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diff --git a/41027-0.txt b/41027-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fc201a --- /dev/null +++ b/41027-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3140 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41027 *** + + The Revolt of the Star Men + + By RAYMOND GALLUN + +[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Wonder Stories +Quarterly Winter 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence +that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Illustration: A bulk dropped down on the nose of the craft. A pair of +hands gripped the barrels of the machine gun and tore them from the +mountings.] + + * * * * * + + + THE REVOLT OF THE STAR MEN + + _By the Author of "The Space Dwellers"_ + + + [Illustration: RAYMOND GALLUN] + + The creatures that people this exciting story of Mr. Gallun, may + seem at first blush to be impossible monstrosities. Yet, on + consideration, we must realize that they are not so far-fetched. + + Even in our picayune little corner of the universe, we find in the + insect kingdom a form of life that has survived through every + possible earth catastrophe in the last 40,000,000 years. With their + skeletons on the outside of their bodies instead of on the inside, + insects are able to protect their bodies from heat, cold, and from + accidents that would kill us. If the insect's shell were harder and + thicker and made of heat-resisting material, it might conceivably + be able to live in space without other protection. + + The point is that Mr. Gallun makes his Space Men so convincing that + we can do nothing but believe in them. And he has woven about them + such a thrilling story of adventure on two worlds that one will + have to read and reread it, to get from it the fullest enjoyment. + + * * * * * + +It was in the reading room of the Neilson-Aldebar space liner, _Ekova_, +that two young people came unexpectedly upon a third person who sat +alone, absently skimming through a copy of the _Interplanetarian_. When +the girl caught sight of him she uttered a little acclamation of +surprise. "Hekki-you!" she cried. + +The one addressed looked up. A smile of greeting came over his swarthy, +aristocratic features. "Hello, Jan. It is I--none other," he said. +"Aren't you glad to see me?" Here he shot a quick glance at the girl's +companion. + +"Why certainly I am, Hekki," she replied a trifle nervously. "But how +can it be? A week ago you left for the deepest, most mysterious part of +the Taraal desert on Mars, to collect objects of ancient art, and now +you are here. Where have you kept yourself during the voyage?" + +The other smiled again--this time a cryptic, secretive smile. +"Business," he said mysteriously. "It called me to Earth at the last +moment, and since we left the docks at Taboor, it has kept me occupied +in my stateroom. This is but the third time I have ventured out of it. +Alka brought me my meals." Hekki arched his finely penciled eyebrows +slightly as he looked up at the lady's companion. "And you too have had +business, Janice," he added. "A new boy friend?" There was a hint of +something unpleasant in his tone, but the girl ignored it. + +She nodded her golden head. "We met on the night of the departure from +Mars, and since then, we've had a happy week together. Austin," she +said, turning to the youth, "I want you to know Hekalu Selba of Taboor. +Hekki, this is Austin Shelby, who hails from Chicago. You ought to get +along well together, because you are both so interested in mechanics," +she added. The men shook hands. For the past few moments Shelby had been +trying to analyze from the scanty data at hand the character of Hekki. +He saw the tapering, effeminate hands--one twiddled nervously a long +Martian cigarette--the dark straight hair and fine features; the mouth, +that could curl so insolently; the faultless, white silk clothing. + +Shelby decided that he did not like Hekki. The reason at first seemed +obvious, but presently the young Earthman realized that his feeling +towards this child of the Red Planet was stronger than mere dislike. +What was the explanation? Was it because Hekki was a friend of Janice +Darell? Since he had met her aboard the _Ekova_ on this glorious return +to Earth, after having spent a whole Martian year at an engineering +school at Taboor, Shelby had learned to know love. Was he jealous of +this noble of another world? A little, perhaps. But this did not account +for the vague, sinister aura he sensed about Hekalu Selba. + +Something in Shelby's brain was trying to surge its way to the surface +of his consciousness; he struggled with it, and it came out clear. Only +thirty-six hours before, during the period designated for sleep, he had +wandered into a seldom frequented passageway, high up in the hull of the +_Ekova_. Here there were portholes through which he could see the +curving metal expanse of the ship's huge form, gleaming dimly under the +stars of space. It had looked like the back of a great silver whale. + +For a minute or two he had stared absently through the little circular +window, and then, hearing footsteps down the corridor, he had turned to +see two figures some hundred feet distant moving away from him. They had +obviously entered from a side passage and had probably not seen him. One +had been this very Hekalu Selba; Austin was sure of it. Beside him had +moved a shadow. The Earthman had not seen it clearly, for the +illuminating globes burning here during the sleep period were dim and +far between. + +He had but a vague fleeting impression of a huge knotty form, bent and +grotesque. Its arms were so long that its big hands almost dragged on +the floor. Its head was very large and bulbous. The pair had seemed to +carry something heavy between them, but Austin had not seen what it was. +In a moment the Martian had opened a door in the side of the passage +and the two had vanished into it. + +When Austin had returned to his stateroom, he was not quite sure he had +really seen the monstrous horror. Surely nothing like it was known to +exist within the orbit of Jupiter! Shelby had thought of reporting the +incident to the commander of the vessel, but he had dismissed the idea +as too pointless. Now, however, the memory of that vague black form was +haunting him. He knew that it was the key, in part at least, to his +feeling toward Hekalu Selba. + +The Martian had cast his magazine aside. He was patting the soft +cushions of the divan on which he was lounging. "Sit here, my friends," +he said in his smooth, precise English. "We shall talk, and then perhaps +we shall have a little refreshment." The two complied. + +"It will be only for a moment," said the girl. "The ship lands in an +hour, and I haven't gathered my things together yet." + +Shelby was intensely interested in this queer individual, about whose +personality there lingered a strangely indefinable web of mystery--of +evil, almost. + +"So you too have a passion for mechanics," he said. "Somewhere I am sure +I have heard of you before. Kelang Aggar, an instructor of mine at +Taboor, spoke occasionally of a young Martian student--" + +"Kelang Aggar is my friend," Hekki broke in. "He assisted me with +several experiments. But they were nothing--a new alloy, very hard, and +having a high point of fusion. The heads of the Space Ship Construction +Company said it was ideal for rocket nozzles, but they paid me a mere +pittance for the invention. This, and a few even lesser ones are my sole +accomplishments in the line of mechanics." Hekalu Selba laughed lightly. + +"Let us talk of other things, my friends," he continued. "Let us allow +our minds to ramble. See those two beautiful potted palms over +there--children of the deserts of Earth, and beside them the slender +graceful stem of the purple Kelan, dug from the marshes along the Selgur +waterway of my own planet. I have seen them both in their native +habitat, waving their fronds as though in cadence with some great silent +symphony of the universe. See that tapestry over yonder, with the beast +woven into it?" + + * * * * * + +Here Janice Darell pointed up toward the flattened glass dome that +roofed the room. "There is old Mother Earth looking down at us, and the +sun is peeping around her rim," she said. "See how the light of Sol +sifts through the terrestrial atmosphere. There is a streak of red, of +gold, of opal, and beyond are the stars and the blackness of space." + +"The contrast of the forces of darkness with those of light," Shelby put +in softly. + +Hekki was smiling absently. "There are many contrasts," he mused. "The +contrast of life and death, of power and weakness, of nightmare and +reality." + +Words popped into Austin Shelby's head, and, carelessly, he uttered them +without thinking: "You often walk with your nightmares, don't you, +Hekalu?" + +A hard light came into the Martian's eyes as he stared straight at the +Earthman. "Perhaps," he said, "and you, Mr. Shelby, often walk in your +sleep!" But apparently the incident was immediately forgotten. + +Austin wondered how much the girl knew about the luxurious Hekalu. A +quick glance of intelligence passed between them. + +"I'll have to pack now," Janice said. "Won't you boys walk along with me +a little ways?" She took Austin's arm as they arose. Hekki fell in +beside them. At the entrance to the corridor which led to the girl's +stateroom they paused. + +"My business will occupy me tonight and tomorrow," said Hekalu, "so I +shall bid you goodbye until, let us say, the following evening, Jan, but +if you like I shall have Alka take you home." + +"Mr. Shelby has asked permission to perform that little service, you +industrious old business man," she replied mischievously. And again that +dark shadow flickered momentarily on the Martian's features. + +"But you will let me see you the day after tomorrow?" he asked. "I have +found a little paradise out at Oak Park patterned after the fairy +palaces of my own planet, and besides, I have a new jewel to show you." + +"Fie on your jewels, Hekki," she smiled, adopting the stiff trite speech +the Martians often fell into. "But anyway, perhaps I shall favor you +with my incomparable company. The time you mention is still a ways away. +_Sidi yadi_,[1] my friend. Remember I shall be expecting a view-phone +call from you soon." Then turning to Shelby: "I'll meet you in the +lounge right after the boat lands. Don't fail me!" + +[Footnote 1: Martian farewell.] + +"You needn't worry about that, Jan," he assured her. + +In a moment she was hurrying up the corridor in the pink glow of the +lights. As Austin gazed after her, he could not help but think how +wonderful was this fluffy little wisp of blonde beauty. Was she for him? +Over her he felt there lurked a dark shadow, but this only strengthened +the spell she had cast over him, for it gave to him the pleasure which +virile males experience when they know that their loved one requires +protection. + +Hekki cleared his throat to attract the attention of his companion. When +Shelby turned toward him he was fumbling in one of the voluminous sleeve +pockets of his blouse. Presently he drew forth a very thin rectangle of +a substance resembling ivory, and handed it to the Earthman. Shelby +glanced at it. It was one of the name cards commonly used by Martian +men. It bore the legend in the interplanetary symbols: + + Hekalu Selba, Akar + 414 Teldasa + Taboor, P. 4. + +Beneath in small letters appeared Hekki's Chicago address. + +"I shall want to see you again soon, my friend," said the Martian +cordially. "There are many things at my establishment which I would like +to show you--much that we can talk about." + +Austin Shelby accepted the card and handed Hekki his own. Here was an +opportunity to get some first hand information on the mysterious man of +Mars and his more mysterious, perhaps sinister doings. The idea that he +might be placing himself in a dangerous position, Shelby gave scarcely a +moment's thought, for he had in him the spirit of the adventurer. + +"Thank you, Akar Hekalu. I shall get in touch with you. And in the +meanwhile you can reach me at my address through the view-phone at +almost any time for I shall be working on a new mechanism there. _Sidi +yadi._" + +"_Sidi yadi_, my friend." + +The two men parted. + + * * * * * + +Fifteen minutes later a rustling whisper was audible throughout the +_Ekova_, above the steady purr of the forward-pointing decelerating +rockets. It became a deep-toned soughing which rapidly increased in +volume to a loud roar, and then to a screeching hiss. The ship swayed +and rocked a little. It was tearing its way into the terrestrial +atmosphere. + +In the conning tower forward, the pilot and his assistant were working +calmly and cooly over the bewildering array of controlling mechanisms. +Getting those thousands of tons of metal safely lowered into a space +ship's cradle on the landing stage, was a difficult task, but the +experience and efficiency of the two men was quite competent to cope +with it. + +Far below was a vast sea of winking lights--Chicago, its colossal +skyscrapers looming up severe and white and beautiful in the glow. + +The pilot's nimble fingers turned a small horizontal wheel at his side. +The liner dipped and dropped slowly earthward toward an area of white +light. A mass of cloud poured over the huge hull for an instant and then +passed by. The outer shell of the great silvery whale which had been +chilled to a degree from absolute zero, by the cold of space had been +warmed but slightly by the rapid passage through the atmosphere and now +gleamed with jewel-like hoar frost. + +Down, down it floated until it was only three hundred feet above the +landing stage. A red signal light gleamed suddenly on a panel within the +control room, and the wizard of that eerie chamber shifted a tiny lever. +The space ship halted and hung motionless supported by its repulsion +plates. On the ground in the glare of floodlights white-clad men hurried +about. Four mighty arms of metal groped upward from a mass of heavy +framework. They clutched the craft with a grating noise, and then, with +the slow deliberation of a sleepy giant, they drew it gently down into +its cradle. + +Within the _Ekova_ all was abustle. Its doors, built solidly like the +breeches of big cannons, swung open, permitting the cool night air to +enter the ship, which for seven days had been a world sufficient unto +itself. Gangplanks were let down, and the passengers, jesting gaily with +one another began their leisurely descent to the ground. Customs +officials worked feverishly. A webby derrick arm pointing out from an +opening in the side of the liner, was unloading mail and costly material +and equipment sent to Earth from the Red Planet. + +The routine processes of debarkation over, Shelby and Janice Darell +entered the covered causeway which led to the great terminal building of +the Space Travel Company. + +The two had caught but a fleeting glimpse of Hekki. He was talking +earnestly to a white-clad official, and had not seen them; nor had they +tried to attract his attention. Conspicuous among the Martian's numerous +possessions was a large basket of metal wickerwork, such as were +commonly used to convey dogs and similiar pets from place to place. The +sight of that basket had aroused again in Shelby's mind that peculiar +sense of the presence of something sinister. Was the monster he had seen +in Hekalu Selba's company hidden within that case of woven wire? + +Within the causeway was a moving walk which carried Shelby and his +companion to the depot. Here the intermittent whirring of pneumatic +tube-cars operating in a vast network throughout the city was audible. +The young Earthian pair, and the two attendants bearing their light +luggage entered an elevator, which carried them swiftly to the landing +platform for atmospheric craft on the roof of the building. + +Shelby presented his identification tag and gave the number of his plane +to the official in charge. The man led the way to a hangar at the side +of the platform. Shelby had sent an order by radio to the Sutherland +Aircraft Company a few hours before, and, complying with his request, a +bright new flier had been delivered and housed here, awaiting his +arrival. + +The official closed a switch on the wall of the building, and the hangar +door rolled open. While the two Earthians were entering the craft the +attendants quickly placed the luggage into the load compartment. + +Shelby fumbled with the destination mechanism and pressed the starting +lever. The propellers, whirled at high speed by the soundless atomic +motor, thrummed softly. In a moment, the plane, unguided by human hands, +hoisted itself almost vertically into the night and was off. Unerringly +it would carry its occupants to their destination. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A Strange Story + + +Shelby looked down at his companion. For a time she had been strangely +quiet. Could it be that there was just a hint of a troubled look on her +beautiful face? The young engineer felt himself drawn to her more than +ever. He wanted to know more about his new Martian acquaintance, but he +disliked to ask a direct question concerning him, for he feared vaguely +that it might give her offense. + +"Jan," he said, "you look worried. Is anything wrong?" + +She shook her head, slowly, absently, without looking at him. "No, I was +just thinking." She paused, and then in the same absent manner she +continued: "Only Hekalu Selba is back, and I thought I was rid of him." + +Reassured somewhat by her words, but still taking care to conceal any +hint of the menace he had sensed about the Martian, Shelby asked: "What +possible difference can his presence in Chicago mean to you? He seemed +to me to be a very ordinary Martian nobleman--evidently supplied with +plenty of money, and having no other motive in life than to enjoy +himself, and perhaps to help others enjoy themselves. A perfectly +harmless individual." + +Janice's face grew serious. "You say those things because you do not +know Hekki," she said. "Shall I tell you about him? It would relieve me +to share my knowledge with someone." + +The young man nodded but made no comment. + +"Two years ago," she began, "I went to Taboor on Mars to study +sculpture. Not long after my arrival at school, in the company of a +number of other art students, I attended a ball given at a glorious old +palace in the heart of the ancient Martian quarter. Our gracious host +was Hekalu Selba himself. I met him, danced with him, and talked with +him. From the first he was attracted to me and I to him, and so we were +often together. + +"Though some of his peculiar affectations were obnoxious to me, I +thought that his good qualities far overbalanced his failings. He seemed +always kind and considerate in his dealings with all about him; he was +well informed on almost every possible subject; he painted pictures and +played various musical instruments with a skill that was little short of +genius, and his tales of his travels and adventures in the little-known +region beyond the orbits of the minor planets could not fail to delight +any listeners. Dreamer and brilliant artist--that was Hekki as I saw him +then. Effeminate--yes, but brave and resourceful too. + +"Our intimacy grew. He made frequent proposals of marriage to me, but I +put him off, saying that I was not sure I loved him. I informed Father +back here in Chicago of our friendship. His next letter showed plainly +his enthusiasm over the idea of the possible marriage of his daughter +with this young noble of the ancient Martian house of Selba. 'Get him, +Jan,' he wrote. 