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diff --git a/old/memon10.txt b/old/memon10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0cf698 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/memon10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12705 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Metal Monster, by A. Merritt +#2 in our series by A. Merritt + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by Judy Boss. + + + + + +A. MERRITT + +THE METAL MONSTER + + + + +PROLOGUE + +Before the narrative which follows was placed in my +hands, I had never seen Dr. Walter T. Goodwin, its author. + +When the manuscript revealing his adventures among +the pre-historic ruins of the Nan-Matal in the Carolines +(The Moon Pool) had been given me by the International +Association of Science for editing and revision to meet the +requirements of a popular presentation, Dr. Goodwin had +left America. He had explained that he was still too shaken, +too depressed, to be able to recall experiences that must +inevitably carry with them freshened memories of those +whom he loved so well and from whom, he felt, he was +separated in all probability forever. + +I had understood that he had gone to some remote part +of Asia to pursue certain botanical studies, and it was therefore +with the liveliest surprise and interest that I received +a summons from the President of the Association to meet +Dr. Goodwin at a designated place and hour. + +Through my close study of the Moon Pool papers I had +formed a mental image of their writer. I had read, too, +those volumes of botanical research which have set him +high above all other American scientists in this field, gleaning +from their curious mingling of extremely technical observations +and minutely accurate but extraordinarily poetic +descriptions, hints to amplify my picture of him. It gratified +me to find I had drawn a pretty good one. + +The man to whom the President of the Association introduced +me was sturdy, well-knit, a little under average height. +He had a broad but rather low forehead that reminded me +somewhat of the late electrical wizard Steinmetz. Under +level black brows shone eyes of clear hazel, kindly, shrewd, +a little wistful, lightly humorous; the eyes both of a doer +and a dreamer. + +Not more than forty I judged him to be. A close-trimmed, +pointed beard did not hide the firm chin and the clean-cut +mouth. His hair was thick and black and oddly sprinkled +with white; small streaks and dots of gleaming silver that +shone with a curiously metallic luster. + +His right arm was closely bound to his breast. His manner +as he greeted me was tinged with shyness. He extended +his left hand in greeting, and as I clasped the fingers I was +struck by their peculiar, pronounced, yet pleasant warmth; +a sensation, indeed, curiously electric. + +The Association's President forced him gently back into +his chair. + +"Dr. Goodwin," he said, turning to me, "is not entirely +recovered as yet from certain consequences of his adventures. +He will explain to you later what these are. In the +meantime, Mr. Merritt, will you read this?" + +I took the sheets he handed me, and as I read them felt +the gaze of Dr. Goodwin full upon me, searching, weighing, +estimating. When I raised my eyes from the letter I found +in his a new expression. The shyness was gone; they were +filled with complete friendliness. Evidently I had passed +muster. + +"You will accept, sir?" It was the president's gravely +courteous tone. + +"Accept!" I exclaimed. "Why, of course, I accept. It is +not only one of the greatest honors, but to me one of the +greatest delights to act as a collaborator with Dr. Goodwin." + +The president smiled. + +"In that case, sir, there is no need for me to remain +longer," he said. "Dr. Goodwin has with him his manuscript +as far as he has progressed with it. I will leave you +two alone for your discussion." + +He bowed to us and, picking up his old-fashioned bell-crowned +silk hat and his quaint, heavy cane of ebony, withdrew. +Dr. Goodwin turned to me. + +"I will start," he said, after a little pause, "from when I +met Richard Drake on the field of blue poppies that are +like a great prayer-rug at the gray feet of the nameless +mountain." + +The sun sank, the shadows fell, the lights of the city +sparkled out, for hours New York roared about me unheeded +while I listened to the tale of that utterly weird, +stupendous drama of an unknown life, of unknown creatures, +unknown forces, and of unconquerable human heroism +played among the hidden gorges of unknown Asia. + +It was dawn when I left him for my own home. Nor was +it for many hours after that I laid his then incomplete manuscript +down and sought sleep--and found a troubled sleep. + +A. MERRITT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +VALLEY OF THE +BLUE POPPIES + +In this great crucible of life we call the world--in the +vaster one we call the universe--the mysteries lie close +packed, uncountable as grains of sand on ocean's shores. +They thread gigantic, the star-flung spaces; they creep, +atomic, beneath the microscope's peering eye. They walk +beside us, unseen and unheard, calling out to us, asking +why we are deaf to their crying, blind to their wonder. + +Sometimes the veils drop from a man's eyes, and he sees +--and speaks of his vision. Then those who have not seen +pass him by with the lifted brows of disbelief, or they +mock him, or if his vision has been great enough they +fall upon and destroy him. + +For the greater the mystery, the more bitterly is its +verity assailed; upon what seem the lesser a man may give +testimony and at least gain for himself a hearing. + +There is reason for this. Life is a ferment, and upon and +about it, shifting and changing, adding to or taking away, +beat over legions of forces, seen and unseen, known and +unknown. And man, an atom in the ferment, clings desperately +to what to him seems stable; nor greets with joy +him who hazards that what he grips may be but a broken +staff, and, so saying, fails to hold forth a sturdier one. + +Earth is a ship, plowing her way through uncharted +oceans of space wherein are strange currents, hidden +shoals and reefs, and where blow the unknown winds of +Cosmos. + +If to the voyagers, painfully plotting their course, comes +one who cries that their charts must be remade, nor can +tell WHY they must be--that man is not welcome--no! + +Therefore it is that men have grown chary of giving testimony +upon mysteries. Yet knowing each in his own heart +the truth of that vision he has himself beheld, lo, it is +that in whose reality he most believes. + +The spot where I had encamped was of a singular +beauty; so beautiful that it caught the throat and set an +ache within the breast--until from it a tranquillity distilled +that was like healing mist. + +Since early March I had been wandering. It was now +mid-July. And for the first time since my pilgrimage had +begun I drank--not of forgetfulness, for that could never +be--but of anodyne for a sorrow which had held fast +upon me since my return from the Carolines a year before. + +No need to dwell here upon that--it has been written. +Nor shall I recite the reasons for my restlessness--for +these are known to those who have read that history of +mine. Nor is there cause to set forth at length the steps +by which I had arrived at this vale of peace. + +Sufficient is to tell that in New York one night, reading +over what is perhaps the most sensational of my books-- +"The Poppies and Primulas of Southern Tibet," the result +of my travels of 1910-1911, I determined to return to that +quiet, forbidden land. There, if anywhere, might I find +something akin to forgetting. + +There was a certain flower which I long had wished to +study in its mutations from the singular forms appearing +on the southern slopes of the Elburz--Persia's mountainous +chain that extends from Azerbaijan in the west to +Khorasan in the east; from thence I would follow its +modified types in the Hindu-Kush ranges and its migrations +along the southern scarps of the Trans-Himalayas-- +the unexplored upheaval, higher than the Himalayas themselves, +more deeply cut with precipice and gorge, which Sven Hedin +had touched and named on his journey to Lhasa. + +Having accomplished this, I planned to push across the +passes to the Manasarowar Lakes, where, legend has it, +the strange, luminous purple lotuses grow. + +An ambitious project, undeniably fraught with danger; +but it is written that desperate diseases require desperate +remedies, and until inspiration or message how to rejoin +those whom I had loved so dearly came to me, nothing +less, I felt, could dull my heartache. + +And, frankly, feeling that no such inspiration or message +could come, I did not much care as to the end. + +In Teheran I had picked up a most unusual servant; yes, +more than this, a companion and counselor and interpreter +as well. + +He was a Chinese; his name Chiu-Ming. His first thirty +years had been spent at the great Lamasery of Palkhor-Choinde +at Gyantse, west of Lhasa. Why he had gone +from there, how he had come to Teheran, I never asked. +It was most fortunate that he had gone, and that I had +found him. He recommended himself to me as the best +cook within ten thousand miles of Pekin. + +For almost three months we had journeyed; Chiu-Ming +and I and the two ponies that carried my impedimenta. + +We had traversed mountain roads which had echoed to +the marching feet of the hosts of Darius, to the hordes of +the Satraps. The highways of the Achaemenids--yes, and +which before them had trembled to the tramplings of the +myriads of the godlike Dravidian conquerors. + +We had slipped over ancient Iranian trails; over paths +which the warriors of conquering Alexander had traversed; +dust of bones of Macedons, of Greeks, of Romans, beat +about us; ashes of the flaming ambitions of the Sassanidae +whimpered beneath our feet--the feet of an American +botanist, a Chinaman, two Tibetan ponies. We had crept +through clefts whose walls had sent back the howlings of +the Ephthalites, the White Huns who had sapped the +strength of these same proud Sassanids until at last both +fell before the Turks. + +Over the highways and byways of Persia's glory, Persia's +shame and Persia's death we four--two men, two beasts +--had passed. For a fortnight we had met no human soul, +seen no sign of human habitation. + +Game had been plentiful--green things Chiu-Ming +might lack for his cooking, but meat never. About us was +a welter of mighty summits. We were, I knew, somewhere +within the blending of the Hindu-Kush with the Trans-Himalayas. + +That morning we had come out of a ragged defile into +this valley of enchantment, and here, though it had been +so early, I had pitched my tent, determining to go no +farther till the morrow. + +It was a Phocean vale; a gigantic cup filled with tranquillity. +A spirit brooded over it, serene, majestic, immutable--like +the untroubled calm which rests, the Burmese believe, over +every place which has guarded the Buddha, sleeping. + +At its eastern end towered the colossal scarp of the +unnamed peak through one of whose gorges we had crept. +On his head was a cap of silver set with pale emeralds--the +snow fields and glaciers that crowned him. Far to the west +another gray and ochreous giant reared its bulk, closing the +vale. North and south, the horizon was a chaotic sky land +of pinnacles, spired and minareted, steepled and turreted +and domed, each diademed with its green and argent of +eternal ice and snow. + +And all the valley was carpeted with the blue poppies +in wide, unbroken fields, luminous as the morning skies of +mid-June; they rippled mile after mile over the path we +had followed, over the still untrodden path which we must +take. They nodded, they leaned toward each other, they +seemed to whisper--then to lift their heads and look up +like crowding swarms of little azure fays, half impudently, +wholly trustfully, into the faces of the jeweled giants +standing guard over them. And when the little breeze +walked upon them it was as though they bent beneath the +soft tread and were brushed by the sweeping skirts of +unseen, hastening Presences. + +Like a vast prayer-rug, sapphire and silken, the poppies +stretched to the gray feet of the mountain. Between their +southern edge and the clustering summits a row of faded +brown, low hills knelt--like brown-robed, withered and +weary old men, backs bent, faces hidden between outstretched +arms, palms to the earth and brows touching +earth within them--in the East's immemorial attitude of +worship. + +I half expected them to rise--and as I watched a man +appeared on one of the bowed, rocky shoulders, abruptly, +with the ever-startling suddenness which in the strange +light of these latitudes objects spring into vision. As he +stood scanning my camp there arose beside him a laden +pony, and at its head a Tibetan peasant. The first figure +waved its hand; came striding down the hill. + +As he approached I took stock of him. A young giant, +three good inches over six feet, a vigorous head with unruly +clustering black hair; a clean-cut, clean-shaven American face. + +"I'm Dick Drake," he said, holding out his hand. "Richard +Keen Drake, recently with Uncle's engineers in France." + +"My name is Goodwin." I took his hand, shook it +warmly. "Dr. Walter T. Goodwin." + +"Goodwin the botanist--? Then I know you!" he exclaimed. +"Know all about you, that is. My father admired +your work greatly. You knew him--Professor Alvin +Drake." + +I nodded. So he was Alvin Drake's son. Alvin, I knew, +had died about a year before I had started on this journey. +But what was his son doing in this wilderness? + +"Wondering where I came from?" he answered my unspoken +question. "Short story. War ended. Felt an irresistible +desire for something different. Couldn't think of +anything more different from Tibet--always wanted to go +there anyway. Went. Decided to strike over toward Turkestan. +And here I am." + +I felt at once a strong liking for this young giant. No +doubt, subconsciously, I had been feeling the need of +companionship with my own kind. I even wondered, as I +led the way into my little camp, whether he would care to +join fortunes with me in my journeyings. + +His father's work I knew well, and although this stalwart +lad was unlike what one would have expected Alvin +Drake--a trifle dried, precise, wholly abstracted with his +experiments--to beget, still, I reflected, heredity like the +Lord sometimes works in mysterious ways its wonders to +perform. + +It was almost with awe that he listened to me instruct +Chiu-Ming as to just how I wanted supper prepared, and +his gaze dwelt fondly upon the Chinese busy among his +pots and pans. + +We talked a little, desultorily, as the meal was prepared +--fragments of traveler's news and gossip, as is the +habit of journeyers who come upon each other in the silent +places. Ever the speculation grew in his face as he made +away with Chiu-Ming's artful concoctions. + +Drake sighed, drawing out his pipe. + +"A cook, a marvel of a cook. Where did you get him?" + +Briefly I told him. + +Then a silence fell upon us. Suddenly the sun dipped +down behind the flank of the stone giant guarding the +valley's western gate; the whole vale swiftly darkened--a +flood of crystal-clear shadows poured within it. It was the +prelude to that miracle of unearthly beauty seen nowhere +else on this earth--the sunset of Tibet. + +We turned expectant eyes to the west. A little, cool +breeze raced down from the watching steeps like a messenger, +whispered to the nodding poppies, sighed and was +gone. The poppies were still. High overhead a homing kite +whistled, mellowly. + +As if it were a signal there sprang out in the pale azure +of the western sky row upon row of cirrus cloudlets, rank +upon rank of them, thrusting their heads into the path of +the setting sun. They changed from mottled silver into +faint rose, deepened to crimson. + +"The dragons of the sky drink the blood of the sunset," +said Chiu-Ming. + +As though a gigantic globe of crystal had dropped upon +the heavens, their blue turned swiftly to a clear and glowing +amber--then as abruptly shifted to a luminous violet +A soft green light pulsed through the valley. + +Under it, like hills ensorcelled, the rocky walls about it +seemed to flatten. They glowed and all at once pressed +forward like gigantic slices of palest emerald jade, translucent, +illumined, as though by a circlet of little suns shining +behind them. + +The light faded, robes of deepest amethyst dropped +around the mountain's mighty shoulders. And then from +every snow and glacier-crowned peak, from minaret and +pinnacle and towering turret, leaped forth a confusion of +soft peacock flames, a host of irised prismatic gleamings, +an ordered chaos of rainbows. + +Great and small, interlacing and shifting, they ringed +the valley with an incredible glory--as if some god of +light itself had touched the eternal rocks and bidden radiant +souls stand forth. + +Through the darkening sky swept a rosy pencil of living +light; that utterly strange, pure beam whose coming never +fails to clutch the throat of the beholder with the hand of +ecstasy, the ray which the Tibetans name the Ting-Pa. +For a moment this rosy finger pointed to the east, then +arched itself, divided slowly into six shining, rosy bands; +began to creep downward toward the eastern horizon where +a nebulous, pulsing splendor arose to meet it. + +And as we watched I heard a gasp from Drake. And it +was echoed by my own. + +For the six beams were swaying, moving with ever +swifter motion from side to side in ever-widening sweep, +as though the hidden orb from which they sprang were +swaying like a pendulum. + +Faster and faster the six high-flung beams swayed--and +then broke--broke as though a gigantic, unseen hand had +reached up and snapped them! + +An instant the severed ends ribboned aimlessly, then +bent, turned down and darted earthward into the welter of +clustered summits at the north and swiftly were gone, +while down upon the valley fell night. + +"Good God!" whispered Drake. "It was as though something +reached up, broke those rays and drew them down-- +like threads." + +"I saw it." I struggled with bewilderment. "I saw it. But +I never saw anything like it before," I ended, most inadequately. + +"It was PURPOSEFUL," he whispered. "It was DELIBERATE. +As though something reached up, juggled with the rays, +broke them, and drew them down like willow withes." + +"The devils that dwell here!" quavered Chiu-Ming. + +"Some magnetic phenomenon." I was half angry at myself +for my own touch of panic. "Light can be deflected +by passage through a magnetic field. Of course that's it. +Certainly." + +"I don't know." Drake's tone was doubtful indeed. "It +would take a whale of a magnetic field to have done THAT +--it's inconceivable." He harked back to his first idea. "It +was so--so DAMNED deliberate," he repeated. + +"Devils--" muttered the frightened Chinese. + +"What's that?" Drake gripped my arm and pointed to +the north. A deeper blackness had grown there while we +had been talking, a pool of darkness against which the +mountain summits stood out, blade-sharp edges faintly +luminous. + +A gigantic lance of misty green fire darted from the +blackness and thrust its point into the heart of the zenith; +following it, leaped into the sky a host of the sparkling +spears of light, and now the blackness was like an ebon +hand, brandishing a thousand javelins of tinseled flame. + +"The aurora," I said. + +"It ought to be a good one," mused Drake, gaze intent +upon it. "Did you notice the big sun spot?" + +I shook my head. + +"The biggest I ever saw. Noticed it first at dawn this +morning. Some little aurora lighter--that spot. I told you +--look at that!" he cried. + +The green lances had fallen back. The blackness gathered +itself together--then from it began to pulse billows of +radiance, spangled with infinite darting swarms of flashing +corpuscles like uncounted hosts of dancing fireflies. + +Higher the waves rolled--phosphorescent green and iridescent +violet, weird copperous yellows and metallic saffrons +and a shimmer of glittering ash of rose--then +wavered, split and formed into gigantic, sparkling, marching +curtains of splendor. + +A vast circle of light sprang out upon the folds of the +flickering, rushing curtains. Misty at first, its edges sharpened +until they rested upon the blazing glory of the northern +sky like a pale ring of cold flame. And about it the +aurora began to churn, to heap itself, to revolve. + +Toward the ring from every side raced the majestic +folds, drew themselves together, circled, seethed around it +like foam of fire about the lip of a cauldron, and poured +through the shining circle as though it were the mouth of +that fabled cavern where old Aeolus sits blowing forth +and breathing back the winds that sweep the earth. + +Yes--into the ring's mouth the aurora flew, cascading +in a columned stream to earth. Then swiftly, a mist swept +over all the heavens, veiled that incredible cataract. + +"Magnetism?" muttered Drake. "I guess NOT!" + +"It struck about where the Ting-Pa was broken and +seemed drawn down like the rays," I said. + +"Purposeful," Drake said. "And devilish. It hit on all +my nerves like a--like a metal claw. Purposeful and +deliberate. There was intelligence behind that." + +"Intelligence? Drake--what intelligence could break the +rays of the setting sun and suck down the aurora?" + +"I don't know," he answered. + +"Devils," croaked Chiu-Ming. "The devils that defied +Buddha--and have grown strong--" + +"Like a metal claw!" breathed Drake. + +Far to the west a sound came to us; first a whisper, +then a wild rushing, a prolonged wailing, a crackling. A +great light flashed through the mist, glowed about us and +faded. Again the wailing, the vast rushing, the retreating +whisper. + +Then silence and darkness dropped embraced upon the +valley of the blue poppies. + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SIGIL +ON THE ROCKS + +Dawn came. Drake had slept well. But I, who had not +his youthful resiliency, lay for long, awake and uneasy. +I had hardly sunk into troubled slumber before dawn +awakened me. + +As we breakfasted, I approached directly that matter +which my growing liking for him was turning into strong +desire. + +"Drake," I asked. "Where are you going?" + +"With you," he laughed. "I'm foot loose and fancy free. +And I think you ought to have somebody with you to help +watch that cook. He might get away." + +The idea seemed to appall him. + +"Fine!" I exclaimed heartily, and thrust out my hand to +him. "I'm thinking of striking over the range soon to the +Manasarowar Lakes. There's a curious flora I'd like to +study." + +"Anywhere you say suits me," he answered. + +We clasped hands on our partnership and soon we were +on our way to the valley's western gate; our united caravans +stringing along behind us. Mile after mile we trudged +through the blue poppies, discussing the enigmas of the +twilight and of the night. + +In the light of day their breath of vague terror was +dissipated. There was no place for mystery nor dread +under this floor of brilliant sunshine. The smiling sapphire +floor rolled ever on before us. + +Whispering little playful breezes flew down the slopes +to gossip for a moment with the nodding flowers. Flocks +of rose finches raced chattering overhead to quarrel with +the tiny willow warblers, the chi-u-teb-tok, holding fief of +the drooping, graceful bowers bending down to the little +laughing stream that for the past hour had chuckled and +gurgled like a friendly water baby beside us. + +I had proven, almost to my own satisfaction, that what +we had beheld had been a creation of the extraordinary +atmospheric attributes of these highlands, an atmosphere +so unique as to make almost anything of the kind possible. +But Drake was not convinced. + +"I know," he said. "Of course I understand all that-- +superimposed layers of warmer air that might have bent +the ray; vortices in the higher levels that might have +produced just that effect of the captured aurora. I admit +it's all possible. I'll even admit it's all probable, but damn +me, Doc, if I BELIEVE it! I had too clearly the feeling of a +CONSCIOUS force, a something that KNEW exactly what it +was doing--and had a REASON for it." + +It was mid-afternoon. + +The spell of the valley upon us, we had gone leisurely. +The western mount was close, the mouth of the gorge +through which we must pass, now plain before us. It did +not seem as though we could reach it before dusk, and +Drake and I were reconciled to spending another night in +the peaceful vale. Plodding along, deep in thought, I was +startled by his exclamation. + +He was staring at a point some hundred yards to his +right. I followed his gaze. + +The towering cliffs were a scant half mile away. At some +distant time there had been an enormous fall of rock. +This, disintegrating, had formed a gently-curving breast +which sloped down to merge with the valley's floor. Willow +and witch alder, stunted birch and poplar had found +roothold, clothed it, until only their crowding outposts, +thrusting forward in a wavering semicircle, held back +seemingly by the blue hordes, showed where it melted into +the meadows. + +In the center of this breast, beginning half way up its +slopes and stretching down into the flowered fields was a +colossal imprint. + +Gray and brown, it stood out against the green and +blue of slope and level; a rectangle all of thirty feet wide, +two hundred long, the heel faintly curved and from its +hither end, like claws, four slender triangles radiating from +it like twenty-four points of a ten-rayed star. + +Irresistibly was it like a footprint--but what thing was +there whose tread could leave such a print as this? + +I ran up the slope--Drake already well in advance. I +paused at the base of the triangles where, were this thing +indeed a footprint, the spreading claws sprang from the +flat of it. + +The track was fresh. At its upper edges were clipped +bushes and split trees, the white wood of the latter showing +where they had been sliced as though by the stroke of a +scimitar. + +I stepped out upon the mark. It was as level as though +planed; bent down and stared in utter disbelief of what +my own eyes beheld. For stone and earth had been +crushed, compressed, into a smooth, microscopically +grained, adamantine complex, and in this matrix poppies +still bearing traces of their coloring were imbedded like +fossils. A cyclone can and does grip straws and thrust +them unbroken through an inch board--but what force +was there which could take the delicate petals of a flower +and set them like inlay within the surface of a stone? + +Into my mind came recollection of the wailings, the +crashings in the night, of the weird glow that had flashed +about us when the mist arose to hide the chained aurora. + +"It was what we heard," I said. "The sounds--it was +then that this was made." + +"The foot of Shin-je!" Chiu-Ming's voice was tremulous. +"The lord of Hell has trodden here!" + +I translated for Drake's benefit. + +"Has the lord of Hell but one foot?" asked Dick, politely. + +"He bestrides the mountains," said Chiu-Ming. "On the +far side is his other footprint. Shin-je it was who strode +the mountains and set here his foot." + +Again I interpreted. + +Drake cast a calculating glance up to the cliff top. + +"Two thousand feet, about," he mused. "Well, if Shin-je +is built in our proportions that makes it about right. The +length of this thing would give him just about a two +thousand foot leg. Yes--he could just about straddle that +hill." + +"You're surely not serious?" I asked in consternation. + +"What the hell!" he exclaimed, "am I crazy? This is +no foot mark. How could it be? Look at the mathematical +nicety with which these edges are stamped out--as though +by a die-- + +"That's what it reminds me of--a die. It's as if some +impossible power had been used to press it down. Like-- +like a giant seal of metal in a mountain's hand. A sigil-- +a seal--" + +"But why?" I asked. "What could be the purpose--" + +"Better ask where the devil such a force could be gotten +together and how it came here," he said. "Look--except +for this one place there isn't a mark anywhere. All the +bushes and the trees, all the poppies and the grass are just +as they ought to be. + +"How did whoever or whatever it was that made this, +get here and get away without leaving any trace but this? +Damned if I don't think Chiu-Ming's explanation puts +less strain upon the credulity than any I could offer." + +I peered about. It was so. Except for the mark, there was +no slightest sign of the unusual, the abnormal. + +But the mark was enough! + +"I'm for pushing up a notch or two and getting into the +gorge before dark," he was voicing my own thought. "I'm +willing to face anything human--but I'm not keen to be +pressed into a rock like a flower in a maiden's book of +poems." + Just at twilight we drew out of the valley into the pass. +We traveled a full mile along it before darkness forced us +to make camp. The gorge was narrow. The far walls but +a hundred feet away; but we had no quarrel with them +for their neighborliness, no! Their solidity, their immutability, +breathed confidence back into us. + +And after we had found a deep niche capable of holding +the entire caravan we filed within, ponies and all, I for one +perfectly willing thus to spend the night, let the air at +dawn be what it would. We dined within on bread and +tea, and then, tired to the bone, sought each his place upon +the rocky floor. I slept well, waking only once or twice +by Chiu-Ming's groanings; his dreams evidently were none +of the pleasantest. If there was an aurora I neither knew +nor cared. My slumber was dreamless. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RUTH +VENTNOR + +The dawn, streaming into the niche, awakened us. +A covey of partridges venturing too close yielded three to +our guns. We breakfasted well, and a little later were +pushing on down the cleft. + +Its descent, though gradual, was continuous, and therefore +I was not surprised when soon we began to come +upon evidences of semi-tropical vegetation. Giant rhododendrons +and tree ferns gave way to occasional clumps +of stately kopek and clumps of the hardier bamboos. We +added a few snow cocks to our larder--although they were +out of their habitat, flying down into the gorge from their +peaks and table-lands for some choice tidbit. + +All that day we marched on, and when at night we +made camp, sleep came to us quickly and overmastering. +An hour after dawn we were on our way. A brief stop we +made for lunch; pressed forward. + +It was close to two when we caught the first sight of the +ruins. + +The soaring, verdure-clad walls of the canyon had long +been steadily marching closer. Above, between their rims +the wide ribbon of sky was like a fantastically shored +river, shimmering, dazzling; every cove and headland +edged with an opalescent glimmering as of shining pearly +beaches. + +And as though we were sinking in that sky stream's +depths its light kept lessening, darkening imperceptibly +with luminous shadows of ghostly beryl, drifting veils of +pellucid aquamarine, limpid mists of glaucous chrysolite. + +Fainter, more crepuscular became the light, yet never +losing its crystalline quality. Now the high overhead river +was but a brook; became a thread. Abruptly it vanished. + +We passed into a tunnel, fern walled, fern roofed, garlanded +with tawny orchids, gay with carmine fungus and +golden moss. We stepped out into a blaze of sunlight. + +Before us lay a wide green bowl held in the hands of +the clustered hills; shallow, circular, as though, while +plastic still, the thumb of God had run round its rim, +shaping it. Around it the peaks crowded, craning their +lofty heads to peer within. + +It was about a mile in its diameter, this hollow, as my +gaze then measured it. It had three openings--one that +lay like a crack in the northeast slope; another, the tunnel +mouth through which we had come. The third lifted itself +out of the bowl, creeping up the precipitous bare scarp of +the western barrier straight to the north, clinging to the +ochreous rock up and up until it vanished around a far +distant shoulder. + +It was a wide and bulwarked road, a road that spoke as +clearly as though it had tongue of human hands which +had cut it there in the mountain's breast. An ancient road +weary beyond belief beneath the tread of uncounted years. + +From the hollow the blind soul of loneliness groped out +to greet us! + +Never had I felt such loneliness as that which lapped the +lip of the verdant bowl. It was tangible--as though it had +been poured from some reservoir of misery. A pool of +despair-- + + +Half the width of the valley away the ruins began. +Weirdly were they its visible expression. They huddled +in two bent rows to the bottom. They crouched in a wide +cluster against the cliffs. From the cluster a curving row +of them ran along the southern crest of the hollow. + +A flight of shattered, cyclopean steps lifted to a ledge +and here a crumbling fortress stood. + +Irresistibly did the ruins seem a colossal hag, flung +prone, lying listlessly, helplessly, against the barrier's base. +The huddled lower ranks were the legs, the cluster the +body, the upper row an outflung arm and above the neck +of the stairway the ancient fortress, rounded and with two +huge ragged apertures in its northern front was an aged, +bleached and withered head staring, watching. + +I looked at Drake--the spell of the bowl was heavy +upon him, his face drawn. The Chinaman and Tibetan +were murmuring, terror written large upon them. + +"A hell of a joint!" Drake turned to me, a shadow of a +grin lightening the distress on his face. "But I'd rather +chance it than go back. What d'you say?" + +I nodded, curiosity mastering my oppression. We stepped +over the rim, rifles on the alert. Close behind us crowded +the two servants and the ponies. + +The vale was shallow, as I have said. We trod the fragments +of an olden approach to the green tunnel so the +descent was not difficult. Here and there beside the path +upreared huge broken blocks. On them I thought I could +see faint tracings as of carvings--now a suggestion of +gaping, arrow-fanged dragon jaws, now the outline of a +scaled body, a hint of enormous, batlike wings. + +Now we had reached the first of the crumbling piles +that stretched down into the valley's center. + +Half fainting, I fell against Drake, clutching to him for +support. + +A stream of utter hopelessness was racing upon us, +swirling and eddying around us, reaching to our hearts +with ghostly fingers dripping with despair. From every +shattered heap it seemed to pour, rushing down the road +upon us like a torrent, engulfing us, submerging, drowning. + +Unseen it was--yet tangible as water; it sapped the life +from every nerve. Weariness filled me, a desire to drop +upon the stones, to be rolled away. To die. I felt Drake's +body quivering even as mine; knew that he was drawing +upon every reserve of strength. + +"Steady," he muttered. "Steady--" + +The Tibetan shrieked and fled, the ponies scrambling +after him. Dimly I remembered that mine carried precious +specimens; a surge of anger passed, beating back the anguish. +I heard a sob from Chiu-Ming, saw him drop. + +Drake stopped, drew him to his feet. We placed him +between us, thrust each an arm through his own. Then, +like swimmers, heads bent, we pushed on, buffeting that +inexplicable invisible flood. + +As the path rose, its force lessened, my vitality grew, +and the terrible desire to yield and be swept away waned. +Now we had reached the foot of the cyclopean stairs, now +we were half up them--and now as we struggled out upon +the ledge on which the watching fortress stood, the clutching +stream shoaled swiftly, the shoal became safe, dry +land and the cheated, unseen maelstrom swirled harmlessly +beneath us. + +We stood erect, gasping for breath, again like swimmers +who have fought their utmost and barely, so barely, won. + +There was an almost imperceptible movement at the +side of the ruined portal. + +Out darted a girl. A rifle dropped from her hands. +Straight she sped toward me. + +And as she ran I recognized her. + +Ruth Ventnor! + +The flying figure reached me, threw soft arms around +my neck, was weeping in relieved gladness on my shoulder. + +"Ruth!" I cried. "What on earth are YOU doing here?" + +"Walter!" she sobbed. "Walter Goodwin--Oh, thank +God! Thank God!" + +She drew herself from my arms, catching her breath; +laughed shakily. + +I took swift stock of her. Save for fear upon her, she +was the same Ruth I had known three years before; wide, +deep blue eyes that were now all seriousness, now sparkling +wells of mischief; petite, rounded and tender; the fairest +skin; an impudent little nose; shining clusters of intractable +curls; all human, sparkling and sweet. + +Drake coughed, insinuatingly. I introduced him. + +"I--I watched you struggling through that dreadful pit." +She shuddered. "I could not see who you were, did not +know whether friend or enemy--but oh, my heart almost +died in pity for you, Walter," she breathed. "What can it +be--THERE?" + +I shook my head. + +"Martin could not see you," she went on. "He was +watching the road that leads above. But I ran down--to +help." + +"Mart watching?" I asked. "Watching for what?" + +"I--" she hesitated oddly. "I think I'd rather tell you +before him. It's so strange--so incredible." + +She led us through the broken portal and into the fortress. +It was more gigantic even than I had thought. The +floor of the vast chamber we had entered was strewn with +fragments fallen from the crackling, stone-vaulted ceiling. +Through the breaks light streamed from the level above us. + +We picked our way among the debris to a wide crumbling +stairway, crept up it, Ruth flitting ahead. We came +out opposite one of the eye-like apertures. Black against +it, perched high upon a pile of blocks, I recognized the +long, lean outline of Ventnor, rifle in hand, gazing intently +up the ancient road whose windings were plain +through the opening. He had not heard us. + +"Martin," called Ruth softly. + +He turned. A shaft of light from a crevice in the gap's +edge struck his face, flashing it out from the semidarkness +of the corner in which he crouched. I looked into the +quiet gray eyes, upon the keen face. + +"Goodwin!" he shouted, tumbling down from his perch, +shaking me by the shoulders. "If I had been in the way of +praying--you're the man I'd have prayed for. How did you +get here?" + +"Just wandering, Mart," I answered. "But Lord! I'm +sure GLAD to see you." + +"Which way did you come?" he asked, keenly. I threw +my hand toward the south. + +"Not through that hollow?" he asked incredulously. + +"And some hell of a place to get through," Drake broke +in. "It cost us our ponies and all my ammunition." + +"Richard Drake," I said. "Son of old Alvin--you knew +him, Mart." + +"Knew him well," cried Ventnor, seizing Dick's hand. +"Wanted me to go to Kamchatka to get some confounded +sort of stuff for one of his devilish experiments. Is he +well?" + +"He's dead," replied Dick soberly. + +"Oh!" said Ventnor. "Oh--I'm sorry. He was a great +man." + +Briefly I acquainted him with my wanderings, my encounter +with Drake. + +"That place out there--" he considered us thoughtfully. +"Damned if I know what it is. Thought maybe it's gas-- +of a sort. If it hadn't been for it we'd have been out of this +hole two days ago. I'm pretty sure it must be gas. And it +must be much less than it was this morning, for then we +made an attempt to get through again--and couldn't." + +I was hardly listening. Ventnor had certainly advanced +a theory of our unusual symptoms that had not occurred +to me. That hollow might indeed be a pocket into which +a gas flowed; just as in the mines the deadly coal damp +collects in pits, flows like a stream along the passages. It +might be that--some odorless, colorless gas of unknown +qualities; and yet-- + +"Did you try respirators?" asked Dick. + +"Surely," said Ventnor. "First off the go. But they +weren't of any use. The gas, if it is gas, seems to operate +as well through the skin as through the nose and mouth. +We just couldn't make it--and that's all there is to it. But +if you made it--could we try it now, do you think?" he +asked eagerly. + +I felt myself go white. + +"Not--not for a little while," I stammered. + +He nodded, understandingly. + +"I see," he said. "Well, we'll wait a bit, then." + +"But why are you staying here? Why didn't you make +for the road up the mountain? What are you watching for, +anyway?" asked Drake. + +"Go to it, Ruth," Ventnor grinned. "Tell 'em. After all +--it was YOUR party you know." + +"Mart!" she cried, blushing. + +"Well--it wasn't ME they admired," he laughed. + +"Martin!" she cried again, and stamped her foot. + +"Shoot," he said. "I'm busy. I've got to watch." + +"Well"--Ruth's voice was uncertain--"we'd been hunting +up in Kashmir. Martin wanted to come over somewhere +here. So we crossed the passes. That was about a +month ago. The fourth day out we ran across what looked +like a road running south. + +"We thought we'd take it. It looked sort of old and lost +--but it was going the way we wanted to go. It took us +first into a country of little hills; then to the very base of +the great range itself; finally into the mountains--and then +it ran blank." + +"Bing!" interjected Ventnor, looking around for a moment. +"Bing--just like that. Slap dash against a prodigious +fall of rock. We couldn't get over it." + +"So we cast about to find another road," went on Ruth. +"All we could strike were--just strikes." + +"No fish on the end of 'em," said Ventnor. "God! But +I'm glad to see you, Walter Goodwin. Believe me, I am. +However--go on, Ruth." + +"At the end of the second week," she said, "we knew we +were lost. We were deep in the heart of the range. All +around us was a forest of enormous, snow-topped peaks. +The gorges, the canyons, the valleys that we tried led us +east and west, north and south. + +"It was a maze, and in it we seemed to be going ever +deeper. There was not the SLIGHTEST sign of human life. It +was as though no human beings except ourselves had +ever been there. Game was plentiful. We had no trouble +in getting food. And sooner or later, of course, we were +bound to find our way out. We didn't worry. + +"It was five nights ago that we camped at the head of a +lovely little valley. There was a mound that stood up like +a tiny watch-tower, looking down it. The trees grew round +like tall sentinels. + +"We built our fire in that mound; and after we had +eaten, Martin slept. I sat watching the beauty of the skies +and of the shadowy vale. I heard no one approach--but +something made me leap to my feet, look behind me. + +"A man was standing just within the glow of firelight, +watching me." + +"A Tibetan?" I asked. She shook her head, trouble in +her eyes. + +"Not at all." Ventnor turned his head. "Ruth screamed +and awakened me. I caught a glimpse of the fellow before +he vanished. + +"A short purple mantle hung from his shoulders. His +chest was covered with fine chain mail. His legs were +swathed and bound by the thongs of his high buskins. +He carried a small, round, hide-covered shield and a short +two-edged sword. His head was helmeted. He belonged, in +fact--oh, at least twenty centuries back." + +He laughed in plain enjoyment of our amazement. + +"Go on, Ruth," he said, and took up his watch. + +"But Martin did not see his face," she went on. "And +oh, but I wish I could forget it. It was as white as mine, +Walter, and cruel, so cruel; the eyes glowed and they +looked upon me like a--like a slave dealer. They shamed +me--I wanted to hide myself. + + "I cried out and Martin awakened. As he moved, the +man stepped out of the light and was gone. I think he had +not seen Martin; had believed that I was alone. + +"We put out the fire, moved farther into the shadow of +the trees. But I could not sleep--I sat hour after hour, +my pistol in my hand," she patted the automatic in her +belt, "my rifle close beside me. + +"The hours went by--dreadfully. At last I dozed. When +I awakened again it was dawn--and--and--" she covered +her eyes, then: "TWO men were looking down on me. One +was he who had stood in the firelight." + +"They were talking," interrupted Ventnor again, "in +archaic Persian." + +"Persian," I repeated blankly; "archaic Persian?" + +"Very much so," he nodded. "I've a fair knowledge of +the modern tongue, and a rather unusual command of +Arabic. The modern Persian, as you know, comes straight +through from the speech of Xerxes, of Cyrus, of Darius +whom Alexander of Macedon conquered. It has been +changed mainly by taking on a load of Arabic words. Well +--there wasn't a trace of the Arabic in the tongue they +were speaking. + +"It sounded odd, of course--but I could understand +quite easily. They were talking about Ruth. To be explicit, +they were discussing her with exceeding frankness--" + +"Martin!" she cried wrathfully. + +"Well, all right," he went on, half repentantly. "As a +matter of fact, I had seen the pair steal up. My rifle +was under my hand. So I lay there quietly, listening. + +"You can realize, Walter, that when I caught sight of +those two, looking as though they had materialized from +Darius's ghostly hordes, my scientific curiosity was +aroused--prodigiously. So in my interest I passed over the +matter of their speech; not alone because I thought Ruth +asleep but also because I took into consideration that the +mode of polite expression changes with the centuries-- +and these gentlemen clearly belonged at least twenty centuries +back--the real truth is I was consumed with curiosity. + +"They had got to a point where they were detailing with +what pleasure a certain mysterious person whom they +seemed to regard with much fear and respect would contemplate +her. I was wondering how long my desire to +observe--for to the anthropologist they were most fascinating +--could hold my hand back from my rifle when Ruth awakened. + +"She jumped up like a little fury. Fired a pistol point +blank at them. Their amazement was--well--ludicrous. I +know it seems incredible, but they seemed to know nothing +of firearms--they certainly acted as though they didn't. + +"They simply flew into the timber. I took a pistol shot +at one but missed. Ruth hadn't though; she had winged +her man; he left a red trail behind him. + +"We didn't follow the trail. We made for the opposite +direction--and as fast as possible. + +"Nothing happened that day or night. Next morning, +creeping up a slope, we caught sight of a suspicious glitter +a mile or two away in the direction we were going. We +sought shelter in a small ravine. In a little while, over +the hill and half a mile away from us, came about two +hundred of these fellows, marching along. + +"And they were indeed Darius's men. Men of that +Persia which had been dead for millenniums. There was +no mistaking them, with their high, covering shields, their +great bows, their javelins and armor. + +"They passed; we doubled. We built no fires that night +--and we ought to have turned the pony loose, but we +didn't. It carried my instruments, and ammunition, and I +felt we were going to need the latter. + +"The next morning we caught sight of another band-- +or the same. We turned again. We stole through a tree-covered +plain; we struck an ancient road. It led south, +into the peaks again. We followed it. It brought us here. + +"It isn't, as you observe, the most comfortable of places. +We struck across the hollow to the crevice--we knew +nothing of the entrance you came through. The hollow +was not pleasant, either. But it was penetrable, then. + +"We crossed. As we were about to enter the cleft there +issued out of it a most unusual and disconcerting chorus +of sounds--wailings, crashings, splinterings." + +I started, shot a look at Dick; absorbed, he was drinking +in Ventnor's every word. + +"So unusual, so--well, disconcerting is the best word I +can think of, that we were not encouraged to proceed. +Also the peculiar unpleasantness of the hollow was +increasing rapidly. + +"We made the best time we could back to the fortress. +And when next we tried to go through the hollow, to +search for another outlet--we couldn't. You know why," +he ended abruptly. + +"But men in ancient armor. Men like those of Darius." +Dick broke the silence that had followed this amazing +recital. "It's incredible!" + +"Yes," agreed Ventnor, "isn't it. But there they were. Of +course, I don't maintain that they WERE relics of Darius's +armies. They might have been of Xerxes before him--or of +Artaxerxes after him. But there they certainly were, Drake, +living, breathing replicas of exceedingly ancient Persians. + +"Why, they might have been the wall carvings on the +tomb of Khosroes come to life. I mention Darius because +he fits in with the most plausible hypothesis. When +Alexander the Great smashed his empire he did it rather +thoroughly. There wasn't much sympathy for the vanquished +in those days. And it's entirely conceivable that a +city or two in Alexander's way might have gathered up a +fleeting regiment or so for protection and have decided +not to wait for him, but to hunt for cover. + +"Naturally, they would have gone into the almost inaccessible +heart of the high ranges. There is nothing impossible +in the theory that they found shelter at last up +here. As long as history runs this has been a well-nigh +unknown land. Penetrating some mountain-guarded, easily +defended valley they might have decided to settle down +for a time, have rebuilt a city, raised a government; laying +low, in a sentence, waiting for the storm to blow over. + +"Why did they stay? Well, they might have found the +new life more pleasant than the old. And they might have +been locked in their valley by some accident--landslides, +rockfalls sealing up the entrance. There are a dozen +reasonable possibilities." + +"But those who hunted you weren't locked in," objected +Drake. + +"No," Ventnor grinned ruefully. "No, they certainly +weren't. Maybe we drifted into their preserves by a way +they don't know. Maybe they've found another way out. +I'm sure I don't know. But I DO know what I saw." + +"The noises, Martin," I said, for his description of these +had been the description of those we had heard in the +blue valley. "Have you heard them since?" + +"Yes," he answered, hesitating oddly. + +"And you think those--those soldiers you saw are still +hunting for you?" + +"Haven't a doubt of it," he replied more cheerfully. +"They didn't look like chaps who would give up a hunt +easily--at least not a hunt for such novel, interesting, and +therefore desirable and delectable game as we must have +appeared to them." + +"Martin," I said decisively, "where's your pony? We'll try +the hollow again, at once. There's Ruth--and we'd never +be able to hold back such numbers as you've described." + +"You feel strong enough to try it?" + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +METAL WITH +A BRAIN + +The eagerness, the relief in his voice betrayed the +tension, the anxiety which until now he had hidden so +well; and hot shame burned me for my shrinking, my +dread of again passing through that haunted vale. + +"I certainly DO." I was once more master of myself. +"Drake--don't you agree?" + +"Sure," he replied. "Sure. I'll look after Ruth--er--I +mean Miss Ventnor." + +The glint of amusement in Ventnor's eyes at this faded +abruptly; his face grew somber. + +"Wait," he said. "I carried away some--some exhibits +from the crevice of the noises, Goodwin." + +"What kind of exhibits?" I asked, eagerly. + +"Put 'em where they'd be safe," he continued. "I've an +idea they're far more curious than our armored men-- +and of far more importance. At any rate, we must take +them with us. + +"Go with Ruth, you and Drake, and look at them. And +bring them back with the pony. Then we'll make a start. A +few minutes more probably won't make much difference +--but hurry." + +He turned back to his watch. Ordering Chiu-Ming to +stay with him I followed Ruth and Drake down the +ruined stairway. At the bottom she came to me, laid little +hands on my shoulders. + +"Walter," she breathed, "I'm frightened. I'm so frightened +I'm afraid to tell even Mart. He doesn't like them, +either, these little things you're going to see. He likes +them so little that he's afraid to let me know how little he +does like them." + +"But what are they? What's to fear about them?" asked +Drake. + +"See what you think!" She led us slowly, almost +reluctantly toward the rear of the fortress. "They lay in a +little heap at the mouth of the cleft where we heard the +noises. Martin picked them up and dropped them in a sack +before we ran through the hollow. + +"They're grotesque and they're almost CUTE, and they +make me feel as though they were the tiniest tippy-tip of +the claw of some incredibly large cat just stealing around +the corner, a terrible cat, a cat as big as a mountain," +she ended breathlessly. + +We climbed through the crumbling masonry into a +central, open court. Here a clear spring bubbled up in a +ruined and choked stone basin; close to the ancient well +was their pony, contentedly browsing in the thick grass +that grew around it. From one of its hampers Ruth took +a large cloth bag. + +"To carry them," she said, and trembled. + +We passed through what had once been a great door +into another chamber larger than that we had just left; +and it was in better preservation, the ceiling unbroken, the +light dim after the blazing sun of the court. Near its center +she halted us. + +Before me ran a two-feet-wide ragged crack, splitting the +floor and dropping down into black depths. Beyond was an +expanse of smooth flagging, almost clear of debris. + +Drake gave a low whistle. I followed his pointing finger. +In the wall at the end whirled two enormous dragon +shapes, cut in low relief. Their gigantic wings, their +monstrous coils, covered the nearly unbroken surface, and +these CHIMERAE were the shapes upon the upthrust blocks +of the haunted roadway. + +In Ruth's gaze I read a nameless fear, a half shuddering +fascination. + +But she was not looking at the cavern dragons. + +Her gaze was fixed upon what at my first glance seemed +to be a raised and patterned circle in the dust-covered +floor. Not more than a foot in width, it shone wanly with +a pale, metallic bluish luster, as though, I thought, it +had been recently polished. Compared with the wall's +tremendous winged figures this floor design was trivial, +ludicrously insignificant. What could there be about it to +stamp that dread upon Ruth's face? + +I leaped the crevice; Dick joined me. Now I could see +that the ring was not continuous. Its broken circle was +made of sharply edged cubes about an inch in height, +separated from each other with mathematical exactness by +another inch of space. I counted them--there were nineteen. + +Almost touching them with their bases were an equal +number of pyramids, of tetrahedrons, as sharply angled +and of similar length. They lay on their sides with tips +pointing starlike to six spheres clustered like a conventionalized +five petaled primrose in the exact center. Five of +these spheres--the petals--were, I roughly calculated, +about an inch and a half in diameter, the ball they enclosed +larger by almost an inch. + +So orderly was their arrangement, so much like a geometrical +design nicely done by some clever child that I +hesitated to disturb it. I bent, and stiffened, the first touch +of dread upon me. + +For within the ring, close to the clustering globes, was +a miniature replica of the giant track in the poppied valley! + +It stood out from the dust with the same hint of crushing +force, the same die cut sharpness, the same METALLIC suggestion +--and pointing toward the globes were the claw marks +of the four spreading star points. + +I reached down and picked up one of the pyramids. It +seemed to cling to the rock; it was with effort that I +wrenched it away. It gave to the touch a slight sensation +of warmth--how can I describe it?