Lieutenant McGuire,"--doesn't that elevate your mind? +Take it off this infernally hot night? Carry you out through the cool +reaches of interplanetary space? If there is anything else you want to +know, just ask me." + +"Yes," Captain Blake agree, "there is. I want to know how the game +came out back in New York--and you don't know that. Let's go over and +ask the radio man. He probably has the dope." + +"Good idea," said McGuire; "maybe he has picked up a message from +Venus; we'll make a date." He looked vainly for the brilliant star as +they walked out into the night. There were clouds of fog from the +nearby Pacific drifting high overhead. Here and there stars showed +momentarily, then were blotted from sight. + +The operator in the radio room handed the captain a paper with the +day's scores from the eastern games. But Lieutenant McGuire, despite +his ready amusement at the idea, found his thoughts clinging to the +words he had read. "Was the planet communicating?" he pictured the +great globe--another Earth--slipping silently through space, coming +nearer and nearer. + +Did they have radio? he wondered. Would they send recognizable +signals--words--or some mathematical sequence to prove their reality? +He turned to the radio operator on duty. + +"Have you picked up anything peculiar," he asked, and laughed inwardly +at himself for the asking. "Any new dots and dashes? The scientists +say that Venus is calling. You'll have to be learning a new code." + +The man glanced at him strangely and looked quickly away. + +"No, sir," he said. And added after a pause: "No new dots and dashes." + +"Don't take that stuff too seriously, Mac," the captain remonstrated. +"The day of miracles is past; we don't want to commit you to the +psychopathic ward. Now here is something real: the Giants won, and I +had ten dollars on them. How shall we celebrate?" + + * * * * * + +The radio man was listening intently as they started to leave. His +voice was hesitating as he stopped them; he seemed reluctant to put +his thoughts into words. + +"Just a minute, sir," he said to Captain Blake. + +"Well?" the captain asked. And again the man waited before he replied. +Then-- + +"Lieutenant McGuire asked me," he began, "if I had heard any strange +dots and dashes. I have not; but ... well, the fact is, sir, that I +have been getting some mighty queer sounds for the past few nights. +They've got me guessing. + +"If you wouldn't mind waiting. Captain; they're about due now--" He +listened again to some signal inaudible to the others, then hooked up +two extra head-sets for the officers. + +"It's on now," he said. "If you don't mind--" + +McGuire grinned at the captain as they took up the ear-phones. "Power +of suggestion," he whispered, but the smile was erased from his lips +as he listened. For in his ear was sounding a weird and wailing note. + +No dots or dashes, as the operator had said, but the signal was +strong. It rose and fell and wavered into shrill tremolos, a ghostly, +unearthly sound, and it kept on and on in a shrill despairing wail. +Abruptly it stopped. + +The captain would have removed the receiver from his ear, but the +operator stopped him. "Listen," he said, "to the answer." + + * * * * * + +There was silence, broken only by an occasional hiss and crackle of +some far distant mountain storm. Then, faint as a whisper, came an +answering, whistling breath. + +It, too, trembled and quavered. It went up--up--to the limit of +hearing; then slid down the scale to catch and tremble and again +ascend in endless unvarying ups and downs of sound. It was another +unbroken, unceasing, but always changing vibration. + +"What in thunder is that?" Captain Blake demanded. + +"Communication of some sort, I should say," McGuire said slowly, and +he caught the operator's eyes upon him in silent agreement. + +"No letters," Blake objected; "no breaks; just that screech." He +listened again. "Darned if it doesn't almost seem to say something," +he admitted. + +"When did you first hear this?" he demanded of the radio man. + +"Night before last, sir. I did not report it. It seemed too--too--" + +"Quite so," said Captain Blake in understanding, "but it is some form +of broadcasting on a variable wave; though how a thing like that can +make sense--" + +"They talk back and forth," said the operator; "all night, most. +Notice the loud one and the faint one; two stations sending and +answering." + +Captain Blake waved him to silence. "Wait--wait!" he ordered. "It's +growing louder!" + + * * * * * + +In the ears of the listening men the noise dropped to a loud grumble; rose +to a piercing shriek; wavered and leaped rapidly from note to note. It was +increasing; rushing upon them with unbearable sound. The sense of something +approaching, driving toward them swiftly, was strong upon Lieutenant +McGuire. He tore the head-phones from his ears and rushed to the door. The +captain was beside him. Whoever--whatever--was sending that mysterious +signal was coming near--but was that nearness a matter of miles or of +thousands of miles? + +They stared at the stormy night sky above. A moon was glowing faintly +behind scudding clouds, and the gray-black of flying shadows formed an +opening as they watched, a wind-blown opening like a doorway to the +infinity beyond, where, blocking out the stars, was a something that +brought a breath-catching shout from the watching men. + +Some five thousand feet up in the night was a gleaming ship. There +were rows of portholes that shone twinkling against the black +sky--portholes in multiple rows on the side. The craft was +inconceivably huge. Formless and dim of outline in the darkness, its +vast bulk was unmistakable. + +And as they watched with staring, incredulous eyes, it seemed to take +alarm as if it sensed the parting of its concealing cloud blanket. It +shot with dizzy speed and the roar of a mighty meteor straight up into +the night. The gleam of its twinkling lights merged to a distant star +that dwindled, shrank and vanished in the heights. + +The men were wordless and open-mouthed. They stared at each other in +disbelief of what their eyes had registered. + +"A liner!" gasped Captain Blake. "A--a--liner! Mac, there is no such +thing." + + * * * * * + +McGuire pointed where the real cause of their visitor's departure +appeared. A plane with engine wide open came tearing down through the +clouds. It swung in a great spiral down over the field and dropped a +white flare as it straightened away; then returned for the landing. It +taxied at reckless speed toward the hangars and stopped a short +distance from the men. The pilot threw himself out of the cockpit and +raced drunkenly toward them. + +"Did you see it?" he shouted, his voice a cracked scream. "Did you see +it?" + +"We saw it," said Captain Blake; "yes, we saw it. Big as--" He sought +vainly for a proper comparison, then repeated his former words: "Big +as an ocean liner!" + +The pilot nodded; he was breathing heavily. + +"Any markings?" asked his superior. "Anything to identify it?" + +"Yes, there were markings, but I don't know what they mean. There was +a circle painted on her bow and marks like clouds around it, but I +didn't have time to see much. I came out of a cloud, and there the +thing was. I was flying at five thousand, and they hung there dead +ahead. I couldn't believe it; it was monstrous; tremendous. Then they +sighted me, I guess, and they up-ended that ship in mid-air and shot +straight up till they were out of sight." + +It was the captain's turn to nod mutely. + +"There's your miracle," said Lieutenant McGuire softly. + +"Miracle is right," agreed Captain Blake; "nothing less! But it is no +miracle of ours, and I am betting it doesn't mean any good to us. Some +other country has got the jump on us." + +To the pilot he ordered: "Say nothing of this--not a word--get that? +Let me have a written report: full details, but concise as possible." + +He went back to the radio room, and the operator there received the +same instructions. + +"What are you going to do?" the lieutenant questioned. + +Captain Blake was reaching for a head-set. "Listen in," he said +briefly; "try to link up that impossible ship with those messages, +then report at once to the colonel and whoever he calls in. I'll want +you along, Mac, to swear I am sober." + + * * * * * + +He had a head-set adjusted, and McGuire took up the other. Again the +room was still, and again from the far reaches of space the dark night +sent to them its quavering call. + +The weird shrillness cried less loudly now, and the men listened in +strained silence to the go and come of that variable shriek. Musical +at times as it leaped from one clear note to another, again it would +merge into discordant blendings of half-tones that sent shivers of +nervous reaction up the listeners' spines. + +"Listen," said McGuire abruptly. "Check me on this. There are two of +them, one loud and one faint--right?" + +"Right," said Captain Blake. + +"Now notice the time intervals--there! The faint one stops, and the +big boy cuts in immediately. No waiting; he answers quickly. He does +it every time." + +"Well?" the captain asked. + +"Listen when he stops and see how long before the faint one answers. +Call the loud one the ship and the faint one the station.... There! +The ship is through!" + +There was pause; some seconds elapsed before the answer that whispered +so faintly in their ears came out of the night. + +"You are right, sir," the operator said in corroboration of McGuire's +remark. "There is that wait every time." + +"The ship answers at once," said McGuire; "the station only after a +wait." + +"Meaning--?" inquired the captain. + +"Meaning, as I take it, that there is time required for the message to +go from the ship to the station and for them to reply." + +"An appreciable time like that," Captain Blake exclaimed, "--with +radio! Why, a few seconds, even, would carry it around the world a +score of times!" + +Lieutenant McGuire hesitated a moment. "It happens every time," he +reminded the captain: "it is no coincidence. And if that other station +is out in space--another ship perhaps, relaying the messages to yet +others between here and--Venus, let us say...." + + * * * * * + +He left the thought unfinished. Captain Blake was staring at him as +one who beholds a fellow-man suddenly insane. But the look in his eyes +changed slowly, and his lips that had been opened in remonstrance came +gradually in a firm, straight line. + +"Crazy!" he said, but it was apparent that he was speaking as much to +himself as to McGuire. "Plumb, raving crazy!... Yet that ship _did_ go +straight up out of sight--an acceleration in the upper air beyond +anything we know. It might be--" And he, too, stopped at the actual +voicing of the wild surmise. He shook his head sharply as if to rid it +of intruding, unwelcome thoughts. + +"Forget that!" he told McGuire, and repeated it in a less commanding +tone. "Forget it, Mac: we've got to render a report to sane men, you +and I. What we know will be hard enough for them to believe without +any wild guesses. + +"That new craft is real. It has got it all over us for size and speed +and potential offensive action. Who made it? Who mans it? Red Russia? +Japan? That's what the brass hats will be wondering; that's what they +will want to find out. + +"Not a word!" he repeated to the radio man. "You will keep mum on +this." + +He took McGuire with him as he left to seek out his colonel. But it +was a disturbed and shaken man, instead of the cool, methodical +Captain Blake of ordinary days, who went in search of his commanding +officer. And he clung to McGuire for corroboration of his impossible +story. + + * * * * * + +There was a group of officers to whom Blake made his full report. +Colonel Boynton had heard but little when he halted his subordinate +curtly and reached for a phone. And his words over that instrument +brought a quick conference of officers and a quiet man whom McGuire +did not recognize. The "brass hats," as Blake had foreseen, were avid +for details. + +The pilot of the incoming plane was there, too, and the radio man. +Their stories were told in a disconcerting silence, broken only by +some officer's abrupt and skeptical question on one point and another. + +"Now, for heaven's sake, shut up about Venus," McGuire had been told. +But he did not need Captain Blake's warning to hold himself strictly +to what he had seen and let the others draw their own conclusions. + +Lieutenant McGuire was the last one to speak. There was silence in the +office of Colonel Boynton as he finished, a silence that almost echoed +from the grim walls. And the faces of the men who gathered there were +carefully masked from any expression that might betray their thoughts. + +It was the quiet man in civilian attire who spoke first. He sat beside +another whose insignia proclaimed him of general's rank, but he +addressed himself to Colonel Boynton. + +"I am very glad," he said quietly, "very glad. Colonel, that my +unofficial visit came at just this time. I should like to ask some few +questions." + +Colonel Boynton shifted the responsibility with a gesture almost of +relief. "It is in your hands. Mr. Secretary," he said. "You and +General Clinton have dropped in opportunely. There is something here +that will tax all our minds." + +The man in civilian clothes nodded assent. He turned to Captain Blake. + +"Captain," he said, "you saw this at first hand. You have told us what +you saw. I should like greatly to know what you think. Will you give +us your opinion, your impressions?" + + * * * * * + +The captain arose smartly, but his words came with less ease. + +"My opinion," he stated, "will be of little value, but it is based +upon these facts. I have seen to-night, sir, a new type of aircraft, +with speed, climb and ceiling beyond anything we are capable of. I +can only regard it as a menace. It may or may not have been armed, but +it had the size to permit the armament of a cruiser; it had power to +carry that weight. It hung stationary in the air, so it is independent +of wing-lift, yet it turned and shot upward like a feather in a gale. +That spells maneuverability. + +"That combination, sir, can mean only that we are out-flown, +out-maneuvered and out-fought in the air. It means that the planes in +our hangars are obsolete, our armament so much old iron. + +"The menace is potential at present. Whether it is an actual threat or +not is another matter. Who mans that ship--what country's insignia she +carries--is something on which I can have no opinion. The power is +there: who wields it I wish we knew." + +The questioner nodded at the conclusion of Blake's words, and he +exchanged quiet, grave glances with the general beside him. Then-- + +"I think we all would wish to know that, Captain Blake," he observed. +And to the colonel: "You may be able to answer that soon. It would be +my idea that this craft should be--ah--drawn out, if we can do it. We +would not attack it, of course, until its mission is proved definitely +unfriendly, but you will resist any offensive from them. + +"And now," he added, "let us thank these officers for their able +reports and excuse them. We have much to discuss...." + + * * * * * + +Captain Blake took McGuire's arm as they went out into the night. And +he drew him away where they walked for silent minutes by themselves. +The eyes of Lieutenant McGuire roamed upward to the scudding clouds +and the glimpse of far, lonely stars; he stumbled occasionally as he +walked. But for Captain Blake there was thought only of matters +nearby. + +"The old fox!" he exclaimed. "Didn't he 'sic us on' neatly? If we mix +it with that stranger there will be no censure from the Secretary of +War." + +"I assumed that was who it was," said McGuire. "Well, they have +something to think about, that bunch; something to study over.... +Perhaps more than they know. + +"And that's their job," he concluded after a silence. "I'm going to +bed; but I would like a leave of absence to-morrow if that's O. K." + +"Sure," said Captain Blake, "though I should think you would like to +stick around. Perhaps we will see something. What's on your mind, +Mac?" + +"A little drive to the top of Mount Lawson," said Lieutenant McGuire. +"I want to talk to a bird named Sykes." + + +CHAPTER II + +Lieutenant McGuire, U. S. A., was not given as a usual thing to vain +conjectures, nor did his imagination carry him beyond the practical +boundaries of accepted facts. Yet his mind, as he drove for hours +through the orange-scented hills of California, reverted time and +again to one persistent thought. And it was with him still, even when +he was consciously concentrating on the hairpin turns of Mount +Lawson's narrow road. + +There was a picture there, printed indelibly in his mind--a picture of +a monstrous craft, a liner of the air, that swung its glowing lights +in a swift arc and, like a projectile from some huge gun, shot up and +up and still up until it vanished in a jet-black sky. Its altitude +when it passed from sight he could not even guess, but the sense of +ever-increasing speed, of power that mocked at gravitation's puny +force, had struck deep into his mind. And McGuire saw plainly this +mystery ship going on and on far into the empty night where man had +never been. + +No lagging in that swift flight that he had seen; an acceleration that +threw the ship faster and yet faster, regardless of the thin air and +the lessened buoyancy in an ocean of atmosphere that held man-made +machines so close to Earth. That constant acceleration, hour after +hour, day after day--the speed would be almost unlimited; +inconceivable! + +He stopped his car where the mountain road held straight for a hundred +feet, and he looked out over the coastal plain spread like a toy world +far below. + +"Now, how about it?" he asked himself. "Blake thinks I am making a +fool of myself. Perhaps I am. I wonder. It's a long time since I fell +for any fairy stories. But this thing has got me. A sort of hunch, I +guess." + + * * * * * + +The sun was shining now from a vault of clear blue. It was lighting a +world of reality, of houses where people lived their commonplace +lives, tiny houses squared off in blocks a mile below. There was smoke +here and there from factories; it spread in a haze, and it meant +boilers and engines and sound practical machinery of a practical world +to the watching man. + +What had all this to do with Venus? he asked himself. This was the +world he knew. It was real; space was impenetrable; there were no men +or beings of any sort that could travel through space. Blake was +right: he was on a fool's errand. They couldn't tell him anything up +here at the observatory; they would laugh at him as he deserved.... + +Wondering vaguely if there was a place to turn around, he looked ahead +and then up; his eyes passed from the gash of roadway on the +mountainside to the deep blue beyond. And within the man some driving, +insistent, mental force etched strongly before his eyes that picture +and its problem unanswered. There was the ship--he saw it in +memory--and it went up and still up; and he knew as surely as if he +had guided the craft that the meteor-like flight could be endless. + +Lieutenant McGuire could not reason it out--such power was beyond his +imagining--but suddenly he dared to believe, and he knew it was true. + +"Earthbound!" he said in contempt of his own human kind, and he looked +again at the map spread below. "Ants! Mites! That's what we +are--swarming across the surface of the globe. And we think we're so +damn clever if we lift ourselves up a few miles from the surface! + +"Guess I'll see Sykes," he muttered aloud. "He and his kind at least +dare to look out into space; take their eyes off the world; be +impractical!" + +He swung the car slowly around the curve ahead, eased noiselessly into +second gear and went on with the climb. + + * * * * * + +There were domed observatories where he stopped: rounded structures +that gleamed silvery in the air; and offices, laboratories: it was a +place of busy men. And Professor Sykes, he found, was busy. But he +spared a few minutes to answer courteously the questions of this slim +young fellow in the khaki uniform of the air service. + +"What can I do for you?" asked Professor Sykes. + +"No dreamer, this man," thought McGuire as he looked at the short, +stocky figure of the scientist. Clear eyes glanced sharply from under +shaggy brows; there were papers in his hand scrawled over with strange +mathematical symbols. + +"You can answer some fool questions," said Lieutenant McGuire +abruptly, "if you don't mind." + +The scientist smiled broadly. "We're used to that," he told the young +officer; "you can't think of any worse ones than those we have heard. +Have a chair." + +McGuire drew a clipping from his pocket--it was the newspaper account +he had read--and he handed it to Professor Sykes. + +"I came to see you about this," he began. + +The lips of Professor Sykes lost their genial curve; they straightened +to a hard line. "Nothing for publication," he said curtly. "As usual +they enlarged upon the report and made assumptions and inferences not +warranted by facts." + +"But you did see that flash?" + +"By visual observation I saw a bright area formed on the +terminator--yes! We have no photographic corroboration." + +"I am wondering what it meant." + +"That is your privilege--and mine," said the scientist coldly. + +"But it said there," McGuire persisted, "that it might have been a +signal of some sort." + +"_I_ did not say so: that is an inference only. I have told you, +Lieutenant"--he glanced at the card in his hand--"--Lieutenant +McGuire--all that I know. We deal in facts up here, and we leave the +brilliant theorizing to the journalists." + + * * * * * + +The young officer felt distinctly disconcerted. He did not know +exactly what he had expected from this man--what corroboration of his +wild surmises--but he was getting nowhere, he admitted. And he +resented the cold aloofness of the scientist before him. + +"I am not trying to pin you down on anything," he said, and his tone +carried a hint of the nervous strain that had been his. "I am trying +to learn something." + +"Just what?" the other inquired. + +"Could that flash have been a signal?" + +"You may think so if you wish: I have told you all that I know. And +now," he added, and rose from his chair, "I must ask to be excused; I +have work to do." + +McGuire came slowly to his feet. He had learned nothing; perhaps there +was nothing to be learned. A fool's errand! Blake was right. But the +inner urge for some definite knowledge drove him on. His eyes were +serious and his face drawn to a scowl of earnestness as he turned once +more to the waiting man. + +"Professor Sykes," he demanded, "just one more question. Could that +have been the flash of a--a rocket? Like the proposed experiments in +Germany. Could it have meant in any way the launching of a +projectile--a ship--to travel Earthward through space?" + + * * * * * + +Professor Sykes knew what it was to be harassed by the curious mob, to +avoid traps set by ingenious reporters, but he knew, too, when he was +meeting with honest bewilderment and a longing for knowledge. His +fists were placed firmly on the hips of his stocky figure as he stood +looking at the persistent questioner, and his eyes passed from the +intent face to the snug khaki coat and the spread wings that +proclaimed the wearer's work. A ship out of space--a projectile--this +young man had said. + +"Lieutenant," he suggested quietly--and again the smile had returned +to his lips as he spoke--"sit down. I'm not as busy as I pretend to +be. Now tell me: what in the devil have you got in your mind?" + +And McGuire told him. "Like some of your dope," he said, "this is not +for publication. But I have not been instructed to hush it up, and I +know you will keep it to yourself." + +He told the clear-eyed, listening man of the previous night's events. +Of the radio's weird call and the mystery ship. + +"Hallucination," suggested the scientist. "You saw the stars very +clearly, and they suggested a ship." + +"Tell that to Jim Burgess," said McGuire: "he was the pilot of that +plane." And the scientist nodded as if the answer were what he +expected. + +He asked again about the ship's flight. And he, too, bore down heavily +upon the matter of acceleration in the thin upper air. He rose to lay +a friendly hand on McGuire's shoulder. + +"We can't know what it means," he said, "but we can form our own +theories, you and I--and anything is possible. + +"It is getting late," he added, "and you have had a long drive. Come +over and eat; spend the night here. Perhaps you would like to have a +look at our equipment--see Venus for yourself. I will be observing her +through the sixty-inch refractor to-night. Would you care to?" + +"Would I?" McGuire demanded with enthusiasm. "Say, that will be +great!" + + * * * * * + +The sun was dropping toward the horizon when the two men again came +out into the cool mountain air. + +"Just time for a quick look around," suggested Professor Sykes, "if +you are interested." + +He took the lieutenant first to an enormous dome that bulged high +above the ground, and admitted him to the dark interior. They climbed +a stairway and came out into a room that held a skeleton frame of +steel. "This is the big boy," said Professor Sykes, "the one +hundred-inch reflector." + +There were other workers there, one a man standing upon a raised +platform beside the steel frame, who arranged big holders for +photographic plates. The slotted ceiling opened as McGuire watched, +and the whole structure swung slowly around. It was still, and the +towering steel frame began to swing noiselessly when a man at a desk +touched various controls. McGuire looked about him in bewilderment. + +"Quite a shop," he admitted; "but where is the telescope?" + +Professor Sykes pointed to the towering latticework of steel. "Right +there," he said. "Like everyone else, you were expecting to see a big +tube." + +He explained in simple words the operation of the great instrument +that brought in light rays from sources millions of light years away. +He pointed out where the big mirror was placed--the one hundred-inch +reflector--and he traced for the wondering man the pathway of light +that finally converged upon a sensitized plate to catch and record +what no eye had ever seen. + +He checked the younger man's flow of questions and turned him back +toward the stairs. "We will leave them to their work," he said; "they +will be gathering light that has been traveling millions of years on +its ways. But you and I have something a great deal nearer to study." + + * * * * * + +Another building held the big refractor, and it was a matter of only a +few seconds and some cryptic instructions from Sykes until the +eye-piece showed the image of the brilliant planet. + +"The moon!" McGuire exclaimed in disappointed tones when the professor +motioned him to see for himself. His eyes saw a familiar half-circle +of light. + +"Venus," the professor informed him. "It has phases like the moon. The +planet is approaching; the sun's light strikes it from the side." But +McGuire hardly heard. He was gazing with all his faculties centered +upon that distant world, so near to him now. + +"Venus," he whispered half aloud. Then to the professor: "It's all +hazy. There are no markings--" + +"Clouds," said the other. "The goddess is veiled; Venus is blanketed +in clouds. What lies underneath we may never know, but we do know that +of all the planets this is most like the earth; most probably is an +inhabited world. Its size, its density, your weight if you were +there--and the temperature under the sun's rays about double that of +ours. Still, the cloud envelope would shield it." + +McGuire was fascinated, and his thoughts raced wildly in speculation +of what might be transpiring before his eyes. People, living in that +tropical world; living and going through their daily routine under +that cloud-filled sky where the sun was never seen. The margin of +light that made the clear shape of a half-moon marked their daylight +and dark; there was one small dot of light forming just beyond that +margin. It penetrated the dark side. And it grew, as he watched, to a +bright patch. + +"What is that?" he inquired abstractedly--his thoughts were still +filled with those beings of his imagination. "There is a light that +extends into the dark part. It is spreading--" + + * * * * * + +He found himself thrust roughly aside as Professor Sykes applied a +more understanding eye to the instrument. + +The professor whirled abruptly to his assistant. "Phone Professor +Giles," he said sharply; "he is working on the reflector. Tell him to +get a photograph of Venus at once; the cloud envelope is broken." He +returned hurriedly to his observations. One hand sketched on a waiting +pad. + +"Markings!" he said exultantly. "If it would only hold!... There, it +is closing ... gone...." + +His hand was quiet now upon the paper, but where he had marked was a +crude sketch of what might have been an island. It was "L" shaped; +sharply bent. + +"Whew!" breathed Professor Sykes and looked up for a moment. "Now that +was interesting." + +"You saw through?" asked McGuire eagerly. "Glimpsed the surface?--an +island?" + +The scientist's face relaxed. "Don't jump to conclusions," he told the +aviator: "we are not ready to make a geography of Venus quite yet. But +we shall know that mark if we ever see it again. I hardly think they +had time to get a picture. + + * * * * * + +"And now there is only a matter of three hours for observation: I must +watch every minute. Stay here if you wish. But," he added, "don't let +your imagination run wild. Some eruption, perhaps, this we have +seen--an ignition of gasses in the upper air--who knows? But don't +connect this with your mysterious ship. If the ship is a menace, if it +means war, that is your field of action, not mine. And you will be +fighting with someone on Earth. It must be that some country has +gained a big lead in aeronautics. Now I must get to work." + +"I'll not wait," said McGuire. "I will start for the field; get there +by daylight, if I can find my way down that road in the dark." + +"Thanks a lot." He paused a moment before concluding slowly: "And in +spite of what you say, Professor, I believe that we will have +something to get together on again in this matter." + +The scientist, he saw, had turned again to his instrument. McGuire +picked his way carefully along the narrow path that led where he had +parked his car. "Good scout, this Sykes!" he was thinking, and he +stopped to look overhead in the quick-gathering dark at that +laboratory of the heavens, where Sykes and his kind delved and probed, +measured and weighed, and gathered painstakingly the messages from +suns beyond counting, from universe out there in space that added +their bit of enlightenment to the great story of the mystery of +creation. + +He was humbly aware of his own deep ignorance as he backed his car, +slipped it into second, and began the long drive down the tortuous +grade. He would have liked to talk more with Sykes. But he had no +thought as he wound round the curves how soon that wish was to be +gratified. + + * * * * * + +Part way down the mountainside he again checked his car where he had +stopped on the upward climb and reasoned with himself about his +errand. Once more he looked out over the level ground below, a vast +glowing expanse of electric lights now, that stretched to the ocean +beyond. He was suddenly unthrilled by this man-made illumination, and +he got out of his car to stare again at the blackness above and its +myriad of stars that gathered and multiplied as he watched. + +One brighter than the rest winked suddenly out. There was a +constellation of twinkling lights that clustered nearby, and they too +vanished. The eyes of the watcher strained themselves to see more +clearly a dim-lit outline. There were no lights: it was a black +shape, lost in the blackness of the mountain sky, that was blocking +out the stars. But it was a shape, and from near the horizon the pale +gleams of the rising moon picked it out in softest of outline; a vague +ghost of a curve that reflected a silvery contour to the watching eyes +below. + +There had been a wider space in the road that McGuire had passed; he +backed carefully till he could swing his car and turn it to head once +more at desperate speed toward the mountain top. And it was less than +an hour since he had left when he was racing back along the narrow +footpath to slam open the door where Professor Sykes looked up in +amazement at his abrupt return. + +The aviator's voice was hoarse with excitement as he shouted: "It's +here--the ship! It's here! Where's your phone?--I must call the field! +It's right overhead--descending slowly--no lights, but I saw it--I saw +it!" + +He was working with trembling fingers at the phone where Sykes had +pointed. "Long distance!" he shouted. He gave a number to the +operator. "Make it quick," he implored. "Quick!" + + +CHAPTER III + +Back at Maricopa Flying Field the daily routine had been disturbed. +There were conferences of officers, instructions from Colonel Boynton, +and a curiosity-provoking lack of explanations. Only with Captain +Blake did the colonel indulge in any discussion. + +"We'll keep this under our hats," he said, "and out of the newspapers +as long as we can. You can imagine what the yellow journals would do +with a scarehead like that. Why, they would have us all wiped off the +map and the country devastated by imaginary fleets in the first three +paragraphs." + +Blake regarded his superior gravely. "I feel somewhat the same way, +myself. Colonel," he admitted. "When I think what this can mean--some +other country so far ahead of us in air force that we are back in the +dark ages--well, it doesn't look any too good to me if they mean +trouble." + +"We will meet it when it comes," said Colonel Boynton. "But, between +ourselves, I am in the same state of mind. + +"The whole occurrence is so damn mysterious. Washington hasn't a +whisper of information of any such construction; the Secretary +admitted that last night. It's a surprise, a complete surprise, to +everyone. + +"But, Blake, you get that new ship ready as quickly as you can. +Prepare for an altitude test the same as we planned, but get into the +air the first minute possible. She ought to show a better ceiling than +anything we have here, and you may have to fly high to say 'Good +morning' to that liner you saw. Put all the mechanics on it that can +work to advantage. I think they have it pretty well along now." + +"Engine's tested and installed, sir," was Blake's instant report. "I +think I can take it up this afternoon." + + * * * * * + +He left immediately to hurry to the hangar where a new plane stood +glistening in pristine freshness, and where hurrying mechanics +grumbled under their breaths at the sudden rush for a ship that was +expected to take the air a week later. + +An altitude test under full load! Well, what of it? they demanded one +of another; wouldn't another day do as well as this one? And they +worked as they growled, worked with swift sureness and skill, and the +final instruments took their place in the ship that she might roll +from the hangar complete under that day's sun. + +Her supercharger was tested--the adjunct to a powerful engine that +would feed the hungry cylinders with heavy air up in the heights where +the air is thin; there were oxygen flasks to keep life in the pilot in +the same thin air. And the hot southern sun made ludicrous that +afternoon the bulky, heavily-wrapped figure of Captain Blake as he +sat at the controls and listened approvingly to the roaring engine. + +He waved good-by and smiled understandingly as he met the eyes of +Colonel Boynton; then pulled on his helmet, settled himself in his +seat and took off in a thunderous blast of sound to begin his long +ascent. + + * * * * * + +He had long since cracked open the valve of his oxygen flask when the +climb was ended, and his goggles were frosted in the arctic cold so +that it was only with difficulty he could read his instrument board. + +"That's the top," he thought in that mind so light and so curiously +not his own. He throttled the engine and went into a long spiral that +was to end within a rod of where he had started on the brown sun-baked +field. The last rays of the sun were slanting over distant mountains +as he climbed stiffly from the machine. + +"Better than fifty thousand," exulted Colonel Boynton. "Of course your +barograph will have to be calibrated and verified, but it looks like a +record, Blake--and you had a full load. + +"Ready to go up and give merry hell to that other ship if she shows +up?" he asked. But Captain Blake shook a dubious head. + +"Fifty thousand is just a start for that bird," he said. "You didn't +see them shoot out of sight, Colonel. Lord knows when they quit +_their_ climb--or where." + +"Well, we'll just have a squadron ready in any event," the colonel +assured him. "We will make him show his stuff or take a beating--if +that is what he wants." + +They were in the colonel's office. "You had better go and get warmed +up," he told the flyer: "then come back here for instructions." But +Blake was more anxious for information than for other comforts. + +"I'm all right," he said: "just tired a bit. Let me stretch out here, +Colonel, and give me the dope on what you expect of our visitor and +what we will do." + + * * * * * + +He settled back comfortably in a big chair. The office was warm, and +Blake knew now he had been doing a day's work. + +"We will just take it as it comes," Colonel Boynton explained. "I +can't for the life of me figure why the craft was spying around here. +What are they looking for? We haven't any big secrets the whole world +doesn't know. + +"Of course he may not return. But if he does I want you to go up and +give him the once over. I can trust you to note every significant +detail. + +"You saw no wings. If it is a dirigible, let's know something of their +power and how they can throw themselves up into the air the way you +described. Watch for anything that may serve to identify it and its +probable place of manufacture--any peculiarity of marking or design or +construction that may give us a lead. Then return and report." + +Blake nodded his understanding of what was wanted, but his mind was on +further contingencies: he wanted definite instructions. + +"And," he asked; "if they attack--what then? Is their fire to be +returned?" + +"If they make one single false move," said Colonel Boynton savagely, +"give them everything you've got. And the 91st Squadron will be off +the ground to support you at the first sign of trouble. We don't want +to start anything, nor appear to do so. But, by the gods, Blake, this +fellow means trouble eventually as sure as you're a flyer, and we +won't wait for him to ask for it twice." + + * * * * * + +They sat in silence, while the field outside became shrouded in night. +And they speculated, as best they could from the few facts they had, +as to what this might mean to the world, to their country, to +themselves. It was an hour before Blake was aware of the fact that he +was hungry. + +He rose to leave, but paused while Colonel Boynton answered the phone. +The first startled exclamation held him rigid while he tried to piece +together the officer's curt responses and guess at what was being +told. + +"Colonel Boynton speaking.... McGuire?... Yes, Lieutenant.... Over +Mount Lawson?... Yes--yes, the same ship, I've no doubt." + +His voice was even and cool in contrast to the excited tones that +carried faintly to Blake standing by. + +"Quite right!" he said shortly. "You will remain where you are: act as +observer: hold this line open and keep me informed. Captain Blake will +leave immediately for observation. A squadron will follow. Let me know +promptly what you see." + +He turned abruptly to the waiting man. + +"It is back!" he said. "We're in luck! Over the observatories at Mount +Lawson; descending, so Lieutenant McGuire says. Take the same ship you +had up to-day. Look them over--get up close--good luck!" He turned +again to the phone. + +There were planes rolling from their hangars before Blake could reach +his own ship. Their engines were thundering: men were rushing across +the field, pulling on leather helmets and coats as they ran--all this +while he warmed up his engine. + +A mechanic thrust in a package of sandwiches and a thermos of coffee +while he waited. And Captain Blake grinned cheerfully and gulped the +last of his food as he waved to the mechanics to pull out the wheel +blocks. He opened the throttle and shot out into the dark. + +He climbed and circled the field, saw the waving motion of lights in +red and green that marked the take-off of the planes of the 91st, and +he straightened out on a course that in less than two hours would +bring him over the heights of Mount Lawson and the mystery that +awaited him there. And he fingered the trigger grip that was part of +the stick and nodded within his dark cockpit at the rattle of a +machine gun that merged its staccato notes with the engine's roar. + +But he felt, as he thought of that monster shape, as some primordial +man might have felt, setting forth with a stone in his hand to wage +war on a saurian beast. + + +CHAPTER IV + +If Colonel Boynton could have stood with one of his lieutenants and +Professor Sykes on a mountain top, he would have found, perhaps, the +answer to his question. He had wondered in a puzzled fashion why the +great ship had shown its mysterious presence over the flying field. He +had questioned whether it was indeed the field that had been the +object of their attention or whether in the cloudy murk they had +merely wandered past. Could he have seen with the eyes of Lieutenant +McGuire the descent of the great shape over Mount Lawson, he would +have known beyond doubt that here was the magnet that drew the eyes of +whatever crew was manning the big craft. + +It was dark where the two men stood. Others had come running at their +call, but their forms, too, were lost in the shadows of the towering +pines. The light from an open door struck across an open space beyond +which McGuire and Professor Sykes stood alone, stood silent and +spellbound, their heads craned back at a neck-wrenching angle. They +were oblivious to all discomforts; their eyes and their whole minds +were on the unbelievable thing in the sky. + +Beyond the fact that no lights were showing along the hull, there was +no effort at concealment. The moon was up now to illumine the scene, +and it showed plainly the gleaming cylinder with its long body and +blunt, shining ends, dropping, slowly, inexorably down. + +"Like a dirigible," said McGuire huskily. "But the size, man--the +size! And its shape is not right; it isn't streamlined correctly; the +air--" He stopped his half-unconscious analysis abruptly. "The air!" +What had this craft to do with the air? A thin layer of gas that hung +close to the earth--the skin on an apple! And beyond--space! There was +the ethereal ocean in which this great shape swam! + +The reality of the big ship, the very substance of it, made the space +ship idea the harder to grasp. Lieutenant McGuire found that it was +easier to see an imaginary craft taking off into space than to +conceive of this monstrous shape, many hundreds of tons in weight, +being thrown through vast emptiness. Yet he knew; he knew! + +And his mind was a chaos of grim threats and forebodings as he looked +at the unbelievable reality and tried to picture what manner of men +were watching, peering, from those rows of ports. + + * * * * * + +At last it was motionless. It hung soundless and silent except for a +soft roar, a scant thousand feet in the air. And its huge bulk was +dwarfing the giant pines, the rounded buildings; it threw the men's +familiar surroundings into a new and smaller scale. + +He had many times flown over these mountains, and Lieutenant McGuire +had seen the silvery domes of the observatories shining among the +trees. Like fortresses for aerial defense, he had thought, and the +memory returned to him now. What did these new-comers think of them? +Had they, too, found them suggestive of forts on the frontier of a +world, defenses against invasion from out there? Or did they know them +for what they were? Did they wish only to learn the extent of our +knowledge, our culture? Were they friendly, perhaps?--half-timid and +fearful of what they might find? + +A star moved in the sky, a pin-point of light that was plain in its +message to the aviator. It was Blake, flying high, volplaning to make +contact and learn from the air what this stranger might mean. The +light of his plane slanted down in an easy descent; the flyer was +gliding in on a long aerial toboggan slide. His motor was throttled; +there was only the whistle of torn air on the monoplane's wings. +McGuire was with the captain in his mind, and like him he was waiting +for whatever the stranger might do. + +Other lights were clustered where the one plane had been. The men of +the 91st had their orders, and the fingers of the watching, silent man +gripped an imaginary stick while he wished with his whole heart that +he was up in the air. To be with Blake or the others! His thoughts +whipped back to the mysterious stranger: the great shape was in +motion: it rose sharply a thousand feet in the air. + + * * * * * + +The approaching plane showed clear in the moon's light. It swung and +banked, and the vibrant song of its engine came down to the men as +Blake swept in a great circle about the big ship. He was looking it +over, but he began his inspection at a distance, and the orbit of his +plane made a tightening spiral as he edged for a closer look. He was +still swinging in the monotonous round when the ship made its first +forward move. + +It leaped in the air: it swept faster and faster. And it was moving +with terrific speed as it crashed silently through the path of the +tiny plane. And Blake, as he leaned forward on the stick to throw his +plane downward in a power dive, could have had a vision, not of a ship +of the air, but only of a shining projectile as the great monster +shrieked overhead. + +McGuire trembled for the safety of those wings as he saw Blake pull +his little ship out of the dive and shoot upward to a straight climb. + +But--"That's dodging them!" he exulted: "that's flying! I wonder, did +they mean to wipe him out or were they only scared off?" + +His question was answered as, out of the night, a whistling shriek +proclaimed the passage of the meteor ship that drove unmistakably at +the lone plane. And again the pilot with superb skill waited until the +last moment and threw himself out of the path of the oncoming mass, +though his own plane was tossed and whirled like an autumn leaf in the +vortex that the enemy created. Not a second was lost as Blake opened +his throttle and forced his plane into a steep climb. + +"Atta-boy!" said McGuire, as if words could span across to the man in +the plane. "Altitude, Blake--get altitude!" + +The meteor had turned in a tremendous circle; so swift its motion that +it made an actual line of light as the moon marked its course. And the +curved line straightened abruptly to a flashing mark that shot +straight toward the struggling plane. + + * * * * * + +This time another sound came down to the listening ears of the two +men. The plane tore head on to meet the onslaught, to swing at the +last instant in a frantic leap that ended as before in the maelstrom +of air back of the ship. But the muffled roar was changed, punctured +with a machine-gun's familiar rattle, and the stabbing flashes from +Blake's ship before he threw it out of the other's path were a song of +joy to the tense nerves of the men down below. + +This deadly rush could only be construed as an attack, and Blake was +fighting back. The very speed of the great projectile must hold it to +its course; the faster it went the more difficult to swerve it from a +line. This and much more was flashing sharply in McGuire's mind. +But--Blake!--alone against this huge antagonist!... It was coming +back. Another rush like a star through space.... + +And McGuire shouted aloud in a frenzy of emotion as a cluster of +lights came falling from on high. No lone machine gun now that tore +the air with this clattering bedlam of shots: the planes of the 91st +Squadron were diving from the heights. They came on a steep slant +that seemed marking them for crashing death against the huge cylinder +flashing past. And their stabbing needles of machine-gun fire made a +drumming tattoo, till the planes, with the swiftness of hawks, swept +aside, formed to groups, tore on down toward the ground and then +curved in great circles of speed to climb back to the theater of +action. + + * * * * * + +Lieutenant McGuire was rigid and quivering. He should go to the phone +and report to the colonel, but the thought left him as quickly as it +came. He was frozen in place, and his mind could hold only the scene +that was being pictured before him. + +The enemy ship had described its swift curve, and the planes of the +defenders were climbing desperately for advantage. So slowly they +moved as compared with the swiftness of the other! + +But the great ship was slowing; it came on, but its wild speed was +checked. The light of the full moon showed plainly now what McGuire +had seen but dimly before--a great metal beak on the ship, pointed and +shining, a ram whose touch must bring annihilation to anything it +struck. + +The squadron of planes made a group in the sky, and Blake's monoplane, +too, was with them. The huge enemy was approaching slowly: was it +damaged? McGuire hardly dared hope ... yet that raking fire might well +have been deadly: it might be that some bullets had torn and +penetrated to the vitals of this ship's machinery and damaged some +part. + +It came back slowly, ominously, toward the circling planes. Then, +throwing itself through the air, it leaped not directly toward them +but off to one side. + + * * * * * + +Like a stone on the end of a cord it swung with inconceivable speed in +a circle that enclosed the group of planes. Again and again it +whipped around them, while the planes, by comparison, were motionless. +Its orbit was flat with the ground: then tilting, more yet, it made a +last circle that stood like a hoop in the air. And behind it as it +circled it left a faint trace of vapor. Nebulous!--milky in the +moonlight!--but the ship had built a sphere, a great globe of the gas, +and within it, like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling. + +"Gas!" groaned the watching man: "gas! What is it? Why don't they +break through?" + +The thin clouds of vapor were mingling now and expanding: they +blossomed and mushroomed, and the light of the moon came in pale +iridescence from their billowing folds. + +"Break through!" McGuire had prayed--and he stood in voiceless horror +as he saw the attempt. + +The mist was touching here and there a plane: they were engulfed, yet +he could see them plainly. And he saw with staring, fear-filled eyes +the clumsy tumbling and fluttering of unguided wings as the great +eagles of the 91st fell roaring to earth with no conscious minds +guiding their flight. + +The valleys were deep about the mountain, and their shadowed blackness +opened to receive the maimed, stricken things that came fluttering or +swooping wildly to that last embrace, where, in the concealing +shadows, the deeper shadows of death awaited.... + + * * * * * + +There was a room where a telephone waited: McGuire sensed this but +dumbly, and the way to that room was long to his stumbling feet. He +was blinded: his mind would not function: he saw only those fluttering +things, and the moonlight on their wings, and the shadows that took +them so softly at the last. + +One plane whistled close overhead. McGuire stopped where he stood to +follow it with unbelieving eyes. That one man had lived, escaped the +net--it was inconceivable! The plane returned: it was flying low, and +it swerved erratically as it flew. It was a monoplane: a new ship. + +Its motor was silenced: it stalled as he watched, to pancake and crash +where the towering pines made a cradle of great branches to cushion +its fall. + +No thought now of the colonel waiting impatiently for a report; even +the enemy, there in the sky was forgotten. It was Blake in that ship, +and he was alive--or had been--for he had cut his motor. McGuire +screamed out for Professor Sykes, and there were others, too, who came +running at his call. He tore recklessly through the scrub and +undergrowth and gained at last the place where wreckage hung dangling +from the trees. The fuselage of a plane, scarred and broken, was still +held in the strong limbs. + + * * * * * + +Captain Blake was in the cockpit, half hanging from the side. He was +motionless, quiet, and his face shone white and ghastly as they +released him and drew him out. But one hand still clung with a grip +like death itself to a hose that led from an oxygen tank. McGuire +stared in wonder and slowly gathering comprehension. + +"He was fixed for an altitude test," he said dazedly; "this ship was +to be used, and he was to find her ceiling. He saw what the others +were getting, and he flew himself through on a jet of pure oxygen--" +He stopped in utter admiration of the quickness of thought that could +outwit death in an instant like that. + +They carried the limp body to the light. "No bones broken so far as I +can see," said the voice of Professor Sykes. "Leave him here in the +air. He must have got a whiff of their devilish mist in spite of his +oxygen; he was flying mighty awkwardly when he came in here." + +But he was alive!--and Lieutenant McGuire hastened with all speed now +to the room where a telephone was ringing wildly and a colonel of the +air force must be told of the annihilation of a crack squadron and of +a threat that menaced all the world. + + * * * * * + +In that far room there were others waiting where Colonel Boynton sat +with receiver to his ear. A general's uniform was gleaming in the +light to make more sober by contrast the civilian clothing of that +quiet, clear-eyed man who held the portfolio of the Secretary of War. + +They stared silently at Colonel Boynton, and they saw the blood recede +from his face, while his cool voice went on unmoved with its replies. + +"... I understand," he said; "a washout, complete except for Captain +Blake; his oxygen saved him.... It attacked with gas, you say?... And +why did not our own planes escape?... Its speed!--yes, we'll have to +imagine it, but it is unbelievable. One moment--" He turned to those +who waited for his report. + +"The squadron," he said with forced quiet, though his lips twitched in +a bloodless line, "--the 91st--is destroyed. The enemy put them down +with one blow; enveloped them with gas." He recounted the essence of +McGuire's report, then turned once more to the phone. + +"Hello, Lieutenant--the enemy ship--where is it now?" + +He listened--listened--to a silent receiver: silent save for the sound +of a shot--a crashing fall--a loud, panting breath. He heard the +breathing close to the distant instrument; it ended in a choking gasp; +the instrument was silent in his ear.... + +He signalled violently for the operator: ordered the ringing of any +and all phones about the observatory, and listened in vain for a sound +or syllable in reply. + +"A plane," he told an orderly, "at once! Phone the commercial flying +field near the base of Mount Lawson. Have them hold a car ready for +me: I shall land there!" + + +CHAPTER V + +To Captain Blake alone, of all those persons on the summit of Mount +Lawson, it was given to see and to know and be able to relate what +transpired there and in the air above. For Blake, although he appeared +like one dead, was never unconscious throughout his experience. + +Driving head on toward the ship, he had emptied his drum of cartridges +before he threw his plane over and down in a dive that escaped the +onrush of the great craft by a scant margin, and that carried him down +in company with the men and machines of the squadron that dived from +above. + +He turned as they turned and climbed as they climbed for the advantage +that altitude might give. And he climbed faster: his ship outdistanced +them in that tearing, scrambling rush for the heights. The squadron +was spiraling upward in close formation with his plane above them when +the enemy struck. + +He saw that great shape swing around them, terrible in its silent +swiftness, and, like the others, he failed to realize at first the net +she was weaving. So thin was the gas and so rapid the circling of the +enemy craft, they were captured and cut off inside of the gaseous +sphere before the purpose of the maneuver was seen or understood. + +He saw the first faint vapor form above him; swung over for a steep +bank that carried him around the inside of the great cage of gas and +that showed him the spiraling planes as the first wisps of vapor swept +past them. + +He held that bank with his swift machine, while below him a squadron +of close-formed fighting craft dissolved before his eyes into unguided +units. The formations melted: wings touched and locked; the planes +fell dizzily or shot off in wild, ungoverned, swerving flight. The air +was misty about him; it was fragrant in his nostrils; the world was +swimming.... + + * * * * * + +It was gas, he knew, and with the light-headedness that was upon him, +so curiously like that of excessive altitudes, he reached +unconsciously for the oxygen supply. The blast of pure gas in his face +revived him for an instant, and in that instant of clear thinking his +plan was formed. He threw his weight on stick and rudder, corrected +the skid his ship was taking, and, with one hand holding the tube of +life-giving oxygen before his face, he drove straight down in a dive +toward the earth. + +There were great weights fastened to his arm, it seemed, when he tried +to bring the ship from her fearful dive. He moved only with greatest +effort, and it was force of will alone that compelled his hands to do +their work. His brain, as he saw the gleaming roundness of observatory +buildings beneath him, was as clear as ever in his life, but his +muscles, his arms and legs, refused to work: even his head; he was +slowly sinking beneath a load of utter fatigue. + +The observatories were behind him; he must swing back; he could not +last long, he knew; each slightest movement was intolerable effort. + +Was this death? he wondered; but his mind was so clear! There were the +buildings, the trees! How thickly they were massed beyond-- + +He brought every ounce of will power to bear ... the throttle!--and a +slow glide in ... he was losing speed ... the stick--must--come--back! +The crashing branches whipped about him, bending, crackling--and the +world went dark.... + + * * * * * + +There were stars above him when he awoke, and his back was wrenched +and aching. He tried to move, to call, but found that the paralysing +effect of the gas still held him fast. He was lying on the ground, he +knew: a door was open in a building beyond, and the light in the room +showed him men, a small group of them, standing silent while +someone--yes, it was McGuire--shouted into a phone. + +"... The squadron," he was saying. "... Lost! Every plane down and +destroyed.... Blake is living but injured...." And then Blake +remembered. And the tumbling, helpless planes came again before his +eyes while he cursed silently at this freezing grip that would not let +him cover his face with his hands to shut out the sight. + +The figure of a man hurried past him, nor saw the body lying helpless +in the cool dark. McGuire was still at the phone. And the enemy +ship--? + +His mind, filled with a welter of words as he tried to find phrases to +compass his hate for that ship. And then, as if conjured out of +nothing by his thoughts, the great craft itself came in view overhead +in all its mighty bulk. + +It settled down swiftly: it was riding on an even keel. And in silence +and darkness it came from above. Blake tried to call out, but no sound +could be formed by his paralyzed throat. Doors opened in silence, +swinging down from the belly of the thing to show in the darkness +square openings through which shot beams of brilliant yellow light. + +There were cages that lowered--great platforms in slings--and the +platforms came softly to rest on the ground. They were moving with +life; living beings clustered upon them thick in the dark. Oh God! for +an instant's release from the numbness that held his lips and throat +to cry out one word!... The shapes were passing now in the shelter of +darkness, going toward the room.... He could see McGuire's back turned +toward the door. + +Man-shapes, tall and thin, distorted humans, each swathed in bulging +garments; horrible staring eyes of glass in the masks about their +heads, and each hand ready with a shining weapon as they stood waiting +for the men within to move. + + * * * * * + +McGuire must have seen them first, though his figure was half +concealed from Blake where he was lying. But he saw the head turn; +knew by the quick twist of the shoulders the man was reaching for a +gun. One shot echoed in Blake's ears; one bulging figure spun and fell +awkwardly to the ground; then the weapons in those clumsy hands hissed +savagely while jets of vapor, half liquid and half gas, shot +blindingly into the room. The faces dropped from his sight.... + +There had been the clamor of surprised and shouting men: there was +silence now. And the awkward figures in the bloated casings that +protected their bodies from the gas passed in safety to the room. +Blake, bound in the invisible chains of enemy gas, struggled silently, +futilely, to pit his will against this grip that held him. To lie +there helpless, to see these men slaughtered! He saw one of the +creatures push the body of his fallen comrade out of the way: it was +cast aside with an indifferent foot. + +They were coming back: Blake saw the form of McGuire in unmistakable +khaki. He and another man were carried high on the shoulders of some +of the invaders. They were going toward the platforms, the slings +beneath the ship.... They passed close to Blake, and again he was +unnoticed in the dark. + +A clamor came from distant buildings, a babel of howls and shrieks, +inhuman, unearthly. There were no phrases or syllables, but to Blake +it was familiar ... somewhere he had heard it ... and then he +remembered the radio and the weird wailing note that told of +communication. These things were talking in the same discordant din. + + * * * * * + +They were gathering now on the platforms slung under the ship. A +whistling note from somewhere within the great structure and the +platforms went high in the air. They were loaded, he saw, with papers +and books and instruments plundered from the observatories. Some made +a second trip to take up the loot they had gathered. Then the black +doorways closed; the huge bulk of the ship floated high above the +trees; it took form, dwindled smaller and smaller, then vanished from +sight in the star-studded sky. + +Blake thought of their unconscious passenger--the slim figure of +Lieutenant McGuire. Mac had been a close friend and a good one; his +ready smile; his steady eyes that could tear a problem to pieces with +their analytic scrutiny or gaze far into space to see those visions of +a dreamer! + +"Far into space." Blake repeated the words in his mind. And: "Good-by +Mac," he said softly; "you've shipped for a long cruise, I'm +thinking." He hardly realized he had spoken the words aloud. + + * * * * * + +Lying there in the cold night he felt his strength returning slowly. +The pines sang their soothing, whispered message, and the faint night +noises served but to intensify the silence of the mountain. It was +some time before the grind of straining gears came faintly in the air +to announce the coming of a car up the long grade. And still later he +heard it come to a stop some distance beyond. There were footsteps, +and voices calling: he heard the voice of Colonel Boynton. And he was +able to call out in reply, even to move his head and turn it to see +the approaching figures in the night. + +Colonel Boynton knelt beside him. "Did they get you, old man?" he +asked. + +"Almost," Blake told him. "My oxygen--I was lucky. But the others--". +He did not need to complete the sentence. The silent canyons among +those wooded hills told plainly the story of the lost men. + +"We will fight them with gas masks," said the colonel; "your +experience has taught us the way." + +"Gas-tight uniforms and our own supplies of oxygen," Blake +supplemented. He told Boynton of the man-things he had seen come from +the ship, of their baggy suits, their helmets.... And he had seen a +small generator on the back of each helmet. He told him of the small, +shining weapons and their powerful jets of gas. Deadly and unescapable +at short range, he well knew. + +"They got McGuire," Blake concluded; "carried him off a prisoner. Took +another man, too." + +For a moment Colonel Boynton's quiet tones lost their even steadiness. +"We'll get them," he said savagely, and it was plain that it was the +invaders that filled his mind; "we'll go after them, and we'll get +them in spite of their damn gas, and we'll rip their big ship into +ribbons--" + +Captain Blake was able to raise a dissenting hand. "We will have to go +where they are, Colonel, to do that." + +Colonel Boynton stared at him. "Well?" he demanded. "Why not?" + +"We can't go where _they_ went," said Blake simply. "I laughed at +McGuire; told him not to be a fool. But I was the fool--the blind one; +we all were, Colonel. That thing came here out of space. It has gone +back; it is far beyond our air. I saw it go up out of sight, and I +know. Those creatures were men, if you like, but no men that we +know--not those shrieking, wailing devils! And we're going to hear +more from them, now that they've found their way here!" + + +CHAPTER VI + +A score of bodies where men had died in strangling fumes in the +observatories on Mount Lawson; one of the country's leading +astronomical scientists vanished utterly; the buildings on the +mountain top ransacked; papers and documents blowing in vagrant winds; +tales of a monster ship in the air, incredibly huge, unbelievably +swift-- + +There are matters that at times are not allowed to reach the press, +but not happenings like these. And the papers of the United States +blazed out with headlines to tell the world of this latest mystery. + +Then came corroboration from the far corners of the world. The mystery +ship had not visited one section only; it had made a survey of the +whole civilized sphere, and the tales of those who had seen it were no +longer laughed to scorn but went on the wires of the great press +agencies to be given to the world. And with that the censorship +imposed by the Department of War broke down, and the tragic story of +the destruction of the 91st Air Squadron passed into written history. +The wild tale of Captain Blake was on every tongue. + +An invasion from space! The idea was difficult to accept. There were +scoffers who tried to find something here for their easy wit. Why +should we be attacked? What had that other world to gain? There was no +answer ready, but the silent lips of the men who had fallen spoke +eloquently of the truth. And the world, in wonder and consternation, +was forced to believe. + +Were there more to come? How meet them? Was this war--and with whom? +What neighboring planet could reasonably be suspected. What had +science to say? + +The scientists! The scientists! The clamor of the world was beating at +the doors of science and demanding explanations and answers. And +science answered. + +A conference was arranged in London; the best minds in the realms of +astronomy and physics came together. They were the last to admit the +truth that would not be denied, but admit it they must. And to some of +the questions they found their answer. + + * * * * * + +It was not Mars, they said, though this in the popular mind was the +source of the trouble. Not Mars, for that planet was far in the +heavens. But Venus!--misnamed for the Goddess of Love. It was Venus, +and she alone, who by any stretch of the imagination could be +threatening Earth. + +What did it mean? They had no answer. The ship was the only answer to +that. Would there be more?--could we meet them?--defeat them? And +again the wise men of the world refused to hazard a guess. + +But they told what they knew; that Venus was past her eastern +elongation, was approaching the earth. She of all the planets that +swung around the sun came nearest to Earth--twenty-six million miles +in another few weeks. Then whirling away she would pass to the western +elongation in a month and a half and drive out into space. Venus +circled the sun in a year of 225 days, and in 534 days she would again +reach her eastern elongation with reference to the earth, and draw +near us again. + +They were reluctant to express themselves, these men who made nothing +of weighing and analyzing stars a million of light years away, but +_if_ the popular conception was correct and _if_ we could pass through +the following weeks without further assault, we could count on a year +and a half before the menace would again return. And in a year and a +half--well, the physicists would be working--and we might be prepared. + +Captain Blake had made his report, but this, it seemed, was not +enough. He was ordered to come to Washington, and, with Colonel +Boynton, he flew across the country to tell again his incredible +story. + + * * * * * + +It was a notable gathering before which he appeared. All the branches +of the service were represented; there were men in the uniform of +admirals and generals; there were heads of Departments. And the +Secretary of War was in charge. + +He told his story, did Blake, before a battery of hostile eyes. This +was not a gathering to be stampeded by wild scareheads, nor by popular +clamor. They wanted facts, and they wanted them proved. But the +gravity with which they regarded the investigation was shown by their +invitation to the representatives of foreign powers to attend. + +"I have told you all that happened," Blake concluded, "up to the +coming of Colonel Boynton. May I reiterate one fact? I do not wonder +at your questioning my state of mind and my ability to observe +correctly. But I must insist, gentlemen, that while I got a shot of +their gas and my muscles and my nervous system were paralyzed, my +brain was entirely clear. I saw what I saw; those creatures were +there; they entered the buildings; they carried off Lieutenant McGuire +and another man. + +"What they were or who they were I cannot say. I do not know that they +were men, but their insane shrieking in that queer unintelligible talk +is significant. And that means of communication corresponds with the +radio reception of which you know. + +"If you gentlemen know of any part of this earth that can produce such +a people, if you know of any people or country in this world that can +produce such a ship--then we can forget all our wild fancies. And we +can prepare to submit to that country and that people as the masters +of this earth. For I must tell you, gentlemen, with all the +earnestness at my command, that until you have seen that ship in +action, seen its incredible speed, its maneuverability, its +lightning-like attack and its curtain of gas, you can have no +conception of our helplessness. And the insignia that she carries is +the flag of our conquerors." + + * * * * * + +Blake got an approving nod from the Secretary of War as he took his +seat. That quiet man rose slowly from his chair to add his words. He +spoke earnestly, impressively. + +"Captain Blake has hit the nail squarely on the head," he stated. "We +have here in this room a representative gathering from the whole +world. If there is any one of you who can say that this mystery ship +was built and manned by your people, let him speak, and we will send +you at once a commission to acknowledge your power and negotiate for +peace." + +The great hall was silent, in a silence that held only uneasy +rustlings as men glanced one at another in wondering dismay. + +"The time has come," said the Secretary with solemn emphasis, "when +all dissensions among our peoples must cease. Whatever there is or +ever has been of discord between us fades into insignificance before +this new threat. It is the world, now, against a power unknown; we can +only face it as a united world. + +"I shall recommend to the President of the United States that a +commission be appointed, that it may co-operate with similar bodies +from all lands. I ask you, gentlemen, to make like representations to +your governments, to the end that we may meet this menace as one +country and one man; meet it, God grant, successfully through a War +Department of the World." + + * * * * * + +It was a brave gesture of the President of the United States; he dared +the scorn and laughter of the world in standing behind his Secretary +of War. The world is quick to turn and rend with ridicule a false +prophet. And despite the unanswerable facts, the scope and power of +the menace was not entirely believed. It was difficult for the +conscious minds of men to conceive of the barriers of vast space as +swept aside and the earth laid open to attack. + +England was slow to respond to the invitation of the President: this +matter required thought and grave deliberation in parliament. It might +not be true: the thought, whether spoken or unexpressed, was clinging +to their minds. And even if true--even if this lone ship had wandered +in from space--there might be no further attack. + +"Why," they asked, "should there be more unprovoked assaults from the +people of another planet? What was their object? What had they to +gain? ... Perhaps we were safe after all." The answer that destroyed +all hope came to them borne in upon a wall of water that swept the +British coast. + +The telescopes of the world were centered now on just one object in +the heavens. The bright evening star that adorned the western sky was +the target for instruments great and small. It was past the half-moon +phase now, and it became under magnification a gleaming crescent, a +crescent that emitted from the dark sphere it embraced vivid flashes +of light. Sykes' report had ample corroboration; the flash was seen by +many, and it was repeated the next night and the next. + +What was it? the waiting world asked. And the answer came not from the +telescopes and their far-reaching gaze but from the waters of the +Atlantic. In the full blaze of day came a meteor that swept to the +earth in an arc of fire to outshine the sun. There must have been +those who saw it strike--passengers and crews of passing ships--but +its plunge into the depths of the Atlantic spelled death for each +witness. + + * * * * * + +The earth trembled with the explosion that followed. A gas--some new +compound that united with water to give volumes tremendous--that only +could explain it. The ocean rose from its depths and flung wave after +wave to race outward in circles of death. + +Hundreds of feet in height at their source--this could only be +estimated--they were devastating when they struck. The ocean raged +over the frail bulwark of England in wave upon wave, and, retreating, +the waters left smooth, shining rock where cities had been. The stone +and steel of their buildings was scattered far over the desolate land +or drawn in the suction of retreating waters to the sea. + +Ireland, too, and France and Spain. Even the coast of America felt the +shock of the explosion and was swept by tidal waves of huge +proportions. But the coast of Britain took the blow at its worst. + +The world was stunned and waiting--waiting!--when the next blow fell. +The flashes were coming from Venus at regular intervals, just twenty +hours and nineteen minutes apart. And with exactly the same time +intervals the bolts arrived from space to lay waste the earth. + +They struck where they would: the ocean again; the Sahara; in the +mountains of China; the Pacific was thrown into fearful convulsions; +the wheat fields of Canada trembled and vanished before a blast of +flaming gas.... + +Twenty hours and nineteen minutes! Where it would strike, the next +star-shell, no man might say; that it surely would come was a deadly +and nerve-shattering certainty. The earth waited and prayed under +actual bombardment. + + * * * * * + +Some super-gun, said science with conviction; a great bore in the +planet itself, perhaps. But it was fixed, and the planet itself aimed +with an accuracy that was deadly; aimed once as each revolution +brought its gun on the target. Herein, said science, lay a basis for +hope. + +If, in that distant world, there was only one such bore, it must be +altering its aim as the planet approached; the gun must cease to bear +upon the earth. And the changing sweep of the missiles' flight +confirmed their belief. + +Each meteor-shell that came rushing into Earth's embrace burned +brilliantly as it tore into the air. And each flaming arc was +increasingly bent, until--twenty hours and nineteen minutes had +passed--twenty minutes--thirty--another hour ... and the peoples of +Earth dropped humbly to their knees in thankful prayer, or raised +vengeful eyes and clenched fists toward the heavens while their +quivering lips uttered blasphemous curses. The menace, for the time, +had passed; the great gun of Venus no longer was aiming toward the +earth. + +"No more ships," was the belief; "not this time." And the world turned +to an accounting of its losses, and to wonder--wonder--what the +planet's return would bring. A year and one half was theirs; one year +and a half in which to live in safety, in which to plan and build. + + * * * * * + +A column, double leaded, in the _London Times_ voiced the feeling of +the world. It was copied and broadcast everywhere. + +"Another attack," it concluded, "is not a probability--it is a +certainty. They are destroying us for some reason known only to +themselves. Who can doubt that when the planet returns there will be a +further bombardment; an invasion by armed forces in giant ships; bombs +dropped from them miles high in the air. This is what we must look +forward to--death and destruction dealt out by a force we are unable +to meet. + +"Our munitions factories may build larger guns, but can they reach the +heights at which these monster ships of space will lie, with any faint +probability of inflicting damage? It is doubtful. + +"Our aircraft is less than useless; its very name condemns it as +inept. Craft of the air!--and we have to war against space ships which +can rise beyond the thin envelope of gas that encircles the earth. + +"The world is doomed--utterly and finally doomed; it is the end of +humankind; slavery to a conquering race at the very best, unless-- + +"Let us face the facts fairly. It is war--war to the death--between +the inhabitants of this world and of that other. We are men. What they +are God alone can say. But they are creatures of mind as are we; what +they have done, we may do. + +"There is our only hope. It is vain, perhaps--preposterous in its +assumption--but our sole and only hope. We must meet the enemy and +defeat him, and we must do it on his own ground. To destroy their +fleet we must penetrate space; to silence their deadly bombardment we +must go out into space as they have done, reach their distant world +as they have reached ours, and conquer as we would have been +conquered. + +"It is a tenuous hope, but our only one. Let our men of mundane +warfare do their best--it will be useless. But if there be one spark +of God-given genius in the world that can point the way to victory, +let those in authority turn no deaf ear. + +"It is a battle now of minds, and the best minds will win. Humanity--all +humankind--is facing the end. In less than one year and a half we must +succeed--or perish. And unless we conquer finally and decisively, the story +of man in the history of the universe will be a tale that is told, a record +of life in a book that is ended--closed--and forgotten through all +eternity." + + +CHAPTER VII + +A breath of a lethal gas shot from the flying ship had made Captain +Blake as helpless as if every muscle were frozen hard, and he had got +it only lightly, mixed with the saving blast of oxygen. His heart had +gone on, and his breathing, though it became shallow, did not cease; +he was even able to turn his eyes. But to the men in the observatory +room the gas from the weapons of the attacking force came as a +devastating, choking cloud that struck them senseless as if with a +blow. Lieutenant McGuire hardly heard the sound of his own pistol +before unconsciousness took him. + +It was death for the men who were left--for them the quick darkness +never lifted--but for McGuire and his companion there was reprieve. + +He was lying flat on a hard floor when remembrance crept slowly back +to his benumbed brain. An odor, sickish-sweet, was in his nostrils; +the breath of life was being forcibly pumped and withdrawn from +laboring lungs; a mask was tight against his face. He struggled to +throw it off, and someone bending over removed it. + +Someone! His eyes stared wonderingly at the grotesque face like a +lingering phantasm of fevered dreams. There were others, he saw, and +they were working over a body not far away upon the floor. He +recognized the figure of Professor Sykes. Short, stocky, his clothes +disheveled--but Sykes, unmistakably, despite the mask upon his face. + +He, too, revived as McGuire watched, and, like the flyer, he looked +wonderingly about him at his strange companions. The eyes of the two +met and held in wordless communication and astonishment. + + * * * * * + +The unreal creatures that hovered near withdrew to the far side of the +room. The walls beyond them were of metal, white and gleaming; there +were doorways. In another wall were portholes--round windows of thick +glass that framed circles of absolute night. It was dark out beyond +them with a blackness that was relieved only by sharp pin-points of +brilliance--stars in a night sky such as McGuire had never seen. + +Past and present alike were hazy to the flyer; the spark of life had +been brought back to his body from a far distance; there was time +needed to part the unreal from the real in these new and strange +surroundings. + +There were doorways in the ceiling, and others in the floor near where +he lay; ladders fastened to the wall gave access to these doors. A +grotesque figure appeared above the floor and, after a curious glance +at the two men, scrambled into the room and vanished through the +opening in the ceiling. It was some time before the significance of +this was plain to the wondering man--before he reasoned that he was in +the enemy ship, aimed outward from the earth, and the pull of +gravitation and the greater force of the vessel's constant +acceleration held its occupants to the rear walls of each room. That +lanky figure had been making its way forward toward the bow of the +ship. McGuire's mind was clearing; he turned his attention now to the +curious, waiting creatures, his captors. + +There were five of them standing in the room, five shapes like men, +yet curiously, strangely, different. They were tall of stature, narrow +across the shoulders, muscular in a lean, attenuated fashion. But +their faces! McGuire found his eyes returning in horrified fascination +to each hideous, inhuman countenance. + +A colorless color, like the dead gray of ashes; a skin like that of an +African savage from which all but the last vestige of color had been +drained. It was transparent, parchment-like, and even in the light of +the room that glowed from some hidden source, he could see the +throbbing lines of blood-vessels that showed livid through the +translucent skin. And he remembered, now, the fingers, half-seen in +his moments of awakening--they were like clinging tendrils, colorless, +too, in that ashy gray, and showed the network of veins as if each +hand had been flayed alive. + + * * * * * + +The observer found himself analyzing, comparing, trying to find some +earthly analogy for these unearthly creatures. Why did he think of +potatoes sprouting in a cellar? What possible connection had these +half-human things with that boyhood recollection? And he had seen some +laboratory experiments with plants and animals that had been cut off +from the sunlight--and now the connection was clear; he knew what this +idea was that was trying to form. + +These were creatures of the dark. These bleached, drained faces showed +skin that had never known the actinic rays of the sun; their whole +framework proclaimed the process that had been going on through +countless generations. Here was a race that had lived, if not in +absolute darkness, then in some place where sunlight never shone--a +place of half-light--or of clouds. + +"Clouds!" The exclamation was startled from him. And: "Clouds!" he +repeated meditatively; he was seeing again a cloud-wrapped world in +the eye-piece of a big refracting telescope. "Blanketed in clouds," +Professor Sykes had said. The scientist himself was speaking to him +now in bewildered tones. + +"Clouds?" he inquired. "That's a strange remark to make. Where are we, +Lieutenant McGuire? I remember nothing after you fired. Are we +flying--in the clouds?" + +"A long, long way beyond them, is my guess," said McGuire grimly. It +was staggering what all this might mean; there was time needed for +fuller comprehension. But the lean bronzed face of the flyer flushed +with animation, and in spite of the terrors that must surely lie ahead +he felt strangely elated at the actuality of an incredible adventure. + + * * * * * + +Slowly he got to his feet to find that his muscles still were +reluctant to respond to orders; he helped the professor to arise. And +from the group that drew back further into the far end of the room +came a subdued and rasping tumult of discordant sound. + +One, seemingly in charge, held a weapon in his hand, a slender tube no +thicker than a common wire; and ending in a cylinder within the +creature's hand. He pointed it in threatening fashion while his voice +rose in a shrill call. McGuire and Professor Sykes stood quiet and +waited for what the next moment might have in store, but McGuire waved +the weapon aside in a gesture that none could fail to read. + +"Steady," he told his companion. "We're in a ticklish position. Do +nothing to alarm them." + +From up above them came an answering shrill note. Another of the +beings was descending into the room. + +"Ah!" said Lieutenant McGuire softly, "the big boss, himself. Now +let's see what will happen." + +If there had seemed something of timidity in the repulsive faces of +the waiting creatures, this newcomer was of a different type. He +opened flabby thin lips to give one sharp note of command. It was as +sibilant as the hissing of a snake. The man with the weapon returned +it to a holder at his side; the whole group cringed before the power +and authority of the new arrival. + +The men that they had seen thus far were all garbed alike; a +loose-fitting garment of one piece that was ludicrously like the play +rompers that children might wear. These were dull red in color, the +red of drying blood, made of strong woven cloth. But this other was +uniformed differently. + +McGuire noted the fineness of the silky robe. Like the others this was +made of one piece, loosely fitting, but its bright vivid scarlet made +the first seem drab and dull. A belt of metal about his waist shone +like gold and matched the emblem of precious metal in the turban on +his head. + + * * * * * + +All this the eyes of the flyer took in at a glance; his attention was +only momentarily diverted from the ashen face with eyes narrow and +slitted, that stared with the cold hatred of a cat into those of the +men. + +He made a sound with a whistling breath. It seemed to be a question +directed to them, but the import of it was lost. + +"An exceedingly queer lot," Professor Sykes observed. "And this chap +seems distinctly hostile." + +"He's no friend of mine," said McGuire as the thin, pendulous lips +repeated their whistling interrogation. + +"I can't place them," mused the scientist. "Those facial +characteristics.... But they must be of some nationality, speak some +tongue." + +He addressed himself to the figure with the immobile, horrid face. + +"We do not understand you," he said with an ingratiating smile. +"_Comprenez vous Francaise?_... _Non?_"... German, perhaps, or +Spanish?... "_Sprecken sie Deutsche?_ _Usted habla Española?_..." + +He followed with a fusillade of questions in strange and varying +tongues. "I've even tried him with Chinese," he protested in +bewilderment and stared amazed at his companion's laughter. + +There had to be a reaction from the strain of the past hours, and +Lieutenant McGuire found the serious questioning in polyglot tongues +and the unchanging feline stare of that hideous face too much for his +mental restraint. He held his sides, while he shook and roared with +laughter beyond control, and the figure before him glared with evident +disapproval of his mirth. + + * * * * * + +There was a hissing order, and two figures from the corner sprang +forward to seize the flyer with long clinging fingers. Their strength +he had overestimated, for a violent throw of his body twisted him +free, and his outstretched hands sent the two sprawling across the +room. Their leader took one quick step forward, then paused as if +hesitating to meet this young adversary. + +"Do go easy," Professor Sykes was imploring. "We do not know where we +are nor who they are, but we must do nothing to antagonize them." + +McGuire had reacted from his hilarious seizure with an emotional swing +to the opposite extreme. "I'll break their damn necks," he growled, +"if they get rough with me." And his narrow eyes exchanged glare for +glare with those in the face like blood and ashes before him. + +The cold cat eyes held steadily upon him while the scarlet figure +retreated. A louder call, shrill and vibrant, came from the thin lips, +and a swarm of bodies in dull red were scrambling into the room to +mass about their scarlet leader. Above and behind them the face under +its brilliant turban and golden clasp was glaring in triumph. + +The tall figures crouched, grotesque and awkward; their long arms and +hands with grasping, tendril-like fingers were ready. McGuire waited +for the sharp hissing order that would throw these things upon him, +and he met the attack when it came with his own shoulders dropped to +the fighter's pose, head drawn in close and both fists swinging free. + +There were lean fingers clutching at his throat, a press of blood-red +bodies thick about him, and a clustering of faces where color blotched +and flowed. + +The thud of fists in blows that started from the floor was new to +these lean creatures that clawed and clung like cats. But they +trampled on those who went down before the flyer's blows and stood +upon them to spring at his head; they crowded in in overwhelming +numbers while their red hands tore and twined about his face. + + * * * * * + +It was no place now for long swings; McGuire twisted his body and +threw his weight into quick short jabs at the faces before him. He was +clear for an instant and swung his heavy boot at something that clung +to one leg; then met with a rain of hooks and short punches the faces +that closed in again. He saw in that instant a wild whirl of bodies +where the stocky figure of Professor Sykes was smothered beneath his +taller antagonists. But the professor, if he was forgetting the +science of the laboratory, was remembering that of the squared +circle--and the battle was not entirely one sided. + +McGuire was free; the blood was trickling down his face from +innumerable cuts where sharp-nailed fingers had sunk deep. He wiped +the red stream from his eyes and threw himself at the weaving mass of +bodies that eddied about Sykes in frantic struggle across the room. + +The face of the professor showed clear for a moment. Like McGuire he +was bleeding, and his breath came in short explosive gasps, but he was +holding his own! The eyes of McGuire glimpsed a wildly gesticulating, +shouting figure in the rear. The face, contorted with rage, was almost +the color of the brilliant scarlet that the creature wore. The +blood-stained man in khaki left his companion to fight his own battle, +and plunged headlong at a leaping cluster of dull red, smashed through +with a frenzied attack of straight rights and lefts, and freed himself +to make one final leap at the leader of this unholy pack. + +He was fighting in blind desperation now; the two were out-numbered by +the writhing, lean-bodied creatures, and this thing that showed in +blurred crimson before him was the directing power of them all. The +figure symbolized and personified to the raging man all the repulsive +ugliness of the leaping horde. The face came clear before him through +the mist of blood, and he put the last ounce of his remaining strength +and every pound of weight behind a straight, clean drive with his +right fist. + +His last conscious impression was of a red, clawing hand that was +closed around the thick butt of a tube of steel ... then down, and +still down, he plunged into a bottomless pit of whirling, red flashes +and choking fumes.... + +There were memories that were to occur to Lieutenant McGuire +afterward--visions, dim and hazy and blurred, of half-waking moments +when strange creatures forced food and water into his mouth, then held +a mask upon his face while he resisted weakly the breathing of sweet, +sickly fumes that sent him back to unconsciousness. + +There were many such times; some when he came sufficiently awake to +know that Sykes was lying near him, receiving similar care. Their +lives were being preserved: How, or why, or what life might hold in +store he neither knew nor cared; the mask and the deep-drawn fumes +brought stupor and numbness to his brain. + +A window was in the floor beside him when he awoke--a circular window of +thick glass or quartz. But no longer did it frame a picture of a sky in +velvet blackness; no unwinking pin-points of distant stars pricked keenly +through the night; but, clear and dazzling, came a blessed radiance that +could mean only sunshine. A glowing light that was dazzling to his +sleep-filled eyes, it streamed in golden--beautiful--to light the +unfamiliar room and show motionless upon the floor the figure of Professor +Sykes. His torn clothing had been neatly arranged, and his face showed +livid lines of healing cuts and bruises. + +McGuire tried gingerly to move his arms and legs; they were still +functioning though stiff and weak from disuse. He raised himself +slowly and stood swaying on his feet, then made his uncertain way to +his companion and shook him weakly by the shoulder. + +Professor Sykes breathed deeply and raised leaden lids from tired eyes +to stare uncomprehendingly at McGuire. Soon his dark pupils ceased to +dilate, and he, too, could see their prison and the light of day. + +"Sunlight!" he said in a thin voice, and he seemed to know now that +they were in the air; "I wonder--I wonder--if we shall land--what +country? ... Some wilderness and a strange race--a strange, strange +race!" + +He was muttering half to himself; the mystery of these people whom he +could not identify was still troubling him. + + * * * * * + +McGuire helped the other man to his feet, and they clung to each to +the other for support as they crossed to kneel beside the floor-window +and learn finally where their captors meant to take them. + +A wilderness, indeed, the sight that met their eyes, but a wilderness +of clouds--no unfamiliar sight to Lieutenant McGuire of the United +States Army air service. But to settle softly into them instead of +driving through with glistening wings--this was new and vastly +different from anything he had known. + +Sounds came to them in the silence, penetrating faintly through thick +walls--the same familiar wailing call that trembled and quavered and +seemed to the listening men to be guiding them down through the mist. + +Gone was the sunlight, and the clouds beyond the deep-set window were +gloriously ablaze with a brilliance softly diffused. The cloud bank +was deep, and they felt the craft under them sink slowly, steadily +into the misty embrace. It thinned below them to drifting vapor, and +the first hazy shadows of the ground showed through from far beneath. +Their altitude, the flyer knew, was still many thousands of feet. + +"Water," said McGuire, as his trained eyes made plain to him what was +still indistinct to the scientist. "An ocean--and a shore-line--" More +clouds obscured the view; they parted suddenly to show a portion only +of a clear-cut map. + + * * * * * + +It stretched beyond the confines of their window, that unfamiliar line +of wave-marked shore; the water was like frozen gold, wrinkled in +countless tiny corrugations and reflecting the bright glow from above. +But the land,--that drew their eyes! + +Were those cities, those shadow-splashed areas of gray and rose?... +The last veiling clouds dissolved, and the whole circle was plain to +their view. + +The men leaned forward, breathless, intent, till the scientist, +Sykes--the man whose eyes had seen and whose brain recorded a dim +shape in the lens of a great telescope--Sykes drew back with a +quivering, incredulous breath. For below them, so plain, so +unmistakable, there lay an island, large even from this height, and it +formed on this round map a sharp angle like a great letter "L." + +"We shall know that if we ever see it again," Professor Sykes had +remarked in the quiet and security of that domed building surmounting +the heights of Mount Lawson. But he said nothing now, as he stared at +his companion with eyes that implored McGuire to arouse him from this +sleep, this dream that could never be real. But McGuire, lieutenant +one-time in the forces of the U. S. A., had seen it too, and he stared +back with a look that gave dreadful confirmation. + +The observatory--Mount Lawson--the earth!--those were the things +unreal and far away. And here before them, in brain-stunning +actuality, were the markings unmistakable--the markings of Venus. And +they were landing, these two, in the company of creatures wild and +strange as the planet--on Venus itself! + +(_To be continued._) + + * * * * * + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Destroyer + +_By William Merriam Rouse_ + +[Illustration: "The connection is made," murmured Von Stein.] + +[Sidenote: Slowly, insidiously, there stole over Allen Parker +something uncanny. He could no longer control his hands--even his +brain!] + +The pencil in the hand of Allen Parker refused to obey his will. A +strange unseen force pushed his will aside and took possession of the +pencil point so that what he drew was not his own. It was the same +when he turned from drawing board to typewriter. The sentences were +not of his framing; the ideas were utterly foreign to him. This was +the first hint he received of the fate that was drawing in like night +upon him and his beautiful wife. + +Parker, a young writer of growing reputation who illustrated his own +work, was making a series of pencil sketches for a romance partly +finished. The story was as joyous and elusive as sunlight, and until +to-day his sketches had held the same quality. Now he could not tap +the reservoir from which he had taken the wind-blown hair and smiling +eyes of Madelon, his heroine. + +When he drew or wrote he seemed to be submerged in the dark waters of +a measureless evil pit. The face that mocked him from the paper was +stamped with a world-old knowledge of forbidden things. + +Parker dropped his pencil and leaned back, tortured. He and his wife, +Betty, had taken this house in Pine Hills, a small and extremely +quiet suburban village, solely for the purpose of concentration on the +book which was to be the most important work he had done. He went to +the door of the room that he used for a studio and called: + +"Betty! Can you come here a moment, please?" + + * * * * * + +There was a patter of running feet on the stairs and then a girl of +twenty, or thereabout, came into the room. Any man would have said she +was a blessing. Her hair "was yellow like ripe corn," and her vivid +blue eyes held depth and character and charm. + +"Look!" exclaimed Parker. "What do you think of this stuff?" + +For a moment there was silence. Then Allen Parker saw something he had +never before seen in his wife's face for him or his work--a look of +complete disgust. + +"I wouldn't have believed you capable of doing anything so ... so +horrid!" she said coldly. "How could you?" + +"I don't know!" His arms, which had been ready to take her to him for +comfort, dropped. "The work has been ... difficult, lately. As though +something were pulling at my mind. But not like this! It isn't _me_!" + +"It must be you, since it came out of you!" She turned away and moved +restlessly to one of the windows. + +"Through me!" muttered Parker. "Ideas _come_!" + +"You'll have to do something!" + +"But what? I don't know what to do!" + +"Why not go to see that new doctor?" asked Betty, over her shoulder. +"Dr. Friedrich von Stein?" + +"Von Stein?" repeated Parker, vaguely. "Don't know him. Anyhow, I +don't need a doctor. What in the world made you think of that?" + + * * * * * + +"Nothing, except that I can see his house from here. He's taken what +they call 'the old Reynolds place.' You know--opposite the church. We +looked at it and thought it was too large for us. He's made a lot of +alterations." + +"Oh, yes!" Parker had placed the newcomer, more recent than himself. +"I had an idea that he was a doctor of philosophy, not medicine." + +"He has half a dozen degrees, they say. Certainly he's a stunning +looking man. I saw him on the street." + +"Maybe he doesn't practice." The artist was gazing, baffled and sick +at heart, upon what he had wrought. "And what could he do, unless it's +my liver?" + +"He might be a psycho-analyst, or something like that," she replied, +slowly. + +"But why the wild interest in this particular doctor?" Parker roused +himself and looked at her. He felt irritable, and was ashamed of it. + +"Only for your work," said Betty. A faint pink touched her cheeks. + +Allen Parker had a sudden feeling of certainty that his wife was lying +to him. To one who knew the Parkers it would have been equally +impossible to think of Betty as lying, or of her husband as believing +such a thing. Parker was outraged by his own suspicion. He sprang up +and began to pace the floor. + +"All right, then!" he exploded. "My work is going to the dogs! Why, +there's an appointment with Cartwright to-morrow to show him these +sketches, and the last few chapters I've done! We'll go now! If this +man can't do anything for me I'll try somebody else!" + + * * * * * + +In ten minutes they were walking up the quiet street toward the +present home of Dr. Friedrich von Stein. Despite his self-absorption +Parker could not help noticing that his wife had never looked more +attractive than she did at this moment. Her color had deepened, little +wisps of hair curled against her cheeks, and there was a sparkle in +her eyes which he knew came only on very particular occasions. + +Even from the outside it was apparent that many strange things had +been done to the staid and dignified house of Reynolds. A mass of +aerials hung above the roof. Some new windows had been cut at the +second floor and filled with glass of a peculiar reddish-purple tinge. +A residence had been turned into a laboratory, in sharp contrast to +the charming houses up and down the street and the church of gray +stone that stood opposite. + +Beside the door, at the main entrance, a modest plate bore the legend: +"Dr. Friedrich von Stein." Parker pressed the bell. Then he squared +his broad shoulders and waited: a very miserable, very likeable young +man, with a finely shaped head and a good set of muscles under his +well cut clothes. He had brought his sketches, but he was +uncomfortable with the portfolio under his arm. It seemed to +contaminate him. + + * * * * * + +The door opened to reveal a blocky figure of a man in a workman's +blouse and overalls. The fellow was pale of eye, towheaded; he +appeared to be good natured but of little intelligence. The only +remarkable thing about him was a livid welt that ran across one cheek, +from nose to ear. Beside him a glossy-coated dachshund wagged +furiously, after having barked once as a matter of duty. + +"May we see Dr. von Stein?" asked Parker. "If he is in?" + +"I will ask the Herr Doktor if he iss in," replied the man, stiffly. + +"_Dummkopf!_" roared a voice from inside the house. An instant later +man and dog shrank back along the hall and there appeared in their +place one of the most striking personalities Allen Parker had ever +seen. + +Dr. Friedrich von Stein was inches more than six feet tall and he +stood perfectly erect, with the unmistakable carriage of a well +drilled soldier. He was big boned, but lean, and every movement was +made with military precision. More than any other feature his eyes +impressed Parker: they were steady, penetrating, and absolutely black. +But for a thread of gray here and there his well-kept beard and hair +were black. He might have been any age from forty to sixty, so +deceptive was his appearance. + +"Come in, if you please," he said, before Parker could speak. Von +Stein's voice was rich and deep, but with a metallic quality which +somehow corresponded with his mechanical smile. Except for the +guttural r's there was hardly a hint of the foreigner in his speech. +"It is Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I believe? I am Dr. von Stein." + + * * * * * + +He stood aside for them to pass into the hallway, and while they +murmured their thanks he shot a volley of German at the man, whom he +called Heinrich. The frightened servant vanished; and the Parkers were +taken into a living room furnished carelessly, but in good enough +taste. Betty took her place on a couch, to which the doctor led her +with a bow. Parker sank into an overstuffed chair not far from a +window. + +"I learned your names because of the beauty of madame," said Von +Stein, as he stood looming above the mantel. Again he bowed. "One +could not see her without wishing to know how such a charming woman +was called. You are my neighbors from down the street, I believe." + +"Yes," replied Allen. He wanted to be agreeable, but found it +difficult. "And I think Mrs. Parker has developed a great admiration +for you. She persuaded me to come here to-day. Are you, by chance, a +psycho-analyst? I don't even know that you are a doctor of medicine, +but--" + +"I know a very great deal about the human mind," interrupted Dr. von +Stein calmly. "I know a great deal about many things. I am not going +to practice medicine here in Pine Hills because I have research work +to do, but I will help you if I can. What is your trouble?" + + * * * * * + +The question brought back to Parker the mood of half an hour ago. +Almost savagely he snapped the portfolio open and spread out a few of +his recent drawings, with some of the earlier ones for comparison. + +"Look!" he cried. "These vicious things are what I am doing now! I +can't help myself! The pencil does not obey me! Apparently I have no +emotional control. It's as though my normal ideas were shouldered +aside, like people in a crowd. And my writing to-day was as bad as +these illustrations. I'm doing a book. Consider these things +carefully, Doctor. They are not obscene, except by inference. They +can't be censored. The book would go through the mails. Yet they are +deadly! Look at my heroine in these two pictures. In one she is +like--like violets! In the other she looks capable of any crime! What +is she? A vampire, if there is such a thing? A witch? I can almost +believe in demonology since I made these last drawings!" + +Parker, in spite of his excitement, tried to read the face of Dr. +Friedrich von Stein. He found nothing but the automatic smile upon +that mask. Yet it seemed to the artist that this time there was a hint +of real pleasure in the curve of the lips. Was it possible that anyone +could like those drawings? Parker began to think that he was going +insane. + +"This is most unfortunate for you," rumbled the doctor. "I understand. +But I trust that the condition can be remedied, if it persists. You, +Mr. Parker, and you, Madame, do you understand something of physics, +of psychology, of metaphysics?" + +"I fear that I'm rather ignorant," answered Betty. "Certainly I am in +comparison with a man of your attainments." + + * * * * * + +Dr. von Stein bowed. He turned his black eyes upon Parker. + +"And you, sir? I must adjust my explanation to--what shall I say? To +your knowledge of the higher reaches of scientific thought?" + +"Why, I majored in philosophy in college," said Parker, hesitatingly. +"But that's quite a time ago, Herr Doktor. Of course I've tried to +keep up with the conclusions of science. But a writer or a painter +doesn't have any too much opportunity. He has his own problems to +concern him." + +"Yes, indeed!" Dr. von Stein was thoughtful. "So, and especially for +the benefit of madame, I shall speak in terms of the concrete." + +"Please consider me stupid!" begged Betty. "But I want to understand!" + +"Certainly, except that you are not stupid, Madame. I will proceed. +Both of you, I assume, know something of the radio? Very good! You +know that an etheric wave transmits the message, and that it is +received and amplified so that it is within the range of the human +ear. These waves were there when paleolithic man hunted his meat with +a stone-tipped club. To use them it was necessary to invent the +microphone, and a receiving instrument. + +"What I have said you already know. But here is what may startle you. +Human thought is an etheric wave of the same essential nature as the +radio wave. They are both electrical currents external to man. +Thoughts sweep across the human mind as sound currents sweep across +the aerials of a radio--" + +"I told you!" Allen Parker turned a triumphant face to his wife. +"Pardon me, Herr Doktor! I have tried to convince Mrs. Parker that my +idea came from outside!" + + * * * * * + +"Exactly!" Dr. von Stein took no offense. "And a difference between +the mind and the radio set is that with the radio you tune in upon +whatever you choose, and when you choose. The mind is not under such +control, although it should be. It receives that to which it happens +to be open. Or that thought which has been intensified and +strengthened by having been received and entertained by other minds. +In India they say: 'Five thousand died of the plague and fifty +thousand died of fear.' Do you both follow me?" + +It was unnecessary to ask. Betty sat on the edge of the couch, intent +upon every word. Parker, although more restrained, was equally +interested. Moreover he was delighted to have what he had felt +instinctively confirmed, in a way, by a man of science. + +"Herbert Spencer said," continued the doctor, "that no thought, no +feeling, is ever manifested save as the result of a physical force. +This principle will before long be a scientific commonplace. And +Huxley predicted that we would arrive at a mechanical equivalent of +consciousness. But I will not attempt to bolster my position with +authorities. I know, and I can prove what I know. + +"You, Mr. Parker, have been receiving some particularly annoying +thoughts which have been intensified, it may be, by others, or +another. Human will power can alter the rate of vibration of the line +of force, or etheric wave. So-called good thoughts have a high rate of +vibration, and those which are called bad ordinarily have a low rate. +Have you, perhaps, an enemy?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Parker, in a low voice. + +"Then it would follow that this is accidental." + + * * * * * + +"Good heavens! Do you mean to say that someone could do this to me +maliciously?" + +"So far my experiments leave something to be desired," said Dr. von +Stein, without answering directly. "No doubt you are peculiarly +susceptible to thoughts which bear in any way on your work." + +"But isn't there any help for it?" asked Betty. She was regarding her +husband with the eyes of a stranger. + +"I believe I can do something for Mr. Parker." + +There was a knock at the door. The doctor boomed an order to come in. +Heinrich, with the dachshund at his heels, entered bearing a tray with +a bottle of wine and some slices of heavy fruit cake. He drew out a +table and placed the tray. + +"Do not bring that dog in when I have guests," said Von Stein. He +spoke with a gleam of white teeth. "You know what will happen, +Heinrich?" + +"_Ja_, Herr Doktor! I take Hans oudt!" The man was terrified. He +gathered the dog into his arms and fairly fled from the room. Dr. von +Stein turned with a smile. + +"I have to discipline him," he explained. "He's a stupid fellow, but +faithful. I can't have ordinary servants about. There are scientific +men who would be willing to bribe them for a look at my laboratory." + +"I did not know such things were done among scholars," said Betty, +slowly. + +"What I have accomplished means power, Madame!" exclaimed the doctor. +"There are jackals in every walk of life. If an unscrupulous man of +science got into my laboratory, a physicist for instance, he might ... +find out things!" + + * * * * * + +Dr. von Stein turned to his duties as host. He filled their glasses, +and watched with satisfaction Betty's obvious enjoyment of the cake. A +box of mellow Havanas appeared from a cabinet: imported cigarettes +from a smoking stand. But Parker, in spite of a liking for good wine +and tobacco, was far too much concerned about his work to forget the +errand that had brought him there. + +"So you think," he said, when there was opportunity, "that you can +help me, Dr. von Stein?" + +"I can," replied von Stein, firmly; "but before attempting anything +I'd like to wait a day or two. The attacking thoughts may become less +violent, or your resistance greater, in either of which cases the +condition will fade out. You will either get better or much worse. If +you are worse come to see me again, and I promise you that I will do +something!" + +"I'll come, and thank you!" Parker felt better, and more cheerful than +he had since the beginning of the disturbance. "Few things could make +me suffer so much as trouble with my work." + +"That is what I thought," agreed Dr. von Stein. + + * * * * * + +Betty rose. Her husband caught the look in her eyes as they met the +bright, black gaze of Dr. von Stein, and he went cold. That look had +always been for him alone. Her feet seemed to linger on the way to the +door. + +"He's wonderful!" she breathed, as they started down the uneventful +street. "Scientific things never interested me before. But he makes +them vital, living!" + +"And yet," said Parker, thoughtfully, "there's something uncanny about +that man!" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Betty. "It's because he's a genius! Don't be +small, Allen!" + +Parker gasped, and remained silent. He could not remember that his +wife had ever spoken to him in quite that way. They finished the +little journey home without speaking again and Parker went directly to +studio. He sat down, with drooping shoulders, and considered the mess +he had made of his book. Well, there was nothing to do but see +Cartwright to-morrow and face the music! + +Dinner that night was a mournful affair. The soft footsteps of the +servant going in and out of the dining room, the ticking of the clock, +were almost the only sounds. Betty was deep in her own thoughts; +Parker was too miserable to talk. He went to bed early and lay staring +into the darkness for what seemed like an eternity of slow moving +hours. + +The tall, deep voiced clock in the hall downstairs had just struck +one when suddenly Parker's room was flooded with light. He sat up, +blinking, and saw Betty standing near his bed. Her fingers twisted +against each other; her face was drawn and white. + +"Allen!" she whispered. "I'm afraid!" + +Instantly he was on his feet; his arms went around her and the yellow +head dropped wearily against his shoulder. + +"Afraid of what?" he cried. "What is it, sweetheart?" + +"I don't know!" All at once her body stiffened and she pulled away +from him. Then she laughed--"What nonsense! I must have been having a +bad dream ... it's nothing. Sorry I bothered you, Allen!" + +She was gone before his could stop her. Bewildered, he did not know +whether to follow. Better not, he thought. She would sleep now, and +perhaps he would. But he was worried. Betty was becoming less and less +like herself. + + * * * * * + +At last Parker did sleep, to awake shortly after daylight. He got a +hasty breakfast and took an early train to New York. When John +Cartwright, a shrewd and kindly man well advanced in years, arrived at +his office Allen Parker was right there waiting for him. + +Cartwright had shown a real affection for the younger man, a paternal +interest. He beamed, as usual, until he sat down with the new +drawings. Slowly the smile faded from his face. He went over them +twice, three times, and then he looked up. + +"My boy," he said, "did you do these?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you know that you are turning a delicate and beautiful romance +into a lascivious libel on the human race?" + +"It is being done," replied Parker, in a low voice. "And I--I can't +help myself!" + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean that when I start to draw Madelon my hand produces that woman +of Babylon! The writing is just as bad. It's full of sneering hints, +double meanings ... I shall destroy the stuff. I've been to see a +psycho-analyst." + +"Ah!" thoughtfully. "Perhaps you're tired, Allen. Why not take Betty +for a sea trip? There'll still be time for fall publication." + +"I'm going to try everything possible. I'd rather be dead than do work +like this!" + + * * * * * + +When Parker left his friend he was somewhat encouraged. After the +first shock Cartwright had been inclined to make light of the +difficulty, and by the time Allen Parker reached Pine Hills his stride +had the usual swing and snap. + +He ran up the steps of his house and burst into the living room with a +smile. Betty was sitting by one of the windows, her hands lying +relaxed in her lap. She turned a somber face toward her husband, and +spoke before he had time to say a word of greeting. + +"You knew that Cordelia Lyman died a short time ago, didn't you?" + +"What's that?" exclaimed Parker, bewildered. "Lyman? Oh, the old lady +down the street who left her money to found a home for aged spinsters? +What about it?" + +"But she didn't leave her money to found a home for aged spinsters, +Allen. She had said she was going to, and everybody thought so. Her +will was admitted to probate, or whatever they call it, yesterday. She +left half a million, all she had, to Dr. Friedrich von Stein, to be +used as he thinks best for the advancement of science!" + +"Good heavens!" Parker stared. "Why, I didn't know she knew him. He'd +only been here a week or so when she died." + +"There isn't a flaw in the will, they say. You can imagine that Pine +Hills is talking!" + +"Well," said Parker philosophically, "he's lucky. I hope he does +something with it." + +"He will," replied Betty, with conviction. "He'll do a great many +things!" + + * * * * * + +Parker told her of his interview with Cartwright, but she seemed +little interested. He did not try to work that day but, after he had +put the offending drawings and manuscript out of sight, he wandered, +read, smoked, and in the evening persuaded Betty to take a moonlight +walk with him. + +They passed the house of Dr. von Stein, from which came a faint +humming that sounded like a dynamo. Across the street the church was +alight for some service. Triumphant music drifted to them. The moon +hung above the spire, with its cross outlined darkly against the +brilliant sky. The windows were great jewels. Betty drew a deep +breath. + +"Sometimes, Allen," she said, "I feel like praying!" + +"You _are_ a beautiful prayer," whispered Parker. + +She walked close to him, holding his arm, and repeated softly: + + "Are not two prayers a perfect strength? + And shall I feel afraid?" + +But that was the end of that mood. By the time they arrived home Betty +was again the strange, aloof, cold, slightly hard woman of the past +few days. Again depression settled upon Allen Parker. + + * * * * * + +The next morning he breakfasted alone and went directly to the studio, +without seeing Betty. Sun streamed into the room; the pencil moved +swiftly. For a brief time Parker thought that he was himself again, as +Madelon grew upon the block of paper. But the end was terrible. The +last few strokes made her grotesque. This time the woman he had drawn +was not merely evil; she was a mocking parody of his heroine. He threw +drawing and pencil across the room. + +But no real artist can be discouraged short of death. He went to work +again and labored until luncheon time. The results were no better, +although they varied. Now it seemed that some malevolent power was +playing with him, torturing him to the accompaniment of devilish +laughter. He was haggard and actually stooped of body when he bathed +his face and went down to the dining room. From across the table Betty +regarded him curiously. + +"Fleming Proctor shot himself last night," she announced, calmly. +"This morning they found him dead in his office." + +"Proctor? You don't mean the president of the Pine Hills National +Bank?" + +"Yes." The expression of Betty's face did not change. "There was a +note saying that he was sorry. It seems he'd made a large loan without +security to an unknown person, and the bank examiner was coming +to-day. Proctor said he couldn't help what he did. The note was +confused as though he were trying to tell something and couldn't. They +think his mind must have given way, particularly as they can't trace +the loan, although the money is undoubtedly gone." + + * * * * * + +"That kind of thing doesn't happen!" Parker was stunned. He had known +Fleming Proctor, and liked him. They met often at the country club. +"Proctor was honest, and a fine business man!" + +"It did happen, Allen!" + +"I'd like to know more about it. That would have been a case for Dr. +von Stein to take in hand." + +"Perhaps," said Betty, in a voice like ice. "But I'm more interested +in finding out how soon you are going to return to normal. Frankly, +I'm beginning to get bored." + +Without a word Parker rose and left the room. Never before had his +wife hurt him like this. Doubly sensitive just now, he was suffering +alone in the studio when the telephone rang. + +"Dr. von Stein speaking. Are you better, Mr. Parker?" + +"Worse! Much worse!" + +"Then come to my house this evening at nine. May I expect you? And +alone?" + +"Yes." There was much Parker wanted to say, but he choked the words +back. "I'll be there, and alone." + +"I shall be ready for you. Good-by." + +Allen Parker hung up the receiver. He did not leave the studio again +until evening. + + * * * * * + +As Parker approached the house of Dr. Friedrich von Stein he saw that +the church was lighted as it had been the night before. In a clear sky +the moon rode above the spire. He paused to let his glance sweep up +along the beautiful line that ran from earth to the slender cross. +That was how he felt. He wanted to rise, as that line rose, from +cumbering earth to clarity and beauty. + +He mounted the steps and rang. Dr. von Stein met him, with eyes and +teeth agleam in the hall light. Wearily Parker stepped inside. His +mood of the moment before was fading. + +"Go upstairs to my laboratory, if you please," said the doctor. "It is +best that I see you there, for it may be that you will need +treatment." + +"I need something," replied Parker as he went up a long flight of +stairs. "I'm in a bad way." + +Without answer von Stein led him down a short corridor and held open a +door. Allen Parker stepped into a room that bewildered him with its +strange contrasts. + +At a glance he saw that nearly the whole upper floor of the building +had been converted into one gigantic room. Near a big stone fireplace, +where burning driftwood sent up its many tinted flames, Heinrich stood +rigidly at attention. Hans, the dachshund, crouched at his feet. When +the dog started to meet Parker a guttural command stopped him. + +Here there were bearskins on the floor, huge stuffed chairs, +footrests, little tables, humidors, pipe racks, all that one could +desire for comfort. Two German duelling swords were crossed above the +mantel. + + * * * * * + +But beyond this corner everything was different. Parker saw the massed +windows of reddish-purple glass; he saw apparatus for which he had no +name, as well as some of the ordinary paraphernalia of the chemical +laboratory. There was wiring everywhere, and a multitude of lighting +fixtures. Utilitarian tables, desks and chairs were placed about with +mathematical precision. There were plates and strips of metal set into +the glass smooth flooring, which was broken by depressions and +elevations of unusual form. + +The most striking thing in the room was a huge copper bowl that hung +inverted from the ceiling. In it, and extending down below the rim, +was what seemed to be a thick and stationary mist. It looked as though +the bowl had been filled with a silver gray mist and then turned +bottom side up. But the cloud did not fall or float away. + +"I can think and speak best from my desk," Von Stein was saying. +"Please sit down facing me in the chair which Heinrich will place for +you. Then we will talk." + +Heinrich rolled one of the overstuffed chairs noiselessly to a +position about six feet from the desk. Parker noticed a long metal +strip in the floor between him and the doctor. + +Just then Hans wriggled forward and the artist scratched his ears, to +be rewarded by a grateful tongue. Again a command from Heinrich +brought the dog to heel, but the voice was not so gruff this time. +Together they returned to the fireplace. + +Von Stein let his hands rest upon the desk top--a surface covered with +levers, electric switches, push buttons, and contrivances the nature +of which Parker could not guess. The doctor leaned forward. He threw +over a switch. The lights in the room became less bright. He pressed a +button. The Danse Macabre of Saint-Saens floated weirdly upon the +air, as though the music came from afar off. + +"Is that part of the treatment?" asked Parker, with a faint smile. +"It's not cheering, exactly." + +"Merely an idiosyncrasy of mine," answered Von Stein, showing his +teeth. "Before anything is done I must, in order to aid the +receptivity of your mind, go a little further with the explanation of +certain things which I mentioned the other day. I promise not to bore +you. More than that, Mr. Parker, I promise that you will be more +interested than you have ever been in anything!" + + * * * * * + +It seemed to Parker that there was something sinister in the manner +and speech of Dr. von Stein. The Dance of Death! Did that music have a +meaning? Impossible! It was only his own sick mind that was allowing +such thoughts to come to him. + +"Anything that will help," he murmured. + +"You have noticed that copper bowl?" Von Stein did not wait for a +reply. "The misty appearance inside and underneath it is given by +thousands upon thousands of minute platinum wires. When it is in use a +slight electrical current is passed through it, varying in power +according to the rate of vibration needed. That instrument, my dear +sir, is a transmitter of thought. I may call it the microphone of the +mind. I can tune in on any mind in the world, by experimenting up and +down the vibration range to determine the susceptibility of the +particular person. The human mind does not need an amplifier, as the +radio receiving set does. Rather, it acts as its own amplifier, once +having received the thought. I invented one, however, to prove that it +could be done. I equipped Heinrich with it and in half an hour by +suggestion reduced him to his present state of docile stupidity. I +have, Mr. Parker, the means of moving people to do my bidding!" + + * * * * * + +Von Stein stopped abruptly, as though for emphasis and to allow his +astounding statements to take effect. Parker sat stunned, struggling +to grasp all the implications of what he had just heard. Suddenly they +became clear. He saw events in order, and in relation to each other. + +"So that's how it was with Cordelia Lyman!" he cried hoarsely, leaning +forward. "And it was you who had that money from Fleming Proctor!" + +"You are not unintelligent," remarked Dr. von Stein. "Better that +science should have the Lyman money than a few old women of no +particular use. As for Proctor, he was a fool. I would have protected +him." + +"And my pictures ... my book...." + +"I can cure you, Mr. Parker. _If I will!_" + +"And anyone is at the mercy of this man!" groaned Parker. + +"Not absolutely, I'm sorry to say," said the doctor. "The action of +thought on the human consciousness is exactly like that of sound on +the tuning fork. When the mind is tuned right, we'll say for +illustration, the lower vibrations are not picked out of the ether. +But as few minds are tuned right, and as all vary from time to time, +I'm practically omnipotent." + +"You have changed the nature of my wife!" Parker was getting hold of +himself and he could speak with a degree of calmness. "That is a worse +crime than the one you've committed against me directly!" + +"Mr. Parker," said the doctor, impressively, "you are in a web. I am +the spider. You are the fly. I don't particularly desire to hurt you, +but I want your wife. This is the crux of the matter. She is the woman +to share my triumphs. Already I have aroused her interest. Give her up +and you will continue your work as before. Refuse, and you will lose +her just as certainly as though you give her to me. For, my dear sir, +you will be insane in less than a month from now. I promise you +that!" + + * * * * * + +Allen Parker was not one to indulge in melodrama. For a long moment he +sat looking into the black eyes of Von Stein. Then he spoke carefully. + +"If my wife of her own will loved you, and wanted freedom, I'd let her +go. But this is a kind of hypnosis. It's diabolical!" + +"Who but the devil was the father of magic?" asked the doctor, +cheerfully. "Hypnosis is unconsciously based on a scientific principle +which I have mastered. Repeated advertising of a tooth brush or a box +of crackers is mild mental suggestion--hypnosis, if you will. My dear +fellow, be sensible!" + +"Sophistry!" growled Parker. + +Von Stein laughed. He moved a lever upon a dial and a sheet of blue +flame quivered between them. With another movement of the lever it +vanished. + +"I could destroy you instantly," he said, "and completely, and no one +could prove a crime! I shall not do it. I have no time to be bothered +with investigations. Think of the fate I have promised you. Think, and +you will give her up!" + +"I shall not!" Parker wiped cold drops from his forehead. The doctor +frowned thoughtfully. + +"I'll intensify her desire to come here to-night," he said. "She +herself will persuade you." + + * * * * * + +Parker set his fingers into the arms of his chair as Von Stein rose +and walked to the copper bowl. He stood directly under it, and put on +goggles with shields fitting close to his feet. At the pressure of his +foot a tablelike affair rose from the floor in front of him. This, +like the desk, was equipped with numerous dials, buttons and levers. +Von Stein manipulated them. The great cap of copper descended until +his head was enveloped by the mist of platinum wires. A faint humming +grew in the room. A tiny bell tinkled. + +"The connection is made," murmured Von Stein. He lifted a hand for +silence: then his fingers leaped among the gadgets on the table. After +that came a brief period, measured by seconds, of immobility. Then the +table sank from view, the copper bowl lifted, and Dr. von Stein went +back to his chair. + +"She will be here shortly," he said. "If that does not change your +mind...." + +He shrugged. Parker knew what that shrug meant. He searched his mind +for a plan and found none. Better die fighting than yield, or risk the +vengeance of Friedrich von Stein. If he could get the doctor away from +the desk where he controlled the blue-white flame there might be a +chance to do something. Von Stein was by far the larger man, but +Parker had been an athlete all his life. If.... + +"That mass of copper and platinum," he said, tentatively, "will make +you master of the world!" + +"My brain, my intelligence, has made me master of the world!" +corrected Von Stein, proudly. He was touched in the right spot now. +"You have not seen all!" + + * * * * * + +He sprang up and went to one of the tables. From his pocket he took a +piece of paper and crumpled it into a ball while, with the other hand, +he made some electrical connections to a plate of metal set into the +surface of the table. Next he placed the wad of paper on the plate. +Then, standing at arm's length from the apparatus, he pressed a +button. Instantly the paper disappeared behind a screen of the colors +of the spectrum, from red to violet. The banded colors were there for +a minute fraction of a second. Then there was nothing where the paper +had been on the plate. Von Stein smiled as he stepped away from the +table. + +"The electron is formed by the crossing of two lines of force," he +said, "and the interaction of positive and negative polarity. The +electron is a stress in the ether, nothing more, but it is the stuff +of which all matter is made. Thought is vibration in one dimension; +matter in two. You have just seen me untie the knot, dissociate the +electrons, or what you will. In plain language I have caused matter to +vanish utterly. That paper is not burned up. It no longer exists in +any form. The earth upon which we stand, Parker, can be dissolved like +mist before the sun!" + +Appalled as he was at this man who boasted and made good his terrible +boasts Allen Parker had not forgotten the purpose that was in him. Now +was his chance, while Von Stein stood smiling triumphantly between +table and desk. + +Parker shot from his chair with the speed of utter desperation. He +feinted, and drove a vicious uppercut to the jaw of Dr. Friedrich von +Stein. The doctor reeled but he did not go down. His fists swung. +Parker found him no boxer, and beat a tattoo upon his middle. Von +Stein began to slump. + +Then two thick muscled arms closed around the artist from behind and +he was lifted clear of the floor. He kicked, and tried to turn, but it +was useless. The doctor recovered himself. His eyes blazed fury. + +"Put him in the chair, Heinrich!" he roared. "For this I will show you +what I can do, Herr Parker!" + + * * * * * + +At that instant little Hans, who had been yelping on the edge of the +battle, dashed in. He leaped for the throat of Von Stein. The doctor +kicked him brutally. + +The shriek of agony from Hans loosened the arms of Heinrich. Parker +got his footing again. He saw the clumsy serving man spring forward +and gather his dog up to his breast. Again Parker rushed for his +enemy. + +It was clear now that Von Stein was cut off from the controls he +wanted, and without Heinrich he could not master Parker in a fight. +For an instant he stood baffled. Then he retreated the length of the +room, taking what blows he could not beat off. He staggered upon a +plate of metal set into the floor, righted himself, and failed in an +attempt to catch hold of Parker. Suddenly he bowed in the direction of +the distant doorway. + +Allen half turned. Betty was coming down the room, staring and +breathless. + +"_Leben sie wohl!_" cried Von Stein. "Farewell, Madame! I should like +to take you with me!" + +A great flash of the colors of the spectrum sent Parker reeling back. +Dr. Friedrich von Stein had gone the way of the crumpled ball of +paper. + +There was a long moment of silence. Then Allen Parker found his wife +in his arms, clinging to him. + +"'Are not two prayers a perfect strength?'" she murmured, sobbing +against his heart. + + +A HUNDRED MILES UNDERGROUND + +Scientists bidding their families good-by in the morning to drop fifty +or a hundred miles underground in high speed elevators, there to +undertake researches not possible nearer to the earth's surface, may +be realities of the next decade or two if some wealthy individual or +institution accepts the recommendation of Dr. Harlow Shapley, +distinguished astronomer of Harvard, in a talk recently before the +American Geographical Society. + +The earth's interior, Dr. Shapley said, is the "third dimension" of +geography. Exploration of the planet's surface soon must cease from +lack of places to explore. Even the upper air is coming to be +reasonably well known scientifically, thanks to instruments sent up +with balloons and to the radio and other investigators who have been +uncovering secrets of upper-air electricity. But the interior of the +earth is still one of the great mysteries. It is a paradox of +astronomy that much more is known about the center of the sun or a +star like Sirius than about the center of the earth. + +Deep shafts of bore holes into the earth have been suggested often as +sources of heat for human use. It is doubtful, however, whether such +heat supplies could be obtained. For one thing, the supposed internal +heat of the earth is still nothing but a guess. It may be that the +relatively slight increases of heat found as one goes deeper in +existing mines are due to radioactivity in the rocks instead of to +outward seepage from the internal fires. Another difficulty about +utilizing earth heat is that heat moves so slowly through substances +like rock, as any housewife can prove by trying to fry an egg on a +brick placed over a gas flame. As soon as the rock heat immediately at +the bottom of a bore hole had been exhausted heat supply would stop +until more could diffuse in from the sides. + +Dr. Shapley's suggestion, in any event, is not to search for heat but +for facts. Even in existing, relatively shallow mines, he believes, +scientific laboratories at different depths under the surface might +yield valuable data not now obtainable. Most scientific men will +agree. Revolutionary as the idea may seem to those familiar only with +the standardized laboratories of physics or chemistry, there are sound +reasons why a half-dozen or so of the sciences should do precisely +what Dr. Shapley suggests. + +At least one underground laboratory has already been installed, for +Prof. E. B. Babcock of the University of California has such a +workroom in the Twin Peaks Tunnel, underneath the mountain that rises +above the city of San Francisco. Natural radioactivity in the rocks +thereabouts is greater than normal and Prof. Babcock finds that this +apparently increases new species among fruit flies. + +To dig out laboratory rooms a mile or so down in existing deep mines +probably would cost far less than many enterprises already financed by +philanthropists. Even to deepen these shafts for several miles would +be much less difficult than most people imagine. + +Increasing heat, if it is found that heat does increase, would not be +difficult to overcome had the engineers sufficient money. Ventilation +and transportation to and from the surface, while too costly for the +business enterprise of winning metals from very deep mines, probably +would present no serious difficulty were facts the chief object +instead of profit. The only question to be decided before intending +benefactors of science are urged to consider some such project is +whether or not the facts likely to be won promise enough value to +mankind. + +An excellent case can be made out for answering yes. Dr. Shapley +mentioned four chief lines of investigation suitable for such +deep-mine laboratories: studies of gravity and of the variable length +of the day, researches on the various kinds of earthquake waves, +experiments on ether drift and tests of the biological effects of +cosmic rays and of the rays from radium. + +Astronomical theories indicate that the day ought to be growing +slightly longer as the earth's rotation decreases a trifle from +century to century because of friction from the tides. The actual +length of the days seems, however, sometimes to be decreasing a tiny +fraction of a second from year to year, as theory says that it should; +sometimes to be increasing in a way for which no present theory +provides. Observations underneath the earth, with a portion of the +planet's crust and gravity overhead, might yield important clues to +the cause of this mysterious wrong time kept by the terrestrial +clock. + + + + +The Gray Plague + +_By L. A. Eshbach_ + +[Sidenote: Maimed and captive, in the depths of an interplanetary +meteor-craft, lay the only possible savior of plague-ridden Earth.] + +[Illustration: _They were almost upon him when he leaped into +action._] + + +CHAPTER I + +Five months before the beginning of that period of madness, that time +of chaos and death that became known as the Gray Plague, the first of +the strange meteors fell to Earth. It landed a few miles west of El +Paso, Texas, on the morning of March 11th. + +In a few hours a great throng of people gathered around the dully +smoldering mass of fire-pitted rock, the upper half of which protruded +from the Earth where it had buried itself, like a huge, roughly +outlined hemisphere. And then, when the crowd had assumed its +greatest proportions, the meteor, with a mighty, Earth-shaking roar, +exploded. + +A vast flood of radiance, more brilliant than the light of the sun, +lit up the sky for miles around. One moment, a throng of curious +people, a number of scientists, newspaper men--a crashing +explosion--and then a great, yawning pit sending forth a blinding +radiance! Destruction and death where life had been. + +The brilliant light streamed from the pit for about ten minutes; then +like a snuffed-out candle flame, it vanished. + +The second of the strange meteors landed on the evening of March 13th, +in the city of Peking, China. It demolished several buildings, and +buried itself beneath the ruins. The Chinese, unaware of the tragedy +at El Paso, gathered in the vicinity, and when the meteor exploded at +about ten o'clock that night, were instantly destroyed. As in Texas, +the great pit emitted a cloud of dazzling light for about ten minutes, +throwing a brilliant glow over the city and its surroundings; then +was extinguished. + +The people of the world awoke to the fact that events worthy of more +than passing interest were occurring. The press of every nation begin +giving the strange meteors more and more publicity. Statements of +different pseudo-scientists were published in explanation of the +meteor's origin, statements that aroused world wide conjecture. + + * * * * * + +Approximately twenty-four hours after the falling of the second +missile, the third one fell, landing near Madrid, Spain. The +Spaniards, having received news of the El Paso and Peking tragedies, +avoided the ugly mass of rock as though it were a dreaded pestilence. +In every way its action was similar to that of its two predecessors. + +The interest of the world was doubled now. The unusual similarity of +the action of the meteors, and the regularity of their landings, +seemed indicative of a definite, hostile purpose behind it all. A +menace from the unknown--a peril from the skies! + +Scientists began giving serious consideration to the unusual +phenomenon, pottering around in the pits, wearing airs of puzzlement. +But their investigations were of no avail, for nothing of any great +significance came to light through their efforts. + +At about that time, an announcement was made that created a furor. +Astronomers in different parts of the United States reported that they +had observed a bright flare of light leaping up from the darkened +portion of the planet Venus. The astronomers had no definite idea of +anything of importance in back of what they had seen; but not so the +masses. The flare, they said, was caused by the release of another +meteor! + +From Venus! Missiles, hurled by Venerians, menacing the Earth! The +silver planet became the subject of universal discussion; innumerable +fantastic articles about it appeared in magazine sections of Sunday +newspapers. And the astronomers of Earth turned their telescopes +toward Venus with an interest they had never felt before. + + * * * * * + +Four days of expectant waiting passed by after the third meteor had +fallen, while interest continued mounting at an accelerating pace. And +then, at about two o'clock in the morning of the 18th, three great +observatories, two in North America and one in England, recorded the +falling of an extraordinarily large and unusually brilliant meteor +that glowed with an intense, bluish-white light as it entered the +Earth's atmosphere. And, unlike most meteors, this one was not +consumed by its intense heat, but continued gleaming brilliantly until +it vanished below the horizon. Simultaneous with the falling of the +meteor, the Earth was rocked by one of the worst quakes in history. + +Seismographs in all parts of the world recorded the tremors of the +Earth, each indicating that the disturbance had occurred somewhere +beneath the Atlantic ocean. Evidently the fourth meteor had fallen +into the ocean, for the shaking of the Earth was obviously the result +of the collision. That quakes had not followed the landing of the +first three was due to the fact that they had been far smaller than +the fourth. + +And then, a short time after the earthquake, the worst storm in two +hundred years broke over the Atlantic. Waves, mountain high, piled +themselves upon each other in a wild frenzy; a shrieking wind lashed +the waters into a liquid chaos. Great ocean-liners were tossed about +like tiny chips; an appalling number of smaller ships were lost in +that insane storm. + +Nor was the destruction confined to the sea, for all along the +Atlantic coast of North America and Europe, mighty walls of water +rushed in, and wrecked entire towns and cities. + +Fortunately the storm was of short duration; a few hours after it +began, it subsided. + +For a number of weeks public attention was centered upon the meteors +and storm; but gradually, when nothing further occurred, the fickle +interest of the masses began to wane. A month after the storm, the +strange meteors were no longer mentioned by the press, and +consequently, had passed from the public mind. Only the astronomers +remembered, keeping their telescopes trained on Venus night after +night. + +Four months passed by during which nothing of an unusual nature came +to the attention of the world. But at the end of that time, it +suddenly dawned upon those nations whose shores touched the Atlantic +ocean, that something extraordinary was happening. It was taking place +so insidiously, so quietly, that it had attracted no great attention. + +A series of inexplicable sea disasters had begun. Every ship that had +traveled over a certain, regular steamship route, had disappeared, +leaving no trace. Mysteriously, without warning, they had vanished; +without a single S O S being sent, seven freighters had been lost. The +disappearances had been called to the world's attention by the +shipping companies, alarmed at the gradual loss of their boats. + +Then other mysterious vanishings came to the attention of the world. +Ships in all parts of the Atlantic were being lost. When this fact +became known, trans-Atlantic commerce ceased almost over night. With +the exception of a few privately owned yachts and freighters, the +Atlantic became deserted. + +And finally, a few days after the world became aware of the strange +disappearances on the Atlantic, the Gray Plague introduced itself to +humanity. Attempts were made to repress the facts: but the tragedy of +the freighter, _Charleston_, in all its ghastliness and horror, became +known in spite of all attempts at secrecy. + +On the morning of August 3rd, the _Charleston_ was found, half buried +in the sand of a beach on the coast of Florida, cast there, evidently, +by a passing storm. The freighter had been one of the first boats to +disappear. + +When the ship's discoverers boarded her, their eyes were greeted by a +sight whose ghastliness filled them with a numbing horror. Indeed, so +terrifying was the spectacle on the _Charleston_, that the +discoverers, four boys of adolescent age, left in fear-stricken haste. +Nor could they be induced to return to the ship's deck. + + * * * * * + +Later, a group of men from a nearby town boarded the freighter to +investigate the boys' amazing report. In the group was a newspaper +reporter who chanced to be in the vicinity on a minor story. It was +through the reporter's account that the facts became known as quickly +as they did. + +When the men clambered up the side of the _Charleston_ to her deck, +they saw a spectacle the like of which had never before been seen on +Earth. Although they had been prepared for the horror to some extent +by the story of the boys, the sight on the _Charleston_ exceeded their +description to such a degree that, for the moment, the men were +rendered speechless. + +The deck of the _Charleston_ was a shambles--a scene of sudden, +chilling death. All about were strewn gray, lifeless bodies. Death had +overtaken the crew in the midst of their duties, suddenly, without +warning, it seemed. Bodies strewn about--yet nowhere was there sign of +decay! Bodies, lifeless for days, or weeks--yet intact! + +The men were fearfully impressed by the strangely grotesque positions +of the corpses. With a few exceptions, they lay on the deck in +abnormal, twisted masses of gray covered flesh. Somehow, they seemed +flattened, as though they had been soft, jellylike, and had flowed, +had settled, flat against the deck. Some were no more than three +inches thick, and had spread out to such an extent that they looked +like fantastic caricatures of human bodies. That unnatural change in +their structure, and the ghastly, dead-gray color of their skins gave +the corpses a horrifying, utterly repulsive appearance that made the +flesh of the men crawl. + +The bodies had a strangely soft aspect, as though they were still +jellylike. One of the men, bolder than the rest, touched a body--and +withdrew his hand in revulsion and surprise. For the ugly mass was +cold, and as hard as bone: the tissues of the flesh seemingly replaced +by a solid, bony substance. Later investigation revealed that all the +dead on the _Charleston_ had assumed a similar, bonelike solidity. + +When the men left the freighter to report the tragedy to the proper +authorities, their faces were blanched, and their nerves badly shaken. +Yet their horror was nothing when compared with what it would have +been, had they known what was to follow. + + * * * * * + +Rapidly the story of the_ Charleston_ spread. By means of the press, +over the radio, even by word of mouth, the story of the horror on the +freighter was given publicity. All over the United States and Canada +it spread, and from thence to the rest of the world. Eagerly was the +story accepted: here, at last, was the explanation of the sea +disasters! And then, more than ever before, was the Atlantic ocean +shunned. + +The bodies of the seamen on the freighter were turned over to +scientists for experimentation and research. It was thought that they +might be able to discover the cause of the Gray Death, and with a +knowledge of its cause, create something with which to free the +Atlantic from its scourge. + +The scientists' investigations only served to mystify the world to a +greater degree. The only thing that came to light was the cause of the +bodies' bonelike rigidity. In some inexplicable way the bones in the +seamen had dissolved, and according to appearances, while the bodies +were plastic, had flattened out. And then, strange and unnatural +though it seemed, the calcium from the dissolved bones had gathered at +the surface of each body, and combining with the flesh and skin, had +formed the hard, bony shell that gave them their ghastly grayness, and +their appearance of petrification. Aside from this, the scientists +learned nothing; the cause of this amazing phenomenon was a complete +mystery to them. + +Slowly, methodically, step by step, the unusual had been taking place. +From the time of the landing of the first strange meteor, up to the +discovery of the _Charleston_, there had been a gradual increase in +the significance of each succeeding event. + +Then finally came the climax: the Gray Plague itself. All that +preceded it faded into significance before the horror of the dread +pestilence that seized the world with its destroying talons. + + * * * * * + +A short time after the discovery of the _Charleston_, the Plague made +its first appearance on land. Slowly, pitilessly, inexorably, it +began, taking its toll all along the Atlantic coast. From Newfoundland +to Brazil; from the British Isles to Egypt, wherever people lived near +the ocean, thousands were stricken with the dread malady. + +The old and infirm were the most quickly affected; their weakened +bodies could not withstand the ravage of the Plague as could those of +younger people. An old man, walking along a large thoroughfare in +Savannah, Georgia, suddenly uttered a fearful shriek and sank to the +pavement. While the pedestrians watched with bulging eyes, he seemed +to shrink, to flatten, to flow liquidly, turning a ghastly gray. +Within an hour he was as hard as the men of the _Charleston_. Of all +the millions, perhaps he was the first. + +Others followed in the wake of the first victim, young as well as old; +three hours after the death in Savannah, every channel of +communication was choked with news of a constantly increasing number +of casualties. A Boston minister, preaching a funeral sermon, +collapsing beside the coffin; a lineman on a telegraph pole, overcome, +falling--and splashing! A thousand incongruous tragedies shocking +humanity. + +In Europe the action of the Plague was the same as in North America. +Death stalking the sea-coast, destroying thousands; ignorant +fishermen, men of learning, women and children of every age--all were +grist to be ground in the mill of the Gray Plague. + +Before a week had gone by, no one remained alive in the villages, +towns and cities all along the Atlantic. New York, London, all the +large coast cities were deserted by the living, left to the rigid +dead. From the largest metropolis to the smallest hamlet, all became +body-glutted tombs. + +And then, on the morning of October 12th, news was given to the world +that threw mankind into a panic. The Plague was moving inland! Slowly, +yet relentlessly it spread, no longer confining its effect to the +sea-coast, but moving farther and farther inland toward the heart of +the two continents, driving mankind before it. For people fled in +insane terror before the advancing death. Nor was there escape from +the menace--no antidote to counteract, no sanctuary wherein to hide. + +To North and South, to East and West, the pestilence spread, +destroying as it went. Unless there were some miraculous intervention, +the human race would be destroyed! + + * * * * * + +Officials of the world were at their wits' end; scientists threw up their +hands in despair. The Plague was an insoluble puzzle--enigmatical, utterly +inexplicable, beyond the knowledge of Earth. + +Scientists and doctors were brutally slain during that period by +fear-crazed mobs, because of their inability to rescue the world from +the grip of the Plague. Thousands of people died while striving to +escape from the Gray Death, crushed by passing motor vehicles, or +starving in the congested areas. Gone was the boasted civilization of +man--humanity sinking rapidly to the level of the beast; gone, +destroyed in a few weeks! + +And then one day when the end seemed perilously close, there was +ushered into the presence of the remnant of the United States +officials who had gathered in San Francisco, a twisted monstrosity of +a man, fearfully scarred and deformed. He was closeted with them for +two hours. At the end of that time an excited official communicated +with the leader of the American scientists. + +"A cure for the Plague has been discovered!" he cried in joyful tones. +"Man still has a chance!" + +Before an hour had passed by, scientists were in possession of +cultures of germs that would destroy the bacilli of the Gray Death. +The hope of salvation restored some semblance of order; and in a very +short time the development of the germs was going forward as rapidly +as skilled bacteriologists could carry it. Forces of doctors were +marshalled to administer the cure, inoculating all who were untouched +by the Plague. + +At about that time, a small, bronze-colored sphere arose into the air +above San Francisco, and sped eastward with amazing velocity. It +flashed over the United States, over the Atlantic ocean, and over +western Europe, finally landing in the midst of the European hordes. +There its operator, a deformed cripple, left bacteria similar to those +he had given to the United States. + +In a short time Europe, too, was busily engaged in developing the +bacteria, and inoculating her people. + +Many others died before the world was rendered immune, but at last +mankind let its labors cease. The Gray Plague was overcome. + +Then the work of reclaiming the deserted areas was begun; then, too, +was started the ghastly task of disposing of the countless, rigid +dead. And finally, a great steamer left New York harbor, and started +across the Atlantic. It was the purpose of the men on board to destroy +utterly the source of the Plague. + +But long before that occurred, humanity had heard the story of Phillip +Parkinson, the man who saved the world--had heard, and had honored the +deliverer of mankind. + +Parkinson's story follows: + + +CHAPTER II + +The steam yacht, Diana, bound for the Azores and points south, was two +days out from Miami when the great meteor fell into the Atlantic. On +the after deck, leaning over the rail, watching the moonlit waters, +stood Phillip Parkinson, owner of the yacht. A bacteriologist of +international fame was Parkinson, on an early vacation to recuperate +from the effects of a strenuous winter of research. Nervous, rather +high-strung, he had been unable to sleep; at about one in the morning +of the 18th of March, he had come up on deck. + +He had stood there for about an hour when suddenly there appeared in +the sky above him, a meteor, a great disc of blue-white incandescence. +It seemed to be rushing straight down toward him; instinctively he +leaped back, as though to avoid the fiery missile. + +As the constantly expanding disc flashed through the hundred miles of +Earth's atmosphere, the ocean, as far as eye could see, became as +light as day. Bathed in that baleful, white glare, Parkinson, +bewildered, dazed, half-blinded, watched the approaching stellar +visitant. + +In a few moments it struck--no more than two miles away. In the last, +bright flare of blue-white light, Parkinson saw a gigantic column of +steam and boiling water leap up from the sea. Then thick, impenetrable +darkness fell--darkness that was intensified by its contrast with the +meteor's blinding light. + +For ten tense, breathless seconds utter silence hung over the sea ... +then, for those on the yacht, the world went mad! A shrill, unearthly +shriek--the sound of the meteor's passage through the atmosphere; an +ear-splitting roar, as of the simultaneous release of the +thunder-drums of ages; a howling demon of wind; a solid wall of +raging, swirling water of immeasurable height--all united in an +indescribable chaos that bewildered those on board the Diana, and that +lifted the yacht and--threw it upon its side! + +When the first rushing mountain of lathering, thundering water crashed +upon the yacht, Parkinson felt himself hurtling through the roaring +air. For a moment he heard the infernal pandemonium of noise ... then +the strangling, irresistible brine closed over his head. + +A blackness deeper than that of the night--and Parkinson knew no +more.... + + * * * * * + +Slowly consciousness returned to the bacteriologist. It came under the +guise of a dull, yet penetrating throbbing coming from beneath the +surface on which he lay. Vaguely he wondered at it; he had not yet +entirely cast off the enshrouding stupor that gripped him. + +Gradually he came into full possession of his faculties--and became +aware of a dull aching throughout his entire body. In his chest it +seemed to be intensified; every breath caused a sharp pang of pain. + +Faltering and uncertain, he arose and peered around. Before, lay the +open sea, calm now, and peaceful. Long, rolling swell swept in and +dashed themselves against the rocks a few feet away. Rocks? For a +moment Parkinson stared at the irregular shore-line in dazed wonder. +Then as his mind cleared, the strangeness of his position flashed upon +him. + +Solid earth was under his feet! Although he must be hundreds of miles +from shore, in some way he had drifted upon land. So far as he knew, +there were no islands in that part of the Atlantic; yet his very +position belied the truth. He could not have drifted to the mainland; +the fact that he was alive precluded all possibilities of that, for he +would have drowned in far less time than the latter thought implied. + +He turned and inspected the land upon which he had been cast. A small, +barren island, bleak and inhospitable, and strangely metallic, met his +gaze. The rays of the sun beating down upon it were thrown back with +an uncomfortable intensity; the substance of the island was a +lustrous, copperlike metal. No soil softened the harshness of the +surface; indescribably rugged and pitted was the two hundred-foot +expanse. It reminded Parkinson of a bronze relief-map of the moon. + +For a moment he puzzled over the strangeness of the unnatural island; +then suddenly he realized the truth. This was the meteor! Obviously, +this was the upper side of the great sphere from space, protruding +above the sea. + + * * * * * + +Fortunate for him that the meteor had not been completely covered by +water, he thought--but was it fortunate? True, he was alive now, +thanks to the tiny island, but how long would he remain alive without +food or water, and without hope of securing either? Unless he would be +picked up by a passing steamer, he would die a far more unpleasant +death than that of drowning. Some miracle had saved him from a watery +grave; it would require another to rescue him from a worse fate. + +Even now he was beginning to feel thirsty. He had no way of +determining how long he had been unconscious, but that it was at least +ten hours, he was certain, for the sun had been at its zenith when he +had awakened. No less than fifteen hours had gone by since +water--other than that of the sea--had passed his lips. And the fact +that it was impossible for him to quench his thirst only served to +render it more acute. + +In order to take his mind from thoughts of his thirst and of the +immediate future, he rapidly circled the island. As he had expected, +it was utterly barren. With shoulders drooping in despair he settled +wearily to a seat on the jagged mass of metal high up on top of the +meteor. + +An expression of sudden interest lit up his face. For a second time he +felt that particular throbbing, that strange pulsing