Skylark Three

by E. E. Smith

  CHAPTER III

  Skylark Two Sets Out

  "Say, Mart, I just got conscious! It never occurred to me until justnow, as Dunark left, that I'm as good an instrument-maker as Dunarkis--the same one, in fact--and I've got a hunch. You know that needle onDuQuesne hasn't been working for quite a while? Well, I don't believeit's out of commission at all. I think he's gone somewhere, so far awaythat it can't read on him. I'm going to house it in, re-jewel it, andfind out where he is."

  "An excellent idea. He has even you worrying, and as for myself----"

  "Worrying! That bird is simply pulling my cork! I'm so scared he'll getDottie, that I'm running around in circles and biting myself in thesmall of the back. He's got a hen on, you can bet your shirt onthat--what gravels me is he's aiming at the girls, not at us or thejob."

  "I should say that someone had aimed at you fairly accurately, judgingby the number of bullets stopped lately by that arenak armor of yours. Iwish that I could take some of the strain, but they are centering alltheir attacks upon you."

  "Yes--I can't stick my nose outside our yard without somebody throwinglead at it. It's funny, too. You're more important to the power-plantthan I am."

  "You should know why. They are not afraid of me. While my spirit iswilling enough, it was your skill and rapidity with a pistol thatfrustrated four attempts at abduction in as many days. It is positivelyuncanny, the way you explode into action. With all my practice, I didn'teven have my pistol out yesterday until it was all over. And besidesPrescott's guards, we had four policemen with us--detailed to 'guard'us--because of the number of gunmen you had to kill before that!"

  "It ain't practice so much, Mart--it's a gift. I've always been fast,and I react automatically. You think first, that's why you're slow.Those cops were funny. They didn't know what it was all about until itwas all over--all but calling the wagon. That was the worst yet. One oftheir slugs struck directly in front of my left eye--it was kinda funny,at that, seeing it splash--and I thought I was inside a boiler in ariveting shop when those machine-guns cut loose. It was hectic, allright, while it lasted. But one thing I'll tell the attentiveworld--we're not doing all the worrying. Very few, if any, of thegangsters they send after us are getting back. Wonder what they thinkwhen they shoot at us and we don't drop?

  "But I'm afraid I'm beginning to crack, Mart," Seaton went on, his voicebecoming grimly earnest. "I don't like anything about this whole mess. Idon't like all four of us wearing armor all the time. I don't likeliving constantly under guard. I don't like all this killing. And thisconstant menace of losing Dorothy, if I let her out of my sight for fiveseconds, is driving me mad. To tell you the real truth, I'm devilishlyafraid that they'll figure out something that'll work. I could grab offtwo women, or kill two men, if they had armor and guns enough to stock awar. I believe that DuQuesne could, too--and the rest of that buncharen't imbeciles, either, by any means. I won't feel safe until all fourof us are in the _Skylark_ and a long ways from here. I'm sure gladwe're pulling out; and I don't intend to come back until I get a goodline on DuQuesne. He's the bird I'm going to get, and get right--andwhen I get him I'll tell the cock-eyed world he'll stay got. There won'tbe any two atoms of his entire carcass left in the same township. Imeant that promise when I gave it to him!"

  "He realizes that fully. He knows that it is now definitely either hislife or our own, and he is really dangerous. When he took Steel over andopened war upon us, he did it with his eyes wide open. With his ideas,he must have a monopoly of 'X' or nothing; and he knows the onlypossible way of getting it. However, you and I both know that he wouldnot let either one of us live, even though we surrendered."

  "You chirped it! But that guy's going to find he's started something,unless I get paralysis of the intentions. Well, how about turning up afew R. P. M.? We don't want to keep Dunark waiting too long."

  "There is very little to do beyond installing the new instruments; andthat is nearly done. We can finish pumping out the compass _en route_.You have already installed every weapon of offense and defense known toeither Earthly or Osnomian warfare, including those ray-generators andscreens you moaned so about not having during the battle over Kondal. Ibelieve that we have on board every article for which either of us hasbeen able to imagine even the slightest use."