'He'd be the catch of a lifetime. Why, his total assets +would make the treasure of Croesus look like a little piece of twisted +copper wire.' Poor practical old Dad! For once his business judgment was +in the wrong. It was well that I did not follow his advice." + +At this point Jan's story was interrupted by the sudden dropping of the +plane. They had reached their destination. The craft descended +vertically and landed with a light impact in the center of a small +private roof garden at the summit of a great apartment building. + +"Dad won't be home now," said Jan. "He was delayed in New York, and will +not appear until tomorrow. There isn't anyone else around here except +old Rufus, so we needn't go down stairs. Let's sit over there instead." +She pointed toward a quaintly wrought bench beside a splashing fountain. +The moon was shining, and the solitary cypress tree cast a spear-like +shadow over the pool. There was a faint fragrance of flowers in the +night. + +Janice and Shelby seated themselves and the girl continued: + +"Shortly after my meeting with Hekalu Selba rumors began to come to me. +Men died mysteriously, and there were people who made vague hints that +my noble friend was responsible. An uncle of Hekki's had made him the +principal heir to his fortune--shortly afterward the uncle contracted a +virulent disease and passed away. On both planets men that were +obnoxious to Hekki were murdered--capable business rivals and people who +perhaps 'knew too much.' Always the circumstances of their deaths were +peculiar. Frequently they were found in locked rooms to which an +assassin could scarcely have gained entrance without breaking his way. +But such violent methods had not been used. Never was there a shred of +evidence to implicate the noble. + + * * * * * + +"But I was beginning to see Hekalu's true color. The lavish display of +his wealth--his estates and his art treasures, and the endless round of +good times he sought to provide, were merely an attempt to cover up his +wickedness. One afternoon that I was with him, he was under the +influence of the Elar drug. His face was red and his eyes gleamed with a +wicked light. He proposed to me again, and when I made an angry refusal +he threatened me--said that if there was another whom I loved he would +destroy him and me too. + +"That, I assured myself, was the end. Hekki tried to make up, but when +he found that I would have nothing to do with him he vanished. I think +he went off into the outer regions of the solar system again. He was +gone for a long time, and I devoted myself entirely to my studies. + +"Then suddenly, out of the blue, I received a letter from Hekki. It came +from a small village far to the west of Taboor. A gift accompanied it. +Hekki informed me that in a valley far out in the unexplored Taraal +desert he had run across a ruined city built by the Melbar kings some +seventy-five thousand years ago. He hoped to make an enormous fortune +from the art treasures he had found there. + +"The gift and the small photograph he sent me, I shall show you at the +first opportunity. They are packed away now. The former is a dagger with +a flexible blade of a shiny black substance unknown to me. It does not +seem to be metal. The hilt is a lump of platinum. It is carved to +represent some strange animal with scores of coiling tentacles. Hekki +says that the object is one of his treasures, found on the site of the +ancient city. But I have doubted this. I know something of the art of +the Melbar kings, and certainly the dagger does not resemble the +products of their craftsmen. The same is true of those wares of Hekki's +which my friends have bought. They are strange--belonging neither to +Earth nor Mars. + +"The picture too is equally puzzling. It depicts a night scene in a +desert valley. Jagged hills in the distance and the nearer moon of Mars +in the sky. The floor of the valley is in shadow and things there are +indistinct. There are shapes there--vast shapes, odd and grotesque. And +there is something in the foreground which might be almost human! + +"In his letter Hekki asked if he might see me again, and I immediately +wrote and told him that I would. To you, Austin, this probably seems a +crazy thing to do, but like most everyone who is young, I had a genuine +love for intrigue and mystery, even though they might be dangerous +things to meddle with. + +"Hekalu came to Taboor, but I saw comparatively little of him. He seemed +always to be tremendously busy. Sometimes he would be extravagantly +jubilant, as though he had met with some tremendous success, or again he +would apparently be worried almost to the point of madness. What these +emotional changes meant, he would never tell me. + +"Several times old Alka, his favorite slave, spoke to me. 'The Master is +not as he used to be, Miss Darell,' he would say. 'He works feverishly +with odd mechanisms, and every night when he is at home he stares out +into space toward the farther planets with his new super-telescope. +Always, what he sees makes his face turn white and hard; sometimes, he +smiles and sometimes his features look like a devil's mask.' + +"And still Hekki's weird treasures continued, and still continue to come +from the Taraal. + +"A group of men was sent by the heads of the Place of Knowledge out into +the desert to investigate. They disappeared. The officials of the +Planetary Patrol made only a hasty and unsuccessful investigation. + +"On the day of my departure from Mars, after having finished my course, +I saw Hekki, believing that it was for the last time. He said he was +going back into the Taraal. And then he popped up on the liner. And +that, Austin, is all I know about Hekalu Selba. What do you make of it? +What is he trying to do out there in the desert?" She placed her hand +lightly on Shelby's arm and looked up appealingly into his face. "Can't +you offer some suggestions, Austin? You know that when suspicious events +are troubling you, a plausible explanation eases your mind even though +you cannot know the truth. And I am afraid, afraid that he is +deliberately following me to Earth!" + +While Jan had been telling of her acquaintance with the Martian, Austin +had been staring at a very large Sadu moth which hovered, and leisurely +moved about on thrumming gorgeous wings, which spanned fully eighteen +inches. It moved from blossom to blossom in a nearby flower bed, +delicately sipping nectar. Always its great luminous eyes, which glowed +like coals of gleaming fire, were turned toward the pair. Shelby had +scarcely noticed it, for he was absorbed with the girl's account; but +now, when it edged closer towards them, and then made a sudden +mischievous swoop not six inches above their heads, its presence could +no longer be ignored. The girl gave an exclamation of revulsion and +shrank involuntarily toward her companion. He leaped to his feet, and +picking up a pebble from beside the fountain, hurled it at the night +prowler. + +"You dirty eavesdropper!" he shouted angrily. "The man who brought your +kind from Mars for ornamental purposes must have been crazy!" + + * * * * * + +The moth buzzed up into the cypress tree and squatted there, silently, +apparently resting. Only its eyes continued to glare fixedly, almost +malignantly at the occupants of the garden. But they quickly forgot +about its presence. + +"I don't know whether I can offer a sensible explanation for Hekalu's +actions or not, Jan," Shelby said. "However, as far as his activities in +the Taraal are concerned, it seems quite possible that he did discover +ruins there, and is trying to keep other fortune seekers away. The ruins +may of course not really belong to the Melbar dynasty. They might have +been built by some contemporary race. Just what he is doing among the +minor planets, we can't any more than guess at. Probably he's just +adventuring like a few other people. And as for his following you to +Earth--well, I admit that you _do_ seem to be popular!" + +"You're making it sound awfully simple, Austin," said Jan. She paused +and thought for a moment, and then, with seeming irrelevance she +continued: "Haven't you heard of queer clusters of luminous specks +recently seen by astronomers not far beyond Mars? They called them +meteor clusters, but they drifted about here and there, not following +definite paths as meteors should do." + +"You're trying to suggest that they are space ships, aren't you, Jan?" + +She nodded. + +"But they aren't," Shelby assured her. "They don't polarize the +reflected light of the sun as space ships do. Besides, where could they +have been built? Certainly not among the planetoids. And any place on +the planets, the Taraal desert for instance, would be an almost equally +impossible site for their construction. + +"Think of the enormous crews of men and the vast supplies of food and +water and materials that would have to be taken out there into the +wilderness. Undoubtedly Hekalu could back such a project financially, +but he would be discovered before he had made a fair start, and the +Martian Planet Patrol would wipe him out of existence. Still, though I +don't think that the luminous specks are man-built vessels, I am equally +certain that they aren't meteors either." + +"Then what are they?" + +The young man smiled and shrugged. "I don't know," he said. The +intuitive feeling that unknown, and not too beneficient forces were at +work in the ether about, was troubling him again, making his scalp +muscles tingle. + +For a moment Shelby stared at the ground. "Jan," he said, "I didn't tell +you what I saw on the liner. I didn't tell anyone because I don't want +to be called a lunatic. But I guess it's all right to let you in on this +now. Briefly, during the sleep period, I came upon Hekalu Selba prowling +in a passageway aboard the _Ekova_, in the company of a vague thing that +may have been similar to that shape in the photograph--long arms, big +head, squat and muscular. If we knew what that thing was, and where it +came from, the snarl might be half untangled." + +Janice Darell's face took on a sudden surprised look. "You actually saw +what you say you saw?" she cried. When her companion nodded, she +continued excitedly with wide-open eyes. "I still believe that Hekalu +knows something about the meteor cluster. And the beast figures in +somewhere too. Austin," she cried, "what if Hekki is trying something +really great? I know you don't take stock in any such idea, but just +supposing he is--what if--" + +"Let him try!" the young man cut in. "I almost wish he would! I'm afraid +he would get the surprise of his life." He was staring straight at the +unwinking, malignant eyes of the Sadu moth. + +"What do you mean?" + +Shelby drew a small black case from his sleeve pocket and opened it. He +took from it a device which looked like a tiny pistol. There were +several other odds and ends of mechanisms in the case. "For a year I +have been working on a new weapon," he said. "All the parts are +completed, and tonight I shall finish assembling them. This little gun +is the projector for a new ray which I have discovered--an etheric +vibration of extremely short wavelength. A portion of the atomic energy +in any solid or liquid substance the ray touches is instantly released. + +"You doubt whether it is effective? Well, I can't give you any proof +now; I can only say that when I was back on Mars, fooling with my first +cumbersome projector, which produced only the weakest of vibrations, I +blasted a big hole in the wall of my apartment, and nearly killed the +Martian physician who lived in the rooms next to mine. I had a devil of +a time explaining the explosion, and narrowly missed getting myself into +serious trouble. In a few days I shall try to sell the weapon to the +Earth Government. If they are convinced of its value, and I don't see +how they can help but be convinced, our friend from the Red Planet will +have to be very careful if he tries anything." + +Shelby glanced at his wrist watch. "Eleven thirty--my bed time," he said +with mock seriousness. "But Jan, there's one favor I want to ask you +before I go. Try not to see anymore of Hekalu Selba, Akar." + +Janice Darell made a valiant attempt to act the part of one whose pride +and sense of freedom had been deeply outraged. "Mr. Shelby," she said, +"what right have you to tell me what I shall or shall not do?" But a +light laugh broke from her lips and spoiled her bluff. + +"There are two reasons," replied her companion seriously. "First, +because we both believe that Hekalu Selba is dangerous; second--because +I love you." He leaned closer toward her with the light of eagerness in +his eyes. "Oh, I know I'm crude, Jan," he said passionately. "I'm just a +clumsy engineer, not a poet or ladies' man. What I'm trying to say to +you must seem awfully trite, but anyway, I want you with me always." + +"You mean--?" + +He nodded. + +"All right, Austin," she said quietly, looking straight into his eyes. + +His arms crept around her, and now he drew her gently to him. + +Some moments later, in the nearby pergola, the door which led to the +rooms below opened, and an ancient negro clad in gaudy pajamas and +bathrobe peered out into the garden. He saw the pair and recognized the +girl. A happy grin came over his wrinkled black face. "Well, if dat +ain't a mos' pretty sight to look at," he muttered. "My baby done come +back at las', and dat sho' am a han'some boy she got dar!" He turned, +and leaving the door open and the light burning on the stair, descended. +Very softly and wistfully he was crooning an old darky love song. + +It was an hour later before Shelby's craft whirred up into the +moon-bathed night over the winking lights of the city. And at the same +time the big-eyed Sadu moth which had been crouching in the cypress +tree, rose on its velvety wings and sped away, as though some urgent +mission had suddenly claimed its attention. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Hekki's Proposal + + +When Shelby reached his apartment, he immediately donned his laboratory +smock and set to work. But he had scarcely finished mounting a tiny coil +of wire within the hand-grip of his weapon, when the view-phone bell +rang insistently. + +The inventor pulled off his smock and threw it over the materials on his +work bench, so that the person at the other end of the view-phone +connection, whoever it was, would not be able to see them. Then he +snapped the television and audio switches. The mists in the view-plate +cleared, and there before him, as real as though he were actually in the +room, sat Hekalu Selba. The Martian's eyes gleamed with suppressed +excitement. + +"Mr. Shelby," he was saying, "it may seem strange that I should be +calling you so soon, but I have something simply colossal to talk over +with you. You must come up to my place immediately! I realize that you +may be very busy, but this _is_ important!" And he added, "It's nothing +to discuss over the view-phone. Will you come?--please!" + +Shelby was about to make a cold reply, but he checked himself. An +intense curiosity gripped him. + +"All right, Akar Hekalu," he said. "I'll be there." The switches +clicked. + +Hastily Austin changed to his street clothes, and then gathered together +the material for his weapon and placed them in the wall safe. Only one +thing he selected from the jumble of apparatus--a tiny pinkish crystal, +without which it was impossible to produce the Atomic Ray. This he +secreted in a hollow button on his sleeve. + +For a long moment he stared at his automatic, which lay on his work +bench. "Better take you along," he muttered at length, "--may need you." + +A wizened black-clad man whom Shelby surmised was the slave Alka, met +him at the entrance on the landing platform of a quaint Martian tower +atop a huge apartment building, and ushered him into an elevator. He was +whisked rapidly downward, and emerged into the central light-well which +pierced the structure from top to bottom. The barbaric tapestries upon +the walls of this tall cylindrical chamber, the tiling of the floor, +which consisted of squares and circles and spear points of various +colored stone, fitted artfully together, giving an effect of pleasant +disorder. And most of all, the smell of strange incense in the air, told +Shelby that he had dropped into a little bit of old Pagar or Mars. +Evidently the Prince of Selba was master of the entire tower, which, in +itself, was by no means small. + +Alka led the way down a short passage, and admitted the Earthman to a +large sumptuously furnished room, one end of which was softly +illuminated by a quaintly beautiful floor lamp. The farther end of the +room was in complete darkness. The Pagarian architects had made it +imitate the interior of a natural cavern, for where the light approached +the gloom, two glassy stalactites gleamed with a scintillant elfin +light. + +Shelby had but a moment to take note of his surroundings--the dark +hangings woven with silver threads, the embossed shield and spear of an +ancient Martian warrior mounted on the wall--before Hekalu entered. The +young man saw at once that the noble had lost his air of bored languor +which he had noticed about him at the time of their first meeting. His +eyes flashed with excitement and his movements were quick and cat-like. + +"I see that you have come quickly, Mr. Shelby," said the Martian, "and I +am glad. Won't you sit down?" + +With scarcely a pause he continued: "I have great wealth, my friend, and +while your means do not seem to be small, I believe that it would be +very convenient to you to have them supplemented. Suppose I gave you +say, ten times as many jewels as are in the tray over on that stand?" +Shelby looked in the direction the Martian indicated. He saw a flat +shallow container of considerable size. At its center squatted a +repulsive thing about eight inches high, carved from a clear crystalline +substance from which there flashed countless points of icy, wicked +fire--a huge diamond! + +Heaped around it were hundreds of magnificent red _tabalti_, most prized +of all gems. An expert appraiser had recently told Shelby that in two +worlds only thirteen of them were known to exist. And now he was being +offered all these stones by one who hinted that he was willing to give +him ten times as many--an utterly staggering fortune! + +Hekalu's words fairly dumbfounded Shelby, but they grated upon his sense +of pride as well. Nevertheless, his face gave no hint of what passed +through his mind. An angry reply, he decided, was out of place. + +"Naturally, Akar Hekalu, you want something in return for your amazing +generosity," he said coolly. "Of course, I could not accept your offer +under any other circumstances." + +The Martian nodded. "I have it from a reliable source, Mr. Shelby, that +you are the inventor of a terrible weapon--an atomic ray which might be +dangerous in the hands of unworthy persons. Turn the weapon over to me +as well as all information concerning its operation and construction, +and promise to say not a word more about the weapon to anyone, and I +will give you the jewels at once." + +A flash of surprise passed across Shelby's face but he quickly masked +it. So this was it! But how was it that the noble had learned of his +invention? Could it be that Janice Darell was playing a double +hand?