beneath the +surface of the meteor. But now it was far more noticeable than before. +It seemed to be directly below him, and very close to the surface. + +Parkinson could not tell how long he sat there, but from the +appearance of the sun, he thought that at the very shortest, an hour +passed by while he remained on that spot. And during that time, the +throbbing gradually increased until the metal began vibrating under +his feet. + +Suddenly the bacteriologist leaped aside. The vibrating had reached +its height, and the meteor seemed to lurch, to tilt at a sharp angle. +His leap carried him to firm footing again. And then, his thirst and +hopeless position completely forgotten, Parkinson stared in +fascination at the amazing spectacle before him. + + * * * * * + +An eighteen-foot disc of metal, a perfect circle, seemed to have been +cut out of the top of the meteor. While he watched, it began turning +slowly, ponderously, and started sinking into the meteor. As it sank, +Parkinson fancied that it grew transparent, and gradually vanished +into nothingness--but he wasn't sure. + +A great pit, eighteen feet wide, but far deeper, lay before him in the +very place where, not more than ten minutes before, he had stood. Not +a moment too soon had he leaped. + +Motionless he stood there, waiting in tense expectation. What would +happen next, he had not the least idea, but he couldn't prevent his +imagination from running riot. + +He hadn't long to wait before his watching was rewarded. A few minutes +after the pit appeared, he heard a loud, high-pitched whir coming from +the heart of the meteor. As it grew louder, it assumed a higher and +still higher key, finally rising above the range of human ears. And at +that moment the strange vehicle arose to the surface. + +A simple-appearing mechanism was the car, consisting of a twelve-foot +sphere of the same bronze-like metal that made up the meteor, with a +huge wheel, like a bronze cincture, around its middle. It was the +whirling of this great wheel that had caused the high-pitched +whirring. The entire, strange machine was surrounded by a peculiar +green radiance, a radiance that seemed to crackle ominously as the +sphere hovered over the mouth of the pit. + +For a moment the car hung motionless, then it drifted slowly to the +surface of the meteor, landing a few feet away from Parkinson. Hastily +he drew back from the greenly phosphorescent thing--but not before he +had experienced an unpleasant prickling sensation over his entire +body. + +As the bacteriologist drew away, there was a sharp, audible click +within the interior of the sphere; and the green radiance vanished. At +the same moment, three heavy metal supports sprang from equi-distant +points in the sides of the car, and held the sphere in a balanced +position on the rounded top of the meteor. + +There was a soft, grating sound on the opposite side of the car. +Quickly, Parkinson circled it--and stopped short in surprise. + + * * * * * + +Men were descending from an opening in the side of the sphere! +Parkinson had reasoned that since the meteor had come from the depths +of space, any being in its interior, unnatural as that seemed, would +have assumed a form quite different from the human. Of course, +conditions on Earth could be approximated on another planet. At any +rate, whatever the explanation, the sphere was emitting men! + +They were men--but there was something queer about them. They were +very tall--seven feet or more--and very thin; and their skins were a +delicate, transparent white. They looked rather ghostly in their +tight-fitting white suits. It was not this that made them seem queer, +however: it was an indefinite something, a vague suggestion of +heartless inhumanity, of unearthliness, that was somehow repulsive and +loathsome. + +There were three of them, all very similar in appearance and bearing. +Their surprise at the sight of Parkinson, if anything, was greater +than the start their appearance had given him. He, at least, had +expected to see beings of some sort, while the three had been taken +completely by surprise. + +For a moment they surveyed him with staring, cold-blue eyes. Then +Parkinson extended his hand, and as cordially as he could, exclaimed: + +"Hello! Welcome to Earth!" + +The visitors from space ignored his advances and continued staring at +him. Their attitude at first was quizzical, speculative, but slowly a +hostile expression crept into their eyes. + +Suddenly, with what seemed like common consent, they faced each other, +and conversed in low tones in some unintelligible tongue. For almost a +minute they talked, while Parkinson watched them in growing +apprehension. + +Finally they seemed to have reached some definite conclusion; with one +accord they turned and moved slowly toward the bacteriologist, +something distinctly menacing in their attitudes. The men from the +meteor were tall, but they were thin; Parkinson, too, was large, and +his six-foot length was covered with layers of solid muscle. As the +three advanced toward him, he doubled his fists, and crouched in +readiness for the expected attack. + + * * * * * + +They were almost upon him when he leaped into action. A crushing left +to his stomach sent the first one to the meteor-top, where he lay +doubled up in pain. But that was the only blow that Parkinson struck; +in a moment he found himself lying prone upon his back, utterly +helpless, his body completely paralyzed. What they had done to him, he +did not know; all that he could remember was two thin bodies twining +themselves around him--a sharp twinge of pain at the base of his +skull; then absolute helplessness. + +One of the tall beings grasped Parkinson about the waist, and with +surprising strength, threw him over his shoulder. The other assisted +his groaning fellow. When the latter had recovered to some extent, the +three ascended the ladder that led into the metal sphere. + +The interior of the strange vehicle, as far as Parkinson could see, +was as simple as its exterior. There was no intricate machinery of any +sort in the square room; probably what machinery there was lay between +the interior and exterior walls of the sphere. As for controls, these +consisted of several hundred little buttons that studded one of the +walls. + +When they entered the vehicle, Parkinson was literally, and none too +gently, dumped upon the floor. The man who had carried him stepped +over to the controls. Like those of a skilled typist, his long, thin +fingers darted over the buttons. In a moment the sphere was in motion. + +There were no more thrills for Parkinson in that ride than he would +have derived from a similar ride in an elevator. They sank very slowly +for some minutes, it seemed to him; then they stopped with a barely +noticeable jar. + +The door of the car was thrust aside by one of the three, and +Parkinson was borne from the sphere. A bright, coppery light flooded +the interior of the meteor, seeming to radiate from its walls. In his +helpless state, and in the awkward position in which he was carried, +with his head close to the floor, he could see little of the room +through which they passed, in spite of the light. Later, however, he +learned that it was circular in shape, and about twice the diameter of +the cylindrical tube that led into it. The wall that bound this +chamber was broken at regular intervals by tall, narrow, doorways, +each leading into a different room. + +Parkinson was carried into one of these, and was placed in a +high-backed metal chair. After he had been strapped fast, one of the +men placed his hands at the base of the bacteriologist's skull; he +felt a sudden twinge of pain; and his strange paralysis left him +suddenly. + + * * * * * + +He knew it was useless to struggle; without resisting, he let them +place upon his head a cap-like device that seemed lost in a tangled +maze of machinery. Each meteor-man grasped one of the instruments +resembling old-time radio head-phones that were fastened to +Parkinson's head-gear, and clamped it over his ears. + +The bacteriologist heard a steady, humming drone, like a swarm of +angry bees--felt a peculiar, soothing warmth about his head; and then +he slept. + +Only a moment or two seemed to have passed when he awoke. The strange +device on his head was removed and put away; and then, to Parkinson's +amazement, one of the three men, evidently the leader, spoke--in +English! + +"Now that you have recovered consciousness," he remarked in a cold, +expressionless voice, "you had better realize at the very beginning +that you are completely in our power. Any effort to escape will be +futile, for there is only one way to reach the outside; the opening +through the top; and only one means of travel through that opening: +the sphere. And since you know nothing about the operation of the +machine, any attempt to run it would be disastrous to you. + +"If you promise to refrain from violence, we'll release you, and give +you some measure of freedom. We'll do this because you can be of +assistance to us in one of our tasks here on your planet." + +Parkinson assented readily; he knew he could gain nothing by rejecting +their offer. "Of course I'll promise. But--but, how did you learn +English?" he asked in bewilderment. + +"You taught us," the leader replied. "That device we placed upon your +head created a duplicate of your knowledge in our minds. We knew your +language, your world, indeed, yourself, as well as you do." + +Parkinson shook his head in amazement. Another question came to his +mind as the men released him. He was interrupted before he could give +it expression. + + * * * * * + +"Don't ask," the leader exclaimed. "I'll tell our entire story so that +you'll have no occasion to annoy us with your questions. + +"We're Venerians," he began, "inhabitants of the planet you call +Venus. For ages our world has been overcrowded. A short time ago, the +conditions became so acute that something had to be done. It was +suggested that we seek another habitable planet to which our people +could migrate. + +"Your Earth was thought to be the world with physical conditions most +closely resembling those of Acor, or Venus. Our scientists set to work +immediately, using forces and devices with which you are totally +unfamiliar, and constructed several missiles which they hurled at +Earth. These missiles, spherical masses closely resembling meteors, +were set to explode after a certain period of contact with an +atmosphere similar to our own. By their explosion we on Venus could +determine whether or not this world had a breathable atmosphere. + +"Upon our deciding that the Earth was habitable, we built this great +machine. It is chiefly composed of our greatest heat-resister, a +metal we call thoque; I see no corresponding word in your vocabulary; +evidently you are unfamiliar with the element, or else it is unknown +on Earth. + +"After our flight through space, automatically controlled, by the way, +on Venus, we landed here. With our thoque disintegrator, we bored a +passageway to the surface of this great sphere. Then we entered the +car, rose to the top of the passageway, and discovered you. + +"That is a brief synopsis of our actions--and it must suffice! Ask no +questions; we do not wish to be disturbed by the blind gropings of +your primitive mind!" + +There was a cold finality in the Venerian's voice that convinced +Parkinson that for the moment, at least, he had better forget the many +questions that had surged up in his mind. + +The Venerian leader spoke again. "From our observations of your mind, +we know that you have not had food or water for a rather lengthy +period of time. It is not our purpose to starve you: you shall eat and +drink." + +A minute later Parkinson sat at a very high table in one of the rooms, +drinking water from Venus, and eating the fare of an alien world. + + * * * * * + +Days passed by, merging into weeks, while Parkinson lost all track of +time. The bacteriologist's existence became a ceaseless round of toil. +The Venerian had said that he would be given some measure of freedom, +because he would be of use to them; he had not been with them long ere +he learned what that use was. + +One of the rooms was filled with great slabs of thoque; it was +Parkinson's task to carry the slabs to the vehicle at the base of the +shaft, one by one; to rise to the surface with them, accompanied by +two of the men--the third was working on the surface--and there unload +them. Day after day this continued. + +Hope of escaping was almost dead in Parkinson's breast, because he +was constantly under the surveillance of those hard, blue eyes. Only +one thing kept hope alive: by watching the Venerians operate the car, +he was slowly gaining a knowledge of the meaning of the many buttons +in the wall. Some day, if an opportunity came, he meant to be ready to +take advantage of it. + +Once, shortly after his monotonous toil began, Parkinson experienced a +great flare of hope for deliverance. They had just brought another +slab to the surface, when a steamer appeared above the horizon. It was +far away, but its crew must surely have seen the island. + +But his expectations were short-lived. One of the three drew from +beneath his tight-fitting, white garments a little, metal object, a +long tube, with a handle at one end, and pointed it at the vessel. For +a moment he held it thus, moving it slowly backward and forward: then +he returned it to its place of concealment, and turned away with an +air of indifference. And Parkinson saw the ship burst suddenly into +flame, a few minutes later to sink beneath the waves. + + * * * * * + +Shaken to the depths of his being, Parkinson resumed his work. The +inhumanity of these saturnine Venerians filled him with a dread so +great that he refused to admit it to himself. That that had not been +the first time that they had destroyed a ship, he felt sure; his heart +sank, and grew more hopeless. + +At last his task of carrying slabs was finished. The room was empty, +and the work completed. A great tower, entirely covering the island, +reared its head into the sky. In appearance, it resembled a very tall +lighthouse. This resemblance held true only until its top was reached; +there it ended. From the tower's top extended four long, hollow arms, +so constructed that they whirled about the tower at a mad pace when +the machinery with which they were connected was started. In addition, +arrangement was made for a powerful blast of air to be sent through +the tubes when the Venerians so desired. + +What the purpose of this great edifice was, Parkinson could not guess: +later, he learned the horrible significance of it all. + +After the tower was finished, the bacteriologist was left to his own +devices to a great extent, though always closely watched by one of his +captors. They let him eat all the food he desired, and let him lie +around as much as he wished, regaining his health and strength. This +was a pleasant surprise for him: he took full advantage of his +privileges. + +Then, one day when Parkinson had fully recovered from the effects of +his grueling labors, the leader of the Venerians approached him from +behind, and before he could raise a hand in defense, had rendered him +helplessly paralyzed. + +"You will now be given a second opportunity to help the cause of Venus +on Earth," he said in his expressionless voice. And so saying, he +lifted Parkinson, and bore him into one of the rooms. + + +CHAPTER III + +At no time while he was held captive by the Venerians was Parkinson as +hopeless, or as completely filled with despair as when he was carried +into this room. There was something depressing about the chamber, +something that gripped his heart with the chill hand of dread. He had +a feeling of impending evil. + +The few momentary glimpses of the chamber that he had gotten while he +was being carried, sufficed to convince Parkinson that this was a +laboratory, or--he shuddered at the thought--an operating room. The +walls, floor and ceiling were composed of a white porcelainlike +substance: from these walls, strangely, streamed the same coppery +light that filled the entire meteor. + +Entirely concealing one wall was a long, glass case, constructed to +form countless little niches, each of which held a small, transparent +vessel. At the back of the room was a high table, covered with +transparent cases which were filled with complex instruments of every +description, some similar to those on Earth; others entirely +different. + +The thing that brought the thought of an operating room to Parkinson's +mind was the long, white slab that rested on metal uprights in the +room's center--an operating table. A moment after they entered the +room, he had his theory substantiated: the Venerian leader placed him +on the white slab, stretching him to full length. It was an operating +table--and he was to be the subject of their operation! + +He had lain there but a moment when two of the Venerians approached, +one on either side, and began removing his clothing. It was not long +before he lay on the cold slab, entirely nude. + + * * * * * + +While he was being stripped, he heard the leader of the Venerians +moving about, heard the click of glass, the rasp of metal upon metal. +But, unable to move his eyes, he had seen none of his activities, +except to note that several of the little vessels had been taken from +their resting places. + +When the two had finished disrobing him, and had replaced him upon his +back, the leader appeared. He looked down at Parkinson, a queer +expression in his hard, blue eyes. He seemed to hesitate a moment: +then he spoke. + +"Earthling," he said in his toneless voice, "I have decided to tell +you of our intentions. You are going to play a very important part in +our scheme, and it is only fitting that you should know. You can do +nothing to hinder our plans: you are giving us incalculable aid: and +it affords me some degree of satisfaction to tell you this. + +"As you know, Earthling, we purpose to have the people of Acor to come +to Earth to live, to relieve the congested conditions of our own +world. Obviously, there is no room for two types of intelligent +beings on one planet--your race must go! It is our intention to +destroy all human life on Earth! + +"We intend accomplishing this with Venerian microbes. From the record +of your knowledge, I've learned that diseases of various kinds are +common on Earth. We expected that such would be the case, and thus, +you would not be immune to germs, so we came prepared. Each of the +small compartments in that case that you may have seen, contains a +culture of a different germ. After we have determined which Venerian +bacilli will be the most effective, we will develop them in great +quantities, and loose them upon your world. + +"In the selecting process, you will play your part. Since our germs +may have a different effect upon your bodies than they do upon +Venerians, we will inoculate you with different diseases, and watch +their effects upon you. + +"Of course, you yourself will be in no great danger, for we will have +the diseases under our constant control. On Acor we have abolished +disease entirely, having a reagent or an antitoxin for every malady; +we will use our cures upon you immediately after we have seen how you +react to each disease. + +"What we desire is a bacillus that will take effect when it is +breathed in through the lungs. If the disease is of such a nature as +to instill fear in the minds of observers, so much the better; but +that is unnecessary. When we discover a microbe of that nature, we +will be ready to act. + +"By the way, our work has been lessened to a great degree by the fact +that you are a bacteriologist. The knowledge we gain from you has +enabled us to eliminate at least half of our microbes. All Venerian +germs that are duplicated on Earth will be left out of our +calculations. Only those unknown to your planet will be tried upon +you." + + * * * * * + +When the Venerian had finished his explanation, each word of which had +sounded like a death knell to Parkinson, the bacteriologist lay on +the slab in the grip of a nightmare of horror. The cold-blooded +brutality of these Venerian beasts, and the thought of lying there +helpless with his body the prey of unknown diseases, filled him with a +maddening fear and dread. + +Mightily he struggled to break the uncanny bonds that held him +paralyzed, but it was of no avail. His body retained its helpless +rigidity. + +Only for a moment was Parkinson left to his fearful musings; then the +Venerians begin their work. A tall table on wheels was brought from +somewhere, and drawn to the side of the slab. Upon this various +instruments were placed, side by side with numerous flat vessels +containing germ cultures. Parkinson saw none of this, but from the +sounds that came to his ears he could infer what was taking place. + +Finally, everything seemed to be in readiness. The Venerian leader +bent over Parkinson for a moment: and the latter felt a sharp pain in +his side. Then the Venerian withdrew. + +Slowly, interminably, the time dragged by while the microbes that had +been introduced into his body were at their work. How long he lay +there with the Venerians watching, he could not tell, but it seemed to +be hours. During that time he felt himself gripped by an increasingly +violent fever. Unbearable heat flooded his body. And because of his +helplessness, he could do nothing to relieve his pain and discomfort. +It was maddening! + +When he thought he had reached the limit of his endurance, and felt +that he would go insane in another moment, the Venerian leader +injected something into his side. He became aware of an immediate +sense of relief; in an unbelievably short time the fever had left him +and he was himself again. + +There followed for Parkinson hours of nightmare agony, while the +Venerians experimented with his living body. Time after time he was +inoculated with strange bacilli that wracked him with tortures +indescribable. Hideous diseases covered him with festering sores; +twisted his flesh into a repellent mass of scars; left him weakened +and deformed. Had it not been for the incredible curative powers of +the Venerians, he would have died then; but always, when the end +seemed at hand, they brought him back to life, only to subject him to +other horrors. + + * * * * * + +After what seemed countless ages, the Venerians left him alone. Under +the powerful effects of their cures, Parkinson began to recover. Hope +welled up in his heart; perhaps the terrible experiments were ended. + +When he was almost certain that the torture was over, his hopes were +suddenly destroyed. The three Venerians approached again, each bearing +a number of vessels containing germ cultures. These they placed on the +table at Parkinson's side; then two of them withdrew, leaving the +leader to continue his work. Uttering a few words in the Venerian +tongue, he occupied himself with something on the table, and a moment +later turned toward the bacteriologist, a long needle in his hands. + +Parkinson felt a great burning pain in his left arm, as though a +searing, hot needle had been thrust into his flesh. In a moment this +vanished. Then a feeling of irresistible lassitude overwhelmed him; an +unbearable weariness filled him with longing for rest, peace--death. +This, too, was of short duration. + +With the passing of the weariness, Parkinson became aware of a sharp +throbbing in his arm. Rapidly this increased in violence, until +suddenly an unbearable, excruciating agony seized him. Far greater was +this than any pain he had suffered before. For a moment he struggled +to scream, to move, to do anything to relieve his agony. There seemed +to be a sudden snap--a cry of anguish burst from his lips--and his +senses left him. Just as the bonds of paralysis had broken, he had +lost consciousness. + +Life returned to Parkinson very slowly. In a daze he stared around, +uncomprehending. Then suddenly he realized that he was no longer +paralyzed: nor was he in the operating room. The bed on which he lay +was soft, comfortable; the room, unfamiliar. But not for long did his +mind dwell upon this; in a few moments his eyelids closed, and he +slept the sleep of complete mental and physical exhaustion. + +Daring the weeks that followed, Parkinson did little other than sleep. +Occasionally he arose, either to stretch himself, or to secure food, +but for the greater part of the time he remained in bed. His body was +a mere shadow of its former self as the result of his terrible +experience on the white slab: his incessant sleeping, necessary +because of his weakened condition, served to bring him back to his +former health. The Venerians seemed glad to have it thus: asleep, he +did not disturb their activities. + + * * * * * + +When he had awakened from his first period of natural slumber, he had +received a terrible shock. His left arm was gone, amputated at the +shoulder. Strangely, the wound had healed while he slept, probably the +result of the Venerian doctoring, so there was no pain: but the shock +had been terrible. + +After he had recovered from the effects of that shock, he had resolved +to make the Venerians pay for what they had done. And then he had +realized that the inhuman brutes must be destroyed for a greater +reason: unless he interfered, he believed that they would carry out +their intention of destroying all human life. + +As the weeks passed by, while strength was returning to Parkinson, he +learned in a general way what the invaders were doing. They were +engaged in developing vast quantities of microbes to be spread over +Earth. When these were ready, a great amount of fine dust that the +Venerians had brought with them, was impregnated with the bacilli. +This was then taken up into the tower, where, as Parkinson learned +later, it was blown out through the four tubes that spun around the +tower's top, to drift through the air--to enter human bodies--to +destroy life. + +The Venerians worked with the cultures and impregnated dust without +protection of any sort: evidently they were immune to the disease. +Later Parkinson learned that he was likewise immune; they had rendered +him so after trying the germs upon him. + +Gradually the bacteriologist's health returned--so gradually that his +captors seemed not to notice it. He was glad of this, for their +vigilance had relaxed, and he did not want it renewed. Even when he +was as strong and well as ever, he spent much time in bed, shamming +illness. And when he could do so without danger of detection, he kept +a close watch upon the three, waiting for a time when he would be +entirely alone. + + * * * * * + +At last his opportunity came. The three Venerians rose to the surface +together, leaving him in his room, to all outward appearances, asleep. +But sleep was far from him at that moment; he had been watching. + +Shortly after the sphere had vanished up the shaft, Parkinson emerged +from his room. For a moment he surveyed the circle of doors: then he +shrugged his shoulders. They all looked alike to him. Quickly he +crossed the room, and pressed a button that mechanically opened a +door. It was his purpose, first of all, to secure a weapon; one room +would do as well as another for a beginning. + +At first glance Parkinson was struck by the strange familiarity of +this chamber: then, after a moment, he recognized it. A tall, +high-backed metal chair in its center was its mark of identification. +This was the chamber wherein the Venerians had transferred a record of +his knowledge to their minds. + +Carefully he looked around in search of a weapon, but the room held +nothing but the chair and the thought transference device. In a moment +he withdrew, closing the door behind him. + +In the next room he entered, he was fortunate. This chamber was filled +with strange devices of various kinds. While curiously inspecting the +intricate machines, he saw something that brought a smile of +satisfaction to his lips. + +Against one wall stood a tall, glass case, one of the shelves of which +held several metal devices that Parkinson immediately recognized as +being the Venerians' weapons. Poignantly he remembered how a similar +device had destroyed a ship. + +Leaving the door slightly ajar, he crossed to the case and secured one +of the weapons. For a moment he studied it. There was nothing complex +about the mechanism; a cursory examination sufficed to reveal how it +was operated. Pressure on a little knob at the back of the handle +released the devastating ray. + +He was about to slip the device into his pocket when he stiffened +involuntarily. There was a sound of movement outside the room--he +heard a step on the metal floor--then he whirled. + + * * * * * + +One of the Venerians stood in the doorway, a menacing frown on his +face. He was crouching, ready to spring upon Parkinson. + +Quick as thought, the bacteriologist leveled his newly-acquired +weapon, and pressed on the knob. There was a sudden spurt of flame +from the Venerian's body; then it crumpled, sagging, shrinking +together. + +Hastily Parkinson released the pressure on the little knob, aghast at +the destructive power of his little weapon. Then, as he remembered the +torture he had endured at their hands, he directed the ray upon the +ashes, until they, too, were consumed, leaving naught but a dark patch +on the floor. + +For several minutes Parkinson stood there in deep thought. There was +no immediate danger from the two remaining Venerians, for they were +up in the tower, while the sphere was in the meteor; so he could think +with utmost safety. Deep thought and careful planning were necessary +now, for he had taken the step that must mean either his death or the +death of the Venerians. + +Suddenly he leaped into action; he had decided upon his next move. +Crossing to the case he secured another weapon. He wasn't sure that +they could be effectively discharged without re-loading; handicapped +as he was with one arm gone, he had to be certain of the reliability +of his means of defense. Then he left the room, and crossed to the +huge thoque sphere. + +It was the work of a moment to enter this, and prepare to ascend. This +done, he turned his attention to the numerous knobs on the wall. He +had not seen them for quite a while; it was with difficulty that he +recalled which knobs controlled the car's ascent. At last, hesitantly, +but correctly, he pressed on the knobs, and the sphere rose slowly +toward the surface. + +At the proper moment, Parkinson, brought the vehicle to a halt, and +slid back the door. Furtively he peered around. The Venerians were on +the other side of the tower. Quickly he lowered the ladder and +descended. + + * * * * * + +As he stepped to the floor, a sudden cry of dismay fell upon his ears. +One of the Venerians, coming around the car, had discovered him. +Without a moment's hesitation, Parkinson aimed his little weapon, and +pressed upon the knob. Like his fellow, the Venerian fell to the +floor, a heap of charred ashes. + +With the second Venerian destroyed, Parkinson dashed around the +sphere, metal cylinder held in readiness. The leader of the Venerians +was stealing stealthily around the other side of the car, his hand +fumbling beneath his garment. + +"Stop!" Parkinson cried. "Raise your hands above your head--empty!" A +cylinder clattered to the metal floor as the Venerian's hands moved +skyward. + +"Keep your back turned!" Parkinson snapped as the invader began about. +"I won't hesitate to press on this little knob, at your first hostile +move! I'd thoroughly enjoy burning you to a crisp, so be very +careful." + +While talking, Parkinson had moved slowly toward the man from Venus; +now, almost upon him, he quickly dropped his weapon into a pocket, and +swung a terrible blow at the base of his skull. The Venerian fell to +the floor without a groan, unconscious. + +Parkinson stared at the recumbent figure rather dubiously for a +moment. If only he had his other arm! But it was gone; with an +impatient shake of his head he stooped and raised the senseless +invader. + +It was anything but an easy task for the bacteriologist to carry his +seven-foot burden up the ladder and into the sphere, but finally, he +succeeded in doing so. Then, without delay, he lowered the car into +the meteor again. + +As he bore the Venerian from the vehicle, he tried to decide upon his +next move. Obviously, he had to secure the one surviving invader, so +that he would not be a menace to Parkinson when he revived. And then +the logical thing to do would be, in some way, to secure information +from him as to how to cure the disease that was spreading over the +world. + + * * * * * + +The logical thing to do, yes--but how? With only one arm, the simple +task of binding the Venerian presented considerable difficulty. How +much more difficult would it be to force anything from him? + +Then the solution of the first problem presented itself to Parkinson. +What was to prevent his strapping this being into the high-backed +chair to which he had been secured some time before? Quickly he +crossed the circular room to the door he had first passed through +while searching for a weapon. + +Ten minutes later, when the Venerian regained his senses, he was +fastened securely to the tall, metal chair. + +"Well," Parkinson addressed him, "conditions seem to be reversed now, +and you're the underdog. I've nipped your invasion in the bud. All +your elaborate preparations are wasted." + +Something resembling a sneer wreathed the Venerian's thin lips; a +mocking gleam lit his cold, blue eyes. + +"So our efforts have been wasted, have they? I'm afraid I can't agree +with you. Already, enough bacteria have been released to destroy all +life, though it will take longer than we desire. Even though you kill +me, our goal will still be reached. The human race will die!" + +A cloud of gloom fell upon Parkinson. He had expected this; but he had +been hoping that he was wrong. + +"Then there's only one thing for me to do, and that is: I'll have to +force you to tell me how to undo the damage you've done." + +The Venerian smiled mirthlessly. "You have absolutely no chance of +accomplishing that," he said. "We've done our work too well to allow +any interference now. + +"You do not know this, but we have released upon your world the worst +malady ever known to Venus. There is only one remedy; and I'm the only +one who knows it, or who has the means wherewith to accomplish it. And +I certainly won't tell!" + +The worried expression on Parkinson's face increased in intensity. +There was something in the Venerian's voice that convinced him that he +meant what he said. + +Then suddenly his countenance cleared, and a happy smile replaced his +frown. + +"Perhaps you won't tell, but I think you will. There are more ways +than one of forcing you." + + * * * * * + +Parkinson had hit upon a solution to his problem. The Venerians had +reproduced his knowledge in their brains; why wouldn't it be possible +for him to reverse the operation? + +In a moment he secured the thought-transference apparatus from a case +in the rear of the room, and bore it to the chair, and in spite of the +Venerian leader's struggles, placed it upon his head. He put the +head-phones over his own ears, and began fumbling with the controls. + +Suddenly he seemed to strike the right combination. There was a faint, +humming drone in his ears; after a moment this was replaced by a loud +crackling--and the knowledge of the man from Venus was becoming his +own. + +Somewhat dazed, Parkinson shut off the current. His mind was in a +turmoil. He was in possession of knowledge of such an amazing +character that, for the moment he had lost his mental equilibrium. +Indeed, so strange was his new-found knowledge, that he could not +grasp the significance of even half of the facts in his mind. + +But already, he knew how, with animal electricity, they had paralyzed +him; knew what had happened to him on the operating table; knew the +nature of the dread disease that destroyed his arm; the Gray +Plague--and knew the cure! + +A sudden thought arrested this review of his new knowledge. The Gray +Plague! At that very moment incalculable quantities of the deadly +bacilli were being cast into the air. And he was doing nothing about +it! + +He glanced at the Venerian. He was still unconscious, and would remain +so for some minutes to come. And even if he did recover his senses, he +was securely fastened to the chair; Parkinson dashed out of the room, +crossed to the sphere, and passed through the open doorway. + +Without hesitation he manipulated the controls, directed by his +Venerian knowledge. Rapidly the sphere rose to the surface. + +As it came to rest on the floor of the tower, Parkinson sprang from +the car, and headed toward a mass of intricate machinery that filled +fully a quarter of the great building. + +Even this caused him no great concern; he was as familiar with it as +he would have been had he constructed it. For some moments he was busy +with numerous dials and levers; then the release of the germs was +stopped. + + * * * * * + +Parkinson spent several minutes in examining the contents of the +tower, his Earthly mind lost in wonder at the strange things his +Venerian knowledge revealed to him. Then he entered the sphere again, +and sank into the meteor. + +As he moved toward the room that held the Venerian, his mind was busy +with conjectures as to what he would do with his prisoner. It was +necessary for the bacteriologist to reach the mainland as quickly as +possible, and make use of his knowledge of the cure for the Gray +Plague. He didn't want to kill the man; he couldn't free him; yet if +he left him strapped to the chair, he'd surely die of starvation. + +Still undecided, he thrust open the door. With a startled gasp he +stopped short. Somehow the Venerian had freed himself; at that moment +he leaped toward Parkinson. + +Instinctively the bacteriologist flung up his hand in a defensive +attitude. The onrushing Venerian caught Parkinson's out-thrust fist in +the pit of his stomach, and doubled up in pain. While he was thus +defenseless, Parkinson placed a well-directed blow on the side of the +Venerian's jaw, a blow carrying every ounce of his strength. + +So great was the force of the punch, that it lifted the man from Venus +and cast him headlong upon the floor. His head landed with a sickening +thud. Unmoving, he lay where he had fallen. + +Parkinson knelt over him for a moment, then arose. Without question, +the man was dead. The Venerian had solved the bacteriologist's last +problem; he was free to return to the United States with his means of +saving mankind. + + * * * * * + +Drawing the little metal cylinder from his pocket, he burned the body +of the Venerian leader to a heap of ashes, ridding the world of the +last invader. Then he turned and entered the glass-lined operating +room. + +Following the dictates of his Venerian knowledge, he crossed to one of +the walls, and drew therefrom a flat, glass vessel, somewhat like a +petri dish. This contained bacteria that were harmless in themselves, +and were hostile to those of the Gray Plague. These germs, brought +from Venus, were the only cure for the terrible disease.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The work of the English bacteriologist Twort, in 1915, +and the Frenchman, d'Herelle, in 1917, brought to the attention of the +scientific world the fact that many bacteria are subject to attack and +destruction by some unknown active agent with which they are +associated in infected material. This agent, whatever its character, +changed growing germ cultures to a dead, glassy substance. + +Twort advanced the thought that the agent might be a living, filtered +virus, although he favored the theory that it was an enzyme derived +from the bacteria themselves. + +D'Herelle, on the contrary, believed that this phenomenon was due to a +living, multiplying, ultra-microscopic microbe that destroyed certain +bacteria. + +Evidence favoring both theories has come to light, with the result +that, at present, controversy is rife. Up to date, the contention of +neither side has been proved.] + +Parkinson's adventure was almost at an end. He had not emerged +unscathed, but he had won! + +The details of his further actions need not be recorded. Suffice it to +say that he entered the sphere, carrying his precious, curative germs, +arose to the top of the tower, and passed through a round opening in +its side. His borrowed knowledge revealed that the car possessed +abilities that he had not suspected; with amazing speed he caused it +to flash across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. + +There he saw the frightful carnage that the Plague had caused, saw the +deserted cities--and was filled with self-reproach because he had not +acted sooner. + +Across the miles and miles of deserted country he sped, following the +fleeing hordes, finally passing over the stragglers and landing in +the heart of the congested areas. After making a few inquiries, he +returned to the sphere, and continued on toward the West. He landed, +finally, outside the city of San Francisco. + +A short time later, twisted, deformed, yet triumphant, he was ushered +into the presence of the United States government as--the man who had +saved the human race. + + +CHAPTER IV + +The terrible days of the Gray Plague ended in mystery. Much that had +puzzled the world, Parkinson, with his Venerian knowledge, explained; +but there was one thing, the final, enigmatical act in the strange +drama, that was as much of a mystery to him as it was to the rest of +the world. + +Enigma! Of what significance, of what portent--who could tell? + +When the great vessel from the United States, equipped to destroy the +meteor of the Venetians, neared the great thoque sphere, they came +upon a scene quite different from what they had expected. Parkinson, +who was on the ship, was more surprised than the rest, for he had +definite knowledge of what, in the natural course of events, they +should see. For the others there was nothing so very strange in what +they saw; Parkinson had lied, that was all. + +When the bacteriologist had left the meteor, there had been a high, +bronze-colored tower, a burnished lighthouse, covering its entire top. +It had been there--but now it was gone! Only the jagged, arched +surface of the meteor remained. + +They lowered boats and rowed to the strange island. There they saw +something that filled them--Parkinson especially--with a very definite +uneasiness. The entire top of the meteor was a twisted, fire-blasted +mass of bronze-like metal. Where the tower had been, where the shaft +had led into the remarkable interplanetary vehicle, there was now a +broken expanse of thoque that flashed fire under the rays of the sun. + +Something seemed to have melted, to have fused the tower, until it had +crumpled, and had run, filling the entrance of the meteor. There was +irrefutable evidence to that effect; no one thought otherwise. + +But what agency had done this strange thing? + +Someone suggested that it might have been the work of some prearranged +mechanism. Parkinson shook his head. Had such been the case, his +Venerian knowledge would have told him so. + +Obviously, nothing of Earth had done it, nothing of Earth--then +something of Venus! Inconclusive conjecture, perhaps, but no other +explanation offered itself. Something had sealed the contents of the +meteor from the sight of man, something with a purpose. From Venus? +The thought was logical, to say the least. + +Not for long did they remain there beside the Venerian vehicle; there +was naught for them to do, so they turned about and headed toward the +United States. They bore tidings that were vaguely disturbing, tidings +that none were glad to hear. For, according to all indications, +something alien to Earth was still within her confines. + + * * * * * + +Behind it all--the meteors, the Plague, the sealing of the Venerian +vehicle--is one fact of great significance. No longer is man alone in +the universe; no longer is he in isolation! Out of space came a +menace, an intelligence striving to wrest from him his right to rule +over Earth. No longer can man in his smug complacency think of himself +as being secure in his strength. He has been shown the utter folly of +such thinking. + +The menace--the invaders from Venus--came, and were destroyed, their +purposes defeated. Yet--in the vast reaches of space, in worlds of +other dimensions, in the cosmic crucible of life that embodies all +creation, there may be other forms of life, other menaces, hovering +clouds of death, preparing to sweep down upon Earth to snuff out her +life. Who can tell? + +And who may say that man is free from the Venerian danger? The strange +sealing of the meteor implies that the menace is still present. Who +knows but what those inhuman Venerian brutes may even now be planning +some new invasion, may be preparing to renew their attack upon Earth? + +Time alone will tell. + + +ROBOT PILOTS FOR AIRCRAFT + +Perfection of an automatic mechanical piloting mechanism for airplanes +has been achieved after several years of experiment at the royal +aircraft establishment of Farnborough. + +The apparatus has been successfully tried out on various types of +planes--two-seater day bombers, large twin-engine night bombers and +big flying boats. Its use as a second or relief pilot on long distance +flights by Royal Air Force machines is now being considered. + +In every test the robot pilot has steered an accurate course for hours +at a time and over distances up to 400 miles while human members of +the crew have been concerned with other duties. + +The basis of the mechanical pilot is a gyroscope that controls pistons +connected with the rudder and elevators of the plane. These pistons +are actuated by compressed air. + +Once a course is set the robot pilot keeps the machine on that route +and errors of even a fraction of a degree are instantly and +automatically detected and corrected. All the human pilot has to do in +a plane so equipped is to take off and land the machine. + +The Pilot's Assister is the official name of the new English device. +It weighs about 120 pounds. + +Flights have been made with the mechanical pilot in all sorts of +weather. In dense fog and clouds, when a human pilot would have found +it almost impossible to maintain straight or level flight because of +the absence of any visible horizon by which to steer, the mechanical +pilot flew the plane with absolute accuracy. On one test flight the +automatic pilot steered a dead true course from Farnborough in South +England, to Newcastle, 270 miles farther north. The human pilot did +not touch the controls until it was necessary to land the plane at the +destination. + + + + +Jetta of the Lowlands + +Conclusion + +_By Ray Cummings_ + +[Sidenote: Black-garbed figures move in ghastly greenness as the +invisible flyer speeds on its business of ransom.] + +[Illustration: _Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket._] + + +CHAPTER XV + +_In the Bandit Camp_ + +The dark cave, with its small spots of tube-light mounted upon movable +tripods, was eery with grotesque swaying shadows. The bandit camp. +Hidden down here in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Lowlands. An +inaccessible retreat, this cave in what once was the ocean floor. Only +a few years ago water had been here, water black and cold and +soundless. Tremendous pressure, with three thousand or more fathoms of +the ocean above it. Fishes had roamed these passages, no doubt. +Strange monsters of the deeps: sightless, or with eyes like +phosphorescent torches. + +But the water was gone now. Blue ooze was caked upon the cave floor. +Eroded walls; niches and tiny gullies; crevices and an arching dome +high overhead. A fantastic cave--no one, seeing it as I saw it that +morning at dawn, could have believed it was upon this earth. From +where De Boer had put me--on the flat top of a small, butte-like dome +near the upper end of the sloping cave floor--all the area of this +strange bandit camp was visible to me. + +A little tent of parchment was set upon the dome-top. + +"Yours," said De Boer, with a grin. "Make yourself comfortable. +Gutierrez will be your willing servant, until we see about this +ransom. It will have to be one very large, for you are a damn trouble +to me, Grant. And a risk. Food will come shortly. Then you can sleep: +I think you will want it." + +He leaped from the little butte, leaving the taciturn ever-watchful +Gutierrez sitting cross-legged on the ledge near me, with his +projector across his knees. + + * * * * * + +The cave was irregularly circular, with perhaps, a hundred-feet +diameter and a ceiling fifty feet high. A drift of the fetid, Lowland +air went through it--into a rift at this upper end, and out through +the lower passage entrance which sloped downward thirty feet and +debouched upon a rippled ramp of ooze outside. It was daylight out +there now. From my perch I could see the sullen heavy walls of a +ridge. Mist hung against them, but the early morning sunlight came +down in shafts penetrating the mist and striking the oily surface of a +spread of water left here in the depths of a cauldron. + +De Boer's flyer was outside. We had landed by the shore of the sea, +and the bandits had pushed the vehicle into an arching recess which +seemed as though made to hide it. All this camp was hidden. Arching +crags of the ridge-wall jutted out over the cave entrance. From above, +any passing flyer--even though well below the zero-height--would see +nothing but this black breathing sea, lapping against its eroded, +fantastic shore-line. + +Within the cave, there was only a vague filtering daylight from the +lower entrance, a thin shaft from the rift overhead, and the blue +tube-light, throwing great shadows of the tents and the men against +the black rock walls. + +There seemed perhaps a hundred of the bandits here. A semi-permanent +camp, by its aspect. Grey parchment tents were set up about the floor, +some small, others more elaborate. It seemed as though it were a +huddled little group of buildings in the open air, instead of in a +cave. One tent, just at the foot of my dome, seemed De Boer's personal +room. He went into it after leaving me, and came out to join the main +group of his fellows near the center of the cave where a large +electron stove, and piped water from a nearby subterranean freshet, +and a long table set with glassware and silver, stood these men for +kitchen and eating place. + + * * * * * + +The treasure had not yet been brought in from the flyer. But, from +what I overheard, it seemed that the radiumized ingots of the +ill-fated Spawn and Perona were to be stored for a year at least, here +in this cave. I could see the strong-room cubby. It was hewn from the +rock of the cave wall, its sealed-grid door-oval set with metal bars. + +I saw also what seemed a small but well-equipped machine shop, in a +recess room at one side of the cave. Men were working in there under +the light of tubes. And there was a niche hollowed out in the wall to +make a room for De Boer's instruments--ether-wave receivers and +transmitters, the aerial receiving wires of which stretched in banks +along the low ceiling. + +There was no activity in there now, except for one man who was +operating what I imagined might be an aerial insulator, guarding the +place from any prying search-vibrations. + +The main cave was a bustle of activity. The arriving bandits were +greeting their fellows and exchanging news. The men who had been left +here were jubilant at the success of the Chief's latest enterprise. +Bottles were unsealed and they began to prepare the morning meal. + +My presence caused considerable comment. I was a complication at which +most of the men were ill pleased, especially when the arriving bandits +told who I was, and that the patrols of the United States were +doubtless even now trying to find me. + +But De Boer silenced the grumbling with rough words. + +"My business, not yours. But you will take your share of his ransom, +won't you? Have done!" + +And Jetta, she had caused comment also. But when the bottles were well +distributed the grumbling turned to ribald banter which made me +shudder that it should fall upon Jetta's ears. De Boer had kept his +men away from her, shoving them aside when they crowded to see her. +She was in a little tent now, not far from the base of my ledge. + +My meal presently was brought from where most of the bandits now were +roistering at the long table in the center of the cave. + +"Eat," said Gutierrez. "I eat with you, Americano. _Madre Mia_, when +you are ransomed away from here it will please me! De Boer is fool, +with taking such a chance." + + * * * * * + +With the meal ended, another guard came to take Gutierrez' place and I +was ordered into my tent. The routine of the camp, it seemed, was to +use the daylight hours for the time of sleep. There were lookouts and +guards at the entrance, and a little arsenal of ready weapons stocked +in the passage. The men at the table were still at their meal. It +would end, I did not doubt, by most of them falling into heavy +alcoholic slumber. + +I was tired, poisoned by the need of sleep. I lay on fabric cushions +piled in one corner of my tent. But sleep would not come; my thoughts +ran like a tumbling mountain torrent, and as aimlessly. I hoped that +Jetta was sleeping. De Boer was now at the center table with his men. +Hans was guarding Jetta. He was a phlegmatic, heavy Dutchman, and +seemed decent enough. + +I wondered what Hanley might be doing to rescue me. But as I thought +about it, I could only hope that his patrols would not find us out +here. An attack and most certainly De Boer and his men in their anger +would kill me out of hand. And possibly Jetta also. + +I had not had a word alone with Jetta since that scene in the control +room. When we disembarked, she had stayed close by De Boer. But I knew +that Jetta had fathomed my purpose, that she was working to the same +end. We must find a way of arranging the ransom which would give us an +opportunity to escape. + +I pondered it. And at last an idea came to me, vague in all its +details, as yet. But it seemed feasible, and I thought it would sound +plausible to De Boer. I would watch my chance and explain it to him. +Then I realized how much aid Jetta would be. She would agree with my +plan, and help me convince him. And when the crucial time came, though +I would be a captive, watched by Gutierrez, bound and gagged, +perhaps--Jetta would be at liberty. De Boer and Gutierrez would not be +on their guard with her. + +I drifted off to sleep, working out the details of my plan. + + +CHAPTER XVI + +_Planning The Ransom_ + +I was awakened by the sound of low voices outside my tent. Jetta's +voice, and De Boer's, and, mingled with them, the babble of the still +hilarious bandits in the center of the cave. But there were only a few +left now; most of them had fallen into heavy slumber. I had been +asleep for several hours, I figured. The daylight shadows outside the +cave entrance showed that it was at least noon. + +I lay listening to the voices which had awakened me. De Boer was +saying: + +"But why, Jetta, should I bother with your ideas? I know what is best. +This ransom is too dangerous to arrange." His voice sounded calmly +good humored; I could hear in it now more than a trace of alcoholic +influence. He added, "I think we had better kill him and have done. My +men think so, too; already I have caused trouble with them, by +bringing him." + +It jolted me into full wakefulness. + +Jetta's voice: "No! I tell you it can be arranged, Hendrick. I have +been thinking of it, planning it--" + +"Child! Well what? The least I can do is listen; I am no pig-headed +American. Say it out. What would you do to ransom him safely?" + + * * * * * + +They were just at the foot of my ledge, in front of De Boer's tent. +Their voices rose so that I could hear them plainly. For all my start +at being awakened to hear my death determined upon, I recall that I +was almost equally startled by Jetta's voice. Her tone, her manner +with De Boer. Whatever opportunities they had had for talking +together, the change in their relationship was remarkable. De Boer was +now flushed with drink, but for all that he had obviously still a firm +grip upon his wits. And I heard Jetta now urging her ideas upon him +with calm confidence. An outward confidence; yet under it there was a +vibrant emotion suppressed within her even tone; a hint of tremulous +fright; a careful calculation of the effect she might be making upon +De Boer. Had he not been intoxicated--with drink and with her--he +might have sensed it. But he did not. + +"Hendrick, it can be done. A big price. Why not?" + +"Because if we are trapped and caught, of what use is the price we +might have gotten? Tell me that, wise one?" + +"We will not be trapped. And suppose you kill him--won't they track +you just the same, Hendrick?" + +"No. We would leave his body on some crag where it would be found. The +patrols would more quickly tire of chasing a killer when the damage is +done. They want Grant alive." + +"Then let them have him alive--for a big price. Hendrick, listen--" + +"Well, what?" he demanded again. "What is your plan?" + +"Why--well, Hendrick, like this--" + +She stammered, and I realized that she had no plausible plan. She was +fumbling, groping, urging upon De Boer that I must be ransomed alive. +But she had not good reason for it. + +"Well?" he prompted impatiently. + +"You--can you raise Great New York on the audiphone, Hendrick?" + +"Yes," he said. + +"Hanley's office?" + +"Yes, no doubt. Chah--that would give him a start, wouldn't it? De +Boer calmly calling him!" + + * * * * * + +He was laughing. I heard what sounded as though he were gulping +another drink. "By damn, Jetta, you are not the timid bird you look. +Call Hanley, eh?" + +"Yes. Can it be done and still bar his instruments from locating us?" + +"Yes, and bar his television. Believe it, Jetta. I have every device +for hiding. But--call Hanley!" + +"Why not? ... Hendrick, stop!" + +I started. It seemed that he was embracing her; forcing half drunken +caresses upon her. + +I scrambled through my tent doorway, but Gutierrez, who had come back +on guard, at once seized me. + +"_Hui_--so haste! Back, you." + +The Spaniard spoke softly, and he was grinning. "The chief plays with +woman's words, no? Charming señorita, though she dresses like a boy. +But that is the more charming, eh? Listen to her, Grant." + +He gripped me, and prodded my side with the point of his knife blade. +"Lie down Americano: we will listen." + +Jetta was insisting. "Hendrick, stop!" + +"Why?" + + * * * * * + +I could see them now. They were seated before the opening of De Boer's +tent. A little stove in front of them. Coffee for Jetta, who was +seated cross-legged, pouring it; a bowl of drink for De Boer. And some +baked breadstuff dainties on a platter. + +"Hendrick--" + +She pushed him away as he leaned to embrace her. Although she was +laughing with him, I could only guess at the chill of fear that might +be in her heart. + +"Foolish, Hendrick!" + +"Foolish little bird, Jetta mine." + +"You--it is you who are foolish, Hendrick." She slid from his embrace +and held her brimming coffee cup balanced before her, to ward him off. +"You think I am really clever, so trust me, Hendrick. Oh there is a +great future for us: you say I inspire you; let me! Hendrick De Boer, +Chieftain of the Lowlands! My father would have helped you become +that. You can build a little empire. Hendrick--why not? Father wanted +to make you President of Nareda. Why not build your own Lowland +Empire? We have a hundred men now? Why not gather a thousand? Ten +thousand? An empire!" + +"_Ave Maria_," from Gutierrez. "This _niña_ thinks big thoughts!" + +De Boer raised his bowl. "An empire--De Boer of the Lowlands! Go on; +you amuse me. We have a nice start, with this treasure." + +"Yes. And the ransom money. But you will take me first to Cape Town, +Hendrick? We can be married there: I am seventeen in a month." + +"Of course, Jetta. Haven't I promised?" There was no convincingness to +me in the way he said it. "Of course. To Cape Town for our marriage." + +"Stop! Hendrick, be serious!" He had reached for her again. "Don't be +a fool, Hendrick." + +"Very well," he said. "I am all serious. What is your plan?" + + * * * * * + +She was more resourceful this time. She retorted, "This craven Grant, +he fears for his life--but he is very smart, Hendrick. I think he is +scheming every moment how he can be safely ransomed." + +"Hah! No doubt of that!" + +"And he has had experience with Chief Hanley. He knows Hanley's +methods, how Hanley will act. Let us see what Grant says of this." + +She had no plan of her own, but she hoped that by now I had one! And +she was making an opportunity for me to put it before De Boer. + +He said, "There is sense to that, Jetta. If there is any way to fool +Hanley, that craven American has no doubt thought it out." + +She held another drink before him. "Yes. Let us see what he says." + +He drank; and again as they were near together he caressed her. + +"What a schemer you are, little bird. You and I are well matched, eh?" + +"Gutierrez may be watching us!" she warned. + +They suddenly looked up and saw Gutierrez and me. + +"Hah!" Fortunately it struck De Boer into further good humor. "Hah--we +have an audience! Bring down the prisoner, Gutierrez! Let us see if +his wits can get him out of this plight. Come down, Grant!" + +Gutierrez shoved me down the ladder ahead of him. De Boer stood up and +seized me. His great fingers dug into my shoulders. + +"Sit down, American! It seems you are not to die. _Perhaps_ not." + +The strength of his fingers was hurting me: he hoped I would wince. +Mine was now an ignominious role, indeed, yet I knew it was best. + +I gasped. "Don't do that: you hurt!" + +He chuckled and cast me loose. I added, with a show of spirit, "You +are a bullying giant. Just because you are bigger than I am--" + +"Hear that, Jetta? The American finds courage with his coming ransom!" + + * * * * * + +He shoved me to the ground. Gutierrez grinned, and withdrew a trifle. +Jetta avoided meeting my gaze. + +"Have some coffee," De Boer offered. "Alcohol is not good for you. Now +say: have you any suggestions on how I can safely ransom you?" + +It seemed that Jetta was holding her breath with anxiety. But I +answered with an appearance of ready eagerness. "Yes. I have. I can +arrange it with complete safety to you, if you give me a chance." + +"You've got your chance. Speak out." + +"You promise you will return me alive? Not hurt me?" + +"De duvel--yes! You have my promise. But your plan had better be very +good." + +"It is." + +I told it carefully. The details of it grew with my words. Jetta +joined in it. But, most of all, it did indeed sound feasible. "But it +must be done at once," I urged. "The weather is right; to-night it +will be dark; overcast; not much wind. Don't you think so?" + +He sent Gutierrez to the cave's instrument room to read the weather +forecast instruments. My guess was right. + +"To-night then," I said. "If we linger, it only gives Hanley more time +to plan trickery." + +"Let us try and raise him now," Jetta suggested. + +The Dutchman, Hans, had joined us. He too, seemed to think my ideas +were good. + +Except for the guards at the cave entrance, all the other bandits were +far gone in drink. With Hans and Gutierrez, we went to the instrument +room to call Hanley. As we crossed the cave, with Hans and De Boer +walking ahead together, De Boer spoke louder than he realized, and the +words came back to me. + +"Not so bad, Hans? We will use him--but I am not a fool. I'll send him +back dead, not alive! A little knife-thrust, just at the end! Safest +for us, eh, Hans?" + + +CHAPTER XVII + +_Within the Black Sack_ + +We left the bandit stronghold just after nightfall that same day. +There were five of us on the X-flyer. Jetta and De Boer, Hans and +Gutierrez and myself. The negotiations with Hanley had come through +satisfactorily; to De Boer, certainly, for he was in a triumphant mood +as they cast off the aero and we rose over the mist-hung depths. + +It was part of my plan, this meager manning of the bandit ship. But it +was mechanically practical: there was only Hans needed at the controls +for this short-time flight: with De Boer plotting his course, working +out his last details--and with Gutierrez to guard me. + +De Boer had been quite willing to take no other men--and most of them +were too far gone in their cups to be of much use. I never have +fathomed De Boer's final purpose. He promised Jetta now that when I +was successfully ransomed he would proceed to Cape Town by comfortable +night flights and marry her. It pleased Gutierrez and Hans, for they +wanted none of their comrades. The treasure was still on the flyer. +The ransom gold would be added to it. I think that De Boer, Gutierrez +and Hans planned never to return to their band. Why, when the treasure +divided so nicely among three, break it up to enrich a hundred? + +I shall never forget Hanley's grim face as we saw it that afternoon on +De Boer's image-grid. My chief sat at his desk with all his location +detectors impotent, listening to my disembodied voice explaining what +I wanted him to do. My humble, earnest, frightened desire to be +ransomed safely at all costs! My plea that he do nothing to try and +trap De Boer! + +It hurt me to appear so craven. But with it all, I knew that Hanley +understood. He could imagine my leering captor standing at my elbow, +prompting my words, dictating my very tone--prodding me with a knife +in the ribs. I tried, by every shade of meaning, to convey to Hanley +that I hoped to escape and save the ransom money. And I think that he +guessed it, though he was wary in the tone he used for De Boer to +hear. He accepted, unhesitatingly, De Boer's proposition: assured us +he would do nothing to assail De Boer; and never once did his grim +face convey a hint of anything but complete acquiescence. + + * * * * * + +We had President Markes on the circuit. De Boer, with nothing to lose, +promised to return Jetta with me. In gold coin, sixty thousand U. S. +dollar-standards for me; a third as much from Nareda, for Jetta. + +The details were swiftly arranged. We cut the circuit. I had a last +look at Hanley's face as the image of it faded. He seemed trying to +tell me to do the best I could; that he was powerless, and would do +nothing to jeopardize my life and Jetta's. Everything was ready for +the affair to be consummated at once. The weather was right; there was +time for Hanley and De Boer each comfortably to reach the assigned +meeting place. + +We flew, for the first hour, nearly due west. The meeting place was at +35 deg. N. by 59 deg. W., a few hundred miles east by north of the +fairy-like mountaintop of the Bermudas. Our charts showed the Lowlands +there to run down to what once was measured as nearly three thousand +fathoms--called now eighteen thousand feet below the zero-height. A +broken region, a depth-ridge fairly level, and no Lowland sea, nor +any settlements in the neighborhood. + +The time was set at an hour before midnight. No mail, passenger or +freight flyers were scheduled to pass near there at that hour, and, +save for some chance private craft, we would be undisturbed. The +ransom gold was available to Hanley. He had said he would bring it in +his personal Wasp. + + * * * * * + +The details of the exchange were simple. Hanley, with only one +mechanic, would hover at the zero-height, his Wasp lighted so that we +could see it plainly. The wind drift, according to forecast, would be +southerly. At 11 P.M. Hanley would release from his Wasp a small +helium-gas baloon-car--a ten-foot basket with the supporting gas bag +above it, weighted so that it would slowly descend into the depths, +with a southern drift. + +Our flyer, invisible and soundless, would pick up the baloon-car at +some point in its descent. The gold would be there, in a black casket. +De Boer would take the gold, deposit Jetta and me in the car, and +release it again. And when the balloon finally settled to the rocks +beneath, Hanley could pick it up. No men would be hidden by Hanley in +that basket. De Boer had stipulated that when casting loose the +balloon, its car must be swept by Hanley with a visible electronic +ray. No hidden men could withstand that blast! + +Such was the arrangement with Hanley. I was convinced that he intended +to carry it out to the letter. He would have his own invisible X-flyer +in the neighborhood, no doubt. But it would not interfere with the +safe transfer of Jetta and me. + +That De Boer would carry out his part, Hanley could only trust. He had +said so this afternoon bluntly. And De Boer had laughed and interposed +his voice in our circuit. + +"Government money against these two lives, Hanley! Of course you have +to trust me!" + + * * * * * + +It was a flight, for us, of something less than four hours to the +meeting place. Hans was piloting, seated alone in the little cubby +upon the forward wing-base, directly over the control room. De Boer, +with Jetta at his side, worked over his course and watched his +instrument banks. I was, at the start of the flight, lashed in a chair +of the control room, my ankles and wrists tied and Gutierrez guarding +me. + +Jetta did not seem to notice me. She did not look at me, nor I at her. +She pretended interest only in the success of the transfer; in her +father's treasure on board, the coming ransom money, and then a flight +to Cape Town, dividing the treasure only with Hans and Gutierrez; and +in her marriage with De Boer. She said she wanted me returned to +Hanley alive; craven coward that I was, still I did not deserve death. +De Boer had agreed. But I knew that at last, as they tumbled me into +the basket, someone would slip a knife into me! + +I had, as we came on board, just the chance for a few whispered +sentences with Jetta. But they were enough! We both knew what we had +to do. Desperate expedient, indeed! It seemed more desperate now as +the time approached than it had when I planned it. + +The weather at 7 P.M. was heavily overcast. Sultry, breathless, with +solid, wide-flung cloud areas spread low over the zero-height. Night +settled black in the Lowlands. The mists gathered. + +We flew well down--under the minus two thousand-foot level--so that +out of the mists the highest dome peaks often passed close beneath us. + + * * * * * + +At 8 P.M. De Boer flung on the mechanism of invisibility. The interior +of the ship faded to its gruesome green darkness. My senses reeled as +the current surged through me. Lashed in my chair, I sat straining my +adjusting eyes, straining my hearing to cope with this gruesome +unreality. And my heart was pounding. Would Jetta and I succeed? Or +was our love--unspoken love, born of a glance and the pressure of our +hands in that moonlit Nareda garden--was our love star-crossed, +foredoomed to tragedy? A few hours, now, would tell us. + +De Boer was taking no chances. He was using his greatest intensity of +power, with every safeguard for complete invisibility and silence. +From where I sat I could make out the black form of Hans through the +ceiling grid, at his pilot controls in the overhead cubby. A queer +glow like an aura was around him. The same green radiance suffused the +control room. It could not penetrate the opened windows of the ship; +could not pass beyond the electro-magnetic field enveloping us. Nor +could the curious hum which permeated the ship's interior get past the +barrage barrier. From outside, I knew, we were invisible and +inaudible. + +Strange unreality, here in the control room! The black-garbed figures +of De Boer and Jetta at their table were unreal, spectral. At the door +oval, which I could barely see, Gutierrez lurked like a shadow. All of +them, and Hans in the cubby above, were garbed in tight-fitting +dead-black suits of silklene fabric. Thin, elastic as sheer silk web, +opaque, lustreless. It covered their feet, legs and bodies; and their +arms and hands like black, silk gloves. Their heads were helmeted with +it. And they had black masks which as yet were flapped up and fastened +to the helmet above their foreheads. Their faces only were exposed, +tinted a ghastly, lurid green by this strange light. It glowed and +glistened like phosphorescence on their eyeballs, making them the eyes +of animals in a hunter's torchlight, at night. + + * * * * * + +De Boer moved upon an errand across the control room. He was a burly +black spectre in the skin-tight suit. His footfalls faintly sounded on +the metal floor. They were toneless footfalls. Unreal. They might +have been bells, or jangling thuds; they had lost their identity in +this soundless, vibrating hum. + +And he spoke, "We are making good progress, Jetta. We will be on +time." + +Ghastly voice! So devoid of every human timbre, every overtone shade +to give it meaning, that it might have been a man's voice, or a +woman's, the voice of something living, or something dead. Sepulchral. +A stripped shell of voice. Yet to me, inside here with it, it was +perfectly audible. + +And Jetta said, "Yes, Hendrick, that is good." + +A voice like his: no different. + +Gruesome. Weird. + + * * * * * + +I try now to picture the scene in detail, for out of these strange +conditions Jetta and I were to make our opportunity. + +9 P.M. De Boer was a methodical fellow. He checked his position on the +chart. He signalled the routine orders to Hans. And he gestured to +Gutierrez. The movements and acts of everyone had been definitely +planned. And this, too, Jetta and I had anticipated. + +"Time to make him ready, Gutierrez. Bring the sack in here. I'll +fasten him away." + +I was not garbed like the others. They could move out on the wing +runway under Hanley's eyes at short range, or climb in and out of the +balloon car, and not be visible. + +Gutierrez brought the sack. A dead-black fabric. + +"Shall I cut him loose now from his chair, Commander?" + +"I'll do it." + +De Boer drew a long knife blade, coated black, and thin and sharp as a +half-length rapier. Gutierrez had one of similar fashion. No +electronic weapons were in evidence, probably because the hiss of one +fired would have been too loud for our barrage, and its flash too +bright. But a knife thrust is dark and silent! + +The Spaniard's eyes were gleaming as he approached me with the bag, +as though he were thinking of that silent knife thrust he would give +me at the last. + +Dr. Boer said, "Stand up, Grant." He cut the fastenings that held me +in my chair. But my ankles and wrists remained tied. + +"Stand up, can't you?" + +"Yes." + + * * * * * + +I got unsteadily to my feet. In the blurred green darkness I could see +that Jetta was not looking at me. Gutierrez held the mouth of the sack +open. As though I were an upright log of wood, De Boer lifted me. + +"Pull it up over his feet, Gutierrez." + +The oblong sack was longer than my body. They drew it over me, and +bunched its top over my head. And De Boer laid me none too gently on +the floor. + +"Lie still. Do you get enough air?" + +"Yes." + +The black fabric was sufficiently porous for me to breathe comfortably +inside the sack. + +"All right, Gutierrez, I have the gag." + +I felt them carrying me from the control room, twenty feet or so along +the corridor, where a door-porte opened to a small balcony runway hung +beneath the forward wing. Jutting from it was a little take-off +platform some six feet by twelve in size. It was here that the +balloon-basket was to be boarded. The casket containing the ransom +gold would be landed here, and the sack containing me placed in the +car and cast loose. It was all within the area of invisibility of our +flyer. + +De Boer knelt over me, and drew back the top of the sack to expose my +face. + +"A little gag for you, Grant, so you will not be tempted to call out." + +"I won't do that." + +"You might. Well, good-by, American." + +"Good-by." And I breathed, "Good-by Jetta." Would I ever see her +again? Was this the end of everything for us? + + * * * * * + +He forced the gag into my mouth, tied it, and verified that my ankles +and wrists were securely lashed. In the green radiance he and +Gutierrez were like ghouls prowling over me, and their muffled +toneless voices, tomblike. + +The sack came up over my head. + +"Good-by, Grant." I could not tell which one said it. And the other +chuckled. + +I could feel them tying the mouth of the sack above my head. I lay +stiff. Then I heard their steps. Then silence. + +I moved. I might have rolled, but I did not try it. I could raise my +knees within the sack--double up like a folded pocket knife--but that +was all. + +A long, dark silence. It seemed interminable. Was Gutierrez guarding +me here in the corridor? I could not tell; I heard nothing save the +vague hum of the electronite current. + +It had been 9 o'clock. Then I fancied that it must be 10. And then, +perhaps, almost 11. I wondered what the weather outside was like. Soon +we would be nearing the meeting place. Would Hanley be there? Would +Jetta soon, very soon now, be able to do her part? I listened, +horribly tense, with every interval between the thumps of my heart +seeming so long a gap of waiting. + + * * * * * + +I heard a sound! A toneless, unidentifiable sound. Another like it; a +little sequence of faint sounds. Growing louder. Approaching +footsteps? Jetta's? I prayed so. + +Then a low voice. Two voices. Both the same in quality. But from the +words I could identify them. + +"Hello, Gutierrez." + +"_Niña_, hello." + +Jetta! She had come! + +"The captive is safe? No trouble?" + +"No. He has not moved." + +"Careful of him, Gutierrez. He is worth a lot of money to us." + +"Well you say it. Señorita. In half an hour now, we will be away. +Santa Maria, when this is over I shall breathe with more comfort!" + +"We'll have no trouble, Gutierrez. We're almost there. In ten minutes +now, or a little more." + +"So soon? What time is it?" + +"Well, after half-past ten. When it's over, Gutierrez, we head for +Cape Town. Clever of me, don't you think, to persuade Hendrick to take +us to Cape Town? Just you three men to divide all this treasure. It +would be foolish to let a hundred others have it." + +"True, _Niña_; true enough." + +"I insisted upon you and Hans--Gutierrez, what is that?" + +A silence. + +"I heard nothing." + +"A voice, was it?" + +"The Americano?" + +"No! No--the commander calling? Was it? Calling you, Gutierrez? +Perhaps we have sighted Hanley's Wasp. Go! I'll stand here, and come +quickly back." + + * * * * * + +Footsteps. Now! Our chance, come at last! I twisted over on my side, +and lay motionless. Ah, if only those were Gutierrez' fading +footfalls! And Jetta, here alone with me in the green darkness! Just +for this one vital moment. + +Fingers were fumbling at the top of my sack, unfastening the cord. +Hands and arms came swiftly in. Fingers ran down my back as I lay on +my side to admit them quickly. Fingers went fumbling at the cords that +lashed my crossed wrists behind me. A knee pressed against me. A +hurried, panting, half sobbing breath close over me-- + +Just a hurried moment. The hands withdrew. The sack went back over my +head. The knees, the slight weight against me, was gone. A few seconds +only. + +Footsteps. The voices again. + +"Was it the commander, Gutierrez?" + +"No. I do not know what it was. Nothing, probably." + +"The Wasp in sight?" + +"Not yet, _Niña_. You had best go back: De Boer, he might be jealous +of us, no? He is busy with his instruments, but should he realize you +are here, talking with me--" + +"Senseless, Gutierrez!" + +"Is it so, _Niña_? I have no attraction? Go back to him. Gold I want, +not trouble over you!" + +Faint laughter. + +"When we sight the Wasp, I'll call and tell you, Gutierrez. Too bad +you won't let me stay with you. I like you." + +"Yes. But go now!" + +Faint laughter. Footsteps. Then silence. + +Our vital moment had come and passed. And Jetta had done her part; the +role of action upon this dim lurid stage was now mine to play. + +My hands were free. + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +_The Combat in the Green Darkness_ + +Another interval. A dead, dark silence. I did not dare move. Gutierrez +was here, within a few feet of me, probably. I wondered if he could +see the outlines of the black sack. Doubtless they were very vague. +But if I exposed my flesh, my face, my hands, that would at once +attract his attention. + +I worked the loosened cords from my wrists; moved my stiffened hands +until, with returning blood, the strength came to them. I could not +reach my bound ankles without doubling up my knees. I did not dare +chance such a movement of the sack. But, after a moment, I got my +hands in front of me. + +Then I took the gag from my mouth and, with a cautious hand, pried at +the top of the sack where it was bunched over my head. Its fastening +was loose. + +Another interval. A dim muffled voice; "The Wasp is in sight, +Gutierrez!" + +A movement--a sound like footsteps. Probably Gutierrez moving to the +corridor window to glance at Hanley's distant hovering flyer. I hoped +it might be that: I had to take the chance. + + * * * * * + +I slid the bag from my face. I feared an abrupt alarm, or Gutierrez +leaping upon me. But there was silence, and I saw his vague dark +outlines at the window oval, five feet from me. + +I got my ankles loose and slid the bag off. I was unsteady on my feet, +but desperation aided me. + +Gutierrez half turned as I gripped him from behind. My hand on his +mouth stifled his outcry. His black knife blade waved blindly. Then my +clenched knuckle caught his temple, and dug with the twisting Santus +blow. I was expert at it, and I found the vulnerable spot. + +He crumpled in my grasp, and I slid his falling body across the narrow +corridor into the nearest cubby oval. + +Almost soundless; and in the control room Jetta and De Boer were +murmuring and gazing at Hanley's ship, which hung ahead and above us +at the zero-height. + +I had planned all my movements. No motion was lost. Gutierrez was +about my height and build. I stripped his black suit from him, donned +it, then tied his ankles and wrists, and gagged him against the time +when he would recover consciousness. Then I stuffed his body in the +sack and tied its top. + +This black suit had a mask, rolled up and fastened to the helmet. I +loosed it, dropping it over my face. Knife in hand, I stood at the +corridor window. + + * * * * * + +It was all black outside. The clouds were black overhead; the highest +Lowland crags, several thousand feet beneath us, were all but blotted +out in the murky darkness. Only one thing was to be seen: a quarter of +a mile ahead, now, and a thousand feet higher than our level, the +shining, bird-like outlines of Hanley's hovering little Wasp. It stood +like a painted image of an aero, alone on a dead-black background. Red +and green signal-lights dotted it, and on its stern tip a small, +spreading searchlight bathed the wings and the body with a revealing +silver radiance. + +Our forward flight had been checked, and we, too, were hovering. Hans +doubtless would remain for a time in the pilot cubby; De Boer and +Jetta were in the control room. It was only twenty feet away, but I +could barely see its oval entrance. + +"Gutierrez!" + +One of them was calling. My hollow empty voice echoed back as I softly +responded: + +"Yes?" + +"Be ready. We are arrived." + +"Yes, Commander. All is well." + +I continued to stand at the window. Hanley's little balloon-car was +visible now. Then he cut it away. We had moved forward in the +interval. The tiny car floated out almost above us. + +My gaze searched the void of darkness outside. Did Hanley have an +invisible flyer out there? Perhaps so. But it could accomplish nothing +as yet. It would not even dare approach, for fear of collision with +us. + + * * * * * + +The tiny car, with a white pilot light in it, swayed with a slow +descent. The basket beneath the supporting balloon oscillated in a +wide swing, then steadied. A sudden flash showed up there--a flashing +electronic stream, from Hanley's Wasp to the basket. The shot swept +the basket interior. No one could be hidden there and survive. + +It was Hanley's proof to us that he was following instructions. + +"Hah! He obeys properly, Jetta!" + +The voice floated back to me from the control room. Could I creep in +there, surprise De Boer now, and kill him? Doubtless. But it would +alarm Hans. I must await my chance to get them together. + +"Gutierrez! Hans, get us under it! Gutierrez!" + +The vague outline of De Boer came toward me in the corridor, burly +dark blob. His mask was down now. There were points of light, glowing +like faint distant stars, to mark his eyes. + +"Gutierrez." + +"Yes." + +A small black figure followed after him. Jetta. + +"Yes, De Boer." I stood over the sack. "I am ready." + +De Boer's giant shape towered beside me. Now! My knife thrust now! But +Hans was coming toward us. He would take alarm before I could reach +him. + +"Open the side porte, Gutierrez. Hurry, the car is here. Hans, you +should have stayed up there!" + +"The drift is calculated; the car is just here." + +We were all swift-moving shadows; disembodied voices. + +"Get that porte open." + +"Yes." I opened it. + + * * * * * + +We went outside on the runway. I passed close to Jetta, and just for +an instant pressed my gloved fingers on the black fabric of her +arm--and she knew. + +"Now, seize it." + +"Here, Hans, climb up." + +"I have it. Pull it, Gutierrez!" + +The car drifted at us from the black void. We caught it. + +"Hold it, Gutierrez." + +"Hans, clip the balloon. Up with you." + +In the blurred haste, I could not get them together. I did not want to +kill one and have the other leap upon me. + +We fastened the little balloon and dragged the car onto the take-off +platform. The shape of Hans leaped into the car. + +"It is here! The ransom money!" + +"Lift it to me. Heavy?" + +"Yes." + +"Gutierrez, help me. Hurry! If Hanley tries any trickery--" + +Our aero was drifting downward and southward in the slight wind. +Hanley's Wasp still hovered at the zero-height. + +"In, Gutierrez." + + * * * * * + +Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket and placed it on the wing +runway. De Boer pried up its lid. The gold was there. I could not tell +where Jetta was; I prayed she would keep away from this. + +Then the shape of De Boer was missing! But in a moment he appeared, +dragging the sack. + +"Lift him, Gutierrez. Hans, unclip the balloon and shove off the car!" + +We were all standing at the two-foot rail of the runway. The +car-basket, floating now, was off side and level with us. My chance! + +"In with him, Gutierrez." + +I shoved the body, encased in its black sack, with Hans helping me. +And suddenly De Boer's knife came down at the sack! A stab. But an +instinct to save the poor wretch within swept me. I struck at De +Boer's arm and deflected the blow. The sack tumbled into the car. + +I had neglected whatever chance had existed. Too late now! + +"What in the hell!" + +De Boer's shape seized me. + +"What--" + +It sent me into a sudden confusion. I flung him off. I stumbled +against the shape of Hans. + +The car was almost loose; drifting away. + +Without thought--a frantic impulse--I pushed Hans over the brink. He +fell into the car. It swayed into an oscillation with the impact. The +balloon sank below our wing level and was gone, with only Hans, +muffled shouts floating up. + + * * * * * + +And De Boer came leaping at me from behind. I whirled around. My +danger was too much for the watching Jetta. She screamed. + +"Philip, look out for him!" + +"Hah! The American. By damn, what is this?" + +It gave De Boer pause. He gripped a wing stay-wire for a second. + +Then he came with a rush. + +The corridor door was open behind me. I flung myself into it--and +collided with a shape. + +"Philip!" + +I shoved at her frantically. + +"Jetta, get back! Away from us!" + +I pulled at her, half falling. De Boer's shape came through the +doorway into the corridor. And was blotted out in the green darkness +as he turned the other way, to avoid me if I struck. + +A silence. The shadow of Jetta was behind me. I stood with poised +knife, listening, straining my eyes through the faint green darkness. +De Boer was here, knife in hand, fallen now into craftly, motionless +silence. He might have been close here down the corridor. Or in any +one of these nearby cubby doorways. + +I slid forward along the wall. The corridor was solid black down its +length: the green radiance seemed brighter at the control room behind +me. Had De Boer gone into this solid blackness, to lure me? + + * * * * * + +I stopped my advance. Stood again, trying to see or hear something. + +And then I saw him! Two small glowing points of light. Distant stars. +His eyes! Five feet ahead of me? Or ten? Or twenty? + +A rustle. A sound. + +His dark form materialized as he came--a huge, black blob overwhelming +me, his arm and knife blade striking. + +I dropped to the floor-grid, and his blade went over me. And as I +dropped, I struck with an upward thrust. My knife met solidity; sank +into flesh. + +I twisted past him on the floor as he fell. My knife was gone: buried +in him. + +Words were audible; choking gasps. I could see his form rising, +staggering. The open porte was near him; he swayed through it. + +Did he know he was mortally wounded? I think so. He swayed on the wing +runway, and I slid to the door and stood watching. And was aware of +the shadow of Jetta creeping to join me. + +"Is he--?" + +"Quiet, Jetta." + +He stood under the wing, swaying, gripping a stay. Then his voice +sounded, and it seemed like a laugh. + +"The craven American--wins." He moved a step. "Not to see--me die--" + +He toppled at the rail. "Good-by, Jetta." + +A great huddled shadow. A blob, toppling, falling.... + +Far down there now the crags and peaks of the Lowland depths were +visible. The darkness swallowed his whirling body. We could not hear +the impact. + + +CHAPTER XIX + +_Episode of the Lowlands_ + +There is but little remaining for me to record. I could not operate +the mechanism of invisibility of De Boer's X-flyer. But its pilot +controls were simple. With Jetta at my side, trembling now that our +gruesome task was over, we groped our way through the green darkness +and mounted to the pilot cubby. And within ten minutes I had lowered +the ship into the depths, found a landing place upon the dark rocks, +and brought us down. + +Hanley's Wasp had landed: we saw its lights half a mile from us. And +then the lights of another ship--an X-flyer convoying Hanley--slowly +materializing nearby. + +And then reunion. Jetta and I left De Boer's invisible vessel and +clambered over the rocks. And presently Hanley, staring at our +grotesque black forms, came rushing forward and greeted us. + +We were an hour locating De Boer's flyer, for all that Jetta and I had +just left it and thought we could find our way back. But we stumbled +onto it at last. Hanley felt his way aboard and brought it to +visibility. It has since been returned to the Anti-War Department, +with the compliments of Hanley's Office. + +The ransom money was restored to its proper source. Spawn's treasure +of radiumized quicksilver we shipped back to Nareda, where it was +checked and divided, and Jetta's share legally awarded to her. + +De Boer was dead when Hanley found him that night on the rocks. Jetta +and I did not go to look at him.... + +The balloon basket landed safely. Hanley and his men were down there +in time to seize it. Hans was caught; and Gutierrez, within the sack, +was found to be uninjured. They are incarcerated now in Nareda. They +were willing to tell the location of the bandit stronghold. A raid +there the following day resulted in the capture of most of De Boer's +men. + +All this is now public news. You have heard it, of course. Yet in my +narrative, setting down the events as I lived them, I have tried to +give more vivid details than the bare facts as they were blared +through the public audiphones. + +An episode of the strange, romantic, fantastic Lowlands. A very +unimportant series of incidents mingled with the news of a busy +world--just a few minutes of the newscasters' time to tell how a band +of depth smugglers was caught. + +But it was a very important episode to me. It changed, for me, a +clanking, thrumming machine-made world into a shining fairyland of +dreams come true. It gave me little Jetta. + +(_The End_) + + + + +Vagabonds of Space + +A COMPLETE NOVELETTE + +_By Harl Vincent_ + +[Illustration: _Carr went mad with fury. There it was, looming close +in his vision._] + +[Sidenote: From the depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space came the +thought-warning, "Turn back!" But Carr and his Martian friend found it +was too late!] + + +CHAPTER I + +_The Nomad_ + +Gathered around a long table in a luxuriously furnished director's +room, a group of men listened in astonishment to the rapid and +forceful speech of one of their number. + +"I tell you I'm through, gentlemen," averred the speaker. "I'm fed up +with the job, that's all. Since 2317 you've had me sitting at the helm +of International Airways and I've worked my fool head off for you. +Now--get someone else!" + +"Made plenty of money yourself, didn't you, Carr?" asked one of the +directors, a corpulent man with a self-satisfied countenance. + +"Sure I did. That's not the point. I've done all the work. There's not +another executive in the outfit whose job is more than a title, and +you know it. I want a change and a rest. Going to take it, too. So, go +ahead with your election of officers and leave me out." + +"Your stock?" Courtney Davis, chairman of the board, sensed that Carr +Parker meant what he said. + +"I'll hold it. The rest of you can vote it as you choose: divide the +proxies pro rata, based on your individual holdings. But I reserve the +right to dump it all on the market at the first sign of shady +dealings. That suit you?" + +The recalcitrant young President of International Airways had risen +from the table. The chairman attempted to restrain him. + +"Come on now, Carr, let's reason this out. Perhaps if you just took a +leave of absence--" + +"Call it anything you want. I'm done right now." + +Carr Parker stalked from the room, leaving eleven perspiring +capitalists to argue over his action. + + * * * * * + +He rushed to the corridor and nervously pressed the call button of the +elevators. A minute later he emerged upon the roof of the Airways +building, one of the tallest of New York's mid-town sky-scrapers. The +air here, fifteen hundred feet above the hot street, was cool and +fresh. He walked across the great flat surface of the landing stage to +inspect a tiny helicopter which had just settled to a landing. Angered +as he was, he still could not resist the attraction these trim little +craft had always held for him. The feeling was in his blood. + +His interest, however, was short lived and he strolled to the +observation aisle along the edge of the landing stage. He stared +moodily into the heavens where thousands of aircraft of all +descriptions sped hither and yon. A huge liner of the Martian route +was dropping from the skies and drifting toward her cradle on Long +Island. He looked out over the city to the north: fifty miles of it he +knew stretched along the east shore of the Hudson. Greatest of the +cities of the world, it housed a fifth of the population of the United +States of North America; a third of the wealth. + +Cities! The entire world lived in them! Civilization was too highly +developed nowadays. Adventure was a thing of the past. Of course there +were the other planets, Mars and Venus, but they were as bad. At least +he had found them so on his every business trip. He wished he had +lived a couple of centuries ago, when the first space-ships ventured +forth from the earth. Those were days of excitement and daring +enterprise. Then a man could find ways of getting away from +things--next to nature--out into the forests; hunting; fishing. But +the forests were gone, the streams enslaved by the power monopolies. +There were only the cities--and barren plains. Everything in life was +made by man, artificial. + + * * * * * + +Something drew his eyes upward and he spotted an unusual object in the +heavens, a mere speck as yet but drawing swiftly in from the upper air +lanes. But this ship, small though it appeared, stood out from amongst +its fellows for some reason. Carr rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. +Was it? Yes--it was--surrounded by a luminous haze. Notwithstanding +the brilliance of the afternoon sun, this haze was clearly visible. A +silver shimmering that was not like anything he had seen on Earth. The +ship swung in toward the city and was losing altitude rapidly. Its +silvery aura deserted it and the vessel was revealed as a sleek, +tapered cylinder with no wings, rudders or helicopter screws. Like the +giant liners of the Interplanetary Service it displayed no visible +means of support or propulsion. This was no ordinary vessel. + +Carr watched in extreme interest as it circled the city in a huge +spiral, settling lower at each turn. It seemed that the pilot was +searching for a definite landing stage. Then suddenly it swooped with +a rush. Straight for the stage of the Airways building! The strange +aura reappeared and the little vessel halted in mid-air, poised a +moment, then dropped gracefully and lightly as a feather to the level +surface not a hundred feet from where he stood. He hurried to the spot +to examine the strange craft. + +"Mado!" he exclaimed in surprise as a husky, bronzed Martian squeezed +through the quickly opened manhole and clambered heavily to the +platform. Mado of Canax--an old friend! + +"Devils of Terra!" gasped the Martian, his knees giving way, "--your +murderous gravity! Here, help me. I've forgotten the energizing +switch." + + * * * * * + +Carr laughed as he fumbled with a mechanism that was strapped to the +Martian's back. Mado, who tipped the scales at over two hundred pounds +on his own planet, weighed nearly six hundred here. His legs simply +couldn't carry the load! + +"There you are, old man." Parker had located the switch and a musical +purr came from the black box between the Martian's broad shoulders. +"Now stand up and tell me what you're doing here. And what's the idea +of the private ship? Come all the way from home in it?" + +His friend struggled to his feet with an effort, for the field +emanating from the black box required a few seconds to reach the +intensity necessary to counteract two-thirds of the earth's gravity. + +"Thanks Carr," he grinned. "Yes, I came all the way in that bus. +Alone, too--and she's mine! What do you think of her?" + +"A peach, from what I can see. But how come? Not using a private +space-flier on your business trips, are you?" + +"Not on your life! I've retired. Going to play around for a few years. +That's why I bought the Nomad." + +"Retired! Why Mado, I just did the same thing." + +"Great stuff! They've worked you to death. What are you figuring on +doing with yourself?" + +Carr shrugged his shoulders resignedly. "Usual thing, I suppose. +Travel aimlessly, and bore myself into old age. Nothing else to do. No +kick out of life these days at all, Mado, even in chasing around from +planet to planet. They're all the same." + + * * * * * + +The Martian looked keenly at his friend. "Oh, is that so?" he said. +"No kick, eh? Well, let me tell you, Carr Parker, you come with me and +we'll find something you'll get a kick out of. Ever seen the Sargasso +Sea of the solar system? Ever been on one of the asteroids? Ever seen +the other side of the Moon--Uranus--Neptune--Planet 9, the farthest +out from the sun?" + +"No-o." Carr's eyes brightened somewhat. + +"Then you haven't seen anything or been anywhere. Trouble with you is +you've been in the rut too long. Thinking there's nothing left in the +universe but the commonplace. Right, too, if you stick to the regular +routes of travel. But the _Nomad's_ different. I'm just a rover when +I'm at her controls, a vagabond in space--free as the ether that +surrounds her air-tight hull. And, take it from me, there's something +to see and do out there in space. Off the usual lanes, perhaps, but +it's there." + +"You've been out--how long?" Carr hesitated. + +"Eighty Martian days. Seen plenty too." He waved his arm in a gesture +that seemed to take in the entire universe. + +"Why come here, with so much to be seen out there?" + +"Came to visit you, old stick-in-the-mud," grinned Mado, "and to try +and persuade you to join me. I find you footloose already. You're +itching for adventure; excitement. Will you come?" + +Carr listened spellbound. "Right now?" he asked. + +"This very minute. Come on." + +"My bag," objected Carr, "it must be packed. I'll need funds too." + +"Bag! What for? Plenty of duds on the _Nomad_--for any old climate. +And money--don't make me laugh! Vagabonds need money?" He backed +toward the open manhole of the _Nomad_, still grinning. + +Carr hesitated, resisting the impulse to take Mado at his word. He +looked around. The landing stage had been deserted, but people now +were approaching. People not to be tolerated at the moment. He saw +Courtney Davis, grim and determined. There'd be more arguments, +useless but aggravating. Well, why not go? He'd decided to break away. +What better chance? Suddenly he dived for the manhole of Mado's +vessel; wriggled his way to the padded interior of the air-lock. He +heard the clang of the circular cover. Mado was clamping it to its +gasketed seat. + +"Let's go!" he shouted. + + +CHAPTER II + +_Into the Heavens_ + +The directors of International Airways stared foolishly when they saw +Carr Parker and the giant Martian enter the mysterious ship which was +a trespasser on their landing stage. They gazed incredulously as the +gleaming torpedo-shaped vessel arose majestically from its position. +There was no evidence of motive power other than a sudden radiation +from its hull plates of faintly crackling streamers of silvery light. +They fell back in alarm as it pointed its nose skyward and accelerated +with incredible rapidity, the silver energy bathing them in its +blinding luminescence. They burst forth in excited recrimination when +it vanished into the blue. Courtney Davis shook his fist after the +departing vessel and swore mightily. + +Carr Parker forgot them entirely when he clambered into the bucket +seat beside Mado, who sat at the Nomad's controls. He was free at +last: free to probe the mysteries of outer space, to roam the skies +with this Martian he had admired since boyhood. + +"Glad you came?" Mado asked his Terrestrial friend. + +"You bet. But tell me about yourself. How you've been and how come +you've rebelled, too? I haven't seen you for a long time, you know. +Why, it's been years!" + +"Oh, I'm all right. Guess I got fed up with things about the same way +you did. Knew last time I saw you that you were feeling as I did. +That's why I came after you." + +"But this vessel, the _Nomad_. I didn't know such a thing was in +existence. How does it operate? It seems quite different from the +usual ether-liners." + + * * * * * + +"It's a mystery ship. Invented and built by Thrygis, a discredited +scientist of my country. Spent a fortune on it and then went broke and +killed himself. I bought it from the executors for a song. They +thought it was a pile of junk. But the plans and notes of the inventor +were there and I studied 'em well. The ship is a marvel, Carr. +Utilizes gravitational attraction and reversal as a propelling force +and can go like the Old Boy himself. I've hit two thousand miles a +second with her." + +"A second! Why, that's ten times as fast as the regular liners! Must +use a whale of a lot of fuel. And where do you keep it? The fuel, I +mean." + +"Make it right on board. I'm telling you Carr, the _Nomad_ has no +equal. She's a corker." + +"I'll say she is. But what do you mean--make the fuel?" + +"Cosmic rays. Everywhere in space you know. Seems they are the result +of violent concentrations of energy that cause the birth of atoms. +Thrygis doped out a collector of these rays that takes 'em from their +paths and concentrates 'em in a retort where there's a spongy metal +catalyst that never deteriorates. Here there is a reaction to the +original action out in space and new atoms are born, simple ones of +hydrogen. But what could be sweeter for use in one of our regular +atomic motors? The energy of disintegration is used to drive the +generators of the artificial gravity field, and there you are. Sounds +complicated, but really isn't. And nothing to get out of whack +either." + + * * * * * + +"Beats the rocket motors and bulky fuel of the regular liners a mile, +doesn't it? But since when are you a navigator, Mado?" + +"Don't need to be a navigator with the _Nomad_. She's automatic, once +the controls are set. Say we wish to visit Venus. The telescope is +sighted on that body and the gravity forces adjusted so we'll be +attracted in that direction and repelled in the opposite direction. +Then we can go to bed and forget it. The movement of the body in its +orbit makes no difference because the force follows wherever it goes. +See? The speed increases until the opposing forces are equal, when +deceleration commences and we gradually slow down until within ten +thousand miles of the body, when the _Nomad_ automatically stops. +Doesn't move either, until we awaken to take the controls. How's that +for simple?" + +"Good enough. But suppose a wandering meteor or a tiny asteroid gets +in the way? At our speed it wouldn't have to be as big as your fist to +go through us like a shot." + +"All taken care of, my dear Carr. I told you Thrygis was a wiz. Such a +happenstance would disturb the delicate balance of the energy +compensators and the course of the _Nomad_ would instantly alter to +dodge the foreign object. Once passed by, the course would again be +resumed." + +"Some ship, the _Nomad_!" Carr was delighted with the explanations. +"I'm sold on her and on the trip. Where are we now and where bound?" + + * * * * * + +Mado glanced at the instrument board. "Nearly a million miles out and +headed for that Sargasso Sea I told you about," he said. "It isn't +visible in the telescope, but I've got it marked by the stars. Out +between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a quarter of a billion miles +away. But we'll average better than a thousand miles a second. Be +there in three days of your time." + +"How can there be a sea out there in space?" + +"Oh, that's just my name for it. Most peculiar thing, though. There's +a vast, billowy sort of a cloud. Twists and weaves around as if alive. +Looks like seaweed or something; and Carr, I swear there are things +floating around in it. Wrecks. Something damn peculiar, anyway. I vow +I saw a signal. People marooned there or something. Sorta scared me +and I didn't stay around for long as there was an awful pull from the +mass. Had to use full reversal of the gravity force to get away." + +"Now why didn't you tell me that before? That's something to think +about. Like the ancient days of ocean-going ships on Earth." + +"Tell you? How could I tell you? You've been questioning me ever since +I first saw you and I've been busy every minute answering you." + +Carr laughed and slid from his seat to the floor. He felt curiously +light and loose-jointed. A single step carried him to one of the +stanchions of the control cabin and he clung to it for a moment to +regain his equilibrium. + +"What's wrong?" he demanded. "No internal gravity mechanism on the +_Nomad_?" + +"Sure is. But it's adjusted for Martian gravity. You'll get along, but +it wouldn't be so easy for me with Earth gravity. I'd have to wear the +portable G-ray all the time, and that's not so comfortable. All right +with you?" + +"Oh, certainly. I didn't understand." + + * * * * * + +Carr saw that his friend had unstrapped the black box from his +shoulders. He didn't blame him. Glad he wasn't a Martian. It was +mighty inconvenient for them on Venus or Terra. Their bodies, large +and of double the specific gravity, were not easily handled where +gravity was nearly three times their own. The Venusians and +Terrestrials were more fortunate when on Mars, for they could become +accustomed to the altered conditions. Only had to be careful they +didn't overdo. He remembered vividly a quick move he had made on his +first visit to Mars. Carried him twenty feet to slam against a granite +pedestal. Bad cut that gave him, and the exertion in the rarefied +atmosphere had him gasping painfully. + +He walked to one of the ports and peered through its thick window. +Mado was fussing with the controls. The velvety blackness of the +heavens; the myriad diamond points of clear brilliance. Cold, too, it +looked out there, and awesomely vast. The sun and Earth had been left +behind and could not be seen. But Carr didn't care. The heavens were +marvelous when viewed without the obstruction of an atmosphere. But +he'd seen them often enough on his many business trips to Mars and +Venus. + +"Ready for bed?" Mado startled him with a tap on the shoulder. + +"Why--if you say so. But you haven't shown me through the _Nomad_ +yet." + +"All the time in the universe for that. Man, don't you realize you're +free? Come, let's grab some sleep. Need it out here. The ship'll be +here when we wake up. She's flying herself right now. Fast, too." + +Carr looked at the velocity indicator. Seven hundred miles a second +and still accelerating! He felt suddenly tired and when Mado opened +the door of a sleeping cabin its spotless bunk looked very inviting. +He turned in without protest. + + +CHAPTER III + +_A Message_ + +The days passed quickly, whether measured by the Martian chronometer +aboard the _Nomad_ or by Carr's watch, which he was regulating to +match the slightly longer day of the red planet. He was becoming +proficient in the operation of all mechanisms of the ship and had +developed a fondness for its every appointment. + +Behind them the sun was losing much of its blinding magnificence as it +receded into the ebon background of the firmament. The Earth was but +one of the countless worlds visible through the stern ports, +distinguishable by its slightly greenish tinge. They had reached the +vicinity of the phenomenon of space Mado had previously discovered. +Carr found himself seething with excitement as the _Nomad_ was brought +to a drifting speed. + +Mado, who had disclaimed all knowledge of navigation, was busy in the +turret with a sextant. He made rapid calculations based on its +indications and hurried to the controls. + +"Find it?" Carr asked. + +"Yep. Be there in a half hour." + +The nose of the vessel swung around and Mado adjusted the gravity +energy carefully. Carr glued his eye to the telescope. + +"See anything?" inquired Mado. + +"About a million stars, that's all." + +"Funny. Should be close by." + +Then: "Yes! Yes! I see it!" Carr exulted. "A milky cloud. Transparent +almost. To the right a little more!" + +The mysterious cloud rushed to meet them and soon was visible to the +naked eye through the forward port. Their speed increased alarmingly +and Mado cut off the energy. + +"What's that?" Mado stared white-faced at his friend. + +"A voice! You hear it too?" + +"Yes. Listen!" + +Amazed, they gazed at each other. It was a voice; yet not a sound came +to their ears. The voice was in their own consciousness. A mental +message! Yet each heard and understood. There were no words, but clear +mental images. + +"Beware!" it seemed to warn. "Come not closer, travelers from afar. +There is danger in the milky fleece before you!" + + * * * * * + +Mado pulled frantically at the energy reverse control. The force was +now fully repelling. Still the billowing whiteness drew nearer. It +boiled and bubbled with the ferocity of one of the hot lava cauldrons +of Mercury. Changing shape rapidly, it threw out long streamers that +writhed and twisted like the arms of an octopus. Reaching. Searching +for victims! + +"God!" whispered Carr. "What is it?" + +"Take warning," continued the voice that was not a voice. "A great +ship, a royal ship from a world unknown to you, now is caught in the +grip of this mighty monster. We can not escape, and death draws +quickly near. But we can warn others and ask that our fate be reported +to our home body." + +A sudden upheaval of the monstrous mass spewed forth an object that +bounced a moment on the rippling surface and then was lost to view. A +sphere, glinting golden against the white of its awful captor. + +"The space-ship!" gasped Mado. "It's vanished again!" + +They hurtled madly in the direction of this monster of the heavens, +their reverse energy useless. + +"We're lost, Mado." Carr was calm now. This was excitement with a +vengeance. He'd wished for it and here it was. But he'd much rather +have a chance to fight for his life. Fine ending to his dreams! + +"Imps of the canals! The thing's alive!" Mado hurled himself at the +controls as a huge blob of the horrible whiteness broke loose from the +main body and wobbled uncertainly toward them. A long feeler reached +forth and grasped the errant portion, returning it with a vicious +jerk. + +"Turn back! Turn back!" came the eery warning from the golden sphere. +"All is over for us. Our hull is crushed. The air is pouring from our +last compartment. Already we find breathing difficult. Turn back! The +third satellite of the fifth planet is our home. Visit it, we beseech +you, and report the manner of our going. This vile creature of space +has power to draw you to its breast, to crush you as we are crushed." + + * * * * * + +The _Nomad_ lurched and shuddered, drawn ever closer to the horrid +mass of the thing. A gigantic jellyfish, that's what it was, a hundred +miles across! Carr shivered in disgust as it throbbed anew, sending +out those grasping streamers of its mysterious material. As the +_Nomad_ plunged to its doom with increasing speed, Mado tried to +locate some spot in the universe where an extreme effect could be +obtained from the full force of the attracting or repulsive energies. +They darted this way and that but always found themselves closer to +the milky billows that now were pulsating in seeming eagerness to +engulf the new victim. + +Once more came the telepathic warning, "Delay no longer. It is high +time you turned back. You must escape to warn our people and yours. +Even now the awful creature has us in its vitals, its tentacles +reaching through our shattered walls, creeping and twining through the +passages of our vessel. Crushing floors and walls, its demoniac +energies heating our compartment beyond belief. We can hold out no +longer. Go! Go quickly. Remember--the third satellite of the fifth +planet--to the city of golden domes. Tell of our fate. Our people will +understand. You--" + +The voice was stilled. Mado groaned as if in pain and Carr saw in that +instant that each knob and lever on the control panel glowed with an +unearthly brush discharge. Not violet as of high frequency +electricity, but red. Cherry red as of heated metal. The emanations of +the cosmic monster were at work on the _Nomad_. A glance through the +forward port showed they had but a few miles to go. They'd be in the +clutches of the horror in minutes, seconds, at the rate they were +traveling. Mado slumped in his seat, his proud head rolling +grotesquely on his breast. He slid to the floor, helpless. + + * * * * * + +Carr went mad with fury. It couldn't be! This thing of doom was a +creature of his imagination! But no--there it was, looming close in +his vision. By God, he'd leave the mark of the _Nomad_ on the vicious +thing! He remembered the ray with which the vessel was armed. He was +in the pilot's seat, fingering controls that blistered his hands and +cramped his arms with an unnameable force. He'd fight the brute! Full +energy--head on--that was the way to meet it. Why bother with the +reversal? It was no use. + +A blood-red veil obscured his vision. He felt for the release of the +ray; pulled the gravity energy control to full power forward. In a +daze, groping blindly for support, he waited for the shock of impact. +The mass of that monstrosity must be terrific, else why had it such a +power of attraction for other bodies? Or was it that the thing +radiated energies unknown to science? Whatever it was, the thing would +know the sting of the _Nomad's_ ray. Whatever its nature, animate or +inanimate, it was matter. The ray destroyed matter. Obliterated it +utterly. Tore the atoms asunder, whirling their electrons from their +orbits with terrific velocity. There'd be some effect, that was +certain! No great use perhaps. But a crater would mark the last +resting place of the _Nomad_; a huge crater. Perhaps the misty +whiteness would close in over them later. But there'd be less of the +creature's bulk to menace other travelers in space. + +His head ached miserably; his body was shot through and through with +cramping agonies. The very blood in his veins was liquid fire, searing +his veins and arteries with pulsing awfulness. He staggered from the +control cabin; threw himself on his bunk. The covers were electrified +and clung to him like tissue to rubbed amber. The wall of the sleeping +cabin vibrated with a screeching note. The floors trembled. Madness! +That's all it was! He'd awaken in a moment. Find himself in his own +bed at home. He'd dreamed of adventures before now. But never of such +as this! It just couldn't happen! A nightmare--fantasy of an +over-tired brain--it was. + +There came a violent wrench that must have torn the hull plates from +their bracings. The ship seemed to close in on him and crush him. A +terrific concussion flattened him to the bunk. Then all was still. +Carr Parker's thoughts broke short abruptly. He had slipped into +unconsciousness. + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Europa_ + +When Carr opened his eyes it was to the normal lighting of his own +sleeping cabin. The _Nomad_ was intact, though an odor of scorched +varnish permeated the air. They were unharmed--as yet. He turned on +his side and saw that Mado was moving about at the side of his couch. +Good old Mado! With a basin of water in his hand and a cloth. He'd +been bathing his face. Brought him to. He sat up just as Mado turned +to apply the cloth anew. + +"Good boy, Carr! All right?" smiled the Martian. + +"Little dizzy. But I'm okay." Carr sprang to his feet where he wabbled +uncertainly for a moment. "But the _Nomad?_" he asked. "Is she--are we +safe?" + +"Never safer. What in the name of Saturn did you do?" + +Carr passed his hand across his eyes, trying to remember. "The D-ray," +he said. "I turned it on and dived into the thing with full +attraction. Then--I forget. Where is it--the thing, I mean?" + +"Look!" Mado drew him to the stern compartment. + +Far behind them there shone a misty wreath, a ring of drifting matter +that writhed and twisted as if in mortal agony. + +"Is that it?" + +"What's left of it. You shot your way through it; through and out of +its influence. D-ray must have devitalized the thing as it bored +through. Killed its energies--for the time, at least." + +Already, the thing was closing in. Soon there would be a solid mass as +before. But the _Nomad_ was saved. + +"How about yourself?" asked Carr anxiously. "Last time I saw you you +were flat on the floor." + +"Nothing wrong with me now. A bit stiff and sore, that's all. When I +came to I put all the controls in neutral and came looking for you. I +was scared, but the thing's all over now, so let's go." + +"Where?" + +"Europa." + +"Where's that?" + +"Don't you remember? The third satellite of the fifth planet. That's +Europa, third in distance from Jupiter, the fifth planet. It is about +the size of Terra's satellite--your Moon. We'll find the city of the +golden domes." + + * * * * * + +Carr's eyes renewed their sparkle. "Right!" he exclaimed. "I forgot +the mental message. Poor devils! All over for them now. But we'll +carry their message. How far is it?" + +"Don't know yet till I determine our position and the position of +Jupiter. But it's quite a way. Jupiter's 483 million miles from the +Sun, you know." + +"We're more than half way, then." + +"Not necessarily. Perhaps we're on the opposite side of the sun from +Jupiter's present position. Then we'd have a real trip." + +"Let's figure it out." Carr was anxious to be off. + +Luck was with them, as they found after some observations from the +turret. Jupiter lay off their original course by not more than fifteen +degrees. It was but four days' journey. + +Again they were on their way and the two men, Martian and Terrestrial, +made good use of the time in renewing their old friendship and in the +study of astronomy as they had done during the first leg of their +journey. Though of widely differing build and nature, the two found a +close bond in their similar inclinations. The library of the Nomad was +an excellent one. Thrygis had seen to that, all of the voice-vision +reels being recorded in Cos, the interplanetary language, with its +standardized units of weight and measurement. + + * * * * * + +The supplies on board the _Nomad_ were ample. Synthetic foods there +were for at least a hundred Martian days. The supply of oxygen and +water was inexhaustible, these essential items being produced in +automatic retorts where disassembled electrons from their cosmic-ray +hydrogen were reassembled in the proper structure to produce atoms of +any desired element. Their supply of synthetic food could be +replenished in like manner when necessity arose. Thrygis had forgotten +nothing. + +"How do you suppose we'll make ourselves understood to the people of +Europa?" asked Carr, when they had swung around the great orb of +Jupiter and were headed toward the satellite. + +"Shouldn't have any trouble, Carr. Believe me, to a people who have +progressed to the point of sending mental messages over five hundred +miles of space, it'll be a cinch, understanding our simple mental +processes. Bet they'll read our every thought." + +"That's right. But the language. Proper names and all that. Can't get +those over with thought waves." + +"No, but I'll bet they'll have some way of solving that too. You wait +and see." + +Carr lighted a cigar and inhaled deeply as he gazed from one of the +ports. He'd never felt better in his life. Always had liked Martian +tobacco, too. Wondered what they'd do when the supply ran out. One +thing they couldn't produce synthetically. The disc of the satellite +loomed near and it shone with a warmly inviting light. Almost red, +like the color of Mars, it was. Sort of golden, rather. Anyway, he +wondered what awaited them there. This was a great life, this roaming +in space, unhampered by laws or conventions. The _Nomad_ was well +named. + +"Wonder what they'll think of our yarn," he said. + +"And me. I wonder, too, what that ungodly thing was back there. The +thing that is now the grave of some of their people. And what the +golden sphere was doing so far from home. It's a mystery." + + * * * * * + +They had gone over the same ground a hundred times and had not reached +a satisfactory conclusion. But perhaps they'd learn more in the city +of golden domes. + +"Another thing," said Carr, "that's puzzled me. Why is it that Europa +has not been discovered before this; that it's inhabited, I mean?" + +"Rocket ships couldn't carry enough fuel. Besides, our astronomers've +always told us that the outer planets were too cold; too far from the +sun." + +"That is something to think about. Maybe we'll not be able to stand +the low temperature; thin atmosphere; low surface gravity." + +"We've our insulated suits and the oxygen helmets for the first two +objections. The G-rays'll hold us down in any gravity. But we'll see +mighty soon. We're here." + +They had entered the atmosphere as they talked and the _Nomad_ was +approaching the surface in a long glide with repulsion full on. It was +daytime on the side they neared. Pale daylight, but revealing. The +great ball that was Jupiter hung low on the horizon, its misty outline +faintly visible against the deep green of the sky. + + * * * * * + +The surface over which they skimmed was patchworked with farm-lands +and crisscrossed by gleaming ribbons. Roadways! It was like the +voice-vision records of the ancient days on Mars and Terra before +their peoples had taken to the air. Here was a body where a person +could get out in the open; next to nature. They crossed a lake of calm +green water fringed by golden sands. At its far side a village spread +out beneath them and was gone; a village of broad pavements and +circular dwellings with flat rooms, each with its square of ground. A +golden, mountain range loomed in the background; vanished beneath +them. More fields and roads. Everywhere there were yellows and reds +and the silver sheen of the roads. No green save that of the darkening +sky and the waters of the streams and ponds. It was a most inviting +panorama. + +Occasionally they passed a vessel of the air--strange flapping-winged +craft that soared and darted like huge birds. Once one of them +approached so closely they could see its occupants, seemingly a people +similar to the Venusians, small of stature and slender. + +"How in time are we to find this city of golden domes?" Carr +ejaculated. + +As if in answer to his question there came a startling command, +another of the mental messages. + +"Halt!" it conveyed to their mind. "Continue not into our country +until we have communed with you." + +Obediently Mado brought up the nose of the _Nomad_ and slowed her down +to a gradual stop. They hovered at an altitude of about four thousand +feet, both straining their ears as if listening for actual speech. + +"It is well," continued the message. "Your thoughts are good. You come +from afar seeking the city of golden domes. Proceed now and a fleet of +our vessels will meet you and guide you to our city." + +"Now wouldn't that jar you?" whispered Carr. "Just try to get away +with anything on this world." + +Mado laughed as he started the generators of the propelling +energy. "I'd hate to have a wife of Europa," he commented. "No +sitting-up-with-sick-friend story could get by with her!" + + +CHAPTER V + +_The City of Golden Domes_ + +With the _Nomad_ cruising slowly over the surface of the peaceful +satellite, Mado sampled the atmosphere through a tube which was +provided for that purpose. The pressure was low, as they had expected; +about twenty inches of mercury in the altitude at which they drifted. +But the oxygen content was fairly high and the impurities negligible. +A strange element was somewhat in evidence, though Mado's analysis +showed this to be present in but minute quantity. They opened the +ports and drew their first breath of the atmosphere of Europa. + +"Good air, Carr." Mado was sniffing at one of the ports. "A bit rare +for you, but I think you'll get along with it. Temperature of +forty-five degrees. That's not so bad. The strangest thing is the +gravity. This body isn't much more than two thousand miles in +diameter, yet its gravity is about the same as on Venus--seven eighths +of that of Terra. Must have a huge nickel-iron core." + +"Yes. It'll be a cinch for me. But you, you big lummox--it's the G-ray +for you as long as we're here." + +"Uh-huh. You get all the breaks, don't you?" + +Carr laughed. He was becoming anxious to land. "What sort of a +reception do you suppose we'll get?" he said. + +"Not bad, from the tone of that last message. And here they come, +Carr. Look--a dozen of them. A royal reception, so far." + +Suddenly they were in the midst of a flock of great birds; birds that +flapped their golden wings to rise, then soared and circled like the +gulls of the terrestrial oceans. And these mechanical birds were fast. +Carr and Mado watched in fascination as they strung out in V formation +and led the way in the direction of the setting sun. Six, seven +hundred miles an hour the _Nomad's_ indicator showed, as they swung in +behind these ships of Europa. + + * * * * * + +They crossed a large body of water, a lake of fully five hundred miles +in width. More country then, hardly populated now and with but few of +the gleaming roadways. The sun had set, but there was scarcely any +diminution of the light for the great ball that was Jupiter reflected +a brilliance of far greater intensity than that of the full Moon on a +clear Terrestrial night. A marvelous sight the gigantic body +presented, with its alternate belts of gray-blue and red and dazzling +white. And it hung so low and huge in the heavens that it seemed one +had but to stretch forth a hand to touch its bright surface. + +Another mountain range loomed close and was gone. On its far side +there stretched the desolate wastes of a desert, a barren plain that +extended in all directions to the horizon. Wind-swept, it was and +menacing beneath them. Europa was not all as they had first seen it. + +A glimmer of brightness appeared at the horizon. The fleet was +reducing speed and soon they saw that their journey was nearly over. +At the far edge of the desert the bright spot resolved itself into the +outlines of a city, the city of golden domes. Cones they looked like, +rather, with rounded tops and fluted walls. The mental message had +conveyed the most fitting description possible without words or +picture. + +The landing was over so quickly that they had but confused impressions +of their reception. A great square in the heart of the city, crowded +with people. Swooping maneuvers of hundreds of the bird-like ships. An +open space for their arrival. The platform where a committee awaited +them. The king, or at least he seemed to be king. The sea of upturned +faces, staring eyes. + + * * * * * + +Mado fidgeted and opened his mouth to voice a protest but Carr nudged +him into silence. The king had risen from his seat in the circle on +the platform and was about to address them. There was no repetition of +the telepathic means of communication. + +"Welcome, travelers from the inner planets," said the king. He spoke +Cos perfectly! "Cardos, emperor of the body you call Europa, salutes +you. Our scientists have recorded your thoughts with their psycho-ray +apparatus and have learned that you have a message for us, a message +we fear is not pleasant. Am I correct?" + +Carr stared at the soft-voiced monarch of this remarkable land. It was +incredible that he spoke in the universal language of the inner +planets! + +"Your Highness," he replied, "is correct. We have a message. But it +amazes us that you are familiar with our language." + +"That we shall explain later. Meanwhile--the message!" + +"The message," Carr said, "is not pleasant. A golden sphere out in +space. Helpless in the clutches of a nameless monster, a vast creature +of jellylike substance but possessed of enormous destructive energy. A +mental message to our vessel warning us away and bidding us to come +here; to tell you of their fate. We escaped and here we are." + +The face of Cardos paled. He reached for an egg-shaped crystal that +reposed on the table; spoke rapidly into its shimmering depths. Hidden +amplifiers carried his voice throughout the square in booming tones. +It was a strange tongue he spoke, with many gutturals and sibilants. A +groan came up from the assembled multitude. + +Cardos tossed the crystal to the table with a resigned gesture, then +tottered and swayed. Instant confusion reigned in the square and the +emperor was assisted from the platform by two of his retainers. They +never saw him again. + + * * * * * + +One of the counsellors, a middle-aged man with graying russet hair and +large gray eyes set in a perfectly smooth countenance, stepped from +the platform and grasped the two adventurers as the confusion in the +square increased to an uproar. + +"Come," he whispered, in excellent Cos; "I'll explain all to you in +the quiet of my own apartments. I am Detis, a scientist, and my home +is close by." + +Gently he clung to them as the larger men forced their way between the +milling groups of excited Europans. No one gave them much attention. +All seemed to be overcome with grief. A terrible disaster, this loss +of the golden sphere must be! + +They were out of the square and in one of the broad streets. The +fluted sides of the unpointed cones shone softly golden on all sides. +Alike in every respect were these dwellings of the people of Europa, +and strangely attractive in the light of the mother planet. + +Not a word was spoken when they reached the abode of their guide. They +entered an elaborate hall and were whisked upward in an automatic +elevator. Detis ushered them into his apartment when they alighted. He +smiled gravely at their looks of wonder as they cast eyes on the maze +of apparatus before them. It was a laboratory rather than a living +room in which they stood. + +Detis led them to an adjoining room where he bid them be seated. They +exchanged wondering glances as their host paced the floor vigorously +before speaking further. + +"Friends," he finally blurted, "I hope you'll excuse my emotion but +the news you brought is a terrible blow to me as to all Europa. Carli, +our prince, beloved son of Cardos, was commander of the ship you +reported lost. We deeply mourn his loss." + + * * * * * + +Carr and Mado waited in respectful silence while their host made +effort to control his feelings. + +"Now," he said, after a moment, "I can talk. You have many questions +to ask, I know. So have I. But first I must tell you that Carli's was +an expedition to your own worlds. A grave danger hangs over them and +he was sent to warn them. He has been lost. Our only space-ship +capable of making the journey also is lost. Six Martian years were +required to build it, so I fear the warning will never reach your +people. Already the time draws near." + +"A grave danger?" asked Mado. "What sort of a danger?" + +"War! Utter destruction! Conquest by the most warlike and ambitious +people in the solar system." + +"Not the people of Europa?" asked Carr. + +"Indeed not. There is another inhabited satellite of Jupiter, next +farthest from the mother planet. Ganymede, you call it. It is from +there that these conquerors are to set forth." + +"Many of them?" inquired Mado. + +"Two million or so. They're prepared to send an army of more than a +tenth of that number on the first expedition." + +"A mere handful!" Carr was contemptuous. + +"True, but they are armed with the most terrible of weapons. Your +people are utterly unprepared and, unless warned, will be driven from +their cities and left in the deserts to perish of hunger and exposure. +This is a real danger." + +"Something in it, Carr, if what he says is true. We've no arms nor +warriors. Haven't had for two centuries. You know it as well as I do." + +"Bah! Overnight we could have a million armed and ready to fight them +off." + + * * * * * + +Detis raised his hand. "You offend me," he said gravely. "I have told +you this in good faith and you reward me with disbelief and boastful +talk. Your enemies are more powerful than you think, and your own +people utterly defenceless against them." + +"I'm sorry," Carr apologized, "and I'll listen to all you have to say. +Surely your prince has not given his life in vain." He was ashamed +before this scientist of Europa. + +A tinkling feminine voice from the next room called something in the +Europan tongue. + +Detis raised his head proudly and his frown softened at the sound of +dainty footsteps. His voice was a caress as he replied. + +A vision of feminine loveliness stood framed in the doorway and the +visitors rose hastily from their seats. Carr gazed into eyes of the +deepest blue he had ever seen. Small in stature though this girl of +Europa was--not more than five feet tall--she had the form of a +goddess and the face of an angel. He was flushing to the roots of his +hair. Could feel it spread. What an ass he was anyway! Anyone'd think +he'd never seen a woman in all his thirty-five years! + +"My daughter, Ora, gentlemen," said Detis. + +The girl's eyes had widened as she looked at the huge Martian with the +funny black box on his back. They dropped demurely when turned to +those of the handsome Terrestrial. + +"Oh," she said, in Cos, "I didn't know you had callers." + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Vlor-urdin_ + +The time passed quickly in Pala-dar, city of the golden domes. Detis +spent many hours in the laboratory with his two visitors and the fair +Ora was usually at his side. She was an efficient helper to her father +and a gracious hostess to the guests. + +The amazement of the visitors grew apace as the wonders of Europan +science were revealed to them. They sat by the hour at the illuminated +screen of the rulden, that remarkable astronomical instrument which +brought the surfaces of distant celestial bodies within a few feet of +their eyes, and the sounds of the streets and the jungles to their +ears. It was no longer a mystery how the language of Cos had become so +familiar to these people. + +They learned of the origin of the races that inhabited Europa and +Ganymede. Ages before, it was necessary for the peoples of the then +thickly populated Jupiter to cast about for new homes due to the +cooling of the surface of that planet. Life was becoming unbearable. +In those days there were two dominant races on the mother body, a +gentle and peaceful people of great scientific accomplishment and a +race of savage brutes who, while very clever with their hands, were of +lesser mental strength and of a quarrelsome and fighting disposition. + +Toward the last the population of both main countries was reduced to +but a few survivors, and the intelligent race had discovered a means +of traversing space and was prepared to leave the planet for the more +livable satellite--Europa. Learning of these plans, the others made a +treaty of perpetual peace as a price for their passage to another +satellite--Ganymede. The migration began and the two satellites were +settled by the separate bands of pioneers and their new lives begun. + + * * * * * + +The perpetual treaty had not been broken since, but the energies of +the warlike descendants of those first settlers of Ganymede were +expended in casting about for new fields to conquer. Through the ages +they cast increasingly covetous eyes on those inner planets, Mars, +Terra and Venus. Not having the advantage of the Rulden, they knew of +these bodies only what could be seen through their own crude optical +instruments and what they had learned by word of mouth from certain +renegade Europans they were able to bribe. + +While their neighbors of the smaller satellite were engaged in +peaceful pursuits, tilling the soil and making excellent homes for +themselves, the dwellers on Ganymede were fashioning instruments of +warfare and building a fleet of space-ships to carry them to their +intended victims. It was a religion with them; they could think of +nothing else. An unscrupulous scientist of Europa sold himself to them +several generations previously and it was this scientist who had made +the plans for their space-fliers and had contrived the deadly weapons +with which they were armed. He likewise taught them the language of +Cos and it now was spoken universally throughout Ganymede in +anticipation of the glorious days of conquest. + +"You honestly believe them able to do this?" asked Carr, still +skeptical after two days of discussion. + +"I know it as a certainty," Detis replied solemnly. "It is only during +the past generation we have learned of the completeness and awfulness +of their preparations. Your people can not combat their sound-ray. +With it they can remain outside the vision of those on the surface and +set the tall buildings of your cities in harmonic vibrations that will +bring them down in ruins about the ears of the populace." + + * * * * * + +"There'll be nothing left for them to take if they destroy all our +cities: nowhere for them to live. I don't get it." + +"Only a few will be destroyed completely, to terrify the rest of the +inhabitants of your worlds. Others will be depopulated by means of +vibrations that will kill off the citizens without harming the cities +themselves--vibrations which are capable of blanketing a large area +and raising the body temperature of all living things therein to a +point where death will ensue in a very few minutes. Other vibrations +will paralyze all electrical equipment on the planet and make it +impossible for your ships of the air to set out to give battle, even +were they properly armed." + +"Looks bad, Carr," said Mado glumly. + +"It does that. We've got to go back and carry the warning." + +"I fear it is too late," said Detis. "Much time will be needed in +which to develop a defense and surely it can not be done within the +three isini before they set forth--about four of your days." + +"They leave that soon?" Carr was taken aback. + +"Yes, with their one hundred and twenty vessels; forty to each of your +three planets; seventeen hundred men to a vessel." + +Carr jumped to his feet. "By the heat devils of Mercury!" he roared, +"well go to their lousy little satellite and find a way to prevent +it!" + + * * * * * + +Ora gazed at his flushed face with unconcealed admiration. + +"You're crazy!" exploded Mado. "What can we do with the _Nomad_?" + +"Her D-ray can do plenty of damage." + +"Yes, but they'd have us down before we could account for five of +their vessels. It's no use, I tell you." + +But Carr was stubborn. "We'll pay them a call anyway. I'll bet we can +dope out some way of putting it over on them. Are you game?" + +"Of course I'm game. I'll go anywhere you will. But it's a fool idea +just the same." + +"Maybe so. Maybe not. Anyway--let's go." + +"Just a moment, gentlemen," Detis interposed. "How about me?" + +Carr stared at him and saw that his eyes shone with excitement. "Why, +I believe you'd like to go with us!" he exclaimed admiringly. + +"I would, indeed." + +"Come on then. We're off." He was impatient to be gone. + +Detis busied himself with a small apparatus that folded into a compact +case, explaining that it was one that might prove useful. Ora left the +room but quickly returned. She too carried a small case, and she had +donned a snug fitting leather garment that covered her from neck to +knees. + +"What's this?" demanded Carr. "Surely Miss Ora does not intend to come +with us?" + +"She never leaves my side," said Detis proudly. + +"Nothing doing!" Carr stated emphatically. "There'll be plenty of +danger on this trip. Well have no woman along--least of all your +charming daughter." + + * * * * * + +Mado was leaving everything to his friend, but he grinned in +anticipation when he saw the look of anger on the girl's face. + +She stamped her little foot and faced Carr valiantly. "See here, Mr. +Carr Parker!" she stormed. "I'm no weakling. I'm the daughter of my +father and where he goes I go. You'll take me or I'll never speak to +you again." + +Carr flushed. He was accustomed to his own way in most things and +entirely unused to the ways of the gentler sex. He could have shaken +the little vixen! But now she was standing before him and there was +something in those great blue eyes besides anger; something that set +his heart pounding madly. + +"All right!" he agreed desperately, "have your own way." + +He turned on his heel and strode to the door. Giving in to this slip +of a girl! What a fool he was! But it would be great at that to have +her along in the _Nomad_. + +They found the public square deserted, the gilded dwellings hung with +somber colors in mourning for Carli. Ora and Detis were very quiet and +preoccupied when they entered the _Nomad_. The five isini of +lamentation for the young prince had not yet passed. + +The two Europans were delighted with the appointments and mechanisms +of the little vessel from Mars. They investigated every nook and +cranny of its interior during the journey and were voluble in their +praise of its inventor and builder. Neither had ever set foot in a +space-flier and each was seized with a longing to explore space with +these two strangers from the inner planets. They would make a couple +of good vagabonds along with Mado and himself, Carr thought as they +expressed their feelings. But there was more serious business at hand. +They were nearing Ganymede. + +"Where'll we land, Detis?" Mado called from the control cabin. + +"Vlor-urdin. That is their chief city. I'll guide you to the +location." + + * * * * * + +They took up their places at the ports and scanned the surface of the +satellite as Mado dropped the ship into its atmosphere. A far +different scene was presented than on Europa. The land was seamed and +scarred, the colors of the foliage somber. Grays and browns +predominated and the jungles seemed impenetrable. A river swung into +view and its waters were black as the deepest night, its flow +sluggish. A rank mist hung over the surface. + +"The river of Charis!" exclaimed Detis. "Follow it, Mado. No, the +other direction. There! It leads directly to Vlor-urdin." + +By good chance they had entered the atmosphere at a point not far from +their destination. In less than an hour by the _Nomad's_ chronometer +the towers of Vlor-urdin were sighted. + +It was a larger city than Pala-dar and of vastly different appearance. +A hollow square of squat buildings enclosed the vast workshops and +storage space of the fleet of war vessels. Their huge spherical bulks +rose from their cradles in tier after tier that stretched as far as +the eye could reach when the _Nomad_ had dropped to a level but +slightly above the tips of the highest spires. The spires were +everywhere, decorative towers at the corners of the squat buildings. +Everything was black, the vessels of the fleet, the squat buildings +and the spires of Vlor-urdin. Death was in the air. Rank vapor drifted +in through the opened ports. There was silence in the city below them +and silence in the _Nomad_. + +Ora shuddered and drew closer to him. Carr was aware of her nearness +and a lump rose in his throat. A horrible fear assailed him. Fear for +the safety of the dainty Europan at his side. He found her hand; +covered it protectingly with his own. + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Rapaju_ + +Detis was setting up and adjusting the complicated mechanisms of his +little black case. A dozen vacuum tubes lighted, and a murmur of +throbbing energy came from a helix of shining metallic ribbon that +topped the whole. Flexible cables led to a cap-like contrivance which +Detis placed on his head. He frowned in concentration. + +"The psycho-ray apparatus." Ora explained. "He's sending a message to +the city." + +Evidently the influence of the ray was directive. They had no inkling +of the thoughts transmitted from the alert brain of the scientist but, +from the look of satisfaction on his face, they could see that he was +obtaining the desired contact. + +"Rapaju," he exclaimed, switching off the power of his instrument, +"commander of the fleet of the Llotta. I have advised him of our +arrival. Told him that a Martian and a Terrestrial wish to treat with +him concerning the proposed invasion of their planets. His answering +thought first was of fiercest rage, then conciliatory in nature. He'll +receive you and listen to your arguments, though he promises nothing. +Is that satisfactory?" + +"Yes." Carr and Mado were agreed. At least it would give them a chance +to look over the ground and to make plans, should any occur to them. + +The _Nomad_ circled over the heart of the city and soon Mado saw a +suitable landing space. They settled gracefully in an open area close +by the building indicated by Detis as that of the administration +officials of the city. + + * * * * * + +A group of squat, sullen Llotta awaited them and, without speaking a +word either of hatred or welcome, led them into the forbidding +entrance of the building. Close-set, beady eyes; unbelievably flat +features of chalky whiteness; chunky bowed legs, bare and hairy; long +arms with huge dangling paws--these were the outstanding +characteristics of the Llotta. Mado stared straight before him, +refusing to display any great interest in the loathsome creatures, but +Carr was frankly curious and as frankly disapproving. + +Rapaju leered maliciously when the four voyagers stood before him. He +looked the incarnation of all that was evil and vile, a monster among +monsters. Sensing him to be the more aggressive of the two visitors +from doomed planets, he addressed his remarks to Carr. + +"You come to plead with Rapaju," he sneered, his Cos tinged with an +outlandish accent, "to beg for the worthless lives of your +compatriots; for the wealth of your cities?" + +"We come to reason with you," replied Carr haughtily, "if you are +capable of reasoning. What is this incredible thing you are planning?" + +Mado gasped at the effrontery of his friend. But Carr was oblivious of +the warning looks cast in his direction. + +"Enough of that!" snapped Rapaju. "I'll do the talking--you the +reasoning. I've a proposition to make to you, and if you know what's +best, you'll agree. Otherwise you'll be first of the Terrestrials to +die. Is that clear?" + +"Clear enough, all right," growled Carr. "What do you mean--a +proposition?" + +"Ha! I thought you'd listen. My offer is the lives of you and your +companion in exchange for your assistance in guiding my fleet to the +capital cities of your countries. Not that our plans will be changed +if you refuse, but that much time will be saved in this manner and +quick victory made certain without undue sacrifice of valuable +property." + +"You--you--!" Carr stammered in anger. But there was no use in raising +a rumpus--now. They'd only kill him. Something might be accomplished +if he pretended to accede. "Go on with your story," he finished +lamely. + +"In addition to sparing your lives I'll place you both in high +position after we seize your respective planets. Make you chief +officers in the prison lands we intend to establish for your +countrymen. What do you say?" + +"Will you give us time to talk it over and think about it?" + +"Until the hour of departure, if you wish." + + * * * * * + +Carr bowed, avoiding Mado's questioning eyes. He looked at Ora where +she stood at the side of Detis. She flashed him a guarded smile. He +knew that she understood. + +Rapaju relaxed. He was confident he could bribe these puerile +foreigners to help him in the great venture. And sadly he needed such +help. The Llotta were not navigators. Their knowledge of the heavens +was sadly incomplete. They had no maps of the surfaces of the planets +to be visited. Their simultaneous blows would be far more effective +and the campaign much shorter if they could choose the most vital +centers for the initial attacks. + +"Now," he said, "that we understand one another, let us talk further +of the plans. Then you will be able to consider carefully before +making your decision." + +Rapaju could be diplomatic when he wished. Carr longed to sink his +fingers in the hairy throat. But he smiled hypocritically and found an +opportunity to wink meaningly at Mado. This was going to be good! And +who knew?