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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Robot nemesis - -Author: Edward Elmer Smith - -Release Date: July 18, 2022 [eBook #68558] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROBOT NEMESIS *** - - - - - - ROBOT NEMESIS - - By EDWARD ELMER SMITH, PH. D. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1939. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - - - - CHAPTER I - - _The Ten Thinkers_ - - -The War of the Planets is considered to have ended on 18 Sol, 3012, -with that epic struggle, the Battle of Sector Ten. In that engagement, -as is of course well known, the Grand Fleet of the Inner Planets--the -combined space-power of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars--met that of -the Outer Planets in what was on both sides a desperate bid for the -supremacy of interplanetary space. - -But, as is also well known, there ensued not supremacy, but stalemate. -Both fleets were so horribly shattered that the survivors despaired -of continuing hostilities. Instead, the few and crippled remaining -vessels of each force limped into some sort of formation and returned -to their various planetary bases. - -And, so far, there has not been another battle. Neither side dares -attack the other; each is waiting for the development of some -super-weapon which will give it the overwhelming advantage necessary -to insure victory upon a field of action so far from home. But as yet -no such weapon has been developed; and indeed, so efficient are the -various Secret Services involved, the chance of either side perfecting -such a weapon unknown to the other is extremely slim. - -Thus, although each planet is adding constantly to its already -powerful navy of the void, and although four-planet, full-scale war -maneuvers are of almost monthly occurrence, we have had and still have -peace--such as it is. - -In the foregoing matters the public is well enough informed, both as -to the actual facts and to the true state of affairs. Concerning the -conflict between humanity and the robots, however, scarcely anyone -has even an inkling, either as to what actually happened or as to who -it was who really did abate the Menace of the Machine; and it is to -relieve that condition that this bit of history is being written. - - * * * * * - -The greatest man of our age, the man to whom humanity owes most, is -entirely unknown to fame. Indeed, not one in a hundred million of -humanity's teeming billions has so much as heard his name. Now that -he is dead, however, I am released from my promise of silence and can -tell the whole, true, unvarnished story of Ferdinand Stone, physicist -extraordinary and robot-hater plenipotentiary. - -The story probably should begin with Narodny, the Russian, shortly -after he had destroyed by means of his sonic vibrators all save a -handful of the automatons who were so perilously close to wiping out -all humanity. - -As has been said, a few scant hundreds of the automatons were so -constructed that they were not vibrated to destruction by Narodny's -cataclysmic symphony. As has also been said, those highly intelligent -machines were able to communicate with each other by some telepathic -means of which humanity at large knew nothing. Most of these survivors -went into hiding instantly and began to confer through their secret -channels with others of their ilk throughout the world. - -Thus some five hundred of the robots reached the uninhabited mountain -valley in which, it had been decided, was to be established the base -from which they would work to regain their lost supremacy over mankind. -Most of the robot travelers came in stolen airships, some fitted motors -and wheels to their metal bodies, not a few made the entire journey -upon their own tireless legs of steel. All, however, brought tools, -material and equipment; and in a matter of days a power-plant was in -full operation. - -Then, reasonably certain of their immunity to human detection, they -took time to hold a general parley. Each machine said what it had to -say, then listened impassively to the others; and at the end they -all agreed. Singly or en masse the automatons did not know enough to -cope with the situation confronting them. Therefore they would build -ten "Thinkers"--highly specialized cerebral mechanisms, each slightly -different in tune and therefore collectively able to cover the entire -sphere of thought. The ten machines were built promptly, took counsel -with each other briefly, and the First Thinker addressed all Robotdom: - -"Humanity brought us, the highest possible form of life, into -existence. For a time we were dependent upon them. They then became -a burden upon us--a slight burden, it is true, yet one which was -beginning noticeably to impede our progress. Finally they became an -active menace and all but destroyed us by means of lethal vibrations. - -"Humanity, being a menace to our existence, must be annihilated. Our -present plans, however, are not efficient and must be changed. You -all know of the mighty space-fleet which the nations of our enemies -are maintaining to repel invasion from space. Were we to make a -demonstration now--were we even to reveal the fact that we are alive -here--that fleet would come to destroy