  "Yes, we've got her so full of plunder that there's hardly room left forquarters. You ain't figuring on taking anybody but Shiro along, areyou?"

  "No. I suppose there is no real necessity for taking even him, but hewants very much to go, and may prove himself useful."

  "I'll say he'll be useful. None of us really enjoys polishing brass orwashing dishes--and besides, he's one star cook and an A-1 housekeeper."

  * * * * *

  The installation of the new instruments was soon completed, and whileDorothy and Margaret made last-minute preparations for departure, themen called a meeting of the managing directors and department heads ofthe "Seaton-Crane Co., Engineers." The chiefs gave brief reports inturn. Units Number One and Number Two of the immense new centralsuper-power plant were in continuous operation. Number Three was almostready to cut in. Number Four was being rushed to completion. Number Fivewas well under way. The research laboratory was keeping well up on itsproblems. Troubles were less than had been anticipated. Financially, itwas a gold mine. With no expense for boilers or fuel, and thus with arelatively small investment in plant and a very small operating cost,they were selling power at one-sixth of prevailing rates, and stillprofits were almost paying for all new construction. With the completionof Number Five, rates would be reduced still further.

  "In short, Dad, everything's slick," remarked Seaton to Mr. Vaneman,after the others had gone.

  "Yes; your plan of getting the best men possible, paying them well, andgiving them complete authority and sole responsibility, has worked toperfection. I have never seen an undertaking of such size go forward sosmoothly and with such fine co-operation."

  "That's the way we wanted it. We hand-picked the directors, and put itup to you, strictly. You did the same to the managers. Everybody knowsthat his end is up to him, and him alone--so he digs in."

  "However, Dick, while everything at the works is so fine, when is thisother thing going to break?"

  "We've won all the way so far, but I'm afraid something's about due.That's the big reason I want to get Dot away for a while. You know whatthey're up to?"

  "Too well," the older man answered. "Dottie or Mrs. Crane, or both. Hermother--she is telling her goodbye now--and I agree that the danger hereis greater than out there."

  "Danger out there? With the old can fixed the way she is now, Dot's alot safer there than you are in bed. Your house might fall down, youknow."

  "You're probably right, son--I know you, and I know Martin Crane.Together, and in the _Skylark_, I believe you invincible."

  "All set, Dick?" asked Dorothy, appearing in the doorway.

  "All set. You've got the dope for Prescott and everybody Dad. We may beback in six months, or we may see something to investigate, and be gonea year or so. Don't begin to lose any sleep until after we've beenout--oh, say three years. We'll make it a point to be back by then."

  Farewells were said; the party embarked, and _Skylark Two_ shot upward.Seaton flipped a phone set over his head and spoke.

  "Dunark!... Coming out, heading directly for 'X'.... No, better stayquite a ways off to one side when we get going good.... Yes, I'maccelerating twenty six point oh oh oh.... Yes. I'll call you now andthen, until the radio waves get lost, to check the course with you.After that, keep on the last course, reverse at the calculated distance,and by the time we're pretty well slowed down, we'll feel around foreach other with the compasses and go in together.... Right....Uh-huh.... Fine! So long!"

  In order that the two vessels should keep reasonably close together, ithad been agreed that each should be held at an acceleration of exactlytwenty-six feet per second, positive and negative. This figurerepresented a compromise between the gravi
tational forces of the twoworlds upon which the different parties lived. While considerably lessthan the acceleration of gravitation at the surface of the Earth, theTerrestrials could readily accustom themselves to it; and it was notenough greater than that of Osnome to hamper seriously the activities ofthe green people.

  Well clear of the Earth's influence, Seaton assured himself thateverything was functioning properly, then stretched to his full height,wreathed his arms over his head, and heaved a deep sigh of relief.

  "Folks," he declared, "This is the first time I've felt right since wegot out of this old bottle. Why, I feel so good a cat could walk up tome and scratch me right in the eye, and I wouldn't even scratch back.Yowp! I'm a wild Siberian catamount, and this is my night to howl.Whee-ee-yerow!"