--perhaps they might find some way to outwit these mad +savages. To think of them in control of the inner planets was +revolting. + +They retired to a small room with Rapaju and four of his lieutenants, +Detis and Ora accompanying them. Ora sat close to Carr at the circular +table in Rapaju's council. Carr thought grimly of the board meetings +in far away New York. + +Rapaju talked. He told of the armament of his vessels, painting vivid +pictures of the destruction to be wrought in the cities of Terra, of +Mars and Venus. His great hairy paws clutched at imaginary riches when +he spoke glowingly of the plundering to follow. He spoke of the women +of the inner planets and Carr half rose from his seat when he observed +the lecherous glitter in his beady eyes. Ora! Great God, was she safe +here? He stole a glance at the girl and a recurrence of the awful fear +surged through him. In her leather garment, close fitting and severe, +she looked like a boy. Perhaps they would not know. Besides, there was +the perpetual treaty with Europa. It always had been observed, Detis +said. + + * * * * * + +As Rapaju expanded upon the glories to come he told perforce of many +of the details of the plans. One thing stood out in Carr's mind: the +vessels of the Llotta were not equal to the _Nomad_ in many respects. +They must carry their entire supply of fuel from the starting point +and this was calculated as but a small percentage in excess of that +required to carry them to their destinations. Their speed was not as +great as the _Nomad's_ by at least a third. If the _Nomad_ led the +fleet from Ganymede they might be able to get them off their course; +cause them to run out of fuel out in the vacuum and absolute zero of +space. He kicked Mado under the table and arose to ask a few leading +questions. + +Ora was whispering to her father and he nodded his head as if in +complete agreement with what she was saying. These two were not +deceived by his apparent traitorous talk, but Mado was aghast. Carr +wondered if Rapaju believed him as did his friend. + +"We'll do it, Rapaju," he stated finally. "In our ship, the _Nomad_, +we'll guide you across the trackless wastes of the heavens. We'll take +you to our capital cities; point out to you the richest of the +industrial centers. We have no love for our own worlds. Mado and I +deserted them for a life of vagabondage amongst the stars. We ask no +reward other than that we be permitted to leave once more on our +travels, to roam space as we choose." + +Mado attempted to voice an objection but Carr's hand was heavy on his +shoulder. "Shut up, you fool!" he hissed in his ear. "Can't you trust +me?" + + * * * * * + +Rapaju's eyes seemed to draw closer together as he returned Carr's +unflinching stare. He walked around the table and stood at the side of +the tall Terrestrial. Suddenly he grasped Ora's jacket, tore it open +at the throat. He ran his hairy fingers over the bare shoulder of the +shrinking girl and gurgled his delight at the velvet smoothness of her +skin. + +With a roar like a wild animal Carr was upon him, bearing him to the +floor. His fingers were in that hairy throat, where they had itched to +twine. + +"Dirty, filthy beast!" he was snarling. "Lay your foul hands on Ora, +will you? Say your prayers, if you know any, you swine!" + +Then his muscles went limp and he was jerked to his feet by a terrible +force, a force that sent him reeling and gasping against the wall. One +of Rapaju's lieutenants stood before him with a tiny weapon in his +hand, the weapon which had released the paralyzing gas he breathed. He +was choking; suffocating. A black mist rose before him. He felt his +knees give way. Dimly, as in a dream, he saw that Ora was in Detis' +arms. Rapaju was on his feet, fingering his neck and laughing +horribly. + +"The treaty, Rapaju!" Detis was shouting. + +Ora was sobbing. Mado was in the hands of two of the vile Llotta, +struggling wildly to free himself. The Martian's eyes accused him. He +shut his own and groaned. Opened them again. But it was no use. +Everything in the room was whirling now, crazily. He fought to regain +his senses, crawled weakly toward the squat figure of Rapaju where it +swayed and twisted and spun around. Then all was darkness. The gas had +taken its toll. + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_The Expedition_ + +Carr awakened to a sense of wordless disgust. Fool that he was to +spill the beans as he had! All set to put one over on the leader of +the Llotta, then to come a cropper like this! He knew he had been +spared for a purpose. The gas was not intended to kill, only to render +him helpless for a time. He opened his eyes to the light of a familiar +room. He had awakened before in this bed. It was his own cabin on +board the _Nomad_. What had happened? Had he dreamed it all. Europa, +Ora, Rapaju--all of it? He sat up and felt of his aching head. + +"Oh, are you awake?" a soft voice greeted him. + +"Ora!" he exclaimed. It was indeed she, beautiful as ever. + +"Sh-h," she warned, placing the tip of a finger to his lips. "They'll +hear us." + +"Who?" he whispered. + +"Rapaju--his two guards. They're in the control cabin with father and +Mado." + +"What? They've taken the _Nomad_?" + +"Yes. We're under way. They've forced Mado to guide them but do not +trust him. Rapaju spared you as he believes you more capable. He'll +hold you to your word." + +"Lord! But what are you doing here?" + +Ora dropped her eyes. "He--Rapaju--" she said, "inferred from your +action in assaulting him that you were very fond of me. He holds me as +a hostage for your good behavior. Father volunteered to come along. He +persuaded Rapaju to allow it. Swore allegiance to his cause. Of course +he wouldn't leave me." + + * * * * * + +Carr gazed at her in admiration of her courage. She had been nursing +him, too! What a girl she was! + +"Ora," he said huskily, "Rapaju was right. I am fond of you. More than +fond: I love you. I never knew I could feel this way." + +"Oh Carr, you mustn't!" She drew back as he scrambled to his feet. +"They'll find us. We must not show that we care. Rapaju is a beast. He +wants me for himself and is delaying the time only until you have +brought the fleet safely to the inner planets and to their great +cities. He--" + +"The skunk! Wants you himself, does he? Why, why didn't I kill him? +But Ora, you said--you do care--" + +"Ha! I thought so!" Rapaju stood in the doorway, grinning mockingly at +the pair. "The impetuous Terrestrial is up and about. Back at his old +game!" + +"Please, please, for my sake, Carr!" Ora pressed him back as he +tensed his muscles for a spring. + +"Sorry I was so slow," Carr grated, over her shoulder. "Another five +seconds, Rapaju, and I'd have had your windpipe out by the roots." + +Rapaju scowled darkly and fingered his throat. "But, my dear Carr, you +were too slow," he said, "and I live--and shall live--while you shall +die. Meanwhile you'll carry out your agreement. Come, Ora." + +The girl hesitated a moment, then with a pleading glance at Carr +stepped from the room. + +"All right now, Parker," snapped Rapaju. "Into your clothes and into +the pilot's seat. You'll stay there, too, till the journey's over. Get +busy!" + +One of his guards had appeared in the doorway. Carr knew that +resistance was useless. Besides, seated at those controls, he might +think of something. Rapaju'd never get Ora if he could help it! + + * * * * * + +Mado's shoulders drooped and his face was haggard and drawn, but he +summoned a smile when he saw Carr. + +"Hello, Carr," he said. "You all right?" + +"Sure. Rapaju says I've got to take the controls." + +"Very well." Mado shrugged his broad shoulders and slipped from the +pilot's seat. Two ugly Llotta guards were watching, ray-pistols in +hand. "The chart is corrected, Carr, and--" + +"Never mind the conversation!" Rapaju snarled. "There'll be no talk +between you at all. Beat it to your cabin, Mado." + +The Martian glowered and made as if to retort hotly. + +"But Rapaju," Detis interposed, speaking from his position at one of +the ports, "they'll have to consult regarding the course of the +vessel. Mado is more familiar than Carr with the navigation of space." + +"Shut up!" roared Rapaju. "I know what I am doing. And, what's more, +you'll not converse with them, either! I'm running this expedition, +and I'm not taking any chances." + +Detis subsided and followed Mado through the passage to the sleeping +cabins. + + * * * * * + +The ensuing silence was ominous. Carr could feel the eyes of the +Llotta upon him as he examined the adjustments of the controls and +peeped through the telescope. A glance at the velocity indicator +showed him they were traveling at a rate of eight hundred miles a +second. He studied the chart and soon made out their position. Jupiter +was a hundred million miles behind them and they were heading almost +due sunward. The automatic control mechanism was not functioning. +Evidently Mado had kept this a secret--and for a purpose. He wished he +could talk with his friend. They'd plan something. + +"Like your job?" Rapaju was gloating over this Terrestrial who had +dared to lay hands upon him. + +"Yes, but not the company." Carr was disdainful. + +"You'll like it less before I've finished with you. And get this +straight. You think we're dependent on you to guide us to the inner +planets, and that we'll not harm any of you until they are reached. +Don't fool yourself! I've watched Mado and I've spent much time in the +excellent library of the _Nomad_. I've learned plenty about the +navigation of space and can reach those planets as quickly and +directly as you. But it pleases me to see you work, so work you shall. +I'll check you carefully, and don't think you can deceive me. Don't +try to depart from the true course. The sun is my check as it is +yours, and I'll keep constant tab on our position. Get it?" + +"A rather long speech, Rapaju." Carr grinned into the evil face of the +commander. + +"Still defiant, eh? Suits me, Carr Parker. We'll have some nice talks +here, and then--when it pleases me--you'll suffer. You shall live to +see your home city crash in utter ruin; your people slain, starved, +beaten. And, above all, there's Ora--" + +"Don't defile her name in your ugly mouth, you--!" + + * * * * * + +Carr bit his tongue to keep back the torrent of invectives that sprang +to his lips. This would never do! He'd get himself bumped off before +they were well started. And while there was life there was hope. He'd +stick to his guns and think; think and plan. If only he could have a +few words with Mado. They must get out of this mess. There must be a +way! There must! + +Rapaju was laughing in triumph. Thought he had cowed him, did he? +Boastful savage! If he could navigate the _Nomad_ himself, why didn't +he? Liar! He and Mado were godsends to him, and he knew it! His speech +at the council table had been the real truth. + +Foreign thoughts entered his mind. Detis, good old Detis, was using +his thought apparatus in his own cabin! He paid no attention to the +words of Rapaju when he left the control room. Detis was on the job! +Between them they'd outwit this devil of Ganymede. + +"Keep your courage," came the message. "I've read the thoughts of Mado +and he bids you examine the chart carefully. He's made some notations +in the ancient language of Mars. The automatic control of the _Nomad_ +can be used when necessary. He has not advised Rapaju of its +existence." + +Carr was encouraged and he concentrated on a suitable reply. But, +though he did not consciously will it, his thoughts were of Ora. + +Instantly there came the reassurance of her father. "Ora is not in +immediate danger. Rapaju is saving her for his revenge on you. And I'm +watching her constantly. A ray-pistol is concealed in my clothing, its +charge ready for the foul creature in case he should lay hands on her. +But you must plan an escape, and salvation for your worlds. Examine +the chart at once." + + * * * * * + +He looked from the corner of his eye and saw that one of the Llotta +guards was watching intently. He peered into the eye-piece of the +telescope; made an inconsequential change in one of the adjustments. +The guard stirred but did not arise. He looked at the chart with new +interest, scanned its markings carefully. What had Mado marked for his +attention? There were hundreds of notations, some in Cos and a few in +the ancient Martian, all in Mado's painstaking chirography. + +Ah, there it was! A tiny spot almost on their course, with Mado's +minute notation. Sargasso Sea! What did it mean? Did Mado intend to +lead the fleet into the embrace of that dreadful monster they had so +fortunately escaped? An excellent idea to save the inner planets. But +suicide for them! He'd do it though, if it weren't for Ora. She was so +sweet and innocent. She must not die; must not suffer. Another way +must be found. He groaned aloud as he realized that her predicament +was the result of his own bullheadedness. If only he hadn't insisted +on the trip to Ganymede. But then there was the problem of preserving +the civilization of the inner planets. It had to be met. + +There was a commotion behind him; a feminine shriek from the after +cabins; loud shoutings from the beast called Rapaju. Carr's heart +skipped a beat. He was paralyzed with fear. But only for an instant. +With a bellow of rage he whirled around and started for the door, +charging the two guards with head down and arms flailing. + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Nemesis_ + +The Llotta did not use their ray-pistols. They were too busy +attempting to elude the mad rushes of the powerful Terrestrial. +Besides, there were good reasons they should not kill him--yet. Carr +drove one of them halfway down the passageway with a well-planted +punch. The other was on his back, hairy legs twined around his waist, +an arm under his chin, drawing his head back with a steady and +terrible pressure. He whirled around, trying to shake off his beastly +antagonist. + +But these powerful legs and arms held fast. He tore at the hairy +ankles where they crossed in the pit of his stomach; wrenched them +free. Still the creature clung to him, twisting his head until it +seemed his neck must break. He found a waving foot with his right +hand; wrenched it mightily. There was a sharp snap and the foot +dangled limp in his fingers. He had broken the ankle. With a howl of +pain his assailant let go and dropped to the floor to crawl away like +a whipped cur. + +In a flash Carr saw that the brute was reaching for his ray-pistol +where it had dropped during the encounter. He kicked it from the reach +of that hairy paw and sprang after it. With one of those little +weapons in his hands the odds would change! His fingers closed on its +grip just as Ora rushed into the room, closely followed by Rapaju, +whose distorted features were terrible to behold. The cabin was full +of them now; the guard he had first knocked down; the lust-crazed +commander--the one with the broken ankle. All but Detis and Mado. Carr +faced them alone. + +So close was Rapaju to the girl that he dared not use the pistol, and +now the uninjured guard was circling him, trying to get in a position +where he could use his ray-pistol without endangering his commander. +Carr fumbled for the release of the weapon he held in his hand; found +it. The guard threw himself to the floor when he saw it raised; +shouted a warning. But it was too late. The deadly ray had sped on its +mission of death; struck him full in the middle. The twisted body lay +still a moment and then collapsed like a punctured balloon, leaving +his scant clothing in a limp heap--empty. A worthy miniature of the +D-ray, this little weapon! + + * * * * * + +He turned to face Rapaju and saw that he was shielding himself with +Ora's body. She had fainted and now hung drooping in the arms of the +beast. Where was Mado? Detis? Good God--he'd killed them! Carr thought +of that little spot on the chart. Must be very close now. They'd pass +so near there'd be no escape. But he could not reach the controls +without taking his eyes from Rapaju. That would have to wait. + +Rapaju was backing toward the door, still holding the limp figure of +the girl before him. The injured guard lay moaning on the floor. + +"Drop her, you devil!" Carr shouted desperately as he saw that Rapaju +soon would reach the passageway. + +Then suddenly he reached for the controls and pushed the energy lever +to full speed forward. He braced himself for the shock of acceleration +and saw Rapaju and Ora thrown backward into the passageway, the girl's +body cushioned by that of her captor as they were flung violently to +the floor. Madly he rushed to the narrow entrance and tore at the +hairy arms that encircled the slender waist of the girl. He jerked the +snarling commander of the Llotta expedition to his feet and slammed +him against the metal wall. + +"Now, you damn pig," he grunted, "I'll finish the job. Dirty scum of a +rotten world!" + +He dragged his victim into the control cabin and threw him to the +floor. But Rapaju was like an eel. He wriggled from under him and +snatched from the heap of clothing the ray-pistol of the disintegrated +guard. With a yelp of triumph he rose to his knees and leveled the +weapon. + +A well placed kick sent it spinning and Carr was upon him. He snapped +back the head with a terrible punch; then lifted the dazed creature to +his feet and stepped back. + +"Stand up and take it like a man!" he roared. + + * * * * * + +Rapaju shook his head to clear it and rushed in with a bellow of rage. +Just what Carr wanted! Starting almost from the floor, his right came +up to meet the vicious jaw with a crack that told of the terrific +power behind it. Lifted from his feet and hurled half way across the +room by the impact, Rapaju lay motionless where he fell. + +Carr was at the telescope. Their speed was close to fifteen hundred +miles a second. The monstrous mass of Mado's Sargasso Sea loomed close +in his vision. Off their course by a hundred miles or more. They'd +miss it all right. He had the situation in hand now on board the +_Nomad_. But how about the fleet behind them? He thought fast and +furiously. Another two minutes and they'd pass the thing; the +inexplicable horror which had accounted for the golden sphere of the +Europans. Could he use it? Suppose the fleet of the enemy-- + +The idea was full of possibilities. + +He rushed to the stern compartment, and scanned the heavens for the +massed body of spheres he knew would be the fleet of the Llotta. At +this speed they must have fallen far behind. Yes, there they were. Not +so far behind at that. The battle in the control room must have been a +shorter one than it had seemed. He returned quickly to the controls +and reversed the energy, to give the fleet a chance to catch up to +him. + +Closer came that mass of whitish jelly. And now it was much larger +than before. The terrible creature, for living matter it was, beyond +doubt, was growing with the rapidity of a rising flood. Great +tentacles of its horrid translucent substance reached in all +directions for possible victims. He sickened at the sight. But what a +fate for the fleet of the Llotta! If only he could maneuver them into +its influence. + + * * * * * + +He changed his course slightly and headed directly for the monster, +again increasing speed. Perhaps--if he calculated the forces +correctly--he could dive through it again with the D-ray to clear a +path. But no. It was a miracle they had escaped before, and now the +vicious thing was more than double its previous size. Once more he +altered his course. He'd cross in front of the thing; skim it as close +as he dared and shoot from its influence on the far side. The greater +mass of the enemy vessels and their lack of a quick-acting repulsive +force would prove their undoing. + +Full speed ahead. A rapid mental calculation--an educated guess, +rather--and he set the automatic control. Turning around to start for +the stern compartment, he saw that Ora had recovered from her swoon +and now stood swaying weakly in the passageway. + +"Ora!" he exclaimed delightedly. He rushed to her side and supported +her in a tender embrace. + +"Rapaju?" she questioned with horror in her eyes. + +"Won't bother you for a while, dear. But your father--Mado?" + +"He gassed them. They'll recover." The brave girl had regained her +composure. + +"Good! But, come! Time's short." He half carried her to the rear, +berating himself the while for his inability to pay her closer +attention. With arms still around her he placed her at one of the +stern ports. + +"What is it, Carr?" She sensed his excitement. + +"The fleet--see! We'll destroy them." + +The spherical vessels were close behind, huddled together in mass +formation and following the _Nomad_ blindly. + +"How, Carr?" + +"Lead them into it. Wait tall you see! There's a--" + + * * * * * + +The _Nomad_ lurched, and changed direction. Cold fear clutched at his +throat. That devil of a guard! Why hadn't he killed him? He dashed +through the passage, Ora at his heels. + +Sure enough, the crippled guard had dragged himself to the controls; +was manipulating the energy director as he had seen Mado do. They were +heading directly for the terrible monster of the heavens! + +No need now to peer through the telescope. The thing was visible to +the naked eye. No power could save them! Carr hurled himself at the +guard and tore at the hairy paw which gripped the lever. The throbbing +of strange energies filled the air of the room, and Carr's brain +pulsed with the maddening rhythm. The red discharge appeared at the +projections of the control panels. He forgot the fleet of the Llotta, +forgot the menace to his own world. Only Ora mattered now, and he had +not the power to save her! + +As in a daze he knew he was wrenching mightily at the body of the +powerful minion of Rapaju. His fingers encountered heated metal--one +of the ray-pistols. He felt the intense vibration of the weapon as its +charge was released. But he still lived. The beast who held it had +missed! Dimly he was conscious of the screams of Ora; of the yielding +of the creature who fought him. An animal cry registered on his +consciousness and he shook the suddenly limp Llotta from him. He knew +somehow that his last enemy was gone. + +A quick glance showed him that Ora was still on her feet, braced +against the wall. The red veil was before his eyes. He grasped the +controls, and fought desperately to keep his strength and senses. A +streamer of horrid whiteness swung across his vision; slithered +clammily over the glass of one of the forward ports. They were into +the thing! It was the end! He groaned aloud as he fumbled with the +mechanisms and strove to formulate a plan of escape. + + * * * * * + +The fleet, he knew, was just behind. An enormous mass. The repulsive +energy astern would be terrific. He turned it full on. The whiteness +obscured his vision. Then it was gone once more. A single streamer +waved before him and encompassed them. The movement of these members +must be inconceivably rapid, else they'd be invisible at the speed the +_Nomad_ was traveling. Full speed ahead. The repulsion full on in the +direction of the center of the mass as well as astern. The framework +of the _Nomad_ creaked protestingly from the terrific forces that tore +at her vitals. + +Then suddenly they were released. The _Nomad_ was shooting off into +space. The resultant of those combined forces had done the trick. Only +the edge of that devil-fish of space, had they touched. Free--they +were free of the monster! The red veil lifted. He rushed to Ora's +side. She was kneeling at one of the floor ports, breathing heavily +but unharmed. + +Below them they saw the swiftly receding mass: the fleet of the Llotta +diving headlong, drawn inexorably into the rapacious embrace of the +vile creature of the heavens. An instant the awful whiteness of the +thing closed in greedily about the many spheres of the fleet; +swallowed them from sight and contorted madly and with seeming glee +over the triumph. Then, in a burst of blinding incandescence, it was +gone. The monster, the fleet--everything--blasted into nothingness. +The fuel storage compartments of the vessels of Ganymede had exploded! +The heavens were rid of the inexplicable growing menace; the inner +planets were saved from a terrible invasion. And the _Nomad_ was safe. +Ora, Detis, Mado--all were safe! + +At his side Ora was trembling. Gently he raised her to her feet, and +took her into his arms. + + +CHAPTER X + +_Vagabonds All_ + +Together they cared for Detis and Mado; made them comfortable in their +bunks until the time when the effects of the gas would wear off. +Lucky it was that Rapaju had used the gas pistol rather than the ray. +Perhaps it had been a mistake. Or perhaps he had needed the scientific +knowledge of Detis, the familiarity with the inner planets that was +Mado's. At any rate, they had no delusions regarding his designs on +Ora or his hatred of Carr. By his own passions had the commander of +the fleet been led to the error that cost him his life and made +possible the destruction of his fleet. + +Carr was torn by conflicting emotions. The delectable little Europan +was most disturbing. He'd never had much use for the other sex--on +Earth. Too dominating, most of them. And always thrown at his head by +designing parents for his money. But Ora was different! Her very +nearness set his pulses racing. And he knew that she cared for him as +he did for her. Those moments in the control cabin after the +explosion! But something had come over him since he cut loose from the +old life. Wanderlust--that was it. He'd never go back. Neither would +he be content to settle down to a domestic life in Pala-dar. Wanted to +be up and going somewhere. + +"Oh, Carr, Carr!" Ora's voice called to him. "Mado is awake. He wants +you." + +Good old Mado! Why couldn't they just continue on their way as they +had started out? Roaming the universe in search of other adventures! +But the silvery tinkle of Ora's laughter reached his ears. She was +irresistible! He forgot his doubts as he hurried to his friend's +cabin. + + * * * * * + +Mado was staring at the Europan maiden with a ludicrous expression of +astonishment--gawping, Carr called it. And Ora was laughing at him. + +"Your friend," she gurgled, "doesn't believe he's alive, or that I am, +or you. Tell him we are." + +Carr grinned. Mado did look funny at that. "Hello, old sock," he said, +"had a bad dream?" + +"Did I? Oh boy!" Mado rocked to and fro, his head in his hands. Then +he displayed sudden intense interest. "Rapaju?" he asked. "His +guards--the fleet--what's happened?" + +"Ah ha! Now you know you're alive!" Carr laughed. "But the others are +dead and gone. The fleet's gone to smash--and how!" + +"But Carr. How did you do it? Tell me!" + +Mado threw off his covers and clapped his friend on the back, a +resounding thump that brought a gasp from Ora. + +"Your Sargasso Sea did it. And it's a thing of the past, too. Wait +till I tell you about it!" + + * * * * * + +Ora tripped from the room as Carr sat on the edge of the bunk to spin +his yarn. + +"But man alive!" Mado exclaimed when the story was finished. "Don't +you know you've done a miraculous thing? I'd never have had the nerve. +That damn creature out there had more than four times its former +attracting energy. That's what made it impossible for the fleet to get +away. And you--you lucky devil--you just doped it out right. The fleet +of the Llotta gave you a tremendous push from astern when you used the +repulsive energy. If they hadn't been there with their enormous mass +to react against we'd all have been mincemeat now along with the +Llotta. You Terrestrials sure can think fast! Me, now--Lord, if it had +been me, I'd have thought of it after my spirit had departed to its +reward--or punishment. Glory be! It's the greatest thing I ever heard +of." + +"Rats! You'd have done the same as I did. Probably would have missed +it a mile instead of nearly getting caught as I did. A good thing the +fleet's gone, though. Mars and Terra--Venus, too--they'll never know +how close it was for them. Wouldn't have sense enough to appreciate +it, anyway." + +"They would if they ever got a taste of what the Llotta planned. But +what's wrong with you Carr? You act sore. Want to go home?" + +"Me? Don't be like that. No--I'd like to carry on as we planned. +There's Saturn, Uranus and Neptune yet; Planet 9; a flock of +satellites and asteroids. Oh, dammit!" + +Mado looked his amazement. "Well, what's to prevent it?" he demanded. +"The _Nomad's_ still here, and so are we. I'm just as anxious to keep +going as you are. Why not?" + +But Carr did not reply. Why not, indeed? He strode from the cabin and +into the control room. The _Nomad_ was drifting in space, subject only +to natural forces that swung it in a vast orbit around the sun. He +started the generators and drove the vessel from her temporary orbit +with rapid acceleration. Out--out into the jeweled blackness of the +heavens. There was Jupiter out there, a bright orb that came suddenly +very near when he centered it on the cross-hairs of the telescope. + +The excited voices of Ora and Detis came to his ears. The booming +speech of Mado. Why couldn't he be sensible and companionable as they +were? But a perverse demon kept him at the controls. They'd think him +a grouch. Well, maybe he was! But the vastness of the universe +beckoned. New worlds to explore; mysteries to be solved; a life of +countless new experiences! Anyone'd think he was the owner of the +_Nomad_, the way he planned for the future. + + * * * * * + +They were in the control cabin now--Mado and Detis and Ora. A moment +he hesitated, eyes glued to the telescope. Then, with a petulant +gesture, he reached for the automatic control; locked it. Shouldn't be +this way. They'd think him an awful cad. And they'd be right! He +whirled to face them. + +Detis was smiling. Mado gazed owlishly solemn. Ora clung to the arm of +her father, and her long lashes hid the blue eyes that had played such +havoc with the emotions of the Terrestrial. + +"Carr," said Detis, gently, "we must thank you. You saved our lives, +you know." + +"Aw, forget it. Saved my own, too, didn't I? By a lucky break." + +"It wasn't luck, Carr." Detis was gripping his hand now. "It was sheer +grit and brains. You had them both. If you hadn't used them we'd all +be corpses--or disintegrated--excepting Ora, perhaps. And you know the +fate that awaited her. Instead, we are alive and well. The fleet is +gone. Rapaju's body and that of his guard drift nameless in space +where you disposed of them through the air-lock of the _Nomad_. The +inner planets need fear no future invasion, for the resources of +Ganymede have been expended in the one huge enterprise that has +failed. All through your quick wit and bravery. No, it wasn't luck." + +"Nonsense, Detis." Carr returned the pressure of the scientist's hand, +smiling sheepishly. He pushed him away after a moment. He didn't want +their gratitude or praise. Didn't know what he wanted. Ora still +avoided meeting his gaze. "Nonsense," he repeated. "And now, please +leave me. You, Detis. Mado, too. I'd like to be alone for a +while--with Ora. Mind?" + +Mado's owlish look broadened to a knowing grin as he backed into the +passageway. Detis collided with the huge Martian in his eagerness to +be out of the room. They were alone and Carr was on his feet. Nothing +mattered now--excepting Ora. Suddenly she was in his arms, the +fragrance of her hair in his nostrils. + + * * * * * + +Star gazing, the two of them. It was ridiculous! But the wonders of +the universe held a new beauty now for Carr. The distant suns had +taken on added brilliance. Still they beckoned. + +"Carr," the girl whispered, after a time, "where are we going?" + +"To Europa. Your home." + +"To--to stay?" + +"No." Carr was suddenly confident; determined. "We'll stop there to +break the news. Then we'll be wedded, you and I, according to the +custom of your people. Our honeymoon--years of it--will be spent in +the _Nomad_, roving the universe. Mado'll agree, I know. Wanderers of +the heavens we'll be, Ora. But we'll have each other; and when +we've--you've--had enough of it, I'll be ready to settle down. +Anywhere you say. Are you game?" + +"Oh, Carr! How did you guess? It's just as we'd planned. Father and +Mado and I. Didn't think I'd go, did you, you stupid old dear?" + +"Why--why Ora." Carr was stammering now. He'd thought he was being +masterful--making the plans himself. But she'd beat him to it, the +adorable little minx! "I was a bit afraid," he admitted; "and I still +can't believe that it's actually true. You're sure you want to?" + +"Positive. Why Carr, I've always been a vagabond at heart. And now +that I've found you we'll just be vagabonds together. Father and Mado +will leave us very much to each other. Their scientific leanings, you +know. And--oh--it'll just be wonderful!" + +"It's you that'll make it wonderful, sweetheart." + +Carr drew her close. The stars shone still more brightly and beckoned +anew. Vagabonds, all of them! Like the gypsies of old, but with vastly +more territory to roam. The humdrum routine of his old life seemed +very far behind. He wondered what Courtney Davis would say if he could +see him now. Wordless happiness had come to him, and he let his +thoughts wander out into the limitless expanse of the heavens. Star +gazing still--just he and Ora. + + + + +Reader's Corner + +[Illustration: ] + + +_From a Science Fiction "Fiend"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I agree with you about the reprinting of old stories, + because you would only force older Science Fiction readers + to read the same stuff that they have read before. Any + Science Fiction fiend like myself will surely have the + reprinted story in his collection of magazines. + + The size of your magazine is perfect, but your paper is not + very good. As for me, I don't care about your paper because + your stories are so very good that the paper doesn't matter. + + My favorite story, and one of the best stories that I have + ever read so far, is "Murder Madness." It has a very + original idea and holds your interest from the very start. + + I am also for a more often publication of your magazine; + about twice a month--Rupert Jones, New York, N. Y. + + +_Valuable Suggestions_ + + Dear Editor: + + The July issue of Astounding Stories is one of the best + issues you have so far published. + + Arthur J. Burks sure is a master at writing Science Fiction + tales. The first installment of "Earth, the Marauder" was + swell. Harl Vincent is another very good author. His + novelette, "The Terror of Air-Level Six," was a close + second. "The Forgotten Planet," by S. P. Wright, "Beyond the + Heaviside Layer," by S. P. Meek and "From an Amber Block," + by Tom Curry were all good stories. + + The cover illustration was the best yet. I hope that the + next dozen covers do not have blue backgrounds. Other colors + you might have are green, red, pink, orange, yellow, black + and light and dark purple. + + When will Edmond Hamilton's first story be published in + Astounding Stories? Have you received any stories by Stanton + Coblentz, A. Hyatt Verrill, Ed Earl Repp, John W. Campbell, + Jr., Edward E. Chappelow and Edgar Rice Burroughs yet? + + Why not have a page devoted to the authors? You could print + a picture and tell something about one author each month. I + think that an illustration representing Science Fiction + would look good on the contents page. + + I hope that Wesso will soon be illustrating every story in + Astounding Stories, or that you will obtain another artist + equally as good (if possible). + + Is it possible for you to use a better and thinner grade of + paper? I save all my Astounding Stories and I like them to + be thin so they will not take up so much room.--Jack Darrow, + 4225 N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Illinois. + + +_Not Yet_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just received your July issue of Astounding Stories, + and I must say that it is the best yet. + + The only thing wrong with it, in my opinion, is that it is + too small; the size should be at least 9x12. Also it should + be a semi-monthly, or at least accompanied by a quarterly + and annual. + + The stories in the July issue are wonderful, all except + Murray Leinster's serial, which does not belong in your + magazine. + + If you have any intention of putting an annual or a + quarterly on the market, will you be so kind as to + communicate with me as I am very much interested in your + magazine.--Louis Wentzler, 1933 Woodbine St., Brooklyn, N. + Y. + + +_"Ever Since"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I want to tell you what I think of your new magazine. I + think it's great. + + I stopped in a drug store and saw Astounding Stories on the + newsstand. I bought it and have been buying it ever since. I + am fourteen years old, but I am interested in science. Why + not get a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and some more by + Ray Cummings? + + I wish success to your wonderful magazine.--Wm. McCalvy, + 1244 Beech St., St. Paul, Minn. + + +_"Not One Poor Story Yet"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I agree with you that reprints should absolutely be kept out + of your magazine. I admit that there are many stories of + unusual merit among the reprints but I favor new and fresher + stories. + + In your last issue (June) I consider "The Moon Master" as + being the best story, closely followed by "Out of the + Dreadful Depths." "The Cavern World" came next, followed by + "Giants of the Ray," "Brigands of the Moon" and "Murder + Madness." + + I have not found one poor story in your magazine yet, and + never expect to. + + I, for one, favor a larger sized magazine with a five cent + increase in price, or, at least, if the magazine must remain + small, I would like to see a quarterly out on the third + Thursday every three months. + + I am extremely pleased to see that an interplanetary story + by R. F. Starzl will appear in your next issue. Please have + more of his stories if possible.--Forrest James Ackerman, + 530 Staples Ave., San Francisco, Calif. + + +_Likes Present Size_ + + Dear Editor: + + Best stories in the last two issues: C. D. Willard's "Out of + the Dreadful Depths" (Excellent); Chas. W. Diffin's "The + Moon Master" (Very Good); Sewell P. Wright's "Forgotten + Planet" (Fairly Good). + + I am a new reader, but interested in these kinds of + stories. I am pleased to see that your readers criticize + freely. A story that will please one reader will not + interest another, perhaps, and it may not be the fault of + the author's ability so much as that he doesn't like that + type of story. + + "Out of the Dreadful Depths," by C. Willard is the best + story I've read for some time. I could not see a single way + it could be improved. "The Moon Master," by Chas. Diffin was + just as good but I didn't like the ending so well. I + certainly hope Mr. Diffin will write more stories like it, + especially using his same three leading characters. "The + Forgotten Planet," by Mr. Wright, was well written and + pretty good in spite of the fact that I don't like that type + of story so well. + + "Murder Madness," by Murray Leinster was well written and + the characters interesting and real but I didn't like his + subject. I hope for more and different stories from him. + "Earth, the Marauder," by Arthur J. Burks looks as though it + was going to be a record winner for me--accomplish the + impossible, and make a good story from a story of the + future. + + I don't like horror stories, crazy stories and stories + written far into the future, as "Brigands of the Moon." + These stories make light of the vast distances of space and + are too weird, droll and fail to give a single shiver down + my old backbone. They are strange and inhabited by strange + people. No story can give the faintest idea of the space + between those mighty suns of the universe. Most of them have + more imagination than scientific knowledge. "Earth, the + Marauder," an exception. + + I would much rather hear stories of primeval days of the + lost Atlantis before Earth was populated with scientific + beings, when the cave man looked up at the unknown, then so + near to him. At the moon, which was then so close, and + uninhabited by superior beings. Tales of superstition and + all mystery stories of the unknown. I like interplanetary + stories, if not written too far into the future. + + I like the present size and shape of your magazine. Best + wishes for the success of your magazine.--An Interested + Reader, Goffstown, N. H. + + +_Likes_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished reading the July issue of Astounding + Stories and I think every story is simply great, especially + "The Terror of Air-Level Six." That sure is a story! "The + Forgotten Planet" is a corker, too! + + While reading the letters in "The Readers' Corner" I noticed + that almost everyone has a hankering for Edgar Rice + Burroughs' stories. Believe it or not, I'm wild about his + stories myself and I'm looking forward to reading his + stories in Astounding Stories. It won't make any difference + if they'll be originals or reprints, so long as they're + Burroughs! + + Ray Cummings is another one of my favorites and I always + read his stories first. His "Brigands of the Moon" hit me in + the right spot. "The Moon Master" in the June issue was + also a very fine story. + + Now about this argument about reprinted stories. I think + that if, at least, one reprinted story appeared in each + issue of Astounding Stories, it wouldn't hurt its + reputation. Here are some reprints that hit the ceiling: + "The War in the Air," by Wells; "Tarranto, the Conqueror," + by Cummings; "The Conquest of Mars," by Serviss. I'm sure + the readers would enjoy reading them. But if you are + persistent about avoiding reprints then we'll have to do + without them.--Paul Nikolaieff, 4325 S. Seeley Ave., + Chicago, Illinois. + + +_Wants Sequel_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read every issue of Astounding Stories though I can + barely afford it. I like it very much. The best novels were, + in order: 1. "The Moon Master"; 2. "Phantoms of Reality"; 3. + "Spawn of the Stars"; 4. "Terror of Air-Level Six." + + In the July issue you published a story, "Earth, the + Marauder," which promises to be even better than the + "Skylark of Space" that once came out in another magazine. I + like Harl Vincent, Ray Cummings, Arthur Burks, and Martian + stories best. Interplanetary stories always agree with me. + Burroughs is an excellent author. I like his Martian books. + "The Beetle Horde" in the first two issues was very good. + But why not give a sequel about the other and more terrible + creatures in the earth whom the madman spoke of? Fourth + dimensionals are sometimes good. You should have reprints by + Burroughs, Cummings and Merritt. I am eagerly waiting for + the next issue. Do not enlarge the magazine because I cannot + afford it. Don't publish stories like "From an Amber Block." + They're rotten. Publish more future and interplanetary + stories.--Joseph Edelman, 721 De Kalb Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + +_Stands Pat_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read all the issues of A. S. since the date of + publication and think that there is no other magazine like + it on the market. I would like to offer a few suggestions + contrary to most of your readers (i.e., Jack Darrow & Chas. + Barret): + + 1.--Keep magazine in present size and price. + + 2.--Issue it only once a month. If it was issued + semi-monthly the writers would soon run out of ideas; and + the readers would get sick of it if they read it so often + anyway. + + 3.--Keep up the style of stories now running, i.e., keep the + science a little in the background. Do not let it monopolize + the story. + + I get other magazines that do not follow the last mentioned + rule and the result is the stories are full of machines + going 10,000 miles per hour, etc.; pink, black, purple and + eleventeen other colored rays. As a result the stories are + drier than the Sahara Desert. + + The illustrations are fine (O.K.) as they are.--Walter + O'Brien, 6 Hageman Pl., North Bergen, N. J. + + +_Trial by Readers_ + + Dear Editor: + + When Astounding Stories first appeared on the newsstands, a + brand new Science Fiction magazine, I was prejudiced against + it as a competitor to the existing magazines--one that might + carry an inferior quality of Science Fiction so closely + approaching the supernatural as to practically disregard + science. In a few cases, as with very good writers like A. + Merritt and H. P. Lovecraft, this is permissible, but, + otherwise, not at all so. In the first issue, "The Stolen + Mind" seemed to bear me out, but, then, there was "Tanks." I + bought the next issue--much better! And then the third + showed "The Soul Master," very well written, but not quite + science, as related. Yet, "Cold Light" held me on, and + "Brigands of the Moon." There is no danger of my dropping + off now! + + In the current issue, "Murder Madness" and "The Power and + the Glory" stand out as mile-posts in the history of Science + Fiction. The rest are not far behind, though, as a matter of + fact, "Beyond the Heaviside Layer" and "Earth, the Marauder" + have more discernible flaws than the rest. Just for example, + a layer of organic matter would raise Cain with astronomy, + due to refraction. Air is bad enough. But the writing + overwhelms the error. You have certainly assembled a group + of excellent authors, new and old, and I am glad to see the + promise of R. F. Starzl in the next issue. His "Madness of + the Dust" is one of the most naturally written + interplanetary stories I have read--logical and clear, just + as it would happen to anybody. + + And now for the big question--that of reprints. You seem to + have already decided the answer, and have defended your + action well, but I wonder if it is well enough. By far your + best argument is your last--"authors must eat"--with which I + have no quarrel at all. Still, one classic serial a year, or + at most two, might not prove too harmful. Following back, I + reach a statement concerning "The Saturday Evening Post." In + the past it has published hundreds of the world's best + stories, and never reprinted. True. But why? Because these + stories are all available in book form, in libraries and + book stores, in original or new editions or in the Grosset + and Dunlap list of perpetually printed best sellers. It is + possible to read them for years after publication. But try + to find the past masterpieces of Science Fiction. With the + exception of Burroughs' books, most were never printed in + book form. Even books by Wells and Verne, classics of their + kind are gone, totally gone, even from the shelves of + libraries. Many of Verne's best stories were never + translated from the French. And the other classics of which + readers write, classics familiar to most of us only by name + and a few lucky tastes of others, newer works by the same + authors, are absolutely gone--annihilated. Their best works + are beyond the reach of the reader. Only by republication, + in magazine or book, can they be revived in an age when they + will be remembered and preserved--an age awake to science + and Science Fiction. Other magazines are doing it, one or + two to the year, and it may be that you need not reprint; + but the reservoir of the past is large, and a few cannot + drain it. This leads to your first argument, that better + stories are being written to-day. They are--better than the + average of the past--but not better than the classics. It + would be folly to say that because the short story is a + modern development, and because Galsworthy or Walpole or + Reimarch are better than the average of yesterday, to our + present tastes, that the classics of the past should be + scrapped. + + The analogy, I feel, is good. The classics of general + literature have their place in history. The classics of + Science Fiction should have theirs. There are dozens better + than the general run of present work, by A. Merritt, Homer + Eon Flint, George Allan England, Austin Hall, John Taine, + Garret P. Serviss, Ralph Milne Farley, Ray Cummings, and + others that stood out in an age when Science Fiction was + considered pure phantasy or imaginative "trash." In the + present age, they would be still better, and this time they + would not be lost to the world, for there are publishers and + readers who would preserve them. You may adhere to your + decision, but, to my mind, and, I think to far more than 1% + of other minds, reprints of classics are essential, actually + vitally necessary. Try to find out what a ballot would show. + Again, from the author's point of view. Up to now, Burroughs + has had all the breaks as to book publication. Now Ray + Cummings and others are being published. "An author must + eat." Give him a chance, by reviving his best efforts, and + bringing them to public attention, so that a publisher will + find them worthy of publication. Most of the masters of + Science Fiction are alive--give them a chance to eat. Too, a + great many of the best modern authors are modern readers: + ask them if they would be willing to see one of the best + stories of the past re-issued each year, stories unpublished + in existing magazines for ten years or more. I certainly + hope you will alter your decision. + + And now to reverse some other decisions of readers. The size + is quite all right and very handy for binding purposes, Mr. + Mack to the contrary. Incidentally, the staples are so + placed as to make binding simple. Also contrary to Mr. + Darrow, I prefer the artist Gould, to Wesso, for interior + illustrations, though Wesso is best for mechanical + illustrations. Incidentally, give us the name of the artist + for each story, especially when the illustrations are + unsigned, as in the April issue. Wesso's best cover for you + has been that for April, illustrating "Monsters of Moyen." + It shows his best style very well. + + As to my favorite type of Science Fiction, any kind, if well + written, will do. As it happens, the king of authors, A. + Merritt, has a type all his own, as Mr. Bryant notes, which + is unbeatable, and my favorite. However, at times, a good + writer may fall down in his fundamental assumptions. I don't + care where or how far he goes, so long as he starts with + something that present-day science does not deny. Here is + where "The Soul Master" fell down, and, even more so, "The + Soul Snatcher." Better leave souls and astrals and egos + alone, except in very, very rare cases, when an author turns + up who can make you believe in them as mechanical entities. + + As a Science Fiction fan, a student of chemistry, and a + hopeful author, I will probably write to "The Readers' + Corner" as often as I want to blow off steam regarding + science or fiction or the way in which you are running the + magazine. I hope I won't be considered an utter nuisance, + and will be given a trial by jury--a jury of readers.--P. + Schuyler Miller, 302 So. Ten Broeck St., Scotia, New York. + + +"_Handy to Hold_" + + Dear Editor: + + I wish to say that I have the seven numbers of Astounding + Stories that have been issued thus far and I have read them + through ever word. It is wonderful, and there is no word of + fault to be uttered concerning any of them. I think "Murder + Madness" is the best story you have printed so far, but they + are all good in different ways. + + You received some letters that surprise me. How anyone can + ask you to change the make-up to the blanket sheet form is + more than I can see. It is so handy to hold and to read as + it is now. I do hope you will not change it. + + No, there is so much that one wants to read these days that + I do not advocate issuing twice a month. One issue each + month is just right. But I do wish you would increase the + number of pages to at least the number in Five Novels + magazine. Of course, you would want 25c. for it then, and + that is all right. + + Am glad that you refuse to give us reprints. We do not want + them. + + Astounding Stories is a gem, and I hope to read it for the + remainder of my life. Keep right on with the good + work.--Will S. Cushing, 21 Cottage St., Abington, + Massachusetts. + + +_We Hope So, Too_! + + Dear Editor: + + Your July issue of Astounding Stories was wonderful. Your + magazine is improving greatly. "Murder Madness" is a great + story, and "Earth, the Marauder," is one of the best stories + I have ever read. I hope the other parts of it are just as + interesting as the first part.--Mick Scotts, 115 W. 16th + Ave., Gary, Indiana. + + +_Another Sequel_ + + Dear Editor: + + Well, I have so much to say, or rather would like to say for + your magazine. I like it in every detail but one, which is + waiting a whole month for the rest of my stories. + + I wish you would give us the third sequel of "Out of the + Ocean's Depths." Let the young scientist discover a way to + perform matrimony between the girl of the ocean and the man, + and then let their child live either in or out of water. + There could be two more good stories or sequels of "Out of + the Ocean's Depths." I like them all. + + I liked "Murder Madness," too. It seems as though it is + really real, and not fiction. I wish you would get the book + out twice a month.--Mrs. B. R. Woods, Cotte, Arkansas. + + +_From Author to Author_ + + Dear Editor: + + Since Astounding Stories began you have published a goodly + number of really remarkable stories, chief among which, in + my estimation, are the following: "Spawn of the Stars," by + C. W. Diffin; "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings; + "Monsters of Moyen," by Arthur J. Burks; "The Atom Smasher," + by Victor Rousseau; and "The Moon Master," C. W. Diffin. + + But none of these can compare with Diffin's last short + story, "The Power and the Glory," which appeared in the last + (July) issue. For originality of theme, clever phraseology + and excellent literary craftsmanship it stands alone--a + little masterpiece. Its author should be congratulated. + + To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Diffin is a newcomer in + Science Fiction. The first story of his that I read was + "Spawn of the Stars." Keep his pen busy, Mr. Editor; he's + valuable--an' I don't mean maybe! + + If I could write a story like "The Power and the Glory," I'd + certainly congratulate myself!--L. A. Eshbach, 225 Chestnut + St., Reading, Pa. + + +"_Held Me Spellbound_" + + Dear Editor: + + I happened to read one of your books the other + day--Astounding Stories is the one--and I was very much + taken up with it. I found that it was a very interesting + book, indeed. I have no fear in saying that it held me + spellbound from the start till the finish. The one that I + happened to buy was the issue of May, 1930, and the story + that gripped me most was "Brigands of the Moon." It was very + thrilling, indeed, and I am very sorry I could not obtain + the previous copies so as to start at the beginning. But, + however, I am able to obtain a copy every month and am very + pleased, as I would hate to miss a copy again. + + Well, I hope this letter will reach you safely. Remember me + as a contented reader of your magazine.--Geo. Young, 447 + Canning St., Nth. Carlton N. 4, Melbourne, Australia. + + +_We Are Printing It_! + + Dear Editor: + + It seems that you have taken a wrong slant on my letter + which you published recently. True, I did give you a long + list of stories which I wanted to see, but I didn't mean + that you should publish only reprints, no new stories. Far + from it. Instead, I'd suggest that you give us a classic, + say, every six months. This arrangement ought to be okay + with everyone. That's that for reprints. + + About the stories and the authors, they're all right. + There's one thing that I like about you that I don't find in + the other Science Fiction magazines. With the very first + issue you started off with the authors that are wanted by + everyone who reads this type of literature. You began with + Cummings, Rousseau, Meek and Leinster. Hm-m, let's see. And + you're keeping up the good system by having added Vincent, + Starzl, Burks, Curry, Miss Lorraine, Hamilton, etc. But you + don't escape entirely unscathed, for the other magazines + give us stories from authors which haven't as yet written a + story which appeared in your columns. Let's see; besides the + stars above, let's add to the galaxy Keller (three cheers), + Breuer, Smith (his story, "The Skylark of Space," ought to + have about six sequels), the late Mr. Serviss, Verrill, Poe, + Wells, Verne, Flint (o-o-oh, for that "Blind Spot"), Hall, + England, Hasta (one story by him is all I've read, but it + only whetted my appetite), and Simmons. Oh, yes, the two + Taines, the detective of Dr. Keller's and the author. But + there's something missing. Hm-m--ah, A. Merritt! What a + writer! How could I have forgotten him? Which reminds me of + Burroughs who has been left out in the rain for quite a + while. He belongs back in the fold. + + Mr. Editor, do you remember way back when you said we should + write in to you to tell you of the stories we want and that + you would get them for us? Of course, you do. Stories and + authors cannot be parted, so get those authors I've listed + above and forget about the stories, for they'll all be good. + + I do not kick about any particular author for the reason + that if I tried to write on the same subject they picked out + and are picking, my work would be pretty different from what + they'd produce, and their works would be the ones that would + be published. Please don't read that twice; I hope to be a + contributor very soon. + + In my opinion you should enlarge the size of the magazine, + but for heaven's sake don't increase the departments. Every + day that we read a paper we learn of what science is doing. + And, at the end of the month we read the same thing in a + magazine which should give us a story instead. The price is + just right. But, even if the magazine were enlarged and the + price boosted to a quarter, do you really think that we get + enough material to devour? No! Then what? Get out a + Quarterly! And please don't wait about that for the next ten + years. + + This is a pretty lengthy letter and I don't expect you to + print it but I want you to get the views of at least one + devoted reader--Isidore Mansen, 544 Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn, + N. Y. + + +_Every Single One_ + + Dear Editor: + + I certainly received a pleasant surprise when I glanced at + the table of contents for the August issue. When one sees + Victor Rousseau, R. F. Starzl, Murray Leinster, Harl + Vincent, and Edmond Hamilton, one knows that the issue is + bound to be a good one. I wish to congratulate you on the + way you have been running Astounding Stories. If you intend + to keep giving us the authors you are now, throughout your + whole career, you are a law-breaker. What I mean by that is + that no other magazine has kept a high grade of authors very + long. The old magazines on the market have once had stories + by the authors you are giving us now, but they never kept + those authors long. If you keep the authors you have now you + may well be assured of success. + + "Silver Dome" undoubtedly copped the prize for this issue. + It could not have been better. "The Lord of Space" was a + very good story. "The Planet of Dread" was another very good + story. "The Second Satellite," by Hamilton, was excellent. + For once in his life Hamilton has written a story that has + not the same old plot all his other stories have! I wish to + congratulate him on the best story he has ever written! "The + Flying City" was the same thing all over again. The world in + danger and suddenly our magnificent hero comes along, takes + a hand, and presto the danger is all over. Of course, he has + to meet the beautiful girl and fall in love with her, and at + the end of the story marry her! Remember, history repeats + itself. Have you ever heard of the world being saved by one + man? No! Neither have I. The world will never be saved by + one man. Therefore, all those stories are "the bunk." + "Murder Madness" was wonderful. I expect to see it in the + talkies before long. It could be filmed easily enough, + couldn't it! I know it certainly would make a wonderful + picture. I expect to see you publish "Murder Madness" and + "Brigands of the Moon" in book form. If you do, I will try + my darnedest to get a copy. Also in my list of good authors + up there I forgot to mention Arthur J. Burks. + + Now I wish to broach the subject of a Quarterly to you. I + think Astounding Stories should have one. Every other + Science Fiction magazine has, so let us have one, too. Won't + you? You can give us over twice as much as you do in the + monthly and charge about 50c. a copy. Have one good book and + several short stories in each issue; no serials. How about + it? + + And now let's talk a little about Astounding Stories! Why + not cut the paper smooth, the way you do in Five Novels + Monthly? It would make the magazine look a lot better. It + would also be a lot easier to find one's place when one has + to lay the book down for a moment. The last reason may sound + trivial, but it's really annoying to try to find one's place + among those bulky pages. The paper you use now gives the + magazine an inferior appearance when compared to others of + its kind. It certainly would be a relief to see you use + better paper. Won't you please consider the points I have + brought out in my letter?--Gabriel Kirschner, Box 301, + Temple, Texas. + + +"_What Authors_!" + + Dear Editor: + + Astounding Stories is improving with every issue. However, + you would have to go far to beat the August issue. It can + be called an "all star" number. What authors! Hamilton, + Rousseau, Starzl, Burks, and others, all of whom are among + my favorite authors. The stories were so good that it is + almost impossible to pick out the best one. However, after + some thought I have finally chosen Hamilton's "The Second + Satellite." "Earth, the Marauder," is a close second. I hope + you have many more stories by Edmond Hamilton. + + I see that the cover is the first one to be of a different + color. Please have a new color each month. + + There are a few ways in which Astounding Stories may be + improved. Enough of the readers have mentioned improving the + quality of the paper so that I do not have to comment on + this. An editorial each month would improve the magazine + greatly. + + Here's hoping that Astounding Stories becomes a semi-monthly + soon--very soon--Michael Fogaris, 157 Fourth St., Passiac, + N. J. + + +_Stands Pat_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have been a reader of your magazine for some time. I hope + to continue reading it in the future. + + I notice in "The Readers' Corner" that some want reprints. + Others want the size of the magazine changed. I say, give us + "fresh" stories and leave the size of the magazine alone. + + In my opinion, the best stories in your July issue were + "Beyond the Heaviside Layer" and "Earth, the Marauder." They + were both fine. Keep up the good work--Carlson Abernathy, P. + O. Box 584, Clearwater, Florida. + + +"_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, +November, 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, NOVEMBER 1930 *** + +***** This file should be named 29919-8.txt or 29919-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/1/29919/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/29919-8.zip b/29919-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eed38c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-8.zip diff --git a/29919-h.zip b/29919-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc11e60 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h.zip diff --git a/29919-h/29919-h.htm b/29919-h/29919-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..513fc89 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/29919-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10239 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930 + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { padding: 1em; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + +.tocpg {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + +td.td1 { padding-left: 2em;} + +.img1 {border:solid 1px; } + +.p1 {font-size:x-large; font-weight:bold; text-align: right; padding-top:11em; } +.p2 {font-size:medium; text-align: right; } +.p3 {font-size:large; font-weight:bold; text-align: right; } +.p4 {margin-left: 60%; } +.p5 {font-size:larger; font-weight:bold; text-align: left; } +.p6 {font-size:larger; font-weight:bold; text-align: right; } + +a[name] { position: static; } +a:link { border:none; color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none; } +a:visited {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none; } +a:hover { color:#ff0000; } + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style:normal; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 30%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:small;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft1 { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-right: 0.25em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 0em; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +November, 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, November, 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 6, 2009 [EBook #29919] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, NOVEMBER 1930 *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 370px;"><a name="Cover" id="Cover"></a> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" width="370" height="537" /></div> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="500" height="201" alt="Cover" /> +</div> + +<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="280" alt="" /> +</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. IV, No. 2 CONTENTS November, 1930</h2> +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td>COVER DESIGN</td><td>H. W. WESSOLOWSKI</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Painted in Water-Colors from a Scene in "The Pirate Planet."</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#The_Wall_of_Death">THE WALL OF DEATH</a></td> +<td>VICTOR ROUSSEAU</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Out of the Antarctic It Came—a Wall of Viscid, Grey, Half-Human Jelly, Absorbing and Destroying All Life That It Encountered.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#The_Pirate_Planet">THE PIRATE PLANET</a></td> +<td>CHARLES W. DIFFIN</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>A Strange Light Blinks on Venus, and Over Old Earth Hovers a Mysterious Visitant—Dread Harbinger of Interplanetary War.</i> (Beginning a Four-Part Novel.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#The_Destroyer">THE DESTROYER</a></td> +<td>WILLIAM MERRIAM ROUSE</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Slowly, Insidiously, There Stole Over Allen Parker Something Uncanny. He Could No Longer Control His Hands—Even His Brain!</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#The_Gray_Plague">THE GRAY PLAGUE</a></td> +<td>L. A. ESHBACH</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Maimed and Captive, in the Depths of an Interplanetary Meteor-Craft, Lay the Only Possible Savior of Plague-Ridden Earth.</i></td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Jetta_of_the_Lowlands">JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS</a></td> +<td>RAY CUMMINGS</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>Black-Garbed Figures Move in Ghastly Greenness As the Invisible Flyer Speeds on Its Business of Ransom.</i> (Conclusion.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Vagabonds_of_Space">VAGABONDS OF SPACE</a></td> +<td>HARL VINCENT</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="td1"><i>From the Depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space Came the Thought-Warning, "Turn +Back!" But Carr and His Martian Friend Found It Was Too Late!</i> (A Complete Novelette.)</td> + <td></td> + <td></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Readers_Corner">THE READERS' CORNER</a></td> +<td>ALL OF US</td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_271">271</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; Francis P. Pace, 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_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_003.jpg" width="500" height="533" alt="And then Kay had broken through and was hewing madly +with great sweeps of the ax." /> +<span class="caption">And then Kay had broken through and was hewing madly +with great sweeps of the ax.</span> +</div> + +<h2><a name="The_Wall_of_Death" id="The_Wall_of_Death"></a>The Wall of Death</h2> + +<h3><i>By Victor Rousseau</i></h3> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div> +<p>his news," said Cliff Hynes, pointing to the newspaper, "means the +end of <i>homo Americanus</i>."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Out of the Antarctic it came—a wall of viscid, grey, +half-human jelly, absorbing and destroying all life that it +encountered.</div> + +<p>The newspaper in question was the hour-sheet of the International +Broadcast Association, just delivered by pneumatic tube at the +laboratory. It was stamped 1961, Month 13, Day 7, Horometer 3, and the +headlines on the front page confirmed the news of the decisive defeat +of the American military and naval forces at the hands of the Chinese +Republic.</p> + +<p>A gallant fight for days against hopeless odds; failure of the army +dynamos; airships cut off from ground guidance; battleships<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> ripped to +pieces by the Chinese disintegrators; and, finally, the great wave of +black death that had wiped out two hundred thousand men.</p> + +<p>Kay Bevan—to use the old-fashioned names which still persisted, +despite the official numerical nomenclature—glanced through the +account. He threw the sheet away. "We deserved it, Cliff," he said.</p> + +<p>Cliff nodded. "You saw that bit about the new Chinese disintegrator? +If the Government had seriously considered our Crumbler—"</p> + +<p>Kay glanced at the huge, humming top that filled the center of the +laboratory. It spun so fast that it appeared as nothing but a +spherical shadow, through which one could see the sparse furnishings, +the table, the apparatus ranged upon it, and the window over-looking +the upper streets of New York.</p> + +<p>"Yes—<i>if!</i>" he answered bitterly. "And I'm willing to bet the Chinese +have an inferior machine, built upon the plans that Chinese servant +stole from us last year."</p> + +<p>"We deserved it, Cliff," said Kay again. "For ten years we've harried +and enslaved the yellow man, and taken a hundred thousand of his men +and women to sacrifice to the Earth Giants. What would we have done, +if conditions had been reversed?"</p> + +<p>"Self-preservation," Cliff suggested.</p> + +<p>"Exactly. The law of the survival of the fittest. They thought that +they were fitter to survive. I tell you they had right on their side, +Cliff, and that's what's beaten us. Now—a hundred thousand of our +<i>own</i> boys and girls must be fed into the maw of these monsters every +year. God, suppose it were Ruth!"</p> + +<p>"Or you or I," said Cliff. "If only we could perfect the Crumbler!"</p> + +<p>"What use would that be against the Earth Giants? There's nothing +organic about them, not even bones. Pure protoplasm!"</p> + +<p>"We could have used it against the Chinese," said Cliff. "Now—" He +shrugged his shoulders hopelessly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>nd if explorers had been content to leave the vast unknown Antarctic +Continent alone, they would never have taught the imprisoned Giants to +cross the great ice barrier. But that crossing had taken place fifteen +years ago, and already the mind of man had become accustomed to the +grim facts.</p> + +<p>Who could have dreamed that the supposed table-land was merely a rim +of ice-mountains, surrounding a valley twice the size of Europe, so +far below sea-level that it was warmed to tropic heat by Earth's +interior fires? Or that this valley was peopled with what could best +be described as organized protoplasm?</p> + +<p>Enormous, half-transparent, gelatinous organism, attaining a height of +about a hundred feet, and crudely organized into forms not unlike +those of men?</p> + +<p>Half the members of the Rawlins Expedition, which had first entered +this valley, had fallen victims to the monsters. Most of the rest had +gone raving mad. And the stories of the two who returned, sane, to +Buenos Aires, were discredited and scoffed at as those of madmen.</p> + +<p>But of a second expedition none had survived, and it was the solitary +survivor of the third who had confirmed the amazing story. The giant +monsters, actuated by some flickering human intelligence, had found +their way out of the central valley, where they had subsisted by +enfolding their vegetable and small animal prey with pseudopods, that +it to say, temporary projections of arms from the gelatinous bulk of +their substance.</p> + +<p>They had floated across the shallow seas between the tip of the +Antarctic Continent and Cape Horn, as toy balloons float on water. +Then they had spread northward, extending in a wall that reached from +the Atlantic to the Andes. And, as they moved, they had devoured all +vegetables and animal life in their path. Behind them lay one great +bare, absolutely lifeless area.<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_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>ow many of them were there? That was the hideous fact that had to be +faced. Their numbers could not be counted because, after attaining a +height of about a hundred feet, they reproduced by budding!</p> + +<p>And within a few weeks these buds, in turn, attained their full +development.</p> + +<p>The Argentine Government had sent a force of twenty thousand men +against them, armed with cannon, machine-guns, tanks, airplanes, +poison gas, and the new death-ray. And in the night, when it was +bivouacking, after what it had thought was glorious victory, it had +been overwhelmed <i>and eaten</i>!</p> + +<p>Proof against the poison gas, the hideous monsters were, and +invulnerable to shot and shell. Divided and sub-divided, slashed into +ribbons, blown to fragments by bombs, each of the pieces simply became +the nucleus of a new organism, able, within a few hours, to assume the +outlines of a dwarf man, and to seize and devour its prey.</p> + +<p>But the Argentine expedition had done worse than it at first dreamed +of. <i>It had given the monsters a taste for human flesh!</i></p> + +<p>After that, the wave of devastation had obliterated life in every city +clear up to the Amazonian forests. And then it had been discovered +that, by feeding these devils human flesh, they could be rendered +torpid and their advance stayed—so long as the periodical meals +continued!</p> + +<p>At first criminals had been supplied them, then natives, then Chinese, +obtained by periodical war raids. What would you have? The savage +regions of the earth had already been depopulated, and a frenzy of +fear had taken possession of the whole world.</p> + +<p>Now the Chinese had defeated the annual American invasion, and the +Earth Giants were budding and swarming through the heart of Brazil.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_m1.jpg" alt="M" width="68" height="56" /></div> +<p>an," said the Theosophists, "is the fifth of the great root-races +that have inhabited this planet. The fourth were the Atlanteans. The +third were the Lemurians, half-human beings of whom the Australian +aborigines are the survivors. The second race was not fully organized +into human form. Of the first, nothing is known.</p> + +<p>"These are the second race, surviving in the Antarctic valleys. +Half-human objects, groping toward that perfection of humanity of +which we ourselves fall very far short. As the Kabbala says, man, +before Adam, reached from heaven to earth."</p> + +<p>Kay Bevan and Cliff Hynes had been working feverishly to perfect +their Crumbler for use in the Chinese wars. Convinced, as were all +fair-minded men, that these annual raids were unjustified, they +yielded to the logic of the facts. Should America sacrifice a hundred +thousand of her boys and girls each year, when human life was cheap in +China? <i>Boys and girls!</i></p> + +<p>It had been discovered that the Earth Giants required the flesh of +women as well as of men. Some subtle chemical constituent then +produced the state of torpidity during which the advance and the +budding of the monsters was stayed. During the ten past years their +northward advance had been almost inappreciable. Brazil had even sent +another army against them.</p> + +<p>But the deadliest gases had failed to destroy the tenacious life of +these protoplasmic creatures, and the tanks, which had driven through +and through them, had become entangled and blocked in the gelatinous +exudations, and their occupants eaten.</p> + +<p>All over the world scientists were striving to invent some way of +removing this menace to the world. Moreover, airplanes sent to the +polar continent had reported fresh masses mobilizing for the advance +northward. A second wave would probably burst through the Amazon +forest barrier and sweep over the Isthmus and overrun North America.</p> + +<p>Five days after the news of the Chinese disaster was confirmed, Cliff +Hynes came back from the capital of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> the American Confederation, +Washington.</p> + +<p>"It's no use, Kay," he said. "The Government won't even look at the +Crumbler. I told them it would disintegrate every inorganic substance +to powder, and they laughed at me. And it's true, Kay: they've given +up the attempt to enslave China. Henceforward a hundred thousand of +our own citizens are to be sacrificed each year. Eaten alive, Kay! +God, if only the Crumbler would destroy organic forms as well!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he first year's quota of fifty thousand boys and fifty thousand +girls, thrown to the maw of the monsters to save humanity, nearly +disrupted the Confederation. Despite the utmost secrecy, despite the +penalty of death for publishing news of the sacrifice, despite the +fact that those who drew the fatal lots were snatched from their homes +at dead of night, everything became known.</p> + +<p>On the vast pampas in the extreme north of the Argentine Republic, +where Bolivia, the Argentine, Paraguay and Brazil unite, was the place +of sacrifice. Thousands of acres, white with the bones of those whom +the monsters had engulfed. Brainless, devoid of intelligence, +sightless, because even the sense had not become differentiated in +them, yet by some infernal instinct the Earth Giants had become aware +that this was their feasting ground.</p> + +<p>By some tacit compact, the guards who had annually brought their +victims to be devoured had been unmolested, the vast wall of +semi-human shapes withdrawing into the shelter of the surrounding +forests while the Chinese were staked out in rows. Death, which would +have been a mercy, had been denied them. It was living flesh that the +Earth Giants craved. And here, on the spot known as Golgotha, the +hideous sacrifice had been annually repeated.</p> + +<p>That first year, when the chosen victims were transported to the fatal +spot, all America went mad. Frenzied parents attacked the offices of +the Federation in every city. The cry was raised that Spanish +Americans had been selected in preference to those of more northern +blood. Civil war loomed imminent.</p> + +<p>And year after year these scenes must be repeated. Boys and girls, +from fifteen to twenty years of age, the flower of the Federation, a +hundred thousand of them, must die a hideous death to save humanity. +Now the choice of the second year's victims was at hand.</p> + +<p>In their laboratory, removed to the heart of the Adirondacks +wilderness, Cliff and Kay were working frantically.</p> + +<p>"It's the last chance, Kay," said Cliff. "If I've not solved the +secret this time, it means another year's delay. The secret of +dissolving organic forms as well as inorganic ones! What is this +mysterious power that enables organic forms to withstand the terrific +bombardment of the W-ray?"</p> + +<p>The W-ray was the Millikan cosmic ray, imprisoned and adapted for +human use. It was a million times more powerful than the highest known +voltage of electricity. Beneath it, even the diamond, the hardest +substance known, dissolved into a puff of dust; and yet the most +fragile plant growth remained unaffected.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he laboratory in the Adirondacks was open at one end. Here, against a +background of big forest trees, a curious medley of substances had +been assembled: old chairs, a couple of broken-down airplanes, a large +disused dynamo, a heap of discarded clothing, a miscellany of kitchen +utensils on a table, a gas stove, and a heap of metal junk of all +kinds. The place looked, in fact, like a junk heap.</p> + +<p>The great top was set in a socket in a heavy bar of craolite, the new +metal that combined the utmost tensile strength with complete +infusibility, even in the electric furnace. About six feet in height, +it looked like nothing but what it was, a gyroscope in gimbals, with a +long and extremely narrow slit extending all around the cen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>tral +bulge, but closed on the operator's side by a sliding cover of the +same craolite.</p> + +<p>Within this top, which, by its motion, generated a field of electrical +force between the arms of an interior magnet, the W-rays were +generated in accordance with a secret formula; the speed of gyration, +exceeding anything known on earth, multiplied their force a +billionfold, converting them to wave-lengths shorter than the shortest +known to physical science. Like all great inventions, the top was of +the simplest construction.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Cliff, "you'd better bring out Susie."</p> + +<p>Kay left the laboratory and went to the cabin beside the lake that the +two men occupied. From her box in front of the stove a lady porcupine +looked up lazily and grunted. Kay raised the porcupine; in the box, of +course. Susie was constitutionally indolent, but one does not handle +porcupines, however smooth their quills may lie.</p> + +<p>Kay brought her to the heap of junk and placed the box on top of it. +He went inside the laboratory. "I may as well tell you, Cliff. I +wouldn't have brought Susie if I'd thought the experiment had the +least chance of success," he said.</p> + +<p>Cliff said nothing. He was bending over the wheel, adjusting a +micrometer. "All ready, Kay?" he asked.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="53" height="50" /></div><p>ay nodded and stepped back. He swallowed hard. He hated sacrificing +Susie to the cause of science; he almost hoped the experiment would +fail.</p> + +<p>Cliff pressed a lever, and slowly the ponderous top began to revolve +upon its axis. Faster, faster, till it was nothing but a blur. Faster +yet, until only its outlines were visible. Cliff pressed a lever on +the other side.</p> + +<p>Nothing happened apparently, except for a cloudy appearance of the air +at the open end of the laboratory. Cliff touched a foot lever. The top +began to grow visible, its rotations could be seen; it ran slower, +began to come to a stop.</p> + +<p>The cloud was gone. Where the airplanes and other junk had been, was +nothing but a heap of grayish dust. It was this that had made the +cloud.</p> + +<p>Nothing remained, except that impalpable powder against the background +of the trees.</p> + +<p>Kay caught Cliff's arm. "Look out!" he shouted, pointing to the heap. +"Something's moving in there!"</p> + +<p>Something was. A very angry lady porcupine was scrambling out, a +<i>quillless</i> porcupine, with a white skin, looking like nothing so much +as a large, hairless rat. Cliff turned to Kay.</p> + +<p>"We've failed," he said briefly. "Too late for this year now."</p> + +<p>"But—the quills?"</p> + +<p>"Inorganic material. But even the bones remain intact because there's +circulation in the marrow, you see. And the Earth Giants haven't even +bones. They're safe—this year!"</p> + +<p>He flung himself down under a tree, staring up at the sky in abject +despair.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_l1.jpg" alt="L" width="50" height="57" /></div> +<p>ook, Kay, I've got my number!" Ruth Meade smiled as she handed Kay +the ticket issued by the Government announcing the lottery number +provided for each citizen.</p> + +<p>One hundred thousand young people between the ages of fifteen and +twenty would be drawn for the sacrifice, and Ruth, being nineteen, had +come within the limits, but this would be her last year. In a few +weeks the Government would announce the numbers—drawn by a second +lottery—of those who were condemned.</p> + +<p>Then, before these had been made public, the victims would already +have been seized and hurried to the airship depots in a hundred +places, for conveyance to the hideous Golgotha of the pampas.</p> + +<p>The chance that any individual would be among the fated ones was +reasonably small. It was the fashion to make a jest of the whole +business. Ruth smiled as she showed her ticket.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>Kay stared at it. "Ruth, if—if anything happened to you I'd go +insane. I'd—"</p> + +<p>"Why this sudden ardor, Kay?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="53" height="50" /></div><p>ay took Ruth's small hand in his. "Ruth, you mustn't play with me any +more. You know I love you. And the sight of that thing makes me almost +insane. You do care, don't you?" And, as Ruth remained silent, "Ruth, +it isn't Cliff Hymes, is it? I know you two are old friends. I'd +rather it were Cliff than anybody else, if it had to be some one, +but—tell me, Ruth!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't Cliff," said Ruth slowly.</p> + +<p>"Is it—some one else?"</p> + +<p>"It's you, dear," answered Ruth. "It's always been you. It might have +been Cliff if you hadn't come along. But he knows now it can never be +he."</p> + +<p>"Does he know it's me?" asked Kay, greatly relieved.</p> + +<p>Ruth inclined her head. "He took it very finely," she said. "He said +just what you've said about him. Oh, Kay, if only your experiment had +succeeded, and the world could be free of this nightmare! What +happened? Why couldn't you and Cliff make it destroy life?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, dear," answered Kay. "Iron and steel melt into powder +at the least impact of the rays. They are so powerful that there was +even a leakage through the rubber and anelektron container. Even the +craolite socket was partly fused, and that is supposed to be an +impossibility. And there was a hole in the ground seven feet deep +where the very mineral water in the earth had been dissolved. But +against organic substances the W-ray is powerless.</p> + +<p>"Next year, dear—next year we'll have solved our problem, and then +we'll free the world of this menace, this nightmare. Ruth—don't let's +talk about that now. I love you!"</p> + +<p>They kissed. The Earth Giants faded out of their consciousness even +while Ruth held that ominous ticket in her hand.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="53" height="50" /></div><p>ay said nothing to Cliff about it, but Cliff knew. Perhaps he had put +his fate to the test with Ruth and learned the truth from her. Ruth +made no reference to the matter when she saw Kay. But between the two +men, friends for years, a coolness was inexorably developing.</p> + +<p>They had gone to work on the new machine. They were hopeful. When they +were working, they forgot their rivalry.</p> + +<p>"You see, Kay," said Cliff, "we mustn't forget that the Millikan rays +have been bombarding Earth since Earth became a planet, out of the +depths of space. It is their very nature not to injure organic life, +otherwise all life on Earth would have been destroyed long ago. Now, +our process is only an adaptation of these cosmic rays. We haven't +changed their nature."</p> + +<p>"No," agreed Kay. "What we want is a death-ray strong enough to +obliterate these monsters, without simply disintegrating them and +creating new fragments to bud into the complete being. Why do you +suppose they are so tenacious of life, Cliff?"</p> + +<p>"They represent primeval man, life itself, striving to organize +itself, and nothing is more tenacious than the life principle," +answered Cliff.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the fatal weeks were passing. A few days after the tickets +had been distributed, a Government notice was broadcasted and +published, ordaining that, in view of former dissensions, no +substitutes for the condemned persons would be permitted. Rich or +poor, each of the victims chosen by lot must meet his fate.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>nd the monsters were growing active. There had been an extension of +their activities. Tongues had been creeping up the rivers that ran +into the Amazon. Suddenly a dense mass of the devils had appeared on +the north coast, near Georgetown. They had overleaped the Amazon; they +were overrunning British Guiana, eating up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> everything on their way. +Georgetown was abandoned; the monsters were in complete control.</p> + +<p>"They will be cut off from the main herd," the optimistic reports +announced. "We shall deal with the main herd first. This year the +sacrifice will have to be made, but it will be the last. Scientists +have at last hit upon an infallible toxin which will utterly destroy +this menace within a few months."</p> + +<p>Nobody believed that story, for everything had been tried and failed. +In their laboratory Cliff and Kay were working frantically. And now +the coldness that had developed between them was affecting their +collaboration too. Cliff was keeping something back from Kay.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="53" height="50" /></div><p>ay knew it. Cliff had made some discovery that he was not sharing +with his partner. Often Kay, entering the laboratory, would find Cliff +furtively attempting to conceal some operation that he was in the +midst of. Kay said nothing, but a brooding anger began to fill his +heart. So Cliff was trying to get all the credit for the result of +their years of work together!</p> + +<p>And always, in the back of his mind, there was a vision of the little +Government ticket in Ruth's hand, with the numbers in staring black +type. They had burned into his brain. He could never forget them. +Often at night, after a hard day's work, he would suddenly awaken out +of a hideous nightmare, in which he saw Ruth taken away by the agents +of the Government, to be thrown as a sacrifice to the monsters.</p> + +<p>And Cliff was hiding something! That made the situation unbearable.</p> + +<p>The coolness between the two men was rapidly changing into open +animosity. And then one day, quite by chance, in Cliff's absence, Kay +came upon evidence of Cliff's activities.</p> + +<p>Cliff was no longer experimenting with the W-ray! He was using a new +type of ray altogether, the next series, the psenium electron +emanation discovered only a few years before, which had the peculiar +property of non-alternation, even when the psenium electron changed +its orbit around the central nucleus of the psenium atom.</p> + +<p>Instead of discontinuity, the psenium electron had been found to emit +radiation steadily, and this had upset the classic theories of matter +for the ninth time in the past fifteen years.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>nd Kay's wrath broke loose in a storm of reproaches when Cliff came +into the laboratory.</p> + +<p>"You've been deliberately keeping me in the dark!" he shouted. "You're +a nice sort of partner to have! Here's where we split up the +combination, Hynes!"</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking that for a long time," sneered Cliff. "The fact +is, Kay, you're a little too elementary in your ideas to suit me. It's +due to you that I kept hammering away on the wrong tack for years. The +sooner we part, the better."</p> + +<p>"No time like now," said Kay. "Keep your laboratory. You put most of +the money into it, anyway. I'll build me another—where I can work +without being hampered by a partner who's out for himself all the +time. Good luck to you in your researches, and I hope you'll get all +the credit when you find a way of annihilating the Earth Giants."</p> + +<p>And he stormed out of the laboratory, jumped into his plane, and +winged his way southward toward his apartment in New York.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>rowds in the streets of every town on the way. In villages and +hamlets, swarming like ants, and hurrying along the highways! Kay, who +flew one of the slow, old-fashioned planes, averaging little more than +a hundred miles an hour, winged his way methodically overhead, too +much absorbed in his anger against Cliff to pay much attention to this +phenomenon at first. But gradually it was borne in upon him that +something was wrong.</p> + +<p>He flew lower, and now he was pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>ing over a substantial town, and he +could hear the shouts of anger that came up to him. The whole town was +in a ferment, gathered in the town square.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the reason came home to Kay. He saw the adjoining airport, +and dropped like a plummet, hovering down until his wheels touched the +ground. Without waiting to taxi into one of the public hangars, he +leaped out and ran through the deserted grounds into the square.</p> + +<p>Groans, yells, shrieks of derision rent the air. The whole crowd had +gone maniacal. And it was as Kay had thought. Upon a white background +high up on the town ball building, the numbers of the local boys and +girls who had been picked for sacrifices were being shown.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_e.jpg" alt="E" width="44" height="50" /></div><p>ight boys and fifteen girls, already on their way into the wastes of +South America, to meet a hideous death.</p> + +<p>"They took my Sally," screamed a wizened woman, the tears raining down +her checks. "Kidnapped her at the street corner after dark. I didn't +know why she hadn't come home last night. God, my Sally, my little +girl, gone—gone—"</p> + +<p>"People, you must be patient," boomed the Government announcer. "The +President feels with you in your affliction. But by next year a means +will have been devised of destroying these monsters. Your children +will have their sacrifice recorded in the Hall of Fame. They are true +soldiers who—"</p> + +<p>"To hell with the Government!" roared a man. "Stop that damn talk +machine! Break her, fellows! Then we'll hang President Bogart from the +top of the Capitol!"</p> + +<p>Yells answered him, and the crowd surged forward toward the building.</p> + +<p>"Stand back!" shrieked the announcer. "It's death to set foot on the +step. We are now electrified. Last warning!"</p> + +<p>The first ranks of the mob recoiled as a charge of electricity at a +voltage just short of that required to take life coursed through their +bodies. Shrieks of agony rang out. Files of writhing forms covered the +ground.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="53" height="50" /></div><p>ay rushed to the automatic clerk at the window beside the metal +steps, taking care to avoid contact with them. Within six feet, the +temperature of his body brought the thermostatic control into action; +the window slid upward and the dummy appeared. He turned the dial to +Albany.</p> + +<p>"I want New York Division, Sub-station F, Loyalist Registration," he +called. "Give me Z numbers of the lottery, please."</p> + +<p>"No numbers will be given out until Horometer 13," the dummy boomed.</p> + +<p>"But I tell you I must know immediately!" Kay pleaded frantically.</p> + +<p>"Stand away, please!"</p> + +<p>"I've got to know, I tell you!"</p> + +<p>"We are now electrified. Last warning!"</p> + +<p>"Listen to me. My name's Kay Bevan. I—"</p> + +<p>A mighty buffet in the chest hurled Kay ten feet backward upon the +ground. He rose, came within the electric zone, felt his arms twisted +in a giant's grasp, staggered back again and sat down gasping. The +window went down noiselessly, the dummy swung back into place. Kay got +upon his feet again, choking with impotent rage.</p> + +<p>All about him men and women were milling in a frantic mob. He broke +through them, went back to where his plane was standing. A minute +later he was driving madly toward the district airport in New York +within three blocks of Ruth's apartment.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e dropped into a vacant landing place, checked hastily, and rushed +into the elevator. Once in the upper street, he bounded to the middle +platform, and, not satisfied to let it convey him at eight miles an +hour, strode on through the indignant throng until he reached his +destination. Hurl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>ing the crowds right and left he gained the exit, +and a half-minute later was on the upper level of the apartment block.</p> + +<p>He pushed past the janitor and raced along the corridor to Ruth's +apartment. She would be in if all was well; she worked for the +Broadcast Association, correcting the proofs that came from the +district headquarters by pneumatic tube. He stopped outside the door. +The little dial of white light showed him that the apartment was +unoccupied.</p> + +<p>As he stood there in a daze, hoping against hope, he saw a thread +hanging from the crevice between door and frame. He pulled at it, and +drew out a tiny strip of scandium, the new compressible metal that had +become fashionable for engagement rings. Plastic, all but invisible, +it could be compressed to the thickness of a sheet of paper: it was +the token of secret lovers, and Kay had given Ruth a ring of it.</p> + +<p>It was the signal, the dreaded signal that Ruth had been on the +lottery list—the only signal that she had been able to convey, since +stringent precautions were taken to prevent the victims becoming known +until all possibility of rescue was removed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div><p>o chance of rescuing her! From a hundred airports the great +Government airships had long since sailed into the skies, carrying +those selected by the wheel at Washington for sacrifice to the Earth +Giants. Only one chance remained. If Cliff had discovered the secret +that had so long eluded them, surely he would reveal it to him now!</p> + +<p>Their quarrel was forgotten. Kay only knew that the woman he loved was +even then speeding southward to be thrown to the maw of the vile +monsters that held the world in terror. Surely Cliff would bend every +effort to save her!</p> + +<p>Only a few hours had passed since Kay had stormed out of the +laboratory in the Adirondacks in a rage when he was back on their +little private landing field. He leaped from the plane and ran up the +trail beside the lake between the trees. The cabin was dark; and, when +Kay reached the laboratory he found it dark too.</p> + +<p>"Cliff! Cliff!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>No answer came, and with a sinking heart he snapped the button at the +door. It failed to throw the expected flood of light through the +interior. With shaking hand Kay pulled the little electron torch from +his pocket, and its bright beam showed that the door was padlocked. He +moved round to the window. The glass was unbreakable, but the ray from +the torch showed that the interior of the laboratory had been +dismantled, and the great top was gone.</p> + +<p>In those few hours Cliff, for reasons best known to himself, had +removed the top, Kay's one hope of saving Ruth. And he was gone.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n that moment Kay went insane. He raved and cursed, calling down +vengeance upon Cliff's head. Cliff's very motive was incredible. That +he had deliberately removed the top in order that Ruth should die was +not, of course, conceivable. But in that first outburst of fury Kay +did not consider that.</p> + +<p>Presently Kay's madness burned itself out. There was still one thing +that he could do. His plane, slow though it was, would carry him to +the pampas. He could get fresh fuel at numerous bootleg petrol +stations, even though the regulations against intersectional flight +were rigid. With luck he could reach the pampas, perhaps before the +sluggish monsters had fallen upon their prey. It was said that the +victims sometimes waited for days!</p> + +<p>Something was rubbing against his leg, pricking it through his +anklets. Kay looked down. A lady porcupine, with tiny new quills, was +showing recognition, even affection, if such a spiny beast could be +said to possess that quality.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>Somehow the presence of the beast restored Kay's mind to normal.</p> + +<p>"Well, he's left us both in the lurch, Susie," he said. "Good luck to +you, beastie, and may you find a secure hiding place until your quills +have grown."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>rowning men catch at straws. Kay snatched out his watch, and the +illuminated dial showed that it was already two quintets past +horometer 13. He darted back to the cabin. The door was unfastened, +and his torch showed him that, though Cliff had evidently departed, +and taken his things, the interior was much as it had been. When Kay +picked up the telephotophone, the oblong dial flashed out. The +instrument was in working order.</p> + +<p>He turned the crank, and swiftly a succession of scenes flashed over +the dial. On this little patch of glassite, Kay was actually making +the spatial journey to Albany, each minutest movement of the crank +representing a distance covered. The building of the New York Division +appeared, and its appearance signified that Kay was telephonically +connected. But there was no automatic voice attachment, an expense +that Kay and Cliff had decided would be unjustified. He had to rely +upon the old-fashioned telephone, such as was still widely in use in +rural districts. He took up the receiver.</p> + +<p>"Sub-Station F, Loyalist Registration, please," he called.</p> + +<p>"Speaking," said a girl's voice presently.</p> + +<p>"I want the Z numbers. All from Z5 to ZA," said Kay.</p> + +<p>And thus, in the dark hut, he listened to the doom pronounced, miles +away, by a more or less indifferent operator. When the fatal number +was read out, he thanked her and hung up. He released the crank, which +moved back to its position, putting out the light on the dial.</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 or two he stood there motionless, in a sort of daze, +though actually he was gathering all his reserves of resolution for +the task confronting him. Simply to find Ruth among the hundred +thousand victims, and die with her. A task stupendous in itself, and +yet Kay had no doubt that he would succeed, that he would be holding +her in his arms when the tide of hell flowed over them.</p> + +<p>He knew the manner of that death. The irresistible onset of the giant +masses of protoplasm, the extrusion of temporary arms, or feelers, +that would grasp them, drag them into the heart of the yielding +substance, and slowly smother them to death while the life was drained +from their bodies. It had been said the death was painless, but that +was Government propaganda. But he would be holding Ruth in his arms. +He'd find her: he had no doubt of that at all.</p> + +<p>And, strangely enough, now that Kay knew the worst, now that not the +slightest doubt remained, he was conscious of an elevation of spirits, +a sort of mad recklessness that was perfectly indefinable.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_k.jpg" alt="K" width="53" height="50" /></div><p>ay turned his torch into a corner of the kitchen. Yes, there was the +thing subconsciousness had prompted him to seek. A long-shafted, heavy +woodsman's ax, a formidable weapon at close quarters. Because it is +the instinct of <i>homo Americanus</i> to die with a weapon in his hands, +rather than let himself be butchered helplessly, Kay snatched it up. +He ran back to his plane. The gas tank was nearly empty, but there was +petrol in the ice house beside the lake.</p> + +<p>Kay wheeled the machine up to it, and filled up with gas and oil. All +ready now! He leaped in, pressed the starter, soared vertically, +helicopter wings fluttering like a soaring hawk's. Up to the passenger +air lane at nine thousand: higher to twelve, the track of the +international and supply ships; higher still, to the fourteen thousand +ceiling of the antiquated machine. He banked, turned southward.</p> + +<p>It was freezing cold up there, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> Kay had no flying suit on him, +but, between the passenger lane and the lane of the heliospheres, at +thirty thousand, there was no air police. And he could afford to take +no chances. The Government police would be on the lookout for a score +such desperate men as he, bent on a similar mission. He drove the +plane toward the Atlantic till a red glow began to diffuse itself +beneath him, an area of conflagration covering square miles of +territory.</p> + +<p>Swooping lower, Kay could hear the sound of detonations, the roar of +old-fashioned guns, while through the pall of lurid smoke came the +long, violet flashes of atomic guns, cleaving lanes of devastation. +New York was burning.</p> + +<p>The frenzied populace had broken into revolt, seized the guns stored +in the arsenals, and attacked the great Bronx fortress that stood like +a mighty sentinel to protect the port.</p> + +<p>A swarm of airships came into view, swirling in savage fight. Kay +zoomed. It was not his battle.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_n.jpg" alt="N" width="49" height="50" /></div><p>ow New York lay behind him, and he was winging southward over the +Atlantic. All night he flew. At dawn he came down in a coast hamlet +for bootleg petrol and oil.</p> + +<p>"You come from New York?" asked the Georgian. "Hear there's war broke +out up there."</p> + +<p>"My war's down in Brazil," muttered Kay.</p> + +<p>"Say, if them Giants comes up here yuh know what us folks is going to +do? We're going to set the hounds on 'em. Yes, sirree, we've got a +pack of bloodhounds, raised for jest that purpose. I guess that's +something them wisecrackers at Washington ain't thought of. They took +two little fellers from Hopetown, but they won't take nobody from +here."</p> + +<p>Kay fuelled up and resumed his flight southward.</p> + +<p>After that it was a nightmare. The sun rose and set, alternating with +the staring moon and stars. Kay crossed the Caribbean, sighted the +South American coast, swept southward over the jungles of Brazil. He +drank, but no food passed his lips. He had become a mechanism, set for +on special purpose—self-immolation.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was in a wide savannah among the jungles that he first caught sight +of the monsters. At first he thought it was the rising dawn mist; then +he began to distinguish a certain horrible resemblance to human forms, +and swooped down, banking round and round the opening in the jungle +until he could see clearly.</p> + +<p>There were perhaps a score of them, an advance guard that had pushed +forward from one of the main divisions. Men? Anthropoids, rather, for +their sex was indistinguishable! Human forms ranging from a few feet +to a hundred, composed apparently of a grayish jelly, propelling +themselves clumsily on two feet, but floating rather than walking. +Translucent, semi-transparent. Most horrible of all, these shadowy, +spheroid creatures exhibited here and there buds of various sizes, +which were taking on the similitude of fresh forms. And among them +were the young, the buds that had fallen from the parent stems, fully +formed humans of perhaps five or six feet, bouncing with a horrible +playfulness among their sires.</p> + +<p>As Kay soared some three hundred feet overhead, a young tapir came +leaping out of the jungle and ran, apparently unconscious of their +presence, right toward the monsters. Suddenly it stopped, and Kay saw +that it was already encircled by coils of protoplasm, resembling arms, +which had shot forth from the bodies of the devils.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>wiftly, despite its struggles and bleatings, the tapir was drawn into +the substance of the monsters, which seemed to fuse together and form +a solid wall of protoplasm in all respects like the agglutination of +bacteria under certain conditions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then the beast vanished in the wall, whose agitated churnings alone +gave proof of its existence.</p> + +<p>For perhaps ten minutes longer Kay remained hovering above the +clearing. Then the bodies divided, resuming their separate shapes. And +the white bones of the tapir lay in a huddled mass in the open.</p> + +<p>Kay went mad. Deliberately he set down his plane, and, hatchet in +hand, advanced upon the sluggish monsters. Shouting wildly, he leaped +into their midst.</p> + +<p>The fight that followed was like a nightmare fight. He lopped off the +slow tentacles that sought to envelop him, he slashed the devils into +long ribbons of writhing jelly, slashed until the substance blunted +the ax; wiped it clean and leaped into their midst again, hewing until +he could no longer raise his arm. Then he drew back and surveyed the +scene before him.</p> + +<p>It was dreadful enough to drive the last remnants of sanity from his +brain. For every piece that he had cut from the monsters, every +protoplasmic ribbon was reorganizing before his eyes into the +semblance of a new creature. Where there had been a score, there were +now five hundred!</p> + +<p>Kay ran back to his plane, leaped in, and soared southward. His face +was a grotesque mask of madness, and his cries rang out through the +ether.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he victims were no longer chained to stakes. The Federation, which +always acted with complete secrecy, had gone one better. It had +engaged electrical engineers, kept them housed in secret places, +transported them to Golgotha; and there a vast electrified field had +been established, an open space whose boundaries were marked out by +pillars of electron steel.</p> + +<p>Between these pillars ran lines of electric force. To attempt to pass +them meant—not death, for dead boys and girls were spurned by the +devils—but a violent shock that hurled one backward.</p> + +<p>On this great plain the hundred thousand victims sat huddled in the +open. Food they had none, for no purpose was to be served by +mitigating their last agonies. No shelter either, for the sight of +buildings might delay the final phase. But high above the doomed there +floated the flag of the Federation, on a lofty pole, a touch of ironic +sentimentality that had commended itself to some mind at Washington.</p> + +<p>Over a square mile of territory, ringed with jungle the victims lay. +The majority of them ringed this terrain; that is to say, attempting +to escape, they had been hurled back by the electrical charge, and, +having no strength or will remaining, they had dropped where they had +been hurled, and lay in apathetic resignation.</p> + +<p>There had been screams and cries for mercy, and piteous scenes when +the Government airships had deposited them there and flown away, but +now an intense silence had descended upon the doomed. Resigned to +their fate, they sat or lay in little silent groups, all eyes turned +toward the gloomy jungle.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>nd everywhere within this jungle a wraith-like mist was forming at +this dawn hour. From a thousand miles around, the devils were +mustering for their prey, agglutinating, in order that the meal of one +might become the meal of all.</p> + +<p>Wisps of protoplasmic fog were stealing out through the trees, +changing shape every instant, but always advancing: now presenting the +appearance of an aligned regiment of huge, shadowy men, now nothing +but a wall of semi-solid vapor. And still, with eyeballs straining in +their sockets, the victims watched.</p> + +<p>Suddenly all were seized with the same spasm of mad terror. Again they +hurled themselves against the electrified lines, and again they were +hurled back, masses of boys and girls tumbling against one another, +and scream<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>ing in one wail that, could it have been heard in +Washington, would have driven all insane. Again and again, till they +fell back, panting and helpless. And solidly the wall of devils was +creeping up from every side.</p> + +<p>Ruth Deane, one of the few who had themselves in control, lay some +distance back from the electrified field. From the moment when she was +surprised in her apartment by the Government representatives, she had +known that there was no hope of escape.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>he had slipped the ring off her finger, snapped the plastic metal, +and attached it to a thread torn from her dress. She had managed to +insert it in the door, hoping that Kay would find it. It would serve +as a last message of love to him.</p> + +<p>Every removal of a selected victim was in the nature of a kidnapping. +At dead of night her apartment had been opened. She had been ordered +to dress. Nothing could be written, no arrangements made. She was +already considered as one dead.</p> + +<p>She had been hurried out of the upper entrance to the monorail, which +conveyed her in a special car to the landing station. A few minutes +later she had been on her way to join the camp of other victims, a +hundred miles away. Within two hours she was on her way southward.</p> + +<p>Stunned by the tragedy, none of the victims had made much of an +outcry. They had been given water by the airship police. No food for +boys and girls already dead. Days and nights had passed, and now she +was here, faint from exhaustion, and wondering at the despair shown by +those others. What difference would it make in half an hour? Besides, +that Government pamphlet had insisted that this death was painless!</p> + +<p>But an immense longing to see Kay once more came over her. There had +been a time when she thought she loved Cliff; then Kay had come into +her life, and she had known that other affair was folly. She had +never told Kay of the bitter scene between Cliff and herself, how he +had raved against Kay and sworn to win her in the end.</p> + +<p>Cliff had calmed down and apologized, and Ruth had never seen him +again. She wished he had not taken it like that. But above all she +wanted to see Kay, just to say good-by.</p> + +<p>And she tried to send out her whole heart to him in an unspoken +message of love that would surely somehow convey itself to him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he wall of devils was creeping up on every side, slowly, +lethargically. The monsters took their time, because they knew they +were invincible. The sobs and shrieks had died away. Collected into a +mass almost as rigid as that of the Earth Giants, the victims waited, +palsied as a rabbit that awaits the approach of the serpent.</p> + +<p>A humming overhead. An airplane shooting down from the sky. Rescue? +No. Only a solitary pilot, armed with a woodsman's ax.</p> + +<p>Kay drifted down, touched ground, leaped to his feet. Chance had +brought him within five hundred yards of where Ruth was standing. But +Ruth had known who that lone flyer must be. She broke through the +throng; she rushed to meet him. Her arms were around him.</p> + +<p>"Kay, darling Kay!"</p> + +<p>"Ruth, dearest!"</p> + +<p>"I knew you'd come."</p> + +<p>"I've come to die beside you!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was perhaps odd that it did not enter the head of either as a +possibility that Kay should simply place Ruth in the plane and fly +away with here to safety. Had the thought occurred to Kay, he might +have been tempted. But such black treachery was something +inconceivable by either. So long as the Federation remained, so long +as man moved in an organized society, he was bound to his fellows, to +fight, suffer, and die with them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stand by me, Ruth. We're going down fighting."</p> + +<p>They moved back toward the throng, which, momentarily stirred to hope +by Kay's appearance, had fallen into the former apathy of despair. And +now the monsters were beginning to enter the electrified zone at one +point. As they passed the line of posts, the high tension current made +their bodies luminous, but it had no appreciable effect upon them. +They moved on, inevitably.</p> + +<p>A score or so of semi-human forms, agglutinated into a mass, and yet +individually discernible. They bore down slowly upon the crowd of +victims, who pressed backward as they advanced. On the other sides, +though they almost encircled the field of death, the monsters were +making no maneuvers to entrap their prey. Their sluggish minds were +incapable of conceiving anything of the kind. But for the electrified +zone, the great majority of the victims could have effected their +escape. The monsters were simply pressing forward to their meal; they +did not interpret its capture in terms of strategy at all.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p> new frenzy of horror seized the crowd. They fled, struggling back +until the foremost in flight reached the other side of Golgotha, to be +repulsed by the electrified zone there. They fell in tumbled heaps. +Appalling shrieks rang through the air.</p> + +<p>Another line of the monsters was seeping forward, converging toward +the first. As the two lines met, they coalesced into a wall of +protoplasm, a thousand feet in length by a hundred high. A wall out of +which leered phantasmal faces, like those in a frieze.</p> + +<p>Kay stood alone, his arm around Ruth. To follow the flying mob would +but prolong the agony. He raised the ax. He looked into the girl's +eyes. She understood, and nodded.</p> + +<p>One last embrace, one kiss, and Kay placed her behind him. He sprang +forward, shouting, and plunged into the very heart of the wall.</p> + +<p>And Ruth, watching with eyes dilated with horror, saw it yield with a +sucking sound, and saw Kay disappear within it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>he saw the hideous mass fold itself upon him, and a hundred extruded +tentacles wave in the air as they blindly grappled for him. And then +Kay had broken through, and was hewing madly with great sweeps of the +ax that slashed great streamers of the amorphous tissue from the wall +of protoplasm.</p> + +<p>It recoiled and then folded once more, and Kay's mighty sweeps were +slashing phantom limbs from phantom bodies; and lopping off tentacles +that curled and coiled, and put forth caricatures of hands and +fingers, and then, uniting with other slashed off tentacles, began to +mould themselves into the likeness of dwarf monsters. Kay's struggle +was like that of a man fighting a fog, for again and again he broke +through the wall, and always it reunited.</p> + +<p>And behind it another wall of protoplasm was pressing forward, and on +another side a wall was drifting up. As Kay stopped, panting, and +momentarily free, Ruth saw that they were almost encircled.</p> + +<p>She saw the nature of that fight. Inevitably that wall would close +about them; and, though the bones of last year's victims had been +gathered up and carried away by the Federation, she guessed what would +occur.</p> + +<p>She ran to Kay and dragged him back through the closing gap. It met +behind them, and again they stood face to face with the devils. Only +this time, instead of a wall of protoplasm, it was a veritable +mountain that confronted them, and there could be no more breaking +through.</p> + +<p>Kay thought afterward that the one touch of absolute horror was that +the reforming monsters, the young ones growing visibly before his +eyes, had the gamboling instinct of young lambs or other creatures. +They were much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> more lively than the parent creatures.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div><p>y this time perhaps a third of the space within the electrified lines +had been occupied by the devils. The wall was slowly and sluggishly +advancing, and a fresh infiltration was drifting in on another side. +As the victims were pressed closer and closer together in their +flight, half of them seemed to go insane. They raced to and fro, +laughing and screaming, flinging their arms aloft in extravagant +gestures. One young fellow, rushing across the ground, hurled himself +like a bolt from a catapult into the heart of the grisly mass, which +opened and received him.</p> + +<p>There was a struggle, a convulsion; then the mass moved on.</p> + +<p>Kay wiped his ax. He stood beside Ruth, gathering strength and breath +to fight again. What else was there to do?</p> + +<p>Suddenly a humming sound came to his ears. Still some little distance +from the monsters, he glanced back. The victims were shouting, staring +upward. Over the tops of the jungle trees Kay saw a second airplane +flying toward them, a larger one than the plane which he had flown.</p> + +<p>It opened its helicopter wings and drifted downward. Kay saw a single +pilot, and, in the baggage compartment something that at first he did +not recognize. Then he recognized both this object and the aviator.</p> + +<p>"It's Cliff," he whispered hoarsely. "He's brought the top!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he crowd was milling about Cliff as he stepped out of the plane. Kay +broke through their midst, shouting to them to clear a space, that it +was their chance, their only chance. They heard him and obeyed. And +Cliff and Kay clasped hands, and there was Ruth beside them.</p> + +<p>The two men carried the top out of the baggage compartment and set it +up.</p> + +<p>"Thank God I came in time," Cliff hissed. "How long have we got, Kay?"</p> + +<p>"Five minutes, I think," Kay answered, glancing at the oncoming wall. +"They're slow. Will it work, Cliff? God, when I found you'd gone last +night—"</p> + +<p>Cliff did not answer. Ignoring Kay's offer of assistance, he fitted +the top tightly into its socket of craolite, much heavier than the +former one. Beneath this, three heavy craolite legs formed a sort of +tripod.</p> + +<p>"I looked forward to this possibility, Kay," said Cliff, as he +adjusted the top and turned the clamps that held it in position. +"Sorry I had to deceive you, but you we're so set on the cosmic rays, +and I knew the psenium emanations wouldn't appeal to you. You wouldn't +have believed. I had a hunch Ruth would draw one of those numbers.... +<i>How long?</i>"</p> + +<p>The swaying masses of gray jelly were very near them. Cliff worked +feverishly at the top.</p> + +<p>"Let me help. Cliff!"</p> + +<p>"No! I'm through! Stand back!" shouted Cliff.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_e.jpg" alt="E" width="44" height="50" /></div><p>ven then—he regretted it afterward, and knew that he would regret it +to his dying day—even then the thought flashed through Kay's mind +that Cliff wanted all the glory. Behind him the milling, screaming +crowd was huddling, as if for protection. Slowly a wisp-like tentacle +protruded from the advancing wall. Kay swung his ax and lopped it from +the phantom body. But the wall was almost upon them, and from the +other side it was advancing rapidly.</p> + +<p>"I'm ready! Stand back!" Cliff turned upon Kay, his face white, his +voice hoarse. "I've one request to make, Kay. Keep everybody back, +including you and Ruth. Nobody is to come within twenty-five yards of +this machine!"</p> + +<p>"That shall be done," said Kay, a little bitterness in his tone.</p> + +<p>"Ruth, I think I'm going to save you all." Cliff looked into the +girl's face for a moment. "Please stand back twenty-five yards," he +repeated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> + +<p>Kay took Ruth by the arm and drew her back. The crowd moved back, +their pressure moving back the vast multitudes behind them. The vast +mob was almost packed into the quarter of the Golgotha; there was +scarcely room to move.</p> + +<p>Kay saw Cliff press the lever.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>lowly the giant top began to whirl. Faster ... faster.... Now it was +revolving so fast that it had become totally invisible. But Cliff was +almost surrounded by the wall of jelly. Only his back could be seen, +and then space was narrowing fast.</p> + +<p>Kay gripped Ruth's arm tightly. He held his breath. The crowd, of whom +only a small part knew what was taking place, was screaming with +terror as the mass of jelly on the other side pressed them inexorably +backward. And Cliff had almost vanished. Would the machine work? Was +it possible that the psenium emanations would succeed where the +Millikan rays, the W-ray had failed?</p> + +<p>Then of a sudden the air grew dark as night. Kay began to sneeze. He +gasped for air. He was choking. He could see nothing, and he strained +Ruth to him convulsively, while the terrified multitudes behind him +set up a last wail of despair.</p> + +<p>He could see nothing, and he stood with the ax ready for the onset of +the monsters, more terrible now, in their invisibility, than before. +Then of a sudden there sounded subterranean rumblings. The ground +seemed to open almost under Kay's feet.</p> + +<p>He leaped back, dragging Ruth with him. Slowly the dust was settling, +the darkness lessening. A faint, luminous glow overhead revealed the +sun. Kay was aware that Cliff had swung the top, so that the psenium +rays were being brought to bear upon the second mass of the monsters +on the other side.</p> + +<p>The sun vanished in appalling blackness. Again the dust-choked air was +almost unbreathable. The shrieks of the crowd died away in wheezing +gasps; and then a wilder clamor began.</p> + +<p>"The earthquake! The earthquake!" a girl was shrilling. "God help us +all!"</p> + +<p>Kay stood still, clutching Ruth tightly in his arms. He dared not +stir, for all the world seemed to be dissolving into chaos.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>lowly the dust began to settle again. Perhaps five minutes passed +before the sunbeams began to struggle through. A cloud of grey dust +still obscured everything. But the wall of protoplasm was gone!</p> + +<p>Cliff's voice came moaning out of the murk, calling Kay's name.</p> + +<p>Kay moved forward cautiously, still holding Ruth. He seemed to be +skirting the edge of a vast crater. At the edge of it he found the +top, revolving slowly. And Cliff's voice came from beside the top.</p> + +<p>"Kay, we've won. Don't look at me. Don't let Ruth see me! Look down!"</p> + +<p>Kay looked down into the bottomless pit, extending clear across the +plain to the distant jungle. An enormous canyon cloven in the earth, +filled with the slowly settling cloud of dust.</p> + +<p>"They're there, Kay. Don't look this way!"</p> + +<p>But Kay looked—and could see nothing except a pile of debris, from +the bottom of which Cliff's voice issued.</p> + +<p>"Cliff, you're not hurt?"</p> + +<p>"A—a little. You must listen while I tell you how to clean up the +monsters. It's the psenium emanation. It has the same effect when our +method is applied to it. It disintegrates everything inorganic—not +organic.</p> + +<p>"I thought, if I couldn't get them, I'd crumble the earth away—bury +them. They're underneath the debris, Kay, a mile deep, buried, beneath +the impalpable powder that represented the inorganic salts and +minerals of the earth. They'll never get out of that. Protoplasm needs +oxygen. They'll trouble us no more.</p> + +<p>"You must take the top, Kay. Use our old method. You'll find its +application to the psenium emanation writ<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>ten in a book fastened +beneath the hood. Wipe out the rest of them. If any more come, you'll +know how to deal with them."</p> + +<p>"Cliff, you're not badly hurt?" Kay asked again.</p> + +<p>"Don't look, I tell you! Keep Ruth away!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div><p>ut the dust was settling fast, and suddenly Ruth uttered a scream of +fear.</p> + +<p>And a strangled cry broke from Kay's throat as he looked down at what +had been Cliff Hynes.</p> + +<p>The man seemed to have become resolved into the same sort of +protoplasm as the Earth Giants. He lay, a little heap, incredibly +small, incredibly distorted. Flesh without bones, shapeless lumps of +flesh where arms and legs and body frame should have been.</p> + +<p>Cliff's voice came faintly. "You remember the leakage through the +rubber and analektron container, Kay. The W-rays even fused the +craolite socket. The psenium rays are stronger. They destroy even +bone. They're fatal to the man who operates the machine, unless he +follows the directions. I've written them out for you, but I had—no +time—to apply them."</p> + +<p>His voice broke off. Then, "Good luck to you and—Ruth, Kay," he +whispered, absent inaudibly. "Don't let—her—look at me."</p> + +<p>Kay led Ruth gently away. "Did you hear that?" she whispered, sobbing. +"He died to save us Kay."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was like a return from the grave for the amazed boys and girls +who—since the onset of the monsters had destroyed the electric +lines—poured out of the plain of Golgotha to life and freedom.</p> + +<p>Many of them had gone mad, a few had died of fright, but the rest +would come back to normal, and the world was saved.</p> + +<p>Hunger was their greatest problem, for, despite Kay's hurried flight +to the nearest occupied post, it was difficult to convince the +Federation officials that the devils were really gone, buried beneath +a mile of crumbled earth. And Kay had to be back to mop up other, +smaller bands that had spread through the forests.</p> + +<p>It was six months before the last of the monsters had been +obliterated, and then Kay, now one of the highest officials in the +Federation's service, was granted a lunarian's leave of absence +pending his taking command of an Antarctic expedition for the purpose +of destroying the remaining monsters in their lair.</p> + +<p>He took this opportunity to be married to Ruth, in the church in his +native town, which was <i>en fête</i> for the occasion.</p> + +<p>"Thinking of Cliff?" Kay asked his bride, as she settled in his plane +preparatory to their starting for the honeymoon in the Adirondacks. "I +think he would be happy if he knew. He saved the world, dear; he gave +his best. And that was all he wanted."</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_004.jpg" width="600" height="203" alt="" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<div> +<img class="figright" src="images/image_005_01.jpg" width="600" height="260" alt="Like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling." /> +<img class="figright" src="images/image_005_02.jpg" width="363" height="108" alt="Like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling." /> +</div> + +<p class="p1"><a name="The_Pirate_Planet" id="The_Pirate_Planet"></a>The Pirate Planet</p> + +<p class="p2">BEGINNING A FOUR-PART NOVEL</p> +<p class="p3"><i>By Charles W. Diffin</i></p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="caption">Like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling.</span></p> + +<h4>CHAPTER I</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>ieutenant McGuire threw open his coat with its winged insignia of the +air force and leaned back in his chair to read more comfortably the +newspaper article.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A strange light blinks on Venus, and over old Earth hovers +a mysterious visitant—dread harbinger of interplanetary war.</div> + +<p>He glanced at Captain Blake across the table. The captain was deep in +a game of solitaire, but he looked up at McGuire's audible chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Gay old girl!" said Lieutenant McGuire and smoothed the paper across +his knees. "She's getting flirtatious."</p> + +<p>The captain swore softly as he gathered up his cards. "Not +interested," he announced; "too hot to-night. Keep her away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's far enough away," McGuire responded; "about seventy million +miles. Don't get excited."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about?" The captain shuffled his cards +irritably.</p> + +<p>"Venus. She's winking at us, the old reprobate. One of these +star-gazers up on Mount Lawson saw the flashes a week or so ago. If +you'll cut out your solitaire and listen, I'll read you something to +improve your mind." He ignored the other's disrespectful remark<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> and +held the paper closer to see the paragraphs.</p> + +<p>"Is Venus Signalling?" inquired the caption which Lieutenant McGuire +read. "Professor Sykes of Mt. Lawson Observatory Reports Flashes.</p> + +<p>"The planet Venus, now a brilliant spectacle in the evening sky, is +behaving strangely according to a report from the local observatory on +Mount Lawson. This sister star, most like Earth of all the planets, is +now at its eastern elongation, showing like a half-moon in the big +telescopes on Mt. Lawson. Shrouded in impenetrable clouds, its surface +has never been seen, but something is happening there. Professor Sykes +reports seeing a distinct flash of light upon the terminator, or +margin of light. It lasted for several seconds and was not repeated.</p> + +<p>"No explanation of the phenomenon is offered by scientists, as +conditions on the planet's surface are unknown.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> Is there life there? +Are the people of Venus trying to communicate? One guess is as good as +another. But it is interesting to recall that our scientists recently +proposed to send a similar signal from Earth to Mars by firing a +tremendous flare of magnesium.</p> + +<p>"Venus is now approaching the earth; she comes the nearest of all +planets. Have the Venusians penetrated their cloak of cloud masses +with a visible light? The planet will be watched with increased +interest as it swings toward us in space, in hope of there being a +repetition of the unexplained flash."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div><p>here," said Lieutenant McGuire,"—doesn't that elevate your mind? +Take it off this infernally hot night? Carry you out through the cool +reaches of interplanetary space? If there is anything else you want to +know, just ask me."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Captain Blake agree, "there is. I want to know how the game +came out back in New York—and you don't know that. Let's go over and +ask the radio man. He probably has the dope."</p> + +<p>"Good idea," said McGuire; "maybe he has picked up a message from +Venus; we'll make a date." He looked vainly for the brilliant star as +they walked out into the night. There were clouds of fog from the +nearby Pacific drifting high overhead. Here and there stars showed +momentarily, then were blotted from sight.</p> + +<p>The operator in the radio room handed the captain a paper with the +day's scores from the eastern games. But Lieutenant McGuire, despite +his ready amusement at the idea, found his thoughts clinging to the +words he had read. "Was the planet communicating?" he pictured the +great globe—another Earth—slipping silently through space, coming +nearer and nearer.</p> + +<p>Did they have radio? he wondered. Would they send recognizable +signals—words—or some mathematical sequence to prove their reality? +He turned to the radio operator on duty.</p> + +<p>"Have you picked up anything peculiar," he asked, and laughed inwardly +at himself for the asking. "Any new dots and dashes? The scientists +say that Venus is calling. You'll have to be learning a new code."</p> + +<p>The man glanced at him strangely and looked quickly away.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," he said. And added after a pause: "No new dots and dashes."</p> + +<p>"Don't take that stuff too seriously, Mac," the captain remonstrated. +"The day of miracles is past; we don't want to commit you to the +psychopathic ward. Now here is something real: the Giants won, and I +had ten dollars on them. How shall we celebrate?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he radio man was listening intently as they started to leave. His +voice was hesitating as he stopped them; he seemed reluctant to put +his thoughts into words.</p> + +<p>"Just a minute, sir," he said to Captain Blake.</p> + +<p>"Well?" the captain asked. And again the man waited before he replied. +Then—</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant McGuire asked me," he began, "if I had heard any strange +dots and dashes. I have not; but ... well, the fact is, sir, that I +have been getting some mighty queer sounds for the past few nights. +They've got me guessing.</p> + +<p>"If you wouldn't mind waiting. Captain; they're about due now—" He +listened again to some signal inaudible to the others, then hooked up +two extra head-sets for the officers.</p> + +<p>"It's on now," he said. "If you don't mind—"</p> + +<p>McGuire grinned at the captain as they took up the ear-phones. "Power +of suggestion," he whispered, but the smile was erased from his lips +as he listened. For in his ear was sounding a weird and wailing note.</p> + +<p>No dots or dashes, as the operator had said, but the signal was +strong. It rose and fell and wavered into shrill tremolos, a ghostly, +unearthly sound, and it kept on and on in a shrill de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>spairing wail. +Abruptly it stopped.</p> + +<p>The captain would have removed the receiver from his ear, but the +operator stopped him. "Listen," he said, "to the answer."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here was silence, broken only by an occasional hiss and crackle of +some far distant mountain storm. Then, faint as a whisper, came an +answering, whistling breath.</p> + +<p>It, too, trembled and quavered. It went up—up—to the limit of +hearing; then slid down the scale to catch and tremble and again +ascend in endless unvarying ups and downs of sound. It was another +unbroken, unceasing, but always changing vibration.</p> + +<p>"What in thunder is that?" Captain Blake demanded.</p> + +<p>"Communication of some sort, I should say," McGuire said slowly, and +he caught the operator's eyes upon him in silent agreement.</p> + +<p>"No letters," Blake objected; "no breaks; just that screech." He +listened again. "Darned if it doesn't almost seem to say something," +he admitted.</p> + +<p>"When did you first hear this?" he demanded of the radio man.</p> + +<p>"Night before last, sir. I did not report it. It seemed too—too—"</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Captain Blake in understanding, "but it is some form +of broadcasting on a variable wave; though how a thing like that can +make sense—"</p> + +<p>"They talk back and forth," said the operator; "all night, most. +Notice the loud one and the faint one; two stations sending and +answering."</p> + +<p>Captain Blake waved him to silence. "Wait—wait!" he ordered. "It's +growing louder!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n the ears of the listening men the noise dropped to a loud grumble; +rose to a piercing shriek; wavered and leaped rapidly from note to +note. It was increasing; rushing upon them with unbearable sound. The +sense of something approaching, driving toward them swiftly, was +strong upon Lieutenant McGuire. He tore the head-phones from his ears +and rushed to the door. The captain was beside him. +Whoever—whatever—was sending that mysterious signal was coming +near—but was that nearness a matter of miles or of thousands of +miles?</p> + +<p>They stared at the stormy night sky above. A moon was glowing faintly +behind scudding clouds, and the gray-black of flying shadows formed an +opening as they watched, a wind-blown opening like a doorway to the +infinity beyond, where, blocking out the stars, was a something that +brought a breath-catching shout from the watching men.</p> + +<p>Some five thousand feet up in the night was a gleaming ship. There +were rows of portholes that shone twinkling against the black +sky—portholes in multiple rows on the side. The craft was +inconceivably huge. Formless and dim of outline in the darkness, its +vast bulk was unmistakable.</p> + +<p>And as they watched with staring, incredulous eyes, it seemed to take +alarm as if it sensed the parting of its concealing cloud blanket. It +shot with dizzy speed and the roar of a mighty meteor straight up into +the night. The gleam of its twinkling lights merged to a distant star +that dwindled, shrank and vanished in the heights.</p> + +<p>The men were wordless and open-mouthed. They stared at each other in +disbelief of what their eyes had registered.</p> + +<p>"A liner!" gasped Captain Blake. "A—a—liner! Mac, there is no such +thing."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>cGuire pointed where the real cause of their visitor's departure +appeared. A plane with engine wide open came tearing down through the +clouds. It swung in a great spiral down over the field and dropped a +white flare as it straightened away; then returned for the landing. It +taxied at reckless speed toward the hangars and stopped a short +distance from the men. The pilot threw him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>self out of the cockpit and +raced drunkenly toward them.</p> + +<p>"Did you see it?" he shouted, his voice a cracked scream. "Did you see +it?"</p> + +<p>"We saw it," said Captain Blake; "yes, we saw it. Big as—" He sought +vainly for a proper comparison, then repeated his former words: "Big +as an ocean liner!"</p> + +<p>The pilot nodded; he was breathing heavily.</p> + +<p>"Any markings?" asked his superior. "Anything to identify it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there were markings, but I don't know what they mean. There was +a circle painted on her bow and marks like clouds around it, but I +didn't have time to see much. I came out of a cloud, and there the +thing was. I was flying at five thousand, and they hung there dead +ahead. I couldn't believe it; it was monstrous; tremendous. Then they +sighted me, I guess, and they up-ended that ship in mid-air and shot +straight up till they were out of sight."</p> + +<p>It was the captain's turn to nod mutely.</p> + +<p>"There's your miracle," said Lieutenant McGuire softly.</p> + +<p>"Miracle is right," agreed Captain Blake; "nothing less! But it is no +miracle of ours, and I am betting it doesn't mean any good to us. Some +other country has got the jump on us."</p> + +<p>To the pilot he ordered: "Say nothing of this—not a word—get that? +Let me have a written report: full details, but concise as possible."</p> + +<p>He went back to the radio room, and the operator there received the +same instructions.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" the lieutenant questioned.</p> + +<p>Captain Blake was reaching for a head-set. "Listen in," he said +briefly; "try to link up that impossible ship with those messages, +then report at once to the colonel and whoever he calls in. I'll want +you along, Mac, to swear I am sober."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e had a head-set adjusted, and McGuire took up the other. Again the +room was still, and again from the far reaches of space the dark night +sent to them its quavering call.</p> + +<p>The weird shrillness cried less loudly now, and the men listened in +strained silence to the go and come of that variable shriek. Musical +at times as it leaped from one clear note to another, again it would +merge into discordant blendings of half-tones that sent shivers of +nervous reaction up the listeners' spines.</p> + +<p>"Listen," said McGuire abruptly. "Check me on this. There are two of +them, one loud and one faint—right?"</p> + +<p>"Right," said Captain Blake.</p> + +<p>"Now notice the time intervals—there! The faint one stops, and the +big boy cuts in immediately. No waiting; he answers quickly. He does +it every time."</p> + +<p>"Well?" the captain asked.</p> + +<p>"Listen when he stops and see how long before the faint one answers. +Call the loud one the ship and the faint one the station.... There! +The ship is through!"</p> + +<p>There was pause; some seconds elapsed before the answer that whispered +so faintly in their ears came out of the night.</p> + +<p>"You are right, sir," the operator said in corroboration of McGuire's +remark. "There is that wait every time."</p> + +<p>"The ship answers at once," said McGuire; "the station only after a +wait."</p> + +<p>"Meaning—?" inquired the captain.</p> + +<p>"Meaning, as I take it, that there is time required for the message to +go from the ship to the station and for them to reply."</p> + +<p>"An appreciable time like that," Captain Blake exclaimed, "—with +radio! Why, a few seconds, even, would carry it around the world a +score of times!"</p> + +<p>Lieutenant McGuire hesitated a moment. "It happens every time," he +reminded the captain: "it is no coincidence. And if that other station +is out in space—another ship perhaps, relay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>ing the messages to yet +others between here and—Venus, let us say...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e left the thought unfinished. Captain Blake was staring at him as +one who beholds a fellow-man suddenly insane. But the look in his eyes +changed slowly, and his lips that had been opened in remonstrance came +gradually in a firm, straight line.</p> + +<p>"Crazy!" he said, but it was apparent that he was speaking as much to +himself as to McGuire. "Plumb, raving crazy!... Yet that ship <i>did</i> go +straight up out of sight—an acceleration in the upper air beyond +anything we know. It might be—" And he, too, stopped at the actual +voicing of the wild surmise. He shook his head sharply as if to rid it +of intruding, unwelcome thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Forget that!" he told McGuire, and repeated it in a less commanding +tone. "Forget it, Mac: we've got to render a report to sane men, you +and I. What we know will be hard enough for them to believe without +any wild guesses.</p> + +<p>"That new craft is real. It has got it all over us for size and speed +and potential offensive action. Who made it? Who mans it? Red Russia? +Japan? That's what the brass hats will be wondering; that's what they +will want to find out.</p> + +<p>"Not a word!" he repeated to the radio man. "You will keep mum on +this."</p> + +<p>He took McGuire with him as he left to seek out his colonel. But it +was a disturbed and shaken man, instead of the cool, methodical +Captain Blake of ordinary days, who went in search of his commanding +officer. And he clung to McGuire for corroboration of his impossible +story.</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 group of officers to whom Blake made his full report. +Colonel Boynton had heard but little when he halted his subordinate +curtly and reached for a phone. And his words over that instrument +brought a quick conference of officers and a quiet man whom McGuire +did not recognize. The "brass hats," as Blake had foreseen, were avid +for details.</p> + +<p>The pilot of the incoming plane was there, too, and the radio man. +Their stories were told in a disconcerting silence, broken only by +some officer's abrupt and skeptical question on one point and another.</p> + +<p>"Now, for heaven's sake, shut up about Venus," McGuire had been told. +But he did not need Captain Blake's warning to hold himself strictly +to what he had seen and let the others draw their own conclusions.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant McGuire was the last one to speak. There was silence in the +office of Colonel Boynton as he finished, a silence that almost echoed +from the grim walls. And the faces of the men who gathered there were +carefully masked from any expression that might betray their thoughts.</p> + +<p>It was the quiet man in civilian attire who spoke first. He sat beside +another whose insignia proclaimed him of general's rank, but he +addressed himself to Colonel Boynton.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad," he said quietly, "very glad. Colonel, that my +unofficial visit came at just this time. I should like to ask some few +questions."</p> + +<p>Colonel Boynton shifted the responsibility with a gesture almost of +relief. "It is in your hands. Mr. Secretary," he said. "You and +General Clinton have dropped in opportunely. There is something here +that will tax all our minds."</p> + +<p>The man in civilian clothes nodded assent. He turned to Captain Blake.</p> + +<p>"Captain," he said, "you saw this at first hand. You have told us what +you saw. I should like greatly to know what you think. Will you give +us your opinion, your impressions?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he captain arose smartly, but his words came with less ease.</p> + +<p>"My opinion," he stated, "will be of little value, but it is based +upon these facts. I have seen to-night, sir, a new type of aircraft, +with speed, climb and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> ceiling beyond anything we are capable of. I +can only regard it as a menace. It may or may not have been armed, but +it had the size to permit the armament of a cruiser; it had power to +carry that weight. It hung stationary in the air, so it is independent +of wing-lift, yet it turned and shot upward like a feather in a gale. +That spells maneuverability.</p> + +<p>"That combination, sir, can mean only that we are out-flown, +out-maneuvered and out-fought in the air. It means that the planes in +our hangars are obsolete, our armament so much old iron.</p> + +<p>"The menace is potential at present. Whether it is an actual threat or +not is another matter. Who mans that ship—what country's insignia she +carries—is something on which I can have no opinion. The power is +there: who wields it I wish we knew."</p> + +<p>The questioner nodded at the conclusion of Blake's words, and he +exchanged quiet, grave glances with the general beside him. Then—</p> + +<p>"I think we all would wish to know that, Captain Blake," he observed. +And to the colonel: "You may be able to answer that soon. It would be +my idea that this craft should be—ah—drawn out, if we can do it. We +would not attack it, of course, until its mission is proved definitely +unfriendly, but you will resist any offensive from them.</p> + +<p>"And now," he added, "let us thank these officers for their able +reports and excuse them. We have much to discuss...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>aptain Blake took McGuire's arm as they went out into the night. And +he drew him away where they walked for silent minutes by themselves. +The eyes of Lieutenant McGuire roamed upward to the scudding clouds +and the glimpse of far, lonely stars; he stumbled occasionally as he +walked. But for Captain Blake there was thought only of matters +nearby.</p> + +<p>"The old fox!" he exclaimed. "Didn't he 'sic us on' neatly? If we mix +it with that stranger there will be no censure from the Secretary of +War."</p> + +<p>"I assumed that was who it was," said McGuire. "Well, they have +something to think about, that bunch; something to study over.... +Perhaps more than they know.</p> + +<p>"And that's their job," he concluded after a silence. "I'm going to +bed; but I would like a leave of absence to-morrow if that's O. K."</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Captain Blake, "though I should think you would like to +stick around. Perhaps we will see something. What's on your mind, +Mac?"</p> + +<p>"A little drive to the top of Mount Lawson," said Lieutenant McGuire. +"I want to talk to a bird named Sykes."</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER II</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div> +<p>ieutenant McGuire, U. S. A., was not given as a usual thing to vain +conjectures, nor did his imagination carry him beyond the practical +boundaries of accepted facts. Yet his mind, as he drove for hours +through the orange-scented hills of California, reverted time and +again to one persistent thought. And it was with him still, even when +he was consciously concentrating on the hairpin turns of Mount +Lawson's narrow road.</p> + +<p>There was a picture there, printed indelibly in his mind—a picture of +a monstrous craft, a liner of the air, that swung its glowing lights +in a swift arc and, like a projectile from some huge gun, shot up and +up and still up until it vanished in a jet-black sky. Its altitude +when it passed from sight he could not even guess, but the sense of +ever-increasing speed, of power that mocked at gravitation's puny +force, had struck deep into his mind. And McGuire saw plainly this +mystery ship going on and on far into the empty night where man had +never been.</p> + +<p>No lagging in that swift flight that he had seen; an acceleration that +threw the ship faster and yet faster, regardless of the thin air and +the lessened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> buoyancy in an ocean of atmosphere that held man-made +machines so close to Earth. That constant acceleration, hour after +hour, day after day—the speed would be almost unlimited; +inconceivable!</p> + +<p>He stopped his car where the mountain road held straight for a hundred +feet, and he looked out over the coastal plain spread like a toy world +far below.</p> + +<p>"Now, how about it?" he asked himself. "Blake thinks I am making a +fool of myself. Perhaps I am. I wonder. It's a long time since I fell +for any fairy stories. But this thing has got me. A sort of hunch, I +guess."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he sun was shining now from a vault of clear blue. It was lighting a +world of reality, of houses where people lived their commonplace +lives, tiny houses squared off in blocks a mile below. There was smoke +here and there from factories; it spread in a haze, and it meant +boilers and engines and sound practical machinery of a practical world +to the watching man.</p> + +<p>What had all this to do with Venus? he asked himself. This was the +world he knew. It was real; space was impenetrable; there were no men +or beings of any sort that could travel through space. Blake was +right: he was on a fool's errand. They couldn't tell him anything up +here at the observatory; they would laugh at him as he deserved....</p> + +<p>Wondering vaguely if there was a place to turn around, he looked ahead +and then up; his eyes passed from the gash of roadway on the +mountainside to the deep blue beyond. And within the man some driving, +insistent, mental force etched strongly before his eyes that picture +and its problem unanswered. There was the ship—he saw it in +memory—and it went up and still up; and he knew as surely as if he +had guided the craft that the meteor-like flight could be endless.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant McGuire could not reason it out—such power was beyond his +imagining—but suddenly he dared to believe, and he knew it was true.</p> + +<p>"Earthbound!" he said in contempt of his own human kind, and he looked +again at the map spread below. "Ants! Mites! That's what we +are—swarming across the surface of the globe. And we think we're so +damn clever if we lift ourselves up a few miles from the surface!</p> + +<p>"Guess I'll see Sykes," he muttered aloud. "He and his kind at least +dare to look out into space; take their eyes off the world; be +impractical!"</p> + +<p>He swung the car slowly around the curve ahead, eased noiselessly into +second gear and went on with the climb.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here were domed observatories where he stopped: rounded structures +that gleamed silvery in the air; and offices, laboratories: it was a +place of busy men. And Professor Sykes, he found, was busy. But he +spared a few minutes to answer courteously the questions of this slim +young fellow in the khaki uniform of the air service.</p> + +<p>"What can I do for you?" asked Professor Sykes.</p> + +<p>"No dreamer, this man," thought McGuire as he looked at the short, +stocky figure of the scientist. Clear eyes glanced sharply from under +shaggy brows; there were papers in his hand scrawled over with strange +mathematical symbols.</p> + +<p>"You can answer some fool questions," said Lieutenant McGuire +abruptly, "if you don't mind."</p> + +<p>The scientist smiled broadly. "We're used to that," he told the young +officer; "you can't think of any worse ones than those we have heard. +Have a chair."</p> + +<p>McGuire drew a clipping from his pocket—it was the newspaper account +he had read—and he handed it to Professor Sykes.</p> + +<p>"I came to see you about this," he began.</p> + +<p>The lips of Professor Sykes lost their genial curve; they straightened +to a hard line. "Nothing for publica<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>tion," he said curtly. "As usual +they enlarged upon the report and made assumptions and inferences not +warranted by facts."</p> + +<p>"But you did see that flash?"</p> + +<p>"By visual observation I saw a bright area formed on the +terminator—yes! We have no photographic corroboration."</p> + +<p>"I am wondering what it meant."</p> + +<p>"That is your privilege—and mine," said the scientist coldly.</p> + +<p>"But it said there," McGuire persisted, "that it might have been a +signal of some sort."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> did not say so: that is an inference only. I have told you, +Lieutenant"—he glanced at the card in his hand—"—Lieutenant +McGuire—all that I know. We deal in facts up here, and we leave the +brilliant theorizing to the journalists."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he young officer felt distinctly disconcerted. He did not know +exactly what he had expected from this man—what corroboration of his +wild surmises—but he was getting nowhere, he admitted. And he +resented the cold aloofness of the scientist before him.</p> + +<p>"I am not trying to pin you down on anything," he said, and his tone +carried a hint of the nervous strain that had been his. "I am trying +to learn something."</p> + +<p>"Just what?" the other inquired.</p> + +<p>"Could that flash have been a signal?"</p> + +<p>"You may think so if you wish: I have told you all that I know. And +now," he added, and rose from his chair, "I must ask to be excused; I +have work to do."</p> + +<p>McGuire came slowly to his feet. He had learned nothing; perhaps there +was nothing to be learned. A fool's errand! Blake was right. But the +inner urge for some definite knowledge drove him on. His eyes were +serious and his face drawn to a scowl of earnestness as he turned once +more to the waiting man.</p> + +<p>"Professor Sykes," he demanded, "just one more question. Could that +have been the flash of a—a rocket? Like the proposed experiments in +Germany. Could it have meant in any way the launching of a +projectile—a ship—to travel Earthward through space?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>rofessor Sykes knew what it was to be harassed by the curious mob, to +avoid traps set by ingenious reporters, but he knew, too, when he was +meeting with honest bewilderment and a longing for knowledge. His +fists were placed firmly on the hips of his stocky figure as he stood +looking at the persistent questioner, and his eyes passed from the +intent face to the snug khaki coat and the spread wings that +proclaimed the wearer's work. A ship out of space—a projectile—this +young man had said.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant," he suggested quietly—and again the smile had returned +to his lips as he spoke—"sit down. I'm not as busy as I pretend to +be. Now tell me: what in the devil have you got in your mind?"</p> + +<p>And McGuire told him. "Like some of your dope," he said, "this is not +for publication. But I have not been instructed to hush it up, and I +know you will keep it to yourself."</p> + +<p>He told the clear-eyed, listening man of the previous night's events. +Of the radio's weird call and the mystery ship.</p> + +<p>"Hallucination," suggested the scientist. "You saw the stars very +clearly, and they suggested a ship."</p> + +<p>"Tell that to Jim Burgess," said McGuire: "he was the pilot of that +plane." And the scientist nodded as if the answer were what he +expected.</p> + +<p>He asked again about the ship's flight. And he, too, bore down heavily +upon the matter of acceleration in the thin upper air. He rose to lay +a friendly hand on McGuire's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"We can't know what it means," he said, "but we can form our own +theories, you and I—and anything is possible.</p> + +<p>"It is getting late," he added, "and you have had a long drive. Come +over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> and eat; spend the night here. Perhaps you would like to have a +look at our equipment—see Venus for yourself. I will be observing her +through the sixty-inch refractor to-night. Would you care to?"</p> + +<p>"Would I?" McGuire demanded with enthusiasm. "Say, that will be +great!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he sun was dropping toward the horizon when the two men again came +out into the cool mountain air.</p> + +<p>"Just time for a quick look around," suggested Professor Sykes, "if +you are interested."</p> + +<p>He took the lieutenant first to an enormous dome that bulged high +above the ground, and admitted him to the dark interior. They climbed +a stairway and came out into a room that held a skeleton frame of +steel. "This is the big boy," said Professor Sykes, "the one +hundred-inch reflector."</p> + +<p>There were other workers there, one a man standing upon a raised +platform beside the steel frame, who arranged big holders for +photographic plates. The slotted ceiling opened as McGuire watched, +and the whole structure swung slowly around. It was still, and the +towering steel frame began to swing noiselessly when a man at a desk +touched various controls. McGuire looked about him in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"Quite a shop," he admitted; "but where is the telescope?"</p> + +<p>Professor Sykes pointed to the towering latticework of steel. "Right +there," he said. "Like everyone else, you were expecting to see a big +tube."</p> + +<p>He explained in simple words the operation of the great instrument +that brought in light rays from sources millions of light years away. +He pointed out where the big mirror was placed—the one hundred-inch +reflector—and he traced for the wondering man the pathway of light +that finally converged upon a sensitized plate to catch and record +what no eye had ever seen.</p> + +<p>He checked the younger man's flow of questions and turned him back +toward the stairs. "We will leave them to their work," he said; "they +will be gathering light that has been traveling millions of years on +its ways. But you and I have something a great deal nearer to study."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>nother building held the big refractor, and it was a matter of only a +few seconds and some cryptic instructions from Sykes until the +eye-piece showed the image of the brilliant planet.</p> + +<p>"The moon!" McGuire exclaimed in disappointed tones when the professor +motioned him to see for himself. His eyes saw a familiar half-circle +of light.</p> + +<p>"Venus," the professor informed him. "It has phases like the moon. The +planet is approaching; the sun's light strikes it from the side." But +McGuire hardly heard. He was gazing with all his faculties centered +upon that distant world, so near to him now.</p> + +<p>"Venus," he whispered half aloud. Then to the professor: "It's all +hazy. There are no markings—"</p> + +<p>"Clouds," said the other. "The goddess is veiled; Venus is blanketed +in clouds. What lies underneath we may never know, but we do know that +of all the planets this is most like the earth; most probably is an +inhabited world. Its size, its density, your weight if you were +there—and the temperature under the sun's rays about double that of +ours. Still, the cloud envelope would shield it."</p> + +<p>McGuire was fascinated, and his thoughts raced wildly in speculation +of what might be transpiring before his eyes. People, living in that +tropical world; living and going through their daily routine under +that cloud-filled sky where the sun was never seen. The margin of +light that made the clear shape of a half-moon marked their daylight +and dark; there was one small dot of light forming just beyond that +margin. It penetrated the dark side. And it grew, as he watched, to a +bright patch.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" he inquired abstractedly—his thoughts were still +filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> those beings of his imagination. "There is a light that +extends into the dark part. It is spreading—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e found himself thrust roughly aside as Professor Sykes applied a +more understanding eye to the instrument.</p> + +<p>The professor whirled abruptly to his assistant. "Phone Professor +Giles," he said sharply; "he is working on the reflector. Tell him to +get a photograph of Venus at once; the cloud envelope is broken." He +returned hurriedly to his observations. One hand sketched on a waiting +pad.</p> + +<p>"Markings!" he said exultantly. "If it would only hold!... There, it +is closing ... gone...."</p> + +<p>His hand was quiet now upon the paper, but where he had marked was a +crude sketch of what might have been an island. It was "L" shaped; +sharply bent.</p> + +<p>"Whew!" breathed Professor Sykes and looked up for a moment. "Now that +was interesting."</p> + +<p>"You saw through?" asked McGuire eagerly. "Glimpsed the surface?—an +island?"</p> + +<p>The scientist's face relaxed. "Don't jump to conclusions," he told the +aviator: "we are not ready to make a geography of Venus quite yet. But +we shall know that mark if we ever see it again. I hardly think they +had time to get a picture.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_a1.jpg" alt="A" width="56" height="52" /></div> +<p>nd now there is only a matter of three hours for observation: I must +watch every minute. Stay here if you wish. But," he added, "don't let +your imagination run wild. Some eruption, perhaps, this we have +seen—an ignition of gasses in the upper air—who knows? But don't +connect this with your mysterious ship. If the ship is a menace, if it +means war, that is your field of action, not mine. And you will be +fighting with someone on Earth. It must be that some country has +gained a big lead in aeronautics. Now I must get to work."</p> + +<p>"I'll not wait," said McGuire. "I will start for the field; get there +by daylight, if I can find my way down that road in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Thanks a lot." He paused a moment before concluding slowly: "And in +spite of what you say, Professor, I believe that we will have +something to get together on again in this matter."</p> + +<p>The scientist, he saw, had turned again to his instrument. McGuire +picked his way carefully along the narrow path that led where he had +parked his car. "Good scout, this Sykes!" he was thinking, and he +stopped to look overhead in the quick-gathering dark at that +laboratory of the heavens, where Sykes and his kind delved and probed, +measured and weighed, and gathered painstakingly the messages from +suns beyond counting, from universe out there in space that added +their bit of enlightenment to the great story of the mystery of +creation.</p> + +<p>He was humbly aware of his own deep ignorance as he backed his car, +slipped it into second, and began the long drive down the tortuous +grade. He would have liked to talk more with Sykes. But he had no +thought as he wound round the curves how soon that wish was to be +gratified.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>art way down the mountainside he again checked his car where he had +stopped on the upward climb and reasoned with himself about his +errand. Once more he looked out over the level ground below, a vast +glowing expanse of electric lights now, that stretched to the ocean +beyond. He was suddenly unthrilled by this man-made illumination, and +he got out of his car to stare again at the blackness above and its +myriad of stars that gathered and multiplied as he watched.</p> + +<p>One brighter than the rest winked suddenly out. There was a +constellation of twinkling lights that clustered nearby, and they too +vanished. The eyes of the watcher strained themselves to see more +clearly a dim-lit outline. There were no lights: it was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> black +shape, lost in the blackness of the mountain sky, that was blocking +out the stars. But it was a shape, and from near the horizon the pale +gleams of the rising moon picked it out in softest of outline; a vague +ghost of a curve that reflected a silvery contour to the watching eyes +below.</p> + +<p>There had been a wider space in the road that McGuire had passed; he +backed carefully till he could swing his car and turn it to head once +more at desperate speed toward the mountain top. And it was less than +an hour since he had left when he was racing back along the narrow +footpath to slam open the door where Professor Sykes looked up in +amazement at his abrupt return.</p> + +<p>The aviator's voice was hoarse with excitement as he shouted: "It's +here—the ship! It's here! Where's your phone?—I must call the field! +It's right overhead—descending slowly—no lights, but I saw it—I saw +it!"</p> + +<p>He was working with trembling fingers at the phone where Sykes had +pointed. "Long distance!" he shouted. He gave a number to the +operator. "Make it quick," he implored. "Quick!"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER III</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div> +<p>ack at Maricopa Flying Field the daily routine had been disturbed. +There were conferences of officers, instructions from Colonel Boynton, +and a curiosity-provoking lack of explanations. Only with Captain +Blake did the colonel indulge in any discussion.</p> + +<p>"We'll keep this under our hats," he said, "and out of the newspapers +as long as we can. You can imagine what the yellow journals would do +with a scarehead like that. Why, they would have us all wiped off the +map and the country devastated by imaginary fleets in the first three +paragraphs."</p> + +<p>Blake regarded his superior gravely. "I feel somewhat the same way, +myself. Colonel," he admitted. "When I think what this can mean—some +other country so far ahead of us in air force that we are back in the +dark ages—well, it doesn't look any too good to me if they mean +trouble."</p> + +<p>"We will meet it when it comes," said Colonel Boynton. "But, between +ourselves, I am in the same state of mind.</p> + +<p>"The whole occurrence is so damn mysterious. Washington hasn't a +whisper of information of any such construction; the Secretary +admitted that last night. It's a surprise, a complete surprise, to +everyone.</p> + +<p>"But, Blake, you get that new ship ready as quickly as you can. +Prepare for an altitude test the same as we planned, but get into the +air the first minute possible. She ought to show a better ceiling than +anything we have here, and you may have to fly high to say 'Good +morning' to that liner you saw. Put all the mechanics on it that can +work to advantage. I think they have it pretty well along now."</p> + +<p>"Engine's tested and installed, sir," was Blake's instant report. "I +think I can take it up this afternoon."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e left immediately to hurry to the hangar where a new plane stood +glistening in pristine freshness, and where hurrying mechanics +grumbled under their breaths at the sudden rush for a ship that was +expected to take the air a week later.</p> + +<p>An altitude test under full load! Well, what of it? they demanded one +of another; wouldn't another day do as well as this one? And they +worked as they growled, worked with swift sureness and skill, and the +final instruments took their place in the ship that she might roll +from the hangar complete under that day's sun.</p> + +<p>Her supercharger was tested—the adjunct to a powerful engine that +would feed the hungry cylinders with heavy air up in the heights where +the air is thin; there were oxygen flasks to keep life in the pilot in +the same thin air. And the hot southern sun made ludicrous that +afternoon the bulky, heavily-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>wrapped figure of Captain Blake as he +sat at the controls and listened approvingly to the roaring engine.</p> + +<p>He waved good-by and smiled understandingly as he met the eyes of +Colonel Boynton; then pulled on his helmet, settled himself in his +seat and took off in a thunderous blast of sound to begin his long +ascent.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e had long since cracked open the valve of his oxygen flask when the +climb was ended, and his goggles were frosted in the arctic cold so +that it was only with difficulty he could read his instrument board.</p> + +<p>"That's the top," he thought in that mind so light and so curiously +not his own. He throttled the engine and went into a long spiral that +was to end within a rod of where he had started on the brown sun-baked +field. The last rays of the sun were slanting over distant mountains +as he climbed stiffly from the machine.</p> + +<p>"Better than fifty thousand," exulted Colonel Boynton. "Of course your +barograph will have to be calibrated and verified, but it looks like a +record, Blake—and you had a full load.</p> + +<p>"Ready to go up and give merry hell to that other ship if she shows +up?" he asked. But Captain Blake shook a dubious head.</p> + +<p>"Fifty thousand is just a start for that bird," he said. "You didn't +see them shoot out of sight, Colonel. Lord knows when they quit +<i>their</i> climb—or where."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll just have a squadron ready in any event," the colonel +assured him. "We will make him show his stuff or take a beating—if +that is what he wants."</p> + +<p>They were in the colonel's office. "You had better go and get warmed +up," he told the flyer: "then come back here for instructions." But +Blake was more anxious for information than for other comforts.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right," he said: "just tired a bit. Let me stretch out here, +Colonel, and give me the dope on what you expect of our visitor and +what we will do."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e settled back comfortably in a big chair. The office was warm, and +Blake knew now he had been doing a day's work.</p> + +<p>"We will just take it as it comes," Colonel Boynton explained. "I +can't for the life of me figure why the craft was spying around here. +What are they looking for? We haven't any big secrets the whole world +doesn't know.</p> + +<p>"Of course he may not return. But if he does I want you to go up and +give him the once over. I can trust you to note every significant +detail.