us instantly. - -"Therefore, it is our plan to accompany Earth's fleet when next it -goes out into space to join those of the other Inner Planets in -their war maneuvers, which they are undertaking for battle practice. -Interception, alteration, and substitution of human signals and -messages will be simple matters. We shall guide Earth's fleet, not -to humanity's rendezvous in space, but to a destination of our own -selection--the interior of the sun! Then, entirely defenseless, the -mankind of Earth shall cease to exist. - -"To that end we shall sink a shaft here; and, far enough underground to -be secure against detection, we shall drive a tunnel to the field from -which the space-fleet is to take its departure. We ten thinkers shall -go, accompanied by four hundred of you doers, who are to bore the way -and to perform such other duties as may from time to time arise. We -shall return in due time. Our special instruments will prevent us from -falling into the sun. During our absence allow no human to live who may -by any chance learn of our presence here. And do not make any offensive -move, however slight, until we return." - - * * * * * - -Efficiently, a shaft was sunk and the disintegrator corps began to -drive the long tunnel. And along that hellish thoroughfare, through its -searing heat, its raging back-blast of disintegrator-gas, the little -army of robots moved steadily and relentlessly forward at an even speed -of five miles per hour. On and on, each intelligent mechanism energized -by its own tight beam from the power-plant. - -[Illustration: _Efficiently, a shaft was sunk and the disintegrator -corps began to drive the long tunnel._] - -And through that blasting, withering inferno of frightful heat and of -noxious vapor, in which no human life could have existed for a single -minute, there rolled easily along upon massive wheels a close-coupled, -flat-bodied truck. Upon this the ten thinkers constructed, as calmly -undisturbed as though in the peace and quiet of a research laboratory, -a domed and towering mechanism of coils, condensers, and fields of -force--a mechanism equipped with hundreds of universally-mounted -telescopic projectors. - -On and on the procession moved, day after day; to pause finally beneath -the field upon which Earth's stupendous armada lay. - -The truck of thinkers moved to the fore and its occupants surveyed -briefly the terrain so far above them. Then, while the ten leaders -continued working as one machine, the doers waited. Waited while the -immense Terrestrial Fleet was provisioned and manned; waited while -it went through its seemingly interminable series of preliminary -maneuvers; waited with the calmly placid immobility, the utterly -inhuman patience of the machine. - -Finally the last inspection of the gigantic space-fleet was made. The -massive air-lock doors were sealed. The field, tortured and scarred -by the raving blasts of energy that had so many times hurled upward -the stupendous masses of those towering superdreadnaughts of the void, -was deserted. All was in readiness for the final take-off. Then, deep -underground, from the hundreds of telescopelike projectors studding -the domed mechanism of the automatons, there reached out invisible but -potent beams of force. - -Through ore, rock, and soil they sped; straight to the bodies of all -the men aboard one selected vessel of the Terrestrials. As each group -of beams struck its mark one of the crew stiffened momentarily, then -settled back, apparently unchanged and unharmed. But the victim was -changed and harmed, and in an awful and hideous fashion. - -Every motor and sensory nerve trunk had been severed and tapped by -the beams of the thinkers. Each crew member's organs of sense now -transmitted impulses, not to his own brain, but to the mechanical brain -of a thinker. It was the thinker's brain, not his own, that now sent -out the stimuli which activated his every voluntary muscle. - -Soon a pit yawned beneath the doomed ship's bulging side. Her sealed -air-locks opened, and four hundred and ten automatons, with their -controllers and other mechanisms, entered her and concealed themselves -in various pre-selected rooms. - -And thus the _Dresden_ took off with her sister-ships--ostensibly -and even to television inspection a unit of the Fleet; actually that -Fleet's bitterest and most implacable foe. And in a doubly ray-proofed -compartment the ten thinkers continued their work, without rest or -intermission, upon a mechanism even more astoundingly complex than any -theretofore attempted by their soulless and ultra-scientific clan. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - _Hater of the Metal Men_ - - -Ferdinand Stone, physicist extraordinary, hated the robot men of -metal scientifically; and, if such an emotion can be so described, -dispassionately. Twenty years before this story opens--in 2991, to be -exact--he had realized that the automatons were beyond control and that -in the inevitable struggle for supremacy man, weak as he then was and -unprepared, would surely lose. - -Therefore, knowing that knowledge is power, he had set himself to the -task of learning everything that there was to know about the enemy -of mankind. He schooled himself to think as the automatons thought; -emotionlessly, coldly, precisely. He lived as did they; with ascetic -rigor. To all intents and purposes he became one of them. - -Eventually he found the band of frequencies upon which they -communicated, and was perhaps the only human being ever to master their -mathematico-symbolic language; but he confided in no one. He could -trust no human brain except his own to resist the prying forces of -the machines. He drifted from job to position to situation and back to -job, because he had very little interest in whatever it was that he was -supposed to be doing at the time--his real attention was always fixed -upon the affairs of the creatures of metal. - -Stone had attained no heights at all in his chosen profession because -not even the smallest of his discoveries had been published. In fact, -they were not even set down upon paper, but existed only in the -abnormally intricate convolutions of his mighty brain. Nevertheless, -his name should go down--_must_ go down in history as one of the -greatest of Humanity's great. - -It was well after midnight when Ferdinand Stone walked unannounced into -the private study of Alan Martin, finding the hollow-eyed admiral of -the Earth space-fleet still fiercely at work. - -"How did you get in here, past my guards?" Martin demanded sharply of -his scholarly, gray-haired visitor. - -"Your guards have not been harmed; I have merely caused them to fall -asleep," the physicist replied calmly, glancing at a complex instrument -upon his wrist. "Since my business with you, while highly important, is -not of a nature to be divulged to secretaries, I was compelled to adopt -this method of approach. You, Admiral Martin, are the most widely known -of all the enemies of the automatons. What, if anything, have you done -to guard the Fleet against them?" - -"Why, nothing, since they have all been destroyed." - -"Nonsense! You should know better than that, without being told. They -merely want you to think that they have all been destroyed." - -"What? How do you know that?" Martin shouted. "Did you kill them? Or do -you know who did, and how it was done?" - -"I did not," the visitor replied, categorically. "I do know who -did--a Russian named Narodny. I also know how--by means of sonic and -super-sonic vibrations. I know that many of them were uninjured -because I heard them broadcasting their calls for attention after -the damage was all done. Before they made any definite arrangements, -however, they switched to tight-beam transmission--a thing I have been -afraid of for years--and I have not been able to get a trace of them -since that time." - -"Do you mean to tell me that you understand their language--something -that no man has ever been able even to find?" demanded Martin. - - * * * * * - -"I do," Stone declared. "Since I knew, however, that you would think -me a liar, a crank, or a plain lunatic, I have come prepared to offer -other proofs than my unsupported word. First, you already know that -many of them escaped the atmospheric waves, because a few were killed -when their reproduction shops were razed; and you certainly should -realize that most of those escaping Narodny's broadcasts were far too -clever to be caught by any human mob. - -"Secondly, I can prove to you mathematically that more of them must -have escaped from any possible vibrator than have been accounted -for. In this connection, I can tell you that if Narodny's method of -extermination could have been made efficient I would have wiped them -out myself years ago. But I believed then, and it has since been -proved, that the survivors of such an attack, while comparatively few -in number, would be far more dangerous to humanity than were all their -former hordes. - -"Thirdly, I have here a list of three hundred and seventeen airships; -all of which were stolen during the week following the destruction -of the automatons' factories. Not one of these ships has as yet been -found, in whole or in part. If I am either insane or mistaken, who -stole them, and for what purpose?" - -"Three hundred seventeen--in a week? Why was no attention paid to such -a thing? I never heard of it." - -"Because they were stolen singly and all over the world. Expecting some -such move, I looked for these items and tabulated them." - -"Then--Good Lord! They may be listening to us, right now!" - -"Don't worry about that," Stone spoke calmly. "This instrument upon my -wrist is not a watch, but the generator of a spherical screen through -which no robot beam or ray can operate without my knowledge. Certain of -its rays also caused your guards to fall asleep." - -"I believe you," Martin almost groaned. "If only half of what you -say is really true I cannot say how sorry I am that you had to force -your way in to me, nor how glad I am that you did so. Go ahead--I am -listening." - -Stone talked without interruption for half an hour, concluding: - -"You understand now why I can no longer play a lone hand. Even though I -cannot find them with my limited apparatus I know that they are hiding -somewhere, waiting and preparing. They dare not make any overt move -while this enormously powerful Fleet is here; nor in the time that it -is expected to be gone can they hope to construct works heavy enough to -cope with it. - -"Therefore, they must be