--his Jan. He dismissed the idea as preposterous and utterly +disloyal. + + * * * * * + +The Earthman rose to his feet and addressed the Martian coldly. "If I +have such a device I believe that I can place it in better hands than +yours." + +Hekalu Selba's face gave no hint of anger; in fact he seemed at the +point of laughing. "You have done as I expected you would. Your refusal +shows me how patriotic you are and gratifies me very much, Mr. Shelby," +he said blandly. "You are as a man of Earth should be. However, there is +another side to the question. I have certain plans and to have you at +large might endanger their fulfillment. Therefore I must ask you to +accompany me on a little trip. That weapon of yours will be well taken +care of. Now, kindly raise your hands high above your head." The Martian +was pointing a bejeweled automatic straight at the chest of his visitor. +"You are being covered from two other points in this room so try not to +cause any misunderstanding," he added. + +Shelby saw the wisdom of obeying the order for he felt quite certain +that Hekalu Selba and his minions would not hesitate to shoot him down. +What a colossal idiot he had been! He had sensed a trap when the noble +had called him over the view-phone and yet he had taken no sensible +precautions! + +Hekki was searching him now. His long fingers were moving deftly from +pocket to pocket. They closed upon his automatic and drew it forth. +"Ah," the Martian breathed, "it's as I thought. You have brought a +souvenir. A most worthy precaution. And, now that you are no longer in a +position to cause any trouble," he continued sneeringly, "I may as well +tell you about my ambition--Oh, it is simple enough; men have thought of +it before but none had the nerve or ability to put it over. Briefly it +is this--to become Master of both Earth and Mars! My friends are waiting +for me out there beyond the Red Planet--waiting for their commander. And +there is another little hope--there is a certain beautiful flower of +your race--" Here he stopped to allow his captive to imagine the rest. + +A hard light came into Austin Shelby's eyes. It was the only outward +indication of the sudden tornado of emotions and thoughts that swirled +in his mind. This man sought to enforce his will upon the planets! The +question of whether he was capable of realizing this tremendous dream or +not, the Earthman did not pause to debate. + +Fifty years before, Saranov had attempted it, and as a result a score of +great cities became shambles. Certainly the present foe of mankind was +more powerful than Saranov. The monstrous associate of Hekalu and the +flitting specks of light far beyond Mars seemed to bear out the +nobleman's boast. And if he somehow got possession of the Atomic Ray! +And Jan--What was he going to do to Jan! Certainly it was she to whom he +had referred! It was this last idea which hammered on Shelby's brain +hardest of all. A little fiend within him seemed to shriek. "Escape! +Send your weapon to the War Office! Kill Selba if you can, for +everything is at stake!" Escape, yes, but how? + +"Place your wrists together behind your back now," Hekalu was saying. "I +have a pair of magnificent manacles--careful. Do not make an abrupt +movement." + +A crazy idea had come into the Earthman's mind. He did not expect his +plan to work but it was all he could do. With an air of one resigned to +his fate, he obeyed the order. He felt the Martian fumbling with the +manacles. He was evidently using only one hand. The other presumably +still held the automatic leveled at Shelby's back. But it was useless to +think of such things. + +A slim finger touched the young engineer's wrist. He caught it, twisted +it back at the same time, then, summoning all the quickness and force he +could muster, he ducked low and hurled himself backward straight into +the Martian. There was a loud report. A hot pain seared into the fleshy +folds beneath Austin's left shoulder blade. Those hidden in the darkness +at the farther end of the room did not dare to fire for fear of injuring +their master. Now Shelby was grappling with Hekalu. He gripped the hand +that held the automatic. + +Two more reports--ineffective, and then the two fell clawing and in a +heap on the floor. The shaded lamp was upset and its illumination globes +were broken. There was darkness. Shelby heard the shuffle of running +feet coming across the marble pavement of the chamber. Help for Hekalu! +He'd have to hurry. But the Martian noble, racially much frailer than +the people of Earth, was no match for the athletic Shelby. In a moment +he was pinned, unable to move. The Earthman tore his weapon from him and +thrust its muzzle against his recent opponent's chest. Before he fired +he saw the Martian's bold smile; whatever failings Hekalu Selba had, +cowardice was not among them. + +On the heels of the gun's report Shelby darted from the room and down +the short hallway which led back to the central light-well of the Selba +establishment. If he could only somehow reach his plane! He gripped the +doorknob and shoved fiercely, but the stout metal panels were immovable. +He might have known that the outer door would be locked! Oh, what an +unutterable ass he had been! + +Now what? A hoarse cry of triumph caused him to turn. Alka was racing +toward him with leveled pistol. A spray of projectiles spread toward +Shelby but the slave's aim was bad and none of them took effect. A split +second later Alka pitched to the floor with a bullet through his brain. + + * * * * * + +But there was another to be reckoned with--one who waddled along rapidly +on short powerful legs. Its arms were long and black and more powerfully +muscled than a gorilla's. One hand brandished a metal knob-stick, and +the other, a long-barreled pistol of Martian design. Silvery armor set +with jewels that glittered wickedly in the dim light of the hallway +crossed the creature's breast. Its head was bulbous, and its face, set +deep in plates of shining black chitin-like armor, consisted only of two +enormous eyes and a lipless mouth. No nose at all! The horror Shelby had +seen on the liner! + +The Earthman fired at the monster. The first bullet clinked harmlessly +on his opponent's breast-plate. The second thudded full force upon its +skull, but apparently the hard smooth skin of the creature was too tough +to allow projectiles hurled from a pistol to penetrate it for it did no +real damage--only infuriated the monster. Black hard lids dropped +protectingly over its eyes, and its mouth worked convulsively. It +quickened its pace and brought its own pistol into play. + +Shelby had made a hasty survey of the hall and had noted the stairway +beside the door he had tried to open. He darted up this, ducking low +behind the stone railing to avoid his weird pursuer's bullets. Perhaps +in the chambers above he could find a means of escape. He was leaving a +trail of blood on the marble steps, and his wound pained him terribly. +He felt sick and weak. + +When he had reached the top of the stairs, the unknown horror was +already halfway up. It had returned its pistol to its holster. +Apparently it had been so maddened by Shelby's shots, that only tearing +its quarry to pieces could satisfy its lust for vengeance. And the thing +was gaining rapidly! + +But the Earthman gritted his teeth and kept doggedly on. He fought back +the nauseous giddiness that was creeping upon him. He'd have to escape. +Oh God! There was too much at stake--the world and Jan--what was +happening to Jan? True, he had killed Selba, but certainly the Martian +had minions--men who could carry on without him. He could scarcely have +built up all his plans single-handed! + +Four flights of steps Shelby and his pursuer ascended. Was there a way +of reaching the roof and the plane in this direction? And if there were, +could the Earthman reach it before the long arms of the thing so close +behind wrapped themselves about him? Such an event, Shelby knew could +not mean anything less than failure, and possibly immediate death. The +fiend behind did not cry out or order him to halt. In fact it made no +vocal sound at all. Not even its breathing, which should have been heavy +and labored, was audible. Only the hurried shuffle of its unshod feet. +Its silent relentlessness was nerve-wracking. + +The engineer saw before him at the top of the stair a small doorway, and +beyond it a spiral runway leading upward. The light grillwork gate stood +invitingly open. Catching the grill with one hand as he rushed through +the door, Shelby sought to slam it shut and latch it. He almost had +succeeded, and then a huge hand closed upon the bars. One jerk, and a +quick grab with the other immense paw and the strange flight and pursuit +would be at an end. + +But the jerk was delayed. Shelby fired his last round. It did the +monster little harm, even though the distance between the two was but +four feet. Nevertheless it caused the armored horror to leap back a +step, and the moment thus provided was sufficient. + +As Shelby stumbled up the dark spiral he heard the thing below tearing +at the closed grill. He knew that it could not delay the thing for long. +He had just reached the trapdoor at the top of the long climb, when a +muffled ripping crash echoed up dimly from far beneath him. The gate was +down! + +Feverishly he struggled with the heavy trap. Normally it would not have +been difficult for him to lift the rectangle of aluminum alloy; but +wounded as he was, forcing his numbing limbs to obey him required almost +super-human effort. When he had at last succeeded in hoisting it on its +hinges, he could again hear the soft padding of hurrying feet. + +The engineer found himself in a large room, one wall of which was +curved, conforming to the outer contour of the cylindrical tower. +Scattered illumination globes gave a dim light to the place. The room +was evidently a storehouse for Hekalu's laboratory supplies. Complex +mechanisms stood about, evidently waiting to be installed. There were +hundreds of metal drums presumably containing chemicals. There were +bolts of heavy fabric and stacks of ingots neatly corded. Set in the +ceiling of the chamber were several circular windows through the heavy +glass of which bright stars shone. Directly above was the roof, and but +a few paces distant, the landing stage! + +Escape seemed tantalizingly near, but with sinking heart, Shelby noted +that there was no easy means of ascent to the roof. He'd have to try to +smash one of those windows. But the monster hurrying up the spiral +claimed his immediate attention. + +Deeply thankful for the peculiar eccentricities of Martian architecture, +he hurriedly proceeded to pile ingots on the closed trapdoor. Each of +these ingots weighed well over a hundred and fifty pounds. Fortunately +for the wounded Earthman, the distance he had to carry them was only a +few feet. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Capture! + + +He had transferred five to their new position before his pursuer arrived +beneath the trap and began to push upward mightily upon it. Shelby +transferred several more ingots to the pile just to make sure that the +monster could not enter. Then, fighting off the diaphanous veil of +unconsciousness that was trying to drop over him, he looked about for +something with which to effect his escape. + +A long bar of metal caught his eye. He seized it, and with all his +strength thrust upward at one of the ceiling windows. But the thick +glass, crisscrossed by rods of metal, was not easily shattered. + +A rattling noise attracted his attention. He glanced back toward the +trap. His pile of ingots was trembling as if shaken by a miniature +earthquake. The door was rising upward! It settled back and rose again. +An inch crack appeared, and through it Shelby could see two eyes and the +muzzle of a pistol. He leaped out of range just in time to avoid the +bullet that whizzed across the room and flattened itself against the +wall. + +He darted around toward the hinged side of the trap, where he knew that +the black horror could not fire at him, and devoted his attention to +another window. He would have reinforced the barricade with more ingots, +but he realized that by spending his nearly exhausted strength that way +he would be defeating his own purpose. + +A dozen times he jabbed up viciously with the bar before a tiny crack +appeared in the round pane of glass. The trapdoor behind him was being +shaken violently. An ingot on top of the pile was jarred from its place +and crashed to the floor. Yes, the window was giving. A small hole +appeared in it. + +A pair of shiny black forearms had forced their way from under the edge +of the trapdoor. Slowly and mightily the shoulders of the monster surged +upward. The door was rising, and this time it did not seem that it would +sink back. + +Shelby had finished his task. Now, with the upper end of the bar thrust +through the opening he had made in the window, and the lower end resting +in a slight depression in the floor, he proceeded to climb it to safety. +His head and shoulders were through the hole when the monster at last +burst its way into the room below. But the thing was just an instant too +late to hinder him. + +Sweating and bloody, Shelby drew himself to the roof and staggered over +to the landing stage. Yes, his plane was there. + +The night air, and the flush of success was refreshing him. His +exaltation leaped higher and higher as his plane swept him up from the +summit of the tower of the mysterious Selba. + +A wild refrain was drumming in his mind: "Hekalu Selba is dead! I have +killed him!" There was nothing more to do but notify the Municipal Air +Patrol--an S. O. S. with his siren would accomplish that. They would +raid the tower. If any of the Martian's fellow plotters sought to +continue with the project the Earthman's new weapon would take care of +them. + +Shelby was reaching for the siren button, and then a terrific explosion +thundered up from somewhere below, and several hundred yards to his +right. He saw the orange flash, and then, in an instant the whole city +went dark. Another crash came and another. Shelby saw a dark form glide +through the air. From far beneath him he heard a troubled murmur mixed +with the din of colliding vehicles. Sirens shrieked. In the distance to +his right, a great plume of lurid flame blossomed in the sky. + +The low purr of a machine gun sounded behind him, and he heard the +almost inaudible tick-tick of poisoned needle-darts piercing the +fuselage of his craft. + +He zoomed sharply upward for a thousand feet, and then glanced back. +There was a dim shadow out there--he was being followed. But this +discovery, and the realization that the city was attacked made but a +vague impression upon his fast-dimming mind. The warm fluid that oozed +from his shoulder, making his clothing sodden and sticky, had all but +drained his vital energy. + +Somehow he began to doubt that he had killed Selba. It had been only a +dream, and the monstrous thing that had sought his life had been a dream +too. Hekalu was pursuing him now, trying to kill him! The idea took +hold, for he could no longer distinguish fancy from reality. It brought +to him a vague fear which would have been completely out of place with +him had he not been so near gone from loss of blood. It was like a +child's fear of the dark. + +He began to fly towards home in a wild zigzag course like a dazed bat, +but this favored him, for it enabled him to avoid the darts from the +pursuing plane. Luckily he remembered that while under fire combat +fliers do not make use of their automatic pilots except as a last +resort, for these devices cannot direct the complex movements necessary +in dodging enemy bullets. Automatically Shelby watched the guiding +instruments and followed their directions. + +Several times he signaled with his siren, but no one answered him. +Thousands of sirens were hooting, and the Air Patrol was very busy. The +darkness, the explosions and the muffled roar from the streets +continued. + +Two ideas now possessed Shelby's mind and he clung to them with the grim +persistence of a wounded tiger. One was to get home, secure his weapon +and rush it to the federal authorities. The other was to hurry to Janice +Darell. + +Presently his plane bounded down awkwardly on the landing platform of +the building in which his apartment was located. He stumbled out, and +down the dark stair. The elevators were not working. Somehow he found +his door and unlocked it. He groped toward the wall safe. It was open, +and the little black case which contained the unfinished atomic ray +projector was gone. A neat round hole had been drilled in the metal door +of the safe. + +The view-phone bell was ringing. Shelby stumbled to the instrument and +moved its switches. The view-plate did not work but he heard a faint +voice which he recognized as Jan's. "Is that you, Austin?" it said. +"Can't you help me? Something is out there. It has me cornered in my +room. It has killed old Rufus. The house police--" There the connection +snapped. + +A wild surge of anger quickened the engineer's weakly beating heart. He +tried to reach the door, and then he felt a stinging sensation in the +back of his neck. A needle-dart charged with a sleep-producing drug had +struck him. He slumped to the floor. + +A moment later a thing of metal and fabric, fitted with drills and +delicate thread-like tentacles, and formed like a giant Sadu moth of +Mars, darted out from behind a curtain where it had been hiding. It flew +up through the air-tube which had been its means of entrance to the +room. On the roof it met a black nightmare, and by means of signs traced +in the air with an intelligence that was paradoxically human, it +directed the monster to Shelby's apartment below. + + * * * * * + +The first sensation which bore itself in upon Shelby's consciousness +when he was regaining his senses was a terrific throbbing pain in his +head. He opened his rheum-plastered eyelids and looked about him. He was +lying in a bunk within a small dim-lit compartment. Polished duralumin +walls gleamed all about. At the center of his prison was a table, and +beyond, built into the opposite wall, was another bunk. There was a +black blob of something sprawling on the mattress, but he could not see +clearly what it was. The illumination globe in the ceiling was not +burning, and only a faint glow filtered through the curtained, circular +window. A muffled purring vibration told Shelby that he was aboard a +speeding space ship. + +Aroused evidently by the stirring of its charge, the thing in the +opposite berth arose and strode leisurely toward the Earthian. The metal +of its harness tinkled, and sharp points of light flashed against its +ebony body, like gems sewn into a sable curtain that is being swayed by +a vagrant draft of air. + +The Earthman recognized the creature immediately as his recent pursuer. +It had pressed the light switch now, and the illumination globe glowed +softly. Then the thing bent over Shelby, and with a gentleness that was +surprising, it rolled him over and examined his bandaged wound briefly. + +The young man conquered his revulsion sufficiently to look up into the +monster's face. He thought that it was odd that the sight of it did not +terrify him. No, really it was not more hideous than the visages of +insects he had seen through a microscope. He studied the hard chitinous +visors that blinked over the monster's eyes--the hollow where its nose +should have been; and he searched for some hint that there was a human +personality within that knotted carcass but found none. The lipless +mouth and the blankly staring eyes were without any expression that he +could interpret. + +Two things struck Shelby as being peculiar--the fact that the monster +did not seem to breathe, and the icy coldness of its hands. + +The thing walked to the door, unlocked it, and left the room. The +engineer heard a grating of the key being turned when the door had been +shut. + +Taking advantage of the opportunity to move about without being +observed, he jumped out of bed and hurried to the window. It was then +that he noticed that there was a metal band about his right ankle. A +long light chain led from it to an eyelet in the wall. Truly he _was_ a +prisoner! + +A single glance through the porthole confirmed what he had known was +true--the black sky and the unwinking stars of space. + +There was a narrow walk beneath the window, running the full length of +the flier's hull. The railing of woven wire cast a checkered shadow on +the walk. Somewhere toward the stern a blazing sun was shining, but +Shelby could not see it. + +His first thoughts concerned some means of spoiling the plans of Selba's +band. He guessed, of course, that they were responsible for his present +position, and he realized that it was likely that the zero hour of their +attack upon the planets was not far off. Could he escape?