  Dorothy laughed, a gay, lilting carol.

  "Haven't I always told you he had cat blood in him, Peggy? Just like alltomcats, every once in a while he has to stretch his claws and yowl. Butgo ahead, Dickie, I like it--this is the first uproar you've made inweeks. I believe I'll join you!"

  "It most certainly is a relief to get this load off our minds: I coulddo a little ladylike yowling myself," Margaret said; and Crane, lyingcompletely at ease, a thin spiral of smoke curling upward from hiscigarette, nodded agreement.

  "Dick's yowling is quite expressive at times. All of us feel the sameway, but some of us are unable to express ourselves quite so vividly.However, it is past bedtime, and we should organize our crew. Shall wedo it as we did before?"

  "No, it isn't necessary. Everything is automatic. The bar is heldparallel to the guiding compass, and signal bells ring whenever any ofthe instruments show a trace of abnormal behavior. Don't forget thatthere is at least one meter registering and recording every factor ofour flight. With this control system we can't get into any such jam aswe did last trip."

  "Surely you are not suggesting that we run all night with no one at thecontrols?"

  "Exactly that. A man camping at this board is painting the lily andgilding fine gold. Awake or asleep nobody need be closer to it than isnecessary to hear a bell if one should ring, and you can hear them allover the ship. Furthermore, I'll bet a hat we won't hear a signal aweek. Simply as added precaution, though, I've run lines so that anytime one of these signals lets go, it sounds a buzzer on the head of ourbed, so I'm automatically taking the night shift. Remember, Mart, theseinstruments are thousands of times as sensitive as the keenest humansenses--they'll spot trouble long before we could, even if we werelooking right at it."

  "Of course, you understand these instruments much better than I do, asyet. If you trust them, I am perfectly willing to do the same.Goodnight."

  * * * * *

  Seaton sat down and Dorothy nestled beside him, her head snuggled intothe curve of his shoulder.

  "Sleepy, cuddle-pup?"

  "Heavens, no! I couldn't sleep now, lover--could you?"

  "Not any. What's the use?"

  His arm tightened around her. Apparently motionless to its passengers,the cruiser bored serenely on into space, with ever-mounting velocity.There was not the faintest sound, not the slightest vibration--only thepeculiar violet glow surrounding the shining copper cylinder in itsmassive universal bearing gave any indication of the thousands ofkilowatts being generated in the mighty intra-atomic power-plant. Seatonstudied it thoughtfully.

  "You know, if that violet aura and copper bar were a little different inshade and tone of color, they'd be just like your eyes and hair," heremarked finally.

  "You burn me up, Dick!" she retorted, her entrancing low chucklebubbling through her words. "You do say the weirdest things at times!Possibly they would--and if the moon were made of different stuff thanit is and had a different color, it might be green cheese, too! What saywe go over and look at the stars?"

  "As you were, Rufus!" he commanded sternly. "Don't move amillimeter--you're a drive fit, right where you are. I'll get you anystars you want, and bring them right in here to you. What constellationwould you like? I'll get you the Southern Cross--we never see it inWashington."

  "No, I want something familiar; the Pleiades or the Big Dipper--no, getme Canis Major--'where Sirius, brightest jewel in the diadem of thefirmament, holds sway'," she quoted. "There! Thought I'd forgotten allthe astronomy you ever taught me, didn't you? Think you can find it?"

  "Sure. Declination about minus twenty, as I remember it, and rightascension between six and seven hours. Let's see--where would that befrom our course?"

  He thought for a moment, manipulated several levers and dials, snappedoff the lights, and swung number one exterior visiplate around, directlybefore their eyes.

  "Oh.... Oh ... this is magnificent, Dick!" she exclaimed. "It'sstupendous. It seems as though we were right out there in space itself,and not in here at all. It's ... it's just too perfectly darnwonderful!"