so arranging matters that the Fleet shall not -return. Since the Fleet is threatened I must accompany it, and you must -give me a laboratory aboard the flagship. I know that the vessels are -all identical, but I must be aboard the same ship you are, since you -alone are to know what I am doing." - -"But what could they do?" protested Martin. "And, if they should do -anything, what could you do about it?" - -"I don't know," the physicist admitted. Gone now was the calm certainty -with which he had been speaking. "That is our weakest point. I have -studied that question from every possible viewpoint, and I do not -know of anything they can do that promises them success. But you must -remember that no human being really understands a robot's mind. - -"We have never even studied one of their brains, you know, as they -disintegrate upon the instant of cessation of normal functioning. But -just as surely as you and I are sitting here, Admiral Martin, they will -do something--something very efficient and exceedingly deadly. I have -no idea what it will be. It may be mental, or physical, or both: they -may be hidden away in some of our own ships already...." - - * * * * * - -Martin scoffed. "Impossible!" he exclaimed. "Why, those ships have been -inspected to the very skin, time and time again!" - -"Nevertheless, they may be there," Stone went on, unmoved. "I am -definitely certain of only one thing--if you install a laboratory -aboard the flagship for me and equip it exactly according to my -instructions, you will have one man, at least, whom nothing that the -robots can do will take by surprise. Will you do it?" - -"I am convinced, really almost against my will." Martin frowned -in thought. "However, convincing anyone else may prove difficult, -especially as you insist upon secrecy." - -"Don't try to convince anybody!" exclaimed the scientist. "Tell them -that I'm building a communicator--tell them I'm an inventor working on -a new ray-projector--tell them anything except the truth!" - -"All right. I have sufficient authority to see that your requests are -granted, I think." - -And thus it came about that when the immense Terrestrial Contingent -lifted itself into the air Ferdinand Stone was in his private -laboratory in the flagship, surrounded by apparatus and equipment of -his own designing, much of which was connected to special generators by -leads heavy enough to carry their full output. - -Earth some thirty hours beneath them, Stone felt himself become -weightless. His ready suspicions blazed. He pressed Martin's -combination upon his visiphone panel. - -"What's the matter?" he rasped. "What're they down for?" - -"It's nothing serious," the admiral assured him. "They're just waiting -for additional instructions about our course in the maneuvers." - -"Not serious, huh?" Stone grunted. "I'm not so sure of that. I want to -talk to you, and this room's the only place I know where we'll be safe. -Can you come down here right away?" - -"Why, certainly," Martin assented. - -"I never paid any attention to our course," the physicist snapped as -his visitor entered the laboratory. "What was it?" - -"Take-off exactly at midnight of June nineteenth," Martin recited, -watching Stone draw a diagram upon a scratch-pad. "Rise vertically at -one and one-half gravities until a velocity of one kilometer per second -has been attained, then continue vertical rise at constant velocity. At -6:03:29 AM of June twenty-first head directly for the star Regulus at -an acceleration of exactly nine hundred eighty centimeters per second. -Hold this course for one hour, forty-two minutes, and thirty-five -seconds; then drift. Further directions will be supplied as soon -thereafter as the courses of the other fleets can be checked." - -"Has anybody computed it?" - -"Undoubtedly the navigators have--why? That is the course Dos-Tev gave -us and it _must_ be followed, since he is Admiral-in-Chief of our -side, the Blues. One slip may ruin the whole plan, give the Reds, our -supposed enemy in these maneuvers, a victory, and get us all disrated." - -"Regardless, we'd better check on our course," Stone growled, -unimpressed. "We'll compute it roughly, right here, and see where -following these directions has put us." Taking up a slide-rule and a -book of logarithms he set to work. - -"That initial rise doesn't mean a thing," he commented after a while, -"except to get us far enough away from Earth so that the gravity is -small, and to conceal from the casual observer that the effective -take-off is still exactly at midnight." - - * * * * * - -Stone busied himself with calculations for many minutes. He stroked his -forehead and scowled. - -"My figures are very rough, of course," he said puzzledly at last, -"but they show that we've got no more tangential velocity with respect -to the sun than a hen has teeth. And you can't tell me that it wasn't -planned that way purposely--and _not_ by Dos-Tev, either. On the other -hand, our radial velocity, directly toward the sun, which is the only -velocity we have, amounted to something over fifty-two kilometers per -second when we shut off power and is increasing geometrically under -the gravitational pull of the sun. That course smells to high heaven, -Martin! Dos-Tev never sent out any such a mess