--a practical +impossibility. + +Nevertheless he looked longingly at the emergency space-boat hugging +close to the hull of its mother ship, and fitted so admirably into her +streamlining. If he could get to the entrance of that boat--it was in +some other room farther toward the bow--he could give his captors a run +for their money and perhaps reach Earth. And if he did? Shelby had great +confidence in the Atomic Ray. He removed the top from the button where +he had secreted the pink crystal. It was still there. + +But how could he get into the space-boat? Plainly it could not be +accomplished now. Perhaps soon--in a few hours maybe, an opportunity +would present itself. And there were other things he might do. A moment +in the engine room, and he could blow the ship to atoms, and with it, +most of the ringleaders of the Selba crowd. Stoically Shelby realized +that he too would be destroyed, but if he could serve his world, he +would not hesitate to make the move. + +Bent on getting as well acquainted with his present environment as he +could, the Earthman proceeded to examine minutely everything that was +within the range of his senses. He tested the strength of his chain, and +began to fumble over each link, without having any definite idea of what +value the knowledge gleaned from such a procedure would be to him. + +He had reached about the tenth link when he heard a sound above the purr +of rocket motors--voices. There were two of them. One was a man's; the +other was soft and feminine. Shelby knew it at once--Janice Darell's! So +she too was aboard the space flier! He realized it with a pang of +apprehension. In vain the Earthman tried to catch the words they were +saying, but beyond detecting the chilly tone in the girl's voice, he +could get no idea of what they were talking about. Apparently they were +in the room next to his. + +He heard footsteps in the hall outside, and returned quickly to his +bunk. Three people entered the room. The first was the black monster. +Shelby gave a gasp when he saw who followed it--Jan. She looked tired +and worn but in her face there was no hint of fear. She smiled wanly at +Shelby. There was another behind her. It was Hekalu Selba--the man the +Earthian thought he had killed! For once Shelby was really dumbfounded. +He uttered the Martian's name without thinking. + +The noble grinned in Satanic amusement. "It is I, none other, my +friend," he said. "Aren't you glad to see me? You look as though you +were being visited by a ghost." + +The Martian chuckled. "But thanks to a breast armor I still belong to +this plane of existence. I admit though that you gave me a great scare +when you nearly, but not quite, escaped. My four bombing fliers supplied +an adequate diversion for the Municipal Patrol, didn't they? And my Sadu +moth, radio controlled automaton--it functioned perfectly!" + + * * * * * + +Shelby rose from the bunk and sauntered toward his captor. Hekalu made +no move to stop him. "Now that you have Miss Darell and me nicely +trapped, what do you intend to do?" Shelby inquired coldly. + +The Martian laughed. "You have a very inquisitive nature, Mr. Shelby," +he said. "What do you expect me to do? Continue with my plans which you +so almost successfully spoiled, my friend." Here Hekki's voice became +suddenly excited and husky; his lips curled and his eyes took on the +fanatical look of a megalomaniac who sees within his grasp his dream of +power. + +"Very soon," he lisped, "we strike. Mars first, then your planet. I +shall be great--greater than all the combined rulers of the millenniums +gone by, and Janice here, will share my greatness." The slender arm of +Selba stole around the waist of the girl beside him. She did not try to +draw away. "That last little idea maddens you, doesn't it, Mr. Shelby?" +he added with a sneer. + +Shelby felt a flush of heat in his cheeks. What happened to Jan that she +should permit the noble to be so familiar with her? Had she been dazzled +by his wealth and his promises of what stupendous things the future +would bring? For a fraction of a second something seemed to let go in +the Earthman's mind, and then he saw the fleeting look in the girl's +eyes. He checked the impulse that had urged him to send a fist crashing +into the face of the smirking noble. Certainly such an act of violence +could accomplish no good. + +Shelby looked at the black monster. It was standing beside the table, +and leaned forward, so that its knuckles rested ape-like upon the floor. +It was gazing narrowly at the Martian, and its mouth opened and closed +nervously. There was a faint something in its almost blank face which +suggested to the Earthman that the bond of friendship between the Prince +of Selba and this weird devil of the void was none too strong. + +Hekalu withdrew his arm from about the girl. He nodded toward the +bejeweled nightmare. "I had almost forgotten my lieutenant here, Mr. +Shelby," he said. "He is the ruler of the empire from which I am +recruiting my forces--my chief ally. Since his people do not employ a +language of sounds, he has no vocal name; but for the sake of +convenience I have christened him Alkebar, which means 'The Unknown.' He +was my companion on my recent trip to Earth, for he wanted very much to +see what a beautiful place is your world." There was a sinister hint in +these last words. + +Hekki made a few quick signs to Alkebar with his fingers, and then +turned to the girl. "I must ask you two to leave us now, Jan," he said. +"Mr. Shelby and I have an important matter to discuss." + +Alkebar grasped Janice's arm with a horny paw, and hurried her through +the door. But nevertheless Shelby caught a fleeting glimpse of her face +as her lips formed, but did not utter, the word--"Wait." Hekki did not +see. + +The Earthman turned upon the Martian. "I am going to usurp your assumed +right to start this little private conversation, Akar Hekalu," he told +him. "There is only one thing I have to say. You are a noble, the son of +a long line of nobles who righted wrongs and avenged insults on the +field of honor. You have wronged me, no you have outraged me. Therefore +I challenge you to combat. Choose your weapons. No place will suit me +better than this room; no time better than now." But if Austin had +expected to nettle Hekalu into a mood for fighting, he was disappointed. + +The Martian was smiling mockingly. "Life is sweet," he said, "sweeter to +me than it has ever been before. I do not wish to die--not even by your +hands. And you--you have certain knowledge and information which is +valuable to me. You must live. I was going to talk to you about what you +know. That weapon of yours--we are working on a projector. But something +is evidently missing--a tiny element." + +"What you have learned about the Atomic Ray," Shelby cut in, "you +learned through your own efforts. If you can steal the remainder of the +necessary information from my brain, you are welcome. Otherwise, I +urgently invite you to go to the devil." + +Hekki's face assumed a look of infinite though make-believe sadness. It +was a trick such as a designing woman might use to attract some +desirable male. + +"I am sorry to hear you talk so, Mr. Shelby," he said. "But as you +suggest, I believe that there are ways of stealing knowledge even from +your mind. For instance, in an old vault beneath my palace at Taboor, I +once found a sealed vat containing a certain fluid. The Ancient Ones +were wise, for when they desired any man to talk, they thrust his arms +or his legs, or perchance his whole body into the fluid. Very slowly, +and with some discomfort, it ate away the tissue of his nerves. I must +leave you now, my friend. Think well, and may the gods that rule the +universe guide you on the right course." + +He opened the door. Shelby caught a glimpse of a long hall, and at the +far end, the bewildering maze of control-room equipment. The panel +closed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Race Through Space + + +Immediately the Earthman set himself to the task of examining everything +in his prison. But as he had expected, there was little or nothing to +discover. The walls which his tether permitted him to reach were all +perfectly smooth and solid. He realized with a sheepish grin that it had +been foolish of him to even dare to hope that they would be otherwise. +The chain fastened to the fetter was quite adequate to hold him. The +window, even if it might have been used as an avenue of escape, was +securely fastened with bolts, so that it would have taken a man equipped +with a heavy set of wrenches, an hour to remove it. To shatter the +flexible pane was next to an impossibility. The table was firmly welded +to the floor. Beyond the table, Shelby could not go, for the chain +prevented him. But he was quite sure that there was nothing movable in +the entire room massive enough to be used as a tool or weapon. + +He slumped down on his bunk, and let one hand rest on a small power-pipe +which ran along the wall and up to the illumination globe above. For a +minute dejection almost got a firm grip on him. But he fought it off. +This was no time to give up. Why, the struggle hadn't even started yet! + +Shelby felt a faint vibration of the power-pipe under his hand. For a +considerable time the impressions had been coming to him, but they had +scarcely penetrated into his consciousness. They seemed no more +significant than the hundred and one little noises and disturbances that +go with the running of any space ship. Presently however, the regular +sequence of the pulsations attracted his attention. Something made him +think of the almost obsolete Morse code. Then the realization came to +him. Someone in another room on he ship was tapping on the +power-pipe--signaling--signaling him! He spelled the word +out--A-u-s-t-i-n, repeated over and over again. + +His first thought was of Jan. It must be she who was calling him for +there was no one else. + +Quickly, with his heavy signet ring, he tapped out an answer: "It is I, +Jan, A. S. shoot--" + +With tensed muscles, and with fingers firmly clutching the power-pipe +that he might not miss a single signal, Shelby crouched, receiving the +message. Somehow there was an urgency, an insistence, an appeal about +those hurried pulsations that no human voice could have conveyed. It was +fantastically like communicating with one who is buried alive. + +"We must escape not later than five hours from now," the tapping +spelled. "You have been unconscious for a long time--drugged. In five +hours we land on Mars. Then escape will be impossible. + +"Hekki has told me much, and I have seen much. The horrors that are +Selba's henchmen--three times some of them came to the ship, once in a +band of over a hundred. Hekki is worried. He has not troubled me yet. +Too busy I suppose. I have tried to make believe that I agree to his +plans. I thought I could control him that way. But he has been taking +the Elar drug. + +"We must escape, Austin. We must! Can't you think of a way? I will help! +If they get you to the concentration base in the Taraal they will +torture you. And we must remember our homeland!" + +The hurrying vibrations ceased, and then, almost before he knew what he +was doing, Shelby was tapping out an answer promising the impossible. + +"Never fear, dearest," he signaled. "Just let me think for a few +minutes." A moment later this phrase almost made him laugh. The sap hero +of a comedy which had recently been broadcast over the radio-view had +said almost these exact words. Think? Of what? Escape within five hours? +How? But Jan's appeal sent in such an odd way had an almost magical +effect on him, and made his brain work harder almost than ever before. +And then the ghost of an idea came. There was a chance that it would +work. He signaled to Jan, and then for half an hour, they put their +heads together--planning. + +Somewhat nervous, Shelby walked to the door and hammered loudly upon it. +A thin-faced slave whose hide was burned by desert suns to the color of +mahogany, appeared almost immediately. + +Shelby answered his inquiring look briefly: "I would speak to your +master," he said in Pagari--"right away." The slave nodded and reclosed +the door. + +In excited impatience the Earthman waited. Now and then he tapped short +messages of encouragement to Jan. Would Hekalu never come? The strain of +suspense was not exactly pleasant. Finally, unable to contain himself +any longer, he rose from the bunk where he had been reclining in +readiness for the first move of the coup he was planning, and began to +pace the floor. + +He chanced to glance out of the window. On the railed walk beyond, a man +clad in space armor was bending over a small portable case which was +supported on a tripod. Shelby surmised correctly that this man was +Hekalu Selba. + +Beside him, paying close attention to whatever the Martian was doing, +stood the black Alkebar. The Earthman frowned in puzzlement, almost in +awe. For Hekki's weird companion wore nothing that would be of the least +help in protecting him from interplanetary cold and lack of air +pressure. Not even an oxygen helmet! And yet, as the monster examined +interestedly, every dial and switch that Hekalu touched, he showed not +the slightest hint of discomfort. The airless emptiness of space seemed +home to him. How could such things be? A strange thrill tingled and +vibrated along Shelby's spine when he realized how alien was Alkebar. +There was no kinship between him and the creatures of either Earth or +Mars. + +Presently Hekki looked up, and as though moved by some intuitive +realization that he was being watched, turned awkwardly in his +cumbersome attire, and glanced along the row of portholes in the side of +the vessel. He saw the Earthman and smiled at him. Shelby felt that it +was the kind of smile which a tolerant father might show to his youngest +son. Hekalu waved his hand, and his lips, behind the glazed front of the +helmet, formed several words which Shelby could not interpret. Then the +Martian returned his attention to his apparatus. + + * * * * * + +When Selba entered his prisoner's room some moments later, he found him +lounging on the bunk. + +The Martian looked enquiringly at Shelby. "You have reached some +conclusion, my friend?" he asked. + +Without changing his position on the bunk the young man nodded. There +was an expression of dejection and sullen resignation on his face which +he was trying hard, above the intense excitement which possessed him, to +make realistic. Still acting the part he spoke: "Yes, Akar Hekalu," he +said between teeth that were apparently gritted with rage, "I have +decided to reveal to you the secret of the Atomic Ray." + +A triumphant gleam came into the Martian's eyes. "Ah, my friend," he +said, "you at last see the light. I knew that you would. But what has +been the cause for this sudden change in attitude? The torture chamber, +perhaps?" There was an undercurrent of suspicion in Hekalu's voice. + +Shelby turned his head sullenly away, feigning shame. He said nothing. A +minute passed during which time Hekalu stared at his captive, a sardonic +smirk of contempt curling his thin coral lips. + +Finally he said, "I will have Koo Faya bring you writing materials, and +you will describe in writing every detail of the manufacture of the +missing element." + +"No," replied Shelby, turning his face toward the Martian, "I haven't +the ability to do that. It will be necessary for you to take me to the +laboratory of the ship where I can demonstrate the process to you. It is +much too delicate and complicated." + +The noble's eyes wavered slightly. "Once," he said, "you tried to trick +me, but I warn you that I am on guard now so do not attempt it again." + +He signed to Alkebar who had been standing silently beside the open +door. The giant drew a key from a pouch at his side, and kneeling, +unlocked the fetter fastened about Shelby's ankle. It rattled to the +floor. And at the same time the Earthian, leaning back on the bunk with +arms stretching over his head, tapped sharply three times with his +signet ring on the power-pipe. It seemed to be only an unconscious +gesture--nervousness perhaps. + +Immediately there was a terrific crash from down the passage way, +followed by an agonized scream. Another crash. More screams. + +Hekalu started, and then making a hurried gesture to Alkebar which +indicated that he was to guard the inventor of the Atomic Ray, he drew +his automatic and dashed down the corridor to investigate the +disturbance. The Earthman however, was in no mood to be guarded. No +longer shackled, he leaped to his feet and over to the center of the +room. The great voiceless beast from the stars stood before the doorway +with his long arms outstretched. He was not trying to capture the +Earthman--only seeking to block his path. + +But Shelby had no time to waste. Gathering himself together, he hurtled +straight for the ankles of his opponent. The fact that the artificial +gravity of the ship was of the same strength as that of Mars--only a +trifle more than one-third that of Earth--added to the effectiveness of +his plunge. The mighty-muscled Alkebar, puzzled by the unheard-of +tactics of his agile though vastly weaker foe, suddenly found himself in +a sprawling heap on the floor. Shelby leaped over him through the door, +slammed it, and raced precipitately down the corridor. + +In the meantime Hekalu Selba had reached Janice Darell's room, but when +he had unlocked it and had thrust his head inside to see what the matter +was, a heavy urn, deftly aimed, had crashed full into his face. Shelby +saw him sprawling in the passage badly dazed, and a split second later +Jan dashed from her cabin. She looked around, and when she saw Shelby +coming swiftly toward her she flashed him a quick smile of triumph. + +But Alkebar had wrenched the portal of the Earthman's recent prison +open, and was in hot pursuit. He was tugging frantically at the pistol +in his belt. + +"Run, Jan, quick!