</p> + +<p>"You saw no wings. If it is a dirigible, let's know something of their +power and how they can throw themselves up into the air the way you +described. Watch for anything that may serve to identify it and its +probable place of manufacture—any peculiarity of marking or design or +construction that may give us a lead. Then return and report."</p> + +<p>Blake nodded his understanding of what was wanted, but his mind was on +further contingencies: he wanted definite instructions.</p> + +<p>"And," he asked; "if they attack—what then? Is their fire to be +returned?"</p> + +<p>"If they make one single false move," said Colonel Boynton savagely, +"give them everything you've got. And the 91st Squadron will be off +the ground to support you at the first sign of trouble. We don't want +to start anything, nor appear to do so. But, by the gods, Blake, this +fellow means trouble eventually as sure as you're a flyer, and we +won't wait for him to ask for it twice."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey sat in silence, while the field outside became shrouded in night. +And they speculated, as best they could from the few facts they had, +as to what this might mean to the world, to their country, to +themselves. It was an hour before Blake was aware of the fact that he +was hungry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>He rose to leave, but paused while Colonel Boynton answered the phone. +The first startled exclamation held him rigid while he tried to piece +together the officer's curt responses and guess at what was being +told.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Boynton speaking.... McGuire?... Yes, Lieutenant.... Over +Mount Lawson?... Yes—yes, the same ship, I've no doubt."</p> + +<p>His voice was even and cool in contrast to the excited tones that +carried faintly to Blake standing by.</p> + +<p>"Quite right!" he said shortly. "You will remain where you are: act as +observer: hold this line open and keep me informed. Captain Blake will +leave immediately for observation. A squadron will follow. Let me know +promptly what you see."</p> + +<p>He turned abruptly to the waiting man.</p> + +<p>"It is back!" he said. "We're in luck! Over the observatories at Mount +Lawson; descending, so Lieutenant McGuire says. Take the same ship you +had up to-day. Look them over—get up close—good luck!" He turned +again to the phone.</p> + +<p>There were planes rolling from their hangars before Blake could reach +his own ship. Their engines were thundering: men were rushing across +the field, pulling on leather helmets and coats as they ran—all this +while he warmed up his engine.</p> + +<p>A mechanic thrust in a package of sandwiches and a thermos of coffee +while he waited. And Captain Blake grinned cheerfully and gulped the +last of his food as he waved to the mechanics to pull out the wheel +blocks. He opened the throttle and shot out into the dark.</p> + +<p>He climbed and circled the field, saw the waving motion of lights in +red and green that marked the take-off of the planes of the 91st, and +he straightened out on a course that in less than two hours would +bring him over the heights of Mount Lawson and the mystery that +awaited him there. And he fingered the trigger grip that was part of +the stick and nodded within his dark cockpit at the rattle of a +machine gun that merged its staccato notes with the engine's roar.</p> + +<p>But he felt, as he thought of that monster shape, as some primordial +man might have felt, setting forth with a stone in his hand to wage +war on a saurian beast.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IV</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>f Colonel Boynton could have stood with one of his lieutenants and +Professor Sykes on a mountain top, he would have found, perhaps, the +answer to his question. He had wondered in a puzzled fashion why the +great ship had shown its mysterious presence over the flying field. He +had questioned whether it was indeed the field that had been the +object of their attention or whether in the cloudy murk they had +merely wandered past. Could he have seen with the eyes of Lieutenant +McGuire the descent of the great shape over Mount Lawson, he would +have known beyond doubt that here was the magnet that drew the eyes of +whatever crew was manning the big craft.</p> + +<p>It was dark where the two men stood. Others had come running at their +call, but their forms, too, were lost in the shadows of the towering +pines. The light from an open door struck across an open space beyond +which McGuire and Professor Sykes stood alone, stood silent and +spellbound, their heads craned back at a neck-wrenching angle. They +were oblivious to all discomforts; their eyes and their whole minds +were on the unbelievable thing in the sky.</p> + +<p>Beyond the fact that no lights were showing along the hull, there was +no effort at concealment. The moon was up now to illumine the scene, +and it showed plainly the gleaming cylinder with its long body and +blunt, shining ends, dropping, slowly, inexorably down.</p> + +<p>"Like a dirigible," said McGuire huskily. "But the size, man—the +size! And its shape is not right; it isn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> streamlined correctly; the +air—" He stopped his half-unconscious analysis abruptly. "The air!" +What had this craft to do with the air? A thin layer of gas that hung +close to the earth—the skin on an apple! And beyond—space! There was +the ethereal ocean in which this great shape swam!</p> + +<p>The reality of the big ship, the very substance of it, made the space +ship idea the harder to grasp. Lieutenant McGuire found that it was +easier to see an imaginary craft taking off into space than to +conceive of this monstrous shape, many hundreds of tons in weight, +being thrown through vast emptiness. Yet he knew; he knew!</p> + +<p>And his mind was a chaos of grim threats and forebodings as he looked +at the unbelievable reality and tried to picture what manner of men +were watching, peering, from those rows of ports.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>t last it was motionless. It hung soundless and silent except for a +soft roar, a scant thousand feet in the air. And its huge bulk was +dwarfing the giant pines, the rounded buildings; it threw the men's +familiar surroundings into a new and smaller scale.</p> + +<p>He had many times flown over these mountains, and Lieutenant McGuire +had seen the silvery domes of the observatories shining among the +trees. Like fortresses for aerial defense, he had thought, and the +memory returned to him now. What did these new-comers think of them? +Had they, too, found them suggestive of forts on the frontier of a +world, defenses against invasion from out there? Or did they know them +for what they were? Did they wish only to learn the extent of our +knowledge, our culture? Were they friendly, perhaps?—half-timid and +fearful of what they might find?</p> + +<p>A star moved in the sky, a pin-point of light that was plain in its +message to the aviator. It was Blake, flying high, volplaning to make +contact and learn from the air what this stranger might mean. The +light of his plane slanted down in an easy descent; the flyer was +gliding in on a long aerial toboggan slide. His motor was throttled; +there was only the whistle of torn air on the monoplane's wings. +McGuire was with the captain in his mind, and like him he was waiting +for whatever the stranger might do.</p> + +<p>Other lights were clustered where the one plane had been. The men of +the 91st had their orders, and the fingers of the watching, silent man +gripped an imaginary stick while he wished with his whole heart that +he was up in the air. To be with Blake or the others! His thoughts +whipped back to the mysterious stranger: the great shape was in +motion: it rose sharply a thousand feet in the air.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he approaching plane showed clear in the moon's light. It swung and +banked, and the vibrant song of its engine came down to the men as +Blake swept in a great circle about the big ship. He was looking it +over, but he began his inspection at a distance, and the orbit of his +plane made a tightening spiral as he edged for a closer look. He was +still swinging in the monotonous round when the ship made its first +forward move.</p> + +<p>It leaped in the air: it swept faster and faster. And it was moving +with terrific speed as it crashed silently through the path of the +tiny plane. And Blake, as he leaned forward on the stick to throw his +plane downward in a power dive, could have had a vision, not of a ship +of the air, but only of a shining projectile as the great monster +shrieked overhead.</p> + +<p>McGuire trembled for the safety of those wings as he saw Blake pull +his little ship out of the dive and shoot upward to a straight climb.</p> + +<p>But—"That's dodging them!" he exulted: "that's flying! I wonder, did +they mean to wipe him out or were they only scared off?"</p> + +<p>His question was answered as, out of the night, a whistling shriek +pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>claimed the passage of the meteor ship that drove unmistakably at +the lone plane. And again the pilot with superb skill waited until the +last moment and threw himself out of the path of the oncoming mass, +though his own plane was tossed and whirled like an autumn leaf in the +vortex that the enemy created. Not a second was lost as Blake opened +his throttle and forced his plane into a steep climb.</p> + +<p>"Atta-boy!" said McGuire, as if words could span across to the man in +the plane. "Altitude, Blake—get altitude!"</p> + +<p>The meteor had turned in a tremendous circle; so swift its motion that +it made an actual line of light as the moon marked its course. And the +curved line straightened abruptly to a flashing mark that shot +straight toward the struggling plane.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>his time another sound came down to the listening ears of the two +men. The plane tore head on to meet the onslaught, to swing at the +last instant in a frantic leap that ended as before in the maelstrom +of air back of the ship. But the muffled roar was changed, punctured +with a machine-gun's familiar rattle, and the stabbing flashes from +Blake's ship before he threw it out of the other's path were a song of +joy to the tense nerves of the men down below.</p> + +<p>This deadly rush could only be construed as an attack, and Blake was +fighting back. The very speed of the great projectile must hold it to +its course; the faster it went the more difficult to swerve it from a +line. This and much more was flashing sharply in McGuire's mind. +But—Blake!—alone against this huge antagonist!... It was coming +back. Another rush like a star through space....</p> + +<p>And McGuire shouted aloud in a frenzy of emotion as a cluster of +lights came falling from on high. No lone machine gun now that tore +the air with this clattering bedlam of shots: the planes of the 91st +Squadron were diving from the heights. They came on a steep slant +that seemed marking them for crashing death against the huge cylinder +flashing past. And their stabbing needles of machine-gun fire made a +drumming tattoo, till the planes, with the swiftness of hawks, swept +aside, formed to groups, tore on down toward the ground and then +curved in great circles of speed to climb back to the theater of +action.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div><p>ieutenant McGuire was rigid and quivering. He should go to the phone +and report to the colonel, but the thought left him as quickly as it +came. He was frozen in place, and his mind could hold only the scene +that was being pictured before him.</p> + +<p>The enemy ship had described its swift curve, and the planes of the +defenders were climbing desperately for advantage. So slowly they +moved as compared with the swiftness of the other!</p> + +<p>But the great ship was slowing; it came on, but its wild speed was +checked. The light of the full moon showed plainly now what McGuire +had seen but dimly before—a great metal beak on the ship, pointed and +shining, a ram whose touch must bring annihilation to anything it +struck.</p> + +<p>The squadron of planes made a group in the sky, and Blake's monoplane, +too, was with them. The huge enemy was approaching slowly: was it +damaged? McGuire hardly dared hope ... yet that raking fire might well +have been deadly: it might be that some bullets had torn and +penetrated to the vitals of this ship's machinery and damaged some +part.</p> + +<p>It came back slowly, ominously, toward the circling planes. Then, +throwing itself through the air, it leaped not directly toward them +but off to one side.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div><p>ike a stone on the end of a cord it swung with inconceivable speed in +a circle that enclosed the group of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> planes. Again and again it +whipped around them, while the planes, by comparison, were motionless. +Its orbit was flat with the ground: then tilting, more yet, it made a +last circle that stood like a hoop in the air. And behind it as it +circled it left a faint trace of vapor. Nebulous!—milky in the +moonlight!—but the ship had built a sphere, a great globe of the gas, +and within it, like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling.</p> + +<p>"Gas!" groaned the watching man: "gas! What is it? Why don't they +break through?"</p> + +<p>The thin clouds of vapor were mingling now and expanding: they +blossomed and mushroomed, and the light of the moon came in pale +iridescence from their billowing folds.</p> + +<p>"Break through!" McGuire had prayed—and he stood in voiceless horror +as he saw the attempt.</p> + +<p>The mist was touching here and there a plane: they were engulfed, yet +he could see them plainly. And he saw with staring, fear-filled eyes +the clumsy tumbling and fluttering of unguided wings as the great +eagles of the 91st fell roaring to earth with no conscious minds +guiding their flight.</p> + +<p>The valleys were deep about the mountain, and their shadowed blackness +opened to receive the maimed, stricken things that came fluttering or +swooping wildly to that last embrace, where, in the concealing +shadows, the deeper shadows of death awaited....</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 room where a telephone waited: McGuire sensed this but +dumbly, and the way to that room was long to his stumbling feet. He +was blinded: his mind would not function: he saw only those fluttering +things, and the moonlight on their wings, and the shadows that took +them so softly at the last.</p> + +<p>One plane whistled close overhead. McGuire stopped where he stood to +follow it with unbelieving eyes. That one man had lived, escaped the +net—it was inconceivable! The plane returned: it was flying low, and +it swerved erratically as it flew. It was a monoplane: a new ship.</p> + +<p>Its motor was silenced: it stalled as he watched, to pancake and crash +where the towering pines made a cradle of great branches to cushion +its fall.</p> + +<p>No thought now of the colonel waiting impatiently for a report; even +the enemy, there in the sky was forgotten. It was Blake in that ship, +and he was alive—or had been—for he had cut his motor. McGuire +screamed out for Professor Sykes, and there were others, too, who came +running at his call. He tore recklessly through the scrub and +undergrowth and gained at last the place where wreckage hung dangling +from the trees. The fuselage of a plane, scarred and broken, was still +held in the strong limbs.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>aptain Blake was in the cockpit, half hanging from the side. He was +motionless, quiet, and his face shone white and ghastly as they +released him and drew him out. But one hand still clung with a grip +like death itself to a hose that led from an oxygen tank. McGuire +stared in wonder and slowly gathering comprehension.</p> + +<p>"He was fixed for an altitude test," he said dazedly; "this ship was +to be used, and he was to find her ceiling. He saw what the others +were getting, and he flew himself through on a jet of pure oxygen—" +He stopped in utter admiration of the quickness of thought that could +outwit death in an instant like that.</p> + +<p>They carried the limp body to the light. "No bones broken so far as I +can see," said the voice of Professor Sykes. "Leave him here in the +air. He must have got a whiff of their devilish mist in spite of his +oxygen; he was flying mighty awkwardly when he came in here."</p> + +<p>But he was alive!—and Lieutenant McGuire hastened with all speed now +to the room where a telephone was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> ringing wildly and a colonel of the +air force must be told of the annihilation of a crack squadron and of +a threat that menaced all the world.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n that far room there were others waiting where Colonel Boynton sat +with receiver to his ear. A general's uniform was gleaming in the +light to make more sober by contrast the civilian clothing of that +quiet, clear-eyed man who held the portfolio of the Secretary of War.</p> + +<p>They stared silently at Colonel Boynton, and they saw the blood recede +from his face, while his cool voice went on unmoved with its replies.</p> + +<p>"... I understand," he said; "a washout, complete except for Captain +Blake; his oxygen saved him.... It attacked with gas, you say?... And +why did not our own planes escape?... Its speed!—yes, we'll have to +imagine it, but it is unbelievable. One moment—" He turned to those +who waited for his report.</p> + +<p>"The squadron," he said with forced quiet, though his lips twitched in +a bloodless line, "—the 91st—is destroyed. The enemy put them down +with one blow; enveloped them with gas." He recounted the essence of +McGuire's report, then turned once more to the phone.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Lieutenant—the enemy ship—where is it now?"</p> + +<p>He listened—listened—to a silent receiver: silent save for the sound +of a shot—a crashing fall—a loud, panting breath. He heard the +breathing close to the distant instrument; it ended in a choking gasp; +the instrument was silent in his ear....</p> + +<p>He signalled violently for the operator: ordered the ringing of any +and all phones about the observatory, and listened in vain for a sound +or syllable in reply.</p> + +<p>"A plane," he told an orderly, "at once! Phone the commercial flying +field near the base of Mount Lawson. Have them hold a car ready for +me: I shall land there!"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER V</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>o Captain Blake alone, of all those persons on the summit of Mount +Lawson, it was given to see and to know and be able to relate what +transpired there and in the air above. For Blake, although he appeared +like one dead, was never unconscious throughout his experience.</p> + +<p>Driving head on toward the ship, he had emptied his drum of cartridges +before he threw his plane over and down in a dive that escaped the +onrush of the great craft by a scant margin, and that carried him down +in company with the men and machines of the squadron that dived from +above.</p> + +<p>He turned as they turned and climbed as they climbed for the advantage +that altitude might give. And he climbed faster: his ship outdistanced +them in that tearing, scrambling rush for the heights. The squadron +was spiraling upward in close formation with his plane above them when +the enemy struck.</p> + +<p>He saw that great shape swing around them, terrible in its silent +swiftness, and, like the others, he failed to realize at first the net +she was weaving. So thin was the gas and so rapid the circling of the +enemy craft, they were captured and cut off inside of the gaseous +sphere before the purpose of the maneuver was seen or understood.</p> + +<p>He saw the first faint vapor form above him; swung over for a steep +bank that carried him around the inside of the great cage of gas and +that showed him the spiraling planes as the first wisps of vapor swept +past them.</p> + +<p>He held that bank with his swift machine, while below him a squadron +of close-formed fighting craft dissolved before his eyes into unguided +units. The formations melted: wings touched and locked; the planes +fell dizzily or shot off in wild, ungoverned, swerving flight. The air +was misty about him; it was fragrant in his nostrils; the world was +swimming....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was gas, he knew, and with the light-headedness that was upon him, +so curiously like that of excessive altitudes, he reached +unconsciously for the oxygen supply. The blast of pure gas in his face +revived him for an instant, and in that instant of clear thinking his +plan was formed. He threw his weight on stick and rudder, corrected +the skid his ship was taking, and, with one hand holding the tube of +life-giving oxygen before his face, he drove straight down in a dive +toward the earth.</p> + +<p>There were great weights fastened to his arm, it seemed, when he tried +to bring the ship from her fearful dive. He moved only with greatest +effort, and it was force of will alone that compelled his hands to do +their work. His brain, as he saw the gleaming roundness of observatory +buildings beneath him, was as clear as ever in his life, but his +muscles, his arms and legs, refused to work: even his head; he was +slowly sinking beneath a load of utter fatigue.</p> + +<p>The observatories were behind him; he must swing back; he could not +last long, he knew; each slightest movement was intolerable effort.</p> + +<p>Was this death? he wondered; but his mind was so clear! There were the +buildings, the trees! How thickly they were massed beyond—</p> + +<p>He brought every ounce of will power to bear ... the throttle!—and a +slow glide in ... he was losing speed ... the stick—must—come—back! +The crashing branches whipped about him, bending, crackling—and the +world went dark....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here were stars above him when he awoke, and his back was wrenched +and aching. He tried to move, to call, but found that the paralysing +effect of the gas still held him fast. He was lying on the ground, he +knew: a door was open in a building beyond, and the light in the room +showed him men, a small group of them, standing silent while +someone—yes, it was McGuire—shouted into a phone.</p> + +<p>"... The squadron," he was saying. "... Lost! Every plane down and +destroyed.... Blake is living but injured...." And then Blake +remembered. And the tumbling, helpless planes came again before his +eyes while he cursed silently at this freezing grip that would not let +him cover his face with his hands to shut out the sight.</p> + +<p>The figure of a man hurried past him, nor saw the body lying helpless +in the cool dark. McGuire was still at the phone. And the enemy +ship—?</p> + +<p>His mind, filled with a welter of words as he tried to find phrases to +compass his hate for that ship. And then, as if conjured out of +nothing by his thoughts, the great craft itself came in view overhead +in all its mighty bulk.</p> + +<p>It settled down swiftly: it was riding on an even keel. And in silence +and darkness it came from above. Blake tried to call out, but no sound +could be formed by his paralyzed throat. Doors opened in silence, +swinging down from the belly of the thing to show in the darkness +square openings through which shot beams of brilliant yellow light.</p> + +<p>There were cages that lowered—great platforms in slings—and the +platforms came softly to rest on the ground. They were moving with +life; living beings clustered upon them thick in the dark. Oh God! for +an instant's release from the numbness that held his lips and throat +to cry out one word!... The shapes were passing now in the shelter of +darkness, going toward the room.... He could see McGuire's back turned +toward the door.</p> + +<p>Man-shapes, tall and thin, distorted humans, each swathed in bulging +garments; horrible staring eyes of glass in the masks about their +heads, and each hand ready with a shining weapon as they stood waiting +for the men within to move.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>cGuire must have seen them first, though his figure was half +concealed from Blake where he was lying. But he saw the head turn; +knew by the quick twist of the shoulders the man was reaching for a +gun. One shot echoed in Blake's ears; one bulging figure spun and fell +awkwardly to the ground; then the weapons in those clumsy hands hissed +savagely while jets of vapor, half liquid and half gas, shot +blindingly into the room. The faces dropped from his sight....</p> + +<p>There had been the clamor of surprised and shouting men: there was +silence now. And the awkward figures in the bloated casings that +protected their bodies from the gas passed in safety to the room. +Blake, bound in the invisible chains of enemy gas, struggled silently, +futilely, to pit his will against this grip that held him. To lie +there helpless, to see these men slaughtered! He saw one of the +creatures push the body of his fallen comrade out of the way: it was +cast aside with an indifferent foot.</p> + +<p>They were coming back: Blake saw the form of McGuire in unmistakable +khaki. He and another man were carried high on the shoulders of some +of the invaders. They were going toward the platforms, the slings +beneath the ship.... They passed close to Blake, and again he was +unnoticed in the dark.</p> + +<p>A clamor came from distant buildings, a babel of howls and shrieks, +inhuman, unearthly. There were no phrases or syllables, but to Blake +it was familiar ... somewhere he had heard it ... and then he +remembered the radio and the weird wailing note that told of +communication. These things were talking in the same discordant din.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were gathering now on the platforms slung under the ship. A +whistling note from somewhere within the great structure and the +platforms went high in the air. They were loaded, he saw, with papers +and books and instruments plundered from the observatories. Some made +a second trip to take up the loot they had gathered. Then the black +doorways closed; the huge bulk of the ship floated high above the +trees; it took form, dwindled smaller and smaller, then vanished from +sight in the star-studded sky.</p> + +<p>Blake thought of their unconscious passenger—the slim figure of +Lieutenant McGuire. Mac had been a close friend and a good one; his +ready smile; his steady eyes that could tear a problem to pieces with +their analytic scrutiny or gaze far into space to see those visions of +a dreamer!</p> + +<p>"Far into space." Blake repeated the words in his mind. And: "Good-by +Mac," he said softly; "you've shipped for a long cruise, I'm +thinking." He hardly realized he had spoken the words aloud.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div><p>ying there in the cold night he felt his strength returning slowly. +The pines sang their soothing, whispered message, and the faint night +noises served but to intensify the silence of the mountain. It was +some time before the grind of straining gears came faintly in the air +to announce the coming of a car up the long grade. And still later he +heard it come to a stop some distance beyond. There were footsteps, +and voices calling: he heard the voice of Colonel Boynton. And he was +able to call out in reply, even to move his head and turn it to see +the approaching figures in the night.</p> + +<p>Colonel Boynton knelt beside him. "Did they get you, old man?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"Almost," Blake told him. "My oxygen—I was lucky. But the others—". +He did not need to complete the sentence. The silent canyons among +those wooded hills told plainly the story of the lost men.</p> + +<p>"We will fight them with gas masks," said the colonel; "your +experience has taught us the way."</p> + +<p>"Gas-tight uniforms and our own supplies of oxygen," Blake +supplemented. He told Boynton of the man-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>things he had seen come from +the ship, of their baggy suits, their helmets.... And he had seen a +small generator on the back of each helmet. He told him of the small, +shining weapons and their powerful jets of gas. Deadly and unescapable +at short range, he well knew.</p> + +<p>"They got McGuire," Blake concluded; "carried him off a prisoner. Took +another man, too."</p> + +<p>For a moment Colonel Boynton's quiet tones lost their even steadiness. +"We'll get them," he said savagely, and it was plain that it was the +invaders that filled his mind; "we'll go after them, and we'll get +them in spite of their damn gas, and we'll rip their big ship into +ribbons—"</p> + +<p>Captain Blake was able to raise a dissenting hand. "We will have to go +where they are, Colonel, to do that."</p> + +<p>Colonel Boynton stared at him. "Well?" he demanded. "Why not?"</p> + +<p>"We can't go where <i>they</i> went," said Blake simply. "I laughed at +McGuire; told him not to be a fool. But I was the fool—the blind one; +we all were, Colonel. That thing came here out of space. It has gone +back; it is far beyond our air. I saw it go up out of sight, and I +know. Those creatures were men, if you like, but no men that we +know—not those shrieking, wailing devils! And we're going to hear +more from them, now that they've found their way here!"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VI</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> score of bodies where men had died in strangling fumes in the +observatories on Mount Lawson; one of the country's leading +astronomical scientists vanished utterly; the buildings on the +mountain top ransacked; papers and documents blowing in vagrant winds; +tales of a monster ship in the air, incredibly huge, unbelievably +swift—</p> + +<p>There are matters that at times are not allowed to reach the press, +but not happenings like these. And the papers of the United States +blazed out with headlines to tell the world of this latest mystery.</p> + +<p>Then came corroboration from the far corners of the world. The mystery +ship had not visited one section only; it had made a survey of the +whole civilized sphere, and the tales of those who had seen it were no +longer laughed to scorn but went on the wires of the great press +agencies to be given to the world. And with that the censorship +imposed by the Department of War broke down, and the tragic story of +the destruction of the 91st Air Squadron passed into written history. +The wild tale of Captain Blake was on every tongue.</p> + +<p>An invasion from space! The idea was difficult to accept. There were +scoffers who tried to find something here for their easy wit. Why +should we be attacked? What had that other world to gain? There was no +answer ready, but the silent lips of the men who had fallen spoke +eloquently of the truth. And the world, in wonder and consternation, +was forced to believe.</p> + +<p>Were there more to come? How meet them? Was this war—and with whom? +What neighboring planet could reasonably be suspected. What had +science to say?</p> + +<p>The scientists! The scientists! The clamor of the world was beating at +the doors of science and demanding explanations and answers. And +science answered.</p> + +<p>A conference was arranged in London; the best minds in the realms of +astronomy and physics came together. They were the last to admit the +truth that would not be denied, but admit it they must. And to some of +the questions they found their answer.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was not Mars, they said, though this in the popular mind was the +source of the trouble. Not Mars, for that planet was far in the +heavens. But Venus!—misnamed for the Goddess of Love. It was Venus, +and she alone, who by any stretch of the imagination could be +threatening Earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<p>What did it mean? They had no answer. The ship was the only answer to +that. Would there be more?—could we meet them?—defeat them? And +again the wise men of the world refused to hazard a guess.</p> + +<p>But they told what they knew; that Venus was past her eastern +elongation, was approaching the earth. She of all the planets that +swung around the sun came nearest to Earth—twenty-six million miles +in another few weeks. Then whirling away she would pass to the western +elongation in a month and a half and drive out into space. Venus +circled the sun in a year of 225 days, and in 534 days she would again +reach her eastern elongation with reference to the earth, and draw +near us again.</p> + +<p>They were reluctant to express themselves, these men who made nothing +of weighing and analyzing stars a million of light years away, but +<i>if</i> the popular conception was correct and <i>if</i> we could pass through +the following weeks without further assault, we could count on a year +and a half before the menace would again return. And in a year and a +half—well, the physicists would be working—and we might be prepared.</p> + +<p>Captain Blake had made his report, but this, it seemed, was not +enough. He was ordered to come to Washington, and, with Colonel +Boynton, he flew across the country to tell again his incredible +story.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was a notable gathering before which he appeared. All the branches +of the service were represented; there were men in the uniform of +admirals and generals; there were heads of Departments. And the +Secretary of War was in charge.</p> + +<p>He told his story, did Blake, before a battery of hostile eyes. This +was not a gathering to be stampeded by wild scareheads, nor by popular +clamor. They wanted facts, and they wanted them proved. But the +gravity with which they regarded the investigation was shown by their +invitation to the representatives of foreign powers to attend.</p> + +<p>"I have told you all that happened," Blake concluded, "up to the +coming of Colonel Boynton. May I reiterate one fact? I do not wonder +at your questioning my state of mind and my ability to observe +correctly. But I must insist, gentlemen, that while I got a shot of +their gas and my muscles and my nervous system were paralyzed, my +brain was entirely clear. I saw what I saw; those creatures were +there; they entered the buildings; they carried off Lieutenant McGuire +and another man.</p> + +<p>"What they were or who they were I cannot say. I do not know that they +were men, but their insane shrieking in that queer unintelligible talk +is significant. And that means of communication corresponds with the +radio reception of which you know.</p> + +<p>"If you gentlemen know of any part of this earth that can produce such +a people, if you know of any people or country in this world that can +produce such a ship—then we can forget all our wild fancies. And we +can prepare to submit to that country and that people as the masters +of this earth. For I must tell you, gentlemen, with all the +earnestness at my command, that until you have seen that ship in +action, seen its incredible speed, its maneuverability, its +lightning-like attack and its curtain of gas, you can have no +conception of our helplessness. And the insignia that she carries is +the flag of our conquerors."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div><p>lake got an approving nod from the Secretary of War as he took his +seat. That quiet man rose slowly from his chair to add his words. He +spoke earnestly, impressively.</p> + +<p>"Captain Blake has hit the nail squarely on the head," he stated. "We +have here in this room a representative gathering from the whole +world. If there is any one of you who can say that this mystery ship +was built and manned by your people, let him speak, and we will send +you at once a com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>mission to acknowledge your power and negotiate for +peace."</p> + +<p>The great hall was silent, in a silence that held only uneasy +rustlings as men glanced one at another in wondering dismay.</p> + +<p>"The time has come," said the Secretary with solemn emphasis, "when +all dissensions among our peoples must cease. Whatever there is or +ever has been of discord between us fades into insignificance before +this new threat. It is the world, now, against a power unknown; we can +only face it as a united world.</p> + +<p>"I shall recommend to the President of the United States that a +commission be appointed, that it may co-operate with similar bodies +from all lands. I ask you, gentlemen, to make like representations to +your governments, to the end that we may meet this menace as one +country and one man; meet it, God grant, successfully through a War +Department of the World."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was a brave gesture of the President of the United States; he dared +the scorn and laughter of the world in standing behind his Secretary +of War. The world is quick to turn and rend with ridicule a false +prophet. And despite the unanswerable facts, the scope and power of +the menace was not entirely believed. It was difficult for the +conscious minds of men to conceive of the barriers of vast space as +swept aside and the earth laid open to attack.</p> + +<p>England was slow to respond to the invitation of the President: this +matter required thought and grave deliberation in parliament. It might +not be true: the thought, whether spoken or unexpressed, was clinging +to their minds. And even if true—even if this lone ship had wandered +in from space—there might be no further attack.</p> + +<p>"Why," they asked, "should there be more unprovoked assaults from the +people of another planet? What was their object? What had they to +gain? ... Perhaps we were safe after all." The answer that destroyed +all hope came to them borne in upon a wall of water that swept the +British coast.</p> + +<p>The telescopes of the world were centered now on just one object in +the heavens. The bright evening star that adorned the western sky was +the target for instruments great and small. It was past the half-moon +phase now, and it became under magnification a gleaming crescent, a +crescent that emitted from the dark sphere it embraced vivid flashes +of light. Sykes' report had ample corroboration; the flash was seen by +many, and it was repeated the next night and the next.</p> + +<p>What was it? the waiting world asked. And the answer came not from the +telescopes and their far-reaching gaze but from the waters of the +Atlantic. In the full blaze of day came a meteor that swept to the +earth in an arc of fire to outshine the sun. There must have been +those who saw it strike—passengers and crews of passing ships—but +its plunge into the depths of the Atlantic spelled death for each +witness.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he earth trembled with the explosion that followed. A gas—some new +compound that united with water to give volumes tremendous—that only +could explain it. The ocean rose from its depths and flung wave after +wave to race outward in circles of death.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of feet in height at their source—this could only be +estimated—they were devastating when they struck. The ocean raged +over the frail bulwark of England in wave upon wave, and, retreating, +the waters left smooth, shining rock where cities had been. The stone +and steel of their buildings was scattered far over the desolate land +or drawn in the suction of retreating waters to the sea.</p> + +<p>Ireland, too, and France and Spain. Even the coast of America felt the +shock of the explosion and was swept by tidal waves of huge +proportions. But the coast of Britain took the blow at its worst.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>The world was stunned and waiting—waiting!—when the next blow fell. +The flashes were coming from Venus at regular intervals, just twenty +hours and nineteen minutes apart. And with exactly the same time +intervals the bolts arrived from space to lay waste the earth.</p> + +<p>They struck where they would: the ocean again; the Sahara; in the +mountains of China; the Pacific was thrown into fearful convulsions; +the wheat fields of Canada trembled and vanished before a blast of +flaming gas....</p> + +<p>Twenty hours and nineteen minutes! Where it would strike, the next +star-shell, no man might say; that it surely would come was a deadly +and nerve-shattering certainty. The earth waited and prayed under +actual bombardment.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>ome super-gun, said science with conviction; a great bore in the +planet itself, perhaps. But it was fixed, and the planet itself aimed +with an accuracy that was deadly; aimed once as each revolution +brought its gun on the target. Herein, said science, lay a basis for +hope.</p> + +<p>If, in that distant world, there was only one such bore, it must be +altering its aim as the planet approached; the gun must cease to bear +upon the earth. And the changing sweep of the missiles' flight +confirmed their belief.</p> + +<p>Each meteor-shell that came rushing into Earth's embrace burned +brilliantly as it tore into the air. And each flaming arc was +increasingly bent, until—twenty hours and nineteen minutes had +passed—twenty minutes—thirty—another hour ... and the peoples of +Earth dropped humbly to their knees in thankful prayer, or raised +vengeful eyes and clenched fists toward the heavens while their +quivering lips uttered blasphemous curses. The menace, for the time, +had passed; the great gun of Venus no longer was aiming toward the +earth.</p> + +<p>"No more ships," was the belief; "not this time." And the world turned +to an accounting of its losses, and to wonder—wonder—what the +planet's return would bring. A year and one half was theirs; one year +and a half in which to live in safety, in which to plan and build.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p> column, double leaded, in the <i>London Times</i> voiced the feeling of +the world. It was copied and broadcast everywhere.</p> + +<p>"Another attack," it concluded, "is not a probability—it is a +certainty. They are destroying us for some reason known only to +themselves. Who can doubt that when the planet returns there will be a +further bombardment; an invasion by armed forces in giant ships; bombs +dropped from them miles high in the air. This is what we must look +forward to—death and destruction dealt out by a force we are unable +to meet.</p> + +<p>"Our munitions factories may build larger guns, but can they reach the +heights at which these monster ships of space will lie, with any faint +probability of inflicting damage? It is doubtful.</p> + +<p>"Our aircraft is less than useless; its very name condemns it as +inept. Craft of the air!—and we have to war against space ships which +can rise beyond the thin envelope of gas that encircles the earth.</p> + +<p>"The world is doomed—utterly and finally doomed; it is the end of +humankind; slavery to a conquering race at the very best, unless—</p> + +<p>"Let us face the facts fairly. It is war—war to the death—between +the inhabitants of this world and of that other. We are men. What they +are God alone can say. But they are creatures of mind as are we; what +they have done, we may do.</p> + +<p>"There is our only hope. It is vain, perhaps—preposterous in its +assumption—but our sole and only hope. We must meet the enemy and +defeat him, and we must do it on his own ground. To destroy their +fleet we must penetrate space; to silence their deadly bombardment we +must go out into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> space as they have done, reach their distant world +as they have reached ours, and conquer as we would have been +conquered.</p> + +<p>"It is a tenuous hope, but our only one. Let our men of mundane +warfare do their best—it will be useless. But if there be one spark +of God-given genius in the world that can point the way to victory, +let those in authority turn no deaf ear.</p> + +<p>"It is a battle now of minds, and the best minds will win. +Humanity—all humankind—is facing the end. In less than one year and +a half we must succeed—or perish. And unless we conquer finally and +decisively, the story of man in the history of the universe will be a +tale that is told, a record of life in a book that is +ended—closed—and forgotten through all eternity."</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VII</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p> breath of a lethal gas shot from the flying ship had made Captain +Blake as helpless as if every muscle were frozen hard, and he had got +it only lightly, mixed with the saving blast of oxygen. His heart had +gone on, and his breathing, though it became shallow, did not cease; +he was even able to turn his eyes. But to the men in the observatory +room the gas from the weapons of the attacking force came as a +devastating, choking cloud that struck them senseless as if with a +blow. Lieutenant McGuire hardly heard the sound of his own pistol +before unconsciousness took him.</p> + +<p>It was death for the men who were left—for them the quick darkness +never lifted—but for McGuire and his companion there was reprieve.</p> + +<p>He was lying flat on a hard floor when remembrance crept slowly back +to his benumbed brain. An odor, sickish-sweet, was in his nostrils; +the breath of life was being forcibly pumped and withdrawn from +laboring lungs; a mask was tight against his face. He struggled to +throw it off, and someone bending over removed it.</p> + +<p>Someone! His eyes stared wonderingly at the grotesque face like a +lingering phantasm of fevered dreams. There were others, he saw, and +they were working over a body not far away upon the floor. He +recognized the figure of Professor Sykes. Short, stocky, his clothes +disheveled—but Sykes, unmistakably, despite the mask upon his face.</p> + +<p>He, too, revived as McGuire watched, and, like the flyer, he looked +wonderingly about him at his strange companions. The eyes of the two +met and held in wordless communication and astonishment.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he unreal creatures that hovered near withdrew to the far side of the +room. The walls beyond them were of metal, white and gleaming; there +were doorways. In another wall were portholes—round windows of thick +glass that framed circles of absolute night. It was dark out beyond +them with a blackness that was relieved only by sharp pin-points of +brilliance—stars in a night sky such as McGuire had never seen.</p> + +<p>Past and present alike were hazy to the flyer; the spark of life had +been brought back to his body from a far distance; there was time +needed to part the unreal from the real in these new and strange +surroundings.</p> + +<p>There were doorways in the ceiling, and others in the floor near where +he lay; ladders fastened to the wall gave access to these doors. A +grotesque figure appeared above the floor and, after a curious glance +at the two men, scrambled into the room and vanished through the +opening in the ceiling. It was some time before the significance of +this was plain to the wondering man—before he reasoned that he was in +the enemy ship, aimed outward from the earth, and the pull of +gravitation and the greater force of the vessel's constant +acceleration held its occupants to the rear walls of each room. That +lanky figure had been making its way forward toward the bow of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +ship. McGuire's mind was clearing; he turned his attention now to the +curious, waiting creatures, his captors.</p> + +<p>There were five of them standing in the room, five shapes like men, +yet curiously, strangely, different. They were tall of stature, narrow +across the shoulders, muscular in a lean, attenuated fashion. But +their faces! McGuire found his eyes returning in horrified fascination +to each hideous, inhuman countenance.</p> + +<p>A colorless color, like the dead gray of ashes; a skin like that of an +African savage from which all but the last vestige of color had been +drained. It was transparent, parchment-like, and even in the light of +the room that glowed from some hidden source, he could see the +throbbing lines of blood-vessels that showed livid through the +translucent skin. And he remembered, now, the fingers, half-seen in +his moments of awakening—they were like clinging tendrils, colorless, +too, in that ashy gray, and showed the network of veins as if each +hand had been flayed alive.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he observer found himself analyzing, comparing, trying to find some +earthly analogy for these unearthly creatures. Why did he think of +potatoes sprouting in a cellar? What possible connection had these +half-human things with that boyhood recollection? And he had seen some +laboratory experiments with plants and animals that had been cut off +from the sunlight—and now the connection was clear; he knew what this +idea was that was trying to form.</p> + +<p>These were creatures of the dark. These bleached, drained faces showed +skin that had never known the actinic rays of the sun; their whole +framework proclaimed the process that had been going on through +countless generations. Here was a race that had lived, if not in +absolute darkness, then in some place where sunlight never shone—a +place of half-light—or of clouds.</p> + +<p>"Clouds!" The exclamation was startled from him. And: "Clouds!" he +repeated meditatively; he was seeing again a cloud-wrapped world in +the eye-piece of a big refracting telescope. "Blanketed in clouds," +Professor Sykes had said. The scientist himself was speaking to him +now in bewildered tones.</p> + +<p>"Clouds?" he inquired. "That's a strange remark to make. Where are we, +Lieutenant McGuire? I remember nothing after you fired. Are we +flying—in the clouds?"</p> + +<p>"A long, long way beyond them, is my guess," said McGuire grimly. It +was staggering what all this might mean; there was time needed for +fuller comprehension. But the lean bronzed face of the flyer flushed +with animation, and in spite of the terrors that must surely lie ahead +he felt strangely elated at the actuality of an incredible adventure.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>lowly he got to his feet to find that his muscles still were +reluctant to respond to orders; he helped the professor to arise. And +from the group that drew back further into the far end of the room +came a subdued and rasping tumult of discordant sound.</p> + +<p>One, seemingly in charge, held a weapon in his hand, a slender tube no +thicker than a common wire; and ending in a cylinder within the +creature's hand. He pointed it in threatening fashion while his voice +rose in a shrill call. McGuire and Professor Sykes stood quiet and +waited for what the next moment might have in store, but McGuire waved +the weapon aside in a gesture that none could fail to read.</p> + +<p>"Steady," he told his companion. "We're in a ticklish position. Do +nothing to alarm them."</p> + +<p>From up above them came an answering shrill note. Another of the +beings was descending into the room.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Lieutenant McGuire softly, "the big boss, himself. Now +let's see what will happen."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>If there had seemed something of timidity in the repulsive faces of +the waiting creatures, this newcomer was of a different type. He +opened flabby thin lips to give one sharp note of command. It was as +sibilant as the hissing of a snake. The man with the weapon returned +it to a holder at his side; the whole group cringed before the power +and authority of the new arrival.</p> + +<p>The men that they had seen thus far were all garbed alike; a +loose-fitting garment of one piece that was ludicrously like the play +rompers that children might wear. These were dull red in color, the +red of drying blood, made of strong woven cloth. But this other was +uniformed differently.</p> + +<p>McGuire noted the fineness of the silky robe. Like the others this was +made of one piece, loosely fitting, but its bright vivid scarlet made +the first seem drab and dull. A belt of metal about his waist shone +like gold and matched the emblem of precious metal in the turban on +his head.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>ll this the eyes of the flyer took in at a glance; his attention was +only momentarily diverted from the ashen face with eyes narrow and +slitted, that stared with the cold hatred of a cat into those of the +men.</p> + +<p>He made a sound with a whistling breath. It seemed to be a question +directed to them, but the import of it was lost.</p> + +<p>"An exceedingly queer lot," Professor Sykes observed. "And this chap +seems distinctly hostile."</p> + +<p>"He's no friend of mine," said McGuire as the thin, pendulous lips +repeated their whistling interrogation.</p> + +<p>"I can't place them," mused the scientist. "Those facial +characteristics.... But they must be of some nationality, speak some +tongue."</p> + +<p>He addressed himself to the figure with the immobile, horrid face.</p> + +<p>"We do not understand you," he said with an ingratiating smile. +"<i>Comprenez vous Francaise?</i>... <i>Non?</i>"... German, perhaps, or +Spanish?... "<i>Sprecken sie Deutsche?</i> <i>Usted habla Española?</i>..."</p> + +<p>He followed with a fusillade of questions in strange and varying +tongues. "I've even tried him with Chinese," he protested in +bewilderment and stared amazed at his companion's laughter.</p> + +<p>There had to be a reaction from the strain of the past hours, and +Lieutenant McGuire found the serious questioning in polyglot tongues +and the unchanging feline stare of that hideous face too much for his +mental restraint. He held his sides, while he shook and roared with +laughter beyond control, and the figure before him glared with evident +disapproval of his mirth.</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 hissing order, and two figures from the corner sprang +forward to seize the flyer with long clinging fingers. Their strength +he had overestimated, for a violent throw of his body twisted him +free, and his outstretched hands sent the two sprawling across the +room. Their leader took one quick step forward, then paused as if +hesitating to meet this young adversary.</p> + +<p>"Do go easy," Professor Sykes was imploring. "We do not know where we +are nor who they are, but we must do nothing to antagonize them."</p> + +<p>McGuire had reacted from his hilarious seizure with an emotional swing +to the opposite extreme. "I'll break their damn necks," he growled, +"if they get rough with me." And his narrow eyes exchanged glare for +glare with those in the face like blood and ashes before him.</p> + +<p>The cold cat eyes held steadily upon him while the scarlet figure +retreated. A louder call, shrill and vibrant, came from the thin lips, +and a swarm of bodies in dull red were scrambling into the room to +mass about their scarlet leader. Above and behind them the face under +its brilliant turban and golden clasp was glaring in triumph.</p> + +<p>The tall figures crouched, grotesque and awkward; their long arms and +hands with grasping, tendril-like fin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>gers were ready. McGuire waited +for the sharp hissing order that would throw these things upon him, +and he met the attack when it came with his own shoulders dropped to +the fighter's pose, head drawn in close and both fists swinging free.</p> + +<p>There were lean fingers clutching at his throat, a press of blood-red +bodies thick about him, and a clustering of faces where color blotched +and flowed.</p> + +<p>The thud of fists in blows that started from the floor was new to +these lean creatures that clawed and clung like cats. But they +trampled on those who went down before the flyer's blows and stood +upon them to spring at his head; they crowded in in overwhelming +numbers while their red hands tore and twined about his face.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was no place now for long swings; McGuire twisted his body and +threw his weight into quick short jabs at the faces before him. He was +clear for an instant and swung his heavy boot at something that clung +to one leg; then met with a rain of hooks and short punches the faces +that closed in again. He saw in that instant a wild whirl of bodies +where the stocky figure of Professor Sykes was smothered beneath his +taller antagonists. But the professor, if he was forgetting the +science of the laboratory, was remembering that of the squared +circle—and the battle was not entirely one sided.</p> + +<p>McGuire was free; the blood was trickling down his face from +innumerable cuts where sharp-nailed fingers had sunk deep. He wiped +the red stream from his eyes and threw himself at the weaving mass of +bodies that eddied about Sykes in frantic struggle across the room.</p> + +<p>The face of the professor showed clear for a moment. Like McGuire he +was bleeding, and his breath came in short explosive gasps, but he was +holding his own! The eyes of McGuire glimpsed a wildly gesticulating, +shouting figure in the rear. The face, contorted with rage, was almost +the color of the brilliant scarlet that the creature wore. The +blood-stained man in khaki left his companion to fight his own battle, +and plunged headlong at a leaping cluster of dull red, smashed through +with a frenzied attack of straight rights and lefts, and freed himself +to make one final leap at the leader of this unholy pack.</p> + +<p>He was fighting in blind desperation now; the two were out-numbered by +the writhing, lean-bodied creatures, and this thing that showed in +blurred crimson before him was the directing power of them all. The +figure symbolized and personified to the raging man all the repulsive +ugliness of the leaping horde. The face came clear before him through +the mist of blood, and he put the last ounce of his remaining strength +and every pound of weight behind a straight, clean drive with his +right fist.</p> + +<p>His last conscious impression was of a red, clawing hand that was +closed around the thick butt of a tube of steel ... then down, and +still down, he plunged into a bottomless pit of whirling, red flashes +and choking fumes....</p> + +<p>There were memories that were to occur to Lieutenant McGuire +afterward—visions, dim and hazy and blurred, of half-waking moments +when strange creatures forced food and water into his mouth, then held +a mask upon his face while he resisted weakly the breathing of sweet, +sickly fumes that sent him back to unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>There were many such times; some when he came sufficiently awake to +know that Sykes was lying near him, receiving similar care. Their +lives were being preserved: How, or why, or what life might hold in +store he neither knew nor cared; the mask and the deep-drawn fumes +brought stupor and numbness to his brain.</p> + +<p>A window was in the floor beside him when he awoke—a circular window +of thick glass or quartz. But no longer did it frame a picture of a +sky in velvet blackness; no unwinking pin-points of distant stars +pricked keenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> through the night; but, clear and dazzling, came a +blessed radiance that could mean only sunshine. A glowing light that +was dazzling to his sleep-filled eyes, it streamed in +golden—beautiful—to light the unfamiliar room and show motionless +upon the floor the figure of Professor Sykes. His torn clothing had +been neatly arranged, and his face showed livid lines of healing cuts +and bruises.</p> + +<p>McGuire tried gingerly to move his arms and legs; they were still +functioning though stiff and weak from disuse. He raised himself +slowly and stood swaying on his feet, then made his uncertain way to +his companion and shook him weakly by the shoulder.</p> + +<p>Professor Sykes breathed deeply and raised leaden lids from tired eyes +to stare uncomprehendingly at McGuire. Soon his dark pupils ceased to +dilate, and he, too, could see their prison and the light of day.</p> + +<p>"Sunlight!" he said in a thin voice, and he seemed to know now that +they were in the air; "I wonder—I wonder—if we shall land—what +country? ... Some wilderness and a strange race—a strange, strange +race!"</p> + +<p>He was muttering half to himself; the mystery of these people whom he +could not identify was still troubling him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>cGuire helped the other man to his feet, and they clung to each to +the other for support as they crossed to kneel beside the floor-window +and learn finally where their captors meant to take them.</p> + +<p>A wilderness, indeed, the sight that met their eyes, but a wilderness +of clouds—no unfamiliar sight to Lieutenant McGuire of the United +States Army air service. But to settle softly into them instead of +driving through with glistening wings—this was new and vastly +different from anything he had known.</p> + +<p>Sounds came to them in the silence, penetrating faintly through thick +walls—the same familiar wailing call that trembled and quavered and +seemed to the listening men to be guiding them down through the mist.</p> + +<p>Gone was the sunlight, and the clouds beyond the deep-set window were +gloriously ablaze with a brilliance softly diffused. The cloud bank +was deep, and they felt the craft under them sink slowly, steadily +into the misty embrace. It thinned below them to drifting vapor, and +the first hazy shadows of the ground showed through from far beneath. +Their altitude, the flyer knew, was still many thousands of feet.</p> + +<p>"Water," said McGuire, as his trained eyes made plain to him what was +still indistinct to the scientist. "An ocean—and a shore-line—" More +clouds obscured the view; they parted suddenly to show a portion only +of a clear-cut map.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t stretched beyond the confines of their window, that unfamiliar line +of wave-marked shore; the water was like frozen gold, wrinkled in +countless tiny corrugations and reflecting the bright glow from above. +But the land,—that drew their eyes!</p> + +<p>Were those cities, those shadow-splashed areas of gray and rose?... +The last veiling clouds dissolved, and the whole circle was plain to +their view.</p> + +<p>The men leaned forward, breathless, intent, till the scientist, +Sykes—the man whose eyes had seen and whose brain recorded a dim +shape in the lens of a great telescope—Sykes drew back with a +quivering, incredulous breath. For below them, so plain, so +unmistakable, there lay an island, large even from this height, and it +formed on this round map a sharp angle like a great letter "L."</p> + +<p>"We shall know that if we ever see it again," Professor Sykes had +remarked in the quiet and security of that domed building surmounting +the heights of Mount Lawson. But he said nothing now, as he stared at +his companion with eyes that implored Mc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>Guire to arouse him from this +sleep, this dream that could never be real. But McGuire, lieutenant +one-time in the forces of the U. S. A., had seen it too, and he stared +back with a look that gave dreadful confirmation.</p> + +<p>The observatory—Mount Lawson—the earth!—those were the things +unreal and far away. And here before them, in brain-stunning +actuality, were the markings unmistakable—the markings of Venus. And +they were landing, these two, in the company of creatures wild and +strange as the planet—on Venus itself!</p> + +<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/image_006.jpg" width="400" height="506" alt="" /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_007.jpg" width="500" height="420" alt=""The connection is made," murmured Von Stein." /> +<span class="caption">"The connection is made," murmured Von Stein.</span> +</div> +<h2><a name="The_Destroyer" id="The_Destroyer"></a>The Destroyer</h2> + +<h3><i>By William Merriam Rouse</i></h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he pencil in the hand of Allen Parker refused to obey his will. A +strange unseen force pushed his will aside and took possession of the +pencil point so that what he drew was not his own. It was the same +when he turned from drawing board to typewriter. The sentences were +not of his framing; the ideas were utterly foreign to him. This was +the first hint he received of the fate that was drawing in like night +upon him and his beautiful wife.</p> +<div class="sidenote">Slowly, insidiously, there stole over Allen Parker +something uncanny. He could no longer control his hands—even his +brain!</div> + +<p>Parker, a young writer of growing reputation who illustrated his own +work, was making a series of pencil sketches for a romance partly +finished. The story was as joyous and elusive as sunlight, and until +to-day his sketches had held the same quality. Now he could not tap +the reservoir from which he had taken the wind-blown hair and smiling +eyes of Madelon, his heroine.</p> + +<p>When he drew or wrote he seemed to be submerged in the dark waters of +a measureless evil pit. The face that mocked him from the paper was +stamped with a world-old knowledge of forbidden things.</p> + +<p>Parker dropped his pencil and leaned back, tortured. He and his wife, +Betty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> had taken this house in Pine Hills, a small and extremely +quiet suburban village, solely for the purpose of concentration on the +book which was to be the most important work he had done. He went to +the door of the room that he used for a studio and called:</p> + +<p>"Betty! Can you come here a moment, please?"</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 patter of running feet on the stairs and then a girl of +twenty, or thereabout, came into the room. Any man would have said she +was a blessing. Her hair "was yellow like ripe corn," and her vivid +blue eyes held depth and character and charm.</p> + +<p>"Look!" exclaimed Parker. "What do you think of this stuff?"</p> + +<p>For a moment there was silence. Then Allen Parker saw something he had +never before seen in his wife's face for him or his work—a look of +complete disgust.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't have believed you capable of doing anything so ... so +horrid!" she said coldly. "How could you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know!" His arms, which had been ready to take her to him for +comfort, dropped. "The work has been ... difficult, lately. As though +something were pulling at my mind. But not like this! It isn't <i>me</i>!"</p> + +<p>"It must be you, since it came out of you!" She turned away and moved +restlessly to one of the windows.</p> + +<p>"Through me!" muttered Parker. "Ideas <i>come</i>!"</p> + +<p>"You'll have to do something!"</p> + +<p>"But what? I don't know what to do!"</p> + +<p>"Why not go to see that new doctor?" asked Betty, over her shoulder. +"Dr. Friedrich von Stein?"</p> + +<p>"Von Stein?" repeated Parker, vaguely. "Don't know him. Anyhow, I +don't need a doctor. What in the world made you think of that?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_n1.jpg" alt="N" width="63" height="58" /></div> +<p>othing, except that I can see his house from here. He's taken what +they call 'the old Reynolds place.' You know—opposite the church. We +looked at it and thought it was too large for us. He's made a lot of +alterations."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" Parker had placed the newcomer, more recent than himself. +"I had an idea that he was a doctor of philosophy, not medicine."</p> + +<p>"He has half a dozen degrees, they say. Certainly he's a stunning +looking man. I saw him on the street."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he doesn't practice." The artist was gazing, baffled and sick +at heart, upon what he had wrought. "And what could he do, unless it's +my liver?"</p> + +<p>"He might be a psycho-analyst, or something like that," she replied, +slowly.</p> + +<p>"But why the wild interest in this particular doctor?" Parker roused +himself and looked at her. He felt irritable, and was ashamed of it.</p> + +<p>"Only for your work," said Betty. A faint pink touched her cheeks.</p> + +<p>Allen Parker had a sudden feeling of certainty that his wife was lying +to him. To one who knew the Parkers it would have been equally +impossible to think of Betty as lying, or of her husband as believing +such a thing. Parker was outraged by his own suspicion. He sprang up +and began to pace the floor.</p> + +<p>"All right, then!" he exploded. "My work is going to the dogs! Why, +there's an appointment with Cartwright to-morrow to show him these +sketches, and the last few chapters I've done! We'll go now! If this +man can't do anything for me I'll try somebody else!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>n ten minutes they were walking up the quiet street toward the +present home of Dr. Friedrich von Stein. Despite his self-absorption +Parker could not help noticing that his wife had never looked more +attractive than she did at this moment. Her color had deepened, little +wisps of hair curled against her cheeks, and there was a sparkle in +her eyes which he knew came only on very particular occasions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + +<p>Even from the outside it was apparent that many strange things had +been done to the staid and dignified house of Reynolds. A mass of +aerials hung above the roof. Some new windows had been cut at the +second floor and filled with glass of a peculiar reddish-purple tinge. +A residence had been turned into a laboratory, in sharp contrast to +the charming houses up and down the street and the church of gray +stone that stood opposite.</p> + +<p>Beside the door, at the main entrance, a modest plate bore the legend: +"Dr. Friedrich von Stein." Parker pressed the bell. Then he squared +his broad shoulders and waited: a very miserable, very likeable young +man, with a finely shaped head and a good set of muscles under his +well cut clothes. He had brought his sketches, but he was +uncomfortable with the portfolio under his arm. It seemed to +contaminate him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he door opened to reveal a blocky figure of a man in a workman's +blouse and overalls. The fellow was pale of eye, towheaded; he +appeared to be good natured but of little intelligence. The only +remarkable thing about him was a livid welt that ran across one cheek, +from nose to ear. Beside him a glossy-coated dachshund wagged +furiously, after having barked once as a matter of duty.</p> + +<p>"May we see Dr. von Stein?" asked Parker. "If he is in?"</p> + +<p>"I will ask the Herr Doktor if he iss in," replied the man, stiffly.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dummkopf!</i>" roared a voice from inside the house. An instant later +man and dog shrank back along the hall and there appeared in their +place one of the most striking personalities Allen Parker had ever +seen.</p> + +<p>Dr. Friedrich von Stein was inches more than six feet tall and he +stood perfectly erect, with the unmistakable carriage of a well +drilled soldier. He was big boned, but lean, and every movement was +made with military precision. More than any other feature his eyes +impressed Parker: they were steady, penetrating, and absolutely black. +But for a thread of gray here and there his well-kept beard and hair +were black. He might have been any age from forty to sixty, so +deceptive was his appearance.</p> + +<p>"Come in, if you please," he said, before Parker could speak. Von +Stein's voice was rich and deep, but with a metallic quality which +somehow corresponded with his mechanical smile. Except for the +guttural r's there was hardly a hint of the foreigner in his speech. +"It is Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I believe? I am Dr. von Stein."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e stood aside for them to pass into the hallway, and while they +murmured their thanks he shot a volley of German at the man, whom he +called Heinrich. The frightened servant vanished; and the Parkers were +taken into a living room furnished carelessly, but in good enough +taste. Betty took her place on a couch, to which the doctor led her +with a bow. Parker sank into an overstuffed chair not far from a +window.</p> + +<p>"I learned your names because of the beauty of madame," said Von +Stein, as he stood looming above the mantel. Again he bowed. "One +could not see her without wishing to know how such a charming woman +was called. You are my neighbors from down the street, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Allen. He wanted to be agreeable, but found it +difficult. "And I think Mrs. Parker has developed a great admiration +for you. She persuaded me to come here to-day. Are you, by chance, a +psycho-analyst? I don't even know that you are a doctor of medicine, +but—"</p> + +<p>"I know a very great deal about the human mind," interrupted Dr. von +Stein calmly. "I know a great deal about many things. I am not going +to practice medicine here in Pine Hills because I have research work +to do, but I will help you if I can. What is your trouble?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</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 question brought back to Parker the mood of half an hour ago. +Almost savagely he snapped the portfolio open and spread out a few of +his recent drawings, with some of the earlier ones for comparison.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he cried. "These vicious things are what I am doing now! I +can't help myself! The pencil does not obey me! Apparently I have no +emotional control. It's as though my normal ideas were shouldered +aside, like people in a crowd. And my writing to-day was as bad as +these illustrations. I'm doing a book. Consider these things +carefully, Doctor. They are not obscene, except by inference. They +can't be censored. The book would go through the mails. Yet they are +deadly! Look at my heroine in these two pictures. In one she is +like—like violets! In the other she looks capable of any crime! What +is she? A vampire, if there is such a thing? A witch? I can almost +believe in demonology since I made these last drawings!"</p> + +<p>Parker, in spite of his excitement, tried to read the face of Dr. +Friedrich von Stein. He found nothing but the automatic smile upon +that mask. Yet it seemed to the artist that this time there was a hint +of real pleasure in the curve of the lips. Was it possible that anyone +could like those drawings? Parker began to think that he was going +insane.</p> + +<p>"This is most unfortunate for you," rumbled the doctor. "I understand. +But I trust that the condition can be remedied, if it persists. You, +Mr. Parker, and you, Madame, do you understand something of physics, +of psychology, of metaphysics?"</p> + +<p>"I fear that I'm rather ignorant," answered Betty. "Certainly I am in +comparison with a man of your attainments."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>r. von Stein bowed. He turned his black eyes upon Parker.</p> + +<p>"And you, sir? I must adjust my explanation to—what shall I say? To +your knowledge of the higher reaches of scientific thought?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I majored in philosophy in college," said Parker, hesitatingly. +"But that's quite a time ago, Herr Doktor. Of course I've tried to +keep up with the conclusions of science. But a writer or a painter +doesn't have any too much opportunity. He has his own problems to +concern him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed!" Dr. von Stein was thoughtful. "So, and especially for +the benefit of madame, I shall speak in terms of the concrete."</p> + +<p>"Please consider me stupid!" begged Betty. "But I want to understand!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, except that you are not stupid, Madame. I will proceed. +Both of you, I assume, know something of the radio? Very good! You +know that an etheric wave transmits the message, and that it is +received and amplified so that it is within the range of the human +ear. These waves were there when paleolithic man hunted his meat with +a stone-tipped club. To use them it was necessary to invent the +microphone, and a receiving instrument.</p> + +<p>"What I have said you already know. But here is what may startle you. +Human thought is an etheric wave of the same essential nature as the +radio wave. They are both electrical currents external to man. +Thoughts sweep across the human mind as sound currents sweep across +the aerials of a radio—"</p> + +<p>"I told you!" Allen Parker turned a triumphant face to his wife. +"Pardon me, Herr Doktor! I have tried to convince Mrs. Parker that my +idea came from outside!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_e1.jpg" alt="E" width="52" height="53" /></div> +<p>xactly!" Dr. von Stein took no offense. "And a difference between +the mind and the radio set is that with the radio you tune in upon +whatever you choose, and when you choose. The mind is not under such +control, although it should be. It receives that to which it happens +to be open. Or that thought which has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> intensified and +strengthened by having been received and entertained by other minds. +In India they say: 'Five thousand died of the plague and fifty +thousand died of fear.' Do you both follow me?"</p> + +<p>It was unnecessary to ask. Betty sat on the edge of the couch, intent +upon every word. Parker, although more restrained, was equally +interested. Moreover he was delighted to have what he had felt +instinctively confirmed, in a way, by a man of science.</p> + +<p>"Herbert Spencer said," continued the doctor, "that no thought, no +feeling, is ever manifested save as the result of a physical force. +This principle will before long be a scientific commonplace. And +Huxley predicted that we would arrive at a mechanical equivalent of +consciousness. But I will not attempt to bolster my position with +authorities. I know, and I can prove what I know.</p> + +<p>"You, Mr. Parker, have been receiving some particularly annoying +thoughts which have been intensified, it may be, by others, or +another. Human will power can alter the rate of vibration of the line +of force, or etheric wave. So-called good thoughts have a high rate of +vibration, and those which are called bad ordinarily have a low rate. +Have you, perhaps, an enemy?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of," replied Parker, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Then it would follow that this is accidental."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_g1.jpg" alt="G" width="63" height="53" /></div> +<p>ood heavens! Do you mean to say that someone could do this to me +maliciously?"</p> + +<p>"So far my experiments leave something to be desired," said Dr. von +Stein, without answering directly. "No doubt you are peculiarly +susceptible to thoughts which bear in any way on your work."</p> + +<p>"But isn't there any help for it?" asked Betty. She was regarding her +husband with the eyes of a stranger.</p> + +<p>"I believe I can do something for Mr. Parker."</p> + +<p>There was a knock at the door. The doctor boomed an order to come in. +Heinrich, with the dachshund at his heels, entered bearing a tray with +a bottle of wine and some slices of heavy fruit cake. He drew out a +table and placed the tray.</p> + +<p>"Do not bring that dog in when I have guests," said Von Stein. He +spoke with a gleam of white teeth. "You know what will happen, +Heinrich?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Ja</i>, Herr Doktor! I take Hans oudt!" The man was terrified. He +gathered the dog into his arms and fairly fled from the room. Dr. von +Stein turned with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I have to discipline him," he explained. "He's a stupid fellow, but +faithful. I can't have ordinary servants about. There are scientific +men who would be willing to bribe them for a look at my laboratory."</p> + +<p>"I did not know such things were done among scholars," said Betty, +slowly.</p> + +<p>"What I have accomplished means power, Madame!" exclaimed the doctor. +"There are jackals in every walk of life. If an unscrupulous man of +science got into my laboratory, a physicist for instance, he might ... +find out things!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>r. von Stein turned to his duties as host. He filled their glasses, +and watched with satisfaction Betty's obvious enjoyment of the cake. A +box of mellow Havanas appeared from a cabinet: imported cigarettes +from a smoking stand. But Parker, in spite of a liking for good wine +and tobacco, was far too much concerned about his work to forget the +errand that had brought him there.</p> + +<p>"So you think," he said, when there was opportunity, "that you can +help me, Dr. von Stein?"</p> + +<p>"I can," replied von Stein, firmly; "but before attempting anything +I'd like to wait a day or two. The attacking thoughts may become less +violent, or your resistance greater, in either of which cases the +condition will fade<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> out. You will either get better or much worse. If +you are worse come to see me again, and I promise you that I will do +something!"</p> + +<p>"I'll come, and thank you!" Parker felt better, and more cheerful than +he had since the beginning of the disturbance. "Few things could make +me suffer so much as trouble with my work."</p> + +<p>"That is what I thought," agreed Dr. von Stein.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div><p>etty rose. Her husband caught the look in her eyes as they met the +bright, black gaze of Dr. von Stein, and he went cold. That look had +always been for him alone. Her feet seemed to linger on the way to the +door.</p> + +<p>"He's wonderful!" she breathed, as they started down the uneventful +street. "Scientific things never interested me before. But he makes +them vital, living!"</p> + +<p>"And yet," said Parker, thoughtfully, "there's something uncanny about +that man!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exclaimed Betty. "It's because he's a genius! Don't be +small, Allen!"</p> + +<p>Parker gasped, and remained silent. He could not remember that his +wife had ever spoken to him in quite that way. They finished the +little journey home without speaking again and Parker went directly to +studio. He sat down, with drooping shoulders, and considered the mess +he had made of his book. Well, there was nothing to do but see +Cartwright to-morrow and face the music!</p> + +<p>Dinner that night was a mournful affair. The soft footsteps of the +servant going in and out of the dining room, the ticking of the clock, +were almost the only sounds. Betty was deep in her own thoughts; +Parker was too miserable to talk. He went to bed early and lay staring +into the darkness for what seemed like an eternity of slow moving +hours.</p> + +<p>The tall, deep voiced clock in the hall downstairs had just struck +one when suddenly Parker's room was flooded with light. He sat up, +blinking, and saw Betty standing near his bed. Her fingers twisted +against each other; her face was drawn and white.</p> + +<p>"Allen!" she whispered. "I'm afraid!"</p> + +<p>Instantly he was on his feet; his arms went around her and the yellow +head dropped wearily against his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Afraid of what?" he cried. "What is it, sweetheart?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know!" All at once her body stiffened and she pulled away +from him. Then she laughed—"What nonsense! I must have been having a +bad dream ... it's nothing. Sorry I bothered you, Allen!"</p> + +<p>She was gone before his could stop her. Bewildered, he did not know +whether to follow. Better not, he thought. She would sleep now, and +perhaps he would. But he was worried. Betty was becoming less and less +like herself.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>t last Parker did sleep, to awake shortly after daylight. He got a +hasty breakfast and took an early train to New York. When John +Cartwright, a shrewd and kindly man well advanced in years, arrived at +his office Allen Parker was right there waiting for him.</p> + +<p>Cartwright had shown a real affection for the younger man, a paternal +interest. He beamed, as usual, until he sat down with the new +drawings. Slowly the smile faded from his face. He went over them +twice, three times, and then he looked up.</p> + +<p>"My boy," he said, "did you do these?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Do you know that you are turning a delicate and beautiful romance +into a lascivious libel on the human race?"</p> + +<p>"It is being done," replied Parker, in a low voice. "And I—I can't +help myself!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that when I start to draw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> Madelon my hand produces that woman +of Babylon! The writing is just as bad. It's full of sneering hints, +double meanings ... I shall destroy the stuff. I've been to see a +psycho-analyst."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" thoughtfully. "Perhaps you're tired, Allen. Why not take Betty +for a sea trip? There'll still be time for fall publication."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to try everything possible. I'd rather be dead than do work +like this!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>hen Parker left his friend he was somewhat encouraged. After the +first shock Cartwright had been inclined to make light of the +difficulty, and by the time Allen Parker reached Pine Hills his stride +had the usual swing and snap.</p> + +<p>He ran up the steps of his house and burst into the living room with a +smile. Betty was sitting by one of the windows, her hands lying +relaxed in her lap. She turned a somber face toward her husband, and +spoke before he had time to say a word of greeting.</p> + +<p>"You knew that Cordelia Lyman died a short time ago, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"What's that?" exclaimed Parker, bewildered. "Lyman? Oh, the old lady +down the street who left her money to found a home for aged spinsters? +What about it?"</p> + +<p>"But she didn't leave her money to found a home for aged spinsters, +Allen. She had said she was going to, and everybody thought so. Her +will was admitted to probate, or whatever they call it, yesterday. She +left half a million, all she had, to Dr. Friedrich von Stein, to be +used as he thinks best for the advancement of science!"</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" Parker stared. "Why, I didn't know she knew him. He'd +only been here a week or so when she died."</p> + +<p>"There isn't a flaw in the will, they say. You can imagine that Pine +Hills is talking!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Parker philosophically, "he's lucky. I hope he does +something with it."</p> + +<p>"He will," replied Betty, with conviction. "He'll do a great many +things!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arker told her of his interview with Cartwright, but she seemed +little interested. He did not try to work that day but, after he had +put the offending drawings and manuscript out of sight, he wandered, +read, smoked, and in the evening persuaded Betty to take a moonlight +walk with him.</p> + +<p>They passed the house of Dr. von Stein, from which came a faint +humming that sounded like a dynamo. Across the street the church was +alight for some service. Triumphant music drifted to them. The moon +hung above the spire, with its cross outlined darkly against the +brilliant sky. The windows were great jewels. Betty drew a deep +breath.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, Allen," she said, "I feel like praying!"</p> + +<p>"You <i>are</i> a beautiful prayer," whispered Parker.</p> + +<p>She walked close to him, holding his arm, and repeated softly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Are not two prayers a perfect strength?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And shall I feel afraid?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But that was the end of that mood. By the time they arrived home Betty +was again the strange, aloof, cold, slightly hard woman of the past +few days. Again depression settled upon Allen Parker.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he next morning he breakfasted alone and went directly to the studio, +without seeing Betty. Sun streamed into the room; the pencil moved +swiftly. For a brief time Parker thought that he was himself again, as +Madelon grew upon the block of paper. But the end was terrible. The +last few strokes made her grotesque. This time the woman he had drawn +was not merely evil; she was a mocking parody of his heroine. He threw +drawing and pencil across the room.</p> + +<p>But no real artist can be discouraged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> short of death. He went to work +again and labored until luncheon time. The results were no better, +although they varied. Now it seemed that some malevolent power was +playing with him, torturing him to the accompaniment of devilish +laughter. He was haggard and actually stooped of body when he bathed +his face and went down to the dining room. From across the table Betty +regarded him curiously.</p> + +<p>"Fleming Proctor shot himself last night," she announced, calmly. +"This morning they found him dead in his office."</p> + +<p>"Proctor? You don't mean the president of the Pine Hills National +Bank?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." The expression of Betty's face did not change. "There was a +note saying that he was sorry. It seems he'd made a large loan without +security to an unknown person, and the bank examiner was coming +to-day. Proctor said he couldn't help what he did. The note was +confused as though he were trying to tell something and couldn't. They +think his mind must have given way, particularly as they can't trace +the loan, although the money is undoubtedly gone."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div><p>hat kind of thing doesn't happen!" Parker was stunned. He had known +Fleming Proctor, and liked him. They met often at the country club. +"Proctor was honest, and a fine business man!"</p> + +<p>"It did happen, Allen!"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know more about it. That would have been a case for Dr. +von Stein to take in hand."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Betty, in a voice like ice. "But I'm more interested +in finding out how soon you are going to return to normal. Frankly, +I'm beginning to get bored."</p> + +<p>Without a word Parker rose and left the room. Never before had his +wife hurt him like this. Doubly sensitive just now, he was suffering +alone in the studio when the telephone rang.</p> + +<p>"Dr. von Stein speaking. Are you better, Mr. Parker?"</p> + +<p>"Worse! Much worse!"</p> + +<p>"Then come to my house this evening at nine. May I expect you? And +alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." There was much Parker wanted to say, but he choked the words +back. "I'll be there, and alone."</p> + +<p>"I shall be ready for you. Good-by."</p> + +<p>Allen Parker hung up the receiver. He did not leave the studio again +until evening.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>s Parker approached the house of Dr. Friedrich von Stein he saw that +the church was lighted as it had been the night before. In a clear sky +the moon rode above the spire. He paused to let his glance sweep up +along the beautiful line that ran from earth to the slender cross. +That was how he felt. He wanted to rise, as that line rose, from +cumbering earth to clarity and beauty.</p> + +<p>He mounted the steps and rang. Dr. von Stein met him, with eyes and +teeth agleam in the hall light. Wearily Parker stepped inside. His +mood of the moment before was fading.</p> + +<p>"Go upstairs to my laboratory, if you please," said the doctor. "It is +best that I see you there, for it may be that you will need +treatment."</p> + +<p>"I need something," replied Parker as he went up a long flight of +stairs. "I'm in a bad way."</p> + +<p>Without answer von Stein led him down a short corridor and held open a +door. Allen Parker stepped into a room that bewildered him with its +strange contrasts.</p> + +<p>At a glance he saw that nearly the whole upper floor of the building +had been converted into one gigantic room. Near a big stone fireplace, +where burning driftwood sent up its many tinted flames, Heinrich stood +rigidly at attention. Hans, the dachshund, crouched at his feet. When +the dog started to meet Parker a guttural command stopped him.</p> + +<p>Here there were bearskins on the floor, huge stuffed chairs, +footrests, little tables, humidors, pipe racks, all that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> one could +desire for comfort. Two German duelling swords were crossed above the +mantel.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div><p>ut beyond this corner everything was different. Parker saw the massed +windows of reddish-purple glass; he saw apparatus for which he had no +name, as well as some of the ordinary paraphernalia of the chemical +laboratory. There was wiring everywhere, and a multitude of lighting +fixtures. Utilitarian tables, desks and chairs were placed about with +mathematical precision. There were plates and strips of metal set into +the glass smooth flooring, which was broken by depressions and +elevations of unusual form.</p> + +<p>The most striking thing in the room was a huge copper bowl that hung +inverted from the ceiling. In it, and extending down below the rim, +was what seemed to be a thick and stationary mist. It looked as though +the bowl had been filled with a silver gray mist and then turned +bottom side up. But the cloud did not fall or float away.</p> + +<p>"I can think and speak best from my desk," Von Stein was saying. +"Please sit down facing me in the chair which Heinrich will place for +you. Then we will talk."</p> + +<p>Heinrich rolled one of the overstuffed chairs noiselessly to a +position about six feet from the desk. Parker noticed a long metal +strip in the floor between him and the doctor.</p> + +<p>Just then Hans wriggled forward and the artist scratched his ears, to +be rewarded by a grateful tongue. Again a command from Heinrich +brought the dog to heel, but the voice was not so gruff this time. +Together they returned to the fireplace.</p> + +<p>Von Stein let his hands rest upon the desk top—a surface covered with +levers, electric switches, push buttons, and contrivances the nature +of which Parker could not guess. The doctor leaned forward. He threw +over a switch. The lights in the room became less bright. He pressed a +button. The Danse Macabre of Saint-Saens floated weirdly upon the +air, as though the music came from afar off.</p> + +<p>"Is that part of the treatment?" asked Parker, with a faint smile. +"It's not cheering, exactly."</p> + +<p>"Merely an idiosyncrasy of mine," answered Von Stein, showing his +teeth. "Before anything is done I must, in order to aid the +receptivity of your mind, go a little further with the explanation of +certain things which I mentioned the other day. I promise not to bore +you. More than that, Mr. Parker, I promise that you will be more +interested than you have ever been in anything!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t seemed to Parker that there was something sinister in the manner +and speech of Dr. von Stein. The Dance of Death! Did that music have a +meaning? Impossible! It was only his own sick mind that was allowing +such thoughts to come to him.</p> + +<p>"Anything that will help," he murmured.</p> + +<p>"You have noticed that copper bowl?" Von Stein did not wait for a +reply. "The misty appearance inside and underneath it is given by +thousands upon thousands of minute platinum wires. When it is in use a +slight electrical current is passed through it, varying in power +according to the rate of vibration needed. That instrument, my dear +sir, is a transmitter of thought. I may call it the microphone of the +mind. I can tune in on any mind in the world, by experimenting up and +down the vibration range to determine the susceptibility of the +particular person. The human mind does not need an amplifier, as the +radio receiving set does. Rather, it acts as its own amplifier, once +having received the thought. I invented one, however, to prove that it +could be done. I equipped Heinrich with it and in half an hour by +suggestion reduced him to his present state of docile stupidity. I +have, Mr. Parker, the means of moving people to do my bidding!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_v.jpg" alt="V" width="53" height="51" /></div><p>on Stein stopped abruptly, as though for emphasis and to allow his +astounding statements to take effect. Parker sat stunned, struggling +to grasp all the implications of what he had just heard. Suddenly they +became clear. He saw events in order, and in relation to each other.</p> + +<p>"So that's how it was with Cordelia Lyman!" he cried hoarsely, leaning +forward. "And it was you who had that money from Fleming Proctor!"</p> + +<p>"You are not unintelligent," remarked Dr. von Stein. "Better that +science should have the Lyman money than a few old women of no +particular use. As for Proctor, he was a fool. I would have protected +him."</p> + +<p>"And my pictures ... my book...."</p> + +<p>"I can cure you, Mr. Parker. <i>If I will!</i>"</p> + +<p>"And anyone is at the mercy of this man!" groaned Parker.</p> + +<p>"Not absolutely, I'm sorry to say," said the doctor. "The action of +thought on the human consciousness is exactly like that of sound on +the tuning fork. When the mind is tuned right, we'll say for +illustration, the lower vibrations are not picked out of the ether. +But as few minds are tuned right, and as all vary from time to time, +I'm practically omnipotent."</p> + +<p>"You have changed the nature of my wife!" Parker was getting hold of +himself and he could speak with a degree of calmness. "That is a worse +crime than the one you've committed against me directly!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Parker," said the doctor, impressively, "you are in a web. I am +the spider. You are the fly. I don't particularly desire to hurt you, +but I want your wife. This is the crux of the matter. She is the woman +to share my triumphs. Already I have aroused her interest. Give her up +and you will continue your work as before. Refuse, and you will lose +her just as certainly as though you give her to me. For, my dear sir, +you will be insane in less than a month from now. I promise you +that!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>llen Parker was not one to indulge in melodrama. For a long moment he +sat looking into the black eyes of Von Stein. Then he spoke carefully.</p> + +<p>"If my wife of her own will loved you, and wanted freedom, I'd let her +go. But this is a kind of hypnosis. It's diabolical!"</p> + +<p>"Who but the devil was the father of magic?" asked the doctor, +cheerfully. "Hypnosis is unconsciously based on a scientific principle +which I have mastered. Repeated advertising of a tooth brush or a box +of crackers is mild mental suggestion—hypnosis, if you will. My dear +fellow, be sensible!"</p> + +<p>"Sophistry!" growled Parker.</p> + +<p>Von Stein laughed. He moved a lever upon a dial and a sheet of blue +flame quivered between them. With another movement of the lever it +vanished.</p> + +<p>"I could destroy you instantly," he said, "and completely, and no one +could prove a crime! I shall not do it. I have no time to be bothered +with investigations. Think of the fate I have promised you. Think, and +you will give her up!"</p> + +<p>"I shall not!" Parker wiped cold drops from his forehead. The doctor +frowned thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I'll intensify her desire to come here to-night," he said. "She +herself will persuade you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arker set his fingers into the arms of his chair as Von Stein rose +and walked to the copper bowl. He stood directly under it, and put on +goggles with shields fitting close to his feet. At the pressure of his +foot a tablelike affair rose from the floor in front of him. This, +like the desk, was equipped with numerous dials, buttons and levers. +Von Stein manipulated them. The great cap of copper descended until +his head was enveloped by the mist of platinum wires. A faint humming +grew in the room. A tiny bell tinkled.</p> + +<p>"The connection is made," murmured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> Von Stein. He lifted a hand for +silence: then his fingers leaped among the gadgets on the table. After +that came a brief period, measured by seconds, of immobility. Then the +table sank from view, the copper bowl lifted, and Dr. von Stein went +back to his chair.</p> + +<p>"She will be here shortly," he said. "If that does not change your +mind...."</p> + +<p>He shrugged. Parker knew what that shrug meant. He searched his mind +for a plan and found none. Better die fighting than yield, or risk the +vengeance of Friedrich von Stein. If he could get the doctor away from +the desk where he controlled the blue-white flame there might be a +chance to do something. Von Stein was by far the larger man, but +Parker had been an athlete all his life. If....</p> + +<p>"That mass of copper and platinum," he said, tentatively, "will make +you master of the world!"</p> + +<p>"My brain, my intelligence, has made me master of the world!" +corrected Von Stein, proudly. He was touched in the right spot now. +"You have not seen all!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e sprang up and went to one of the tables. From his pocket he took a +piece of paper and crumpled it into a ball while, with the other hand, +he made some electrical connections to a plate of metal set into the +surface of the table. Next he placed the wad of paper on the plate. +Then, standing at arm's length from the apparatus, he pressed a +button. Instantly the paper disappeared behind a screen of the colors +of the spectrum, from red to violet. The banded colors were there for +a minute fraction of a second. Then there was nothing where the paper +had been on the plate. Von Stein smiled as he stepped away from the +table.</p> + +<p>"The electron is formed by the crossing of two lines of force," he +said, "and the interaction of positive and negative polarity. The +electron is a stress in the ether, nothing more, but it is the stuff +of which all matter is made. Thought is vibration in one dimension; +matter in two. You have just seen me untie the knot, dissociate the +electrons, or what you will. In plain language I have caused matter to +vanish utterly. That paper is not burned up. It no longer exists in +any form. The earth upon which we stand, Parker, can be dissolved like +mist before the sun!"</p> + +<p>Appalled as he was at this man who boasted and made good his terrible +boasts Allen Parker had not forgotten the purpose that was in him. Now +was his chance, while Von Stein stood smiling triumphantly between +table and desk.</p> + +<p>Parker shot from his chair with the speed of utter desperation. He +feinted, and drove a vicious uppercut to the jaw of Dr. Friedrich von +Stein. The doctor reeled but he did not go down. His fists swung. +Parker found him no boxer, and beat a tattoo upon his middle. Von +Stein began to slump.</p> + +<p>Then two thick muscled arms closed around the artist from behind and +he was lifted clear of the floor. He kicked, and tried to turn, but it +was useless. The doctor recovered himself. His eyes blazed fury.</p> + +<p>"Put him in the chair, Heinrich!" he roared. "For this I will show you +what I can do, Herr Parker!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>t that instant little Hans, who had been yelping on the edge of the +battle, dashed in. He leaped for the throat of Von Stein. The doctor +kicked him brutally.</p> + +<p>The shriek of agony from Hans loosened the arms of Heinrich. Parker +got his footing again. He saw the clumsy serving man spring forward +and gather his dog up to his breast. Again Parker rushed for his +enemy.</p> + +<p>It was clear now that Von Stein was cut off from the controls he +wanted, and without Heinrich he could not master Parker in a fight. +For an instant he stood baffled. Then he retreated the length of the +room, taking what blows he could not beat off. He staggered upon a +plate of metal set into the floor, righted himself, and failed in an +attempt to catch hold of Parker. Suddenly he bowed in the direction of +the distant doorway.</p> + +<p>Allen half turned. Betty was coming down the room, staring and +breathless.</p> + +<p>"<i>Leben sie wohl!</i>" cried Von Stein. "Farewell, Madame! I should like +to take you with me!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> + +<p>A great flash of the colors of the spectrum sent Parker reeling back. +Dr. Friedrich von Stein had gone the way of the crumpled ball of +paper.</p> + +<p>There was a long moment of silence. Then Allen Parker found his wife +in his arms, clinging to him.</p> + +<p>"'Are not two prayers a perfect strength?'" she murmured, sobbing +against his heart.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>A HUNDRED MILES UNDERGROUND</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div> +<p>cientists bidding their families good-by in the morning to drop fifty +or a hundred miles underground in high speed elevators, there to +undertake researches not possible nearer to the earth's surface, may +be realities of the next decade or two if some wealthy individual or +institution accepts the recommendation of Dr. Harlow Shapley, +distinguished astronomer of Harvard, in a talk recently before the +American Geographical Society.</p> + +<p>The earth's interior, Dr. Shapley said, is the "third dimension" of +geography. Exploration of the planet's surface soon must cease from +lack of places to explore. Even the upper air is coming to be +reasonably well known scientifically, thanks to instruments sent up +with balloons and to the radio and other investigators who have been +uncovering secrets of upper-air electricity. But the interior of the +earth is still one of the great mysteries. It is a paradox of +astronomy that much more is known about the center of the sun or a +star like Sirius than about the center of the earth.</p> + +<p>Deep shafts of bore holes into the earth have been suggested often as +sources of heat for human use. It is doubtful, however, whether such +heat supplies could be obtained. For one thing, the supposed internal +heat of the earth is still nothing but a guess. It may be that the +relatively slight increases of heat found as one goes deeper in +existing mines are due to radioactivity in the rocks instead of to +outward seepage from the internal fires. Another difficulty about +utilizing earth heat is that heat moves so slowly through substances +like rock, as any housewife can prove by trying to fry an egg on a +brick placed over a gas flame. As soon as the rock heat immediately at +the bottom of a bore hole had been exhausted heat supply would stop +until more could diffuse in from the sides.</p> + +<p>Dr. Shapley's suggestion, in any event, is not to search for heat but +for facts. Even in existing, relatively shallow mines, he believes, +scientific laboratories at different depths under the surface might +yield valuable data not now obtainable. Most scientific men will +agree. Revolutionary as the idea may seem to those familiar only with +the standardized laboratories of physics or chemistry, there are sound +reasons why a half-dozen or so of the sciences should do precisely +what Dr. Shapley suggests.</p> + +<p>At least one underground laboratory has already been installed, for +Prof. E. B. Babcock of the University of California has such a +workroom in the Twin Peaks Tunnel, underneath the mountain that rises +above the city of San Francisco. Natural radioactivity in the rocks +thereabouts is greater than normal and Prof. Babcock finds that this +apparently increases new species among fruit flies.</p> + +<p>To dig out laboratory rooms a mile or so down in existing deep mines +probably would cost far less than many enterprises already financed by +philanthropists. Even to deepen these shafts for several miles would +be much less difficult than most people imagine.</p> + +<p>Increasing heat, if it is found that heat does increase, would not be +difficult to overcome had the engineers sufficient money. Ventilation +and transportation to and from the surface, while too costly for the +business enterprise of winning metals from very deep mines, probably +would present no serious difficulty were facts the chief object +instead of profit. The only question to be decided before intending +benefactors of science are urged to consider some such project is +whether or not the facts likely to be won promise enough value to +mankind.</p> + +<p>An excellent case can be made out for answering yes. Dr. Shapley +mentioned four chief lines of investigation suitable for such +deep-mine laboratories: studies of gravity and of the variable length +of the day, researches on the various kinds of earthquake waves, +experiments on ether drift and tests of the biological effects of +cosmic rays and of the rays from radium.</p> + +<p>Astronomical theories indicate that the day ought to be growing +slightly longer as the earth's rotation decreases a trifle from +century to century because of friction from the tides. The actual +length of the days seems, however, sometimes to be decreasing a tiny +fraction of a second from year to year, as theory says that it should; +sometimes to be increasing in a way for which no present theory +provides. Observations underneath the earth, with a portion of the +planet's crust and gravity overhead, might yield important clues to +the cause of this mysterious wrong time kept by the terrestrial +clock.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_008.jpg" width="600" height="345" alt="They were almost upon him when he leaped into +action." /> +<span class="caption">They were almost upon him when he leaped into +action.</span> +</div> +<h2><a name="The_Gray_Plague" id="The_Gray_Plague"></a>The Gray Plague</h2> + +<h3><i>By L. A. Eshbach</i></h3> +<h4>CHAPTER I</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div> +<p>ive months before the beginning of that period of madness, that time +of chaos and death that became known as the Gray Plague, the first of +the strange meteors fell to Earth. It landed a few miles west of El +Paso, Texas, on the morning of March 11th.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maimed and captive, in the depths of an interplanetary +meteor-craft, lay the only possible savior of plague-ridden Earth.</div> + +<p>In a few hours a great throng of people gathered around the dully +smoldering mass of fire-pitted rock, the upper half of which protruded +from the Earth where it had buried itself, like a huge, roughly +outlined hemisphere. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> then, when the crowd had assumed its +greatest proportions, the meteor, with a mighty, Earth-shaking roar, +exploded.</p> + +<p>A vast flood of radiance, more brilliant than the light of the sun, +lit up the sky for miles around. One moment, a throng of curious +people, a number of scientists, newspaper men—a crashing +explosion—and then a great, yawning pit sending forth a blinding +radiance! Destruction and death where life had been.</p> + +<p>The brilliant light streamed from the pit for about ten minutes; then +like a snuffed-out candle flame, it vanished.</p> + +<p>The second of the strange meteors landed on the evening of March 13th, +in the city of Peking, China. It demolished several buildings, and +buried itself beneath the ruins. The Chinese, unaware of the tragedy +at El Paso, gathered in the vicinity, and when the meteor exploded at +about ten o'clock that night, were instantly destroyed. As in Texas, +the great pit emitted a cloud of dazzling light for about ten minutes, +throwing a brilliant glow over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> the city and its surroundings; then +was extinguished.</p> + +<p>The people of the world awoke to the fact that events worthy of more +than passing interest were occurring. The press of every nation begin +giving the strange meteors more and more publicity. Statements of +different pseudo-scientists were published in explanation of the +meteor's origin, statements that aroused world wide conjecture.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>pproximately twenty-four hours after the falling of the second +missile, the third one fell, landing near Madrid, Spain. The +Spaniards, having received news of the El Paso and Peking tragedies, +avoided the ugly mass of rock as though it were a dreaded pestilence. +In every way its action was similar to that of its two predecessors.</p> + +<p>The interest of the world was doubled now. The unusual similarity of +the action of the meteors, and the regularity of their landings, +seemed indicative of a definite, hostile purpose behind it all. A +menace from the unknown—a peril from the skies!</p> + +<p>Scientists began giving serious consideration to the unusual +phenomenon, pottering around in the pits, wearing airs of puzzlement. +But their investigations were of no avail, for nothing of any great +significance came to light through their efforts.</p> + +<p>At about that time, an announcement was made that created a furor. +Astronomers in different parts of the United States reported that they +had observed a bright flare of light leaping up from the darkened +portion of the planet Venus. The astronomers had no definite idea of +anything of importance in back of what they had seen; but not so the +masses. The flare, they said, was caused by the release of another +meteor!</p> + +<p>From Venus! Missiles, hurled by Venerians, menacing the Earth! The +silver planet became the subject of universal discussion; innumerable +fantastic articles about it appeared in magazine sections of Sunday +newspapers. And the astronomers of Earth turned their telescopes +toward Venus with an interest they had never felt before.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div><p>our days of expectant waiting passed by after the third meteor had +fallen, while interest continued mounting at an accelerating pace. And +then, at about two o'clock in the morning of the 18th, three great +observatories, two in North America and one in England, recorded the +falling of an extraordinarily large and unusually brilliant meteor +that glowed with an intense, bluish-white light as it entered the +Earth's atmosphere. And, unlike most meteors, this one was not +consumed by its intense heat, but continued gleaming brilliantly until +it vanished below the horizon. Simultaneous with the falling of the +meteor, the Earth was rocked by one of the worst quakes in history.</p> + +<p>Seismographs in all parts of the world recorded the tremors of the +Earth, each indicating that the disturbance had occurred somewhere +beneath the Atlantic ocean. Evidently the fourth meteor had fallen +into the ocean, for the shaking of the Earth was obviously the result +of the collision. That quakes had not followed the landing of the +first three was due to the fact that they had been far smaller than +the fourth.</p> + +<p>And then, a short time after the earthquake, the worst storm in two +hundred years broke over the Atlantic. Waves, mountain high, piled +themselves upon each other in a wild frenzy; a shrieking wind lashed +the waters into a liquid chaos. Great ocean-liners were tossed about +like tiny chips; an appalling number of smaller ships were lost in +that insane storm.</p> + +<p>Nor was the destruction confined to the sea, for all along the +Atlantic coast of North America and Europe, mighty walls of water +rushed in, and wrecked entire towns and cities.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the storm was of short<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> duration; a few hours after it +began, it subsided.</p> + +<p>For a number of weeks public attention was centered upon the meteors +and storm; but gradually, when nothing further occurred, the fickle +interest of the masses began to wane. A month after the storm, the +strange meteors were no longer mentioned by the press, and +consequently, had passed from the public mind. Only the astronomers +remembered, keeping their telescopes trained on Venus night after +night.</p> + +<p>Four months passed by during which nothing of an unusual nature came +to the attention of the world. But at the end of that time, it +suddenly dawned upon those nations whose shores touched the Atlantic +ocean, that something extraordinary was happening. It was taking place +so insidiously, so quietly, that it had attracted no great attention.</p> + +<p>A series of inexplicable sea disasters had begun. Every ship that had +traveled over a certain, regular steamship route, had disappeared, +leaving no trace. Mysteriously, without warning, they had vanished; +without a single S O S being sent, seven freighters had been lost. The +disappearances had been called to the world's attention by the +shipping companies, alarmed at the gradual loss of their boats.</p> + +<p>Then other mysterious vanishings came to the attention of the world. +Ships in all parts of the Atlantic were being lost. When this fact +became known, trans-Atlantic commerce ceased almost over night. With +the exception of a few privately owned yachts and freighters, the +Atlantic became deserted.</p> + +<p>And finally, a few days after the world became aware of the strange +disappearances on the Atlantic, the Gray Plague introduced itself to +humanity. Attempts were made to repress the facts: but the tragedy of +the freighter, <i>Charleston</i>, in all its ghastliness and horror, became +known in spite of all attempts at secrecy.</p> + +<p>On the morning of August 3rd, the <i>Charleston</i> was found, half buried +in the sand of a beach on the coast of Florida, cast there, evidently, +by a passing storm. The freighter had been one of the first boats to +disappear.</p> + +<p>When the ship's discoverers boarded her, their eyes were greeted by a +sight whose ghastliness filled them with a numbing horror. Indeed, so +terrifying was the spectacle on the <i>Charleston</i>, that the +discoverers, four boys of adolescent age, left in fear-stricken haste. +Nor could they be induced to return to the ship's deck.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_l.jpg" alt="L" width="33" height="50" /></div><p>ater, a group of men from a nearby town boarded the freighter to +investigate the boys' amazing report. In the group was a newspaper +reporter who chanced to be in the vicinity on a minor story. It was +through the reporter's account that the facts became known as quickly +as they did.</p> + +<p>When the men clambered up the side of the <i>Charleston</i> to her deck, +they saw a spectacle the like of which had never before been seen on +Earth. Although they had been prepared for the horror to some extent +by the story of the boys, the sight on the <i>Charleston</i> exceeded their +description to such a degree that, for the moment, the men were +rendered speechless.</p> + +<p>The deck of the <i>Charleston</i> was a shambles—a scene of sudden, +chilling death. All about were strewn gray, lifeless bodies. Death had +overtaken the crew in the midst of their duties, suddenly, without +warning, it seemed. Bodies strewn about—yet nowhere was there sign of +decay! Bodies, lifeless for days, or weeks—yet intact!</p> + +<p>The men were fearfully impressed by the strangely grotesque positions +of the corpses. With a few exceptions, they lay on the deck in +abnormal, twisted masses of gray covered flesh. Somehow, they seemed +flattened, as though they had been soft, jellylike, and had flowed, +had settled, flat against the deck. Some were no more than three +inches thick, and had spread out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> to such an extent that they looked +like fantastic caricatures of human bodies. That unnatural change in +their structure, and the ghastly, dead-gray color of their skins gave +the corpses a horrifying, utterly repulsive appearance that made the +flesh of the men crawl.</p> + +<p>The bodies had a strangely soft aspect, as though they were still +jellylike. One of the men, bolder than the rest, touched a body—and +withdrew his hand in revulsion and surprise. For the ugly mass was +cold, and as hard as bone: the tissues of the flesh seemingly replaced +by a solid, bony substance. Later investigation revealed that all the +dead on the <i>Charleston</i> had assumed a similar, bonelike solidity.</p> + +<p>When the men left the freighter to report the tragedy to the proper +authorities, their faces were blanched, and their nerves badly shaken. +Yet their horror was nothing when compared with what it would have +been, had they known what was to follow.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_r.jpg" alt="R" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>apidly the story of the<i> Charleston</i> spread. By means of the press, +over the radio, even by word of mouth, the story of the horror on the +freighter was given publicity. All over the United States and Canada +it spread, and from thence to the rest of the world. Eagerly was the +story accepted: here, at last, was the explanation of the sea +disasters! And then, more than ever before, was the Atlantic ocean +shunned.</p> + +<p>The bodies of the seamen on the freighter were turned over to +scientists for experimentation and research. It was thought that they +might be able to discover the cause of the Gray Death, and with a +knowledge of its cause, create something with which to free the +Atlantic from its scourge.</p> + +<p>The scientists' investigations only served to mystify the world to a +greater degree. The only thing that came to light was the cause of the +bodies' bonelike rigidity. In some inexplicable way the bones in the +seamen had dissolved, and according to appearances, while the bodies +were plastic, had flattened out. And then, strange and unnatural +though it seemed, the calcium from the dissolved bones had gathered at +the surface of each body, and combining with the flesh and skin, had +formed the hard, bony shell that gave them their ghastly grayness, and +their appearance of petrification. Aside from this, the scientists +learned nothing; the cause of this amazing phenomenon was a complete +mystery to them.</p> + +<p>Slowly, methodically, step by step, the unusual had been taking place. +From the time of the landing of the first strange meteor, up to the +discovery of the <i>Charleston</i>, there had been a gradual increase in +the significance of each succeeding event.</p> + +<p>Then finally came the climax: the Gray Plague itself. All that +preceded it faded into significance before the horror of the dread +pestilence that seized the world with its destroying talons.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p> short time after the discovery of the <i>Charleston</i>, the Plague made +its first appearance on land. Slowly, pitilessly, inexorably, it +began, taking its toll all along the Atlantic coast. From Newfoundland +to Brazil; from the British Isles to Egypt, wherever people lived near +the ocean, thousands were stricken with the dread malady.</p> + +<p>The old and infirm were the most quickly affected; their weakened +bodies could not withstand the ravage of the Plague as could those of +younger people. An old man, walking along a large thoroughfare in +Savannah, Georgia, suddenly uttered a fearful shriek and sank to the +pavement. While the pedestrians watched with bulging eyes, he seemed +to shrink, to flatten, to flow liquidly, turning a ghastly gray. +Within an hour he was as hard as the men of the <i>Charleston</i>. Of all +the millions, perhaps he was the first.</p> + +<p>Others followed in the wake of the first victim, young as well as old; +three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> hours after the death in Savannah, every channel of +communication was choked with news of a constantly increasing number +of casualties. A Boston minister, preaching a funeral sermon, +collapsing beside the coffin; a lineman on a telegraph pole, overcome, +falling—and splashing! A thousand incongruous tragedies shocking +humanity.</p> + +<p>In Europe the action of the Plague was the same as in North America. +Death stalking the sea-coast, destroying thousands; ignorant +fishermen, men of learning, women and children of every age—all were +grist to be ground in the mill of the Gray Plague.</p> + +<p>Before a week had gone by, no one remained alive in the villages, +towns and cities all along the Atlantic. New York, London, all the +large coast cities were deserted by the living, left to the rigid +dead. From the largest metropolis to the smallest hamlet, all became +body-glutted tombs.</p> + +<p>And then, on the morning of October 12th, news was given to the world +that threw mankind into a panic. The Plague was moving inland! Slowly, +yet relentlessly it spread, no longer confining its effect to the +sea-coast, but moving farther and farther inland toward the heart of +the two continents, driving mankind before it. For people fled in +insane terror before the advancing death. Nor was there escape from +the menace—no antidote to counteract, no sanctuary wherein to hide.</p> + +<p>To North and South, to East and West, the pestilence spread, +destroying as it went. Unless there were some miraculous intervention, +the human race would be destroyed!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>fficials of the world were at their wits' end; scientists threw up +their hands in despair. The Plague was an insoluble +puzzle—enigmatical, utterly inexplicable, beyond the knowledge of +Earth.</p> + +<p>Scientists and doctors were brutally slain during that period by +fear-crazed mobs, because of their inability to rescue the world from +the grip of the Plague. Thousands of people died while striving to +escape from the Gray Death, crushed by passing motor vehicles, or +starving in the congested areas. Gone was the boasted civilization of +man—humanity sinking rapidly to the level of the beast; gone, +destroyed in a few weeks!</p> + +<p>And then one day when the end seemed perilously close, there was +ushered into the presence of the remnant of the United States +officials who had gathered in San Francisco, a twisted monstrosity of +a man, fearfully scarred and deformed. He was closeted with them for +two hours. At the end of that time an excited official communicated +with the leader of the American scientists.</p> + +<p>"A cure for the Plague has been discovered!" he cried in joyful tones. +"Man still has a chance!"</p> + +<p>Before an hour had passed by, scientists were in possession of +cultures of germs that would destroy the bacilli of the Gray Death. +The hope of salvation restored some semblance of order; and in a very +short time the development of the germs was going forward as rapidly +as skilled bacteriologists could carry it. Forces of doctors were +marshalled to administer the cure, inoculating all who were untouched +by the Plague.</p> + +<p>At about that time, a small, bronze-colored sphere arose into the air +above San Francisco, and sped eastward with amazing velocity. It +flashed over the United States, over the Atlantic ocean, and over +western Europe, finally landing in the midst of the European hordes. +There its operator, a deformed cripple, left bacteria similar to those +he had given to the United States.</p> + +<p>In a short time Europe, too, was busily engaged in developing the +bacteria, and inoculating her people.</p> + +<p>Many others died before the world was rendered immune, but at last +mankind let its labors cease. The Gray Plague was overcome.</p> + +<p>Then the work of reclaiming the de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>serted areas was begun; then, too, +was started the ghastly task of disposing of the countless, rigid +dead. And finally, a great steamer left New York harbor, and started +across the Atlantic. It was the purpose of the men on board to destroy +utterly the source of the Plague.</p> + +<p>But long before that occurred, humanity had heard the story of Phillip +Parkinson, the man who saved the world—had heard, and had honored the +deliverer of mankind.</p> + +<p>Parkinson's story follows:</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER II</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he steam yacht, Diana, bound for the Azores and points south, was two +days out from Miami when the great meteor fell into the Atlantic. On +the after deck, leaning over the rail, watching the moonlit waters, +stood Phillip Parkinson, owner of the yacht. A bacteriologist of +international fame was Parkinson, on an early vacation to recuperate +from the effects of a strenuous winter of research. Nervous, rather +high-strung, he had been unable to sleep; at about one in the morning +of the 18th of March, he had come up on deck.</p> + +<p>He had stood there for about an hour when suddenly there appeared in +the sky above him, a meteor, a great disc of blue-white incandescence. +It seemed to be rushing straight down toward him; instinctively he +leaped back, as though to avoid the fiery missile.</p> + +<p>As the constantly expanding disc flashed through the hundred miles of +Earth's atmosphere, the ocean, as far as eye could see, became as +light as day. Bathed in that baleful, white glare, Parkinson, +bewildered, dazed, half-blinded, watched the approaching stellar +visitant.</p> + +<p>In a few moments it struck—no more than two miles away. In the last, +bright flare of blue-white light, Parkinson saw a gigantic column of +steam and boiling water leap up from the sea. Then thick, impenetrable +darkness fell—darkness that was intensified by its contrast with the +meteor's blinding light.</p> + +<p>For ten tense, breathless seconds utter silence hung over the sea ... +then, for those on the yacht, the world went mad! A shrill, unearthly +shriek—the sound of the meteor's passage through the atmosphere; an +ear-splitting roar, as of the simultaneous release of the +thunder-drums of ages; a howling demon of wind; a solid wall of +raging, swirling water of immeasurable height—all united in an +indescribable chaos that bewildered those on board the Diana, and that +lifted the yacht and—threw it upon its side!</p> + +<p>When the first rushing mountain of lathering, thundering water crashed +upon the yacht, Parkinson felt himself hurtling through the roaring +air. For a moment he heard the infernal pandemonium of noise ... then +the strangling, irresistible brine closed over his head.</p> + +<p>A blackness deeper than that of the night—and Parkinson knew no +more....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>lowly consciousness returned to the bacteriologist. It came under the +guise of a dull, yet penetrating throbbing coming from beneath the +surface on which he lay. Vaguely he wondered at it; he had not yet +entirely cast off the enshrouding stupor that gripped him.</p> + +<p>Gradually he came into full possession of his faculties—and became +aware of a dull aching throughout his entire body. In his chest it +seemed to be intensified; every breath caused a sharp pang of pain.</p> + +<p>Faltering and uncertain, he arose and peered around. Before, lay the +open sea, calm now, and peaceful. Long, rolling swell swept in and +dashed themselves against the rocks a few feet away. Rocks? For a +moment Parkinson stared at the irregular shore-line in dazed wonder. +Then as his mind cleared, the strangeness of his position flashed upon +him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>Solid earth was under his feet! Although he must be hundreds of miles +from shore, in some way he had drifted upon land. So far as he knew, +there were no islands in that part of the Atlantic; yet his very +position belied the truth. He could not have drifted to the mainland; +the fact that he was alive precluded all possibilities of that, for he +would have drowned in far less time than the latter thought implied.</p> + +<p>He turned and inspected the land upon which he had been cast. A small, +barren island, bleak and inhospitable, and strangely metallic, met his +gaze. The rays of the sun beating down upon it were thrown back with +an uncomfortable intensity; the substance of the island was a +lustrous, copperlike metal. No soil softened the harshness of the +surface; indescribably rugged and pitted was the two hundred-foot +expanse. It reminded Parkinson of a bronze relief-map of the moon.</p> + +<p>For a moment he puzzled over the strangeness of the unnatural island; +then suddenly he realized the truth. This was the meteor! Obviously, +this was the upper side of the great sphere from space, protruding +above the sea.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div><p>ortunate for him that the meteor had not been completely covered by +water, he thought—but was it fortunate? True, he was alive now, +thanks to the tiny island, but how long would he remain alive without +food or water, and without hope of securing either? Unless he would be +picked up by a passing steamer, he would die a far more unpleasant +death than that of drowning. Some miracle had saved him from a watery +grave; it would require another to rescue him from a worse fate.</p> + +<p>Even now he was beginning to feel thirsty. He had no way of +determining how long he had been unconscious, but that it was at least +ten hours, he was certain, for the sun had been at its zenith when he +had awakened. No less than fifteen hours had gone by since +water—other than that of the sea—had passed his lips. And the fact +that it was impossible for him to quench his thirst only served to +render it more acute.</p> + +<p>In order to take his mind from thoughts of his thirst and of the +immediate future, he rapidly circled the island. As he had expected, +it was utterly barren. With shoulders drooping in despair he settled +wearily to a seat on the jagged mass of metal high up on top of the +meteor.</p> + +<p>An expression of sudden interest lit up his face. For a second time he +felt that particular throbbing, that strange pulsing beneath the +surface of the meteor. But now it was far more noticeable than before. +It seemed to be directly below him, and very close to the surface.</p> + +<p>Parkinson could not tell how long he sat there, but from the +appearance of the sun, he thought that at the very shortest, an hour +passed by while he remained on that spot. And during that time, the +throbbing gradually increased until the metal began vibrating under +his feet.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the bacteriologist leaped aside. The vibrating had reached +its height, and the meteor seemed to lurch, to tilt at a sharp angle. +His leap carried him to firm footing again. And then, his thirst and +hopeless position completely forgotten, Parkinson stared in +fascination at the amazing spectacle before him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>n eighteen-foot disc of metal, a perfect circle, seemed to have been +cut out of the top of the meteor. While he watched, it began turning +slowly, ponderously, and started sinking into the meteor. As it sank, +Parkinson fancied that it grew transparent, and gradually vanished +into nothingness—but he wasn't sure.</p> + +<p>A great pit, eighteen feet wide, but far deeper, lay before him in the +very place where, not more than ten minutes before, he had stood. Not +a moment too soon had he leaped.</p> + +<p>Motionless he stood there, waiting in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> tense expectation. What would +happen next, he had not the least idea, but he couldn't prevent his +imagination from running riot.</p> + +<p>He hadn't long to wait before his watching was rewarded. A few minutes +after the pit appeared, he heard a loud, high-pitched whir coming from +the heart of the meteor. As it grew louder, it assumed a higher and +still higher key, finally rising above the range of human ears. And at +that moment the strange vehicle arose to the surface.</p> + +<p>A simple-appearing mechanism was the car, consisting of a twelve-foot +sphere of the same bronze-like metal that made up the meteor, with a +huge wheel, like a bronze cincture, around its middle. It was the +whirling of this great wheel that had caused the high-pitched +whirring. The entire, strange machine was surrounded by a peculiar +green radiance, a radiance that seemed to crackle ominously as the +sphere hovered over the mouth of the pit.</p> + +<p>For a moment the car hung motionless, then it drifted slowly to the +surface of the meteor, landing a few feet away from Parkinson. Hastily +he drew back from the greenly phosphorescent thing—but not before he +had experienced an unpleasant prickling sensation over his entire +body.</p> + +<p>As the bacteriologist drew away, there was a sharp, audible click +within the interior of the sphere; and the green radiance vanished. At +the same moment, three heavy metal supports sprang from equi-distant +points in the sides of the car, and held the sphere in a balanced +position on the rounded top of the meteor.</p> + +<p>There was a soft, grating sound on the opposite side of the car. +Quickly, Parkinson circled it—and stopped short in surprise.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>en were descending from an opening in the side of the sphere! +Parkinson had reasoned that since the meteor had come from the depths +of space, any being in its interior, unnatural as that seemed, would +have assumed a form quite different from the human. Of course, +conditions on Earth could be approximated on another planet. At any +rate, whatever the explanation, the sphere was emitting men!</p> + +<p>They were men—but there was something queer about them. They were +very tall—seven feet or more—and very thin; and their skins were a +delicate, transparent white. They looked rather ghostly in their +tight-fitting white suits. It was not this that made them seem queer, +however: it was an indefinite something, a vague suggestion of +heartless inhumanity, of unearthliness, that was somehow repulsive and +loathsome.</p> + +<p>There were three of them, all very similar in appearance and bearing. +Their surprise at the sight of Parkinson, if anything, was greater +than the start their appearance had given him. He, at least, had +expected to see beings of some sort, while the three had been taken +completely by surprise.</p> + +<p>For a moment they surveyed him with staring, cold-blue eyes. Then +Parkinson extended his hand, and as cordially as he could, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Hello! Welcome to Earth!"</p> + +<p>The visitors from space ignored his advances and continued staring at +him. Their attitude at first was quizzical, speculative, but slowly a +hostile expression crept into their eyes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, with what seemed like common consent, they faced each other, +and conversed in low tones in some unintelligible tongue. For almost a +minute they talked, while Parkinson watched them in growing +apprehension.</p> + +<p>Finally they seemed to have reached some definite conclusion; with one +accord they turned and moved slowly toward the bacteriologist, +something distinctly menacing in their attitudes. The men from the +meteor were tall, but they were thin; Parkinson, too, was large, and +his six-foot length was covered with layers of solid muscle. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> the +three advanced toward him, he doubled his fists, and crouched in +readiness for the expected attack.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were almost upon him when he leaped into action. A crushing left +to his stomach sent the first one to the meteor-top, where he lay +doubled up in pain. But that was the only blow that Parkinson struck; +in a moment he found himself lying prone upon his back, utterly +helpless, his body completely paralyzed. What they had done to him, he +did not know; all that he could remember was two thin bodies twining +themselves around him—a sharp twinge of pain at the base of his +skull; then absolute helplessness.</p> + +<p>One of the tall beings grasped Parkinson about the waist, and with +surprising strength, threw him over his shoulder. The other assisted +his groaning fellow. When the latter had recovered to some extent, the +three ascended the ladder that led into the metal sphere.</p> + +<p>The interior of the strange vehicle, as far as Parkinson could see, +was as simple as its exterior. There was no intricate machinery of any +sort in the square room; probably what machinery there was lay between +the interior and exterior walls of the sphere. As for controls, these +consisted of several hundred little buttons that studded one of the +walls.</p> + +<p>When they entered the vehicle, Parkinson was literally, and none too +gently, dumped upon the floor. The man who had carried him stepped +over to the controls. Like those of a skilled typist, his long, thin +fingers darted over the buttons. In a moment the sphere was in motion.</p> + +<p>There were no more thrills for Parkinson in that ride than he would +have derived from a similar ride in an elevator. They sank very slowly +for some minutes, it seemed to him; then they stopped with a barely +noticeable jar.</p> + +<p>The door of the car was thrust aside by one of the three, and +Parkinson was borne from the sphere. A bright, coppery light flooded +the interior of the meteor, seeming to radiate from its walls. In his +helpless state, and in the awkward position in which he was carried, +with his head close to the floor, he could see little of the room +through which they passed, in spite of the light. Later, however, he +learned that it was circular in shape, and about twice the diameter of +the cylindrical tube that led into it. The wall that bound this +chamber was broken at regular intervals by tall, narrow, doorways, +each leading into a different room.</p> + +<p>Parkinson was carried into one of these, and was placed in a +high-backed metal chair. After he had been strapped fast, one of the +men placed his hands at the base of the bacteriologist's skull; he +felt a sudden twinge of pain; and his strange paralysis left him +suddenly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e knew it was useless to struggle; without resisting, he let them +place upon his head a cap-like device that seemed lost in a tangled +maze of machinery. Each meteor-man grasped one of the instruments +resembling old-time radio head-phones that were fastened to +Parkinson's head-gear, and clamped it over his ears.</p> + +<p>The bacteriologist heard a steady, humming drone, like a swarm of +angry bees—felt a peculiar, soothing warmth about his head; and then +he slept.</p> + +<p>Only a moment or two seemed to have passed when he awoke. The strange +device on his head was removed and put away; and then, to Parkinson's +amazement, one of the three men, evidently the leader, spoke—in +English!</p> + +<p>"Now that you have recovered consciousness," he remarked in a cold, +expressionless voice, "you had better realize at the very beginning +that you are completely in our power. Any effort to escape will be +futile, for there is only one way to reach the outside; the opening +through the top; and only one means of travel through that opening: +the sphere. And since you know nothing about the operation of the +machine, any attempt to run it would be disastrous to you.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you promise to refrain from violence, we'll release you, and give +you some measure of freedom. We'll do this because you can be of +assistance to us in one of our tasks here on your planet."</p> + +<p>Parkinson assented readily; he knew he could gain nothing by rejecting +their offer. "Of course I'll promise. But—but, how did you learn +English?" he asked in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"You taught us," the leader replied. "That device we placed upon your +head created a duplicate of your knowledge in our minds. We knew your +language, your world, indeed, yourself, as well as you do."</p> + +<p>Parkinson shook his head in amazement. Another question came to his +mind as the men released him. He was interrupted before he could give +it expression.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_d1.jpg" alt="D" width="59" height="59" /></div> +<p>on't ask," the leader exclaimed. "I'll tell our entire story so that +you'll have no occasion to annoy us with your questions.</p> + +<p>"We're Venerians," he began, "inhabitants of the planet you call +Venus. For ages our world has been overcrowded. A short time ago, the +conditions became so acute that something had to be done. It was +suggested that we seek another habitable planet to which our people +could migrate.</p> + +<p>"Your Earth was thought to be the world with physical conditions most +closely resembling those of Acor, or Venus. Our scientists set to work +immediately, using forces and devices with which you are totally +unfamiliar, and constructed several missiles which they hurled at +Earth. These missiles, spherical masses closely resembling meteors, +were set to explode after a certain period of contact with an +atmosphere similar to our own. By their explosion we on Venus could +determine whether or not this world had a breathable atmosphere.</p> + +<p>"Upon our deciding that the Earth was habitable, we built this great +machine. It is chiefly composed of our greatest heat-resister, a +metal we call thoque; I see no corresponding word in your vocabulary; +evidently you are unfamiliar with the element, or else it is unknown +on Earth.</p> + +<p>"After our flight through space, automatically controlled, by the way, +on Venus, we landed here. With our thoque disintegrator, we bored a +passageway to the surface of this great sphere. Then we entered the +car, rose to the top of the passageway, and discovered you.</p> + +<p>"That is a brief synopsis of our actions—and it must suffice! Ask no +questions; we do not wish to be disturbed by the blind gropings of +your primitive mind!"</p> + +<p>There was a cold finality in the Venerian's voice that convinced +Parkinson that for the moment, at least, he had better forget the many +questions that had surged up in his mind.</p> + +<p>The Venerian leader spoke again. "From our observations of your mind, +we know that you have not had food or water for a rather lengthy +period of time. It is not our purpose to starve you: you shall eat and +drink."</p> + +<p>A minute later Parkinson sat at a very high table in one of the rooms, +drinking water from Venus, and eating the fare of an alien world.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>ays passed by, merging into weeks, while Parkinson lost all track of +time. The bacteriologist's existence became a ceaseless round of toil. +The Venerian had said that he would be given some measure of freedom, +because he would be of use to them; he had not been with them long ere +he learned what that use was.</p> + +<p>One of the rooms was filled with great slabs of thoque; it was +Parkinson's task to carry the slabs to the vehicle at the base of the +shaft, one by one; to rise to the surface with them, accompanied by +two of the men—the third was working on the surface—and there unload +them. Day after day this continued.</p> + +<p>Hope of escaping was almost dead in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> Parkinson's breast, because he +was constantly under the surveillance of those hard, blue eyes. Only +one thing kept hope alive: by watching the Venerians operate the car, +he was slowly gaining a knowledge of the meaning of the many buttons +in the wall. Some day, if an opportunity came, he meant to be ready to +take advantage of it.</p> + +<p>Once, shortly after his monotonous toil began, Parkinson experienced a +great flare of hope for deliverance. They had just brought another +slab to the surface, when a steamer appeared above the horizon. It was +far away, but its crew must surely have seen the island.</p> + +<p>But his expectations were short-lived. One of the three drew from +beneath his tight-fitting, white garments a little, metal object, a +long tube, with a handle at one end, and pointed it at the vessel. For +a moment he held it thus, moving it slowly backward and forward: then +he returned it to its place of concealment, and turned away with an +air of indifference. And Parkinson saw the ship burst suddenly into +flame, a few minutes later to sink beneath the waves.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>haken to the depths of his being, Parkinson resumed his work. The +inhumanity of these saturnine Venerians filled him with a dread so +great that he refused to admit it to himself. That that had not been +the first time that they had destroyed a ship, he felt sure; his heart +sank, and grew more hopeless.</p> + +<p>At last his task of carrying slabs was finished. The room was empty, +and the work completed. A great tower, entirely covering the island, +reared its head into the sky. In appearance, it resembled a very tall +lighthouse. This resemblance held true only until its top was reached; +there it ended. From the tower's top extended four long, hollow arms, +so constructed that they whirled about the tower at a mad pace when +the machinery with which they were connected was started. In addition, +arrangement was made for a powerful blast of air to be sent through +the tubes when the Venerians so desired.</p> + +<p>What the purpose of this great edifice was, Parkinson could not guess: +later, he learned the horrible significance of it all.</p> + +<p>After the tower was finished, the bacteriologist was left to his own +devices to a great extent, though always closely watched by one of his +captors. They let him eat all the food he desired, and let him lie +around as much as he wished, regaining his health and strength. This +was a pleasant surprise for him: he took full advantage of his +privileges.</p> + +<p>Then, one day when Parkinson had fully recovered from the effects of +his grueling labors, the leader of the Venerians approached him from +behind, and before he could raise a hand in defense, had rendered him +helplessly paralyzed.</p> + +<p>"You will now be given a second opportunity to help the cause of Venus +on Earth," he said in his expressionless voice. And so saying, he +lifted Parkinson, and bore him into one of the rooms.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER III</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>t no time while he was held captive by the Venerians was Parkinson as +hopeless, or as completely filled with despair as when he was carried +into this room. There was something depressing about the chamber, +something that gripped his heart with the chill hand of dread. He had +a feeling of impending evil.</p> + +<p>The few momentary glimpses of the chamber that he had gotten while he +was being carried, sufficed to convince Parkinson that this was a +laboratory, or—he shuddered at the thought—an operating room. The +walls, floor and ceiling were composed of a white porcelainlike +substance: from these walls, strangely, streamed the same coppery +light that filled the entire meteor.</p> + +<p>Entirely concealing one wall was a long, glass case, constructed to +form countless little niches, each of which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> held a small, transparent +vessel. At the back of the room was a high table, covered with +transparent cases which were filled with complex instruments of every +description, some similar to those on Earth; others entirely +different.</p> + +<p>The thing that brought the thought of an operating room to Parkinson's +mind was the long, white slab that rested on metal uprights in the +room's center—an operating table. A moment after they entered the +room, he had his theory substantiated: the Venerian leader placed him +on the white slab, stretching him to full length. It was an operating +table—and he was to be the subject of their operation!</p> + +<p>He had lain there but a moment when two of the Venerians approached, +one on either side, and began removing his clothing. It was not long +before he lay on the cold slab, entirely nude.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>hile he was being stripped, he heard the leader of the Venerians +moving about, heard the click of glass, the rasp of metal upon metal. +But, unable to move his eyes, he had seen none of his activities, +except to note that several of the little vessels had been taken from +their resting places.</p> + +<p>When the two had finished disrobing him, and had replaced him upon his +back, the leader appeared. He looked down at Parkinson, a queer +expression in his hard, blue eyes. He seemed to hesitate a moment: +then he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Earthling," he said in his toneless voice, "I have decided to tell +you of our intentions. You are going to play a very important part in +our scheme, and it is only fitting that you should know. You can do +nothing to hinder our plans: you are giving us incalculable aid: and +it affords me some degree of satisfaction to tell you this.</p> + +<p>"As you know, Earthling, we purpose to have the people of Acor to come +to Earth to live, to relieve the congested conditions of our own +world. Obviously, there is no room for two types of intelligent +beings on one planet—your race must go! It is our intention to +destroy all human life on Earth!</p> + +<p>"We intend accomplishing this with Venerian microbes. From the record +of your knowledge, I've learned that diseases of various kinds are +common on Earth. We expected that such would be the case, and thus, +you would not be immune to germs, so we came prepared. Each of the +small compartments in that case that you may have seen, contains a +culture of a different germ. After we have determined which Venerian +bacilli will be the most effective, we will develop them in great +quantities, and loose them upon your world.</p> + +<p>"In the selecting process, you will play your part. Since our germs +may have a different effect upon your bodies than they do upon +Venerians, we will inoculate you with different diseases, and watch +their effects upon you.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you yourself will be in no great danger, for we will have +the diseases under our constant control. On Acor we have abolished +disease entirely, having a reagent or an antitoxin for every malady; +we will use our cures upon you immediately after we have seen how you +react to each disease.</p> + +<p>"What we desire is a bacillus that will take effect when it is +breathed in through the lungs. If the disease is of such a nature as +to instill fear in the minds of observers, so much the better; but +that is unnecessary. When we discover a microbe of that nature, we +will be ready to act.</p> + +<p>"By the way, our work has been lessened to a great degree by the fact +that you are a bacteriologist. The knowledge we gain from you has +enabled us to eliminate at least half of our microbes. All Venerian +germs that are duplicated on Earth will be left out of our +calculations. Only those unknown to your planet will be tried upon +you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>hen the Venerian had finished his explanation, each word of which had +sounded like a death knell to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> Parkinson, the bacteriologist lay on +the slab in the grip of a nightmare of horror. The cold-blooded +brutality of these Venerian beasts, and the thought of lying there +helpless with his body the prey of unknown diseases, filled him with a +maddening fear and dread.</p> + +<p>Mightily he struggled to break the uncanny bonds that held him +paralyzed, but it was of no avail. His body retained its helpless +rigidity.</p> + +<p>Only for a moment was Parkinson left to his fearful musings; then the +Venerians begin their work. A tall table on wheels was brought from +somewhere, and drawn to the side of the slab. Upon this various +instruments were placed, side by side with numerous flat vessels +containing germ cultures. Parkinson saw none of this, but from the +sounds that came to his ears he could infer what was taking place.</p> + +<p>Finally, everything seemed to be in readiness. The Venerian leader +bent over Parkinson for a moment: and the latter felt a sharp pain in +his side. Then the Venerian withdrew.</p> + +<p>Slowly, interminably, the time dragged by while the microbes that had +been introduced into his body were at their work. How long he lay +there with the Venerians watching, he could not tell, but it seemed to +be hours. During that time he felt himself gripped by an increasingly +violent fever. Unbearable heat flooded his body. And because of his +helplessness, he could do nothing to relieve his pain and discomfort. +It was maddening!</p> + +<p>When he thought he had reached the limit of his endurance, and felt +that he would go insane in another moment, the Venerian leader +injected something into his side. He became aware of an immediate +sense of relief; in an unbelievably short time the fever had left him +and he was himself again.</p> + +<p>There followed for Parkinson hours of nightmare agony, while the +Venerians experimented with his living body. Time after time he was +inoculated with strange bacilli that wracked him with tortures +indescribable. Hideous diseases covered him with festering sores; +twisted his flesh into a repellent mass of scars; left him weakened +and deformed. Had it not been for the incredible curative powers of +the Venerians, he would have died then; but always, when the end +seemed at hand, they brought him back to life, only to subject him to +other horrors.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>fter what seemed countless ages, the Venerians left him alone. Under +the powerful effects of their cures, Parkinson began to recover. Hope +welled up in his heart; perhaps the terrible experiments were ended.</p> + +<p>When he was almost certain that the torture was over, his hopes were +suddenly destroyed. The three Venerians approached again, each bearing +a number of vessels containing germ cultures. These they placed on the +table at Parkinson's side; then two of them withdrew, leaving the +leader to continue his work. Uttering a few words in the Venerian +tongue, he occupied himself with something on the table, and a moment +later turned toward the bacteriologist, a long needle in his hands.</p> + +<p>Parkinson felt a great burning pain in his left arm, as though a +searing, hot needle had been thrust into his flesh. In a moment this +vanished. Then a feeling of irresistible lassitude overwhelmed him; an +unbearable weariness filled him with longing for rest, peace—death. +This, too, was of short duration.</p> + +<p>With the passing of the weariness, Parkinson became aware of a sharp +throbbing in his arm. Rapidly this increased in violence, until +suddenly an unbearable, excruciating agony seized him. Far greater was +this than any pain he had suffered before. For a moment he struggled +to scream, to move, to do anything to relieve his agony. There seemed +to be a sudden snap—a cry of anguish burst from his lips—and his +senses left him. Just as the bonds of paralysis had broken, he had +lost consciousness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>Life returned to Parkinson very slowly. In a daze he stared around, +uncomprehending. Then suddenly he realized that he was no longer +paralyzed: nor was he in the operating room. The bed on which he lay +was soft, comfortable; the room, unfamiliar. But not for long did his +mind dwell upon this; in a few moments his eyelids closed, and he +slept the sleep of complete mental and physical exhaustion.</p> + +<p>Daring the weeks that followed, Parkinson did little other than sleep. +Occasionally he arose, either to stretch himself, or to secure food, +but for the greater part of the time he remained in bed. His body was +a mere shadow of its former self as the result of his terrible +experience on the white slab: his incessant sleeping, necessary +because of his weakened condition, served to bring him back to his +former health. The Venerians seemed glad to have it thus: asleep, he +did not disturb their activities.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>hen he had awakened from his first period of natural slumber, he had +received a terrible shock. His left arm was gone, amputated at the +shoulder. Strangely, the wound had healed while he slept, probably the +result of the Venerian doctoring, so there was no pain: but the shock +had been terrible.</p> + +<p>After he had recovered from the effects of that shock, he had resolved +to make the Venerians pay for what they had done. And then he had +realized that the inhuman brutes must be destroyed for a greater +reason: unless he interfered, he believed that they would carry out +their intention of destroying all human life.</p> + +<p>As the weeks passed by, while strength was returning to Parkinson, he +learned in a general way what the invaders were doing. They were +engaged in developing vast quantities of microbes to be spread over +Earth. When these were ready, a great amount of fine dust that the +Venerians had brought with them, was impregnated with the bacilli. +This was then taken up into the tower, where, as Parkinson learned +later, it was blown out through the four tubes that spun around the +tower's top, to drift through the air—to enter human bodies—to +destroy life.</p> + +<p>The Venerians worked with the cultures and impregnated dust without +protection of any sort: evidently they were immune to the disease. +Later Parkinson learned that he was likewise immune; they had rendered +him so after trying the germs upon him.</p> + +<p>Gradually the bacteriologist's health returned—so gradually that his +captors seemed not to notice it. He was glad of this, for their +vigilance had relaxed, and he did not want it renewed. Even when he +was as strong and well as ever, he spent much time in bed, shamming +illness. And when he could do so without danger of detection, he kept +a close watch upon the three, waiting for a time when he would be +entirely alone.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>t last his opportunity came. The three Venerians rose to the surface +together, leaving him in his room, to all outward appearances, asleep. +But sleep was far from him at that moment; he had been watching.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the sphere had vanished up the shaft, Parkinson emerged +from his room. For a moment he surveyed the circle of doors: then he +shrugged his shoulders. They all looked alike to him. Quickly he +crossed the room, and pressed a button that mechanically opened a +door. It was his purpose, first of all, to secure a weapon; one room +would do as well as another for a beginning.