--a warmth that was +living. + +I weighed it in my hand. It was oddly heavy, twice +the weight, I should say, of platinum. I drew out a glass +and examined it. Decidedly the pyramid was metallic, but +of finest, almost silken texture--and I could not place it +among any of the known metals. It certainly was none +I had ever seen; yet it was as certainly metal. It was +striated--slender filaments radiating from tiny, dully lustrous +points within the polished surface. + +And suddenly I had the weird feeling that each of these +points was an eye, peering up at me, scrutinizing me. +There came a startled cry from Dick. + +"Look at the ring!" + +The ring was in motion! + +Faster the cubes moved; faster the circle revolved; the +pyramids raised themselves, stood bolt upright on their +square bases; the six rolling spheres touched them, joined +the spinning, and with sleight-of-hand suddenness the ring +drew together; its units coalesced, cubes and pyramids and +globes threading with a curious suggestion of ferment. + +With the same startling abruptness there stood erect, +where but a moment before they had seethed, a little +figure, grotesque; a weirdly humorous, a vaguely terrifying +foot-high shape, squared and angled and pointed and +ANIMATE--as though a child should build from nursery +blocks a fantastic shape which abruptly is filled with +throbbing life. + +A troll from the kindergarten! A kobold of the toys! + +Only for a second it stood, then began swiftly to change, +melting with quicksilver quickness from one outline into +another as square and triangle and spheres changed places. +Their shiftings were like the transformations one sees +within a kaleidoscope. And in each vanishing form was +the suggestion of unfamiliar harmonies, of a subtle, a +transcendental geometric art as though each swift shaping +were a symbol, a WORD-- + +Euclid's problems given volition! + +Geometry endowed with consciousness! + +It ceased. Then the cubes drew one upon the other until +they formed a pedestal nine inches high; up this pillar +rolled the larger globe, balanced itself upon the top; the +five spheres followed it, clustered like a ring just below +it. The other cubes raced up, clicked two by two on the +outer arc of each of the five balls; at the ends of these +twin blocks a pyramid took its place, tipping each with a +point. + +The Lilliputian fantasy was now a pedestal of cubes +surmounted by a ring of globes from which sprang a star +of five arms. + +The spheres began to revolve. Faster and faster they +spun around the base of the crowning globe; the arms became +a disc upon which tiny brilliant sparks appeared, +clustered, vanished only to reappear in greater number. + +The troll swept toward me. It GLIDED. The finger of panic +touched me. I sprang aside, and swift as light it followed, +seemed to poise itself to leap. + +"Drop it!" It was Ruth's cry. + +But, before I could let fall the pyramid I had forgotten +was in my hand, the little figure touched me and a paralyzing +shock ran through me. My fingers clenched, locked. I +stood, muscle and nerve bound, unable to move. + +The little figure paused. Its whirling disc shifted from +the horizontal plane on which it spun. It was as though it +cocked its head to look up at me--and again I had the +sense of innumerable eyes peering at me. It did not seem +menacing--its attitude was inquisitive, waiting; almost as +though it had asked for something and wondered why I did +not let it have it. The shock still held me rigid, although +a tingle in every nerve told me of returning force. + +The disc tilted back to place, bent toward me again. I +heard a shout; heard a bullet strike the pigmy that now +clearly menaced; heard the bullet ricochet without the +slightest effect upon it. Dick leaped beside me, raised a +foot and kicked at the thing. There was a flash of light +and upon the instant he crashed down as though struck by +a giant hand, lay sprawling and inert upon the floor. + +There was a scream from Ruth; there was softly sibilant +rustling all about her. I saw her leap the crevice, drop on +her knees beside Drake. + +There was movement on the flagging where she stood. +A score or more of faintly shining, bluish shapes were +marching there--pyramids and cubes and spheres like those +forming the shape that stood before me. There was a curious +sharp tang of ozone in the air, a perceptible tightening +as of electrical tension. + +They swept to the edge of the fissure, swam together, and +there, hanging half over the gap was a bridge, half spanning +it, a weird and fairy arch made up of alternate cube +and angle. The shape at my feet disintegrated; resolved itself +into units that raced over to the beckoning span. + +At the hither side of the crack they clicked into place, +even as had the others. Before me now was a bridge complete +except for the one arc near the middle where an +angled gap marred it. + +I felt the little object I held pulse within my hand, +striving to escape. I dropped it. The tiny shape swept to +the bridge, ascended it--dropped into the gap. + +The arch was complete--hanging in one flying span over +the depths! + +Upon it, over it, as though they had but awaited this +completion, rolled the six globes. And as they dropped to +the farther side the end of the bridge nearest me raised +itself in air, curved itself like a scorpion's tail, drew itself +into a closer circled arc, and dropped upon the floor beyond. + +Again the sibilant rustling--and cubes and pyramids and +spheres were gone. + +Nerves tingling slowly back to life, mazed in absolute +bewilderment, my gaze sought Drake. He was sitting up, +feebly, his head supported by Ruth's hands. + +"Goodwin!" he whispered. "What--what were they?" + +"Metal," I said--it was the only word to which my whirling +mind could cling--"metal--" + +"Metal!" he echoed. "These things metal? Metal--ALIVE +AND THINKING!" + +Suddenly he was silent, his face a page on which, visibly, +dread gathered slowly and ever deeper. + +And as I looked at Ruth, white-faced, and at him, I knew +that my own was as pallid, as terror-stricken as theirs. + +"They were such LITTLE THINGS," muttered Drake. "Such +little things--bits of metal--little globes and pyramids and +cubes--just little THINGS." + +"Babes! Only babes!" It was Ruth--"BABES!" + +"Bits of metal"--Dick's gaze sought mine, held it--"and +they looked for each other, they worked with each other-- +THINKINGLY, CONSCIOUSLY--they were deliberate, purposeful-- +little things--and with the force of a score of dynamos-- +living, THINKING--" + +"Don't!" Ruth laid white hands over his eyes. "Don't-- +don't YOU be frightened!" + +"Frightened?" he echoed. "I'M not afraid--yes, I AM +afraid--" + +He arose, stiffly--and stumbled toward me. + +Afraid? Drake afraid. Well--so was I. Bitterly, TERRIBLY +afraid. + +For what we had beheld in the dusk of that dragoned, +ruined chamber was outside all experience, beyond all +knowledge or dream of science. Not their shapes--that +was nothing. Not even that, being metal, they had moved. + +But that being metal, they had moved consciously, +thoughtfully, deliberately. + +They were metal things with--MINDS! + +That--that was the incredible, the terrifying thing. That +--and their power. + +Thor compressed within Hop-o'-my-thumb--and thinking. +The lightnings incarnate in metal minacules--and +thinking. + +The inert, the immobile, given volition, movement, +cognoscence--thinking. + +Metal with a brain! + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SMITING +THING + +Silently we looked at each other, and silently we +passed out of the courtyard. The dread was heavy upon +me. The twilight was stealing upon the close-clustered +peaks. Another hour, and their amethyst-and-purple mantles +would drop upon them; snowfields and glaciers sparkle +out in irised beauty; nightfall. + +As I gazed upon them I wondered to what secret place +within their brooding immensities the little metal mysteries +had fled. And to what myriads, it might be, of their kind? +And these hidden hordes--of what shapes were they? Of +what powers? Small like these, or--or-- + +Quick on the screen of my mind flashed two pictures, +side by side--the little four-rayed print in the great dust of +the crumbling ruin and its colossal twin on the breast of +the poppied valley. + +I turned aside, crept through the shattered portal and +looked over the haunted hollow. + +Unbelieving, I rubbed my eyes; then leaped to the very +brim of the bowl. + +A lark had risen from the roof of one of the shattered +heaps and had flown caroling up into the shadowy sky. + +A flock of the little willow warblers flung themselves +across the valley, scolding and gossiping; a hare sat upright +in the middle of the ancient roadway. + +The valley itself lay serenely under the ambering light, +smiling, peaceful--emptied of horror! + +I dropped over the side, walked cautiously down the +road up which but an hour or so before we had struggled +so desperately; paced farther and farther with an increasing +confidence and a growing wonder. + +Gone was that soul of loneliness; vanished the whirlpool +of despair that had striven to drag us down to death. + +The bowl was nothing but a quiet, smiling lovely little +hollow in the hills. I looked back. Even the ruins had lost +their sinister shape; were time-worn, crumbling piles--nothing +more. + +I saw Ruth and Drake run out upon the ledge and +beckon me; made my way back to them, running. + +"It's all right," I shouted. "The place is all right." + +I stumbled up the side; joined them. + +"It's empty," I cried. "Get Martin and Chiu-Ming quick! +While the way's open--" + +A rifle-shot rang out above us; another and another. +From the portal scampered Chiu-Ming, his robe tucked up +about his knees. + +"They come!" he gasped. "They come!" + +There was a flashing of spears high up the winding +mountain path. Down it was pouring an avalanche of men. +I caught the glint of helmets and corselets. Those in the +van were mounted, galloping two abreast upon sure-footed +mountain ponies. Their short swords, lifted high, flickered. + +After the horsemen swarmed foot soldiers, a forest of +shining points and dully gleaming pikes above them. Clearly +to us came their battlecries. + +Again Ventnor's rifle cracked. One of the foremost riders +went down; another stumbled over him, fell. The rush was +checked for an instant, milling upon the road. + +"Dick," I cried, "rush Ruth over to the tunnel mouth. +We'll follow. We can hold them there. I'll get Martin. +Chiu-Ming, after the pony, quick." + +I pushed the two over the rim of the hollow. Side by +side the Chinaman and I ran back through the gateway. +I pointed to the animal and rushed back into the fortress. + +"Quick, Mart!" I shouted up the shattered stairway. "We +can get through the hollow. Ruth and Drake are on their +way to the break we came through. Hurry!" + +"All right. Just a minute," he called. + +I heard him empty his magazine with almost machine-gun +quickness. There was a short pause, and down the +broken steps he leaped, gray eyes blazing. + +"The pony?" He ran beside me toward the portal. "All +my ammunition is on him." + +"Chiu-Ming's taking care of that," I gasped. + +We darted out of the gateway. A good five hundred +yards away were Ruth and Drake, running straight to the +green tunnel's mouth. Between them and us was Chiu-Ming +urging on the pony. + +As we sped after him I looked back. The horsemen had +recovered, were now a scant half-mile from where the +road swept past the fortress. I saw that with their swords +the horsemen bore great bows. A little cloud of arrows +sparkled from them; fell far short. + +"Don't look back," grunted Ventnor. "Stretch yourself, +Walter. There's a surprise coming. Hope to God I judged +the time right." + +We turned off the ruined way; raced over the sward. + +"If it looks as though--we can't make it," he panted, +"YOU beat it after the rest. I'll try to hold 'em until you +get into the tunnel. Never do for 'em to get Ruth." + +"Right." My own breathing was growing labored, "WE'LL +hold them. Drake can take care of Ruth." + +"Good boy," he said. "I wouldn't have asked you. It +probably means death." + +"Very well," I gasped, irritated. "But why borrow +trouble?" + +He reached out, touched me. + +"You're right, Walter," he grinned. "It does--seem--like +carrying coals--to Newcastle." + +There was a thunderous booming behind us; a shattering +crash. A cloud of smoke and dust hung over the northern +end of the ruined fortress. + +It lifted swiftly, and I saw that the whole side of the +structure had fallen, littering the road with its fragments. +Scattered prone among these were men and horses; others +staggered, screaming. On the farther side of this stony dike +our pursuers were held like rushing waters behind a sudden +fallen tree. + +"Timed to a second!" cried Ventnor. "Hold 'em for a +while. Fuses and dynamite. Blew out the whole side, right +on 'em, by the Lord!" + +On we fled. Chiu-Ming was now well in advance; Ruth +and Dick less than half a mile from the opening of the +green tunnel. I saw Drake stop, raise his rifle, empty it +before him, and, holding Ruth by the hand, race back toward +us. + +Even as he turned, the vine-screened entrance through +which we had come, through which we had thought lay +safety, streamed other armored men. We were outflanked. + +"To the fissure!" shouted Ventnor. Drake heard, for he +changed his course to the crevice at whose mouth Ruth +had said the--Little Things--had lain. + +After him streaked Chiu-Ming, urging on the pony. +Shouting out of the tunnel, down over the lip of the bowl, +leaped the soldiers. We dropped upon our knees, sent shot +after shot into them. They fell back, hesitated. We sprang +up, sped on. + +All too short was the check, but once more we held +them--and again. + +Now Ruth and Dick were a scant fifty yards from the +crevice. I saw him stop, push her from him toward it. She +shook her head. + +Now Chiu-Ming was with them. Ruth sprang to the +pony, lifted from its back a rifle. Then into the mass of +their pursuers Drake and she poured a fusillade. They +huddled, wavered, broke for cover. + +"A chance!" gasped Ventnor. + +Behind us was a wolflike yelping. The first pack had +re-formed; had crossed the barricade the dynamite had +made; was rushing upon us. + +I ran as I had never known I could. Over us whined the +bullets from the covering guns. Close were we now to +the mouth of the fissure. If we could but reach it. Close, +close were our pursuers, too--the arrows closer. + +"No use!" said Ventnor. "We can't make it. Meet 'em +from the front. Drop--and shoot." + +We threw ourselves down, facing them. There came a +triumphant shouting. And in that strange sharpening of +the senses that always goes hand in hand with deadly peril, +that is indeed nature's summoning of every reserve to +meet that peril, my eyes took them in with photographic +nicety--the linked mail, lacquered blue and scarlet, of the +horsemen; brown, padded armor of the footmen; their +bows and javelins and short bronze swords, their pikes +and shields; and under their round helmets their cruel, +bearded faces--white as our own where the black beards +did not cover them; their fierce and mocking eyes. + +The springs of ancient Persia's long dead power, these. +Men of Xerxes's ruthless, world-conquering hordes; the +lustful, ravening wolves of Darius whom Alexander scattered +--in this world of ours twenty centuries beyond their +time! + +Swiftly, accurately, even as I scanned them, we had +been drilling into them. They advanced deliberately, heedless +of their fallen. Their arrows had ceased to fly. I wondered +why, for now we were well within their range. Had +they orders to take us alive--at whatever cost to themselves? + +"I've got only about ten cartridges left, Martin," I told +him. + +"We've saved Ruth anyway," he said. "Drake ought to +be able to hold that hole in the wall. He's got lots of +ammunition on the pony. But they've got us." + +Another wild shouting; down swept the pack. + +We leaped to our feet, sent our last bullets into them; +stood ready, rifles clubbed to meet the rush. I heard Ruth +scream-- + +What was the matter with the armored men? Why had +they halted? What was it at which they were glaring over +our heads? And why had the rifle fire of Ruth and Drake +ceased so abruptly? + +Simultaneously we turned. + +Within the black background of the fissure stood a shape, +an apparition, a woman--beautiful, awesome, incredible! + +She was tall, standing there swathed from chin to feet in +clinging veils of pale amber, she seemed taller even than +tall Drake. Yet it was not her height that sent through me +the thrill of awe, of half incredulous terror which, relaxing +my grip, let my smoking rifle drop to earth; nor was it +that about her proud head a cloud of shining tresses swirled +and pennoned like a misty banner of woven copper flames +--no, nor that through her veils her body gleamed faint +radiance. + +It was her eyes--her great, wide eyes whose clear depths +were like pools of living star fires. They shone from her +white face--not phosphorescent, not merely lucent and +light reflecting, but as though they themselves were SOURCES +of the cold white flames of far stars--and as calm as those +stars themselves. + +And in that face, although as yet I could distinguish +nothing but the eyes, I sensed something unearthly. + +"God!" whispered Ventnor. "What IS she?" + +The woman stepped from the crevice. Not fifty feet from +her were Ruth and Drake and Chiu-Ming, their rigid attitudes +revealing the same shock of awe that had momentarily +paralyzed me. + +She looked at them, beckoned them. I saw the two +walk toward her, Chiu-Ming hang back. The great eyes fell +upon Ventnor and myself. She raised a hand, motioned us +to approach. + +I turned. There stood the host that had poured down +(he mountain road, horsemen, spearsmen, pikemen--a full +thousand of them. At my right were the scattered company +that had come from the tunnel entrance, threescore +or more. + +There seemed a spell upon them. They stood in silence, +like automatons, only their fiercely staring eyes showing +that they were alive. + +"Quick," breathed Ventnor. + +We ran toward her who had checked death even while +its jaws were closing upon us. + +Before we had gone half-way, as though our flight had +broken whatever bonds had bound them, a clamor arose +from the host; a wild shouting, a clanging of swords on +shields. I shot a glance behind. They were in motion, advancing +slowly, hesitatingly as yet--but I knew that soon +that hesitation would pass; that they would sweep down +upon us, engulf us. + +"To the crevice," I shouted to Drake. He paid no heed +to me, nor did Ruth--their gaze fastened upon the swathed +woman. + +Ventnor's hand shot out, gripped my shoulder, halted me. +She had thrown up her head. The cloudy METALLIC hair +billowed as though wind had blown it. + +From the lifted throat came a low, a vibrant cry; harmonious, +weirdly disquieting, golden and sweet--and laden +with the eery, minor wailings of the blue valley's night, +the dragoned chamber. + +Before the cry had ceased there poured with incredible +swiftness out of the crevice score upon score of +the metal things. The fissures vomited them! + +Globes and cubes and pyramids--not small like those +of the ruins, but shapes all of four feet high, dully lustrous, +and deep within that luster the myriads of tiny points of +light like unwinking, staring eyes. + +They swirled, eddied and formed a barricade between +us and the armored men. + +Down upon them poured a shower of arrows from the +soldiers. I heard the shouts of their captains; they rushed. +They had courage--those men--yes! + +Again came the woman's cry--golden, peremptory. + +Sphere and block and pyramid ran together, seemed to +seethe. I had again that sense of a quicksilver melting. +Up from them thrust a thick rectangular column. +Eight feet in width and twenty feet high, it shaped itself. +Out from its left side, from right side, sprang arms +--fearful arms that grew and grew as globe and cube and +angle raced up the column's side and clicked into place +each upon, each after, the other. With magical quickness +the arms lengthened. + +Before us stood a monstrous shape; a geometric prodigy. +A shining angled pillar that, though rigid, immobile, +seemed to crouch, be instinct with living force striving to +be unleashed. + +Two great globes surmounted it--like the heads of some +two-faced Janus of an alien world. + +At the left and right the knobbed arms, now fully fifty +feet in length, writhed, twisted, straightened; flexing +themselves in grotesque imitation of a boxer. And at the end +of each of the six arms the spheres were clustered thick, +studded with the pyramids--again in gigantic, awful, parody +of the spiked gloves of those ancient gladiators who +fought for imperial Nero. + +For an instant it stood here, preening, testing itself like +an athlete--a chimera, amorphous yet weirdly symmetric +--under the darkening sky, in the green of the hollow, +the armored hosts frozen before it-- + +And then--it struck! + +Out flashed two of the arms, with a glancing motion, +with appalling force. They sliced into the close-packed +forward ranks of the armored men; cut out of them two great +gaps. + +Sickened, I saw fragments of man and horse fly. Another +arm javelined from its place like a flying snake, clicked at +the end of another, became a hundred-foot chain which +swirled like a flail through the huddling mass. Down upon +a knot of the soldiers with a straight-forward blow drove +a third arm, driving through them like a giant punch. + +All that host which had driven us from the ruins threw +down sword, spear, and pike; fled shrieking. The horsemen +spurred their mounts, riding heedless over the footmen who +fled with them. + +The Smiting Thing seemed to watch them go with-- +AMUSEMENT! + +Before they could cover a hundred yards it had disintegrated. +I heard the little wailing sounds--then behind +the fleeing men, close behind them, rose the angled pillar; +into place sprang the flexing arms, and again it took its +toll of them. + +They scattered, running singly, by twos, in little groups, +for the sides of the valley. They were like rats scampering +in panic over the bottom of a great green bowl. And like a +monstrous cat the shape played with them--yes, PLAYED. + +It melted once more--took new form. Where had been +pillar and flailing arms was now a tripod thirty feet high, +its legs alternate globe and cube and upon its apex a wide +and spinning ring of sparkling spheres. Out from the middle +of this ring stretched a tentacle--writhing, undulating like +a serpent of steel, four score yards at least in length. + +At its end cube, globe and pyramid had mingled to form +a huge trident. With the three long prongs of this trident +the thing struck, swiftly, with fearful precision--JOYOUSLY +--tining those who fled, forking them, tossing them from +its points high in air. + +It was, I think, that last touch of sheer horror, the playfulness +of the Smiting Thing, that sent my dry tongue to +the roof of my terror-parched mouth, and held open with +monstrous fascination eyes that struggled to close. + +Ever the armored men fled from it, and ever was it +swifter than they, teetering at their heels on its tripod legs. + +From half its length the darting snake streamed red rain. + +I heard a sigh from Ruth; wrested my gaze from the +hollow; turned. She lay fainting in Drake's arms. + +Beside the two the swathed woman stood, looking out +upon that slaughter, calm and still, shrouded with an unearthly +tranquillity--viewing it, it came to me, with eyes +impersonal, cold, indifferent as the untroubled stars which +look down upon hurricane and earthquake in this world +of ours. + +There was a rushing of many feet at our left; a wail +from Chiu-Ming. Were they maddened by fear, driven by +despair, determined to slay before they themselves were +slain? I do not know. But those who still lived of the +men from the tunnel mouth were charging us. + +They clustered close, their shields held before them. They +had no bows, these men. They moved swiftly down upon +us in silence--swords and pikes gleaming. + +The Smiting Thing rocked toward us, the metal tentacle +straining out like a rigid, racing serpent, flying to cut +between its weird mistress and those who menaced her. + +I heard Chiu-Ming scream; saw him throw up his hands, +cover his eyes--run straight upon the pikes! + +"Chiu-Ming!" I shouted. "Chiu-Ming! This way!" + +I ran toward him. Before I had gone five paces Ventnor +flashed by me, revolver spitting. I saw a spear thrown. It +struck the Chinaman squarely in the breast. He tottered-- +fell upon his knees. + +Even as he dropped, the giant flail swept down upon +the soldiers. It swept through them like a scythe through +ripe grain. It threw them, broken and torn, far toward the +valley's sloping sides. It left only fragments that bore no +semblance to men. + +Ventnor was at Chiu-Ming's head; I dropped beside him. +There was a crimson froth upon his lips. + +"I thought that Shin-Je was about to slay us," he whispered. +"Fear blinded me." + +His head dropped; his body quivered, lay still. + +We arose, looked about us dazedly. At the side of the +crevice stood the woman, her gaze resting upon Drake, his +arms about Ruth, her head hidden on his breast. + +The valley was empty--save for the huddled heaps that +dotted it. + +High up on the mountain path a score of figures crept, +all that were left of those who but a little before had +streamed down to take us captive or to slay. High up in +the darkening heavens the lammergeiers, the winged scavengers +of the Himalayas, were gathering. + +The woman lifted her hand, beckoned us once more. +Slowly we walked toward her, stood before her. The great +clear eyes searched us--but no more intently than our own +wondering eyes did her. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +NORHALA OF +THE LIGHTNINGS + +We looked upon a vision of loveliness such, I think, +as none has beheld since Trojan Helen was a maid. At +first all I could note were the eyes, clear as rain-washed +April skies, crystal clear as some secret spring sacred to +crescented Diana. Their wide gray irises were flecked with +golden amber and sapphire--flecks that shone like clusters +of little aureate and azure stars. + +Then with a strange thrill of wonder I saw that these +tiny constellations were not in the irises alone; that they +clustered even within the pupils--deep within them, like +far-flung stars in the depths of velvety, midnight heavens. + +Whence had come those cold fires that had flared from +them, I wondered--more menacing, far more menacing, +in their cold tranquillity than the hot flames of wrath? +These eyes were not perilous--no. Calm they were and +still--yet in them a shadow of interest flickered; a ghost +of friendliness smiled. + +Above them were level, delicately penciled brows of +bronze. The lips were coral crimson and--asleep. Sweet +were those lips as ever master painter, dreaming his dream +of the very soul of woman's sweetness, saw in vision and +limned upon his canvas--and asleep, nor wistful for awakening. + +A proud, straight nose; a broad low brow, and over it +the masses of the tendriling tresses--tawny, lustrous topaz, +cloudy, METALLIC. Like spun silk of ruddy copper; and misty +as the wisps of cloud that Soul'tze, Goddess of Sleep, sets in +the skies of dawn to catch the wandering dreams of lovers. + +Down from the wondrous face melted the rounded +column of her throat to merge into exquisite curves of +shoulders and breasts, half revealed beneath the swathing veils. + +But upon that face, within her eyes, kissing her red lips +and clothing her breasts, was something unearthly. + +Something that came straight out of the still mysteries +of the star-filled spaces; out of the ordered, the untroubled, +the illimitable void. + +A passionless spirit that watched over the human passion +in the scarlet mouth, in every slumbering, sculptured line +of her--guarding her against its awakening. + +Twilight calm dropping down from the sun sleep to still +the restless mountain tarn. Ishtar dreamlessly asleep within +Nirvana. + +Something not of this world we know--and yet of it as +the winds of the Cosmos are to the summer breeze, the +ocean to the wave, the lightnings to the glowworm. + +"She isn't--human," I heard Ventnor whispering at my +ear. "Look at her eyes; look at the skin of her--" + +Her skin was white as milk of pearls; gossamer fine, +silken and creamy; translucent as though a soft brilliancy +dwelt within it. Beside it Ruth's fair skin was like some +sun-and-wind-roughened country lass's to Titania's. + +She studied us as though she were seeing for the first +time beings of her own kind. She spoke--and her voice was +elfin distant, chimingly sweet like hidden little golden bells; +filled with that tranquil, far off spirit that was part of her +--as though indeed a tiny golden chime should ring out +from the silences, speak for them, find tongues for them. +The words were hesitating, halting as though the lips that +uttered them found speech strange--as strange as the clear +eyes found our images. + +And the words were Persian--purest, most ancient Persian. + +"I am Norhala," the golden voice chimed forth, whispered +down into silence. "I am Norhala." + +She shook her head impatiently. A hand stole forth from +beneath her veils, slender, long-fingered with nails like rosy +pearls; above the wrist was coiled a golden dragon with +wicked little crimson eyes. The slender white hand touched +Ruth's head, turned it until the strange, flecked orbs +looked directly into the misty ones of blue. + +Long they gazed--and deep. Then she who had named +herself Norhala thrust out a finger, touched the tear that +hung upon Ruth's curled lashes, regarded it wonderingly. + +Something of recognition, of memory, seemed to awaken +within her. + +"You are--troubled?" she asked with that halting effort. + +Ruth shook her head. + +"THEY--do not trouble you?" + +She pointed to the huddled heaps strewing the hollow. +And then I saw whence the light which had streamed from +her great eyes came. For the little azure and golden stars +paled, trembled, then flashed out like galaxies of tiny, +clustered silver suns. + +From that weird radiance Ruth shrank, affrighted. + +"No--no," she gasped. "I weep for--HIM." + +She pointed where Chiu-Ming lay, a brown blotch at +the edge of the shattered men. + +"For--him?" There was puzzlement in the faint voice. +"For--that? But why?" + +She looked at Chiu-Ming--and I knew that to her the +sight of the crumpled form carried no recognition of the +human, nothing of kin to her. There was a faint wonder +in her eyes, no longer light-filled, when at last she turned +back to us. Long she considered us. + +"Now," she broke the silence, "now something stirs within +me that it seems has long been sleeping. It bids me +take you with me. Come!" + +Abruptly she turned from us, glided to the crevice. We +looked at each other, seeking council, decision. + +"Chiu-Ming," Drake spoke. "We can't leave him like +that. At least let's cover him from the vultures." + +"Come." The woman had reached the mouth of the +fissure. + +"I'm afraid! Oh, Martin--I'm afraid." Ruth reached little +trembling hands to her tall brother. + +"Come!" Norhala called again. There was an echo of +harshness, a clanging, peremptory and inexorable, in the +chiming. + +Ventnor shrugged his shoulders. + +"Come, then," he said. + +With one last look at the Chinese, the lammergeiers +already circling about him, we walked to the crevice. +Norhala waited, silent, brooding until we passed her; then +glided behind us. + +Before we had gone ten paces I saw that the place was +no fissure. It was a tunnel, a passage hewn by human +hands, its walls covered with the writhing dragon lines, its +roof the mountain. + +The swathed woman swept by us. Swiftly we followed +her. Far, far ahead was a wan gleaming. It quivered, a +faintly shimmering, ghostly curtain, a full mile away. + +Now it was close; we passed through it and were out of +the tunnel. Before us stretched a narrow gorge, a sword +slash in the body of the towering giant under whose feet +the tunnel crept. High above was the ribbon of the sky. + +The sides were dark, but it came to me that here were +no trees, no verdure of any kind. Its floor was strewn with +boulders, fantastically shaped, almost indistinguishable in +the fast closing dark. + +Twin monoliths bulwarked the passage end; the gigantic +stones were leaning, crumbling. Fissures radiated from +the opening, like deep wrinkles in the rock, showing where +earth warping, range pressure, had long been working to +close this hewn way. + +"Stop," Norhala's abrupt, golden note halted us; and +again through the clear eyes I saw the white starshine +flash. + +"It may be well--" She spoke as though to herself. "It +may be well to close this way. It is not needed--" + +Her voice rang out again, vibrant, strangely disquieting, +harmonious. Murmurous chanting it was at first, rhythmic +and low; ripples and flutings, tones and progressions utterly +unknown to me; unfamiliar, abrupt, and alien themes +that kept returning, droppings of crystal-clear jewels of +sound, golden tollings--and all ordered, mathematical, +GEOMETRIC, even as had been the gestures of the shapes; +Lilliputians of the ruins, Brobdignagian of the haunted +hollow. + +What was it? I had it--IT WAS THOSE GESTURES TRANSFORMED +INTO SOUND! + +There was a movement down by the tunnel mouth. It +grew more rapid, seemed to vibrate with her song. Within +the darkness there were little flashes; glimmerings of light +began to come and go--like little awakenings of eyes of +soft, jeweled flames, like giant gorgeous fireflies; flashes of +cloudy amber, gleam of rose, sparkles of diamonds and +of opals, of emeralds and of rubies--blinking, gleaming. + +A shimmering mist drew down around them--a swift +and swirling mist. It thickened, was shot with slender +shuttled threads like cobweb, coruscating strands of light. + +The shining threads grew thicker, pulsed, were spangled +with tiny vivid sparklings. They ran together, condensed-- +and all this in an instant, in a tenth of the time it takes +me to write it. + +From fiery mist and gemmed flashes came bolt upon +bolt of lightning. The cliff face leaped out, a cataract of +green flame. The fissures widened, the monoliths trembled, +fell. + +In the wake of that dazzling brilliancy came utter blackness. +I opened my blinded eyes; slowly the flecks of green +fire cleared. A faint lambency still clung to the cliff. By it +I saw that the tunnel's mouth had vanished, had been +sealed--where it had gaped were only tons of shattered +rock. + +Came a rushing past us as of great bodies; something +grazed my hand, something whose touch was like that of +warm metal--but metal throbbing with life. They rushed +by--and whispered down into silence. + +"Come!" Norhala flitted ahead of us, a faintly luminous +shape in the darkness. Swiftly we followed. I found Ruth +beside me; felt her hand grip my wrist. + +"Walter," she whispered, "Walter--she isn't human!" + +"Nonsense," I muttered. "Nonsense, Ruth. What do you +think she is--a goddess, a spirit of the Himalayas? She's as +human as you or I." + +"No." Even in the darkness I could sense the stubborn +shake of her curly head. "Not all human. Or how could she +have commanded those things? Or have summoned the +lightnings that blasted the tunnel's mouth? And her skin +and hair--they're too WONDERFUL, Walter. + +"Why, she makes me look--look coarse. And the light +that hovers about her--why, it is by that light we are +making our way. And when she touched me--I--I glowed +--all through. + +"Human, yes--but there is something else in her--something +stronger than humanness, something that--makes it +sleep!" she added astonishingly. + +The ground was level as a dancing floor. We followed +the enigmatic glow--emanation, it seemed to me--from +Norhala which was as a light for us to follow within the +darkness. The high ribbon of sky had vanished--seemed +to be overcast, for I could see no stars. + +Within the darkness I began again to sense faint movement; +soft stirring all about us. I had the feeling that on +each side and behind us moved an invisible host. + +"There's something moving all about us--going with us," +Ruth echoed my thought. + +"It's the wind," I said, and paused--for there was no +wind. + +From the blackness before us came a succession of +curious, muffled clickings, like a smothered mitrailleuse. +The luminescence that clothed Norhala brightened, deepening +the darkness. + +"Cross!" + +She pointed into the void ahead; then, as we started +forward, thrust out a hand to Ruth, held her back. Drake +and Ventnor drew close to them, questioningly, anxious. +But I stepped forward, out of the dim gleaming. + +Before me were two cubes; one I judged in that uncertain +light to be six feet high, the other half its bulk. +From them a shaft of pale-blue phosphorescence pierced +the murk. They stood, the smaller pressed against the side +of the larger, for all the world like a pair of immense +nursery blocks, placed like steps by some giant child. + +As my eyes swept over them, I saw that the shining +shaft was an unbroken span of cubes; not multi-arched +like the Lilliputian bridge of the dragon chamber, but +flat and running out over an abyss that gaped at my very +feet. All of a hundred feet they stretched; a slender, lustrous +girder crossing unguessed depths of gloom. From +far, far below came the faint whisper of rushing waters. + +I faltered. For these were the blocks that had formed +the body of the monster of the hollow, its flailing arms. +The thing that had played so murderously with the armored men. + +And now had shaped itself into this anchored, quiescent +bridge. + +"Do not fear." It was the woman speaking, softly, as +one would reassure a child. "Ascend. Cross. They obey +me." + +I stepped firmly upon the first block, climbed to the +second. The span stretched, sharp edged, smooth, only a +slender, shimmering line revealing where each great cube +held fast to the other. + +I walked at first slowly, then with ever-increasing confidence, +for up from the surface streamed a guiding, a +holding force, that was like a host of little invisible hands, +steadying me, keeping firm my feet. I looked down; the +myriads of enigmatic eyes were staring, staring up at me +from deep within. They fascinated me; I felt my pace +slowing; a vertigo seized me. Resolutely I dragged my gaze +up and ahead; marched on. + +From the depths came more clearly the sound of the +waters. Now there were but a few feet more of the bridge +before me. I reached its end, dropped my feet over, felt +them touch a smaller cube, and descended. + +Over the span came Ventnor. He was leading his laden +pony. He had bandaged its eyes so that it could not look +upon the narrow way it was treading. And close behind, a +band resting reassuringly upon its flank, strode Drake, +swinging along carelessly. The little beast ambled along +serenely, sure-footed as all its mountain kind, and docile +to darkness and guidance. + +Then, an arm about Ruth, floated Norhala. Now she +was beside us; dropped her arm from Ruth; glided past us. +On for a hundred yards or more we went, and then she +drew us a little toward the unseen canyon wall. + +She stood before us, shielding us. One golden call she +sent. + +I looked back into the darkness. Something like an +enormous, dimly shimmering rod was raising itself. Higher +it rose and higher. Now it stood, upright, a slender +towering pillar, a gigantic slim figure whose tip pointed a +full hundred feet in the air. + +Then slowly it inclined itself toward us; drew closer, +closer to the ground; touched and lay there for an instant +inert. Abruptly it vanished. + +But well I knew what I had seen. The span over which +we had passed had raised itself even as had the baby +bridge of the fortress; had lifted itself across the chasm +and dropping itself upon the hither verge had disintegrated +into its units; was following us. + +A bridge of metal that could build itself--and break +itself. A thinking, conscious metal bridge! A metal bridge +with volition--with mind--that was following us. + +There sighed from behind a soft, sustained wailing; +rapidly it neared us. A wanly glimmering shape drew by; +halted. It was like a rigid serpent cut from a gigantic +square bar of cold blue steel. + +Its head was a pyramid, a tetrahedron; its length +vanished in the further darkness. The head raised itself, +the blocks that formed its neck separating into open +wedges like a Brobdignagian replica of those jointed, fantastic, +little painted reptiles the Japanese toy-makers cut +from wood. + +It seemed to regard us--mockingly. The pointed head +dropped--past us streamed the body. Upon it other +pyramids clustered--like the spikes that guarded the back +of the nightmare Brontosaurus. Its end came swiftly into +sight--its tail another pyramid twin to its head. + +It FLIRTED by--gaily; vanished. + +I had thought the span must disintegrate to follow--and +it did not need to! It could move as a COMPOSITE as well +as in UNITS. Move intelligently, consciously--as the Smiting +Thing had moved. + +"Come!" Norhala's command checked my thoughts; we +fell in behind her. Looking up I caught the friendly sparkle +of a star; knew the cleft was widening. + +The star points grew thicker. We stepped out into a +valley small as that hollow from which we had fled; ringed +like it with heaven-touching summits. I could see clearly. +The place was suffused with a soft radiance as though into +it the far, bright stars were pouring all their rays, filling it +as a cup with their pale flames. + +It was luminous as the Alaskan valleys when on white +arctic nights they are lighted, the Athabascans believe, by +the gleaming spears of hunting gods. The walls of the +valley seemed to be drawn back into infinite distances. + +The shimmering mists that had nimbused Norhala had +vanished--or merging into the wan gleaming had become +one with it. + +I stared straight at her, striving to clarify in my own +clouded thought what it was that I had sensed as inhuman +--never of OUR world or its peoples. Yet this conviction +came not because of the light that had hovered about +her, nor of her summonings of the lightnings; nor even +of her control of those--things--which had smitten the +armored men and spanned for us the abyss. + +All of that I was certain lay in the domain of the explicable, +could be resolved into normality once the basic +facts were gained. + +Suddenly, I knew. Side by side with what we term the +human there dwelt within this woman an actual consciousness +foreign to earth, passionless, at least as we +know passion, ordered, mathematical--an emanation of +the eternal law which guides the circling stars. + +This it was that had moved in the gestures which had +evoked the lightnings. This it was that had spoken in the +song which were those gestures transformed into sound. +This it was that something greater than my consciousness +knew and accepted. + +Something which shared, no--that reigned, serene and +untroubled, upon the throne of her mind; something utterly +UNCOMPREHENDING, utterly unconscious OF, cosmically +blind TO all human emotion; that spread itself like a veil +over her own consciousness; that PLATED her thought--that +was a strange word--why had it come to me--something +that had set its mark upon her like--like--the gigantic +claw print on the poppied field, the little print of the +dragoned hall. + +I caught at my mind, whirling I thought then in the grip +of fantasy; strove by taking minute note of her to bring +myself back to normal. + +Her veils had slipped from her, baring her neck, her +arms, the right shoulder. Under the smooth throat a buckle +of dull gold held the sheer, diaphanous folds of the pale +amber silk which swathed the high and rounded breasts, +hiding no goddess curve of them. + +A wide and golden girdle clasped the waist, covered the +rounded hips and thighs. The long, narrow, and high-arched +feet were shod with golden sandals, laced just below +the rounded knees with flat turquoise studded bands. + +And shining through the amber folds, as glowing above +them, the miracle of her body. + +The dream of master sculptor given life. A goddess of +earth's youth reborn in Himalayan wilds. + +She raised her eyes; broke the long silence. + +"Now being with you," she said dreamily, "there waken +within me old thoughts, old wisdom, old questioning--all +that I had forgotten and thought forgotten forever--" + +The golden voice died--she who had spoken was gone +from us, like the fading out of a phantom; like the breaking +of a film. + +A flicker shot over the skies, another and another. A +brilliant ray of intense green like that of a distant searchlight +swept to the zenith, hung for a moment and withdrew. +Up came pouring the lances and the streamers of +the aurora; faster and faster, banners and slender shining +spears of green and iridescent blues and smoky, glistening +reds. + +The valley sprang into full view. + +I felt Ventnor's grip upon my wrist. I followed his pointing +finger. Into the valley from the right ran a black spur +of rock, half a mile from us, fifty feet high. + +Upon its crest stood--Norhala! + +Her arms were lifted to the sparkling sky; her braids +were loosened--and as the fires of the aurora rose and +fell, raced and were still, the silken cloud of her tresses +swirled and eddied with them. Little clouds of coruscations +danced gaily like fireflies about and through it. + +And all her bared body was outlined in living light, +glowed and throbbed with light--light filled her like a vessel, +she bathed in it. She thrust arms through the streaming, +flaming locks; held them out from her, prisoned. She +swayed slowly, rhythmically; like a faint, golden chiming +came the echo of her song. + +Abruptly around her, half circling her on the black +spur, gleamed myriads of gem fires. Flares and flames of +pale emerald, steady glowing of flame rubies, glints and +lambencies of deepest sapphire, of wan sapphire, flickering +opalescences, irised glitterings. A moment they gleamed. +Then from them came bolt upon bolt of lightning--lightning +that darted upon the lovely shape swaying there; +lightnings that fell upon her, broke and dashed, cascading, +from her radiant body. + +The lightnings bathed her--she bathed in them. + +The skies were covered by a swift mist. The aurora was +veiled. + +The valley filled with a palely shimmering radiance +which dropped like veils upon it, hiding all within it. Hiding +within fold upon luminous fold--Norhala! + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SHAPES +IN THE MIST + +Mutely we faced each other, white and wan in the +ghostly light. + +The valley was very still; as silent as though sound had +been withdrawn from it. The shimmering radiance suffusing +it had thickened perceptibly; hovered over the valley +floor faintly sparkling mists; hid it. + +Like a shroud was that silence. Beneath it my mind +struggled, its unease, its forebodings growing ever stronger. +Silently we repacked the saddlebags; girthed the pony; +silently we waited for Norhala's return. + +Idly I had noted that the place on which we stood must +be raised above the level of the vale. Up toward us the +gathering mists had been steadily rising; still was their +wavering crest a half score feet below us. + +Abruptly out of their dim nebulosity a faintly phosphorescent +square broke. It lifted, slowly; then swept, a +dully lustrous six-foot cube, up the slope and came to rest +almost at our feet. It dwelt there; contemplated us from +its myriads of deep-set, sparkling striations. + +In its wake swam, one by one, six others--their tops +raising from the vapors like the first, watchfully; like +shimmering backs of sea monsters; like turrets of fantastic +angled submarines from phosphorescent seas. One by one +they skimmed swiftly over the ledge; and one by one they +nestled, edge to edge and alternately, against the cube +which had gone before. + +In a crescent, they stretched before us. Back from them, +a pace, ten paces, twenty, we retreated. + +They lay immobile--staring at us. + +Cleaving the mists, silk of copper hair streaming wide, +unearthly eyes lambent, floated up behind them--Norhala. +For an instant she was hidden behind their bulk; suddenly +was upon them; drifted over them like some spirit of light; +stood before us. + +Her veils were again about her; golden girdle, sandals +of gold and turquoise in their places. Pearl white her body +gleamed; no mark of lightning marred it. + +She walked toward us, turned and faced the watching +cubes. She uttered no sound, but as at a signal the central +cube slid forward, halted before her. She rested a hand +upon its edge. + +"Ride with me," she said to Ruth. + +"Norhala." Ventnor took a step forward. "Norhala, we +must go with her. And this"--he pointed to the pony-- +"must go with us." + +"I meant--you--to come," the faraway voice chimed, +"but I had not thought of--that." + +A moment she considered; then turned to the six waiting +cubes. Again as at a command four of the things +moved, swirled in toward each other with a weird precision, +with a monstrous martial mimicry; joined; stood before +us, a platform twelve feet square, six high. + +"Mount," sighed Norhala. + +Ventnor looked helplessly at the sheer front facing him. + +"Mount." There was half-wondering impatience in her +command. "See!" + +She caught Ruth by the waist and with the same bewildering +swiftness with which she had vanished from us +when the aurora beckoned she stood, holding the girl, +upon the top of the single cube. It was as though the two +had been lifted, had been levitated with an incredible +rapidity. + +"Mount," she murmured again, looking down upon us. + +Slowly Ventnor began to bandage the pony's eyes. I +placed my hand upon the edge of the quadruple; sprang. A +myriad unseen hands caught me, raised me, set me instantaneously +on the upward surface. + +"Lift the pony to me," I called to Ventnor. + +"Lift it?" he echoed, incredulously. + +Drake's grin cut like a sunray through the nightmare +dread that shrouded my mind. + +"Catch," he called; placed one hand beneath the beast's +belly, the other under its throat; his shoulders heaved-- +and up shot the pony, laden as it was, landed softly upon +four wide-stretched legs beside me. The faces of the two +gaped up, ludicrous in their amazement. + +"Follow," cried Norhala. + +Ventnor leaped wildly for the top, Drake beside him; +in the flash of a humming-bird's wing they were gripping +me, swearing feebly. The unseen hold angled; struck upward; +clutched from ankle to thigh; held us fast--men +and beast. + +Away swept the block that bore Ruth and Norhala; I +saw Ruth crouching, head bent, her arms around the knees +of the woman. They slipped into the mists; vanished. + +And after them, like a log in a racing current, we, too, +dipped beneath the faintly luminous vapors. + +The cubes moved with an entire absence of vibration; so +smoothly and skimmingly, indeed, that had it not been for +the sudden wind that had risen when first we had stirred, +and that now beat steadily upon our faces, and the +cloudy walls streaming by, I would have thought ourselves +at rest. + +I saw the blurred form of Ventnor drift toward the forward +edge. He walked as though wading. I essayed to follow him; +my feet I could not lift; I could advance only by gliding +them as though skating. + +Also the force, whatever it was, that held me seemed +to pass me on from unseen clutch to clutch; it was as +though up to my hips I moved through a closely woven +yet fluid mass of cobwebs. I had the fantastic idea that if +I so willed I could slip over the edge of the blocks, crawl +about their sides without falling--like a fly on the vertical +faces of a huge sugar loaf. + +I drew beside Ventnor. He was staring ahead, striving, +I knew, to pierce the mists for some glimpse of Ruth. + +He turned to me, his face drawn with anxiety, his eyes +feverish. + +"Can you see them, Walter?" His voice shook. "God-- +why did I ever let her go like that? Why did I let her go +alone?" + +"They'll be close ahead, Martin." I spoke out of a conviction +I could not explain. "Whatever it is we're bound +for, wherever it is the woman's taking us, she means to +keep us together--for a time at least. I'm sure of it." + +"She said--follow." It was Drake beside us. "How the +hell can we do anything else? We haven't any control over +this bird we're on. But she has. What she meant, Ventnor, +is that it would follow her." + +"That's true"--new hope softened the haggard face-- +"that's true--but is it? We're reckoning with creatures +that man's imagination never conceived--nor could conceive. +And with this--woman--human in shape, yes, but +human in thought--never. How then can we tell--" + +He turned once more, all his consciousness concentrated +in his searching eyes. + +Drake's rifle slipped from his hand. + +He stooped to pick it up; then tugged with both hands. +The rifle lay immovable. + +I bent and strove to aid him. For all the pair of us +could do, the rifle might have been a part of the gleaming +surface on which it rested. The tiny, deepset star points +winked up-- + +"They're--laughing at us!" grunted Drake. + +"Nonsense," I answered, and tried to check the involuntary +shuddering that shook me, as I saw it shake +him. "Nonsense. These blocks are great magnets--that's +what holds the rifle; what holds us, too." + +"I don't mean the rifle," he said; "I mean those points +of lights--the eyes--" + +There came from Ventnor a cry of almost anguished +relief. We straightened. Our head shot above the mists +like those of swimmers from water. Unnoticed, we had +been climbing out of them. + +And a hundred yards ahead of us, cleaving them, +veiled in them almost to the shoulders, was Norhala, +red-gold tresses steaming; and close beside her were the +brown curls of Ruth. At her brother's cry she turned and +her arm flashed out of the veils with reassuring gesture. + +A mile away was an opening in the valley's mountainous +wall; toward it we were speeding. It was no ragged +crevice, no nature split fissure; it gave the impression of a +gigantic doorway. + +"Look," whispered Drake. + +Between us and the vast gateway, gleaming triangles +began to break through the vapors, like the cutting fins of +sharks, glints of round bodies like gigantic porpoises-- +the vapors seethed with them. Quickly the fins and rolling +curves were all about us. They centered upon the portal, +streamed through--a horde of the metal things, leading +us, guarding us, playing about us. + +And weird, unutterably weird was that spectacle--the +vast and silent vale with its still, smooth vapors like a +coverlet of cloud; the regal head of Norhala sweeping +over them; the dull glint and gleam of the metal paradoxes +flowing, in ordered motion, all about us; the titanic gateway, +glowing before us. + +We were at its threshold; over it. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DRUMS +OF THUNDER + +Upon that threshold the mists foamed like +breaking billows, then ceased abruptly to be. Keeping +exactly the distance I had noted when our gaze had +risen above the fog, glided the block that bore Ruth and +Norhala. In the strange light of the place into which we +had emerged--and whether that place was canyon, corridor, +or tunnel I could not then determine--it stood +out sharply. + +One arm of Norhala held Ruth--and in her attitude I +sensed a shielding intent, guardianship--the first really +human impulse this shape of mystery and beauty had +revealed. + +In front of them swept score upon score of her familiars +--no longer dully lustrous, but shining as though +cut from blue and polished steel. They--marched--in +ordered rows, globes and cubes and pyramids; moving +sedately now as units. + +I looked behind me; out of the spume boiling at the +portal, were pouring forth other scores of the Metal +Things, darting through like divers through a wave. And +as they drew into our wake and swam into the light, +their dim lustre vanished like a film; their surfaces grew +almost radiant. + +Whence came the light that set them gleaming? Our +pace had slackened--I looked about me. The walls of +the cleft or tunnel were perpendicular, smooth and shining +with a cold, metallic, greenish glow. + +Between the walls, like rhythmic flashing of fire-flies, +pulsed soft and fugitive glimmerings that carried a sense +of the infinitely minute--of electrons, it came to me, +rather than atoms. Their irradiance was greenish, like +the walls; but I was certain that these corpuscles did not +come from them. + +They blinked and faded like motes within a shifting +sunbeam; or, to use a more scientific comparison, like +colloids within the illuminated field of the ultramicroscope; +and like these latter it was as though the eyes took in +not the minute particles themselves but their movement +only. + +Save for these gleamings the light of the place, although +crepuscular, was crystalline clear. High above us +--five hundred, a thousand feet--the walls merged into +a haze of clouded beryl. + +Rock certainly the cliffs were--but rock cut and planed, +smoothed and polished and PLATED! + +Yes, that was it--plated. Plated with some metallic +substance that was itself a reservoir of luminosity and +from which, it came to me, pulsed the force that lighted +the winking ions. But who could have done such a thing? +For what purpose? How? + +And the meticulousness, the perfection of these +smoothed cliffs struck over my nerves as no rasp could, +stirring a vague resentment, an irritated desire for human +inharmonies, human disorder. + +Absorbed in my examination I had forgotten those +who must share with me my doubts and dangers. I felt +a grip on my arm. + +"If we get close enough and I can get my feet loose +from this damned thing I'll jump," Drake said. + +"What?" I gasped, blankly, startled out of my preoccupation. +"Jump where?" + +I followed his pointing finger. We were rapidly closing +upon the other cube; it was now a scant twenty paces +ahead; it seemed to be stopping. Ventnor was leaning +forward, quivering with eagerness. + +"Ruth!" he called. "Ruth--are you all right?" + +Slowly she turned to us--my heart gave a great leap, +then seemed to stop. For her sweet face was touched with +that same unearthly tranquillity which was Norhala's; in +her brown eyes was a shadow of that passionless spirit +brooding in Norhala's own; her voice as she answered +held within it more than echo of Norhala's faint, far-off +golden chiming. + +"Yes," she sighed; "yes, Martin--have no fear for me--" + +And turned from us, gazing forward once more with +the woman and as silent as she. + +I glanced covertly at Ventnor, at Drake--had I imagined, +or had they too seen? Then I knew they had seen, for +Ventnor's face was white to the lips, and Drake's jaw was +set, his teeth clenched, his eyes blazing with anger. + +"What's she doing to Ruth--you saw her face," he +gritted, half inarticulately. + +"Ruth!" There was anguish in Ventnor's cry. + +She did not turn again. It was as though she had not +heard him. + +The cubes were now not five yards apart. Drake gathered +himself; strained to loosen his feet from the shining +surface, making ready to leap when they should draw +close enough. His great chest swelled with his effort, the +muscles of his neck knotted, sweat steamed down his +face. + +"No use," he gasped, "no use, Goodwin. It's like +trying to lift yourself by your boot-straps--like a fly +stuck in molasses." + +"Ruth," cried Ventnor once more. + +As though it had been a signal the block darted forward, +resuming the distance it had formerly maintained +between us. + +The vanguard of the Metal Things began to race. +With an incredible speed they fled into, were lost in an +instant within, the luminous distances. + +The cube that bore the woman and girl accelerated; +flew faster and faster onward. And as swiftly our own +followed it. The lustrous walls flowed by, dizzily. + +We had swept over toward the right wall of the cleft +and were gliding over a broad ledge. This ledge was, +I judged, all of a hundred feet in width. From it the +floor of the place was dropping rapidly. + +The opposite precipices were slowly drawing closer. +After us flowed the flanking host. + +Steadily our ledge arose and the floor of the canyon +dropped. Now we were twenty feet above it, now thirty. +And the character of the cliffs was changing. Veins of +quartz shone under the metallic plating like cut crystal, +like cloudy opals; here was a splash of vermilion, there a +patch of amber; bands of pallid ochre stained it. + +My gaze was caught by a line of inky blackness in the +exact center of the falling floor. So black was it that at +first glance I took it for a vein of jetty lignite. + +It widened. It was a crack, a fissure. Now it was a yard +in width, now three, and blackness seemed to well up +from within it, blackness that was the very essence of the +depths. Steadily the ebon rift expanded; spread suddenly +wide open in two sharp-edged, flying wedges-- + +Earth had dropped away. At our side a gulf had opened, +an abyss, striking down depth upon depth; profound; +immeasurable. + +We were human atoms, riding upon a steed of sorcery +and racing along a split rampart of infinite space. + +I looked behind--scores of the cubes were darting from +the metal host trailing us; in a long column of twos they +flashed by, raced ahead. Far in front of us a gloom began +to grow; deepened until we were rushing into blackest +night. + +Through the murk stabbed a long lance of pale blue +phosphorescence. It unrolled like a ribbon of wan flame, +flicked like a serpent's tongue--held steady. I felt the +Thing beneath us leap forward; its velocity grew +prodigious; the wind beat upon us with hurricane force. + +I shielded my eyes with my hands and peered through +the chinks of my fingers. Ranged directly in our path was +a barricade of the cubes and upon them we were racing +like a flying battering-ram. Involuntarily I closed my eyes +against the annihilating impact that seemed inevitable. + +The Thing on which we rode lifted. + +We were soaring at a long angle straight to the top of +the barrier; were upon it, and still with that awful speed +unchecked were hurtling through the blackness over the +shaft of phosphorescence, the ribbon of pale light that I +had watched pierce it and knew now was but another +span of the cubes that but a little before had fled past us. +Beneath the span, on each side of it, I sensed illimitable +void. + +We were over; rushing along in darkness. There began a +mighty tumult, a vast crashing and roaring. The clangor +waxed, beat about us with tremendous strokes of sound. + +Far away was a dim glowing, as of rising sun through +heavy mists of dawn. The mists faded--miles away gleamed +what at first glimpse seemed indeed to be the rising sun; a +gigantic orb, whose lower limb just touched, was sharply, +horizontally cut by the blackness, as though at its base +that blackness was frozen. + +The sun? Reason returned to me; told me this globe +could not be that. + +What was it then? Ra-Harmachis, of the Egyptians, +stripped of his wings, exiled and growing old in the +corridors of the Dead? Or that mocking luminary, the +cold phantom of the God of light and warmth which the +old Norsemen believed was set in their frozen hell to +torment the damned? + +I thrust aside the fantasies, impatiently. But sun or no +sun, light streamed from this orb, light in multicolored, +lanced rays, banishing the blackness through which we +had been flying. + +Closer we came and closer; lighter it grew about us, and +by the growing light I saw that still beside us ran the +abyss. And even louder, more thunderous, became the +clamor. + +At the foot of the radiant disk I glimpsed a luminous +pool. Into it, out of the depths, protruded a tremendous +rectangular tongue, gleaming like gray steel. + +On the tongue an inky shape appeared; it lifted itself +from the abyss, rushed upon the disk and took form. + +Like a gigantic spider it was, squat and horned. For +an instant it was silhouetted against the smiling sphere, +poised itself--and vanished through it. + +Now, not far ahead, silhouetted as had been the spider +shape, blackened into sight a cube and on it Ruth and +Norhala. It seemed to hover, to wait. + +"It's a door," Drake's shout beat thinly in my ears +against the hurricane of sound. + +What I thought had been an orb was indeed a gateway, +a portal; and it was gigantic. + +The light streamed through it, the flaming colors, the +lightning glare, the drifting shadows were all beyond it. +The suggestion of sphere had been an illusion, born of the +darkness in which we were moving and in its own +luminescence. + +And I saw that the steel tongue was a ramp, a slide, +dropping down into the gulf. + +Norhala raised her hands high above her head. Up +from the darkness flew an incredible shape--like a monstrous, +armored flat-backed crab; angled spikes protruded +from it; its huge body was spangled with darting, greenish +flames. + +It swept beneath us and by. On its back were multitudinous +breasts from which issued blinding flashes-- +sapphire blue, emerald green, sun yellow. It hung poised +as had that other nightmare shape, standing out jet black +and colossal, rearing upon columnar legs, whose outlines +were those of alternate enormous angled arrow-points and +lunettes. Swiftly its form shifted; an instant it hovered, +half disintegrate. + +Now I saw spinning spheres and darting cubes and +pyramids click into new positions. The front and side +legs lengthened, the back legs shortened, fitting themselves +plainly to what must be a varying angle of descent +beyond. + +And it was no chimera, no kraken of the abyss. It +was a car made of the Metal Things. I caught again the +flashes and thought that they were jewels or heaps of +shining ores carried by the conscious machine. + +It vanished. In its place hung poised the cube that +bore the enigmatic woman and Ruth. Then they were +gone and we stood where but an instant before they +had been. + +We were high above an ocean of living light--a sea of +incandescent splendors that stretched mile upon uncounted +mile away and whose incredible waves streamed thousands +of feet in air, flew in gigantic banners, in tremendous +streamers, in coruscating clouds of varicolored +flame--as though torn by the talons of a mighty wind. + +My dazzled sight cleared, glare and blaze and searing +incandescence took form, became ordered. Within the +sea of light I glimpsed shapes cyclopean, unnameable. + +They moved slowly, with an awesome deliberateness. +They shone darkly within the flame-woven depths. From +them came the volleys of the lightnings. + +Score upon score of them there were--huge and enigmatic. +Their flaming levins threaded the shimmering veils, +patterned them, as though they were the flying robes of the +very spirit of fire. + +And the tumult was as ten thousand Thors, smiting with +hammers against the enemies of Odin. As a forge upon +whose shouting anvils was being shaped a new world. + +A new world? A metal world! + +The thought spun through my mazed brain, was gone-- +and not until long after did I remember it. For suddenly +all that clamor died; the lightnings ceased; all the flitting +radiances paled and the sea of flaming splendors grew +thin as moving mists. The storming shapes dulled with +them, seemed to darken into the murk. + +Through the fast-waning light and far, far away-- +miles it seemed on high and many, many miles in length +--a broad band of fluorescent amethyst shone. From it +dropped curtains, shimmering, nebulous as the marching +folds of the aurora; they poured, cascaded, from the +amethystine band. + +Huge and purple-black against their opalescence bulked +what at first I thought a mountain, so like was it to one +of those fantastic buttes of our desert Southwest when +their castellated tops are silhouetted against the setting +sun; knew instantly that this was but subconscious striving +to translate into terms of reality the incredible. + +It was a City! + +A city full five thousand feet high and crowned with +countless spires and turrets, titanic arches, stupendous +domes! It was as though the man-made cliffs of lower +New York were raised scores of times their height, +stretched a score of times their length. And weirdly +enough it did suggest those same towering masses of +masonry when one sees them blacken against the twilight +skies. + +The pit darkened as though night were filtering down +into it; the vast, purple-shadowed walls of the city +sparkled out with countless lights. From the crowning +arches and turrets leaped broad filaments of flame, flashing, +electric. + +Was it my straining eyes, the play of the light and +shadow--or were those high-flung excrescences shifting, +changing shape? An icy hand stretched out of the unknown, +stilled my heart. For they were shifting--arches +and domes, turrets and spires; were melting, reappearing +in ferment; like the lightning-threaded, rolling edges of +the thundercloud. + +I wrenched my gaze away; saw that our platform had +come to rest upon a broad and silvery ledge close to the +curving frame of the portal and not a yard from where +upon her block stood Norhala, her arm clasped about the +rigid form of Ruth. I heard a sigh from Ventnor, an +exclamation from Drake. + +Before one of us could cry out to Ruth, the cube glided +to the edge of the shelf, dipped out of sight. + +That upon which we rode trembled and sped after it. + +There came a sickening sense of falling; we lurched +against each other; for the first time the pony whinnied, +fearfully. Then with awful speed we were flying down a +wide, a glistening, a steeply angled ramp into the Pit, +straight toward the half-hidden, soaring escarpments +flashing afar. + +Far ahead raced the Thing on which stood woman and +maid. Their hair streamed behind them, mingled, silken +web of brown and shining veil of red-gold; little clouds +of sparkling corpuscles threaded them, like flitting swarms +of fire-flies; their bodies were nimbused with tiny, flickering +tongues of lavender flame. + +About us, above us, began again to rumble the countless +drums of the thunder. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PORTAL +OF FLAME + +It was as though we were on a meteor hurtling +through space. The split air shrieked and shrilled, a +keening barrier against the avalanche of the thunder. +The blast bent us far back on thighs held rigid by the +magnetic grip. + +The pony spread its legs, dropped its head; through +the hurricane roaring its screaming pierced thinly, that +agonizing, terrible lamentation which is of the horse and +the horse alone when the limit of its endurance is +reached. + +Ventnor crouched lower and lower, eyes shielded behind +arms folded over his brows, straining for a glimpse +of Ruth; Drake crouched beside him, bracing him, supporting +him against the tempest. + +Our line of flight became less abrupt, but the speed +increased, the wind-pressure became almost insupportable. +I twisted, dropped upon my right arm, thrust my +head against my shoulder, stared backward. When first I +had looked upon the place I had sensed its immensity; +now I began to realize how vast it must really be--for +already the gateway through which we had come glimmered +far away on high, shrunk to a hoop of incandescent +brass and dwindling fast. + +Nor was it a cavern; I saw the stars, traced with deep +relief the familiar Northern constellations. Pit it might +be, but whatever terror, whatever ordeals were before us, +we would not have to face them buried deep within +earth. There was a curious comfort to me in the thought. + +Suddenly stars and sky were blotted out. + +We had plunged beneath the surface of the radiant sea. + +Lying in the position in which I was, I was sensible of +a diminution of the cyclonic force; the blast streamed +up and over the front of the cube. To me drifted only the +wailings of our flight and the whimpering terror of the +pony. + +I turned my head cautiously. Upon the very edge of +the flying blocks squatted Drake and Ventnor, grotesquely +frog-like. I crawled toward them--crawled, literally, like +a caterpillar; for wherever my body touched the surface +of the cubes the attracting force held it, allowed a creeping +movement only, surface sliding upon surface--and +weirdly enough like a human measuring-worm I looped +myself over to them, + +As my bare palms clung to the Things I realized +with finality that whatever their activation, their life, +they WERE metal. + +There was no mistaking now the testimony of touch. +Metal they were, with a hint upon contact of highly +polished platinum, or at the least of a metal as finely +grained as it. + +Also they had temperature, a curiously pleasant warmth +--the surfaces were, I judged, around ninety-five degrees +Fahrenheit. I looked deep down into the little sparkling +points that were, I knew, organs of sight; they were like +the points of contact of innumerable intersecting crystal +planes. They held strangest paradoxical suggestion of being +close to the surface and still infinite distances away. + +And they were like--what was it they were like?--it +came to me with a distinct shock. + +They were like the galaxies of little aureate and sapphire +stars in the clear gray heavens of Norhala's eyes. + +I crept beside Drake, struck him with my head. + +"Can't move," I shouted. "Can't lift my hands. Stuck +fast--like a fly--just as you said." + +"Drag 'em over your knees," he cried, bending to me. +"It slides 'em out of the attraction." + +Acting as he had suggested I found to my astonishment +I could slip my hands free; I caught his belt, tried to lift +myself by it. + +"No use, Doc." The old grin lightened for a moment +his tense young face. "You'll have to keep praying till +the power's turned off. Nothing here you can slide your +knees on." + +I nodded, waddling close to his side; then sank back on +my haunches to relieve the strain upon my aching leg-muscles. + +"Can you see them ahead, Walter--Ruth and the +woman?" Ventnor turned his anxious eyes toward me. + +I peered into the glimmering murk; shook my head. +I could see nothing. It was indeed, as though the clustered +cubes sped within a bubble of the now wanly glistening +vapors; or rather as though in our passage--as a projectile +does in air--we piled before us a thick wave of the mists +which streaming along each side, closing in behind, obscured +all that lay around. + +Yet I had, persistently, the feeling that beyond these +shroudings was vast and ordered movement; marchings +and counter-marchings of hosts greater even than those +Golden Hordes of Genghis which ages agone had washed +about the outer bases of the very peaks that hid this +place. Came, too, flitting shadowings of huge shapes, unnameable, +moving swiftly beside our way; gleamings that thrust themselves +through the veils like wheeling javelins of flame. + +And always, always, everywhere that constant movement, +rhythmic, terrifying--like myriads of feet of +creatures of an unseen, stranger world marking time just +outside the threshold of our own. Preparing, DRILLING +there in some wide vestibule of space between the known +and the unknown, alert and menacing--poised for the +signal which would send them pouring over it. + + +Once again I seemed to stand upon the brink of an abyss +of incredible revelation, striving helplessly, struggling for +realization--and so struggling became aware that our +speed was swiftly slackening, the roaring blast dying down, +the veils before us thinning. + +They cleared away. I saw Drake and Ventnor +straighten up; raised myself to my own aching knees. + +We were at one end of a vortex, a funneling within the +radiant vapors; a funnel whose further end a mile ahead +broadened out into a huge circle, its mistily outlined +edges impinging upon the towering scarp of the--city. +It was as though before us lay, upon its side, a cone of +crystalline clear air against whose curved sides some +radiant medium heavier than air, lighter than water, +pressed. + +The top arc of its prostrate base reached a thousand +feet or more up the precipitous wall; above it all was +hidden in sparkling nebulosities that were like still clouds +of greenly glimmering fire-flies. Back from the curving +sides of this cone, above it and below it, the pressing +luminosities stretched into, it seemed, infinite distances. + +Through them, suddenly, thousands of bright beams +began to dart, to dance, weaving and interweaving, shooting +hither and yon--like myriads of great searchlights +in a phosphorescent sea fog, like countless lances of the +aurora thrusting through its own iridescent veils! And +in the play of these beams was something appallingly +ordered, appallingly rhythmic. + +It was--how can I describe it?--PURPOSEFUL; purposeful +as the geometric shiftings of the Little Things of the +ruins, of the summoning song of Norhala, of the Protean +changes of the Smiting Shape and the Following Thing; +and like all of these it was as laden with that baffling +certainty of hidden meanings, of messages that the brain +recognized as such yet knew it never could read. + +The rays seemed to spring upward from the earth. Now +they were like countless lances of light borne by marching +armies of Titans; now they crossed and angled and +flew as though they were clouds of javelins hurled by +battling swarms of the Genii of Light. And now they +stood upright while through them, thrusting them aside, +bending them, passed vast, vague shapes like mountains +forming and dissolving; like darkening monsters of some +world of light pushing through thick forests of slender, +high-reaching trees of cold flame; shifting shadows of +monstrous chimerae slipping through jungles of bamboo +with trunks of diamond fire; phantasmal leviathans swimming +through brakes of giant reeds of radiance rising +from the sparking ooze of a sea of star shine. + +Whence came the force, the mechanism that produced +this cone of clarity, this NOT searchlight, but unlight in the +midst of light? Not from behind, that was certain--for +turning I saw that behind us the mist was as thick. I +turned again--it came to me, why I knew not, yet with +an absolute certainty, that the energy, the force emanated +from the distant wall itself. + +The funnel, the cone, did not expand from where we +were standing, now motionless. + +It began at the wall and focused upon us. + +Within the great circle the surface of the wall was +smooth, utterly blank; upon it was no trace of those flitting +lights we had seen before we had plunged down toward the +radiant sea. It shone with a pale blue phosphorescence. It +was featureless, smooth, a blind cliff of polished, blue +metal--and that was all. + +"Ruth!" groaned Ventnor. "Where is she?" + +Aghast at my mental withdrawal from him, angry at +myself for my callousness, awkwardly I tried to crawl over +to him, to touch him, comfort him as well as I might. + +And then, as though his cry had been a signal, the +great cone began to move. Slowly the circled base slipped +down the shimmering facades; down, steadily down; I realized +that we had paused at the edge of some steep declivity, +for the bottom of the cone was now at a decided +angle while the upper edge of the circle had dropped a full +two hundred feet below the place where it had rested-- +and still it fell. + + +There came a gasp of relief from Ventnor, a sigh from +Drake while, from my own heart, a weight rolled. Not ten +yards ahead of us and still deep within the luminosity +had appeared the regal head of Norhala, the lovely head +of Ruth. The two rose out of the glow like swimmers +floating from the depths. Now they were clear before us, +and now we could see the surface of the cube on which +they rode. + +But neither turned to us; each stared straightly, motionless +along the axis of the sinking cone, the woman's left +arm holding Ruth close to her side. + +Drake's hand caught my shoulder in a grip that hurt-- +nor did he need to point toward that which had wrung the +exclamation from him. The funnel had broken from its +slow falling; it had made one swift, startling drop and +had come to rest. Its recumbent side was now flattened into +a triangular plane, widening from the narrow tip in which +we stood to all of five hundred feet where its base rested +against the blue wall, and falling at a full thirty-degree +pitch. + +The misty-edged circle had become an oval, a flattened +ellipse another five hundred feet high and three times that +in length. And in its exact center, shining forth as though +it opened into a place of pale azure incandescence was +another rectangular Cyclopean portal. + +On each side of it, in the apparently solid face of the +gleaming, metallic cliffs, a slit was opening. + +They began as thin lines a hundred yards in height +through which the intense light seemed to hiss; quickly they +opened--widening like monstrous cat pupils until at last, +their widening ceasing, they glared forth, the blue incandescence +gushing from them like molten steel from an +opened sluice. + +Deep within them I sensed a movement. Scores of towering +shapes swam within and glided out of them, each reflecting +the vivid light as though they themselves were incandescent. +Around their crests spun wide and flaming coronets. + +They rushed forth, wheeling, whirling, driven like leaves +in a whirlwind. Out they swirled from the cat's eyes of the +glimmering wall, these dervish obelisks crowded with spinning +fires. They vanished in the mists. Instantly with their +going, the eyes contracted; were but slits; were gone. And +before us within the oval was only the waiting portal. + +The leading block leaped forward. As abruptly, those +that bore us followed. Again under that strain of projectile +flight we clutched each other; the pony screamed in terror. +The metal cliff rushed to meet us like a thunder cloud of +steel; the portal raced upon us--a square mouth of cold +blue flame. + +And into it we swept; were devoured by it. + +Light in blinding, intolerable flood beat about us, blackening +the sight with agony. We pressed, the three of us, +against the side of the pony, burying our faces in its +shaggy coat, striving to hide our eyes from the radiance +which, strain closely as we might, seemed to pierce through +the body of the little beast, through our own heads, searing +the sight. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +"WITCH! GIVE BACK +MY SISTER" + +How long we were within that glare I do not know; it +seemed unending hours; it was of course only minutes-- +seconds, perhaps. Then I was sensible of a permeating +shadow, a darkness gentle and healing. + +I raised my head and opened my eyes. We were moving +tranquilly, with a curious suggestion of homing leisureliness, +through a soft, blue shimmering darkness. It was as though +we were drifting within some high borderland of light; a +region in which that rapid vibration we call the violet was +mingled with a still more rapid vibration whose quick pulsing +was felt by the brain but ever fled ere that brain +could register it in terms of color. And there seemed to be +a film over my sight; dazzlement from the unearthly blaze, +I thought, shaking my head impatiently. + +My eyes focused upon an object a little more than a foot +away; my neck grew rigid, my scalp prickled while I stared, +unbelieving. And that at which I stared was--a skeleton +hand. Every bone a grayish black, sharply silhouetted, clean +as some master surgeon's specimen, it was extended as +though clutching at--clutching at--what was that toward +which it was reaching? + +Again the icy prickling over scalp and skin--for its +talons stretched out to grasp a steed that Death himself +might have ridden, a rack whose bare skull hung drooping +upon bent vertebrae. + +I raised my hands to my face to shut out the ghostly +sight--and swiftly the clutching bony hand moved toward +me--was before my eyes--touched me. + +The cry that sheer horror wrested from me was strangled +by realization. And so acute was my relief, so reassuring +was it to have in the midst of these mysteries some sane, +understandable thing occur that I laughed aloud. + +For the skeleton hand was my own. The mournful +ghastly mount of death was--our pony. And when I +looked again I knew what I would see--and see them I +did--two tall skeletons, skulls resting on their bony arms, +leaning against the frame of the beast. + +While ahead of us, floating poised upon the surface of +the glistening cube, were two women skeletons--Ruth and +Norhala! + +Weird enough was the sight. Dureresque, grimly awful +as materialization of a scene of the Dance Macabre--and +yet--vastly comforting. + +For here was something which was well within the +range of human knowledge. It was the light about us that +did it; a vibration that even as I conjectured, was within +the only partly explored region of the ultraviolet and the +comparatively unexplored region above it. + +Yet there were differences, for there was none of that +misty halo around the bones, the flesh which the X-rays +cannot render wholly invisible. The skeletons stood out +clean cut, with no trace of fleshly vestments. + +I crept over, spoke to the two. + +"Don't look up yet," I said. "Don't open your eyes. We're +going through a queer light. It has an X-ray quality. You're +going to see me as a skeleton--" + +"What?" shouted Drake. Disobeying my warning he +straightened, glared at me. And disquieting as the spectacle +had been before, fully understanding it as I did, I +could not restrain my shudder at the utter weirdness of +that skull which was his head thrusting itself toward me. + +The skeleton that was Ventnor turned to me; was arrested +by the sight of the flitting pair ahead. I saw the +fleshless jaws clamp, then opened to speak. + +Abruptly, upon the skeletons in front the flesh dropped +back. Girl and woman stood there once again robed in +beauty. + +So swift was that transition from the grisly unreal to the +normal that even to my unsuperstitious mind it smacked +of necromancy. The next instant the three of us stood +looking at each other, clothed once more in the flesh, and +the pony no longer the steed of death, but our shaggy, +patient little companion. + +The light had changed; the high violet had gone from +it, and it was shot with yellow gleamings like fugitive +sunbeams. We were passing through a wide corridor that +seemed to be unending. The yellow light grew stronger. + +"That light wasn't exactly the Roentgen variety," Drake +interrupted my absorption in our surroundings. "And I +hope to God it's as different as it seemed. If it's not we +may be up against a lot of trouble." + +"More trouble than we're in?" I asked, a trifle satirically. + +"X-ray burns," he answered, "and no way to treat them +in this place--if we live to want treatment," he ended +grimly. + +"I don't think we were subjected to their action long +enough--" I began, and was silent. + +The corridor had opened without warning into a place +for whose immensity I have no images that are adequate. +It was a chamber that was vaster than ten score +of the Great Halls of Karnac in one; great as that fabled +hall in dread Amenti where Osiris sits throned between +the Searcher of Hearts and the Eater of Souls, judging the +jostling hosts of the newly dead. + +Temple it was in its immensity, and its solemn vastness +--but unlike any temple ever raised by human toil. In no +ruin of earth's youth giants' work now crumbling under the +weight of time had I ever sensed a shadow of the strangeness +with which this was instinct. No--nor in the shattered +fanes that once had held the gods of old Egypt, nor in +the pillared shrines of Ancient Greece, nor Imperial Rome, +nor mosque, basilica nor cathedral. + +All these had been dedicated to gods which, whether +created by humanity as science believes, or creators of +humanity as their worshippers believed, still held in them +that essence we term human. + +The spirit, the force, that filled this place had in it +nothing, NOTHING of the human. + +No place? Yes, there was one--Stonehenge. Within that +monolithic circle I had felt a something akin to this, as +inhuman; a brooding spirit stony, stark, unyielding--as +though not men but a people of stone had raised the great +Menhirs. + +This was a sanctuary built by a people of metal! + +It was filled with a soft yellow glow like pale sunshine. +Up from its floor arose hundreds of tremendous, square +pillars down whose polished sides the crocus light seemed +to flow. + +Far, far as the gaze could reach, the columns marched, +oppressively ordered, appallingly mathematical. From +their massiveness distilled a sense of power, mysterious, +mechanical yet--living; something priestly, hierophantic-- +as though they were guardians of a shrine. + +Now I saw whence came the light suffusing this place. +High up among the pillars floated scores of orbs that shone +like pale gilt frozen suns. Great and small, through all the +upper levels these strange luminaries gleamed, fixed and +motionless, hanging unsupported in space. Out from their +shining spherical surfaces darted rays of the same pale gold, +rigid, unshifting, with the same suggestion of frozen stillness. + +"They look like big Christmas-tree stars," muttered +Drake. + +"They're lights," I answered. "Of course they are. They're +not matter--not metal, I mean--" + +"There's something about them like St. Elmo's fire, witch +lights--condensations of atmospheric electricity," Ventnor's +voice was calm; now that it was plain we were nearing +the heart of this mystery in which we were enmeshed +he had clearly taken fresh grip, was again his observant, +scientific self. + +We watched, once more silent; and indeed we had spoken +little since we had begun that ride whose end we sensed +close. In the unfolding of enigmatic happening after happening +the mind had deserted speech and crouched listening at +every door of sight and hearing to gather some clue to causes, +some thread of understanding. + +Slowly now we were gliding through the forest of pillars; +so effortless, so smooth our flight that we seemed to be +standing still, the tremendous columns flitting past us, turning +and wheeling around us, dizzyingly. My head swam +with the mirage motion, I closed my eyes. + +"Look," Drake was shaking me. "Look. What do you +make of that?" + +Half a mile ahead the pillars stopped at the edge of a +shimmering, quivering curtain of green luminescence. +High, high up past the pale gilt suns its smooth folds ran, +into the golden amber mist that canopied the columns. + +In its sparkling was more than a hint of the dancing +corpuscles of the aurora; it was, indeed, as though woven +of the auroral rays. And all about it played shifting, +tremulous shadows formed by the merging of the golden light +with the curtain's emerald gleaming. + +Up to its base swept the cube that bore Ruth and Norhala +--and stopped. From it leaped the woman, and drew +Ruth down beside her, then turned and gestured toward +us. + +That upon which we rode drew close. I felt it quiver +beneath me; felt on the instant, the magnetic grip drop +from me, angle downward and leave me free. Shakily I +arose from aching knees, and saw Ventnor flash down and +run, rifle in hand, toward his sister. + +Drake bent for his gun. I moved unsteadily toward the +side of the clustered cubes. There came a curious pushing +motion driving me to the edge. Sliding over upon me came +Drake and the pony-- + +The cube tilted, gently, playfully--and with the slightest +of jars the three of us stood beside it on the floor, we +two men gaping at it in renewed wonder, and the little +beast stretching its legs, lifting its feet and whinnying with +relief. + +Then abruptly the four blocks that had been our steed +broke from each other; that which had been the woman's +glided to them. + +The four clicked into place behind it and darted from +sight. + +"Ruth!" Ventnor's voice was vibrant with his fear. +"Ruth! What is wrong with you? What has she done to +you?" + +We ran to his side. He stood clutching her hands, searching +her eyes. They were wide, unseeing, dream filled. Upon +her face the calm and stillness, which were mirrored +reflections of Norhala's unearthly tranquillity, had deepened. + +"Brother." The sweet voice seemed far away, drifting +out of untroubled space, an echo of Norhala's golden chimings +--"Brother, there is nothing wrong with me. Indeed +--all is--well with me--brother." + +He dropped the listless palms, faced the woman, tall +figure tense, drawn with mingled rage and anguish. + +"What have you done to her?" he whispered in Norhala's +own tongue. + +Her serene gaze took him in, undisturbed by his anger +save for the faintest shadow of wonder, of perplexity. + +"Done?" she repeated, slowly. "I have stilled all that was +troubled within her--have lifted her above sorrow. I have +given her the peace--as I will give it to you if--" + +"You'll give me nothing," he interrupted fiercely; then, +his passion breaking through all restraint--"Yes, you +damned witch--you'll give me back my sister!" + +In his rage he had spoken English; she could not, of +course, have understood the words, but their anger and +hatred she did understand. Her serenity quivered, broke. +The strange stars within her eyes began to glitter forth as +they had when she had summoned the Smiting Thing. Unheeding, +Ventnor thrust out a hand, caught her roughly by one bare, +lovely shoulder. + +"Give her back to me, I say!" he cried. "Give her back +to me!" + +The woman's eyes grew--awful. Out of the distended +pupils the strange stars blazed; upon her face was +something of the goddess outraged. I felt the shadow of +Death's wings. + +"No! No--Norhala! No, Martin!" the veils of inhuman +calm shrouding Ruth were torn; swiftly the girl we knew +looked out from them. She threw herself between the two, +arms outstretched. + +"Ventnor!" Drake caught his arms, held them tight; +"that's not the way to save her!" + +Ventnor stood between us, quivering, half sobbing. +Never until then had I realized how great, how absorbing +was that love of his for Ruth. And the woman +saw it, too, even though dimly; envisioned it humanly. +For, under the shock of human passion, that which I +thought then as utterly unknown to her as her cold +serenity was to us, the sleeping soul--I use the popular +word for those emotional complexes that are peculiar to +mankind--stirred, awakened. + +Wrath fled from her knitted brows; her eyes dropping to +the girl, lost their dreadfulness; softened. She turned them +upon Ventnor, they brooded upon him; within their depths +a half-troubled interest, a questioning. + +A smile dawned upon the exquisite face, humanizing it, +transfiguring it, touching with tenderness the sweet and +sleeping mouth--as a hovering dream the lips of the +slumbering maid. + +And on the face of Ruth, as upon a mirror, I watched +that same slow, understanding tenderness reflected! + +"Come," said Norhala, and led the way through the +sparkling curtains. As she passed, an arm around Ruth's +neck, I saw the marks of Ventnor's fingers upon her white +shoulder, staining its purity, marring it like a blasphemy. + +For an instant I hung behind, watching their figures +grow misty within the shining shadows; then followed +hastily. Entering the mists I was conscious of a pleasant +tingling, an acceleration of the pulse, an increase of that +sense of well-being which, I grew suddenly aware, had +since the beginning of our strange journey minimized the +nervous attrition of constant contact with the abnormal. + +Striving to classify, to reduce to order, my sensations +I drew close to the others, overtaking them in a dozen +paces. A dozen paces more and we stepped out of the +curtainings. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE METAL +EMPEROR + +We stood at the edge of a well whose walls were of +that same green vaporous iridescence through which we +had just come, but finer grained, compact; as though here +the corpuscles of which they were woven were far closer +spun. Thousands of feet above us the mighty cylinder uprose, +and in the lessened circle that was its mouth I +glimpsed the bright stars; and knew by this it opened into +the free air. + +All of half a mile in diameter was this shaft, and ringed +regularly along its height by wide amethystine bands-- +like rings of a hollow piston. They were, in color, replicas +of that I had glimpsed before our descent into this place +and against whose gleaming cataracts the outlines of the +incredible city had lowered. And they were in motion, +spinning smoothly, and swiftly. + +Only one swift glance I gave them, my eyes held by a +most extraordinary--edifice--altar--machine--I could not +find the word for it--then. + +Its base was a scant hundred yards from where we had +paused and concentric with the sides of the pit. It stood +upon a thick circular pedestal of what appeared to be +cloudy rock crystal supported by hundreds of thick rods +of the same material. + +Up from it lifted the structure, a thing of glistening +cones and spinning golden disks; fantastic yet disquietingly +symmetrical; bizarre as an angled headdress worn by a +mountainous Javanese god--yet coldly, painfully mathematical. +In every direction the cones pointed, seemingly +interwoven of strands of metal and of light. + +What was their color? It came to me--that of the +mysterious element which stains the sun's corona, that +diadem seen only when our day star is in eclipse; the +unknown element which science has named coronium, +which never yet has been found on earth and that may be +electricity in its one material form; electricity that is +ponderable; force whose vibrations are keyed down to +mass; power transmuted into substance. + +Thousands upon thousands the cones bristled, pyramiding +to the base of one tremendous spire that tapered up almost +to the top of the shaft itself. + +In their grouping the mind caught infinite calculations +carried into infinity; an apotheosis of geometry compassing +the rhythms of unknown spatial dimensions; concentration +of the equations of the star hordes. + +The mathematics of the Cosmos. + +From the left of the crystalline base swept an enormous +sphere. It was twice the height of a tall man, and it +was a paler blue than any of these Things I had seen, +almost, indeed, an azure; different, too, in other subtle, +indefinable ways. + +Behind it glided a pair of the pyramidal shapes, their +pointed tips higher by a yard or more than the top of +the sphere. They paused--regarding us. Out from the +opposite arc of the crystal pedestal moved six other globes, +somewhat smaller than the first and of a deep purplish +luster. + +They separated, lining up on each side of the leader +now standing a little in advance of the twin tetrahedrons, +rigid and motionless as watching guards. + +There they stood--that enigmatic row, intent, studying +us beneath their god or altar or machine of cones and +disks within their cylinder walled with light. + +And at that moment there crystallized within my consciousness +the sublimation of all the strangenesses of +all that had gone before, a panic loneliness as though I +had wandered into an alien world--a world as unfamiliar +to humanity, as unfamiliar with it as our own would seem +to a thinking, mobile crystal adrift among men. + +Norhala raised her white arms in salutation; from her +throat came a lilting theme of her weirdly ordered, golden +chanting. Was it speech, I wondered; and if so--prayer +or entreaty or command? + +The great sphere quivered and undulated. Swifter than +the eye could follow it dilated; opened! + +Where the azure globe had been, flashed out a disk of +flaming splendors, the very secret soul of flowered flame! +And simultaneously the pyramids leaped up and out behind +it--two gigantic, four-rayed stars blazing with cold +blue fires. + +The green auroral curtainings flared out, ran with +streaming radiance--as though some Spirit of Jewels had +broken bonds of enchantment and burst forth jubilant, +flooding the shaft with its freed glories. Norhala's song +ceased; an arm dropped down upon the shoulders of Ruth. + +Then woman and girl began to float toward the radiant +disk. + +As one, the three of us sprang after them. I felt a +shock that was like a quick, abrupt tap upon every nerve +and muscle, stiffening them into helpless rigidity. + +Paralyzing that sharp, unseen contact had been, but +nothing of pain followed it. Instead it created an +extraordinary acuteness of sight and hearing, an abnormal keying +up of the observational faculties, as though the energy so +mysteriously drawn from our motor centers had been +thrown back into the sensory. + +I could take in every minute detail of the flashing +miracle of gemmed fires and its flaming ministers. Halfway +between them and us Norhala and Ruth drifted; I +could catch no hint of voluntary motion on their part and +knew that they were not walking, but were being borne +onward by some manifestation of that same force which +held us motionless. + +I forgot them in my contemplation of the Disk. + +It was oval, twenty feet in height, I judged, and twelve +in its greatest width. A broad band, translucent as sun +golden chrysolite, ran about its periphery. + +Set within this zodiac and spaced at mathematically +regular intervals were nine ovoids of intensely living light. +They shone like nine gigantic cabochon cut sapphires; they +ranged from palest, watery blue up through azure and +purple and down to a ghostly mauve shot with sullen undertones +of crimson. + +In each of them was throned a flame that seemed the +very fiery essence of vitality. + +The--BODY--was convex, swelling outward like the +boss of a shield; shimmering rosy-gray and crystalline. +From the vital ovoids ran a pattern of sparkling threads, +irised and brilliant as floss of molten jewels; converging +with interfacings of spirals, of volutes and of triangles into +the nucleus. + +And that nucleus, what was it? + +Even now I can but guess--brain in part as we understand +brain, certainly; but far, far more than that in +its energies, its powers. + +It was like an immense rose. An incredible rose of a +thousand close clustering petals. It blossomed with a +myriad shifting hues. And instant by instant the flood of +varicolored flame that poured into its petalings down from +the sapphire ovoids waxed and waned in crescendoes and +diminuendoes of relucent harmonies--ecstatic, awesome. + +The heart of the rose was a star of incandescent ruby. + +From the flaming crimson center to aureate, flashing penumbra +it was instinct with and poured forth power--power vast and +conscious. + +Not with that same completeness could I realize the +ministering star shapes, half hidden as they were by the +Disk. Their radiance was less, nor had they its miracle of +pulsing gem fires. Blue they were, blue of a peculiar vibrancy, +and blue were the glistening threads that ran +down from blue-black circular convexities set within each +of the points visible to me. + +Unlike in shape, their flame of vitality dimmer than the +ovoids of the Disk's golden zone, still I knew that they +were even as those--ORGANS, organs of unknown senses, unknown +potentialities. Their nuclei I could not observe. + +The floating figures had drawn close to that disk and had +paused. + +And on the moment of their pausing I felt a surge of +strength, a snapping of the spell that had bound us, an +instantaneous withdrawal of the inhibiting force. Ventnor +broke into a run, holding his rifle at the alert. We raced +after him; were close to the shining shapes. And, gasping, +we stopped short not a dozen paces away. + +For Norhala had soared up toward the flaming rose of +the Disk as though lifted by gentle, unseen hands. Close +to it for an instant she swung. I saw the exquisite body +gleam through her thin robes as though bathed in soft +flames of rosy pearl. + +Higher she floated, and toward the right of the zodiac. +From the edges of three of the ovoids swirled a little +cloud of tentacles, gossamer filaments of opal. They +whipped out a full yard from the Disk's surface, touching +her, caressing her. + +For a moment she hung there, her face hidden from us; +then was dropped softly to her feet and stood, arms +stretched wide, her copper hair streaming cloudily about +her regal head. + +And up past her floated Ruth, levitated as had been she +--and her face, ecstatic as though she were gazing into +Paradise, yet drenched with the tranquillity of the infinite. +Her wide eyes stared up toward that rose of splendors +through which the pulsing colors now raced more +swiftly. She hung poised before it while around her head +a faint aureole began to form. + +Again the gossamer threads thrust forth, searched her. +They ran over her rough clothing--perplexedly. They coiled +about her neck, stole through her hair, brushed shut her +eyes, circled her brow, her breasts, girdled her. + +Weirdly was it like some intelligence observing, studying, +some creature of another species--puzzled by its similarity +and unsimilarity with the one other creature of its +kind it knew, and striving to reconcile those differences. +And like such a questioning brain calling upon others +for counsel, it swung Ruth upward to the watching star +at the right. + +A rifle shot rang out. + +Another--the reports breaking the silence like a profanation. +Unseen by either of us, Ventnor had slipped +to one side where he could cover the core of ruby flame +that must have seemed to him the heart of the Disk's +rose of fire. He knelt a few yards away, white lipped, eyes +cold gray ice, sighting carefully for a third shot. + +"Don't! Martin--don't fire!" I shouted, leaping toward +him. + +"Stop! Ventnor--" Drake's panic cry mingled with my +own. + +But before we could reach him, Norhala flew to him, +like a darting swallow. Down the face of the Disk glided +the upright body of Ruth, struck softly, stood swaying. + +And out of the blue-black convexity within a star point +of one of the opened pyramids a lance of intense green +flame darted, a lightning bolt as real as any hurled by +tempest, upon Ventnor. + +The shattered air closed behind the streaming spark +with the sound of breaking glass. + +It struck--Norhala. + +It struck her. It seemed to splash upon her, to run down +her like water. One curling tongue writhed over her bare +shoulder and leaped to the barrel of the rifle in Ventnor's +hands. It flashed up it and licked him. The gun was torn +from his grip, hurled high in air, exploding as it went. He +leaped convulsively from his knees and dropped. + +I heard a wailing, low, bitter and heartbroken. Past +us ran Ruth, all dream, all unearthliness gone from a face +now a tragic mask of human woe and terror. She threw +herself down beside her brother, felt of his heart; then +raised herself upon her knees and thrust out supplicating +hands to the shapes. + +"Don't hurt him any more! He didn't mean it!" she cried +out to them piteously--like a child. She reached up, caught +one of Norhala's hands. "Norhala--don't let them kill him. +Don't let them hurt him any more. Please!" she sobbed. + +Beside me I heard Drake cursing. + +"If they touch her I'll kill the woman! I will, by God I +will!" He strode to Norhala's side. + +"If you want to live, call off these devils of yours." His +voice was strangled. + +She looked at him, wonder deepening on the tranquil +brow, in the clear, untroubled gaze. Of course she could +not understand his words--but it was not that which +made my own sick apprehension grow. + +It was that she did not understand what called them +forth. Did not even understand what reason lay behind +Ruth's sorrow, Ruth's prayer. + +And more and more wondering grew in her eyes as +she looked from the threatening Drake to the supplicating +Ruth, and from them to the still body of Ventnor. + +"Tell her what I say, Goodwin. I mean it." + +I shook my head. That was not the way, I knew. I +looked toward the Disk, still flanked with its sextette of +spheres, still guarded by the flaming blue stars. They were +motionless, calm, watching. I sensed no hostility, no anger; +it was as though they were waiting for us to--to-- +waiting for us to do what? + +It came to me--they were indifferent. That was it--as +indifferent as we could be to the struggle of an ephemera; +and as mildly curious. + +"Norhala," I turned to the woman, "she would not have +him suffer; she would not have him die. She loves him." + +"Love?" she repeated, and all of her wonderment seemed +crystallized in the word. "Love?" she asked. + +"She loves him," I said; and then, why I did not know, +but I added, pointing to Drake: "and he loves her." + +There was a tiny, astonished sob from Ruth. Again +Norhala brooded over her. Then with a little despairing +shake of her head, she paced over and faced the great Disk. + + +Tensely we waited. Communication there was between +them, interchange of--thought; how carried out I would +not hazard even to myself. + +But of a surety these two--the goddess woman, the +wholly unhuman shape of metal, of jeweled fires and +conscious force--understood each other. + +For she turned, stood aside--and the body of Ventnor +quivered, arose from the floor, stood upright and with +closed eyes, head dropping upon one shoulder, glided toward +the Disk like a dead man carried by those messengers +never seen by man who, the Arabs believe, bear the death +drugged souls before Allah for their awakening. + +Ruth moaned and hid her eyes; Drake reached down, +gathered her up in his arms, held her close. + +Ventnor's body stood before the Disk, then swam up +along its face. The tendrils waved out, felt of it, thrust +themselves down through the wide collar of the shirt. The +floating form passed higher, over the edge of the Disk; lay +high beside the right star point of the rayed shape to +which Ruth had been passing when Ventnor's shot brought +the tragedy upon us. I saw other tentacles whip forth, +examine, caress. + +Then down the body swung, was borne through air, laid +gently at our feet. + +"He is not--dead," it was Norhala beside me; she lifted +Ruth's face from Drake's breast. "He will not die. It may +be he will walk again. They can not help," there was a +shadow of apology in her tones. "They did not know. They +thought it was the"--she hesitated as though at loss for +words--"the--the Fire Play." + +"The Fire Play?" I gasped. + +"Yes," she nodded. "You shall see it. And now I will take +him to my house. You are safe--now, nor need you +trouble. For he has given you to me." + +"Who has given us to you--Norhala?" I asked, as calmly +as I could. + +"He"--she nodded to the Disk, then spoke the phrase +that was both ancient Assyria's and ancient Persia's +title for their all-conquering rulers, and that meant--"the +King of Kings. The Great King, Master of Life and +Death." + +She took Ruth from Drake's arms, pointing to Ventnor. + +"Bear him," she commanded, and led the way back +through the walls of light. + +As we lifted the body, I slipped my hand through the +shirt, felt at the heart. Faint was the pulsation and slow, +but regular. + +Close to the encircling vapors I cast one look behind +me. The shapes stood immobile, flashing disks, gigantic +radiant stars and the six great spheres beneath their +geometric super-Euclidean god or shrine or machine of +interwoven threads of luminous force and metal--still +motionless, still watching. + +We emerged into the place of pillars. There stood the +hooded pony and its patience, its uncomplaining acceptance +of its place as servant to man brought a lump into +my throat, salved, I suppose, my human vanity, abased as +it had been by the colossal indifference of those things +to which we were but playthings. + +Again Norhala sent forth her call. Out of the maze +glided her quintette of familiars; again the four clicked +into one. Upon its top we lifted, Drake ascending first, the +pony; then the body of Ventnor. + +I saw Norhala lead Ruth to the remaining cube; saw the +girl break away from her, leap beside me, and kneeling at +her brother's head, cradle it against her soft breast. Then +as I found in the medicine case the hypodermic needle +and the strychnine for which I had been searching, I +began my examination of Ventnor. + +The cubes quivered--swept away through the forest of +columns. + +We crouched, the three of us, blind to anything that lay +about us, heedless of whatever road of wonders we were +on, striving to strengthen in Ventnor the spark of life so +near extinction. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"I WILL GIVE +YOU PEACE" + +In our concentration upon Ventnor none of us +had given thought to the passing of time, nor where we +were going. We stripped him to the waist, and while +Ruth massaged head and neck, Drake's strong fingers +kneaded chest and abdomen. I had used to the utmost my +somewhat limited medical knowledge. + +We had found no mark nor burn upon him, not even +upon his hands over which had run the licking flame. The +slightly purplish, cyanotic tinge of his skin had given way +to a clear pallor; the skin was itself disquietingly cold, +the blood-pressure only slightly subnormal. The pulse +was more rapid, stronger; the breathing faint but regular, +and with no laboring. The pupils of his eyes were contracted +almost to the point of invisibility. + +I could get no nervous reactions whatever. I am familiar +with the effects of electric shock and know what +to do in such cases, but Ventnor's symptoms, while similar +in part, presented other features unknown to me and most +puzzling. There was a passive automatism, a perplexing +muscular rigidity which caused arms and legs, hands and +head to remain, doll-like, in any position placed. + +Several times during my labors I had been aware of +Norhala gazing down upon us; but she made no effort +to help, nor did she speak. + +Now, my strained attention relaxing, I began to receive +and note impressions from without. There was a different +feeling in the air, a diminution of the magnetic tension; +I smelled the blessed breath of trees and water. + +The light about us was clear and pearly, about the intensity +of the moon at full. Looking back along the way +we had been traveling, I saw a half mile away vertical, +knife-sharp edges of two facing cliffs, the gap between +them a mile or more wide. + +Through them we must have passed, for beyond them +were the radiant mists of the pit of the city, and through +this precipitous gateway filtered the enveloping luminosity. +On each side of us uprose gradually converging and perpendicular +scarps along whose base huddled a sparse foliage. + +There came a low whistle of astonishment from Drake; I +turned. We were slowly gliding toward something that +looked like nothing so much as a huge and shimmering +bubble of mingled sapphire and turquoise, swimming up +from and two-thirds above and the balance still hidden +within earth. It seemed to draw to itself the light, sending +it back with gleamings of the gray-blue of the star sapphire, +with pellucid azures and lazulis like clouded jades, +with glistening peacock iridescences and tender, milky +greens of tropic shallows. + +Little turrets globular and topaz, yellow and pierced +with tiny hexagonal openings clustered about it like baby +bubbles just nestling down to rest. + +Great trees shadowed it, unfamiliar trees among whose +glossy leaves blossomed in wreaths flowers pink and white +as apple-blossoms. From their graceful branches strange +fruits, golden and scarlet and pear-shaped, hung pendulous. + +It was an elfin palace; a goblin dwelling; such a bower as +some mirthful, beauty-loving Jinn King of Jewels might +have built from enchanted hoards for some well-beloved +daughter of earth. + +All of fifty feet in height was the blue globe, and up to +a wide and ovaled entrance ran a broad and shining roadway. +Along this the cubes swept and stopped. + +"My house," murmured Norhala. + +The attraction that had held us to the surface of the +blocks relaxed, angled through changed and assisting lines +of force; the hosts of minute eyes sparkling quizzically, +interestedly, at us, we gently slid Ventnor's body; lifted +down the pony. + +"Enter," sighed Norhala, and waved a welcoming hand. + +"Tell her to wait a minute," ordered Drake. + +He slipped the bandage from off the pony's head, threw +off the saddlebags, and led it to the side of the roadway +where thick, lush grass was growing, spangled with +flowerets. There he hobbled it and rejoined us. Together +we picked up Ventnor and passed slowly through the +portal. + +We stood in a shadowed chamber. The light that filled +it was translucent, and oddly enough with little of the +bluish quality I had expected. Crystalline it was; the +shadows crystalline, too, rigid--like the facets of great +crystals. And as my eyes accustomed themselves I saw +that what I had thought shadows actually were none. + +They were slices of semitransparent stone like pale +moonstones, springing from the curving walls and the high +dome, and bisecting and intersecting the chamber. They +were pierced with oval doorways over which fell glimmering +metallic curtains--silk of silver and gold. + +I glimpsed a pile of this silken stuff near by, and as +we laid our burden upon it Ruth caught my arm with a +little frightened cry. + +Through a curtained oval sidled a figure. + +Black and tall, its long and gnarled arms swung apelike; +its shoulders were distorted, one so much longer than the +other that the hand upon that side hung far below the +knee. + +It walked with a curious, crablike motion. Upon its face +were stamped countless wrinkles and its blackness seemed +less that of pigmentation than the weathering of unbelievable +years, the very stain of ancientness. And about +neither face nor figure was there anything to show +whether it was man or woman. + +From the twisted shoulders a short and sleeveless red +tunic fell. Incredibly old the creature was--and by its +corded muscles, its sinewy tendons, as incredibly powerful. +It raised within me a half sick revulsion, loathing. But +the eyes were not ancient, no. Irisless, lashless, black and +brilliant, they blazed out of the face's carven web of +wrinkles, intent upon Norhala and filled with a flame of +worship. + + +It threw itself at her feet, prostrate, the inordinately +long arms outstretched. + +"Mistress!" it whined in a high and curiously unpleasant +falsetto. "Great lady! Goddess!" + +She stretched out a sandaled foot, touched one of the +black taloned hands, and at the contact I saw a shiver of +ecstasy run through the lank body. "Yuruk--" she began, +and paused, regarding us. + +"The goddess speaks! Yuruk hears! The goddess speaks!" +It was a chant of adoration. + +"Yuruk. Rise. Look upon the strangers." + +The creature--and now I knew what it was--writhed, +twisted, and hideously apelike crouched upon its haunches, +hands knuckling the floor. + +By the amazement in the unwinking eyes it was plain +that not till now had the eunuch taken cognizance of us. +The amazement fled, was replaced with a black fire of +malignancy, of hatred--jealousy. + +"Augh!" he snarled; leaped to his feet; thrust an arm +toward Ruth. She gave a little cry, cowered against +Drake. + +"None of that!" He struck down the clutching arm. + +"Yuruk!" There was a hint of anger in the bell-toned +voice. "Yuruk, these belong to me. No harm must come +to them. Yuruk--beware!" + +"The goddess commands. Yuruk obeys." If fear quavered +in the words, beneath was more than a trace of a +sullenness, too, sinister enough. + +"That's a nice little playmate for her new playthings," +muttered Drake. "If that bird gets the least bit gay--I +shoot him pronto." He gave Ruth a reassuring hug. "Cheer +up, Ruth. Don't mind that thing. He's something we can +handle." + +Norhala waved a white hand; Yuruk sidled over to one +of the curtained ovals and through it, reappearing almost +instantly with a huge platter upon which were fruits, and +a curdly white liquid in bowls of thick porcelain. + +"Eat," she said, as the gnarled black arms placed the +platter at our feet. + +"Hungry?" asked Drake. Ruth shook her head violently. + +"I'm going out for the saddlebags," said Drake. "We'll +use our own stuff--while it lasts. I'm taking no chances on +what the Yuruk lad brings--with all due respect to +Norhala's good intentions." + +He started for the doorway; the eunuch blocked his +way. + +"We have with us food of our own, Norhala," I explained. +"He goes to get it." + +She nodded indifferently; clapped her hands. Yuruk +shrank back, and out strode Drake. + +"I am weary," sighed Norhala. "The way was long. I +will refresh myself--" + +She stretched out a foot toward Yuruk. He knelt, unlaced +the turquoise bands, drew off the sandals. Her hands +sought her breast, dwelt for an instant there. + +Down slipped her silken veils, clingingly, slowly, as +though reluctant to unclasp her; whispering they fell from +the high and tender breasts, the delicate rounded hips, +and clustered about her feet in soft petalings as of some +flower of pale amber foam. Out of the calyx of that +flower arose the gleaming miracle of her body crowned with +glowing glory of her cloudy hair. + +Naked she was, yet clothed with an unearthly purity, +the purity of the far-flung, serene stars, of the eternal +snows upon some calm, high-flung peak, the tranquil, silver +dawns of spring; protected by some spell of divinity which +chilled and slew the flame of desire. A maiden Ishtar, +a virginal Isis; a woman--yet with no more of woman's +lure than if she had been some exquisite and breathing +statue of mingled ivory and milk of pearls. + +So she stood, indifferent to us who gazed upon her, withdrawn, +musing, as though she had forgotten us. And that +serene indifference, with its entire absence of what we +term sex consciousness, revealed to me once more how +great was the abyss between us and her. + +Slowly she raised her arms, wound the floating tresses +into a coronal. I saw Drake enter with the saddlebags; +saw them drop from hands relaxing under the shock of +this amazing tableau; saw his eyes widen and fill with +wonder and half-awed admiration. + +Now Norhala stepped out of her fallen robes and moved +toward the further wall, Yuruk following. He stooped, +raised an ewer of silver and began gently to pour over +her shoulders its contents. Again and again he bent and +filled the vessel, dipping it into a shallow basin from which +came the bubbling and chuckling of a little spring. And +again I marveled at the marble smoothness and fineness +of her skin on which the caressing water left tiny silvery +globules, gemming it. The eunuch slithered to one side, +drew from a quaint chest clothes of white floss; patted +her dry with them; threw over her shoulders a silken robe +of blue. + +Back she floated to us; hovered over Ruth, crouching +with her brother's head upon her knees. + +She made a motion as though to draw the girl to her; +hesitated as Ruth's face set in a passion of denial. A +shadow of kindness drifted through the wide, mysterious +eyes; a shadow of pity joined it as she looked curiously +down on Ventnor. + +"Bathe," she murmured, and pointed to the pool. "And +rest. No harm shall come to any of you here. And you--" +A hand rested for a moment lightly on the girl's curly +head. "When you desire it--I will again give you--peace!" + +She parted the curtains, and the eunuch still following, +was hidden beyond them. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"VOICE FROM +THE VOID" + +Helplessly we looked at each other. Then called forth +perhaps by what she saw in Drake's eyes, perhaps by another +thought, Ruth's cheeks crimsoned, her head drooped; +the web of her hair hid the warm rose of her face, the +frozen pallor of Ventnor's. + +Abruptly, she sprang to her feet. "Walter! Dick! Something's +happening to Martin!" + +Before she had ceased we were beside her; bending over +Ventnor. His mouth was opening, slowly, slowly--with an +effort agonizing to watch. Then his voice came through +lips that scarcely moved; faint, faint as though it floated +from infinite distances, a ghost of a voice whispering with +phantom breath out of a dead throat. + +"Hard--hard! So hard!" the whispering complained. +"Don't know how long I can keep connection--with voice. + +"Was fool to shoot. Sorry--might have gotten you in +worse trouble--but crazy with fear for Ruth--thought, +too, might be worth chance. Sorry--not my usual line--" + +The thin thread of sound ceased. I felt my eyes fill +with tears; it was like Ventnor to flay himself like this +for what he thought stupidity, like him to make this +effort to admit his supposed fault and crave forgiveness +--as like him as that mad attack upon the flaming Disk +in its own temple, surrounded by its ministers, had been +so bafflingly unlike his usual cool, collected self. + +"Martin," I called, bending closer, "it's nothing, old +friend. No one blames you. Try to rouse yourself." + +"Dear," it was Ruth, passionately tender, "it's me. Can +you hear me?" + +"Only speck of consciousness and motionless in the +void," the whisper began again. "Terribly alive, terribly +alone. Seem outside space yet--still in body. Can't see, +hear, feel--short-circuited from every sense--but in some +strange way realize you--Ruth, Walter, Drake. + +"See without seeing--here floating in darkness that is +also light--black light--indescribable. In touch, too, with +these--" + +Again the voice trailed into silence; returned, word and +phrase pouring forth disconnected, with a curious and +turbulent rhythm, like rushing wave crests linked by half-seen +threads of the spindrift, vocal fragments of thought +swiftly assembled by some subtle faculty of the mind as +they fell into a coherent, incredible message. + +"Group consciousness--gigantic--operating within our +sphere--operating also in spheres of vibration, energy, +force--above, below one to which humanity reacts--perception, +command forces known to us--but in greater degree--cognizant, +manipulate unknown energies--senses known to us--unknown--can't +realize them fully--impossible cover, only impinge on contact +points akin to our senses, forces--even these profoundly modified +by additional ones--metallic, crystalline, magnetic, electric-- +inorganic with every power of organic--consciousness basically +same as ours--profoundly changed by differences +in mechanism through which it finds expression--difference +our bodies--theirs. + +"Conscious, mobile--inexorable, invulnerable. Getting +clearer--see more clearly--see--" the voice shrilled out +in a shuddering, thin lash of despair--"No! No--oh, God +--no!" + +Then clearly and solemnly: + +"And God said: let us make men in our image, after +our likeness, and let them have dominion over all the +earth, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the +earth." + +A silence; we bent closer, listening; the still, small voice +took up the thread once more--but clearly further on. +Something we had missed between that text from Genesis +and what we were now hearing; something that even as he +had warned us, he had not been able to articulate. The +whisper broke through clearly in the middle of a sentence. + +"Nor is Jehovah the God of myriads of millions who +through those same centuries, and centuries upon centuries +before them, found earth a garden and grave--and +all these countless gods and goddesses only phantom barriers +raised by man to stand between him and the eternal +forces man's instinct has always warned him are ever in +readiness to destroy. That do destroy him as soon as his +vigilance relaxes, his resistance weakens--the eternal, +ruthless law that will annihilate humanity the instant it +runs counter to that law and turns its will and strength +against itself--" + +A little pause; then came these singular sentences: + +"Weaklings praying for miracles to make easy the path +their own wills should clear. Beggars who whine for alms +from dreams. Shirkers each struggling to place upon his +god the burden whose carrying and whose carrying alone +can give him strength to walk free and unafraid, himself +godlike among the stars." + +And now distinctly, unfalteringly, the voice went on: + +"Dominion over all the earth? Yes--as long as man is +fit to rule; no longer. Science has warned us. Where was +the mammal when the giant reptiles reigned? Slinking +hidden and afraid in the dark and secret places. Yet man +sprang from these skulking beasts. + +"For how long a time in the history of earth has man +been master of it? For a breath--for a cloud's passing. +And will remain master only until something grown +stronger wrests mastery from him--even as he wrested +it from his ravening kind--as they took it from the +reptiles--as did the reptiles from the giant saurians--which +snatched it from the nightmare rulers of the Triassic-- +and so down to whatever held sway in the murk of earth +dawn. + +"Life! Life! Life! Life everywhere struggling for completion! + +"Life crowding other life aside, battling for its moment +of supremacy, gaining it, holding it for one rise and fall +of the wings of time beating through eternity--and then +--hurled down, trampled under the feet of another straining +life whose hour has struck. + +"Life crowding outside every barred threshold in a +million circling worlds, yes, in a million rushing universes; +pressing against the doors, bursting them down, overwhelming, +forcing out those dwellers who had thought themselves so secure. + +"And these--these--" the voice suddenly dropped, became +thickly, vibrantly resonant, "over the Threshold, within +the House of Man--nor does he even dream that his doors +are down. These--Things of metal whose brains are thinking +crystals--Things that suck their strength from the sun +and whose blood is the lightning. + +"The sun! The sun!" he cried. "There lies their weakness!" + +The voice rose in pitch, grew strident. + +"Go back to the city! Go back to the city! Walter-- +Drake. They are not invulnerable. No! The sun--strike +them through the sun! Go into the city--not invulnerable +--the Keeper of the Cones--strike at the Cones when-- +the Keeper of the Cones--ah-h-h-ah--" + +We shrank back appalled, for from the parted, scarcely +moving lips in the unchanging face a gust of laughter, +mad, mocking, terrifying, racked its way. + +"Vulnerable--under the law--even as we! The Cones! + +"Go!" he gasped. A tremor shook him; slowly the mouth +closed. + +"Martin! Brother," wept Ruth. I thrust my hand into his +breast; felt the heart beating, with a curious suggestion of +stubborn, unshakable strength, as though every vital force +had concentrated there as in a beleaguered citadel. + +But Ventnor himself, the consciousness that was Ventnor +was gone; had withdrawn into that subjective void in +which he had said he floated--a lonely sentient atom, his +one line of communication with us cut; severed from us as +completely as though he were, as he had described it, +outside space. + +And Drake and I looked at each other's eyes, neither +daring to be first to break the silence of which the muffled +sobbing of the girl seemed to be the sorrowful soul. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"FREE! BUT +A MONSTER!" + +The peculiar ability of the human mind to slip so +readily into the refuge of the commonplace after, or even +during, some well-nigh intolerable crisis, has been to me +long one of the most interesting phenomena of our +psychology. + +It is instinctively a protective habit, of course, acquired +through precisely the same causes that had given to animals +their protective coloration--the stripes, say, of the +zebra and tiger that blend so cunningly with the barred +and speckled shadowings of bush and jungle, the twig +and leaflike shapes and hues of certain insects; in fact, +all that natural camouflage which was the basis of the art +of concealment so astonishingly developed in the late war. + +Like the animals of the wild, the mind of man moves +through a jungle--the jungle of life, passing along paths +beaten out by the thought of his countless forefathers in +their progress from birth to death. + +And these paths are bordered and screened, figuratively +and literally, with bush and trees of his own selection, +setting out and cultivation--shelters of the familiar, the +habitual, the customary. + +On these ancestral paths, within these barriers of usage, +man moves hidden and secure as the animals in their +haunts--or so he thinks. + +Outside them lie the wildernesses and the gardens of the +unknown, and man's little trails are but rabbit-runs in an +illimitable forest. + +But they are home to him! + +Therefore it is that he scurries from some open place +of revelation, some storm of emotion, some strength-testing +struggle, back into the shelter of the obvious; +finding it an intellectual environment that demands no +slightest expenditure of mental energy or initiative, +strength to sally forth again into the unfamiliar. + +I crave pardon for this digression. I set it down because +now I remember how, when Drake at last broke the +silence that had closed in upon the passing of that still, +small voice the essence of these thoughts occurred to me. + +He strode over to the weeping girl, and in his voice was +a roughness that angered me until I realized his purpose. + +"Get up, Ruth," he ordered. "He came back once and +he'll come back again. Now let him be and help us get a +meal together. I'm hungry." + +She looked up at him, incredulously, indignation rising. + +"Eat!" she exclaimed. "You can be hungry?" + +"You bet I can--and I am," he answered cheerfully. +"Come on; we've got to make the best of it." + +"Ruth," I broke in gently, "we'll all have to think about +ourselves a little if we're to be of any use to him. You +must eat--and then rest." + +"No use crying in the milk even if it's spilt," observed +Drake, even more cheerfully brutal. "I learned that at the +front where we got so we'd yelp for food even when the +lads who'd been bringing it were all mixed up in it." + +She lifted Ventnor's head from her lap, rested it on the +silks; arose, eyes wrathful, her little hands closed in fists +as though to strike him. + +"Oh--you brute!" she whispered. "And I thought--I +thought--Oh, I hate you!" + +"That's better," said Dick. "Go ahead and hit me if you +want. The madder you get the better you'll feel." + +For a moment I thought she was going to take him at +his word; then her anger fled. + +"Thanks--Dick," she said quietly. + +And while I sat studying Ventnor, they put together a +meal from the stores, brewed tea over the spirit-lamp with +water from the bubbling spring. In these commonplaces I +knew that she at least was finding relief from that strain +of the abnormal under which we had labored so long. To +my surprise I found that I was hungry, and with deep +relief I watched Ruth partake of food and drink even +though lightly. + +About her seemed to hover something of the ethereal, +elusive, and disquieting. Was it the strangely pellucid +light that gave the effect, I wondered; and knew it was not, +for as I scanned her covertly, there fell upon her face that +shadow of inhuman tranquillity, of unearthly withdrawal +which, I guessed, had more than anything else maddened +Ventnor into his attack upon the Disk. + +I watched her fight against it, drive it back. White +lipped, she raised her head and met my gaze. And in her +eyes I read both terror and--shame. + +It came to me that painful as it might be for her the time +for questioning had come. + +"Ruth," I said, "I know it's not necessary to remind +you that we're in a tight place. Every fact and every scrap +of knowledge that we can lay hold of is of the utmost +importance in enabling us to determine our course. + +"I'm going to repeat your brother's question--what did +Norhala do to you? And what happened when you were +floating before the Disk?" + +The blaze of interest in Drake's eyes at these questions +changed to amazement at her stricken recoil from them. + +"There was nothing," she whispered--then defiantly-- +"nothing. I don't know what you mean." + +"Ruth!" I spoke sharply now, in my own perplexity. +"You do know. You must tell us--for his sake." I pointed +toward Ventnor. + + +She drew a long breath. + +"You're right--of course," she said unsteadily. "Only +I--I thought maybe I could fight it out myself. But you'll +have to know it--there's a taint upon me." + +I caught in Drake's swift glance the echo of my own +thrill of apprehension for her sanity. + +"Yes," she said, now quietly. "Some new and alien +thing within my heart, my brain, my soul. It came to me +from Norhala when we rode the flying block, and--he-- +sealed upon me when I was in--his"--again she crimsoned, +"embrace." + +And as we gazed at her, incredulously: + +"A thing that urges me to forget you two--and Martin +--and all the world I've known. That tries to pull me from +you--from all--to drift untroubled in some vast calm +filled with an ordered ecstasy of peace. And whose calling +I want, God help me, oh, so desperately to heed! + +"It whispered to me first," she said, "from Norhala-- +when she put her arm around me. It whispered and then +seemed to float from her and cover me like--like a veil, +and from head to foot. It was a quietness and peace that +held within it a happiness at one and the same time +utterly tranquil and utterly free. + +"I seemed to be at the doorway to unknown ecstasies +--and the life I had known only a dream--and you, all +of you--even Martin, dreams within a dream. You weren't +--real--and you did not--matter." + +"Hypnotism," muttered Drake, as she paused. + +"No." She shook her head. "No--more than that. The +wonder of it grew--and grew. I thrilled with it. I remember +nothing of that ride, saw nothing--except that once +through the peace enfolding me pierced warning that +Martin was in peril, and I broke through to see him +clutching Norhala and to see floating up in her eyes death +for him. + +"And I saved him--and again forgot. Then, when I saw +that beautiful, flaming Shape--I felt no terror, no fear-- +only a tremendous--joyous--anticipation, as though--as +though--" She faltered, hung her head, then leaving that +sentence unfinished, whispered: "and when--it--lifted me +it was as though I had come at last out of some endless +black ocean of despair into the full sun of paradise." + +"Ruth!" cried Drake, and at the pain in his cry she +winced. + +"Wait," she said, and held up a little, tremulous hand. +"You asked--and now you must listen." + +She was silent; and when once more she spoke her voice +was low, curiously rhythmic; her eyes rapt: + +"I was free--free from every human fetter of fear or +sorrow or love or hate; free even of hope--for what was +there to hope for when everything desirable was mine? +And I was elemental; one with the eternal things yet +fully conscious that I was--I. + +"It was as though I were the shining shadow of a star +afloat upon the breast of some still and hidden woodland +pool; as though I were a little wind dancing among the +mountain tops; a mist whirling down a quiet glen; a +shimmering lance of the aurora pulsing in the high solitudes. + +"And there was music--strange and wondrous music +and terrible, but not terrible to me--who was part of it. +Vast chords and singing themes that rang like clusters of +little swinging stars and harmonies that were like the very +voice of infinite law resolving within itself all discords. +And all--all--passionless, yet--rapturous. + +"Out of the Thing that held me, out from its fires +pulsed vitality--a flood of inhuman energy in which I was +bathed. And it was as though this energy were--reassembling +me, fitting me even closer to the elemental things, +changing me fully into them. + +"I felt the little tendrils touching, caressing--then came +the shots. Awakening was--dreadful, a struggling back +from drowning. I saw Martin--blasted. I drove the--the +spell away from me, tore it away. + +"And, O Walter--Dick--it hurt--it hurt--and for a +breath before I ran to him it was like--like coming from +a world in which there was no disorder, no sorrow, no +doubts, a rhythmic, harmonious world of light and music, +into--into a world that was like a black and dirty kitchen. + +"And it's there," her voice rose, hysterically. "It's still +within me--whispering, whispering; urging me away from +you, from Martin, from every human thing; bidding me +give myself up, surrender my humanity. + +"Its seal," she sobbed. "No--HIS seal! An alien consciousness +sealed within me, that tries to make the human +me a slave--that waits to overcome my will--and if I +surrender gives me freedom, an incredible freedom--but +makes me, being still human, a--monster." + +She hid her face in her hands, quivering. + +"If I could sleep," she wailed. "But I'm afraid to sleep. +I think I shall never sleep again. For sleeping how do I +know what I may be when I wake?" + +I caught Drake's eye; he nodded. I slipped my hand +down into the medicine-case, brought forth a certain potent +and tasteless combination of drugs which I carry upon +explorations. + +I dropped a little into her cup, then held it to her lips. +Like a child, unthinking, she obeyed and drank. + +"But I'll not surrender." Her eyes were tragic. "Never +think it! I can win--don't you know I can?" + +"Win?" Drake dropped down beside her, drew her toward him. +"Bravest girl I've known--of course you'll win. +And remember this--nine-tenths of what you're thinking +now is purely over-wrought nerves and weariness. You'll +win--and we'll win, never doubt it." + +"I don't," she said. "I know it--oh, it will be hard--but I +will--I will--" + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE HOUSE +OF NORHALA + +Her eyes closed, her body relaxed; the potion had +done its work quickly. We laid her beside Ventnor on the +pile of silken stuffs, covered them both with a fold, then +looked at each other long and silently--and I wondered +whether my face was as grim and drawn as his. + +"It appears," he said at last, curtly, "that it's up to you +and me for powwow quick. I hope you're not sleepy." + +"I am not," I answered as curtly; the edge of nerves in +his manner of questioning doing nothing to soothe my +own, "and even if I were I would hardly expect to put all +the burden of the present problem upon you by going to +sleep." + +"For God's sake don't be a prima donna," he flared up. +"I meant no offense." + +"I'm sorry, Dick," I said. "We're both a little jumpy, I +guess." He nodded; gripped my hand. + +"It wouldn't be so bad," he muttered, "if all four of us +were all right. But Ventnor's down and out, and God +alone knows for how long. And Ruth--has all the trouble +we have and some special ones of her own. I've an idea"-- +he hesitated--"an idea that there was no exaggeration +in that story she told--an idea that if anything she underplayed it." + +"I, too," I replied somberly. "And to me it is the most +hideous phase of this whole situation--and for reasons +not all connected with Ruth," I added. + +"Hideous!" he repeated. "Unthinkable--yet all this is +unthinkable. And still--it is! And Ventnor--coming back +--that way. Like a lost soul finding voice. + +"Was it raving, Goodwin? Or could he have been--how +was it he put it--in touch with these Things and their +purpose? Was that message--truth?" + +"Ask yourself that question," I said. "Man--you know +it was truth. Had not inklings of it come to you even before +he spoke? They had to me. His message was but an +interpretation, a synthesis of facts I, for one, lacked the +courage to admit." + +"I, too," he nodded. "But he went further than that. +What did he mean by the Keeper of the Cones--and that +the Things--were vulnerable under the same law that +orders us? And why did he command us to go back to +the city? How could he know--how could he?" + +"There's nothing inexplicable in that, at any rate," I +answered. "Abnormal sensitivity of perception due to the +cutting off of all sensual impressions. There's nothing +uncommon in that. You have its most familiar form in the +sensitivity of the blind. You've watched the same thing +at work in certain forms of hypnotic experimentation, +haven't you? + +"Through the operation of entirely understandable +causes the mind gains the power to react to vibrations +that normally pass unperceived; is able to project itself +through this keying up of perception into a wider area of +consciousness than the normal. Just as in certain diseases +of the ear the sufferer, though deaf to sounds within +the average range of hearing, is fully aware of sound +vibrations far above and far below those the healthy ear +registers." + +"I know," he said. "I don't need to be convinced. But +we accept these things in theory--and when we get up +against them for ourselves we doubt. + +"How many people are there in Christendom, do you +think, who believe that the Saviour ascended from the +dead, but who if they saw it today would insist upon +medical inspection, doctor's certificates, a clinic, and even +after that render a Scotch verdict? I'm not speaking irreverently +--I'm just stating a fact." + +Suddenly he moved away from me, strode over to the +curtained oval through which Norhala had gone. + +"Dick," I cried, following him hastily, "where are you +going? What are you going to do?" + +"I'm going after Norhala," he answered. "I'm going to +have a showdown with her or know the reason why." + +"Drake," I cried again, aghast, "don't make the mistake +Ventnor did. That's not the way to win through. Don't--I +beg you, don't." + +"You're wrong," he answered stubbornly. "I'm going +to get her. She's got to talk." + +He thrust out a hand to the curtains. Before he could +touch them, they were parted. Out from between them +slithered the black eunuch. He stood motionless, regarding +us; in the ink-black eyes a red flame of hatred. I pushed +myself between him and Drake. + +"Where is your mistress, Yuruk?" I asked. + +"The goddess has gone," he replied sullenly. + +"Gone?" I said suspiciously, for certainly Norhala had +not passed us. "Where?" + +"Who shall question the goddess?" he asked. "She comes +and she goes as she pleases." + +I translated this for Drake. + +"He's got to show me," he said. "Don't think I'm going +to spill any beans, Goodwin. But I want to talk to her. I +think I'm right, honestly I do." + + +After all, I reflected, there was much in his determination +to recommend it. It was the obvious thing to do--unless +we admitted that Norhala was superhuman; and that +I would not admit. In command of forces we did not yet +know, en rapport with these People of Metal, sealed with +that alien consciousness Ruth had described--all these, +yes. But still a woman--of that I was certain. And +surely Drake could be trusted not to repeat Ventnor's +error. + +"Yuruk," I said, "we think you lie. We would speak to +your mistress. Take us to her." + +"I have told you that the goddess is not here," he said. +"If you do not believe it is nothing to me. I cannot take +you to her for I do not know where she is. Is it your wish +that I take you through her house?" + +"It is," I said. + +"The goddess has commanded me to serve you in all +things." He bowed, sardonically. "Follow." + +Our search was short. We stepped out into what for +want of better words I can describe only as a central hall. +It was circular, and strewn with thick piled small rugs +whose hues had been softened by the alchemy of time into +exquisite, shadowy echoes of color. + +The walls of this hall were of the same moonstone substance +that had enclosed the chamber upon whose inner +threshold we were. They whirled straight up to the dome +in a crystalline, cylindrical cone. Four doorways like that +in which we stood pierced them. Through each of their +curtainings in turn we peered. + +All were precisely similar in shape and proportions, +radiating in a lunetted, curved base triangle from the +middle chamber; the curvature of the enclosing globe forming +back wall and roof; the translucent slicings the sides; +the circle of floor of the inner hall the truncating lunette. + +The first of these chambers was utterly bare. The one +opposite held a half-dozen suits of the lacquered armor, +as many wicked looking, short and double-edged swords +and long javelins. The third I judged to be the lair of +Yuruk; within it was a copper brazier, a stand of spears +and a gigantic bow, a quiver full of arrows leaning beside +it. The fourth room was littered with coffers great and +small, of wood and of bronze, and all tightly closed. + +The fifth room was beyond question Norhala's bedchamber. +Upon its floor the ancient rugs were thick. A low +couch of carven ivory inset with gold rested a few feet +from the doorway. A dozen or more of the chests were +scattered about and flowing over with silken stuffs. + +Upon the back of four golden lions stood a high mirror +of polished silver. And close to it, in curiously incongruous +domestic array stood a stiffly marshaled row of sandals. +Upon one of the chests were heaped combs and fillets of +shell and gold and ivory studded with jewels blue and +yellow and crimson. + +To all of these we gave but a passing glance. We sought +for Norhala. And of her we found no shadow. She had +gone even as the black eunuch had said; flitting unseen +past Ruth, perhaps, absorbed in her watch over her +brother; perhaps through some hidden opening in this +room of hers. + +Yuruk let drop the curtains, sidled back to the first +room, we after him. The two there had not moved. We +drew the saddlebags close, propped ourselves against +them. + +The black eunuch squatted a dozen feet away, facing us, +chin upon his knees, taking us in with unblinking eyes +blank of any emotion. Then he began to move slowly his +tremendously long arms in easy, soothing motion, the +hands running along the floor upon their talons in arcs +and circles. It was curious how these hands seemed to be +endowed with a volition of their own, independent of the +arms upon which they swung. + +And now I could see only the hands, shuttling so smoothly, +so rhythmically back and forth--weaving so sleepily, +so sleepily back and forth--black hands that dripped sleep +--hypnotic. + +Hypnotic! I sprang from the lethargy closing upon me. +In one quick side glance I saw Drake's head nodding-- +nodding in time to the movement of the black hands. I +jumped to my feet, shaking with an intensity of rage +unfamiliar to me; thrust my pistol into the wrinkled face. + +"Damn you!" I cried. "Stop that. Stop it and turn your +back." + +The corded muscles of the arms contracted, the claws +of the slithering paws drew in as though he were about to +clutch me; the ebon pools of eyes were covered with a +frozen film of hate. + +He could not have known what was this tube with +which I menaced him, but its threat he certainly sensed +and was afraid to meet. He squattered about, wrapped his +arms around his knees, crouched with back toward us. + +"What's the matter?" asked Drake drowsily. + +"He tried to hypnotize us," I answered shortly. "And +pretty nearly did." + +"So that's what it was." He was now wide awake. "I +watched those hands of his and got sleepier and sleepier +--I guess we'd better tie Mr. Yuruk up." He jumped to +his feet. + +"No," I said, restraining him. "No. He's safe enough as +long as we're on the alert. I don't want to use any force +on him yet. Wait until we know we can get something +worth while by doing it." + +"All right," he nodded, grimly. "But when the time +comes I'm telling you straight, Doc, I'm going the limit. +There's something about that human spider that makes me +itch to squash him--slowly." + +"I'll have no compunction--when it's worth while," I +answered as grimly. + +We sank down again against the saddlebags; Drake +brought out a black pipe, looked at it sorrowfully; at me +appealingly. + +"All mine was on that pony that bolted," I answered +his wistfulness. + +"All mine was on my beast, too," he sighed. "And I +lost my pouch in that spurt from the ruins." + +He sighed again, clamped white teeth down upon the +stem. + +"Of course," he said at last, "if Ventnor was right in +that--that disembodied analysis of his, it's rather--well, +terrifying, isn't it?" + +"It's all of that," I replied, "and considerably more." + +"Metal, he said," Drake mused. "Things of metal with +brains of thinking crystal and their blood the lightnings. +You accept that?" + +"So far as my own observation has gone--yes," I +said. "Metallic yet mobile. Inorganic but with all the +quantities we have hitherto thought only those of the +organic and with others added. Crystalline, of course, +in structure and highly complex. Activated by magnetic-electric +forces consciously exerted and as much a part of +their life as brain energy and nerve currents are of our +human life. Animate, moving, sentient combinations of +metal and electric energy." + +He said: + +"The opening of the Disk from the globe and of the +two blasting stars from the pyramids show the flexibility +of the outer--plate would you call it? I couldn't help +thinking of the armadillo after I had time to think at all." + +"It may be"--I struggled against the conviction now +strong upon me--"it may be that within that metallic +shell is an organic body, something soft--animal, as +there is within the horny carapace of the turtle, the +nacreous valves of the oyster, the shells of the crustaceans +--it may be that even their inner surface is organic--" + +"No," he interrupted, "if there is a body--as we know +a body--it must be between the outer surface and the +inner, for the latter is crystal, jewel hard, impenetrable. + +"Goodwin--Ventnor's bullets hit fair. I saw them strike. +They did not ricochet--they dropped dead. Like flies +dashed up against a rock--and the Thing was no more +conscious of their striking than a rock would have been of +those flies." + + +"Drake," I said, "my own conviction is that these +creatures are absolutely metallic, entirely inorganic-- +incredible, unknown forms. Let us go on that basis." + +"I think so, too," he nodded; "but I wanted you to say +it first. And yet--is it so incredible, Goodwin? What is +the definition of vital intelligence--sentience? + +"Haeckel's is the accepted one. Anything which can +receive a stimulus, that can react to a stimulus and +retains memory of a stimulus must be called an intelligent, +conscious entity. The gap between what we have long +called the organic and the inorganic is steadily decreasing. +Do you know of the remarkable experiments of +Lillie upon various metals?" + +"Vaguely," I said. + +"Lillie," he went on, "proved that under the electric +current and other exciting mediums metals exhibited practically +every reaction of the human nerve and muscle. +It grew weary, rested, and after resting was perceptibly +stronger than before; it got what was practically indigestion, +and it exhibited a peculiar but unmistakable +memory. Also, he found, it could acquire disease and die. + +"Lillie concluded that there existed a real metallic +consciousness. It was Le Bon who first proved also that +metal is more sensitive than man, and that its immobility +is only apparent. (Le Bon in "Evolution of Matter," +Chapter eleven.) + +"Take the block of magnetic iron that stands so gray +and apparently lifeless, subject it to a magnetic current +lifeless, what happens? The iron block is composed of +molecules which under ordinary conditions are disposed +in all possible directions indifferently. But when the +current passes through there is tremendous movement in +that apparently inert mass. All of the tiny particles of +which it is composed turn and shift until their north poles +all point more or less approximately in the direction of +the magnetic force. + +"When that happens the block itself becomes a magnet, +filled with and surrounded by a field of magnetic energy; +instinct with it. Outwardly it has not moved; actually +there has been prodigious motion." + +"But it is not conscious motion," I objected. + +"Ah, but how do you know?" he asked. "If Jacques +Loeb* is right, that action of the iron molecules is +every bit as conscious a movement as the least and the +greatest of our own. There is absolutely no difference +between them. + +"Your and my and its every movement is nothing but +an involuntary and inevitable reaction to a certain stimulus. +If he's right, then I'm a buttercup--but that's neither +here nor there. Loeb--all he did was to restate destiny, +one of humanity's oldest ideas, in the terms of tropisms, +infusoria and light. Omar Khayyam chemically reincarnated +in the Rockefeller Institute. Nevertheless those +who accept his theories have to admit that there is +essentially no difference between their impulses and the +rush of filings toward a magnet. + +"Equally nevertheless, Goodwin, the iron does meet +Haeckel's three tests--it can receive a stimulus, it does +react to that stimulus and it retains memory of it; for +even after the current has ceased it remains changed in +tensile strength, conductivity and other qualities that were +modified by the passage of that current; and as time passes +this memory fades. Precisely as some human experience +increases wariness, caution, which keying up of qualities +remains with us after the experience has passed, and +fades away in the ratio of our sensitivity plus retentiveness +divided by the time elapsing from the original experience +--exactly as it is in the iron." + +* Professor Jacques Loeb, of the Rockefeller Institute, New York, +"The Mechanistic Conception of Life." + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CONSCIOUS +METAL! + +"Granted," I acquiesced. "We now come to their +means of locomotion. In its simplest terms all locomotion +is progress through space against the force of +gravitation. Man's walk is a series of rhythmic stumbles +against this force that constantly strives to drag him +down to earth's face and keep him pressed there. Gravitation +is an etheric--magnetic vibration akin to the force +which holds, to use your simile again, Drake, the filing +against the magnet. A walk is a constant breaking of the +current. + +"Take a motion picture of a man walking and run it +through the lantern rapidly and he seems to be flying. We +have none of the awkward fallings and recoveries that +are the tempo of walking as we see it. + +"I take it that the movement of these Things is a +conscious breaking of the gravitational current just as +much as is our own movement, but by a rhythm so +swift that it appears to be continuous. + +"Doubtless if we could so control our sight as to admit +the vibrations of light slowly enough we would see this +apparently smooth motion as a series of leaps--just as +we do when the motion-picture operator slows down his +machine sufficiently to show us walking in a series of +stumbles. + +"Very well--so far, then, we have nothing in this +phenomenon which the human mind cannot conceive as +possible; therefore intellectually we still remain masters of +the phenomena; for it is only that which human thought +cannot encompass which it need fear." + +"Metallic," he said, "and crystalline. And yet--why +not? What are we but bags of skin filled with certain +substances in solution and stretched over a supporting +and mobile mechanism largely made up of lime? Out of +that primeval jelly which Gregory* calls Protobion came +after untold millions of years us with our skins, our +nails, and our hair; came, too, the serpents with their +scales, the birds with their feathers; the horny hide of the +rhinoceros and the fairy wings of the butterfly; the shell +of the crab, the gossamer loveliness of the moth and the +shimmering wonder of the mother-of-pearl. + +"Is there any greater gap between any of these and the +metallic? I think not." + +"Not materially," I answered. "No. But there remains-- +consciousness!" + +"That," he said, "I cannot understand. Ventnor spoke +of--how did he put it?--a group consciousness, operating +in our sphere and in spheres above and below ours, with +senses known and unknown. I got--glimpses--Goodwin, +but I cannot understand." + +"We have agreed for reasons that seem sufficient to us to +call these Things metallic, Dick," I replied. "But that does +not necessarily mean that they are composed of any +metal that we know. Nevertheless, being metal, they must +be of crystalline structure. + +"As Gregory has pointed out, crystals and what we call +living matter had an equal start in the first essentials of +life. We cannot conceive life without giving it the attribute +of some sort of consciousness. Hunger cannot be +anything but conscious, and there is no other stimulus to +eat but hunger. + +"The crystals eat. The extraction of power from food +is conscious because it is purposeful, and there can be no +purpose without consciousness; similarly the power to +work from such derived energy is also purposeful and +therefore conscious. The crystals do both. And the crystals +can transmit all these abilities to their children, just as +we do. For although there would seem to be no reason +why they should not continue to grow to gigantic size +under favorable conditions--yet they do not. They reach +a size beyond which they do not develop. + +"Instead, they bud--give birth, in fact--to smaller +ones, which increase until they reach the size of the + +* J. W. Gregory, F.R.S.D.Sc., Professor of Geology, University + of Glasgow. + +preceding generation. And like the children of man and +animals, these younger generations grow on precisely as +their progenitors! + +"Very well, then--we arrive at the conception of a +metallically crystalline being, which by some explosion of +the force of evolution has burst from the to us familiar +and apparently inert stage into these Things that hold us. +And is there any greater difference between the forms +with which we are familiar and them than there is +between us and the crawling amphibian which is our remote +ancestor? Or between that and the amoeba--the +little swimming stomach from which it evolved? Or the +amoeba and the inert jelly of the Protobion? + + +"As for what Ventnor calls a group consciousness I +would assume that he means a communal intelligence +such as that shown by the bees and the ants--that in the +case of the former Maeterlinck calls the 'Spirit of the +Hive.' It is shown in their groupings--just as the geometric +arrangement of those groupings shows also clearly +their crystalline intelligence. + +"I submit that in their rapid coordination either for +attack or movement or work without apparent communication +having passed between the units, there is nothing +more remarkable than the swarming of a hive of bees +where also without apparent communication just so many +waxmakers, nurses, honey-gatherers, chemists, bread-makers, +and all the varied specialists of the hive go with the +old queen, leaving behind sufficient number of each class +for the needs of the young queen. + +"All this apportionment is effected without any means of +communication that we recognize. Still it is most obviously +intelligent selection. For if it were haphazard all the +honeymakers might leave and the hive starve, or all the +chemists might go and the food for the young bees not be +properly prepared--and so on and so on." + +"But metal," he muttered, "and conscious. It's all very +well--but where did that consciousness come from? And +what is it? And where did they come from? And most +of all, why haven't they overrun the world before this? + +"Such development as theirs, such an evolution, presupposes +aeons of time--long as it took us to drag up from +the lizards. What have they been doing--why haven't +they been ready to strike--if Ventnor's right--at humanity +until now?" + +"I don't know," I answered, helplessly. "But evolution +is not the slow, plodding process that Darwin thought. +There seem to be explosions--nature will create a new +form almost in a night. Then comes the long ages of +development and adjustment, and suddenly another new +race appears. + +"It might be so of these--some extraordinary conditions +that shaped them. Or they might have developed +through the ages in spaces within the earth--there's that +incredible abyss we saw that is evidently one of their +highways. Or they might have dropped here upon some +fragment of a broken world, found in this valley the +right conditions and developed in amazing rapidity.* +They're all possible theories--take your pick." + +"Something's held them back--and they're rushing to +a climax," he whispered. "Ventnor's right about that-- +I feel it. And what can we do?" + +"Go back to their city," I said. "Go back as he ordered. +I believe he knows what he's talking about. And I believe +he'll be able to help us. It wasn't just a request +he made, nor even an appeal--it was a command." + +"But what can we do--just two men--against these +Things?" he groaned. + +"Maybe we'll find out--when we're back in the city," I +answered. + +"Well," his old reckless cheerfulness came back to +him, "in every crisis of this old globe it's been up to one +man to turn the trick. We're two. And at the worst we +can only go down fighting a little before the rest of us. +So, after all, whatEVER the hell, WHAT the hell." + +For a time we were silent. + +"Well," he said at last, "we have to go to the city in +the morning." He laughed. "Sounds as though we were +living in the suburbs, somehow, doesn't it?" + +"It can't be many hours before dawn," I said. "Turn in +for a while, I'll wake you when I think you've slept +enough." + +"It doesn't seem fair," he protested, but sleepily. + +* Professor Svante Arrhenius's theory of propagation of life by +means of minute spores carried through space. See his "Worlds in +the Making."--W.T.G. + +"I'm not sleepy," I told him; nor was I. + +But whether I was or not, I wanted to question Yuruk, +uninterrupted and undisturbed. + +Drake stretched himself out. When his breathing showed +him fast asleep indeed, I slipped over to the black eunuch +and crouched, right hand close to the butt of my automatic, +facing him. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +YURUK + +"Yuruk," I whispered, "you love us as the wheat field +loves the hail; we are as welcome to you as the death +cord to the condemned. Lo, a door opened into a land of +unpleasant dreams you thought sealed, and we came +through. Answer my questions truthfully and it may be +that we shall return through that door." + +Interest welled up in the depths of the black eyes. + +"There is a way from here," he muttered. "Nor does +it pass through--Them. I can show it to you." + +I had not been blind to the flash of malice, of cunning, +that had shot across the wrinkled face. + +"Where does that way lead?" I asked. "There were +those who sought us; men clad in armor with javelins +and arrows. Does your way lead to them, Yuruk?" + +For a time he hesitated, the lashless lids half closed. + +"Yes," he said sullenly. "The way leads to them; to their +place. But will it not be safer for you there--among your +kind?" + +"I don't know that it will," I answered promptly. +"Those who are unlike us smote those who are like us +and drove them back when they would have taken and +slain us. Why is it not better to remain with them than +to go to our kind who would destroy us?" + +"They would not," he said "If you gave them--her." +He thrust a long thumb backward toward sleeping Ruth. +"Cherkis would forgive much for her. And why should +you not? She is only a woman." + +He spat--in a way that made me want to kill him. + +"Besides," he ended, "have you no arts to amuse him?" + +"Cherkis?" I asked. + +"Cherkis," he whined. "Is Yuruk a fool not to know +that in the world without, new things have arisen since +long ago we fled from Iskander into the secret valley? +What have you to beguile Cherkis beyond this woman +flesh? Much, I think. Go then to him--unafraid." + +Cherkis? There was a familiar sound to that. Cherkis? +Of course--it was the name of Xerxes, the Persian Conqueror, +corrupted by time into this--Cherkis. And Iskander? +Equally, of course--Alexander. Ventnor had been +right. + +"Yuruk," I demanded directly, "is she whom you call +goddess--Norhala--of the people of Cherkis?" + +"Long ago," he answered; "long, long ago there was +trouble in their city, even in the great dwelling place of +Cherkis. I fled with her who was the mother of the goddess. +There were twenty of us; and we fled here--by the +way which I will show you--" + +He leered cunningly; I gave no sign of interest. + +"She who was the mother of the goddess found favor +in the sight of the ruler here," he went on. "But after a +time she grew old and ugly and withered. So he slew +her--like a little mound of dust she danced and blew +away after he had slain her; and also he slew others who +had grown displeasing to him. He blasted me--as he was +blasted--" He pointed to Ventnor. + +"Then it was that, recovering, I found my crooked +shoulder. The goddess was born here. She is kin to Him +Who Rules! How else could she shed the lightnings? Was +not the father of Iskander the god Zeus Ammon, who +came to Iskander's mother in the form of a great snake? +Well? At any rate the goddess was born--shedder of +the lightnings even from her birth. And she is as you see +her. + +"Cleave to your kind! Cleave to your kind!" Suddenly +he shrilled. "Better is it to be whipped by your brother +than to be eaten by the tiger. Cleave to your kind. Look-- +I will show you the way to them." + +He sprang to his feet, clasped my wrist in one of his +long hands, led me through the curtained oval into the +cylindrical hall, parted the curtainings of Norhala's bedroom +and pushed me within. Over the floor he slid, still +holding fast to me, and pressed against the farther wall. + + +An ovoid slice of the gemlike material slid aside, revealing +a doorway. I glimpsed a path, a trail, leading +into a forest pallid green beneath the wan light. This +way thrust itself like a black tongue into the boskage and +vanished in the depths. + +"Follow it." He pointed. "Take those who came with +you and follow it." + +The wrinkles upon his face writhed with his eagerness. + +"You will go?" panted Yuruk. "You will take them and +go by that path?" + +"Not yet," I answered absently. "Not yet." + +And was brought abruptly to full alertness, vigilance, +by the flame of rage that filled the eyes thrust so close. + +"Lead back," I directed curtly. He slid the door into +place, turned sullenly. I followed, wondering what were +the sources of the bitter hatred he so plainly bore for us; +the reasons for his eagerness to be rid of us despite the +commands of this woman who to him at least was goddess. + +And by that curious human habit of seeking for the +complex when the simple answer lies close, failed to recognize +that it was jealousy of us that was the root of his +behavior; that he wished to be, as it would seem he had +been for years, the only human thing near Norhala; +failed to realize this, and with Ruth and Drake was terribly +to pay for this failure. + +I looked down upon the pair, sleeping soundly; upon +Ventnor lost still in trance. + +"Sit," I ordered the eunuch. "And turn your back to +me." + +I dropped down beside Drake, my mind wrestling with +the mystery, but every sense alert for movement from +the black. Glibly enough I had passed over Dick's questioning +as to the consciousness of the Metal People; now +I faced it knowing it to be the very crux of these incredible +phenomena; admitting, too, that despite all my special +pleading, about that point swirled in my own mind the +thickest mists of uncertainty. That their sense of order was +immensely beyond a man's was plain. + +As plain was it that their knowledge of magnetic force +and its manipulation were far beyond the sphere of humanity. +That they had realization of beauty this palace of +Norhala's proved--and no human imagination could have +conceived it nor human hands have made its thought of +beauty real. What were their senses through which their +consciousness fed? + +Nine in number had been the sapphire ovals set within +the golden zone of the Disk. Clearly it came to me that +these were sense organs! + +But--nine senses! + +And the great stars--how many had they? And the +cubes--did they open as did globe and pyramid? + +Consciousness itself--after all what is it? A secretion of +the brain? The cumulative expression, wholly chemical, of +the multitudes of cells that form us? The inexplicable +governor of the city of the body of which these myriads +of cells are the citizens--and created by them out of themselves +to rule? + +Is it what many call the soul? Or is it a finer form of +matter, a self-realizing force, which uses the body as its +vehicle just as other forces use for their vestments other +machines? After all, I thought, what is this conscious self +of ours, the ego, but a spark of realization running continuously +along the path of time within the mechanism +we call the brain; making contact along that path as the +electric spark at the end of a wire? + +Is there a sea of this conscious force which laps the +shores of the farthest-flung stars; that finds expression in +everything--man and rock, metal and flower, jewel and +cloud? Limited in its expression only by the limitations of +that which animates, and in essence the same in all. +If so, then this problem of the life of the Metal People +ceased to be a problem; was answered! + +So thinking I became aware of increasing light; strode +past Yuruk to the door and peeped out. Dawn was paling +the sky. I stooped over Drake, shook him. On the instant +he was awake, alert. + +"I only need a little sleep, Dick," I said. "When the sun +is well up, call me." + +"Why, it's dawn," he whispered. "Goodwin, you ought +not to have let me sleep so long. I feel like a damned pig." + +"Never mind," I said. "But watch the eunuch closely." + +I rolled myself up in his warm blanket; sank almost +instantly into dreamless slumber. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +INTO +THE PIT + +High was the sun when I awakened; or so, I supposed, +opening my eyes upon a flood of daylight. As I lay, +lazily, recollection rushed upon me. + +It was no sky into which I was gazing; it was the +dome of Norhala's elfin home. And Drake had not aroused +me. Why? And how long had I slept? + +I jumped to my feet, stared about. Ruth nor Drake +nor the black eunuch was there! + +"Ruth!" I shouted. "Drake!" + +There was no answer. I ran to the doorway. Peering +up into the white vault of the heavens I set the time of +day as close to seven; I had slept then three hours, +more or less. Yet short as that time of slumber had been, +I felt marvelously refreshed, reenergized; the effect, I was +certain, of the extraordinarily tonic qualities of the +atmosphere of this place. But where were the others? +Where Yuruk? + +I heard Ruth's laughter. Some hundred yards to the left, +half hidden by a screen of flowering shrubs, I saw a small +meadow. Within it a half-dozen little white goats nuzzled +around her and Dick. She was milking one of them. + +Reassured, I drew back into the chamber, knelt over +Ventnor. His condition was unchanged. My gaze fell upon +the pool that had been Norhala's bath. Longingly I looked +at it; then satisfying myself that the milking process was +not finished, slipped off my clothes and splashed about. + +I had just time to get back in my clothes when through +the doorway came the pair, each carrying a porcelain +pannikin full of milk. + +There was no shadow of fear or horror on her face. It +was the old Ruth who stood before me; nor was there effort +in the smile she gave me. She had been washed +clean in the waters of sleep. + +"Don't worry, Walter," she said. "I know what you're +thinking. But I'm--ME again." + +"Where is Yuruk?" I turned to Drake bruskly to +smother the sob of sheer happiness I felt rising in my +throat; and at his wink and warning grimace abruptly forebore +to press the question. + +"You men pick out the things and I'll get breakfast +ready," said Ruth. + +Drake picked up the teakettle and motioned me before +him. + +"About Yuruk," he whispered when he had gotten outside. +"I gave him a little object lesson. Persuaded him to +go down the line a bit, showed him my pistol, and then +picked off one of Norhala's goats with it. Hated to do it, +but I knew it would be good for his soul. + +"He gave one screech and fell on his face and groveled. +Thought it was a lightning bolt, I figure; decided I had +been stealing Norhala's stuff. 'Yuruk,' I told him, 'that's +what you'll get, and worse, if you lay a finger on that +girl inside there.'" + +"And then what happened?" I asked. + +"He beat it back there." He grinned, pointing toward +the forest through which ran the path the eunuch had +shown me. "Probably hiding back of a tree." + +As we filled the container at the outer spring, I told him +of the revelations and the offer Yuruk had made to me. + +"Whew-w!" he whistled. "In the nutcracker, eh? +Trouble behind us and trouble in front of us." + +"When do we start?" he asked, as we turned back. + +"Right after we've eaten," I answered. "There's no use +putting it off. How do you feel about it?" + +"Frankly, like the chief guest at a lynching party," he +said. "Curious but none too cheerful." + +Nor was I. I was filled with a fever of scientific curiosity. +But I was not cheerful--no! + + +We ministered to Ventnor as well as we could; forcing +open his set jaws, thrusting a thin rubber tube down past +his windpipe into his gullet and dropping through it a few +ounces of the goat milk. Our own breakfasting was +silent enough. + +We could not take Ruth with us upon our journey; +that was certain; she must stay here with her brother. +She would be safer in Norhala's home than where we were +going, of course, and yet to leave her was most distressing. +After all, I wondered, was there any need of both of us +taking the journey; would not one do just as well? + +Drake could stay-- + +"No use of putting all our eggs in one basket," I +broached the subject. "I'll go down by myself while you +stay and help Ruth. You can always follow if I don't turn +up in a reasonable time." + +His indignation at this proposal was matched only by +her own. + +"You'll go with him, Dick Drake," she cried, "or I'll +never look at or speak to you again!" + +"Good Lord! Did you think for a minute I wouldn't?" +Pain and wrath struggled on his face. "We go together +or neither of us goes. Ruth will be all right here, Goodwin. +The only thing she has any cause to fear is Yuruk--and +he's had his lesson. + +"Besides, she'll have the rifles and her pistols, and she +knows how to use them. What d'ye mean by making such +a proposition as that?" His indignation burst all bounds. + +Lamely I tried to justify myself. + +"I'll be all right," said Ruth. "I'm not afraid of Yuruk. +And none of these Things will hurt me--not after--not +after--" Her eyes fell, her lips quivered, then she faced +us steadily. "Don't ask me how I know that," she said +quietly. "Believe me, I do know it. I am closer to--them +than you two are. And if I choose I can call upon that +alien strength their master gave me. It is for you two that +I fear." + +"No fear for us," Drake burst out hastily. "We're Norhala's +little playthings. We're tabu. Take it from me, +Ruth, I'd bet my head there isn't one of these Things, +great or small, and no matter how many, that doesn't by +this time know all about us. + +"We'll probably be received with demonstrations of +interest by the populace as welcome guests. Probably +we'll find a sign--'Welcome to our City'--hung up over +the front gate." + +She smiled, a trifle tremulously. + +"We'll come back," he said. Suddenly he leaned forward, +put his hands on her shoulders. "Do you think there is +anything that could keep me from coming back?" he +whispered. + +She trembled, wide eyes searching deep into his. + +"Well," I broke in, a bit uncomfortably, "we'd better be +starting. I think as Drake does, that we're tabu. Barring +accident there's no danger. And if I guess right about +these Things, accident is impossible." + +"As inconceivable as the multiplication table going +wrong," he laughed, straightening. + +And so we made ready. Our rifles would be worse than +useless, we knew; our pistols we decided to carry as Drake +put it, "for comfort." Canteens filled with water; a couple +of emergency rations, a few instruments, including a small +spectroscope, a selection from the medical kit--all these +packed in a little haversack which he threw over his +broad shoulders. + +I pocketed my compact but exceedingly powerful field-glasses. +To my poignant and everlasting regret my camera +had been upon the bolting pony, and Ventnor had long +been out of films for his. + +We were ready for our journey. + + +Our path led straight away, a smooth and dark-gray +road whose surface resembled cement packed under enormous +pressure. It was all of fifty feet wide and now, in +daylight, glistened faintly as though overlaid with some +vitreous coating. It narrowed abruptly into a wedged way +that stopped at the threshold of Norhala's door. + +Diminishing through the distance, it stretched straight +as an arrow onward and vanished between perpendicular +cliffs which formed the frowning gateway through which +the night before we had passed upon the coursing cubes +from the pit of the city. Here, as then, a mistiness +checked the gaze. + +Ruth with us, we made a brief inspection of the surroundings +of Norhala's house. It was set as though in the +narrowest portion of an hour-glass. The precipitous walls +marched inward from the gateway forming the lower half +of the figure; at the back they swung apart at a wider +angle. + +This upper part of the hour-glass was filled with a park-like +forest. It was closed, perhaps twenty miles away, by +a barrier of cliffs. + +How, I wondered, did the path which Yuruk had pointed +out to me pierce them? Was it by pass or tunnel; and why +was it the armored men had not found and followed it? + +The waist between these two mountain wedges was a +valley not more than a mile wide. Norhala's house stood +in its center; and it was like a garden, dotted with flowering +and fragrant lilies and here and there a tiny green +meadow. The great globe of blue that was Norhala's +dwelling seemed less to rest upon the ground than to +emerge from it; as though its basic curvatures were hidden +in the earth. + +What was its substance I could not tell. It was as +though built of the lacquer of the gems whose colors it +held. And beautiful, wondrously, incredibly beautiful it +was--an immense bubble of froth of molten sapphires +and turquoises. + +We had not time to study its beauties. A few last instructions +to Ruth, and we set forth down the gray road. +Hardly had we taken a few steps when there came a faint +cry from her. + +"Dick! Dick--come here!" + +He sprang to her, caught her hands in his. For a moment, +half frightened it seemed, she considered him. + +"Dick," I heard her whisper. "Dick--come back safe to +me!" + +I saw his arms close about her, hers tighten around his +neck; black hair touched the silken brown curls, their +lips met, clung. I turned away. + +In a little time he joined me; head down, silent, he +strode along beside me, utterly dejected. + +A hundred more yards and we turned. Ruth was still +standing on the threshold of the house of mystery, watching +us. She waved her hands, flitted in, was hidden from +us. And Drake still silent, we pushed on. + +The walls of the gateway were close. The sparse vegetation +along the base of the cliffs had ceased; the roadway +itself had merged into the smooth, bare floor of the +canyon. From vertical edge to vertical edge of the rocky +portal stretched a curtain of shimmering mist. As we +drew nearer we saw that this was motionless, and less +like vapor of water than vapor of light; it streamed in +oddly fixed lines like atoms of crystals in a still solution. +Drake thrust an arm within it, waved it; the mist did not +move. It seemed instead to interpenetrate the arm--as +though bone and flesh were spectral, without power to +dislodge the shining particles from position. + +We passed within it--side by side. + +Instantly I knew that whatever these veils were, they +were not moisture. The air we breathed was dry, electric. +I was sensible of a decided stimulation, a pleasant tingling +along every nerve, a gaiety almost light-headed. We could +see each other quite plainly, the rocky floor on which +we trod as well. Within this vapor of light there was no +ghost of sound; it was utterly empty of it. I saw Drake +turn to me, his mouth open in a laugh, his lips move in +speech--and although he bent close to my ear, I heard +nothing. He frowned, puzzled, and walked on. + + +Abruptly we stepped into an opening, a pocket of clear +air. Our ears were filled with a high, shrill humming as +unpleasantly vibrant as the shriek of a sand blast. Six feet +to our right was the edge of the ledge on which we stood; +beyond it was a sheer drop into space. A shaft piercing +down into the void and walled with the mists. + +But it was not that shaft that made us clutch each other. +No! It was that through it uprose a colossal column of +the cubes. It stood a hundred feet from us. Its top was +another hundred feet above the level of our ledge and +its length vanished in the depths. + +And its head was a gigantic spinning wheel, yards in +thickness, tapering at its point of contact with the cliff +wall into a diameter half that of the side closest the column, +gleaming with flashes of green flame and grinding +with tremendous speed at the face of the rock. + +Over it, attached to the cliff, was a great vizored hood +of some pale yellow metal, and it was this shelter that +cutting off the vaporous light like an enormous umbrella +made the pocket of clarity in which we stood, the shaft +up which sprang the pillar. + +All along the length of that column as far as we could +see the myriad tiny eyes of the Metal People shone out +upon us, not twinkling mischievously, but--grotesque as +this may seem, I cannot help it--wide with surprise. + +Only an instant longer did the great wheel spin. I saw +the screaming rock melting beneath it, dropping like lava. +Then, as though it had received