--To the control room!" Austin shouted. + +He caught up Hekki's automatic which had dropped from the Martian's +grasp when he had fallen, and wheeling, fired at the black colossus. The +bullet struck Alkebar's right hand with which he was raising his pistol. +The tough natural armor which covered the monster from head to foot +prevented it from doing any serious damage, but it must have stung +badly, for his weapon clattered to the floor. While he was stooping to +recover it, Shelby hurried forward to catch up with Jan. It was but a +few yards to the control room. If they could get there, overcome whoever +was in charge and barricade themselves in, they could master the ship! + +Their luck had been good, but it was not destined to be as good as that. +They caught but a brief glimpse of the bewildering array of switches, +dials and levers, that constituted the brain-center of the craft. +Standing on guard before his instrument panels was the mahogany-colored +slave Koo Faya. He was half crouching, at bay. There was a murderous +light in his eyes, and he held leveled in his hands a light machine +gun. Shelby's automatic was leveled too, and he pressed his trigger an +instant before the Martian. Four bullets whizzed into the control room, +splattering close about the thin mummy-like body of Koo Faya. A glass +globe that glowed redly on the top of a complicated mechanism, was +struck and burst with a popping sound. A rose-colored vapor floated +ceiling-ward. + + * * * * * + +Simultaneously Koo Faya's weapon began to whir. Then, even as Shelby +jerked Jan back out of danger, the wild shriek of an alarm siren mingled +with the discordant clashing jangle of ungoverned machinery running +amuck, rang through the ship, and the huge metal cigar pitched and +careened like a frightened thing. + +Alkebar, having recovered his pistol, was staggering down the passage +shooting rapidly. But owing to the crazy motion of the space flier his +missiles were momentarily not taking effect. + +Austin and Jan knew that Koo Faya was leaping to a position where he +could shoot his poisoned darts at them again. What now? Cornered? No! +Janice Darell wrenched open a door in the side of the passage and shoved +Shelby into the tiny room beyond. + +In the opposite wall of the closet was a round dark opening. "The +emergency flier," Jan shouted. "Into it!" + +As quickly as they could they climbed through into the submarine-like +interior beyond. Fighting to keep themselves erect, they slammed the +heavy duralumin portal to and fastened it. Alkebar was already groping +on the opposite side. But he was too late. + +Shelby leaped to the control panel and cut the electric current from the +magnets that held the emergency flier anchored to its mother ship. It +floated, free from the careening hulk. Its rocket motors roared into +life. + +The occupants of the tiny craft looked back at the _Selba_. It had +ceased its mad motions now, and was hanging quietly in space. Evidently +Koo Faya had succeeded in righting matters to some slight extent at +least. Would he be able to patch things up entirely? The red globe could +be replaced in half an hour. It would be that length of time at least +before the _Selba_ could engage in pursuit. + +But the arm of a space ship, equipped with weapons commonly used in the +void, is long. Hence Austin Shelby considered it his first duty to put +as much distance between his craft and Hekalu's ship as possible. + +Still four million miles away, Mars glowed--a tiny red disc; and he +headed toward her giving the flier full freedom to do its best. The +fiery vapors fairly tore from the rocket nozzles. + +With one hand in readiness on the control lever, which resembled in +appearance and operation the joystick of an airplane, and his feet on +the bar used for steering in a lateral plane, he kept his eyes fixed on +the receding bulk behind. Jan had handed him one of the two pairs of +binoculars which she had just found in the supply compartment. + +Austin knew what to expect from the direction of the _Selba_, and it +came well within schedule. A flash of green fire spurted from the +foredeck of the ship. It showed up with startling vividness against the +jeweled sable of the void. + +Abruptly Shelby drew the control lever back. In response to his movement +the rocket nozzles, now deflected from alignment with the central axis +of the craft, sent it into a steep climb. The terrific angular +acceleration seemed intent on forcing the two fugitives straight through +the metal floor. It drew the blood from their faces and made them grow +pale and giddy. But they escaped being struck by the torpedo. + +It exploded a hundred yards beneath the flier's keel. Fragments of it +banged against the hull. In rapid succession other flashes darted from +the _Selba_, which had dwindled to a silvery speck far to the rear. But +still those missiles, directed by incredibly delicate sighting +mechanisms, and hurled at almost the speed of light, continued to score +remarkably close to their target. + +If it had not been such an elusive target they most certainly would have +blasted it to fragments. But Shelby, skilled as were most of the men of +his time, in the handling of small space craft, was able to endow his +flier with much of the agility of an alarmed dragon fly. Darting, +weaving, zigzagging, yet always keeping its general course fixed toward +Mars, it careened away. Always it was ringed by an aura of green +flashes. + +However, good fortune is seldom perfect. The tempered duralumin plates +of the flier managed to withstand the force of all of the torpedo +fragments which showered them--with one exception. One dart from +Hekalu's ship exploded barely fifty feet to the right of the fugitive +craft, and a flying chunk of steel sent it pitching and tumbling through +the ether. + +When the two bruised occupants had regained their equilibrium they heard +a faint hissing above the roar of rockets. They knew that there was but +slight chance that the _Selba_ could do them any further harm, for +though the torpedoes continued to come, the distance between the two +vessels was now so great that a damaging shot was almost an +impossibility. Nevertheless, the present situation was serious enough. A +leak! + +Fixing the nose of the flier toward the Red Planet, and locking the +controls, Shelby left the pilot's seat to determine the extent of the +damage, while Jan searched the supply compartment for something with +which to repair it. There was a deep dent in one of the ceiling plates +and a thin wriggly crack through the center of it--not an easy job to +patch that out in space under the best of circumstances. + +The young man whistled when he saw how near they had come to a hideous +death. Several times he had seen the bodies of men who had been suddenly +exposed to the pressureless airless cold of the outer void--hideous +bloated things through whose skin the livid blood had forced its way. + +"Any luck, Jan," he asked, looking back at his companion. "Did you find +some cement?" + +She shook her head. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Space Men Attack + + +First stepping to the oxygen supply valve and opening it a trifle wider, +Shelby hastened to assist the girl in her quest. Their ears were +ringing. The air pressure within the hull was dropping rapidly. +Diligently they ransacked every nook and corner, but found nothing more +valuable than a can of thick grease. Shelby smeared some of it over the +crevice; it helped but did not by any means check the flow of the +escaping air entirely. + +"It's a race with time now, Jan," he said quietly. + +She looked at him. Her face was a trifle pale, but her lips and eyes +were smiling. "Are we on our way to Mars, Captain?" she enquired. + +He nodded. "We are, Admiral. The fuel tanks are full and if our air +lasts we'll get there." + +"And when we do," she put in, "the best of luck to Hekki and his +friends!" + +A vision swept through Shelby's mind--batteries of fantastic machines +whose maws spewed flames of faint lavender fire--blinding flashes of +light and world-rocking explosions: a hideous thing to dream of--hideous +yet glorious, for the civilizations and freedom of two worlds depended +upon it. To the Red Planet--they _must_ make it! + +Janice Darell had placed her hand lightly on Shelby's arm. Her +expression was serious, almost hard. "Austin," she said, "tell me +truthfully, can we really reach Mars? It is likely that we shall get +there before we go out?" + +"Certainly, darling," he replied, putting as much assurance into the +words and expression as was possible. "Why do you ask?" + +There was something that suggested doubt, perhaps even displeasure in +her answer: "We have a duty to perform, Austin--a duty infinitely bigger +than our own petty existences. You have not seen what I have seen--small +scouting patrols that came to the _Selba_ riding strange round things +that must have been machines of some kind. One look at those henchmen of +Alkebar, their great black bodies, their quick nervous movements--like +eager panthers, their wicked-looking weapons which they carried with +such an air of easy assurance, and you would have known what they hoped +to do. Most of these devils are within the orbit of Mars for the first +time. Certainly Hekki has told you something about them?" + +Shelby nodded. "Very little; but I have noticed a few of Alkebar's +remarkable peculiarities," he said. + +"Well," she continued, "if we can't get to Taboor, there is one thing we +can do--destroy the _Selba_, and with it Hekki and Alkebar." + +"Destroy the _Selba_!" Shelby exploded, "with what? Those toy machine +guns on the nose of this bus? The bullets wouldn't even make noticeable +scratches in the hide of that tough old girl." + +"Not with the machine guns," Jan said slowly, "with this flier! A little +luck and it would work." + +The idea flashed through Shelby's brain. Ram the _Selba_ at high speed! +Absolutely certain self-murder! A wave of tremendous admiration for the +girl came over him. She had something more in her favor than mere beauty +and intelligence. + +"Your idea is a pretty good one, Jan," he told her. "But rest assured +that unless you can overpower me, it will never be put into execution. +However, I'll tell you the truth: we have about a fifty-fifty chance of +reaching the Red Planet alive." + +And so they tore on their way across the void while they watched the +dial on the oxygen tank. They were racing with a tiny needle that crept +ever nearer to the zero point that was its goal. + +By allowing the pressure within the flier to drop to the lowest point +that they could endure, they managed to conserve considerable oxygen, +for then the rate of escape from the crevice the torpedo fragment had +made was naturally not so rapid. + +Frequently they examined the sky behind them, expecting momentarily to +discover the tiny speck of flitting silver that would be the _Selba_. +But if the ship was pursuing them it had not yet come close enough to be +seen. + +However, there was another, and perhaps greater menace which kept their +eyes turning this way and that, searching for signs of danger. Clusters +of dully-glowing specks in any quarter of the heavens would be the first +indications of its presence. They would grow larger, come hurtling on +like racing meteors in the sun's glow. Only there would be an odd wobbly +motion about their darting flight. Shelby tested the trips of the two +machine guns. Spurts of green flame plumed out of the muzzles. + +He had set the radio transmitter in operation, and was sending +occasional signals for assistance. But he knew that this was practically +a useless move. Hekalu had taken them far off the beaten track, and they +were still half a million miles from the Terrestro-Martian traffic lane. +The range of the transmitter of this craft was only ten thousand miles. +Even if they had been much nearer the chances of their signals being +picked up were slight. + +The Martian disc was growing larger. It had become an ochre sphere +delicately ringed and mottled with greens and browns like a cloudy opal. +The flier was fairly eating up the distance. + +Shelby had just said: "I believe we're going to make it, Jan," and then +the signs which they had hoped would not appear came. Ahead of them and +a little to their right, a vague cluster of specks glimmered into view. +It wavered like a wisp of luminous smoke buffeted by a light breeze. +This was the one thing that distinguished it from a meteor cluster. + + * * * * * + +Rapidly the individual points of light grew, becoming tiny stars that +glowed by the reflected light of the sun. Within five minutes there was +no longer any chance of mistaking their identity, for their flat +disc-like shapes and the half-human forms of the things that rode them +were already visible through the binoculars. They were approaching at +terrific velocity. Both Jan and Austin knew them to be subjects of +Alkebar. There was no mistaking their motive. Doubtless orders had been +flashed to them from the disabled _Selba_. + +Realizing that these fleet space riders could easily catch up with his +flier if they so chose, Shelby made no attempt to elude them. Instead he +clung doggedly to the straight course toward Mars. + +The twin machine guns, responding obediently to their directing +mechanism, swung on their swivel toward the hurtling foes. Shelby peered +into the eye-piece of the "sighter," a complicated arrangement of +mirrors and lenses which enabled the pilot to always look directly +through the ring-sights regardless of what direction the gun barrels +were pointing. He pressed the trips, and soundlessly, out in the vacuum +of space, the guns went into action. Flickering green flames of +detonating radio-active explosive darted from their muzzles. + +Almost immediately there were answering flashes among the approaching +shapes, for the high-calibre bullets were also loaded with explosive. +One projectile took effect--another! Emerald flares of light, and +nothing remained of two bold space men and their queer disc-like +vehicles but torn fragments of flesh and metal. + +The Space Men were very close now. Jan and Shelby could see the light +flashing on their jeweled harnesses and on the weapons which they +flourished defiantly. There must have been almost five hundred in the +party. Somehow their wild charge was vaguely reminiscent of a band of +fierce Bedouin marauders, racing madly across the desert, bent on +pillage. Only it was the Arabs who suffered by this comparison, for the +desert of these mysterious Space Men was the whole of interstellar +emptiness; and their forms and those of the things they rode, were the +forms of the forces of Iblees himself. + +Apparently these henchmen of Alkebar had some object in view other than +the mere destruction of the flier, for they made no move to use their +weapons. They were pulling upon levers on their vehicles, checking their +headlong flight. + +Now they were coursing with the little craft, swarming about it, edging +nearer, at the same time taking care to keep out of range of Shelby's +guns. + +There was a scraping against the hull and a light jolt as a talon +secured a hold on an eyelet ring. A black bulk dropped down on the nose +of the craft. A pair of hands gripped the barrels of the machine guns, +and with an easy tug, tore them from their mountings. There were +shifting scratching sounds coming through the flier's light shell--heavy +bodies moving about, and then a sudden ripping vibration. The control +lever felt loose in Shelby's hand. He could no longer guide the vessel. +And there was nothing either he or Jan could do except wait. The rocket +motors still purred evenly. + +"I guess they've got us this time, Jan," the young man said to his +companion. "I wonder what they are going to do with us?" He spoke as +casually as though this latest unfavorable turn of fortune was no more +serious than the loss of a game of chess. + +Janice Darell was equally cool. "Next time we win," she laughed. It is +odd how human beings so often react to strange and terrifying +situations. "I'm always ready, you see. Here I was crouching behind you +throughout the fight with this perfectly useless pistol in my hand, +hoping foolishly that I might be able to use it. That's loyalty." + +They fell to studying the two monsters which rested on the nose of the +craft in front of the pilot's observation window, where the guns had +been. The Space Man was crouching out there trying to peer in at them. +He was very much like Alkebar--only not so large, and his equipment and +adornment did not boast so many jewels. + +Shelby felt a peculiar sense of the unreality of the creature. He looked +into its face and saw its eyes. Beside the left orb was a mottled area +that must have been a scar. It seemed as concrete as anything he had +ever seen, and yet for the second time, he told himself that such a +creature wasn't possible! + +Time honored tradition had said: "Life can exist only where there is +oxygen, water and warmth." And all three of the requisites were lacking +in the void. Shelby realized that tradition might be wrong, but the +question still remained: How did these creatures of space live? Whence +came the energy that kept their bodies functioning? If not from the +combustion of food with oxygen, then where? If there were no moisture in +their bodies, and there certainly couldn't be, for it would have been +frozen in an instant and diffused through sublimation, how could vital +fluids flow through their veins? He put these questions to Jan, but she +shook her head. + +"Hekki informed me that these people inhabited a region somewhere beyond +Mars, but he did not tell how it was that they could live in space," she +said. "It might be that they have had a development similar to +terrestrial insects with the skeleton of armor enclosing their flesh." + +The vehicles of the Space Men were even greater puzzles. How did they +fly out here where the rocket was the only human invention that could +move? Many of the vehicles were visible now through the flier's windows. +They were disc shaped platforms of a strange lusterless metal. In the +center of the top was an opening in which the Space Men sat. Projecting +from the discs were a series of levers, permitting evidently simple +control. But no hint of their principle of operation was given. They +emitted no rocket jets; no beams projected from them. + +Austin realized that there were many mysteries of the universe with +which he was not acquainted; this was certainly one. + + * * * * * + +The sound of bodies moving about on the outer shell of the flier was +still audible. Presently there was a sharp explosion somewhere toward +the stern. The rockets immediately fell silent. The fugitives saw that +some of the Space Men were now busying themselves with long metal +cables. Deftly and expertly they were looping them through the eyelet +rings set at frequent intervals along the sides of the flier. + +The other ends of the cables they fastened firmly to similar rings on +their vehicles. They finished the job with all the efficiency of trained +military engineers. Then, with the small interplanetary vessel in tow, +the Space Men began to move off toward Mars, rapidly gaining momentum +until their speed must have considerably exceeded that which most space +craft could equal. They deflected their course somewhat from the direct +path to the Red Planet, probably to avoid a meeting with any wandering +ship. + +Throughout the fantastic voyage Shelby and Janice Darell found little to +do but stare dumbfounded at their weird captors and to watch the rapidly +dropping needle of their oxygen supply-gauge. But as it proved, there +was little danger of suffocation, for the Space Men were making good +time. + +And so, after two hours of flying they came to Mars--not to Taboor +which the fugitives had previously hoped to reach, but to a deep valley +in the desert of the Taraal. The strange caravan circled around to the +night side of the planet, and then, slowly and carefully, but with a +hint that they understood their work well, they proceeded to lower the +disabled craft through the atmosphere to the ground below. + +The door of the flier was torn open like a paper thing, and a black +giant fully as huge and burly as Alkebar himself hustled the adventurers +roughly out into the open. + +The pock-marked face of Loo, the Martian name for their nearer moon, was +in the sky, and by its light they could see hundreds of Space Men +crowding about them. Plainly this Martian colony was fairly well +peopled, for there were many more than the five hundred who captured +them. The attitude of the onlookers was one of casual curiosity. For the +moment at least they were not showing the more brutal side of their +characters. + +The fugitives were given but a moment to look about, while their jailer +apparently carried on a silent conversation with one of his lieutenants. + +They saw the sandy floor of the huge rectangular enclosure dotted with +strange mounds which must have been some kind of shelter, the encircling +walls crowned by square towers at regular intervals. Those walls were +amber-colored in the moonlight, and cast dense shadows that shifted +visibly as Loo raced in its meteoric course toward the east. Here and +there before the mounds huge vague shapes squatted. At the center of the +enclosure a tall spire of silvery girders rose, supporting at its summit +a cone of a dull black substance. It looked like the creation of either +Earthmen or Martians. + +Beyond the wall the rounded summits of desert hills, over which in ages +past, a restless ocean had poured and flowed, were visible. In spite of +their position the two young Earthians could not help but marvel at the +silent grandeur of this exotic scenery. A light though chilly desert +wind blew refreshingly against their faces. + +The black giant had kept a hand on each of his prisoners during his +brief conference, and now, none too gently, he guided them to the +entrance of one of the mound dwellings. The Space Man ushered his +charges into a corridor, and then, fumbling with a curious lock he +opened a heavy door and shoved them into the dim-lit room beyond. With a +rattling clink the great stone panel closed behind them. + +A lump of self-luminous rock set in the stone ceiling gave a faint +illumination to the bare interior. There was no furniture--only the +sand-covered floor and rough rocky walls. On the floor a Space Man, +larger and more magnificently-muscled by far than any they had yet seen, +sprawled. He was either unconscious or dead; they could not tell which. +There were hideous welts and gashes and half-healed scars all over his +body. The gashes were caked with a viscid purplish substance. + +With the coming of the sudden Martian dawn which flashed through a +narrow embrasure high in the wall, the jailer returned. His first act +was to thrust the needle of what appeared to be a form of hypodermic +syringe into the arm of the unconscious Space Man. Then he led his +Earthian captives out into the open. + +Neither Jan nor Austin were surprised when they saw the _Selba_ +squatting near the base of the spire. Several Space Men, directed by the +slave Koo Faya, moved about the ship, working the fueling pump. + +Walking down the gangplank which led up to the entrance of the vessel +was Alkebar, and beside him, Hekalu himself. The latter sauntered +leisurely toward his captives, and the Chieftain moved off toward a +group of Space Men standing some distance away. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Ankova's Story + + +The Martian made a brief nervous sign to the jailer. "Gently, Rega," he +said. The Space Man relaxed his painful grip on his prisoners. The noble +surveyed them smiling. Defiantly, half contemptuously, Shelby was +smiling back. + +Finally, with a mocking casual air, Hekki spoke: "There is a very +ancient saying on your planet," he said, "to the effect that bad pennies +always return." The corners of his mouth twitched with sardonic +amusement. His manner grew more serious, yet still there was an +undercurrent of sarcasm: "Miss Darell and Mr. Shelby, I want to +compliment you on your remarkable cleverness and daring. Words cannot +express my admiration for you. You have every right to be proud of +yourselves." + +Shelby nodded. "We are," he told him drily. "Is there anything more on +your mind?" He turned away with an expression of bored contemptuous +indifference. + +"I have little to say except that we are about to continue our recently +interrupted journey tonight, Mr. Shelby," said the Martian. + +He saw the Earthman and the girl casting interested glances at the disc +vehicles that surrounded them everywhere. + +"You like my people?" Hekki inquired. "You find them entertaining? +Perhaps you have discovered things in their habits which you cannot +understand. Shall I give you explanations?" For the moment at least +there was a serious earnest ring in Hekalu's voice. + +"Flag of truce, Jan. This should be interesting," Shelby said. His eyes +were full of eagerness as he turned back toward the Martian. "How do +they live out there?" he cried. "There isn't any air or water, and it's +almost as cold as it can get anywhere. Why, the thing is utterly +impossible according to the laws of common sense!" + +Immediately all of Hekalu's lazy air of careless mockery was gone, and +the dynamic aura of the tireless experimenter and inventor that had +hidden beneath it showed out clear. His voice was husky with suppressed +excitement when he spoke: + +"I too was dumbfounded when, some five Earth years ago, I first ran +across the Space Men out there. (He waved his hand toward the west away +from the sun.) But after I had studied them for a time, I knew that +there was really nothing very remarkable or impossible about the nature +of their living. It is actually quite similar to our own. + +"Why do we need air? Simply because by the chemical combination of +oxygen with food we obtain the energy necessary to make our brains to +think, our limbs to move, and our hearts to beat. Energy is life. But +doesn't it occur to you that this vital thing might be obtained in some +other manner? The Space Men do. Their principal food is the radio-active +element, atomic number 109, as yet undiscovered on the planets. It is a +purplish liquid that is fairly abundant on a number of the planetoids. +Daily, like radium, it gives off vast quantities of energy; and when in +the systems of the Space Men it supplies them with power more +efficiently than food and oxygen ever could do for us. + +"Why can't we survive the intense cold of space? The answer is a simple +one. The protoplasm of all forms of living things that we know of, +including the Space Men themselves, is a colloidal jelly the principal +portion of which is, and must be, a liquid. Cells must be bathed and +nourished, and impurities washed away. Without liquids there seems to be +no likelihood that there would be any life, unless in some manner a gas +could perform this fluid function. Solids would remain forever dead and +motionless. + +"If anything happens to chill even slightly the protoplasm of any of the +higher forms of planetary life, the body fluid becomes sluggish and +death may result. No mammals or birds that we know of can live actively +with their body temperatures at all approaching the freezing point of +water. However, in the polar seas of both planets there are creatures +whose systems function quite normally with their blood temperatures just +above this point. But beyond this deadline, zero degrees Centigrade, or +a little lower or higher, depending on the actual congealing point of +the water in their bodies, even they cannot go, for there, the cold +limit of Terrestro-Martian life has been reached. + +"Why couldn't these polar fish survive the cold of space? Simply because +the protoplasm of their tissues, based on water, would instantly become +solid, and in solids as I have said, there can be no real life except +perhaps in the form of suspended animation. + +"The Space Men face no such danger, for first, their bodies are +protected by this heat-resisting outer covering; and second, the liquid +in their veins freezes only at absolute zero, and since it is +radio-active--producing heat from within itself--it cannot get that cold +even in the void. And that, friends, is the whole stupendous, simple +explanation." + +"And how do the Space Men's vehicles move?" asked Jan. + +Hekki shook his head. "Except that a strange propulsive ray is involved, +I know very little about it. I have not yet discovered how the Space Men +manage to produce the ray. The works of Nature ever surpass the works of +man. + +"And that is all I have time for now, my friends. Breakfast is ready +aboard ship. Enjoy my hospitality to the fullest!" Hekki's mask of +smiling sardonic cruelty had dropped again. He waved something to Sega. + + * * * * * + +Janice, sensing that she was about to be separated from her lover, threw +herself into his arms. The series of things she had gone through in the +past twenty-four hours had frayed her nerves almost to the breaking +point. + +"Don't let them take me away from you, Austin. Don't let them! Oh, +Hekki, please!" + +Hekalu's face reddened, and then Sega tore the two apart. Shelby +struggled but it was useless. Sega's huge muscles were quite equal to +the task of mastering a dozen of the best fighting men of Earth. + +He dragged his captives aboard the _Selba_, and guided by the +inscrutable Koo Faya, locked them in chambers from which escape would +now be definitely impossible. Jan was thrust into the room she had +occupied before, but Shelby was put into a chamber somewhat larger than +his original prison. + +An almost ungovernable fury had taken possession of the young Earthman. +If for only a moment he could get his hand on the smooth Hekalu! His +fingers clutched and unclutched spasmodically as he hurriedly paced the +room. When presently, he found himself hammering on the walls with the +frenzy of a trapped gorilla, a realization of where he was headed came +to him. "Stop where you are, you fool!" he muttered to himself. + +He went to the table where an appetizing breakfast was set out. He ate a +little and then waited a while. He wanted to make sure that the food was +not drugged. Half an hour passed and he felt no ill effects. He ate the +rest of his breakfast. Then he made several attempts to signal Jan by +tapping on the walls, but he was quite sure that to get a message to her +in this way was now out of the question. + +For a long time he gazed out into the sunlit valley floor from his +window. Preparations of some kind were under way. It looked as though +the entire population, which must have numbered close to fifteen hundred +Space Men all told, was getting ready to move away _en masse_. Scores of +the strange black people were hurrying about, lugging loads of weapons +and hundreds of large cylindrical objects into four immense box-like +things of dull metal. Several vehicles, resembling machines of the Space +Men, but many times larger, were clustered together in a group. + +It must have been several hours after Shelby had been taken into the +space ship that two of Alkebar's people came to his room, carrying +between them the unconscious form of the Space Man who had been Jan's +and his fellow prisoner during the night of their arrival on Mars. They +threw the limp giant down carelessly on one of the bunks, and without a +glance at him or the Earthman, they stamped out. + +Shelby would have liked to examine his cell mate more closely, but owing +to the chain which had again been fastened to his ankle, it was +impossible to get nearer to him than four yards. Who was this creature? +His gorgeously bejeweled harness and his huge size seemed to indicate +that he had been a leader of some kind. Shelby had noticed that all +Space Men who had a right to command, were somewhat larger than their +fellows. + +All through the long Martian day Shelby paced the length of his tether, +pausing occasionally to look out of the window and to think. By +nightfall he was in a state bordering upon complete dejection. Not that +he was weak; Shelby could face trying situations shoulder to shoulder +with the stubbornest and cleverest men that Earth or Mars could produce. +But he was human and had his limitations. Recapture after a glowing +promise of freedom and safety for his people, his love, and himself had +almost crushed him. + +Only half interestedly he wondered when Hekalu Selba would strike. He +knew that it would be very soon. In vain he tried to tell himself that +he had no real proof of the Martian's power, but always a vision of +those black horrors swooping down like living thunderbolts upon Taboor +or New York or Chicago made him realize how futile would be any +resistance that the planets could offer. + +Even if there were but fifteen hundred Space Men, and Shelby was certain +as actual knowledge that there were many more, and even if they must +fight with their bare hands, still they would be a formidable menace. +Within an hour's time they could strike in a dozen different places on +the surface of a planet. Shelby did not know that already there were +forces of Fate in action which neither he nor Hekalu Selba himself had +been able to foresee--forces however, which boded no good for the +worlds. + +Koo Faya brought the Earthman his noonday and evening meal. With each +came a note from Hekalu, both exactly alike: "Remember the Atomic Ray." +Doubtless the Martian sought by endless repetition of this message to +undermine his captive's nerves to a point where he would divulge the +secret. + +At dusk there was the sound of activity aboard the _Selba_--muffled +shouts and the drone of generators being tuned up. Then the slow rocking +and swaying of the vessel which told that her levitator plates were in +action, raising her off the ground, through the atmosphere and out into +the void. + +Shelby looked out of the window, saw that the stars were growing +brighter and the sky blacker. A searchlight was playing from somewhere +on the ship, for in the shadow of the planet it was very dark. The beams +swung back and forth stabbing through the swarms of Space Men who flew +in a cluster about the _Selba_. The lights lingered for several instants +on the forms of four great metal cubes that were being lifted up through +the gaseous envelope of Mars by a number of the larger discs the +Earthman had seen resting beside them in the valley that day. + +Shelby threw himself upon his bunk. He gave one quick glance at the blob +of darkness on the other bunk at the farther end of the room, wondered +vaguely who or what the creature could be, and then, mentally and +physically exhausted, went quickly to sleep. + + * * * * * + +When he awoke Shelby spent many minutes staring at his fellow prisoner. +There were indications that his consciousness was returning for he +stirred frequently. Presently he who had been the Earthman's and the +mysterious one's jailer in the hut the night before, came, bearing a +bowl filled with a purplish radio-active liquid which served the Space +Men as food. He also carried a hypodermic syringe and a small glass +container partially filled with a clear fluid. + +These last two articles he placed upon the table, while he carried the +bowl over to his charge. He shook the lacerated and bejeweled Space Man +roughly and when he had aroused him to a sluggish half-consciousness, +held the bowl of liquid food to his lips. Mechanically the prisoner +drank. + +Shelby looked at the tiny vial on the table and then at the back of the +jailer. Close beside the vial stood a glass partially filled with water. +The Earthman had drawn a drink from the tap shortly before going to +bed, and had left the tumbler standing there. + +The idea that had now entered his head had no real purpose. He +recognized it as no more than a practical joke, plain and simple; but +the idea was clamoring for attention. He would pour out the drug, which +was almost certainly meant to keep the giant captive senseless, and +replace it with harmless water. The jailer would not see for he was very +busy. A little noise, the rattling of the chain or the tinkling of the +glass as it was set down, would not matter, for though the Space Men may +have possessed a very delicate touch sense capable of detecting faint +vibrations in solid objects about them, Shelby knew by now that they had +no real organs of hearing. + +And so, quickly the deed was done, and quickly he returned to his bed +feigning sleep. + +It was a long time after the jailer had departed before Shelby's trick +bore fruit. The huge prisoner rose to a sitting posture and looked +about, a trifle dazedly at first. He surveyed his wounds, felt over +himself tentatively, and then glanced at Shelby. The Earthman saw that +the fogginess was clearing from his big eyes. There was a questioning +expression in them. + +Shelby thought that there was a slight chance that the colossus might be +able to read his lips even though he could not hear. "Who are you?" he +questioned in Pagari. + +Apparently the creature understood, for immediately he turned, and with +his forefinger slowly traced out on the wall behind him in the planetary +symbols: "Friend of enemies of Black Emperor and of Man from Fourth +World." + +Shelby was taken aback by the Space Man's startling knowledge of things +of which he should know nothing. "That makes me your friend," he wrote, +smiling. + +The giant nodded, and for almost a minute stared fixedly at the +Earthman. There was a strange appeal in his eyes. Finally he turned, and +laboriously he traced a quaintly worded message on the wall: "Think hard +to know what I go say," he wrote. + +Shelby had heard a good deal about telepathy and thought transference, +depending on etheric vibrations of some kind, supposedly originating in +the mind of one individual, and capable of being detected and +interpreted by the mind of another. Several savants of Earth and Mars +claimed to be adept with it, but owing to the fact that to master the +art required a long period of intensive practice, it had not come into +general use. + +Could it be that this savage of the void was claiming knowledge of it? +Sensing the meaning back of the odd words, the Earthman bent every fibre +of his will to the task of concentrating on the idea of communication. +He gazed fixedly at the eyes of the black mystic, and presently felt a +slight tingling about his temples, and then, within his brain it seemed +that a tiny voice speaking with a queer wording and a peculiar accent, +came to life. It was odd to look at that blank impassive face and hear +those words! + +"I know you to be friend of mine," the voice said. "I read it in brains. +You free me from sleep. But where are we? What Fourth World Man do? What +for you here?" + +Briefly Shelby outlined the events of the past few days, starting with +his meeting with Hekalu. However, he was careful not to make any mention +of the Atomic Ray. Then, partially through curiosity, and partially in +the hope that the information might be helpful, he mentally asked his +companion to tell him more about the Space Men's relations with the +Martian. + +"Everything maybe all right," said the giant. "Maybe everybody happy at +last. Who know? But I tell you. We Star People--my people Star People. +For a long time, oh, for very long time, we wander out there in empty +places. One million year, two million year, who know? We free. Maybe +find little planet--we camp there--soon go away. We fight, we hunt. Oh, +there very many of us! Like sand in sky! + +"One day some of us find your sun. We land on little world. Stay long. +Man from Fourth World come in ship. We frightened, but he make friends. +Bring us gifts. We give jewels and things we make. He learn our sign +language--talk with us--tell about his world. Go away but soon come +back. Bring more gifts--want more jewels and things. He take some of us +with him to empty desert where nobody live. Tell us to bring jewels +there to trade, but always be careful no one see! + +"He make friends with Black Emperor. They plan. Gather big army. But +many not like Black Emperor and Fourth World Man. My father, big noble, +not like them; I not like them. They never good to us--make our people +work hard, and take away our animals. + +"Civil war soon--my father lead many little tribes, but Black Emperor +and Man from Fourth World win. Have many strange weapons. Make peace for +big conquest war, and I am hostage on Fourth Planet. + +"Mars man good to me at first. I learn languages--both Pagari and Earth +language. I learn to throw thoughts. My father learned from Mars slave. +Then bad things happen. Fourth World Man not like me to throw thoughts +to my father so far away. He give me sleep drug. When my father lead +revolt again, Mars Man torture me. Now, as you say, he take me back to +place where army is, on two little worlds." + +A gleam of hope came into Austin Shelby's eyes, but it passed quickly. +His lips curled bitterly. It was not well to base one's hope on the +assertion of an unknown savage that he could hurl his thoughts across +millions of miles of space. + +"By what name are you known, Man of the Void?" he asked. + +The voice in his brain spoke again: "Mars Man call me Ankova." Here the +giant made a darting gesture with his hand. "Mean same as so in my sign +language--Darting Meteor." + +"I see. Can you communicate with your father now, Ankova?--get help?" + +The Space Man nodded. "My brain clear now," he said. "Sleep drug not +bother me any more. I talk right away." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Battle in Space + + +He lay back on the bunk and for several minutes stared fixedly up at +nothing. The performance was reminiscent of the seance of an ancient +spirit meeting. He sat up, and again his big eyes fastened themselves +upon Shelby, and the uncanny voice spoke in the Earthman's brain: + +"I get father. He on scouting expedition--very close. He bring five +thousand men to rescue you and me. They get here maybe three, four +hours. My father--his army same weapons as Black Emperor's. Flash, +flash--all gone--everything gone." + +There was the sound of movement beyond the door. Shelby waved his hand +in a quick downward gesture which Ankova interpreted correctly. He +slumped limply upon the bedding in a very excellent counterfeit of +unconsciousness. And then Hekalu Selba entered. His face was white as +chalk, and yet there was nothing in it that hinted even of a trace of +fear--only icy calm. Behind him was Sega. + +"Mr. Shelby," the Martian said with slow cool deliberation, "think well. +Either you will reveal the secret of the Atomic Ray immediately or I +shall have you immersed in the juice of the flame flowers." + +Austin Shelby met Hekalu's chilly stare with a taunting smile. He sensed +in the Martian's manner that his plans had met with some serious danger. + +"Though I am your prisoner," he told him, "I believe that I can defy +you. In the first place I do not fear the tortures that you might +inflict upon me." Here he took a tiny glass capsule from his sleeve +pocket and placed it in his mouth. "I do not mean by that that I am +super-human, that I can endure any pain. But should the torture become +unbearable I would crunch the poison vial which I have carried since I +joined the Sekor fraternity back on Mars, between my teeth and bring +death. That, I am not afraid of. Besides, I could give you the formulas +for almost any number of unknown compounds, any one of which might be +the missing crystal for all you might know. It would be several hours +before you would discover that I had not given you the right one." + +The Martian's face grew even whiter and harder at these words. Thoughts +and plans flashed through his mind. Should he tell the Earthman what had +happened--that Alkebar, the Black Emperor, had secretly slipped through +the air lock into space?