</p> + +<p>At first glance Parkinson was struck by the strange familiarity of +this chamber: then, after a moment, he recognized it. A tall, +high-backed metal chair in its center was its mark of identification. +This was the chamber wherein the Venerians had transferred a record of +his knowledge to their minds.</p> + +<p>Carefully he looked around in search<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> of a weapon, but the room held +nothing but the chair and the thought transference device. In a moment +he withdrew, closing the door behind him.</p> + +<p>In the next room he entered, he was fortunate. This chamber was filled +with strange devices of various kinds. While curiously inspecting the +intricate machines, he saw something that brought a smile of +satisfaction to his lips.</p> + +<p>Against one wall stood a tall, glass case, one of the shelves of which +held several metal devices that Parkinson immediately recognized as +being the Venerians' weapons. Poignantly he remembered how a similar +device had destroyed a ship.</p> + +<p>Leaving the door slightly ajar, he crossed to the case and secured one +of the weapons. For a moment he studied it. There was nothing complex +about the mechanism; a cursory examination sufficed to reveal how it +was operated. Pressure on a little knob at the back of the handle +released the devastating ray.</p> + +<p>He was about to slip the device into his pocket when he stiffened +involuntarily. There was a sound of movement outside the room—he +heard a step on the metal floor—then he whirled.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>ne of the Venerians stood in the doorway, a menacing frown on his +face. He was crouching, ready to spring upon Parkinson.</p> + +<p>Quick as thought, the bacteriologist leveled his newly-acquired +weapon, and pressed on the knob. There was a sudden spurt of flame +from the Venerian's body; then it crumpled, sagging, shrinking +together.</p> + +<p>Hastily Parkinson released the pressure on the little knob, aghast at +the destructive power of his little weapon. Then, as he remembered the +torture he had endured at their hands, he directed the ray upon the +ashes, until they, too, were consumed, leaving naught but a dark patch +on the floor.</p> + +<p>For several minutes Parkinson stood there in deep thought. There was +no immediate danger from the two remaining Venerians, for they were +up in the tower, while the sphere was in the meteor; so he could think +with utmost safety. Deep thought and careful planning were necessary +now, for he had taken the step that must mean either his death or the +death of the Venerians.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he leaped into action; he had decided upon his next move. +Crossing to the case he secured another weapon. He wasn't sure that +they could be effectively discharged without re-loading; handicapped +as he was with one arm gone, he had to be certain of the reliability +of his means of defense. Then he left the room, and crossed to the +huge thoque sphere.</p> + +<p>It was the work of a moment to enter this, and prepare to ascend. This +done, he turned his attention to the numerous knobs on the wall. He +had not seen them for quite a while; it was with difficulty that he +recalled which knobs controlled the car's ascent. At last, hesitantly, +but correctly, he pressed on the knobs, and the sphere rose slowly +toward the surface.</p> + +<p>At the proper moment, Parkinson, brought the vehicle to a halt, and +slid back the door. Furtively he peered around. The Venerians were on +the other side of the tower. Quickly he lowered the ladder and +descended.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>s he stepped to the floor, a sudden cry of dismay fell upon his ears. +One of the Venerians, coming around the car, had discovered him. +Without a moment's hesitation, Parkinson aimed his little weapon, and +pressed upon the knob. Like his fellow, the Venerian fell to the +floor, a heap of charred ashes.</p> + +<p>With the second Venerian destroyed, Parkinson dashed around the +sphere, metal cylinder held in readiness. The leader of the Venerians +was stealing stealthily around the other side of the car, his hand +fumbling beneath his garment.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" Parkinson cried. "Raise your hands above your head—empty!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> A +cylinder clattered to the metal floor as the Venerian's hands moved +skyward.</p> + +<p>"Keep your back turned!" Parkinson snapped as the invader began about. +"I won't hesitate to press on this little knob, at your first hostile +move! I'd thoroughly enjoy burning you to a crisp, so be very +careful."</p> + +<p>While talking, Parkinson had moved slowly toward the man from Venus; +now, almost upon him, he quickly dropped his weapon into a pocket, and +swung a terrible blow at the base of his skull. The Venerian fell to +the floor without a groan, unconscious.</p> + +<p>Parkinson stared at the recumbent figure rather dubiously for a +moment. If only he had his other arm! But it was gone; with an +impatient shake of his head he stooped and raised the senseless +invader.</p> + +<p>It was anything but an easy task for the bacteriologist to carry his +seven-foot burden up the ladder and into the sphere, but finally, he +succeeded in doing so. Then, without delay, he lowered the car into +the meteor again.</p> + +<p>As he bore the Venerian from the vehicle, he tried to decide upon his +next move. Obviously, he had to secure the one surviving invader, so +that he would not be a menace to Parkinson when he revived. And then +the logical thing to do would be, in some way, to secure information +from him as to how to cure the disease that was spreading over the +world.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he logical thing to do, yes—but how? With only one arm, the simple +task of binding the Venerian presented considerable difficulty. How +much more difficult would it be to force anything from him?</p> + +<p>Then the solution of the first problem presented itself to Parkinson. +What was to prevent his strapping this being into the high-backed +chair to which he had been secured some time before? Quickly he +crossed the circular room to the door he had first passed through +while searching for a weapon.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, when the Venerian regained his senses, he was +fastened securely to the tall, metal chair.</p> + +<p>"Well," Parkinson addressed him, "conditions seem to be reversed now, +and you're the underdog. I've nipped your invasion in the bud. All +your elaborate preparations are wasted."</p> + +<p>Something resembling a sneer wreathed the Venerian's thin lips; a +mocking gleam lit his cold, blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"So our efforts have been wasted, have they? I'm afraid I can't agree +with you. Already, enough bacteria have been released to destroy all +life, though it will take longer than we desire. Even though you kill +me, our goal will still be reached. The human race will die!"</p> + +<p>A cloud of gloom fell upon Parkinson. He had expected this; but he had +been hoping that he was wrong.</p> + +<p>"Then there's only one thing for me to do, and that is: I'll have to +force you to tell me how to undo the damage you've done."</p> + +<p>The Venerian smiled mirthlessly. "You have absolutely no chance of +accomplishing that," he said. "We've done our work too well to allow +any interference now.</p> + +<p>"You do not know this, but we have released upon your world the worst +malady ever known to Venus. There is only one remedy; and I'm the only +one who knows it, or who has the means wherewith to accomplish it. And +I certainly won't tell!"</p> + +<p>The worried expression on Parkinson's face increased in intensity. +There was something in the Venerian's voice that convinced him that he +meant what he said.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly his countenance cleared, and a happy smile replaced his +frown.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you won't tell, but I think you will. There are more ways +than one of forcing you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arkinson had hit upon a solution to his problem. The Venerians had +reproduced his knowledge in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> their brains; why wouldn't it be possible +for him to reverse the operation?</p> + +<p>In a moment he secured the thought-transference apparatus from a case +in the rear of the room, and bore it to the chair, and in spite of the +Venerian leader's struggles, placed it upon his head. He put the +head-phones over his own ears, and began fumbling with the controls.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he seemed to strike the right combination. There was a faint, +humming drone in his ears; after a moment this was replaced by a loud +crackling—and the knowledge of the man from Venus was becoming his +own.</p> + +<p>Somewhat dazed, Parkinson shut off the current. His mind was in a +turmoil. He was in possession of knowledge of such an amazing +character that, for the moment he had lost his mental equilibrium. +Indeed, so strange was his new-found knowledge, that he could not +grasp the significance of even half of the facts in his mind.</p> + +<p>But already, he knew how, with animal electricity, they had paralyzed +him; knew what had happened to him on the operating table; knew the +nature of the dread disease that destroyed his arm; the Gray +Plague—and knew the cure!</p> + +<p>A sudden thought arrested this review of his new knowledge. The Gray +Plague! At that very moment incalculable quantities of the deadly +bacilli were being cast into the air. And he was doing nothing about +it!</p> + +<p>He glanced at the Venerian. He was still unconscious, and would remain +so for some minutes to come. And even if he did recover his senses, he +was securely fastened to the chair; Parkinson dashed out of the room, +crossed to the sphere, and passed through the open doorway.</p> + +<p>Without hesitation he manipulated the controls, directed by his +Venerian knowledge. Rapidly the sphere rose to the surface.</p> + +<p>As it came to rest on the floor of the tower, Parkinson sprang from +the car, and headed toward a mass of intricate machinery that filled +fully a quarter of the great building.</p> + +<p>Even this caused him no great concern; he was as familiar with it as +he would have been had he constructed it. For some moments he was busy +with numerous dials and levers; then the release of the germs was +stopped.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arkinson spent several minutes in examining the contents of the +tower, his Earthly mind lost in wonder at the strange things his +Venerian knowledge revealed to him. Then he entered the sphere again, +and sank into the meteor.</p> + +<p>As he moved toward the room that held the Venerian, his mind was busy +with conjectures as to what he would do with his prisoner. It was +necessary for the bacteriologist to reach the mainland as quickly as +possible, and make use of his knowledge of the cure for the Gray +Plague. He didn't want to kill the man; he couldn't free him; yet if +he left him strapped to the chair, he'd surely die of starvation.</p> + +<p>Still undecided, he thrust open the door. With a startled gasp he +stopped short. Somehow the Venerian had freed himself; at that moment +he leaped toward Parkinson.</p> + +<p>Instinctively the bacteriologist flung up his hand in a defensive +attitude. The onrushing Venerian caught Parkinson's out-thrust fist in +the pit of his stomach, and doubled up in pain. While he was thus +defenseless, Parkinson placed a well-directed blow on the side of the +Venerian's jaw, a blow carrying every ounce of his strength.</p> + +<p>So great was the force of the punch, that it lifted the man from Venus +and cast him headlong upon the floor. His head landed with a sickening +thud. Unmoving, he lay where he had fallen.</p> + +<p>Parkinson knelt over him for a moment, then arose. Without question, +the man was dead. The Venerian had solved the bacteriologist's last +problem; he was free to return to the United States with his means of +saving mankind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>rawing the little metal cylinder from his pocket, he burned the body +of the Venerian leader to a heap of ashes, ridding the world of the +last invader. Then he turned and entered the glass-lined operating +room.</p> + +<p>Following the dictates of his Venerian knowledge, he crossed to one of +the walls, and drew therefrom a flat, glass vessel, somewhat like a +petri dish. This contained bacteria that were harmless in themselves, +and were hostile to those of the Gray Plague. These germs, brought +from Venus, were the only cure for the terrible disease.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The work of the English bacteriologist Twort, in 1915, +and the Frenchman, d'Herelle, in 1917, brought to the attention of the +scientific world the fact that many bacteria are subject to attack and +destruction by some unknown active agent with which they are +associated in infected material. This agent, whatever its character, +changed growing germ cultures to a dead, glassy substance. +</p><p> +Twort advanced the thought that the agent might be a living, filtered +virus, although he favored the theory that it was an enzyme derived +from the bacteria themselves. +</p><p> +D'Herelle, on the contrary, believed that this phenomenon was due to a +living, multiplying, ultra-microscopic microbe that destroyed certain +bacteria. +</p><p> +Evidence favoring both theories has come to light, with the result +that, at present, controversy is rife. Up to date, the contention of +neither side has been proved.</p></div> + +<p>Parkinson's adventure was almost at an end. He had not emerged +unscathed, but he had won!</p> + +<p>The details of his further actions need not be recorded. Suffice it to +say that he entered the sphere, carrying his precious, curative germs, +arose to the top of the tower, and passed through a round opening in +its side. His borrowed knowledge revealed that the car possessed +abilities that he had not suspected; with amazing speed he caused it +to flash across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States.</p> + +<p>There he saw the frightful carnage that the Plague had caused, saw the +deserted cities—and was filled with self-reproach because he had not +acted sooner.</p> + +<p>Across the miles and miles of deserted country he sped, following the +fleeing hordes, finally passing over the stragglers and landing in +the heart of the congested areas. After making a few inquiries, he +returned to the sphere, and continued on toward the West. He landed, +finally, outside the city of San Francisco.</p> + +<p>A short time later, twisted, deformed, yet triumphant, he was ushered +into the presence of the United States government as—the man who had +saved the human race.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IV</h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he terrible days of the Gray Plague ended in mystery. Much that had +puzzled the world, Parkinson, with his Venerian knowledge, explained; +but there was one thing, the final, enigmatical act in the strange +drama, that was as much of a mystery to him as it was to the rest of +the world.</p> + +<p>Enigma! Of what significance, of what portent—who could tell?</p> + +<p>When the great vessel from the United States, equipped to destroy the +meteor of the Venetians, neared the great thoque sphere, they came +upon a scene quite different from what they had expected. Parkinson, +who was on the ship, was more surprised than the rest, for he had +definite knowledge of what, in the natural course of events, they +should see. For the others there was nothing so very strange in what +they saw; Parkinson had lied, that was all.</p> + +<p>When the bacteriologist had left the meteor, there had been a high, +bronze-colored tower, a burnished lighthouse, covering its entire top. +It had been there—but now it was gone! Only the jagged, arched +surface of the meteor remained.</p> + +<p>They lowered boats and rowed to the strange island. There they saw +something that filled them—Parkinson especially—with a very definite +uneasiness. The entire top of the meteor was a twisted, fire-blasted +mass of bronze-like metal. Where the tower had been, where the shaft +had led into the remarkable interplanetary vehicle, there was now a +broken expanse of thoque that flashed fire under the rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>Something seemed to have melted, to have fused the tower, until it had +crumpled, and had run, filling the entrance of the meteor. There was +irrefutable evidence to that effect; no one thought otherwise.</p> + +<p>But what agency had done this strange thing?</p> + +<p>Someone suggested that it might have been the work of some prearranged +mechanism. Parkinson shook his head. Had such been the case, his +Venerian knowledge would have told him so.</p> + +<p>Obviously, nothing of Earth had done it, nothing of Earth—then +something of Venus! Inconclusive conjecture, perhaps, but no other +explanation offered itself. Something had sealed the contents of the +meteor from the sight of man, something with a purpose. From Venus? +The thought was logical, to say the least.</p> + +<p>Not for long did they remain there beside the Venerian vehicle; there +was naught for them to do, so they turned about and headed toward the +United States. They bore tidings that were vaguely disturbing, tidings +that none were glad to hear. For, according to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> all indications, +something alien to Earth was still within her confines.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_b.jpg" alt="B" width="42" height="50" /></div><p>ehind it all—the meteors, the Plague, the sealing of the Venerian +vehicle—is one fact of great significance. No longer is man alone in +the universe; no longer is he in isolation! Out of space came a +menace, an intelligence striving to wrest from him his right to rule +over Earth. No longer can man in his smug complacency think of himself +as being secure in his strength. He has been shown the utter folly of +such thinking.</p> + +<p>The menace—the invaders from Venus—came, and were destroyed, their +purposes defeated. Yet—in the vast reaches of space, in worlds of +other dimensions, in the cosmic crucible of life that embodies all +creation, there may be other forms of life, other menaces, hovering +clouds of death, preparing to sweep down upon Earth to snuff out her +life. Who can tell?</p> + +<p>And who may say that man is free from the Venerian danger? The strange +sealing of the meteor implies that the menace is still present. Who +knows but what those inhuman Venerian brutes may even now be planning +some new invasion, may be preparing to renew their attack upon Earth?</p> + +<p>Time alone will tell.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>ROBOT PILOTS FOR AIRCRAFT</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_p.jpg" alt="P" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>erfection of an automatic mechanical piloting mechanism for airplanes +has been achieved after several years of experiment at the royal +aircraft establishment of Farnborough.</p> + +<p>The apparatus has been successfully tried out on various types of +planes—two-seater day bombers, large twin-engine night bombers and +big flying boats. Its use as a second or relief pilot on long distance +flights by Royal Air Force machines is now being considered.</p> + +<p>In every test the robot pilot has steered an accurate course for hours +at a time and over distances up to 400 miles while human members of +the crew have been concerned with other duties.</p> + +<p>The basis of the mechanical pilot is a gyroscope that controls pistons +connected with the rudder and elevators of the plane. These pistons +are actuated by compressed air.</p> + +<p>Once a course is set the robot pilot keeps the machine on that route +and errors of even a fraction of a degree are instantly and +automatically detected and corrected. All the human pilot has to do in +a plane so equipped is to take off and land the machine.</p> + +<p>The Pilot's Assister is the official name of the new English device. +It weighs about 120 pounds.</p> + +<p>Flights have been made with the mechanical pilot in all sorts of +weather. In dense fog and clouds, when a human pilot would have found +it almost impossible to maintain straight or level flight because of +the absence of any visible horizon by which to steer, the mechanical +pilot flew the plane with absolute accuracy. On one test flight the +automatic pilot steered a dead true course from Farnborough in South +England, to Newcastle, 270 miles farther north. The human pilot did +not touch the controls until it was necessary to land the plane at the +destination.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_009.jpg" width="500" height="486" alt="Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket." /> +<span class="caption">Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket.</span> +</div> +<h2><a name="Jetta_of_the_Lowlands" id="Jetta_of_the_Lowlands"></a>Jetta of the Lowlands</h2> + +<h4>Conclusion</h4> +<h3><i>By Ray Cummings</i></h3> + +<h4>CHAPTER XV</h4> +<h4><i>In the Bandit Camp</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he dark cave, with its small spots of tube-light mounted upon movable +tripods, was eery with grotesque swaying shadows. The bandit camp. +Hidden down here in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Lowlands. An +inaccessible retreat, this cave in what once was the ocean floor. Only +a few years ago water had been here, water black and cold and +soundless. Tremendous pressure, with three thousand or more fathoms of +the ocean above it. Fishes had roamed these passages, no doubt. +Strange monsters of the deeps: sightless, or with eyes like +phosphorescent torches.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Black-garbed figures move in ghastly greenness as the +invisible flyer speeds on its business of ransom.</div> + +<p>But the water was gone now. Blue ooze was caked upon the cave floor. +Eroded walls; niches and tiny gullies; crevices and an arching dome +high overhead. A fantastic cave—no one, seeing it as I saw it that +morning at dawn, could have believed it was upon this earth. From +where De Boer had put me—on the flat top of a small, butte-like dome +near the upper end of the sloping cave floor—all the area of this +strange bandit camp was visible to me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>A little tent of parchment was set upon the dome-top.</p> + +<p>"Yours," said De Boer, with a grin. "Make yourself comfortable. +Gutierrez will be your willing servant, until we see about this +ransom. It will have to be one very large, for you are a damn trouble +to me, Grant. And a risk. Food will come shortly. Then you can sleep: +I think you will want it."</p> + +<p>He leaped from the little butte, leaving the taciturn ever-watchful +Gutierrez sitting cross-legged on the ledge near me, with his +projector across his knees.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he cave was irregularly circular, with perhaps, a hundred-feet +diameter and a ceiling fifty feet high. A drift of the fetid, Lowland +air went through it—into a rift at this upper end, and out through +the lower passage entrance which sloped downward thirty feet and +debouched upon a rippled ramp of ooze outside. It was daylight out +there now. From my perch I could see the sullen heavy walls of a +ridge. Mist hung against them, but the early morning sunlight came +down in shafts penetrating the mist and striking the oily surface of a +spread of water left here in the depths of a cauldron.</p> + +<p>De Boer's flyer was outside. We had landed by the shore of the sea, +and the bandits had pushed the vehicle into an arching recess which +seemed as though made to hide it. All this camp was hidden. Arching +crags of the ridge-wall jutted out over the cave entrance. From above, +any passing flyer—even though well below the zero-height—would see +nothing but this black breathing sea, lapping against its eroded, +fantastic shore-line.</p> + +<p>Within the cave, there was only a vague filtering daylight from the +lower entrance, a thin shaft from the rift overhead, and the blue +tube-light, throwing great shadows of the tents and the men against +the black rock walls.</p> + +<p>There seemed perhaps a hundred of the bandits here. A semi-permanent +camp, by its aspect. Grey parchment tents were set up about the floor, +some small, others more elaborate. It seemed as though it were a +huddled little group of buildings in the open air, instead of in a +cave. One tent, just at the foot of my dome, seemed De Boer's personal +room. He went into it after leaving me, and came out to join the main +group of his fellows near the center of the cave where a large +electron stove, and piped water from a nearby subterranean freshet, +and a long table set with glassware and silver, stood these men for +kitchen and eating place.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he treasure had not yet been brought in from the flyer. But, from +what I overheard, it seemed that the radiumized ingots of the +ill-fated Spawn and Perona were to be stored for a year at least, here +in this cave. I could see the strong-room cubby. It was hewn from the +rock of the cave wall, its sealed-grid door-oval set with metal bars.</p> + +<p>I saw also what seemed a small but well-equipped machine shop, in a +recess room at one side of the cave. Men were working in there under +the light of tubes. And there was a niche hollowed out in the wall to +make a room for De Boer's instruments—ether-wave receivers and +transmitters, the aerial receiving wires of which stretched in banks +along the low ceiling.</p> + +<p>There was no activity in there now, except for one man who was +operating what I imagined might be an aerial insulator, guarding the +place from any prying search-vibrations.</p> + +<p>The main cave was a bustle of ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>tivity. The arriving bandits were +greeting their fellows and exchanging news. The men who had been left +here were jubilant at the success of the Chief's latest enterprise. +Bottles were unsealed and they began to prepare the morning meal.</p> + +<p>My presence caused considerable comment. I was a complication at which +most of the men were ill pleased, especially when the arriving bandits +told who I was, and that the patrols of the United States were +doubtless even now trying to find me.</p> + +<p>But De Boer silenced the grumbling with rough words.</p> + +<p>"My business, not yours. But you will take your share of his ransom, +won't you? Have done!"</p> + +<p>And Jetta, she had caused comment also. But when the bottles were well +distributed the grumbling turned to ribald banter which made me +shudder that it should fall upon Jetta's ears. De Boer had kept his +men away from her, shoving them aside when they crowded to see her. +She was in a little tent now, not far from the base of my ledge.</p> + +<p>My meal presently was brought from where most of the bandits now were +roistering at the long table in the center of the cave.</p> + +<p>"Eat," said Gutierrez. "I eat with you, Americano. <i>Madre Mia</i>, when +you are ransomed away from here it will please me! De Boer is fool, +with taking such a chance."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>ith the meal ended, another guard came to take Gutierrez' place and I +was ordered into my tent. The routine of the camp, it seemed, was to +use the daylight hours for the time of sleep. There were lookouts and +guards at the entrance, and a little arsenal of ready weapons stocked +in the passage. The men at the table were still at their meal. It +would end, I did not doubt, by most of them falling into heavy +alcoholic slumber.</p> + +<p>I was tired, poisoned by the need of sleep. I lay on fabric cushions +piled in one corner of my tent. But sleep would not come; my thoughts +ran like a tumbling mountain torrent, and as aimlessly. I hoped that +Jetta was sleeping. De Boer was now at the center table with his men. +Hans was guarding Jetta. He was a phlegmatic, heavy Dutchman, and +seemed decent enough.</p> + +<p>I wondered what Hanley might be doing to rescue me. But as I thought +about it, I could only hope that his patrols would not find us out +here. An attack and most certainly De Boer and his men in their anger +would kill me out of hand. And possibly Jetta also.</p> + +<p>I had not had a word alone with Jetta since that scene in the control +room. When we disembarked, she had stayed close by De Boer. But I knew +that Jetta had fathomed my purpose, that she was working to the same +end. We must find a way of arranging the ransom which would give us an +opportunity to escape.</p> + +<p>I pondered it. And at last an idea came to me, vague in all its +details, as yet. But it seemed feasible, and I thought it would sound +plausible to De Boer. I would watch my chance and explain it to him. +Then I realized how much aid Jetta would be. She would agree with my +plan, and help me convince him. And when the crucial time came, though +I would be a captive, watched by Gutierrez, bound and gagged, +perhaps—Jetta would be at liberty. De Boer and Gutierrez would not be +on their guard with her.</p> + +<p>I drifted off to sleep, working out the details of my plan.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XVI</h4> +<h4><i>Planning The Ransom</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> was awakened by the sound of low voices outside my tent. Jetta's +voice, and De Boer's, and, mingled with them, the babble of the still +hilarious bandits in the center of the cave. But there were only a few +left now; most of them had fallen into heavy slumber. I had been +asleep for several hours, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> figured. The daylight shadows outside the +cave entrance showed that it was at least noon.</p> + +<p>I lay listening to the voices which had awakened me. De Boer was +saying:</p> + +<p>"But why, Jetta, should I bother with your ideas? I know what is best. +This ransom is too dangerous to arrange." His voice sounded calmly +good humored; I could hear in it now more than a trace of alcoholic +influence. He added, "I think we had better kill him and have done. My +men think so, too; already I have caused trouble with them, by +bringing him."</p> + +<p>It jolted me into full wakefulness.</p> + +<p>Jetta's voice: "No! I tell you it can be arranged, Hendrick. I have +been thinking of it, planning it—"</p> + +<p>"Child! Well what? The least I can do is listen; I am no pig-headed +American. Say it out. What would you do to ransom him safely?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were just at the foot of my ledge, in front of De Boer's tent. +Their voices rose so that I could hear them plainly. For all my start +at being awakened to hear my death determined upon, I recall that I +was almost equally startled by Jetta's voice. Her tone, her manner +with De Boer. Whatever opportunities they had had for talking +together, the change in their relationship was remarkable. De Boer was +now flushed with drink, but for all that he had obviously still a firm +grip upon his wits. And I heard Jetta now urging her ideas upon him +with calm confidence. An outward confidence; yet under it there was a +vibrant emotion suppressed within her even tone; a hint of tremulous +fright; a careful calculation of the effect she might be making upon +De Boer. Had he not been intoxicated—with drink and with her—he +might have sensed it. But he did not.</p> + +<p>"Hendrick, it can be done. A big price. Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because if we are trapped and caught, of what use is the price we +might have gotten? Tell me that, wise one?"</p> + +<p>"We will not be trapped. And suppose you kill him—won't they track +you just the same, Hendrick?"</p> + +<p>"No. We would leave his body on some crag where it would be found. The +patrols would more quickly tire of chasing a killer when the damage is +done. They want Grant alive."</p> + +<p>"Then let them have him alive—for a big price. Hendrick, listen—"</p> + +<p>"Well, what?" he demanded again. "What is your plan?"</p> + +<p>"Why—well, Hendrick, like this—"</p> + +<p>She stammered, and I realized that she had no plausible plan. She was +fumbling, groping, urging upon De Boer that I must be ransomed alive. +But she had not good reason for it.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he prompted impatiently.</p> + +<p>"You—can you raise Great New York on the audiphone, Hendrick?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said.</p> + +<p>"Hanley's office?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, no doubt. Chah—that would give him a start, wouldn't it? De +Boer calmly calling him!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e was laughing. I heard what sounded as though he were gulping +another drink. "By damn, Jetta, you are not the timid bird you look. +Call Hanley, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Can it be done and still bar his instruments from locating us?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and bar his television. Believe it, Jetta. I have every device +for hiding. But—call Hanley!"</p> + +<p>"Why not? ... Hendrick, stop!"</p> + +<p>I started. It seemed that he was embracing her; forcing half drunken +caresses upon her.</p> + +<p>I scrambled through my tent doorway, but Gutierrez, who had come back +on guard, at once seized me.</p> + +<p>"<i>Hui</i>—so haste! Back, you."</p> + +<p>The Spaniard spoke softly, and he was grinning. "The chief plays with +woman's words, no? Charming señorita, though she dresses like a boy. +But that is the more charming, eh? Listen to her, Grant."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p> + +<p>He gripped me, and prodded my side with the point of his knife blade. +"Lie down Americano: we will listen."</p> + +<p>Jetta was insisting. "Hendrick, stop!"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> could see them now. They were seated before the opening of De Boer's +tent. A little stove in front of them. Coffee for Jetta, who was +seated cross-legged, pouring it; a bowl of drink for De Boer. And some +baked breadstuff dainties on a platter.</p> + +<p>"Hendrick—"</p> + +<p>She pushed him away as he leaned to embrace her. Although she was +laughing with him, I could only guess at the chill of fear that might +be in her heart.</p> + +<p>"Foolish, Hendrick!"</p> + +<p>"Foolish little bird, Jetta mine."</p> + +<p>"You—it is you who are foolish, Hendrick." She slid from his embrace +and held her brimming coffee cup balanced before her, to ward him off. +"You think I am really clever, so trust me, Hendrick. Oh there is a +great future for us: you say I inspire you; let me! Hendrick De Boer, +Chieftain of the Lowlands! My father would have helped you become +that. You can build a little empire. Hendrick—why not? Father wanted +to make you President of Nareda. Why not build your own Lowland +Empire? We have a hundred men now? Why not gather a thousand? Ten +thousand? An empire!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Ave Maria</i>," from Gutierrez. "This <i>niña</i> thinks big thoughts!"</p> + +<p>De Boer raised his bowl. "An empire—De Boer of the Lowlands! Go on; +you amuse me. We have a nice start, with this treasure."</p> + +<p>"Yes. And the ransom money. But you will take me first to Cape Town, +Hendrick? We can be married there: I am seventeen in a month."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Jetta. Haven't I promised?" There was no convincingness to +me in the way he said it. "Of course. To Cape Town for our marriage."</p> + +<p>"Stop! Hendrick, be serious!" He had reached for her again. "Don't be +a fool, Hendrick."</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said. "I am all serious. What is your plan?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>he was more resourceful this time. She retorted, "This craven Grant, +he fears for his life—but he is very smart, Hendrick. I think he is +scheming every moment how he can be safely ransomed."</p> + +<p>"Hah! No doubt of that!"</p> + +<p>"And he has had experience with Chief Hanley. He knows Hanley's +methods, how Hanley will act. Let us see what Grant says of this."</p> + +<p>She had no plan of her own, but she hoped that by now I had one! And +she was making an opportunity for me to put it before De Boer.</p> + +<p>He said, "There is sense to that, Jetta. If there is any way to fool +Hanley, that craven American has no doubt thought it out."</p> + +<p>She held another drink before him. "Yes. Let us see what he says."</p> + +<p>He drank; and again as they were near together he caressed her.</p> + +<p>"What a schemer you are, little bird. You and I are well matched, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Gutierrez may be watching us!" she warned.</p> + +<p>They suddenly looked up and saw Gutierrez and me.</p> + +<p>"Hah!" Fortunately it struck De Boer into further good humor. "Hah—we +have an audience! Bring down the prisoner, Gutierrez! Let us see if +his wits can get him out of this plight. Come down, Grant!"</p> + +<p>Gutierrez shoved me down the ladder ahead of him. De Boer stood up and +seized me. His great fingers dug into my shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, American! It seems you are not to die. <i>Perhaps</i> not."</p> + +<p>The strength of his fingers was hurting me: he hoped I would wince. +Mine was now an ignominious role, indeed, yet I knew it was best.</p> + +<p>I gasped. "Don't do that: you hurt!"</p> + +<p>He chuckled and cast me loose. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> added, with a show of spirit, "You +are a bullying giant. Just because you are bigger than I am—"</p> + +<p>"Hear that, Jetta? The American finds courage with his coming ransom!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e shoved me to the ground. Gutierrez grinned, and withdrew a trifle. +Jetta avoided meeting my gaze.</p> + +<p>"Have some coffee," De Boer offered. "Alcohol is not good for you. Now +say: have you any suggestions on how I can safely ransom you?"</p> + +<p>It seemed that Jetta was holding her breath with anxiety. But I +answered with an appearance of ready eagerness. "Yes. I have. I can +arrange it with complete safety to you, if you give me a chance."</p> + +<p>"You've got your chance. Speak out."</p> + +<p>"You promise you will return me alive? Not hurt me?"</p> + +<p>"De duvel—yes! You have my promise. But your plan had better be very +good."</p> + +<p>"It is."</p> + +<p>I told it carefully. The details of it grew with my words. Jetta +joined in it. But, most of all, it did indeed sound feasible. "But it +must be done at once," I urged. "The weather is right; to-night it +will be dark; overcast; not much wind. Don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>He sent Gutierrez to the cave's instrument room to read the weather +forecast instruments. My guess was right.</p> + +<p>"To-night then," I said. "If we linger, it only gives Hanley more time +to plan trickery."</p> + +<p>"Let us try and raise him now," Jetta suggested.</p> + +<p>The Dutchman, Hans, had joined us. He too, seemed to think my ideas +were good.</p> + +<p>Except for the guards at the cave entrance, all the other bandits were +far gone in drink. With Hans and Gutierrez, we went to the instrument +room to call Hanley. As we crossed the cave, with Hans and De Boer +walking ahead together, De Boer spoke louder than he realized, and the +words came back to me.</p> + +<p>"Not so bad, Hans? We will use him—but I am not a fool. I'll send him +back dead, not alive! A little knife-thrust, just at the end! Safest +for us, eh, Hans?"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XVII</h4> +<h4><i>Within the Black Sack</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>e left the bandit stronghold just after nightfall that same day. +There were five of us on the X-flyer. Jetta and De Boer, Hans and +Gutierrez and myself. The negotiations with Hanley had come through +satisfactorily; to De Boer, certainly, for he was in a triumphant mood +as they cast off the aero and we rose over the mist-hung depths.</p> + +<p>It was part of my plan, this meager manning of the bandit ship. But it +was mechanically practical: there was only Hans needed at the controls +for this short-time flight: with De Boer plotting his course, working +out his last details—and with Gutierrez to guard me.</p> + +<p>De Boer had been quite willing to take no other men—and most of them +were too far gone in their cups to be of much use. I never have +fathomed De Boer's final purpose. He promised Jetta now that when I +was successfully ransomed he would proceed to Cape Town by comfortable +night flights and marry her. It pleased Gutierrez and Hans, for they +wanted none of their comrades. The treasure was still on the flyer. +The ransom gold would be added to it. I think that De Boer, Gutierrez +and Hans planned never to return to their band. Why, when the treasure +divided so nicely among three, break it up to enrich a hundred?</p> + +<p>I shall never forget Hanley's grim face as we saw it that afternoon on +De Boer's image-grid. My chief sat at his desk with all his location +detec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>tors impotent, listening to my disembodied voice explaining what +I wanted him to do. My humble, earnest, frightened desire to be +ransomed safely at all costs! My plea that he do nothing to try and +trap De Boer!</p> + +<p>It hurt me to appear so craven. But with it all, I knew that Hanley +understood. He could imagine my leering captor standing at my elbow, +prompting my words, dictating my very tone—prodding me with a knife +in the ribs. I tried, by every shade of meaning, to convey to Hanley +that I hoped to escape and save the ransom money. And I think that he +guessed it, though he was wary in the tone he used for De Boer to +hear. He accepted, unhesitatingly, De Boer's proposition: assured us +he would do nothing to assail De Boer; and never once did his grim +face convey a hint of anything but complete acquiescence.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>e had President Markes on the circuit. De Boer, with nothing to lose, +promised to return Jetta with me. In gold coin, sixty thousand U. S. +dollar-standards for me; a third as much from Nareda, for Jetta.</p> + +<p>The details were swiftly arranged. We cut the circuit. I had a last +look at Hanley's face as the image of it faded. He seemed trying to +tell me to do the best I could; that he was powerless, and would do +nothing to jeopardize my life and Jetta's. Everything was ready for +the affair to be consummated at once. The weather was right; there was +time for Hanley and De Boer each comfortably to reach the assigned +meeting place.</p> + +<p>We flew, for the first hour, nearly due west. The meeting place was at +35 deg. N. by 59 deg. W., a few hundred miles east by north of the +fairy-like mountaintop of the Bermudas. Our charts showed the Lowlands +there to run down to what once was measured as nearly three thousand +fathoms—called now eighteen thousand feet below the zero-height. A +broken region, a depth-ridge fairly level, and no Lowland sea, nor +any settlements in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>The time was set at an hour before midnight. No mail, passenger or +freight flyers were scheduled to pass near there at that hour, and, +save for some chance private craft, we would be undisturbed. The +ransom gold was available to Hanley. He had said he would bring it in +his personal Wasp.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he details of the exchange were simple. Hanley, with only one +mechanic, would hover at the zero-height, his Wasp lighted so that we +could see it plainly. The wind drift, according to forecast, would be +southerly. At 11 P.M. Hanley would release from his Wasp a small +helium-gas baloon-car—a ten-foot basket with the supporting gas bag +above it, weighted so that it would slowly descend into the depths, +with a southern drift.</p> + +<p>Our flyer, invisible and soundless, would pick up the baloon-car at +some point in its descent. The gold would be there, in a black casket. +De Boer would take the gold, deposit Jetta and me in the car, and +release it again. And when the balloon finally settled to the rocks +beneath, Hanley could pick it up. No men would be hidden by Hanley in +that basket. De Boer had stipulated that when casting loose the +balloon, its car must be swept by Hanley with a visible electronic +ray. No hidden men could withstand that blast!</p> + +<p>Such was the arrangement with Hanley. I was convinced that he intended +to carry it out to the letter. He would have his own invisible X-flyer +in the neighborhood, no doubt. But it would not interfere with the +safe transfer of Jetta and me.</p> + +<p>That De Boer would carry out his part, Hanley could only trust. He had +said so this afternoon bluntly. And De Boer had laughed and interposed +his voice in our circuit.</p> + +<p>"Government money against these two lives, Hanley! Of course you have +to trust me!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was a flight, for us, of something less than four hours to the +meeting place. Hans was piloting, seated alone in the little cubby +upon the forward wing-base, directly over the control room. De Boer, +with Jetta at his side, worked over his course and watched his +instrument banks. I was, at the start of the flight, lashed in a chair +of the control room, my ankles and wrists tied and Gutierrez guarding +me.</p> + +<p>Jetta did not seem to notice me. She did not look at me, nor I at her. +She pretended interest only in the success of the transfer; in her +father's treasure on board, the coming ransom money, and then a flight +to Cape Town, dividing the treasure only with Hans and Gutierrez; and +in her marriage with De Boer. She said she wanted me returned to +Hanley alive; craven coward that I was, still I did not deserve death. +De Boer had agreed. But I knew that at last, as they tumbled me into +the basket, someone would slip a knife into me!</p> + +<p>I had, as we came on board, just the chance for a few whispered +sentences with Jetta. But they were enough! We both knew what we had +to do. Desperate expedient, indeed! It seemed more desperate now as +the time approached than it had when I planned it.</p> + +<p>The weather at 7 P.M. was heavily overcast. Sultry, breathless, with +solid, wide-flung cloud areas spread low over the zero-height. Night +settled black in the Lowlands. The mists gathered.</p> + +<p>We flew well down—under the minus two thousand-foot level—so that +out of the mists the highest dome peaks often passed close beneath us.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>t 8 P.M. De Boer flung on the mechanism of invisibility. The interior +of the ship faded to its gruesome green darkness. My senses reeled as +the current surged through me. Lashed in my chair, I sat straining my +adjusting eyes, straining my hearing to cope with this gruesome +unreality. And my heart was pounding. Would Jetta and I succeed? Or +was our love—unspoken love, born of a glance and the pressure of our +hands in that moonlit Nareda garden—was our love star-crossed, +foredoomed to tragedy? A few hours, now, would tell us.</p> + +<p>De Boer was taking no chances. He was using his greatest intensity of +power, with every safeguard for complete invisibility and silence. +From where I sat I could make out the black form of Hans through the +ceiling grid, at his pilot controls in the overhead cubby. A queer +glow like an aura was around him. The same green radiance suffused the +control room. It could not penetrate the opened windows of the ship; +could not pass beyond the electro-magnetic field enveloping us. Nor +could the curious hum which permeated the ship's interior get past the +barrage barrier. From outside, I knew, we were invisible and +inaudible.</p> + +<p>Strange unreality, here in the control room! The black-garbed figures +of De Boer and Jetta at their table were unreal, spectral. At the door +oval, which I could barely see, Gutierrez lurked like a shadow. All of +them, and Hans in the cubby above, were garbed in tight-fitting +dead-black suits of silklene fabric. Thin, elastic as sheer silk web, +opaque, lustreless. It covered their feet, legs and bodies; and their +arms and hands like black, silk gloves. Their heads were helmeted with +it. And they had black masks which as yet were flapped up and fastened +to the helmet above their foreheads. Their faces only were exposed, +tinted a ghastly, lurid green by this strange light. It glowed and +glistened like phosphorescence on their eyeballs, making them the eyes +of animals in a hunter's torchlight, at night.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>e Boer moved upon an errand across the control room. He was a burly +black spectre in the skin-tight suit. His footfalls faintly sounded on +the metal floor. They were toneless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> footfalls. Unreal. They might +have been bells, or jangling thuds; they had lost their identity in +this soundless, vibrating hum.</p> + +<p>And he spoke, "We are making good progress, Jetta. We will be on +time."</p> + +<p>Ghastly voice! So devoid of every human timbre, every overtone shade +to give it meaning, that it might have been a man's voice, or a +woman's, the voice of something living, or something dead. Sepulchral. +A stripped shell of voice. Yet to me, inside here with it, it was +perfectly audible.</p> + +<p>And Jetta said, "Yes, Hendrick, that is good."</p> + +<p>A voice like his: no different.</p> + +<p>Gruesome. Weird.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> try now to picture the scene in detail, for out of these strange +conditions Jetta and I were to make our opportunity.</p> + +<p>9 P.M. De Boer was a methodical fellow. He checked his position on the +chart. He signalled the routine orders to Hans. And he gestured to +Gutierrez. The movements and acts of everyone had been definitely +planned. And this, too, Jetta and I had anticipated.</p> + +<p>"Time to make him ready, Gutierrez. Bring the sack in here. I'll +fasten him away."</p> + +<p>I was not garbed like the others. They could move out on the wing +runway under Hanley's eyes at short range, or climb in and out of the +balloon car, and not be visible.</p> + +<p>Gutierrez brought the sack. A dead-black fabric.</p> + +<p>"Shall I cut him loose now from his chair, Commander?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do it."</p> + +<p>De Boer drew a long knife blade, coated black, and thin and sharp as a +half-length rapier. Gutierrez had one of similar fashion. No +electronic weapons were in evidence, probably because the hiss of one +fired would have been too loud for our barrage, and its flash too +bright. But a knife thrust is dark and silent!</p> + +<p>The Spaniard's eyes were gleaming as he approached me with the bag, +as though he were thinking of that silent knife thrust he would give +me at the last.</p> + +<p>Dr. Boer said, "Stand up, Grant." He cut the fastenings that held me +in my chair. But my ankles and wrists remained tied.</p> + +<p>"Stand up, can't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> got unsteadily to my feet. In the blurred green darkness I could see +that Jetta was not looking at me. Gutierrez held the mouth of the sack +open. As though I were an upright log of wood, De Boer lifted me.</p> + +<p>"Pull it up over his feet, Gutierrez."</p> + +<p>The oblong sack was longer than my body. They drew it over me, and +bunched its top over my head. And De Boer laid me none too gently on +the floor.</p> + +<p>"Lie still. Do you get enough air?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>The black fabric was sufficiently porous for me to breathe comfortably +inside the sack.</p> + +<p>"All right, Gutierrez, I have the gag."</p> + +<p>I felt them carrying me from the control room, twenty feet or so along +the corridor, where a door-porte opened to a small balcony runway hung +beneath the forward wing. Jutting from it was a little take-off +platform some six feet by twelve in size. It was here that the +balloon-basket was to be boarded. The casket containing the ransom +gold would be landed here, and the sack containing me placed in the +car and cast loose. It was all within the area of invisibility of our +flyer.</p> + +<p>De Boer knelt over me, and drew back the top of the sack to expose my +face.</p> + +<p>"A little gag for you, Grant, so you will not be tempted to call out."</p> + +<p>"I won't do that."</p> + +<p>"You might. Well, good-by, American."</p> + +<p>"Good-by." And I breathed, "Good-by Jetta." Would I ever see her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +again? Was this the end of everything for us?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e forced the gag into my mouth, tied it, and verified that my ankles +and wrists were securely lashed. In the green radiance he and +Gutierrez were like ghouls prowling over me, and their muffled +toneless voices, tomblike.</p> + +<p>The sack came up over my head.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Grant." I could not tell which one said it. And the other +chuckled.</p> + +<p>I could feel them tying the mouth of the sack above my head. I lay +stiff. Then I heard their steps. Then silence.</p> + +<p>I moved. I might have rolled, but I did not try it. I could raise my +knees within the sack—double up like a folded pocket knife—but that +was all.</p> + +<p>A long, dark silence. It seemed interminable. Was Gutierrez guarding +me here in the corridor? I could not tell; I heard nothing save the +vague hum of the electronite current.</p> + +<p>It had been 9 o'clock. Then I fancied that it must be 10. And then, +perhaps, almost 11. I wondered what the weather outside was like. Soon +we would be nearing the meeting place. Would Hanley be there? Would +Jetta soon, very soon now, be able to do her part? I listened, +horribly tense, with every interval between the thumps of my heart +seeming so long a gap of waiting.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> heard a sound! A toneless, unidentifiable sound. Another like it; a +little sequence of faint sounds. Growing louder. Approaching +footsteps? Jetta's? I prayed so.</p> + +<p>Then a low voice. Two voices. Both the same in quality. But from the +words I could identify them.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Gutierrez."</p> + +<p>"<i>Niña</i>, hello."</p> + +<p>Jetta! She had come!</p> + +<p>"The captive is safe? No trouble?"</p> + +<p>"No. He has not moved."</p> + +<p>"Careful of him, Gutierrez. He is worth a lot of money to us."</p> + +<p>"Well you say it. Señorita. In half an hour now, we will be away. +Santa Maria, when this is over I shall breathe with more comfort!"</p> + +<p>"We'll have no trouble, Gutierrez. We're almost there. In ten minutes +now, or a little more."</p> + +<p>"So soon? What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, after half-past ten. When it's over, Gutierrez, we head for +Cape Town. Clever of me, don't you think, to persuade Hendrick to take +us to Cape Town? Just you three men to divide all this treasure. It +would be foolish to let a hundred others have it."</p> + +<p>"True, <i>Niña</i>; true enough."</p> + +<p>"I insisted upon you and Hans—Gutierrez, what is that?"</p> + +<p>A silence.</p> + +<p>"I heard nothing."</p> + +<p>"A voice, was it?"</p> + +<p>"The Americano?"</p> + +<p>"No! No—the commander calling? Was it? Calling you, Gutierrez? +Perhaps we have sighted Hanley's Wasp. Go! I'll stand here, and come +quickly back."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="43" height="50" /></div><p>ootsteps. Now! Our chance, come at last! I twisted over on my side, +and lay motionless. Ah, if only those were Gutierrez' fading +footfalls! And Jetta, here alone with me in the green darkness! Just +for this one vital moment.</p> + +<p>Fingers were fumbling at the top of my sack, unfastening the cord. +Hands and arms came swiftly in. Fingers ran down my back as I lay on +my side to admit them quickly. Fingers went fumbling at the cords that +lashed my crossed wrists behind me. A knee pressed against me. A +hurried, panting, half sobbing breath close over me—</p> + +<p>Just a hurried moment. The hands withdrew. The sack went back over my +head. The knees, the slight weight against me, was gone. A few seconds +only.</p> + +<p>Footsteps. The voices again.</p> + +<p>"Was it the commander, Gutierrez?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No. I do not know what it was. Nothing, probably."</p> + +<p>"The Wasp in sight?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet, <i>Niña</i>. You had best go back: De Boer, he might be jealous +of us, no? He is busy with his instruments, but should he realize you +are here, talking with me—"</p> + +<p>"Senseless, Gutierrez!"</p> + +<p>"Is it so, <i>Niña</i>? I have no attraction? Go back to him. Gold I want, +not trouble over you!"</p> + +<p>Faint laughter.</p> + +<p>"When we sight the Wasp, I'll call and tell you, Gutierrez. Too bad +you won't let me stay with you. I like you."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But go now!"</p> + +<p>Faint laughter. Footsteps. Then silence.</p> + +<p>Our vital moment had come and passed. And Jetta had done her part; the +role of action upon this dim lurid stage was now mine to play.</p> + +<p>My hands were free.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XVIII</h4> +<h4><i>The Combat in the Green Darkness</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div> +<p>nother interval. A dead, dark silence. I did not dare move. Gutierrez +was here, within a few feet of me, probably. I wondered if he could +see the outlines of the black sack. Doubtless they were very vague. +But if I exposed my flesh, my face, my hands, that would at once +attract his attention.</p> + +<p>I worked the loosened cords from my wrists; moved my stiffened hands +until, with returning blood, the strength came to them. I could not +reach my bound ankles without doubling up my knees. I did not dare +chance such a movement of the sack. But, after a moment, I got my +hands in front of me.</p> + +<p>Then I took the gag from my mouth and, with a cautious hand, pried at +the top of the sack where it was bunched over my head. Its fastening +was loose.</p> + +<p>Another interval. A dim muffled voice; "The Wasp is in sight, +Gutierrez!"</p> + +<p>A movement—a sound like footsteps. Probably Gutierrez moving to the +corridor window to glance at Hanley's distant hovering flyer. I hoped +it might be that: I had to take the chance.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> slid the bag from my face. I feared an abrupt alarm, or Gutierrez +leaping upon me. But there was silence, and I saw his vague dark +outlines at the window oval, five feet from me.</p> + +<p>I got my ankles loose and slid the bag off. I was unsteady on my feet, +but desperation aided me.</p> + +<p>Gutierrez half turned as I gripped him from behind. My hand on his +mouth stifled his outcry. His black knife blade waved blindly. Then my +clenched knuckle caught his temple, and dug with the twisting Santus +blow. I was expert at it, and I found the vulnerable spot.</p> + +<p>He crumpled in my grasp, and I slid his falling body across the narrow +corridor into the nearest cubby oval.</p> + +<p>Almost soundless; and in the control room Jetta and De Boer were +murmuring and gazing at Hanley's ship, which hung ahead and above us +at the zero-height.</p> + +<p>I had planned all my movements. No motion was lost. Gutierrez was +about my height and build. I stripped his black suit from him, donned +it, then tied his ankles and wrists, and gagged him against the time +when he would recover consciousness. Then I stuffed his body in the +sack and tied its top.</p> + +<p>This black suit had a mask, rolled up and fastened to the helmet. I +loosed it, dropping it over my face. Knife in hand, I stood at the +corridor window.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p>t was all black outside. The clouds were black overhead; the highest +Lowland crags, several thousand feet beneath us, were all but blotted +out in the murky darkness. Only one thing was to be seen: a quarter of +a mile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> ahead, now, and a thousand feet higher than our level, the +shining, bird-like outlines of Hanley's hovering little Wasp. It stood +like a painted image of an aero, alone on a dead-black background. Red +and green signal-lights dotted it, and on its stern tip a small, +spreading searchlight bathed the wings and the body with a revealing +silver radiance.</p> + +<p>Our forward flight had been checked, and we, too, were hovering. Hans +doubtless would remain for a time in the pilot cubby; De Boer and +Jetta were in the control room. It was only twenty feet away, but I +could barely see its oval entrance.</p> + +<p>"Gutierrez!"</p> + +<p>One of them was calling. My hollow empty voice echoed back as I softly +responded:</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"Be ready. We are arrived."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Commander. All is well."</p> + +<p>I continued to stand at the window. Hanley's little balloon-car was +visible now. Then he cut it away. We had moved forward in the +interval. The tiny car floated out almost above us.</p> + +<p>My gaze searched the void of darkness outside. Did Hanley have an +invisible flyer out there? Perhaps so. But it could accomplish nothing +as yet. It would not even dare approach, for fear of collision with +us.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he tiny car, with a white pilot light in it, swayed with a slow +descent. The basket beneath the supporting balloon oscillated in a +wide swing, then steadied. A sudden flash showed up there—a flashing +electronic stream, from Hanley's Wasp to the basket. The shot swept +the basket interior. No one could be hidden there and survive.</p> + +<p>It was Hanley's proof to us that he was following instructions.</p> + +<p>"Hah! He obeys properly, Jetta!"</p> + +<p>The voice floated back to me from the control room. Could I creep in +there, surprise De Boer now, and kill him? Doubtless. But it would +alarm Hans. I must await my chance to get them together.</p> + +<p>"Gutierrez! Hans, get us under it! Gutierrez!"</p> + +<p>The vague outline of De Boer came toward me in the corridor, burly +dark blob. His mask was down now. There were points of light, glowing +like faint distant stars, to mark his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Gutierrez."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>A small black figure followed after him. Jetta.</p> + +<p>"Yes, De Boer." I stood over the sack. "I am ready."</p> + +<p>De Boer's giant shape towered beside me. Now! My knife thrust now! But +Hans was coming toward us. He would take alarm before I could reach +him.</p> + +<p>"Open the side porte, Gutierrez. Hurry, the car is here. Hans, you +should have stayed up there!"</p> + +<p>"The drift is calculated; the car is just here."</p> + +<p>We were all swift-moving shadows; disembodied voices.</p> + +<p>"Get that porte open."</p> + +<p>"Yes." I opened it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div><p>e went outside on the runway. I passed close to Jetta, and just for +an instant pressed my gloved fingers on the black fabric of her +arm—and she knew.</p> + +<p>"Now, seize it."</p> + +<p>"Here, Hans, climb up."</p> + +<p>"I have it. Pull it, Gutierrez!"</p> + +<p>The car drifted at us from the black void. We caught it.</p> + +<p>"Hold it, Gutierrez."</p> + +<p>"Hans, clip the balloon. Up with you."</p> + +<p>In the blurred haste, I could not get them together. I did not want to +kill one and have the other leap upon me.</p> + +<p>We fastened the little balloon and dragged the car onto the take-off +platform. The shape of Hans leaped into the car.</p> + +<p>"It is here! The ransom money!"</p> + +<p>"Lift it to me. Heavy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Gutierrez, help me. Hurry! If Hanley tries any trickery—"</p> + +<p>Our aero was drifting downward and southward in the slight wind. +Hanley's Wasp still hovered at the zero-height.</p> + +<p>"In, Gutierrez."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>ans and I hauled out the heavy casket and placed it on the wing +runway. De Boer pried up its lid. The gold was there. I could not tell +where Jetta was; I prayed she would keep away from this.</p> + +<p>Then the shape of De Boer was missing! But in a moment he appeared, +dragging the sack.</p> + +<p>"Lift him, Gutierrez. Hans, unclip the balloon and shove off the car!"</p> + +<p>We were all standing at the two-foot rail of the runway. The +car-basket, floating now, was off side and level with us. My chance!</p> + +<p>"In with him, Gutierrez."</p> + +<p>I shoved the body, encased in its black sack, with Hans helping me. +And suddenly De Boer's knife came down at the sack! A stab. But an +instinct to save the poor wretch within swept me. I struck at De +Boer's arm and deflected the blow. The sack tumbled into the car.</p> + +<p>I had neglected whatever chance had existed. Too late now!</p> + +<p>"What in the hell!"</p> + +<p>De Boer's shape seized me.</p> + +<p>"What—"</p> + +<p>It sent me into a sudden confusion. I flung him off. I stumbled +against the shape of Hans.</p> + +<p>The car was almost loose; drifting away.</p> + +<p>Without thought—a frantic impulse—I pushed Hans over the brink. He +fell into the car. It swayed into an oscillation with the impact. The +balloon sank below our wing level and was gone, with only Hans, +muffled shouts floating up.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>nd De Boer came leaping at me from behind. I whirled around. My +danger was too much for the watching Jetta. She screamed.</p> + +<p>"Philip, look out for him!"</p> + +<p>"Hah! The American. By damn, what is this?"</p> + +<p>It gave De Boer pause. He gripped a wing stay-wire for a second.</p> + +<p>Then he came with a rush.</p> + +<p>The corridor door was open behind me. I flung myself into it—and +collided with a shape.</p> + +<p>"Philip!"</p> + +<p>I shoved at her frantically.</p> + +<p>"Jetta, get back! Away from us!"</p> + +<p>I pulled at her, half falling. De Boer's shape came through the +doorway into the corridor. And was blotted out in the green darkness +as he turned the other way, to avoid me if I struck.</p> + +<p>A silence. The shadow of Jetta was behind me. I stood with poised +knife, listening, straining my eyes through the faint green darkness. +De Boer was here, knife in hand, fallen now into craftly, motionless +silence. He might have been close here down the corridor. Or in any +one of these nearby cubby doorways.</p> + +<p>I slid forward along the wall. The corridor was solid black down its +length: the green radiance seemed brighter at the control room behind +me. Had De Boer gone into this solid blackness, to lure me?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_i.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div> +<p> stopped my advance. Stood again, trying to see or hear something.</p> + +<p>And then I saw him! Two small glowing points of light. Distant stars. +His eyes! Five feet ahead of me? Or ten? Or twenty?</p> + +<p>A rustle. A sound.</p> + +<p>His dark form materialized as he came—a huge, black blob overwhelming +me, his arm and knife blade striking.</p> + +<p>I dropped to the floor-grid, and his blade went over me. And as I +dropped, I struck with an upward thrust. My knife met solidity; sank +into flesh.</p> + +<p>I twisted past him on the floor as he fell. My knife was gone: buried +in him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> + +<p>Words were audible; choking gasps. I could see his form rising, +staggering. The open porte was near him; he swayed through it.</p> + +<p>Did he know he was mortally wounded? I think so. He swayed on the wing +runway, and I slid to the door and stood watching. And was aware of +the shadow of Jetta creeping to join me.</p> + +<p>"Is he—?"</p> + +<p>"Quiet, Jetta."</p> + +<p>He stood under the wing, swaying, gripping a stay. Then his voice +sounded, and it seemed like a laugh.</p> + +<p>"The craven American—wins." He moved a step. "Not to see—me die—"</p> + +<p>He toppled at the rail. "Good-by, Jetta."</p> + +<p>A great huddled shadow. A blob, toppling, falling....</p> + +<p>Far down there now the crags and peaks of the Lowland depths were +visible. The darkness swallowed his whirling body. We could not hear +the impact.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER XIX</h4> +<h4><i>Episode of the Lowlands</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>here is but little remaining for me to record. I could not operate +the mechanism of invisibility of De Boer's X-flyer. But its pilot +controls were simple. With Jetta at my side, trembling now that our +gruesome task was over, we groped our way through the green darkness +and mounted to the pilot cubby. And within ten minutes I had lowered +the ship into the depths, found a landing place upon the dark rocks, +and brought us down.</p> + +<p>Hanley's Wasp had landed: we saw its lights half a mile from us. And +then the lights of another ship—an X-flyer convoying Hanley—slowly +materializing nearby.</p> + +<p>And then reunion. Jetta and I left De Boer's invisible vessel and +clambered over the rocks. And presently Hanley, staring at our +grotesque black forms, came rushing forward and greeted us.</p> + +<p>We were an hour locating De Boer's flyer, for all that Jetta and I had +just left it and thought we could find our way back. But we stumbled +onto it at last. Hanley felt his way aboard and brought it to +visibility. It has since been returned to the Anti-War Department, +with the compliments of Hanley's Office.</p> + +<p>The ransom money was restored to its proper source. Spawn's treasure +of radiumized quicksilver we shipped back to Nareda, where it was +checked and divided, and Jetta's share legally awarded to her.</p> + +<p>De Boer was dead when Hanley found him that night on the rocks. Jetta +and I did not go to look at him....</p> + +<p>The balloon basket landed safely. Hanley and his men were down there +in time to seize it. Hans was caught; and Gutierrez, within the sack, +was found to be uninjured. They are incarcerated now in Nareda. They +were willing to tell the location of the bandit stronghold. A raid +there the following day resulted in the capture of most of De Boer's +men.</p> + +<p>All this is now public news. You have heard it, of course. Yet in my +narrative, setting down the events as I lived them, I have tried to +give more vivid details than the bare facts as they were blared +through the public audiphones.</p> + +<p>An episode of the strange, romantic, fantastic Lowlands. A very +unimportant series of incidents mingled with the news of a busy +world—just a few minutes of the newscasters' time to tell how a band +of depth smugglers was caught.</p> + +<p>But it was a very important episode to me. It changed, for me, a +clanking, thrumming machine-made world into a shining fairyland of +dreams come true. It gave me little Jetta.</p> + +<p class="center">(<i>The End</i>)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_010.jpg" width="600" height="372" alt="Carr went mad with fury. There it was, looming close +in his vision." /> +<span class="caption">Carr went mad with fury. There it was, looming close +in his vision.</span> +</div> +<h2><a name="Vagabonds_of_Space" id="Vagabonds_of_Space"></a>Vagabonds of Space</h2> + +<h4>A COMPLETE NOVELETTE</h4> +<h3><i>By Harl Vincent</i></h3> + +<h4>CHAPTER I</h4> +<h4><i>The Nomad</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_g.jpg" alt="G" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>athered around a long table in a luxuriously furnished director's +room, a group of men listened in astonishment to the rapid and +forceful speech of one of their number.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">From the depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space came the +thought-warning, "Turn back!" But Carr and his Martian friend found it +was too late!</div> + +<p>"I tell you I'm through, gentlemen," averred the speaker. "I'm fed up +with the job, that's all. Since 2317 you've had me sitting at the helm +of International Airways and I've worked my fool head off for you. +Now—get someone else!"</p> + +<p>"Made plenty of money yourself, didn't you, Carr?" asked one of the +directors, a corpulent man with a self-satisfied countenance.</p> + +<p>"Sure I did. That's not the point. I've done all the work. There's not +another executive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> in the outfit whose job is more than a title, and +you know it. I want a change and a rest. Going to take it, too. So, go +ahead with your election of officers and leave me out."</p> + +<p>"Your stock?" Courtney Davis, chairman of the board, sensed that Carr +Parker meant what he said.</p> + +<p>"I'll hold it. The rest of you can vote it as you choose: divide the +proxies pro rata, based on your individual holdings. But I reserve the +right to dump it all on the market at the first sign of shady +dealings. That suit you?"</p> + +<p>The recalcitrant young President of International Airways had risen +from the table. The chairman attempted to restrain him.</p> + +<p>"Come on now, Carr, let's reason this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> out. Perhaps if you just took a +leave of absence—"</p> + +<p>"Call it anything you want. I'm done right now."</p> + +<p>Carr Parker stalked from the room, leaving eleven perspiring +capitalists to argue over his action.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e rushed to the corridor and nervously pressed the call button of the +elevators. A minute later he emerged upon the roof of the Airways +building, one of the tallest of New York's mid-town sky-scrapers. The +air here, fifteen hundred feet above the hot street, was cool and +fresh. He walked across the great flat surface of the landing stage to +inspect a tiny helicopter which had just settled to a landing. Angered +as he was, he still could not resist the attraction these trim little +craft had always held for him. The feeling was in his blood.</p> + +<p>His interest, however, was short lived and he strolled to the +observation aisle along the edge of the landing stage. He stared +moodily into the heavens where thousands of aircraft of all +descriptions sped hither and yon. A huge liner of the Martian route +was dropping from the skies and drifting toward her cradle on Long +Island. He looked out over the city to the north: fifty miles of it he +knew stretched along the east shore of the Hudson. Greatest of the +cities of the world, it housed a fifth of the population of the United +States of North America; a third of the wealth.</p> + +<p>Cities! The entire world lived in them! Civilization was too highly +developed nowadays. Adventure was a thing of the past. Of course there +were the other planets, Mars and Venus, but they were as bad. At least +he had found them so on his every business trip. He wished he had +lived a couple of centuries ago, when the first space-ships ventured +forth from the earth. Those were days of excitement and daring +enterprise. Then a man could find ways of getting away from +things—next to nature—out into the forests; hunting; fishing. But +the forests were gone, the streams enslaved by the power monopolies. +There were only the cities—and barren plains. Everything in life was +made by man, artificial.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>omething drew his eyes upward and he spotted an unusual object in the +heavens, a mere speck as yet but drawing swiftly in from the upper air +lanes. But this ship, small though it appeared, stood out from amongst +its fellows for some reason. Carr rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. +Was it? Yes—it was—surrounded by a luminous haze. Notwithstanding +the brilliance of the afternoon sun, this haze was clearly visible. A +silver shimmering that was not like anything he had seen on Earth. The +ship swung in toward the city and was losing altitude rapidly. Its +silvery aura deserted it and the vessel was revealed as a sleek, +tapered cylinder with no wings, rudders or helicopter screws. Like the +giant liners of the Interplanetary Service it displayed no visible +means of support or propulsion. This was no ordinary vessel.</p> + +<p>Carr watched in extreme interest as it circled the city in a huge +spiral, settling lower at each turn. It seemed that the pilot was +searching for a definite landing stage. Then suddenly it swooped with +a rush. Straight for the stage of the Airways building! The strange +aura reappeared and the little vessel halted in mid-air, poised a +moment, then dropped gracefully and lightly as a feather to the level +surface not a hundred feet from where he stood. He hurried to the spot +to examine the strange craft.</p> + +<p>"Mado!" he exclaimed in surprise as a husky, bronzed Martian squeezed +through the quickly opened manhole and clambered heavily to the +platform. Mado of Canax—an old friend!</p> + +<p>"Devils of Terra!" gasped the Martian, his knees giving way, "—your +murderous gravity! Here, help me. I've forgotten the energizing +switch."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr laughed as he fumbled with a mechanism that was strapped to the +Martian's back. Mado, who tipped the scales at over two hundred pounds +on his own planet, weighed nearly six hundred here. His legs simply +couldn't carry the load!</p> + +<p>"There you are, old man." Parker had located the switch and a musical +purr came from the black box between the Martian's broad shoulders. +"Now stand up and tell me what you're doing here. And what's the idea +of the private ship? Come all the way from home in it?"</p> + +<p>His friend struggled to his feet with an effort, for the field +emanating from the black box required a few seconds to reach the +intensity necessary to counteract two-thirds of the earth's gravity.</p> + +<p>"Thanks Carr," he grinned. "Yes, I came all the way in that bus. +Alone, too—and she's mine! What do you think of her?"</p> + +<p>"A peach, from what I can see. But how come? Not using a private +space-flier on your business trips, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Not on your life! I've retired. Going to play around for a few years. +That's why I bought the Nomad."</p> + +<p>"Retired! Why Mado, I just did the same thing."</p> + +<p>"Great stuff! They've worked you to death. What are you figuring on +doing with yourself?"</p> + +<p>Carr shrugged his shoulders resignedly. "Usual thing, I suppose. +Travel aimlessly, and bore myself into old age. Nothing else to do. No +kick out of life these days at all, Mado, even in chasing around from +planet to planet. They're all the same."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Martian looked keenly at his friend. "Oh, is that so?" he said. +"No kick, eh? Well, let me tell you, Carr Parker, you come with me and +we'll find something you'll get a kick out of. Ever seen the Sargasso +Sea of the solar system? Ever been on one of the asteroids? Ever seen +the other side of the Moon—Uranus—Neptune—Planet 9, the farthest +out from the sun?"</p> + +<p>"No-o." Carr's eyes brightened somewhat.</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't seen anything or been anywhere. Trouble with you is +you've been in the rut too long. Thinking there's nothing left in the +universe but the commonplace. Right, too, if you stick to the regular +routes of travel. But the <i>Nomad's</i> different. I'm just a rover when +I'm at her controls, a vagabond in space—free as the ether that +surrounds her air-tight hull. And, take it from me, there's something +to see and do out there in space. Off the usual lanes, perhaps, but +it's there."</p> + +<p>"You've been out—how long?" Carr hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Eighty Martian days. Seen plenty too." He waved his arm in a gesture +that seemed to take in the entire universe.</p> + +<p>"Why come here, with so much to be seen out there?"</p> + +<p>"Came to visit you, old stick-in-the-mud," grinned Mado, "and to try +and persuade you to join me. I find you footloose already. You're +itching for adventure; excitement. Will you come?"</p> + +<p>Carr listened spellbound. "Right now?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"This very minute. Come on."</p> + +<p>"My bag," objected Carr, "it must be packed. I'll need funds too."</p> + +<p>"Bag! What for? Plenty of duds on the <i>Nomad</i>—for any old climate. +And money—don't make me laugh! Vagabonds need money?" He backed +toward the open manhole of the <i>Nomad</i>, still grinning.</p> + +<p>Carr hesitated, resisting the impulse to take Mado at his word. He +looked around. The landing stage had been deserted, but people now +were approaching. People not to be tolerated at the moment. He saw +Courtney Davis, grim and determined. There'd be more arguments, +useless but aggravating. Well, why not go? He'd decided to break away. +What better chance? Suddenly he dived for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> manhole of Mado's +vessel; wriggled his way to the padded interior of the air-lock. He +heard the clang of the circular cover. Mado was clamping it to its +gasketed seat.</p> + +<p>"Let's go!" he shouted.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER II</h4> +<h4><i>Into the Heavens</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he directors of International Airways stared foolishly when they saw +Carr Parker and the giant Martian enter the mysterious ship which was +a trespasser on their landing stage. They gazed incredulously as the +gleaming torpedo-shaped vessel arose majestically from its position. +There was no evidence of motive power other than a sudden radiation +from its hull plates of faintly crackling streamers of silvery light. +They fell back in alarm as it pointed its nose skyward and accelerated +with incredible rapidity, the silver energy bathing them in its +blinding luminescence. They burst forth in excited recrimination when +it vanished into the blue. Courtney Davis shook his fist after the +departing vessel and swore mightily.</p> + +<p>Carr Parker forgot them entirely when he clambered into the bucket +seat beside Mado, who sat at the Nomad's controls. He was free at +last: free to probe the mysteries of outer space, to roam the skies +with this Martian he had admired since boyhood.</p> + +<p>"Glad you came?" Mado asked his Terrestrial friend.</p> + +<p>"You bet. But tell me about yourself. How you've been and how come +you've rebelled, too? I haven't seen you for a long time, you know. +Why, it's been years!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm all right. Guess I got fed up with things about the same way +you did. Knew last time I saw you that you were feeling as I did. +That's why I came after you."</p> + +<p>"But this vessel, the <i>Nomad</i>. I didn't know such a thing was in +existence. How does it operate? It seems quite different from the +usual ether-liners."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_i1.jpg" alt="I" width="37" height="52" /></div> +<p>t's a mystery ship. Invented and built by Thrygis, a discredited +scientist of my country. Spent a fortune on it and then went broke and +killed himself. I bought it from the executors for a song. They +thought it was a pile of junk. But the plans and notes of the inventor +were there and I studied 'em well. The ship is a marvel, Carr. +Utilizes gravitational attraction and reversal as a propelling force +and can go like the Old Boy himself. I've hit two thousand miles a +second with her."</p> + +<p>"A second! Why, that's ten times as fast as the regular liners! Must +use a whale of a lot of fuel. And where do you keep it? The fuel, I +mean."</p> + +<p>"Make it right on board. I'm telling you Carr, the <i>Nomad</i> has no +equal. She's a corker."</p> + +<p>"I'll say she is. But what do you mean—make the fuel?"</p> + +<p>"Cosmic rays. Everywhere in space you know. Seems they are the result +of violent concentrations of energy that cause the birth of atoms. +Thrygis doped out a collector of these rays that takes 'em from their +paths and concentrates 'em in a retort where there's a spongy metal +catalyst that never deteriorates. Here there is a reaction to the +original action out in space and new atoms are born, simple ones of +hydrogen. But what could be sweeter for use in one of our regular +atomic motors? The energy of disintegration is used to drive the +generators of the artificial gravity field, and there you are. Sounds +complicated, but really isn't. And nothing to get out of whack +either."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_b1.jpg" alt="B" width="46" height="52" /></div> +<p>eats the rocket motors and bulky fuel of the regular liners a mile, +doesn't it? But since when are you a navigator, Mado?"</p> + +<p>"Don't need to be a navigator with the <i>Nomad</i>. She's automatic, once +the controls are set. Say we wish to visit Venus. The telescope is +sighted on that body and the gravity forces adjusted so we'll be +attracted in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> direction and repelled in the opposite direction. +Then we can go to bed and forget it. The movement of the body in its +orbit makes no difference because the force follows wherever it goes. +See? The speed increases until the opposing forces are equal, when +deceleration commences and we gradually slow down until within ten +thousand miles of the body, when the <i>Nomad</i> automatically stops. +Doesn't move either, until we awaken to take the controls. How's that +for simple?"</p> + +<p>"Good enough. But suppose a wandering meteor or a tiny asteroid gets +in the way? At our speed it wouldn't have to be as big as your fist to +go through us like a shot."</p> + +<p>"All taken care of, my dear Carr. I told you Thrygis was a wiz. Such a +happenstance would disturb the delicate balance of the energy +compensators and the course of the <i>Nomad</i> would instantly alter to +dodge the foreign object. Once passed by, the course would again be +resumed."</p> + +<p>"Some ship, the <i>Nomad</i>!" Carr was delighted with the explanations. +"I'm sold on her and on the trip. Where are we now and where bound?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>ado glanced at the instrument board. "Nearly a million miles out and +headed for that Sargasso Sea I told you about," he said. "It isn't +visible in the telescope, but I've got it marked by the stars. Out +between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a quarter of a billion miles +away. But we'll average better than a thousand miles a second. Be +there in three days of your time."</p> + +<p>"How can there be a sea out there in space?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's just my name for it. Most peculiar thing, though. There's +a vast, billowy sort of a cloud. Twists and weaves around as if alive. +Looks like seaweed or something; and Carr, I swear there are things +floating around in it. Wrecks. Something damn peculiar, anyway. I vow +I saw a signal. People marooned there or something. Sorta scared me +and I didn't stay around for long as there was an awful pull from the +mass. Had to use full reversal of the gravity force to get away."</p> + +<p>"Now why didn't you tell me that before? That's something to think +about. Like the ancient days of ocean-going ships on Earth."</p> + +<p>"Tell you? How could I tell you? You've been questioning me ever since +I first saw you and I've been busy every minute answering you."</p> + +<p>Carr laughed and slid from his seat to the floor. He felt curiously +light and loose-jointed. A single step carried him to one of the +stanchions of the control cabin and he clung to it for a moment to +regain his equilibrium.</p> + +<p>"What's wrong?" he demanded. "No internal gravity mechanism on the +<i>Nomad</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Sure is. But it's adjusted for Martian gravity. You'll get along, but +it wouldn't be so easy for me with Earth gravity. I'd have to wear the +portable G-ray all the time, and that's not so comfortable. All right +with you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly. I didn't understand."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr saw that his friend had unstrapped the black box from his +shoulders. He didn't blame him. Glad he wasn't a Martian. It was +mighty inconvenient for them on Venus or Terra. Their bodies, large +and of double the specific gravity, were not easily handled where +gravity was nearly three times their own. The Venusians and +Terrestrials were more fortunate when on Mars, for they could become +accustomed to the altered conditions. Only had to be careful they +didn't overdo. He remembered vividly a quick move he had made on his +first visit to Mars. Carried him twenty feet to slam against a granite +pedestal. Bad cut that gave him, and the exertion in the rarefied +atmosphere had him gasping painfully.</p> + +<p>He walked to one of the ports and peered through its thick window. +Mado was fussing with the controls. The velvety blackness of the +heavens;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> the myriad diamond points of clear brilliance. Cold, too, it +looked out there, and awesomely vast. The sun and Earth had been left +behind and could not be seen. But Carr didn't care. The heavens were +marvelous when viewed without the obstruction of an atmosphere. But +he'd seen them often enough on his many business trips to Mars and +Venus.</p> + +<p>"Ready for bed?" Mado startled him with a tap on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Why—if you say so. But you haven't shown me through the <i>Nomad</i> +yet."</p> + +<p>"All the time in the universe for that. Man, don't you realize you're +free? Come, let's grab some sleep. Need it out here. The ship'll be +here when we wake up. She's flying herself right now. Fast, too."</p> + +<p>Carr looked at the velocity indicator. Seven hundred miles a second +and still accelerating! He felt suddenly tired and when Mado opened +the door of a sleeping cabin its spotless bunk looked very inviting. +He turned in without protest.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER III</h4> +<h4><i>A Message</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he days passed quickly, whether measured by the Martian chronometer +aboard the <i>Nomad</i> or by Carr's watch, which he was regulating to +match the slightly longer day of the red planet. He was becoming +proficient in the operation of all mechanisms of the ship and had +developed a fondness for its every appointment.</p> + +<p>Behind them the sun was losing much of its blinding magnificence as it +receded into the ebon background of the firmament. The Earth was but +one of the countless worlds visible through the stern ports, +distinguishable by its slightly greenish tinge. They had reached the +vicinity of the phenomenon of space Mado had previously discovered. +Carr found himself seething with excitement as the <i>Nomad</i> was brought +to a drifting speed.</p> + +<p>Mado, who had disclaimed all knowledge of navigation, was busy in the +turret with a sextant. He made rapid calculations based on its +indications and hurried to the controls.</p> + +<p>"Find it?" Carr asked.</p> + +<p>"Yep. Be there in a half hour."</p> + +<p>The nose of the vessel swung around and Mado adjusted the gravity +energy carefully. Carr glued his eye to the telescope.</p> + +<p>"See anything?" inquired Mado.</p> + +<p>"About a million stars, that's all."</p> + +<p>"Funny. Should be close by."</p> + +<p>Then: "Yes! Yes! I see it!" Carr exulted. "A milky cloud. Transparent +almost. To the right a little more!"</p> + +<p>The mysterious cloud rushed to meet them and soon was visible to the +naked eye through the forward port. Their speed increased alarmingly +and Mado cut off the energy.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" Mado stared white-faced at his friend.</p> + +<p>"A voice! You hear it too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Listen!"</p> + +<p>Amazed, they gazed at each other. It was a voice; yet not a sound came +to their ears. The voice was in their own consciousness. A mental +message! Yet each heard and understood. There were no words, but clear +mental images.</p> + +<p>"Beware!" it seemed to warn. "Come not closer, travelers from afar. +There is danger in the milky fleece before you!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>ado pulled frantically at the energy reverse control. The force was +now fully repelling. Still the billowing whiteness drew nearer. It +boiled and bubbled with the ferocity of one of the hot lava cauldrons +of Mercury. Changing shape rapidly, it threw out long streamers that +writhed and twisted like the arms of an octopus. Reaching. Searching +for victims!</p> + +<p>"God!" whispered Carr. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Take warning," continued the voice that was not a voice. "A great +ship, a royal ship from a world unknown to you, now is caught in the +grip of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> mighty monster. We can not escape, and death draws +quickly near. But we can warn others and ask that our fate be reported +to our home body."</p> + +<p>A sudden upheaval of the monstrous mass spewed forth an object that +bounced a moment on the rippling surface and then was lost to view. A +sphere, glinting golden against the white of its awful captor.</p> + +<p>"The space-ship!" gasped Mado. "It's vanished again!"</p> + +<p>They hurtled madly in the direction of this monster of the heavens, +their reverse energy useless.</p> + +<p>"We're lost, Mado." Carr was calm now. This was excitement with a +vengeance. He'd wished for it and here it was. But he'd much rather +have a chance to fight for his life. Fine ending to his dreams!</p> + +<p>"Imps of the canals! The thing's alive!" Mado hurled himself at the +controls as a huge blob of the horrible whiteness broke loose from the +main body and wobbled uncertainly toward them. A long feeler reached +forth and grasped the errant portion, returning it with a vicious +jerk.</p> + +<p>"Turn back! Turn back!" came the eery warning from the golden sphere. +"All is over for us. Our hull is crushed. The air is pouring from our +last compartment. Already we find breathing difficult. Turn back! The +third satellite of the fifth planet is our home. Visit it, we beseech +you, and report the manner of our going. This vile creature of space +has power to draw you to its breast, to crush you as we are crushed."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he <i>Nomad</i> lurched and shuddered, drawn ever closer to the horrid +mass of the thing. A gigantic jellyfish, that's what it was, a hundred +miles across! Carr shivered in disgust as it throbbed anew, sending +out those grasping streamers of its mysterious material. As the +<i>Nomad</i> plunged to its doom with increasing speed, Mado tried to +locate some spot in the universe where an extreme effect could be +obtained from the full force of the attracting or repulsive energies. +They darted this way and that but always found themselves closer to +the milky billows that now were pulsating in seeming eagerness to +engulf the new victim.</p> + +<p>Once more came the telepathic warning, "Delay no longer. It is high +time you turned back. You must escape to warn our people and yours. +Even now the awful creature has us in its vitals, its tentacles +reaching through our shattered walls, creeping and twining through the +passages of our vessel. Crushing floors and walls, its demoniac +energies heating our compartment beyond belief. We can hold out no +longer. Go! Go quickly. Remember—the third satellite of the fifth +planet—to the city of golden domes. Tell of our fate. Our people will +understand. You—"</p> + +<p>The voice was stilled. Mado groaned as if in pain and Carr saw in that +instant that each knob and lever on the control panel glowed with an +unearthly brush discharge. Not violet as of high frequency +electricity, but red. Cherry red as of heated metal. The emanations of +the cosmic monster were at work on the <i>Nomad</i>. A glance through the +forward port showed they had but a few miles to go. They'd be in the +clutches of the horror in minutes, seconds, at the rate they were +traveling. Mado slumped in his seat, his proud head rolling +grotesquely on his breast. He slid to the floor, helpless.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr went mad with fury. It couldn't be! This thing of doom was a +creature of his imagination! But no—there it was, looming close in +his vision. By God, he'd leave the mark of the <i>Nomad</i> on the vicious +thing! He remembered the ray with which the vessel was armed. He was +in the pilot's seat, fingering controls that blistered his hands and +cramped his arms with an unnameable force. He'd fight the brute! Full +energy—head on—that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> was the way to meet it. Why bother with the +reversal? It was no use.</p> + +<p>A blood-red veil obscured his vision. He felt for the release of the +ray; pulled the gravity energy control to full power forward. In a +daze, groping blindly for support, he waited for the shock of impact. +The mass of that monstrosity must be terrific, else why had it such a +power of attraction for other bodies? Or was it that the thing +radiated energies unknown to science? Whatever it was, the thing would +know the sting of the <i>Nomad's</i> ray. Whatever its nature, animate or +inanimate, it was matter. The ray destroyed matter. Obliterated it +utterly. Tore the atoms asunder, whirling their electrons from their +orbits with terrific velocity. There'd be some effect, that was +certain! No great use perhaps. But a crater would mark the last +resting place of the <i>Nomad</i>; a huge crater. Perhaps the misty +whiteness would close in over them later. But there'd be less of the +creature's bulk to menace other travelers in space.</p> + +<p>His head ached miserably; his body was shot through and through with +cramping agonies. The very blood in his veins was liquid fire, searing +his veins and arteries with pulsing awfulness. He staggered from the +control cabin; threw himself on his bunk. The covers were electrified +and clung to him like tissue to rubbed amber. The wall of the sleeping +cabin vibrated with a screeching note. The floors trembled. Madness! +That's all it was! He'd awaken in a moment. Find himself in his own +bed at home. He'd dreamed of adventures before now. But never of such +as this! It just couldn't happen! A nightmare—fantasy of an +over-tired brain—it was.</p> + +<p>There came a violent wrench that must have torn the hull plates from +their bracings. The ship seemed to close in on him and crush him. A +terrific concussion flattened him to the bunk. Then all was still. +Carr Parker's thoughts broke short abruptly. He had slipped into +unconsciousness.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IV</h4> +<h4><i>Europa</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen Carr opened his eyes it was to the normal lighting of his own +sleeping cabin. The <i>Nomad</i> was intact, though an odor of scorched +varnish permeated the air. They were unharmed—as yet. He turned on +his side and saw that Mado was moving about at the side of his couch. +Good old Mado! With a basin of water in his hand and a cloth. He'd +been bathing his face. Brought him to. He sat up just as Mado turned +to apply the cloth anew.</p> + +<p>"Good boy, Carr! All right?" smiled the Martian.</p> + +<p>"Little dizzy. But I'm okay." Carr sprang to his feet where he wabbled +uncertainly for a moment. "But the <i>Nomad?</i>" he asked. "Is she—are we +safe?"</p> + +<p>"Never safer. What in the name of Saturn did you do?"</p> + +<p>Carr passed his hand across his eyes, trying to remember. "The D-ray," +he said. "I turned it on and dived into the thing with full +attraction. Then—I forget. Where is it—the thing, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Look!" Mado drew him to the stern compartment.</p> + +<p>Far behind them there shone a misty wreath, a ring of drifting matter +that writhed and twisted as if in mortal agony.</p> + +<p>"Is that it?"</p> + +<p>"What's left of it. You shot your way through it; through and out of +its influence. D-ray must have devitalized the thing as it bored +through. Killed its energies—for the time, at least."</p> + +<p>Already, the thing was closing in. Soon there would be a solid mass as +before. But the <i>Nomad</i> was saved.</p> + +<p>"How about yourself?" asked Carr anxiously. "Last time I saw you you +were flat on the floor."</p> + +<p>"Nothing wrong with me now. A bit stiff and sore, that's all. When I +came to I put all the controls in neutral and came looking for you. I +was scared,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> but the thing's all over now, so let's go."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Europa."</p> + +<p>"Where's that?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you remember? The third satellite of the fifth planet. That's +Europa, third in distance from Jupiter, the fifth planet. It is about +the size of Terra's satellite—your Moon. We'll find the city of the +golden domes."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr's eyes renewed their sparkle. "Right!" he exclaimed. "I forgot +the mental message. Poor devils! All over for them now. But we'll +carry their message. How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know yet till I determine our position and the position of +Jupiter. But it's quite a way. Jupiter's 483 million miles from the +Sun, you know."</p> + +<p>"We're more than half way, then."</p> + +<p>"Not necessarily. Perhaps we're on the opposite side of the sun from +Jupiter's present position. Then we'd have a real trip."</p> + +<p>"Let's figure it out." Carr was anxious to be off.</p> + +<p>Luck was with them, as they found after some observations from the +turret. Jupiter lay off their original course by not more than fifteen +degrees. It was but four days' journey.</p> + +<p>Again they were on their way and the two men, Martian and Terrestrial, +made good use of the time in renewing their old friendship and in the +study of astronomy as they had done during the first leg of their +journey. Though of widely differing build and nature, the two found a +close bond in their similar inclinations. The library of the Nomad was +an excellent one. Thrygis had seen to that, all of the voice-vision +reels being recorded in Cos, the interplanetary language, with its +standardized units of weight and measurement.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he supplies on board the <i>Nomad</i> were ample. Synthetic foods there +were for at least a hundred Martian days. The supply of oxygen and +water was inexhaustible, these essential items being produced in +automatic retorts where disassembled electrons from their cosmic-ray +hydrogen were reassembled in the proper structure to produce atoms of +any desired element. Their supply of synthetic food could be +replenished in like manner when necessity arose. Thrygis had forgotten +nothing.</p> + +<p>"How do you suppose we'll make ourselves understood to the people of +Europa?" asked Carr, when they had swung around the great orb of +Jupiter and were headed toward the satellite.</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't have any trouble, Carr. Believe me, to a people who have +progressed to the point of sending mental messages over five hundred +miles of space, it'll be a cinch, understanding our simple mental +processes. Bet they'll read our every thought."</p> + +<p>"That's right. But the language. Proper names and all that. Can't get +those over with thought waves."</p> + +<p>"No, but I'll bet they'll have some way of solving that too. You wait +and see."</p> + +<p>Carr lighted a cigar and inhaled deeply as he gazed from one of the +ports. He'd never felt better in his life. Always had liked Martian +tobacco, too. Wondered what they'd do when the supply ran out. One +thing they couldn't produce synthetically. The disc of the satellite +loomed near and it shone with a warmly inviting light. Almost red, +like the color of Mars, it was. Sort of golden, rather. Anyway, he +wondered what awaited them there. This was a great life, this roaming +in space, unhampered by laws or conventions. The <i>Nomad</i> was well +named.</p> + +<p>"Wonder what they'll think of our yarn," he said.</p> + +<p>"And me. I wonder, too, what that ungodly thing was back there. The +thing that is now the grave of some of their people. And what the +golden sphere was doing so far from home. It's a mystery."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey had gone over the same ground a hundred times and had not reached +a satisfactory conclusion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> But perhaps they'd learn more in the city +of golden domes.</p> + +<p>"Another thing," said Carr, "that's puzzled me. Why is it that Europa +has not been discovered before this; that it's inhabited, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Rocket ships couldn't carry enough fuel. Besides, our astronomers've +always told us that the outer planets were too cold; too far from the +sun."</p> + +<p>"That is something to think about. Maybe we'll not be able to stand +the low temperature; thin atmosphere; low surface gravity."</p> + +<p>"We've our insulated suits and the oxygen helmets for the first two +objections. The G-rays'll hold us down in any gravity. But we'll see +mighty soon. We're here."</p> + +<p>They had entered the atmosphere as they talked and the <i>Nomad</i> was +approaching the surface in a long glide with repulsion full on. It was +daytime on the side they neared. Pale daylight, but revealing. The +great ball that was Jupiter hung low on the horizon, its misty outline +faintly visible against the deep green of the sky.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he surface over which they skimmed was patchworked with farm-lands +and crisscrossed by gleaming ribbons. Roadways! It was like the +voice-vision records of the ancient days on Mars and Terra before +their peoples had taken to the air. Here was a body where a person +could get out in the open; next to nature. They crossed a lake of calm +green water fringed by golden sands. At its far side a village spread +out beneath them and was gone; a village of broad pavements and +circular dwellings with flat rooms, each with its square of ground. A +golden, mountain range loomed in the background; vanished beneath +them. More fields and roads. Everywhere there were yellows and reds +and the silver sheen of the roads. No green save that of the darkening +sky and the waters of the streams and ponds. It was a most inviting +panorama.</p> + +<p>Occasionally they passed a vessel of the air—strange flapping-winged +craft that soared and darted like huge birds. Once one of them +approached so closely they could see its occupants, seemingly a people +similar to the Venusians, small of stature and slender.</p> + +<p>"How in time are we to find this city of golden domes?" Carr +ejaculated.</p> + +<p>As if in answer to his question there came a startling command, +another of the mental messages.</p> + +<p>"Halt!" it conveyed to their mind. "Continue not into our country +until we have communed with you."</p> + +<p>Obediently Mado brought up the nose of the <i>Nomad</i> and slowed her down +to a gradual stop. They hovered at an altitude of about four thousand +feet, both straining their ears as if listening for actual speech.</p> + +<p>"It is well," continued the message. "Your thoughts are good. You come +from afar seeking the city of golden domes. Proceed now and a fleet of +our vessels will meet you and guide you to our city."</p> + +<p>"Now wouldn't that jar you?" whispered Carr. "Just try to get away +with anything on this world."</p> + +<p>Mado laughed as he started the generators of the propelling energy. +"I'd hate to have a wife of Europa," he commented. "No +sitting-up-with-sick-friend story could get by with her!"</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER V</h4> +<h4><i>The City of Golden Domes</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_w.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div> +<p>ith the <i>Nomad</i> cruising slowly over the surface of the peaceful +satellite, Mado sampled the atmosphere through a tube which was +provided for that purpose. The pressure was low, as they had expected; +about twenty inches of mercury in the altitude at which they drifted. +But the oxygen content was fairly high and the impurities negligible. +A strange element was somewhat in evidence, though Mado's analysis +showed this to be present in but minute quantity. They opened the +ports and drew their first breath of the atmosphere of Europa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good air, Carr." Mado was sniffing at one of the ports. "A bit rare +for you, but I think you'll get along with it. Temperature of +forty-five degrees. That's not so bad. The strangest thing is the +gravity. This body isn't much more than two thousand miles in +diameter, yet its gravity is about the same as on Venus—seven eighths +of that of Terra. Must have a huge nickel-iron core."</p> + +<p>"Yes. It'll be a cinch for me. But you, you big lummox—it's the G-ray +for you as long as we're here."</p> + +<p>"Uh-huh. You get all the breaks, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Carr laughed. He was becoming anxious to land. "What sort of a +reception do you suppose we'll get?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Not bad, from the tone of that last message. And here they come, +Carr. Look—a dozen of them. A royal reception, so far."</p> + +<p>Suddenly they were in the midst of a flock of great birds; birds that +flapped their golden wings to rise, then soared and circled like the +gulls of the terrestrial oceans. And these mechanical birds were fast. +Carr and Mado watched in fascination as they strung out in V formation +and led the way in the direction of the setting sun. Six, seven +hundred miles an hour the <i>Nomad's</i> indicator showed, as they swung in +behind these ships of Europa.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey crossed a large body of water, a lake of fully five hundred miles +in width. More country then, hardly populated now and with but few of +the gleaming roadways. The sun had set, but there was scarcely any +diminution of the light for the great ball that was Jupiter reflected +a brilliance of far greater intensity than that of the full Moon on a +clear Terrestrial night. A marvelous sight the gigantic body +presented, with its alternate belts of gray-blue and red and dazzling +white. And it hung so low and huge in the heavens that it seemed one +had but to stretch forth a hand to touch its bright surface.</p> + +<p>Another mountain range loomed close and was gone. On its far side +there stretched the desolate wastes of a desert, a barren plain that +extended in all directions to the horizon. Wind-swept, it was and +menacing beneath them. Europa was not all as they had first seen it.</p> + +<p>A glimmer of brightness appeared at the horizon. The fleet was +reducing speed and soon they saw that their journey was nearly over. +At the far edge of the desert the bright spot resolved itself into the +outlines of a city, the city of golden domes. Cones they looked like, +rather, with rounded tops and fluted walls. The mental message had +conveyed the most fitting description possible without words or +picture.</p> + +<p>The landing was over so quickly that they had but confused impressions +of their reception. A great square in the heart of the city, crowded +with people. Swooping maneuvers of hundreds of the bird-like ships. An +open space for their arrival. The platform where a committee awaited +them. The king, or at least he seemed to be king. The sea of upturned +faces, staring eyes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>ado fidgeted and opened his mouth to voice a protest but Carr nudged +him into silence. The king had risen from his seat in the circle on +the platform and was about to address them. There was no repetition of +the telepathic means of communication.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, travelers from the inner planets," said the king. He spoke +Cos perfectly! "Cardos, emperor of the body you call Europa, salutes +you. Our scientists have recorded your thoughts with their psycho-ray +apparatus and have learned that you have a message for us, a message +we fear is not pleasant. Am I correct?"</p> + +<p>Carr stared at the soft-voiced monarch of this remarkable land. It was +incredible that he spoke in the universal language of the inner +planets!</p> + +<p>"Your Highness," he replied, "is correct. We have a message. But it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +amazes us that you are familiar with our language."</p> + +<p>"That we shall explain later. Meanwhile—the message!"</p> + +<p>"The message," Carr said, "is not pleasant. A golden sphere out in +space. Helpless in the clutches of a nameless monster, a vast creature +of jellylike substance but possessed of enormous destructive energy. A +mental message to our vessel warning us away and bidding us to come +here; to tell you of their fate. We escaped and here we are."</p> + +<p>The face of Cardos paled. He reached for an egg-shaped crystal that +reposed on the table; spoke rapidly into its shimmering depths. Hidden +amplifiers carried his voice throughout the square in booming tones. +It was a strange tongue he spoke, with many gutturals and sibilants. A +groan came up from the assembled multitude.</p> + +<p>Cardos tossed the crystal to the table with a resigned gesture, then +tottered and swayed. Instant confusion reigned in the square and the +emperor was assisted from the platform by two of his retainers. They +never saw him again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>ne of the counsellors, a middle-aged man with graying russet hair and +large gray eyes set in a perfectly smooth countenance, stepped from +the platform and grasped the two adventurers as the confusion in the +square increased to an uproar.</p> + +<p>"Come," he whispered, in excellent Cos; "I'll explain all to you in +the quiet of my own apartments. I am Detis, a scientist, and my home +is close by."</p> + +<p>Gently he clung to them as the larger men forced their way between the +milling groups of excited Europans. No one gave them much attention. +All seemed to be overcome with grief. A terrible disaster, this loss +of the golden sphere must be!</p> + +<p>They were out of the square and in one of the broad streets. The +fluted sides of the unpointed cones shone softly golden on all sides. +Alike in every respect were these dwellings of the people of Europa, +and strangely attractive in the light of the mother planet.</p> + +<p>Not a word was spoken when they reached the abode of their guide. They +entered an elaborate hall and were whisked upward in an automatic +elevator. Detis ushered them into his apartment when they alighted. He +smiled gravely at their looks of wonder as they cast eyes on the maze +of apparatus before them. It was a laboratory rather than a living +room in which they stood.</p> + +<p>Detis led them to an adjoining room where he bid them be seated. They +exchanged wondering glances as their host paced the floor vigorously +before speaking further.</p> + +<p>"Friends," he finally blurted, "I hope you'll excuse my emotion but +the news you brought is a terrible blow to me as to all Europa. Carli, +our prince, beloved son of Cardos, was commander of the ship you +reported lost. We deeply mourn his loss."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr and Mado waited in respectful silence while their host made +effort to control his feelings.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, after a moment, "I can talk. You have many questions +to ask, I know. So have I. But first I must tell you that Carli's was +an expedition to your own worlds. A grave danger hangs over them and +he was sent to warn them. He has been lost. Our only space-ship +capable of making the journey also is lost. Six Martian years were +required to build it, so I fear the warning will never reach your +people. Already the time draws near."</p> + +<p>"A grave danger?" asked Mado. "What sort of a danger?"</p> + +<p>"War! Utter destruction! Conquest by the most warlike and ambitious +people in the solar system."</p> + +<p>"Not the people of Europa?" asked Carr.</p> + +<p>"Indeed not. There is another inhabited satellite of Jupiter, next +farthest from the mother planet. Ganymede, you call it. It is from +there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> that these conquerors are to set forth."</p> + +<p>"Many of them?" inquired Mado.</p> + +<p>"Two million or so. They're prepared to send an army of more than a +tenth of that number on the first expedition."</p> + +<p>"A mere handful!" Carr was contemptuous.</p> + +<p>"True, but they are armed with the most terrible of weapons. Your +people are utterly unprepared and, unless warned, will be driven from +their cities and left in the deserts to perish of hunger and exposure. +This is a real danger."</p> + +<p>"Something in it, Carr, if what he says is true. We've no arms nor +warriors. Haven't had for two centuries. You know it as well as I do."</p> + +<p>"Bah! Overnight we could have a million armed and ready to fight them +off."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div><p>etis raised his hand. "You offend me," he said gravely. "I have told +you this in good faith and you reward me with disbelief and boastful +talk. Your enemies are more powerful than you think, and your own +people utterly defenceless against them."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," Carr apologized, "and I'll listen to all you have to say. +Surely your prince has not given his life in vain." He was ashamed +before this scientist of Europa.</p> + +<p>A tinkling feminine voice from the next room called something in the +Europan tongue.</p> + +<p>Detis raised his head proudly and his frown softened at the sound of +dainty footsteps. His voice was a caress as he replied.</p> + +<p>A vision of feminine loveliness stood framed in the doorway and the +visitors rose hastily from their seats. Carr gazed into eyes of the +deepest blue he had ever seen. Small in stature though this girl of +Europa was—not more than five feet tall—she had the form of a +goddess and the face of an angel. He was flushing to the roots of his +hair. Could feel it spread. What an ass he was anyway! Anyone'd think +he'd never seen a woman in all his thirty-five years!</p> + +<p>"My daughter, Ora, gentlemen," said Detis.</p> + +<p>The girl's eyes had widened as she looked at the huge Martian with the +funny black box on his back. They dropped demurely when turned to +those of the handsome Terrestrial.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, in Cos, "I didn't know you had callers."</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VI</h4> +<h4><i>Vlor-urdin</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he time passed quickly in Pala-dar, city of the golden domes. Detis +spent many hours in the laboratory with his two visitors and the fair +Ora was usually at his side. She was an efficient helper to her father +and a gracious hostess to the guests.</p> + +<p>The amazement of the visitors grew apace as the wonders of Europan +science were revealed to them. They sat by the hour at the illuminated +screen of the rulden, that remarkable astronomical instrument which +brought the surfaces of distant celestial bodies within a few feet of +their eyes, and the sounds of the streets and the jungles to their +ears. It was no longer a mystery how the language of Cos had become so +familiar to these people.</p> + +<p>They learned of the origin of the races that inhabited Europa and +Ganymede. Ages before, it was necessary for the peoples of the then +thickly populated Jupiter to cast about for new homes due to the +cooling of the surface of that planet. Life was becoming unbearable. +In those days there were two dominant races on the mother body, a +gentle and peaceful people of great scientific accomplishment and a +race of savage brutes who, while very clever with their hands, were of +lesser mental strength and of a quarrelsome and fighting disposition.</p> + +<p>Toward the last the population of both main countries was reduced to +but a few survivors, and the intelligent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> race had discovered a means +of traversing space and was prepared to leave the planet for the more +livable satellite—Europa. Learning of these plans, the others made a +treaty of perpetual peace as a price for their passage to another +satellite—Ganymede. The migration began and the two satellites were +settled by the separate bands of pioneers and their new lives begun.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he perpetual treaty had not been broken since, but the energies of +the warlike descendants of those first settlers of Ganymede were +expended in casting about for new fields to conquer. Through the ages +they cast increasingly covetous eyes on those inner planets, Mars, +Terra and Venus. Not having the advantage of the Rulden, they knew of +these bodies only what could be seen through their own crude optical +instruments and what they had learned by word of mouth from certain +renegade Europans they were able to bribe.</p> + +<p>While their neighbors of the smaller satellite were engaged in +peaceful pursuits, tilling the soil and making excellent homes for +themselves, the dwellers on Ganymede were fashioning instruments of +warfare and building a fleet of space-ships to carry them to their +intended victims. It was a religion with them; they could think of +nothing else. An unscrupulous scientist of Europa sold himself to them +several generations previously and it was this scientist who had made +the plans for their space-fliers and had contrived the deadly weapons +with which they were armed. He likewise taught them the language of +Cos and it now was spoken universally throughout Ganymede in +anticipation of the glorious days of conquest.</p> + +<p>"You honestly believe them able to do this?" asked Carr, still +skeptical after two days of discussion.</p> + +<p>"I know it as a certainty," Detis replied solemnly. "It is only during +the past generation we have learned of the completeness and awfulness +of their preparations. Your people can not combat their sound-ray. +With it they can remain outside the vision of those on the surface and +set the tall buildings of your cities in harmonic vibrations that will +bring them down in ruins about the ears of the populace."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_t1.jpg" alt="T" width="64" height="54" /></div><p>here'll be nothing left for them to take if they destroy all our +cities: nowhere for them to live. I don't get it."</p> + +<p>"Only a few will be destroyed completely, to terrify the rest of the +inhabitants of your worlds. Others will be depopulated by means of +vibrations that will kill off the citizens without harming the cities +themselves—vibrations which are capable of blanketing a large area +and raising the body temperature of all living things therein to a +point where death will ensue in a very few minutes. Other vibrations +will paralyze all electrical equipment on the planet and make it +impossible for your ships of the air to set out to give battle, even +were they properly armed."</p> + +<p>"Looks bad, Carr," said Mado glumly.</p> + +<p>"It does that. We've got to go back and carry the warning."</p> + +<p>"I fear it is too late," said Detis. "Much time will be needed in +which to develop a defense and surely it can not be done within the +three isini before they set forth—about four of your days."</p> + +<p>"They leave that soon?" Carr was taken aback.</p> + +<p>"Yes, with their one hundred and twenty vessels; forty to each of your +three planets; seventeen hundred men to a vessel."</p> + +<p>Carr jumped to his feet. "By the heat devils of Mercury!" he roared, +"well go to their lousy little satellite and find a way to prevent +it!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>ra gazed at his flushed face with unconcealed admiration.</p> + +<p>"You're crazy!" exploded Mado. "What can we do with the <i>Nomad</i>?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Her D-ray can do plenty of damage."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but they'd have us down before we could account for five of +their vessels. It's no use, I tell you."</p> + +<p>But Carr was stubborn. "We'll pay them a call anyway. I'll bet we can +dope out some way of putting it over on them. Are you game?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I'm game. I'll go anywhere you will. But it's a fool idea +just the same."</p> + +<p>"Maybe so. Maybe not. Anyway—let's go."</p> + +<p>"Just a moment, gentlemen," Detis interposed. "How about me?"</p> + +<p>Carr stared at him and saw that his eyes shone with excitement. "Why, +I believe you'd like to go with us!" he exclaimed admiringly.</p> + +<p>"I would, indeed."</p> + +<p>"Come on then. We're off." He was impatient to be gone.</p> + +<p>Detis busied himself with a small apparatus that folded into a compact +case, explaining that it was one that might prove useful. Ora left the +room but quickly returned. She too carried a small case, and she had +donned a snug fitting leather garment that covered her from neck to +knees.</p> + +<p>"What's this?" demanded Carr. "Surely Miss Ora does not intend to come +with us?"</p> + +<p>"She never leaves my side," said Detis proudly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing doing!" Carr stated emphatically. "There'll be plenty of +danger on this trip. Well have no woman along—least of all your +charming daughter."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>ado was leaving everything to his friend, but he grinned in +anticipation when he saw the look of anger on the girl's face.</p> + +<p>She stamped her little foot and faced Carr valiantly. "See here, Mr. +Carr Parker!" she stormed. "I'm no weakling. I'm the daughter of my +father and where he goes I go. You'll take me or I'll never speak to +you again."</p> + +<p>Carr flushed. He was accustomed to his own way in most things and +entirely unused to the ways of the gentler sex. He could have shaken +the little vixen! But now she was standing before him and there was +something in those great blue eyes besides anger; something that set +his heart pounding madly.</p> + +<p>"All right!" he agreed desperately, "have your own way."</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and strode to the door. Giving in to this slip +of a girl! What a fool he was! But it would be great at that to have +her along in the <i>Nomad</i>.</p> + +<p>They found the public square deserted, the gilded dwellings hung with +somber colors in mourning for Carli. Ora and Detis were very quiet and +preoccupied when they entered the <i>Nomad</i>. The five isini of +lamentation for the young prince had not yet passed.</p> + +<p>The two Europans were delighted with the appointments and mechanisms +of the little vessel from Mars. They investigated every nook and +cranny of its interior during the journey and were voluble in their +praise of its inventor and builder. Neither had ever set foot in a +space-flier and each was seized with a longing to explore space with +these two strangers from the inner planets. They would make a couple +of good vagabonds along with Mado and himself, Carr thought as they +expressed their feelings. But there was more serious business at hand. +They were nearing Ganymede.</p> + +<p>"Where'll we land, Detis?" Mado called from the control cabin.</p> + +<p>"Vlor-urdin. That is their chief city. I'll guide you to the +location."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey took up their places at the ports and scanned the surface of the +satellite as Mado dropped the ship into its atmosphere. A far +different scene was presented than on Europa. The land was seamed and +scarred, the colors of the foliage somber. Grays and browns +predominated and the jungles seemed impenetrable. A river swung into +view and its waters were black as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> the deepest night, its flow +sluggish. A rank mist hung over the surface.</p> + +<p>"The river of Charis!" exclaimed Detis. "Follow it, Mado. No, the +other direction. There! It leads directly to Vlor-urdin."</p> + +<p>By good chance they had entered the atmosphere at a point not far from +their destination. In less than an hour by the <i>Nomad's</i> chronometer +the towers of Vlor-urdin were sighted.</p> + +<p>It was a larger city than Pala-dar and of vastly different appearance. +A hollow square of squat buildings enclosed the vast workshops and +storage space of the fleet of war vessels. Their huge spherical bulks +rose from their cradles in tier after tier that stretched as far as +the eye could reach when the <i>Nomad</i> had dropped to a level but +slightly above the tips of the highest spires. The spires were +everywhere, decorative towers at the corners of the squat buildings. +Everything was black, the vessels of the fleet, the squat buildings +and the spires of Vlor-urdin. Death was in the air. Rank vapor drifted +in through the opened ports. There was silence in the city below them +and silence in the <i>Nomad</i>.</p> + +<p>Ora shuddered and drew closer to him. Carr was aware of her nearness +and a lump rose in his throat. A horrible fear assailed him. Fear for +the safety of the dainty Europan at his side. He found her hand; +covered it protectingly with his own.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VII</h4> +<h4><i>Rapaju</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_d.jpg" alt="D" width="57" height="56" /></div> +<p>etis was setting up and adjusting the complicated mechanisms of his +little black case. A dozen vacuum tubes lighted, and a murmur of +throbbing energy came from a helix of shining metallic ribbon that +topped the whole. Flexible cables led to a cap-like contrivance which +Detis placed on his head. He frowned in concentration.</p> + +<p>"The psycho-ray apparatus." Ora explained. "He's sending a message to +the city."</p> + +<p>Evidently the influence of the ray was directive. They had no inkling +of the thoughts transmitted from the alert brain of the scientist but, +from the look of satisfaction on his face, they could see that he was +obtaining the desired contact.</p> + +<p>"Rapaju," he exclaimed, switching off the power of his instrument, +"commander of the fleet of the Llotta. I have advised him of our +arrival. Told him that a Martian and a Terrestrial wish to treat with +him concerning the proposed invasion of their planets. His answering +thought first was of fiercest rage, then conciliatory in nature. He'll +receive you and listen to your arguments, though he promises nothing. +Is that satisfactory?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." Carr and Mado were agreed. At least it would give them a chance +to look over the ground and to make plans, should any occur to them.</p> + +<p>The <i>Nomad</i> circled over the heart of the city and soon Mado saw a +suitable landing space. They settled gracefully in an open area close +by the building indicated by Detis as that of the administration +officials of the city.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p> group of squat, sullen Llotta awaited them and, without speaking a +word either of hatred or welcome, led them into the forbidding +entrance of the building. Close-set, beady eyes; unbelievably flat +features of chalky whiteness; chunky bowed legs, bare and hairy; long +arms with huge dangling paws—these were the outstanding +characteristics of the Llotta. Mado stared straight before him, +refusing to display any great interest in the loathsome creatures, but +Carr was frankly curious and as frankly disapproving.</p> + +<p>Rapaju leered maliciously when the four voyagers stood before him. He +looked the incarnation of all that was evil and vile, a monster among +monsters. Sensing him to be the more aggressive of the two visitors +from doomed planets, he addressed his remarks to Carr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You come to plead with Rapaju," he sneered, his Cos tinged with an +outlandish accent, "to beg for the worthless lives of your +compatriots; for the wealth of your cities?"</p> + +<p>"We come to reason with you," replied Carr haughtily, "if you are +capable of reasoning. What is this incredible thing you are planning?"</p> + +<p>Mado gasped at the effrontery of his friend. But Carr was oblivious of +the warning looks cast in his direction.</p> + +<p>"Enough of that!" snapped Rapaju. "I'll do the talking—you the +reasoning. I've a proposition to make to you, and if you know what's +best, you'll agree. Otherwise you'll be first of the Terrestrials to +die. Is that clear?"</p> + +<p>"Clear enough, all right," growled Carr. "What do you mean—a +proposition?"</p> + +<p>"Ha! I thought you'd listen. My offer is the lives of you and your +companion in exchange for your assistance in guiding my fleet to the +capital cities of your countries. Not that our plans will be changed +if you refuse, but that much time will be saved in this manner and +quick victory made certain without undue sacrifice of valuable +property."</p> + +<p>"You—you—!" Carr stammered in anger. But there was no use in raising +a rumpus—now. They'd only kill him. Something might be accomplished +if he pretended to accede. "Go on with your story," he finished +lamely.</p> + +<p>"In addition to sparing your lives I'll place you both in high +position after we seize your respective planets. Make you chief +officers in the prison lands we intend to establish for your +countrymen. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"Will you give us time to talk it over and think about it?"</p> + +<p>"Until the hour of departure, if you wish."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr bowed, avoiding Mado's questioning eyes. He looked at Ora where +she stood at the side of Detis. She flashed him a guarded smile. He +knew that she understood.</p> + +<p>Rapaju relaxed. He was confident he could bribe these puerile +foreigners to help him in the great venture. And sadly he needed such +help. The Llotta were not navigators. Their knowledge of the heavens +was sadly incomplete. They had no maps of the surfaces of the planets +to be visited. Their simultaneous blows would be far more effective +and the campaign much shorter if they could choose the most vital +centers for the initial attacks.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "that we understand one another, let us talk further +of the plans. Then you will be able to consider carefully before +making your decision."</p> + +<p>Rapaju could be diplomatic when he wished. Carr longed to sink his +fingers in the hairy throat. But he smiled hypocritically and found an +opportunity to wink meaningly at Mado. This was going to be good! And +who knew?—perhaps they might find some way to outwit these mad +savages. To think of them in control of the inner planets was +revolting.</p> + +<p>They retired to a small room with Rapaju and four of his lieutenants, +Detis and Ora accompanying them. Ora sat close to Carr at the circular +table in Rapaju's council. Carr thought grimly of the board meetings +in far away New York.</p> + +<p>Rapaju talked. He told of the armament of his vessels, painting vivid +pictures of the destruction to be wrought in the cities of Terra, of +Mars and Venus. His great hairy paws clutched at imaginary riches when +he spoke glowingly of the plundering to follow. He spoke of the women +of the inner planets and Carr half rose from his seat when he observed +the lecherous glitter in his beady eyes. Ora! Great God, was she safe +here? He stole a glance at the girl and a recurrence of the awful fear +surged through him. In her leather garment, close fitting and severe, +she looked like a boy. Perhaps they would not know. Besides, there was +the perpetual treaty with Europa. It always had been observed, Detis +said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_a.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div><p>s Rapaju expanded upon the glories to come he told perforce of many +of the details of the plans. One thing stood out in Carr's mind: the +vessels of the Llotta were not equal to the <i>Nomad</i> in many respects. +They must carry their entire supply of fuel from the starting point +and this was calculated as but a small percentage in excess of that +required to carry them to their destinations. Their speed was not as +great as the <i>Nomad's</i> by at least a third. If the <i>Nomad</i> led the +fleet from Ganymede they might be able to get them off their course; +cause them to run out of fuel +out in the vacuum and absolute zero of space. He kicked Mado under the +table and arose to ask a few leading questions.</p> + +<p>Ora was whispering to her father and he nodded his head as if in +complete agreement with what she was saying. These two were not +deceived by his apparent traitorous talk, but Mado was aghast. Carr +wondered if Rapaju believed him as did his friend.</p> + +<p>"We'll do it, Rapaju," he stated finally. "In our ship, the <i>Nomad</i>, +we'll guide you across the trackless wastes of the heavens. We'll take +you to our capital cities; point out to you the richest of the +industrial centers. We have no love for our own worlds. Mado and I +deserted them for a life of vagabondage amongst the stars. We ask no +reward other than that we be permitted to leave once more on our +travels, to roam space as we choose."</p> + +<p>Mado attempted to voice an objection but Carr's hand was heavy on his +shoulder. "Shut up, you fool!" he hissed in his ear. "Can't you trust +me?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_r.jpg" alt="R" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>apaju's eyes seemed to draw closer together as he returned Carr's +unflinching stare. He walked around the table and stood at the side of +the tall Terrestrial. Suddenly he grasped Ora's jacket, tore it open +at the throat. He ran his hairy fingers over the bare shoulder of the +shrinking girl and gurgled his delight at the velvet smoothness of her +skin.</p> + +<p>With a roar like a wild animal Carr was upon him, bearing him to the +floor. His fingers were in that hairy throat, where they had itched to +twine.</p> + +<p>"Dirty, filthy beast!" he was snarling. "Lay your foul hands on Ora, +will you? Say your prayers, if you know any, you swine!"</p> + +<p>Then his muscles went limp and he was jerked to his feet by a terrible +force, a force that sent him reeling and gasping against the wall. One +of Rapaju's lieutenants stood before him with a tiny weapon in his +hand, the weapon which had released the paralyzing gas he breathed. He +was choking; suffocating. A black mist rose before him. He felt his +knees give way. Dimly, as in a dream, he saw that Ora was in Detis' +arms. Rapaju was on his feet, fingering his neck and laughing +horribly.</p> + +<p>"The treaty, Rapaju!" Detis was shouting.</p> + +<p>Ora was sobbing. Mado was in the hands of two of the vile Llotta, +struggling wildly to free himself. The Martian's eyes accused him. He +shut his own and groaned. Opened them again. But it was no use. +Everything in the room was whirling now, crazily. He fought to regain +his senses, crawled weakly toward the squat figure of Rapaju where it +swayed and twisted and spun around. Then all was darkness. The gas had +taken its toll.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER VIII</h4> +<h4><i>The Expedition</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div> +<p>arr awakened to a sense of wordless disgust. Fool that he was to +spill the beans as he had! All set to put one over on the leader of +the Llotta, then to come a cropper like this! He knew he had been +spared for a purpose. The gas was not intended to kill, only to render +him helpless for a time. He opened his eyes to the light of a familiar +room. He had awakened before in this bed. It was his own cabin on +board the <i>Nomad</i>. What had happened? Had he dreamed it all. Europa, +Ora, Rapaju—all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> of it? He sat up and felt of his aching head.</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you awake?" a soft voice greeted him.</p> + +<p>"Ora!" he exclaimed. It was indeed she, beautiful as ever.</p> + +<p>"Sh-h," she warned, placing the tip of a finger to his lips. "They'll +hear us."</p> + +<p>"Who?" he whispered.</p> + +<p>"Rapaju—his two guards. They're in the control cabin with father and +Mado."</p> + +<p>"What? They've taken the <i>Nomad</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. We're under way. They've forced Mado to guide them but do not +trust him. Rapaju spared you as he believes you more capable. He'll +hold you to your word."</p> + +<p>"Lord! But what are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>Ora dropped her eyes. "He—Rapaju—" she said, "inferred from your +action in assaulting him that you were very fond of me. He holds me as +a hostage for your good behavior. Father volunteered to come along. He +persuaded Rapaju to allow it. Swore allegiance to his cause. Of course +he wouldn't leave me."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr gazed at her in admiration of her courage. She had been nursing +him, too! What a girl she was!</p> + +<p>"Ora," he said huskily, "Rapaju was right. I am fond of you. More than +fond: I love you. I never knew I could feel this way."</p> + +<p>"Oh Carr, you mustn't!" She drew back as he scrambled to his feet. +"They'll find us. We must not show that we care. Rapaju is a beast. He +wants me for himself and is delaying the time only until you have +brought the fleet safely to the inner planets and to their great +cities. He—"</p> + +<p>"The skunk! Wants you himself, does he? Why, why didn't I kill him? +But Ora, you said—you do care—"</p> + +<p>"Ha! I thought so!" Rapaju stood in the doorway, grinning mockingly at +the pair. "The impetuous Terrestrial is up and about. Back at his old +game!"</p> + +<p>"Please, please, for my sake, Carr!" Ora pressed him back as he +tensed his muscles for a spring.</p> + +<p>"Sorry I was so slow," Carr grated, over her shoulder. "Another five +seconds, Rapaju, and I'd have had your windpipe out by the roots."</p> + +<p>Rapaju scowled darkly and fingered his throat. "But, my dear Carr, you +were too slow," he said, "and I live—and shall live—while you shall +die. Meanwhile you'll carry out your agreement. Come, Ora."</p> + +<p>The girl hesitated a moment, then with a pleading glance at Carr +stepped from the room.</p> + +<p>"All right now, Parker," snapped Rapaju. "Into your clothes and into +the pilot's seat. You'll stay there, too, till the journey's over. Get +busy!"</p> + +<p>One of his guards had appeared in the doorway. Carr knew that +resistance was useless. Besides, seated at those controls, he might +think of something. Rapaju'd never get Ora if he could help it!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>ado's shoulders drooped and his face was haggard and drawn, but he +summoned a smile when he saw Carr.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Carr," he said. "You all right?"</p> + +<p>"Sure. Rapaju says I've got to take the controls."</p> + +<p>"Very well." Mado shrugged his broad shoulders and slipped from the +pilot's seat. Two ugly Llotta guards were watching, ray-pistols in +hand. "The chart is corrected, Carr, and—"</p> + +<p>"Never mind the conversation!" Rapaju snarled. "There'll be no talk +between you at all. Beat it to your cabin, Mado."</p> + +<p>The Martian glowered and made as if to retort hotly.</p> + +<p>"But Rapaju," Detis interposed, speaking from his position at one of +the ports, "they'll have to consult regarding the course of the +vessel. Mado is more familiar than Carr with the navigation of space."</p> + +<p>"Shut up!" roared Rapaju. "I know what I am doing. And, what's more,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +you'll not converse with them, either! I'm running this expedition, +and I'm not taking any chances."</p> + +<p>Detis subsided and followed Mado through the passage to the sleeping +cabins.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he ensuing silence was ominous. Carr could feel the eyes of the +Llotta upon him as he examined the adjustments of the controls and +peeped through the telescope. A glance at the velocity indicator +showed him they were traveling at a rate of eight hundred miles a +second. He studied the chart and soon made out their position. Jupiter +was a hundred million miles behind them and they were heading almost +due sunward. The automatic control mechanism was not functioning. +Evidently Mado had kept this a secret—and for a purpose. He wished he +could talk with his friend. They'd plan something.</p> + +<p>"Like your job?" Rapaju was gloating over this Terrestrial who had +dared to lay hands upon him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but not the company." Carr was disdainful.</p> + +<p>"You'll like it less before I've finished with you. And get this +straight. You think we're dependent on you to guide us to the inner +planets, and that we'll not harm any of you until they are reached. +Don't fool yourself! I've watched Mado and I've spent much time in the +excellent library of the <i>Nomad</i>. I've learned plenty about the +navigation of space and can reach those planets as quickly and +directly as you. But it pleases me to see you work, so work you shall. +I'll check you carefully, and don't think you can deceive me. Don't +try to depart from the true course. The sun is my check as it is +yours, and I'll keep constant tab on our position. Get it?"</p> + +<p>"A rather long speech, Rapaju." Carr grinned into the evil face of the +commander.</p> + +<p>"Still defiant, eh? Suits me, Carr Parker. We'll have some nice talks +here, and then—when it pleases me—you'll suffer. You shall live to +see your home city crash in utter ruin; your people slain, starved, +beaten. And, above all, there's Ora—"</p> + +<p>"Don't defile her name in your ugly mouth, you—!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_c.jpg" alt="C" width="46" height="50" /></div><p>arr bit his tongue to keep back the torrent of invectives that sprang +to his lips. This would never do! He'd get himself bumped off before +they were well started. And while there was life there was hope. He'd +stick to his guns and think; think and plan. If only he could have a +few words with Mado. They must get out of this mess. There must be a +way! There must!</p> + +<p>Rapaju was laughing in triumph. Thought he had cowed him, did he? +Boastful savage! If he could navigate the <i>Nomad</i> himself, why didn't +he? Liar! He and Mado were godsends to him, and he knew it! His speech +at the council table had been the real truth.</p> + +<p>Foreign thoughts entered his mind. Detis, good old Detis, was using +his thought apparatus in his own cabin! He paid no attention to the +words of Rapaju when he left the control room. Detis was on the job! +Between them they'd outwit this devil of Ganymede.</p> + +<p>"Keep your courage," came the message. "I've read the thoughts of Mado +and he bids you examine the chart carefully. He's made some notations +in the ancient language of Mars. The automatic control of the <i>Nomad</i> +can be used when necessary. He has not advised Rapaju of its +existence."</p> + +<p>Carr was encouraged and he concentrated on a suitable reply. But, +though he did not consciously will it, his thoughts were of Ora.</p> + +<p>Instantly there came the reassurance of her father. "Ora is not in +immediate danger. Rapaju is saving her for his revenge on you. And I'm +watching her constantly. A ray-pistol is concealed in my clothing, its +charge ready for the foul creature in case he should lay hands on her. +But you must plan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> an escape, and salvation for your worlds. Examine +the chart at once."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e looked from the corner of his eye and saw that one of the Llotta +guards was watching intently. He peered into the eye-piece of the +telescope; made an inconsequential change in one of the adjustments. +The guard stirred but did not arise. He looked at the chart with new +interest, scanned its markings carefully. What had Mado marked for his +attention? There were hundreds of notations, some in Cos and a few in +the ancient Martian, all in Mado's painstaking chirography.</p> + +<p>Ah, there it was! A tiny spot almost on their course, with Mado's +minute notation. Sargasso Sea! What did it mean? Did Mado intend to +lead the fleet into the embrace of that dreadful monster they had so +fortunately escaped? An excellent idea to save the inner planets. But +suicide for them! He'd do it though, if it weren't for Ora. She was so +sweet and innocent. She must not die; must not suffer. Another way +must be found. He groaned aloud as he realized that her predicament +was the result of his own bullheadedness. If only he hadn't insisted +on the trip to Ganymede. But then there was the problem of preserving +the civilization of the inner planets. It had to be met.</p> + +<p>There was a commotion behind him; a feminine shriek from the after +cabins; loud shoutings from the beast called Rapaju. Carr's heart +skipped a beat. He was paralyzed with fear. But only for an instant. +With a bellow of rage he whirled around and started for the door, +charging the two guards with head down and arms flailing.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER IX</h4> +<h4><i>Nemesis</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he Llotta did not use their ray-pistols. They were too busy +attempting to elude the mad rushes of the powerful Terrestrial. +Besides, there were good reasons they should not kill him—yet. Carr +drove one of them halfway down the passageway with a well-planted +punch. The other was on his back, hairy legs twined around his waist, +an arm under his chin, drawing his head back with a steady and +terrible pressure. He whirled around, trying to shake off his beastly +antagonist.</p> + +<p>But these powerful legs and arms held fast. He tore at the hairy +ankles where they crossed in the pit of his stomach; wrenched them +free. Still the creature clung to him, twisting his head until it +seemed his neck must break. He found a waving foot with his right +hand; wrenched it mightily. There was a sharp snap and the foot +dangled limp in his fingers. He had broken the ankle. With a howl of +pain his assailant let go and dropped to the floor to crawl away like +a whipped cur.</p> + +<p>In a flash Carr saw that the brute was reaching for his ray-pistol +where it had dropped during the encounter. He kicked it from the reach +of that hairy paw and sprang after it. With one of those little +weapons in his hands the odds would change! His fingers closed on its +grip just as Ora rushed into the room, closely followed by Rapaju, +whose distorted features were terrible to behold. The cabin was full +of them now; the guard he had first knocked down; the lust-crazed +commander—the one with the broken ankle. All but Detis and Mado. Carr +faced them alone.</p> + +<p>So close was Rapaju to the girl that he dared not use the pistol, and +now the uninjured guard was circling him, trying to get in a position +where he could use his ray-pistol without endangering his commander. +Carr fumbled for the release of the weapon he held in his hand; found +it. The guard threw himself to the floor when he saw it raised; +shouted a warning. But it was too late. The deadly ray had sped on its +mission of death; struck him full in the middle. The twisted body lay +still a moment and then collapsed like a punctured balloon, leaving +his scant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> clothing in a limp heap—empty. A worthy miniature of the +D-ray, this little weapon!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e turned to face Rapaju and saw that he was shielding himself with +Ora's body. She had fainted and now hung drooping in the arms of the +beast. Where was Mado? Detis? Good God—he'd killed them! Carr thought +of that little spot on the chart. Must be very close now. They'd pass +so near there'd be no escape. But he could not reach the controls +without taking his eyes from Rapaju. That would have to wait.</p> + +<p>Rapaju was backing toward the door, still holding the limp figure of +the girl before him. The injured guard lay moaning on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Drop her, you devil!" Carr shouted desperately as he saw that Rapaju +soon would reach the passageway.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly he reached for the controls and pushed the energy lever +to full speed forward. He braced himself for the shock of acceleration +and saw Rapaju and Ora thrown backward into the passageway, the girl's +body cushioned by that of her captor as they were flung violently to +the floor. Madly he rushed to the narrow entrance and tore at the +hairy arms that encircled the slender waist of the girl. He jerked the +snarling commander of the Llotta expedition to his feet and slammed +him against the metal wall.</p> + +<p>"Now, you damn pig," he grunted, "I'll finish the job. Dirty scum of a +rotten world!"</p> + +<p>He dragged his victim into the control cabin and threw him to the +floor. But Rapaju was like an eel. He wriggled from under him and +snatched from the heap of clothing the ray-pistol of the disintegrated +guard. With a yelp of triumph he rose to his knees and leveled the +weapon.</p> + +<p>A well placed kick sent it spinning and Carr was upon him. He snapped +back the head with a terrible punch; then lifted the dazed creature to +his feet and stepped back.</p> + +<p>"Stand up and take it like a man!" he roared.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_r.jpg" alt="R" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>apaju shook his head to clear it and rushed in with a bellow of rage. +Just what Carr wanted! Starting almost from the floor, his right came +up to meet the vicious jaw with a crack that told of the terrific +power behind it. Lifted from his feet and hurled half way across the +room by the impact, Rapaju lay motionless where he fell.</p> + +<p>Carr was at the telescope. Their speed was close to fifteen hundred +miles a second. The monstrous mass of Mado's Sargasso Sea loomed close +in his vision. Off their course by a hundred miles or more. They'd +miss it all right. He had the situation in hand now on board the +<i>Nomad</i>. But how about the fleet behind them? He thought fast and +furiously. Another two minutes and they'd pass the thing; the +inexplicable horror which had accounted for the golden sphere of the +Europans. Could he use it? Suppose the fleet of the enemy—</p> + +<p>The idea was full of possibilities.</p> + +<p>He rushed to the stern compartment, and scanned the heavens for the +massed body of spheres he knew would be the fleet of the Llotta. At +this speed they must have fallen far behind. Yes, there they were. Not +so far behind at that. The battle in the control room must have been a +shorter one than it had seemed. He returned quickly to the controls +and reversed the energy, to give the fleet a chance to catch up to +him.</p> + +<p>Closer came that mass of whitish jelly. And now it was much larger +than before. The terrible creature, for living matter it was, beyond +doubt, was growing with the rapidity of a rising flood. Great +tentacles of its horrid translucent substance reached in all +directions for possible victims. He sickened at the sight. But what a +fate for the fleet of the Llotta! If only he could maneuver them into +its influence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_h.jpg" alt="H" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>e changed his course slightly and headed directly for the monster, +again increasing speed. Perhaps—if he calculated the forces +correctly—he could dive through it again with the D-ray to clear a +path. But no. It was a miracle they had escaped before, and now the +vicious thing was more than double its previous size. Once more he +altered his course. He'd cross in front of the thing; skim it as close +as he dared and shoot from its influence on the far side. The greater +mass of the enemy vessels and their lack of a quick-acting repulsive +force would prove their undoing.</p> + +<p>Full speed ahead. A rapid mental calculation—an educated guess, +rather—and he set the automatic control. Turning around to start for +the stern compartment, he saw that Ora had recovered from her swoon +and now stood swaying weakly in the passageway.</p> + +<p>"Ora!" he exclaimed delightedly. He rushed to her side and supported +her in a tender embrace.</p> + +<p>"Rapaju?" she questioned with horror in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Won't bother you for a while, dear. But your father—Mado?"</p> + +<p>"He gassed them. They'll recover." The brave girl had regained her +composure.</p> + +<p>"Good! But, come! Time's short." He half carried her to the rear, +berating himself the while for his inability to pay her closer +attention. With arms still around her he placed her at one of the +stern ports.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Carr?" She sensed his excitement.</p> + +<p>"The fleet—see! We'll destroy them."</p> + +<p>The spherical vessels were close behind, huddled together in mass +formation and following the <i>Nomad</i> blindly.</p> + +<p>"How, Carr?"</p> + +<p>"Lead them into it. Wait tall you see! There's a—"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he <i>Nomad</i> lurched, and changed direction. Cold fear clutched at his +throat. That devil of a guard! Why hadn't he killed him? He dashed +through the passage, Ora at his heels.</p> + +<p>Sure enough, the crippled guard had dragged himself to the controls; +was manipulating the energy director as he had seen Mado do. They were +heading directly for the terrible monster of the heavens!</p> + +<p>No need now to peer through the telescope. The thing was visible to +the naked eye. No power could save them! Carr hurled himself at the +guard and tore at the hairy paw which gripped the lever. The throbbing +of strange energies filled the air of the room, and Carr's brain +pulsed with the maddening rhythm. The red discharge appeared at the +projections of the control panels. He forgot the fleet of the Llotta, +forgot the menace to his own world. Only Ora mattered now, and he had +not the power to save her!</p> + +<p>As in a daze he knew he was wrenching mightily at the body of the +powerful minion of Rapaju. His fingers encountered heated metal—one +of the ray-pistols. He felt the intense vibration of the weapon as its +charge was released. But he still lived. The beast who held it had +missed! Dimly he was conscious of the screams of Ora; of the yielding +of the creature who fought him. An animal cry registered on his +consciousness and he shook the suddenly limp Llotta from him. He knew +somehow that his last enemy was gone.</p> + +<p>A quick glance showed him that Ora was still on her feet, braced +against the wall. The red veil was before his eyes. He grasped the +controls, and fought desperately to keep his strength and senses. A +streamer of horrid whiteness swung across his vision; slithered +clammily over the glass of one of the forward ports. They were into +the thing! It was the end! He groaned aloud as he fumbled with the +mechanisms and strove to formulate a plan of escape.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>he fleet, he knew, was just behind. An enormous mass. The repulsive +energy astern would be terrific. He turned it full on. The whiteness +ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>scured his vision. Then it was gone once more. A single streamer +waved before him and encompassed them. The movement of these members +must be inconceivably rapid, else they'd be invisible at the speed the +<i>Nomad</i> was traveling. Full speed ahead. The repulsion full on in the +direction of the center of the mass as well as astern. The framework +of the <i>Nomad</i> creaked protestingly from the terrific forces that tore +at her vitals.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly they were released. The <i>Nomad</i> was shooting off into +space. The resultant of those combined forces had done the trick. Only +the edge of that devil-fish of space, had they touched. Free—they +were free of the monster! The red veil lifted. He rushed to Ora's +side. She was kneeling at one of the floor ports, breathing heavily +but unharmed.</p> + +<p>Below them they saw the swiftly receding mass: the fleet of the Llotta +diving headlong, drawn inexorably into the rapacious embrace of the +vile creature of the heavens. An instant the awful whiteness of the +thing closed in greedily about the many spheres of the fleet; +swallowed them from sight and contorted madly and with seeming glee +over the triumph. Then, in a burst of blinding incandescence, it was +gone. The monster, the fleet—everything—blasted into nothingness. +The fuel storage compartments of the vessels of Ganymede had exploded! +The heavens were rid of the inexplicable growing menace; the inner +planets were saved from a terrible invasion. And the <i>Nomad</i> was safe. +Ora, Detis, Mado—all were safe!</p> + +<p>At his side Ora was trembling. Gently he raised her to her feet, and +took her into his arms.</p> + + +<h4>CHAPTER X</h4> +<h4><i>Vagabonds All</i></h4> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>ogether they cared for Detis and Mado; made them comfortable in their +bunks until the time when the effects of the gas would wear off. +Lucky it was that Rapaju had used the gas pistol rather than the ray. +Perhaps it had been a mistake. Or perhaps he had needed the scientific +knowledge of Detis, the familiarity with the inner planets that was +Mado's. At any rate, they had no delusions regarding his designs on +Ora or his hatred of Carr. By his own passions had the commander of +the fleet been led to the error that cost him his life and made +possible the destruction of his fleet.</p> + +<p>Carr was torn by conflicting emotions. The delectable little Europan +was most disturbing. He'd never had much use for the other sex—on +Earth. Too dominating, most of them. And always thrown at his head by +designing parents for his money. But Ora was different! Her very +nearness set his pulses racing. And he knew that she cared for him as +he did for her. Those moments in the control cabin after the +explosion! But something had come over him since he cut loose from the +old life. Wanderlust—that was it. He'd never go back. Neither would +he be content to settle down to a domestic life in Pala-dar. Wanted to +be up and going somewhere.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Carr, Carr!" Ora's voice called to him. "Mado is awake. He wants +you."</p> + +<p>Good old Mado! Why couldn't they just continue on their way as they +had started out? Roaming the universe in search of other adventures! +But the silvery tinkle of Ora's laughter reached his ears. She was +irresistible! He forgot his doubts as he hurried to his friend's +cabin.