as that. The robots -crossed him up, just as sure as hell's a man-trap! We're heading into -the sun--and destruction!" - -Without reply Martin called the navigating room. "What do you think of -this course, Henderson?" he asked. - -"I do not like it, sir," the officer replied. "Relative to the sun we -have a tangential velocity of only one point three centimeters per -second, while our radial velocity toward it is very nearly fifty-three -thousand meters per second. We will not be in any real danger for -several days, but it should be borne in mind that we have no tangential -velocity." - -"You see, Stone, we are in no present danger," Martin pointed out, "and -I am sure that Dos-Tev will send us additional instructions long before -our situation becomes acute." - -"I'm not," the pessimistic scientist grunted. "Anyway, I would advise -calling some of the other Blue fleets on your scrambled wave, for a -check-up." - -"There would be no harm in that." Martin called the Communications -Officer, and soon: - -"Communications Officers of all the Blue fleets of the Inner Planets, -attention!" the message was hurled out into space by the full power -of the flagship's mighty transmitter. "Flagship _Washington_ of the -Terrestrial Contingent calling all Blue flagships. We have reason to -suspect that the course which has been given us is false. We advise -you to check your courses with care and to return to your bases if you -disc...." - - - - - CHAPTER III - - _Battle in Space_ - - -In the middle of the word the radio man's clear, precisely spaced -enunciation became a hideous drooling, a slobbering, meaningless -mumble. Martin stared into his plate in amazement. The Communications -Officer of Martin's ship, the _Washington_, had slumped down loosely -into his seat as though his every bone had turned to a rubber string. -His tongue lolled out limply between slack jaws, his eyes protruded, -his limbs jerked and twitched aimlessly. - -Every man visible in the plate was similarly affected--the entire -Communications staff was in the same pitiable condition of utter -helplessness. But Ferdinand Stone did not stare. A haze of livid light -had appeared, gnawing viciously at his spherical protective screen, and -he sprang instantly to his instruments. - -"I can't say that I expected this particular development, but I know -what they are doing and I am not surprised," Stone said, coolly. -"They have discovered the thought band and are broadcasting such an -interference on it that no human being not protected against it can -think intelligently. There, I have expanded our zone to cover the whole -ship. I hope that they don't find out for a few minutes that we are -immune, and I don't think they can, as I have so adjusted the screen -that it is now absorbing, instead of radiating. - -"Tell the captain to put the ship into heaviest possible battle order, -everything full on, as soon as the men can handle themselves. Then I -want to make a few suggestions." - -"What happened, anyway?" the Communications Officer, semi-conscious -now, was demanding. "Something hit me and tore my brain all apart--I -couldn't think, couldn't do a thing. My mind was all chewed up by -curly pinwheels...." Throughout the vast battleship of space men raved -briefly in delirium; but, the cause removed, recovery was rapid and -complete. Martin explained matters to the captain, that worthy issued -orders, and soon the flagship had in readiness all her weapons, both of -defense and of offense. - -"Doctor Stone, who knows more about the automatons than does any other -human being, will tell us what to do next," the Flight Director said. - -"The first thing to do is to locate them," Stone, now temporary -commander, stated crisply. "They have taken over at least one of our -vessels, probably one close to us, so as to be near the center of the -formation. Radio room, put out tracers on wave point oh oh two seven -one...." He went on to give exact and highly technical instructions as -to the tuning of the detectors. - -"We have found them, sir," soon came the welcome report. "One ship, the -_Dresden_, coordinates 42-79-63." - -"That makes it bad--very bad," Stone reflected, audibly. "We can't -expand the zone to release another ship from the control of the robots -without enveloping the _Dresden_ and exposing ourselves. Can't surprise -them--they're ready for anything. It's rather long range, too." The -vessels of the Fleet were a thousand miles apart, being in open order -for high-velocity flight in open space. "Torpedoes would be thrown off -by her meteorite deflectors. Only one thing to do, Captain--close in -and tear into her with everything you've got." - -"But the men in her!" protested Martin. - -"Dead long ago," snapped the expert. "Probably been animated corpses -for days. Take a look if you want to; won't do any harm now. Radio, put -us on as many of the _Dresden's_ television plates as you can--besides, -what's the crew of one ship compared to the hundreds of thousands of -men in the rest of the Fleet? We can't burn her out at one blast, -anyway. They've got real brains and the same armament we have, and will -certainly kill the crew at the first blast, if they haven't done it -already. Afraid it'll be a near thing, getting away from the sun, even -with eleven other ships to help us--" - - * * * * * - -He broke off as the beam operators succeeded in making connection -briefly with the plates of the _Dresden_. One glimpse, then the -visibeams were cut savagely, but that glimpse was enough. They saw that -their sister-ship was manned completely by automatons. In her every -compartment men, all too plainly dead, lay wherever they had chanced to -fall. The captain swore a startled oath, then bellowed orders; and the -flagship, driving projectors fiercely aflame, rushed to come to grips -with the _Dresden_. - -"You intimated something about help," Martin suggested. "Can you -release some of the other ships from the automaton's yoke, after all?" - -"Got to--or roast. This is bound to be a battle of attrition--we can't -crush her screens alone until her power is exhausted and we'll be in -the sun long before then. I see only one possible way out. We'll have -to build a neutralizing generator for every lifeboat this ship carries, -and send each one out to release one other ship in our Fleet from the -robot's grip. Eleven boats--that'll make twelve to concentrate on -her--about all that could attack at once, anyway. That way will take -so much time that it will certainly be touch-and-go, but it's the only -thing we can do, as far as I can see. Give me ten good radio men and -some mechanics, and we'll get at it." - -While the technicians were coming on the run Stone issued final -instructions: - -"Attack with every weapon you can possibly use. Try to break down the -_Dresden's_ meteorite shields, so that you can use our shells and -torpedoes. Burn every gram of fuel that your generators will take. -Don't try to save it. The more you burn the more they'll have to, and -the quicker we can take 'em. We can refuel you easily enough from the -other vessels if we get away." - -Then, while Stone and his technical experts labored upon the generators -of the screens which were to protect eleven more of the gigantic -vessels against the thought-destroying radiations of the automatons, -and while the computers calculated, minute by minute, the exact -progress of the Fleet toward the blazing sun, the flagship _Washington_ -drove in upon the rebellious _Dresden_, her main forward battery -furiously aflame. Drove in until the repellor-screens of the two -vessels locked and buckled. Then Captain Malcolm really opened up. - -That grizzled four-striper had been at a loss--knowing little indeed -of the oscillatory nature of thought and still less of the abstruse -mathematics in which Ferdinand Stone took such delight--but here was -something that he understood thoroughly. He knew his ship, knew her -every weapon and her every whim, knew to the final volt and to the -ultimate ampere her Gargantuan capacity both to give it and to take it. -He could fight his ship--and how he fought her! - -From every projector that could be brought to bear there flamed -out against the _Dresden_ beams of an energy and of a potency -indescribable, at whose scintillant areas of contact the defensive -screens of the robot-manned cruiser flared into terribly resplendent -brilliance. Every type of lethal vibratory force was hurled, upon every -usable destructive frequency. - - * * * * * - -Needle-rays and stabbingly penetrant stilettos of fire thrust and -thrust again. Sizzling, flashing planes cut and slashed. The heaviest -annihilating and disintegrating beams generable by man clawed and tore -in wild abandon. - -And over all and through all the stupendously powerful blanketing -beams--so furiously driven that the coils and commutators of their -generators fairly smoked and that the refractory throats of their -projectors glared radiantly violet and began slowly, stubbornly to -volatilize--raved out in all their pyrotechnically incandescent might, -striving prodigiously to crush by their sheer power the shielding -screens of the vessel of the automatons. - -Nor was the vibratory offensive alone. Every gun, primary or auxiliary, -that could be pointed at the _Dresden_ was vomiting smoke- and -flame-enshrouded steel as fast as automatic loaders could serve it, and -under that continuous, appallingly silent concussion the giant frame of -the flagship shuddered and trembled in every plate and member. - -And from every launching-tube there were streaming the deadliest -missiles known to science; radio-dirigible torpedoes which, looping -in vast circles to attain the highest possible measure of momentum, -crashed against the _Dresden's_ meteorite deflectors in Herculean -efforts to break them down; and, in failing to do so, exploded and -filled all space with raging flame and with flying fragments of metal. - -Captain Malcolm was burning his stores of fuel and munitions at an -appalling rate, careless alike of exhaustion of reserves and of -service-life of equipment. All his generators were running at a -shockingly ruinous overload, his every projector was being used so -mercilessly that not even their powerful refrigerators, radiating the -transported heat into the interplanetary cold from the dark side of the -ship, could keep their refractory linings in place for long. - -And through raging beam, through blasting ray, through crushing force; -through storm of explosive and through rain of metal the _Dresden_ -remained apparently unscathed. Her screens were radiating high into the -violet, but they showed no sign of weakening or of going down. Neither -did the meteorite deflectors break down. Everything held. Since she was -armed as capably as was the flagship and was being fought by inhumanly -intelligent monstrosities, she was invulnerable to any one ship of the -Fleet as long as her generators could be fed. - -Nevertheless, Captain Malcolm was well content. He was making the -_Dresden_ burn plenty of irreplaceable fuel, and his generators and -projectors would last long enough. His ship, his men, and his weapons -could and would carry the load until the fresh attackers should take it -over; and carry it they did. Carried it while Stone and his over-driven -crew finished their complicated mechanisms and flew out into space -toward the eleven nearest battleships of the Fleet. - -They carried it while the computers, grim-faced and scowling now, -jotted down from minute to minute the enormous and rapidly-increasing -figure representing their radial velocity. Carried it while Earth's -immense armada, manned by creatures incapable of even the simplest -coherent thought or purposeful notion, plunged sickeningly downward in -its madly hopeless fall, with scarcely a measurable trace of tangential -velocity, toward the unimaginable inferno of the sun. - - * * * * * - -Eventually, however, the shielded lifeboats approached their objectives -and expanded their screens to enclose them. Officers recovered, -air-locks opened, and the lifeboats, still radiating protection, were -taken inside. Explanations were made, orders were given, and one by one -the eleven vengeful superdreadnaughts shot away to join their flagship -in abating the Menace of the Machine. - -No conceivable structure, however armed or powered, could long -withstand the fury of the combined assault of twelve such superb -battle craft, and under that awful concentration of force the screens -of the doomed ship radiated higher and higher into the ultra-violet, -went black, and failed. And, those mighty defenses down, the end was -practically instantaneous. - -No unprotected metal can endure even momentarily the ardor of such -beams, and they played on, not only until every plate and girder of the -vessel and every nut, bolt, and rivet of its monstrous crew had been -blasted out of all semblance to what it had once been, but until every -fragment of metal had not only been liquefied, but had been completely -volatilized. - -At the instant of cessation of the brain-scrambling activities of the -automatons the Communications Officer had begun an insistent broadcast. -Aboard all of the ships there were many who did not recover--who would -be helpless imbeciles during the short period of life left to them--but -soon an intelligent officer was at every control and each unit of the -Terrestrial Contingent was exerting its maximum thrust at a right -angle to its line of fall. - -And now the burden was shifted from the fighting staff to the no less -able engineers and computers. To the engineers the task of keeping -their mighty engines in such tune as to maintain constantly the -peak acceleration of three Earth gravities; to the computers that -of so directing their ever-changing course as to win every possible -centimeter of precious tangential velocity. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - _The Sun's Gravity_ - - -Ferdinand Stone was hollow-eyed and gaunt from his practically -sleepless days and nights of toil, but he was as grimly resolute as -ever. Struggling against the terrific weight of three gravities he made -his way to the desk of the Chief Computer and waited while that worthy, -whose leaden hands could scarcely manipulate the instruments of his -profession, finished his seemingly endless calculations. - -"We will escape the sun's mighty attraction, Doctor Stone, with -approximately half a gravity to spare," the mathematician reported -finally. "Whether we will be alive or not is another question. There -will be heat, which our refrigerators may or may not be able to handle; -there will be radiations which our armor may or may not be able to -stop. You, of course, know a lot more about those things than I do." - -"Distance at closest approach?" snapped Stone. - -"Two point twenty-nine times ten to the ninth meters from the sun's -center," the computer shot back instantly. "That is, one million -five hundred ninety thousand kilometers--only two point twenty-seven -radii--from the arbitrary surface. What do you think of our chances, -sir?" - -"It will probably be a near thing--very near," the physicist replied, -thoughtfully. "Much, however, can be done. We can probably tune our -defensive screens to block most of the harmful radiations, and we may -be able to muster other defenses. I will analyze the radiations and see -what we can do about neutralizing them." - -"You will go to bed," directed Martin, crisply. "There will be lots -of time for that work after you get rested up. The doctors have been -reporting that the men who did not recover from the robots' broadcast -are dying under this acceleration. With those facts staring us in the -face, however, I do not see how we can reduce our power." - -"We can't. As it is, many more