some message, abruptly +its motion now ceased. + +It tilted; looked down upon us! + +I noted that its grinding surface was studded thickly +with the smaller pyramids and that the tips of these were +each capped with what seemed to be faceted gems gleaming +with the same pale yellow radiance as the Shrine of the +Cones. + +The column was bending; the wheel approaching. + +Drake seized me by the arm, drew me swiftly back into +the mists. We were shrouded in their silences. Step by step +we went on, peering for the edge of the shelf, feeling +in fancy that prodigious wheeled face stealing upon us; +afraid to look behind lest in looking we might step too +close to the unseen verge. + +Yard after yard we slowly covered. Suddenly the vapors +thinned; we passed out of them-- + +A chaos of sound beat about us. The clanging of a million +anvils; the clamor of a million forges; the crashing +of a hundred years of thunder; the roarings of a thousand +hurricanes. The prodigious bellowings of the Pit beating +against us now as they had when we had flown down the +long ramp into the depths of the Sea of Light. + +Instinct with unthinkable power was that clamor; the +very voice of Force. Stunned, nay BLINDED, by it, we +covered ears and eyes. + +As before, the clangor died, leaving in its wake a +bewildered silence. Then that silence began to throb with +a vast humming, and through that humming rang a +murmur as that of a river of diamonds. + +We opened our eyes, felt awe grip our throats as +though a hand had clutched them. + +Difficult, difficult almost beyond thought is it for +me now to essay to draw in words the scene before us then. +For although I can set down what it was we saw, I nor +any man can transmute into phrases its essence, its spirit, +the intangible wonder that was its synthesis--the appallingly +beautiful, soul-shaking strangeness of it, its grandeur, +its fantasy, and its alien terror. + +The Domain of the Metal Monster--it was filled like a +chalice with Its will; was the visible expression of that +will. + +We stood at the very rim of a wide ledge. We looked +down into an immense pit, shaped into a perfect oval, +thirty miles in length I judged, and half that as wide, +and rimmed with colossal precipices. We were at the +upper end of this deep valley and on the tip of its axis; +I mean that it stretched longitudinally before us along the +line of greatest length. Five hundred feet below was the +pit's floor. Gone were the clouds of light that had obscured +it the night before; the air crystal clear; every detail standing +out with stereoscopic sharpness. + +First the eyes rested upon a broad band of fluorescent +amethyst, ringing the entire rocky wall. It girdled the +cliffs at a height of ten thousand feet, and from this +flaming zone, as though it clutched them, fell the curtains +of sparkling mist, the enigmatic, sound-slaying vapors. + +But now I saw that all of these veils were not motionless +like those through which we had just passed. To the northwest +they were pulsing like the aurora, and like the aurora +they were shot through with swift iridescences, spectrums, +polychromatic gleamings. And always these were ordered, +geometric--like immense and flitting prismatic crystals +flying swiftly to the very edges of the veils, then darting +as swiftly back. + +From zone and veils the gaze leaped to the incredible +City towering not two miles away from us. + +Blue black, shining, sharply cut as though from polished +steel, it reared full five thousand feet on high! + +How great it was I could not tell, for the height of its +precipitous walls barred the vision. The frowning facade +turned toward us was, I estimated, five miles in length. Its +colossal scarp struck the eyes like a blow; its shadow, +falling upon us, checked the heart. It was overpowering +--dreadful as that midnight city of Dis that Dante +saw rising up from another pit. + +It was a metal city, mountainous. + +Featureless, smooth, the immense wall of it heaved +heavenward. It should have been blind, that vast oblong +face--but it was not blind. From it radiated alertness, +vigilance. It seemed to gaze toward us as though every +foot were manned with sentinels; guardians invisible to +the eyes whose concentration of watchfulness was caught +by some subtle hidden sense higher than sight. + +It was a metal city, mountainous and--AWARE. + +About its base were huge openings. Through and around +these portals swirled hordes of the Metal People; in units +and in combinations coming and going, streaming in and +out, forming as they came and went patterns about the +openings like the fretted spume of great breakers surging +into, retreating from, ocean-bitten gaps in some iron-bound +coast. + +From the immensity of the City the eyes dropped back +to the Pit in which it lay. Its floor was plaquelike, a great +plane smooth as though turned by potter's wheel, broken +by no mound nor hillock, slope nor terrace; level, horizontal, +flawlessly flat. On it was no green living thing +--no tree nor bush, meadow nor covert. + +It was alive with movement. A ferment that was as +purposeful as it was mechanical, a ferment symmetrical, +geometrical, supremely ordered-- + +The surging of the Metal Hordes. + +There they moved beneath us, these enigmatic beings, +in a countless host. They marched and countermarched +in battalions, in regiments, in armies. Far to the south I +glimpsed a company of colossal shapes like mobile, castellated +and pyramidal mounts. They were circling, weaving +about each other with incredible rapidity--like scores of +great pyramids crowned with gigantic turrets and dancing. +From these turrets came vivid flashes, lightning bright-- +on their wake the rolling echoes of faraway thunder. + +Out of the north sped a squadron of obelisks from whose +tops flamed and flared the immense spinning wheels, appearing +at this distance like fiery whirling disks. + +Up from their setting the Metal People lifted themselves +in a thousand incredible shapes, shapes squared and +globed and spiked and shifting swiftly into other thousands +as incredible. I saw a mass of them draw themselves +up into the likeness of a tent skyscraper high; hang so +for an instant, then writhe into a monstrous chimera of a +dozen towering legs that strode away like a gigantic headless +and bodiless tarantula in steps two hundred feet long. +I watched mile-long lines of them shape and reshape into +circles, into interlaced lozenges and pentagons--then lift +in great columns and shoot through the air in unimaginable barrage. + +Through all this incessant movement I sensed plainly +purpose, knew that it was definite activity toward a definite +end, caught the clear suggestion of drill, of maneuver. + +And when the shiftings of the Metal Hordes permitted +we saw that all the flat floor of the valley was stripped +and checkered, stippled and tessellated with every color, +patterned with enormous lozenges and squares, rhomboids +and parallelograms, pentagons and hexagons and diamonds, +lunettes, circles and spirals; harlequined yet harmonious; +instinct with a grotesque suggestion of a super-Futurism. + +But always this patterning was ordered, always COHERENT. +As though it were a page on which was spelled some +untranslatable other world message. + +Fourth Dimensional revelations by some Euclidean +deity! Commandments traced by some mathematical God! + +Looping across the vale, emerging from the sparkling +folds of the southernmost curtainings and vanishing into +the gleaming veils of the easternmost, ran a broad ribbon +of pale-green jade; not straightly but with manifold +convolutions and flourishes. It was like a sentence in +Arabic. + +It was margined with sapphire blue. All along its twisting +course two broad bands of jet margined the cerulean shore. +It was spanned by scores of flashing crystal arches. Nor +were these bridges--even from that distance I knew they +were no bridges. From them came the crystalline murmurings. + +Jade? This stream jade? If so then it must be in truth +molten, for I caught its swift and polished rushing! It was +no jade. It was in truth a river; a river running like a +writing across a patterned plane. + +I looked upward--up to the circling peaks. They were +a stupendous coronet thrusting miles deep into the dazzling +sky. I raised my glasses, swept them. In color they +were an immense and variegated flower with countless +multiform petals of stone; in outline they were a ring of +fortresses built by fantastic unknown Gods. + +Up they thrust--domed and arched, spired and horned, +pyramided, fanged and needled. Here were palisades of +burning orange with barbicans of incandescent bronze; +there aiguilles of azure rising from bastions of cinnabar +red; turrets of royal purple, obelisks of indigo; titanic forts +whose walls were splashed with vermilion, with citron +yellows and with rust of rubies; watch towers of flaming +scarlet. + +Scattered among them were the flashing emeralds of the +glaciers and the immense pallid baroques of the snow +fields. + +Like a diadem the summits ringed the Pit. Below them +ran the ring of flashing amethyst with its aural mists. +Between them lay the vast and patterned flat covered with +still symbol and inexplicable movement. Under their summits +brooded the blue black, metallic mass of the Seeing +City. + +Within circling walls, over plain and from the City +hovered a cosmic spirit not to be understood by man. Like +an emanation of stars and space, it was yet gem fine and +gem hard, crystalline and metallic, lapidescent and-- + +Conscious! + +Down from the ledge where we stood fell a steep ramp, +similar to that by which, in the darkness, we had descended. +It dropped at an angle of at least forty-five degrees; its +surface was smooth and polished. + +Through the mists at our back stole a shining block. It +paused, seemed to perk itself; spun so that in turn +each of its six faces took us in. + +I felt myself lifted upon it by multitudes of little invisible +hands; saw Drake whirling up beside me. I moved toward +him--through the force that held us. A block swept +away from the ledge, swayed for a moment. Under us, as +though we were floating in air, the Pit lay stretched. +There was a rapid readjustment, a shifting of our two +selves upon another surface. I looked down upon a tremendous, +slender pillar of the cubes, dropping below, five +hundred feet to the valley's floor a column of which the +block that held us was the top. + +Gone was the whirling wheel that had crowned it, but I +knew this for the Grinding Thing from which we had fled; +the questing block had been its scout. As though curious +to know more of us, the Shape had sought us out through +the mists, its messenger had caught us, delivered us to it. + +The pillar leaned over--bent like that shining pillar +that had bridged for us, at Norhala's commands, the abyss. +The floor of the valley arose to meet us. Further and +further leaned the pillar. Again there was a rapid shifting +of us to another surface of the crowning cube. Fast now +swept up toward us the valley floor. A dizziness clouded +my sight. There was a little shock, a rolling over the +Thing that had held us-- + +We stood upon the floor of the Pit. + +And breaking from the immense and prostrate shaft on +whose top we had ridden downward came score upon +score of the cubes. They broke from it, disintegrating it; +circled about us, curiously, interestedly, twinkling at us +from their deep sparkling points of eyes. + +Helplessly we gazed at those who circled around us. +Then suddenly I felt myself lifted once more, was tossed +to the surface of the nearest block. Upon it I spun while +the tiny eyes searched me. Then like a human ball it tossed +me to another. I caught a glimpse of Drake's tall figure +drifting through the air. + +The play became more rapid, breathtaking. It was play; +I recognized that. But it was perilous play for us. I felt +myself as fragile as a doll of glass in the hands of careless +children. + +I was tossed to a waiting cube. On the ground, not ten +feet from me, was Drake, swaying dizzily. Suddenly the +cube that held me tightened its grip; tightened it so that +it drew me irresistibly flat down upon its surface. Before +I dropped, Drake's body leaped toward me as though +drawn by a lasso. He fell at my side. + +Then pursued by scores of the Things and like some +mischievous boy bearing off the spoils, the block that held +us raced away, straight for an open portal. A blaze of +incandescent blue flame blinded me; again as the dazzlement +faded I saw Drake beside me--a skeleton form. +Swiftly flesh melted back upon him, clothed him. + +The cube stopped, abruptly; the hosts of little unseen +hands raised us, slid us gently over its edge, set us upright +beside it. And it sped away. + +All about us stretched another of those vast halls in +which on high burned the pale-gilt suns. Between its +colossal columns streamed thousands of the Metal Folk; +no longer hurriedly, but quietly, deliberately, sedately. + +We were within the City--even as Ventnor had commanded. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CITY +THAT WAS ALIVE + +Close beside us was one of the cyclopean columns. We +crept to it; crouched at its base opposite the drift of the +Metal People; strove, huddled there, to regain our shaken +poise. Like bagatelles we felt in that tremendous place, +the weird luminaries gleaming above like garlands of +frozen suns, the enigmatic hosts of animate cubes and +spheres and pyramids trooping past. + +They ranged in size from shapes yard-high to giants of +thirty feet or more. They paid no heed to us, did not +stop; streaming on, engrossed in whatever mysterious business +was summoning them. And after a time their numbers +lessened; thinned down to widely separate groups, to +stragglers; then ceased. The hall was empty of them. + +As far as the eye could reach the columned spaces +stretched. I was conscious once more of that unusual flow +of energy through every vein and nerve. + +"Follow the crowd!" said Drake. "Do you feel just full +of pep and ginger, by the way?" + +"I am aware of the most extraordinary vigor," I answered. + +"Some weird joint," he mused, looking about him. "Wonder +if they have any windows? This whole place looked +solid to me--what I could see of it. Wonder if we'll get +up against it for air? These Things don't need it, that's +sure. Wonder--" + +He broke off staring fascinatedly at the pillar behind us. + +"Look here, Goodwin!" There was a tremor in his voice. +"What do you make of THIS?" + +I followed his pointing finger; looked at him inquiringly. + +"The eyes!" he said impatiently. "Don't you see them? +The eyes in the column!" + +And now I saw them. The pillar was a pale metallic +blue, in color a trifle darker than the Metal Folk. All +within it were the myriads of tiny crystalline points that +we had grown to know were the receptors of some +strange sense of sight. But they did not sparkle as did +those others; they were dull, lifeless. I touched the surface. +It was smooth, cool--with none of that subtle, warm +vitality that pulsed through all the Things with which I +had come in contact. I shook my head, realizing as I did +so what a shock the incredible possibility he had suggested +had given me. + +"No," I said. "There is a resemblance, yes. But there +is no force about this--stuff; no life. Besides, such a thing +is utterly incredible." + +"They might be--dormant," he suggested stubbornly. +"Can you see any mark of their joining--if they ARE the +cubes?" + +Together we scanned the pillar minutely. The faces +seemed unbroken, continuous; there was no trace of those +thin and shining lines that marked the juncture of the +cubes when they had clicked together to form the bridge +of the abyss or that had gleamed, crosslike, upon the back +of the combined four upon which we had followed Norhala. + +"It's a sheer impossibility. It's madness to think such a +thing, Drake!" I exclaimed, and wondered at my own +vehemence of denial. + +"Maybe," he shook his head doubtfully. "Maybe--but +--well--let's be on our way." + +We strode on, following the direction the Metal Folk +had gone. Clearly Drake was still doubtful; at each pillar +he hesitated, scanning it closely with troubled eyes. + +But I, having determinedly dismissed the idea, was +more interested in the fantastic lights that flooded this +columned hall with their buttercup radiance. They were +still and unwinking; not disks, I could see now, but globes. +Great and small, they floated motionless, their rays extending +rigidly and as still as the orb that shed them. + +Yet rigid as they were there was nothing about either +rays or orbs that suggested either hardness or the metallic. +They were vaporous, soft as St. Elmo's fire, the witch +lights that cling at times to the spars of ships, weird +gleaming visitors from the invisible ocean of atmospheric +electricity. + +When they disappeared, as they did frequently, it was +instantaneously, completely, with a disconcerting sleight-of-hand +finality. I noted, though, that when they did +vanish, immediately close to where they had been other +orbs swam forth with that same astonishing abruptness; +sometimes only one, larger it might be than that which +had gone; sometimes a cluster of smaller globes, their +frozen, crocused rays impinging. + +What could they be, I wondered--how fixed, and what +the source of their light? Products of electro-magnetic +currents and born of the interpenetration of such streams +flowing above us? Such a theory might account for their +disappearance, and reappearance, shiftings of the flows +that changed the light producing points of contact. Wireless +lights? If so here was an idea that human science +might elaborate if ever we returned to-- + +"Now which way?" Drake broke in upon my musing. +The hall had ended. We stood before a blank wall vanishing +into the soft mists hiding the roof of the chamber. + +"I thought we had been going along the way They went," +I said in amazement. + +"So did I," he answered. "We must have circled. They +never went through THAT unless--unless--" He hesitated. + +"Unless what?" I asked sharply. + +"Unless it opened and let them through," he said. "Have +you forgotten those great ovals--like cat's eyes that opened +in the outer walls?" he added quietly. + +I HAD forgotten. I looked again at the wall. Certainly it +was smooth, lineless. In one unbroken, shining surface it +rose, a facade of polished metal. Within it the deep set +points of light were duller even than they had been in the +pillars; almost indeed indistinguishable. + +"Go on to the left," I said none too patiently. "And get +that absurd notion out of your head." + +"All right." He flushed. "But you don't think I'm afraid, +do you?" + +"If what you're thinking were true, you'd have a right +to be," I replied tartly. "And I want to tell you I'D be +afraid. Damned afraid." + +For perhaps two hundred paces we skirted the base of +the wall. We came abruptly to an opening, an oblong +passageway fully fifty foot wide by twice as high. At its +entrance the mellow, saffron light was cut off as though +by an invisible screen. The tunnel itself was filled with a +dim grayish blue luster. For an instant we contemplated it. + +"I wouldn't care to be caught in there by any rush," I +hesitated. + +"There's not much good in thinking of that now," said +Drake, grimly. "A few chances more or less in a joint of +this kind is nothing between friends, Goodwin; take it +from me. Come on." + +We entered. Walls, floor and roof were composed of +the same substance as the great pillars, the wall of the +outer chamber; filled like them with dimmed replicas of +the twinkling eye points. + +"Odd that all the places in here are square," muttered +Drake. "They don't seem to have used any spherical or +pyramidal ideas in their building--if it is a building." + +It was true. All was mathematically straight up and +down and across. It was strange--still we had seen little +as yet. + +There was a warmth about this passageway we trod; a +difference in the air of it. The warmth grew, a dry and +baking heat; but stimulative rather than oppressive. I +touched the walls; the warmth did not come from them. +And there was no wind. Yet as we went on the heat increased. + +The passageway turned at a right angle, continuing in a +corridor half its former dimensions. Far away shone a high +bar of pale yellow radiance, rising like a pillar of light +from floor to roof. Toward it, perforce, we trudged. Its +brilliancy grew greater. + +A few paces away from it we stopped. The yellow +luminescence streamed through a slit not more than a foot +wide in the wall. We were in a cul-de-sac for the opening +was not wide enough for either Drake or me to push +through. Through it with the light gushed the curious heat +enveloping us. + +Drake walked to the opening, peered through. I joined +him. + +At first all that I could see was a space filled with the +saffron lambency. Then I saw that this was splashed with +tiny flashes of the jewel fires; little lances and javelin +thrusts of burning emeralds and rubies; darting gem hard +flames rose scarlet and pale sapphire; quick flares of violet. + +Into my sight through the irised, crocus mist swam the +radiant body of Norhala! + +She stood naked, clad only in the veils of her hair that +glowed now like spun silk of molten copper, her strange +eyes wide and smiling, the galaxies of tiny stars sparkling +through their gray depths. + +And all about her swirled a countless host of the Little +Things! + +From them came the gem fires piercing the aureate mists. +They played and frolicked about her in scores of swiftly +forming, swiftly changing, goblin shapes. They circled her +feet in shining, elfin rings; then opening into flaming disks +and stars, shot up and spun about the white miracle of +her body in great girdles of multi-colored living fires. +Mingled with disk and star were tiny crosses gleaming +with sullen, deep crimsons and smoky orange. + +A flash of blue incandescence and a slender pillared +shape leaped from the floor; became a coronet, a whirling, +flashing halo toward which streamed up the flaming tendrilings +of her tresses. Other halos circled her arms and +breasts; they spun like bracelets about the outstretched +arms. + +Then like a swiftly rushing wave a host of the Little +Things thrust themselves up, covered her, hid her in a +coruscating cloud. + +I saw an exquisite arm thrust itself from their clinging, +wave gaily; saw her glorious head emerge from the +incredible, the seething draperies of living jewels. I heard +her laughter, sweet and golden and far away. + +Goddess of the Inexplicable! Madonna of the Metal Babes! + +The Nursery of the Metal People! + +Norhala was gone, blotted out from our sight! Gone too +were the bar of light and the chamber into which we +had been peering. We stared at a smooth, blank wall. With +that same ensorcelled swiftness the wall had closed even +as we had stared through it; closed so quickly that we +had not seen its motion. + +I gripped Drake; shrank with him into the farthest +corner--for on the other side of us the wall was opening. +First it was only a crack; then rapidly it widened. There +stretched another passageway, luminous and long; far +down it we glimpsed movement. Closer that movement +came, grew plainer. Out of the mistily luminous distances, +three abreast and filling the corridor from side to side, +raced upon us a company of the great spheres! + +Back we cowered from their approach--back and back; +arms outstretched, pressing against the barrier, flattening +ourselves against the shock of the destroying impact +menacing. + +"It's all up," muttered Drake. "No place to run. They're +bound to smash us. Stick close, Doc. Get back to Ruth. +Maybe I can stop them!" + +Before I could check him, he had leaped straight in the +path of the rushing globes, now a scant twoscore yards +away. + +The globes stopped--halted a few feet from him. They +seemed to contemplate us, astonished. They turned upon +themselves, as though consulting. Slowly they advanced. +We were pushed forward and lifted gently. Then as we +hung suspended, held by that force which always I +can liken only to myriads of tiny invisible hands, the +shining arcs of their backs undulated beneath us. + +Their files swung around the corner and marched down +the passage by which we had come from the immense hall. +And when the last rank had passed from under us we +were dropped softly to our feet; stood swaying in their +wake. + +A curious frenzy of helpless indignation shook me, a +rage of humiliation obscuring all gratitude I should have +felt for our escape. Drake's eyes blazed wrath. + +"The insolent devils!" He raised clenched fists. "The +insolent, domineering devils!" + +We stared after them. + +Was the passage growing narrower--closing? Even as I +gazed I saw it shrink; saw its walls slide silently toward +each other. I pushed Drake into the newly opened way +and sprang after him. + +Behind us was an unbroken wall covering all that +space in which but a moment before we had stood! + +Is it to be wondered that a panic seized us; that we +began to run crazily down the alley that still lay open +before us, casting over our shoulders quick, fearful +glances to see whether that inexorable, dreadful closing +was continuing, threatening to crush us between these +walls like flies in a vise of steel? + +But they did not close. Unbroken, silent, the way +stretched before us and behind us. At last, gasping, +avoiding each other's gaze, we paused. + +And at that very moment of pause a deeper tremor +shook me, a trembling of the very foundations of life, +the shuddering of one who faces the inconceivable knowing +at last that the inconceivable--IS. + +For, abruptly, walls and floor and roof broke forth into +countless twinklings! + +As though a film had been withdrawn from them, as +though they had awakened from slumber, myriads of little +points of light shone forth upon us from the pale-blue +surfaces--lights that considered us, measured us--mocked +us. + +The little points of living light that were the eyes of the +Metal People! + +This was no corridor cut through inert matter by mechanic +art; its opening had been caused by no hidden +mechanisms! It was a living Thing--walled and floored +and roofed by the living bodies--of the Metal People +themselves. + +Its opening, as had been the closing of that other passage, +was the conscious, coordinate and voluntary action +of the Things that formed these mighty walls. + +An action that obeyed, was directed by, the incredibly +gigantic, communistic will which, like the spirit of the +hive, the soul of the formicary, animated every unit of +them. + +A greater realization swept us. If THIS were true, then +those pillars in the vast hall, its towering walls--all this +City was one living Thing! + +Built of the animate bodies of countless millions! Tons +upon countless tons of them shaping a gigantic pile of +which every atom was sentient, mobile--intelligent! + +A Metal Monster! + +Now I knew why it was that its frowning facade had +seemed to watch us Argus-eyed as the Things had tossed +us toward it. It HAD watched us! + +That flood of watchfulness pulsing about us had been +actual concentration of regard of untold billions of tiny +eyes of the living block which formed the City's cliff. + +A City that Saw! A City that was Alive! + +No secret mechanism then--back darted my mind to +that first terror--had closed the wall, shutting from our +sight Norhala at play with the Little Things. None had +opened the way for, had closed the way behind, the +coursing spheres. It had been done by the conscious action +of the conscious Things of whose living bodies was +built this whole tremendous thinking pile! + + +I think that for a moment we both went a little mad as +that staggering truth came to us. I know we started to run +once more, side by side, gripping like frightened children +each other's hands. Then Drake stopped. + +"By all the HELL of this place," he said, solemnly, "I'll +run no more. After all--we're men. If they kill us, they +kill us. But by the God who made me I'll run from them +no more. I'll die standing." + +His courage steadied me. Defiantly we marched on. Up +from below us, down from the roof, out from the walls +of our way the hosts of eyes gleamed and twinkled upon +us. + +"Who could have believed it?" he muttered, half to himself. +"A living city of them! A living nest of them; a +prodigious living nest of metal!" + +"A nest?" I caught the word. What did it suggest? That +was it--the nest of the army ants, the city of the army +ants, that Beebe had studied in the South American jungles +and once described to me. After all, was this more +wonderful, more unbelievable than that--the city of ants +which was formed by their living bodies precisely as this +was of the bodies of the Cubes? + +How had Beebe* phrased it--"the home, the nest, the +hearth, the nursery, the bridal suite, the kitchen, the bed +and board of the army ants." Built of and occupied by +those blind and dead and savage little insects which by +the guidance of smell alone carried on the most intricate +operations, the most complex activities. Nothing here was +stranger than that, I reflected--if once one could rid the +mind of the paralyzing influence of the shapes of the +Metal Things. Whence came the stimuli that moved THEM, +the stimuli to which THEY reacted? + +* William Beebe, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1919. + +Well then--whence and how came the orders to which +the ANTS responded; that bade them open THIS corridor in +their nest, close THAT, form this chamber, fill that one? +Was one more mysterious than the other? + +Breaking into my current of thoughts came consciousness +that I was moving with increased speed; that my +body was fast growing lighter. + +Simultaneously with this recognition I felt myself lifted +from the floor of the corridor and levitated with considerable +rapidity forward; looking down I saw that floor +several feet below me. Drake's arm wound itself around +my shoulder. + +"Closing up behind us," he muttered. "They're putting +us--out." + +It was, indeed, as though the passageway had wearied +of our deliberate progress. Had decided to--give us a lift. +Rearward it was shutting. I noted with interest how accurately +this motion kept pace with our own speed, and +how fluidly the walls seemed to run together. + +Our movement became accelerated. It was as though +we floated buoyantly, weightless, upon some swift stream. +The sensation was curiously pleasant, languorous--what +was that word Ruth had used?--ELEMENTAL--and free. The +supporting force seemed to flow equally from walls and +floor; to reach down to us from the roof. It was slumberously +even, and effortless. I saw that in advance of us +the living corridor was opening even as behind us it was +closing. + +All around us the little eye points twinkled and-- +laughed. + +There was no danger here--there could be none. Deeper +and deeper dropped my mind into the depths of that alien +tranquillity. Faster and faster we floated--onward. + +Abruptly, ahead of us shone a blaze of daylight. We +passed into it. The force holding us withdrew its grip; I +felt solidity beneath my feet; stood and leaned back +against a smooth wall. + +The corridor had ended and--had shut us out from itself. + +"Bounced!" exclaimed Drake. + +And incongruous, flippant, colloquial as was that word, +I know none that would better describe my own feelings. + +We were BOUNCED out upon a turret jutting from the barrier. +And before us lay spread the most amazing, the most +extraordinary fantastic scene upon which, I think, the +vision of man has rested since the advent of time. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +VAMPIRES OF +THE SUN + +It was a crater; a half mile on high and all of two thousand +feet across ran the circular lip of its vast rim. Above +it was a circle of white and glaring sky in whose center +flamed the sun. + +And instantly, before my vision could grasp a tithe of +that panorama, I knew that this place was the very heart +of the City; its vital ganglion; its soul. + +Around the crater lip were poised thousands of concave +disks, vernal green, enormous. They were like a border of +gigantic, upthrust shields; and within each, emblazoned +like a shield's device, was a blinding flower of flame-- +the reflected, dilated face of the sun. Below this diadem +hung, pendent, clusters of other disks, swarmed like the +globular hiving of the constellation Hercules' captured +stars. And each of these prisoned the image of our sun. + +A hundred feet below us was the crater floor. + +Up from it thrust a mountainous forest of the pallidly +radiant cones; bristling; prodigious. Tier upon tier, thicket +upon thicket, phalanx upon phalanx they climbed. Up and +up, pyramidically, they flung their spiked hosts. + +They drew together two thousand feet above us, clustering +close about the foot of a single huge spire which +thrust itself skyward above them. The crest of this spire +was truncated. From its shorn tip radiated scores of long +and slender spokes holding in place a thousand feet wide +wheel of wan green disks whose concave surfaces, unlike +those smooth ones girding the crater, were curiously +faceted. + +This amazing structure rested upon a myriad-footed +base of crystal, even as had that other cornute fantasy +beside which we had met the great Disk. But it was in size +to that as--as Leviathan to a minnow. From it streamed +the same baffling suggestion of invincible force transmuted +into matter; energy coalesced into the tangible; power +made concentrate in the vestments of substance. + +Half-way between crater lip and floor began the hordes +of the Metal People. + +In colossal animate cheveau-de-frise of hundred-foot +girders they thrust themselves out from the curving walls +--walls, I knew, as alive as they! + +From these Brobdignagian beams they swung in ropes +and clusters--spheres and cubes studded as thickly with +the pyramids as ever Titan's mace with spikes. Group after +bizarre group they dropped; pendulous. Coppices of slender +columns of thistled globes sprang up to meet the +festooned joists. + +Between the girders they draped themselves in long, +stellated garlands; grouped themselves in innumerable, +kaleidoscopic patterns. + +They clicked into place around the golden turret in +which we crouched. + +In fantastic arrases they swayed in front of us--now +hiding by, now revealing through their quicksilver interweavings +the mounts of the Cones. + +And steadily those flowing in below added to their multitudes; +gliding up cable and pillar; building out still further +the living girders, stringing themselves upon living +festoon and living garland, weaving in among them, changing +their shapes, rewriting their symbols. + +They swung and threaded swiftly, in shifting arabesque, +in Gothic traceries, in lace-like fantasies; utterly bizarre, +unutterably beautiful--crystalline, geometric always. + +Abruptly their movement ceased--so abruptly that the +stoppage of all the ordered turmoil had the quality of +appalling silence. + +An unimaginable tapestry bedight with incredible broidery, +the Metal People draped the vast cup. + +Pillared it as though it were a temple. + +Garnished it with their bodies as though it were a +shrine. + +Across the floor toward the Cones glided a palely lustrous +sphere. In shape only a globe like all its kind, yet it +was invested with power; it radiated power as a star does +light; was clothed in unseen garments of supernal force. +In its wake drifted two great pyramids; after them ten +spheres but little smaller than the Shape which led. + +"The Metal Emperor!" breathed Drake. + +On they swept until they reached the base of the Cones. +They paused at the edge of the crystal tabling. They +turned. + +There was a flashing as of a meteor bursting. The globe +had opened into that splendor of jewel fires before which +had floated Norhala and Ruth. + +I saw again the luminous ovals of sapphire, studding its +golden zone, the mystic rose of pulsing, petal flame, the +still core of incandescent ruby that was the heart of that +rose. + +Strangely I felt my own heart veer toward this--Thing; +bowing before its beauty and its strength; almost worshiping! + +A shock of revulsion went through me. I shot a quick, +half frightened glance at Drake. He was crouching dangerously +close to the lip of the ledge, hands clasped and +knuckles white with the intensity of his grip, eyes rapt, +staring--upon the verge of worship even as I had been. + +"Drake!" I thrust my elbow into his side brutally. "None +of that! Remember you're human! Guard yourself, man +--guard yourself!" + +"What?" he muttered; then, abruptly: "How did you +know?" + +"I felt it myself," I answered: "For God's sake, Dick-- +hold fast to yourself! Remember Ruth!" + +He shook his head violently--as though to be rid of +some clinging, cloying thing. + +"I'll not forget again," he said. + +He huddled down once more close to the edge of the +shelf; peering over. No one of the Metal People had +moved; the silence, the stillness, was unbroken. + +Now the flanking pyramids shot forth into twin stars, +blazing with violet luminescences. And one by one after +them the ten lesser spheres expanded into flaming orbs; +beautiful they were, but far less glorious than that Disk of +whom they were the counselors?--ministers?--what? + +Still there was no movement among all the arrased, +girdered, pillared hosts. + +There came a little wailing; far away it was and far. +Nearer it drew. Was that a tremor that passed through +the crowded crater? A quick pulse of--eagerness? + +"Hungry!" whispered Drake. "They're HUNGRY!" + + +Closer was the wailing; again that faint tremor quivered +over the place. And now I caught it--a quick and avid +pulsing. + +"Hungry," whispered Drake again. "Like a lot of lions +with the keeper coming along with meat." + +The wailing was below us. I felt, not a quiver this time, +but an unmistakable shock pass through the Horde. It +throbbed--and passed. + +Into the field of our vision, up to the flaming Disk +rushed an immense cube. + +Thrice the height of a tall man--as I think I have noted +before--when it unfolded its radiance was that shape of +mingled beauty and power I call the Metal Emperor. + +Yet this Thing eclipsed it. Black, uncompromising, in +some indefinable way BRUTAL, its square bulk blotted out +the Disk's effulgence; shrouded it. And a shadow seemed +to fall upon the crater. The violet fires of the flanking stars +pulsed out--watchfully, threateningly. + +For only an instant the darkening block loomed against +the Disk; blackened it. + +There came another meteor burst of light. Where the +cube had been was now a tremendous, fiery cross--a cross +inverted. + +Its upper arm arose to twice the length either of its +horizontals or the square that was its foot. In its opening +it must have turned, for its--FACE--was toward us and +away from the Cones, its body hid the Disk, and almost +all the surfaces of the two watchful Stars. + +Eighty feet at least in height, this cruciform shape +stood. It flamed and flickered with angry, smoky crimsons +and scarlets; with sullen orange glowings and glitterings of +sulphurous yellows. Within its fires were none of those +leaping, multicolored glories that were the Metal Emperor's; +no trace of the pulsing, mystic rose; no shadow +of jubilant sapphire; no purple royal; no tender, merciful +greens nor gracious opalescences. Nothing even of the +blasting violet of the Stars. + +All angry, smoky reds and ochres the cross blazed +forth--and in its lurid glowings was something sinister, +something real, something cruel, something--nearer to +earth, closer to man. + +"The Keeper of the Cones and the Metal Emperor!" +muttered Drake. "I begin to get it--yes--I begin to get-- +Ventnor!" + +Once more the pulse, the avid throbbing shook the +crater. And as swiftly in its wake rushed back the +stillness, the silence. + +The Keeper turned--I saw its palely lustrous blue metallic +back. I drew out my little field-glasses, focussed them. + +The Cross slipped sidewise past the Disk, its courtiers, +its stellated guardians. As it went by they swung about +with it; ever facing it. + +And now at last was clear a thing that had puzzled +greatly--the mechanism of that opening process by which +sphere became oval disk, pyramid a four-pointed star and +--as I had glimpsed in the play of the Little Things about +Norhala, could see now so plainly in the Keeper--the +blocks took this inverted cruciform shape. + +The Metal People were hollow! + +Hollow metal--boxes! + +In their enclosing sides dwelt all their vitality--their +powers--themselves! + +And those sides were--everything that THEY were! + +Folded, the oval disk became the sphere; the four points +of the star, the square from which those points radiated; +shutting became the pyramid; the six faces of the cubes +were when opened the inverted cross. + +Nor were these flexible, mobile walls massive. They +were indeed, considering the apparent mass of the Metal +Folk, most astonishingly fragile. Those of the Keeper, +despite its eighty feet of height, could not have been more +than a yard in thickness. At the edges I thought I could +see groovings; noted the same appearances at the outlines +of the Stars. Seen sidewise, the body of the Metal Emperor +showed as a convexity; its surface smooth, with a +suggestion of transparency. + +The Keeper was bending; its oblong upper plane dropping +forward as though upon a hinge. Lower and lower +this flange bent--in a grotesque, terrifying obeisance; a +horrible mockery of reverence. + +Was this mountain of Cones then actually a shrine--an +idol of the Metal People--their God? + +The oblong that was the upper half of the cruciform +Shape extended now at right angles to the horizontal arms. +It hovered, a rectangle forty feet long, as many feet over +the floor at the base of the crystal pedestal. It bent +again, this time from the hinge that held the outstretched +arms to the base. And now it was a huge truncated cross, +a T-shaped figure, hovering only twenty feet above the +pave. + +Down from the Keeper writhed and flicked a tangle of +tentacles; serpentine, whiplike. Silvery white, they were +dyed with the scarlet and orange flaming of the surface +now hidden from my eyes; reflected those sullen and angry +gleamings. Vermiceous, coiling, they seemed to drop from +every inch of the overhanging planes. + +Something there was beneath them--something like an +immense and luminous tablet. The tentacles were moving +over it--pressing here, thrusting there, turning, pushing, +manipulating-- + + +A shuddering passed through the crowding cones. I +saw the tremor shake their bristling hosts, oscillate the +great spire, set the faceted disks quivering. + +The trembling grew; a vibration in every separate cone +that became even more rapid. There was a faint, curiously +oppressive humming--like the distant echo of a tempest +in chaos. + +Faster, ever faster grew the vibration. Now the sharp +outlines of the cones were dissolving. + +And now they were--gone. + +The mount of the cones had become a mighty pyramid +of pale green radiance--one tremendous, pallid flame, of +which the spire was the tongue. Out from the disked wheel +at its shorn tip gushed a flood of light--light that gathered +itself from the leaping radiance below it. + +The tentacles of the Keeper moved more swiftly over +the enigmatic tablet; writhing cloudily; confusedly rapid. +The faceted disks wavered; turned upward; the wheel began +to whirl--faster--faster-- + +Up from that flaming circle, out into the sky leaped a +thick, pale green column of intensest light. + +With prodigious speed, as compact as water, CONCENTRATE, +it struck--straight out toward the face of the sun. + +It thrust up with the speed of light--the speed of light? +A thought came to me; incredible I believed it even as I +reacted to it. My pulse is uniformly seventy to the minute. +I sought my wrist, found the artery, made allowance for +its possible acceleration, began to count. + +"What's the matter?" asked Drake. + +"Take my glasses," I muttered, trying to keep up, while +speaking, my tally. "Matches in my pocket. Smoke the +lenses. I want to look at sun." + +With a look of stupefied amazement which, at another +time I would have found laughable, he obeyed. + +"Hold them to my eyes," I ordered. + +Three minutes had gone by. + +There it was--that for which I sought. Clear through +the darkened lenses I could see the sun spot, high up on +the northern-most limb of the sun. An unimaginable cyclone +of incandescent gases; an unthinkably huge dynamo +pouring its floods of electro-magnetism upon all the circling +planets; that solar crater which we now know was, +when at its maximum, all of one hundred and fifty thousand +miles across; the great sun spot of the summer of +1919--the most enormous ever recorded by astronomical +science. + +Five minutes had gone by. + +Common sense whispered to me. There was no use keeping +my eyes fixed to the glasses. Even if that thought were +true--even if that pillar of radiance were a MESSENGER, an +earth-hurled bolt flying to the sun through atmosphere +and outer space with the speed of light, even if it were +this stupendous creation of these Things, still between +eight and nine minutes must elapse before it could reach +the orb; and as many minutes must go by before the image +of whatever its impact might produce upon the sun could +pass back over the bridge of light spanning the ninety +millions of miles between it and us. + +And after all did not that hypothesis belong to the utterly +impossible? Even were it so--what was it that the +Metal Monster expected to follow? This radiant shaft, +colossal as it was to us, was infinitesimal compared to the +target at which it was aimed. + +What possible effect could that spear have upon the +solar forces? + +And yet--and yet--a gnat's bite can drive an elephant +mad. And Nature's balance is delicate; and what great +happenings may follow the slightest disturbance of her +infinitely sensitive, her complex, equilibrium? It might be-- +it might be-- + +Eight minutes had passed. + +"Take the glasses," I bade Drake. "Look up at the sun +spot--the big one." + +"I see it." He had obeyed me. "What of it?" + +Nine minutes. + +The shaft, if I were right, had by now touched the sun. +What was to follow? + +"I don't get you at all," said Drake, and lowered the +glasses. + +Ten minutes. + +"What's happening? Look at the Cones! Look at the +Emperor!" gasped Drake. + + +I peered down, then almost forgot to count. + +The pyramidal flame that had been the mount of Cones +was shrunken. The pillar of radiance had not lessened-- +but the mechanism that was its source had retreated whole +yards within the field of its crystal base. + +And the Metal Emperor! Dulled and faint were his fires, +dimmed his splendors; and fainter still were the violet +luminescences of the watching Stars, the shimmering livery +of his court. + +The Keeper of the Cones! Were not its outstretched +planes hovering lower and lower over the gleaming tablet; +its tentacles moving aimlessly, feebly--wearily? + +I had a sense of force being withdrawn from all about +me. It was as though all the City were being drained of +life--as though vitality were being sucked from it to feed +this pyramid of radiance; drained from it to forge the +thrusting spear piercing sunward. + +The Metal People seemed to hang limply, inert; the living +girders seemed to sag; the living columns to bend; to +droop and to sway. + +Twelve minutes. + +With a nerve-racking crash one of the laden beams fell; +dragging down with it others; bending, shattering in its +fall a thicket of the horned columns. Behind us the +sparkling eyes of the wall were dimmed, vacant--dying. +Something of that hellish loneliness, that demoniac desire +for immolation that had assailed us in the haunted hollow +of the ruins began to creep over me. + +The crowded crater was fainting. The life was going out +of the City--its magnetic life, draining into the shaft +of green fire. + +Duller grew the Metal Emperor's glories. + +Fourteen minutes. + +"Goodwin," cried Drake, "the life's going out of these +Things! Going out with that ray they're shooting." + +Fifteen minutes. + +I watched the tentacles of the Keeper grope over the +tablet. Abruptly the flaming pyramid darkened--WENT OUT. + +The radiant pillar hurtled upward like a thunder-bolt; +vanished in space. + +Before us stood the mount of cones, shrunken to a sixth +of its former size. + +Sixteen minutes. + +All about the crater-lip the ringed shields tilted; thrust +themselves on high, as though behind each was an eager +lifting arm. Below them the hived clusters of disks changed +from globules into wide coronets. + +Seventeen minutes. + +I dropped my wrist; seized the glasses from Drake; +raised them to the sun. For a moment I saw nothing--then +a tiny spot of white incandescence shone forth at the +lower edge of the great spot. It grew into a point of +radiance, dazzling even through the shadowed lenses. + +I rubbed my eyes; looked again. It was still there, larger +--blazing with an ever increasing and intolerable intensity. + +I handed the glasses to Drake, silently. + +"I see it!" he muttered. "I see it! And THAT did it--that! +Goodwin!" There was panic in his cry. "Goodwin! The +spot! it's widening! It's widening!" + +I snatched the glasses from him. I caught again the +dazzling flashing. But whether Drake HAD seen the spot widen, +change--to this day I do not know. + +To me it seemed unchanged--and yet--perhaps it was +not. It may be that under that finger of force, that spear +of light, that wound in the side of our sun HAD opened +further-- + +That the sun had winced! + +I do not to this day know. But whether it had or not-- +still shone the intolerably brilliant light. And miracle +enough that was for me. + +Twenty minutes--subconsciously I had gone on counting-- +twenty minutes-- + +About the cratered girdle of the upthrust shields a +glimmering mistiness was gathering; a translucent mist, +beryl pale and beryl clear. In a heart-beat it had thickened +into a vast and vaporous ring through whose swarms of +corpuscles the sun's reflected image upon each disk shone +clear--as though seen through clouds of transparent +atoms of aquamarine. + +Again the filaments of the Keeper moved--feebly. As +one of the hosts of circling shields shifted downward. +Brilliant, ever more brilliant, waxed the fast-thickening +mists. + +Abruptly, and again as one, the disks began to revolve. +From every concave surface, from the surfaces of the +huge circlets below them, flashed out a stream of green +fire--green as the fire of green life itself. Corpuscular, +spun of uncounted rushing, dazzling ions the great rays +struck across, impinged upon the thousand-foot wheel +that crowned the cones; set it whirling. + +Over it I saw form a limpid cloud of the brilliant +vapors. Whence came these sparkling nebulosities, +these mists of light? It was as though the clustered, +spinning disks reached into the shadowless air, sucked from it +some unseen, rhythmic energy and transformed it into this +visible, coruscating flood. + +For now it was a flood. Down from the immense wheel +came pouring cataracts of green fires. They cascaded over +the cones; deluged them; engulfed them. + +Beneath that radiant inundation the cones grew. Perceptibly +their volume increased--as though they gorged +themselves upon the light. No--it was as though the +corpuscles flew to them, coalesced and built themselves into +the structure. + +Out and further out upon the base of crystal they crept. +And higher and higher soared their tips, thrusting, ever +thrusting upward toward the whirling wheel that fed +them. + +Now from the Keeper's planes writhed the Keeper's tangle +of tentacles, uncoiling eagerly, avidly, through the +twenty feet of space between their source and the +enigmatic mechanism they manipulated. The crater's disks +tilted downward. Into the vast hollow shot their jets of +green radiance, drenching the Metal Hordes, splashing +from the polished walls wherever the Metal Hordes had +left those living walls exposed. + +All about us was a trembling, an accelerating pulse +of life. Colossal, rhythmic, ever quicker, ever more +powerfully that pulse throbbed--a prodigious vibration +monstrously alive. + +"Feeding!" whispered Drake. "Feeding! Feeding on the +sun!" + +Faster danced the radiant beams. The crater was a cauldron +of green fires through which the conical rays angled +and interwove, crossed and mingled. And where they +mingled, where they crossed, flamed out suddenly immense +rayless orbs; palpitant for an instant, then dissolving +in spiralling, feathery spray of pallid emerald incandescences. + +Stronger and stronger beat the pulse of returning life. + +A jetting stream struck squarely upon the Metal Emperor. +Out blazed his splendors--jubilant. His golden +zodiac, no longer tarnished and dull, ran with sun flames; +the wondrous rose was a racing, lambent miracle. + +Up snapped the Keeper; towered behind him, all flickering +scarlets and leaping yellows--no longer wrathful or +sullen. + +The place dripped radiance; was filling like a chrisom +with radiance. + +Us, too, the sparkling mists bathed. + +I was conscious of a curiously wild exhilaration; a +quickening of the pulse; an abnormally rapid breathing. +I stooped to touch Drake; sparks leaped from my outstretched +fingers, great green sparks that crackled as they +impacted upon him. He gave them no heed; but stared +with fascinated eyes upon the crater. + +Now from every side broke a tempest of gem fires. +From every girder and column, from every arras, pendent +and looping, burst diamond glitterings, ruby luminescences, +lanced flames of molten emerald and sapphires, +flashings of amethyst and opal, meteoric iridescences, +dazzling spectrums. + +The hollow was a cave of some Aladdin of the Titans +ablaze with enchanted hoards. It was a place of gems +ensorcelled, gems in which imprisoned hosts of the Jinns of +Light beat sparkling against their crystal walls to escape. + +I thrust the fantasies from me. Fantastic enough was +this reality--globe and pyramid and cube of the Metal +People opening wide, bathing in, drinking from the +radiant maelstrom that faster and ever faster swirled +about them. + +"Feeding!" It was Drake's awed voice. "Feeding on the +sun!" + +The circling shields were raising themselves, lifting +themselves higher above the crater-lip. Into the crowded +cylinder came now only the rays from the high circlets, +the streams from the huge wheel above the still growing +cones. + +Up and up the shields rose, but by what mechanism +raised I could not see. Their motion ceased; in all their +thousands they turned. Over the City's top and out into +the oval valley they poured their torrents of light; flooding +it, deluging it even as they had this pit that was the +City's heart. Feeding, I knew, those other Metal Hordes +without. + +And as though in answer, sweeping down upon us +through the circles of open sky, a clamor poured. + +"If we'd but known!" Drake's voice came to me, thin +and unreal through the tumult. "It's what Ventnor meant! +If we had got down there when they were so weak--if +we could have handled the Keeper--we could have +smashed that plate that works the Cones! We could have +killed them!" + +"There are other Cones," I cried back to him. + +"No," he shook his head. "This is the master machine. +It's what Ventnor meant when he said to strike through +the sun. And we've lost the chance--" + +Louder grew the hurricane without; and now within +began its mate. Through the mists flashed linked tempests of +lightnings. Bolt upon javelin bolt, and ever more thickly; +lightnings green as the mists themselves; lightning bolts +of destroying violets, searing scarlets; tearing chains of +withering yellows, globes of exploding multicolored electric +incandescences. + +The crater was threaded with the lightnings of the +Metal People; was broidered with them; was a Pit woven +with vast and changing patterns of electric flame. + +What was it that Drake had said? That if but we could +have known we could have destroyed these--Things-- +Destroyed--Them? Things that could thrust their will +and power up through ninety million miles of space and +suck from the sun the honey of power! Drain it and hive +it within these great mountains of the cones! + +Destroy Things that could feed their own life into a +machine to draw back from the sun a greater life-- +Things that could forge of their strength a spear which, +piercing the side of the sun, sent gushing back upon them +a tenfold, nay, a thousandfold strength! + +Destroy this City that was one vast and living dynamo +feeding upon the magnetic life of earth and sun! + +The clamor had grown stupendous, destroying--like +armored Gods roaring at sword play in a hundred +Valhallas; like the war drums of battling universe; like the +smitings of warring suns. + +And all the City was throbbing, beating with a gigantic +pulse of life--was fed and drunken with life. I felt that +pulsing become my own; I echoed to it; throbbed in +unison. I saw Drake outlined in flame; that around me a +radiant nimbus was growing. + +I thought I saw Norhala floating, clothed in shouting, +flailing fires. I strove to call out to her. By me slipped +the body of Drake; lay flaming at my feet upon the narrow ledge. + +There was a roaring within my head--louder, far +louder, than that which beat against my ears. Something +was drawing me forth; drawing me out of my body into +unimaginable depths of blackness. Something was hurling +me out into those cold depths of space that alone could +darken the fires that encircled me--the fires of which I +was becoming a part. + +I felt myself leap outward--outward and outward-- +into--oblivion. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +PHANTASMAGORIA +METALLIOUE. + +Wearily I opened my eyes. Stiffly, painfully, I stirred. +High above me was the tremendous circle of sky, ringed +with the hosts of feeding shields. But the shields were now +wanly gleaming and the sky was the sky of night. + +Night? How long had I lain here? And where was +Drake? I struggled to rise. + +"Steady, old man," his voice came from beside me. +"Steady--and quiet. How are you feeling?" + +"Badly battered," I groaned. "What happened?" + +"We weren't used to the show," he said. "We got all fed +up at the orgy. Too much magnetism--we had a sudden +and violent attack of electrical indigestion. Sh-h--look +ahead of you." + +Gingerly I turned. I had been lying, I now saw, head +toward and prone at the base of one of the crater's walls. +As my gaze swept away I noted with a curious relief +that the tiny eye-points were no longer sparkling with +their enigmatic life, that they were dulled and dim once +more. + +Before me, glimmering pallidly, bristled the mount of +the Cones. Around its crystal base glittered immense +egg-shaped diamond incandescences. They were both rayless +and strangely--lightless; they threw no shadows nor did +their lambency lessen the dimness. Beside each of these +curious luminosities stood one of the sullen-fired, cruciform +shapes--the Things that now I knew for the opened +cubes. + +They were smaller than the Keeper, indeed less than half +his height. They were ranged in an almost unbroken crescent +around the visible arc of the immense pedestal--and +now I saw that the lights were a few feet closer to that +pedestal than they. Egg-shaped as I have said, the wider +end was undermost, resting in a broad cup upheld by a +slender pedicle silvery-gray and metallic. + +"They're building out the base," whispered Drake. "The +Cones got so big they have to give them more room." + +"Magnetism," I whispered in return. "Electricity--they +drew down from the sun spot. And it was more than that-- +I saw the Cones grow under it. It fed them as it fed the +Hordes--but the Cones grew. It was as though the shields +and the Cones turned pure energy into substance." + +"And if we hadn't been pretty thoroughly magnetized to +start with it would have done for us," he said. + +We watched the operation going on in front of us. +The cross shapes had bent, hinging above the transverse +arms. They bowed in absolute unison as at some signal. +Down from the horizontal plane of each whipped the long +and writhing tentacles. + +At the foot of every one I could now perceive a heap +of some faintly glistening material. The tendrils coiled +among this, then drew up something that looked like a +thick rod of crystal. The bent planes straightened; +simultaneously they thrust the crystalline bars toward +the incandescences. + +There came a curious, brittle hissing. The ends of the +rods began to dissolve into dazzling, diamond rain, +atomically minute, that passing through the egg-shaped +lights poured upon the periphery of the pedestal. Rapidly +the bars melted. Heat there must be in these lights, +terrific heat--yet the Keeper's workers seemed impervious +to it. + +As the ends of the bars radiated into the annealing mist +I saw the tentacles creep closer and ever closer to the +rayless flame through which the mist flew. And at the +last, as the ultimate atoms drove through, the holding +tendrils were thrust almost within it; touched it, certainly. + +A score of times they repeated this process while we +watched. Unaware of us they seemed, or--if aware, then +indifferent. More rapid became their movements, the glassy +ingots streaming through the floating braziers with hardly +a pause in their passing. Abruptly, as though switched, +the incandescences lessened into candle-points; instantly, +as at a signal, the crescent of crosses closed into a crescent +of cubes. + +Motionless they stood, huge blocks blackened against +the dim glowing of the cones--sentient monoliths; a +Druid curve; an arc of a metal Stonehenge. And as at +dusk and dawn the great menhirs of Stonehenge fill with a +mysterious, granitic life, seem to be praying priests of +stone, so about these gathered hierophantic illusion. + + +They quivered; the slender pedicles cupping, the waned +lights swayed; the lights lifted and soared, upright, to +their backs. + +Two by two with measured pace, solemnly the cubes +glided off into the encircling darkness. As they swept +away there streamed behind them other scores not until +then visible to us, joining pair by pair from hidden arcs. + +Into the secret shadows they flowed, two by two, each +bearing over it the slim shaft holding the serene flame. + +Grotesquely were they like a column of monks marching +with dimmed flambeau of their worship. Angled +metal monks of some god of metal, carrying tapers of +electric fire, withdrawing slowly from a Holy of Holies +whose metallically divine Occupant knew nothing of man +--nor cared to know. + +Grotesque--yes. But would that I had the power to +crystallize in words the underlying, alien terror every +movement of the Metal Monster when disintegrate, its +every manifestation when combined, evoked; the incredulous, +amazed lurking always close behind the threshold of the +mind; the never lifting, thin-shuddering shadow. + +Smaller, dimmer waned the lights--they were gone. + +We crouched, motionless. Nothing stirred; there was +no sound. Without speaking we arose; crept together over +the smooth floor toward the cones. + +As we crossed I saw that the pave, like the walls, was +built of the bodies of the Metal People; and, like the +walls, they were dormant, filmed eyes oblivious to our +passing. Closer we crept--were only a scant score of rods +from that colossal mechanism. I noted that the crystal +foundation was set low; was not more than four feet +above the floor. The sturdy, dwarfed pilasters supporting +it thrust up in crowded copses, merging through distance +into apparent solidity. + +Now, too, I realized, as I had not when looking down +from above, how stupendous the structure rising from the +crystal foundation was. + +I began to wonder how so thin a support could bear +the mount bristling above it--then remembered what it +was that at first had flown from them, shrinking them, and +at last had fed and swelled them. + +Light! Weightless magnetic ions; swarms of electric +ions; the misty breath of the infinite energy breathing +upon, condensing upon, them. Could it be that the Cones +for all their apparent mass had little, if any, weight? Like +ringed Saturn, thousands of times Earth's bulk, flaunting +itself in the Heavens--yet if transported to our world so +light that rings and all it would float like a bubble upon our +oceans. The Cones towered above me--close, so close. + +The Cones were weightless. How I knew I cannot say-- +but now, almost touching them, I did know. Nebulous, +yet solid, were they; compact, yet tenuous, dense and +unsubstantial. + +Again the thought came to me--they were force made +visible; energy made concentrate into matter. + +We skirted, seeking for the tablet over which the +Keeper had hovered; the mechanism which, under his +tentacles, had shifted the circling shields, thrust the spear +of green fire into the side of the wounded sun. Hesitantly +I touched the crystal base; the edge was warm, but +whether this warmth came from the dazzling rain which +we had just watched build it outward or whether it was a +property inherent with the substance itself I do not know. + +Certainly there was no mark upon it to show where the +molten mists had fallen. It was diamond hard and smooth. +The nearest cones were but a scant nine feet from its +rim. + +Suddenly we saw the tablet; stood beside it. The shape +of a great T, glimmering with a faint and limpid violet +phosphorescence, it might have been, in shape and size, +the palely shining shadow of the Keeper. It was a foot +above the floor, and had apparently no connection with +the cones. + +It was made of thousands of close-packed tiny octagonal +rods the tops of some of which were cupped, of others +pointed; none was more than half an inch in width. +There was about it a suggestion of wedded crystal and +metal--as about its burden was the suggestion of mated +energy and matter. + +The rods were movable; they formed a keyboard unimaginably +complex; a keyboard whose infinite combinations were +like a Fourth Dimensional chess game. I saw +that only the swarms of tentacles that were the Keeper's +hands and these only could be masters of its incredible +intricacies. No Disk--not even the Emperor, no Star shape +could play on it, draw out its chords of power. + +But why? Why had it been so made that sullen flaming +Cross alone could release its hidden meanings, made +articulate its interwoven octaves? And how were its +messages conveyed? Up to its bases pressed the dormant +cubes--that under it they lay as well I did not doubt. + +There was no visible copula of the tablet with cones; +no antennae between it and the circled shields. Could it +be that the impulses released by the Keeper's coilings +passed through the Metal People of the pave on the +upthrust Metal People of the crater rim who held the +shields? + +That WAS unthinkable--unthinkable because if so this +mechanism was superfluous. + +The swift response to the communal will that we had +observed showed that the Metal Monster needed nothing +of this kind for transmission of the thought of any of +its units. + +There was some gap here--a gap that the grouped consciousness +could not bridge without other means. Clearly +that was true--else why the tablet, why the Keeper's +travail? + +Was each of these tiny rods a mechanism akin, in a +fashion, to the sending keys of the wireless; were they +transmitters of subtle energy in which was enfolded command? +Spellers-out of a super-Morse carrying to each responsive +cell of the Metal Monster the bidding of those +higher units which were to It as the brain cells are to us? +That, advanced as the knowledge it implied might be, was +closer to the heart of the possible. + +I bent, determined, despite the well-nigh unconquerable +shrinking I felt, to touch the tablet's rods. + +A flickering shadow fell upon me; a flock of pulsating +ochreous and scarlet shadows-- + +The Keeper glowed above us! + +In a life that has had its share of dangers, its need +for quick decisions, I recognize that few indeed of my +reactions to peril have been more than purely instinctive; +no more consciously courageous nor intellectually dissociate +from the activating stimulus than the shrinking of +the burned hand from the brand, the will-to-live dictated +rush of the cornered animal upon the thing menacing it. + +One such higher functioning was when I followed Larry +O'Keefe and Lakla, the Handmaiden, out to what we +believed soul-destroying death in a place almost as +strange as this*; another was now. Deliberately, detachedly, +I studied the angrily flaming Shape. + +* See "The Moon Pool" and "The Conquest of the Moon Pool." + +Compared to it we were as a pair of Hop-o'-my-Thumbs +to the Giant; had it been man-shaped we would +have come less than a third way up to its knees. I focussed +my attention upon the twenty-foot-wide square that was +the Keeper's foot. Its surface was jewel smooth, hyaline +--yet beneath it was a suggestion of granulation, of +close-packed, innumerable, microscopic crystals. + +Within these grains whose existence was more sensed +than seen glowed dull red light, smoky and sullen. At +each end of the square, close to the bottom, was a +diamond-shaped lozenge, cabochon, perhaps a yard in +width. These were dim yellow, translucent, with no +suggestion of the underlying crystallization. Sense organs I +set them down to be--similar to the great ovals within the +Emperor's golden zone. + + +My gaze traveled up to the transverse arms. They +stretched sixty feet from tip to tip. At each tip were two +more of the diamond figures, not dull but burning angrily +with orange-and-scarlet luster. In the center of the beam +was something that might have been a smoldering rubrous +reflection of the Emperor's pulsing multicolored rose had +each of the petals of the latter been clipped and squared. + +It deepened toward its heart into a singular pattern of +vermilion latticings. Into the entire figure ran numerous +tiny rivulets of angry crimson and orange light, angling +in interwoven patterns with never a curve nor arching. + +Set at intervals between them were what looked like +octagonal rosettes filled with slender silvery flutings, wan +striations--like--it came to me--immense chrysanthemum +buds, half opened, and carved in gray jade. + +Above towered the gigantic vertical beam. Toward its +top I glimpsed a huge square of flaring crimsons and +bright topaz; two other diamonds stared down upon us +from just beneath it--like eyes. And over all its height +the striated octagons clustered. + +I felt myself lifted, floated upward. Drake's hand shot +out, clung to me as together we drifted up the living wall. +Opposite the latticed heart of the square-petaled rose our +flight was checked. There for an instant we hung. Then the +octagonal symbols stirred, unfolded like buds-- + +They were the nests of the Keeper's tentacles, and out +from them the whiplike tendrils uncoiled, shot out and +writhed toward us. + +My skin flinched from their touch; my body, held in the +unseen grip, was motionless. Yet when they touched their +contact was not unpleasant. They were like flexible strands +of glass; their smooth tips questioned us, passing +through our hair, searching our faces, writhing over our +clothing. + +There was a pulse in the great clipped rose, a rhythmic +throbbing of vermilion fire that ran into it from the angled +veins, beat through the latticed nucleus and throbbed +back whence it had come. The huge, high square of scarlet +and yellow was liquid flame; the diamond organs beneath +it seemed to smoke, to send out swirls of orange red +vapor. + +Holding us so the Keeper studied us. + +The rhythm of the square rose, became the rhythm of +my own mind. But here was none of the vast, serene and +elemental calm that Ruth had described as emanating from +the Metal Emperor. Powerful it was, without doubt, but +in it were undertones of rage, of impatience, overtones +of revolt, something incomplete and struggling. Within +the disharmonies I seemed to sense a fettered force striving +for freedom; energy battling against itself. + +Greater grew the swarms of the tentacles winding +about us like slender strands of glass, covering our faces, +making breathing more and more difficult. There was a +coil of them around my throat and tightening--tightening. + +I heard Drake gasping, laboring for breath. I could not +turn my head toward him, could not speak. Was this +then to be our end? + +The strangling clutch relaxed, the mass of the tentacles +lessened. I was conscious of a surge of anger through +the cruciform Thing that held us. + +Its sullen fires blazed. I was aware of another light +beating past us--beating down the Keeper's. The hosts of +tendrils drew back from me. I felt myself picked from +the unseen grasp, whirled in the air and drawn away. + +Drake beside me, I hung now before the Shining Disk +--the Metal Emperor! + +He it was who had plucked us from the Keeper--and +even as I swung I saw the Keeper's multitudinous, +serpentine arms surge out toward us angrily and then +sullenly, slowly, draw back into their nests. + +And out of the Disk, clothing me, permeating me, came +an immense tranquillity, a muting of all human thought, +all human endeavor, an unthinkable, cosmic calm into +which all that was human of me seemed to be sinking, +drowning as in a fathomless abyss. I struggled against it, +desperately, striving in study of the Disk to erect a barrier +of preoccupation against the power pouring from it. + +A dozen feet away from us the sapphire ovals centered +upon us their regard. They were limpid, pellucid as gems +whose giant replicas they seemed to be. The surface of the +Disk ringed about by the aureate zodiac in which the +nine ovals shone was a maze of geometric symbols traced +in the lines of living gem fires; infinitely complex those +patterns and infinitely beautiful; an infinite number of +symmetric forms in which I seemed to trace all the ordered +crystalline wonders of the snowflakes, the groupings of +all crystalline patternings, the soul of ordered +beauty that are the marvels of the Radiolaria, Nature's +own miraculous book of the soul of mathematical beauty. + +The flashing, petaled heart was woven of living rainbows +of cold flame. + +Silently we floated there while the Disk--LOOKED--at +us. + +And as though I had been not an actor but an observer, +the weird picture of it all came to me--two men swinging +like motes in mid air, on one side the flickering +scarlet and orange Cruciform shape, on the other side the +radiant Disk, behind the two manikins the pallid mount +of the bristling cones; and high above the wan circle of +the shields. + +There was a ringing about us--an elfin chiming, sweet +and crystalline. It came from the cones--and strangely +was it their vocal synthesis, their voice. Into the vast +circle of sky pierced a lance of green fire; swift in its +wake uprose others. + +We slid gently down, stood swaying at the Disk's base. +The Keeper bent; angled. Again the planes above the supporting +square hovered over the tablet. The tendrils swept +down, pushed here and there, playing upon the rods some +unknown symphony of power. + +Thicker pulsed the lances of the aurora; changed to +vast billowing curtains. The faceted wheel at the top of +the central spire of the cones swung upward; a light began +to stream from the cones themselves--no pillar now, +but a vast circle that shot whirling into the heavens like a +noose. + +And like a noose it caught the aurora, snared it! + +Into it the coruscating mists of mysterious flame +swirled; lost their colors, became a torrent of light flying +down through the ring as though through a funnel top. + +Down poured the radiant corpuscles, bathing the cones. +They did not glow as they had beneath the flood from +the shields, and if they grew it was too slowly for me to +see; the shields were motionless. Now here, now there, +I saw the other rings whirl up--smaller mouths of lesser +cones hidden within the body of the Metal Monster, I +knew, sucking down this magnetic flux, these countless +ions gushing forth from the sun. + +Then as when first we had seen the phenomenon in the +valley of the blue poppies, the ring vanished, hidden by a +fog of coruscations--as though the force streaming +through the rings became diffused after it had been +caught. + +Crouching, forgetful of our juxtaposition to these two +unhuman, anomalous Things, we watched the play of the +tentacles upon the upthrust rods. + +But if we forgot, we were not forgotten! + +The Emperor slipped nearer; seemed to contemplate us +--quizzically, AMUSED; as a man would look down upon +some curious and interesting insect, a puppy, a kitten. I +sensed this amusement in the Disk's regard even as I +had sensed its soul of awful tranquillity; as we had sensed +the playful malice in the eye stars of the living corridor, +the curiosity in the column that had dropped us into +the valley. + +I felt a push--a push that was filled with a colossal, +GLITTERING playfulness. + +Under it I went spinning away for yards--Drake +twirling close behind me. The force, whatever it was, +swept out from the Emperor, but in it was no slightest +hint of anger or of malice, no slightest shadow of the +sinister. + +Rather it was as though one would blow away a feather; +urge gently some little lesser thing away. + +The Disk watched our whirlings--with a sparkling, +jeweled LAUGHTER in its pulsing radiance. + +Again came the push--farther yet we spun. Suddenly +before us, across the pave, shone out a twinkling trail-- +the wakened eyes of the cubes that formed it, marking +out a pathway for us to follow. + +Immediately upon their gleaming forth I saw the Emperor +turn--his immense, oval, metallic back now black +against the radiance of the cones. + +Up from the narrow gleaming path--a path opened I +knew by some command--lifted the hosts of tiny unseen +hands; the sentient currents of magnetic force that were +the fingers and arms of the Metal Hordes. They held us, +thrust us along, passed us forward. Faster and faster we +moved, speeding on the wake of the long-vanished metal +monks. + +I turned my head--the cones were already far away. +Over the tablet of limpid violet phosphorescence still +hovered the planes of the Keeper; and still was the oval of +the Emperor black against the radiance. + +But the twinkling, sparkling path between us and them +was gone--was fading out close behind us as we swept +onward. + +Faster and faster grew our pace. The cylindrical wall +loomed close. A high oblong portal showed within it. +Into this we were carried. Before us stretched a corridor +precisely similar to that which, closing upon us, had +forced us completely out into the hall. + +Unlike that passage, its floor lifted steeply--a smooth +and shining slide up which no man could climb. A shaft, +indeed, which thrust upward straight as an arrow at an +angle of at least thirty degrees and whose end or turning +we could not see. Up and up it cleared its way through +the City--through the Metal Monster--closed only by +the inability of the eye to pierce the faint luminosity +that thickened by distance became impenetrable. + +For an instant we hovered upon its threshold. But the +impulse, the command, that had carried us thus far was +not to stop here. Into it and up it we were thrust, our +feet barely touching the glimmering surface; lifted by the +force that emanated from its floor, carried on by the force +that pressed out from the sides. + +Up and up we went--scores of feet--hundreds-- + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ENSORCELLED +CHAMBER + +"Goodwin!" Drake broke the silence; desperately he +was striving to keep his fear out of his voice. "Goodwin +--this isn't the way to get out. We're going up--farther +away all the time from the--the gates!" + +"What can we do?" My anxiety was no less than his, but +my realization of our helplessness was complete. + +"If we only knew how to talk to these Things," he +said. "If we could only have let the Disk know we wanted +to get out--damn it, Goodwin, it would have helped us." + +Grotesque as the idea sounded, I felt that he spoke the +truth. The Emperor meant no harm to us; in fact in +speeding us away I was not at all sure that he had not +deliberately wished us well--there was that about the +Keeper-- + +Still up we sped along the shaft. I knew we must now be +above the level of the valley. + +"We've got to get back to Ruth! Goodwin--NIGHT! +And what may have HAPPENED to her?" + +"Drake, boy"--I dropped into his own colloquialism-- +"we're up against it. We can't help it. And remember-- +she's there in Norhala's home. I don't believe, I honestly +don't believe, Dick, that there's any danger as long as +she remains there. And Ventnor ties her fast." + +"That's true," he said, more hopefully. "That's true--and +probably Norhala is with her by now." + +"I don't doubt it," I said cheerfully. An idea came to +me--I half believed it myself. "And another thing. There's +not an action here that's purposeless. We're being driven +on by the command of that Thing we call the Metal Emperor. +It means us no harm. Maybe--maybe this IS the way out." + +"Maybe so," he shook his head doubtfully. "But I'm not +sure. Maybe that long push was just to get us away from +THERE. And it strikes me that the impulse has begun to +weaken. We're not going anywhere near as fast as we +were." + +I had not realized it, but our speed was slackening. I +looked back--hundreds of feet behind us fell the slide. +An unpleasant chill went through me--should the magnetic +grip upon us relax, withdraw, nothing could stop +us from falling back along that incline to be broken like +eggs at its end; that our breaths would be snuffed out by +the terrific descent long before we reached that end was +scant comfort. + +"There are other passages opening up along this shaft," +Drake said. "I'm not for trusting the Emperor too far-- +he has other things on his metallic mind, you know. +The next one we get to, let's try to slip into--if we can." + +I had noticed; there had been openings along the ascending +shaft; corridors running apparently transversely to its +angled way. + +Slower and slower became our pace. A hundred yards +above I glimpsed one of the apertures. Could we reach +it? Slower and slower we arose. Now the gap was but a +yard off--but we were motionless--were tottering! + +Drake's arms wrapped round me. With a tremendous effort +he hurled me into the portal. I dropped at its edge, +writhed swiftly around, saw him slipping, slipping down-- +thrust my hands out to him. + +He caught them. There came a wrench that tortured my +arm sockets as though racked. But he held! + +Slowly--I writhed back into the passage, dragging up +his almost dead weight. His head appeared, his shoulders; +there was a convulsion of the long body and he lay before me. + + +For a minute or two we lay, flat upon our backs resting. +I sat up. The passage was broad, silent; apparently as +endless as that from which we had just escaped. + +Along it, above us, under us, the crystalline eyes were +dim. It showed no sign of movement--yet had it done so +there was nothing we could do save drop down the annihilating +slant. Drake arose. + +"I'm hungry," he said, "and I'm thirsty. I move that we +eat and drink and approximately be merry." + +He slung aside the haversack. From it we took food; +from the canteens we drank. We did not talk. Each knew +what the other was thinking; infrequently, and thank the +eternal law that some call God for that, come crises in +which speech seems not only petty but when against it the +mind rebels as a nauseous thing. + +This was such a time. At last I drew myself to my feet. + +"Let's be going," I said. + +The corridor stretched straight before us; along it we +paced. How far we walked I do not know; mile upon mile, +it seemed. It broadened abruptly into a vast hall. + +And this hall was filled with the Metal Hordes--was a +gigantic workshop of them. In every shape, in every form, +they seethed and toiled about it. Upon its floor were +heaps of shining ores, mounds of flashing gems, piles of +ingots, metallic and crystalline. High and low throughout +flamed the egg-shaped incandescences; floating furnaces +both great and small. + +Before one of these forges, close to us, stood a Metal +Thing. Its body was a twelve-foot column of smaller cubes. +Upon the top was a hollow square formed of even lesser +blocks--blocks hardly larger than the Little Things themselves. +In the center of the open rectangle was another +shaft, its top a two-foot square plate formed of a single +cube. + +From the sides of the hollow square sprang long arms +of spheres, each tipped by a tetrahedron. They moved +freely, slipping about upon their curved points of contact +and like a dozen little thinking hammers, the pyramid +points at their ends beat down upon as many thimble +shaped objects which they thrust alternately into the unwinking +brazier then laid upon the central block to shape. + +A goblin workman the Thing seemed, standing there, +so intent upon and so busy with its forgings. + +There were scores of these animate machines; they paid +no slightest heed to us as we slipped by them, clinging +as closely to the wall of the immense workshop as we +could. + +We passed a company of other Shapes which stood two +by two and close together, their tops wide spinning wheels +through which the tendrils of an opened globe fed translucent, +colorless ingots--the substance it seemed to me +of which Norhala's shadowy walls were made, the crystal +of which the bars that built out the base of the Cones +were formed. + +The ingots passed between the whirling faces; emerged +from them as slender, long cylinders; were seized as they +slipped down by a crouching block, whose place as it +glided away was instantly taken by another. In many +bewildering forms, intent upon unknown activities directed +toward unguessable ends, the composite, animate mechanisms +labored. And all the place was filled with a goblin +bustle, trollish racketings, ringing of gnomish anvils, +clanging of kobold forges--a clamorous cavern filled with +metal Nibelungens. + +We came to the opening of another passage, a doorway +piercing the walls of the workshop. Its incline, though +steep, was not dangerous. + +Into it we stepped; climbed onward it seemed interminably. +Far ahead of us at last appeared the outline of +its further entrance, silhouetted against and filled with a +brighter luminosity. We drew near; stopped cautiously at +its threshold, peering out. + +Well it was that we had hesitated. Before us was open +space--an abyss in the body of the Metal Monster. + +The corridor opened into it like a window. Thrusting +out our heads, we saw an unbroken wall both above and +below. Half a mile away was its opposite side. Over this +pit was a misty sky and not more than a thousand feet +above and black against the heavens was the lip of it-- +the cornices of this chasm within the City. + +Far, far beneath us we watched the Hordes throw themselves +across the abyss in webs of curving arches and +girder-straight bridges; gigantic we knew these spans must +be yet dwarfed to slender footways by distance. Over +them moved hurrying companies; from them came flashings, +glitterings--prismatic, sun golden; plutonic scarlets, +molten blues; javelins of colored light piercing upward +from unfolded cubes and globes and pyramids crossing +them or from busy bearers of the shining fruits of the +mysterious workshops. + +And as they passed the bridges swung up, coiled and +thrust themselves from sight through openings that closed +behind them. Ever, as they passed, close on their going +whipped out other spans so that always across that abyss +a sentient, shifting web was hung. + +We drew back, stared into each other's white face. Panic +swept through me, in quick, alternate pulse of ice and +fire. For crushingly, no longer to be denied, came certainty +that we were lost within the mazes of this incredible City-- +lost in the body of the Metal Monster which +that City was. There was a sick despair in my heart as +we turned and slowly made our way back along the sloping corridor. + +A hundred yards, perhaps, we had gone in silence before +we stopped, gazing stupidly at an opening in the wall +beside us. The portal had not been there when we had +passed--of that I was certain. + +"It's opened since we went by," whispered Drake. + +We peered through it. The passage was narrow; its +pave led downward. For a moment we hesitated, the same +foreboding in both our minds. And yet--among the perils +that crowded in upon us what choice had we? There +could be no more danger there than here. + +Both ways were--ALIVE, both obedient to impulses over +which we had no more control and no more way of predetermining +than mice in some complex, man-made trap. +Furthermore, this shaft also ran downward, and although +its pitch was less and it did not therefore drop as quickly +toward that level we sought and wherein lay the openings +of escape into the outer valley, it fell at right angles +to the corridor through which we had come. + +We knew that to retrace our steps now would but take +us back to the forges and thence to the hall of the Cones +and the certain peril waiting for us there. + +We stepped into this opened way. For a little distance +it ran straightly, then turned and sloped gently upward; +and a little distance more we climbed. Then suddenly, not +a hundred yards from us, gushed out a flood of soft +radiance, opalescent, filled with pearly glimmerings and +rosy shadows of light. + +It was as though a door had opened into some world of +luminescence. From it the lambent torrent poured; billowed +down upon us. In its wake came music--if music +the mighty harmonies, the sonorous chords, the crystalline +themes and the linked chaplet of notes that were like +spiralings of tiny golden star bells could be named. + +Toward source of light and sound we moved, nor could +we have halted nor withdrawn had we willed; the radiance +drew us to it as the sun the water drop, and irresistibly +the sweet, unearthly music called. Closer we came--it was +a narrow alcove from which sound and light poured-- +into it we crept--and went no further. + +We peered into a vast and columnless vault, a limitless +temple of light. High up in it, strewn manifold, danced +and shone soft orbs like tender suns. No pale gilt luminaries +of frozen rays were these. Effulgent, jubilant, they +flamed--orbs red as wine of rubies that Djinns of Al +Shiraz press from his enchanted vineyards of jewels; twin +orbs rosy white as breasts of pampered Babylonian maids; +orbs of pulsing opalescences and orbs of the murmuring +green of bursting buds of spring, crocused orbs and orbs +of royal coral; suns that throbbed with singing rays of +wedded rose and pearl and of sapphires and topazes +amorous; orbs born of cool virginal dawns and of imperial +sunsets and orbs that were the tuliped fruit of mating +rainbows of fire. + +They danced, these countless aureoles; they swung and +threaded in radiant choral patterns, in linked harmonies +of light. And as they danced their gay rays caressed and +bathed myriads of the Metal Folk open beneath them. +Under the rays the jewel fires of disk and star and cross +leaped and pulsed and danced to the same bright rhythm. + +We sought the source of the music--a tremendous thing +of shimmering crystal pipes like some colossal organ. Out +of the radiance around it great flames gathered, shook +into sight with streamings and pennonings, in bannerets +and bandrols, leaped upon the crystal pipes, and merged +within them. + +And as the pipes drank them the flames changed into +sound! + +Throbbing bass viols of roaring vernal winds, diapasons +of waterfall and torrents--these had been flames of +emerald; flaming trumpetings of desire that had been +great streamers of scarlet--rose flames that had dissolved +into echoes of fulfillment; diamond burgeonings that +melted into silver symphonies like mist entangled Pleiades +transmuted into melodies; chameleon harmonies to which +the strange suns danced. + +And now I saw--realizing with a clutch of indescribable +awe, with a sense of inexplicable profanation the +secret of this ensorcelled chamber. + +Within every pulsing rose of irised fire that was the +heart of a disk, from every rubrous, clipped rose of a +cross, and from every rayed purple petaling of a star +there nestled a tiny disk, a tiny cross, a tiny star, luminous +and symboled even as those that cradled them. + +The Metal Babes building like crystals from hearts of +radiance beneath the play of jocund orbs! + +Incredible blossomings of crystal and of metal whose +lullabies and cradle songs were singing symphonies of +flame. + +It was the birth chamber of the City! + +The womb of the Metal Monster! + +Abruptly the walls of the niche sparkled out, the glittering +eye points regarding us with a most disquieting suggestion +of sentinels who, slumbering, had been caught +unaware, and now awakening challenged us. Swiftly the +niche closed--so swiftly that barely had we time to spring +over its threshold into the corridor. + +The corridor was awake--alive! + +The power darted out; gripped us. Up it swept us and +on. Far away a square of light appeared, grew quickly +larger. Framed in it was the amethystine burning of +the great ring that girdled the encircling cliffs. + +I turned my head--behind us the corridor was closing! + +Now the opening was so close that through it I could +see the vast panorama of the valley. The wall behind us +touched us; pushed us on. We thrust ourselves against it, +despairingly. As well might flies have tried to press +back a moving mountain. + +Resistingly, inexorably we were pressed forward. Now +we cowered within a yard-deep niche; now we trembled +upon a foot-wide ledge. + +Shuddering, gasping, we glared down the sheer drop of +the City's wall. The smooth and glimmering scarp fell +thousands of feet straight to the valley floor. And there +were no merciful mists to hide what awaited us there; +no mists anywhere. In that brief, agonized glance every +detail of the Pit was disclosed with an abnormal clarity. + +We tottered on the brink. The ledge melted. + +Down, down we plunged, locked in each other's arms, +hurtling to the shattering death so far below! + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE TREACHERY +OF YURUK + +Was it true that Time is within ourselves--that like +Space, its twin, it is only a self-created illusion of the +human mind? There are hours that flash by on hummingbird +wings; there are seconds that shuffle on shod in leaden +shoes. + +Was it true that when death faces us the consciousness +finds power through its will to live to conquer the illusion +--to prolong Time? That, recoiling from oblivion, +we can recreate in a fractional moment whole years gone +past, years yet to come--striving to lengthen our existence, +stretching out our apperception beyond the phantom +boundaries, overdrawing upon a Barmecide deposit of +minutes, staking fresh claims upon a mirage? + +How else explain the seeming slowness with which we +were falling--the seeming leisureness with which the wall +drifted up past us? + +And was this punishment--a sentence meted out for +profaning with our eyes a forbidden place; a penalty for +touching with our gaze the ark of the Metal Tribes-- +their holy of holies--the budding place of the Metal +Babes? + +The valley was swinging--swinging in slow broad +curves; was oscillating dizzily. + +Slowly the colossal wall slipped upward. + +Realization swept me; left me amazed; only half believing. +This was no illusion. After that first swift plunge +our fall had been checked. We were swinging--not the +valley. + +Deliberately, in wide arcs like pendulums, we were +swinging across the City's scarp; three feet out from it, +and as we swung, slowly sinking. + +And now I saw the countless eyes of the watching wall +again were twinkling, regarding us with impish mockery. + +It was the grip of the living wall that held us; that +rocked us from side to side as though giving greater +breadths of it chance to behold us; that was dropping us +gently, carefully, to the valley floor now a scant two +thousand feet below. + +A storm of rage, of intensest resentment swept me; as +once before any gratitude I should have felt for escape +was submerged in the utter humiliation with which it +was charged. + +I shook my fists at the twinkling wall, strove to kick +and smite it like an angry child, cursed it--not childishly. +Dared it to hurl me down to death. + +I felt Drake's hand touch mine. + +"Steady," he said. "Steady, old boy. It's no use. Steady. +Look down." + +Hot with shame for my outburst, weak from its violence, +I obeyed. The valley floor was not more than a +thousand feet away. Thronging about where we must +at last touch, clustered and seething, was a multitude of +the Metal Things. They seemed to be looking up at us, +watching, waiting for us. + +"Reception committee," grinned Drake. + +I glanced away; over the valley. It was luminously clear; +yet the sky was overcast, no stars showing. The light was +no stronger than that of the moon at full, but it held a +quality unfamiliar to me. It cast no shadows; though soft, +it was piercing, revealing all it bathed with the distinctness +of bright sunshine. The illumination came, I +thought, from the encircling veils falling from the band +of amethyst. + +And, as I peered, out of the veils and far away sped a +violet spark. With meteor speed it flew toward us. Close +to the base of the vast facade it landed with a flashing +of blue incandescence. I knew it for one of the Flying +Things, the Mark Makers--one of the incredible messengers. + +Close upon its fall came increase in the turmoil of the +crowding throng awaiting us. Came, too, an abrupt change +in our own motion. The long arcs lessened. We were +dropped more swiftly. + +Far away in the direction from which the Flying Thing +had flown I sensed another movement; something coming +that carried with it subtle suggestion of unlikeness to all +the other incessant, linked movement over the pit. Closer +it drew. + +"Norhala!" gasped Drake. + +Robed in her silken amber swathings, red-copper hair +streaming, woven with elfin sparklings, she was racing +toward the City like some lovely witch, riding upon the +back of a steed of huge cubes. + +Nearer she raced. More direct became our fall. Now +we were dropping as though at the end of an unreeling +plummet cord; the floor of the valley was no more than +two hundred feet below. + +"Norhala!" we shouted; and again and again--again +"Norhala!" + +Before our cries could have reached her the cubes +swerved; came to a halt beneath us. Through the hundred +feet of space between I caught the brilliancy of the +weird constellations in Norhala's great eyes--saw with a +vague but no less dire foreboding that on her face dwelt +a terrifying, a blasting wrath. + +As softly as though by the hand of a giant of cloud +we were lifted out from the wall, and were set with no +perceptible shock beside her on the back of the cubes. + +"Norhala--" I stopped. For this was no Norhala whom +we had known. Gone was all calm, vanished every trace +of unearthly tranquillity. It was a Norhala awakened at +last--all human. + +Yet in the still rage that filled her I sensed a force, an +intensity, more than human. Over the blazing eyes the +brows were knit in a rigid, golden bar; the delicate +nostrils were pinched; the sweet red mouth was white and +merciless. It was as though in its long sleep her human +self had gathered more than human strength, and that +now, awakened and unleashed, the violence of its rage +touched the vibrant zenith of that sphere of which her +quiet had been the nadir. + + +She was like an urn filled and flaming with the fires of +the Gods of wrath. + +What was it that had awakened her--what in awakening +had changed the inpouring human consciousness into this +flood of fury? Foreboding gripped me. + +"Norhala!" My voice was shaking. "Those we left--" + +"They are gone!" The golden voice was octaves deeper, +vibrant, throbbing with that muffled, menacing note that +must have pulsed from the golden tambours that summoned +to battle Timur's fierce hordes. "They were--taken." + +"Taken!" I gasped. "Taken by what--these?" I swept my +hands out toward the Metal Things milling around us. + +"No! THESE are mine. These are they who obey me." The golden +voice now shrilled with her passion. "Taken by--men!" + +Drake had read my face although he could not understand our words. + +"Ruth--" + +"Taken," I said. "Both Ruth and Ventnor. Taken by the +armored men--the men of Cherkis!" + +"Cherkis!" She had caught the word. "Yes--Cherkis! +And now he and all his men--and all his women--and +every living thing he rules shall pay. And fear not--you +two. For I, Norhala, will bring back my own. + +"Woe, woe to you, Cherkis, and to all of yours! For +I, Norhala, am awake, and I, Norhala, remember. Woe +to you, Cherkis, woe--for now all ends for you! + +"Not by the gods of my mother who turned their +strength against her do I promise this. I, Norhala, have +no need for them--I, Norhala, who have strength greater +than they. And would I could crush those gods as I +shall crush you, Cherkis--and every living thing of yours! +Yea--and every UNLIVING thing as well!" + +Not halting now was Norhala's speech; it poured from +the ruthless lips--flamingly. + +"We go," she cried. "And something of vengeance I +have saved for you--as is your right." + +She tossed her arms high; stamped upon the back of +the Metal Thing that held us. + +It quivered and sped away. Swiftly dwindled the City's +bulk; fast faded its glimmering watchful face. + +Not toward the veils of light but out over the plain we +flew. Above us, crouching against the blast of our going, +streamed like a silken banner Norhala's hair, gemmed +with the witch lights. + +We were far out now, the City far away. The cube +slowed. Norhala threw high her head. From the arched, +exquisite throat pealed a trumpet call--golden, summoning, +imperious. Thrice it rang forth--and all the surrounding +valley seemed to halt and listen. + +Followed upon its ending, a chanting as goldenly +sonorous. Wild, peremptory, triumphant. It was like a +mustering shouting to adventurous stars, buglings to +buccaneering winds, cadenced beckonings to restless ranks of +viking waves, signaling to all the corsairs and picaroons +of the elemental. + +A cosmic call to slay! + +The gigantic block upon which we rode quivered; I +myself felt a thousand needle-pointed roving arrows prick +me, urging me on to some jubilant, reckless orgy of +destruction. + +Obeying that summoning there swirled to us cube and +globe and pyramid by the score--by the hundreds. They +swept into our wake and followed--lifting up behind us, +an ever-rising sea. + +Higher and higher arose the metal wave--mounting, +ever mounting as other score upon score leaped upon +it, rushed up it and swelled its crest. And soon so great +it was that it shadowed us, hung over us. + +The cubes we rode angled in their course; raced now +with ever-increasing speed toward the spangled curtains. + +And still Norhala's golden chant lured; higher and even +higher reached the following wave. Now we were rising +upon a steep slope; now the amethystine, gleaming ring +was almost overheard. + +Norhala's song ceased. One breathless, soundless moment +and we had pierced the veils. A globule of sapphire +shone afar, the elfin bubble of her home. We neared it. + + +Heart leaping, I saw three ponies, high and empty saddles +turquoise studded, lift their heads from their roadway +browsing. For a moment they stood, stiff with terror; +then whimpering raced away. + +We were at Norhala's door; were lifted down; stood +close to its threshold. Slaves to a single thought, Drake +and I sprang to enter. + +"Wait!" Norhala's white hands caught us. "There is +peril there--without me! Me you must--follow!" + +Upon the exquisite face was no unshadowing of wrath, +no diminishing of rage, no weakening of dreadful +determination. The star-flecked eyes were not upon us; +they looked over and beyond--coldly, calculatingly. + +"Not enough," I heard her whisper. "Not enough-- +for that which I will do." + +We turned, following her gaze. A hundred feet on high, +stretching nearly across the gorge, an incredible curtain +was flung. Over its folds was movement--arms of spinning +globes that thrust forth like paws and down upon +which leaped pyramid upon pyramid stiffening as they +clung like bristling spikes of hair; great bars of clicking +cubes that threw themselves from the shuttering--shook +and withdrew. The curtain was a ferment--shifting, +mercurial; it throbbed with desire, palpitated with eagerness. + +"Not enough!" murmured Norhala. + +Her lips parted; from them came another trumpeting-- +tyrannic, arrogant and clangorous. Under it the curtaining +writhed--out from it spurted thin cascades of cubes. They +swarmed up into tall pillars that shook and swayed and +gyrated. + +With blinding flash upon flash the sapphire incandescences +struck forth at their feet. A score of flaming +columned shapes leaped up and curved in meteor flight +over the tumultuous curtain. Streaming with violet fires +they shot back to the valley of the City. + +"Hai!" shouted Norhala as they flew. "Hai!" + +Up darted her arms; the starry galaxies of her eyes +danced madly, shot forth visible rays. The mighty curtain +of the Metal Things pulsed and throbbed; its units +interweaving--block and globe and pyramid of which it +was woven, each seeming to strain at leash. + +"Come!" cried Norhala--and led the way through the +portal. + +Close behind her we pressed. I stumbled, nearly fell, +over a brown-faced, leather-cuirassed body that lay half +over, legs barring the threshold. + +Contemptuously Norhala stepped over it. We were within +that chamber of the pool. About it lay a fair dozen of +the armored men. Ruth's defense, I thought with a grim +delight, had been most excellent--those who had taken +her and Ventnor had not done so without paying full toll. + +A violet flashing drew my eyes away. Close to the pool +wherein we had first seen the white miracle of Norhala's +body, two immense, purple fired stars blazed. Between +them, like a suppliant cast from black iron, was Yuruk. + +Poised upon their nether tips the stars guarded him. +Head touching his knees, eyes hidden within his folded +arms, the black eunuch crouched. + +"Yuruk!" + +There was an unearthly mercilessness in Norhala's voice. + +The eunuch raised his head; slowly, fearfully. + +"Goddess!" he whispered. "Goddess! Mercy!" + +"I saved him," she turned to us, "for you to slay. He +it was who brought those who took the maid who was +mine and the helpless one she loved. Slay him." + +Drake understood--his hand twitched down to his pistol, +drew it. He leveled the gun at the black eunuch. Yuruk +saw it--shrieked and cowered. Norhala laughed--sweetly, +ruthlessly. + +"He dies before the stroke falls," she said. "He dies +doubly therefore--and that is well." + +Drake slowly lowered the automatic; turned to me. + +"I can't," he said. "I can't--do it--" + +"Masters!" Upon his knees the eunuch writhed toward +us. "Masters--I meant no wrong. What I did was for love +of the Goddess. Years upon years I have served her. And +her mother before her. + +"I thought if the maid and the blasted one were gone, +that you would follow. Then I would be alone with the +Goddess once more. Cherkis will not slay them--and +Cherkis will welcome you and give the maid and the +blasted one back to you for the arts that you can teach +him. + +"Mercy, Masters, I meant no harm--bid the Goddess be +merciful!" + + +The ebon pools of eyes were clarified of their ancient +shadows by his terror; age was wiped from them by fear, +even as it was wiped from his face. The wrinkles were +gone. Appallingly youthful, the face of Yuruk prayed to +us. + +"Why do you wait?" she asked us. "Time presses, and +even now we should be on the way. When so many are +so soon to die, why tarry over one? Slay him!" + +"Norhala," I answered, "we cannot slay him so. When +we kill, we kill in fair fight--hand to hand. The maid +we both love has gone, taken with her brother. It will +not bring her back if we kill him through whom she was +taken. We would punish him--yes, but slay him we cannot. +And we would be after the maid and her brother quickly." + +A moment she looked at us, perplexity shading the high +and steady anger. + +"As you will," she said at last; then added, half sarcastically, +"Perhaps it is because I who am now awake +have slept so long that I cannot understand you. But +Yuruk has disobeyed ME. That of MINE which I committed +to his care he has given to the enemies of me and +those who were mine. It matters nothing to me what YOU +would do. Matters to me only what I will to do." + +She pointed to the dead. + +"Yuruk"--the golden voice was cold--"gather up these +carrion and pile them together." + +The eunuch arose, stole out fearfully from between the +two stars. He slithered to body after body, dragging them +one after the other to the center of the chamber, lifting +them and forming of them a heap. One there was who was +not dead. His eyes opened as the eunuch seized him, the +blackened mouth opened. + +"Water!" he begged. "Give me drink. I burn!" + +I felt a thrill of pity; lifted my canteen and walked +toward him. + +"You of the beard," the merciless chime rang out, "he +shall have no water. But drink he shall have, and soon-- +drink of fire!" + +The soldier's fevered eyes rolled toward her, saw and +read aright the ruthlessness in the beautiful face. + +"Sorceress!" he groaned. "Cursed spawn of Ahriman!" +He spat at her. + +The black talons of Yuruk stretched around his throat + +"Son of unclean dogs!" he whined. "You dare blaspheme +the Goddess!" + +He snapped the soldier's neck as though it had been a +rotten twig. + +At the callous cruelty I stood for an instant petrified; +I heard Drake swear wildly, saw his pistol flash up. + +Norhala struck down his arm. + +"Your chance has passed," she said, "and not for THAT +shall you slay him." + +And now Yuruk had cast that body upon the others; +the pile was complete. + +"Mount!" commanded Norhala, and pointed. He cast +himself at her feet, writhing, moaning, imploring. She +looked at one of the great Shapes; something of command +passed from her, something it understood plainly. + +The star slipped forward--there was an almost imperceptible +movement of its side points. The twitching form +of the black seemed to leap up from the floor, to throw +itself like a bag upon the mound of the dead. + +Norhala threw up her hands. Out of the violet ovals +beneath the upper tips of the Things spurted streams of +blue flame. They fell upon Yuruk and splashed over him +upon the heap of the slain. In the mound was a dreadful +movement, a contortion; the bodies stiffened, seemed to +try to rise, to push away--dead nerves and muscles responding +to the blasting energy passing through them. + +Out from the stars rained bolt upon bolt. In the chamber +was the sound of thunder, crackling like broken glass. +The bodies flamed, crumbled. There was a little smoke-- +nauseous, feebly protesting, beaten out by the consuming +fires almost before it could rise. + +Where had been the heap of slain capped by the black +eunuch there was but a little whirling cloud of sad gray +dust. Caught by a passing draft, it eddied, slipped over +the floor, vanished through the doorway. Motionless stood +the blasting stars, contemplating us. Motionless stood +Norhala, her wrath no whit abated by the ghastly sacrifice. +And paralyzed by what we had beheld, motionless stood we. + +"Listen," she said. "You two who love the maid. What +you have seen is nothing to that which you SHALL see--a +wisp of mist to the storm cloud." + +"Norhala"--I found speech--"can you tell us when it +was that the maid was captured?" + +Perhaps there was still time to overtake the abductors +before Ruth was thrust into the worse peril waiting where +she was being carried. Crossed this thought another-- +puzzling, baffling. The cliffs Yuruk had pointed out to me +as those through which the hidden way passed were, I had +estimated then, at least twenty miles away. And how long +was the pass, the tunnel, through them? And then how +far this place of the armored men? It had been past dawn +when Drake had frightened the black eunuch with his +pistol. It was not yet dawn now. How could Yuruk have +made his way to the Persians so swiftly--how could they +so swiftly have returned? + +Amazingly she answered the spoken question and the unspoken. + +"They came long before dusk," she said. "By the night +before Yuruk had won to Ruszark, the city of Cherkis; +and long before dawn they were on their way hither. This +the black dog I slew told me." + +"But Yuruk was with us here at dawn yesterday," I gasped. + +"A night has passed since then," she said, "and another +night is almost gone." + +Stunned, I considered this. If this were true--and not +for an instant did I doubt her--then not for a few hours +had we lain there at the foot of the living wall in the Hall +of the Cones--but for the balance of that day and that +night, and another day and part of still another night. + +"What does she say?" Drake stared anxiously into my +whitened face. I told him. + +"Yes." Norhala spoke again. "The dusk before the last +dusk that has passed I returned to my house. The maid +was there and sorrowing. She told me you had gone into +the valley, prayed me to help you and to bring you back. I +comforted her, and something of--the peace--I gave her; +but not all, for she fought against it. A little we played +together, and I left her sleeping. I sought you and found +you also sleeping. I knew no harm would come to you, and +I went my ways--and forgot you. Then I came here again +--and found Yuruk and these the maid had slain." + +The great eyes flashed. + +"Now do I honor the maid for the battle that she did," +she said, "though how she slew so many strong men I do +not know. My heart goes out to her. And therefore when +I bring her back she shall no more be plaything to +Norhala, but sister. And with you it shall be as she wills. +And woe to those who have taken her!" + +She paused, listening. From without came a rising storm +of thin wailings, insistent and eager. + +"But I have an older vengeance than this to take," the +golden voice tolled somberly. "Long have I forgotten-- +and shame I feel that I had forgot. So long have I forgotten +all hatreds, all lusts, all cruelty--among--these--" +She thrust a hand forth toward the hidden valley. "Forgot +--dwelling in the great harmonies. Save for you and what +has befallen I would never have stirred from them, I think. +But now awakened, I take that vengeance. After it is +done"--she paused--"after it is over I shall go back +again. For this awakening has in it nothing of the ordered +joy I love--it is a fierce and slaying fire. I shall go back--" + +The shadow of her far dreaming flitted over, softened +the angry brilliancy of her eyes. + +"Listen, you two!" The shadow of dream fled. "Those +that I am about to slay are evil--evil are they all, men and +women. Long have they been so--yea, for cycles of suns. +And their children grow like them--or if they be gentle +and with love for peace they are slain or die of heartbreak. +All this my mother told me long ago. So no more +children shall be born from them either to suffer or to +grow evil." + +Again she paused, nor did we interrupt her musing. + +"My father ruled Ruszark," she said at last. "Rustum +he was named, of the seed of Rustum the Hero even as +was my mother. They were gentle and good, and it was +their ancestors who built Ruszark when, fleeing from the +might of Iskander, they were sealed in the hidden valley +by the falling mountain. + +"Then there sprang from one of the families of the +nobles--Cherkis. Evil, evil was he, and as he grew he +lusted for rule. On a night of terror he fell upon those who +loved my father and slew; and barely had my father time +to fly from the city with my mother, still but a bride, +and a handful of those loyal to him. + +"They found by chance the way to this place, hiding in +the cleft which is its portal. They came, and they were +taken by--Those who are now my people. Then my mother, +who was very beautiful, was lifted before him who +rules here and she found favor in his sight and he had +built for her this house, which now is mine. + +"And in time I was born--but not in this house. Nay-- +in a secret place of light where, too, are born my people." + +She was silent. I shot a glance at Drake. The secret +place of light--was it not that vast vault of mystery, of +dancing orbs and flames transmuted into music into which +we had peered and for which sacrilege, I had thought, had +been thrust from the City? And did in this lie the explanation +of her strangeness? Had she there sucked in +with her mother's milk the enigmatic life of the Metal +Hordes, been transformed into half human changeling, become +true kin to them? What else could explain-- + + +"My mother showed me Ruszark," her voice, taking up +once more her tale, checked my thoughts. "Once when I +was little she and my father bore me through the forest +and through the hidden way. I looked upon Ruszark--a +great city it is and populous, and a caldron of cruelty and +of evil. + +"Not like me were my father and mother. They longed +for their kind and sought ever for means to regain their +place among them. There came a time when my father, +driven by his longing, ventured forth to Ruszark, seeking +friends to help him regain that place--for these who obey +me obeyed not him as they obey me; nor would he have +marched them--as I shall--upon Ruszark if they had +obeyed him. + +"Cherkis caught him. And Cherkis waited, knowing well +that my mother would follow. For Cherkis knew not where +to seek her, nor where they had lain hid, for between his +city and here the mountains are great, unscalable, and +the way through them is cunningly hidden; by chance +alone did my mother's mother and those who fled with her +discover it: And though they tortured him, my father +would not tell. And after a while forthwith those who still +remained of hers stole out with my mother to find him. +They left me here with Yuruk. And Cherkis caught my +mother." + +The proud breasts heaved, the eyes shot forth visible +flames. + +"My father was flayed alive and crucified," she said. +"His skin they nailed to the City's gates. And when +Cherkis had had his will with my mother he threw her +to his soldiers for their sport. + +"All of those who went with them he tortured and slew +--and he and his laughed at their torment. But one there +was who escaped and told me--me who was little more +than a budding maid. He called on me to bring vengeance +--and he died. A year passed--and I am not like my +mother and my father--and I forgot--dwelling here in the +great tranquillities, barred from and having no thought +for men and their way. + +"AIE, AIE!" she cried; "woe to me that I could forget! +But now I shall take my vengeance--I, Norhala, will +stamp them flat--Cherkis and his city of Ruszark and +everything it holds! I, Norhala, and my servants shall +stamp them into the rock of their valley so that none shall +know that they have been! And would that I could meet +their gods with all their powers that I might break them, +too, and stamp them into the rock under the feet of my +servants!" + +She threw out white arms. + +Why had Yuruk lied to me? I wondered as I watched her. +The Disk had not slain her mother. Of course! He had +lied to play upon our terrors; had lied to frighten us away. + +The wailings were rising in a sustained crescendo. One +of the slaying stars slipped over the chamber floor, folded +its points and glided out the door. + +"Come!" commanded Norhala, and led the way. The second +star closed, followed us. We stepped over the threshold. + +For one astounded, breathless moment we paused. In +front of us reared a monster--a colossal, headless Sphinx. +Like forelegs and paws, a ridge of pointed cubes, and +globes thrust against each side of the canyon walls. +Between them for two hundred feet on high stretched the +breast. + +And this was a shifting, weaving mass of the Metal +Things; they formed into gigantic cuirasses, giant bucklers, +corselets of living mail. From them as they moved--nay, +from all the monster--came the wailings. Like a headless +Sphinx it crouched--and as we stood it surged forward +as though it sprang a step to greet us. + +"HAI!" shouted Norhala, battle buglings ringing through +the golden voice. "HAI! my companies!" + +Out from the summit of the breast shot a tremendous +trunk of cubes and spinning globes. And like a trunk it +nuzzled us, caught us up, swept us to the crest. An instant +I tottered dizzily; was held; stood beside Norhala upon +a little, level twinkling eyed platform; upon her other side +swayed Drake. + +Now through the monster I felt a throbbing, an eager +and impatient pulse. I turned my head. Still like some +huge and grotesque beast the back of the clustered Things +ran for half a mile at least behind, tapering to a dragon +tail that coiled and twisted another full mile toward the +Pit. And from this back uprose and fell immense spiked +and fan-shaped ruffs, thickets of spikes, whipping knouts +of bristling tentacles, fanged crests. They thrust and +waved, whipped and fell constantly; and constantly the +great tail lashed and snapped, fantastic, long and living. + +"HAI!" shouted Norhala once more. From her lifted +throat came again the golden chanting--but now a +relentless, ruthless song of slaughter. + +Up reared the monstrous bulk. Into it ran the dragon +tail. Into it poured the fanged and bristling back. + +Up, up we were thrust--three hundred feet, four hundred, +five hundred. Over the blue globe of Norhala's house +bent a gigantic leg. Spiderlike out from each side of the +monster thrust half a score of others. + +Overhead the dawn began to break. Through it with +ever increasing speed we moved, straight to the line of +the cliffs behind which lay the city of the armored men-- +and Ruth and Ventnor. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +RUSZARK + +Smoothly moved the colossal shape; on it we rode as +easily as though cradled. It did not glide--it strode. + +The columned legs raised themselves, bending from a +thousand joints. The pedestals of the feet, huge and +massive as foundations for sixteen-inch guns, fell with +machinelike precision, stamping gigantically. + +Under their tread the trees of the forest snapped, were +crushed like reeds beneath the pads of a mastodon. From +far below came the sound of their crashing. The thick +forest checked the progress of the Shape less than tall +grass would that of a man. + +Behind us our trail was marked by deep, black pits in +the forest's green, clean cut and great as the Mark upon +the poppied valley. They were the footprints of the Thing +that carried us. + +The wind streamed and whistled. A flock of the willow +warblers arose, sworled about us with manifold beating of +little frightened wings. Norhala's face softened, her eyes +smiled. + +"Go--foolish little ones," she cried, and waved her +arms. They flew away, scolding. + +A lammergeier swooped down on wide funereal wings; +it peered at us; darted away toward the cliffs. + +"There will be no carrion there for you, black eater of +the dead, when I am through," I heard Norhala whisper, +eyes again somber. + +Steadily grew the dawn light; from Norhala's lips came +again the chanting. And now that paean, the reckless pulse +of the monster we rode, began to creep through my own +veins. Into Drake's too, I knew, for his head was held +high and his eyes were clear and bright as hers who sang. + +The jubilant pulse streamed through the hands that held +us, throbbed through us. The pulse of the Thing--sang! + +Closer and closer grew the cliffs. Down and crashing +down fell the trees, the noise of their fall accompanying +the battle chant of the Valkyr beside me like wild harp +chords of storm-lashed surf. Up to the precipices the forest +rolled, unbroken. Now the cliffs loomed overhead. The +dawn had passed. It was full day. + +Cutting up through the towering granite scarps was a +rift. In it the black shadows clustered thickly. Straight +toward that cleft we sped. As we drew near, the crest of +the Shape began swiftly to lower. Down we sank and down +--a hundred feet, two hundred; now we were two score +yards above the tree tops. + +Out shot a neck, a tremendous serpent body. Crested +it was with pyramids; crested with them, too, was its +immense head. Thickly the head bristled with them, poised +motionless upon spinning globes as huge as they. For +hundreds of feet that incredible neck stretched ahead of +us and for twice as far behind a monstrous, lizard-shaped +body writhed. + +We rode now upon a serpent, a glittering blue metal +dragon, spiked and knobbed and scaled. It was the weird +steed of Norhala flattening, thrusting out to pierce the +rift. + +And still as when it had reared on high beat through it +the wild, triumphant, questing pulse. Still rang out +Norhala's chanting. + +The trees parted and fell upon each side of us as though +we were some monster of the sea and they the waves we +cleft. + +The rift enclosed us. Lower we dropped; were not more +than fifty feet above its floor. The Thing upon which we +rode was a torrent roaring through it. + +A deeper blackness enclosed us--a tunneling. + +Through that we flowed. Out of it we darted into a +widening filled with wan light drifting down through a +pinnacle fanged mouth miles on high. Again the cleft +shrunk. A thousand feet ahead was a crack, a narrowing +of the cleft so small that hardly could a man pass through +it. + +Abruptly the metal dragon halted. + +Norhala's chanting changed; became again the arrogant +clarioning. And close below us the huge neck split. It came +to me then that it was as though Norhala were the overspirit +of this chimera--as though it caught and understood and +obeyed each quick thought of hers. + +As though, indeed, she was a PART of it--as IT was in +reality a part of that infinitely greater Thing, crouching +there in its lair of the Pit--the Metal Monster that had +lent this living part of itself to her for a steed, a champion. +Little time had I to consider such matters. + +Up thrust the Shape before us. Into it raced and spun +Things angled, Things curved and Things squared. It +gathered itself into a Titanic pillar out of which, instantly, +thrust scores of arms. + +Over them great globes raced; after these flew other +scores of huge pyramids, none less than ten feet in height, +the mass of them twenty and thirty. The manifold arms +grew rigid. Quiet for a moment, a Titanic metal Briareous, +it stood. + +Then at the tips of the arms the globes began to spin +--faster, faster. Upon them I saw the hosts of the pyramids +open--as one into a host of stars. The cleft leaped +out in a flood of violet light. + +Now for another instant the stars which had been motionless, +poised upon the whirling spheres, joined in their +mad spinning. Cyclopean pin wheels they turned; again +as one they ceased. More brilliant now was their light, +dazzling; as though in their whirling they had gathered +greater force. + +Under me I felt the split Thing quiver with eagerness. + +From the stars came a hurricane of lightning! A cataract +of electric flame poured into the crack, splashed and +guttered down the granite walls. We were blinded by it; +were deafened with thunders. + +The face of the precipice smoked and split; was whirled +away in clouds of dust. + +The crack widened--widened as a gulley in a sand bank +does when a swift stream rushes through it. Lightnings +these were--and more than lightnings; lightnings keyed +up to an invincible annihilating weapon that could rend +and split and crumble to atoms the living granite. + + +Steadily the cleft expanded. As its walls melted away +the Blasting Thing advanced, spurting into it the flaming +torrents. Behind it we crept. The dust of the shattered +rocks swirled up toward us like angry ghosts--before they +reached us they were blown away as though by strong +winds streaming from beneath us. + +On we went, blinded, deafened. Interminably, it seemed, +poured forth the hurricane of blue fire; interminably the +thunder bellowed. + +There came a louder clamor--volcanic, chaotic, dulling +the thunders. The sides of the cleft quivered, bent outward. +They split; crashed down. Bright daylight poured in +upon us, a flood of light toward which the billows of dust +rushed as though seeking escape; out it poured like the +smoke of ten thousand cannon. + +And the Blasting Thing shook--as though with laughter! + +The stars closed. Back into the Shape ran globe and +pyramid. It slid toward us--joined the body from which +it had broken away. Through all the mass ran a wave of +jubilation, a pulse of mirth--a colossal, metallic--SILENT-- +roar of laughter. + +We glided forward--out of the cleft. I felt a shifting movement. + +Up and up we were thrust. Dazed I looked behind me. +In the face of a sky climbing wall of rock, smoked a wide +chasm. Out of it the billowing clouds of dust still streamed, +pursuing, threatening us. The whole granite barrier seemed +to quiver with agony. Higher we rose and higher. + +"Look," whispered Drake, and whirled me around. + +Less than five miles away was Ruszark, the City of +Cherkis. And it was like some ancient city come into life +out of long dead centuries. A page restored from once +conquering Persia's crumbled book. A city of the Chosroes +transported by Jinns into our own time. + +Built around and upon a low mount, it stood within a +valley but little larger than the Pit. The plain was level, as +though once it had been the floor of some primeval lake; +the hill of the City was its only elevation. + +Beyond, I caught the glinting of a narrow stream, +meandering. The valley was ringed with precipitous cliffs +falling sheer to its floor. + +Slowly we advanced. + +The city was almost square, guarded by double walls of +hewn stone. The first raised itself a hundred feet on high, +turreted and parapeted and pierced with gates. Perhaps a +quarter of a mile behind it the second fortification thrust +up. + +The city itself I estimated covered about ten square +miles. It ran upward in broad terraces. It was very fair, +decked with blossoming gardens and green groves. Among +the clustering granite houses, red and yellow roofed, thrust +skyward tall spires and towers. Upon the mount's top was +a broad, flat plaza on which were great buildings, marble +white and golden roofed; temples I thought, or +palaces, or both. + +Running to the city out of the grain fields and steads +that surrounded it, were scores of little figures, rat-like. +Here and there among them I glimpsed horsemen, arms +and armor glittering. All were racing to the gates and the +shelter of the battlements. + +Nearer we drew. From the walls came now a faint +sound of gongs, of drums, of shrill, flutelike pipings. Upon +them I could see hosts gathering; hosts of swarming little +figures whose bodies glistened, from above whom came +gleamings--the light striking upon their helms, their spear +and javelin tips. + +"Ruszark!" breathed Norhala, eyes wide, red lips cruelly +smiling. "Lo--I am before your gates. Lo--I am here-- +and was there ever joy like this!" + +The constellations in her eyes blazed. Beautiful, beautiful +was Norhala--as Isis punishing Typhon for the murder of +Osiris; as avenging Diana; shining from her something of +the spirit of all wrathful Goddesses. + +The flaming hair whirled and snapped. From all her +sweet body came white-hot furious force, a withering +perfume of destruction. She pressed against me, and I +trembled at the contact. + + +Lawless, wild imaginings ran through me. Life, human +life, dwindled. The City seemed but a thing of toys. + +On--let us crush it! On--on! + +Again the monster shook beneath us. Faster we moved. +Louder grew the clangor of the drums, the gongs, the +pipes. Nearer came the walls; and ever more crowded with +the swarming human ants that manned them. + +We were close upon the heels of the last fleeing stragglers. +The Thing slackened in its stride; waited patiently +until they were close to the gates. Before they could reach +them I heard the brazen clanging of their valves. Those +shut out beat frenziedly upon them; dragged themselves +close to the base of the battlements, cowered there or crept +along them seeking some hole in which to hide. + +With a slow lowering of its height the Thing advanced. +Now its form was that of a spindle a full mile in length on +whose bulging center we three stood. + +A hundred feet from the outer wall we halted. We +looked down upon it not more than fifty feet above its +broad top. Hundreds of the soldiers were crouching behind +the parapets, companies of archers with great bows +poised, arrows at their cheeks, scores of leather jerkined +men with stands of javelins at their right hands, spearsmen +and men with long, thonged slings. + +Set at intervals were squat, powerful engines of wood +and metal beside which were heaps of huge, rounded +boulders. Catapults I knew them to be and around each +swarmed a knot of soldiers, fixing the great stones in place, +drawing back the thick ropes that, loosened, would hurl +forth the projectiles. From each side came other men, +dragging more of these balisters; assembling a battery +against the prodigious, gleaming monster that menaced +their city. + +Between outer wall and inner battlements galloped +squadrons of mounted men. Upon this inner wall the +soldiers clustered as thickly as on the outer, preparing as +actively for its defense. + +The city seethed. Up from it arose a humming, a +buzzing, as of some immense angry hive. + +Involuntarily I visualized the spectacle we must present +to those who looked upon us--this huge incredible Shape +of metal alive with quicksilver shifting. This--as it must +have seemed to them--hellish mechanism of war captained +by a sorceress and two familiars in form of men. There +came to me dreadful visions of such a monster looking +down upon the peace-reared battlements of New York-- +the panic rush of thousands away from it. + +There was a blaring of trumpets. Up on the parapet +leaped a man clad all in gleaming red armor. From head +to feet the close linked scales covered him. Within a hood +shaped somewhat like the tight-fitting head coverings of +the Crusaders a pallid, cruel face looked out upon us; in +the fierce black eyes was no trace of fear. + +Evil as Norhala had said these people of Ruszark were, +wicked and cruel--they were no cowards, no! + +The red armored man threw up a hand. + +"Who are you?" he shouted. "Who are you three, you +three who come driving down upon Ruszark through the +rocks? We have no quarrel with you?" + +"I seek a man and a maid," cried Norhala. "A maid +and a sick man your thieves took from me. Bring him +forth!" + +"Seek elsewhere for them then," he answered. "They +are not here. Turn now and seek elsewhere. Go quickly, +lest I loose our might upon you and you go never." + +Mockingly rang her laughter--and under its lash the +black eyes grew fiercer, the cruelty on the white +face darkened. + +"Little man whose words are so big! Fly who thunders! +What are you called, little man?" + +Her raillery bit deep--but its menace passed unheeded +in the rage it called forth. + +"I am Kulun," shouted the man in scarlet armor. "Kulun, +the son of Cherkis the Mighty, and captain of his hosts. +Kulun--who will cast your skin under my mares in stall +for them to trample and thrust your red flayed body upon +a pole in the grain fields to frighten away the crows! Does +that answer you?" + +Her laughter ceased; her eyes dwelt upon him--filled +with an infernal joy. + +"The son of Cherkis!" I heard her murmur. "He has a son--" + +There was a sneer on the cruel face; clearly he thought +her awed. Quick was his disillusionment. + +"Listen, Kulun," she cried. "I am Norhala--daughter +of another Norhala and of Rustum, whom Cherkis tortured +and slew. Now go, you lying spawn of unclean +toads--go and tell your father that I, Norhala, am at his +gates. And bring back with you the maid and the man. +Go, I say!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CHERKIS + +There was stark amazement on Kulun's face; and fear +now enough. He dropped from the parapet among his men. +There came one loud trumpet blast. + +Out from the battlements poured a storm of arrows, a +cloud of javelins. The squat catapults leaped forward. +From them came a hail of boulders. Before that onrushing +tempest of death I flinched. + +I heard Norhala's golden laughter and before they +could reach us arrow and javelin and boulder were +checked as though myriads of hands reached out from +the Thing under us and caught them. Down they dropped. + +Forth from the great spindle shot a gigantic arm, hammer +tipped with cubes. It struck the wall close to where +the scarlet armored Kulun had vanished. + +Under its blow the stones crumbled. With the fragments +fell the soldiers; were buried beneath them. + +A hundred feet in width a breach gaped in the battlements. +Out shot the arm again; hooked its hammer tip over +the parapet, tore away a stretch of the breastwork as +though it had been cardboard. Beside the breach an expanse +of the broad flat top lay open like a wide platform. + +The arm withdrew, and out from the whole length of +the spindle thrust other arms, hammer tipped, held high +aloft, menacing. + +From all the length of the wall arose panic outcry. +Abruptly the storm of arrows ended; the catapults were +still. Again the trumpets sounded; the crying ceased. +Down fell a silence, terrified, stifling. + +Kulun stepped forth again, both hands held high. Gone +was his arrogance. + +"A parley," he shouted. "A parley, Norhala. If we give +you the maid and man, will you go?" + +"Go get them," she answered. "And take with you this +my command to Cherkis--that HE return with the two!" + +For an instant Kulun hesitated. Up thrust the dreadful +arms, poised themselves to strike. + +"It shall be so," he shouted. "I carry your command." + +He leaped back, his red mail flashed toward a turret +that held, I supposed, a stairway. He was lost to sight. In +silence we waited. + +On the further side of the city I glimpsed movement. +Little troops of mounted men, pony drawn wains, knots +of running figures were fleeing from the city through the +opposite gates. + +Norhala saw them too. With that incomprehensible, instant +obedience to her unspoken thought a mass of the +Metal Things separated from us; whirled up into a dozen +of those obelisked forms I had seen march from the cat +eyes of the City of the Pit. + +In but a breath, it seemed, their columns were far off, +herding back the fugitives. + +They did not touch them, did not offer to harm--only, +grotesquely, like dogs heading off and corraling frightened +sheep, they circled and darted. Rushing back came those +they herded. + +From the watching terraces and walls arose shrill cries +of terror, a wailing. Far away the obelisks met, pirouetted, +melted into one thick column. Towering, motionless as we, +it stood, guarding the further gates. + +There was a stir upon the wall, a flashing of spears, of +drawn blades. Two litters closed with curtainings, surrounded +by triple rows of swordsmen fully armored, +carrying small shields and led by Kulun were being +borne to the torn battlement. + +Their bearers stopped well within the platform and +gently lowered their burdens. The leader of those around +the second litter drew aside its covering, spoke. + +Out stepped Ruth and after her--Ventnor! + +"Martin!" I could not keep back the cry; heard mingled +with it Drake's own cry to Ruth. Ventnor raised his hand +in greeting; I thought he smiled. + +The cubes on which we stood shot forward; stopped +within fifty feet of them. Instantly the guard of swordsmen +raised their blades, held them over the pair as +though waiting the signal to strike. + +And now I saw that Ruth was not clad as she had +been when we had left her. She stood in scanty kirtle that +came scarcely to her knees, her shoulders were bare, her +curly brown hair unbound and tangled. Her face was set +with wrath hardly less than that which beat from Norhala. +On Ventnor's forehead was a blood red scar, a line that +ran from temple to temple like a brand. + +The curtains of the first litter quivered; behind them +someone spoke. That in which Ruth and Ventnor had ridden +was drawn swiftly away. The knot of swordsmen drew +back. + +Into their places sprang and knelt a dozen archers. They +ringed in the two, bows drawn taut, arrows in place and +pointing straight to their hearts. + +Out of the litter rolled a giant of a man. Seven feet he +must have been in height; over the huge shoulders, the +barreled chest and the bloated abdomen hung a purple +cloak glittering with gems; through the thick and grizzled +hair passed a flashing circlet of jewels. + +The scarlet armored Kulun beside him, swordsmen +guarding them, he walked to the verge of the torn gap +in the wall. He peered down it, glancing imperturbably at +the upraised, hammer-banded arms still threatening; examined +again the breach. Then still with Kulun he strode +over to the very edge of the broken battlement and +stood, head thrust a little forward, studying us in silence. + + +"Cherkis!" whispered Norhala--the whisper was a hymn +to Nemesis. I felt her body quiver from head to foot. + +A wave of hatred, a hot desire to kill, passed through +me as I scanned the face staring at us. It was a great +gross mask of evil, of cold cruelty and callous lusts. +Unwinking, icily malignant, black slits of eyes glared at us +between pouches that held them half closed. Heavy jowls +hung pendulous, dragging down the corners of the thick +lipped, brutal mouth into a deep graven, unchanging sneer. + +As he gazed at Norhala a flicker of lust shot like a +licking tongue through his eyes. + +Yet from him pulsed power; sinister, instinct with evil, +concentrate with cruelty--but power indomitable. Such +was Cherkis, descendant perhaps of that Xerxes the Conqueror +who three millenniums gone ruled most of the known world. + +It was Norhala who broke the silence. + +"Tcherak! Greeting--Cherkis!" There was merciless +mirth in the buglings of her voice. "Lo, I did but knock +so gently at your gates and you hastened to welcome me. +Greetings--gross swine, spittle of the toads, fat slug +beneath my sandals." + +He passed the insults by, unmoved--although I heard a +murmuring go up from those near and Kulun's hard eyes blazed. + +"We will bargain, Norhala," he answered calmly; the +voice was deep, filled with sinister strength. + +"Bargain?" she laughed. "What have you with which +to bargain, Cherkis? Does the rat bargain with the tigress? +And you, toad, have nothing." + +He shook his head. + +"I have these," he waved a hand toward Ruth and her +brother. "Me you may slay--and mayhap many of mine. +But before you can move my archers will feather their +hearts." + +She considered him, no longer mocking. + +"Two of mine you slew long since, Cherkis," she said, +slowly. "Therefore it is I am here." + +"I know," he nodded heavily. "Yet now that is neither +here nor there, Norhala. It was long since, and I have +learned much during the years. I would have killed you +too, Norhala, could I have found you. But now I would +not do as then--quite differently would I do, Norhala; +for I have learned much. I am sorry that those that you +loved died as they did. I am in truth sorry!" + +There was a curious lurking sardonicism in the words, +an undertone of mockery. Was what he really meant that +in those years he had learned to inflict greater agonies, +more exquisite tortures? If so, Norhala apparently did not +sense that interpretation. Indeed, she seemed to be interested, +her wrath abating. + +"No," the hoarse voice rumbled dispassionately. "None +of that is important--now. YOU would have this man and +girl. I hold them. They die if you stir a hand's breadth +toward me. If they die, I prevail against you--for I have +cheated you of what you desire. I win, Norhala, even +though you slay me. That is all that is now important." + +There was doubt upon Norhala's face and I caught a +quick gleam of contemptuous triumph glint through the +depths of the evil eyes. + +"Empty will be your victory over me, Norhala," he said; +then waited. + +"What is your bargain?" she spoke hesitatingly; with a +sinking of my heart I heard the doubt tremble in her +throat. + +"If you will go without further knocking upon my +gates"--there was a satiric grimness in the phrase--"go +when you have been given them, and pledge yourself +never to return--you shall have them. If you will not, +then they die." + +"But what security, what hostages, do you ask?" Her +eyes were troubled. "I cannot swear by your gods, Cherkis, +for they are not my gods--in truth I, Norhala, have no +gods. Why should I not say yes and take the two, then +fall upon you and destroy--as you would do in my place, +old wolf?" + +"Norhala," he answered, "I ask nothing but your word. +Do I not know those who bore you and the line from +which they sprung? Was not always the word they gave +kept till death--unbroken, inviolable? No need for vows to +gods between you and me. Your word is holier than they +--O glorious daughter of kings, princess royal!" + + +The great voice was harshly caressing; not obsequious, but +as though he gave her as an equal her rightful honor. Her +face softened; she considered him from eyes far less hostile. + +A wholesome respect for this gross tyrant's mentality +came to me; it did not temper, it heightened, the hatred I +felt for him. But now I recognized the subtlety of his +attack; realized that unerringly he had taken the only +means by which he could have gained a hearing; have +temporized. Could he win her with his guile? + +"Is it not true?" There was a leonine purring in the question. + +"It IS true!" she answered proudly. "Though why YOU +should dwell upon this, Cherkis, whose word is steadfast +as the running stream and whose promises are as +lasting as its bubbles--why YOU should dwell on this I +do not know." + +"I have changed greatly, Princess, in the years since +my great wickedness; I have learned much. He who speaks +to you now is not he you were taught--and taught justly +then--to hate." + +"You may speak truth! Certainly you are not as I have +pictured you." It was as though she were more than half +convinced. "In this at least you do speak truth--that IF +I promise I will go and molest you no more." + +"Why go at all, Princess?" Quietly he asked the amazing +question--then drew himself to his full height, threw wide +his arms. + +"Princess?" the great voice rumbled forth. "Nay-- +Queen! Why leave us again--Norhala the Queen? Are +we not of your people? Am I not of your kin? Join +your power with ours. What that war engine you ride +may be, how built, I know not. But this I do know--that +with our strengths joined we two can go forth from where +I have dwelt so long, go forth into the forgotten world, +eat its cities and rule. + +"You shall teach our people to make these engines, +Norhala, and we will make many of them. Queen +Norhala--you shall wed my son Kulun, he who stands +beside me. And while I live you shall rule with me, rule +equally. And when I die you and Kulun shall rule. + +"Thus shall our two royal lines be made one, the old +feud wiped out, the long score be settled. Queen--wherever +it is you dwell it comes to me that you have few men. +Queen--you need men, many men and strong to follow +you, men to gather the harvests of your power, men to +bring to you the fruit of your smallest wish--young men +and vigorous to amuse you. + +"Let the past be forgotten--I too have wrongs to forget, +O Queen. Come to us, Great One, with your power +and your beauty. Teach us. Lead us. Return, and throned +above your people rule the world!" + +He ceased. Over the battlements, over the city, dropped +a vast expectant silence--as though the city knew its fate +was hanging upon the balance. + +"No! No!" It was Ruth crying. "Do not trust him, +Norhala! It's a trap! He shamed me--he tortured--" + +Cherkis half turned; before he swung about I saw a +hell shadow darken his face. Ventnor's hand thrust out, +covered Ruth's mouth, choking her crying. + +"Your son"--Norhala spoke swiftly; and back flashed +the cruel face of Cherkis, devouring her with his eyes. +"Your son--and Queenship here--and Empire of the +World." Her voice was rapt, thrilled. "All this you offer? +Me--Norhala?" + +"This and more!" The huge bulk of his body quivered +with eagerness. "If it be your wish, O Queen, I, Cherkis, +will step down from the throne for you and sit beneath +your right hand, eager to do your bidding." + +A moment she studied him. + +"Norhala," I whispered, "do not do this thing. He thinks +to gain your secrets." + +"Let my bridegroom stand forth that I may look +upon him," called Norhala. + +Visibly Cherkis relaxed, as though a strain had been +withdrawn. Between him and his crimson-clad son +flashed a glance; it was as though a triumphant devil sped +from them into each other's eyes. + +I saw Ruth shrink into Ventnor's arms. Up from the +wall rose a jubilant shouting, was caught by the inner +battlements, passed on to the crowded terraces. + +"Take Kulun," it was Drake, pistol drawn and whispering +across to me. "I'll handle Cherkis. And shoot straight." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE VENGEANCE +OF NORHALA + +Norhala's hand that had gone from my wrist dropped +down again; the other fell upon Drake's. + +Kulun loosed his hood, let it fall about his shoulders. + +He stepped forward, held out his arms to Norhala. + +"A strong man!" she cried approvingly. "Hail--my bridegroom! +But stay--stand back a moment. Stand beside that +man for whom I came to Ruszark. I would see you together!" + +Kulun's face darkened. But Cherkis smiled with evil +understanding, shrugged his shoulders and whispered to +him. Sullenly Kulun stepped back. The ring of the archers +lowered their bows; they leaped to their feet and stood +aside to let him pass. + +Quick as a serpent's tongue a pyramid tipped tentacle +flicked out beneath us. It darted through the broken circle +of the bowmen. + +It LICKED up Ruth and Ventnor and--Kulun! + +Swiftly as it had swept forth it returned, coiled and +dropped those two I loved at Norhala's feet. + +It flashed back on high with the scarlet length of +Cherkis's son sprawled along its angled end. + +The great body of Cherkis seemed to wither. + +Up from all the wall went a tempestuous sigh of horror. + +Out rang the merciless chimes of Norhala's laughter. + +"Tchai!" she cried. "Tchai! Fat fool there. Tchai--you +Cherkis! Toad whose wits have sickened with your years! + +"Did you think to catch me, Norhala, in your filthy web? +Princess! Queen! Empress of Earth! Ho--old fox I have +outplayed and beaten, what now have you to trade with +Norhala?" + +Mouth sagging open, eyes glaring, the tyrant slowly +raised his arms--a suppliant. + +"You would have back the bridegroom you gave me?" +she laughed. "Take him, then." + +Down swept the metal arm that held Kulun. The arm +dropped Cherkis's son at Cherkis's feet; and as though +Kulun had been a grape--it crushed him! + +Before those who had seen could stir from their stupor +the tentacle hovered over Cherkis, glaring down at the +horror that had been his son. + +It did not strike him--it drew him up to it as a magnet +draws a pin. + +And as the pin swings from the magnet when held +suspended by the head, so swung the great body of +Cherkis from the under side of the pyramid that held him. +Hanging so he was carried toward us, came to a stop +not ten feet from us-- + +Weird, weird beyond all telling was that scene--and +would I had the power to make you who read see it as +we did. + +The animate, living Shape of metal on which we stood, +with its forest of hammer-handed arms raised menacingly +along its mile of spindled length; the great walls glistening +with the armored hosts; the terraces of that fair and +ancient city, their gardens and green groves and clustering +red and yellow-roofed houses and temples and palaces; +the swinging gross body of Cherkis in the clutch of the +unseen grip of the tentacle, his grizzled hair touching the +side of the pyramid that held him, his arms half outstretched, +the gemmed cloak flapping like the wings of a +jeweled bat, his white, malignant face in which the evil +eyes were burning slits flaming hell's own blackest hatred; +and beyond the city, from which pulsed almost visibly a +vast and hopeless horror, the watching column--and over +all this the palely radiant white sky under whose light the +encircling cliffs were tremendous stony palettes splashed +with a hundred pigments. + +Norhala's laughter had ceased. Somberly she looked +upon Cherkis, into the devil fires of his eyes. + +"Cherkis!" she half whispered. "Now comes the end for +you--and for all that is yours! But until the end's end +you shall see." + +The hanging body was thrust forward; was thrust up; +was brought down upon its feet on the upper plane of +the prostrate pyramid tipping the metal arm that held him. +For an instant he struggled to escape; I think he meant to +hurl himself down upon Norhala, to kill her before he +himself was slain. + +If so, after one frenzied effort he realized the futility, +for with a certain dignity he drew himself upright, turned +his eyes toward the city. + +Over that city a dreadful silence hung. It was as +though it cowered, hid its face, was afraid to breathe. + +"The end!" murmured Norhala. + +There was a quick trembling through the Metal Thing. Down +swung its forest of sledges. Beneath the blow down fell the +smitten walls, shattered, crumbling, and with it glittering +like shining flies in a dust storm fell the armored men. + +Through that mile-wide breach and up to the inner barrier +I glimpsed confusion chaotic. And again I say it-- +they were no cowards, those men of Cherkis. From the +inner battlements flew clouds of arrows, of huge stones +--as uselessly as before. + +Then out from the opened gates poured regiments of +horsemen, brandishing javelins and great maces, and +shouting fiercely as they drove down upon each end of the +Metal Shape. Under cover of their attack I saw cloaked +riders spurring their ponies across the plain to shelter of +the cliff walls, to the chance of hiding places within them. +Women and men of the rich, the powerful, flying for +safety; after them ran and scattered through the fields of +grain a multitude on foot. + + +The ends of the spindle drew back before the horsemen's +charge, broadening as they went--like the heads of +monstrous cobras withdrawing into their hoods. Abruptly, +with a lightning velocity, these broadenings expanded into +immense lunettes, two tremendous curving and crablike +claws. Their tips flung themselves past the racing troops; +then like gigantic pincers began to contract. + +Of no avail now was it for the horsemen to halt +dragging their mounts on their haunches, or to turn to +fly. The ends of the lunettes had met, the pincer tips had +closed. The mounted men were trapped within half-mile-wide +circles. And in upon man and horse their living walls +marched. Within those enclosures of the doomed began a +frantic milling--I shut my eyes-- + +There was a dreadful screaming of horses, a shrieking +of men. Then silence. + +Shuddering, I looked. Where the mounted men had been +was--nothing. + +Nothing? There were two great circular spaces whose +floors were glistening, wetly red. Fragments of man or +horse--there was none. They had been crushed into-- +what was it Norhala had promised--had been stamped +into the rock beneath the feet of her--servants. + +Sick, I looked away and stared at a Thing that writhed +and undulated over the plain; a prodigious serpentine +Shape of cubes and spheres linked and studded thick with +the spikes of the pyramid. Through the fields, over the +plain its coils flashed. + +Playfully it sped and twisted among the fugitives, +crushing them, tossing them aside broken, gliding over +them. Some there were who hurled themselves upon it in +impotent despair, some who knelt before it, praying. On +rolled the metal convolutions, inexorable. + +Within my vision's range there were no more fugitives. +Around a corner of the broken battlements raced the serpent +Shape. Where it had writhed was now no waving +grain, no trees, no green thing. There was only smooth +rock upon which here and there red smears glistened wetly. + +Afar there was a crying, in its wake a rumbling. It was +the column, it came to me, at work upon the further +battlements. As though the sound had been a signal the +spindle trembled; up we were thrust another hundred feet +or more. Back dropped the host of brandished arms, +threaded themselves into the parent bulk. + +Right and left of us the spindle split into scores of +fissures. Between these fissures the Metal Things that made +up each now dissociate and shapeless mass geysered; +block and sphere and tetrahedron spike spun and +swirled. There was an instant of formlessness. + +Then right and left of us stood scores of giant, grotesque +warriors. Their crests were fully fifty feet below +our living platform. They stood upon six immense, +columnar stilts. These sextuple legs supported a hundred +feet above their bases a huge and globular body formed +of clusters of the spheres. Out from each of these bodies +that were at one and the same time trunks and heads, +sprang half a score of colossal arms shaped like flails; +like spike-studded girders, Titanic battle maces, Cyclopean +sledges. + +From legs and trunks and arms the tiny eyes of the +Metal Hordes flashed, exulting. + +There came from them, from the Thing we rode as well, +a chorus of thin and eager wailings and pulsed through +all that battle-line, a jubilant throbbing. + +Then with a rhythmic, JOCUND stride they leaped upon +the city. + +Under the mallets of the smiting arms the inner battlements +fell as under the hammers of a thousand metal +Thors. Over their fragments and the armored men who +fell with them strode the Things, grinding stone and man +together as we passed. + +All of the terraced city except the side hidden by the +mount lay open to my gaze. In that brief moment of +pause I saw crazed crowds battling in narrow streets, +trampling over mounds of the fallen, surging over barricades +of bodies, clawing and tearing at each other in their +flight. + +There was a wide, stepped street of gleaming white stone +that climbed like an immense stairway straight up the +slope to that broad plaza at the top where clustered the +great temples and palaces--the Acropolis of the city. Into +it the streets of the terraces flowed, each pouring out upon +it a living torrent, tumultuous with tuliped, sparkling little +waves, the gay coverings and the arms and armor of +Ruszark's desperate thousands seeking safety at the shrines +of their gods. + +Here great carven arches arose; there slender, exquisite +towers capped with red gold--there was a street of +colossal statues, another over which dozens of graceful, +fretted bridges threw their spans from feathery billows of +flowering trees; there were gardens gay with blossoms in +which fountains sparkled, green groves; thousands upon +thousands of bright multicolored pennants, banners, fluttered. + +A fair, a lovely city was Cherkis's stronghold of Ruszark. + +Its beauty filled the eyes; out from it streamed the +fragrance of its gardens--the voice of its agony was +that of the souls in Dis. + +The row of destroying shapes lengthened, each huge +warrior of metal drawing far apart from its mates. They +flexed their manifold arms, shadow boxed--grotesquely, +dreadfully. + +Down struck the flails, the sledges. Beneath the blows +the buildings burst like eggshells, their fragments burying +the throngs fighting for escape in the thoroughfares that +threaded them. Over their ruins we moved. + +Down and ever down crashed the awful sledges. And +ever under them the city crumbled. + +There was a spider Shape that crawled up the wide +stairway hammering into the stone those who tried to flee +before it. + +Stride by stride the Destroying Things ate up the city. + + +I felt neither wrath nor pity. Through me beat a jubilant +roaring pulse--as though I were a shouting corpuscle of +the rushing hurricane, as though I were one of the hosts +of smiting spirits of the bellowing typhoon. + +Through this stole another thought--vague, unfamiliar, +yet seemingly of truth's own essence. Why, I wondered, +had I never recognized this before? Why had I never known +that these green forms called trees were but ugly, unsymmetrical +excrescences? That these high projections of +towers, these buildings were deformities? + +That these four-pronged, moving little shapes that +screamed and ran were--hideous? + +They must be wiped out! All this misshapen, jumbled, +inharmonious ugliness must be wiped out! It must be +ground down to smooth unbroken planes, harmonious +curvings, shapeliness--harmonies of arc and line and +angle! + +Something deep within me fought to speak--fought to +tell me that this thought was not human thought, not my +thought--that it was the reflected thought of the Metal +Things! + +It told me--and fiercely it struggled to make me realize +what it was that it told. Its insistence was borne upon +little despairing, rhythmic beatings--throbbings that were +like the muffled sobbings of the drums of grief. Louder, +closer came the throbbing; clearer with it my perception +of the inhumanness of my thought. + +The drum beat tapped at my humanity, became a +dolorous knocking at my heart. + +It was the sobbing of Cherkis! + +The gross face was shrunken, the cheeks sagging in folds +of woe; cruelty and wickedness were wiped from it; the +evil in the eyes had been washed out by tears. Eyes +streaming, bull throat and barrel chest racked by his +sobbing, he watched the passing of his people and his city. + +And relentlessly, coldly, Norhala watched him--as +though loath to lose the faintest shadow of his agony. + +Now I saw we were close to the top of the mount. +Packed between us and the immense white structures that +crowned it were thousands of the people. They fell on +their knees before us, prayed to us. They tore at each +other, striving to hide themselves from us in the mass +that was themselves. They beat against the barred doors +of the sanctuaries; they climbed the pillars; they swarmed +over the golden roofs. + +There was a moment of chaos--a chaos of which we +were the heart. Then temple and palace cracked, burst; +were shattered; fell. I caught glimpses of gleaming +sculptures, glitterings of gold and of silver, flashing of +gems, shimmering of gorgeous draperies--under them a +weltering of men and women. + +We closed down upon them--over them! + +The dreadful sobbing ceased. I saw the head of Cherkis +swing heavily upon a shoulder; the eyes closed. + +The Destroying Things touched. Their flailing arms +coiled back, withdrew into their bodies. They joined, +forming for an instant a tremendous hollow pillar far down +in whose center we stood. They parted; shifted in shape? +rolled down the mount over the ruins like a widening wave +--crushing into the stone all over which they passed. + +Afar away I saw the gleaming serpent still at play-- +still writhing among, still obliterating the few score +scattered fugitives that some way, somehow, had slipped by +the Destroying Things. + +We halted. For one long moment Norhala looked upon +the drooping body of him upon whom she had let fall +this mighty vengeance. + +Then the metal arm that held Cherkis whirled. +Thrown from it, the cloaked form flew like a great blue +bat. It fell upon the flattened mound that had once been +the proud crown of his city. A blue blot upon desolation +the broken body of Cherkis lay. + +A black speck appeared high in the sky; grew fast-- +the lammergeier. + +"I have left carrion for you--after all!" cried Norhala. + +With an ebon swirling of wings the vulture dropped +beside the blue heap--thrust in it its beak. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +"THE DRUMS +OF DESTINY" + +Slowly we descended that mount of desolation; lingeringly, +as though the brooding eyes of Norhala were not +yet sated with destruction. Of human life, of green life, +of life of any kind there was none. + +Man and tree, woman and flower, babe and bud, palace, +temple and home--Norhala had stamped flat. She had +crushed them within the rock--even as she had promised. + +The tremendous tragedy had absorbed my every +faculty; I had had no time to think of my companions; I +had forgotten them. Now in the painful surges of awakening +realization, of full human understanding of that inhuman +annihilation, I turned to them for strength. Faintly +I wondered again at Ruth's scantiness of garb, her more +than half nudity; dwelt curiously upon the red brand +across Ventnor's forehead. + +In his eyes and in Drake's I saw reflected the horror I +knew was in my own. But in the eyes of Ruth was none of +this--sternly, coldly triumphant, indifferent to its piteousness +as Norhala herself, she scanned the waste that less +than an hour since had been a place of living beauty. + +I felt a shock of repulsion. After all, those who had +been destroyed so ruthlessly could not ALL have been +wholly evil. Yet mother and blossoming maid, youth and +oldster, all the pageant of humanity within the great walls +were now but lines within the stone. According to their +different lights, it came to me, there had been in Ruszark +no greater number of the wicked than one could find in +any great city of our own civilization. + +From Norhala, of course, I looked for no perception of +any of this. But from Ruth-- + +My reaction grew; the pity long withheld racing +through me linked with a burning anger, a hatred for this +woman who had been the directing soul of that catastrophe. + +My gaze fell again upon the red brand. I saw that it +was a deep indentation as though a thong had been twisted +around Ventnor's head biting the bone. There was dried +blood on the edges, a double ring of swollen white flesh +rimming the cincture. It was the mark of--torture! + +"Martin," I cried. "That ring? What did they do to you?" + +"They waked me with that," he answered quietly. "I +suppose I ought to be grateful--although their intentions +were not exactly--therapeutic--" + +"They tortured him," Ruth's voice was tense, bitter; +she spoke in Persian--for Norhala's benefit I thought +then, not guessing a deeper reason. "They tortured him. +They gave him agony until he--returned. And they promised +him other agonies that would make him pray long for death. + +"And me--me"--she raised little clenched hands--"me +they stripped like a slave. They led me through the city +and the people mocked me. They took me before that +swine Norhala has punished--and stripped me before him +--like a slave. Before my eyes they tortured my brother. +Norhala--they were evil, all evil! Norhala--you did well +to slay them!" + +She caught the woman's hands, pressed close to her. +Norhala gazed at her from great gray eyes in which the +wrath was dying, into which the old tranquillity, the old +serenity was flowing. And when she spoke the golden +voice held more than returning echoes of the far-away, +faint chimings. + +"It is done," she said. "And it was well done--sister. +Now you and I shall dwell together in peace--sister. Or +if there be those in the world from which you came that +you would have slain, then you and I shall go forth +with our companies and stamp them out--even as I did +these." + +My heart stopped beating--for from the depths of +Ruth's eyes shining shadows were rising, wraiths answering +Norhala's calling; and, as they rose, steadily they drew +life from the clear radiance summoning--drew closer to +the semblance of that tranquil spirit which her vengeance +had banished but that had now returned to its +twin thrones of Norhala's eyes. + +And at last it was twin sister of Norhala who looked +upon her from the face of Ruth! + +The white arms of the woman encircled her; the glorious +head bent over her; flaming tresses mingled with +tender brown curls. + +"Sister!" she whispered. "Little sister! These men you +shall have as long as it pleases you--to do with as you +will. Or if it is your wish they shall go back to their +world and I will guard them to its gates. + +"But you and I, little sister, will dwell together--in the +vastnesses--in the peace. Shall it not be so?" + +With no faltering, with no glance toward us three-- +lover, brother, old friend--Ruth crept closer to her, rested +her head upon the virginal, royal breasts. + +"It shall be so!" she murmured. "Sister--it shall be so. +Norhala--I am tired. Norhala--I have seen enough of +men." + +An ecstasy of tenderness, a flame of unearthly rapture, +trembled over the woman's wondrous face. Hungrily, defiantly, +she pressed the girl to her; the stars in the lucid +heavens of her eyes were soft and gentle and caressing. + +"Ruth!" cried Drake--and sprang toward them. She paid +no heed; and even as he leaped he was caught, whirled +back against us. + +"Wait," said Ventnor, and caught him by the arm as +wrathfully, blindedly, he strove against the force that held +him. "Wait. No use--now." + +There was a curious understanding in his voice--a curious +sympathy, too, in the patient, untroubled gaze that +dwelt upon his sister and this weirdly exquisite woman +who held her. + +"Wait!" exclaimed Drake. "Wait--hell! The damned +witch is stealing her away from us!" + +Again he threw himself forward; recoiled as though +swept back by an invisible arm; fell against us and was +clasped and held by Ventnor. And as he struggled the +Thing we rode halted. Like metal waves back into it +rushed the enigmatic billows that had washed over the +fragments of the city. + +We were lifted; between us and the woman and girl a +cleft appeared; it widened into a rift. It was as though +Norhala had decreed it as a symbol of this her second +victory--or had set it between us as a barrier. + + +Wider grew the rift. Save for the bridge of our voices it +separated us from Ruth as though she stood upon another world. + +Higher we rose; the three of us now upon the flat top +of a tower upon whose counterpart fifty feet away and +facing the homeward path, Ruth and Norhala stood with +white arms interlaced. + +The serpent shape flashed toward us; it vanished beneath, +merging into the waiting Thing. + +Then slowly the Thing began to move; quietly it +glided to the chasm it had blasted in the cliff wall. The +shadow of those walls fell upon us. As one we looked +back; as one we searched out the patch of blue with +the black blot at its breast. + +We found it; then the precipices hid it. Silently we +streamed through the chasm, through the canyon and the +tunnel--speaking no word, Drake's eyes fixed with bitter +hatred upon Norhala, Ventnor brooding upon her always +with that enigmatic sympathy. We passed between the +walls of the further cleft; stood for an instant at the +brink of the green forest. + +There came to us as though from immeasurable distances, +a faint, sustained thrumming--like the beating of +countless muffled drums. The Thing that carried us +trembled--the sound died away. The Thing quieted; it began its +steady, effortless striding through the crowding trees--but +now with none of that speed with which it had come, +spurred forward by Norhala's awakened hate. + +Ventnor stirred; broke the silence. And now I saw how +wasted was his body, how sharpened his face; almost +ethereal; purged not only by suffering but by, it came to +me, some strange knowledge. + +"No use, Drake," he said dreamily. "All this is now on +the knees of the gods. And whether those gods are humanity's +or whether they are--Gods of Metal--I do not know. + +"But this I do know--only one way or another can the +balance fall; and if it be one way, then you and we shall +have Ruth back. And if it falls the other way--then there +will be little need for us to care. For man will be done!" + +"Martin! What do you mean?" + +"It is the crisis," he answered. "We can do nothing, +Goodwin--nothing. Whatever is to be steps forth now from +the womb of Destiny." + +Again there came that distant rolling--louder, now. +Again the Thing trembled. + +"The drums," whispered Ventnor. "The drums of destiny. +What is it they are heralding? A new birth of Earth and +the passing of man? A new child to whom shall be given +dominion--nay, to whom has been given dominion? Or +is it--taps--for Them?" + +The drumming died as I listened--fearfully. About us +was only the swishing, the sighing of the falling trees +beneath the tread of the Thing. Motionless stood Norhala; +and as motionless Ruth. + +"Martin," I cried once more, a dreadful doubt upon me. +"Martin--what do you mean?" + +"Whence did--They--come?" His voice was clear and +calm, the eyes beneath the red brand clear and quiet, +too. "Whence did They come--these Things that carry us? +That strode like destroying angels over Cherkis's city? +Are they spawn of Earth--as we are? Or are they foster +children--changelings from another star? + +"These creatures that when many still are one--that +when one still are many. Whence did They come? What +are They?" + +He looked down upon the cubes that held us; their +hosts of tiny eyes shone up at him, enigmatically--as +though they heard and understood. + +"I do not forget," he said. "At least not all do I forget +of what I saw during that time when I seemed an atom +outside space--as I told you, or think I told you, speaking +with unthinkable effort through lips that seemed eternities +away from me, the atom, who strove to open them. + +"There were three--visions, revelations--I know not +what to call them. And though each seemed equally real, +of two of them, only one, I think, can be true; and of the +third--that may some time be true but surely is not yet." + + +Through the air came a louder drum roll--in it something +ominous, something sinister. It swelled to a crescendo; +abruptly ceased. And now I saw Norhala raise her +head; listen. + +"I saw a world, a vast world, Goodwin, marching stately +through space. It was no globe--it was a world of many +facets, of smooth and polished planes; a huge blue jewel +world, dimly luminous; a crystal world cut out from +Aether. A geometric thought of the Great Cause, of God, +if you will, made material. It was airless, waterless, sunless. + +"I seemed to draw closer to it. And then I saw that +over every facet patterns were traced; gigantic symmetrical +designs; mathematical hieroglyphs. In them I read unthinkable +calculations, formulas of interwoven universes, +arithmetical progressions of armies of stars, pandects of +the motions of the suns. In the patterns was an appalling +harmony--as though all the laws from those which guide +the atom to those which direct the cosmos were there +resolved into completeness--totalled. + +"The faceted world was like a cosmic abacist, tallying +as it marched the errors of the infinite. + +"The patterned symbols constantly changed form. I +drew nearer--the symbols were alive. They were, in +untold numbers--These!" + +He pointed to the Thing that bore us. + +"I was swept back; looked again upon it from afar. +And a fantastic notion came to me--fantasy it was, of +course, yet built I know around a nucleus of strange +truth. It was"--his tone was half whimsical, half apologetic +--"it was that this jeweled world was ridden by some +mathematical god, driving it through space, noting +occasionally with amused tolerance the very bad arithmetic +of another Deity the reverse of mathematical--a more or +less haphazard Deity, the god, in fact, of us and the +things we call living. + +"It had no mission; it wasn't at all out to do any reforming; +it wasn't in the least concerned in rectifying +any of the inaccuracies of the Other. Only now and then +it took note of the deplorable differences between the +worlds it saw and its own impeccably ordered and tidy +temple with its equally tidy servitors. + +"Just an itinerant demiurge of supergeometry riding +along through space on its perfectly summed-up world; +master of all celestial mechanics; its people independent +of all that complex chemistry and labor for equilibrium +by which we live; needing neither air nor water, heeding +neither heat nor cold; fed with the magnetism of interstellar +space and stopping now and then to banquet off +the energy of some great sun." + +A thrill of amazement passed through me; fantasy all +this might be but--how, if so, had he gotten that last +thought? He had not seen, as we had, the orgy in the +Hall of the Cones, the prodigious feeding of the Metal +Monster upon our sun. + +"That passed," he went on, unnoticing. "I saw vast +caverns filled with the Things; working, growing, multiplying. +In caverns of our Earth--the fruit of some unguessed womb? I +do not know. + +"But in those caverns, under countless orbs of many +colored lights"--again the thrill of amaze shook me-- +"they grew. It came to me that they were reaching out +toward sunlight and the open. They burst into it--into +yellow, glowing sunlight. Ours? I do not know. And that +picture passed." + +His voice deepened. + +"There came a third vision. I saw our Earth--I knew, +Goodwin, indisputably, unmistakably that it was our +earth. But its rolling hills were leveled, its mountains +were ground and shaped into cold and polished symbols +--geometric, fashioned. + +"The seas were fettered, gleaming like immense jewels +in patterned settings of crystal shores. The very Polar ice +was chiseled. On the ordered plains were traced the +hieroglyphs of the faceted world. And on all Earth, Goodwin, +there was no green life, no city, no trace of man. +On this Earth that had been ours were only--These. + +"Visioning!" he said. "Don't think that I accept them +in their entirety. Part truth, part illusion--the groping +mind dazzled with light of unfamiliar truths and making +pictures from half light and half shadow to help it understand. + +"But still--SOME truth in them. How much I do not +know. But this I do know--that last vision was of a +cataclysm whose beginnings we face now--this very instant." + +The picture flashed behind my own eyes--of the walled +city, its thronging people, its groves and gardens, its +science and its art; of the Destroying Shapes trampling +it flat--and then the dreadful, desolate mount. + +And suddenly I saw that mount as Earth--the city as +Earth's cities--its gardens and groves as Earth's fields and +forests--and the vanished people of Cherkis seemed to +expand into all humanity. + +"But Martin," I stammered, fighting against choking, +intolerable terror, "there was something else. Something +of the Keeper of the Cones and of our striking through +the sun to destroy the Things--something of them being +governed by the same laws that govern us and that if +they broke them they must fall. A hope--a PROMISE, that +they would NOT conquer." + +"I remember," he replied, "but not clearly. There WAS +something--a shadow upon them, a menace. It was a +shadow that seemed to be born of our own world--some +threatening spirit of earth hovering over them. + +"I cannot remember; it eludes me. Yet it is because I +remember but a little of it that I say those drums may not +be--taps--for us." + + +As though his words had been a cue, the sounds again +burst forth--no longer muffled nor faint. They roared; they +seemed to pelt through air and drop upon us; they beat +about our ears with thunderous tattoo like covered caverns +drummed upon by Titans with trunks of great trees. + +The drumming did not die; it grew louder, more vehement; +defiant and deafening. Within the Thing under us a +mighty pulse began to throb, accelerating rapidly to the +rhythm of that clamorous roll. + +I saw Norhala draw herself up, sharply; stand listening +and alert. Under me, the throbbing turned to an uneasy +churning, a ferment. + +"Drums?" muttered Drake. "THEY'RE no drums. It's +drum fire. It's like a dozen Marnes, a dozen Verduns. But +where could batteries like those come from?" + +"Drums," whispered Ventnor. "They ARE drums. The +drums of Destiny!" + +Louder the roaring grew. Now it was a tremendous +rhythmic cannonading. The Thing halted. The tower that +upheld Ruth and Norhala swayed, bent over the gap between +us, touched the top on which we rode. + +Gently the two were plucked up; swiftly they were set +beside us. + +Came a shrill, keen wailing--louder than ever I had +heard before. There was an earthquake trembling; a +maelstrom swirling in which we spun; a swift sinking. + +The Thing split in two. Up before us rose a stupendous, +stepped pyramid; little smaller it was than that which +Cheops built to throw its shadows across holy Nile. Into +it streamed, over it clicked, score upon score of cubes, +building it higher and higher. It lurched forward--away +from us. + +From Norhala came a single cry--resonant, blaring +like a wrathful, golden trumpet. + +The speeding shape halted, hesitated; it seemed about +to return. Crashed down upon us an abrupt crescendo of +the distant drumming; peremptory, commanding. The +shape darted forward; raced away crushing to straw the +trees beneath it in a full quarter-mile-wide swath. + +Great gray eyes wide, filled with incredulous wonder, +stunned disbelief, Norhala for an instant faltered. Then +out of her white throat, through her red lips pelted a +tempest of staccato buglings. + +Under them what was left of the Thing leaped, tore