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_m.jpg" alt="M" width="60" height="50" /></div><p>ado was staring at the Europan maiden with a ludicrous expression of +astonishment—gawping, Carr called it. And Ora was laughing at him.</p> + +<p>"Your friend," she gurgled, "doesn't believe he's alive, or that I am, +or you. Tell him we are."</p> + +<p>Carr grinned. Mado did look funny at that. "Hello, old sock," he said, +"had a bad dream?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did I? Oh boy!" Mado rocked to and fro, his head in his hands. Then +he displayed sudden intense interest. "Rapaju?" he asked. "His +guards—the fleet—what's happened?"</p> + +<p>"Ah ha! Now you know you're alive!" Carr laughed. "But the others are +dead and gone. The fleet's gone to smash—and how!"</p> + +<p>"But Carr. How did you do it? Tell me!"</p> + +<p>Mado threw off his covers and clapped his friend on the back, a +resounding thump that brought a gasp from Ora.</p> + +<p>"Your Sargasso Sea did it. And it's a thing of the past, too. Wait +till I tell you about it!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_o.jpg" alt="O" width="50" height="50" /></div><p>ra tripped from the room as Carr sat on the edge of the bunk to spin +his yarn.</p> + +<p>"But man alive!" Mado exclaimed when the story was finished. "Don't +you know you've done a miraculous thing? I'd never have had the nerve. +That damn creature out there had more than four times its former +attracting energy. That's what made it impossible for the fleet to get +away. And you—you lucky devil—you just doped it out right. The fleet +of the Llotta gave you a tremendous push from astern when you used the +repulsive energy. If they hadn't been there with their enormous mass +to react against we'd all have been mincemeat now along with the +Llotta. You Terrestrials sure can think fast! Me, now—Lord, if it had +been me, I'd have thought of it after my spirit had departed to its +reward—or punishment. Glory be! It's the greatest thing I ever heard +of."</p> + +<p>"Rats! You'd have done the same as I did. Probably would have missed +it a mile instead of nearly getting caught as I did. A good thing the +fleet's gone, though. Mars and Terra—Venus, too—they'll never know +how close it was for them. Wouldn't have sense enough to appreciate +it, anyway."</p> + +<p>"They would if they ever got a taste of what the Llotta planned. But +what's wrong with you Carr? You act sore. Want to go home?"</p> + +<p>"Me? Don't be like that. No—I'd like to carry on as we planned. +There's Saturn, Uranus and Neptune yet; Planet 9; a flock of +satellites and asteroids. Oh, dammit!"</p> + +<p>Mado looked his amazement. "Well, what's to prevent it?" he demanded. +"The <i>Nomad's</i> still here, and so are we. I'm just as anxious to keep +going as you are. Why not?"</p> + +<p>But Carr did not reply. Why not, indeed? He strode from the cabin and +into the control room. The <i>Nomad</i> was drifting in space, subject only +to natural forces that swung it in a vast orbit around the sun. He +started the generators and drove the vessel from her temporary orbit +with rapid acceleration. Out—out into the jeweled blackness of the +heavens. There was Jupiter out there, a bright orb that came suddenly +very near when he centered it on the cross-hairs of the telescope.</p> + +<p>The excited voices of Ora and Detis came to his ears. The booming +speech of Mado. Why couldn't he be sensible and companionable as they +were? But a perverse demon kept him at the controls. They'd think him +a grouch. Well, maybe he was! But the vastness of the universe +beckoned. New worlds to explore; mysteries to be solved; a life of +countless new experiences! Anyone'd think he was the owner of the +<i>Nomad</i>, the way he planned for the future.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_t.jpg" alt="T" width="55" height="50" /></div> +<p>hey were in the control cabin now—Mado and Detis and Ora. A moment +he hesitated, eyes glued to the telescope. Then, with a petulant +gesture, he reached for the automatic control; locked it. Shouldn't be +this way. They'd think him an awful cad. And they'd be right! He +whirled to face them.</p> + +<p>Detis was smiling. Mado gazed owlishly solemn. Ora clung to the arm of +her father, and her long lashes hid the blue eyes that had played such +havoc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> with the emotions of the Terrestrial.</p> + +<p>"Carr," said Detis, gently, "we must thank you. You saved our lives, +you know."</p> + +<p>"Aw, forget it. Saved my own, too, didn't I? By a lucky break."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't luck, Carr." Detis was gripping his hand now. "It was sheer +grit and brains. You had them both. If you hadn't used them we'd all +be corpses—or disintegrated—excepting Ora, perhaps. And you know the +fate that awaited her. Instead, we are alive and well. The fleet is +gone. Rapaju's body and that of his guard drift nameless in space +where you disposed of them through the air-lock of the <i>Nomad</i>. The +inner planets need fear no future invasion, for the resources of +Ganymede have been expended in the one huge enterprise that has +failed. All through your quick wit and bravery. No, it wasn't luck."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Detis." Carr returned the pressure of the scientist's hand, +smiling sheepishly. He pushed him away after a moment. He didn't want +their gratitude or praise. Didn't know what he wanted. Ora still +avoided meeting his gaze. "Nonsense," he repeated. "And now, please +leave me. You, Detis. Mado, too. I'd like to be alone for a +while—with Ora. Mind?"</p> + +<p>Mado's owlish look broadened to a knowing grin as he backed into the +passageway. Detis collided with the huge Martian in his eagerness to +be out of the room. They were alone and Carr was on his feet. Nothing +mattered now—excepting Ora. Suddenly she was in his arms, the +fragrance of her hair in his nostrils.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /><div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_s.jpg" alt="S" width="36" height="50" /></div><p>tar gazing, the two of them. It was ridiculous! But the wonders of +the universe held a new beauty now for Carr. The distant suns had +taken on added brilliance. Still they beckoned.</p> + +<p>"Carr," the girl whispered, after a time, "where are we going?"</p> + +<p>"To Europa. Your home."</p> + +<p>"To—to stay?"</p> + +<p>"No." Carr was suddenly confident; determined. "We'll stop there to +break the news. Then we'll be wedded, you and I, according to the +custom of your people. Our honeymoon—years of it—will be spent in +the <i>Nomad</i>, roving the universe. Mado'll agree, I know. Wanderers of +the heavens we'll be, Ora. But we'll have each other; and when +we've—you've—had enough of it, I'll be ready to settle down. +Anywhere you say. Are you game?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Carr! How did you guess? It's just as we'd planned. Father and +Mado and I. Didn't think I'd go, did you, you stupid old dear?"</p> + +<p>"Why—why Ora." Carr was stammering now. He'd thought he was being +masterful—making the plans himself. But she'd beat him to it, the +adorable little minx! "I was a bit afraid," he admitted; "and I still +can't believe that it's actually true. You're sure you want to?"</p> + +<p>"Positive. Why Carr, I've always been a vagabond at heart. And now +that I've found you we'll just be vagabonds together. Father and Mado +will leave us very much to each other. Their scientific leanings, you +know. And—oh—it'll just be wonderful!"</p> + +<p>"It's you that'll make it wonderful, sweetheart."</p> + +<p>Carr drew her close. The stars shone still more brightly and beckoned +anew. Vagabonds, all of them! Like the gypsies of old, but with vastly +more territory to roam. The humdrum routine of his old life seemed +very far behind. He wondered what Courtney Davis would say if he could +see him now. Wordless happiness had come to him, and he let his +thoughts wander out into the limitless expanse of the heavens. Star +gazing still—just he and Ora.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image_011.jpg" width="600" height="548" alt="" /> +</div> +<h2><a name="Readers_Corner" id="Readers_Corner"></a>The Reader's Corner</h2> + +<p class="p5"><i>From a Science Fiction "Fiend"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I agree with you about the reprinting of old stories, +because you would only force older Science Fiction readers +to read the same stuff that they have read before. Any +Science Fiction fiend like myself will surely have the +reprinted story in his collection of magazines.</p> + +<p>The size of your magazine is perfect, but your paper is not +very good. As for me, I don't care about your paper because +your stories are so very good that the paper doesn't matter.</p> + +<p>My favorite story, and one of the best stories that I have +ever read so far, is "Murder Madness." It has a very +original idea and holds your interest from the very start.</p> + +<p>I am also for a more often publication of your magazine; +about twice a month—Rupert Jones, New York, N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Valuable Suggestions</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>The July issue of Astounding Stories is one of the best +issues you have so far published.</p> + +<p>Arthur J. Burks sure is a master at writing Science Fiction +tales. The first installment of "Earth, the Marauder" was +swell. Harl Vincent is another very good author. His +novelette, "The Terror of Air-Level Six," was a close +second. "The Forgotten Planet," by S. P. Wright, "Beyond the +Heaviside Layer," by S. P. Meek and "From an Amber Block," +by Tom Curry were all good stories.</p> + +<p>The cover illustration was the best yet. I hope that the +next dozen covers do not have blue backgrounds. Other colors +you might have are green, red, pink, orange, yellow, black +and light and dark purple.</p> + +<p>When will Edmond Hamilton's first story be published in +Astounding Stories? Have you received any stories by Stanton +Coblentz, A. Hyatt Verrill, Ed Earl Repp, John W. Campbell, +Jr., Edward E. Chappelow and Edgar Rice Burroughs yet?</p> + +<p>Why not have a page devoted to the authors? You could print +a picture and tell something about one author each month. I +think that an illustration representing Science Fiction +would look good on the contents page.</p> + +<p>I hope that Wesso will soon be illustrating every story in +Astounding Stories, or that you will obtain another artist +equally as good (if possible).</p> + +<p>Is it possible for you to use a better and thinner grade of +paper? I save all my Astounding Stories and I like them to +be thin so they will not take up so much room.—Jack Darrow, +4225 N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Illinois.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Not Yet</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just received your July issue of Astounding Stories, +and I must say that it is the best yet.</p> + +<p>The only thing wrong with it, in my opinion, is that it is +too small; the size should be at least 9x12. Also it should +be a semi-monthly, or at least accompanied by a quarterly +and annual.</p> + +<p>The stories in the July issue are wonderful, all except +Murray Leinster's serial, which does not belong in your +magazine.</p> + +<p>If you have any intention of putting an annual or a +quarterly on the market, will you be so kind as to +communicate with me as I am very much interested in your +magazine.—Louis Wentzler, 1933 Woodbine St., Brooklyn, N. +Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>"Ever Since"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I want to tell you what I think of your new magazine. I +think it's great.</p> + +<p>I stopped in a drug store and saw Astounding Stories on the +newsstand. I bought it and have been buying it ever since. I +am fourteen years old, but I am interested in science. Why +not get a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and some more by +Ray Cummings?</p> + +<p>I wish success to your wonderful magazine.—Wm. McCalvy, +1244 Beech St., St. Paul, Minn.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>"Not One Poor Story Yet"</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I agree with you that reprints should absolutely be kept out +of your magazine. I admit that there are many stories of +unusual merit among the reprints but I favor new and fresher +stories.</p> + +<p>In your last issue (June) I consider "The Moon Master" as +being the best story, closely followed by "Out of the +Dreadful Depths." "The Cavern World" came next, followed by +"Giants of the Ray," "Brigands of the Moon" and "Murder +Madness."</p> + +<p>I have not found one poor story in your magazine yet, and +never expect to.</p> + +<p>I, for one, favor a larger sized magazine with a five cent +increase in price, or, at least, if the magazine must remain +small, I would like to see a quarterly out on the third +Thursday every three months.</p> + +<p>I am extremely pleased to see that an interplanetary story +by R. F. Starzl will appear in your next issue. Please have +more of his stories if possible.—Forrest James Ackerman, +530 Staples Ave., San Francisco, Calif.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Likes Present Size</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Best stories in the last two issues: C. D. Willard's "Out of +the Dreadful Depths" (Excellent); Chas. W. Diffin's "The +Moon Master" (Very Good); Sewell P. Wright's "Forgotten +Planet" (Fairly Good).</p> + +<p>I am a new reader, but interested in these kinds of +stories. I am pleased to see that your readers criticize +freely. A story that will please one reader will not +interest another, perhaps, and it may not be the fault of +the author's ability so much as that he doesn't like that +type of story.</p> + +<p>"Out of the Dreadful Depths," by C. Willard is the best +story I've read for some time. I could not see a single way +it could be improved. "The Moon Master," by Chas. Diffin was +just as good but I didn't like the ending so well. I +certainly hope Mr. Diffin will write more stories like it, +especially using his same three leading characters. "The +Forgotten Planet," by Mr. Wright, was well written and +pretty good in spite of the fact that I don't like that type +of story so well.</p> + +<p>"Murder Madness," by Murray Leinster was well written and +the characters interesting and real but I didn't like his +subject. I hope for more and different stories from him. +"Earth, the Marauder," by Arthur J. Burks looks as though it +was going to be a record winner for me—accomplish the +impossible, and make a good story from a story of the +future.</p> + +<p>I don't like horror stories, crazy stories and stories +written far into the future, as "Brigands of the Moon." +These stories make light of the vast distances of space and +are too weird, droll and fail to give a single shiver down +my old backbone. They are strange and inhabited by strange +people. No story can give the faintest idea of the space +between those mighty suns of the universe. Most of them have +more imagination than scientific knowledge. "Earth, the +Marauder," an exception.</p> + +<p>I would much rather hear stories of primeval days of the +lost Atlantis before Earth was populated with scientific +beings, when the cave man looked up at the unknown, then so +near to him. At the moon, which was then so close, and +uninhabited by superior beings. Tales of superstition and +all mystery stories of the unknown. I like interplanetary +stories, if not written too far into the future.</p> + +<p>I like the present size and shape of your magazine. Best +wishes for the success of your magazine.—An Interested +Reader, Goffstown, N. H.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Likes</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have just finished reading the July issue of Astounding +Stories and I think every story is simply great, especially +"The Terror of Air-Level Six." That sure is a story! "The +Forgotten Planet" is a corker, too!</p> + +<p>While reading the letters in "The Readers' Corner" I noticed +that almost everyone has a hankering for Edgar Rice +Burroughs' stories. Believe it or not, I'm wild about his +stories myself and I'm looking forward to reading his +stories in Astounding Stories. It won't make any difference +if they'll be originals or reprints, so long as they're +Burroughs!</p> + +<p>Ray Cummings is another one of my favorites and I always +read his stories first. His "Brigands of the Moon" hit me in +the right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> spot. "The Moon Master" in the June issue was +also a very fine story.</p> + +<p>Now about this argument about reprinted stories. I think +that if, at least, one reprinted story appeared in each +issue of Astounding Stories, it wouldn't hurt its +reputation. Here are some reprints that hit the ceiling: +"The War in the Air," by Wells; "Tarranto, the Conqueror," +by Cummings; "The Conquest of Mars," by Serviss. I'm sure +the readers would enjoy reading them. But if you are +persistent about avoiding reprints then we'll have to do +without them.—Paul Nikolaieff, 4325 S. Seeley Ave., +Chicago, Illinois.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Wants Sequel</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have read every issue of Astounding Stories though I can +barely afford it. I like it very much. The best novels were, +in order: 1. "The Moon Master"; 2. "Phantoms of Reality"; 3. +"Spawn of the Stars"; 4. "Terror of Air-Level Six."</p> + +<p>In the July issue you published a story, "Earth, the +Marauder," which promises to be even better than the +"Skylark of Space" that once came out in another magazine. I +like Harl Vincent, Ray Cummings, Arthur Burks, and Martian +stories best. Interplanetary stories always agree with me. +Burroughs is an excellent author. I like his Martian books. +"The Beetle Horde" in the first two issues was very good. +But why not give a sequel about the other and more terrible +creatures in the earth whom the madman spoke of? Fourth +dimensionals are sometimes good. You should have reprints by +Burroughs, Cummings and Merritt. I am eagerly waiting for +the next issue. Do not enlarge the magazine because I cannot +afford it. Don't publish stories like "From an Amber Block." +They're rotten. Publish more future and interplanetary +stories.—Joseph Edelman, 721 De Kalb Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Stands Pat</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have read all the issues of A. S. since the date of +publication and think that there is no other magazine like +it on the market. I would like to offer a few suggestions +contrary to most of your readers (i.e., Jack Darrow & Chas. +Barret):</p> + +<p>1.—Keep magazine in present size and price.</p> + +<p>2.—Issue it only once a month. If it was issued +semi-monthly the writers would soon run out of ideas; and +the readers would get sick of it if they read it so often +anyway.</p> + +<p>3.—Keep up the style of stories now running, i.e., keep the +science a little in the background. Do not let it monopolize +the story.</p> + +<p>I get other magazines that do not follow the last mentioned +rule and the result is the stories are full of machines +going 10,000 miles per hour, etc.; pink, black, purple and +eleventeen other colored rays. As a result the stories are +drier than the Sahara Desert.</p> + +<p>The illustrations are fine (O.K.) as they are.—Walter +O'Brien, 6 Hageman Pl., North Bergen, N. J.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Trial by Readers</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>When Astounding Stories first appeared on the newsstands, a +brand new Science Fiction magazine, I was prejudiced against +it as a competitor to the existing magazines—one that might +carry an inferior quality of Science Fiction so closely +approaching the supernatural as to practically disregard +science. In a few cases, as with very good writers like A. +Merritt and H. P. Lovecraft, this is permissible, but, +otherwise, not at all so. In the first issue, "The Stolen +Mind" seemed to bear me out, but, then, there was "Tanks." I +bought the next issue—much better! And then the third +showed "The Soul Master," very well written, but not quite +science, as related. Yet, "Cold Light" held me on, and +"Brigands of the Moon." There is no danger of my dropping +off now!</p> + +<p>In the current issue, "Murder Madness" and "The Power and +the Glory" stand out as mile-posts in the history of Science +Fiction. The rest are not far behind, though, as a matter of +fact, "Beyond the Heaviside Layer" and "Earth, the Marauder" +have more discernible flaws than the rest. Just for example, +a layer of organic matter would raise Cain with astronomy, +due to refraction. Air is bad enough. But the writing +overwhelms the error. You have certainly assembled a group +of excellent authors, new and old, and I am glad to see the +promise of R. F. Starzl in the next issue. His "Madness of +the Dust" is one of the most naturally written +interplanetary stories I have read—logical and clear, just +as it would happen to anybody.</p> + +<p>And now for the big question—that of reprints. You seem to +have already decided the answer, and have defended your +action well, but I wonder if it is well enough. By far your +best argument is your last—"authors must eat"—with which I +have no quarrel at all. Still, one classic serial a year, or +at most two, might not prove too harmful. Following back, I +reach a statement concerning "The Saturday Evening Post." In +the past it has published hundreds of the world's best +stories, and never reprinted. True. But why? Because these +stories are all available in book form, in libraries and +book stores, in original or new editions or in the Grosset +and Dunlap list of perpetually printed best sellers. It is +possible to read them for years after publication. But try +to find the past masterpieces of Science Fiction. With the +exception of Burroughs' books, most were never printed in +book form. Even books by Wells and Verne, classics of their +kind are gone, totally gone, even from the shelves of +libraries. Many of Verne's best stories were never +translated from the French. And the other classics of which +readers write, classics familiar to most of us only by name +and a few lucky tastes of others, newer works by the same +authors, are absolutely gone—annihilated. Their best works +are beyond the reach of the reader. Only by republication, +in magazine or book, can they be revived in an age when they +will be remembered and preserved—an age awake to science +and Science Fiction. Other maga<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>zines are doing it, one or +two to the year, and it may be that you need not reprint; +but the reservoir of the past is large, and a few cannot +drain it. This leads to your first argument, that better +stories are being written to-day. They are—better than the +average of the past—but not better than the classics. It +would be folly to say that because the short story is a +modern development, and because Galsworthy or Walpole or +Reimarch are better than the average of yesterday, to our +present tastes, that the classics of the past should be +scrapped.</p> + +<p>The analogy, I feel, is good. The classics of general +literature have their place in history. The classics of +Science Fiction should have theirs. There are dozens better +than the general run of present work, by A. Merritt, Homer +Eon Flint, George Allan England, Austin Hall, John Taine, +Garret P. Serviss, Ralph Milne Farley, Ray Cummings, and +others that stood out in an age when Science Fiction was +considered pure phantasy or imaginative "trash." In the +present age, they would be still better, and this time they +would not be lost to the world, for there are publishers and +readers who would preserve them. You may adhere to your +decision, but, to my mind, and, I think to far more than 1% +of other minds, reprints of classics are essential, actually +vitally necessary. Try to find out what a ballot would show. +Again, from the author's point of view. Up to now, Burroughs +has had all the breaks as to book publication. Now Ray +Cummings and others are being published. "An author must +eat." Give him a chance, by reviving his best efforts, and +bringing them to public attention, so that a publisher will +find them worthy of publication. Most of the masters of +Science Fiction are alive—give them a chance to eat. Too, a +great many of the best modern authors are modern readers: +ask them if they would be willing to see one of the best +stories of the past re-issued each year, stories unpublished +in existing magazines for ten years or more. I certainly +hope you will alter your decision.</p> + +<p>And now to reverse some other decisions of readers. The size +is quite all right and very handy for binding purposes, Mr. +Mack to the contrary. Incidentally, the staples are so +placed as to make binding simple. Also contrary to Mr. +Darrow, I prefer the artist Gould, to Wesso, for interior +illustrations, though Wesso is best for mechanical +illustrations. Incidentally, give us the name of the artist +for each story, especially when the illustrations are +unsigned, as in the April issue. Wesso's best cover for you +has been that for April, illustrating "Monsters of Moyen." +It shows his best style very well.</p> + +<p>As to my favorite type of Science Fiction, any kind, if well +written, will do. As it happens, the king of authors, A. +Merritt, has a type all his own, as Mr. Bryant notes, which +is unbeatable, and my favorite. However, at times, a good +writer may fall down in his fundamental assumptions. I don't +care where or how far he goes, so long as he starts with +something that present-day science does not deny. Here is +where "The Soul Master" fell down, and, even more so, "The +Soul Snatcher." Better leave souls and astrals and egos +alone, except in very, very rare cases, when an author turns +up who can make you believe in them as mechanical entities.</p> + +<p>As a Science Fiction fan, a student of chemistry, and a +hopeful author, I will probably write to "The Readers' +Corner" as often as I want to blow off steam regarding +science or fiction or the way in which you are running the +magazine. I hope I won't be considered an utter nuisance, +and will be given a trial by jury—a jury of readers.—P. +Schuyler Miller, 302 So. Ten Broeck St., Scotia, New York.</p></div> + +<p class="p5">"<i>Handy to Hold</i>"</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I wish to say that I have the seven numbers of Astounding +Stories that have been issued thus far and I have read them +through ever word. It is wonderful, and there is no word of +fault to be uttered concerning any of them. I think "Murder +Madness" is the best story you have printed so far, but they +are all good in different ways.</p> + +<p>You received some letters that surprise me. How anyone can +ask you to change the make-up to the blanket sheet form is +more than I can see. It is so handy to hold and to read as +it is now. I do hope you will not change it.</p> + +<p>No, there is so much that one wants to read these days that +I do not advocate issuing twice a month. One issue each +month is just right. But I do wish you would increase the +number of pages to at least the number in Five Novels +magazine. Of course, you would want 25c. for it then, and +that is all right.</p> + +<p>Am glad that you refuse to give us reprints. We do not want +them.</p> + +<p>Astounding Stories is a gem, and I hope to read it for the +remainder of my life. Keep right on with the good +work.—Will S. Cushing, 21 Cottage St., Abington, +Massachusetts.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>We Hope So, Too</i>!</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Your July issue of Astounding Stories was wonderful. Your +magazine is improving greatly. "Murder Madness" is a great +story, and "Earth, the Marauder," is one of the best stories +I have ever read. I hope the other parts of it are just as +interesting as the first part.—Mick Scotts, 115 W. 16th +Ave., Gary, Indiana.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Another Sequel</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Well, I have so much to say, or rather would like to say for +your magazine. I like it in every detail but one, which is +waiting a whole month for the rest of my stories.</p> + +<p>I wish you would give us the third sequel of "Out of the +Ocean's Depths." Let the young scientist discover a way to +perform matrimony between the girl of the ocean and the man, +and then let their child live either in or out of water. +There could be two more good stories or sequels of "Out of +the Ocean's Depths." I like them all.</p> + +<p>I liked "Murder Madness," too. It seems as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> though it is +really real, and not fiction. I wish you would get the book +out twice a month.—Mrs. B. R. Woods, Cotte, Arkansas.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>From Author to Author</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Since Astounding Stories began you have published a goodly +number of really remarkable stories, chief among which, in +my estimation, are the following: "Spawn of the Stars," by +C. W. Diffin; "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings; +"Monsters of Moyen," by Arthur J. Burks; "The Atom Smasher," +by Victor Rousseau; and "The Moon Master," C. W. Diffin.</p> + +<p>But none of these can compare with Diffin's last short +story, "The Power and the Glory," which appeared in the last +(July) issue. For originality of theme, clever phraseology +and excellent literary craftsmanship it stands alone—a +little masterpiece. Its author should be congratulated.</p> + +<p>To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Diffin is a newcomer in +Science Fiction. The first story of his that I read was +"Spawn of the Stars." Keep his pen busy, Mr. Editor; he's +valuable—an' I don't mean maybe!</p> + +<p>If I could write a story like "The Power and the Glory," I'd +certainly congratulate myself!—L. A. Eshbach, 225 Chestnut +St., Reading, Pa.</p></div> + +<p class="p5">"<i>Held Me Spellbound</i>"</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I happened to read one of your books the other +day—Astounding Stories is the one—and I was very much +taken up with it. I found that it was a very interesting +book, indeed. I have no fear in saying that it held me +spellbound from the start till the finish. The one that I +happened to buy was the issue of May, 1930, and the story +that gripped me most was "Brigands of the Moon." It was very +thrilling, indeed, and I am very sorry I could not obtain +the previous copies so as to start at the beginning. But, +however, I am able to obtain a copy every month and am very +pleased, as I would hate to miss a copy again.</p> + +<p>Well, I hope this letter will reach you safely. Remember me +as a contented reader of your magazine.—Geo. Young, 447 +Canning St., Nth. Carlton N. 4, Melbourne, Australia.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>We Are Printing It</i>!</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>It seems that you have taken a wrong slant on my letter +which you published recently. True, I did give you a long +list of stories which I wanted to see, but I didn't mean +that you should publish only reprints, no new stories. Far +from it. Instead, I'd suggest that you give us a classic, +say, every six months. This arrangement ought to be okay +with everyone. That's that for reprints.</p> + +<p>About the stories and the authors, they're all right. +There's one thing that I like about you that I don't find in +the other Science Fiction magazines. With the very first +issue you started off with the authors that are wanted by +everyone who reads this type of literature. You began with +Cummings, Rousseau, Meek and Leinster. Hm-m, let's see. And +you're keeping up the good system by having added Vincent, +Starzl, Burks, Curry, Miss Lorraine, Hamilton, etc. But you +don't escape entirely unscathed, for the other magazines +give us stories from authors which haven't as yet written a +story which appeared in your columns. Let's see; besides the +stars above, let's add to the galaxy Keller (three cheers), +Breuer, Smith (his story, "The Skylark of Space," ought to +have about six sequels), the late Mr. Serviss, Verrill, Poe, +Wells, Verne, Flint (o-o-oh, for that "Blind Spot"), Hall, +England, Hasta (one story by him is all I've read, but it +only whetted my appetite), and Simmons. Oh, yes, the two +Taines, the detective of Dr. Keller's and the author. But +there's something missing. Hm-m—ah, A. Merritt! What a +writer! How could I have forgotten him? Which reminds me of +Burroughs who has been left out in the rain for quite a +while. He belongs back in the fold.</p> + +<p>Mr. Editor, do you remember way back when you said we should +write in to you to tell you of the stories we want and that +you would get them for us? Of course, you do. Stories and +authors cannot be parted, so get those authors I've listed +above and forget about the stories, for they'll all be good.</p> + +<p>I do not kick about any particular author for the reason +that if I tried to write on the same subject they picked out +and are picking, my work would be pretty different from what +they'd produce, and their works would be the ones that would +be published. Please don't read that twice; I hope to be a +contributor very soon.</p> + +<p>In my opinion you should enlarge the size of the magazine, +but for heaven's sake don't increase the departments. Every +day that we read a paper we learn of what science is doing. +And, at the end of the month we read the same thing in a +magazine which should give us a story instead. The price is +just right. But, even if the magazine were enlarged and the +price boosted to a quarter, do you really think that we get +enough material to devour? No! Then what? Get out a +Quarterly! And please don't wait about that for the next ten +years.</p> + +<p>This is a pretty lengthy letter and I don't expect you to +print it but I want you to get the views of at least one +devoted reader—Isidore Mansen, 544 Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn, +N. Y.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Every Single One</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I certainly received a pleasant surprise when I glanced at +the table of contents for the August issue. When one sees +Victor Rousseau, R. F. Starzl, Murray Leinster, Harl +Vincent, and Edmond Hamilton, one knows that the issue is +bound to be a good one. I wish to congratulate you on the +way you have been running Astounding Stories. If you intend +to keep giving us the authors you are now, throughout your +whole career, you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> are a law-breaker. What I mean by that is +that no other magazine has kept a high grade of authors very +long. The old magazines on the market have once had stories +by the authors you are giving us now, but they never kept +those authors long. If you keep the authors you have now you +may well be assured of success.</p> + +<p>"Silver Dome" undoubtedly copped the prize for this issue. +It could not have been better. "The Lord of Space" was a +very good story. "The Planet of Dread" was another very good +story. "The Second Satellite," by Hamilton, was excellent. +For once in his life Hamilton has written a story that has +not the same old plot all his other stories have! I wish to +congratulate him on the best story he has ever written! "The +Flying City" was the same thing all over again. The world in +danger and suddenly our magnificent hero comes along, takes +a hand, and presto the danger is all over. Of course, he has +to meet the beautiful girl and fall in love with her, and at +the end of the story marry her! Remember, history repeats +itself. Have you ever heard of the world being saved by one +man? No! Neither have I. The world will never be saved by +one man. Therefore, all those stories are "the bunk." +"Murder Madness" was wonderful. I expect to see it in the +talkies before long. It could be filmed easily enough, +couldn't it! I know it certainly would make a wonderful +picture. I expect to see you publish "Murder Madness" and +"Brigands of the Moon" in book form. If you do, I will try +my darnedest to get a copy. Also in my list of good authors +up there I forgot to mention Arthur J. Burks.</p> + +<p>Now I wish to broach the subject of a Quarterly to you. I +think Astounding Stories should have one. Every other +Science Fiction magazine has, so let us have one, too. Won't +you? You can give us over twice as much as you do in the +monthly and charge about 50c. a copy. Have one good book and +several short stories in each issue; no serials. How about +it?</p> + +<p>And now let's talk a little about Astounding Stories! Why +not cut the paper smooth, the way you do in Five Novels +Monthly? It would make the magazine look a lot better. It +would also be a lot easier to find one's place when one has +to lay the book down for a moment. The last reason may sound +trivial, but it's really annoying to try to find one's place +among those bulky pages. The paper you use now gives the +magazine an inferior appearance when compared to others of +its kind. It certainly would be a relief to see you use +better paper. Won't you please consider the points I have +brought out in my letter?—Gabriel Kirschner, Box 301, +Temple, Texas.</p></div> + +<p class="p5">"<i>What Authors</i>!"</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>Astounding Stories is improving with every issue. However, +you would have to go far to beat the August issue. It can +be called an "all star" number. What authors! Hamilton, +Rousseau, Starzl, Burks, and others, all of whom are among +my favorite authors. The stories were so good that it is +almost impossible to pick out the best one. However, after +some thought I have finally chosen Hamilton's "The Second +Satellite." "Earth, the Marauder," is a close second. I hope +you have many more stories by Edmond Hamilton.</p> + +<p>I see that the cover is the first one to be of a different +color. Please have a new color each month.</p> + +<p>There are a few ways in which Astounding Stories may be +improved. Enough of the readers have mentioned improving the +quality of the paper so that I do not have to comment on +this. An editorial each month would improve the magazine +greatly.</p> + +<p>Here's hoping that Astounding Stories becomes a semi-monthly +soon—very soon—Michael Fogaris, 157 Fourth St., Passiac, +N. J.</p></div> + +<p class="p5"><i>Stands Pat</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Editor:</p> + +<p>I have been a reader of your magazine for some time. I hope +to continue reading it in the future.</p> + +<p>I notice in "The Readers' Corner" that some want reprints. +Others want the size of the magazine changed. I say, give us +"fresh" stories and leave the size of the magazine alone.</p> + +<p>In my opinion, the best stories in your July issue were +"Beyond the Heaviside Layer" and "Earth, the Marauder." They +were both fine. Keep up the good work—Carlson Abernathy, P. +O. Box 584, Clearwater, Florida.</p></div> + + +<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 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!</p> + +<p class="p6">—<i>The Editor.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +November, 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, NOVEMBER 1930 *** + +***** This file should be named 29919-h.htm or 29919-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/1/29919/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/29919-h/images/cover.jpg b/29919-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0d407d --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_001.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..93b8b8a --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_001.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_002.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..de49cf4 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_002.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_003.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3faf8a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_003.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_004.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8bd796 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_004.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_005_01.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_005_01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d797081 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_005_01.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_005_02.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_005_02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb349e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_005_02.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_006.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9607417 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_006.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_007.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1ad180 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_007.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_008.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35d377f --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_008.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_009.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_009.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d2b8b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_009.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_010.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_010.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8fa4f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_010.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_011.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_011.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..844bfd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_011.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_a.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa86591 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_a.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_a1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_a1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd340f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_a1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_b.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a769002 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_b.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_b1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_b1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f85942e --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_b1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_c.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_c.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..75c583a --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_c.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_d.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_d.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c80263 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_d.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_d1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_d1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6eeb76b --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_d1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_e.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_e.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6694fc --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_e.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_e1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_e1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c1003f --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_e1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_f.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_f.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ed7f74 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_f.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_g.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_g.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d58db2 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_g.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_g1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_g1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a91e68 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_g1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_h.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_h.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6d0e81 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_h.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_i.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_i.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbd5c4e --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_i.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_i1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_i1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db3754c --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_i1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_k.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_k.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a0a378 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_k.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_l.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_l.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d7a06f --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_l.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_l1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_l1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a8d3af --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_l1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_m.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_m.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3e7263 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_m.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_m1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_m1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a359d29 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_m1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_n.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_n.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb6bdc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_n.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_n1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_n1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c11aa9b --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_n1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_o.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_o.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..45d6c7e --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_o.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_p.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_p.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15782c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_p.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_r.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_r.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5dd753b --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_r.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_s.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c25f47f --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_s.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_t.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c51d25a --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_t.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_t1.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_t1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..69db93a --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_t1.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_v.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_v.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0739bb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_v.jpg diff --git a/29919-h/images/image_w.jpg b/29919-h/images/image_w.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61a4298 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919-h/images/image_w.jpg diff --git a/29919.txt b/29919.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f75a758 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10276 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astounding Stories of Super-Science, +November, 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, November, 1930 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: September 6, 2009 [EBook #29919] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, NOVEMBER 1930 *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + ASTOUNDING + + STORIES + + OF SUPER-SCIENCE + + 20c + + + _On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month_ + + + W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher + HARRY BATES, Editor + 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. IV, No. 2 CONTENTS NOVEMBER, 1930 + +COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI + + _Painted in Water-Colors from a Scene in "The Pirate Planet."_ + +THE WALL OF DEATH VICTOR ROUSSEAU 151 + + _Out of the Antarctic It Came--a Wall of Viscid, Grey, Half-Human + Jelly, Absorbing and Destroying All Life That It Encountered._ + +THE PIRATE PLANET CHARLES W. DIFFIN 168 + + _A Strange Light Blinks on Venus, and Over Old Earth Hovers a + Mysterious Visitant--Dread Harbinger of Interplanetary War._ + (Beginning a Four-Part Novel.) + +THE DESTROYER WILLIAM MERRIAM ROUSE 198 + + _Slowly, Insidiously, There Stole Over Allen Parker Something + Uncanny. He Could No Longer Control His Hands--Even His Brain!_ + +THE GRAY PLAGUE L. A. ESHBACH 210 + + _Maimed and Captive, in the Depths of an Interplanetary Meteor-Craft, + Lay the Only Possible Savior of Plague-Ridden Earth._ + +JETTA OF THE LOWLANDS RAY CUMMINGS 230 + + _Black-Garbed Figures Move in Ghastly Greenness As the Invisible Flyer + Speeds on Its Business of Ransom._ (Conclusion.) + +VAGABONDS OF SPACE HARL VINCENT 244 + + _From the Depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space Came the Thought-Warning, + "Turn Back!" But Carr and His Martian Friend Found It Was Too Late!_ + (A Complete Novelette.) + +THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US 271 + +_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; Francis P. Pace, 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 Wall of Death + +_By Victor Rousseau_ + +[Illustration: And then Kay had broken through and was hewing madly +with great sweeps of the ax.] + +[Sidenote: Out of the Antarctic it came--a wall of viscid, grey, +half-human jelly, absorbing and destroying all life that it +encountered.] + + +"This news," said Cliff Hynes, pointing to the newspaper, "means the +end of _homo Americanus_." + +The newspaper in question was the hour-sheet of the International +Broadcast Association, just delivered by pneumatic tube at the +laboratory. It was stamped 1961, Month 13, Day 7, Horometer 3, and the +headlines on the front page confirmed the news of the decisive defeat +of the American military and naval forces at the hands of the Chinese +Republic. + +A gallant fight for days against hopeless odds; failure of the army +dynamos; airships cut off from ground guidance; battleships ripped to +pieces by the Chinese disintegrators; and, finally, the great wave of +black death that had wiped out two hundred thousand men. + +Kay Bevan--to use the old-fashioned names which still persisted, +despite the official numerical nomenclature--glanced through the +account. He threw the sheet away. "We deserved it, Cliff," he said. + +Cliff nodded. "You saw that bit about the new Chinese disintegrator? +If the Government had seriously considered our Crumbler--" + +Kay glanced at the huge, humming top that filled the center of the +laboratory. It spun so fast that it appeared as nothing but a +spherical shadow, through which one could see the sparse furnishings, +the table, the apparatus ranged upon it, and the window over-looking +the upper streets of New York. + +"Yes--_if!_" he answered bitterly. "And I'm willing to bet the Chinese +have an inferior machine, built upon the plans that Chinese servant +stole from us last year." + +"We deserved it, Cliff," said Kay again. "For ten years we've harried +and enslaved the yellow man, and taken a hundred thousand of his men +and women to sacrifice to the Earth Giants. What would we have done, +if conditions had been reversed?" + +"Self-preservation," Cliff suggested. + +"Exactly. The law of the survival of the fittest. They thought that +they were fitter to survive. I tell you they had right on their side, +Cliff, and that's what's beaten us. Now--a hundred thousand of our +_own_ boys and girls must be fed into the maw of these monsters every +year. God, suppose it were Ruth!" + +"Or you or I," said Cliff. "If only we could perfect the Crumbler!" + +"What use would that be against the Earth Giants? There's nothing +organic about them, not even bones. Pure protoplasm!" + +"We could have used it against the Chinese," said Cliff. "Now--" He +shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. + + * * * * * + +And if explorers had been content to leave the vast unknown Antarctic +Continent alone, they would never have taught the imprisoned Giants to +cross the great ice barrier. But that crossing had taken place fifteen +years ago, and already the mind of man had become accustomed to the +grim facts. + +Who could have dreamed that the supposed table-land was merely a rim +of ice-mountains, surrounding a valley twice the size of Europe, so +far below sea-level that it was warmed to tropic heat by Earth's +interior fires? Or that this valley was peopled with what could best +be described as organized protoplasm? + +Enormous, half-transparent, gelatinous organism, attaining a height of +about a hundred feet, and crudely organized into forms not unlike +those of men? + +Half the members of the Rawlins Expedition, which had first entered +this valley, had fallen victims to the monsters. Most of the rest had +gone raving mad. And the stories of the two who returned, sane, to +Buenos Aires, were discredited and scoffed at as those of madmen. + +But of a second expedition none had survived, and it was the solitary +survivor of the third who had confirmed the amazing story. The giant +monsters, actuated by some flickering human intelligence, had found +their way out of the central valley, where they had subsisted by +enfolding their vegetable and small animal prey with pseudopods, that +it to say, temporary projections of arms from the gelatinous bulk of +their substance. + +They had floated across the shallow seas between the tip of the +Antarctic Continent and Cape Horn, as toy balloons float on water. +Then they had spread northward, extending in a wall that reached from +the Atlantic to the Andes. And, as they moved, they had devoured all +vegetables and animal life in their path. Behind them lay one great +bare, absolutely lifeless area. + + * * * * * + +How many of them were there? That was the hideous fact that had to be +faced. Their numbers could not be counted because, after attaining a +height of about a hundred feet, they reproduced by budding! + +And within a few weeks these buds, in turn, attained their full +development. + +The Argentine Government had sent a force of twenty thousand men +against them, armed with cannon, machine-guns, tanks, airplanes, +poison gas, and the new death-ray. And in the night, when it was +bivouacking, after what it had thought was glorious victory, it had +been overwhelmed _and eaten_! + +Proof against the poison gas, the hideous monsters were, and +invulnerable to shot and shell. Divided and sub-divided, slashed into +ribbons, blown to fragments by bombs, each of the pieces simply became +the nucleus of a new organism, able, within a few hours, to assume the +outlines of a dwarf man, and to seize and devour its prey. + +But the Argentine expedition had done worse than it at first dreamed +of. _It had given the monsters a taste for human flesh!_ + +After that, the wave of devastation had obliterated life in every city +clear up to the Amazonian forests. And then it had been discovered +that, by feeding these devils human flesh, they could be rendered +torpid and their advance stayed--so long as the periodical meals +continued! + +At first criminals had been supplied them, then natives, then Chinese, +obtained by periodical war raids. What would you have? The savage +regions of the earth had already been depopulated, and a frenzy of +fear had taken possession of the whole world. + +Now the Chinese had defeated the annual American invasion, and the +Earth Giants were budding and swarming through the heart of Brazil. + + * * * * * + +"Man," said the Theosophists, "is the fifth of the great root-races +that have inhabited this planet. The fourth were the Atlanteans. The +third were the Lemurians, half-human beings of whom the Australian +aborigines are the survivors. The second race was not fully organized +into human form. Of the first, nothing is known. + +"These are the second race, surviving in the Antarctic valleys. +Half-human objects, groping toward that perfection of humanity of +which we ourselves fall very far short. As the Kabbala says, man, +before Adam, reached from heaven to earth." + +Kay Bevan and Cliff Hynes had been working feverishly to perfect +their Crumbler for use in the Chinese wars. Convinced, as were all +fair-minded men, that these annual raids were unjustified, they +yielded to the logic of the facts. Should America sacrifice a hundred +thousand of her boys and girls each year, when human life was cheap in +China? _Boys and girls!_ + +It had been discovered that the Earth Giants required the flesh of +women as well as of men. Some subtle chemical constituent then +produced the state of torpidity during which the advance and the +budding of the monsters was stayed. During the ten past years their +northward advance had been almost inappreciable. Brazil had even sent +another army against them. + +But the deadliest gases had failed to destroy the tenacious life of +these protoplasmic creatures, and the tanks, which had driven through +and through them, had become entangled and blocked in the gelatinous +exudations, and their occupants eaten. + +All over the world scientists were striving to invent some way of +removing this menace to the world. Moreover, airplanes sent to the +polar continent had reported fresh masses mobilizing for the advance +northward. A second wave would probably burst through the Amazon +forest barrier and sweep over the Isthmus and overrun North America. + +Five days after the news of the Chinese disaster was confirmed, Cliff +Hynes came back from the capital of the American Confederation, +Washington. + +"It's no use, Kay," he said. "The Government won't even look at the +Crumbler. I told them it would disintegrate every inorganic substance +to powder, and they laughed at me. And it's true, Kay: they've given +up the attempt to enslave China. Henceforward a hundred thousand of +our own citizens are to be sacrificed each year. Eaten alive, Kay! +God, if only the Crumbler would destroy organic forms as well!" + + * * * * * + +The first year's quota of fifty thousand boys and fifty thousand +girls, thrown to the maw of the monsters to save humanity, nearly +disrupted the Confederation. Despite the utmost secrecy, despite the +penalty of death for publishing news of the sacrifice, despite the +fact that those who drew the fatal lots were snatched from their homes +at dead of night, everything became known. + +On the vast pampas in the extreme north of the Argentine Republic, +where Bolivia, the Argentine, Paraguay and Brazil unite, was the place +of sacrifice. Thousands of acres, white with the bones of those whom +the monsters had engulfed. Brainless, devoid of intelligence, +sightless, because even the sense had not become differentiated in +them, yet by some infernal instinct the Earth Giants had become aware +that this was their feasting ground. + +By some tacit compact, the guards who had annually brought their +victims to be devoured had been unmolested, the vast wall of +semi-human shapes withdrawing into the shelter of the surrounding +forests while the Chinese were staked out in rows. Death, which would +have been a mercy, had been denied them. It was living flesh that the +Earth Giants craved. And here, on the spot known as Golgotha, the +hideous sacrifice had been annually repeated. + +That first year, when the chosen victims were transported to the fatal +spot, all America went mad. Frenzied parents attacked the offices of +the Federation in every city. The cry was raised that Spanish +Americans had been selected in preference to those of more northern +blood. Civil war loomed imminent. + +And year after year these scenes must be repeated. Boys and girls, +from fifteen to twenty years of age, the flower of the Federation, a +hundred thousand of them, must die a hideous death to save humanity. +Now the choice of the second year's victims was at hand. + +In their laboratory, removed to the heart of the Adirondacks +wilderness, Cliff and Kay were working frantically. + +"It's the last chance, Kay," said Cliff. "If I've not solved the +secret this time, it means another year's delay. The secret of +dissolving organic forms as well as inorganic ones! What is this +mysterious power that enables organic forms to withstand the terrific +bombardment of the W-ray?" + +The W-ray was the Millikan cosmic ray, imprisoned and adapted for +human use. It was a million times more powerful than the highest known +voltage of electricity. Beneath it, even the diamond, the hardest +substance known, dissolved into a puff of dust; and yet the most +fragile plant growth remained unaffected. + + * * * * * + +The laboratory in the Adirondacks was open at one end. Here, against a +background of big forest trees, a curious medley of substances had +been assembled: old chairs, a couple of broken-down airplanes, a large +disused dynamo, a heap of discarded clothing, a miscellany of kitchen +utensils on a table, a gas stove, and a heap of metal junk of all +kinds. The place looked, in fact, like a junk heap. + +The great top was set in a socket in a heavy bar of craolite, the new +metal that combined the utmost tensile strength with complete +infusibility, even in the electric furnace. About six feet in height, +it looked like nothing but what it was, a gyroscope in gimbals, with a +long and extremely narrow slit extending all around the central +bulge, but closed on the operator's side by a sliding cover of the +same craolite. + +Within this top, which, by its motion, generated a field of electrical +force between the arms of an interior magnet, the W-rays were +generated in accordance with a secret formula; the speed of gyration, +exceeding anything known on earth, multiplied their force a +billionfold, converting them to wave-lengths shorter than the shortest +known to physical science. Like all great inventions, the top was of +the simplest construction. + +"Well," said Cliff, "you'd better bring out Susie." + +Kay left the laboratory and went to the cabin beside the lake that the +two men occupied. From her box in front of the stove a lady porcupine +looked up lazily and grunted. Kay raised the porcupine; in the box, of +course. Susie was constitutionally indolent, but one does not handle +porcupines, however smooth their quills may lie. + +Kay brought her to the heap of junk and placed the box on top of it. +He went inside the laboratory. "I may as well tell you, Cliff. I +wouldn't have brought Susie if I'd thought the experiment had the +least chance of success," he said. + +Cliff said nothing. He was bending over the wheel, adjusting a +micrometer. "All ready, Kay?" he asked. + + * * * * * + +Kay nodded and stepped back. He swallowed hard. He hated sacrificing +Susie to the cause of science; he almost hoped the experiment would +fail. + +Cliff pressed a lever, and slowly the ponderous top began to revolve +upon its axis. Faster, faster, till it was nothing but a blur. Faster +yet, until only its outlines were visible. Cliff pressed a lever on +the other side. + +Nothing happened apparently, except for a cloudy appearance of the air +at the open end of the laboratory. Cliff touched a foot lever. The top +began to grow visible, its rotations could be seen; it ran slower, +began to come to a stop. + +The cloud was gone. Where the airplanes and other junk had been, was +nothing but a heap of grayish dust. It was this that had made the +cloud. + +Nothing remained, except that impalpable powder against the background +of the trees. + +Kay caught Cliff's arm. "Look out!" he shouted, pointing to the heap. +"Something's moving in there!" + +Something was. A very angry lady porcupine was scrambling out, a +_quillless_ porcupine, with a white skin, looking like nothing so much +as a large, hairless rat. Cliff turned to Kay. + +"We've failed," he said briefly. "Too late for this year now." + +"But--the quills?" + +"Inorganic material. But even the bones remain intact because there's +circulation in the marrow, you see. And the Earth Giants haven't even +bones. They're safe--this year!" + +He flung himself down under a tree, staring up at the sky in abject +despair. + + * * * * * + +"Look, Kay, I've got my number!" Ruth Meade smiled as she handed Kay +the ticket issued by the Government announcing the lottery number +provided for each citizen. + +One hundred thousand young people between the ages of fifteen and +twenty would be drawn for the sacrifice, and Ruth, being nineteen, had +come within the limits, but this would be her last year. In a few +weeks the Government would announce the numbers--drawn by a second +lottery--of those who were condemned. + +Then, before these had been made public, the victims would already +have been seized and hurried to the airship depots in a hundred +places, for conveyance to the hideous Golgotha of the pampas. + +The chance that any individual would be among the fated ones was +reasonably small. It was the fashion to make a jest of the whole +business. Ruth smiled as she showed her ticket. + +Kay stared at it. "Ruth, if--if anything happened to you I'd go +insane. I'd--" + +"Why this sudden ardor, Kay?" + + * * * * * + +Kay took Ruth's small hand in his. "Ruth, you mustn't play with me any +more. You know I love you. And the sight of that thing makes me almost +insane. You do care, don't you?" And, as Ruth remained silent, "Ruth, +it isn't Cliff Hymes, is it? I know you two are old friends. I'd +rather it were Cliff than anybody else, if it had to be some one, +but--tell me, Ruth!" + +"It isn't Cliff," said Ruth slowly. + +"Is it--some one else?" + +"It's you, dear," answered Ruth. "It's always been you. It might have +been Cliff if you hadn't come along. But he knows now it can never be +he." + +"Does he know it's me?" asked Kay, greatly relieved. + +Ruth inclined her head. "He took it very finely," she said. "He said +just what you've said about him. Oh, Kay, if only your experiment had +succeeded, and the world could be free of this nightmare! What +happened? Why couldn't you and Cliff make it destroy life?" + +"I don't know, dear," answered Kay. "Iron and steel melt into powder +at the least impact of the rays. They are so powerful that there was +even a leakage through the rubber and anelektron container. Even the +craolite socket was partly fused, and that is supposed to be an +impossibility. And there was a hole in the ground seven feet deep +where the very mineral water in the earth had been dissolved. But +against organic substances the W-ray is powerless. + +"Next year, dear--next year we'll have solved our problem, and then +we'll free the world of this menace, this nightmare. Ruth--don't let's +talk about that now. I love you!" + +They kissed. The Earth Giants faded out of their consciousness even +while Ruth held that ominous ticket in her hand. + + * * * * * + +Kay said nothing to Cliff about it, but Cliff knew. Perhaps he had put +his fate to the test with Ruth and learned the truth from her. Ruth +made no reference to the matter when she saw Kay. But between the two +men, friends for years, a coolness was inexorably developing. + +They had gone to work on the new machine. They were hopeful. When they +were working, they forgot their rivalry. + +"You see, Kay," said Cliff, "we mustn't forget that the Millikan rays +have been bombarding Earth since Earth became a planet, out of the +depths of space. It is their very nature not to injure organic life, +otherwise all life on Earth would have been destroyed long ago. Now, +our process is only an adaptation of these cosmic rays. We haven't +changed their nature." + +"No," agreed Kay. "What we want is a death-ray strong enough to +obliterate these monsters, without simply disintegrating them and +creating new fragments to bud into the complete being. Why do you +suppose they are so tenacious of life, Cliff?" + +"They represent primeval man, life itself, striving to organize +itself, and nothing is more tenacious than the life principle," +answered Cliff. + +Meanwhile the fatal weeks were passing. A few days after the tickets +had been distributed, a Government notice was broadcasted and +published, ordaining that, in view of former dissensions, no +substitutes for the condemned persons would be permitted. Rich or +poor, each of the victims chosen by lot must meet his fate. + + * * * * * + +And the monsters were growing active. There had been an extension of +their activities. Tongues had been creeping up the rivers that ran +into the Amazon. Suddenly a dense mass of the devils had appeared on +the north coast, near Georgetown. They had overleaped the Amazon; they +were overrunning British Guiana, eating up everything on their way. +Georgetown was abandoned; the monsters were in complete control. + +"They will be cut off from the main herd," the optimistic reports +announced. "We shall deal with the main herd first. This year the +sacrifice will have to be made, but it will be the last. Scientists +have at last hit upon an infallible toxin which will utterly destroy +this menace within a few months." + +Nobody believed that story, for everything had been tried and failed. +In their laboratory Cliff and Kay were working frantically. And now +the coldness that had developed between them was affecting their +collaboration too. Cliff was keeping something back from Kay. + + * * * * * + +Kay knew it. Cliff had made some discovery that he was not sharing +with his partner. Often Kay, entering the laboratory, would find Cliff +furtively attempting to conceal some operation that he was in the +midst of. Kay said nothing, but a brooding anger began to fill his +heart. So Cliff was trying to get all the credit for the result of +their years of work together! + +And always, in the back of his mind, there was a vision of the little +Government ticket in Ruth's hand, with the numbers in staring black +type. They had burned into his brain. He could never forget them. +Often at night, after a hard day's work, he would suddenly awaken out +of a hideous nightmare, in which he saw Ruth taken away by the agents +of the Government, to be thrown as a sacrifice to the monsters. + +And Cliff was hiding something! That made the situation unbearable. + +The coolness between the two men was rapidly changing into open +animosity. And then one day, quite by chance, in Cliff's absence, Kay +came upon evidence of Cliff's activities. + +Cliff was no longer experimenting with the W-ray! He was using a new +type of ray altogether, the next series, the psenium electron +emanation discovered only a few years before, which had the peculiar +property of non-alternation, even when the psenium electron changed +its orbit around the central nucleus of the psenium atom. + +Instead of discontinuity, the psenium electron had been found to emit +radiation steadily, and this had upset the classic theories of matter +for the ninth time in the past fifteen years. + + * * * * * + +And Kay's wrath broke loose in a storm of reproaches when Cliff came +into the laboratory. + +"You've been deliberately keeping me in the dark!" he shouted. "You're +a nice sort of partner to have! Here's where we split up the +combination, Hynes!" + +"I've been thinking that for a long time," sneered Cliff. "The fact +is, Kay, you're a little too elementary in your ideas to suit me. It's +due to you that I kept hammering away on the wrong tack for years. The +sooner we part, the better." + +"No time like now," said Kay. "Keep your laboratory. You put most of +the money into it, anyway. I'll build me another--where I can work +without being hampered by a partner who's out for himself all the +time. Good luck to you in your researches, and I hope you'll get all +the credit when you find a way of annihilating the Earth Giants." + +And he stormed out of the laboratory, jumped into his plane, and +winged his way southward toward his apartment in New York. + + * * * * * + +Crowds in the streets of every town on the way. In villages and +hamlets, swarming like ants, and hurrying along the highways! Kay, who +flew one of the slow, old-fashioned planes, averaging little more than +a hundred miles an hour, winged his way methodically overhead, too +much absorbed in his anger against Cliff to pay much attention to this +phenomenon at first. But gradually it was borne in upon him that +something was wrong. + +He flew lower, and now he was passing over a substantial town, and he +could hear the shouts of anger that came up to him. The whole town was +in a ferment, gathered in the town square. + +Suddenly the reason came home to Kay. He saw the adjoining airport, +and dropped like a plummet, hovering down until his wheels touched the +ground. Without waiting to taxi into one of the public hangars, he +leaped out and ran through the deserted grounds into the square. + +Groans, yells, shrieks of derision rent the air. The whole crowd had +gone maniacal. And it was as Kay had thought. Upon a white background +high up on the town ball building, the numbers of the local boys and +girls who had been picked for sacrifices were being shown. + + * * * * * + +Eight boys and fifteen girls, already on their way into the wastes of +South America, to meet a hideous death. + +"They took my Sally," screamed a wizened woman, the tears raining down +her checks. "Kidnapped her at the street corner after dark. I didn't +know why she hadn't come home last night. God, my Sally, my little +girl, gone--gone--" + +"People, you must be patient," boomed the Government announcer. "The +President feels with you in your affliction. But by next year a means +will have been devised of destroying these monsters. Your children +will have their sacrifice recorded in the Hall of Fame. They are true +soldiers who--" + +"To hell with the Government!" roared a man. "Stop that damn talk +machine! Break her, fellows! Then we'll hang President Bogart from the +top of the Capitol!" + +Yells answered him, and the crowd surged forward toward the building. + +"Stand back!" shrieked the announcer. "It's death to set foot on the +step. We are now electrified. Last warning!" + +The first ranks of the mob recoiled as a charge of electricity at a +voltage just short of that required to take life coursed through their +bodies. Shrieks of agony rang out. Files of writhing forms covered the +ground. + + * * * * * + +Kay rushed to the automatic clerk at the window beside the metal +steps, taking care to avoid contact with them. Within six feet, the +temperature of his body brought the thermostatic control into action; +the window slid upward and the dummy appeared. He turned the dial to +Albany. + +"I want New York Division, Sub-station F, Loyalist Registration," he +called. "Give me Z numbers of the lottery, please." + +"No numbers will be given out until Horometer 13," the dummy boomed. + +"But I tell you I must know immediately!" Kay pleaded frantically. + +"Stand away, please!" + +"I've got to know, I tell you!" + +"We are now electrified. Last warning!" + +"Listen to me. My name's Kay Bevan. I--" + +A mighty buffet in the chest hurled Kay ten feet backward upon the +ground. He rose, came within the electric zone, felt his arms twisted +in a giant's grasp, staggered back again and sat down gasping. The +window went down noiselessly, the dummy swung back into place. Kay got +upon his feet again, choking with impotent rage. + +All about him men and women were milling in a frantic mob. He broke +through them, went back to where his plane was standing. A minute +later he was driving madly toward the district airport in New York +within three blocks of Ruth's apartment. + + * * * * * + +He dropped into a vacant landing place, checked hastily, and rushed +into the elevator. Once in the upper street, he bounded to the middle +platform, and, not satisfied to let it convey him at eight miles an +hour, strode on through the indignant throng until he reached his +destination. Hurling the crowds right and left he gained the exit, +and a half-minute later was on the upper level of the apartment block. + +He pushed past the janitor and raced along the corridor to Ruth's +apartment. She would be in if all was well; she worked for the +Broadcast Association, correcting the proofs that came from the +district headquarters by pneumatic tube. He stopped outside the door. +The little dial of white light showed him that the apartment was +unoccupied. + +As he stood there in a daze, hoping against hope, he saw a thread +hanging from the crevice between door and frame. He pulled at it, and +drew out a tiny strip of scandium, the new compressible metal that had +become fashionable for engagement rings. Plastic, all but invisible, +it could be compressed to the thickness of a sheet of paper: it was +the token of secret lovers, and Kay had given Ruth a ring of it. + +It was the signal, the dreaded signal that Ruth had been on the +lottery list--the only signal that she had been able to convey, since +stringent precautions were taken to prevent the victims becoming known +until all possibility of rescue was removed. + + * * * * * + +No chance of rescuing her! From a hundred airports the great +Government airships had long since sailed into the skies, carrying +those selected by the wheel at Washington for sacrifice to the Earth +Giants. Only one chance remained. If Cliff had discovered the secret +that had so long eluded them, surely he would reveal it to him now! + +Their quarrel was forgotten. Kay only knew that the woman he loved was +even then speeding southward to be thrown to the maw of the vile +monsters that held the world in terror. Surely Cliff would bend every +effort to save her! + +Only a few hours had passed since Kay had stormed out of the +laboratory in the Adirondacks in a rage when he was back on their +little private landing field. He leaped from the plane and ran up the +trail beside the lake between the trees. The cabin was dark; and, when +Kay reached the laboratory he found it dark too. + +"Cliff! Cliff!" he shouted. + +No answer came, and with a sinking heart he snapped the button at the +door. It failed to throw the expected flood of light through the +interior. With shaking hand Kay pulled the little electron torch from +his pocket, and its bright beam showed that the door was padlocked. He +moved round to the window. The glass was unbreakable, but the ray from +the torch showed that the interior of the laboratory had been +dismantled, and the great top was gone. + +In those few hours Cliff, for reasons best known to himself, had +removed the top, Kay's one hope of saving Ruth. And he was gone. + + * * * * * + +In that moment Kay went insane. He raved and cursed, calling down +vengeance upon Cliff's head. Cliff's very motive was incredible. That +he had deliberately removed the top in order that Ruth should die was +not, of course, conceivable. But in that first outburst of fury Kay +did not consider that. + +Presently Kay's madness burned itself out. There was still one thing +that he could do. His plane, slow though it was, would carry him to +the pampas. He could get fresh fuel at numerous bootleg petrol +stations, even though the regulations against intersectional flight +were rigid. With luck he could reach the pampas, perhaps before the +sluggish monsters had fallen upon their prey. It was said that the +victims sometimes waited for days! + +Something was rubbing against his leg, pricking it through his +anklets. Kay looked down. A lady porcupine, with tiny new quills, was +showing recognition, even affection, if such a spiny beast could be +said to possess that quality. + +Somehow the presence of the beast restored Kay's mind to normal. + +"Well, he's left us both in the lurch, Susie," he said. "Good luck to +you, beastie, and may you find a secure hiding place until your quills +have grown." + + * * * * * + +Drowning men catch at straws. Kay snatched out his watch, and the +illuminated dial showed that it was already two quintets past +horometer 13. He darted back to the cabin. The door was unfastened, +and his torch showed him that, though Cliff had evidently departed, +and taken his things, the interior was much as it had been. When Kay +picked up the telephotophone, the oblong dial flashed out. The +instrument was in working order. + +He turned the crank, and swiftly a succession of scenes flashed over +the dial. On this little patch of glassite, Kay was actually making +the spatial journey to Albany, each minutest movement of the crank +representing a distance covered. The building of the New York Division +appeared, and its appearance signified that Kay was telephonically +connected. But there was no automatic voice attachment, an expense +that Kay and Cliff had decided would be unjustified. He had to rely +upon the old-fashioned telephone, such as was still widely in use in +rural districts. He took up the receiver. + +"Sub-Station F, Loyalist Registration, please," he called. + +"Speaking," said a girl's voice presently. + +"I want the Z numbers. All from Z5 to ZA," said Kay. + +And thus, in the dark hut, he listened to the doom pronounced, miles +away, by a more or less indifferent operator. When the fatal number +was read out, he thanked her and hung up. He released the crank, which +moved back to its position, putting out the light on the dial. + + * * * * * + +For a moment or two he stood there motionless, in a sort of daze, +though actually he was gathering all his reserves of resolution for +the task confronting him. Simply to find Ruth among the hundred +thousand victims, and die with her. A task stupendous in itself, and +yet Kay had no doubt that he would succeed, that he would be holding +her in his arms when the tide of hell flowed over them. + +He knew the manner of that death. The irresistible onset of the giant +masses of protoplasm, the extrusion of temporary arms, or feelers, +that would grasp them, drag them into the heart of the yielding +substance, and slowly smother them to death while the life was drained +from their bodies. It had been said the death was painless, but that +was Government propaganda. But he would be holding Ruth in his arms. +He'd find her: he had no doubt of that at all. + +And, strangely enough, now that Kay knew the worst, now that not the +slightest doubt remained, he was conscious of an elevation of spirits, +a sort of mad recklessness that was perfectly indefinable. + + * * * * * + +Kay turned his torch into a corner of the kitchen. Yes, there was the +thing subconsciousness had prompted him to seek. A long-shafted, heavy +woodsman's ax, a formidable weapon at close quarters. Because it is +the instinct of _homo Americanus_ to die with a weapon in his hands, +rather than let himself be butchered helplessly, Kay snatched it up. +He ran back to his plane. The gas tank was nearly empty, but there was +petrol in the ice house beside the lake. + +Kay wheeled the machine up to it, and filled up with gas and oil. All +ready now! He leaped in, pressed the starter, soared vertically, +helicopter wings fluttering like a soaring hawk's. Up to the passenger +air lane at nine thousand: higher to twelve, the track of the +international and supply ships; higher still, to the fourteen thousand +ceiling of the antiquated machine. He banked, turned southward. + +It was freezing cold up there, and Kay had no flying suit on him, +but, between the passenger lane and the lane of the heliospheres, at +thirty thousand, there was no air police. And he could afford to take +no chances. The Government police would be on the lookout for a score +such desperate men as he, bent on a similar mission. He drove the +plane toward the Atlantic till a red glow began to diffuse itself +beneath him, an area of conflagration covering square miles of +territory. + +Swooping lower, Kay could hear the sound of detonations, the roar of +old-fashioned guns, while through the pall of lurid smoke came the +long, violet flashes of atomic guns, cleaving lanes of devastation. +New York was burning. + +The frenzied populace had broken into revolt, seized the guns stored +in the arsenals, and attacked the great Bronx fortress that stood like +a mighty sentinel to protect the port. + +A swarm of airships came into view, swirling in savage fight. Kay +zoomed. It was not his battle. + + * * * * * + +Now New York lay behind him, and he was winging southward over the +Atlantic. All night he flew. At dawn he came down in a coast hamlet +for bootleg petrol and oil. + +"You come from New York?" asked the Georgian. "Hear there's war broke +out up there." + +"My war's down in Brazil," muttered Kay. + +"Say, if them Giants comes up here yuh know what us folks is going to +do? We're going to set the hounds on 'em. Yes, sirree, we've got a +pack of bloodhounds, raised for jest that purpose. I guess that's +something them wisecrackers at Washington ain't thought of. They took +two little fellers from Hopetown, but they won't take nobody from +here." + +Kay fuelled up and resumed his flight southward. + +After that it was a nightmare. The sun rose and set, alternating with +the staring moon and stars. Kay crossed the Caribbean, sighted the +South American coast, swept southward over the jungles of Brazil. He +drank, but no food passed his lips. He had become a mechanism, set for +on special purpose--self-immolation. + + * * * * * + +It was in a wide savannah among the jungles that he first caught sight +of the monsters. At first he thought it was the rising dawn mist; then +he began to distinguish a certain horrible resemblance to human forms, +and swooped down, banking round and round the opening in the jungle +until he could see clearly. + +There were perhaps a score of them, an advance guard that had pushed +forward from one of the main divisions. Men? Anthropoids, rather, for +their sex was indistinguishable! Human forms ranging from a few feet +to a hundred, composed apparently of a grayish jelly, propelling +themselves clumsily on two feet, but floating rather than walking. +Translucent, semi-transparent. Most horrible of all, these shadowy, +spheroid creatures exhibited here and there buds of various sizes, +which were taking on the similitude of fresh forms. And among them +were the young, the buds that had fallen from the parent stems, fully +formed humans of perhaps five or six feet, bouncing with a horrible +playfulness among their sires. + +As Kay soared some three hundred feet overhead, a young tapir came +leaping out of the jungle and ran, apparently unconscious of their +presence, right toward the monsters. Suddenly it stopped, and Kay saw +that it was already encircled by coils of protoplasm, resembling arms, +which had shot forth from the bodies of the devils. + + * * * * * + +Swiftly, despite its struggles and bleatings, the tapir was drawn into +the substance of the monsters, which seemed to fuse together and form +a solid wall of protoplasm in all respects like the agglutination of +bacteria under certain conditions. + +Then the beast vanished in the wall, whose agitated churnings alone +gave proof of its existence. + +For perhaps ten minutes longer Kay remained hovering above the +clearing. Then the bodies divided, resuming their separate shapes. And +the white bones of the tapir lay in a huddled mass in the open. + +Kay went mad. Deliberately he set down his plane, and, hatchet in +hand, advanced upon the sluggish monsters. Shouting wildly, he leaped +into their midst. + +The fight that followed was like a nightmare fight. He lopped off the +slow tentacles that sought to envelop him, he slashed the devils into +long ribbons of writhing jelly, slashed until the substance blunted +the ax; wiped it clean and leaped into their midst again, hewing until +he could no longer raise his arm. Then he drew back and surveyed the +scene before him. + +It was dreadful enough to drive the last remnants of sanity from his +brain. For every piece that he had cut from the monsters, every +protoplasmic ribbon was reorganizing before his eyes into the +semblance of a new creature. Where there had been a score, there were +now five hundred! + +Kay ran back to his plane, leaped in, and soared southward. His face +was a grotesque mask of madness, and his cries rang out through the +ether. + + * * * * * + +The victims were no longer chained to stakes. The Federation, which +always acted with complete secrecy, had gone one better. It had +engaged electrical engineers, kept them housed in secret places, +transported them to Golgotha; and there a vast electrified field had +been established, an open space whose boundaries were marked out by +pillars of electron steel. + +Between these pillars ran lines of electric force. To attempt to pass +them meant--not death, for dead boys and girls were spurned by the +devils--but a violent shock that hurled one backward. + +On this great plain the hundred thousand victims sat huddled in the +open. Food they had none, for no purpose was to be served by +mitigating their last agonies. No shelter either, for the sight of +buildings might delay the final phase. But high above the doomed there +floated the flag of the Federation, on a lofty pole, a touch of ironic +sentimentality that had commended itself to some mind at Washington. + +Over a square mile of territory, ringed with jungle the victims lay. +The majority of them ringed this terrain; that is to say, attempting +to escape, they had been hurled back by the electrical charge, and, +having no strength or will remaining, they had dropped where they had +been hurled, and lay in apathetic resignation. + +There had been screams and cries for mercy, and piteous scenes when +the Government airships had deposited them there and flown away, but +now an intense silence had descended upon the doomed. Resigned to +their fate, they sat or lay in little silent groups, all eyes turned +toward the gloomy jungle. + + * * * * * + +And everywhere within this jungle a wraith-like mist was forming at +this dawn hour. From a thousand miles around, the devils were +mustering for their prey, agglutinating, in order that the meal of one +might become the meal of all. + +Wisps of protoplasmic fog were stealing out through the trees, +changing shape every instant, but always advancing: now presenting the +appearance of an aligned regiment of huge, shadowy men, now nothing +but a wall of semi-solid vapor. And still, with eyeballs straining in +their sockets, the victims watched. + +Suddenly all were seized with the same spasm of mad terror. Again they +hurled themselves against the electrified lines, and again they were +hurled back, masses of boys and girls tumbling against one another, +and screaming in one wail that, could it have been heard in +Washington, would have driven all insane. Again and again, till they +fell back, panting and helpless. And solidly the wall of devils was +creeping up from every side. + +Ruth Deane, one of the few who had themselves in control, lay some +distance back from the electrified field. From the moment when she was +surprised in her apartment by the Government representatives, she had +known that there was no hope of escape. + + * * * * * + +She had slipped the ring off her finger, snapped the plastic metal, +and attached it to a thread torn from her dress. She had managed to +insert it in the door, hoping that Kay would find it. It would serve +as a last message of love to him. + +Every removal of a selected victim was in the nature of a kidnapping. +At dead of night her apartment had been opened. She had been ordered +to dress. Nothing could be written, no arrangements made. She was +already considered as one dead. + +She had been hurried out of the upper entrance to the monorail, which +conveyed her in a special car to the landing station. A few minutes +later she had been on her way to join the camp of other victims, a +hundred miles away. Within two hours she was on her way southward. + +Stunned by the tragedy, none of the victims had made much of an +outcry. They had been given water by the airship police. No food for +boys and girls already dead. Days and nights had passed, and now she +was here, faint from exhaustion, and wondering at the despair shown by +those others. What difference would it make in half an hour? Besides, +that Government pamphlet had insisted that this death was painless! + +But an immense longing to see Kay once more came over her. There had +been a time when she thought she loved Cliff; then Kay had come into +her life, and she had known that other affair was folly. She had +never told Kay of the bitter scene between Cliff and herself, how he +had raved against Kay and sworn to win her in the end. + +Cliff had calmed down and apologized, and Ruth had never seen him +again. She wished he had not taken it like that. But above all she +wanted to see Kay, just to say good-by. + +And she tried to send out her whole heart to him in an unspoken +message of love that would surely somehow convey itself to him. + + * * * * * + +The wall of devils was creeping up on every side, slowly, +lethargically. The monsters took their time, because they knew they +were invincible. The sobs and shrieks had died away. Collected into a +mass almost as rigid as that of the Earth Giants, the victims waited, +palsied as a rabbit that awaits the approach of the serpent. + +A humming overhead. An airplane shooting down from the sky. Rescue? +No. Only a solitary pilot, armed with a woodsman's ax. + +Kay drifted down, touched ground, leaped to his feet. Chance had +brought him within five hundred yards of where Ruth was standing. But +Ruth had known who that lone flyer must be. She broke through the +throng; she rushed to meet him. Her arms were around him. + +"Kay, darling Kay!" + +"Ruth, dearest!" + +"I knew you'd come." + +"I've come to die beside you!" + + * * * * * + +It was perhaps odd that it did not enter the head of either as a +possibility that Kay should simply place Ruth in the plane and fly +away with here to safety. Had the thought occurred to Kay, he might +have been tempted. But such black treachery was something +inconceivable by either. So long as the Federation remained, so long +as man moved in an organized society, he was bound to his fellows, to +fight, suffer, and die with them. + +"Stand by me, Ruth. We're going down fighting." + +They moved back toward the throng, which, momentarily stirred to hope +by Kay's appearance, had fallen into the former apathy of despair. And +now the monsters were beginning to enter the electrified zone at one +point. As they passed the line of posts, the high tension current made +their bodies luminous, but it had no appreciable effect upon them. +They moved on, inevitably. + +A score or so of semi-human forms, agglutinated into a mass, and yet +individually discernible. They bore down slowly upon the crowd of +victims, who pressed backward as they advanced. On the other sides, +though they almost encircled the field of death, the monsters were +making no maneuvers to entrap their prey. Their sluggish minds were +incapable of conceiving anything of the kind. But for the electrified +zone, the great majority of the victims could have effected their +escape. The monsters were simply pressing forward to their meal; they +did not interpret its capture in terms of strategy at all. + + * * * * * + +A new frenzy of horror seized the crowd. They fled, struggling back +until the foremost in flight reached the other side of Golgotha, to be +repulsed by the electrified zone there. They fell in tumbled heaps. +Appalling shrieks rang through the air. + +Another line of the monsters was seeping forward, converging toward +the first. As the two lines met, they coalesced into a wall of +protoplasm, a thousand feet in length by a hundred high. A wall out of +which leered phantasmal faces, like those in a frieze. + +Kay stood alone, his arm around Ruth. To follow the flying mob would +but prolong the agony. He raised the ax. He looked into the girl's +eyes. She understood, and nodded. + +One last embrace, one kiss, and Kay placed her behind him. He sprang +forward, shouting, and plunged into the very heart of the wall. + +And Ruth, watching with eyes dilated with horror, saw it yield with a +sucking sound, and saw Kay disappear within it. + + * * * * * + +She saw the hideous mass fold itself upon him, and a hundred extruded +tentacles wave in the air as they blindly grappled for him. And then +Kay had broken through, and was hewing madly with great sweeps of the +ax that slashed great streamers of the amorphous tissue from the wall +of protoplasm. + +It recoiled and then folded once more, and Kay's mighty sweeps were +slashing phantom limbs from phantom bodies; and lopping off tentacles +that curled and coiled, and put forth caricatures of hands and +fingers, and then, uniting with other slashed off tentacles, began to +mould themselves into the likeness of dwarf monsters. Kay's struggle +was like that of a man fighting a fog, for again and again he broke +through the wall, and always it reunited. + +And behind it another wall of protoplasm was pressing forward, and on +another side a wall was drifting up. As Kay stopped, panting, and +momentarily free, Ruth saw that they were almost encircled. + +She saw the nature of that fight. Inevitably that wall would close +about them; and, though the bones of last year's victims had been +gathered up and carried away by the Federation, she guessed what would +occur. + +She ran to Kay and dragged him back through the closing gap. It met +behind them, and again they stood face to face with the devils. Only +this time, instead of a wall of protoplasm, it was a veritable +mountain that confronted them, and there could be no more breaking +through. + +Kay thought afterward that the one touch of absolute horror was that +the reforming monsters, the young ones growing visibly before his +eyes, had the gamboling instinct of young lambs or other creatures. +They were much more lively than the parent creatures. + + * * * * * + +By this time perhaps a third of the space within the electrified lines +had been occupied by the devils. The wall was slowly and sluggishly +advancing, and a fresh infiltration was drifting in on another side. +As the victims were pressed closer and closer together in their +flight, half of them seemed to go insane. They raced to and fro, +laughing and screaming, flinging their arms aloft in extravagant +gestures. One young fellow, rushing across the ground, hurled himself +like a bolt from a catapult into the heart of the grisly mass, which +opened and received him. + +There was a struggle, a convulsion; then the mass moved on. + +Kay wiped his ax. He stood beside Ruth, gathering strength and breath +to fight again. What else was there to do? + +Suddenly a humming sound came to his ears. Still some little distance +from the monsters, he glanced back. The victims were shouting, staring +upward. Over the tops of the jungle trees Kay saw a second airplane +flying toward them, a larger one than the plane which he had flown. + +It opened its helicopter wings and drifted downward. Kay saw a single +pilot, and, in the baggage compartment something that at first he did +not recognize. Then he recognized both this object and the aviator. + +"It's Cliff," he whispered hoarsely. "He's brought the top!" + + * * * * * + +The crowd was milling about Cliff as he stepped out of the plane. Kay +broke through their midst, shouting to them to clear a space, that it +was their chance, their only chance. They heard him and obeyed. And +Cliff and Kay clasped hands, and there was Ruth beside them. + +The two men carried the top out of the baggage compartment and set it +up. + +"Thank God I came in time," Cliff hissed. "How long have we got, Kay?" + +"Five minutes, I think," Kay answered, glancing at the oncoming wall. +"They're slow. Will it work, Cliff? God, when I found you'd gone last +night--" + +Cliff did not answer. Ignoring Kay's offer of assistance, he fitted +the top tightly into its socket of craolite, much heavier than the +former one. Beneath this, three heavy craolite legs formed a sort of +tripod. + +"I looked forward to this possibility, Kay," said Cliff, as he +adjusted the top and turned the clamps that held it in position. +"Sorry I had to deceive you, but you we're so set on the cosmic rays, +and I knew the psenium emanations wouldn't appeal to you. You wouldn't +have believed. I had a hunch Ruth would draw one of those numbers.... +_How long?_" + +The swaying masses of gray jelly were very near them. Cliff worked +feverishly at the top. + +"Let me help. Cliff!" + +"No! I'm through! Stand back!" shouted Cliff. + + * * * * * + +Even then--he regretted it afterward, and knew that he would regret it +to his dying day--even then the thought flashed through Kay's mind +that Cliff wanted all the glory. Behind him the milling, screaming +crowd was huddling, as if for protection. Slowly a wisp-like tentacle +protruded from the advancing wall. Kay swung his ax and lopped it from +the phantom body. But the wall was almost upon them, and from the +other side it was advancing rapidly. + +"I'm ready! Stand back!" Cliff turned upon Kay, his face white, his +voice hoarse. "I've one request to make, Kay. Keep everybody back, +including you and Ruth. Nobody is to come within twenty-five yards of +this machine!" + +"That shall be done," said Kay, a little bitterness in his tone. + +"Ruth, I think I'm going to save you all." Cliff looked into the +girl's face for a moment. "Please stand back twenty-five yards," he +repeated. + +Kay took Ruth by the arm and drew her back. The crowd moved back, +their pressure moving back the vast multitudes behind them. The vast +mob was almost packed into the quarter of the Golgotha; there was +scarcely room to move. + +Kay saw Cliff press the lever. + + * * * * * + +Slowly the giant top began to whirl. Faster ... faster.... Now it was +revolving so fast that it had become totally invisible. But Cliff was +almost surrounded by the wall of jelly. Only his back could be seen, +and then space was narrowing fast. + +Kay gripped Ruth's arm tightly. He held his breath. The crowd, of whom +only a small part knew what was taking place, was screaming with +terror as the mass of jelly on the other side pressed them inexorably +backward. And Cliff had almost vanished. Would the machine work? Was +it possible that the psenium emanations would succeed where the +Millikan rays, the W-ray had failed? + +Then of a sudden the air grew dark as night. Kay began to sneeze. He +gasped for air. He was choking. He could see nothing, and he strained +Ruth to him convulsively, while the terrified multitudes behind him +set up a last wail of despair. + +He could see nothing, and he stood with the ax ready for the onset of +the monsters, more terrible now, in their invisibility, than before. +Then of a sudden there sounded subterranean rumblings. The ground +seemed to open almost under Kay's feet. + +He leaped back, dragging Ruth with him. Slowly the dust was settling, +the darkness lessening. A faint, luminous glow overhead revealed the +sun. Kay was aware that Cliff had swung the top, so that the psenium +rays were being brought to bear upon the second mass of the monsters +on the other side. + +The sun vanished in appalling blackness. Again the dust-choked air was +almost unbreathable. The shrieks of the crowd died away in wheezing +gasps; and then a wilder clamor began. + +"The earthquake! The earthquake!" a girl was shrilling. "God help us +all!" + +Kay stood still, clutching Ruth tightly in his arms. He dared not +stir, for all the world seemed to be dissolving into chaos. + + * * * * * + +Slowly the dust began to settle again. Perhaps five minutes passed +before the sunbeams began to struggle through. A cloud of grey dust +still obscured everything. But the wall of protoplasm was gone! + +Cliff's voice came moaning out of the murk, calling Kay's name. + +Kay moved forward cautiously, still holding Ruth. He seemed to be +skirting the edge of a vast crater. At the edge of it he found the +top, revolving slowly. And Cliff's voice came from beside the top. + +"Kay, we've won. Don't look at me. Don't let Ruth see me! Look down!" + +Kay looked down into the bottomless pit, extending clear across the +plain to the distant jungle. An enormous canyon cloven in the earth, +filled with the slowly settling cloud of dust. + +"They're there, Kay. Don't look this way!" + +But Kay looked--and could see nothing except a pile of debris, from +the bottom of which Cliff's voice issued. + +"Cliff, you're not hurt?" + +"A--a little. You must listen while I tell you how to clean up the +monsters. It's the psenium emanation. It has the same effect when our +method is applied to it. It disintegrates everything inorganic--not +organic. + +"I thought, if I couldn't get them, I'd crumble the earth away--bury +them. They're underneath the debris, Kay, a mile deep, buried, beneath +the impalpable powder that represented the inorganic salts and +minerals of the earth. They'll never get out of that. Protoplasm needs +oxygen. They'll trouble us no more. + +"You must take the top, Kay. Use our old method. You'll find its +application to the psenium emanation written in a book fastened +beneath the hood. Wipe out the rest of them. If any more come, you'll +know how to deal with them." + +"Cliff, you're not badly hurt?" Kay asked again. + +"Don't look, I tell you! Keep Ruth away!" + + * * * * * + +But the dust was settling fast, and suddenly Ruth uttered a scream of +fear. + +And a strangled cry broke from Kay's throat as he looked down at what +had been Cliff Hynes. + +The man seemed to have become resolved into the same sort of +protoplasm as the Earth Giants. He lay, a little heap, incredibly +small, incredibly distorted. Flesh without bones, shapeless lumps of +flesh where arms and legs and body frame should have been. + +Cliff's voice came faintly. "You remember the leakage through the +rubber and analektron container, Kay. The W-rays even fused the +craolite socket. The psenium rays are stronger. They destroy even +bone. They're fatal to the man who operates the machine, unless he +follows the directions. I've written them out for you, but I had--no +time--to apply them." + +His voice broke off. Then, "Good luck to you and--Ruth, Kay," he +whispered, absent inaudibly. "Don't let--her--look at me." + +Kay led Ruth gently away. "Did you hear that?" she whispered, sobbing. +"He died to save us Kay." + + * * * * * + +It was like a return from the grave for the amazed boys and girls +who--since the onset of the monsters had destroyed the electric +lines--poured out of the plain of Golgotha to life and freedom. + +Many of them had gone mad, a few had died of fright, but the rest +would come back to normal, and the world was saved. + +Hunger was their greatest problem, for, despite Kay's hurried flight +to the nearest occupied post, it was difficult to convince the +Federation officials that the devils were really gone, buried beneath +a mile of crumbled earth. And Kay had to be back to mop up other, +smaller bands that had spread through the forests. + +It was six months before the last of the monsters had been +obliterated, and then Kay, now one of the highest officials in the +Federation's service, was granted a lunarian's leave of absence +pending his taking command of an Antarctic expedition for the purpose +of destroying the remaining monsters in their lair. + +He took this opportunity to be married to Ruth, in the church in his +native town, which was _en fete_ for the occasion. + +"Thinking of Cliff?" Kay asked his bride, as she settled in his plane +preparatory to their starting for the honeymoon in the Adirondacks. "I +think he would be happy if he knew. He saved the world, dear; he gave +his best. And that was all he wanted." + + * * * * * + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Pirate Planet + +BEGINNING A FOUR-PART NOVEL + +_By Charles W. Diffin_ + +[Illustration: Like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling.] + +[Sidenote: A strange light blinks on Venus, and over old Earth hovers +a mysterious visitant--dread harbinger of interplanetary war.] + + +CHAPTER I + +Lieutenant McGuire threw open his coat with its winged insignia of the +air force and leaned back in his chair to read more comfortably the +newspaper article. + +He glanced at Captain Blake across the table. The captain was deep in +a game of solitaire, but he looked up at McGuire's audible chuckle. + +"Gay old girl!" said Lieutenant McGuire and smoothed the paper across +his knees. "She's getting flirtatious." + +The captain swore softly as he gathered up his cards. "Not +interested," he announced; "too hot to-night. Keep her away." + +"Oh, she's far enough away," McGuire responded; "about seventy million +miles. Don't get excited." + +"What are you talking about?" The captain shuffled his cards +irritably. + +"Venus. She's winking at us, the old reprobate. One of these +star-gazers up on Mount Lawson saw the flashes a week or so ago. If +you'll cut out your solitaire and listen, I'll read you something to +improve your mind." He ignored the other's disrespectful remark and +held the paper closer to see the paragraphs. + +"Is Venus Signalling?" inquired the caption which Lieutenant McGuire +read. "Professor Sykes of Mt. Lawson Observatory Reports Flashes. + +"The planet Venus, now a brilliant spectacle in the evening sky, is +behaving strangely according to a report from the local observatory on +Mount Lawson. This sister star, most like Earth of all the planets, is +now at its eastern elongation, showing like a half-moon in the big +telescopes on Mt. Lawson. Shrouded in impenetrable clouds, its surface +has never been seen, but something is happening there. Professor Sykes +reports seeing a distinct flash of light upon the terminator, or +margin of light. It lasted for several seconds and was not repeated. + +"No explanation of the phenomenon is offered by scientists, as +conditions on the planet's surface are unknown. Is there life there? +Are the people of Venus trying to communicate? One guess is as good as +another. But it is interesting to recall that our scientists recently +proposed to send a similar signal from Earth to Mars by firing a +tremendous flare of magnesium. + +"Venus is now approaching the earth; she comes the nearest of all +planets. Have the Venusians penetrated their cloak of cloud masses +with a visible light? The planet will be watched with increased +interest as it swings toward us in space, in hope of there being a +repetition of the unexplained flash." + + * * * * * + +"There," said Lieutenant McGuire,"--doesn't that elevate your mind? +Take it off this infernally hot night? Carry you out through the cool +reaches of interplanetary space? If there is anything else you want to +know, just ask me." + +"Yes," Captain Blake agree, "there is. I want to know how the game +came out back in New York--and you don't know that. Let's go over and +ask the radio man. He probably has the dope." + +"Good idea," said McGuire; "maybe he has picked up a message from +Venus; we'll make a date." He looked vainly for the brilliant star as +they walked out into the night. There were clouds of fog from the +nearby Pacific drifting high overhead. Here and there stars showed +momentarily, then were blotted from sight. + +The operator in the radio room handed the captain a paper with the +day's scores from the eastern games. But Lieutenant McGuire, despite +his ready amusement at the idea, found his thoughts clinging to the +words he had read. "Was the planet communicating?" he pictured the +great globe--another Earth--slipping silently through space, coming +nearer and nearer. + +Did they have radio? he wondered. Would they send recognizable +signals--words--or some mathematical sequence to prove their reality? +He turned to the radio operator on duty. + +"Have you picked up anything peculiar," he asked, and laughed inwardly +at himself for the asking. "Any new dots and dashes? The scientists +say that Venus is calling. You'll have to be learning a new code." + +The man glanced at him strangely and looked quickly away. + +"No, sir," he said. And added after a pause: "No new dots and dashes." + +"Don't take that stuff too seriously, Mac," the captain remonstrated. +"The day of miracles is past; we don't want to commit you to the +psychopathic ward. Now here is something real: the Giants won, and I +had ten dollars on them. How shall we celebrate?" + + * * * * * + +The radio man was listening intently as they started to leave. His +voice was hesitating as he stopped them; he seemed reluctant to put +his thoughts into words. + +"Just a minute, sir," he said to Captain Blake. + +"Well?" the captain asked. And again the man waited before he replied. +Then-- + +"Lieutenant McGuire asked me," he began, "if I had heard any strange +dots and dashes. I have not; but ... well, the fact is, sir, that I +have been getting some mighty queer sounds for the past few nights. +They've got me guessing. + +"If you wouldn't mind waiting. Captain; they're about due now--" He +listened again to some signal inaudible to the others, then hooked up +two extra head-sets for the officers. + +"It's on now," he said. "If you don't mind--" + +McGuire grinned at the captain as they took up the ear-phones. "Power +of suggestion," he whispered, but the smile was erased from his lips +as he listened. For in his ear was sounding a weird and wailing note. + +No dots or dashes, as the operator had said, but the signal was +strong. It rose and fell and wavered into shrill tremolos, a ghostly, +unearthly sound, and it kept on and on in a shrill despairing wail. +Abruptly it stopped. + +The captain would have removed the receiver from his ear, but the +operator stopped him. "Listen," he said, "to the answer." + + * * * * * + +There was silence, broken only by an occasional hiss and crackle of +some far distant mountain storm. Then, faint as a whisper, came an +answering, whistling breath. + +It, too, trembled and quavered. It went up--up--to the limit of +hearing; then slid down the scale to catch and tremble and again +ascend in endless unvarying ups and downs of sound. It was another +unbroken, unceasing, but always changing vibration. + +"What in thunder is that?" Captain Blake demanded. + +"Communication of some sort, I should say," McGuire said slowly, and +he caught the operator's eyes upon him in silent agreement. + +"No letters," Blake objected; "no breaks; just that screech." He +listened again. "Darned if it doesn't almost seem to say something," +he admitted. + +"When did you first hear this?" he demanded of the radio man. + +"Night before last, sir. I did not report it. It seemed too--too--" + +"Quite so," said Captain Blake in understanding, "but it is some form +of broadcasting on a variable wave; though how a thing like that can +make sense--" + +"They talk back and forth," said the operator; "all night, most. +Notice the loud one and the faint one; two stations sending and +answering." + +Captain Blake waved him to silence. "Wait--wait!" he ordered. "It's +growing louder!" + + * * * * * + +In the ears of the listening men the noise dropped to a loud grumble; rose +to a piercing shriek; wavered and leaped rapidly from note to note. It was +increasing; rushing upon them with unbearable sound. The sense of something +approaching, driving toward them swiftly, was strong upon Lieutenant +McGuire. He tore the head-phones from his ears and rushed to the door. The +captain was beside him. Whoever--whatever--was sending that mysterious +signal was coming near--but was that nearness a matter of miles or of +thousands of miles? + +They stared at the stormy night sky above. A moon was glowing faintly +behind scudding clouds, and the gray-black of flying shadows formed an +opening as they watched, a wind-blown opening like a doorway to the +infinity beyond, where, blocking out the stars, was a something that +brought a breath-catching shout from the watching men. + +Some five thousand feet up in the night was a gleaming ship. There +were rows of portholes that shone twinkling against the black +sky--portholes in multiple rows on the side. The craft was +inconceivably huge. Formless and dim of outline in the darkness, its +vast bulk was unmistakable. + +And as they watched with staring, incredulous eyes, it seemed to take +alarm as if it sensed the parting of its concealing cloud blanket. It +shot with dizzy speed and the roar of a mighty meteor straight up into +the night. The gleam of its twinkling lights merged to a distant star +that dwindled, shrank and vanished in the heights. + +The men were wordless and open-mouthed. They stared at each other in +disbelief of what their eyes had registered. + +"A liner!" gasped Captain Blake. "A--a--liner! Mac, there is no such +thing." + + * * * * * + +McGuire pointed where the real cause of their visitor's departure +appeared. A plane with engine wide open came tearing down through the +clouds. It swung in a great spiral down over the field and dropped a +white flare as it straightened away; then returned for the landing. It +taxied at reckless speed toward the hangars and stopped a short +distance from the men. The pilot threw himself out of the cockpit and +raced drunkenly toward them. + +"Did you see it?" he shouted, his voice a cracked scream. "Did you see +it?" + +"We saw it," said Captain Blake; "yes, we saw it. Big as--" He sought +vainly for a proper comparison, then repeated his former words: "Big +as an ocean liner!" + +The pilot nodded; he was breathing heavily. + +"Any markings?" asked his superior. "Anything to identify it?" + +"Yes, there were markings, but I don't know what they mean. There was +a circle painted on her bow and marks like clouds around it, but I +didn't have time to see much. I came out of a cloud, and there the +thing was. I was flying at five thousand, and they hung there dead +ahead. I couldn't believe it; it was monstrous; tremendous. Then they +sighted me, I guess, and they up-ended that ship in mid-air and shot +straight up till they were out of sight." + +It was the captain's turn to nod mutely. + +"There's your miracle," said Lieutenant McGuire softly. + +"Miracle is right," agreed Captain Blake; "nothing less! But it is no +miracle of ours, and I am betting it doesn't mean any good to us. Some +other country has got the jump on us." + +To the pilot he ordered: "Say nothing of this--not a word--get that? +Let me have a written report: full details, but concise as possible." + +He went back to the radio room, and the operator there received the +same instructions. + +"What are you going to do?" the lieutenant questioned. + +Captain Blake was reaching for a head-set. "Listen in," he said +briefly; "try to link up that impossible ship with those messages, +then report at once to the colonel and whoever he calls in. I'll want +you along, Mac, to swear I am sober." + + * * * * * + +He had a head-set adjusted, and McGuire took up the other. Again the +room was still, and again from the far reaches of space the dark night +sent to them its quavering call. + +The weird shrillness cried less loudly now, and the men listened in +strained silence to the go and come of that variable shriek. Musical +at times as it leaped from one clear note to another, again it would +merge into discordant blendings of half-tones that sent shivers of +nervous reaction up the listeners' spines. + +"Listen," said McGuire abruptly. "Check me on this. There are two of +them, one loud and one faint--right?" + +"Right," said Captain Blake. + +"Now notice the time intervals--there! The faint one stops, and the +big boy cuts in immediately. No waiting; he answers quickly. He does +it every time." + +"Well?" the captain asked. + +"Listen when he stops and see how long before the faint one answers. +Call the loud one the ship and the faint one the station.... There! +The ship is through!" + +There was pause; some seconds elapsed before the answer that whispered +so faintly in their ears came out of the night. + +"You are right, sir," the operator said in corroboration of McGuire's +remark. "There is that wait every time." + +"The ship answers at once," said McGuire; "the station only after a +wait." + +"Meaning--?" inquired the captain. + +"Meaning, as I take it, that there is time required for the message to +go from the ship to the station and for them to reply." + +"An appreciable time like that," Captain Blake exclaimed, "--with +radio! Why, a few seconds, even, would carry it around the world a +score of times!" + +Lieutenant McGuire hesitated a moment. "It happens every time," he +reminded the captain: "it is no coincidence. And if that other station +is out in space--another ship perhaps, relaying the messages to yet +others between here and--Venus, let us say...." + + * * * * * + +He left the thought unfinished. Captain Blake was staring at him as +one who beholds a fellow-man suddenly insane. But the look in his eyes +changed slowly, and his lips that had been opened in remonstrance came +gradually in a firm, straight line. + +"Crazy!" he said, but it was apparent that he was speaking as much to +himself as to McGuire. "Plumb, raving crazy!... Yet that ship _did_ go +straight up out of sight--an acceleration in the upper air beyond +anything we know. It might be--" And he, too, stopped at the actual +voicing of the wild surmise. He shook his head sharply as if to rid it +of intruding, unwelcome thoughts. + +"Forget that!" he told McGuire, and repeated it in a less commanding +tone. "Forget it, Mac: we've got to render a report to sane men, you +and I. What we know will be hard enough for them to believe without +any wild guesses. + +"That new craft is real. It has got it all over us for size and speed +and potential offensive action. Who made it? Who mans it? Red Russia? +Japan? That's what the brass hats will be wondering; that's what they +will want to find out. + +"Not a word!" he repeated to the radio man. "You will keep mum on +this." + +He took McGuire with him as he left to seek out his colonel. But it +was a disturbed and shaken man, instead of the cool, methodical +Captain Blake of ordinary days, who went in search of his commanding +officer. And he clung to McGuire for corroboration of his impossible +story. + + * * * * * + +There was a group of officers to whom Blake made his full report. +Colonel Boynton had heard but little when he halted his subordinate +curtly and reached for a phone. And his words over that instrument +brought a quick conference of officers and a quiet man whom McGuire +did not recognize. The "brass hats," as Blake had foreseen, were avid +for details. + +The pilot of the incoming plane was there, too, and the radio man. +Their stories were told in a disconcerting silence, broken only by +some officer's abrupt and skeptical question on one point and another. + +"Now, for heaven's sake, shut up about Venus," McGuire had been told. +But he did not need Captain Blake's warning to hold himself strictly +to what he had seen and let the others draw their own conclusions. + +Lieutenant McGuire was the last one to speak. There was silence in the +office of Colonel Boynton as he finished, a silence that almost echoed +from the grim walls. And the faces of the men who gathered there were +carefully masked from any expression that might betray their thoughts. + +It was the quiet man in civilian attire who spoke first. He sat beside +another whose insignia proclaimed him of general's rank, but he +addressed himself to Colonel Boynton. + +"I am very glad," he said quietly, "very glad. Colonel, that my +unofficial visit came at just this time. I should like to ask some few +questions." + +Colonel Boynton shifted the responsibility with a gesture almost of +relief. "It is in your hands. Mr. Secretary," he said. "You and +General Clinton have dropped in opportunely. There is something here +that will tax all our minds." + +The man in civilian clothes nodded assent. He turned to Captain Blake. + +"Captain," he said, "you saw this at first hand. You have told us what +you saw. I should like greatly to know what you think. Will you give +us your opinion, your impressions?" + + * * * * * + +The captain arose smartly, but his words came with less ease. + +"My opinion," he stated, "will be of little value, but it is based +upon these facts. I have seen to-night, sir, a new type of aircraft, +with speed, climb and ceiling beyond anything we are capable of. I +can only regard it as a menace. It may or may not have been armed, but +it had the size to permit the armament of a cruiser; it had power to +carry that weight. It hung stationary in the air, so it is independent +of wing-lift, yet it turned and shot upward like a feather in a gale. +That spells maneuverability. + +"That combination, sir, can mean only that we are out-flown, +out-maneuvered and out-fought in the air. It means that the planes in +our hangars are obsolete, our armament so much old iron. + +"The menace is potential at present. Whether it is an actual threat or +not is another matter. Who mans that ship--what country's insignia she +carries--is something on which I can have no opinion. The power is +there: who wields it I wish we knew." + +The questioner nodded at the conclusion of Blake's words, and he +exchanged quiet, grave glances with the general beside him. Then-- + +"I think we all would wish to know that, Captain Blake," he observed. +And to the colonel: "You may be able to answer that soon. It would be +my idea that this craft should be--ah--drawn out, if we can do it. We +would not attack it, of course, until its mission is proved definitely +unfriendly, but you will resist any offensive from them. + +"And now," he added, "let us thank these officers for their able +reports and excuse them. We have much to discuss...." + + * * * * * + +Captain Blake took McGuire's arm as they went out into the night. And +he drew him away where they walked for silent minutes by themselves. +The eyes of Lieutenant McGuire roamed upward to the scudding clouds +and the glimpse of far, lonely stars; he stumbled occasionally as he +walked. But for Captain Blake there was thought only of matters +nearby. + +"The old fox!" he exclaimed. "Didn't he 'sic us on' neatly? If we mix +it with that stranger there will be no censure from the Secretary of +War." + +"I assumed that was who it was," said McGuire. "Well, they have +something to think about, that bunch; something to study over.... +Perhaps more than they know. + +"And that's their job," he concluded after a silence. "I'm going to +bed; but I would like a leave of absence to-morrow if that's O. K." + +"Sure," said Captain Blake, "though I should think you would like to +stick around. Perhaps we will see something. What's on your mind, +Mac?" + +"A little drive to the top of Mount Lawson," said Lieutenant McGuire. +"I want to talk to a bird named Sykes." + + +CHAPTER II + +Lieutenant McGuire, U. S. A., was not given as a usual thing to vain +conjectures, nor did his imagination carry him beyond the practical +boundaries of accepted facts. Yet his mind, as he drove for hours +through the orange-scented hills of California, reverted time and +again to one persistent thought. And it was with him still, even when +he was consciously concentrating on the hairpin turns of Mount +Lawson's narrow road. + +There was a picture there, printed indelibly in his mind--a picture of +a monstrous craft, a liner of the air, that swung its glowing lights +in a swift arc and, like a projectile from some huge gun, shot up and +up and still up until it vanished in a jet-black sky. Its altitude +when it passed from sight he could not even guess, but the sense of +ever-increasing speed, of power that mocked at gravitation's puny +force, had struck deep into his mind. And McGuire saw plainly this +mystery ship going on and on far into the empty night where man had +never been. + +No lagging in that swift flight that he had seen; an acceleration that +threw the ship faster and yet faster, regardless of the thin air and +the lessened buoyancy in an ocean of atmosphere that held man-made +machines so close to Earth. That constant acceleration, hour after +hour, day after day--the speed would be almost unlimited; +inconceivable! + +He stopped his car where the mountain road held straight for a hundred +feet, and he looked out over the coastal plain spread like a toy world +far below. + +"Now, how about it?" he asked himself. "Blake thinks I am making a +fool of myself. Perhaps I am. I wonder. It's a long time since I fell +for any fairy stories. But this thing has got me. A sort of hunch, I +guess." + + * * * * * + +The sun was shining now from a vault of clear blue. It was lighting a +world of reality, of houses where people lived their commonplace +lives, tiny houses squared off in blocks a mile below. There was smoke +here and there from factories; it spread in a haze, and it meant +boilers and engines and sound practical machinery of a practical world +to the watching man. + +What had all this to do with Venus? he asked himself. This was the +world he knew. It was real; space was impenetrable; there were no men +or beings of any sort that could travel through space. Blake was +right: he was on a fool's errand. They couldn't tell him anything up +here at the observatory; they would laugh at him as he deserved.... + +Wondering vaguely if there was a place to turn around, he looked ahead +and then up; his eyes passed from the gash of roadway on the +mountainside to the deep blue beyond. And within the man some driving, +insistent, mental force etched strongly before his eyes that picture +and its problem unanswered. There was the ship--he saw it in +memory--and it went up and still up; and he knew as surely as if he +had guided the craft that the meteor-like flight could be endless. + +Lieutenant McGuire could not reason it out--such power was beyond his +imagining--but suddenly he dared to believe, and he knew it was true. + +"Earthbound!" he said in contempt of his own human kind, and he looked +again at the map spread below. "Ants! Mites! That's what we +are--swarming across the surface of the globe. And we think we're so +damn clever if we lift ourselves up a few miles from the surface! + +"Guess I'll see Sykes," he muttered aloud. "He and his kind at least +dare to look out into space; take their eyes off the world; be +impractical!" + +He swung the car slowly around the curve ahead, eased noiselessly into +second gear and went on with the climb. + + * * * * * + +There were domed observatories where he stopped: rounded structures +that gleamed silvery in the air; and offices, laboratories: it was a +place of busy men. And Professor Sykes, he found, was busy. But he +spared a few minutes to answer courteously the questions of this slim +young fellow in the khaki uniform of the air service. + +"What can I do for you?" asked Professor Sykes. + +"No dreamer, this man," thought McGuire as he looked at the short, +stocky figure of the scientist. Clear eyes glanced sharply from under +shaggy brows; there were papers in his hand scrawled over with strange +mathematical symbols. + +"You can answer some fool questions," said Lieutenant McGuire +abruptly, "if you don't mind." + +The scientist smiled broadly. "We're used to that," he told the young +officer; "you can't think of any worse ones than those we have heard. +Have a chair." + +McGuire drew a clipping from his pocket--it was the newspaper account +he had read--and he handed it to Professor Sykes. + +"I came to see you about this," he began. + +The lips of Professor Sykes lost their genial curve; they straightened +to a hard line. "Nothing for publication," he said curtly. "As usual +they enlarged upon the report and made assumptions and inferences not +warranted by facts." + +"But you did see that flash?" + +"By visual observation I saw a bright area formed on the +terminator--yes! We have no photographic corroboration." + +"I am wondering what it meant." + +"That is your privilege--and mine," said the scientist coldly. + +"But it said there," McGuire persisted, "that it might have been a +signal of some sort." + +"_I_ did not say so: that is an inference only. I have told you, +Lieutenant"--he glanced at the card in his hand--"--Lieutenant +McGuire--all that I know. We deal in facts up here, and we leave the +brilliant theorizing to the journalists." + + * * * * * + +The young officer felt distinctly disconcerted. He did not know +exactly what he had expected from this man--what corroboration of his +wild surmises--but he was getting nowhere, he admitted. And he +resented the cold aloofness of the scientist before him. + +"I am not trying to pin you down on anything," he said, and his tone +carried a hint of the nervous strain that had been his. "I am trying +to learn something." + +"Just what?" the other inquired. + +"Could that flash have been a signal?" + +"You may think so if you wish: I have told you all that I know. And +now," he added, and rose from his chair, "I must ask to be excused; I +have work to do." + +McGuire came slowly to his feet. He had learned nothing; perhaps there +was nothing to be learned. A fool's errand! Blake was right. But the +inner urge for some definite knowledge drove him on. His eyes were +serious and his face drawn to a scowl of earnestness as he turned once +more to the waiting man. + +"Professor Sykes," he demanded, "just one more question. Could that +have been the flash of a--a rocket? Like the proposed experiments in +Germany. Could it have meant in any way the launching of a +projectile--a ship--to travel Earthward through space?" + + * * * * * + +Professor Sykes knew what it was to be harassed by the curious mob, to +avoid traps set by ingenious reporters, but he knew, too, when he was +meeting with honest bewilderment and a longing for knowledge. His +fists were placed firmly on the hips of his stocky figure as he stood +looking at the persistent questioner, and his eyes passed from the +intent face to the snug khaki coat and the spread wings that +proclaimed the wearer's work. A ship out of space--a projectile--this +young man had said. + +"Lieutenant," he suggested quietly--and again the smile had returned +to his lips as he spoke--"sit down. I'm not as busy as I pretend to +be. Now tell me: what in the devil have you got in your mind?" + +And McGuire told him. "Like some of your dope," he said, "this is not +for publication. But I have not been instructed to hush it up, and I +know you will keep it to yourself." + +He told the clear-eyed, listening man of the previous night's events. +Of the radio's weird call and the mystery ship. + +"Hallucination," suggested the scientist. "You saw the stars very +clearly, and they suggested a ship." + +"Tell that to Jim Burgess," said McGuire: "he was the pilot of that +plane." And the scientist nodded as if the answer were what he +expected. + +He asked again about the ship's flight. And he, too, bore down heavily +upon the matter of acceleration in the thin upper air. He rose to lay +a friendly hand on McGuire's shoulder. + +"We can't know what it means," he said, "but we can form our own +theories, you and I--and anything is possible. + +"It is getting late," he added, "and you have had a long drive. Come +over and eat; spend the night here. Perhaps you would like to have a +look at our equipment--see Venus for yourself. I will be observing her +through the sixty-inch refractor to-night. Would you care to?" + +"Would I?" McGuire demanded with enthusiasm. "Say, that will be +great!" + + * * * * * + +The sun was dropping toward the horizon when the two men again came +out into the cool mountain air. + +"Just time for a quick look around," suggested Professor Sykes, "if +you are interested." + +He took the lieutenant first to an enormous dome that bulged high +above the ground, and admitted him to the dark interior. They climbed +a stairway and came out into a room that held a skeleton frame of +steel. "This is the big boy," said Professor Sykes, "the one +hundred-inch reflector." + +There were other workers there, one a man standing upon a raised +platform beside the steel frame, who arranged big holders for +photographic plates. The slotted ceiling opened as McGuire watched, +and the whole structure swung slowly around. It was still, and the +towering steel frame began to swing noiselessly when a man at a desk +touched various controls. McGuire looked about him in bewilderment. + +"Quite a shop," he admitted; "but where is the telescope?" + +Professor Sykes pointed to the towering latticework of steel. "Right +there," he said. "Like everyone else, you were expecting to see a big +tube." + +He explained in simple words the operation of the great instrument +that brought in light rays from sources millions of light years away. +He pointed out where the big mirror was placed--the one hundred-inch +reflector--and he traced for the wondering man the pathway of light +that finally converged upon a sensitized plate to catch and record +what no eye had ever seen. + +He checked the younger man's flow of questions and turned him back +toward the stairs. "We will leave them to their work," he said; "they +will be gathering light that has been traveling millions of years on +its ways. But you and I have something a great deal nearer to study." + + * * * * * + +Another building held the big refractor, and it was a matter of only a +few seconds and some cryptic instructions from Sykes until the +eye-piece showed the image of the brilliant planet. + +"The moon!" McGuire exclaimed in disappointed tones when the professor +motioned him to see for himself. His eyes saw a familiar half-circle +of light. + +"Venus," the professor informed him. "It has phases like the moon. The +planet is approaching; the sun's light strikes it from the side." But +McGuire hardly heard. He was gazing with all his faculties centered +upon that distant world, so near to him now. + +"Venus," he whispered half aloud. Then to the professor: "It's all +hazy. There are no markings--" + +"Clouds," said the other. "The goddess is veiled; Venus is blanketed +in clouds. What lies underneath we may never know, but we do know that +of all the planets this is most like the earth; most probably is an +inhabited world. Its size, its density, your weight if you were +there--and the temperature under the sun's rays about double that of +ours. Still, the cloud envelope would shield it." + +McGuire was fascinated, and his thoughts raced wildly in speculation +of what might be transpiring before his eyes. People, living in that +tropical world; living and going through their daily routine under +that cloud-filled sky where the sun was never seen. The margin of +light that made the clear shape of a half-moon marked their daylight +and dark; there was one small dot of light forming just beyond that +margin. It penetrated the dark side. And it grew, as he watched, to a +bright patch. + +"What is that?" he inquired abstractedly--his thoughts were still +filled with those beings of his imagination. "There is a light that +extends into the dark part. It is spreading--" + + * * * * * + +He found himself thrust roughly aside as Professor Sykes applied a +more understanding eye to the instrument. + +The professor whirled abruptly to his assistant. "Phone Professor +Giles," he said sharply; "he is working on the reflector. Tell him to +get a photograph of Venus at once; the cloud envelope is broken." He +returned hurriedly to his observations. One hand sketched on a waiting +pad. + +"Markings!" he said exultantly. "If it would only hold!... There, it +is closing ... gone...." + +His hand was quiet now upon the paper, but where he had marked was a +crude sketch of what might have been an island. It was "L" shaped; +sharply bent. + +"Whew!" breathed Professor Sykes and looked up for a moment. "Now that +was interesting." + +"You saw through?" asked McGuire eagerly. "Glimpsed the surface?--an +island?" + +The scientist's face relaxed. "Don't jump to conclusions," he told the +aviator: "we are not ready to make a geography of Venus quite yet. But +we shall know that mark if we ever see it again. I hardly think they +had time to get a picture. + + * * * * * + +"And now there is only a matter of three hours for observation: I must +watch every minute. Stay here if you wish. But," he added, "don't let +your imagination run wild. Some eruption, perhaps, this we have +seen--an ignition of gasses in the upper air--who knows? But don't +connect this with your mysterious ship. If the ship is a menace, if it +means war, that is your field of action, not mine. And you will be +fighting with someone on Earth. It must be that some country has +gained a big lead in aeronautics. Now I must get to work." + +"I'll not wait," said McGuire. "I will start for the field; get there +by daylight, if I can find my way down that road in the dark." + +"Thanks a lot." He paused a moment before concluding slowly: "And in +spite of what you say, Professor, I believe that we will have +something to get together on again in this matter." + +The scientist, he saw, had turned again to his instrument. McGuire +picked his way carefully along the narrow path that led where he had +parked his car. "Good scout, this Sykes!" he was thinking, and he +stopped to look overhead in the quick-gathering dark at that +laboratory of the heavens, where Sykes and his kind delved and probed, +measured and weighed, and gathered painstakingly the messages from +suns beyond counting, from universe out there in space that added +their bit of enlightenment to the great story of the mystery of +creation. + +He was humbly aware of his own deep ignorance as he backed his car, +slipped it into second, and began the long drive down the tortuous +grade. He would have liked to talk more with Sykes. But he had no +thought as he wound round the curves how soon that wish was to be +gratified. + + * * * * * + +Part way down the mountainside he again checked his car where he had +stopped on the upward climb and reasoned with himself about his +errand. Once more he looked out over the level ground below, a vast +glowing expanse of electric lights now, that stretched to the ocean +beyond. He was suddenly unthrilled by this man-made illumination, and +he got out of his car to stare again at the blackness above and its +myriad of stars that gathered and multiplied as he watched. + +One brighter than the rest winked suddenly out. There was a +constellation of twinkling lights that clustered nearby, and they too +vanished. The eyes of the watcher strained themselves to see more +clearly a dim-lit outline. There were no lights: it was a black +shape, lost in the blackness of the mountain sky, that was blocking +out the stars. But it was a shape, and from near the horizon the pale +gleams of the rising moon picked it out in softest of outline; a vague +ghost of a curve that reflected a silvery contour to the watching eyes +below. + +There had been a wider space in the road that McGuire had passed; he +backed carefully till he could swing his car and turn it to head once +more at desperate speed toward the mountain top. And it was less than +an hour since he had left when he was racing back along the narrow +footpath to slam open the door where Professor Sykes looked up in +amazement at his abrupt return. + +The aviator's voice was hoarse with excitement as he shouted: "It's +here--the ship! It's here! Where's your phone?--I must call the field! +It's right overhead--descending slowly--no lights, but I saw it--I saw +it!" + +He was working with trembling fingers at the phone where Sykes had +pointed. "Long distance!" he shouted. He gave a number to the +operator. "Make it quick," he implored. "Quick!" + + +CHAPTER III + +Back at Maricopa Flying Field the daily routine had been disturbed. +There were conferences of officers, instructions from Colonel Boynton, +and a curiosity-provoking lack of explanations. Only with Captain +Blake did the colonel indulge in any discussion. + +"We'll keep this under our hats," he said, "and out of the newspapers +as long as we can. You can imagine what the yellow journals would do +with a scarehead like that. Why, they would have us all wiped off the +map and the country devastated by imaginary fleets in the first three +paragraphs." + +Blake regarded his superior gravely. "I feel somewhat the same way, +myself. Colonel," he admitted. "When I think what this can mean--some +other country so far ahead of us in air force that we are back in the +dark ages--well, it doesn't look any too good to me if they mean +trouble." + +"We will meet it when it comes," said Colonel Boynton. "But, between +ourselves, I am in the same state of mind. + +"The whole occurrence is so damn mysterious. Washington hasn't a +whisper of information of any such construction; the Secretary +admitted that last night. It's a surprise, a complete surprise, to +everyone. + +"But, Blake, you get that new ship ready as quickly as you can. +Prepare for an altitude test the same as we planned, but get into the +air the first minute possible. She ought to show a better ceiling than +anything we have here, and you may have to fly high to say 'Good +morning' to that liner you saw. Put all the mechanics on it that can +work to advantage. I think they have it pretty well along now." + +"Engine's tested and installed, sir," was Blake's instant report. "I +think I can take it up this afternoon." + + * * * * * + +He left immediately to hurry to the hangar where a new plane stood +glistening in pristine freshness, and where hurrying mechanics +grumbled under their breaths at the sudden rush for a ship that was +expected to take the air a week later. + +An altitude test under full load! Well, what of it? they demanded one +of another; wouldn't another day do as well as this one? And they +worked as they growled, worked with swift sureness and skill, and the +final instruments took their place in the ship that she might roll +from the hangar complete under that day's sun. + +Her supercharger was tested--the adjunct to a powerful engine that +would feed the hungry cylinders with heavy air up in the heights where +the air is thin; there were oxygen flasks to keep life in the pilot in +the same thin air. And the hot southern sun made ludicrous that +afternoon the bulky, heavily-wrapped figure of Captain Blake as he +sat at the controls and listened approvingly to the roaring engine. + +He waved good-by and smiled understandingly as he met the eyes of +Colonel Boynton; then pulled on his helmet, settled himself in his +seat and took off in a thunderous blast of sound to begin his long +ascent. + + * * * * * + +He had long since cracked open the valve of his oxygen flask when the +climb was ended, and his goggles were frosted in the arctic cold so +that it was only with difficulty he could read his instrument board. + +"That's the top," he thought in that mind so light and so curiously +not his own. He throttled the engine and went into a long spiral that +was to end within a rod of where he had started on the brown sun-baked +field. The last rays of the sun were slanting over distant mountains +as he climbed stiffly from the machine. + +"Better than fifty thousand," exulted Colonel Boynton. "Of course your +barograph will have to be calibrated and verified, but it looks like a +record, Blake--and you had a full load. + +"Ready to go up and give merry hell to that other ship if she shows +up?" he asked. But Captain Blake shook a dubious head. + +"Fifty thousand is just a start for that bird," he said. "You didn't +see them shoot out of sight, Colonel. Lord knows when they quit +_their_ climb--or where." + +"Well, we'll just have a squadron ready in any event," the colonel +assured him. "We will make him show his stuff or take a beating--if +that is what he wants." + +They were in the colonel's office. "You had better go and get warmed +up," he told the flyer: "then come back here for instructions." But +Blake was more anxious for information than for other comforts. + +"I'm all right," he said: "just tired a bit. Let me stretch out here, +Colonel, and give me the dope on what you expect of our visitor and +what we will do." + + * * * * * + +He settled back comfortably in a big chair. The office was warm, and +Blake knew now he had been doing a day's work. + +"We will just take it as it comes," Colonel Boynton explained. "I +can't for the life of me figure why the craft was spying around here. +What are they looking for? We haven't any big secrets the whole world +doesn't know. + +"Of course he may not return. But if he does I want you to go up and +give him the once over. I can trust you to note every significant +detail. + +"You saw no wings. If it is a dirigible, let's know something of their +power and how they can throw themselves up into the air the way you +described. Watch for anything that may serve to identify it and its +probable place of manufacture--any peculiarity of marking or design or +construction that may give us a lead. Then return and report." + +Blake nodded his understanding of what was wanted, but his mind was on +further contingencies: he wanted definite instructions. + +"And," he asked; "if they attack--what then? Is their fire to be +returned?" + +"If they make one single false move," said Colonel Boynton savagely, +"give them everything you've got. And the 91st Squadron will be off +the ground to support you at the first sign of trouble. We don't want +to start anything, nor appear to do so. But, by the gods, Blake, this +fellow means trouble eventually as sure as you're a flyer, and we +won't wait for him to ask for it twice." + + * * * * * + +They sat in silence, while the field outside became shrouded in night. +And they speculated, as best they could from the few facts they had, +as to what this might mean to the world, to their country, to +themselves. It was an hour before Blake was aware of the fact that he +was hungry. + +He rose to leave, but paused while Colonel Boynton answered the phone. +The first startled exclamation held him rigid while he tried to piece +together the officer's curt responses and guess at what was being +told. + +"Colonel Boynton speaking.... McGuire?... Yes, Lieutenant.... Over +Mount Lawson?... Yes--yes, the same ship, I've no doubt." + +His voice was even and cool in contrast to the excited tones that +carried faintly to Blake standing by. + +"Quite right!" he said shortly. "You will remain where you are: act as +observer: hold this line open and keep me informed. Captain Blake will +leave immediately for observation. A squadron will follow. Let me know +promptly what you see." + +He turned abruptly to the waiting man. + +"It is back!" he said. "We're in luck! Over the observatories at Mount +Lawson; descending, so Lieutenant McGuire says. Take the same ship you +had up to-day. Look them over--get up close--good luck!" He turned +again to the phone. + +There were planes rolling from their hangars before Blake could reach +his own ship. Their engines were thundering: men were rushing across +the field, pulling on leather helmets and coats as they ran--all this +while he warmed up his engine. + +A mechanic thrust in a package of sandwiches and a thermos of coffee +while he waited. And Captain Blake grinned cheerfully and gulped the +last of his food as he waved to the mechanics to pull out the wheel +blocks. He opened the throttle and shot out into the dark. + +He climbed and circled the field, saw the waving motion of lights in +red and green that marked the take-off of the planes of the 91st, and +he straightened out on a course that in less than two hours would +bring him over the heights of Mount Lawson and the mystery that +awaited him there. And he fingered the trigger grip that was part of +the stick and nodded within his dark cockpit at the rattle of a +machine gun that merged its staccato notes with the engine's roar. + +But he felt, as he thought of that monster shape, as some primordial +man might have felt, setting forth with a stone in his hand to wage +war on a saurian beast. + + +CHAPTER IV + +If Colonel Boynton could have stood with one of his lieutenants and +Professor Sykes on a mountain top, he would have found, perhaps, the +answer to his question. He had wondered in a puzzled fashion why the +great ship had shown its mysterious presence over the flying field. He +had questioned whether it was indeed the field that had been the +object of their attention or whether in the cloudy murk they had +merely wandered past. Could he have seen with the eyes of Lieutenant +McGuire the descent of the great shape over Mount Lawson, he would +have known beyond doubt that here was the magnet that drew the eyes of +whatever crew was manning the big craft. + +It was dark where the two men stood. Others had come running at their +call, but their forms, too, were lost in the shadows of the towering +pines. The light from an open door struck across an open space beyond +which McGuire and Professor Sykes stood alone, stood silent and +spellbound, their heads craned back at a neck-wrenching angle. They +were oblivious to all discomforts; their eyes and their whole minds +were on the unbelievable thing in the sky. + +Beyond the fact that no lights were showing along the hull, there was +no effort at concealment. The moon was up now to illumine the scene, +and it showed plainly the gleaming cylinder with its long body and +blunt, shining ends, dropping, slowly, inexorably down. + +"Like a dirigible," said McGuire huskily. "But the size, man--the +size! And its shape is not right; it isn't streamlined correctly; the +air--" He stopped his half-unconscious analysis abruptly. "The air!" +What had this craft to do with the air? A thin layer of gas that hung +close to the earth--the skin on an apple! And beyond--space! There was +the ethereal ocean in which this great shape swam! + +The reality of the big ship, the very substance of it, made the space +ship idea the harder to grasp. Lieutenant McGuire found that it was +easier to see an imaginary craft taking off into space than to +conceive of this monstrous shape, many hundreds of tons in weight, +being thrown through vast emptiness. Yet he knew; he knew! + +And his mind was a chaos of grim threats and forebodings as he looked +at the unbelievable reality and tried to picture what manner of men +were watching, peering, from those rows of ports. + + * * * * * + +At last it was motionless. It hung soundless and silent except for a +soft roar, a scant thousand feet in the air. And its huge bulk was +dwarfing the giant pines, the rounded buildings; it threw the men's +familiar surroundings into a new and smaller scale. + +He had many times flown over these mountains, and Lieutenant McGuire +had seen the silvery domes of the observatories shining among the +trees. Like fortresses for aerial defense, he had thought, and the +memory returned to him now. What did these new-comers think of them? +Had they, too, found them suggestive of forts on the frontier of a +world, defenses against invasion from out there? Or did they know them +for what they were? Did they wish only to learn the extent of our +knowledge, our culture? Were they friendly, perhaps?--half-timid and +fearful of what they might find? + +A star moved in the sky, a pin-point of light that was plain in its +message to the aviator. It was Blake, flying high, volplaning to make +contact and learn from the air what this stranger might mean. The +light of his plane slanted down in an easy descent; the flyer was +gliding in on a long aerial toboggan slide. His motor was throttled; +there was only the whistle of torn air on the monoplane's wings. +McGuire was with the captain in his mind, and like him he was waiting +for whatever the stranger might do. + +Other lights were clustered where the one plane had been. The men of +the 91st had their orders, and the fingers of the watching, silent man +gripped an imaginary stick while he wished with his whole heart that +he was up in the air. To be with Blake or the others! His thoughts +whipped back to the mysterious stranger: the great shape was in +motion: it rose sharply a thousand feet in the air. + + * * * * * + +The approaching plane showed clear in the moon's light. It swung and +banked, and the vibrant song of its engine came down to the men as +Blake swept in a great circle about the big ship. He was looking it +over, but he began his inspection at a distance, and the orbit of his +plane made a tightening spiral as he edged for a closer look. He was +still swinging in the monotonous round when the ship made its first +forward move. + +It leaped in the air: it swept faster and faster. And it was moving +with terrific speed as it crashed silently through the path of the +tiny plane. And Blake, as he leaned forward on the stick to throw his +plane downward in a power dive, could have had a vision, not of a ship +of the air, but only of a shining projectile as the great monster +shrieked overhead. + +McGuire trembled for the safety of those wings as he saw Blake pull +his little ship out of the dive and shoot upward to a straight climb. + +But--"That's dodging them!" he exulted: "that's flying! I wonder, did +they mean to wipe him out or were they only scared off?" + +His question was answered as, out of the night, a whistling shriek +proclaimed the passage of the meteor ship that drove unmistakably at +the lone plane. And again the pilot with superb skill waited until the +last moment and threw himself out of the path of the oncoming mass, +though his own plane was tossed and whirled like an autumn leaf in the +vortex that the enemy created. Not a second was lost as Blake opened +his throttle and forced his plane into a steep climb. + +"Atta-boy!" said McGuire, as if words could span across to the man in +the plane. "Altitude, Blake--get altitude!" + +The meteor had turned in a tremendous circle; so swift its motion that +it made an actual line of light as the moon marked its course. And the +curved line straightened abruptly to a flashing mark that shot +straight toward the struggling plane. + + * * * * * + +This time another sound came down to the listening ears of the two +men. The plane tore head on to meet the onslaught, to swing at the +last instant in a frantic leap that ended as before in the maelstrom +of air back of the ship. But the muffled roar was changed, punctured +with a machine-gun's familiar rattle, and the stabbing flashes from +Blake's ship before he threw it out of the other's path were a song of +joy to the tense nerves of the men down below. + +This deadly rush could only be construed as an attack, and Blake was +fighting back. The very speed of the great projectile must hold it to +its course; the faster it went the more difficult to swerve it from a +line. This and much more was flashing sharply in McGuire's mind. +But--Blake!--alone against this huge antagonist!... It was coming +back. Another rush like a star through space.... + +And McGuire shouted aloud in a frenzy of emotion as a cluster of +lights came falling from on high. No lone machine gun now that tore +the air with this clattering bedlam of shots: the planes of the 91st +Squadron were diving from the heights. They came on a steep slant +that seemed marking them for crashing death against the huge cylinder +flashing past. And their stabbing needles of machine-gun fire made a +drumming tattoo, till the planes, with the swiftness of hawks, swept +aside, formed to groups, tore on down toward the ground and then +curved in great circles of speed to climb back to the theater of +action. + + * * * * * + +Lieutenant McGuire was rigid and quivering. He should go to the phone +and report to the colonel, but the thought left him as quickly as it +came. He was frozen in place, and his mind could hold only the scene +that was being pictured before him. + +The enemy ship had described its swift curve, and the planes of the +defenders were climbing desperately for advantage. So slowly they +moved as compared with the swiftness of the other! + +But the great ship was slowing; it came on, but its wild speed was +checked. The light of the full moon showed plainly now what McGuire +had seen but dimly before--a great metal beak on the ship, pointed and +shining, a ram whose touch must bring annihilation to anything it +struck. + +The squadron of planes made a group in the sky, and Blake's monoplane, +too, was with them. The huge enemy was approaching slowly: was it +damaged? McGuire hardly dared hope ... yet that raking fire might well +have been deadly: it might be that some bullets had torn and +penetrated to the vitals of this ship's machinery and damaged some +part. + +It came back slowly, ominously, toward the circling planes. Then, +throwing itself through the air, it leaped not directly toward them +but off to one side. + + * * * * * + +Like a stone on the end of a cord it swung with inconceivable speed in +a circle that enclosed the group of planes. Again and again it +whipped around them, while the planes, by comparison, were motionless. +Its orbit was flat with the ground: then tilting, more yet, it made a +last circle that stood like a hoop in the air. And behind it as it +circled it left a faint trace of vapor. Nebulous!--milky in the +moonlight!