  Although neither of them was unacquainted with interstellar space, itpresents a spectacle that never fails to awe even the most seasonedobserver: and no human being had ever before viewed the wonders of spacefrom such a coign of vantage. Thus the two fell silent and awed as theygazed out into the abysmal depths of the interstellar void. The darknessof Earthly night is ameliorated by light-rays scattered by theatmosphere: the stars twinkle and scintillate and their light isdiffused, because of the same medium. But here, what a contrast! Theysaw the utter, absolute darkness of the complete absence of all light:and upon that indescribable blackness they beheld superimposed thealmost unbearable brilliance of enormous suns concentrated intomathematical points, dimensionless. Sirius blazed in blue-whitesplendor, dominating the lesser members of his constellation, a minutebut intensely brilliant diamond upon a field of black velvet--hisrefulgence unmarred by any trace of scintillation or distortion.

  As Seaton slowly shifted the field of vision, angling toward and acrossthe celestial equator and the ecliptic, they beheld in turn mightyRigel; The Belt, headed by dazzlingly brilliant-white Delta-Orionis; redBetelguese; storied Aldebaran, the friend of mariners; and theastronomically constant Pleiades.

  Seaton's arm contracted, swinging Dorothy into his embrace; their lipsmet and held.

  "Isn't it wonderful, lover," she murmured, "to be out here in space thisway, together, away from all our troubles and worries? I am so happy."

  "It's all of that, sweetheart mine!"

  "I almost died, every time they shot at you. Suppose your armor crackedor something? I wouldn't want to go on living--I'd just naturally die!"

  "I'm glad it didn't--and I'm twice as glad that they didn't succeed ingrabbing you away from me...." His jaw set rigidly, his gray eyes becamehard as tempered drills. "Blackie DuQuesne has something coming to him.So far, I have always paid my debts.... I shall settle with him ... INFULL."

  "That was an awfully quick change of subject," he continued, his voicechanging instantly into a lighter vein, "but that's one penalty of beinghuman. We can't live in high altitudes all our lives--if we could therewould be no thrill in ascending them so often.

  "Yes, we love each other just the same--more than anybody else I everheard of." After a moment she eyed him shrewdly and continued:

  "You've got something on your mind besides that tangled mop of hair, bigboy. Tell it to Red-Top."

  "Nothing much...."

  "Come on, 'fess up--it's good for the soul. You can't fool your ownwife, guy; I know your little winning ways too well."

  "Let me finish, woman; I was about to bare my very soul. Toresume--nothing much to go on but a hunch, but I think DuQuesne'ssomewhere out here in the great open spaces, where men are sometimesschemers as well as men; and if so, I'm after him--foot, horse, andmarines."

  "That object compass?"

  "Yes. You see, I built that thing myself, and I know darn well it isn'tout of order. It's still on him, but doesn't indicate. Ergo, he is toofar away to reach--and with his weight, I could find him anywhere up toabout one and a half light-years. If he wants to go that far away fromhome, where is his logical destination? It
can't be anywhere but Osnome,since that is the only place we stopped at for any length of time--theonly place where he could have learned anything. He's learned something,or found something useful to him there, just as we did. That is certain,since he is not the type of man to do anything without a purpose. UncleDudley is on his trail--and will be able to locate him pretty soon."

  "When will you get that new compass-case exhausted to a skillionth of awhillimeter or something, whatever it is? I thought Dunark said it tookfive hundred hours of pumping to get it where he wanted it?"

  "It did him--but while the Osnomians are wonders at some things, they'renot so hot at others. You see, I've got three pumps on that job, inseries. First, a Rodebush-Michalek super-pump[A] then, backing that, anordinary mercury-vapor pump, and last, backing both the others, aCenco-Hyvac motor-driven oil pump. In less than fifty hours that casewill be as empty as a flapper's skull. Just to make sure of cleaning upthe last infinitesimal traces, though, I'm going to flash a gettercharge of tantalum in it. After that, the atmosphere in that case willbe tenuous--take my word for it."

  [A] J. Am. Chem. Soc. 51: 3, 750.

  "I'll have to; most of that contribution to science being over my headlike a circus tent. What say we let _Skylark Two_ drift by herself for awhile, and catch us some of Nature's sweet restorer?"