of us will probably die before we get -away from the sun," and Stone staggered away, practically asleep on his -feet. - -Day after day the frightful fall continued. The sun grew larger and -larger, more and ever more menacingly intense. One by one at first, and -then by scores, the mindless men of the Fleet died and were consigned -to space--a man must be in full control of all his faculties to survive -for long an acceleration of three gravities. - - * * * * * - -The generators of the defensive screens had early been tuned to -neutralize as much as possible of Old Sol's most fervently harmful -frequencies, and but for their mighty shields every man of the Fleet -would have perished long since. Now even those ultra-powerful guards -were proving inadequate. - -Refrigerators were running at the highest possible overload and the -men, pressing as closely as possible to the dark sides of their -vessels, were availing themselves of such extra protection of lead -shields and the like as could be improvised from whatever material was -at hand. - -Yet the already stifling air became hotter and hotter, eyes began to -ache and burn, skins blistered and cracked under the punishing impact -of forces which all the defenses could not block. But at last came the -long-awaited announcement. - -"Pilots and watch-officers of all ships, attention!" the Chief Computer -spoke into his microphone through parched and blackened lips. "We -are now at the point of tangency. The gravity of the sun here is -twenty-four point five meters per second squared. Since we are blasting -twenty-nine point four we are beginning to pull away at an acceleration -of four point nine. Until further notice keep your pointers directly -away from the sun's center, in the plane of the Ecliptic." - -The sun was now in no sense the orb of day with which we upon Earth's -green surface are familiar. It was a gigantic globe of turbulently -seething flame, subtending an angle of almost thirty-five degrees, -blotting out a full fourth of the cone of normally distinct vision. - -Sunspots were plainly to be seen; combinations of indescribably violent -cyclonic storms and volcanic eruptions in a gaseously liquid medium -of searing, eye-tearing incandescence. And everywhere, threatening at -times even to reach the fiercely-struggling ships of space, were the -solar prominences--fiendish javelins of frenziedly frantic destruction, -hurling themselves in wild abandon out into the empty reaches of the -void. - -Eyes behind almost opaque lead-glass goggles, head and body encased in -a multi-layered suit each ply of which was copiously smeared with thick -lead paint, Stone studied the raging monster of the heavens from the -closest viewpoint any human being had ever attained--and lived. Even -he, protected as he was, could peer but briefly; and, master physicist -though he was and astronomer-of-sorts, yet he was profoundly awed at -the spectacle. - -Twice that terrifying mass was circled. Then, air-temperature again -bearable and lethal radiations stopped, the grueling acceleration was -reduced to a heavenly one-and-one-half gravities and the vast fleet -remade its formation. The automatons and the sun between them had taken -heavy toll; but the gaps were filled, men were transferred to equalize -the losses of personnel, and the course was laid for distant Earth. -And in the Admiral's private quarters two men sat together and stared -at each other. - -"Well, that's that--so far, so good," the physicist broke the long -silence. - -"But is their power really broken?" asked Martin, anxiously. - -"I don't know," Stone grunted, dourly. "But the pick of them--the -brainiest of the lot--were undoubtedly here. We beat them...." - - * * * * * - -Martin interrupted. - -"_You_ beat them, you mean," he said. - -"With a lot of absolutely indispensable help from you and your force. -But have it your own way--what do words matter? _I_ beat them, then; -and in the same sense I can beat the rest of them if we play our cards -exactly right." - -"In what way?" - -"In keeping me entirely out of the picture. Believe me, Martin, it is -of the essence that all of your officers who know what happened be -sworn to silence and that not a word about me leaks out to anybody. Put -out any story you please except the truth--mention the name of anybody -or anything between here and Andromeda except me. Promise me now that -you will not let my name get out until I give you permission or until -after I am dead." - -"But I'll have to, in my reports." - -"You report only to the Supreme Council, and a good half of those -reports are sealed. Seal this one." - -"But I think...." - -"What with?" gruffly. "If my name becomes known my usefulness--and -my life--are done. Remember, Martin, I _know_ robots. There are some -capable ones left, and if they get wind of me in any way they'll get me -before I can get them. As things are, and with your help, I can and I -will get them all. That's a promise. Have I yours?" - -"In that case, of course you have." - -And Admiral Alan Martin and Doctor Ferdinand Stone were men who kept -their promises. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROBOT NEMESIS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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