--but the ship had built a sphere, a great globe of the gas, +and within it, like rats in a cage, the planes of the 91st Squadron +were darting and whirling. + +"Gas!" groaned the watching man: "gas! What is it? Why don't they +break through?" + +The thin clouds of vapor were mingling now and expanding: they +blossomed and mushroomed, and the light of the moon came in pale +iridescence from their billowing folds. + +"Break through!" McGuire had prayed--and he stood in voiceless horror +as he saw the attempt. + +The mist was touching here and there a plane: they were engulfed, yet +he could see them plainly. And he saw with staring, fear-filled eyes +the clumsy tumbling and fluttering of unguided wings as the great +eagles of the 91st fell roaring to earth with no conscious minds +guiding their flight. + +The valleys were deep about the mountain, and their shadowed blackness +opened to receive the maimed, stricken things that came fluttering or +swooping wildly to that last embrace, where, in the concealing +shadows, the deeper shadows of death awaited.... + + * * * * * + +There was a room where a telephone waited: McGuire sensed this but +dumbly, and the way to that room was long to his stumbling feet. He +was blinded: his mind would not function: he saw only those fluttering +things, and the moonlight on their wings, and the shadows that took +them so softly at the last. + +One plane whistled close overhead. McGuire stopped where he stood to +follow it with unbelieving eyes. That one man had lived, escaped the +net--it was inconceivable! The plane returned: it was flying low, and +it swerved erratically as it flew. It was a monoplane: a new ship. + +Its motor was silenced: it stalled as he watched, to pancake and crash +where the towering pines made a cradle of great branches to cushion +its fall. + +No thought now of the colonel waiting impatiently for a report; even +the enemy, there in the sky was forgotten. It was Blake in that ship, +and he was alive--or had been--for he had cut his motor. McGuire +screamed out for Professor Sykes, and there were others, too, who came +running at his call. He tore recklessly through the scrub and +undergrowth and gained at last the place where wreckage hung dangling +from the trees. The fuselage of a plane, scarred and broken, was still +held in the strong limbs. + + * * * * * + +Captain Blake was in the cockpit, half hanging from the side. He was +motionless, quiet, and his face shone white and ghastly as they +released him and drew him out. But one hand still clung with a grip +like death itself to a hose that led from an oxygen tank. McGuire +stared in wonder and slowly gathering comprehension. + +"He was fixed for an altitude test," he said dazedly; "this ship was +to be used, and he was to find her ceiling. He saw what the others +were getting, and he flew himself through on a jet of pure oxygen--" +He stopped in utter admiration of the quickness of thought that could +outwit death in an instant like that. + +They carried the limp body to the light. "No bones broken so far as I +can see," said the voice of Professor Sykes. "Leave him here in the +air. He must have got a whiff of their devilish mist in spite of his +oxygen; he was flying mighty awkwardly when he came in here." + +But he was alive!--and Lieutenant McGuire hastened with all speed now +to the room where a telephone was ringing wildly and a colonel of the +air force must be told of the annihilation of a crack squadron and of +a threat that menaced all the world. + + * * * * * + +In that far room there were others waiting where Colonel Boynton sat +with receiver to his ear. A general's uniform was gleaming in the +light to make more sober by contrast the civilian clothing of that +quiet, clear-eyed man who held the portfolio of the Secretary of War. + +They stared silently at Colonel Boynton, and they saw the blood recede +from his face, while his cool voice went on unmoved with its replies. + +"... I understand," he said; "a washout, complete except for Captain +Blake; his oxygen saved him.... It attacked with gas, you say?... And +why did not our own planes escape?... Its speed!--yes, we'll have to +imagine it, but it is unbelievable. One moment--" He turned to those +who waited for his report. + +"The squadron," he said with forced quiet, though his lips twitched in +a bloodless line, "--the 91st--is destroyed. The enemy put them down +with one blow; enveloped them with gas." He recounted the essence of +McGuire's report, then turned once more to the phone. + +"Hello, Lieutenant--the enemy ship--where is it now?" + +He listened--listened--to a silent receiver: silent save for the sound +of a shot--a crashing fall--a loud, panting breath. He heard the +breathing close to the distant instrument; it ended in a choking gasp; +the instrument was silent in his ear.... + +He signalled violently for the operator: ordered the ringing of any +and all phones about the observatory, and listened in vain for a sound +or syllable in reply. + +"A plane," he told an orderly, "at once! Phone the commercial flying +field near the base of Mount Lawson. Have them hold a car ready for +me: I shall land there!" + + +CHAPTER V + +To Captain Blake alone, of all those persons on the summit of Mount +Lawson, it was given to see and to know and be able to relate what +transpired there and in the air above. For Blake, although he appeared +like one dead, was never unconscious throughout his experience. + +Driving head on toward the ship, he had emptied his drum of cartridges +before he threw his plane over and down in a dive that escaped the +onrush of the great craft by a scant margin, and that carried him down +in company with the men and machines of the squadron that dived from +above. + +He turned as they turned and climbed as they climbed for the advantage +that altitude might give. And he climbed faster: his ship outdistanced +them in that tearing, scrambling rush for the heights. The squadron +was spiraling upward in close formation with his plane above them when +the enemy struck. + +He saw that great shape swing around them, terrible in its silent +swiftness, and, like the others, he failed to realize at first the net +she was weaving. So thin was the gas and so rapid the circling of the +enemy craft, they were captured and cut off inside of the gaseous +sphere before the purpose of the maneuver was seen or understood. + +He saw the first faint vapor form above him; swung over for a steep +bank that carried him around the inside of the great cage of gas and +that showed him the spiraling planes as the first wisps of vapor swept +past them. + +He held that bank with his swift machine, while below him a squadron +of close-formed fighting craft dissolved before his eyes into unguided +units. The formations melted: wings touched and locked; the planes +fell dizzily or shot off in wild, ungoverned, swerving flight. The air +was misty about him; it was fragrant in his nostrils; the world was +swimming.... + + * * * * * + +It was gas, he knew, and with the light-headedness that was upon him, +so curiously like that of excessive altitudes, he reached +unconsciously for the oxygen supply. The blast of pure gas in his face +revived him for an instant, and in that instant of clear thinking his +plan was formed. He threw his weight on stick and rudder, corrected +the skid his ship was taking, and, with one hand holding the tube of +life-giving oxygen before his face, he drove straight down in a dive +toward the earth. + +There were great weights fastened to his arm, it seemed, when he tried +to bring the ship from her fearful dive. He moved only with greatest +effort, and it was force of will alone that compelled his hands to do +their work. His brain, as he saw the gleaming roundness of observatory +buildings beneath him, was as clear as ever in his life, but his +muscles, his arms and legs, refused to work: even his head; he was +slowly sinking beneath a load of utter fatigue. + +The observatories were behind him; he must swing back; he could not +last long, he knew; each slightest movement was intolerable effort. + +Was this death? he wondered; but his mind was so clear! There were the +buildings, the trees! How thickly they were massed beyond-- + +He brought every ounce of will power to bear ... the throttle!--and a +slow glide in ... he was losing speed ... the stick--must--come--back! +The crashing branches whipped about him, bending, crackling--and the +world went dark.... + + * * * * * + +There were stars above him when he awoke, and his back was wrenched +and aching. He tried to move, to call, but found that the paralysing +effect of the gas still held him fast. He was lying on the ground, he +knew: a door was open in a building beyond, and the light in the room +showed him men, a small group of them, standing silent while +someone--yes, it was McGuire--shouted into a phone. + +"... The squadron," he was saying. "... Lost! Every plane down and +destroyed.... Blake is living but injured...." And then Blake +remembered. And the tumbling, helpless planes came again before his +eyes while he cursed silently at this freezing grip that would not let +him cover his face with his hands to shut out the sight. + +The figure of a man hurried past him, nor saw the body lying helpless +in the cool dark. McGuire was still at the phone. And the enemy +ship--? + +His mind, filled with a welter of words as he tried to find phrases to +compass his hate for that ship. And then, as if conjured out of +nothing by his thoughts, the great craft itself came in view overhead +in all its mighty bulk. + +It settled down swiftly: it was riding on an even keel. And in silence +and darkness it came from above. Blake tried to call out, but no sound +could be formed by his paralyzed throat. Doors opened in silence, +swinging down from the belly of the thing to show in the darkness +square openings through which shot beams of brilliant yellow light. + +There were cages that lowered--great platforms in slings--and the +platforms came softly to rest on the ground. They were moving with +life; living beings clustered upon them thick in the dark. Oh God! for +an instant's release from the numbness that held his lips and throat +to cry out one word!... The shapes were passing now in the shelter of +darkness, going toward the room.... He could see McGuire's back turned +toward the door. + +Man-shapes, tall and thin, distorted humans, each swathed in bulging +garments; horrible staring eyes of glass in the masks about their +heads, and each hand ready with a shining weapon as they stood waiting +for the men within to move. + + * * * * * + +McGuire must have seen them first, though his figure was half +concealed from Blake where he was lying. But he saw the head turn; +knew by the quick twist of the shoulders the man was reaching for a +gun. One shot echoed in Blake's ears; one bulging figure spun and fell +awkwardly to the ground; then the weapons in those clumsy hands hissed +savagely while jets of vapor, half liquid and half gas, shot +blindingly into the room. The faces dropped from his sight.... + +There had been the clamor of surprised and shouting men: there was +silence now. And the awkward figures in the bloated casings that +protected their bodies from the gas passed in safety to the room. +Blake, bound in the invisible chains of enemy gas, struggled silently, +futilely, to pit his will against this grip that held him. To lie +there helpless, to see these men slaughtered! He saw one of the +creatures push the body of his fallen comrade out of the way: it was +cast aside with an indifferent foot. + +They were coming back: Blake saw the form of McGuire in unmistakable +khaki. He and another man were carried high on the shoulders of some +of the invaders. They were going toward the platforms, the slings +beneath the ship.... They passed close to Blake, and again he was +unnoticed in the dark. + +A clamor came from distant buildings, a babel of howls and shrieks, +inhuman, unearthly. There were no phrases or syllables, but to Blake +it was familiar ... somewhere he had heard it ... and then he +remembered the radio and the weird wailing note that told of +communication. These things were talking in the same discordant din. + + * * * * * + +They were gathering now on the platforms slung under the ship. A +whistling note from somewhere within the great structure and the +platforms went high in the air. They were loaded, he saw, with papers +and books and instruments plundered from the observatories. Some made +a second trip to take up the loot they had gathered. Then the black +doorways closed; the huge bulk of the ship floated high above the +trees; it took form, dwindled smaller and smaller, then vanished from +sight in the star-studded sky. + +Blake thought of their unconscious passenger--the slim figure of +Lieutenant McGuire. Mac had been a close friend and a good one; his +ready smile; his steady eyes that could tear a problem to pieces with +their analytic scrutiny or gaze far into space to see those visions of +a dreamer! + +"Far into space." Blake repeated the words in his mind. And: "Good-by +Mac," he said softly; "you've shipped for a long cruise, I'm +thinking." He hardly realized he had spoken the words aloud. + + * * * * * + +Lying there in the cold night he felt his strength returning slowly. +The pines sang their soothing, whispered message, and the faint night +noises served but to intensify the silence of the mountain. It was +some time before the grind of straining gears came faintly in the air +to announce the coming of a car up the long grade. And still later he +heard it come to a stop some distance beyond. There were footsteps, +and voices calling: he heard the voice of Colonel Boynton. And he was +able to call out in reply, even to move his head and turn it to see +the approaching figures in the night. + +Colonel Boynton knelt beside him. "Did they get you, old man?" he +asked. + +"Almost," Blake told him. "My oxygen--I was lucky. But the others--". +He did not need to complete the sentence. The silent canyons among +those wooded hills told plainly the story of the lost men. + +"We will fight them with gas masks," said the colonel; "your +experience has taught us the way." + +"Gas-tight uniforms and our own supplies of oxygen," Blake +supplemented. He told Boynton of the man-things he had seen come from +the ship, of their baggy suits, their helmets.... And he had seen a +small generator on the back of each helmet. He told him of the small, +shining weapons and their powerful jets of gas. Deadly and unescapable +at short range, he well knew. + +"They got McGuire," Blake concluded; "carried him off a prisoner. Took +another man, too." + +For a moment Colonel Boynton's quiet tones lost their even steadiness. +"We'll get them," he said savagely, and it was plain that it was the +invaders that filled his mind; "we'll go after them, and we'll get +them in spite of their damn gas, and we'll rip their big ship into +ribbons--" + +Captain Blake was able to raise a dissenting hand. "We will have to go +where they are, Colonel, to do that." + +Colonel Boynton stared at him. "Well?" he demanded. "Why not?" + +"We can't go where _they_ went," said Blake simply. "I laughed at +McGuire; told him not to be a fool. But I was the fool--the blind one; +we all were, Colonel. That thing came here out of space. It has gone +back; it is far beyond our air. I saw it go up out of sight, and I +know. Those creatures were men, if you like, but no men that we +know--not those shrieking, wailing devils! And we're going to hear +more from them, now that they've found their way here!" + + +CHAPTER VI + +A score of bodies where men had died in strangling fumes in the +observatories on Mount Lawson; one of the country's leading +astronomical scientists vanished utterly; the buildings on the +mountain top ransacked; papers and documents blowing in vagrant winds; +tales of a monster ship in the air, incredibly huge, unbelievably +swift-- + +There are matters that at times are not allowed to reach the press, +but not happenings like these. And the papers of the United States +blazed out with headlines to tell the world of this latest mystery. + +Then came corroboration from the far corners of the world. The mystery +ship had not visited one section only; it had made a survey of the +whole civilized sphere, and the tales of those who had seen it were no +longer laughed to scorn but went on the wires of the great press +agencies to be given to the world. And with that the censorship +imposed by the Department of War broke down, and the tragic story of +the destruction of the 91st Air Squadron passed into written history. +The wild tale of Captain Blake was on every tongue. + +An invasion from space! The idea was difficult to accept. There were +scoffers who tried to find something here for their easy wit. Why +should we be attacked? What had that other world to gain? There was no +answer ready, but the silent lips of the men who had fallen spoke +eloquently of the truth. And the world, in wonder and consternation, +was forced to believe. + +Were there more to come? How meet them? Was this war--and with whom? +What neighboring planet could reasonably be suspected. What had +science to say? + +The scientists! The scientists! The clamor of the world was beating at +the doors of science and demanding explanations and answers. And +science answered. + +A conference was arranged in London; the best minds in the realms of +astronomy and physics came together. They were the last to admit the +truth that would not be denied, but admit it they must. And to some of +the questions they found their answer. + + * * * * * + +It was not Mars, they said, though this in the popular mind was the +source of the trouble. Not Mars, for that planet was far in the +heavens. But Venus!--misnamed for the Goddess of Love. It was Venus, +and she alone, who by any stretch of the imagination could be +threatening Earth. + +What did it mean? They had no answer. The ship was the only answer to +that. Would there be more?--could we meet them?--defeat them? And +again the wise men of the world refused to hazard a guess. + +But they told what they knew; that Venus was past her eastern +elongation, was approaching the earth. She of all the planets that +swung around the sun came nearest to Earth--twenty-six million miles +in another few weeks. Then whirling away she would pass to the western +elongation in a month and a half and drive out into space. Venus +circled the sun in a year of 225 days, and in 534 days she would again +reach her eastern elongation with reference to the earth, and draw +near us again. + +They were reluctant to express themselves, these men who made nothing +of weighing and analyzing stars a million of light years away, but +_if_ the popular conception was correct and _if_ we could pass through +the following weeks without further assault, we could count on a year +and a half before the menace would again return. And in a year and a +half--well, the physicists would be working--and we might be prepared. + +Captain Blake had made his report, but this, it seemed, was not +enough. He was ordered to come to Washington, and, with Colonel +Boynton, he flew across the country to tell again his incredible +story. + + * * * * * + +It was a notable gathering before which he appeared. All the branches +of the service were represented; there were men in the uniform of +admirals and generals; there were heads of Departments. And the +Secretary of War was in charge. + +He told his story, did Blake, before a battery of hostile eyes. This +was not a gathering to be stampeded by wild scareheads, nor by popular +clamor. They wanted facts, and they wanted them proved. But the +gravity with which they regarded the investigation was shown by their +invitation to the representatives of foreign powers to attend. + +"I have told you all that happened," Blake concluded, "up to the +coming of Colonel Boynton. May I reiterate one fact? I do not wonder +at your questioning my state of mind and my ability to observe +correctly. But I must insist, gentlemen, that while I got a shot of +their gas and my muscles and my nervous system were paralyzed, my +brain was entirely clear. I saw what I saw; those creatures were +there; they entered the buildings; they carried off Lieutenant McGuire +and another man. + +"What they were or who they were I cannot say. I do not know that they +were men, but their insane shrieking in that queer unintelligible talk +is significant. And that means of communication corresponds with the +radio reception of which you know. + +"If you gentlemen know of any part of this earth that can produce such +a people, if you know of any people or country in this world that can +produce such a ship--then we can forget all our wild fancies. And we +can prepare to submit to that country and that people as the masters +of this earth. For I must tell you, gentlemen, with all the +earnestness at my command, that until you have seen that ship in +action, seen its incredible speed, its maneuverability, its +lightning-like attack and its curtain of gas, you can have no +conception of our helplessness. And the insignia that she carries is +the flag of our conquerors." + + * * * * * + +Blake got an approving nod from the Secretary of War as he took his +seat. That quiet man rose slowly from his chair to add his words. He +spoke earnestly, impressively. + +"Captain Blake has hit the nail squarely on the head," he stated. "We +have here in this room a representative gathering from the whole +world. If there is any one of you who can say that this mystery ship +was built and manned by your people, let him speak, and we will send +you at once a commission to acknowledge your power and negotiate for +peace." + +The great hall was silent, in a silence that held only uneasy +rustlings as men glanced one at another in wondering dismay. + +"The time has come," said the Secretary with solemn emphasis, "when +all dissensions among our peoples must cease. Whatever there is or +ever has been of discord between us fades into insignificance before +this new threat. It is the world, now, against a power unknown; we can +only face it as a united world. + +"I shall recommend to the President of the United States that a +commission be appointed, that it may co-operate with similar bodies +from all lands. I ask you, gentlemen, to make like representations to +your governments, to the end that we may meet this menace as one +country and one man; meet it, God grant, successfully through a War +Department of the World." + + * * * * * + +It was a brave gesture of the President of the United States; he dared +the scorn and laughter of the world in standing behind his Secretary +of War. The world is quick to turn and rend with ridicule a false +prophet. And despite the unanswerable facts, the scope and power of +the menace was not entirely believed. It was difficult for the +conscious minds of men to conceive of the barriers of vast space as +swept aside and the earth laid open to attack. + +England was slow to respond to the invitation of the President: this +matter required thought and grave deliberation in parliament. It might +not be true: the thought, whether spoken or unexpressed, was clinging +to their minds. And even if true--even if this lone ship had wandered +in from space--there might be no further attack. + +"Why," they asked, "should there be more unprovoked assaults from the +people of another planet? What was their object? What had they to +gain? ... Perhaps we were safe after all." The answer that destroyed +all hope came to them borne in upon a wall of water that swept the +British coast. + +The telescopes of the world were centered now on just one object in +the heavens. The bright evening star that adorned the western sky was +the target for instruments great and small. It was past the half-moon +phase now, and it became under magnification a gleaming crescent, a +crescent that emitted from the dark sphere it embraced vivid flashes +of light. Sykes' report had ample corroboration; the flash was seen by +many, and it was repeated the next night and the next. + +What was it? the waiting world asked. And the answer came not from the +telescopes and their far-reaching gaze but from the waters of the +Atlantic. In the full blaze of day came a meteor that swept to the +earth in an arc of fire to outshine the sun. There must have been +those who saw it strike--passengers and crews of passing ships--but +its plunge into the depths of the Atlantic spelled death for each +witness. + + * * * * * + +The earth trembled with the explosion that followed. A gas--some new +compound that united with water to give volumes tremendous--that only +could explain it. The ocean rose from its depths and flung wave after +wave to race outward in circles of death. + +Hundreds of feet in height at their source--this could only be +estimated--they were devastating when they struck. The ocean raged +over the frail bulwark of England in wave upon wave, and, retreating, +the waters left smooth, shining rock where cities had been. The stone +and steel of their buildings was scattered far over the desolate land +or drawn in the suction of retreating waters to the sea. + +Ireland, too, and France and Spain. Even the coast of America felt the +shock of the explosion and was swept by tidal waves of huge +proportions. But the coast of Britain took the blow at its worst. + +The world was stunned and waiting--waiting!--when the next blow fell. +The flashes were coming from Venus at regular intervals, just twenty +hours and nineteen minutes apart. And with exactly the same time +intervals the bolts arrived from space to lay waste the earth. + +They struck where they would: the ocean again; the Sahara; in the +mountains of China; the Pacific was thrown into fearful convulsions; +the wheat fields of Canada trembled and vanished before a blast of +flaming gas.... + +Twenty hours and nineteen minutes! Where it would strike, the next +star-shell, no man might say; that it surely would come was a deadly +and nerve-shattering certainty. The earth waited and prayed under +actual bombardment. + + * * * * * + +Some super-gun, said science with conviction; a great bore in the +planet itself, perhaps. But it was fixed, and the planet itself aimed +with an accuracy that was deadly; aimed once as each revolution +brought its gun on the target. Herein, said science, lay a basis for +hope. + +If, in that distant world, there was only one such bore, it must be +altering its aim as the planet approached; the gun must cease to bear +upon the earth. And the changing sweep of the missiles' flight +confirmed their belief. + +Each meteor-shell that came rushing into Earth's embrace burned +brilliantly as it tore into the air. And each flaming arc was +increasingly bent, until--twenty hours and nineteen minutes had +passed--twenty minutes--thirty--another hour ... and the peoples of +Earth dropped humbly to their knees in thankful prayer, or raised +vengeful eyes and clenched fists toward the heavens while their +quivering lips uttered blasphemous curses. The menace, for the time, +had passed; the great gun of Venus no longer was aiming toward the +earth. + +"No more ships," was the belief; "not this time." And the world turned +to an accounting of its losses, and to wonder--wonder--what the +planet's return would bring. A year and one half was theirs; one year +and a half in which to live in safety, in which to plan and build. + + * * * * * + +A column, double leaded, in the _London Times_ voiced the feeling of +the world. It was copied and broadcast everywhere. + +"Another attack," it concluded, "is not a probability--it is a +certainty. They are destroying us for some reason known only to +themselves. Who can doubt that when the planet returns there will be a +further bombardment; an invasion by armed forces in giant ships; bombs +dropped from them miles high in the air. This is what we must look +forward to--death and destruction dealt out by a force we are unable +to meet. + +"Our munitions factories may build larger guns, but can they reach the +heights at which these monster ships of space will lie, with any faint +probability of inflicting damage? It is doubtful. + +"Our aircraft is less than useless; its very name condemns it as +inept. Craft of the air!--and we have to war against space ships which +can rise beyond the thin envelope of gas that encircles the earth. + +"The world is doomed--utterly and finally doomed; it is the end of +humankind; slavery to a conquering race at the very best, unless-- + +"Let us face the facts fairly. It is war--war to the death--between +the inhabitants of this world and of that other. We are men. What they +are God alone can say. But they are creatures of mind as are we; what +they have done, we may do. + +"There is our only hope. It is vain, perhaps--preposterous in its +assumption--but our sole and only hope. We must meet the enemy and +defeat him, and we must do it on his own ground. To destroy their +fleet we must penetrate space; to silence their deadly bombardment we +must go out into space as they have done, reach their distant world +as they have reached ours, and conquer as we would have been +conquered. + +"It is a tenuous hope, but our only one. Let our men of mundane +warfare do their best--it will be useless. But if there be one spark +of God-given genius in the world that can point the way to victory, +let those in authority turn no deaf ear. + +"It is a battle now of minds, and the best minds will win. Humanity--all +humankind--is facing the end. In less than one year and a half we must +succeed--or perish. And unless we conquer finally and decisively, the story +of man in the history of the universe will be a tale that is told, a record +of life in a book that is ended--closed--and forgotten through all +eternity." + + +CHAPTER VII + +A breath of a lethal gas shot from the flying ship had made Captain +Blake as helpless as if every muscle were frozen hard, and he had got +it only lightly, mixed with the saving blast of oxygen. His heart had +gone on, and his breathing, though it became shallow, did not cease; +he was even able to turn his eyes. But to the men in the observatory +room the gas from the weapons of the attacking force came as a +devastating, choking cloud that struck them senseless as if with a +blow. Lieutenant McGuire hardly heard the sound of his own pistol +before unconsciousness took him. + +It was death for the men who were left--for them the quick darkness +never lifted--but for McGuire and his companion there was reprieve. + +He was lying flat on a hard floor when remembrance crept slowly back +to his benumbed brain. An odor, sickish-sweet, was in his nostrils; +the breath of life was being forcibly pumped and withdrawn from +laboring lungs; a mask was tight against his face. He struggled to +throw it off, and someone bending over removed it. + +Someone! His eyes stared wonderingly at the grotesque face like a +lingering phantasm of fevered dreams. There were others, he saw, and +they were working over a body not far away upon the floor. He +recognized the figure of Professor Sykes. Short, stocky, his clothes +disheveled--but Sykes, unmistakably, despite the mask upon his face. + +He, too, revived as McGuire watched, and, like the flyer, he looked +wonderingly about him at his strange companions. The eyes of the two +met and held in wordless communication and astonishment. + + * * * * * + +The unreal creatures that hovered near withdrew to the far side of the +room. The walls beyond them were of metal, white and gleaming; there +were doorways. In another wall were portholes--round windows of thick +glass that framed circles of absolute night. It was dark out beyond +them with a blackness that was relieved only by sharp pin-points of +brilliance--stars in a night sky such as McGuire had never seen. + +Past and present alike were hazy to the flyer; the spark of life had +been brought back to his body from a far distance; there was time +needed to part the unreal from the real in these new and strange +surroundings. + +There were doorways in the ceiling, and others in the floor near where +he lay; ladders fastened to the wall gave access to these doors. A +grotesque figure appeared above the floor and, after a curious glance +at the two men, scrambled into the room and vanished through the +opening in the ceiling. It was some time before the significance of +this was plain to the wondering man--before he reasoned that he was in +the enemy ship, aimed outward from the earth, and the pull of +gravitation and the greater force of the vessel's constant +acceleration held its occupants to the rear walls of each room. That +lanky figure had been making its way forward toward the bow of the +ship. McGuire's mind was clearing; he turned his attention now to the +curious, waiting creatures, his captors. + +There were five of them standing in the room, five shapes like men, +yet curiously, strangely, different. They were tall of stature, narrow +across the shoulders, muscular in a lean, attenuated fashion. But +their faces! McGuire found his eyes returning in horrified fascination +to each hideous, inhuman countenance. + +A colorless color, like the dead gray of ashes; a skin like that of an +African savage from which all but the last vestige of color had been +drained. It was transparent, parchment-like, and even in the light of +the room that glowed from some hidden source, he could see the +throbbing lines of blood-vessels that showed livid through the +translucent skin. And he remembered, now, the fingers, half-seen in +his moments of awakening--they were like clinging tendrils, colorless, +too, in that ashy gray, and showed the network of veins as if each +hand had been flayed alive. + + * * * * * + +The observer found himself analyzing, comparing, trying to find some +earthly analogy for these unearthly creatures. Why did he think of +potatoes sprouting in a cellar? What possible connection had these +half-human things with that boyhood recollection? And he had seen some +laboratory experiments with plants and animals that had been cut off +from the sunlight--and now the connection was clear; he knew what this +idea was that was trying to form. + +These were creatures of the dark. These bleached, drained faces showed +skin that had never known the actinic rays of the sun; their whole +framework proclaimed the process that had been going on through +countless generations. Here was a race that had lived, if not in +absolute darkness, then in some place where sunlight never shone--a +place of half-light--or of clouds. + +"Clouds!" The exclamation was startled from him. And: "Clouds!" he +repeated meditatively; he was seeing again a cloud-wrapped world in +the eye-piece of a big refracting telescope. "Blanketed in clouds," +Professor Sykes had said. The scientist himself was speaking to him +now in bewildered tones. + +"Clouds?" he inquired. "That's a strange remark to make. Where are we, +Lieutenant McGuire? I remember nothing after you fired. Are we +flying--in the clouds?" + +"A long, long way beyond them, is my guess," said McGuire grimly. It +was staggering what all this might mean; there was time needed for +fuller comprehension. But the lean bronzed face of the flyer flushed +with animation, and in spite of the terrors that must surely lie ahead +he felt strangely elated at the actuality of an incredible adventure. + + * * * * * + +Slowly he got to his feet to find that his muscles still were +reluctant to respond to orders; he helped the professor to arise. And +from the group that drew back further into the far end of the room +came a subdued and rasping tumult of discordant sound. + +One, seemingly in charge, held a weapon in his hand, a slender tube no +thicker than a common wire; and ending in a cylinder within the +creature's hand. He pointed it in threatening fashion while his voice +rose in a shrill call. McGuire and Professor Sykes stood quiet and +waited for what the next moment might have in store, but McGuire waved +the weapon aside in a gesture that none could fail to read. + +"Steady," he told his companion. "We're in a ticklish position. Do +nothing to alarm them." + +From up above them came an answering shrill note. Another of the +beings was descending into the room. + +"Ah!" said Lieutenant McGuire softly, "the big boss, himself. Now +let's see what will happen." + +If there had seemed something of timidity in the repulsive faces of +the waiting creatures, this newcomer was of a different type. He +opened flabby thin lips to give one sharp note of command. It was as +sibilant as the hissing of a snake. The man with the weapon returned +it to a holder at his side; the whole group cringed before the power +and authority of the new arrival. + +The men that they had seen thus far were all garbed alike; a +loose-fitting garment of one piece that was ludicrously like the play +rompers that children might wear. These were dull red in color, the +red of drying blood, made of strong woven cloth. But this other was +uniformed differently. + +McGuire noted the fineness of the silky robe. Like the others this was +made of one piece, loosely fitting, but its bright vivid scarlet made +the first seem drab and dull. A belt of metal about his waist shone +like gold and matched the emblem of precious metal in the turban on +his head. + + * * * * * + +All this the eyes of the flyer took in at a glance; his attention was +only momentarily diverted from the ashen face with eyes narrow and +slitted, that stared with the cold hatred of a cat into those of the +men. + +He made a sound with a whistling breath. It seemed to be a question +directed to them, but the import of it was lost. + +"An exceedingly queer lot," Professor Sykes observed. "And this chap +seems distinctly hostile." + +"He's no friend of mine," said McGuire as the thin, pendulous lips +repeated their whistling interrogation. + +"I can't place them," mused the scientist. "Those facial +characteristics.... But they must be of some nationality, speak some +tongue." + +He addressed himself to the figure with the immobile, horrid face. + +"We do not understand you," he said with an ingratiating smile. +"_Comprenez vous Francaise?_... _Non?_"... German, perhaps, or +Spanish?... "_Sprecken sie Deutsche?_ _Usted habla Espanola?_..." + +He followed with a fusillade of questions in strange and varying +tongues. "I've even tried him with Chinese," he protested in +bewilderment and stared amazed at his companion's laughter. + +There had to be a reaction from the strain of the past hours, and +Lieutenant McGuire found the serious questioning in polyglot tongues +and the unchanging feline stare of that hideous face too much for his +mental restraint. He held his sides, while he shook and roared with +laughter beyond control, and the figure before him glared with evident +disapproval of his mirth. + + * * * * * + +There was a hissing order, and two figures from the corner sprang +forward to seize the flyer with long clinging fingers. Their strength +he had overestimated, for a violent throw of his body twisted him +free, and his outstretched hands sent the two sprawling across the +room. Their leader took one quick step forward, then paused as if +hesitating to meet this young adversary. + +"Do go easy," Professor Sykes was imploring. "We do not know where we +are nor who they are, but we must do nothing to antagonize them." + +McGuire had reacted from his hilarious seizure with an emotional swing +to the opposite extreme. "I'll break their damn necks," he growled, +"if they get rough with me." And his narrow eyes exchanged glare for +glare with those in the face like blood and ashes before him. + +The cold cat eyes held steadily upon him while the scarlet figure +retreated. A louder call, shrill and vibrant, came from the thin lips, +and a swarm of bodies in dull red were scrambling into the room to +mass about their scarlet leader. Above and behind them the face under +its brilliant turban and golden clasp was glaring in triumph. + +The tall figures crouched, grotesque and awkward; their long arms and +hands with grasping, tendril-like fingers were ready. McGuire waited +for the sharp hissing order that would throw these things upon him, +and he met the attack when it came with his own shoulders dropped to +the fighter's pose, head drawn in close and both fists swinging free. + +There were lean fingers clutching at his throat, a press of blood-red +bodies thick about him, and a clustering of faces where color blotched +and flowed. + +The thud of fists in blows that started from the floor was new to +these lean creatures that clawed and clung like cats. But they +trampled on those who went down before the flyer's blows and stood +upon them to spring at his head; they crowded in in overwhelming +numbers while their red hands tore and twined about his face. + + * * * * * + +It was no place now for long swings; McGuire twisted his body and +threw his weight into quick short jabs at the faces before him. He was +clear for an instant and swung his heavy boot at something that clung +to one leg; then met with a rain of hooks and short punches the faces +that closed in again. He saw in that instant a wild whirl of bodies +where the stocky figure of Professor Sykes was smothered beneath his +taller antagonists. But the professor, if he was forgetting the +science of the laboratory, was remembering that of the squared +circle--and the battle was not entirely one sided. + +McGuire was free; the blood was trickling down his face from +innumerable cuts where sharp-nailed fingers had sunk deep. He wiped +the red stream from his eyes and threw himself at the weaving mass of +bodies that eddied about Sykes in frantic struggle across the room. + +The face of the professor showed clear for a moment. Like McGuire he +was bleeding, and his breath came in short explosive gasps, but he was +holding his own! The eyes of McGuire glimpsed a wildly gesticulating, +shouting figure in the rear. The face, contorted with rage, was almost +the color of the brilliant scarlet that the creature wore. The +blood-stained man in khaki left his companion to fight his own battle, +and plunged headlong at a leaping cluster of dull red, smashed through +with a frenzied attack of straight rights and lefts, and freed himself +to make one final leap at the leader of this unholy pack. + +He was fighting in blind desperation now; the two were out-numbered by +the writhing, lean-bodied creatures, and this thing that showed in +blurred crimson before him was the directing power of them all. The +figure symbolized and personified to the raging man all the repulsive +ugliness of the leaping horde. The face came clear before him through +the mist of blood, and he put the last ounce of his remaining strength +and every pound of weight behind a straight, clean drive with his +right fist. + +His last conscious impression was of a red, clawing hand that was +closed around the thick butt of a tube of steel ... then down, and +still down, he plunged into a bottomless pit of whirling, red flashes +and choking fumes.... + +There were memories that were to occur to Lieutenant McGuire +afterward--visions, dim and hazy and blurred, of half-waking moments +when strange creatures forced food and water into his mouth, then held +a mask upon his face while he resisted weakly the breathing of sweet, +sickly fumes that sent him back to unconsciousness. + +There were many such times; some when he came sufficiently awake to +know that Sykes was lying near him, receiving similar care. Their +lives were being preserved: How, or why, or what life might hold in +store he neither knew nor cared; the mask and the deep-drawn fumes +brought stupor and numbness to his brain. + +A window was in the floor beside him when he awoke--a circular window of +thick glass or quartz. But no longer did it frame a picture of a sky in +velvet blackness; no unwinking pin-points of distant stars pricked keenly +through the night; but, clear and dazzling, came a blessed radiance that +could mean only sunshine. A glowing light that was dazzling to his +sleep-filled eyes, it streamed in golden--beautiful--to light the +unfamiliar room and show motionless upon the floor the figure of Professor +Sykes. His torn clothing had been neatly arranged, and his face showed +livid lines of healing cuts and bruises. + +McGuire tried gingerly to move his arms and legs; they were still +functioning though stiff and weak from disuse. He raised himself +slowly and stood swaying on his feet, then made his uncertain way to +his companion and shook him weakly by the shoulder. + +Professor Sykes breathed deeply and raised leaden lids from tired eyes +to stare uncomprehendingly at McGuire. Soon his dark pupils ceased to +dilate, and he, too, could see their prison and the light of day. + +"Sunlight!" he said in a thin voice, and he seemed to know now that +they were in the air; "I wonder--I wonder--if we shall land--what +country? ... Some wilderness and a strange race--a strange, strange +race!" + +He was muttering half to himself; the mystery of these people whom he +could not identify was still troubling him. + + * * * * * + +McGuire helped the other man to his feet, and they clung to each to +the other for support as they crossed to kneel beside the floor-window +and learn finally where their captors meant to take them. + +A wilderness, indeed, the sight that met their eyes, but a wilderness +of clouds--no unfamiliar sight to Lieutenant McGuire of the United +States Army air service. But to settle softly into them instead of +driving through with glistening wings--this was new and vastly +different from anything he had known. + +Sounds came to them in the silence, penetrating faintly through thick +walls--the same familiar wailing call that trembled and quavered and +seemed to the listening men to be guiding them down through the mist. + +Gone was the sunlight, and the clouds beyond the deep-set window were +gloriously ablaze with a brilliance softly diffused. The cloud bank +was deep, and they felt the craft under them sink slowly, steadily +into the misty embrace. It thinned below them to drifting vapor, and +the first hazy shadows of the ground showed through from far beneath. +Their altitude, the flyer knew, was still many thousands of feet. + +"Water," said McGuire, as his trained eyes made plain to him what was +still indistinct to the scientist. "An ocean--and a shore-line--" More +clouds obscured the view; they parted suddenly to show a portion only +of a clear-cut map. + + * * * * * + +It stretched beyond the confines of their window, that unfamiliar line +of wave-marked shore; the water was like frozen gold, wrinkled in +countless tiny corrugations and reflecting the bright glow from above. +But the land,--that drew their eyes! + +Were those cities, those shadow-splashed areas of gray and rose?... +The last veiling clouds dissolved, and the whole circle was plain to +their view. + +The men leaned forward, breathless, intent, till the scientist, +Sykes--the man whose eyes had seen and whose brain recorded a dim +shape in the lens of a great telescope--Sykes drew back with a +quivering, incredulous breath. For below them, so plain, so +unmistakable, there lay an island, large even from this height, and it +formed on this round map a sharp angle like a great letter "L." + +"We shall know that if we ever see it again," Professor Sykes had +remarked in the quiet and security of that domed building surmounting +the heights of Mount Lawson. But he said nothing now, as he stared at +his companion with eyes that implored McGuire to arouse him from this +sleep, this dream that could never be real. But McGuire, lieutenant +one-time in the forces of the U. S. A., had seen it too, and he stared +back with a look that gave dreadful confirmation. + +The observatory--Mount Lawson--the earth!--those were the things +unreal and far away. And here before them, in brain-stunning +actuality, were the markings unmistakable--the markings of Venus. And +they were landing, these two, in the company of creatures wild and +strange as the planet--on Venus itself! + +(_To be continued._) + + * * * * * + +[Advertisement: ] + + + + +The Destroyer + +_By William Merriam Rouse_ + +[Illustration: "The connection is made," murmured Von Stein.] + +[Sidenote: Slowly, insidiously, there stole over Allen Parker +something uncanny. He could no longer control his hands--even his +brain!] + +The pencil in the hand of Allen Parker refused to obey his will. A +strange unseen force pushed his will aside and took possession of the +pencil point so that what he drew was not his own. It was the same +when he turned from drawing board to typewriter. The sentences were +not of his framing; the ideas were utterly foreign to him. This was +the first hint he received of the fate that was drawing in like night +upon him and his beautiful wife. + +Parker, a young writer of growing reputation who illustrated his own +work, was making a series of pencil sketches for a romance partly +finished. The story was as joyous and elusive as sunlight, and until +to-day his sketches had held the same quality. Now he could not tap +the reservoir from which he had taken the wind-blown hair and smiling +eyes of Madelon, his heroine. + +When he drew or wrote he seemed to be submerged in the dark waters of +a measureless evil pit. The face that mocked him from the paper was +stamped with a world-old knowledge of forbidden things. + +Parker dropped his pencil and leaned back, tortured. He and his wife, +Betty, had taken this house in Pine Hills, a small and extremely +quiet suburban village, solely for the purpose of concentration on the +book which was to be the most important work he had done. He went to +the door of the room that he used for a studio and called: + +"Betty! Can you come here a moment, please?" + + * * * * * + +There was a patter of running feet on the stairs and then a girl of +twenty, or thereabout, came into the room. Any man would have said she +was a blessing. Her hair "was yellow like ripe corn," and her vivid +blue eyes held depth and character and charm. + +"Look!" exclaimed Parker. "What do you think of this stuff?" + +For a moment there was silence. Then Allen Parker saw something he had +never before seen in his wife's face for him or his work--a look of +complete disgust. + +"I wouldn't have believed you capable of doing anything so ... so +horrid!" she said coldly. "How could you?" + +"I don't know!" His arms, which had been ready to take her to him for +comfort, dropped. "The work has been ... difficult, lately. As though +something were pulling at my mind. But not like this! It isn't _me_!" + +"It must be you, since it came out of you!" She turned away and moved +restlessly to one of the windows. + +"Through me!" muttered Parker. "Ideas _come_!" + +"You'll have to do something!" + +"But what? I don't know what to do!" + +"Why not go to see that new doctor?" asked Betty, over her shoulder. +"Dr. Friedrich von Stein?" + +"Von Stein?" repeated Parker, vaguely. "Don't know him. Anyhow, I +don't need a doctor. What in the world made you think of that?" + + * * * * * + +"Nothing, except that I can see his house from here. He's taken what +they call 'the old Reynolds place.' You know--opposite the church. We +looked at it and thought it was too large for us. He's made a lot of +alterations." + +"Oh, yes!" Parker had placed the newcomer, more recent than himself. +"I had an idea that he was a doctor of philosophy, not medicine." + +"He has half a dozen degrees, they say. Certainly he's a stunning +looking man. I saw him on the street." + +"Maybe he doesn't practice." The artist was gazing, baffled and sick +at heart, upon what he had wrought. "And what could he do, unless it's +my liver?" + +"He might be a psycho-analyst, or something like that," she replied, +slowly. + +"But why the wild interest in this particular doctor?" Parker roused +himself and looked at her. He felt irritable, and was ashamed of it. + +"Only for your work," said Betty. A faint pink touched her cheeks. + +Allen Parker had a sudden feeling of certainty that his wife was lying +to him. To one who knew the Parkers it would have been equally +impossible to think of Betty as lying, or of her husband as believing +such a thing. Parker was outraged by his own suspicion. He sprang up +and began to pace the floor. + +"All right, then!" he exploded. "My work is going to the dogs! Why, +there's an appointment with Cartwright to-morrow to show him these +sketches, and the last few chapters I've done! We'll go now! If this +man can't do anything for me I'll try somebody else!" + + * * * * * + +In ten minutes they were walking up the quiet street toward the +present home of Dr. Friedrich von Stein. Despite his self-absorption +Parker could not help noticing that his wife had never looked more +attractive than she did at this moment. Her color had deepened, little +wisps of hair curled against her cheeks, and there was a sparkle in +her eyes which he knew came only on very particular occasions. + +Even from the outside it was apparent that many strange things had +been done to the staid and dignified house of Reynolds. A mass of +aerials hung above the roof. Some new windows had been cut at the +second floor and filled with glass of a peculiar reddish-purple tinge. +A residence had been turned into a laboratory, in sharp contrast to +the charming houses up and down the street and the church of gray +stone that stood opposite. + +Beside the door, at the main entrance, a modest plate bore the legend: +"Dr. Friedrich von Stein." Parker pressed the bell. Then he squared +his broad shoulders and waited: a very miserable, very likeable young +man, with a finely shaped head and a good set of muscles under his +well cut clothes. He had brought his sketches, but he was +uncomfortable with the portfolio under his arm. It seemed to +contaminate him. + + * * * * * + +The door opened to reveal a blocky figure of a man in a workman's +blouse and overalls. The fellow was pale of eye, towheaded; he +appeared to be good natured but of little intelligence. The only +remarkable thing about him was a livid welt that ran across one cheek, +from nose to ear. Beside him a glossy-coated dachshund wagged +furiously, after having barked once as a matter of duty. + +"May we see Dr. von Stein?" asked Parker. "If he is in?" + +"I will ask the Herr Doktor if he iss in," replied the man, stiffly. + +"_Dummkopf!_" roared a voice from inside the house. An instant later +man and dog shrank back along the hall and there appeared in their +place one of the most striking personalities Allen Parker had ever +seen. + +Dr. Friedrich von Stein was inches more than six feet tall and he +stood perfectly erect, with the unmistakable carriage of a well +drilled soldier. He was big boned, but lean, and every movement was +made with military precision. More than any other feature his eyes +impressed Parker: they were steady, penetrating, and absolutely black. +But for a thread of gray here and there his well-kept beard and hair +were black. He might have been any age from forty to sixty, so +deceptive was his appearance. + +"Come in, if you please," he said, before Parker could speak. Von +Stein's voice was rich and deep, but with a metallic quality which +somehow corresponded with his mechanical smile. Except for the +guttural r's there was hardly a hint of the foreigner in his speech. +"It is Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I believe? I am Dr. von Stein." + + * * * * * + +He stood aside for them to pass into the hallway, and while they +murmured their thanks he shot a volley of German at the man, whom he +called Heinrich. The frightened servant vanished; and the Parkers were +taken into a living room furnished carelessly, but in good enough +taste. Betty took her place on a couch, to which the doctor led her +with a bow. Parker sank into an overstuffed chair not far from a +window. + +"I learned your names because of the beauty of madame," said Von +Stein, as he stood looming above the mantel. Again he bowed. "One +could not see her without wishing to know how such a charming woman +was called. You are my neighbors from down the street, I believe." + +"Yes," replied Allen. He wanted to be agreeable, but found it +difficult. "And I think Mrs. Parker has developed a great admiration +for you. She persuaded me to come here to-day. Are you, by chance, a +psycho-analyst? I don't even know that you are a doctor of medicine, +but--" + +"I know a very great deal about the human mind," interrupted Dr. von +Stein calmly. "I know a great deal about many things. I am not going +to practice medicine here in Pine Hills because I have research work +to do, but I will help you if I can. What is your trouble?" + + * * * * * + +The question brought back to Parker the mood of half an hour ago. +Almost savagely he snapped the portfolio open and spread out a few of +his recent drawings, with some of the earlier ones for comparison. + +"Look!" he cried. "These vicious things are what I am doing now! I +can't help myself! The pencil does not obey me! Apparently I have no +emotional control. It's as though my normal ideas were shouldered +aside, like people in a crowd. And my writing to-day was as bad as +these illustrations. I'm doing a book. Consider these things +carefully, Doctor. They are not obscene, except by inference. They +can't be censored. The book would go through the mails. Yet they are +deadly! Look at my heroine in these two pictures. In one she is +like--like violets! In the other she looks capable of any crime! What +is she? A vampire, if there is such a thing? A witch? I can almost +believe in demonology since I made these last drawings!" + +Parker, in spite of his excitement, tried to read the face of Dr. +Friedrich von Stein. He found nothing but the automatic smile upon +that mask. Yet it seemed to the artist that this time there was a hint +of real pleasure in the curve of the lips. Was it possible that anyone +could like those drawings? Parker began to think that he was going +insane. + +"This is most unfortunate for you," rumbled the doctor. "I understand. +But I trust that the condition can be remedied, if it persists. You, +Mr. Parker, and you, Madame, do you understand something of physics, +of psychology, of metaphysics?" + +"I fear that I'm rather ignorant," answered Betty. "Certainly I am in +comparison with a man of your attainments." + + * * * * * + +Dr. von Stein bowed. He turned his black eyes upon Parker. + +"And you, sir? I must adjust my explanation to--what shall I say? To +your knowledge of the higher reaches of scientific thought?" + +"Why, I majored in philosophy in college," said Parker, hesitatingly. +"But that's quite a time ago, Herr Doktor. Of course I've tried to +keep up with the conclusions of science. But a writer or a painter +doesn't have any too much opportunity. He has his own problems to +concern him." + +"Yes, indeed!" Dr. von Stein was thoughtful. "So, and especially for +the benefit of madame, I shall speak in terms of the concrete." + +"Please consider me stupid!" begged Betty. "But I want to understand!" + +"Certainly, except that you are not stupid, Madame. I will proceed. +Both of you, I assume, know something of the radio? Very good! You +know that an etheric wave transmits the message, and that it is +received and amplified so that it is within the range of the human +ear. These waves were there when paleolithic man hunted his meat with +a stone-tipped club. To use them it was necessary to invent the +microphone, and a receiving instrument. + +"What I have said you already know. But here is what may startle you. +Human thought is an etheric wave of the same essential nature as the +radio wave. They are both electrical currents external to man. +Thoughts sweep across the human mind as sound currents sweep across +the aerials of a radio--" + +"I told you!" Allen Parker turned a triumphant face to his wife. +"Pardon me, Herr Doktor! I have tried to convince Mrs. Parker that my +idea came from outside!" + + * * * * * + +"Exactly!" Dr. von Stein took no offense. "And a difference between +the mind and the radio set is that with the radio you tune in upon +whatever you choose, and when you choose. The mind is not under such +control, although it should be. It receives that to which it happens +to be open. Or that thought which has been intensified and +strengthened by having been received and entertained by other minds. +In India they say: 'Five thousand died of the plague and fifty +thousand died of fear.' Do you both follow me?" + +It was unnecessary to ask. Betty sat on the edge of the couch, intent +upon every word. Parker, although more restrained, was equally +interested. Moreover he was delighted to have what he had felt +instinctively confirmed, in a way, by a man of science. + +"Herbert Spencer said," continued the doctor, "that no thought, no +feeling, is ever manifested save as the result of a physical force. +This principle will before long be a scientific commonplace. And +Huxley predicted that we would arrive at a mechanical equivalent of +consciousness. But I will not attempt to bolster my position with +authorities. I know, and I can prove what I know. + +"You, Mr. Parker, have been receiving some particularly annoying +thoughts which have been intensified, it may be, by others, or +another. Human will power can alter the rate of vibration of the line +of force, or etheric wave. So-called good thoughts have a high rate of +vibration, and those which are called bad ordinarily have a low rate. +Have you, perhaps, an enemy?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Parker, in a low voice. + +"Then it would follow that this is accidental." + + * * * * * + +"Good heavens! Do you mean to say that someone could do this to me +maliciously?" + +"So far my experiments leave something to be desired," said Dr. von +Stein, without answering directly. "No doubt you are peculiarly +susceptible to thoughts which bear in any way on your work." + +"But isn't there any help for it?" asked Betty. She was regarding her +husband with the eyes of a stranger. + +"I believe I can do something for Mr. Parker." + +There was a knock at the door. The doctor boomed an order to come in. +Heinrich, with the dachshund at his heels, entered bearing a tray with +a bottle of wine and some slices of heavy fruit cake. He drew out a +table and placed the tray. + +"Do not bring that dog in when I have guests," said Von Stein. He +spoke with a gleam of white teeth. "You know what will happen, +Heinrich?" + +"_Ja_, Herr Doktor! I take Hans oudt!" The man was terrified. He +gathered the dog into his arms and fairly fled from the room. Dr. von +Stein turned with a smile. + +"I have to discipline him," he explained. "He's a stupid fellow, but +faithful. I can't have ordinary servants about. There are scientific +men who would be willing to bribe them for a look at my laboratory." + +"I did not know such things were done among scholars," said Betty, +slowly. + +"What I have accomplished means power, Madame!" exclaimed the doctor. +"There are jackals in every walk of life. If an unscrupulous man of +science got into my laboratory, a physicist for instance, he might ... +find out things!" + + * * * * * + +Dr. von Stein turned to his duties as host. He filled their glasses, +and watched with satisfaction Betty's obvious enjoyment of the cake. A +box of mellow Havanas appeared from a cabinet: imported cigarettes +from a smoking stand. But Parker, in spite of a liking for good wine +and tobacco, was far too much concerned about his work to forget the +errand that had brought him there. + +"So you think," he said, when there was opportunity, "that you can +help me, Dr. von Stein?" + +"I can," replied von Stein, firmly; "but before attempting anything +I'd like to wait a day or two. The attacking thoughts may become less +violent, or your resistance greater, in either of which cases the +condition will fade out. You will either get better or much worse. If +you are worse come to see me again, and I promise you that I will do +something!" + +"I'll come, and thank you!" Parker felt better, and more cheerful than +he had since the beginning of the disturbance. "Few things could make +me suffer so much as trouble with my work." + +"That is what I thought," agreed Dr. von Stein. + + * * * * * + +Betty rose. Her husband caught the look in her eyes as they met the +bright, black gaze of Dr. von Stein, and he went cold. That look had +always been for him alone. Her feet seemed to linger on the way to the +door. + +"He's wonderful!" she breathed, as they started down the uneventful +street. "Scientific things never interested me before. But he makes +them vital, living!" + +"And yet," said Parker, thoughtfully, "there's something uncanny about +that man!" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Betty. "It's because he's a genius! Don't be +small, Allen!" + +Parker gasped, and remained silent. He could not remember that his +wife had ever spoken to him in quite that way. They finished the +little journey home without speaking again and Parker went directly to +studio. He sat down, with drooping shoulders, and considered the mess +he had made of his book. Well, there was nothing to do but see +Cartwright to-morrow and face the music! + +Dinner that night was a mournful affair. The soft footsteps of the +servant going in and out of the dining room, the ticking of the clock, +were almost the only sounds. Betty was deep in her own thoughts; +Parker was too miserable to talk. He went to bed early and lay staring +into the darkness for what seemed like an eternity of slow moving +hours. + +The tall, deep voiced clock in the hall downstairs had just struck +one when suddenly Parker's room was flooded with light. He sat up, +blinking, and saw Betty standing near his bed. Her fingers twisted +against each other; her face was drawn and white. + +"Allen!" she whispered. "I'm afraid!" + +Instantly he was on his feet; his arms went around her and the yellow +head dropped wearily against his shoulder. + +"Afraid of what?" he cried. "What is it, sweetheart?" + +"I don't know!" All at once her body stiffened and she pulled away +from him. Then she laughed--"What nonsense! I must have been having a +bad dream ... it's nothing. Sorry I bothered you, Allen!" + +She was gone before his could stop her. Bewildered, he did not know +whether to follow. Better not, he thought. She would sleep now, and +perhaps he would. But he was worried. Betty was becoming less and less +like herself. + + * * * * * + +At last Parker did sleep, to awake shortly after daylight. He got a +hasty breakfast and took an early train to New York. When John +Cartwright, a shrewd and kindly man well advanced in years, arrived at +his office Allen Parker was right there waiting for him. + +Cartwright had shown a real affection for the younger man, a paternal +interest. He beamed, as usual, until he sat down with the new +drawings. Slowly the smile faded from his face. He went over them +twice, three times, and then he looked up. + +"My boy," he said, "did you do these?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you know that you are turning a delicate and beautiful romance +into a lascivious libel on the human race?" + +"It is being done," replied Parker, in a low voice. "And I--I can't +help myself!" + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean that when I start to draw Madelon my hand produces that woman +of Babylon! The writing is just as bad. It's full of sneering hints, +double meanings ... I shall destroy the stuff. I've been to see a +psycho-analyst." + +"Ah!" thoughtfully. "Perhaps you're tired, Allen. Why not take Betty +for a sea trip? There'll still be time for fall publication." + +"I'm going to try everything possible. I'd rather be dead than do work +like this!" + + * * * * * + +When Parker left his friend he was somewhat encouraged. After the +first shock Cartwright had been inclined to make light of the +difficulty, and by the time Allen Parker reached Pine Hills his stride +had the usual swing and snap. + +He ran up the steps of his house and burst into the living room with a +smile. Betty was sitting by one of the windows, her hands lying +relaxed in her lap. She turned a somber face toward her husband, and +spoke before he had time to say a word of greeting. + +"You knew that Cordelia Lyman died a short time ago, didn't you?" + +"What's that?" exclaimed Parker, bewildered. "Lyman? Oh, the old lady +down the street who left her money to found a home for aged spinsters? +What about it?" + +"But she didn't leave her money to found a home for aged spinsters, +Allen. She had said she was going to, and everybody thought so. Her +will was admitted to probate, or whatever they call it, yesterday. She +left half a million, all she had, to Dr. Friedrich von Stein, to be +used as he thinks best for the advancement of science!" + +"Good heavens!" Parker stared. "Why, I didn't know she knew him. He'd +only been here a week or so when she died." + +"There isn't a flaw in the will, they say. You can imagine that Pine +Hills is talking!" + +"Well," said Parker philosophically, "he's lucky. I hope he does +something with it." + +"He will," replied Betty, with conviction. "He'll do a great many +things!" + + * * * * * + +Parker told her of his interview with Cartwright, but she seemed +little interested. He did not try to work that day but, after he had +put the offending drawings and manuscript out of sight, he wandered, +read, smoked, and in the evening persuaded Betty to take a moonlight +walk with him. + +They passed the house of Dr. von Stein, from which came a faint +humming that sounded like a dynamo. Across the street the church was +alight for some service. Triumphant music drifted to them. The moon +hung above the spire, with its cross outlined darkly against the +brilliant sky. The windows were great jewels. Betty drew a deep +breath. + +"Sometimes, Allen," she said, "I feel like praying!" + +"You _are_ a beautiful prayer," whispered Parker. + +She walked close to him, holding his arm, and repeated softly: + + "Are not two prayers a perfect strength? + And shall I feel afraid?" + +But that was the end of that mood. By the time they arrived home Betty +was again the strange, aloof, cold, slightly hard woman of the past +few days. Again depression settled upon Allen Parker. + + * * * * * + +The next morning he breakfasted alone and went directly to the studio, +without seeing Betty. Sun streamed into the room; the pencil moved +swiftly. For a brief time Parker thought that he was himself again, as +Madelon grew upon the block of paper. But the end was terrible. The +last few strokes made her grotesque. This time the woman he had drawn +was not merely evil; she was a mocking parody of his heroine. He threw +drawing and pencil across the room. + +But no real artist can be discouraged short of death. He went to work +again and labored until luncheon time. The results were no better, +although they varied. Now it seemed that some malevolent power was +playing with him, torturing him to the accompaniment of devilish +laughter. He was haggard and actually stooped of body when he bathed +his face and went down to the dining room. From across the table Betty +regarded him curiously. + +"Fleming Proctor shot himself last night," she announced, calmly. +"This morning they found him dead in his office." + +"Proctor? You don't mean the president of the Pine Hills National +Bank?" + +"Yes." The expression of Betty's face did not change. "There was a +note saying that he was sorry. It seems he'd made a large loan without +security to an unknown person, and the bank examiner was coming +to-day. Proctor said he couldn't help what he did. The note was +confused as though he were trying to tell something and couldn't. They +think his mind must have given way, particularly as they can't trace +the loan, although the money is undoubtedly gone." + + * * * * * + +"That kind of thing doesn't happen!" Parker was stunned. He had known +Fleming Proctor, and liked him. They met often at the country club. +"Proctor was honest, and a fine business man!" + +"It did happen, Allen!" + +"I'd like to know more about it. That would have been a case for Dr. +von Stein to take in hand." + +"Perhaps," said Betty, in a voice like ice. "But I'm more interested +in finding out how soon you are going to return to normal. Frankly, +I'm beginning to get bored." + +Without a word Parker rose and left the room. Never before had his +wife hurt him like this. Doubly sensitive just now, he was suffering +alone in the studio when the telephone rang. + +"Dr. von Stein speaking. Are you better, Mr. Parker?" + +"Worse! Much worse!" + +"Then come to my house this evening at nine. May I expect you? And +alone?" + +"Yes." There was much Parker wanted to say, but he choked the words +back. "I'll be there, and alone." + +"I shall be ready for you. Good-by." + +Allen Parker hung up the receiver. He did not leave the studio again +until evening. + + * * * * * + +As Parker approached the house of Dr. Friedrich von Stein he saw that +the church was lighted as it had been the night before. In a clear sky +the moon rode above the spire. He paused to let his glance sweep up +along the beautiful line that ran from earth to the slender cross. +That was how he felt. He wanted to rise, as that line rose, from +cumbering earth to clarity and beauty. + +He mounted the steps and rang. Dr. von Stein met him, with eyes and +teeth agleam in the hall light. Wearily Parker stepped inside. His +mood of the moment before was fading. + +"Go upstairs to my laboratory, if you please," said the doctor. "It is +best that I see you there, for it may be that you will need +treatment." + +"I need something," replied Parker as he went up a long flight of +stairs. "I'm in a bad way." + +Without answer von Stein led him down a short corridor and held open a +door. Allen Parker stepped into a room that bewildered him with its +strange contrasts. + +At a glance he saw that nearly the whole upper floor of the building +had been converted into one gigantic room. Near a big stone fireplace, +where burning driftwood sent up its many tinted flames, Heinrich stood +rigidly at attention. Hans, the dachshund, crouched at his feet. When +the dog started to meet Parker a guttural command stopped him. + +Here there were bearskins on the floor, huge stuffed chairs, +footrests, little tables, humidors, pipe racks, all that one could +desire for comfort. Two German duelling swords were crossed above the +mantel. + + * * * * * + +But beyond this corner everything was different. Parker saw the massed +windows of reddish-purple glass; he saw apparatus for which he had no +name, as well as some of the ordinary paraphernalia of the chemical +laboratory. There was wiring everywhere, and a multitude of lighting +fixtures. Utilitarian tables, desks and chairs were placed about with +mathematical precision. There were plates and strips of metal set into +the glass smooth flooring, which was broken by depressions and +elevations of unusual form. + +The most striking thing in the room was a huge copper bowl that hung +inverted from the ceiling. In it, and extending down below the rim, +was what seemed to be a thick and stationary mist. It looked as though +the bowl had been filled with a silver gray mist and then turned +bottom side up. But the cloud did not fall or float away. + +"I can think and speak best from my desk," Von Stein was saying. +"Please sit down facing me in the chair which Heinrich will place for +you. Then we will talk." + +Heinrich rolled one of the overstuffed chairs noiselessly to a +position about six feet from the desk. Parker noticed a long metal +strip in the floor between him and the doctor. + +Just then Hans wriggled forward and the artist scratched his ears, to +be rewarded by a grateful tongue. Again a command from Heinrich +brought the dog to heel, but the voice was not so gruff this time. +Together they returned to the fireplace. + +Von Stein let his hands rest upon the desk top--a surface covered with +levers, electric switches, push buttons, and contrivances the nature +of which Parker could not guess. The doctor leaned forward. He threw +over a switch. The lights in the room became less bright. He pressed a +button. The Danse Macabre of Saint-Saens floated weirdly upon the +air, as though the music came from afar off. + +"Is that part of the treatment?" asked Parker, with a faint smile. +"It's not cheering, exactly." + +"Merely an idiosyncrasy of mine," answered Von Stein, showing his +teeth. "Before anything is done I must, in order to aid the +receptivity of your mind, go a little further with the explanation of +certain things which I mentioned the other day. I promise not to bore +you. More than that, Mr. Parker, I promise that you will be more +interested than you have ever been in anything!" + + * * * * * + +It seemed to Parker that there was something sinister in the manner +and speech of Dr. von Stein. The Dance of Death! Did that music have a +meaning? Impossible! It was only his own sick mind that was allowing +such thoughts to come to him. + +"Anything that will help," he murmured. + +"You have noticed that copper bowl?" Von Stein did not wait for a +reply. "The misty appearance inside and underneath it is given by +thousands upon thousands of minute platinum wires. When it is in use a +slight electrical current is passed through it, varying in power +according to the rate of vibration needed. That instrument, my dear +sir, is a transmitter of thought. I may call it the microphone of the +mind. I can tune in on any mind in the world, by experimenting up and +down the vibration range to determine the susceptibility of the +particular person. The human mind does not need an amplifier, as the +radio receiving set does. Rather, it acts as its own amplifier, once +having received the thought. I invented one, however, to prove that it +could be done. I equipped Heinrich with it and in half an hour by +suggestion reduced him to his present state of docile stupidity. I +have, Mr. Parker, the means of moving people to do my bidding!" + + * * * * * + +Von Stein stopped abruptly, as though for emphasis and to allow his +astounding statements to take effect. Parker sat stunned, struggling +to grasp all the implications of what he had just heard. Suddenly they +became clear. He saw events in order, and in relation to each other. + +"So that's how it was with Cordelia Lyman!" he cried hoarsely, leaning +forward. "And it was you who had that money from Fleming Proctor!" + +"You are not unintelligent," remarked Dr. von Stein. "Better that +science should have the Lyman money than a few old women of no +particular use. As for Proctor, he was a fool. I would have protected +him." + +"And my pictures ... my book...." + +"I can cure you, Mr. Parker. _If I will!_" + +"And anyone is at the mercy of this man!" groaned Parker. + +"Not absolutely, I'm sorry to say," said the doctor. "The action of +thought on the human consciousness is exactly like that of sound on +the tuning fork. When the mind is tuned right, we'll say for +illustration, the lower vibrations are not picked out of the ether. +But as few minds are tuned right, and as all vary from time to time, +I'm practically omnipotent." + +"You have changed the nature of my wife!" Parker was getting hold of +himself and he could speak with a degree of calmness. "That is a worse +crime than the one you've committed against me directly!" + +"Mr. Parker," said the doctor, impressively, "you are in a web. I am +the spider. You are the fly. I don't particularly desire to hurt you, +but I want your wife. This is the crux of the matter. She is the woman +to share my triumphs. Already I have aroused her interest. Give her up +and you will continue your work as before. Refuse, and you will lose +her just as certainly as though you give her to me. For, my dear sir, +you will be insane in less than a month from now. I promise you +that!" + + * * * * * + +Allen Parker was not one to indulge in melodrama. For a long moment he +sat looking into the black eyes of Von Stein. Then he spoke carefully. + +"If my wife of her own will loved you, and wanted freedom, I'd let her +go. But this is a kind of hypnosis. It's diabolical!" + +"Who but the devil was the father of magic?" asked the doctor, +cheerfully. "Hypnosis is unconsciously based on a scientific principle +which I have mastered. Repeated advertising of a tooth brush or a box +of crackers is mild mental suggestion--hypnosis, if you will. My dear +fellow, be sensible!" + +"Sophistry!" growled Parker. + +Von Stein laughed. He moved a lever upon a dial and a sheet of blue +flame quivered between them. With another movement of the lever it +vanished. + +"I could destroy you instantly," he said, "and completely, and no one +could prove a crime! I shall not do it. I have no time to be bothered +with investigations. Think of the fate I have promised you. Think, and +you will give her up!" + +"I shall not!" Parker wiped cold drops from his forehead. The doctor +frowned thoughtfully. + +"I'll intensify her desire to come here to-night," he said. "She +herself will persuade you." + + * * * * * + +Parker set his fingers into the arms of his chair as Von Stein rose +and walked to the copper bowl. He stood directly under it, and put on +goggles with shields fitting close to his feet. At the pressure of his +foot a tablelike affair rose from the floor in front of him. This, +like the desk, was equipped with numerous dials, buttons and levers. +Von Stein manipulated them. The great cap of copper descended until +his head was enveloped by the mist of platinum wires. A faint humming +grew in the room. A tiny bell tinkled. + +"The connection is made," murmured Von Stein. He lifted a hand for +silence: then his fingers leaped among the gadgets on the table. After +that came a brief period, measured by seconds, of immobility. Then the +table sank from view, the copper bowl lifted, and Dr. von Stein went +back to his chair. + +"She will be here shortly," he said. "If that does not change your +mind...." + +He shrugged. Parker knew what that shrug meant. He searched his mind +for a plan and found none. Better die fighting than yield, or risk the +vengeance of Friedrich von Stein. If he could get the doctor away from +the desk where he controlled the blue-white flame there might be a +chance to do something. Von Stein was by far the larger man, but +Parker had been an athlete all his life. If.... + +"That mass of copper and platinum," he said, tentatively, "will make +you master of the world!" + +"My brain, my intelligence, has made me master of the world!" +corrected Von Stein, proudly. He was touched in the right spot now. +"You have not seen all!" + + * * * * * + +He sprang up and went to one of the tables. From his pocket he took a +piece of paper and crumpled it into a ball while, with the other hand, +he made some electrical connections to a plate of metal set into the +surface of the table. Next he placed the wad of paper on the plate. +Then, standing at arm's length from the apparatus, he pressed a +button. Instantly the paper disappeared behind a screen of the colors +of the spectrum, from red to violet. The banded colors were there for +a minute fraction of a second. Then there was nothing where the paper +had been on the plate. Von Stein smiled as he stepped away from the +table. + +"The electron is formed by the crossing of two lines of force," he +said, "and the interaction of positive and negative polarity. The +electron is a stress in the ether, nothing more, but it is the stuff +of which all matter is made. Thought is vibration in one dimension; +matter in two. You have just seen me untie the knot, dissociate the +electrons, or what you will. In plain language I have caused matter to +vanish utterly. That paper is not burned up. It no longer exists in +any form. The earth upon which we stand, Parker, can be dissolved like +mist before the sun!" + +Appalled as he was at this man who boasted and made good his terrible +boasts Allen Parker had not forgotten the purpose that was in him. Now +was his chance, while Von Stein stood smiling triumphantly between +table and desk. + +Parker shot from his chair with the speed of utter desperation. He +feinted, and drove a vicious uppercut to the jaw of Dr. Friedrich von +Stein. The doctor reeled but he did not go down. His fists swung. +Parker found him no boxer, and beat a tattoo upon his middle. Von +Stein began to slump. + +Then two thick muscled arms closed around the artist from behind and +he was lifted clear of the floor. He kicked, and tried to turn, but it +was useless. The doctor recovered himself. His eyes blazed fury. + +"Put him in the chair, Heinrich!" he roared. "For this I will show you +what I can do, Herr Parker!" + + * * * * * + +At that instant little Hans, who had been yelping on the edge of the +battle, dashed in. He leaped for the throat of Von Stein. The doctor +kicked him brutally. + +The shriek of agony from Hans loosened the arms of Heinrich. Parker +got his footing again. He saw the clumsy serving man spring forward +and gather his dog up to his breast. Again Parker rushed for his +enemy. + +It was clear now that Von Stein was cut off from the controls he +wanted, and without Heinrich he could not master Parker in a fight. +For an instant he stood baffled. Then he retreated the length of the +room, taking what blows he could not beat off. He staggered upon a +plate of metal set into the floor, righted himself, and failed in an +attempt to catch hold of Parker. Suddenly he bowed in the direction of +the distant doorway. + +Allen half turned. Betty was coming down the room, staring and +breathless. + +"_Leben sie wohl!_" cried Von Stein. "Farewell, Madame! I should like +to take you with me!" + +A great flash of the colors of the spectrum sent Parker reeling back. +Dr. Friedrich von Stein had gone the way of the crumpled ball of +paper. + +There was a long moment of silence. Then Allen Parker found his wife +in his arms, clinging to him. + +"'Are not two prayers a perfect strength?'" she murmured, sobbing +against his heart. + + +A HUNDRED MILES UNDERGROUND + +Scientists bidding their families good-by in the morning to drop fifty +or a hundred miles underground in high speed elevators, there to +undertake researches not possible nearer to the earth's surface, may +be realities of the next decade or two if some wealthy individual or +institution accepts the recommendation of Dr. Harlow Shapley, +distinguished astronomer of Harvard, in a talk recently before the +American Geographical Society. + +The earth's interior, Dr. Shapley said, is the "third dimension" of +geography. Exploration of the planet's surface soon must cease from +lack of places to explore. Even the upper air is coming to be +reasonably well known scientifically, thanks to instruments sent up +with balloons and to the radio and other investigators who have been +uncovering secrets of upper-air electricity. But the interior of the +earth is still one of the great mysteries. It is a paradox of +astronomy that much more is known about the center of the sun or a +star like Sirius than about the center of the earth. + +Deep shafts of bore holes into the earth have been suggested often as +sources of heat for human use. It is doubtful, however, whether such +heat supplies could be obtained. For one thing, the supposed internal +heat of the earth is still nothing but a guess. It may be that the +relatively slight increases of heat found as one goes deeper in +existing mines are due to radioactivity in the rocks instead of to +outward seepage from the internal fires. Another difficulty about +utilizing earth heat is that heat moves so slowly through substances +like rock, as any housewife can prove by trying to fry an egg on a +brick placed over a gas flame. As soon as the rock heat immediately at +the bottom of a bore hole had been exhausted heat supply would stop +until more could diffuse in from the sides. + +Dr. Shapley's suggestion, in any event, is not to search for heat but +for facts. Even in existing, relatively shallow mines, he believes, +scientific laboratories at different depths under the surface might +yield valuable data not now obtainable. Most scientific men will +agree. Revolutionary as the idea may seem to those familiar only with +the standardized laboratories of physics or chemistry, there are sound +reasons why a half-dozen or so of the sciences should do precisely +what Dr. Shapley suggests. + +At least one underground laboratory has already been installed, for +Prof. E. B. Babcock of the University of California has such a +workroom in the Twin Peaks Tunnel, underneath the mountain that rises +above the city of San Francisco. Natural radioactivity in the rocks +thereabouts is greater than normal and Prof. Babcock finds that this +apparently increases new species among fruit flies. + +To dig out laboratory rooms a mile or so down in existing deep mines +probably would cost far less than many enterprises already financed by +philanthropists. Even to deepen these shafts for several miles would +be much less difficult than most people imagine. + +Increasing heat, if it is found that heat does increase, would not be +difficult to overcome had the engineers sufficient money. Ventilation +and transportation to and from the surface, while too costly for the +business enterprise of winning metals from very deep mines, probably +would present no serious difficulty were facts the chief object +instead of profit. The only question to be decided before intending +benefactors of science are urged to consider some such project is +whether or not the facts likely to be won promise enough value to +mankind. + +An excellent case can be made out for answering yes. Dr. Shapley +mentioned four chief lines of investigation suitable for such +deep-mine laboratories: studies of gravity and of the variable length +of the day, researches on the various kinds of earthquake waves, +experiments on ether drift and tests of the biological effects of +cosmic rays and of the rays from radium. + +Astronomical theories indicate that the day ought to be growing +slightly longer as the earth's rotation decreases a trifle from +century to century because of friction from the tides. The actual +length of the days seems, however, sometimes to be decreasing a tiny +fraction of a second from year to year, as theory says that it should; +sometimes to be increasing in a way for which no present theory +provides. Observations underneath the earth, with a portion of the +planet's crust and gravity overhead, might yield important clues to +the cause of this mysterious wrong time kept by the terrestrial +clock. + + + + +The Gray Plague + +_By L. A. Eshbach_ + +[Sidenote: Maimed and captive, in the depths of an interplanetary +meteor-craft, lay the only possible savior of plague-ridden Earth.] + +[Illustration: _They were almost upon him when he leaped into +action._] + + +CHAPTER I + +Five months before the beginning of that period of madness, that time +of chaos and death that became known as the Gray Plague, the first of +the strange meteors fell to Earth. It landed a few miles west of El +Paso, Texas, on the morning of March 11th. + +In a few hours a great throng of people gathered around the dully +smoldering mass of fire-pitted rock, the upper half of which protruded +from the Earth where it had buried itself, like a huge, roughly +outlined hemisphere. And then, when the crowd had assumed its +greatest proportions, the meteor, with a mighty, Earth-shaking roar, +exploded. + +A vast flood of radiance, more brilliant than the light of the sun, +lit up the sky for miles around. One moment, a throng of curious +people, a number of scientists, newspaper men--a crashing +explosion--and then a great, yawning pit sending forth a blinding +radiance! Destruction and death where life had been. + +The brilliant light streamed from the pit for about ten minutes; then +like a snuffed-out candle flame, it vanished. + +The second of the strange meteors landed on the evening of March 13th, +in the city of Peking, China. It demolished several buildings, and +buried itself beneath the ruins. The Chinese, unaware of the tragedy +at El Paso, gathered in the vicinity, and when the meteor exploded at +about ten o'clock that night, were instantly destroyed. As in Texas, +the great pit emitted a cloud of dazzling light for about ten minutes, +throwing a brilliant glow over the city and its surroundings; then +was extinguished. + +The people of the world awoke to the fact that events worthy of more +than passing interest were occurring. The press of every nation begin +giving the strange meteors more and more publicity. Statements of +different pseudo-scientists were published in explanation of the +meteor's origin, statements that aroused world wide conjecture. + + * * * * * + +Approximately twenty-four hours after the falling of the second +missile, the third one fell, landing near Madrid, Spain. The +Spaniards, having received news of the El Paso and Peking tragedies, +avoided the ugly mass of rock as though it were a dreaded pestilence. +In every way its action was similar to that of its two predecessors. + +The interest of the world was doubled now. The unusual similarity of +the action of the meteors, and the regularity of their landings, +seemed indicative of a definite, hostile purpose behind it all. A +menace from the unknown--a peril from the skies! + +Scientists began giving serious consideration to the unusual +phenomenon, pottering around in the pits, wearing airs of puzzlement. +But their investigations were of no avail, for nothing of any great +significance came to light through their efforts. + +At about that time, an announcement was made that created a furor. +Astronomers in different parts of the United States reported that they +had observed a bright flare of light leaping up from the darkened +portion of the planet Venus. The astronomers had no definite idea of +anything of importance in back of what they had seen; but not so the +masses. The flare, they said, was caused by the release of another +meteor! + +From Venus! Missiles, hurled by Venerians, menacing the Earth! The +silver planet became the subject of universal discussion; innumerable +fantastic articles about it appeared in magazine sections of Sunday +newspapers. And the astronomers of Earth turned their telescopes +toward Venus with an interest they had never felt before. + + * * * * * + +Four days of expectant waiting passed by after the third meteor had +fallen, while interest continued mounting at an accelerating pace. And +then, at about two o'clock in the morning of the 18th, three great +observatories, two in North America and one in England, recorded the +falling of an extraordinarily large and unusually brilliant meteor +that glowed with an intense, bluish-white light as it entered the +Earth's atmosphere. And, unlike most meteors, this one was not +consumed by its intense heat, but continued gleaming brilliantly until +it vanished below the horizon. Simultaneous with the falling of the +meteor, the Earth was rocked by one of the worst quakes in history. + +Seismographs in all parts of the world recorded the tremors of the +Earth, each indicating that the disturbance had occurred somewhere +beneath the Atlantic ocean. Evidently the fourth meteor had fallen +into the ocean, for the shaking of the Earth was obviously the result +of the collision. That quakes had not followed the landing of the +first three was due to the fact that they had been far smaller than +the fourth. + +And then, a short time after the earthquake, the worst storm in two +hundred years broke over the Atlantic. Waves, mountain high, piled +themselves upon each other in a wild frenzy; a shrieking wind lashed +the waters into a liquid chaos. Great ocean-liners were tossed about +like tiny chips; an appalling number of smaller ships were lost in +that insane storm. + +Nor was the destruction confined to the sea, for all along the +Atlantic coast of North America and Europe, mighty walls of water +rushed in, and wrecked entire towns and cities. + +Fortunately the storm was of short duration; a few hours after it +began, it subsided. + +For a number of weeks public attention was centered upon the meteors +and storm; but gradually, when nothing further occurred, the fickle +interest of the masses began to wane. A month after the storm, the +strange meteors were no longer mentioned by the press, and +consequently, had passed from the public mind. Only the astronomers +remembered, keeping their telescopes trained on Venus night after +night. + +Four months passed by during which nothing of an unusual nature came +to the attention of the world. But at the end of that time, it +suddenly dawned upon those nations whose shores touched the Atlantic +ocean, that something extraordinary was happening. It was taking place +so insidiously, so quietly, that it had attracted no great attention. + +A series of inexplicable sea disasters had begun. Every ship that had +traveled over a certain, regular steamship route, had disappeared, +leaving no trace. Mysteriously, without warning, they had vanished; +without a single S O S being sent, seven freighters had been lost. The +disappearances had been called to the world's attention by the +shipping companies, alarmed at the gradual loss of their boats. + +Then other mysterious vanishings came to the attention of the world. +Ships in all parts of the Atlantic were being lost. When this fact +became known, trans-Atlantic commerce ceased almost over night. With +the exception of a few privately owned yachts and freighters, the +Atlantic became deserted. + +And finally, a few days after the world became aware of the strange +disappearances on the Atlantic, the Gray Plague introduced itself to +humanity. Attempts were made to repress the facts: but the tragedy of +the freighter, _Charleston_, in all its ghastliness and horror, became +known in spite of all attempts at secrecy. + +On the morning of August 3rd, the _Charleston_ was found, half buried +in the sand of a beach on the coast of Florida, cast there, evidently, +by a passing storm. The freighter had been one of the first boats to +disappear. + +When the ship's discoverers boarded her, their eyes were greeted by a +sight whose ghastliness filled them with a numbing horror. Indeed, so +terrifying was the spectacle on the _Charleston_, that the +discoverers, four boys of adolescent age, left in fear-stricken haste. +Nor could they be induced to return to the ship's deck. + + * * * * * + +Later, a group of men from a nearby town boarded the freighter to +investigate the boys' amazing report. In the group was a newspaper +reporter who chanced to be in the vicinity on a minor story. It was +through the reporter's account that the facts became known as quickly +as they did. + +When the men clambered up the side of the _Charleston_ to her deck, +they saw a spectacle the like of which had never before been seen on +Earth. Although they had been prepared for the horror to some extent +by the story of the boys, the sight on the _Charleston_ exceeded their +description to such a degree that, for the moment, the men were +rendered speechless. + +The deck of the _Charleston_ was a shambles--a scene of sudden, +chilling death. All about were strewn gray, lifeless bodies. Death had +overtaken the crew in the midst of their duties, suddenly, without +warning, it seemed. Bodies strewn about--yet nowhere was there sign of +decay! Bodies, lifeless for days, or weeks--yet intact! + +The men were fearfully impressed by the strangely grotesque positions +of the corpses. With a few exceptions, they lay on the deck in +abnormal, twisted masses of gray covered flesh. Somehow, they seemed +flattened, as though they had been soft, jellylike, and had flowed, +had settled, flat against the deck. Some were no more than three +inches thick, and had spread out to such an extent that they looked +like fantastic caricatures of human bodies. That unnatural change in +their structure, and the ghastly, dead-gray color of their skins gave +the corpses a horrifying, utterly repulsive appearance that made the +flesh of the men crawl. + +The bodies had a strangely soft aspect, as though they were still +jellylike. One of the men, bolder than the rest, touched a body--and +withdrew his hand in revulsion and surprise. For the ugly mass was +cold, and as hard as bone: the tissues of the flesh seemingly replaced +by a solid, bony substance. Later investigation revealed that all the +dead on the _Charleston_ had assumed a similar, bonelike solidity. + +When the men left the freighter to report the tragedy to the proper +authorities, their faces were blanched, and their nerves badly shaken. +Yet their horror was nothing when compared with what it would have +been, had they known what was to follow. + + * * * * * + +Rapidly the story of the_ Charleston_ spread. By means of the press, +over the radio, even by word of mouth, the story of the horror on the +freighter was given publicity. All over the United States and Canada +it spread, and from thence to the rest of the world. Eagerly was the +story accepted: here, at last, was the explanation of the sea +disasters! And then, more than ever before, was the Atlantic ocean +shunned. + +The bodies of the seamen on the freighter were turned over to +scientists for experimentation and research. It was thought that they +might be able to discover the cause of the Gray Death, and with a +knowledge of its cause, create something with which to free the +Atlantic from its scourge. + +The scientists' investigations only served to mystify the world to a +greater degree. The only thing that came to light was the cause of the +bodies' bonelike rigidity. In some inexplicable way the bones in the +seamen had dissolved, and according to appearances, while the bodies +were plastic, had flattened out. And then, strange and unnatural +though it seemed, the calcium from the dissolved bones had gathered at +the surface of each body, and combining with the flesh and skin, had +formed the hard, bony shell that gave them their ghastly grayness, and +their appearance of petrification. Aside from this, the scientists +learned nothing; the cause of this amazing phenomenon was a complete +mystery to them. + +Slowly, methodically, step by step, the unusual had been taking place. +From the time of the landing of the first strange meteor, up to the +discovery of the _Charleston_, there had been a gradual increase in +the significance of each succeeding event. + +Then finally came the climax: the Gray Plague itself. All that +preceded it faded into significance before the horror of the dread +pestilence that seized the world with its destroying talons. + + * * * * * + +A short time after the discovery of the _Charleston_, the Plague made +its first appearance on land. Slowly, pitilessly, inexorably, it +began, taking its toll all along the Atlantic coast. From Newfoundland +to Brazil; from the British Isles to Egypt, wherever people lived near +the ocean, thousands were stricken with the dread malady. + +The old and infirm were the most quickly affected; their weakened +bodies could not withstand the ravage of the Plague as could those of +younger people. An old man, walking along a large thoroughfare in +Savannah, Georgia, suddenly uttered a fearful shriek and sank to the +pavement. While the pedestrians watched with bulging eyes, he seemed +to shrink, to flatten, to flow liquidly, turning a ghastly gray. +Within an hour he was as hard as the men of the _Charleston_. Of all +the millions, perhaps he was the first. + +Others followed in the wake of the first victim, young as well as old; +three hours after the death in Savannah, every channel of +communication was choked with news of a constantly increasing number +of casualties. A Boston minister, preaching a funeral sermon, +collapsing beside the coffin; a lineman on a telegraph pole, overcome, +falling--and splashing! A thousand incongruous tragedies shocking +humanity. + +In Europe the action of the Plague was the same as in North America. +Death stalking the sea-coast, destroying thousands; ignorant +fishermen, men of learning, women and children of every age--all were +grist to be ground in the mill of the Gray Plague. + +Before a week had gone by, no one remained alive in the villages, +towns and cities all along the Atlantic. New York, London, all the +large coast cities were deserted by the living, left to the rigid +dead. From the largest metropolis to the smallest hamlet, all became +body-glutted tombs. + +And then, on the morning of October 12th, news was given to the world +that threw mankind into a panic. The Plague was moving inland! Slowly, +yet relentlessly it spread, no longer confining its effect to the +sea-coast, but moving farther and farther inland toward the heart of +the two continents, driving mankind before it. For people fled in +insane terror before the advancing death. Nor was there escape from +the menace--no antidote to counteract, no sanctuary wherein to hide. + +To North and South, to East and West, the pestilence spread, +destroying as it went. Unless there were some miraculous intervention, +the human race would be destroyed! + + * * * * * + +Officials of the world were at their wits' end; scientists threw up their +hands in despair. The Plague was an insoluble puzzle--enigmatical, utterly +inexplicable, beyond the knowledge of Earth. + +Scientists and doctors were brutally slain during that period by +fear-crazed mobs, because of their inability to rescue the world from +the grip of the Plague. Thousands of people died while striving to +escape from the Gray Death, crushed by passing motor vehicles, or +starving in the congested areas. Gone was the boasted civilization of +man--humanity sinking rapidly to the level of the beast; gone, +destroyed in a few weeks! + +And then one day when the end seemed perilously close, there was +ushered into the presence of the remnant of the United States +officials who had gathered in San Francisco, a twisted monstrosity of +a man, fearfully scarred and deformed. He was closeted with them for +two hours. At the end of that time an excited official communicated +with the leader of the American scientists. + +"A cure for the Plague has been discovered!" he cried in joyful tones. +"Man still has a chance!" + +Before an hour had passed by, scientists were in possession of +cultures of germs that would destroy the bacilli of the Gray Death. +The hope of salvation restored some semblance of order; and in a very +short time the development of the germs was going forward as rapidly +as skilled bacteriologists could carry it. Forces of doctors were +marshalled to administer the cure, inoculating all who were untouched +by the Plague. + +At about that time, a small, bronze-colored sphere arose into the air +above San Francisco, and sped eastward with amazing velocity. It +flashed over the United States, over the Atlantic ocean, and over +western Europe, finally landing in the midst of the European hordes. +There its operator, a deformed cripple, left bacteria similar to those +he had given to the United States. + +In a short time Europe, too, was busily engaged in developing the +bacteria, and inoculating her people. + +Many others died before the world was rendered immune, but at last +mankind let its labors cease. The Gray Plague was overcome. + +Then the work of reclaiming the deserted areas was begun; then, too, +was started the ghastly task of disposing of the countless, rigid +dead. And finally, a great steamer left New York harbor, and started +across the Atlantic. It was the purpose of the men on board to destroy +utterly the source of the Plague. + +But long before that occurred, humanity had heard the story of Phillip +Parkinson, the man who saved the world--had heard, and had honored the +deliverer of mankind. + +Parkinson's story follows: + + +CHAPTER II + +The steam yacht, Diana, bound for the Azores and points south, was two +days out from Miami when the great meteor fell into the Atlantic. On +the after deck, leaning over the rail, watching the moonlit waters, +stood Phillip Parkinson, owner of the yacht. A bacteriologist of +international fame was Parkinson, on an early vacation to recuperate +from the effects of a strenuous winter of research. Nervous, rather +high-strung, he had been unable to sleep; at about one in the morning +of the 18th of March, he had come up on deck. + +He had stood there for about an hour when suddenly there appeared in +the sky above him, a meteor, a great disc of blue-white incandescence. +It seemed to be rushing straight down toward him; instinctively he +leaped back, as though to avoid the fiery missile. + +As the constantly expanding disc flashed through the hundred miles of +Earth's atmosphere, the ocean, as far as eye could see, became as +light as day. Bathed in that baleful, white glare, Parkinson, +bewildered, dazed, half-blinded, watched the approaching stellar +visitant. + +In a few moments it struck--no more than two miles away. In the last, +bright flare of blue-white light, Parkinson saw a gigantic column of +steam and boiling water leap up from the sea. Then thick, impenetrable +darkness fell--darkness that was intensified by its contrast with the +meteor's blinding light. + +For ten tense, breathless seconds utter silence hung over the sea ... +then, for those on the yacht, the world went mad! A shrill, unearthly +shriek--the sound of the meteor's passage through the atmosphere; an +ear-splitting roar, as of the simultaneous release of the +thunder-drums of ages; a howling demon of wind; a solid wall of +raging, swirling water of immeasurable height--all united in an +indescribable chaos that bewildered those on board the Diana, and that +lifted the yacht and--threw it upon its side! + +When the first rushing mountain of lathering, thundering water crashed +upon the yacht, Parkinson felt himself hurtling through the roaring +air. For a moment he heard the infernal pandemonium of noise ... then +the strangling, irresistible brine closed over his head. + +A blackness deeper than that of the night--and Parkinson knew no +more.... + + * * * * * + +Slowly consciousness returned to the bacteriologist. It came under the +guise of a dull, yet penetrating throbbing coming from beneath the +surface on which he lay. Vaguely he wondered at it; he had not yet +entirely cast off the enshrouding stupor that gripped him. + +Gradually he came into full possession of his faculties--and became +aware of a dull aching throughout his entire body. In his chest it +seemed to be intensified; every breath caused a sharp pang of pain. + +Faltering and uncertain, he arose and peered around. Before, lay the +open sea, calm now, and peaceful. Long, rolling swell swept in and +dashed themselves against the rocks a few feet away. Rocks? For a +moment Parkinson stared at the irregular shore-line in dazed wonder. +Then as his mind cleared, the strangeness of his position flashed upon +him. + +Solid earth was under his feet! Although he must be hundreds of miles +from shore, in some way he had drifted upon land. So far as he knew, +there were no islands in that part of the Atlantic; yet his very +position belied the truth. He could not have drifted to the mainland; +the fact that he was alive precluded all possibilities of that, for he +would have drowned in far less time than the latter thought implied. + +He turned and inspected the land upon which he had been cast. A small, +barren island, bleak and inhospitable, and strangely metallic, met his +gaze. The rays of the sun beating down upon it were thrown back with +an uncomfortable intensity; the substance of the island was a +lustrous, copperlike metal. No soil softened the harshness of the +surface; indescribably rugged and pitted was the two hundred-foot +expanse. It reminded Parkinson of a bronze relief-map of the moon. + +For a moment he puzzled over the strangeness of the unnatural island; +then suddenly he realized the truth. This was the meteor! Obviously, +this was the upper side of the great sphere from space, protruding +above the sea. + + * * * * * + +Fortunate for him that the meteor had not been completely covered by +water, he thought--but was it fortunate? True, he was alive now, +thanks to the tiny island, but how long would he remain alive without +food or water, and without hope of securing either? Unless he would be +picked up by a passing steamer, he would die a far more unpleasant +death than that of drowning. Some miracle had saved him from a watery +grave; it would require another to rescue him from a worse fate. + +Even now he was beginning to feel thirsty. He had no way of +determining how long he had been unconscious, but that it was at least +ten hours, he was certain, for the sun had been at its zenith when he +had awakened. No less than fifteen hours had gone by since +water--other than that of the sea--had passed his lips. And the fact +that it was impossible for him to quench his thirst only served to +render it more acute. + +In order to take his mind from thoughts of his thirst and of the +immediate future, he rapidly circled the island. As he had expected, +it was utterly barren. With shoulders drooping in despair he settled +wearily to a seat on the jagged mass of metal high up on top of the +meteor. + +An expression of sudden interest lit up his face. For a second time he +felt that particular throbbing, that strange pulsing beneath the +surface of the meteor. But now it was far more noticeable than before. +It seemed to be directly below him, and very close to the surface. + +Parkinson could not tell how long he sat there, but from the +appearance of the sun, he thought that at the very shortest, an hour +passed by while he remained on that spot. And during that time, the +throbbing gradually increased until the metal began vibrating under +his feet. + +Suddenly the bacteriologist leaped aside. The vibrating had reached +its height, and the meteor seemed to lurch, to tilt at a sharp angle. +His leap carried him to firm footing again. And then, his thirst and +hopeless position completely forgotten, Parkinson stared in +fascination at the amazing spectacle before him. + + * * * * * + +An eighteen-foot disc of metal, a perfect circle, seemed to have been +cut out of the top of the meteor. While he watched, it began turning +slowly, ponderously, and started sinking into the meteor. As it sank, +Parkinson fancied that it grew transparent, and gradually vanished +into nothingness--but he wasn't sure. + +A great pit, eighteen feet wide, but far deeper, lay before him in the +very place where, not more than ten minutes before, he had stood. Not +a moment too soon had he leaped. + +Motionless he stood there, waiting in tense expectation. What would +happen next, he had not the least idea, but he couldn't prevent his +imagination from running riot. + +He hadn't long to wait before his watching was rewarded. A few minutes +after the pit appeared, he heard a loud, high-pitched whir coming from +the heart of the meteor. As it grew louder, it assumed a higher and +still higher key, finally rising above the range of human ears. And at +that moment the strange vehicle arose to the surface. + +A simple-appearing mechanism was the car, consisting of a twelve-foot +sphere of the same bronze-like metal that made up the meteor, with a +huge wheel, like a bronze cincture, around its middle. It was the +whirling of this great wheel that had caused the high-pitched +whirring. The entire, strange machine was surrounded by a peculiar +green radiance, a radiance that seemed to crackle ominously as the +sphere hovered over the mouth of the pit. + +For a moment the car hung motionless, then it drifted slowly to the +surface of the meteor, landing a few feet away from Parkinson. Hastily +he drew back from the greenly phosphorescent thing--but not before he +had experienced an unpleasant prickling sensation over his entire +body. + +As the bacteriologist drew away, there was a sharp, audible click +within the interior of the sphere; and the green radiance vanished. At +the same moment, three heavy metal supports sprang from equi-distant +points in the sides of the car, and held the sphere in a balanced +position on the rounded top of the meteor. + +There was a soft, grating sound on the opposite side of the car. +Quickly, Parkinson circled it--and stopped short in surprise. + + * * * * * + +Men were descending from an opening in the side of the sphere! +Parkinson had reasoned that since the meteor had come from the depths +of space, any being in its interior, unnatural as that seemed, would +have assumed a form quite different from the human. Of course, +conditions on Earth could be approximated on another planet. At any +rate, whatever the explanation, the sphere was emitting men! + +They were men--but there was something queer about them. They were +very tall--seven feet or more--and very thin; and their skins were a +delicate, transparent white. They looked rather ghostly in their +tight-fitting white suits. It was not this that made them seem queer, +however: it was an indefinite something, a vague suggestion of +heartless inhumanity, of unearthliness, that was somehow repulsive and +loathsome. + +There were three of them, all very similar in appearance and bearing. +Their surprise at the sight of Parkinson, if anything, was greater +than the start their appearance had given him. He, at least, had +expected to see beings of some sort, while the three had been taken +completely by surprise. + +For a moment they surveyed him with staring, cold-blue eyes. Then +Parkinson extended his hand, and as cordially as he could, exclaimed: + +"Hello! Welcome to Earth!" + +The visitors from space ignored his advances and continued staring at +him. Their attitude at first was quizzical, speculative, but slowly a +hostile expression crept into their eyes. + +Suddenly, with what seemed like common consent, they faced each other, +and conversed in low tones in some unintelligible tongue. For almost a +minute they talked, while Parkinson watched them in growing +apprehension. + +Finally they seemed to have reached some definite conclusion; with one +accord they turned and moved slowly toward the bacteriologist, +something distinctly menacing in their attitudes. The men from the +meteor were tall, but they were thin; Parkinson, too, was large, and +his six-foot length was covered with layers of solid muscle. As the +three advanced toward him, he doubled his fists, and crouched in +readiness for the expected attack. + + * * * * * + +They were almost upon him when he leaped into action. A crushing left +to his stomach sent the first one to the meteor-top, where he lay +doubled up in pain. But that was the only blow that Parkinson struck; +in a moment he found himself lying prone upon his back, utterly +helpless, his body completely paralyzed. What they had done to him, he +did not know; all that he could remember was two thin bodies twining +themselves around him--a sharp twinge of pain at the base of his +skull; then absolute helplessness. + +One of the tall beings grasped Parkinson about the waist, and with +surprising strength, threw him over his shoulder. The other assisted +his groaning fellow. When the latter had recovered to some extent, the +three ascended the ladder that led into the metal sphere. + +The interior of the strange vehicle, as far as Parkinson could see, +was as simple as its exterior. There was no intricate machinery of any +sort in the square room; probably what machinery there was lay between +the interior and exterior walls of the sphere. As for controls, these +consisted of several hundred little buttons that studded one of the +walls. + +When they entered the vehicle, Parkinson was literally, and none too +gently, dumped upon the floor. The man who had carried him stepped +over to the controls. Like those of a skilled typist, his long, thin +fingers darted over the buttons. In a moment the sphere was in motion. + +There were no more thrills for Parkinson in that ride than he would +have derived from a similar ride in an elevator. They sank very slowly +for some minutes, it seemed to him; then they stopped with a barely +noticeable jar. + +The door of the car was thrust aside by one of the three, and +Parkinson was borne from the sphere. A bright, coppery light flooded +the interior of the meteor, seeming to radiate from its walls. In his +helpless state, and in the awkward position in which he was carried, +with his head close to the floor, he could see little of the room +through which they passed, in spite of the light. Later, however, he +learned that it was circular in shape, and about twice the diameter of +the cylindrical tube that led into it. The wall that bound this +chamber was broken at regular intervals by tall, narrow, doorways, +each leading into a different room. + +Parkinson was carried into one of these, and was placed in a +high-backed metal chair. After he had been strapped fast, one of the +men placed his hands at the base of the bacteriologist's skull; he +felt a sudden twinge of pain; and his strange paralysis left him +suddenly. + + * * * * * + +He knew it was useless to struggle; without resisting, he let them +place upon his head a cap-like device that seemed lost in a tangled +maze of machinery. Each meteor-man grasped one of the instruments +resembling old-time radio head-phones that were fastened to +Parkinson's head-gear, and clamped it over his ears. + +The bacteriologist heard a steady, humming drone, like a swarm of +angry bees--felt a peculiar, soothing warmth about his head; and then +he slept. + +Only a moment or two seemed to have passed when he awoke. The strange +device on his head was removed and put away; and then, to Parkinson's +amazement, one of the three men, evidently the leader, spoke--in +English! + +"Now that you have recovered consciousness," he remarked in a cold, +expressionless voice, "you had better realize at the very beginning +that you are completely in our power. Any effort to escape will be +futile, for there is only one way to reach the outside; the opening +through the top; and only one means of travel through that opening: +the sphere. And since you know nothing about the operation of the +machine, any attempt to run it would be disastrous to you. + +"If you promise to refrain from violence, we'll release you, and give +you some measure of freedom. We'll do this because you can be of +assistance to us in one of our tasks here on your planet." + +Parkinson assented readily; he knew he could gain nothing by rejecting +their offer. "Of course I'll promise. But--but, how did you learn +English?" he asked in bewilderment. + +"You taught us," the leader replied. "That device we placed upon your +head created a duplicate of your knowledge in our minds. We knew your +language, your world, indeed, yourself, as well as you do." + +Parkinson shook his head in amazement. Another question came to his +mind as the men released him. He was interrupted before he could give +it expression. + + * * * * * + +"Don't ask," the leader exclaimed. "I'll tell our entire story so that +you'll have no occasion to annoy us with your questions. + +"We're Venerians," he began, "inhabitants of the planet you call +Venus. For ages our world has been overcrowded. A short time ago, the +conditions became so acute that something had to be done. It was +suggested that we seek another habitable planet to which our people +could migrate. + +"Your Earth was thought to be the world with physical conditions most +closely resembling those of Acor, or Venus. Our scientists set to work +immediately, using forces and devices with which you are totally +unfamiliar, and constructed several missiles which they hurled at +Earth. These missiles, spherical masses closely resembling meteors, +were set to explode after a certain period of contact with an +atmosphere similar to our own. By their explosion we on Venus could +determine whether or not this world had a breathable atmosphere. + +"Upon our deciding that the Earth was habitable, we built this great +machine. It is chiefly composed of our greatest heat-resister, a +metal we call thoque; I see no corresponding word in your vocabulary; +evidently you are unfamiliar with the element, or else it is unknown +on Earth. + +"After our flight through space, automatically controlled, by the way, +on Venus, we landed here. With our thoque disintegrator, we bored a +passageway to the surface of this great sphere. Then we entered the +car, rose to the top of the passageway, and discovered you. + +"That is a brief synopsis of our actions--and it must suffice! Ask no +questions; we do not wish to be disturbed by the blind gropings of +your primitive mind!" + +There was a cold finality in the Venerian's voice that convinced +Parkinson that for the moment, at least, he had better forget the many +questions that had surged up in his mind. + +The Venerian leader spoke again. "From our observations of your mind, +we know that you have not had food or water for a rather lengthy +period of time. It is not our purpose to starve you: you shall eat and +drink." + +A minute later Parkinson sat at a very high table in one of the rooms, +drinking water from Venus, and eating the fare of an alien world. + + * * * * * + +Days passed by, merging into weeks, while Parkinson lost all track of +time. The bacteriologist's existence became a ceaseless round of toil. +The Venerian had said that he would be given some measure of freedom, +because he would be of use to them; he had not been with them long ere +he learned what that use was. + +One of the rooms was filled with great slabs of thoque; it was +Parkinson's task to carry the slabs to the vehicle at the base of the +shaft, one by one; to rise to the surface with them, accompanied by +two of the men--the third was working on the surface--and there unload +them. Day after day this continued. + +Hope of escaping was almost dead in Parkinson's breast, because he +was constantly under the surveillance of those hard, blue eyes. Only +one thing kept hope alive: by watching the Venerians operate the car, +he was slowly gaining a knowledge of the meaning of the many buttons +in the wall. Some day, if an opportunity came, he meant to be ready to +take advantage of it. + +Once, shortly after his monotonous toil began, Parkinson experienced a +great flare of hope for deliverance. They had just brought another +slab to the surface, when a steamer appeared above the horizon. It was +far away, but its crew must surely have seen the island. + +But his expectations were short-lived. One of the three drew from +beneath his tight-fitting, white garments a little, metal object, a +long tube, with a handle at one end, and pointed it at the vessel. For +a moment he held it thus, moving it slowly backward and forward: then +he returned it to its place of concealment, and turned away with an +air of indifference. And Parkinson saw the ship burst suddenly into +flame, a few minutes later to sink beneath the waves. + + * * * * * + +Shaken to the depths of his being, Parkinson resumed his work. The +inhumanity of these saturnine Venerians filled him with a dread so +great that he refused to admit it to himself. That that had not been +the first time that they had destroyed a ship, he felt sure; his heart +sank, and grew more hopeless. + +At last his task of carrying slabs was finished. The room was empty, +and the work completed. A great tower, entirely covering the island, +reared its head into the sky. In appearance, it resembled a very tall +lighthouse. This resemblance held true only until its top was reached; +there it ended. From the tower's top extended four long, hollow arms, +so constructed that they whirled about the tower at a mad pace when +the machinery with which they were connected was started. In addition, +arrangement was made for a powerful blast of air to be sent through +the tubes when the Venerians so desired. + +What the purpose of this great edifice was, Parkinson could not guess: +later, he learned the horrible significance of it all. + +After the tower was finished, the bacteriologist was left to his own +devices to a great extent, though always closely watched by one of his +captors. They let him eat all the food he desired, and let him lie +around as much as he wished, regaining his health and strength. This +was a pleasant surprise for him: he took full advantage of his +privileges. + +Then, one day when Parkinson had fully recovered from the effects of +his grueling labors, the leader of the Venerians approached him from +behind, and before he could raise a hand in defense, had rendered him +helplessly paralyzed. + +"You will now be given a second opportunity to help the cause of Venus +on Earth," he said in his expressionless voice. And so saying, he +lifted Parkinson, and bore him into one of the rooms. + + +CHAPTER III + +At no time while he was held captive by the Venerians was Parkinson as +hopeless, or as completely filled with despair as when he was carried +into this room. There was something depressing about the chamber, +something that gripped his heart with the chill hand of dread. He had +a feeling of impending evil. + +The few momentary glimpses of the chamber that he had gotten while he +was being carried, sufficed to convince Parkinson that this was a +laboratory, or--he shuddered at the thought--an operating room. The +walls, floor and ceiling were composed of a white porcelainlike +substance: from these walls, strangely, streamed the same coppery +light that filled the entire meteor. + +Entirely concealing one wall was a long, glass case, constructed to +form countless little niches, each of which held a small, transparent +vessel. At the back of the room was a high table, covered with +transparent cases which were filled with complex instruments of every +description, some similar to those on Earth; others entirely +different. + +The thing that brought the thought of an operating room to Parkinson's +mind was the long, white slab that rested on metal uprights in the +room's center--an operating table. A moment after they entered the +room, he had his theory substantiated: the Venerian leader placed him +on the white slab, stretching him to full length. It was an operating +table--and he was to be the subject of their operation! + +He had lain there but a moment when two of the Venerians approached, +one on either side, and began removing his clothing. It was not long +before he lay on the cold slab, entirely nude. + + * * * * * + +While he was being stripped, he heard the leader of the Venerians +moving about, heard the click of glass, the rasp of metal upon metal. +But, unable to move his eyes, he had seen none of his activities, +except to note that several of the little vessels had been taken from +their resting places. + +When the two had finished disrobing him, and had replaced him upon his +back, the leader appeared. He looked down at Parkinson, a queer +expression in his hard, blue eyes. He seemed to hesitate a moment: +then he spoke. + +"Earthling," he said in his toneless voice, "I have decided to tell +you of our intentions. You are going to play a very important part in +our scheme, and it is only fitting that you should know. You can do +nothing to hinder our plans: you are giving us incalculable aid: and +it affords me some degree of satisfaction to tell you this. + +"As you know, Earthling, we purpose to have the people of Acor to come +to Earth to live, to relieve the congested conditions of our own +world. Obviously, there is no room for two types of intelligent +beings on one planet--your race must go! It is our intention to +destroy all human life on Earth! + +"We intend accomplishing this with Venerian microbes. From the record +of your knowledge, I've learned that diseases of various kinds are +common on Earth. We expected that such would be the case, and thus, +you would not be immune to germs, so we came prepared. Each of the +small compartments in that case that you may have seen, contains a +culture of a different germ. After we have determined which Venerian +bacilli will be the most effective, we will develop them in great +quantities, and loose them upon your world. + +"In the selecting process, you will play your part. Since our germs +may have a different effect upon your bodies than they do upon +Venerians, we will inoculate you with different diseases, and watch +their effects upon you. + +"Of course, you yourself will be in no great danger, for we will have +the diseases under our constant control. On Acor we have abolished +disease entirely, having a reagent or an antitoxin for every malady; +we will use our cures upon you immediately after we have seen how you +react to each disease. + +"What we desire is a bacillus that will take effect when it is +breathed in through the lungs. If the disease is of such a nature as +to instill fear in the minds of observers, so much the better; but +that is unnecessary. When we discover a microbe of that nature, we +will be ready to act. + +"By the way, our work has been lessened to a great degree by the fact +that you are a bacteriologist. The knowledge we gain from you has +enabled us to eliminate at least half of our microbes. All Venerian +germs that are duplicated on Earth will be left out of our +calculations. Only those unknown to your planet will be tried upon +you." + + * * * * * + +When the Venerian had finished his explanation, each word of which had +sounded like a death knell to Parkinson, the bacteriologist lay on +the slab in the grip of a nightmare of horror. The cold-blooded +brutality of these Venerian beasts, and the thought of lying there +helpless with his body the prey of unknown diseases, filled him with a +maddening fear and dread. + +Mightily he struggled to break the uncanny bonds that held him +paralyzed, but it was of no avail. His body retained its helpless +rigidity. + +Only for a moment was Parkinson left to his fearful musings; then the +Venerians begin their work. A tall table on wheels was brought from +somewhere, and drawn to the side of the slab. Upon this various +instruments were placed, side by side with numerous flat vessels +containing germ cultures. Parkinson saw none of this, but from the +sounds that came to his ears he could infer what was taking place. + +Finally, everything seemed to be in readiness. The Venerian leader +bent over Parkinson for a moment: and the latter felt a sharp pain in +his side. Then the Venerian withdrew. + +Slowly, interminably, the time dragged by while the microbes that had +been introduced into his body were at their work. How long he lay +there with the Venerians watching, he could not tell, but it seemed to +be hours. During that time he felt himself gripped by an increasingly +violent fever. Unbearable heat flooded his body. And because of his +helplessness, he could do nothing to relieve his pain and discomfort. +It was maddening! + +When he thought he had reached the limit of his endurance, and felt +that he would go insane in another moment, the Venerian leader +injected something into his side. He became aware of an immediate +sense of relief; in an unbelievably short time the fever had left him +and he was himself again. + +There followed for Parkinson hours of nightmare agony, while the +Venerians experimented with his living body. Time after time he was +inoculated with strange bacilli that wracked him with tortures +indescribable. Hideous diseases covered him with festering sores; +twisted his flesh into a repellent mass of scars; left him weakened +and deformed. Had it not been for the incredible curative powers of +the Venerians, he would have died then; but always, when the end +seemed at hand, they brought him back to life, only to subject him to +other horrors. + + * * * * * + +After what seemed countless ages, the Venerians left him alone. Under +the powerful effects of their cures, Parkinson began to recover. Hope +welled up in his heart; perhaps the terrible experiments were ended. + +When he was almost certain that the torture was over, his hopes were +suddenly destroyed. The three Venerians approached again, each bearing +a number of vessels containing germ cultures. These they placed on the +table at Parkinson's side; then two of them withdrew, leaving the +leader to continue his work. Uttering a few words in the Venerian +tongue, he occupied himself with something on the table, and a moment +later turned toward the bacteriologist, a long needle in his hands. + +Parkinson felt a great burning pain in his left arm, as though a +searing, hot needle had been thrust into his flesh. In a moment this +vanished. Then a feeling of irresistible lassitude overwhelmed him; an +unbearable weariness filled him with longing for rest, peace--death. +This, too, was of short duration. + +With the passing of the weariness, Parkinson became aware of a sharp +throbbing in his arm. Rapidly this increased in violence, until +suddenly an unbearable, excruciating agony seized him. Far greater was +this than any pain he had suffered before. For a moment he struggled +to scream, to move, to do anything to relieve his agony. There seemed +to be a sudden snap--a cry of anguish burst from his lips--and his +senses left him. Just as the bonds of paralysis had broken, he had +lost consciousness. + +Life returned to Parkinson very slowly. In a daze he stared around, +uncomprehending. Then suddenly he realized that he was no longer +paralyzed: nor was he in the operating room. The bed on which he lay +was soft, comfortable; the room, unfamiliar. But not for long did his +mind dwell upon this; in a few moments his eyelids closed, and he +slept the sleep of complete mental and physical exhaustion. + +Daring the weeks that followed, Parkinson did little other than sleep. +Occasionally he arose, either to stretch himself, or to secure food, +but for the greater part of the time he remained in bed. His body was +a mere shadow of its former self as the result of his terrible +experience on the white slab: his incessant sleeping, necessary +because of his weakened condition, served to bring him back to his +former health. The Venerians seemed glad to have it thus: asleep, he +did not disturb their activities. + + * * * * * + +When he had awakened from his first period of natural slumber, he had +received a terrible shock. His left arm was gone, amputated at the +shoulder. Strangely, the wound had healed while he slept, probably the +result of the Venerian doctoring, so there was no pain: but the shock +had been terrible. + +After he had recovered from the effects of that shock, he had resolved +to make the Venerians pay for what they had done. And then he had +realized that the inhuman brutes must be destroyed for a greater +reason: unless he interfered, he believed that they would carry out +their intention of destroying all human life. + +As the weeks passed by, while strength was returning to Parkinson, he +learned in a general way what the invaders were doing. They were +engaged in developing vast quantities of microbes to be spread over +Earth. When these were ready, a great amount of fine dust that the +Venerians had brought with them, was impregnated with the bacilli. +This was then taken up into the tower, where, as Parkinson learned +later, it was blown out through the four tubes that spun around the +tower's top, to drift through the air--to enter human bodies--to +destroy life. + +The Venerians worked with the cultures and impregnated dust without +protection of any sort: evidently they were immune to the disease. +Later Parkinson learned that he was likewise immune; they had rendered +him so after trying the germs upon him. + +Gradually the bacteriologist's health returned--so gradually that his +captors seemed not to notice it. He was glad of this, for their +vigilance had relaxed, and he did not want it renewed. Even when he +was as strong and well as ever, he spent much time in bed, shamming +illness. And when he could do so without danger of detection, he kept +a close watch upon the three, waiting for a time when he would be +entirely alone. + + * * * * * + +At last his opportunity came. The three Venerians rose to the surface +together, leaving him in his room, to all outward appearances, asleep. +But sleep was far from him at that moment; he had been watching. + +Shortly after the sphere had vanished up the shaft, Parkinson emerged +from his room. For a moment he surveyed the circle of doors: then he +shrugged his shoulders. They all looked alike to him. Quickly he +crossed the room, and pressed a button that mechanically opened a +door. It was his purpose, first of all, to secure a weapon; one room +would do as well as another for a beginning. + +At first glance Parkinson was struck by the strange familiarity of +this chamber: then, after a moment, he recognized it. A tall, +high-backed metal chair in its center was its mark of identification. +This was the chamber wherein the Venerians had transferred a record of +his knowledge to their minds. + +Carefully he looked around in search of a weapon, but the room held +nothing but the chair and the thought transference device. In a moment +he withdrew, closing the door behind him. + +In the next room he entered, he was fortunate. This chamber was filled +with strange devices of various kinds. While curiously inspecting the +intricate machines, he saw something that brought a smile of +satisfaction to his lips. + +Against one wall stood a tall, glass case, one of the shelves of which +held several metal devices that Parkinson immediately recognized as +being the Venerians' weapons. Poignantly he remembered how a similar +device had destroyed a ship. + +Leaving the door slightly ajar, he crossed to the case and secured one +of the weapons. For a moment he studied it. There was nothing complex +about the mechanism; a cursory examination sufficed to reveal how it +was operated. Pressure on a little knob at the back of the handle +released the devastating ray. + +He was about to slip the device into his pocket when he stiffened +involuntarily. There was a sound of movement outside the room--he +heard a step on the metal floor--then he whirled. + + * * * * * + +One of the Venerians stood in the doorway, a menacing frown on his +face. He was crouching, ready to spring upon Parkinson. + +Quick as thought, the bacteriologist leveled his newly-acquired +weapon, and pressed on the knob. There was a sudden spurt of flame +from the Venerian's body; then it crumpled, sagging, shrinking +together. + +Hastily Parkinson released the pressure on the little knob, aghast at +the destructive power of his little weapon. Then, as he remembered the +torture he had endured at their hands, he directed the ray upon the +ashes, until they, too, were consumed, leaving naught but a dark patch +on the floor. + +For several minutes Parkinson stood there in deep thought. There was +no immediate danger from the two remaining Venerians, for they were +up in the tower, while the sphere was in the meteor; so he could think +with utmost safety. Deep thought and careful planning were necessary +now, for he had taken the step that must mean either his death or the +death of the Venerians. + +Suddenly he leaped into action; he had decided upon his next move. +Crossing to the case he secured another weapon. He wasn't sure that +they could be effectively discharged without re-loading; handicapped +as he was with one arm gone, he had to be certain of the reliability +of his means of defense. Then he left the room, and crossed to the +huge thoque sphere. + +It was the work of a moment to enter this, and prepare to ascend. This +done, he turned his attention to the numerous knobs on the wall. He +had not seen them for quite a while; it was with difficulty that he +recalled which knobs controlled the car's ascent. At last, hesitantly, +but correctly, he pressed on the knobs, and the sphere rose slowly +toward the surface. + +At the proper moment, Parkinson, brought the vehicle to a halt, and +slid back the door. Furtively he peered around. The Venerians were on +the other side of the tower. Quickly he lowered the ladder and +descended. + + * * * * * + +As he stepped to the floor, a sudden cry of dismay fell upon his ears. +One of the Venerians, coming around the car, had discovered him. +Without a moment's hesitation, Parkinson aimed his little weapon, and +pressed upon the knob. Like his fellow, the Venerian fell to the +floor, a heap of charred ashes. + +With the second Venerian destroyed, Parkinson dashed around the +sphere, metal cylinder held in readiness. The leader of the Venerians +was stealing stealthily around the other side of the car, his hand +fumbling beneath his garment. + +"Stop!" Parkinson cried. "Raise your hands above your head--empty!" A +cylinder clattered to the metal floor as the Venerian's hands moved +skyward. + +"Keep your back turned!" Parkinson snapped as the invader began about. +"I won't hesitate to press on this little knob, at your first hostile +move! I'd thoroughly enjoy burning you to a crisp, so be very +careful." + +While talking, Parkinson had moved slowly toward the man from Venus; +now, almost upon him, he quickly dropped his weapon into a pocket, and +swung a terrible blow at the base of his skull. The Venerian fell to +the floor without a groan, unconscious. + +Parkinson stared at the recumbent figure rather dubiously for a +moment. If only he had his other arm! But it was gone; with an +impatient shake of his head he stooped and raised the senseless +invader. + +It was anything but an easy task for the bacteriologist to carry his +seven-foot burden up the ladder and into the sphere, but finally, he +succeeded in doing so. Then, without delay, he lowered the car into +the meteor again. + +As he bore the Venerian from the vehicle, he tried to decide upon his +next move. Obviously, he had to secure the one surviving invader, so +that he would not be a menace to Parkinson when he revived. And then +the logical thing to do would be, in some way, to secure information +from him as to how to cure the disease that was spreading over the +world. + + * * * * * + +The logical thing to do, yes--but how? With only one arm, the simple +task of binding the Venerian presented considerable difficulty. How +much more difficult would it be to force anything from him? + +Then the solution of the first problem presented itself to Parkinson. +What was to prevent his strapping this being into the high-backed +chair to which he had been secured some time before? Quickly he +crossed the circular room to the door he had first passed through +while searching for a weapon. + +Ten minutes later, when the Venerian regained his senses, he was +fastened securely to the tall, metal chair. + +"Well," Parkinson addressed him, "conditions seem to be reversed now, +and you're the underdog. I've nipped your invasion in the bud. All +your elaborate preparations are wasted." + +Something resembling a sneer wreathed the Venerian's thin lips; a +mocking gleam lit his cold, blue eyes. + +"So our efforts have been wasted, have they? I'm afraid I can't agree +with you. Already, enough bacteria have been released to destroy all +life, though it will take longer than we desire. Even though you kill +me, our goal will still be reached. The human race will die!" + +A cloud of gloom fell upon Parkinson. He had expected this; but he had +been hoping that he was wrong. + +"Then there's only one thing for me to do, and that is: I'll have to +force you to tell me how to undo the damage you've done." + +The Venerian smiled mirthlessly. "You have absolutely no chance of +accomplishing that," he said. "We've done our work too well to allow +any interference now. + +"You do not know this, but we have released upon your world the worst +malady ever known to Venus. There is only one remedy; and I'm the only +one who knows it, or who has the means wherewith to accomplish it. And +I certainly won't tell!" + +The worried expression on Parkinson's face increased in intensity. +There was something in the Venerian's voice that convinced him that he +meant what he said. + +Then suddenly his countenance cleared, and a happy smile replaced his +frown. + +"Perhaps you won't tell, but I think you will. There are more ways +than one of forcing you." + + * * * * * + +Parkinson had hit upon a solution to his problem. The Venerians had +reproduced his knowledge in their brains; why wouldn't it be possible +for him to reverse the operation? + +In a moment he secured the thought-transference apparatus from a case +in the rear of the room, and bore it to the chair, and in spite of the +Venerian leader's struggles, placed it upon his head. He put the +head-phones over his own ears, and began fumbling with the controls. + +Suddenly he seemed to strike the right combination. There was a faint, +humming drone in his ears; after a moment this was replaced by a loud +crackling--and the knowledge of the man from Venus was becoming his +own. + +Somewhat dazed, Parkinson shut off the current. His mind was in a +turmoil. He was in possession of knowledge of such an amazing +character that, for the moment he had lost his mental equilibrium. +Indeed, so strange was his new-found knowledge, that he could not +grasp the significance of even half of the facts in his mind. + +But already, he knew how, with animal electricity, they had paralyzed +him; knew what had happened to him on the operating table; knew the +nature of the dread disease that destroyed his arm; the Gray +Plague--and knew the cure! + +A sudden thought arrested this review of his new knowledge. The Gray +Plague! At that very moment incalculable quantities of the deadly +bacilli were being cast into the air. And he was doing nothing about +it! + +He glanced at the Venerian. He was still unconscious, and would remain +so for some minutes to come. And even if he did recover his senses, he +was securely fastened to the chair; Parkinson dashed out of the room, +crossed to the sphere, and passed through the open doorway. + +Without hesitation he manipulated the controls, directed by his +Venerian knowledge. Rapidly the sphere rose to the surface. + +As it came to rest on the floor of the tower, Parkinson sprang from +the car, and headed toward a mass of intricate machinery that filled +fully a quarter of the great building. + +Even this caused him no great concern; he was as familiar with it as +he would have been had he constructed it. For some moments he was busy +with numerous dials and levers; then the release of the germs was +stopped. + + * * * * * + +Parkinson spent several minutes in examining the contents of the +tower, his Earthly mind lost in wonder at the strange things his +Venerian knowledge revealed to him. Then he entered the sphere again, +and sank into the meteor. + +As he moved toward the room that held the Venerian, his mind was busy +with conjectures as to what he would do with his prisoner. It was +necessary for the bacteriologist to reach the mainland as quickly as +possible, and make use of his knowledge of the cure for the Gray +Plague. He didn't want to kill the man; he couldn't free him; yet if +he left him strapped to the chair, he'd surely die of starvation. + +Still undecided, he thrust open the door. With a startled gasp he +stopped short. Somehow the Venerian had freed himself; at that moment +he leaped toward Parkinson. + +Instinctively the bacteriologist flung up his hand in a defensive +attitude. The onrushing Venerian caught Parkinson's out-thrust fist in +the pit of his stomach, and doubled up in pain. While he was thus +defenseless, Parkinson placed a well-directed blow on the side of the +Venerian's jaw, a blow carrying every ounce of his strength. + +So great was the force of the punch, that it lifted the man from Venus +and cast him headlong upon the floor. His head landed with a sickening +thud. Unmoving, he lay where he had fallen. + +Parkinson knelt over him for a moment, then arose. Without question, +the man was dead. The Venerian had solved the bacteriologist's last +problem; he was free to return to the United States with his means of +saving mankind. + + * * * * * + +Drawing the little metal cylinder from his pocket, he burned the body +of the Venerian leader to a heap of ashes, ridding the world of the +last invader. Then he turned and entered the glass-lined operating +room. + +Following the dictates of his Venerian knowledge, he crossed to one of +the walls, and drew therefrom a flat, glass vessel, somewhat like a +petri dish. This contained bacteria that were harmless in themselves, +and were hostile to those of the Gray Plague. These germs, brought +from Venus, were the only cure for the terrible disease.