by E. E. Smith
CHAPTER V
First Blood
The next twelve hours dragged with terrible slowness. Sleep wasimpossible and eating was difficult, even though all knew that theywould have need of the full measure of their strength. Seaton set upvarious combinations of switching devices connected to electricaltimers, and spent hours trying, with all his marvelous quickness ofmuscular control, to cut shorter and ever shorter the time between theopening and the closing of the switch. At last he arranged a powerfulelectro-magnetic device so that one impulse would both open and closethe switch, with an open period of one one-thousandth of a second. Onlythen was he satisfied.
"A thousandth is enough to give us a look around, due to persistence ofvision; and it is short enough so that they won't see it unless theyhave a recording observer on us. Even if they still have rays on us,they can't possibly neutralize our screens in that short an exposure.All right, gang? We'll take five visiplates and cover the sphere. If anyof you get a glimpse of him, mark the exact spot and outline on theglass. All set?"
He pressed the button. The stars flashed in the black void for aninstant, then were again shut out.
"Here he is, Dick!" shrieked Margaret. "Right here--he covered almosthalf the visiplate!"
She outlined for him, as nearly as she could, the exact position of theobject she had seen, and he calculated rapidly.
"Fine business!" he exulted. "He's within half a mile of us,three-quarters on--perfect! I thought he'd be so far away that I'd haveto take photographs to locate him. He hasn't a single ray on us, either.That bird's goose is cooked right now, folks, unless every man on watchhas his hand right on the controls of a generator and can get intoaction in less than a tenth of a second! Hang on, gang, I'm going tostep on the gas!"
After making sure that everyone was fastened immovably in their seats hestrapped himself in the pilot's seat, then set the bar toward thestrange vessel and applied fully one-third of its full power. The_Skylark_, of course, did not move. Then, with bewildering rapidity, hewent into action; face glued to the visiplate, hands moving faster thanthe eye could follow--the left closing and opening the switchcontrolling the zone of force, the right swinging the steering controlsto all points of the sphere. The mighty vessel staggered this way andthat, jerking and straining terribly as the zone was thrown on and off,lurching sickeningly about the central bearing as the gigantic power ofthe driving bar was exerted, now in one direction, now in another. Aftera second or two of this mad gyration, Seaton shut off the power. He thenreleased the zone, after assuring himself that both inner and outerscreens were operating at the highest possible rating.
"There, that'll hold 'em for a while, I guess. This battle was evenshorter than the other one--and a lot more decisive. Let's turn on theflood-lights and see what the pieces look like."
The lights revealed that the zone of force had indeed sliced the enemyvessel into pieces. No fragment was large enough to be navigable ordangerous and each was sharply cut, as though sheared from its neighborby some gigantic curved blade. Dorothy sobbed with relief in Seaton'sarms as Crane, with one arm around his wife, grasped his hand.
"That was flawless, Dick. As an exhibition of perfect co-ordination andinstantaneous timing under extreme physical difficulties, I have neverseen its equal."
"You certainly saved all our lives," Margaret added.
"Only fifty-fifty, Peg," Seaton protested, and blushed vividly. "Martdid most of it, you know. I'd have gummed up everything back there if hehad let me. Let's see what we can find out about them."
He touched the lever and the _Skylark_ moved slowly toward the wreckage,the scattered fragments of which were beginning to move toward andaround each other because of their mutual gravitational forces. Snappingon a searchlight, he swung its beam around, and as it settled upon oneof the larger sections he saw a group of hooded figures; some of themupon the metal, others floating slowly toward it through space.
"Poor devils--they didn't have a chance," he remarked regretfully."However, it was either they or we--look out! Sweet spirits of niter!"
He leaped back to the controls and the others were hurled bodily to thefloor as he applied the power--for at a signal each of the hoodedfigures had leveled a tube and once more the outer screen had flamedinto incandescence.