--that he was certainly intent upon conquering +the planets alone? It would not be hard to convince the Earthman that +the savage Alkebar would be an infinitely more terrible and ruthless +master than any human being ever could be. Perhaps he could win Shelby +to his side for as long as he needed him. He was wavering, and then, +with the sudden rush of inspiration a better idea came. + +"I have told you many times that you are clever, my friend," he said +with some slight show of his old careless air. "Again I compliment you. +But listen carefully: suppose I took the girl--put her in the gentle +embrace of the juice of the flame flowers--told you to produce a formula +that would work before I released her?" + +The effect on the Earthman was electrical, but it was not quite what +Hekalu Selba had expected. The blood red haze of murder rushed before +Austin Shelby's eyes, and with movements more suggestive of a wounded +panther than a human being he leaped from the bunk and tore for the +Martian with flailing fists. He gave no thought to the idea that what +Hekki had said might be only a histrionic gesture. + +"Oh, God!" he shrieked raspingly, "You Devil! You unutterable stinking, +rotten fiend!" But it was a wild useless move. Hekalu was lightening +quick and sure with the pistol. He inflicted death, or merely produced a +disabling wound almost at will. And so it was that Shelby sprawled +senseless on the floor with a nasty though not very dangerous bullet +wound across the side of his head. + +Sega and the Martian were bending over him, and then again the +unexpected happened. An ebony form whose great hands and incredible +muscles seemed quite equal to the task of tearing a gorilla limb from +limb, arose from the other bunk and towered over the Prince of Selba and +his Space Man companion. + +The former, hearing a slight sound, turned, and realizing his peril +fired two shots at the mountainous monster. Then he darted agilely for +the door. He gave one quick backward look--saw the hand of Ankova +descending with trip-hammer force upon the skull of Sega, and then +slammed the stout portal behind him. + +Sega had been unfortunate, but now all his troubles were over for his +neck was broken. Ankova transferred to his own belt the weapons of the +corpse--his heavy pistol--his case of atomic grenades--his bejeweled war +club. Then he devoted his attention to Shelby. + +Gently he carried him to the bunk and made awkward attempts to bandage +his head with strips torn from the bedding. Satisfied at last with the +crude but effective results of his efforts, he strode to the window. + +For a long time he stood there, staring. But he saw nothing that +interested him. The ether all about was crowded with Space Men coursing +with the _Selba_. Except for a gentle swaying shifting movement they +seemed to hang perfectly motionless in the void, and yet their speed was +many miles a second. + +The fantastic cavalcade aroused no wonder in the mind of Ankova, for to +him they were as prosaic and commonplace as the grass under the feet of +any Earthian. He cocked his head on one side as though listening. +Perhaps at that moment something was coming to him from across the +endless regions of the etheric desert--something which only his +incredibly refined telepathic sense could detect. + + * * * * * + +His unshod feet sensed the faint vibration in the metal floor. Someone +was approaching the room. First taking the precaution of tearing +Shelby's chain from the wall, he turned and waited before the door with +ready war club. He did not wait long for it banged open almost +immediately. A Space Man appeared. Behind him were others. + +Ankova did not ask their mission for he saw that they wore the insignia +that meant loyalty to the man from the Fourth World. Instead he leaped +in to close quarters. His whirring war club, toothed with sharp spikes, +ripped and tore at the head and shoulders of the unfortunate warrior. +Falteringly, the creature tried to parry the blows with his own weapon; +but it was useless. Before he was able to attain his fighting stride he +was down, the purple radio-active liquid that flowed in his veins in +lieu of blood, dyeing the threshold. His lips curled in a grimace of +agony, but he made no sound--mute he had lived and he died in the same +manner. + +Ankova stepped over the prostrate form and engaged the one who had stood +behind him. The second Space Man fared little better. He made but a +brief and unsuccessful defense and then he too went down. And so Ankova, +who before his capture had won fame among the tribes of the Star People +as one of the mightiest fighters that their race had ever produced, +battled on in the narrow passage until the seven Space Men whom Hekalu +had sent to put him and Austin Shelby under restraint were either dying +or dead. + +The victor glanced down the corridor--saw at the farther end a small +portion of the control room's interior. Koo Faya, the Martian, was +there, working with demoniac haste over switches and dials. + +Ankova drew his pistol, started to aim at the slave, and then thought +better of it. There was a tenseness within the hull of the +_Selba_--something which made a deep impression on Ankova's keen +intuition. His muscles tautened and a tingling sensation rippled over +his ebony hide. The vibrations of the rocket motors were more noticeable +than usual. Evidently the ship was tearing along at the greatest speed +it could attain. And it swayed unnaturally. + +Ankova knew the layout of the _Selba_ well, for he had traveled in it +often. And now he sensed quite clearly what was happening. He hurried to +a supply room and selected a space armor from a rack. His Earthman +friend might need it. Then he dashed back to the room In which he and +Shelby had been imprisoned. + +A glance out of the window confirmed his suspicions as to what was going +on. The force of Space Men which was acting as an escort for the _Selba_ +had arranged itself in a sort of spherical protecting network around the +craft. Another and superior force was attempting savagely to pierce this +formation. The foes of Hekalu's henchmen would draw themselves into +cone-shaped groups and rush the defenders, and the latter would swarm +over the cones like angry and determined hornets. A hot fight was in +progress out there. The ether was lit with green flashes of light, and +fragments of the bodies of Space Men and their vehicles already strewed +the void. In this running battle the _Selba_ was not idle. Her torpedoes +were exploding among the attackers with blinding glares of light. + +Ankova wondered who the would-be destroyers of the _Selba_ were. Clearly +they were not the forces of his father, for they had not yet had time to +arrive. Some stray tribe perhaps. He wished that he might see their +insignia, but owing to their distance from the ship and their eccentric +movements, this was impossible. He did not know that they were the +minions of Alkebar who had turned enemy to Hekalu but a few hours +before. + +The Space Man realized that for the time being he was safe enough, but +he took the precaution of planning for escape from the ship should it +become necessary. He eyed the heavily glazed porthole. A few deft blows +with his war club would shatter that. Beyond, there were a few discs +without Space Men circling about. With luck it would be possible to +capture one. First he barricaded the door with metal bars torn from the +bunks, and then put the space armor on the still senseless Earthman. +Then there was nothing to do but wait. + +The battle was going against the defenders. Shattering concussions of +atomic projectiles banging against the _Selba's_ hull made the hurtling +vessel pitch and roll frightfully. The thunder of shells waxed and +waned. + +It must have been over two hours later that a huge torpedo set in motion +by the forces of the Black Emperor, struck the ship. The explosion +rolled her completely over, and tore a jagged though not disabling hole +in her side. The air puffed out from the control room compartment, but +the men who labored so feverishly there, were clad in heavy space armor, +and aside from being badly bruised they were unhurt. + +The torpedo was the last gesture of the Alkebarians. Ankova saw a cloud +of luminous specks approaching from the void at terrific velocity. They +grew rapidly brighter. A blue and an orange star shot up from their +midst--the identification signal of Telaba, Ankova's father. That signal +was quite enough for the Black Emperor's men. Without waiting to argue +they turned and fled. So quickly did they go that Telaba's warriors were +unable to identify them. + + * * * * * + +The rebel tribesmen were checking their speed now, preparing to fight. +But still they came on apparently like hurtling comets. They swept the +remnants of Hekalu Selba's loyalists before them in one terrific charge, +and then they were swarming over the _Selba_ and through the rent in her +side. There was a brief flurry of pistol shots from the crew before they +were captured and bound. + +In a prison compartment aft, Austin Shelby had regained his senses +sufficiently to have a vague idea of what was going on around him. +Ankova was supporting him, and he was staggering toward the door. His +mind took up a train of thought from where it had left off. He was +calling for Jan and cursing Hekalu. Cased as his head was, in an oxygen +helmet, his shrieking voice was magnified a dozen times, and assumed a +weird vaulted quality that startled him back to sensibility. + +Ankova read his thoughts, and by telepathy replied to him: "Your lady? I +forget. But we find her. She all right--sure!" + +The Space Man removed the barricade and opened the door. The sudden +outrush of air from the room almost toppled Shelby from his feet. And +then the Earthman heard a familiar voice in the head-phones of the radio +with which his helmet was equipped: "I'm in X7, Austin. Let me out if +you can." + +"Janice!" he cried, and with new vigor hurried to the door of the room +she had mentioned. + +Ankova smashed the lock with his war club and the portal flew open. Jan +was standing there encased in space armor. She was trying hard to smile. + +"You're safe, darling!" Shelby cried, "And I thought that that fiend was +going to hurt you!" + +"My luck," she said. "Koo Faya was thoughtful enough to bring this space +armor, otherwise, I wouldn't have been fit to look at any more." She +pointed to a shattered window. "And you--heaven's how you can yell--and +swear! I am ashamed of you!" + +Her eyes widened when she looked at Ankova, but Shelby reassured her. +"This is Ankova, and he is our friend--big shot, too," he said. "And +Jan, I guess we're free now--really free." + +Ugly Space Men, some of them gashed and wounded, crowded about as though +bent on destroying the two feeble Earthians. But with imperious gestures +Ankova waved them back. He conversed by signs with these warriors of his +father, and then took Janice Darell and Austin each by the arm. + +"Big surprise," he told them. "Come." + +He led them to the control room. And there, in the grip of a black +colossus was Hekalu Selba--captive. The Martian nodded perfunctorily to +the girl and then turned his level gaze toward the man. His face showed +no hint of anger, and it seemed that a shadow of a smile twinkled about +his lips. + +"Here we have a contrast, Mr. Shelby," he said quietly, "triumph and +disaster staring at each other!" + +Shelby told him that he should be wreaking vengeance on the noble for +the numerous wrongs he had done him, but the calm unflinching attitude +of the Prince of Selba made him almost like the captive. + +Shelby waved the Martian's captors back and he stood free. "There is no +contrast now, Akar Hekalu, for an outsider could not tell which was +which!" + +As Hekki's jailer led him away, Shelby, assisted by Janice Darell, +busied himself with the ship's controls. + +And so the battered _Selba_ escorted by five thousand Space Men set out +for a certain minor planet where were amassed the forces of Telaba, +insubordinate vassal of the Black Emperor. And on another planet was +Alkebar, the Black Emperor himself, ready to hurl his shock troops, a +horde five million strong, at the planets. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Revolt of Alkebar + + +The light of a shrunken sun shone down coldly and ineffectually upon a +jagged and distorted landscape. Along the horizon, which was strangely +abrupt, twisted gray hills loomed up with harsh clearness against a +black starlit sky. There was no atmosphere to soften their lines, nor +to dull the needle-like points of deepest sable that were their shadows. + +In the foreground, which was a fairly level plain, were hundreds of +hemispherical shelters hastily built from loose fragments of rock. A +vast horde of Space Men hemmed them in. The sunlight glistened on the +ebony hides of the warriors and on their polished accouterments and +weapons. Some of these rebels of the void were greedily drinking the +purple radio-active liquid which meant life and strength to them, and +attendants were hurrying about carrying large canisters of the food to +each unit of Telaba's army. Most of the men crouched expectantly beside +their discs, waiting. + +In a small metal building, which the Man from the Fourth World had +recently had constructed for his own use, four people were gathered. Two +were Space Men, and two belonged to the green planet called Earth. One +of the Space Men was talking, not with his mouth for he had no vocal +cords, but by means of fine mental vibrations which caused a feeble +high-pitched voice to speak within the minds of the Earthians. + +"I owe you great debt of gratitude, Mr. Shelbee--you help to save my son +from Alkebar and Fourth World Man. Telaba do not forget this. I do what +I can. But that is little. Black Emperor start to smash Earth and Mars +soon. Perhaps right now. Perhaps in hour. Who know? Spy send signal any +time now. We outnumbered ten to one. Alkebar crush us, wipe us out like +that!" He slapped his palms sharply together. "But we do what we can, +Earthman." + +Shelby took Telaba's cold hand for a brief hearty handshake. "Thanks, +Telaba," he said simply. "Jan and I certainly appreciate what you are +going to do for us and our people, and I know that if we are successful, +the worlds shall be mighty grateful too. They have ways of showing their +gratitude. But don't be so sure that we are going to fail. We have the +_Selba_, you know, and a new weapon that has never before been used. + +"Hekalu was good enough to construct an immense projector for us. Except +for the resoldering of a few wires, and the insertion of a tiny but +important crystal which I happen to be carrying with me, it was complete +and ready for operation. + +"The ship is fueled and ready for action at any moment. When the word +comes and we set out, annoy the forces of Alkebar, but do not engage or +mix with them any more than you have to. I'll be somewhere around, ready +and glad to spray them." + +"What do you mean, 'I'?" Jan put in. "It's 'we,' because I am going +along!" + +Shelby knew that the undertaking he had in mind was but an ace from +certain death; but he did not argue with the girl. Her cool wit and +nerve would be very helpful, and besides there was little choice, for +death was grimly in pursuit of all of them. + +"Right you are, soldier," he said laughingly. "My mistake!" + +A red light bulb flashed on the wall, and then, without waiting for +permission, a Space Man rushed into the room, his arms waving wildly, +forming frantic signs of the Star People's deaf mute language. Bent in a +half crouch, his great arms flexed, Ankova translated for the benefit of +the Earthians: + +"Fourth World Man escape--in _Selba_. We are betrayed--someone help him. +He out of sight already. Going to help Black Emperor. And now red star +burns in space--spy's warning--Alkebar forces start!" + +Telaba rushed to a big lever and pulled it. Immediately a huge trip +hammer began to pound ponderously on a metal plate set in the ground +outside the building--sending vibrating pulsations out through the crust +of the planetoid--the alarm signal which would be sensed by everyone of +Telaba's men, telling them to be ready for instant action. + +The four looked at one another. Each knew what this last move of the +Prince of Selba meant, but no one thought for a moment of giving up the +fight. + +"It won't do any good to pursue the Martian," Shelby cried. "That ray +projector of his--he'd blast us out of existence. All we can do is try +to hinder Alkebar's invasion--seek to delay him. If I could only somehow +get through to Mars with the secret of the Atomic Ray! Telaba, haven't +you a ship capable of carrying a large enough oxygen supply to last me +for the journey?" + +"Never mind!" Ankova cut in. "I go! Many times I been to Mars. Give me +plans. I go right away. I get them to fight." + +Shelby drew from his sleeve pocket the black case containing information +concerning the Atomic Ray which he had recovered from Hekalu Selba at +the time of the Martian's capture. He opened it, and with his stylus +added a brief message to the mass of notes inside, and wrote down the +formula for a certain complex chemical compound. Then he handed the case +to the Space Man. + +"Take it to Alman Mak in the Checkald of Taboor if you can, Ankova. Good +luck." + +The son of the rebel chief hurried from the room with the missive in his +hand. Shelby knew in his heart that to attempt to get Earth and Mars +into action in time was a useless gesture, but he could not suppress a +thrill of admiration for this wild son of the void. There was hard +mettle in Ankova's makeup, hard and true. And most of them were like +that--most of Telaba's men anyway. + +"You two come with me," Telaba was saying. "We fight together. Put on +space suits." He was tapping an instrument resembling a telegraph key. +In unison with his movements the heavy signaling hammer sounded out +orders and commands to his forces. + + * * * * * + +When the Earthians had eased themselves into their heavy protecting +attire, Telaba led the way down a spiral stair and through an air lock, +out into the open. Here everything was grim silent activity. Group after +group of mounted Space Men poured skyward. Telaba's army was a mighty +thing; with luck it might have beat down the resistance of either one of +the two planets. But when compared with Alkebar's colossal horde, it +paled into pitiful insignificance. + +Nearby, a space disc, which must have measured fully two hundred feet in +diameter, rested. The three mounted the light ladder which led to the +interior. + +In the metal walls were mounted two heat-ray projectors of Martian +design, as well as several torpedo catapults and machine guns. Two Space +Men were inspecting them. + +Telaba signaled to the driver who knelt with lever in hand. The great +disc trembled and the propelling force which no human being had yet +learned how to produce, sent it and its burden hurtling toward the +stars. The minions of the rebel chief circled and swirled about their +commander's ship in wild soundless salute. + +Telaba was operating the signaling mechanism which fired lights of +various colors up through the roof of the armored coach, and in reply to +his flashing commands, his horde formed a monster cone which shot with +ever increasing speed through the void. + +A sickening giddiness came over the two Earthians, for there were no +devices to produce artificial gravity here. It was the space nausea +which had made early interplanetary travel such a nightmare. The Star +People, born where gravity is almost unknown, were of