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The work of the English bacteriologist Twort, in 1915, +and the Frenchman, d'Herelle, in 1917, brought to the attention of the +scientific world the fact that many bacteria are subject to attack and +destruction by some unknown active agent with which they are +associated in infected material. This agent, whatever its character, +changed growing germ cultures to a dead, glassy substance. + +Twort advanced the thought that the agent might be a living, filtered +virus, although he favored the theory that it was an enzyme derived +from the bacteria themselves. + +D'Herelle, on the contrary, believed that this phenomenon was due to a +living, multiplying, ultra-microscopic microbe that destroyed certain +bacteria. + +Evidence favoring both theories has come to light, with the result +that, at present, controversy is rife. Up to date, the contention of +neither side has been proved.] + +Parkinson's adventure was almost at an end. He had not emerged +unscathed, but he had won! + +The details of his further actions need not be recorded. Suffice it to +say that he entered the sphere, carrying his precious, curative germs, +arose to the top of the tower, and passed through a round opening in +its side. His borrowed knowledge revealed that the car possessed +abilities that he had not suspected; with amazing speed he caused it +to flash across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. + +There he saw the frightful carnage that the Plague had caused, saw the +deserted cities--and was filled with self-reproach because he had not +acted sooner. + +Across the miles and miles of deserted country he sped, following the +fleeing hordes, finally passing over the stragglers and landing in +the heart of the congested areas. After making a few inquiries, he +returned to the sphere, and continued on toward the West. He landed, +finally, outside the city of San Francisco. + +A short time later, twisted, deformed, yet triumphant, he was ushered +into the presence of the United States government as--the man who had +saved the human race. + + +CHAPTER IV + +The terrible days of the Gray Plague ended in mystery. Much that had +puzzled the world, Parkinson, with his Venerian knowledge, explained; +but there was one thing, the final, enigmatical act in the strange +drama, that was as much of a mystery to him as it was to the rest of +the world. + +Enigma! Of what significance, of what portent--who could tell? + +When the great vessel from the United States, equipped to destroy the +meteor of the Venetians, neared the great thoque sphere, they came +upon a scene quite different from what they had expected. Parkinson, +who was on the ship, was more surprised than the rest, for he had +definite knowledge of what, in the natural course of events, they +should see. For the others there was nothing so very strange in what +they saw; Parkinson had lied, that was all. + +When the bacteriologist had left the meteor, there had been a high, +bronze-colored tower, a burnished lighthouse, covering its entire top. +It had been there--but now it was gone! Only the jagged, arched +surface of the meteor remained. + +They lowered boats and rowed to the strange island. There they saw +something that filled them--Parkinson especially--with a very definite +uneasiness. The entire top of the meteor was a twisted, fire-blasted +mass of bronze-like metal. Where the tower had been, where the shaft +had led into the remarkable interplanetary vehicle, there was now a +broken expanse of thoque that flashed fire under the rays of the sun. + +Something seemed to have melted, to have fused the tower, until it had +crumpled, and had run, filling the entrance of the meteor. There was +irrefutable evidence to that effect; no one thought otherwise. + +But what agency had done this strange thing? + +Someone suggested that it might have been the work of some prearranged +mechanism. Parkinson shook his head. Had such been the case, his +Venerian knowledge would have told him so. + +Obviously, nothing of Earth had done it, nothing of Earth--then +something of Venus! Inconclusive conjecture, perhaps, but no other +explanation offered itself. Something had sealed the contents of the +meteor from the sight of man, something with a purpose. From Venus? +The thought was logical, to say the least. + +Not for long did they remain there beside the Venerian vehicle; there +was naught for them to do, so they turned about and headed toward the +United States. They bore tidings that were vaguely disturbing, tidings +that none were glad to hear. For, according to all indications, +something alien to Earth was still within her confines. + + * * * * * + +Behind it all--the meteors, the Plague, the sealing of the Venerian +vehicle--is one fact of great significance. No longer is man alone in +the universe; no longer is he in isolation! Out of space came a +menace, an intelligence striving to wrest from him his right to rule +over Earth. No longer can man in his smug complacency think of himself +as being secure in his strength. He has been shown the utter folly of +such thinking. + +The menace--the invaders from Venus--came, and were destroyed, their +purposes defeated. Yet--in the vast reaches of space, in worlds of +other dimensions, in the cosmic crucible of life that embodies all +creation, there may be other forms of life, other menaces, hovering +clouds of death, preparing to sweep down upon Earth to snuff out her +life. Who can tell? + +And who may say that man is free from the Venerian danger? The strange +sealing of the meteor implies that the menace is still present. Who +knows but what those inhuman Venerian brutes may even now be planning +some new invasion, may be preparing to renew their attack upon Earth? + +Time alone will tell. + + +ROBOT PILOTS FOR AIRCRAFT + +Perfection of an automatic mechanical piloting mechanism for airplanes +has been achieved after several years of experiment at the royal +aircraft establishment of Farnborough. + +The apparatus has been successfully tried out on various types of +planes--two-seater day bombers, large twin-engine night bombers and +big flying boats. Its use as a second or relief pilot on long distance +flights by Royal Air Force machines is now being considered. + +In every test the robot pilot has steered an accurate course for hours +at a time and over distances up to 400 miles while human members of +the crew have been concerned with other duties. + +The basis of the mechanical pilot is a gyroscope that controls pistons +connected with the rudder and elevators of the plane. These pistons +are actuated by compressed air. + +Once a course is set the robot pilot keeps the machine on that route +and errors of even a fraction of a degree are instantly and +automatically detected and corrected. All the human pilot has to do in +a plane so equipped is to take off and land the machine. + +The Pilot's Assister is the official name of the new English device. +It weighs about 120 pounds. + +Flights have been made with the mechanical pilot in all sorts of +weather. In dense fog and clouds, when a human pilot would have found +it almost impossible to maintain straight or level flight because of +the absence of any visible horizon by which to steer, the mechanical +pilot flew the plane with absolute accuracy. On one test flight the +automatic pilot steered a dead true course from Farnborough in South +England, to Newcastle, 270 miles farther north. The human pilot did +not touch the controls until it was necessary to land the plane at the +destination. + + + + +Jetta of the Lowlands + +Conclusion + +_By Ray Cummings_ + +[Sidenote: Black-garbed figures move in ghastly greenness as the +invisible flyer speeds on its business of ransom.] + +[Illustration: _Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket._] + + +CHAPTER XV + +_In the Bandit Camp_ + +The dark cave, with its small spots of tube-light mounted upon movable +tripods, was eery with grotesque swaying shadows. The bandit camp. +Hidden down here in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Lowlands. An +inaccessible retreat, this cave in what once was the ocean floor. Only +a few years ago water had been here, water black and cold and +soundless. Tremendous pressure, with three thousand or more fathoms of +the ocean above it. Fishes had roamed these passages, no doubt. +Strange monsters of the deeps: sightless, or with eyes like +phosphorescent torches. + +But the water was gone now. Blue ooze was caked upon the cave floor. +Eroded walls; niches and tiny gullies; crevices and an arching dome +high overhead. A fantastic cave--no one, seeing it as I saw it that +morning at dawn, could have believed it was upon this earth. From +where De Boer had put me--on the flat top of a small, butte-like dome +near the upper end of the sloping cave floor--all the area of this +strange bandit camp was visible to me. + +A little tent of parchment was set upon the dome-top. + +"Yours," said De Boer, with a grin. "Make yourself comfortable. +Gutierrez will be your willing servant, until we see about this +ransom. It will have to be one very large, for you are a damn trouble +to me, Grant. And a risk. Food will come shortly. Then you can sleep: +I think you will want it." + +He leaped from the little butte, leaving the taciturn ever-watchful +Gutierrez sitting cross-legged on the ledge near me, with his +projector across his knees. + + * * * * * + +The cave was irregularly circular, with perhaps, a hundred-feet +diameter and a ceiling fifty feet high. A drift of the fetid, Lowland +air went through it--into a rift at this upper end, and out through +the lower passage entrance which sloped downward thirty feet and +debouched upon a rippled ramp of ooze outside. It was daylight out +there now. From my perch I could see the sullen heavy walls of a +ridge. Mist hung against them, but the early morning sunlight came +down in shafts penetrating the mist and striking the oily surface of a +spread of water left here in the depths of a cauldron. + +De Boer's flyer was outside. We had landed by the shore of the sea, +and the bandits had pushed the vehicle into an arching recess which +seemed as though made to hide it. All this camp was hidden. Arching +crags of the ridge-wall jutted out over the cave entrance. From above, +any passing flyer--even though well below the zero-height--would see +nothing but this black breathing sea, lapping against its eroded, +fantastic shore-line. + +Within the cave, there was only a vague filtering daylight from the +lower entrance, a thin shaft from the rift overhead, and the blue +tube-light, throwing great shadows of the tents and the men against +the black rock walls. + +There seemed perhaps a hundred of the bandits here. A semi-permanent +camp, by its aspect. Grey parchment tents were set up about the floor, +some small, others more elaborate. It seemed as though it were a +huddled little group of buildings in the open air, instead of in a +cave. One tent, just at the foot of my dome, seemed De Boer's personal +room. He went into it after leaving me, and came out to join the main +group of his fellows near the center of the cave where a large +electron stove, and piped water from a nearby subterranean freshet, +and a long table set with glassware and silver, stood these men for +kitchen and eating place. + + * * * * * + +The treasure had not yet been brought in from the flyer. But, from +what I overheard, it seemed that the radiumized ingots of the +ill-fated Spawn and Perona were to be stored for a year at least, here +in this cave. I could see the strong-room cubby. It was hewn from the +rock of the cave wall, its sealed-grid door-oval set with metal bars. + +I saw also what seemed a small but well-equipped machine shop, in a +recess room at one side of the cave. Men were working in there under +the light of tubes. And there was a niche hollowed out in the wall to +make a room for De Boer's instruments--ether-wave receivers and +transmitters, the aerial receiving wires of which stretched in banks +along the low ceiling. + +There was no activity in there now, except for one man who was +operating what I imagined might be an aerial insulator, guarding the +place from any prying search-vibrations. + +The main cave was a bustle of activity. The arriving bandits were +greeting their fellows and exchanging news. The men who had been left +here were jubilant at the success of the Chief's latest enterprise. +Bottles were unsealed and they began to prepare the morning meal. + +My presence caused considerable comment. I was a complication at which +most of the men were ill pleased, especially when the arriving bandits +told who I was, and that the patrols of the United States were +doubtless even now trying to find me. + +But De Boer silenced the grumbling with rough words. + +"My business, not yours. But you will take your share of his ransom, +won't you? Have done!" + +And Jetta, she had caused comment also. But when the bottles were well +distributed the grumbling turned to ribald banter which made me +shudder that it should fall upon Jetta's ears. De Boer had kept his +men away from her, shoving them aside when they crowded to see her. +She was in a little tent now, not far from the base of my ledge. + +My meal presently was brought from where most of the bandits now were +roistering at the long table in the center of the cave. + +"Eat," said Gutierrez. "I eat with you, Americano. _Madre Mia_, when +you are ransomed away from here it will please me! De Boer is fool, +with taking such a chance." + + * * * * * + +With the meal ended, another guard came to take Gutierrez' place and I +was ordered into my tent. The routine of the camp, it seemed, was to +use the daylight hours for the time of sleep. There were lookouts and +guards at the entrance, and a little arsenal of ready weapons stocked +in the passage. The men at the table were still at their meal. It +would end, I did not doubt, by most of them falling into heavy +alcoholic slumber. + +I was tired, poisoned by the need of sleep. I lay on fabric cushions +piled in one corner of my tent. But sleep would not come; my thoughts +ran like a tumbling mountain torrent, and as aimlessly. I hoped that +Jetta was sleeping. De Boer was now at the center table with his men. +Hans was guarding Jetta. He was a phlegmatic, heavy Dutchman, and +seemed decent enough. + +I wondered what Hanley might be doing to rescue me. But as I thought +about it, I could only hope that his patrols would not find us out +here. An attack and most certainly De Boer and his men in their anger +would kill me out of hand. And possibly Jetta also. + +I had not had a word alone with Jetta since that scene in the control +room. When we disembarked, she had stayed close by De Boer. But I knew +that Jetta had fathomed my purpose, that she was working to the same +end. We must find a way of arranging the ransom which would give us an +opportunity to escape. + +I pondered it. And at last an idea came to me, vague in all its +details, as yet. But it seemed feasible, and I thought it would sound +plausible to De Boer. I would watch my chance and explain it to him. +Then I realized how much aid Jetta would be. She would agree with my +plan, and help me convince him. And when the crucial time came, though +I would be a captive, watched by Gutierrez, bound and gagged, +perhaps--Jetta would be at liberty. De Boer and Gutierrez would not be +on their guard with her. + +I drifted off to sleep, working out the details of my plan. + + +CHAPTER XVI + +_Planning The Ransom_ + +I was awakened by the sound of low voices outside my tent. Jetta's +voice, and De Boer's, and, mingled with them, the babble of the still +hilarious bandits in the center of the cave. But there were only a few +left now; most of them had fallen into heavy slumber. I had been +asleep for several hours, I figured. The daylight shadows outside the +cave entrance showed that it was at least noon. + +I lay listening to the voices which had awakened me. De Boer was +saying: + +"But why, Jetta, should I bother with your ideas? I know what is best. +This ransom is too dangerous to arrange." His voice sounded calmly +good humored; I could hear in it now more than a trace of alcoholic +influence. He added, "I think we had better kill him and have done. My +men think so, too; already I have caused trouble with them, by +bringing him." + +It jolted me into full wakefulness. + +Jetta's voice: "No! I tell you it can be arranged, Hendrick. I have +been thinking of it, planning it--" + +"Child! Well what? The least I can do is listen; I am no pig-headed +American. Say it out. What would you do to ransom him safely?" + + * * * * * + +They were just at the foot of my ledge, in front of De Boer's tent. +Their voices rose so that I could hear them plainly. For all my start +at being awakened to hear my death determined upon, I recall that I +was almost equally startled by Jetta's voice. Her tone, her manner +with De Boer. Whatever opportunities they had had for talking +together, the change in their relationship was remarkable. De Boer was +now flushed with drink, but for all that he had obviously still a firm +grip upon his wits. And I heard Jetta now urging her ideas upon him +with calm confidence. An outward confidence; yet under it there was a +vibrant emotion suppressed within her even tone; a hint of tremulous +fright; a careful calculation of the effect she might be making upon +De Boer. Had he not been intoxicated--with drink and with her--he +might have sensed it. But he did not. + +"Hendrick, it can be done. A big price. Why not?" + +"Because if we are trapped and caught, of what use is the price we +might have gotten? Tell me that, wise one?" + +"We will not be trapped. And suppose you kill him--won't they track +you just the same, Hendrick?" + +"No. We would leave his body on some crag where it would be found. The +patrols would more quickly tire of chasing a killer when the damage is +done. They want Grant alive." + +"Then let them have him alive--for a big price. Hendrick, listen--" + +"Well, what?" he demanded again. "What is your plan?" + +"Why--well, Hendrick, like this--" + +She stammered, and I realized that she had no plausible plan. She was +fumbling, groping, urging upon De Boer that I must be ransomed alive. +But she had not good reason for it. + +"Well?" he prompted impatiently. + +"You--can you raise Great New York on the audiphone, Hendrick?" + +"Yes," he said. + +"Hanley's office?" + +"Yes, no doubt. Chah--that would give him a start, wouldn't it? De +Boer calmly calling him!" + + * * * * * + +He was laughing. I heard what sounded as though he were gulping +another drink. "By damn, Jetta, you are not the timid bird you look. +Call Hanley, eh?" + +"Yes. Can it be done and still bar his instruments from locating us?" + +"Yes, and bar his television. Believe it, Jetta. I have every device +for hiding. But--call Hanley!" + +"Why not? ... Hendrick, stop!" + +I started. It seemed that he was embracing her; forcing half drunken +caresses upon her. + +I scrambled through my tent doorway, but Gutierrez, who had come back +on guard, at once seized me. + +"_Hui_--so haste! Back, you." + +The Spaniard spoke softly, and he was grinning. "The chief plays with +woman's words, no? Charming senorita, though she dresses like a boy. +But that is the more charming, eh? Listen to her, Grant." + +He gripped me, and prodded my side with the point of his knife blade. +"Lie down Americano: we will listen." + +Jetta was insisting. "Hendrick, stop!" + +"Why?" + + * * * * * + +I could see them now. They were seated before the opening of De Boer's +tent. A little stove in front of them. Coffee for Jetta, who was +seated cross-legged, pouring it; a bowl of drink for De Boer. And some +baked breadstuff dainties on a platter. + +"Hendrick--" + +She pushed him away as he leaned to embrace her. Although she was +laughing with him, I could only guess at the chill of fear that might +be in her heart. + +"Foolish, Hendrick!" + +"Foolish little bird, Jetta mine." + +"You--it is you who are foolish, Hendrick." She slid from his embrace +and held her brimming coffee cup balanced before her, to ward him off. +"You think I am really clever, so trust me, Hendrick. Oh there is a +great future for us: you say I inspire you; let me! Hendrick De Boer, +Chieftain of the Lowlands! My father would have helped you become +that. You can build a little empire. Hendrick--why not? Father wanted +to make you President of Nareda. Why not build your own Lowland +Empire? We have a hundred men now? Why not gather a thousand? Ten +thousand? An empire!" + +"_Ave Maria_," from Gutierrez. "This _nina_ thinks big thoughts!" + +De Boer raised his bowl. "An empire--De Boer of the Lowlands! Go on; +you amuse me. We have a nice start, with this treasure." + +"Yes. And the ransom money. But you will take me first to Cape Town, +Hendrick? We can be married there: I am seventeen in a month." + +"Of course, Jetta. Haven't I promised?" There was no convincingness to +me in the way he said it. "Of course. To Cape Town for our marriage." + +"Stop! Hendrick, be serious!" He had reached for her again. "Don't be +a fool, Hendrick." + +"Very well," he said. "I am all serious. What is your plan?" + + * * * * * + +She was more resourceful this time. She retorted, "This craven Grant, +he fears for his life--but he is very smart, Hendrick. I think he is +scheming every moment how he can be safely ransomed." + +"Hah! No doubt of that!" + +"And he has had experience with Chief Hanley. He knows Hanley's +methods, how Hanley will act. Let us see what Grant says of this." + +She had no plan of her own, but she hoped that by now I had one! And +she was making an opportunity for me to put it before De Boer. + +He said, "There is sense to that, Jetta. If there is any way to fool +Hanley, that craven American has no doubt thought it out." + +She held another drink before him. "Yes. Let us see what he says." + +He drank; and again as they were near together he caressed her. + +"What a schemer you are, little bird. You and I are well matched, eh?" + +"Gutierrez may be watching us!" she warned. + +They suddenly looked up and saw Gutierrez and me. + +"Hah!" Fortunately it struck De Boer into further good humor. "Hah--we +have an audience! Bring down the prisoner, Gutierrez! Let us see if +his wits can get him out of this plight. Come down, Grant!" + +Gutierrez shoved me down the ladder ahead of him. De Boer stood up and +seized me. His great fingers dug into my shoulders. + +"Sit down, American! It seems you are not to die. _Perhaps_ not." + +The strength of his fingers was hurting me: he hoped I would wince. +Mine was now an ignominious role, indeed, yet I knew it was best. + +I gasped. "Don't do that: you hurt!" + +He chuckled and cast me loose. I added, with a show of spirit, "You +are a bullying giant. Just because you are bigger than I am--" + +"Hear that, Jetta? The American finds courage with his coming ransom!" + + * * * * * + +He shoved me to the ground. Gutierrez grinned, and withdrew a trifle. +Jetta avoided meeting my gaze. + +"Have some coffee," De Boer offered. "Alcohol is not good for you. Now +say: have you any suggestions on how I can safely ransom you?" + +It seemed that Jetta was holding her breath with anxiety. But I +answered with an appearance of ready eagerness. "Yes. I have. I can +arrange it with complete safety to you, if you give me a chance." + +"You've got your chance. Speak out." + +"You promise you will return me alive? Not hurt me?" + +"De duvel--yes! You have my promise. But your plan had better be very +good." + +"It is." + +I told it carefully. The details of it grew with my words. Jetta +joined in it. But, most of all, it did indeed sound feasible. "But it +must be done at once," I urged. "The weather is right; to-night it +will be dark; overcast; not much wind. Don't you think so?" + +He sent Gutierrez to the cave's instrument room to read the weather +forecast instruments. My guess was right. + +"To-night then," I said. "If we linger, it only gives Hanley more time +to plan trickery." + +"Let us try and raise him now," Jetta suggested. + +The Dutchman, Hans, had joined us. He too, seemed to think my ideas +were good. + +Except for the guards at the cave entrance, all the other bandits were +far gone in drink. With Hans and Gutierrez, we went to the instrument +room to call Hanley. As we crossed the cave, with Hans and De Boer +walking ahead together, De Boer spoke louder than he realized, and the +words came back to me. + +"Not so bad, Hans? We will use him--but I am not a fool. I'll send him +back dead, not alive! A little knife-thrust, just at the end! Safest +for us, eh, Hans?" + + +CHAPTER XVII + +_Within the Black Sack_ + +We left the bandit stronghold just after nightfall that same day. +There were five of us on the X-flyer. Jetta and De Boer, Hans and +Gutierrez and myself. The negotiations with Hanley had come through +satisfactorily; to De Boer, certainly, for he was in a triumphant mood +as they cast off the aero and we rose over the mist-hung depths. + +It was part of my plan, this meager manning of the bandit ship. But it +was mechanically practical: there was only Hans needed at the controls +for this short-time flight: with De Boer plotting his course, working +out his last details--and with Gutierrez to guard me. + +De Boer had been quite willing to take no other men--and most of them +were too far gone in their cups to be of much use. I never have +fathomed De Boer's final purpose. He promised Jetta now that when I +was successfully ransomed he would proceed to Cape Town by comfortable +night flights and marry her. It pleased Gutierrez and Hans, for they +wanted none of their comrades. The treasure was still on the flyer. +The ransom gold would be added to it. I think that De Boer, Gutierrez +and Hans planned never to return to their band. Why, when the treasure +divided so nicely among three, break it up to enrich a hundred? + +I shall never forget Hanley's grim face as we saw it that afternoon on +De Boer's image-grid. My chief sat at his desk with all his location +detectors impotent, listening to my disembodied voice explaining what +I wanted him to do. My humble, earnest, frightened desire to be +ransomed safely at all costs! My plea that he do nothing to try and +trap De Boer! + +It hurt me to appear so craven. But with it all, I knew that Hanley +understood. He could imagine my leering captor standing at my elbow, +prompting my words, dictating my very tone--prodding me with a knife +in the ribs. I tried, by every shade of meaning, to convey to Hanley +that I hoped to escape and save the ransom money. And I think that he +guessed it, though he was wary in the tone he used for De Boer to +hear. He accepted, unhesitatingly, De Boer's proposition: assured us +he would do nothing to assail De Boer; and never once did his grim +face convey a hint of anything but complete acquiescence. + + * * * * * + +We had President Markes on the circuit. De Boer, with nothing to lose, +promised to return Jetta with me. In gold coin, sixty thousand U. S. +dollar-standards for me; a third as much from Nareda, for Jetta. + +The details were swiftly arranged. We cut the circuit. I had a last +look at Hanley's face as the image of it faded. He seemed trying to +tell me to do the best I could; that he was powerless, and would do +nothing to jeopardize my life and Jetta's. Everything was ready for +the affair to be consummated at once. The weather was right; there was +time for Hanley and De Boer each comfortably to reach the assigned +meeting place. + +We flew, for the first hour, nearly due west. The meeting place was at +35 deg. N. by 59 deg. W., a few hundred miles east by north of the +fairy-like mountaintop of the Bermudas. Our charts showed the Lowlands +there to run down to what once was measured as nearly three thousand +fathoms--called now eighteen thousand feet below the zero-height. A +broken region, a depth-ridge fairly level, and no Lowland sea, nor +any settlements in the neighborhood. + +The time was set at an hour before midnight. No mail, passenger or +freight flyers were scheduled to pass near there at that hour, and, +save for some chance private craft, we would be undisturbed. The +ransom gold was available to Hanley. He had said he would bring it in +his personal Wasp. + + * * * * * + +The details of the exchange were simple. Hanley, with only one +mechanic, would hover at the zero-height, his Wasp lighted so that we +could see it plainly. The wind drift, according to forecast, would be +southerly. At 11 P.M. Hanley would release from his Wasp a small +helium-gas baloon-car--a ten-foot basket with the supporting gas bag +above it, weighted so that it would slowly descend into the depths, +with a southern drift. + +Our flyer, invisible and soundless, would pick up the baloon-car at +some point in its descent. The gold would be there, in a black casket. +De Boer would take the gold, deposit Jetta and me in the car, and +release it again. And when the balloon finally settled to the rocks +beneath, Hanley could pick it up. No men would be hidden by Hanley in +that basket. De Boer had stipulated that when casting loose the +balloon, its car must be swept by Hanley with a visible electronic +ray. No hidden men could withstand that blast! + +Such was the arrangement with Hanley. I was convinced that he intended +to carry it out to the letter. He would have his own invisible X-flyer +in the neighborhood, no doubt. But it would not interfere with the +safe transfer of Jetta and me. + +That De Boer would carry out his part, Hanley could only trust. He had +said so this afternoon bluntly. And De Boer had laughed and interposed +his voice in our circuit. + +"Government money against these two lives, Hanley! Of course you have +to trust me!" + + * * * * * + +It was a flight, for us, of something less than four hours to the +meeting place. Hans was piloting, seated alone in the little cubby +upon the forward wing-base, directly over the control room. De Boer, +with Jetta at his side, worked over his course and watched his +instrument banks. I was, at the start of the flight, lashed in a chair +of the control room, my ankles and wrists tied and Gutierrez guarding +me. + +Jetta did not seem to notice me. She did not look at me, nor I at her. +She pretended interest only in the success of the transfer; in her +father's treasure on board, the coming ransom money, and then a flight +to Cape Town, dividing the treasure only with Hans and Gutierrez; and +in her marriage with De Boer. She said she wanted me returned to +Hanley alive; craven coward that I was, still I did not deserve death. +De Boer had agreed. But I knew that at last, as they tumbled me into +the basket, someone would slip a knife into me! + +I had, as we came on board, just the chance for a few whispered +sentences with Jetta. But they were enough! We both knew what we had +to do. Desperate expedient, indeed! It seemed more desperate now as +the time approached than it had when I planned it. + +The weather at 7 P.M. was heavily overcast. Sultry, breathless, with +solid, wide-flung cloud areas spread low over the zero-height. Night +settled black in the Lowlands. The mists gathered. + +We flew well down--under the minus two thousand-foot level--so that +out of the mists the highest dome peaks often passed close beneath us. + + * * * * * + +At 8 P.M. De Boer flung on the mechanism of invisibility. The interior +of the ship faded to its gruesome green darkness. My senses reeled as +the current surged through me. Lashed in my chair, I sat straining my +adjusting eyes, straining my hearing to cope with this gruesome +unreality. And my heart was pounding. Would Jetta and I succeed? Or +was our love--unspoken love, born of a glance and the pressure of our +hands in that moonlit Nareda garden--was our love star-crossed, +foredoomed to tragedy? A few hours, now, would tell us. + +De Boer was taking no chances. He was using his greatest intensity of +power, with every safeguard for complete invisibility and silence. +From where I sat I could make out the black form of Hans through the +ceiling grid, at his pilot controls in the overhead cubby. A queer +glow like an aura was around him. The same green radiance suffused the +control room. It could not penetrate the opened windows of the ship; +could not pass beyond the electro-magnetic field enveloping us. Nor +could the curious hum which permeated the ship's interior get past the +barrage barrier. From outside, I knew, we were invisible and +inaudible. + +Strange unreality, here in the control room! The black-garbed figures +of De Boer and Jetta at their table were unreal, spectral. At the door +oval, which I could barely see, Gutierrez lurked like a shadow. All of +them, and Hans in the cubby above, were garbed in tight-fitting +dead-black suits of silklene fabric. Thin, elastic as sheer silk web, +opaque, lustreless. It covered their feet, legs and bodies; and their +arms and hands like black, silk gloves. Their heads were helmeted with +it. And they had black masks which as yet were flapped up and fastened +to the helmet above their foreheads. Their faces only were exposed, +tinted a ghastly, lurid green by this strange light. It glowed and +glistened like phosphorescence on their eyeballs, making them the eyes +of animals in a hunter's torchlight, at night. + + * * * * * + +De Boer moved upon an errand across the control room. He was a burly +black spectre in the skin-tight suit. His footfalls faintly sounded on +the metal floor. They were toneless footfalls. Unreal. They might +have been bells, or jangling thuds; they had lost their identity in +this soundless, vibrating hum. + +And he spoke, "We are making good progress, Jetta. We will be on +time." + +Ghastly voice! So devoid of every human timbre, every overtone shade +to give it meaning, that it might have been a man's voice, or a +woman's, the voice of something living, or something dead. Sepulchral. +A stripped shell of voice. Yet to me, inside here with it, it was +perfectly audible. + +And Jetta said, "Yes, Hendrick, that is good." + +A voice like his: no different. + +Gruesome. Weird. + + * * * * * + +I try now to picture the scene in detail, for out of these strange +conditions Jetta and I were to make our opportunity. + +9 P.M. De Boer was a methodical fellow. He checked his position on the +chart. He signalled the routine orders to Hans. And he gestured to +Gutierrez. The movements and acts of everyone had been definitely +planned. And this, too, Jetta and I had anticipated. + +"Time to make him ready, Gutierrez. Bring the sack in here. I'll +fasten him away." + +I was not garbed like the others. They could move out on the wing +runway under Hanley's eyes at short range, or climb in and out of the +balloon car, and not be visible. + +Gutierrez brought the sack. A dead-black fabric. + +"Shall I cut him loose now from his chair, Commander?" + +"I'll do it." + +De Boer drew a long knife blade, coated black, and thin and sharp as a +half-length rapier. Gutierrez had one of similar fashion. No +electronic weapons were in evidence, probably because the hiss of one +fired would have been too loud for our barrage, and its flash too +bright. But a knife thrust is dark and silent! + +The Spaniard's eyes were gleaming as he approached me with the bag, +as though he were thinking of that silent knife thrust he would give +me at the last. + +Dr. Boer said, "Stand up, Grant." He cut the fastenings that held me +in my chair. But my ankles and wrists remained tied. + +"Stand up, can't you?" + +"Yes." + + * * * * * + +I got unsteadily to my feet. In the blurred green darkness I could see +that Jetta was not looking at me. Gutierrez held the mouth of the sack +open. As though I were an upright log of wood, De Boer lifted me. + +"Pull it up over his feet, Gutierrez." + +The oblong sack was longer than my body. They drew it over me, and +bunched its top over my head. And De Boer laid me none too gently on +the floor. + +"Lie still. Do you get enough air?" + +"Yes." + +The black fabric was sufficiently porous for me to breathe comfortably +inside the sack. + +"All right, Gutierrez, I have the gag." + +I felt them carrying me from the control room, twenty feet or so along +the corridor, where a door-porte opened to a small balcony runway hung +beneath the forward wing. Jutting from it was a little take-off +platform some six feet by twelve in size. It was here that the +balloon-basket was to be boarded. The casket containing the ransom +gold would be landed here, and the sack containing me placed in the +car and cast loose. It was all within the area of invisibility of our +flyer. + +De Boer knelt over me, and drew back the top of the sack to expose my +face. + +"A little gag for you, Grant, so you will not be tempted to call out." + +"I won't do that." + +"You might. Well, good-by, American." + +"Good-by." And I breathed, "Good-by Jetta." Would I ever see her +again? Was this the end of everything for us? + + * * * * * + +He forced the gag into my mouth, tied it, and verified that my ankles +and wrists were securely lashed. In the green radiance he and +Gutierrez were like ghouls prowling over me, and their muffled +toneless voices, tomblike. + +The sack came up over my head. + +"Good-by, Grant." I could not tell which one said it. And the other +chuckled. + +I could feel them tying the mouth of the sack above my head. I lay +stiff. Then I heard their steps. Then silence. + +I moved. I might have rolled, but I did not try it. I could raise my +knees within the sack--double up like a folded pocket knife--but that +was all. + +A long, dark silence. It seemed interminable. Was Gutierrez guarding +me here in the corridor? I could not tell; I heard nothing save the +vague hum of the electronite current. + +It had been 9 o'clock. Then I fancied that it must be 10. And then, +perhaps, almost 11. I wondered what the weather outside was like. Soon +we would be nearing the meeting place. Would Hanley be there? Would +Jetta soon, very soon now, be able to do her part? I listened, +horribly tense, with every interval between the thumps of my heart +seeming so long a gap of waiting. + + * * * * * + +I heard a sound! A toneless, unidentifiable sound. Another like it; a +little sequence of faint sounds. Growing louder. Approaching +footsteps? Jetta's? I prayed so. + +Then a low voice. Two voices. Both the same in quality. But from the +words I could identify them. + +"Hello, Gutierrez." + +"_Nina_, hello." + +Jetta! She had come! + +"The captive is safe? No trouble?" + +"No. He has not moved." + +"Careful of him, Gutierrez. He is worth a lot of money to us." + +"Well you say it. Senorita. In half an hour now, we will be away. +Santa Maria, when this is over I shall breathe with more comfort!" + +"We'll have no trouble, Gutierrez. We're almost there. In ten minutes +now, or a little more." + +"So soon? What time is it?" + +"Well, after half-past ten. When it's over, Gutierrez, we head for +Cape Town. Clever of me, don't you think, to persuade Hendrick to take +us to Cape Town? Just you three men to divide all this treasure. It +would be foolish to let a hundred others have it." + +"True, _Nina_; true enough." + +"I insisted upon you and Hans--Gutierrez, what is that?" + +A silence. + +"I heard nothing." + +"A voice, was it?" + +"The Americano?" + +"No! No--the commander calling? Was it? Calling you, Gutierrez? +Perhaps we have sighted Hanley's Wasp. Go! I'll stand here, and come +quickly back." + + * * * * * + +Footsteps. Now! Our chance, come at last! I twisted over on my side, +and lay motionless. Ah, if only those were Gutierrez' fading +footfalls! And Jetta, here alone with me in the green darkness! Just +for this one vital moment. + +Fingers were fumbling at the top of my sack, unfastening the cord. +Hands and arms came swiftly in. Fingers ran down my back as I lay on +my side to admit them quickly. Fingers went fumbling at the cords that +lashed my crossed wrists behind me. A knee pressed against me. A +hurried, panting, half sobbing breath close over me-- + +Just a hurried moment. The hands withdrew. The sack went back over my +head. The knees, the slight weight against me, was gone. A few seconds +only. + +Footsteps. The voices again. + +"Was it the commander, Gutierrez?" + +"No. I do not know what it was. Nothing, probably." + +"The Wasp in sight?" + +"Not yet, _Nina_. You had best go back: De Boer, he might be jealous +of us, no? He is busy with his instruments, but should he realize you +are here, talking with me--" + +"Senseless, Gutierrez!" + +"Is it so, _Nina_? I have no attraction? Go back to him. Gold I want, +not trouble over you!" + +Faint laughter. + +"When we sight the Wasp, I'll call and tell you, Gutierrez. Too bad +you won't let me stay with you. I like you." + +"Yes. But go now!" + +Faint laughter. Footsteps. Then silence. + +Our vital moment had come and passed. And Jetta had done her part; the +role of action upon this dim lurid stage was now mine to play. + +My hands were free. + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +_The Combat in the Green Darkness_ + +Another interval. A dead, dark silence. I did not dare move. Gutierrez +was here, within a few feet of me, probably. I wondered if he could +see the outlines of the black sack. Doubtless they were very vague. +But if I exposed my flesh, my face, my hands, that would at once +attract his attention. + +I worked the loosened cords from my wrists; moved my stiffened hands +until, with returning blood, the strength came to them. I could not +reach my bound ankles without doubling up my knees. I did not dare +chance such a movement of the sack. But, after a moment, I got my +hands in front of me. + +Then I took the gag from my mouth and, with a cautious hand, pried at +the top of the sack where it was bunched over my head. Its fastening +was loose. + +Another interval. A dim muffled voice; "The Wasp is in sight, +Gutierrez!" + +A movement--a sound like footsteps. Probably Gutierrez moving to the +corridor window to glance at Hanley's distant hovering flyer. I hoped +it might be that: I had to take the chance. + + * * * * * + +I slid the bag from my face. I feared an abrupt alarm, or Gutierrez +leaping upon me. But there was silence, and I saw his vague dark +outlines at the window oval, five feet from me. + +I got my ankles loose and slid the bag off. I was unsteady on my feet, +but desperation aided me. + +Gutierrez half turned as I gripped him from behind. My hand on his +mouth stifled his outcry. His black knife blade waved blindly. Then my +clenched knuckle caught his temple, and dug with the twisting Santus +blow. I was expert at it, and I found the vulnerable spot. + +He crumpled in my grasp, and I slid his falling body across the narrow +corridor into the nearest cubby oval. + +Almost soundless; and in the control room Jetta and De Boer were +murmuring and gazing at Hanley's ship, which hung ahead and above us +at the zero-height. + +I had planned all my movements. No motion was lost. Gutierrez was +about my height and build. I stripped his black suit from him, donned +it, then tied his ankles and wrists, and gagged him against the time +when he would recover consciousness. Then I stuffed his body in the +sack and tied its top. + +This black suit had a mask, rolled up and fastened to the helmet. I +loosed it, dropping it over my face. Knife in hand, I stood at the +corridor window. + + * * * * * + +It was all black outside. The clouds were black overhead; the highest +Lowland crags, several thousand feet beneath us, were all but blotted +out in the murky darkness. Only one thing was to be seen: a quarter of +a mile ahead, now, and a thousand feet higher than our level, the +shining, bird-like outlines of Hanley's hovering little Wasp. It stood +like a painted image of an aero, alone on a dead-black background. Red +and green signal-lights dotted it, and on its stern tip a small, +spreading searchlight bathed the wings and the body with a revealing +silver radiance. + +Our forward flight had been checked, and we, too, were hovering. Hans +doubtless would remain for a time in the pilot cubby; De Boer and +Jetta were in the control room. It was only twenty feet away, but I +could barely see its oval entrance. + +"Gutierrez!" + +One of them was calling. My hollow empty voice echoed back as I softly +responded: + +"Yes?" + +"Be ready. We are arrived." + +"Yes, Commander. All is well." + +I continued to stand at the window. Hanley's little balloon-car was +visible now. Then he cut it away. We had moved forward in the +interval. The tiny car floated out almost above us. + +My gaze searched the void of darkness outside. Did Hanley have an +invisible flyer out there? Perhaps so. But it could accomplish nothing +as yet. It would not even dare approach, for fear of collision with +us. + + * * * * * + +The tiny car, with a white pilot light in it, swayed with a slow +descent. The basket beneath the supporting balloon oscillated in a +wide swing, then steadied. A sudden flash showed up there--a flashing +electronic stream, from Hanley's Wasp to the basket. The shot swept +the basket interior. No one could be hidden there and survive. + +It was Hanley's proof to us that he was following instructions. + +"Hah! He obeys properly, Jetta!" + +The voice floated back to me from the control room. Could I creep in +there, surprise De Boer now, and kill him? Doubtless. But it would +alarm Hans. I must await my chance to get them together. + +"Gutierrez! Hans, get us under it! Gutierrez!" + +The vague outline of De Boer came toward me in the corridor, burly +dark blob. His mask was down now. There were points of light, glowing +like faint distant stars, to mark his eyes. + +"Gutierrez." + +"Yes." + +A small black figure followed after him. Jetta. + +"Yes, De Boer." I stood over the sack. "I am ready." + +De Boer's giant shape towered beside me. Now! My knife thrust now! But +Hans was coming toward us. He would take alarm before I could reach +him. + +"Open the side porte, Gutierrez. Hurry, the car is here. Hans, you +should have stayed up there!" + +"The drift is calculated; the car is just here." + +We were all swift-moving shadows; disembodied voices. + +"Get that porte open." + +"Yes." I opened it. + + * * * * * + +We went outside on the runway. I passed close to Jetta, and just for +an instant pressed my gloved fingers on the black fabric of her +arm--and she knew. + +"Now, seize it." + +"Here, Hans, climb up." + +"I have it. Pull it, Gutierrez!" + +The car drifted at us from the black void. We caught it. + +"Hold it, Gutierrez." + +"Hans, clip the balloon. Up with you." + +In the blurred haste, I could not get them together. I did not want to +kill one and have the other leap upon me. + +We fastened the little balloon and dragged the car onto the take-off +platform. The shape of Hans leaped into the car. + +"It is here! The ransom money!" + +"Lift it to me. Heavy?" + +"Yes." + +"Gutierrez, help me. Hurry! If Hanley tries any trickery--" + +Our aero was drifting downward and southward in the slight wind. +Hanley's Wasp still hovered at the zero-height. + +"In, Gutierrez." + + * * * * * + +Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket and placed it on the wing +runway. De Boer pried up its lid. The gold was there. I could not tell +where Jetta was; I prayed she would keep away from this. + +Then the shape of De Boer was missing! But in a moment he appeared, +dragging the sack. + +"Lift him, Gutierrez. Hans, unclip the balloon and shove off the car!" + +We were all standing at the two-foot rail of the runway. The +car-basket, floating now, was off side and level with us. My chance! + +"In with him, Gutierrez." + +I shoved the body, encased in its black sack, with Hans helping me. +And suddenly De Boer's knife came down at the sack! A stab. But an +instinct to save the poor wretch within swept me. I struck at De +Boer's arm and deflected the blow. The sack tumbled into the car. + +I had neglected whatever chance had existed. Too late now! + +"What in the hell!" + +De Boer's shape seized me. + +"What--" + +It sent me into a sudden confusion. I flung him off. I stumbled +against the shape of Hans. + +The car was almost loose; drifting away. + +Without thought--a frantic impulse--I pushed Hans over the brink. He +fell into the car. It swayed into an oscillation with the impact. The +balloon sank below our wing level and was gone, with only Hans, +muffled shouts floating up. + + * * * * * + +And De Boer came leaping at me from behind. I whirled around. My +danger was too much for the watching Jetta. She screamed. + +"Philip, look out for him!" + +"Hah! The American. By damn, what is this?" + +It gave De Boer pause. He gripped a wing stay-wire for a second. + +Then he came with a rush. + +The corridor door was open behind me. I flung myself into it--and +collided with a shape. + +"Philip!" + +I shoved at her frantically. + +"Jetta, get back! Away from us!" + +I pulled at her, half falling. De Boer's shape came through the +doorway into the corridor. And was blotted out in the green darkness +as he turned the other way, to avoid me if I struck. + +A silence. The shadow of Jetta was behind me. I stood with poised +knife, listening, straining my eyes through the faint green darkness. +De Boer was here, knife in hand, fallen now into craftly, motionless +silence. He might have been close here down the corridor. Or in any +one of these nearby cubby doorways. + +I slid forward along the wall. The corridor was solid black down its +length: the green radiance seemed brighter at the control room behind +me. Had De Boer gone into this solid blackness, to lure me? + + * * * * * + +I stopped my advance. Stood again, trying to see or hear something. + +And then I saw him! Two small glowing points of light. Distant stars. +His eyes! Five feet ahead of me? Or ten? Or twenty? + +A rustle. A sound. + +His dark form materialized as he came--a huge, black blob overwhelming +me, his arm and knife blade striking. + +I dropped to the floor-grid, and his blade went over me. And as I +dropped, I struck with an upward thrust. My knife met solidity; sank +into flesh. + +I twisted past him on the floor as he fell. My knife was gone: buried +in him. + +Words were audible; choking gasps. I could see his form rising, +staggering. The open porte was near him; he swayed through it. + +Did he know he was mortally wounded? I think so. He swayed on the wing +runway, and I slid to the door and stood watching. And was aware of +the shadow of Jetta creeping to join me. + +"Is he--?" + +"Quiet, Jetta." + +He stood under the wing, swaying, gripping a stay. Then his voice +sounded, and it seemed like a laugh. + +"The craven American--wins." He moved a step. "Not to see--me die--" + +He toppled at the rail. "Good-by, Jetta." + +A great huddled shadow. A blob, toppling, falling.... + +Far down there now the crags and peaks of the Lowland depths were +visible. The darkness swallowed his whirling body. We could not hear +the impact. + + +CHAPTER XIX + +_Episode of the Lowlands_ + +There is but little remaining for me to record. I could not operate +the mechanism of invisibility of De Boer's X-flyer. But its pilot +controls were simple. With Jetta at my side, trembling now that our +gruesome task was over, we groped our way through the green darkness +and mounted to the pilot cubby. And within ten minutes I had lowered +the ship into the depths, found a landing place upon the dark rocks, +and brought us down. + +Hanley's Wasp had landed: we saw its lights half a mile from us. And +then the lights of another ship--an X-flyer convoying Hanley--slowly +materializing nearby. + +And then reunion. Jetta and I left De Boer's invisible vessel and +clambered over the rocks. And presently Hanley, staring at our +grotesque black forms, came rushing forward and greeted us. + +We were an hour locating De Boer's flyer, for all that Jetta and I had +just left it and thought we could find our way back. But we stumbled +onto it at last. Hanley felt his way aboard and brought it to +visibility. It has since been returned to the Anti-War Department, +with the compliments of Hanley's Office. + +The ransom money was restored to its proper source. Spawn's treasure +of radiumized quicksilver we shipped back to Nareda, where it was +checked and divided, and Jetta's share legally awarded to her. + +De Boer was dead when Hanley found him that night on the rocks. Jetta +and I did not go to look at him.... + +The balloon basket landed safely. Hanley and his men were down there +in time to seize it. Hans was caught; and Gutierrez, within the sack, +was found to be uninjured. They are incarcerated now in Nareda. They +were willing to tell the location of the bandit stronghold. A raid +there the following day resulted in the capture of most of De Boer's +men. + +All this is now public news. You have heard it, of course. Yet in my +narrative, setting down the events as I lived them, I have tried to +give more vivid details than the bare facts as they were blared +through the public audiphones. + +An episode of the strange, romantic, fantastic Lowlands. A very +unimportant series of incidents mingled with the news of a busy +world--just a few minutes of the newscasters' time to tell how a band +of depth smugglers was caught. + +But it was a very important episode to me. It changed, for me, a +clanking, thrumming machine-made world into a shining fairyland of +dreams come true. It gave me little Jetta. + +(_The End_) + + + + +Vagabonds of Space + +A COMPLETE NOVELETTE + +_By Harl Vincent_ + +[Illustration: _Carr went mad with fury. There it was, looming close +in his vision._] + +[Sidenote: From the depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space came the +thought-warning, "Turn back!" But Carr and his Martian friend found it +was too late!] + + +CHAPTER I + +_The Nomad_ + +Gathered around a long table in a luxuriously furnished director's +room, a group of men listened in astonishment to the rapid and +forceful speech of one of their number. + +"I tell you I'm through, gentlemen," averred the speaker. "I'm fed up +with the job, that's all. Since 2317 you've had me sitting at the helm +of International Airways and I've worked my fool head off for you. +Now--get someone else!" + +"Made plenty of money yourself, didn't you, Carr?" asked one of the +directors, a corpulent man with a self-satisfied countenance. + +"Sure I did. That's not the point. I've done all the work. There's not +another executive in the outfit whose job is more than a title, and +you know it. I want a change and a rest. Going to take it, too. So, go +ahead with your election of officers and leave me out." + +"Your stock?" Courtney Davis, chairman of the board, sensed that Carr +Parker meant what he said. + +"I'll hold it. The rest of you can vote it as you choose: divide the +proxies pro rata, based on your individual holdings. But I reserve the +right to dump it all on the market at the first sign of shady +dealings. That suit you?" + +The recalcitrant young President of International Airways had risen +from the table. The chairman attempted to restrain him. + +"Come on now, Carr, let's reason this out. Perhaps if you just took a +leave of absence--" + +"Call it anything you want. I'm done right now." + +Carr Parker stalked from the room, leaving eleven perspiring +capitalists to argue over his action. + + * * * * * + +He rushed to the corridor and nervously pressed the call button of the +elevators. A minute later he emerged upon the roof of the Airways +building, one of the tallest of New York's mid-town sky-scrapers. The +air here, fifteen hundred feet above the hot street, was cool and +fresh. He walked across the great flat surface of the landing stage to +inspect a tiny helicopter which had just settled to a landing. Angered +as he was, he still could not resist the attraction these trim little +craft had always held for him. The feeling was in his blood. + +His interest, however, was short lived and he strolled to the +observation aisle along the edge of the landing stage. He stared +moodily into the heavens where thousands of aircraft of all +descriptions sped hither and yon. A huge liner of the Martian route +was dropping from the skies and drifting toward her cradle on Long +Island. He looked out over the city to the north: fifty miles of it he +knew stretched along the east shore of the Hudson. Greatest of the +cities of the world, it housed a fifth of the population of the United +States of North America; a third of the wealth. + +Cities! The entire world lived in them! Civilization was too highly +developed nowadays. Adventure was a thing of the past. Of course there +were the other planets, Mars and Venus, but they were as bad. At least +he had found them so on his every business trip. He wished he had +lived a couple of centuries ago, when the first space-ships ventured +forth from the earth. Those were days of excitement and daring +enterprise. Then a man could find ways of getting away from +things--next to nature--out into the forests; hunting; fishing. But +the forests were gone, the streams enslaved by the power monopolies. +There were only the cities--and barren plains. Everything in life was +made by man, artificial. + + * * * * * + +Something drew his eyes upward and he spotted an unusual object in the +heavens, a mere speck as yet but drawing swiftly in from the upper air +lanes. But this ship, small though it appeared, stood out from amongst +its fellows for some reason. Carr rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. +Was it? Yes--it was--surrounded by a luminous haze. Notwithstanding +the brilliance of the afternoon sun, this haze was clearly visible. A +silver shimmering that was not like anything he had seen on Earth. The +ship swung in toward the city and was losing altitude rapidly. Its +silvery aura deserted it and the vessel was revealed as a sleek, +tapered cylinder with no wings, rudders or helicopter screws. Like the +giant liners of the Interplanetary Service it displayed no visible +means of support or propulsion. This was no ordinary vessel. + +Carr watched in extreme interest as it circled the city in a huge +spiral, settling lower at each turn. It seemed that the pilot was +searching for a definite landing stage. Then suddenly it swooped with +a rush. Straight for the stage of the Airways building! The strange +aura reappeared and the little vessel halted in mid-air, poised a +moment, then dropped gracefully and lightly as a feather to the level +surface not a hundred feet from where he stood. He hurried to the spot +to examine the strange craft. + +"Mado!" he exclaimed in surprise as a husky, bronzed Martian squeezed +through the quickly opened manhole and clambered heavily to the +platform. Mado of Canax--an old friend! + +"Devils of Terra!" gasped the Martian, his knees giving way, "--your +murderous gravity! Here, help me. I've forgotten the energizing +switch." + + * * * * * + +Carr laughed as he fumbled with a mechanism that was strapped to the +Martian's back. Mado, who tipped the scales at over two hundred pounds +on his own planet, weighed nearly six hundred here. His legs simply +couldn't carry the load! + +"There you are, old man." Parker had located the switch and a musical +purr came from the black box between the Martian's broad shoulders. +"Now stand up and tell me what you're doing here. And what's the idea +of the private ship? Come all the way from home in it?" + +His friend struggled to his feet with an effort, for the field +emanating from the black box required a few seconds to reach the +intensity necessary to counteract two-thirds of the earth's gravity. + +"Thanks Carr," he grinned. "Yes, I came all the way in that bus. +Alone, too--and she's mine! What do you think of her?" + +"A peach, from what I can see. But how come? Not using a private +space-flier on your business trips, are you?" + +"Not on your life! I've retired. Going to play around for a few years. +That's why I bought the Nomad." + +"Retired! Why Mado, I just did the same thing." + +"Great stuff! They've worked you to death. What are you figuring on +doing with yourself?" + +Carr shrugged his shoulders resignedly. "Usual thing, I suppose. +Travel aimlessly, and bore myself into old age. Nothing else to do. No +kick out of life these days at all, Mado, even in chasing around from +planet to planet. They're all the same." + + * * * * * + +The Martian looked keenly at his friend. "Oh, is that so?" he said. +"No kick, eh? Well, let me tell you, Carr Parker, you come with me and +we'll find something you'll get a kick out of. Ever seen the Sargasso +Sea of the solar system? Ever been on one of the asteroids? Ever seen +the other side of the Moon--Uranus--Neptune--Planet 9, the farthest +out from the sun?" + +"No-o." Carr's eyes brightened somewhat. + +"Then you haven't seen anything or been anywhere. Trouble with you is +you've been in the rut too long. Thinking there's nothing left in the +universe but the commonplace. Right, too, if you stick to the regular +routes of travel. But the _Nomad's_ different. I'm just a rover when +I'm at her controls, a vagabond in space--free as the ether that +surrounds her air-tight hull. And, take it from me, there's something +to see and do out there in space. Off the usual lanes, perhaps, but +it's there." + +"You've been out--how long?" Carr hesitated. + +"Eighty Martian days. Seen plenty too." He waved his arm in a gesture +that seemed to take in the entire universe. + +"Why come here, with so much to be seen out there?" + +"Came to visit you, old stick-in-the-mud," grinned Mado, "and to try +and persuade you to join me. I find you footloose already. You're +itching for adventure; excitement. Will you come?" + +Carr listened spellbound. "Right now?" he asked. + +"This very minute. Come on." + +"My bag," objected Carr, "it must be packed. I'll need funds too." + +"Bag! What for? Plenty of duds on the _Nomad_--for any old climate. +And money--don't make me laugh! Vagabonds need money?" He backed +toward the open manhole of the _Nomad_, still grinning. + +Carr hesitated, resisting the impulse to take Mado at his word. He +looked around. The landing stage had been deserted, but people now +were approaching. People not to be tolerated at the moment. He saw +Courtney Davis, grim and determined. There'd be more arguments, +useless but aggravating. Well, why not go? He'd decided to break away. +What better chance? Suddenly he dived for the manhole of Mado's +vessel; wriggled his way to the padded interior of the air-lock. He +heard the clang of the circular cover. Mado was clamping it to its +gasketed seat. + +"Let's go!" he shouted. + + +CHAPTER II + +_Into the Heavens_ + +The directors of International Airways stared foolishly when they saw +Carr Parker and the giant Martian enter the mysterious ship which was +a trespasser on their landing stage. They gazed incredulously as the +gleaming torpedo-shaped vessel arose majestically from its position. +There was no evidence of motive power other than a sudden radiation +from its hull plates of faintly crackling streamers of silvery light. +They fell back in alarm as it pointed its nose skyward and accelerated +with incredible rapidity, the silver energy bathing them in its +blinding luminescence. They burst forth in excited recrimination when +it vanished into the blue. Courtney Davis shook his fist after the +departing vessel and swore mightily. + +Carr Parker forgot them entirely when he clambered into the bucket +seat beside Mado, who sat at the Nomad's controls. He was free at +last: free to probe the mysteries of outer space, to roam the skies +with this Martian he had admired since boyhood. + +"Glad you came?" Mado asked his Terrestrial friend. + +"You bet. But tell me about yourself. How you've been and how come +you've rebelled, too? I haven't seen you for a long time, you know. +Why, it's been years!" + +"Oh, I'm all right. Guess I got fed up with things about the same way +you did. Knew last time I saw you that you were feeling as I did. +That's why I came after you." + +"But this vessel, the _Nomad_. I didn't know such a thing was in +existence. How does it operate? It seems quite different from the +usual ether-liners." + + * * * * * + +"It's a mystery ship. Invented and built by Thrygis, a discredited +scientist of my country. Spent a fortune on it and then went broke and +killed himself. I bought it from the executors for a song. They +thought it was a pile of junk. But the plans and notes of the inventor +were there and I studied 'em well. The ship is a marvel, Carr. +Utilizes gravitational attraction and reversal as a propelling force +and can go like the Old Boy himself. I've hit two thousand miles a +second with her." + +"A second! Why, that's ten times as fast as the regular liners! Must +use a whale of a lot of fuel. And where do you keep it? The fuel, I +mean." + +"Make it right on board. I'm telling you Carr, the _Nomad_ has no +equal. She's a corker." + +"I'll say she is. But what do you mean--make the fuel?" + +"Cosmic rays. Everywhere in space you know. Seems they are the result +of violent concentrations of energy that cause the birth of atoms. +Thrygis doped out a collector of these rays that takes 'em from their +paths and concentrates 'em in a retort where there's a spongy metal +catalyst that never deteriorates. Here there is a reaction to the +original action out in space and new atoms are born, simple ones of +hydrogen. But what could be sweeter for use in one of our regular +atomic motors? The energy of disintegration is used to drive the +generators of the artificial gravity field, and there you are. Sounds +complicated, but really isn't. And nothing to get out of whack +either." + + * * * * * + +"Beats the rocket motors and bulky fuel of the regular liners a mile, +doesn't it? But since when are you a navigator, Mado?" + +"Don't need to be a navigator with the _Nomad_. She's automatic, once +the controls are set. Say we wish to visit Venus. The telescope is +sighted on that body and the gravity forces adjusted so we'll be +attracted in that direction and repelled in the opposite direction. +Then we can go to bed and forget it. The movement of the body in its +orbit makes no difference because the force follows wherever it goes. +See? The speed increases until the opposing forces are equal, when +deceleration commences and we gradually slow down until within ten +thousand miles of the body, when the _Nomad_ automatically stops. +Doesn't move either, until we awaken to take the controls. How's that +for simple?" + +"Good enough. But suppose a wandering meteor or a tiny asteroid gets +in the way? At our speed it wouldn't have to be as big as your fist to +go through us like a shot." + +"All taken care of, my dear Carr. I told you Thrygis was a wiz. Such a +happenstance would disturb the delicate balance of the energy +compensators and the course of the _Nomad_ would instantly alter to +dodge the foreign object. Once passed by, the course would again be +resumed." + +"Some ship, the _Nomad_!" Carr was delighted with the explanations. +"I'm sold on her and on the trip. Where are we now and where bound?" + + * * * * * + +Mado glanced at the instrument board. "Nearly a million miles out and +headed for that Sargasso Sea I told you about," he said. "It isn't +visible in the telescope, but I've got it marked by the stars. Out +between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a quarter of a billion miles +away. But we'll average better than a thousand miles a second. Be +there in three days of your time." + +"How can there be a sea out there in space?" + +"Oh, that's just my name for it. Most peculiar thing, though. There's +a vast, billowy sort of a cloud. Twists and weaves around as if alive. +Looks like seaweed or something; and Carr, I swear there are things +floating around in it. Wrecks. Something damn peculiar, anyway. I vow +I saw a signal. People marooned there or something. Sorta scared me +and I didn't stay around for long as there was an awful pull from the +mass. Had to use full reversal of the gravity force to get away." + +"Now why didn't you tell me that before? That's something to think +about. Like the ancient days of ocean-going ships on Earth." + +"Tell you? How could I tell you? You've been questioning me ever since +I first saw you and I've been busy every minute answering you." + +Carr laughed and slid from his seat to the floor. He felt curiously +light and loose-jointed. A single step carried him to one of the +stanchions of the control cabin and he clung to it for a moment to +regain his equilibrium. + +"What's wrong?" he demanded. "No internal gravity mechanism on the +_Nomad_?" + +"Sure is. But it's adjusted for Martian gravity. You'll get along, but +it wouldn't be so easy for me with Earth gravity. I'd have to wear the +portable G-ray all the time, and that's not so comfortable. All right +with you?" + +"Oh, certainly. I didn't understand." + + * * * * * + +Carr saw that his friend had unstrapped the black box from his +shoulders. He didn't blame him. Glad he wasn't a Martian. It was +mighty inconvenient for them on Venus or Terra. Their bodies, large +and of double the specific gravity, were not easily handled where +gravity was nearly three times their own. The Venusians and +Terrestrials were more fortunate when on Mars, for they could become +accustomed to the altered conditions. Only had to be careful they +didn't overdo. He remembered vividly a quick move he had made on his +first visit to Mars. Carried him twenty feet to slam against a granite +pedestal. Bad cut that gave him, and the exertion in the rarefied +atmosphere had him gasping painfully. + +He walked to one of the ports and peered through its thick window. +Mado was fussing with the controls. The velvety blackness of the +heavens; the myriad diamond points of clear brilliance. Cold, too, it +looked out there, and awesomely vast. The sun and Earth had been left +behind and could not be seen. But Carr didn't care. The heavens were +marvelous when viewed without the obstruction of an atmosphere. But +he'd seen them often enough on his many business trips to Mars and +Venus. + +"Ready for bed?" Mado startled him with a tap on the shoulder. + +"Why--if you say so. But you haven't shown me through the _Nomad_ +yet." + +"All the time in the universe for that. Man, don't you realize you're +free? Come, let's grab some sleep. Need it out here. The ship'll be +here when we wake up. She's flying herself right now. Fast, too." + +Carr looked at the velocity indicator. Seven hundred miles a second +and still accelerating! He felt suddenly tired and when Mado opened +the door of a sleeping cabin its spotless bunk looked very inviting. +He turned in without protest. + + +CHAPTER III + +_A Message_ + +The days passed quickly, whether measured by the Martian chronometer +aboard the _Nomad_ or by Carr's watch, which he was regulating to +match the slightly longer day of the red planet. He was becoming +proficient in the operation of all mechanisms of the ship and had +developed a fondness for its every appointment. + +Behind them the sun was losing much of its blinding magnificence as it +receded into the ebon background of the firmament. The Earth was but +one of the countless worlds visible through the stern ports, +distinguishable by its slightly greenish tinge. They had reached the +vicinity of the phenomenon of space Mado had previously discovered. +Carr found himself seething with excitement as the _Nomad_ was brought +to a drifting speed. + +Mado, who had disclaimed all knowledge of navigation, was busy in the +turret with a sextant. He made rapid calculations based on its +indications and hurried to the controls. + +"Find it?" Carr asked. + +"Yep. Be there in a half hour." + +The nose of the vessel swung around and Mado adjusted the gravity +energy carefully. Carr glued his eye to the telescope. + +"See anything?" inquired Mado. + +"About a million stars, that's all." + +"Funny. Should be close by." + +Then: "Yes! Yes! I see it!" Carr exulted. "A milky cloud. Transparent +almost. To the right a little more!" + +The mysterious cloud rushed to meet them and soon was visible to the +naked eye through the forward port. Their speed increased alarmingly +and Mado cut off the energy. + +"What's that?" Mado stared white-faced at his friend. + +"A voice! You hear it too?" + +"Yes. Listen!" + +Amazed, they gazed at each other. It was a voice; yet not a sound came +to their ears. The voice was in their own consciousness. A mental +message! Yet each heard and understood. There were no words, but clear +mental images. + +"Beware!" it seemed to warn. "Come not closer, travelers from afar. +There is danger in the milky fleece before you!" + + * * * * * + +Mado pulled frantically at the energy reverse control. The force was +now fully repelling. Still the billowing whiteness drew nearer. It +boiled and bubbled with the ferocity of one of the hot lava cauldrons +of Mercury. Changing shape rapidly, it threw out long streamers that +writhed and twisted like the arms of an octopus. Reaching. Searching +for victims! + +"God!" whispered Carr. "What is it?" + +"Take warning," continued the voice that was not a voice. "A great +ship, a royal ship from a world unknown to you, now is caught in the +grip of this mighty monster. We can not escape, and death draws +quickly near. But we can warn others and ask that our fate be reported +to our home body." + +A sudden upheaval of the monstrous mass spewed forth an object that +bounced a moment on the rippling surface and then was lost to view. A +sphere, glinting golden against the white of its awful captor. + +"The space-ship!" gasped Mado. "It's vanished again!" + +They hurtled madly in the direction of this monster of the heavens, +their reverse energy useless. + +"We're lost, Mado." Carr was calm now. This was excitement with a +vengeance. He'd wished for it and here it was. But he'd much rather +have a chance to fight for his life. Fine ending to his dreams! + +"Imps of the canals! The thing's alive!" Mado hurled himself at the +controls as a huge blob of the horrible whiteness broke loose from the +main body and wobbled uncertainly toward them. A long feeler reached +forth and grasped the errant portion, returning it with a vicious +jerk. + +"Turn back! Turn back!" came the eery warning from the golden sphere. +"All is over for us. Our hull is crushed. The air is pouring from our +last compartment. Already we find breathing difficult. Turn back! The +third satellite of the fifth planet is our home. Visit it, we beseech +you, and report the manner of our going. This vile creature of space +has power to draw you to its breast, to crush you as we are crushed." + + * * * * * + +The _Nomad_ lurched and shuddered, drawn ever closer to the horrid +mass of the thing. A gigantic jellyfish, that's what it was, a hundred +miles across! Carr shivered in disgust as it throbbed anew, sending +out those grasping streamers of its mysterious material. As the +_Nomad_ plunged to its doom with increasing speed, Mado tried to +locate some spot in the universe where an extreme effect could be +obtained from the full force of the attracting or repulsive energies. +They darted this way and that but always found themselves closer to +the milky billows that now were pulsating in seeming eagerness to +engulf the new victim. + +Once more came the telepathic warning, "Delay no longer. It is high +time you turned back. You must escape to warn our people and yours. +Even now the awful creature has us in its vitals, its tentacles +reaching through our shattered walls, creeping and twining through the +passages of our vessel. Crushing floors and walls, its demoniac +energies heating our compartment beyond belief. We can hold out no +longer. Go! Go quickly. Remember--the third satellite of the fifth +planet--to the city of golden domes. Tell of our fate. Our people will +understand. You--" + +The voice was stilled. Mado groaned as if in pain and Carr saw in that +instant that each knob and lever on the control panel glowed with an +unearthly brush discharge. Not violet as of high frequency +electricity, but red. Cherry red as of heated metal. The emanations of +the cosmic monster were at work on the _Nomad_. A glance through the +forward port showed they had but a few miles to go. They'd be in the +clutches of the horror in minutes, seconds, at the rate they were +traveling. Mado slumped in his seat, his proud head rolling +grotesquely on his breast. He slid to the floor, helpless. + + * * * * * + +Carr went mad with fury. It couldn't be! This thing of doom was a +creature of his imagination! But no--there it was, looming close in +his vision. By God, he'd leave the mark of the _Nomad_ on the vicious +thing! He remembered the ray with which the vessel was armed. He was +in the pilot's seat, fingering controls that blistered his hands and +cramped his arms with an unnameable force. He'd fight the brute! Full +energy--head on--that was the way to meet it. Why bother with the +reversal? It was no use. + +A blood-red veil obscured his vision. He felt for the release of the +ray; pulled the gravity energy control to full power forward. In a +daze, groping blindly for support, he waited for the shock of impact. +The mass of that monstrosity must be terrific, else why had it such a +power of attraction for other bodies? Or was it that the thing +radiated energies unknown to science? Whatever it was, the thing would +know the sting of the _Nomad's_ ray. Whatever its nature, animate or +inanimate, it was matter. The ray destroyed matter. Obliterated it +utterly. Tore the atoms asunder, whirling their electrons from their +orbits with terrific velocity. There'd be some effect, that was +certain! No great use perhaps. But a crater would mark the last +resting place of the _Nomad_; a huge crater. Perhaps the misty +whiteness would close in over them later. But there'd be less of the +creature's bulk to menace other travelers in space. + +His head ached miserably; his body was shot through and through with +cramping agonies. The very blood in his veins was liquid fire, searing +his veins and arteries with pulsing awfulness. He staggered from the +control cabin; threw himself on his bunk. The covers were electrified +and clung to him like tissue to rubbed amber. The wall of the sleeping +cabin vibrated with a screeching note. The floors trembled. Madness! +That's all it was! He'd awaken in a moment. Find himself in his own +bed at home. He'd dreamed of adventures before now. But never of such +as this! It just couldn't happen! A nightmare--fantasy of an +over-tired brain--it was. + +There came a violent wrench that must have torn the hull plates from +their bracings. The ship seemed to close in on him and crush him. A +terrific concussion flattened him to the bunk. Then all was still. +Carr Parker's thoughts broke short abruptly. He had slipped into +unconsciousness. + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Europa_ + +When Carr opened his eyes it was to the normal lighting of his own +sleeping cabin. The _Nomad_ was intact, though an odor of scorched +varnish permeated the air. They were unharmed--as yet. He turned on +his side and saw that Mado was moving about at the side of his couch. +Good old Mado! With a basin of water in his hand and a cloth. He'd +been bathing his face. Brought him to. He sat up just as Mado turned +to apply the cloth anew. + +"Good boy, Carr! All right?" smiled the Martian. + +"Little dizzy. But I'm okay." Carr sprang to his feet where he wabbled +uncertainly for a moment. "But the _Nomad?_" he asked. "Is she--are we +safe?" + +"Never safer. What in the name of Saturn did you do?" + +Carr passed his hand across his eyes, trying to remember. "The D-ray," +he said. "I turned it on and dived into the thing with full +attraction. Then--I forget. Where is it--the thing, I mean?" + +"Look!" Mado drew him to the stern compartment. + +Far behind them there shone a misty wreath, a ring of drifting matter +that writhed and twisted as if in mortal agony. + +"Is that it?" + +"What's left of it. You shot your way through it; through and out of +its influence. D-ray must have devitalized the thing as it bored +through. Killed its energies--for the time, at least." + +Already, the thing was closing in. Soon there would be a solid mass as +before. But the _Nomad_ was saved. + +"How about yourself?" asked Carr anxiously. "Last time I saw you you +were flat on the floor." + +"Nothing wrong with me now. A bit stiff and sore, that's all. When I +came to I put all the controls in neutral and came looking for you. I +was scared, but the thing's all over now, so let's go." + +"Where?" + +"Europa." + +"Where's that?" + +"Don't you remember? The third satellite of the fifth planet. That's +Europa, third in distance from Jupiter, the fifth planet. It is about +the size of Terra's satellite--your Moon. We'll find the city of the +golden domes." + + * * * * * + +Carr's eyes renewed their sparkle. "Right!" he exclaimed. "I forgot +the mental message. Poor devils! All over for them now. But we'll +carry their message. How far is it?" + +"Don't know yet till I determine our position and the position of +Jupiter. But it's quite a way. Jupiter's 483 million miles from the +Sun, you know." + +"We're more than half way, then." + +"Not necessarily. Perhaps we're on the opposite side of the sun from +Jupiter's present position. Then we'd have a real trip." + +"Let's figure it out." Carr was anxious to be off. + +Luck was with them, as they found after some observations from the +turret. Jupiter lay off their original course by not more than fifteen +degrees. It was but four days' journey. + +Again they were on their way and the two men, Martian and Terrestrial, +made good use of the time in renewing their old friendship and in the +study of astronomy as they had done during the first leg of their +journey. Though of widely differing build and nature, the two found a +close bond in their similar inclinations. The library of the Nomad was +an excellent one. Thrygis had seen to that, all of the voice-vision +reels being recorded in Cos, the interplanetary language, with its +standardized units of weight and measurement. + + * * * * * + +The supplies on board the _Nomad_ were ample. Synthetic foods there +were for at least a hundred Martian days. The supply of oxygen and +water was inexhaustible, these essential items being produced in +automatic retorts where disassembled electrons from their cosmic-ray +hydrogen were reassembled in the proper structure to produce atoms of +any desired element. Their supply of synthetic food could be +replenished in like manner when necessity arose. Thrygis had forgotten +nothing. + +"How do you suppose we'll make ourselves understood to the people of +Europa?" asked Carr, when they had swung around the great orb of +Jupiter and were headed toward the satellite. + +"Shouldn't have any trouble, Carr. Believe me, to a people who have +progressed to the point of sending mental messages over five hundred +miles of space, it'll be a cinch, understanding our simple mental +processes. Bet they'll read our every thought." + +"That's right. But the language. Proper names and all that. Can't get +those over with thought waves." + +"No, but I'll bet they'll have some way of solving that too. You wait +and see." + +Carr lighted a cigar and inhaled deeply as he gazed from one of the +ports. He'd never felt better in his life. Always had liked Martian +tobacco, too. Wondered what they'd do when the supply ran out. One +thing they couldn't produce synthetically. The disc of the satellite +loomed near and it shone with a warmly inviting light. Almost red, +like the color of Mars, it was. Sort of golden, rather. Anyway, he +wondered what awaited them there. This was a great life, this roaming +in space, unhampered by laws or conventions. The _Nomad_ was well +named. + +"Wonder what they'll think of our yarn," he said. + +"And me. I wonder, too, what that ungodly thing was back there. The +thing that is now the grave of some of their people. And what the +golden sphere was doing so far from home. It's a mystery." + + * * * * * + +They had gone over the same ground a hundred times and had not reached +a satisfactory conclusion. But perhaps they'd learn more in the city +of golden domes. + +"Another thing," said Carr, "that's puzzled me. Why is it that Europa +has not been discovered before this; that it's inhabited, I mean?" + +"Rocket ships couldn't carry enough fuel. Besides, our astronomers've +always told us that the outer planets were too cold; too far from the +sun." + +"That is something to think about. Maybe we'll not be able to stand +the low temperature; thin atmosphere; low surface gravity." + +"We've our insulated suits and the oxygen helmets for the first two +objections. The G-rays'll hold us down in any gravity. But we'll see +mighty soon. We're here." + +They had entered the atmosphere as they talked and the _Nomad_ was +approaching the surface in a long glide with repulsion full on. It was +daytime on the side they neared. Pale daylight, but revealing. The +great ball that was Jupiter hung low on the horizon, its misty outline +faintly visible against the deep green of the sky. + + * * * * * + +The surface over which they skimmed was patchworked with farm-lands +and crisscrossed by gleaming ribbons. Roadways! It was like the +voice-vision records of the ancient days on Mars and Terra before +their peoples had taken to the air. Here was a body where a person +could get out in the open; next to nature. They crossed a lake of calm +green water fringed by golden sands. At its far side a village spread +out beneath them and was gone; a village of broad pavements and +circular dwellings with flat rooms, each with its square of ground. A +golden, mountain range loomed in the background; vanished beneath +them. More fields and roads. Everywhere there were yellows and reds +and the silver sheen of the roads. No green save that of the darkening +sky and the waters of the streams and ponds. It was a most inviting +panorama. + +Occasionally they passed a vessel of the air--strange flapping-winged +craft that soared and darted like huge birds. Once one of them +approached so closely they could see its occupants, seemingly a people +similar to the Venusians, small of stature and slender. + +"How in time are we to find this city of golden domes?" Carr +ejaculated. + +As if in answer to his question there came a startling command, +another of the mental messages. + +"Halt!" it conveyed to their mind. "Continue not into our country +until we have communed with you." + +Obediently Mado brought up the nose of the _Nomad_ and slowed her down +to a gradual stop. They hovered at an altitude of about four thousand +feet, both straining their ears as if listening for actual speech. + +"It is well," continued the message. "Your thoughts are good. You come +from afar seeking the city of golden domes. Proceed now and a fleet of +our vessels will meet you and guide you to our city." + +"Now wouldn't that jar you?" whispered Carr. "Just try to get away +with anything on this world." + +Mado laughed as he started the generators of the propelling +energy. "I'd hate to have a wife of Europa," he commented. "No +sitting-up-with-sick-friend story could get by with her!" + + +CHAPTER V + +_The City of Golden Domes_ + +With the _Nomad_ cruising slowly over the surface of the peaceful +satellite, Mado sampled the atmosphere through a tube which was +provided for that purpose. The pressure was low, as they had expected; +about twenty inches of mercury in the altitude at which they drifted. +But the oxygen content was fairly high and the impurities negligible. +A strange element was somewhat in evidence, though Mado's analysis +showed this to be present in but minute quantity. They opened the +ports and drew their first breath of the atmosphere of Europa. + +"Good air, Carr." Mado was sniffing at one of the ports. "A bit rare +for you, but I think you'll get along with it. Temperature of +forty-five degrees. That's not so bad. The strangest thing is the +gravity. This body isn't much more than two thousand miles in +diameter, yet its gravity is about the same as on Venus--seven eighths +of that of Terra. Must have a huge nickel-iron core." + +"Yes. It'll be a cinch for me. But you, you big lummox--it's the G-ray +for you as long as we're here." + +"Uh-huh. You get all the breaks, don't you?" + +Carr laughed. He was becoming anxious to land. "What sort of a +reception do you suppose we'll get?" he said. + +"Not bad, from the tone of that last message. And here they come, +Carr. Look--a dozen of them. A royal reception, so far." + +Suddenly they were in the midst of a flock of great birds; birds that +flapped their golden wings to rise, then soared and circled like the +gulls of the terrestrial oceans. And these mechanical birds were fast. +Carr and Mado watched in fascination as they strung out in V formation +and led the way in the direction of the setting sun. Six, seven +hundred miles an hour the _Nomad's_ indicator showed, as they swung in +behind these ships of Europa. + + * * * * * + +They crossed a large body of water, a lake of fully five hundred miles +in width. More country then, hardly populated now and with but few of +the gleaming roadways. The sun had set, but there was scarcely any +diminution of the light for the great ball that was Jupiter reflected +a brilliance of far greater intensity than that of the full Moon on a +clear Terrestrial night. A marvelous sight the gigantic body +presented, with its alternate belts of gray-blue and red and dazzling +white. And it hung so low and huge in the heavens that it seemed one +had but to stretch forth a hand to touch its bright surface. + +Another mountain range loomed close and was gone. On its far side +there stretched the desolate wastes of a desert, a barren plain that +extended in all directions to the horizon. Wind-swept, it was and +menacing beneath them. Europa was not all as they had first seen it. + +A glimmer of brightness appeared at the horizon. The fleet was +reducing speed and soon they saw that their journey was nearly over. +At the far edge of the desert the bright spot resolved itself into the +outlines of a city, the city of golden domes. Cones they looked like, +rather, with rounded tops and fluted walls. The mental message had +conveyed the most fitting description possible without words or +picture. + +The landing was over so quickly that they had but confused impressions +of their reception. A great square in the heart of the city, crowded +with people. Swooping maneuvers of hundreds of the bird-like ships. An +open space for their arrival. The platform where a committee awaited +them. The king, or at least he seemed to be king. The sea of upturned +faces, staring eyes. + + * * * * * + +Mado fidgeted and opened his mouth to voice a protest but Carr nudged +him into silence. The king had risen from his seat in the circle on +the platform and was about to address them. There was no repetition of +the telepathic means of communication. + +"Welcome, travelers from the inner planets," said the king. He spoke +Cos perfectly! "Cardos, emperor of the body you call Europa, salutes +you. Our scientists have recorded your thoughts with their psycho-ray +apparatus and have learned that you have a message for us, a message +we fear is not pleasant. Am I correct?" + +Carr stared at the soft-voiced monarch of this remarkable land. It was +incredible that he spoke in the universal language of the inner +planets! + +"Your Highness," he replied, "is correct. We have a message. But it +amazes us that you are familiar with our language." + +"That we shall explain later. Meanwhile--the message!" + +"The message," Carr said, "is not pleasant. A golden sphere out in +space. Helpless in the clutches of a nameless monster, a vast creature +of jellylike substance but possessed of enormous destructive energy. A +mental message to our vessel warning us away and bidding us to come +here; to tell you of their fate. We escaped and here we are." + +The face of Cardos paled. He reached for an egg-shaped crystal that +reposed on the table; spoke rapidly into its shimmering depths. Hidden +amplifiers carried his voice throughout the square in booming tones. +It was a strange tongue he spoke, with many gutturals and sibilants. A +groan came up from the assembled multitude. + +Cardos tossed the crystal to the table with a resigned gesture, then +tottered and swayed. Instant confusion reigned in the square and the +emperor was assisted from the platform by two of his retainers. They +never saw him again. + + * * * * * + +One of the counsellors, a middle-aged man with graying russet hair and +large gray eyes set in a perfectly smooth countenance, stepped from +the platform and grasped the two adventurers as the confusion in the +square increased to an uproar. + +"Come," he whispered, in excellent Cos; "I'll explain all to you in +the quiet of my own apartments. I am Detis, a scientist, and my home +is close by." + +Gently he clung to them as the larger men forced their way between the +milling groups of excited Europans. No one gave them much attention. +All seemed to be overcome with grief. A terrible disaster, this loss +of the golden sphere must be! + +They were out of the square and in one of the broad streets. The +fluted sides of the unpointed cones shone softly golden on all sides. +Alike in every respect were these dwellings of the people of Europa, +and strangely attractive in the light of the mother planet. + +Not a word was spoken when they reached the abode of their guide. They +entered an elaborate hall and were whisked upward in an automatic +elevator. Detis ushered them into his apartment when they alighted. He +smiled gravely at their looks of wonder as they cast eyes on the maze +of apparatus before them. It was a laboratory rather than a living +room in which they stood. + +Detis led them to an adjoining room where he bid them be seated. They +exchanged wondering glances as their host paced the floor vigorously +before speaking further. + +"Friends," he finally blurted, "I hope you'll excuse my emotion but +the news you brought is a terrible blow to me as to all Europa. Carli, +our prince, beloved son of Cardos, was commander of the ship you +reported lost. We deeply mourn his loss." + + * * * * * + +Carr and Mado waited in respectful silence while their host made +effort to control his feelings. + +"Now," he said, after a moment, "I can talk. You have many questions +to ask, I know. So have I. But first I must tell you that Carli's was +an expedition to your own worlds. A grave danger hangs over them and +he was sent to warn them. He has been lost. Our only space-ship +capable of making the journey also is lost. Six Martian years were +required to build it, so I fear the warning will never reach your +people. Already the time draws near." + +"A grave danger?" asked Mado. "What sort of a danger?" + +"War! Utter destruction! Conquest by the most warlike and ambitious +people in the solar system." + +"Not the people of Europa?" asked Carr. + +"Indeed not. There is another inhabited satellite of Jupiter, next +farthest from the mother planet. Ganymede, you call it. It is from +there that these conquerors are to set forth." + +"Many of them?" inquired Mado. + +"Two million or so. They're prepared to send an army of more than a +tenth of that number on the first expedition." + +"A mere handful!" Carr was contemptuous. + +"True, but they are armed with the most terrible of weapons. Your +people are utterly unprepared and, unless warned, will be driven from +their cities and left in the deserts to perish of hunger and exposure. +This is a real danger." + +"Something in it, Carr, if what he says is true. We've no arms nor +warriors. Haven't had for two centuries. You know it as well as I do." + +"Bah! Overnight we could have a million armed and ready to fight them +off." + + * * * * * + +Detis raised his hand. "You offend me," he said gravely. "I have told +you this in good faith and you reward me with disbelief and boastful +talk. Your enemies are more powerful than you think, and your own +people utterly defenceless against them." + +"I'm sorry," Carr apologized, "and I'll listen to all you have to say. +Surely your prince has not given his life in vain." He was ashamed +before this scientist of Europa. + +A tinkling feminine voice from the next room called something in the +Europan tongue. + +Detis raised his head proudly and his frown softened at the sound of +dainty footsteps. His voice was a caress as he replied. + +A vision of feminine loveliness stood framed in the doorway and the +visitors rose hastily from their seats. Carr gazed into eyes of the +deepest blue he had ever seen. Small in stature though this girl of +Europa was--not more than five feet tall--she had the form of a +goddess and the face of an angel. He was flushing to the roots of his +hair. Could feel it spread. What an ass he was anyway! Anyone'd think +he'd never seen a woman in all his thirty-five years! + +"My daughter, Ora, gentlemen," said Detis. + +The girl's eyes had widened as she looked at the huge Martian with the +funny black box on his back. They dropped demurely when turned to +those of the handsome Terrestrial. + +"Oh," she said, in Cos, "I didn't know you had callers." + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Vlor-urdin_ + +The time passed quickly in Pala-dar, city of the golden domes. Detis +spent many hours in the laboratory with his two visitors and the fair +Ora was usually at his side. She was an efficient helper to her father +and a gracious hostess to the guests. + +The amazement of the visitors grew apace as the wonders of Europan +science were revealed to them. They sat by the hour at the illuminated +screen of the rulden, that remarkable astronomical instrument which +brought the surfaces of distant celestial bodies within a few feet of +their eyes, and the sounds of the streets and the jungles to their +ears. It was no longer a mystery how the language of Cos had become so +familiar to these people. + +They learned of the origin of the races that inhabited Europa and +Ganymede. Ages before, it was necessary for the peoples of the then +thickly populated Jupiter to cast about for new homes due to the +cooling of the surface of that planet. Life was becoming unbearable. +In those days there were two dominant races on the mother body, a +gentle and peaceful people of great scientific accomplishment and a +race of savage brutes who, while very clever with their hands, were of +lesser mental strength and of a quarrelsome and fighting disposition. + +Toward the last the population of both main countries was reduced to +but a few survivors, and the intelligent race had discovered a means +of traversing space and was prepared to leave the planet for the more +livable satellite--Europa. Learning of these plans, the others made a +treaty of perpetual peace as a price for their passage to another +satellite--Ganymede. The migration began and the two satellites were +settled by the separate bands of pioneers and their new lives begun. + + * * * * * + +The perpetual treaty had not been broken since, but the energies of +the warlike descendants of those first settlers of Ganymede were +expended in casting about for new fields to conquer. Through the ages +they cast increasingly covetous eyes on those inner planets, Mars, +Terra and Venus. Not having the advantage of the Rulden, they knew of +these bodies only what could be seen through their own crude optical +instruments and what they had learned by word of mouth from certain +renegade Europans they were able to bribe. + +While their neighbors of the smaller satellite were engaged in +peaceful pursuits, tilling the soil and making excellent homes for +themselves, the dwellers on Ganymede were fashioning instruments of +warfare and building a fleet of space-ships to carry them to their +intended victims. It was a religion with them; they could think of +nothing else. An unscrupulous scientist of Europa sold himself to them +several generations previously and it was this scientist who had made +the plans for their space-fliers and had contrived the deadly weapons +with which they were armed. He likewise taught them the language of +Cos and it now was spoken universally throughout Ganymede in +anticipation of the glorious days of conquest. + +"You honestly believe them able to do this?" asked Carr, still +skeptical after two days of discussion. + +"I know it as a certainty," Detis replied solemnly. "It is only during +the past generation we have learned of the completeness and awfulness +of their preparations. Your people can not combat their sound-ray. +With it they can remain outside the vision of those on the surface and +set the tall buildings of your cities in harmonic vibrations that will +bring them down in ruins about the ears of the populace." + + * * * * * + +"There'll be nothing left for them to take if they destroy all our +cities: nowhere for them to live. I don't get it." + +"Only a few will be destroyed completely, to terrify the rest of the +inhabitants of your worlds. Others will be depopulated by means of +vibrations that will kill off the citizens without harming the cities +themselves--vibrations which are capable of blanketing a large area +and raising the body temperature of all living things therein to a +point where death will ensue in a very few minutes. Other vibrations +will paralyze all electrical equipment on the planet and make it +impossible for your ships of the air to set out to give battle, even +were they properly armed." + +"Looks bad, Carr," said Mado glumly. + +"It does that. We've got to go back and carry the warning." + +"I fear it is too late," said Detis. "Much time will be needed in +which to develop a defense and surely it can not be done within the +three isini before they set forth--about four of your days." + +"They leave that soon?" Carr was taken aback. + +"Yes, with their one hundred and twenty vessels; forty to each of your +three planets; seventeen hundred men to a vessel." + +Carr jumped to his feet. "By the heat devils of Mercury!" he roared, +"well go to their lousy little satellite and find a way to prevent +it!" + + * * * * * + +Ora gazed at his flushed face with unconcealed admiration. + +"You're crazy!" exploded Mado. "What can we do with the _Nomad_?" + +"Her D-ray can do plenty of damage." + +"Yes, but they'd have us down before we could account for five of +their vessels. It's no use, I tell you." + +But Carr was stubborn. "We'll pay them a call anyway. I'll bet we can +dope out some way of putting it over on them. Are you game?" + +"Of course I'm game. I'll go anywhere you will. But it's a fool idea +just the same." + +"Maybe so. Maybe not. Anyway--let's go." + +"Just a moment, gentlemen," Detis interposed. "How about me?" + +Carr stared at him and saw that his eyes shone with excitement. "Why, +I believe you'd like to go with us!" he exclaimed admiringly. + +"I would, indeed." + +"Come on then. We're off." He was impatient to be gone. + +Detis busied himself with a small apparatus that folded into a compact +case, explaining that it was one that might prove useful. Ora left the +room but quickly returned. She too carried a small case, and she had +donned a snug fitting leather garment that covered her from neck to +knees. + +"What's this?" demanded Carr. "Surely Miss Ora does not intend to come +with us?" + +"She never leaves my side," said Detis proudly. + +"Nothing doing!" Carr stated emphatically. "There'll be plenty of +danger on this trip. Well have no woman along--least of all your +charming daughter." + + * * * * * + +Mado was leaving everything to his friend, but he grinned in +anticipation when he saw the look of anger on the girl's face. + +She stamped her little foot and faced Carr valiantly. "See here, Mr. +Carr Parker!" she stormed. "I'm no weakling. I'm the daughter of my +father and where he goes I go. You'll take me or I'll never speak to +you again." + +Carr flushed. He was accustomed to his own way in most things and +entirely unused to the ways of the gentler sex. He could have shaken +the little vixen! But now she was standing before him and there was +something in those great blue eyes besides anger; something that set +his heart pounding madly. + +"All right!" he agreed desperately, "have your own way." + +He turned on his heel and strode to the door. Giving in to this slip +of a girl! What a fool he was! But it would be great at that to have +her along in the _Nomad_. + +They found the public square deserted, the gilded dwellings hung with +somber colors in mourning for Carli. Ora and Detis were very quiet and +preoccupied when they entered the _Nomad_. The five isini of +lamentation for the young prince had not yet passed. + +The two Europans were delighted with the appointments and mechanisms +of the little vessel from Mars. They investigated every nook and +cranny of its interior during the journey and were voluble in their +praise of its inventor and builder. Neither had ever set foot in a +space-flier and each was seized with a longing to explore space with +these two strangers from the inner planets. They would make a couple +of good vagabonds along with Mado and himself, Carr thought as they +expressed their feelings. But there was more serious business at hand. +They were nearing Ganymede. + +"Where'll we land, Detis?" Mado called from the control cabin. + +"Vlor-urdin. That is their chief city. I'll guide you to the +location." + + * * * * * + +They took up their places at the ports and scanned the surface of the +satellite as Mado dropped the ship into its atmosphere. A far +different scene was presented than on Europa. The land was seamed and +scarred, the colors of the foliage somber. Grays and browns +predominated and the jungles seemed impenetrable. A river swung into +view and its waters were black as the deepest night, its flow +sluggish. A rank mist hung over the surface. + +"The river of Charis!" exclaimed Detis. "Follow it, Mado. No, the +other direction. There! It leads directly to Vlor-urdin." + +By good chance they had entered the atmosphere at a point not far from +their destination. In less than an hour by the _Nomad's_ chronometer +the towers of Vlor-urdin were sighted. + +It was a larger city than Pala-dar and of vastly different appearance. +A hollow square of squat buildings enclosed the vast workshops and +storage space of the fleet of war vessels. Their huge spherical bulks +rose from their cradles in tier after tier that stretched as far as +the eye could reach when the _Nomad_ had dropped to a level but +slightly above the tips of the highest spires. The spires were +everywhere, decorative towers at the corners of the squat buildings. +Everything was black, the vessels of the fleet, the squat buildings +and the spires of Vlor-urdin. Death was in the air. Rank vapor drifted +in through the opened ports. There was silence in the city below them +and silence in the _Nomad_. + +Ora shuddered and drew closer to him. Carr was aware of her nearness +and a lump rose in his throat. A horrible fear assailed him. Fear for +the safety of the dainty Europan at his side. He found her hand; +covered it protectingly with his own. + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Rapaju_ + +Detis was setting up and adjusting the complicated mechanisms of his +little black case. A dozen vacuum tubes lighted, and a murmur of +throbbing energy came from a helix of shining metallic ribbon that +topped the whole. Flexible cables led to a cap-like contrivance which +Detis placed on his head. He frowned in concentration. + +"The psycho-ray apparatus." Ora explained. "He's sending a message to +the city." + +Evidently the influence of the ray was directive. They had no inkling +of the thoughts transmitted from the alert brain of the scientist but, +from the look of satisfaction on his face, they could see that he was +obtaining the desired contact. + +"Rapaju," he exclaimed, switching off the power of his instrument, +"commander of the fleet of the Llotta. I have advised him of our +arrival. Told him that a Martian and a Terrestrial wish to treat with +him concerning the proposed invasion of their planets. His answering +thought first was of fiercest rage, then conciliatory in nature. He'll +receive you and listen to your arguments, though he promises nothing. +Is that satisfactory?" + +"Yes." Carr and Mado were agreed. At least it would give them a chance +to look over the ground and to make plans, should any occur to them. + +The _Nomad_ circled over the heart of the city and soon Mado saw a +suitable landing space. They settled gracefully in an open area close +by the building indicated by Detis as that of the administration +officials of the city. + + * * * * * + +A group of squat, sullen Llotta awaited them and, without speaking a +word either of hatred or welcome, led them into the forbidding +entrance of the building. Close-set, beady eyes; unbelievably flat +features of chalky whiteness; chunky bowed legs, bare and hairy; long +arms with huge dangling paws--these were the outstanding +characteristics of the Llotta. Mado stared straight before him, +refusing to display any great interest in the loathsome creatures, but +Carr was frankly curious and as frankly disapproving. + +Rapaju leered maliciously when the four voyagers stood before him. He +looked the incarnation of all that was evil and vile, a monster among +monsters. Sensing him to be the more aggressive of the two visitors +from doomed planets, he addressed his remarks to Carr. + +"You come to plead with Rapaju," he sneered, his Cos tinged with an +outlandish accent, "to beg for the worthless lives of your +compatriots; for the wealth of your cities?" + +"We come to reason with you," replied Carr haughtily, "if you are +capable of reasoning. What is this incredible thing you are planning?" + +Mado gasped at the effrontery of his friend. But Carr was oblivious of +the warning looks cast in his direction. + +"Enough of that!" snapped Rapaju. "I'll do the talking--you the +reasoning. I've a proposition to make to you, and if you know what's +best, you'll agree. Otherwise you'll be first of the Terrestrials to +die. Is that clear?" + +"Clear enough, all right," growled Carr. "What do you mean--a +proposition?" + +"Ha! I thought you'd listen. My offer is the lives of you and your +companion in exchange for your assistance in guiding my fleet to the +capital cities of your countries. Not that our plans will be changed +if you refuse, but that much time will be saved in this manner and +quick victory made certain without undue sacrifice of valuable +property." + +"You--you--!" Carr stammered in anger. But there was no use in raising +a rumpus--now. They'd only kill him. Something might be accomplished +if he pretended to accede. "Go on with your story," he finished +lamely. + +"In addition to sparing your lives I'll place you both in high +position after we seize your respective planets. Make you chief +officers in the prison lands we intend to establish for your +countrymen. What do you say?" + +"Will you give us time to talk it over and think about it?" + +"Until the hour of departure, if you wish." + + * * * * * + +Carr bowed, avoiding Mado's questioning eyes. He looked at Ora where +she stood at the side of Detis. She flashed him a guarded smile. He +knew that she understood. + +Rapaju relaxed. He was confident he could bribe these puerile +foreigners to help him in the great venture. And sadly he needed such +help. The Llotta were not navigators. Their knowledge of the heavens +was sadly incomplete. They had no maps of the surfaces of the planets +to be visited. Their simultaneous blows would be far more effective +and the campaign much shorter if they could choose the most vital +centers for the initial attacks. + +"Now," he said, "that we understand one another, let us talk further +of the plans. Then you will be able to consider carefully before +making your decision." + +Rapaju could be diplomatic when he wished. Carr longed to sink his +fingers in the hairy throat. But he smiled hypocritically and found an +opportunity to wink meaningly at Mado. This was going to be good! And +who knew?--perhaps they might find some way to outwit these mad +savages. To think of them in control of the inner planets was +revolting. + +They retired to a small room with Rapaju and four of his lieutenants, +Detis and Ora accompanying them. Ora sat close to Carr at the circular +table in Rapaju's council. Carr thought grimly of the board meetings +in far away New York. + +Rapaju talked. He told of the armament of his vessels, painting vivid +pictures of the destruction to be wrought in the cities of Terra, of +Mars and Venus. His great hairy paws clutched at imaginary riches when +he spoke glowingly of the plundering to follow. He spoke of the women +of the inner planets and Carr half rose from his seat when he observed +the lecherous glitter in his beady eyes. Ora! Great God, was she safe +here? He stole a glance at the girl and a recurrence of the awful fear +surged through him. In her leather garment, close fitting and severe, +she looked like a boy. Perhaps they would not know. Besides, there was +the perpetual treaty with Europa. It always had been observed, Detis +said. + + * * * * * + +As Rapaju expanded upon the glories to come he told perforce of many +of the details of the plans. One thing stood out in Carr's mind: the +vessels of the Llotta were not equal to the _Nomad_ in many respects. +They must carry their entire supply of fuel from the starting point +and this was calculated as but a small percentage in excess of that +required to carry them to their destinations. Their speed was not as +great as the _Nomad's_ by at least a third. If the _Nomad_ led the +fleet from Ganymede they might be able to get them off their course; +cause them to run out of fuel out in the vacuum and absolute zero of +space. He kicked Mado under the table and arose to ask a few leading +questions. + +Ora was whispering to her father and he nodded his head as if in +complete agreement with what she was saying. These two were not +deceived by his apparent traitorous talk, but Mado was aghast. Carr +wondered if Rapaju believed him as did his friend. + +"We'll do it, Rapaju," he stated finally. "In our ship, the _Nomad_, +we'll guide you across the trackless wastes of the heavens. We'll take +you to our capital cities; point out to you the richest of the +industrial centers. We have no love for our own worlds. Mado and I +deserted them for a life of vagabondage amongst the stars. We ask no +reward other than that we be permitted to leave once more on our +travels, to roam space as we choose." + +Mado attempted to voice an objection but Carr's hand was heavy on his +shoulder. "Shut up, you fool!" he hissed in his ear. "Can't you trust +me?" + + * * * * * + +Rapaju's eyes seemed to draw closer together as he returned Carr's +unflinching stare. He walked around the table and stood at the side of +the tall Terrestrial. Suddenly he grasped Ora's jacket, tore it open +at the throat. He ran his hairy fingers over the bare shoulder of the +shrinking girl and gurgled his delight at the velvet smoothness of her +skin. + +With a roar like a wild animal Carr was upon him, bearing him to the +floor. His fingers were in that hairy throat, where they had itched to +twine. + +"Dirty, filthy beast!" he was snarling. "Lay your foul hands on Ora, +will you? Say your prayers, if you know any, you swine!" + +Then his muscles went limp and he was jerked to his feet by a terrible +force, a force that sent him reeling and gasping against the wall. One +of Rapaju's lieutenants stood before him with a tiny weapon in his +hand, the weapon which had released the paralyzing gas he breathed. He +was choking; suffocating. A black mist rose before him. He felt his +knees give way. Dimly, as in a dream, he saw that Ora was in Detis' +arms. Rapaju was on his feet, fingering his neck and laughing +horribly. + +"The treaty, Rapaju!" Detis was shouting. + +Ora was sobbing. Mado was in the hands of two of the vile Llotta, +struggling wildly to free himself. The Martian's eyes accused him. He +shut his own and groaned. Opened them again. But it was no use. +Everything in the room was whirling now, crazily. He fought to regain +his senses, crawled weakly toward the squat figure of Rapaju where it +swayed and twisted and spun around. Then all was darkness. The gas had +taken its toll. + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_The Expedition_ + +Carr awakened to a sense of wordless disgust. Fool that he was to +spill the beans as he had! All set to put one over on the leader of +the Llotta, then to come a cropper like this! He knew he had been +spared for a purpose. The gas was not intended to kill, only to render +him helpless for a time. He opened his eyes to the light of a familiar +room. He had awakened before in this bed. It was his own cabin on +board the _Nomad_. What had happened? Had he dreamed it all. Europa, +Ora, Rapaju--all of it? He sat up and felt of his aching head. + +"Oh, are you awake?" a soft voice greeted him. + +"Ora!" he exclaimed. It was indeed she, beautiful as ever. + +"Sh-h," she warned, placing the tip of a finger to his lips. "They'll +hear us." + +"Who?" he whispered. + +"Rapaju--his two guards. They're in the control cabin with father and +Mado." + +"What? They've taken the _Nomad_?" + +"Yes. We're under way. They've forced Mado to guide them but do not +trust him. Rapaju spared you as he believes you more capable. He'll +hold you to your word." + +"Lord! But what are you doing here?" + +Ora dropped her eyes. "He--Rapaju--" she said, "inferred from your +action in assaulting him that you were very fond of me. He holds me as +a hostage for your good behavior. Father volunteered to come along. He +persuaded Rapaju to allow it. Swore allegiance to his cause. Of course +he wouldn't leave me." + + * * * * * + +Carr gazed at her in admiration of her courage. She had been nursing +him, too! What a girl she was! + +"Ora," he said huskily, "Rapaju was right. I am fond of you. More than +fond: I love you. I never knew I could feel this way." + +"Oh Carr, you mustn't!" She drew back as he scrambled to his feet. +"They'll find us. We must not show that we care. Rapaju is a beast. He +wants me for himself and is delaying the time only until you have +brought the fleet safely to the inner planets and to their great +cities. He--" + +"The skunk! Wants you himself, does he? Why, why didn't I kill him? +But Ora, you said--you do care--" + +"Ha! I thought so!" Rapaju stood in the doorway, grinning mockingly at +the pair. "The impetuous Terrestrial is up and about. Back at his old +game!" + +"Please, please, for my sake, Carr!" Ora pressed him back as he +tensed his muscles for a spring. + +"Sorry I was so slow," Carr grated, over her shoulder. "Another five +seconds, Rapaju, and I'd have had your windpipe out by the roots." + +Rapaju scowled darkly and fingered his throat. "But, my dear Carr, you +were too slow," he said, "and I live--and shall live--while you shall +die. Meanwhile you'll carry out your agreement. Come, Ora." + +The girl hesitated a moment, then with a pleading glance at Carr +stepped from the room. + +"All right now, Parker," snapped Rapaju. "Into your clothes and into +the pilot's seat. You'll stay there, too, till the journey's over. Get +busy!" + +One of his guards had appeared in the doorway. Carr knew that +resistance was useless. Besides, seated at those controls, he might +think of something. Rapaju'd never get Ora if he could help it! + + * * * * * + +Mado's shoulders drooped and his face was haggard and drawn, but he +summoned a smile when he saw Carr. + +"Hello, Carr," he said. "You all right?" + +"Sure. Rapaju says I've got to take the controls." + +"Very well." Mado shrugged his broad shoulders and slipped from the +pilot's seat. Two ugly Llotta guards were watching, ray-pistols in +hand. "The chart is corrected, Carr, and--" + +"Never mind the conversation!" Rapaju snarled. "There'll be no talk +between you at all. Beat it to your cabin, Mado." + +The Martian glowered and made as if to retort hotly. + +"But Rapaju," Detis interposed, speaking from his position at one of +the ports, "they'll have to consult regarding the course of the +vessel. Mado is more familiar than Carr with the navigation of space." + +"Shut up!" roared Rapaju. "I know what I am doing. And, what's more, +you'll not converse with them, either! I'm running this expedition, +and I'm not taking any chances." + +Detis subsided and followed Mado through the passage to the sleeping +cabins. + + * * * * * + +The ensuing silence was ominous. Carr could feel the eyes of the +Llotta upon him as he examined the adjustments of the controls and +peeped through the telescope. A glance at the velocity indicator +showed him they were traveling at a rate of eight hundred miles a +second. He studied the chart and soon made out their position. Jupiter +was a hundred million miles behind them and they were heading almost +due sunward. The automatic control mechanism was not functioning. +Evidently Mado had kept this a secret--and for a purpose. He wished he +could talk with his friend. They'd plan something. + +"Like your job?" Rapaju was gloating over this Terrestrial who had +dared to lay hands upon him. + +"Yes, but not the company." Carr was disdainful. + +"You'll like it less before I've finished with you. And get this +straight. You think we're dependent on you to guide us to the inner +planets, and that we'll not harm any of you until they are reached. +Don't fool yourself! I've watched Mado and I've spent much time in the +excellent library of the _Nomad_. I've learned plenty about the +navigation of space and can reach those planets as quickly and +directly as you. But it pleases me to see you work, so work you shall. +I'll check you carefully, and don't think you can deceive me. Don't +try to depart from the true course. The sun is my check as it is +yours, and I'll keep constant tab on our position. Get it?" + +"A rather long speech, Rapaju." Carr grinned into the evil face of the +commander. + +"Still defiant, eh? Suits me, Carr Parker. We'll have some nice talks +here, and then--when it pleases me--you'll suffer. You shall live to +see your home city crash in utter ruin; your people slain, starved, +beaten. And, above all, there's Ora--" + +"Don't defile her name in your ugly mouth, you--!" + + * * * * * + +Carr bit his tongue to keep back the torrent of invectives that sprang +to his lips. This would never do! He'd get himself bumped off before +they were well started. And while there was life there was hope. He'd +stick to his guns and think; think and plan. If only he could have a +few words with Mado. They must get out of this mess. There must be a +way! There must! + +Rapaju was laughing in triumph. Thought he had cowed him, did he? +Boastful savage! If he could navigate the _Nomad_ himself, why didn't +he? Liar! He and Mado were godsends to him, and he knew it! His speech +at the council table had been the real truth. + +Foreign thoughts entered his mind. Detis, good old Detis, was using +his thought apparatus in his own cabin! He paid no attention to the +words of Rapaju when he left the control room. Detis was on the job! +Between them they'd outwit this devil of Ganymede. + +"Keep your courage," came the message. "I've read the thoughts of Mado +and he bids you examine the chart carefully. He's made some notations +in the ancient language of Mars. The automatic control of the _Nomad_ +can be used when necessary. He has not advised Rapaju of its +existence." + +Carr was encouraged and he concentrated on a suitable reply. But, +though he did not consciously will it, his thoughts were of Ora. + +Instantly there came the reassurance of her father. "Ora is not in +immediate danger. Rapaju is saving her for his revenge on you. And I'm +watching her constantly. A ray-pistol is concealed in my clothing, its +charge ready for the foul creature in case he should lay hands on her. +But you must plan an escape, and salvation for your worlds. Examine +the chart at once." + + * * * * * + +He looked from the corner of his eye and saw that one of the Llotta +guards was watching intently. He peered into the eye-piece of the +telescope; made an inconsequential change in one of the adjustments. +The guard stirred but did not arise. He looked at the chart with new +interest, scanned its markings carefully. What had Mado marked for his +attention? There were hundreds of notations, some in Cos and a few in +the ancient Martian, all in Mado's painstaking chirography. + +Ah, there it was! A tiny spot almost on their course, with Mado's +minute notation. Sargasso Sea! What did it mean? Did Mado intend to +lead the fleet into the embrace of that dreadful monster they had so +fortunately escaped? An excellent idea to save the inner planets. But +suicide for them! He'd do it though, if it weren't for Ora. She was so +sweet and innocent. She must not die; must not suffer. Another way +must be found. He groaned aloud as he realized that her predicament +was the result of his own bullheadedness. If only he hadn't insisted +on the trip to Ganymede. But then there was the problem of preserving +the civilization of the inner planets. It had to be met. + +There was a commotion behind him; a feminine shriek from the after +cabins; loud shoutings from the beast called Rapaju. Carr's heart +skipped a beat. He was paralyzed with fear. But only for an instant. +With a bellow of rage he whirled around and started for the door, +charging the two guards with head down and arms flailing. + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Nemesis_ + +The Llotta did not use their ray-pistols. They were too busy +attempting to elude the mad rushes of the powerful Terrestrial. +Besides, there were good reasons they should not kill him--yet. Carr +drove one of them halfway down the passageway with a well-planted +punch. The other was on his back, hairy legs twined around his waist, +an arm under his chin, drawing his head back with a steady and +terrible pressure. He whirled around, trying to shake off his beastly +antagonist. + +But these powerful legs and arms held fast. He tore at the hairy +ankles where they crossed in the pit of his stomach; wrenched them +free. Still the creature clung to him, twisting his head until it +seemed his neck must break. He found a waving foot with his right +hand; wrenched it mightily. There was a sharp snap and the foot +dangled limp in his fingers. He had broken the ankle. With a howl of +pain his assailant let go and dropped to the floor to crawl away like +a whipped cur. + +In a flash Carr saw that the brute was reaching for his ray-pistol +where it had dropped during the encounter. He kicked it from the reach +of that hairy paw and sprang after it. With one of those little +weapons in his hands the odds would change! His fingers closed on its +grip just as Ora rushed into the room, closely followed by Rapaju, +whose distorted features were terrible to behold. The cabin was full +of them now; the guard he had first knocked down; the lust-crazed +commander--the one with the broken ankle. All but Detis and Mado. Carr +faced them alone. + +So close was Rapaju to the girl that he dared not use the pistol, and +now the uninjured guard was circling him, trying to get in a position +where he could use his ray-pistol without endangering his commander. +Carr fumbled for the release of the weapon he held in his hand; found +it. The guard threw himself to the floor when he saw it raised; +shouted a warning. But it was too late. The deadly ray had sped on its +mission of death; struck him full in the middle. The twisted body lay +still a moment and then collapsed like a punctured balloon, leaving +his scant clothing in a limp heap--empty. A worthy miniature of the +D-ray, this little weapon! + + * * * * * + +He turned to face Rapaju and saw that he was shielding himself with +Ora's body. She had fainted and now hung drooping in the arms of the +beast. Where was Mado? Detis? Good God--he'd killed them! Carr thought +of that little spot on the chart. Must be very close now. They'd pass +so near there'd be no escape. But he could not reach the controls +without taking his eyes from Rapaju. That would have to wait. + +Rapaju was backing toward the door, still holding the limp figure of +the girl before him. The injured guard lay moaning on the floor. + +"Drop her, you devil!" Carr shouted desperately as he saw that Rapaju +soon would reach the passageway. + +Then suddenly he reached for the controls and pushed the energy lever +to full speed forward. He braced himself for the shock of acceleration +and saw Rapaju and Ora thrown backward into the passageway, the girl's +body cushioned by that of her captor as they were flung violently to +the floor. Madly he rushed to the narrow entrance and tore at the +hairy arms that encircled the slender waist of the girl. He jerked the +snarling commander of the Llotta expedition to his feet and slammed +him against the metal wall. + +"Now, you damn pig," he grunted, "I'll finish the job. Dirty scum of a +rotten world!" + +He dragged his victim into the control cabin and threw him to the +floor. But Rapaju was like an eel. He wriggled from under him and +snatched from the heap of clothing the ray-pistol of the disintegrated +guard. With a yelp of triumph he rose to his knees and leveled the +weapon. + +A well placed kick sent it spinning and Carr was upon him. He snapped +back the head with a terrible punch; then lifted the dazed creature to +his feet and stepped back. + +"Stand up and take it like a man!" he roared. + + * * * * * + +Rapaju shook his head to clear it and rushed in with a bellow of rage. +Just what Carr wanted! Starting almost from the floor, his right came +up to meet the vicious jaw with a crack that told of the terrific +power behind it. Lifted from his feet and hurled half way across the +room by the impact, Rapaju lay motionless where he fell. + +Carr was at the telescope. Their speed was close to fifteen hundred +miles a second. The monstrous mass of Mado's Sargasso Sea loomed close +in his vision. Off their course by a hundred miles or more. They'd +miss it all right. He had the situation in hand now on board the +_Nomad_. But how about the fleet behind them? He thought fast and +furiously. Another two minutes and they'd pass the thing; the +inexplicable horror which had accounted for the golden sphere of the +Europans. Could he use it? Suppose the fleet of the enemy-- + +The idea was full of possibilities. + +He rushed to the stern compartment, and scanned the heavens for the +massed body of spheres he knew would be the fleet of the Llotta. At +this speed they must have fallen far behind. Yes, there they were. Not +so far behind at that. The battle in the control room must have been a +shorter one than it had seemed. He returned quickly to the controls +and reversed the energy, to give the fleet a chance to catch up to +him. + +Closer came that mass of whitish jelly. And now it was much larger +than before. The terrible creature, for living matter it was, beyond +doubt, was growing with the rapidity of a rising flood. Great +tentacles of its horrid translucent substance reached in all +directions for possible victims. He sickened at the sight. But what a +fate for the fleet of the Llotta! If only he could maneuver them into +its influence. + + * * * * * + +He changed his course slightly and headed directly for the monster, +again increasing speed. Perhaps--if he calculated the forces +correctly--he could dive through it again with the D-ray to clear a +path. But no. It was a miracle they had escaped before, and now the +vicious thing was more than double its previous size. Once more he +altered his course. He'd cross in front of the thing; skim it as close +as he dared and shoot from its influence on the far side. The greater +mass of the enemy vessels and their lack of a quick-acting repulsive +force would prove their undoing. + +Full speed ahead. A rapid mental calculation--an educated guess, +rather--and he set the automatic control. Turning around to start for +the stern compartment, he saw that Ora had recovered from her swoon +and now stood swaying weakly in the passageway. + +"Ora!" he exclaimed delightedly. He rushed to her side and supported +her in a tender embrace. + +"Rapaju?" she questioned with horror in her eyes. + +"Won't bother you for a while, dear. But your father--Mado?" + +"He gassed them. They'll recover." The brave girl had regained her +composure. + +"Good! But, come! Time's short." He half carried her to the rear, +berating himself the while for his inability to pay her closer +attention. With arms still around her he placed her at one of the +stern ports. + +"What is it, Carr?" She sensed his excitement. + +"The fleet--see! We'll destroy them." + +The spherical vessels were close behind, huddled together in mass +formation and following the _Nomad_ blindly. + +"How, Carr?" + +"Lead them into it. Wait tall you see! There's a--" + + * * * * * + +The _Nomad_ lurched, and changed direction. Cold fear clutched at his +throat. That devil of a guard! Why hadn't he killed him? He dashed +through the passage, Ora at his heels. + +Sure enough, the crippled guard had dragged himself to the controls; +was manipulating the energy director as he had seen Mado do. They were +heading directly for the terrible monster of the heavens! + +No need now to peer through the telescope. The thing was visible to +the naked eye. No power could save them! Carr hurled himself at the +guard and tore at the hairy paw which gripped the lever. The throbbing +of strange energies filled the air of the room, and Carr's brain +pulsed with the maddening rhythm. The red discharge appeared at the +projections of the control panels. He forgot the fleet of the Llotta, +forgot the menace to his own world. Only Ora mattered now, and he had +not the power to save her! + +As in a daze he knew he was wrenching mightily at the body of the +powerful minion of Rapaju. His fingers encountered heated metal--one +of the ray-pistols. He felt the intense vibration of the weapon as its +charge was released. But he still lived. The beast who held it had +missed! Dimly he was conscious of the screams of Ora; of the yielding +of the creature who fought him. An animal cry registered on his +consciousness and he shook the suddenly limp Llotta from him. He knew +somehow that his last enemy was gone. + +A quick glance showed him that Ora was still on her feet, braced +against the wall. The red veil was before his eyes. He grasped the +controls, and fought desperately to keep his strength and senses. A +streamer of horrid whiteness swung across his vision; slithered +clammily over the glass of one of the forward ports. They were into +the thing! It was the end! He groaned aloud as he fumbled with the +mechanisms and strove to formulate a plan of escape. + + * * * * * + +The fleet, he knew, was just behind. An enormous mass. The repulsive +energy astern would be terrific. He turned it full on. The whiteness +obscured his vision. Then it was gone once more. A single streamer +waved before him and encompassed them. The movement of these members +must be inconceivably rapid, else they'd be invisible at the speed the +_Nomad_ was traveling. Full speed ahead. The repulsion full on in the +direction of the center of the mass as well as astern. The framework +of the _Nomad_ creaked protestingly from the terrific forces that tore +at her vitals. + +Then suddenly they were released. The _Nomad_ was shooting off into +space. The resultant of those combined forces had done the trick. Only +the edge of that devil-fish of space, had they touched. Free--they +were free of the monster! The red veil lifted. He rushed to Ora's +side. She was kneeling at one of the floor ports, breathing heavily +but unharmed. + +Below them they saw the swiftly receding mass: the fleet of the Llotta +diving headlong, drawn inexorably into the rapacious embrace of the +vile creature of the heavens. An instant the awful whiteness of the +thing closed in greedily about the many spheres of the fleet; +swallowed them from sight and contorted madly and with seeming glee +over the triumph. Then, in a burst of blinding incandescence, it was +gone. The monster, the fleet--everything--blasted into nothingness. +The fuel storage compartments of the vessels of Ganymede had exploded! +The heavens were rid of the inexplicable growing menace; the inner +planets were saved from a terrible invasion. And the _Nomad_ was safe. +Ora, Detis, Mado--all were safe! + +At his side Ora was trembling. Gently he raised her to her feet, and +took her into his arms. + + +CHAPTER X + +_Vagabonds All_ + +Together they cared for Detis and Mado; made them comfortable in their +bunks until the time when the effects of the gas would wear off. +Lucky it was that Rapaju had used the gas pistol rather than the ray. +Perhaps it had been a mistake. Or perhaps he had needed the scientific +knowledge of Detis, the familiarity with the inner planets that was +Mado's. At any rate, they had no delusions regarding his designs on +Ora or his hatred of Carr. By his own passions had the commander of +the fleet been led to the error that cost him his life and made +possible the destruction of his fleet. + +Carr was torn by conflicting emotions. The delectable little Europan +was most disturbing. He'd never had much use for the other sex--on +Earth. Too dominating, most of them. And always thrown at his head by +designing parents for his money. But Ora was different! Her very +nearness set his pulses racing. And he knew that she cared for him as +he did for her. Those moments in the control cabin after the +explosion! But something had come over him since he cut loose from the +old life. Wanderlust--that was it. He'd never go back. Neither would +he be content to settle down to a domestic life in Pala-dar. Wanted to +be up and going somewhere. + +"Oh, Carr, Carr!" Ora's voice called to him. "Mado is awake. He wants +you." + +Good old Mado! Why couldn't they just continue on their way as they +had started out? Roaming the universe in search of other adventures! +But the silvery tinkle of Ora's laughter reached his ears. She was +irresistible! He forgot his doubts as he hurried to his friend's +cabin. + + * * * * * + +Mado was staring at the Europan maiden with a ludicrous expression of +astonishment--gawping, Carr called it. And Ora was laughing at him. + +"Your friend," she gurgled, "doesn't believe he's alive, or that I am, +or you. Tell him we are." + +Carr grinned. Mado did look funny at that. "Hello, old sock," he said, +"had a bad dream?" + +"Did I? Oh boy!" Mado rocked to and fro, his head in his hands. Then +he displayed sudden intense interest. "Rapaju?" he asked. "His +guards--the fleet--what's happened?" + +"Ah ha! Now you know you're alive!" Carr laughed. "But the others are +dead and gone. The fleet's gone to smash--and how!" + +"But Carr. How did you do it? Tell me!" + +Mado threw off his covers and clapped his friend on the back, a +resounding thump that brought a gasp from Ora. + +"Your Sargasso Sea did it. And it's a thing of the past, too. Wait +till I tell you about it!" + + * * * * * + +Ora tripped from the room as Carr sat on the edge of the bunk to spin +his yarn. + +"But man alive!" Mado exclaimed when the story was finished. "Don't +you know you've done a miraculous thing? I'd never have had the nerve. +That damn creature out there had more than four times its former +attracting energy. That's what made it impossible for the fleet to get +away. And you--you lucky devil--you just doped it out right. The fleet +of the Llotta gave you a tremendous push from astern when you used the +repulsive energy. If they hadn't been there with their enormous mass +to react against we'd all have been mincemeat now along with the +Llotta. You Terrestrials sure can think fast! Me, now--Lord, if it had +been me, I'd have thought of it after my spirit had departed to its +reward--or punishment. Glory be! It's the greatest thing I ever heard +of." + +"Rats! You'd have done the same as I did. Probably would have missed +it a mile instead of nearly getting caught as I did. A good thing the +fleet's gone, though. Mars and Terra--Venus, too--they'll never know +how close it was for them. Wouldn't have sense enough to appreciate +it, anyway." + +"They would if they ever got a taste of what the Llotta planned. But +what's wrong with you Carr? You act sore. Want to go home?" + +"Me? Don't be like that. No--I'd like to carry on as we planned. +There's Saturn, Uranus and Neptune yet; Planet 9; a flock of +satellites and asteroids. Oh, dammit!" + +Mado looked his amazement. "Well, what's to prevent it?" he demanded. +"The _Nomad's_ still here, and so are we. I'm just as anxious to keep +going as you are. Why not?" + +But Carr did not reply. Why not, indeed? He strode from the cabin and +into the control room. The _Nomad_ was drifting in space, subject only +to natural forces that swung it in a vast orbit around the sun. He +started the generators and drove the vessel from her temporary orbit +with rapid acceleration. Out--out into the jeweled blackness of the +heavens. There was Jupiter out there, a bright orb that came suddenly +very near when he centered it on the cross-hairs of the telescope. + +The excited voices of Ora and Detis came to his ears. The booming +speech of Mado. Why couldn't he be sensible and companionable as they +were? But a perverse demon kept him at the controls. They'd think him +a grouch. Well, maybe he was! But the vastness of the universe +beckoned. New worlds to explore; mysteries to be solved; a life of +countless new experiences! Anyone'd think he was the owner of the +_Nomad_, the way he planned for the future. + + * * * * * + +They were in the control cabin now--Mado and Detis and Ora. A moment +he hesitated, eyes glued to the telescope. Then, with a petulant +gesture, he reached for the automatic control; locked it. Shouldn't be +this way. They'd think him an awful cad. And they'd be right! He +whirled to face them. + +Detis was smiling. Mado gazed owlishly solemn. Ora clung to the arm of +her father, and her long lashes hid the blue eyes that had played such +havoc with the emotions of the Terrestrial. + +"Carr," said Detis, gently, "we must thank you. You saved our lives, +you know." + +"Aw, forget it. Saved my own, too, didn't I? By a lucky break." + +"It wasn't luck, Carr." Detis was gripping his hand now. "It was sheer +grit and brains. You had them both. If you hadn't used them we'd all +be corpses--or disintegrated--excepting Ora, perhaps. And you know the +fate that awaited her. Instead, we are alive and well. The fleet is +gone. Rapaju's body and that of his guard drift nameless in space +where you disposed of them through the air-lock of the _Nomad_. The +inner planets need fear no future invasion, for the resources of +Ganymede have been expended in the one huge enterprise that has +failed. All through your quick wit and bravery. No, it wasn't luck." + +"Nonsense, Detis." Carr returned the pressure of the scientist's hand, +smiling sheepishly. He pushed him away after a moment. He didn't want +their gratitude or praise. Didn't know what he wanted. Ora still +avoided meeting his gaze. "Nonsense," he repeated. "And now, please +leave me. You, Detis. Mado, too. I'd like to be alone for a +while--with Ora. Mind?" + +Mado's owlish look broadened to a knowing grin as he backed into the +passageway. Detis collided with the huge Martian in his eagerness to +be out of the room. They were alone and Carr was on his feet. Nothing +mattered now--excepting Ora. Suddenly she was in his arms, the +fragrance of her hair in his nostrils. + + * * * * * + +Star gazing, the two of them. It was ridiculous! But the wonders of +the universe held a new beauty now for Carr. The distant suns had +taken on added brilliance. Still they beckoned. + +"Carr," the girl whispered, after a time, "where are we going?" + +"To Europa. Your home." + +"To--to stay?" + +"No." Carr was suddenly confident; determined. "We'll stop there to +break the news. Then we'll be wedded, you and I, according to the +custom of your people. Our honeymoon--years of it--will be spent in +the _Nomad_, roving the universe. Mado'll agree, I know. Wanderers of +the heavens we'll be, Ora. But we'll have each other; and when +we've--you've--had enough of it, I'll be ready to settle down. +Anywhere you say. Are you game?" + +"Oh, Carr! How did you guess? It's just as we'd planned. Father and +Mado and I. Didn't think I'd go, did you, you stupid old dear?" + +"Why--why Ora." Carr was stammering now. He'd thought he was being +masterful--making the plans himself. But she'd beat him to it, the +adorable little minx! "I was a bit afraid," he admitted; "and I still +can't believe that it's actually true. You're sure you want to?" + +"Positive. Why Carr, I've always been a vagabond at heart. And now +that I've found you we'll just be vagabonds together. Father and Mado +will leave us very much to each other. Their scientific leanings, you +know. And--oh--it'll just be wonderful!" + +"It's you that'll make it wonderful, sweetheart." + +Carr drew her close. The stars shone still more brightly and beckoned +anew. Vagabonds, all of them! Like the gypsies of old, but with vastly +more territory to roam. The humdrum routine of his old life seemed +very far behind. He wondered what Courtney Davis would say if he could +see him now. Wordless happiness had come to him, and he let his +thoughts wander out into the limitless expanse of the heavens. Star +gazing still--just he and Ora. + + + + +Reader's Corner + +[Illustration: ] + + +_From a Science Fiction "Fiend"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I agree with you about the reprinting of old stories, + because you would only force older Science Fiction readers + to read the same stuff that they have read before. Any + Science Fiction fiend like myself will surely have the + reprinted story in his collection of magazines. + + The size of your magazine is perfect, but your paper is not + very good. As for me, I don't care about your paper because + your stories are so very good that the paper doesn't matter. + + My favorite story, and one of the best stories that I have + ever read so far, is "Murder Madness." It has a very + original idea and holds your interest from the very start. + + I am also for a more often publication of your magazine; + about twice a month--Rupert Jones, New York, N. Y. + + +_Valuable Suggestions_ + + Dear Editor: + + The July issue of Astounding Stories is one of the best + issues you have so far published. + + Arthur J. Burks sure is a master at writing Science Fiction + tales. The first installment of "Earth, the Marauder" was + swell. Harl Vincent is another very good author. His + novelette, "The Terror of Air-Level Six," was a close + second. "The Forgotten Planet," by S. P. Wright, "Beyond the + Heaviside Layer," by S. P. Meek and "From an Amber Block," + by Tom Curry were all good stories. + + The cover illustration was the best yet. I hope that the + next dozen covers do not have blue backgrounds. Other colors + you might have are green, red, pink, orange, yellow, black + and light and dark purple. + + When will Edmond Hamilton's first story be published in + Astounding Stories? Have you received any stories by Stanton + Coblentz, A. Hyatt Verrill, Ed Earl Repp, John W. Campbell, + Jr., Edward E. Chappelow and Edgar Rice Burroughs yet? + + Why not have a page devoted to the authors? You could print + a picture and tell something about one author each month. I + think that an illustration representing Science Fiction + would look good on the contents page. + + I hope that Wesso will soon be illustrating every story in + Astounding Stories, or that you will obtain another artist + equally as good (if possible). + + Is it possible for you to use a better and thinner grade of + paper? I save all my Astounding Stories and I like them to + be thin so they will not take up so much room.--Jack Darrow, + 4225 N. Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Illinois. + + +_Not Yet_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just received your July issue of Astounding Stories, + and I must say that it is the best yet. + + The only thing wrong with it, in my opinion, is that it is + too small; the size should be at least 9x12. Also it should + be a semi-monthly, or at least accompanied by a quarterly + and annual. + + The stories in the July issue are wonderful, all except + Murray Leinster's serial, which does not belong in your + magazine. + + If you have any intention of putting an annual or a + quarterly on the market, will you be so kind as to + communicate with me as I am very much interested in your + magazine.--Louis Wentzler, 1933 Woodbine St., Brooklyn, N. + Y. + + +_"Ever Since"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I want to tell you what I think of your new magazine. I + think it's great. + + I stopped in a drug store and saw Astounding Stories on the + newsstand. I bought it and have been buying it ever since. I + am fourteen years old, but I am interested in science. Why + not get a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and some more by + Ray Cummings? + + I wish success to your wonderful magazine.--Wm. McCalvy, + 1244 Beech St., St. Paul, Minn. + + +_"Not One Poor Story Yet"_ + + Dear Editor: + + I agree with you that reprints should absolutely be kept out + of your magazine. I admit that there are many stories of + unusual merit among the reprints but I favor new and fresher + stories. + + In your last issue (June) I consider "The Moon Master" as + being the best story, closely followed by "Out of the + Dreadful Depths." "The Cavern World" came next, followed by + "Giants of the Ray," "Brigands of the Moon" and "Murder + Madness." + + I have not found one poor story in your magazine yet, and + never expect to. + + I, for one, favor a larger sized magazine with a five cent + increase in price, or, at least, if the magazine must remain + small, I would like to see a quarterly out on the third + Thursday every three months. + + I am extremely pleased to see that an interplanetary story + by R. F. Starzl will appear in your next issue. Please have + more of his stories if possible.--Forrest James Ackerman, + 530 Staples Ave., San Francisco, Calif. + + +_Likes Present Size_ + + Dear Editor: + + Best stories in the last two issues: C. D. Willard's "Out of + the Dreadful Depths" (Excellent); Chas. W. Diffin's "The + Moon Master" (Very Good); Sewell P. Wright's "Forgotten + Planet" (Fairly Good). + + I am a new reader, but interested in these kinds of + stories. I am pleased to see that your readers criticize + freely. A story that will please one reader will not + interest another, perhaps, and it may not be the fault of + the author's ability so much as that he doesn't like that + type of story. + + "Out of the Dreadful Depths," by C. Willard is the best + story I've read for some time. I could not see a single way + it could be improved. "The Moon Master," by Chas. Diffin was + just as good but I didn't like the ending so well. I + certainly hope Mr. Diffin will write more stories like it, + especially using his same three leading characters. "The + Forgotten Planet," by Mr. Wright, was well written and + pretty good in spite of the fact that I don't like that type + of story so well. + + "Murder Madness," by Murray Leinster was well written and + the characters interesting and real but I didn't like his + subject. I hope for more and different stories from him. + "Earth, the Marauder," by Arthur J. Burks looks as though it + was going to be a record winner for me--accomplish the + impossible, and make a good story from a story of the + future. + + I don't like horror stories, crazy stories and stories + written far into the future, as "Brigands of the Moon." + These stories make light of the vast distances of space and + are too weird, droll and fail to give a single shiver down + my old backbone. They are strange and inhabited by strange + people. No story can give the faintest idea of the space + between those mighty suns of the universe. Most of them have + more imagination than scientific knowledge. "Earth, the + Marauder," an exception. + + I would much rather hear stories of primeval days of the + lost Atlantis before Earth was populated with scientific + beings, when the cave man looked up at the unknown, then so + near to him. At the moon, which was then so close, and + uninhabited by superior beings. Tales of superstition and + all mystery stories of the unknown. I like interplanetary + stories, if not written too far into the future. + + I like the present size and shape of your magazine. Best + wishes for the success of your magazine.--An Interested + Reader, Goffstown, N. H. + + +_Likes_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have just finished reading the July issue of Astounding + Stories and I think every story is simply great, especially + "The Terror of Air-Level Six." That sure is a story! "The + Forgotten Planet" is a corker, too! + + While reading the letters in "The Readers' Corner" I noticed + that almost everyone has a hankering for Edgar Rice + Burroughs' stories. Believe it or not, I'm wild about his + stories myself and I'm looking forward to reading his + stories in Astounding Stories. It won't make any difference + if they'll be originals or reprints, so long as they're + Burroughs! + + Ray Cummings is another one of my favorites and I always + read his stories first. His "Brigands of the Moon" hit me in + the right spot. "The Moon Master" in the June issue was + also a very fine story. + + Now about this argument about reprinted stories. I think + that if, at least, one reprinted story appeared in each + issue of Astounding Stories, it wouldn't hurt its + reputation. Here are some reprints that hit the ceiling: + "The War in the Air," by Wells; "Tarranto, the Conqueror," + by Cummings; "The Conquest of Mars," by Serviss. I'm sure + the readers would enjoy reading them. But if you are + persistent about avoiding reprints then we'll have to do + without them.--Paul Nikolaieff, 4325 S. Seeley Ave., + Chicago, Illinois. + + +_Wants Sequel_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read every issue of Astounding Stories though I can + barely afford it. I like it very much. The best novels were, + in order: 1. "The Moon Master"; 2. "Phantoms of Reality"; 3. + "Spawn of the Stars"; 4. "Terror of Air-Level Six." + + In the July issue you published a story, "Earth, the + Marauder," which promises to be even better than the + "Skylark of Space" that once came out in another magazine. I + like Harl Vincent, Ray Cummings, Arthur Burks, and Martian + stories best. Interplanetary stories always agree with me. + Burroughs is an excellent author. I like his Martian books. + "The Beetle Horde" in the first two issues was very good. + But why not give a sequel about the other and more terrible + creatures in the earth whom the madman spoke of? Fourth + dimensionals are sometimes good. You should have reprints by + Burroughs, Cummings and Merritt. I am eagerly waiting for + the next issue. Do not enlarge the magazine because I cannot + afford it. Don't publish stories like "From an Amber Block." + They're rotten. Publish more future and interplanetary + stories.--Joseph Edelman, 721 De Kalb Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + +_Stands Pat_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have read all the issues of A. S. since the date of + publication and think that there is no other magazine like + it on the market. I would like to offer a few suggestions + contrary to most of your readers (i.e., Jack Darrow & Chas. + Barret): + + 1.--Keep magazine in present size and price. + + 2.--Issue it only once a month. If it was issued + semi-monthly the writers would soon run out of ideas; and + the readers would get sick of it if they read it so often + anyway. + + 3.--Keep up the style of stories now running, i.e., keep the + science a little in the background. Do not let it monopolize + the story. + + I get other magazines that do not follow the last mentioned + rule and the result is the stories are full of machines + going 10,000 miles per hour, etc.; pink, black, purple and + eleventeen other colored rays. As a result the stories are + drier than the Sahara Desert. + + The illustrations are fine (O.K.) as they are.--Walter + O'Brien, 6 Hageman Pl., North Bergen, N. J. + + +_Trial by Readers_ + + Dear Editor: + + When Astounding Stories first appeared on the newsstands, a + brand new Science Fiction magazine, I was prejudiced against + it as a competitor to the existing magazines--one that might + carry an inferior quality of Science Fiction so closely + approaching the supernatural as to practically disregard + science. In a few cases, as with very good writers like A. + Merritt and H. P. Lovecraft, this is permissible, but, + otherwise, not at all so. In the first issue, "The Stolen + Mind" seemed to bear me out, but, then, there was "Tanks." I + bought the next issue--much better! And then the third + showed "The Soul Master," very well written, but not quite + science, as related. Yet, "Cold Light" held me on, and + "Brigands of the Moon." There is no danger of my dropping + off now! + + In the current issue, "Murder Madness" and "The Power and + the Glory" stand out as mile-posts in the history of Science + Fiction. The rest are not far behind, though, as a matter of + fact, "Beyond the Heaviside Layer" and "Earth, the Marauder" + have more discernible flaws than the rest. Just for example, + a layer of organic matter would raise Cain with astronomy, + due to refraction. Air is bad enough. But the writing + overwhelms the error. You have certainly assembled a group + of excellent authors, new and old, and I am glad to see the + promise of R. F. Starzl in the next issue. His "Madness of + the Dust" is one of the most naturally written + interplanetary stories I have read--logical and clear, just + as it would happen to anybody. + + And now for the big question--that of reprints. You seem to + have already decided the answer, and have defended your + action well, but I wonder if it is well enough. By far your + best argument is your last--"authors must eat"--with which I + have no quarrel at all. Still, one classic serial a year, or + at most two, might not prove too harmful. Following back, I + reach a statement concerning "The Saturday Evening Post." In + the past it has published hundreds of the world's best + stories, and never reprinted. True. But why? Because these + stories are all available in book form, in libraries and + book stores, in original or new editions or in the Grosset + and Dunlap list of perpetually printed best sellers. It is + possible to read them for years after publication. But try + to find the past masterpieces of Science Fiction. With the + exception of Burroughs' books, most were never printed in + book form. Even books by Wells and Verne, classics of their + kind are gone, totally gone, even from the shelves of + libraries. Many of Verne's best stories were never + translated from the French. And the other classics of which + readers write, classics familiar to most of us only by name + and a few lucky tastes of others, newer works by the same + authors, are absolutely gone--annihilated. Their best works + are beyond the reach of the reader. Only by republication, + in magazine or book, can they be revived in an age when they + will be remembered and preserved--an age awake to science + and Science Fiction. Other magazines are doing it, one or + two to the year, and it may be that you need not reprint; + but the reservoir of the past is large, and a few cannot + drain it. This leads to your first argument, that better + stories are being written to-day. They are--better than the + average of the past--but not better than the classics. It + would be folly to say that because the short story is a + modern development, and because Galsworthy or Walpole or + Reimarch are better than the average of yesterday, to our + present tastes, that the classics of the past should be + scrapped. + + The analogy, I feel, is good. The classics of general + literature have their place in history. The classics of + Science Fiction should have theirs. There are dozens better + than the general run of present work, by A. Merritt, Homer + Eon Flint, George Allan England, Austin Hall, John Taine, + Garret P. Serviss, Ralph Milne Farley, Ray Cummings, and + others that stood out in an age when Science Fiction was + considered pure phantasy or imaginative "trash." In the + present age, they would be still better, and this time they + would not be lost to the world, for there are publishers and + readers who would preserve them. You may adhere to your + decision, but, to my mind, and, I think to far more than 1% + of other minds, reprints of classics are essential, actually + vitally necessary. Try to find out what a ballot would show. + Again, from the author's point of view. Up to now, Burroughs + has had all the breaks as to book publication. Now Ray + Cummings and others are being published. "An author must + eat." Give him a chance, by reviving his best efforts, and + bringing them to public attention, so that a publisher will + find them worthy of publication. Most of the masters of + Science Fiction are alive--give them a chance to eat. Too, a + great many of the best modern authors are modern readers: + ask them if they would be willing to see one of the best + stories of the past re-issued each year, stories unpublished + in existing magazines for ten years or more. I certainly + hope you will alter your decision. + + And now to reverse some other decisions of readers. The size + is quite all right and very handy for binding purposes, Mr. + Mack to the contrary. Incidentally, the staples are so + placed as to make binding simple. Also contrary to Mr. + Darrow, I prefer the artist Gould, to Wesso, for interior + illustrations, though Wesso is best for mechanical + illustrations. Incidentally, give us the name of the artist + for each story, especially when the illustrations are + unsigned, as in the April issue. Wesso's best cover for you + has been that for April, illustrating "Monsters of Moyen." + It shows his best style very well. + + As to my favorite type of Science Fiction, any kind, if well + written, will do. As it happens, the king of authors, A. + Merritt, has a type all his own, as Mr. Bryant notes, which + is unbeatable, and my favorite. However, at times, a good + writer may fall down in his fundamental assumptions. I don't + care where or how far he goes, so long as he starts with + something that present-day science does not deny. Here is + where "The Soul Master" fell down, and, even more so, "The + Soul Snatcher." Better leave souls and astrals and egos + alone, except in very, very rare cases, when an author turns + up who can make you believe in them as mechanical entities. + + As a Science Fiction fan, a student of chemistry, and a + hopeful author, I will probably write to "The Readers' + Corner" as often as I want to blow off steam regarding + science or fiction or the way in which you are running the + magazine. I hope I won't be considered an utter nuisance, + and will be given a trial by jury--a jury of readers.--P. + Schuyler Miller, 302 So. Ten Broeck St., Scotia, New York. + + +"_Handy to Hold_" + + Dear Editor: + + I wish to say that I have the seven numbers of Astounding + Stories that have been issued thus far and I have read them + through ever word. It is wonderful, and there is no word of + fault to be uttered concerning any of them. I think "Murder + Madness" is the best story you have printed so far, but they + are all good in different ways. + + You received some letters that surprise me. How anyone can + ask you to change the make-up to the blanket sheet form is + more than I can see. It is so handy to hold and to read as + it is now. I do hope you will not change it. + + No, there is so much that one wants to read these days that + I do not advocate issuing twice a month. One issue each + month is just right. But I do wish you would increase the + number of pages to at least the number in Five Novels + magazine. Of course, you would want 25c. for it then, and + that is all right. + + Am glad that you refuse to give us reprints. We do not want + them. + + Astounding Stories is a gem, and I hope to read it for the + remainder of my life. Keep right on with the good + work.--Will S. Cushing, 21 Cottage St., Abington, + Massachusetts. + + +_We Hope So, Too_! + + Dear Editor: + + Your July issue of Astounding Stories was wonderful. Your + magazine is improving greatly. "Murder Madness" is a great + story, and "Earth, the Marauder," is one of the best stories + I have ever read. I hope the other parts of it are just as + interesting as the first part.--Mick Scotts, 115 W. 16th + Ave., Gary, Indiana. + + +_Another Sequel_ + + Dear Editor: + + Well, I have so much to say, or rather would like to say for + your magazine. I like it in every detail but one, which is + waiting a whole month for the rest of my stories. + + I wish you would give us the third sequel of "Out of the + Ocean's Depths." Let the young scientist discover a way to + perform matrimony between the girl of the ocean and the man, + and then let their child live either in or out of water. + There could be two more good stories or sequels of "Out of + the Ocean's Depths." I like them all. + + I liked "Murder Madness," too. It seems as though it is + really real, and not fiction. I wish you would get the book + out twice a month.--Mrs. B. R. Woods, Cotte, Arkansas. + + +_From Author to Author_ + + Dear Editor: + + Since Astounding Stories began you have published a goodly + number of really remarkable stories, chief among which, in + my estimation, are the following: "Spawn of the Stars," by + C. W. Diffin; "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings; + "Monsters of Moyen," by Arthur J. Burks; "The Atom Smasher," + by Victor Rousseau; and "The Moon Master," C. W. Diffin. + + But none of these can compare with Diffin's last short + story, "The Power and the Glory," which appeared in the last + (July) issue. For originality of theme, clever phraseology + and excellent literary craftsmanship it stands alone--a + little masterpiece. Its author should be congratulated. + + To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Diffin is a newcomer in + Science Fiction. The first story of his that I read was + "Spawn of the Stars." Keep his pen busy, Mr. Editor; he's + valuable--an' I don't mean maybe! + + If I could write a story like "The Power and the Glory," I'd + certainly congratulate myself!--L. A. Eshbach, 225 Chestnut + St., Reading, Pa. + + +"_Held Me Spellbound_" + + Dear Editor: + + I happened to read one of your books the other + day--Astounding Stories is the one--and I was very much + taken up with it. I found that it was a very interesting + book, indeed. I have no fear in saying that it held me + spellbound from the start till the finish. The one that I + happened to buy was the issue of May, 1930, and the story + that gripped me most was "Brigands of the Moon." It was very + thrilling, indeed, and I am very sorry I could not obtain + the previous copies so as to start at the beginning. But, + however, I am able to obtain a copy every month and am very + pleased, as I would hate to miss a copy again. + + Well, I hope this letter will reach you safely. Remember me + as a contented reader of your magazine.--Geo. Young, 447 + Canning St., Nth. Carlton N. 4, Melbourne, Australia. + + +_We Are Printing It_! + + Dear Editor: + + It seems that you have taken a wrong slant on my letter + which you published recently. True, I did give you a long + list of stories which I wanted to see, but I didn't mean + that you should publish only reprints, no new stories. Far + from it. Instead, I'd suggest that you give us a classic, + say, every six months. This arrangement ought to be okay + with everyone. That's that for reprints. + + About the stories and the authors, they're all right. + There's one thing that I like about you that I don't find in + the other Science Fiction magazines. With the very first + issue you started off with the authors that are wanted by + everyone who reads this type of literature. You began with + Cummings, Rousseau, Meek and Leinster. Hm-m, let's see. And + you're keeping up the good system by having added Vincent, + Starzl, Burks, Curry, Miss Lorraine, Hamilton, etc. But you + don't escape entirely unscathed, for the other magazines + give us stories from authors which haven't as yet written a + story which appeared in your columns. Let's see; besides the + stars above, let's add to the galaxy Keller (three cheers), + Breuer, Smith (his story, "The Skylark of Space," ought to + have about six sequels), the late Mr. Serviss, Verrill, Poe, + Wells, Verne, Flint (o-o-oh, for that "Blind Spot"), Hall, + England, Hasta (one story by him is all I've read, but it + only whetted my appetite), and Simmons. Oh, yes, the two + Taines, the detective of Dr. Keller's and the author. But + there's something missing. Hm-m--ah, A. Merritt! What a + writer! How could I have forgotten him? Which reminds me of + Burroughs who has been left out in the rain for quite a + while. He belongs back in the fold. + + Mr. Editor, do you remember way back when you said we should + write in to you to tell you of the stories we want and that + you would get them for us? Of course, you do. Stories and + authors cannot be parted, so get those authors I've listed + above and forget about the stories, for they'll all be good. + + I do not kick about any particular author for the reason + that if I tried to write on the same subject they picked out + and are picking, my work would be pretty different from what + they'd produce, and their works would be the ones that would + be published. Please don't read that twice; I hope to be a + contributor very soon. + + In my opinion you should enlarge the size of the magazine, + but for heaven's sake don't increase the departments. Every + day that we read a paper we learn of what science is doing. + And, at the end of the month we read the same thing in a + magazine which should give us a story instead. The price is + just right. But, even if the magazine were enlarged and the + price boosted to a quarter, do you really think that we get + enough material to devour? No! Then what? Get out a + Quarterly! And please don't wait about that for the next ten + years. + + This is a pretty lengthy letter and I don't expect you to + print it but I want you to get the views of at least one + devoted reader--Isidore Mansen, 544 Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn, + N. Y. + + +_Every Single One_ + + Dear Editor: + + I certainly received a pleasant surprise when I glanced at + the table of contents for the August issue. When one sees + Victor Rousseau, R. F. Starzl, Murray Leinster, Harl + Vincent, and Edmond Hamilton, one knows that the issue is + bound to be a good one. I wish to congratulate you on the + way you have been running Astounding Stories. If you intend + to keep giving us the authors you are now, throughout your + whole career, you are a law-breaker. What I mean by that is + that no other magazine has kept a high grade of authors very + long. The old magazines on the market have once had stories + by the authors you are giving us now, but they never kept + those authors long. If you keep the authors you have now you + may well be assured of success. + + "Silver Dome" undoubtedly copped the prize for this issue. + It could not have been better. "The Lord of Space" was a + very good story. "The Planet of Dread" was another very good + story. "The Second Satellite," by Hamilton, was excellent. + For once in his life Hamilton has written a story that has + not the same old plot all his other stories have! I wish to + congratulate him on the best story he has ever written! "The + Flying City" was the same thing all over again. The world in + danger and suddenly our magnificent hero comes along, takes + a hand, and presto the danger is all over. Of course, he has + to meet the beautiful girl and fall in love with her, and at + the end of the story marry her! Remember, history repeats + itself. Have you ever heard of the world being saved by one + man? No! Neither have I. The world will never be saved by + one man. Therefore, all those stories are "the bunk." + "Murder Madness" was wonderful. I expect to see it in the + talkies before long. It could be filmed easily enough, + couldn't it! I know it certainly would make a wonderful + picture. I expect to see you publish "Murder Madness" and + "Brigands of the Moon" in book form. If you do, I will try + my darnedest to get a copy. Also in my list of good authors + up there I forgot to mention Arthur J. Burks. + + Now I wish to broach the subject of a Quarterly to you. I + think Astounding Stories should have one. Every other + Science Fiction magazine has, so let us have one, too. Won't + you? You can give us over twice as much as you do in the + monthly and charge about 50c. a copy. Have one good book and + several short stories in each issue; no serials. How about + it? + + And now let's talk a little about Astounding Stories! Why + not cut the paper smooth, the way you do in Five Novels + Monthly? It would make the magazine look a lot better. It + would also be a lot easier to find one's place when one has + to lay the book down for a moment. The last reason may sound + trivial, but it's really annoying to try to find one's place + among those bulky pages. The paper you use now gives the + magazine an inferior appearance when compared to others of + its kind. It certainly would be a relief to see you use + better paper. Won't you please consider the points I have + brought out in my letter?--Gabriel Kirschner, Box 301, + Temple, Texas. + + +"_What Authors_!" + + Dear Editor: + + Astounding Stories is improving with every issue. However, + you would have to go far to beat the August issue. It can + be called an "all star" number. What authors! Hamilton, + Rousseau, Starzl, Burks, and others, all of whom are among + my favorite authors. The stories were so good that it is + almost impossible to pick out the best one. However, after + some thought I have finally chosen Hamilton's "The Second + Satellite." "Earth, the Marauder," is a close second. I hope + you have many more stories by Edmond Hamilton. + + I see that the cover is the first one to be of a different + color. Please have a new color each month. + + There are a few ways in which Astounding Stories may be + improved. Enough of the readers have mentioned improving the + quality of the paper so that I do not have to comment on + this. An editorial each month would improve the magazine + greatly. + + Here's hoping that Astounding Stories becomes a semi-monthly + soon--very soon--Michael Fogaris, 157 Fourth St., Passiac, + N. J. + + +_Stands Pat_ + + Dear Editor: + + I have been a reader of your magazine for some time. I hope + to continue reading it in the future. + + I notice in "The Readers' Corner" that some want reprints. + Others want the size of the magazine changed. I say, give us + "fresh" stories and leave the size of the magazine alone. + + In my opinion, the best stories in your July issue were + "Beyond the Heaviside Layer" and "Earth, the Marauder." They + were both fine. Keep up the good work--Carlson Abernathy, P. + O. Box 584, Clearwater, Florida. + + +"_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, +November, 1930, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTOUNDING STORIES, NOVEMBER 1930 *** + +***** This file should be named 29919.txt or 29919.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/1/29919/ + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/29919.zip b/29919.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..86fa345 --- /dev/null +++ b/29919.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddb8d36 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #29919 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29919) |