on. +Norhala's flaming hair crackled and streamed; about her +body of milk and pearl--about Ruth's creamy skin--a +radiant nimbus began to glow. + +In the distance I saw a sapphire spark; knew it for +Norhala's home. Not far from it now was the rushing +pyramid--and it came to me that within that shape was +strangely neither globe nor pyramid. Nor except for the +trembling cubes that made the platform on which we +stood, did the shrunken Thing carrying us hold any unit +of the Metal Monster except its spheres and tetrahedrons +--at least within its visible bulk. + +The sapphire spark had grown to a glimmering azure +marble. Steadily we gained upon the pyramid. Never for +an instant ceased that scourging hail of notes from Norhala +--never for an instant lessened the drumming clamor +that seemed to try to smother them. + +The sapphire marble became a sapphire ball, a great +globe. I saw the Thing we sought to join lift itself into a +prodigious pillar; the pillar's base thrust forth stilts; upon +them the Thing stepped over the blue dome of Norhala's +house. + +The blue bubble was close; now it curved below us. +Gently we were lifted down; were set before its portal. +I looked up at the bulk that had carried us. + +I had been right--built it was only of globe and pyramid; +an inconceivably grotesque shape, it hung over us. + +Throughout the towering Shape was awful movement; +its units writhed within it. Then it was lost to sight in +the mists through which the Thing we had pursued had gone. + +In Norhala's face as she watched it go was a dismay, a +poignant uncertainty, that held in it something indescribably pitiful. + +"I am afraid!" I heard her whisper. + +She tightened her grasp upon dreaming Ruth; motioned +us to go within. We passed, silently; behind us she came, +followed by three of the great globes, by a pair of her +tetrahedrons. + +Beside a pile of the silken stuffs she halted. The girl's +eyes dwelt upon hers trustingly. + +"I am afraid!" whispered Norhala again. "Afraid--for you!" + +Tenderly she looked down upon her, the galaxies of +stars in her eyes soft and tremulous. + +"I am afraid, little sister," she whispered for the third +time. "Not yet can you go as I do--among the fires." She +hesitated. "Rest here until I return. I shall leave these to +guard you and obey you." + +She motioned to the five shapes. They ranged themselves +about Ruth. Norhala kissed her upon both brown eyes. + +"Sleep till I return," she murmured. + +She swept from the chamber--with never a glance for +us three. I heard a little wailing chorus without, fast dying +into silence. + +Spheres and pyramids twinkled at us, guarding the +silken pile whereon Ruth lay asleep--like some enchanted +princess. + +Beat down upon the blue globe like hollow metal +worlds, beaten and shrieking. + +The drums of Destiny! + +The drums of Doom! + +Beating taps for the world of men? + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE FRENZY +OF RUTH + +For many minutes we stood silent, in the shadowy chamber, +listening, each absorbed in his own thoughts. The +thunderous drumming was continuous; sometimes it +faded into a background for clattering storms as of +thousands of machine guns, thousands of riveters at work +at once upon a thousand metal frameworks; sometimes it +was nearly submerged beneath splitting crashes as of meeting +meteors of hollow steel. + +But always the drumming persisted, rhythmic, thunderous. +Through it all Ruth slept, undisturbed, cheek pillowed +in one rounded arm, the two great pyramids +erect behind her, watchful; a globe at her feet, a globe +at her head, the third sphere poised between her and us, +and, like the pyramids--watchful. + +What was happening out there--over the edge of the +canyon, beyond the portal of the cliffs, behind the veils, in +the Pit of the Metal Monster? What was the message of +the roaring drums? What the rede of their clamorous +runes? + +Ventnor stepped by the sentinel globe, bent over the +tranced girl. Sphere nor pointed pair stirred; only they +watched him--like a palpable thing one felt their watchfulness. +He listened to her heart, caught up a wrist, took +note of her pulse of life. He drew a deep breath, stood +upright, nodded reassuringly. + +Abruptly Drake turned, walked out through the open +portal, his strain and a very deep anxiety written plainly +in deep lines that ran from nostrils to firm young mouth. + +"Just went out to look for the pony," he muttered when +he returned. "It's safe. I was afraid it had been stepped +on. It's getting dusk. There's a big light down the canyon +--over in the valley." + +Ventnor drew back past the globe; rejoined us. + +The blue bower trembled under a gust of sound. Ruth +stirred; her brows knitted; her hands clenched. The sphere +that stood before her spun on its axis, swept up to the +globe at her head, glided from it to the globe at her +feet--as though whispering. Ruth moaned--her body bent +upright, swayed rigidly. Her eyes opened; they stared +through us as though upon some dreadful vision; and +strangely was it as though she were seeing with another's +eyes, were reflecting another's sufferings. + +The globes at her feet and at her head swirled out, +clustering against the third sphere--three weird shapes +in silent consultation. On Ventnor's face I saw pity-- +and a vast relief. With shocked amaze I realized that +Ruth's agony--for in agony she clearly was--was calling +forth in him elation. He spoke--and I knew why. + +"Norhala!" he whispered. "She is seeing with Norhala's +eyes--feeling what Norhala feels. It's not going well with +--That--out there. If we dared leave Ruth--could only, +see--" + +Ruth leaped to her feet; cried out--a golden bugling +that might have been Norhala's own wrathful trumpet +notes. Instantly the two pyramids flamed open, became +two gleaming stars that bathed her in violet radiance. +Beneath their upper tips I saw the blasting ovals glitter-- +menacingly. + +The girl glared at us--more brilliant grew the glittering +ovals as though their lightnings trembled on their lips. + +"Ruth!" called Ventnor softly. + +A shadow softened the intolerable, hard brilliancy of the +brown eyes. In them something struggled to arise, fighting +its way to the surface like some drowning human thing. + +It sank back--upon her face dropped a cloud of heartbreak, +appalling woe; the despair of a soul that, having +withdrawn all faith in its own kind to rest all faith, as it +thought, on angels--sees that faith betrayed. + +There stared upon us a stripped spirit, naked and hopeless +and terrible. + +Despairing, raging, she screamed once more. The central +globe swam to her; it raised her upon its back; glided +to the doorway. Upon it she stood poised like some youthful, +anguished Victory--a Victory who faced and knew +she faced destroying defeat; poised upon that enigmatic +orb on bare slender feet, one sweet breast bare, hands +upraised, virginally archaic, nothing about her of the +Ruth we knew. + +"Ruth!" cried Drake; despair as great as that upon her +face was in his voice. He sprang before the globe that +held her; barred its way. + +For an instant the Thing paused--and in that instant +the human soul of the girl rushed back. + +"No!" she cried. "No!" + +A weird call issued from the white lips--stumbling, uncertain, +as though she who sent it forth herself wondered +whence it sprang. Abruptly the angry stars closed. The +three globes spun--doubting, puzzled! Again she called-- +now a tremulous, halting cadence. She was lifted; dropped +gently to her feet. + +For an instant the globes and pyramids whirled and +danced before her--then sped away through the portal. + +Ruth swayed, sobbing. Then as though drawn, she ran +to the doorway, fled through it. As one we sprang after +her. Rods ahead her white body flashed, speeding toward +the Pit. Like fleet-footed Atalanta she fled--and far, far +behind us was the blue bower, the misty barrier of the +veils close, when Drake with a last desperate burst reached +her side, gripped her. Down the two fell, rolling upon the +smooth roadway. Silently she fought, biting, tearing at +Drake, struggling to escape. + +"Quick!" gasped Ventnor, stretching out to me an +arm. "Cut off the sleeve. Quick!" + +Unquestioningly, I drew my knife, ripped the garment +at the shoulder. He snatched the sleeve, knelt at Ruth's +head; rapidly he crumpled an end, thrust it roughly into +her mouth; tied it fast, gagging her. + +"Hold her!" he ordered Drake; and with a sob of relief +sprang up. The girl's eyes blazed at him, filled with hate. + +"Cut that other sleeve," he said; and when I had done +so, he knelt again, pinned Ruth down with a knee at her +throat, turned her over and knotted her hands behind +her. She ceased struggling; gently now he drew up the +curly head; swung her upon her back. + +"Hold her feet." He nodded to Drake, who caught the +slender bare ankles in his hands. + + +She lay there, helpless, being unable to use her hands +or feet. + +"Too little Ruth, and too much Norhala," said Ventnor, +looking up at me. "If she'd only thought to cry out! She +could have brought a regiment of those Things down to +blast us. And would--if she HAD thought. You don't think +THAT is Ruth, do you?" + +He pointed to the pallid face glaring at him, the eyes +from which cold fires flamed. + +"No, you don't!" He caught Drake by the shoulder, +sent him spinning a dozen feet away. "Damn it, Drake-- +don't you understand!" + +For suddenly Ruth's eyes softened; she had turned +them on Dick pitifully, appealingly--and he had loosed +her ankles, had leaned forward as though to draw away +the band that covered her lips. + +"Your gun," whispered Ventnor to me; before I had +moved he had snatched the automatic from my holster; +had covered Drake with it. + +"Drake," he said, "stand where you are. If you take +another step toward this girl I'll shoot you--by God, I +will!" + +Drake halted, shocked amazement in his face; I myself +felt resentful, wondering at his outburst. + +"But it's hurting her," he muttered, Ruth's eyes, soft and +pleading, still dwelt upon him. + +"Hurting her!" exclaimed Ventnor. "Man--she's my sister! +I know what I'm doing. Can't you see? Can't you see +how little of Ruth is in that body there--how little of +the girl you love? How or why I don't know--but that it +is so I DO know. Drake--have you forgotten how Norhala +beguiled Cherkis? I want my sister back. I'm helping +her to get back. Now let be. I know what I'm doing. Look +at her!" + +We looked. In the face that glared up at Ventnor was +nothing of Ruth--even as he had said. There was the +same cold, awesome wrath that had rested upon Norhala's +as she watched Cherkis weep over the eating up of +his city. Swiftly came a change--like the sudden smoothing +out of the rushing waves of a hill-locked, wind-lashed lake. + +The face was again Ruth's face--and Ruth's alone; the +eyes were Ruth's eyes--supplicating, adjuring. + +"Ruth!" Ventnor cried. "While you can hear--am I +not right?" + +She nodded vigorously, sternly; she was lost, hidden +once more. + +"You see." He turned to us grimly. + +A shattering shaft of light flashed upon the veils; almost +pierced them. An avalanche of sound passed high +above us. Yet now I noted that where we stood the +clamor was lessened, muffled. Of course, it came to me, +it was the veils. + +I wondered why--for whatever the quality of the +radiant mists, their purpose certainly had to do with +concentration of the magnetic flux. The deadening of the +noise must be accidental, could have nothing to do with +their actual use; for sound is an air vibration solely. No +--it must be a secondary effect. The Metal Monster was as +heedless of clamor as it was of heat or cold-- + +"We've got to see," Ventnor broke the chain of +thought. "We've got to get through and see what's +happening. Win or lose--we've got to KNOW." + +"Cut off your sleeve, as I did," he motioned to Drake. +"Tie her ankles. We'll carry her." + +Quickly it was done. Ruth's light body swinging between +brother and lover, we moved forward into the mists; +we crept cautiously through their dead silences. + +Passed out and fell back into them from a searing chaos +of light, chaotic tumult. + +From the slackened grip of Ventnor and Drake the +body of Ruth dropped while we three stood blinded, +deafened, fighting for recovery. Ruth twisted, rolled +toward the brink; Ventnor threw himself upon her, held her +fast. + + +Dragging her, crawling on our knees, we crept forward; +we stopped when the thinning of the mists permitted us +to see through them yet still interposed a curtaining +which, though tenuous, dimmed the intolerable brilliancy +that filled the Pit, muffled its din to a degree we +could bear. + +I peered through them--and nerve and muscle were +locked in the grip of a paralyzing awe. I felt then as one +would feel set close to warring regiments of stars, made +witness to the death-throes of a universe, or swept +through space and held above the whirling coils of Andromeda's +nebula to watch its birth agonies of nascent suns. + +These are no figures of speech, no hyperboles--speck as +our whole planet would be in Andromeda's vast loom, +pinprick as was the Pit to the cyclone craters of our +own sun, within the cliff-cupped walls of the valley was a +tangible, struggling living force akin to that which dwells +within the nebula and the star; a cosmic spirit transcending +all dimensions and thrusting its confines out into +the infinite; a sentient emanation of the infinite itself. + +Nor was its voice less unearthly. It used the shell of the +earth valley for its trumpetings, its clangors--but as one +hears in the murmurings of the fluted conch the great +voice of ocean, its whispering and its roarings, so here in +the clamorous shell of the Pit echoed the tremendous +voices of that illimitable sea which laps the shores of +the countless suns. + +I looked upon a mighty whirlpool miles and miles wide. +It whirled with surges whose racing crests were smiting +incandescences; it was threaded with a spindrift of lightnings; +it was trodden by dervish mists of molten flame +thrust through with forests of lances of living light. It cast +a cadent spray high to the heavens. + +Over it the heavens glittered as though they were a +shield held by fearful gods. Through the maelstrom staggered +a mountainous bulk; a gleaming leviathan of pale +blue metal caught in the swirling tide of some incredible +volcano; a huge ark of metal breasting a deluge of flame. + +And the drumming we heard as of hollow beaten metal +worlds, the shouting tempests of cannonading stars, +was the breaking of these incandescent crests, the falling +of the lightning spindrift, the rhythmic impact of the +lanced rays upon the glimmering mountain that reeled +and trembled as they struck it. + +The reeling mountain, the struggling leviathan, was-- +the City! + +It was the mass of the Metal Monster itself, guarded +by, stormed by, its own legions that though separate from +it were still as much of it as were the cells that formed +the skin of its walls, its carapace. + +It was the Metal Monster tearing, rending, fighting for, +battling against--itself. + +Mile high as when I had first beheld it was the inexplicable +body that held the great heart of the cones into +which had been drawn the magnetic cataracts from our +sun; that held too the smaller hearts of the lesser cones, +the workshops, the birth chamber and manifold other +mysteries unguessed and unseen. By a full fourth had its +base been shrunken. + +Ranged in double line along the side turned toward us +were hundreds of dread forms--Shapes that in their intensity +bore down upon, oppressed with a nightmare weight, the consciousness. + +Rectangular, upon their outlines no spike of pyramid, +no curve of globe showing, uncompromisingly ponderous, +they upthrust. Upon the tops of the first rank were +enormous masses, sledge shaped--like those metal fists +that had battered down the walls of Cherkis's city but +to them as the human hand is to the paw of the dinosaur. + +Conceive this--conceive these Shapes as animate and +flexible; beating down with the prodigious mallets, smashing +from side to side as though the tremendous pillars +that held them were thousand jointed upright pistons; +that as closely as I can present it in images of things we +know is the picture of the Hammering Things. + + +Behind them stood a second row, high as they and as +angular. From them extended scores of girdered arms. +These were thickly studded with the flaming cruciform +shapes, the opened cubes gleaming with their angry flares +of reds and smoky yellows. From the tentacles of many +swung immense shields like those which ringed the hall of +the great cones. + +And as the sledges beat, ever over their bent heads +poured from the crosses a flood of crimson lightnings. Out +of the concave depths of the shields whipped lashes of +blinding flame. With ropes of fire they knouted the Things +the sledges struck, the sullen crimson levins blasted. + +Now I could see the Shapes that attacked. Grotesque; +spined and tusked, spiked and antlered, wenned and +breasted; as chimerically angled, cusped and cornute as +though they were the superangled, supercornute gods +of the cusped and angled gods of the Javanese, they strove +against the sledge-headed and smiting, the multiarmed and +blasting square towers. + +High as them, as huge as they, incomparably fantastic, +in dozens of shifting forms they battled. + +More than a mile from the stumbling City stood +ranged like sharpshooters a host of solid, bristling-legged +towers. Upon their tops spun gigantic wheels. Out of the +centers of these wheels shot the radiant lances, hosts of +spears of intensest violet light. The radiance they volleyed +was not continuous; it was broken, so that the javelin rays +shot out in rhythmic flights, each flying fast upon the +shafts of the others. + +It was their impact that sent forth the thunderous drumming. +They struck and splintered against the walls, dropping +from them in great gouts of molten flame. It was as +though before they broke they pierced the wall, the +Monster's side, bled fire. + +With the crashing of broadsides of massed batteries +the sledges smashed down upon the bristling attackers. +Under the awful impact globes and pyramids were shattered +into hundreds of fragments, rocket bursts of blue +and azure and violet flame, flames rainbowed and irised. + +The hammer ends split, flew apart, were scattered, were +falling showers of sulphurous yellow and scarlet meteors. +But ever other cubes swarmed out and repaired the +broken smiting tips. And always where a tusked and +cornute shape had been battered down, disintegrated, +another arose as huge and as formidable pouring forth +upon the squared tower its lightnings, tearing at it with +colossal spiked and hooked claws, beating it with incredible +spiked and globular fists that were like the +clenched hands of some metal Atlas. + +As the striving Shapes swayed and wrestled, gave way +or thrust forward, staggered or fell, the bulk of the +Monster stumbled and swayed, advanced and retreated--an +unearthly motion wedded to an amorphous immensity that +flooded the watching consciousness with a deathly nausea. + +Unceasingly the hail of radiant lances poured from the +spinning wheels, falling upon Towered Shapes and City's +wall alike. There arose a prodigious wailing, an unearthly +thin screaming. About the bases of the defenders flashed +blinding bursts of incandescence--like those which had +heralded the flight of the Flying Thing dropping before +Norhala's house. + +Unlike them they held no dazzling sapphire brilliancies; +they were ochreous, suffused with raging vermilion. Nevertheless +they were factors of that same inexplicable action +--for from thousands of gushing lights leaped thousands +of gigantic square pillars; unimaginable projectiles hurled +from the flaming mouths of earth-hidden, titanic mortars. + +They soared high, swerved and swooped upon the lance-throwers. +Beneath their onslaught those chimerae tottered, I saw living +projectiles and living target fuse where they met--melt and +weld in jets of lightnings. + +But not all. There were those that tore great gaps in the +horned giants--wounds that instantly were healed with +globes and pyramids seething out from the Cyclopean +trunk. Ever the incredible projectiles flashed and flew as +though from some inexhaustible store; ever uprose that +prodigious barrage against the smiting rays. + +Now to check them soared from the ranks of the besiegers +clouds of countless horned dragons, immense +cylinders of clustered cubes studded with the clinging +tetrahedrons. They struck the cubed projectiles head on; +aimed themselves to meet them. + +Bristling dragon and hurtling pillar stuck and fused +or burst with intolerable blazing. They fell--cube and +sphere and pyramid--some half opened, some fully, in a +rain of disks, of stars, huge flaming crosses; a storm of +unimaginable pyrotechnics. + +Now I became conscious that within the City--within +the body of the Metal Monster--there raged a strife +colossal as this without. From it came a vast volcanic +roaring. Up from its top shot tortured flames, cascades +and fountains of frenzied Things that looped and struggled, +writhed over its edge, hurled themselves back; battling +chimerae which against the glittering heavens traced +luminous symbols of agony. + +Shrilled a stronger wailing. Up from behind the ray +hurling Towers shot hosts of globes. Thousands of palely +azure, metal moons they soared; warrior moons charging in +meteor rush and streaming with fluttering battle pennons +of violet flame. High they flew; they curved over the mile +high back of the Monster; they dropped upon it. + +Arose to meet them immense columns of the cubes; +battered against the spheres; swept them over and down +into the depths. Hundreds fell, broken--but thousands +held their place. I saw them twine about the pillars-- +writhing columns of interlaced cubes and globes straining +like monstrous serpents while all along their coils the +open disks and crosses smote with the scimitars of their +lightnings. + +In the wall of the City appeared a shining crack; from +top to bottom it ran; it widened into a rift from which a +flood of radiance gushed. Out of this rift poured a +thousand-foot-high torrent of horned globes. + +Only for an instant they flowed. The rift closed upon +them, catching those still emerging in a colossal vise. It +CRUNCHED them. Plain through the turmoil came a dreadful +--bursting roar. + +Down from the closing jaws of the vise dripped a stream +of fragments that flashed and flickered--and died. And +now in the wall was no trace of the breach. + +A hurricane of radiant lances swept it. Under them a +mile wide section of the living scarp split away; dropped +like an avalanche. Its fall revealed great spaces, huge +vaults and chambers filled with warring lightnings--out +from them came roaring, bellowing thunders. Swiftly from +each side of the gap a metal curtaining of the cubes +joined. Again the wall was whole. + +I turned my stunned gaze from the City--swept over the +valley. Everywhere, in towers, in writhing coils, in whipping +flails, in waves that smote and crashed, in countless +forms and combinations the Metal Hordes battled. Here +were pillars against which metal billows rushed and were +broken; there were metal comets that crashed high above +the mad turmoil. + +From streaming silent veil to veil--north and south, +east and west the Monster slew itself beneath its racing, +flaming banners, the tempests of its lightnings. + +The tortured hulk of the City lurched; it swept toward +us. Before it blotted out from our eyes the Pit I saw +that the crystal spans upon the river of jade were gone; +that the wondrous jeweled ribbons of its banks were +broken. + +Closer came the reeling City. + +I fumbled for my lenses, focussed them upon it. Now I +saw that where the radiant lances struck they--killed the +blocks blackened under them, became lustreless; the +sparkling of the tiny eyes--went out; the metal carapaces +crumbled. + +Closer to the City--came the Monster; shuddering I +lowered the glasses that it might not seem so near. + +Down dropped the bristling Shapes that wrestled with +the squared Towers. They rose again in a single monstrous +wave that rushed to overwhelm them. Before they could +strike the City swept closer; had hidden them from me. + +Again I raised the glasses. They brought the metal scarp +not fifty feet away--within it the hosts of tiny eyes +glittered, no longer mocking nor malicious, but insane. + +Nearer drew the Monster--nearer. + +A thousand feet away it checked its movement, seemed +to draw itself together. Then like the roar of a falling +world that whole side facing us slid down to the valley's +floor. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE PASSING +OF NORHALA + +Hundreds of feet through must have been the fallen +mass--within it who knows what chambers filled with +mysteries? Yes, thousands of feet thick it must have been, +for the debris of it splintered and lashed to the very +edge of the ledge on which we crouched; heaped it with +the dimming fragments of the bodies that had formed it. + +We looked into a thousand vaults, a thousand spaces. +There came another avalanche roaring--before us opened +the crater of the cones. + +Through the torn gap I saw them, clustering undisturbed +about the base of that one slender, coroneted and +star pointing spire, rising serene and unshaken from a +hell of lightnings. But the shields that had rimmed the +crater were gone. + +Ventnor snatched the glasses from my hand, leveled +and held them long to his eyes. + +He thrust them back to me. "Look!" + +Through the lenses the great hall leaped into full view +apparently only a few yards away. It was a cauldron of +chameleon flame. It seethed with the Hordes battling +over the remaining walls and floor. But around the crystal +base of the cones was an open zone into which none broke. + +In that wide ring, girdling the shimmering fantasy like +a circled sanctuary, were but three forms. One was the +wondrous Disk of jeweled fires I have called the Metal +Emperor; the second was the sullen fired cruciform of the +Keeper. + +The third was Norhala! + +She stood at the side of that weird master of hers--or +was it after all the servant? Between them and the Keeper's +planes gleamed the gigantic T-shaped tablet of countless +rods which controlled the activities of the cones; that +had controlled the shifting of the vanished shields; that +manipulated too, perhaps, the energies of whatever similar +but smaller cornute ganglia were scattered throughout the +City and one of which we had beheld when the Emperor's +guards had blasted Ventnor. + +Close was Norhala in the lenses--so close that almost, +it seemed, I could reach out and touch her. The flaming +hair streamed and billowed above her glorious head like +a banner of molten floss of coppery gold; her face was a +mask of wrath and despair; her great eyes blazed upon +the Keeper; her exquisite body was bare, stripped of +every shred of silken covering. + +From streaming tresses to white feet an oval of pulsing, +golden light nimbused her. Maiden Isis, virgin Astarte she +stood there, held in the grip of the Disk--like a goddess +betrayed and hopeless yet thirsting for vengeance. + +For all their stillness, their immobility, it came to me +that Emperor and Keeper were at grapple, locked in death +grip; the realization was as definite as though, like Ruth, +I thought with Norhala's mind, saw with her eyes. + +Clearly too it came to me that in this contest between +the two was epitomized all the vast conflict that raged +around them; that in it was fast ripening that fruit of +destiny of which Ventnor had spoken, and that here +in the Hall of the Cones would be settled--and soon-- +the fate not only of Disk and Cross, but it might be +of humanity. + +But with what unknown powers was that duel being +fought? They cast no lightnings, they battled with no +visible weapons. Only the great planes of the inverted +cruciform Shape smoked and smoldered with their sullen +flares of ochres and of scarlets; while over all the face of +the Disk its cold and irised fires raced and shone, beating +with a rhythm incredibly rapid; its core of incandescent +ruby blazed, its sapphire ovals were cabochoned pools +of living, lucent radiance. + +There was a splitting roar that arose above all the +clamor, deafening us even in the shelter of the silent veils. +On each side of the crater whole masses of the City +dropped away. Fleetingly I was aware of scores of +smaller pits in which uprose lesser replicas of the Coned +Mount, lesser reservoirs of the Monster's force. + +Neither the Emperor nor the Keeper moved, both seemingly +indifferent to the catastrophe fast developing around them. + +Now I strained forward to the very thinnest edge of the +curtainings. For between the Disk and Cross began to +form fine black mist. It was transparent. It seemed spun +of minute translucent ebon corpuscles. It hung like a black +shroud suspended by unseen hands. It shook and wavered +now toward the Disk, now toward the Cross. + +I sensed a keying up of force within the two; knew that +each was striving to cast like a net that hanging mist +upon the other. + +Abruptly the Emperor flashed forth, blindingly. As +though caught upon a blast, the black shroud flew toward +the Keeper--enveloped it. And as the mist covered and +clung I saw the sulphurous and crimson flares dim. They +were snuffed out. + +The Keeper fell! + + +Upon Norhala's face flamed a wild triumph, banishing +despair. The outstretched planes of the Cross swept up +as though in torment. For an instant its fires flared and +licked through the clinging blackness; it writhed half upright, +threw itself forward, crashed down prostrate upon the enigmatic +tablet which only its tentacles could manipulate. + +From Norhala's face the triumph fled. On its heels +rushed stark, incredulous horror. + +The Mount of Cones shuddered. From it came a single +mighty throb of force--like a prodigious heart-beat. Under +that pulse of power the Emperor staggered, spun--and +spinning, swept Norhala from her feet, swung her close to +its flashing rose. + +A second throb pulsed from the cones, and mightier. + +A spasm shook the Disk--a paroxysm. + +Its fires faded; they flared out again, bathing the floating, +unearthly figure of Norhala with their iridescences. + +I saw her body writhe--as though it shared the agony of the +Shape that held her. Her head twisted; the great eyes, pools +of uncomprehending, unbelieving horror, stared into mine. + +With a spasmodic, infinitely dreadful movement the +Disk closed-- + +And closed upon her! + +Norhala was gone--was shut within it. Crushed to the +pent fires of its crystal heart. + +I heard a sobbing, agonized choking--knew it was I who +sobbed. Against me I felt Ruth's body strike, bend in +convulsive arc, drop inert. + +The slender steeple of the cones drooped sending its +faceted coronet shattering to the floor. The Mount melted. +Beneath the flooding radiance sprawled Keeper and the +great inert Globe that was the Goddess woman's sepulcher. + +The crater filled with the pallid luminescence. Faster +and ever faster it poured down into the Pit. And from +all the lesser craters of the smaller cones swept silent +cataracts of the same pale radiance. + +The City began to crumble--the Monster to fall. + +Like pent-up waters rushing through a broken dam the +gleaming deluge swept over the valley; gushing in steady +torrents from the breaking mass. Over the valley fell a vast +silence. The lightnings ceased. The Metal Hordes stood +rigid, the shining flood lapping at their bases, rising swiftly +ever higher. + +Now from the sinking City swarmed multitudes of its +weird luminaries. + +Out they trooped, swirling from every rent and gap-- +orbs scarlet and sapphire, ruby orbs, orbs tuliped and irised +--the jocund suns of the birth chamber and side by side +with them hosts of the frozen, pale gilt, stiff rayed suns. + +Thousands upon thousands they marched forth and +poised themselves solemnly over all the Pit that now was a +fast rising lake of yellow froth of sun flame. + +They swept forth in squadrons, in companies, in regiments, +those mysterious orbs. They floated over all the +valley; they separated and swung motionless above it as +though they were mysterious multiple souls of fire brooding +over the dying shell that had held them. + +Beneath, thrusting up from the lambent lake like grotesque +towers of some drowned fantastic metropolis, the +great Shapes stood, black against its glowing. + +What had been the City--that which had been the +bulk of the Monster--was now only a vast and shapeless +hill from which streamed the silent torrents of that +released, unknown force which, concentrate and bound, had +been the cones. + +As though it was the Monster's shining life-blood it +poured, raising ever higher in its swift flooding the level +radiant lake. + +Lower and lower sank the immense bulk; squattered +and spread, ever lowering--about its helpless, patient +crouching something ineffably piteous, something indescribably, +COSMICALLY tragic. + +Abruptly the watching orbs shook under a hail of sparkling +atoms streaming down from the glittering sky; raining +upon the lambent lake. So thick they fell that now the +brooding luminaries were dim aureoles within them. + +From the Pit came a blinding, insupportable brilliancy. +From every rigid tower gleamed out jeweled fires; their +clinging units opened into blazing star and disk and cross. +The City was a hill of living gems over which flowed +torrents of pale molten gold. + +The Pit blazed. + + +There followed an appalling tensity; a prodigious gathering +of force; a panic stirring concentration of energy. +Thicker fell the clouds of sparkling atoms--higher rose +the yellow flood. + +Ventnor cried out. I could not hear him, but I read his +purpose--and so did Drake. Up on his broad shoulders he +swung Ruth as though she had been a child. Back +through the throbbing veils we ran; passed out of them. + +"Back!" shouted Ventnor. "Back as far as you can!" + +On we raced; we reached the gateway of the cliffs; we +dashed on and on--up the shining roadway toward the +blue globe now a scant mile before us; ran sobbing, panting +--ran, we knew, for our lives. + +Out of the Pit came a sound--I cannot describe it! + +An unutterably desolate, dreadful wail of despair, it +shuddered past us like the groaning of a broken-hearted +star--anguished and awesome. + +It died. There rushed upon us a sea of that incredible +loneliness, that longing for extinction that had assailed +us in the haunted hollow where first we had seen Norhala. +But its billows were resistless, invincible. Beneath them +we fell; were torn by desire for swift death. + +Dimly, through fainting eyes, I saw a dazzling brilliancy +fill the sky; heard with dying ears a chaotic, blasting roar. +A wave of air thicker than water caught us up, hurled us +hundreds of yards forward. It dropped us; in its wake +rushed another wave, withering, scorching. + +It raced over us. Scorching though it was, within its +heat was energizing, revivifying force; something that slew +the deadly despair and fed the fading fires of life. + +I staggered to my feet; looked back. The veils were gone. +The precipice walled gateway they had curtained was filled +with a Plutonic glare as though it opened into the incandescent +heart of a volcano. + +Ventnor clutched my shoulder, spun me around. He pointed to +the sapphire house, started to run to it. Far ahead I saw +Drake, the body of the girl clasped to his breast. The heat +became blasting, insupportable; my lungs burned. + +Over the sky above the canyon streaked a serpentine +chain of lightnings. A sudden cyclonic gust swept the cleft, +whirling us like leaves toward the Pit. + +I threw myself upon my face, clutching at the smooth +rock. A volley of thunder burst--but not the thunder of +the Metal Monster or its Hordes; no, the bellowing of the +levins of our own earth. + +And the wind was cold; it bathed the burning skin; laved +the fevered lungs. + +Again the sky was split by the lightnings. And roaring +down from it in solid sheets came the rain. + +From the Pit arose a hissing as though within it raged +Babylonian Tiamat, Mother of Chaos, serpent dweller in +the void; Midgard-snake of the ancient Norse holding +in her coils the world. + +Buffeted by wind, beaten down by rain, clinging to each +other like drowning men, Ventnor and I pushed on to the +elfin globe. The light was dying fast. By it we saw Drake +pass within the portal with his burden. The light became +embers; it went out; blackness clasped us. Guided by the +lightnings, we beat our way to the door; passed through it. + +In the electric glare we saw Drake bending over Ruth. +In it I saw a slide draw over the open portal through +which shrieked the wind, streamed the rain. + +As though its crystal panel was moved by unseen, gentle +hands, the portal closed; the tempest shut out. + +We dropped beside Ruth upon a pile of silken stuffs-- +awed, marveling, trembling with pity and--thanksgiving. + +For we knew--each of us knew with an absolute definiteness +as we crouched there among the racing, dancing +black and silver shadows with which the lightnings filled +the blue globe--that the Metal Monster was dead. + +Slain by itself! + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +BURNED OUT + +Ruth sighed and stirred. By the glare of the lightnings, +now almost continuous, we saw that her rigidity, and in +fact all the puzzling cataleptic symptoms, had disappeared. +Her limbs relaxed, her skin faintly flushed, she lay in +deepest but natural slumber undisturbed by the incessant +cannonading of the thunder under which the walls of +the blue globe shuddered. Ventnor passed through the curtains +of the central hall; he returned with one of Norhala's cloaks; +covered the girl with it. + +An overwhelming sleepiness took possession of me, a +weariness ineffable. Nerve and brain and muscle suddenly +relaxed, went slack and numb. Without a struggle I surrendered +to an overpowering stupor and cradled deep in its heart ceased +consciously to be. + + +When my eyes unclosed the chamber of the moonstone +walls was filled with a silvery, crepuscular light. I heard +the murmuring and laughing of running water, the play, I +lazily realized, of the fountained pool. + +I lay for whole minutes unthinking, luxuriating in the +sense of tension gone and of security; lay steeped in the +aftermath of complete rest. Memory flooded me. + +Quietly I sat up; Ruth still slept, breathing peacefully +beneath the cloak, one white arm stretched over the shoulder +of Drake--as though in her sleep she had drawn close to him. + +At her feet lay Ventnor, as deep in slumber as they. I +arose and tip-toed over to the closed door. + +Searching, I found its key; a cupped indentation upon +which I pressed. + +The crystalline panel slipped back; it was moved, I +suppose, by some mechanism of counterbalances responding +to the weight of the hand. It must have been some +vibration of the thunder which had loosed that mechanism +and had closed the panel upon the heels of our entrance +--so I thought--then seeing again in memory that +uncanny, deliberate shutting was not at all convinced that +it had been the thunder. + +I looked out. How many hours the sun had been up +there was no means of knowing. + +The sky was low and slaty gray; a fine rain was falling. +I stepped out. + +The garden of Norhala was a wreckage of uprooted and splintered +trees and torn masses of what had been blossoming verdure. + +The gateway of the precipices beyond which lay the Pit +was hidden in the webs of the rain. Long I gazed down +the canyon--and longingly; striving to picture what the +Pit now held; eager to read the riddles of the night. + +There came from the valley no sound, no movement, +no light. + +I reentered the blue globe and paused on the threshold +--staring into the wide and wondering eyes of Ruth bolt +upright in her silken bed with Norhala's cloak clutched to +her chin like a suddenly awakened and startled child. As +she glimpsed me she stretched out her hand. Drake, wide +awake on the instant, leaped to his feet, his hand jumping +to his pistol. + +"Dick!" called Ruth, her voice tremulous, sweet. + +He swung about, looked deep into the clear and fearless +brown eyes in which--with leaping heart I realized it +--was throned only that spirit which was Ruth's and Ruth's +alone; Ruth's clear unshadowed eyes glad and shy and +soft with love. + +"Dick!" she whispered, and held soft arms out to him. +The cloak fell from her. He swung her up. Their lips met. + +Upon them, embraced, the wakening eyes of Ventnor +dwelt; they filled with relief and joy, nor was there +lacking in them a certain amusement. + +She drew from Drake's arms, pushed him from her, +stood for a moment shakily, with covered eyes. + +"Ruth," called Ventnor softly. + +"Oh!" she cried. "Oh, Martin--I forgot--" She ran to +him, held him tight, face hidden in his breast. His hand +rested on the clustering brown curls, tenderly. + +"Martin." She raised her face to him. "Martin, it's GONE! +I'm--ME again! All ME! What happened? Where's Norhala?" + +I started. Did she not know? Of course, lying bound +as she had in the vanished veils, she could have seen +nothing of the stupendous tragedy enacted beyond them +--but had not Ventnor said that possessed by the inexplicable +obsession evoked by the weird woman Ruth had seen with her eyes, +thought with her mind? + +And had there not been evidence that in her body had +been echoed the torments of Norhala's? Had she forgotten? +I started to speak--was checked by Ventnor's swift, warning glance. + +"She's--over in the Pit," he answered her quietly. "But +do you remember nothing, little sister?" + +"There's something in my mind that's been rubbed +out," she replied. "I remember the City of Cherkis--and +your torture, Martin--and my torture--" + +Her face whitened; Ventnor's brow contracted anxiously. +I knew for what he watched--but Ruth's shamed face +was all human; on it was no shadow nor trace of that +alien soul which so few hours since had threatened us. + +"Yes," she nodded, "I remember that. And I remember +how Norhala repaid them. I remember that I was glad, +fiercely glad, and then I was tired--so tired. And then--I +come to the rubbed-out place," she ended perplexedly. + +Deliberately, almost banally had I not realized his purpose, +he changed the subject. He held her from him at arm's length. + +"Ruth!" he exclaimed, half mockingly, half reprovingly. +"Don't you think your morning negligee is just a little +scanty even for this Godforsaken corner of the earth?" + +Lips parted in sheer astonishment, she looked at him. +Then her eyes dropped to her bare feet, her dimpled knees. +She clasped her arms across her breasts; rosy red turned +all her fair skin. + +"Oh!" she gasped. "Oh!" And hid from Drake and me +behind the tall figure of her brother. + +I walked over to the pile of silken stuffs, took the cloak +and tossed it to her. Ventnor pointed to the saddlebags. + +"You've another outfit there, Ruth," he said. "We'll take +a turn through the place. Call us when you're ready. We'll +get something to eat and go see what's happening--out there." + +She nodded. We passed through the curtains and out of +the hall into the chamber that had been Norhala's. There +we halted, Drake eyeing Martin with a certain embarrassment. +The older man thrust out his hand to him. + +"I knew it, Drake," he said. "Ruth told me all about it +when Cherkis had us. And I'm very glad. It's time she +was having a home of her own and not running around +the lost places with me. I'll miss her--miss her damnably, +of course. But I'm glad, boy--glad!" + +There was a little silence while each looked deep into +each other's hearts. Then Ventnor dropped Dick's hand. + +"And that's all of THAT," he said. "The problem before +us is--how are we going to get back home?" + +"The--THING--is dead." I spoke from an absolute conviction +that surprised me, based as it was upon no really +tangible, known evidence. + +"I think so," he said. "No--I KNOW so. Yet even if we +can pass over its body, how can we climb out of its lair? +That slide down which we rode with Norhala is unclimbable. +The walls are unscalable. And there is that chasm--she-- +spanned for us. How can we cross THAT? The +tunnel to the ruins was sealed. There remains of possible +roads the way through the forest to what was the City of +Cherkis. Frankly I am loathe to take it. + +"I am not at all sure that all the armored men were +slain--that some few may not have escaped and be lurking +there. It would be short shrift for us if we fell into +their hands now." + +"And I'm not sure of THAT," objected Drake. "I think +their pep and push must be pretty thoroughly knocked out +--if any do remain. I think if they saw us coming they'd +beat it so fast that they'd smoke with the friction." + +"There's something to that," Ventnor smiled. "Still +I'm not keen on taking the chance. At any rate, the +first thing to do is to see what happened down there in +the Pit. Maybe we'll have some other idea after that." + +"I know what happened there," announced Drake, surprisingly. +"It was a short circuit!" + +We gaped at him, mystified. + +"Burned out!" said Drake. "Every damned one of them +--burned out. What were they, after all? A lot of living +dynamos. Dynamotors--rather. And all of a sudden they +had too much juice turned on. Bang went their insulations +--whatever they were. + +"Bang went they. Burned out--short circuited. I don't +pretend to know why or how. Nonsense! I do know. The +cones were some kind of immensely concentrated force-- +electric, magnetic; either or both or more. I myself +believe that they were probably solid--in a way of speaking +--coronium. + +"If about twenty of the greatest scientists the world has +ever known are right, coronium is--well, call it curdled +energy. The electric potentiality of Niagara in a pin +point of dust of yellow fire. All right--they or IT lost +control. Every pin point swelled out into a Niagara. And as +it did so, it expanded from a controlled dust dot to an +uncontrolled cataract--in other words, its energy was +unleashed and undammed. + +"Very well--what followed? What HAD to follow? Every +living battery of block and globe and spike was supercharged +and went--blooey. The valley must have been +some sweet little volcano while that short circuiting was +going on. All right--let's go down and see what it did +to your unclimbable slide and unscalable walls, Ventnor. +I'm not sure we won't be able to get out that way." + +"Come on; everything's ready," Ruth was calling; her +summoning blocked any objection we might have raised +to Drake's argument. + +It was no dryad, no distressed pagan clad maid we saw +as we passed back into the room of the pool. In knickerbockers +and short skirt, prim and self-possessed, rebellious curls +held severely in place by close-fitting cap and +slender feet stoutly shod, Ruth hovered over the steaming +kettle swung above the spirit lamp. + +And she was very silent as we hastily broke fast. Nor +when we had finished did she go to Drake. She clung +close to her brother and beside him as we set forth +down the roadway, through the rain, toward the ledge +between the cliffs where the veils had shimmered. + +Hotter and hotter it grew as we advanced; the air +steamed like a Turkish bath. The mists clustered so thickly +that at last we groped forward step by step, holding +to each other. + +"No use," gasped Ventnor. "We couldn't see. We'll have +to turn back." + +"Burned out!" said Dick. "Didn't I tell you? The +whole valley was a volcano. And with that deluge falling +in it--why wouldn't there be a fog? It's why there IS a +fog. We'll have to wait until it clears." + +We trudged back to the blue globe. + +All that day the rain fell. Throughout the few remaining +hours of daylight we wandered over the house of Norhala, +examining its most interesting contents, or sat theorizing, +discussing all phases of the phenomena we had witnessed. + +We told Ruth what had occurred after she had thrown +in her lot with Norhala; and of the enigmatic struggle +between the glorious Disk and the sullenly flaming Thing +I have called the Keeper. + +We told her of the entombment of Norhala. + +When she heard that she wept. + +"She was sweet," she sobbed; "she was lovely. And she +was beautiful. Dearly she loved me. I KNOW she loved me. +Oh, I know that we and ours and that which was hers +could not share the world together. But it comes to +me that Earth would have been far less poisonous with +those that were Norhala's than it is with us and ours!" + +Weeping, she passed through the curtainings, going we +knew to Norhala's chamber. + +It was a strange thing indeed that she had said, I +thought, watching her go. That the garden of the world +would be far less poisonous blossoming with those Things +of wedded crystal and metal and magnetic fires than +fertile as now with us of flesh and blood and bone. To +me came appreciations of their harmonies, and mingled +with those perceptions were others of humanity--disharmonious, +incoordinate, ever struggling, ever striving to +destroy itself-- + +There was a plaintive whinnying at the open door. A +long and hairy face, a pair of patient, inquiring eyes looked +in. It was a pony. For a moment it regarded us--and then +trotted trustfully through; ambled up to us; poked its +head against my side. + +It had been ridden by one of the Persians whom Ruth +had killed, for under it, slipped from the girths, a saddle +dangled. And its owner must have been kind to it--we +knew that from its lack of fear for us. Driven by the +tempest of the night before, it had been led back by +instinct to the protection of man. + +"Some luck!" breathed Drake. + +He busied himself with the pony, stripping away the +hanging saddle, grooming it. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +SLAG! + +That night we slept well. Awakening, we found that +the storm had grown violent again; the wind roaring and +the rain falling in such volume that it was impossible to +make our way to the Pit. Twice, as a matter of fact, we +tried; but the smooth roadway was a torrent, and, drenched +even through our oils to the skin, we at last abandoned +the attempt. Ruth and Drake drifted away together among +the other chambers of the globe; they were absorbed in +themselves, and we did not thrust ourselves upon them. All +the day the torrents fell. + +We sat down that night to what was well-nigh the +last of Ventnor's stores. Seemingly Ruth had forgotten +Norhala; at least, she spoke no more of her. + +"Martin," she said, "can't we start back tomorrow? I +want to get away. I want to get back to our own world." + +"As soon as the storm ceases, Ruth," he answered, "we +start. Little sister--I too want you to get back quickly." + +The next morning the storm had gone. We awakened +soon after dawn into clear and brilliant light. We had a +silent and hurried breakfast. The saddlebags were packed +and strapped upon the pony. Within them were what we +could carry of souvenirs from Norhala's home--a suit of +lacquered armor, a pair of cloaks and sandals, the jeweled +combs. Ruth and Drake at the side of the pony, Ventnor +and I leading, we set forth toward the Pit. + +"We'll probably have to come back, Walter," he said. "I +don't believe the place is passable." + +I pointed--we were then just over the threshold of the +elfin globe. Where the veils had stretched between the +perpendicular pillars of the cliffs was now a wide and +ragged-edged opening. + +The roadway which had run so smoothly through the +scarps was blocked by a thousand foot barrier. Over it, +beyond it, I could see through the crystalline clarity of the +air the opposing walls. + +"We can climb it," Ventnor said. We passed on and +reached the base of the barrier. An avalanche had dropped +there; the barricade was the debris of the torn cliffs, +their dust, their pebbles, their boulders. We toiled up; we +reached the crest; we looked down upon the valley. + +When first we had seen it we had gazed upon a sea of +radiance pierced with lanced forests, swept with gigantic +gonfalons of flame; we had seen it emptied of its fiery +mists--a vast slate covered with the chirography of a +mathematical god; we had seen it filled with the symboling +of the Metal Hordes and dominated by the colossal +integrate hieroglyph of the living City; we had seen it +as a radiant lake over which brooded weird suns; a lake +of yellow flame froth upon which a sparkling hail fell, +within which reared islanded towers and a drowning +mount running with cataracts of sun fires; here we had +watched a goddess woman, a being half of earth, half +of the unknown immured within a living tomb--a dying +tomb--of flaming mysteries; had seen a cross-shaped +metal Satan, a sullen flaming crystal Judas betray--itself. + +Where we had peered into the unfathomable, had glimpsed +the infinite, had heard and had seen the inexplicable, now was-- + +Slag! + +The amethystine ring from which had been streamed +the circling veils was cracked and blackened; like a seam +of coal it had stretched around the Pit--a crown of +mourning. The veils were gone. The floor of the valley +was fissured and blackened; its patterns, its writings +burned away. As far as we could see stretched a sea of +slag--coal black, vitrified and dead. + +Here and there black hillocks sprawled; huge pillars +arose, bent and twisted as though they had been jettings +of lava cooled into rigidity before they could sink back +or break. These shapes clustered most thickly around an +immense calcified mound. They were what were left of +the battling Hordes, and the mound was what had been +the Metal Monster. + +Somewhere there were the ashes of Norhala, sealed by +fire in the urn of the Metal Emperor! + +From side to side of the Pit, in broken beaches and +waves and hummocks, in blackened, distorted tusks +and warped towerings, reaching with hideous pathos in +thousands of forms toward the charred mound, was only +slag. + +From rifts and hollows still filled with water little +wreaths of steam drifted. In those futile wraiths of vapor +was all that remained of the might of the Metal Monster. + +Catastrophe I had expected, tragedy I knew we would +find--but I had looked for nothing so filled with the +abomination of desolation, so frightful as was this. + +"Burned out!" muttered Drake. "Short-circuited and +burned out! Like a dynamo--like an electric light!" + +"Destiny!" said Ventnor. "Destiny! Not yet was the +hour struck for man to relinquish his sovereignty over +the world. Destiny!" + +We began to pick our way down the heaped debris +and out upon the plain. For all that day and part of +another we searched for an opening out of the Pit. + +Everywhere was the incredible calcification. The surfaces +that had been the smooth metallic carapaces with +the tiny eyes deep within them, crumbled beneath the +lightest blow. Not long would it be until under wind and +rain they dissolved into dust and mud. + +And it grew increasingly obvious that Drake's theory of +the destruction was correct. The Monster had been one +prodigious magnet--or, rather, a prodigious dynamo. By +magnetism, by electricity, it had lived and had been +activated. + +Whatever the force of which the cones were built and +that I have likened to energy-made material, it was +certainly akin to electromagnetic energies. + +When, in the cataclysm, that force was diffused there +had been created a magnetic field of incredible intensity; +had been concentrated an electric charge of inconceivable +magnitude. + +Discharging, it had blasted the Monster--short-circuited +it, and burned it out. + +But what was it that had led up to the cataclysm? What +was it that had turned the Metal Monster upon itself? +What disharmony had crept into that supernal order to +set in motion the machinery of disintegration? + + +We could only conjecture. The cruciform Shape I have +named the Keeper was the agent of destruction--of that +there could be no doubt. In the enigmatic organism which +while many still was one and which, retaining its integrity +as a whole could dissociate manifold parts yet +still as a whole maintain an unseen contact and direction +over them through miles of space, the Keeper had its +place, its work, its duties. + +So too had that wondrous Disk whose visible and concentrate +power, whose manifest leadership, had made us name it emperor. + +And had not Norhala called the Disk--Ruler? + +What were the responsibilities of these twain to the +mass of the organism of which they were such important +units? What were the laws they administered, the laws +they must obey? + +Something certainly of that mysterious law which Maeterlinck +has called the spirit of the Hive--and something +infinitely greater, like that which governs the swarming +sun bees of Hercules' clustered orbs. + +Had there evolved within the Keeper of the Cones-- +guardian and engineer as it seemed to have been--ambition? + +Had there risen within it a determination to wrest power +from the Disk, to take its place as Ruler? + +How else explain that conflict I had sensed when the +Emperor had plucked Drake and me from the Keeper's +grip that night following the orgy of the feeding? + +How else explain that duel in the shattered Hall of the +Cones whose end had been the signal for the final cataclysm? + +How else explain the alinement of the cubes behind +the Keeper against the globes and pyramids remaining +loyal to the will of the Disk? + +We discussed this, Ventnor and I. + +"This world," he mused, "is a place of struggle. Air +and sea and land and all things that dwell within and +on them must battle for life. Earth not Mars is the +planet of war. I have a theory"--he hesitated--"that the +magnetic currents which are the nerve force of this globe +of ours were what fed the Metal Things. + +"Within those currents is the spirit of earth. And always +they have been supercharged with strife, with hatreds, +warfare. Were these drawn in by the Things as +they fed? Did it happen that the Keeper became--TUNED +--to them? That it absorbed and responded to them, +growing even more sensitive to these forces--until it +reflected humanity?" + +"Who knows, Goodwin--who can tell?" + +Enigma, unless the explanations I have hazarded be +accepted, must remain that monstrous suicide. Enigma, +save for inconclusive theories, must remain the question +of the Monster's origin. + +If answers there were, they were lost forever in the slag +we trod. + + +It was afternoon of the second day that we found a +rift in the blasted wall of the valley. We decided to try +it. We had not dared to take the road by which Norhala +had led us into the City. + +The giant slide was broken and climbable. But even if +we could have passed safely through the tunnel of the +abyss there still was left the chasm over which we could +have thrown no bridge. And if we could have bridged it +still at that road's end was the cliff whose shaft Norhala +had sealed with her lightnings. + +So we entered the rift. + +Of our wanderings thereafter I need not write. From +the rift we emerged into a maze of the valleys, and after + +a month in that wilderness, living upon what game we +could shoot, we found a road that led us into Gyantse. + +In another six weeks we were home in America. + +My story is finished. + +There in the Trans-Himalayan wilderness is the blue globe +that was the weird home of the lightning witch--and looking +back I feel now she could not have been all woman. + +There is the vast pit with its coronet of fantastic peaks; +its symboled, calcined floor and the crumbling body of the +inexplicable, the incredible Thing which, alive, was the +shadow of extinction, annihilation, hovering to hurl itself +upon humanity. That shadow is gone; that pall withdrawn. + +But to me--to each of us four who saw those phenomena-- +their lesson remains, ineradicable; giving a new strength +and purpose to us, teaching us a new humility. + +For in that vast crucible of life of which we are so +small a part, what other Shapes may even now be rising +to submerge us? + +In that vast reservoir of force that is the mystery-filled +infinite through which we roll, what other shadows may +be speeding upon us? + +Who knows? + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Metal Monster, by A. Merritt + diff --git a/old/memon10.zip b/old/memon10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b92f4f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/memon10.zip |