course not +affected in the least. + +Clinging to stanchions and hand grips to keep themselves from floating +free, Janice Darell and Austin crept about the floor examining the +weapons and scanning space ahead for signs of the enemy. They disliked +to admit to each other that they were very sick; but if they thought +that it was possible to forget the retching pains in their stomachs by +diligent devotion to other things, they were mistaken. + +Their suffering continued until Jan remembered that the force of this +almost forgotten malady could be reduced by lessening the amount of +oxygen taken into the lungs. A few turns of the intake valves of their +helmets accomplished this, and they soon felt much better. + +It was a long time before there were any indications of the near +presence of the enemy. Ahead, two asteroids glowed, a dull red. One was +quite close; the other farther away. It was Shelby, peering steadily +through his binoculars, who first discovered the glowing cloud, thin and +faint like the nebulous substance of the Milky Way, pouring up like +ghosts' hair from the rounded pate of the nearer asteroid. He knew that +it was made up of countless points of light, too small to be detected +individually. Not long afterward Telaba discovered a similar cloud +coming from the second of the minor planets. + +The rebel chief's greatest advantage, if he had any at all, was that of +surprise. Because of its comparatively small size his force had probably +not yet been discovered by the enemy. + +Coolly he flashed the order for long-range bombardment formation. +Instantly the army spread out, forming a thin rectangle whose broadest +surface was perpendicular to the line of firing between the opposing +hordes. + +A second or two later the first rocket torpedoes of the rebels went, +spewing fire, toward their goal. In a steady swarm others followed them. +The missiles were not radio controlled and fitted with tiny television +apparatus as were a few of the torpedoes employed by the Interplanetary +Traffic Lane Patrol, but since the approximate range was known, it was +easy to set the time fuses so that the atomic charges would explode in +the midst of the densely-packed enemy. + +Without asking anyone's permission, the Earthians had appropriated a +pair of catapults and were working them like demons. As fast as they +could cram the ten-pound rockets into the breeches of the tubes, the +projectiles streaked out in flashes of green flame toward the nearest of +the nebulous clouds. + +Shelby was sweating furiously from the exertion, and the moisture +absorption apparatus of his space armor was putting in some tough +service. + +Occasionally he glanced at Janice working beside him. Her face, visible +through the glazed front of her helmet, was white and set--almost hard. +And there was boundless determination in the firm curve of her little +rounded chin. He liked her attitude, but it was better to take it easy +until the real fighting began. + +"Slow up a bit, soldier," he remarked into his transmitter. "Powder your +nose!" + +Her face brightened as she turned toward him. "I wish I could powder my +nose," she said, pouting. "Only I can't reach it!" + +"Too bad. These space suits rob a girl of so many of her exquisite +little tricks." + +"Well," she put in, "I can still cover up my yawns with my hand if I +find this pastime too much of a bore." They both chuckled at this little +joke. + +Janice took the last missile from the case she had been emptying and +rammed it home. She jerked the lanyard, and with a thudding jolt the +torpedo was on its way. Then she paused to scan the horde of Alkebar +through an observation port. "Hurrah," she cried, "we're scoring!" + + * * * * * + +Without discontinuing his hurried feeding of his smoldering piece, +Shelby looked up. The cloud had grown considerably in the few moments of +action. It had cleared the asteroid now, and the other nebulous spot +that marked the position of the Black Emperor's second army, was coming +up to merge with it. In the midst of the first cloud, hundreds of minute +specks of light were flashing--the atomic torpedoes were exploding. The +sight reminded Shelby of what he had so often seen through the lens of a +spintharoscope. + +Alkebar's army continued to increase rapidly in apparent size. It looked +like a monster amoeba. But now the amoeba was beginning to writhe, +to swell up and grow dimmer. It shot out long sinuous pseudopods that +seemed to grope angrily. Both Earthians sensed that the fight was about +to begin in earnest. + +With renewed vigor they fell to the task of loading and discharging the +catapults; and close beside them the two Space Men who acted as gunners, +labored coolly and methodically over their weapons, but with even +greater efficiency, for their training had been long and thorough. + +Telaba worked the levers of the signaling mechanism, and a brilliant +purple star visible to all his henchmen shot up over the back of his +beast. They saw it and read its meaning. Spread out to avoid enemy fire! +As one man they obeyed, but they were none too soon. With abrupt +suddenness the maelstrom of silent flashing death was upon them. + +It was a pretty sight to the Earthians--those soundless globes of green +flame that glowed dazzling for an infinitesimal instant, on the rich +jewels and polished rifle barrels of the hordesmen coursing close by. +But they were not deceived. + +A Space Man vanished, torn to tiny fragments that mixed with the cosmic +dust of the void. A huge disc, bearing a cylindrical battle car, was +hit, and a jagged hole torn in its side. It twisted crazily, turning +over and over. Austin and Jan felt the vibration of shell fragments +banging violently against their own vehicle. + +The nearer nebulous cloud had ceased to be a cloud now. It had resolved +itself into a myriad swarm of dim specks which the Earthians knew were +Space Men. Plainly Alkebar's minions were charging rapidly, bent on +wiping Telaba's smaller force out of existence at one blow. + +The bombardment doubled, tripled, quadrupled in intensity until it +seemed that all space had turned to fire. Before the withering blast the +army of the rebel chief was speedily being dissolved into drifting +wreckage. + +An exploding torpedo ripped several yards of armor from one side of +Telaba's vehicle and reduced one of his black gunners to a mangled pulp +from which the purple fluid spurted. + +The force of the concussion turned the great disc completely over. +Battered and blinded by the green glare, which exceeded even the sun of +the void in intensity the Earthians tumbled against their weapons. +Janice Darell started to scream but managed to check it--biting her lips +savagely. + +An explosive rifle bullet struck the huge vehicle, and it wavered. + +Shelby spoke to Telaba who was clinging firmly to a stanchion with one +hand and operating his signaling machine with the other. "Turn back, +chief," the Earthman advised. "Our only motive is to annoy them and +delay them. To continue this charge can mean nothing but destruction for +our entire force." + +Telaba sensed the mental vibrations that went with Shelby's words. "To +turn back cannot do, Earthman," he said. And it seemed to the young +engineer that there was a vibrant note of sadness in his telepathic +voice. "Look! You see all guns and catapults point forward only. Not +swing to rear--same on all gun cars. If run, not possible to shoot at +chasing enemy. Then they get us. That Alkebar's idea so his men must +take offensive or die. He think that make them strong." + +"But the riflemen are not so handicapped," Shelby persisted. "We can die +here if necessary, but someone must live to carry on. Order them back!" + +The chieftain shook his bulbous head. "To try what you say--useless. +They not desert comrades or king. If I command, they disobey." There was +a finality in his words which neither of the Earthians tried to dispute. + +So that was it! Well, there was no sense wasting time talking. Shelby +gripped a machine gun and sent a spray of explosive bullets ripping out +into the ether. Janice did likewise. + +As they worked their weapons they spoke rapidly to each other. "You +understood what Telaba said? You know what that means?" Shelby asked. + +"Yes. It's about the end of our tape, but that's nothing. We've been +fairly lucky. All we can do now is hope that Ankova wins through to Mars +in time, and fight like--like--" + +"Hell!" Shelby's words slipped between clenched teeth, and Jan flashed +him a quick smile even as their tracer streams crossed in the midst of a +group of hurtling Alkebarians who had pressed too close together. + +"Anyway, good luck!" + +"And the very best of luck to you!" + +The opposing forces were very close together now. The first of the +Alkebarians were plainly visible--their long guns flashing--their ebony +arms waving signals which probably passed for shouts of triumph among +their ranks. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Coming of the Atomic Ray + + +Both armies had cut down their velocity enormously, but still they tore +along at breakneck speed. And they moved like true Cossacks of the void, +directing their machines by deft motions on the mysterious levers. Now +diving, now climbing, now swinging this way and that to avoid the +missiles of their opponents, they tore on. And death was everywhere. + +No torpedoes were flying now, but machine guns and rifles were working +terrible havoc. And so the horde of Alkebar closed with the forces of +the rebel chieftain. + +The machine which bore Telaba, directed by its skillful driver, dived +and swung and zigzagged like a mad thing; but still the bullets rattled +against the metal armor of the car. Its sides had been repeatedly +struck, yet owing to its tough shell, had not yet been disabled. + +Everywhere about it, mounted horrors whirled in an inextricable tangle, +shooting and loading, and dying by the green flashes, their vitals +strewing the ether. + +Telaba had deserted his post at the signaling machine, for further +orders were useless. For his rebels at least, it was every man for +himself. He too was operating a machine gun. + +The stars spun dizzily about the Earthians, as the machine beneath them +careened in its insane fight. Every time a Space Man wearing a red +circle on his breast crossed their sights, a burst spat from their hot +weapons, frequently with good results. + +A group of at least twenty Alkebarians sought to attack from the blind +spot at the rear. But the driver twisted levers with a quick jerk, and +the luckless riflemen found themselves facing four streams of steel. +Those that could, darted out of range and renewed the attack from a +different angle. + +Frequently, throughout the battle, Shelby had wondered what had happened +to Hekalu Selba and the Atomic Ray. Why wasn't he on hand to assist his +ally, the Black Emperor? Oh, well, regardless of whether the Martian was +there or not the outcome would evidently be the same--only now it would +be more dragged out. + +The Earthian was surprised therefore, when suddenly the efforts of the +enemy to exterminate them, which had been so intense in the brief +moments since they had closed, suddenly lessened. Alkebarians were +darting hastily toward the rear. Their actions did not suggest flight; +it seemed that they were going to meet a new and more terrible enemy. +The rebels could wait. + +And the people of the rebel chief for the moment did not pursue--did not +even fire. For they too saw! To the rear, in the center of Alkebar's +horde, came the dazzling flares of explosions. So many and so close +together were they, that they looked like a titanic conflagration of +green flame. Against the light, the silhouettes of confused and +bewildered space riders careened, like frightened pollywogs. The +holocaust moved--swung. It was like a tapered column of fire veiled by a +faint bluish haze. + +The Earthians, Telaba, and the two remaining Space Men, forgetful of +everything else, were staring in awed wonder at the phenomenon through +the forward observation bay. It was Shelby who found the first part of +the explanation. + +"It's the Atomic Ray!" he almost shrieked. "Freeing the atomic energy in +the materials that make up the bodies of Alkebar's men--literally +causing their flesh and bones to explode! But how--what the devil--!" + +"Look!" cried Jan. She pointed far up over their heads to where the cone +of faintly bluish light swung, free from the milling horde. Up and up to +its apex, and there hung what appeared to be a tiny cocoon of burnished +silver. + +The girl peered through her binoculars for a long moment. "I see the +name. It is the _Selba_," she said. "Hekalu has made a mistake--he's +attacking the wrong force! Or--or some ally of ours has gained control +of the ship!" she hazarded. + +"No time to make guess now," said Telaba. "To fight, much better." He +had returned to the signaling mechanism, and was working it with cool +efficiency, rallying his battered forces. + +Like tigers they fell upon the Alkebarians, shattering them out of +existence with a steady storm of rifle bullets. They met with only a +weak resistance for the foe seemed to realize that the fates had played +them false. The blue ray had been their promise, and now, like the sword +of their ancient god of destruction, it was weaving calmly this way and +that, snuffing them into nothingness. The Black Emperor's horde was +dissolving, scattering. + +Battalions of terrified Space Men poured past the rebel chieftain's car, +shooting only hurried and ineffective volleys at their enemies, who +pressed fiercely upon them. And never did Jan and Shelby miss a chance +to spray them with searing bursts of machine-gun fire. + +There was a lull. The Earthians took the opportunity to look up at the +angel of death that was the _Selba_, far above. Most of Alkebar's huge +army had already perished, or had dispersed in flight into the desert of +space from which it had been recruited. But that the space ship would +presently be engaged in a serious fight was evident. + + * * * * * + +A determined force which must have numbered a hundred thousand, was +hurtling up at it, surrounding the craft with a halo of bursting +torpedoes. At the head of the body of Space Men was a huge beast bearing +on its back a car similar to Telaba's. Veri-colored signal stars spurted +from it. Alkebar himself must be in it directing operations! + +Coolly the guiding hand aboard the _Selba_ was swinging his dreadful +weapon this way and that, annihilating the attackers as one might +annihilate a swarm of mosquitoes with a blowtorch. Half of them had +already been reduced to those basic, intangible vibrations which +constitute all substance. It was terrible, it was glorious; but what +could it all mean? Hekalu's ship! + +The still formidable remnants of the vengeance squadron was seeking to +close in--to grapple with the vessel. The _Selba_ was trying to dart out +of their way, but the speed of the Space Men, a gift of Nature, was +greater than that of this fastest ship designed by man. Grimly, in the +face of almost certain death, they kept on. A score or so succeeded in +landing on the curving hull, and, like leeches they clung to it. The +Atomic Ray arched angrily, cutting a deep swath through those who still +sought a hold. + +And then the gleaming form of the _Selba_ was completely hidden by the +swarm of enraged horrors that poured over it. The Atomic Ray was snuffed +out. The beholders saw the air lock being pried open, and the Space Men +crowding into the interior of the craft. For a second the _Selba_ +wobbled crazily, and then her rocket motors ceased to flame. + +"What are we waiting for? We have friends up there!" Jan cried. + +Telaba flashed his orders, and the entire cavalcade charged toward the +vessel, their guns spewing flame. + +It was only a matter of a minute or so before that hurtling torrent of +rebels had swept the Alkebarians from their prey. Those of the Black +Emperor's men who had forced their way into the ship managed to hold the +entrance for a short time, but under the urgings of their intrepid +chief, the zealous rebels shot and hewed their enemies down as though +they had been paper marionettes. The way was clear. + +Telaba waved an order to his driver, and the space beast drew up +alongside the _Selba_. Expectantly eager, the Earthians clambered +aboard, followed by the chief. + +The ship was a shambles. Its corridors were littered with bodies of +Space Men who wore on their breasts the red circle which signified +loyalty to the Black Emperor. Telaba's followers had done well. + +The three made their way to the control room. Intuitively they had +sensed what they would find there, and so, they were not surprised at +what they saw--wreckage and the carcasses of Alkebar's warriors. The +Martian had put up a stiff fight. + +Shelby bent over the armored form of Akar Hekalu Selba which was +sprawling on the floor, beside the pilot seat. A gaping hole in the +tough metal plating under his right arm, and a thin trickle of blood, +told clearly what had happened. "They got him," the Earthman muttered. +"But why?" + +Jan's eyes had wandered to the narrow desk before the pilot seat. There +were the instruments and devices by means of which the ship was +controlled, and there was the lever which had moved the ray projector in +its mounting just beneath the nose of the craft. A calculating pad and a +stylus were lying on the desk. + +Something was written on the pad--a message. She called to Shelby, and +together they read the brief, hastily scrawled note. It was in English: + +"To Janice Darell and Austin Shelby, Greeting. Alkebar is breaking into +the ship, and Telaba is coming. You will be with him, I know. From among +my enemies I have chosen my friends. A man must have friends, and +traitors do not serve. Forgive me for stealing your glory, Mr. Shelby. I +shall be grateful. _Sidi Yadi_, Hekalu Selba, Akar." + +Shelby looked at Jan and then at Telaba who was standing close beside +them. "So that's it," he said slowly. "Nobody is totally bad." + +"Not even Hekki," Jan put in. A hint of a wistful smile flickered about +her lips. "I guess it's the end now," she went on. "A glorious +adventure. Back to Earth!" Her voice had taken on a dreamy exultant +quality. + +"The end, Jan?" Austin asked. "Haven't you forgotten something?" + +She looked puzzled, and then she laughed a brief gay little laugh which +made roguish dimples twinkle in her cheeks. Even her fantastic attire +could not hide her beauty. "You ridiculous old dumb-bell! Of course it +isn't the end--just the beginning--with you!" + +It was a considerable time before Shelby was able to repair the _Selba_ +sufficiently so that she could get underway for Mars but the task was +finished at last. Escorted by the rebel chief's fierce hordesmen, they +set out for the Red Planet. + +Somehow, snatches of the ancient Bedouin song tinkled in Shelby's mind. +He had read old books. "Across the desert I come to thee, On a stallion +shod with fire...." + +That did not quite fit the situation, for Jan was with him. But his +steed, the _Selba_, was truly shod with fire. The rocket nozzles--and +damaged though she was, she behaved like a thoroughbred. And out there +in the void beside the ship--what were those shapes?--bizarre, +impossible, yet real--real. + + * * * * * + + +In docks scattered over Earth and Mars, battleships of space and their +crews wait expectantly for an alarm that may never come. Telescopes comb +the sky. Out there the Star People, new arrivals in the solar system, +are shifting, moving about restlessly. But the planets feel secure. +Their fleets could cope with the Space Men, were they a hundred times +more numerous. And once in a while, on the desolate Sahara, or Mohave or +Taraal, shadows come, settling down like flecks of darkness from the +midnight heaven. They are Telaba's and Ankova's people. For a while--a +day perhaps--they stay, bartering their exotic treasures for human +wares. Then silently, mysteriously, they are gone, into the night.... + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Revolt of the Star Men, by Raymond Gallun + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41027 *** |