As the _Skylark_ leaped away, Seaton focussed an attractor upon the onewho had apparently signaled the attack. Rolling the vessel over in ashort loop, so that the captive was hurled off into space upon the otherside, he snatched the tube from the figure's grasp with one auxiliaryattractor, and anchored head and limbs with others, so that the prisonercould scarcely move a muscle. Then, while Crane and the women scrambledup off the floor and hurried to the visiplates, Seaton cut in rays six,two-seven, and five-eight. Ray six, "the softener," was a band offrequencies extending from violet far up into the ultra-violet. Whendriven with sufficient power, this ray destroyed eyesight and nervoustissue, and its power increased still further, actually loosened themolecular structure of matter. Ray two-seven was operated in a range offrequencies far below the visible red. It was pure heat--under itsaction matter became hotter and hotter as long as it was applied, theupper limit being only the theoretical maximum of temperature. Rayfive-eight was high-tension, high-frequency alternating current. Anyconductor in its path behaved precisely as it would in the Ajax-Northrupinduction furnace, which can boil platinum in ten seconds! These threerays composed the beam which Seaton directed upon the mass of metal fromwhich the enemy had elected to continue the battle--and behind each ray,instead of the small energy at the command of its Osnomian inventor,were the untold millions of kilowatts developed by a one-hundred-poundbar of disintegrating copper!
* * * * *
There ensued a brief but appalling demonstration of the terribleeffectiveness of those Osnomian weapons against anything not protectedby ultra-powered ray screens. Metal and men--if men they were--literallyvanished. One moment they were outlined starkly in the beam; there was amoment of searing, coruscating, blinding light--the next moment the beambored on into the void, unimpeded. Nothing was visible save anoccasional tiny flash, as some condensed or solidified droplet of thevolatilized metal re-entered the path of that ravening beam.
"We'll see if there's any more of them loose," Seaton remarked, as heshut off the force and probed into the wreckage with a searchlight.
No sign of life or of activity was revealed, and the light was turnedupon the captive. He was held motionless in the invisible grip of theattractors, at the point where the force of those peculiar magnets wasexactly balanced by the outward thrust of the repellers. By manipulatingthe attractor holding it, Seaton brought the strange tubular weapon intothe control-room through a small air-lock in the wall and examined itcuriously, but did not touch it.
"I never heard of a hand-ray before, so I guess I won't play with itmuch until after I learn something about it."
"So you have taken a captive?" asked Margaret. "What are you going to dowith him?"
"I'm going to drag him in here and read his mind. He's one of theofficers of that ship, I believe, and I'm going to find out how to buildone exactly like it. This old can is now as obsolete as a 1920 flivver,and I'm going to make us a later model. How about it, Mart, don't wewant something really up-to-date if we're going to keep onspace-hopping?"
"We certainty do. Those denizens seem to be particularly venomous, andwe will not be safe unless we have the most powerful and most efficientspace-ship possible. However, that fellow may be dangerous, even now--infact, it is practically certain that he is."
"You chirped it, ace. I'd much rather touch a pound of dry nitrogeniodide. I've got him spread-eagled so that he can't destroy his brainuntil after we've read it, though, so there's no particular hurry abouthim. We'll leave him out there for a while, to waste his sweetness onthe desert air. Let's all look around for the _Kondal_. I sure hope theydidn't get her in that fracas."
They diffused the rays of eight giant searchlights into a vertical f
an,and with it swept slowly through almost a semi-circle before anythingwas seen. Then there was revealed a cluster of cylindrical objects amida mass of wreckage, which Crane recognized at once.
"The _Kondal_ is gone, Dick. There is what is left of her, and most ofher cargo of salt, in jute bags."
As he spoke, a series of green flashes played upon the bags, and Seatonyelled in relief.
"They got the ship all right, but Dunark and Sitar got away--they'restill with their salt!"
The _Skylark_ moved over to the wreck and Seaton, relinquishing thecontrols to Crane, donned a vacuum suit, entered the main air-lock andsnapped on the motor which sealed off the lock, pumped the air into apressure-tank, and opened the outside door. He threw a light line to thetwo figures and pushed himself lightly toward them. He then talkedbriefly to Dunark in the hand-language, and handed the end of the lineto Sitar, who held it while the two men explored the fragments of thestrange vessel, gathering up various things of interest as they cameupon them.
Back in the control-room, Dunark and Sitar let their pressure decreasegradually to that of the terrestrial vessel and removed the face-platesfrom their helmets.
"Again, oh Karfedo of Earth, we thank you for our lives," Dunark began,gasping for breath, when Seaton leaped to the air-gauge with a quickapology.
"Never thought of the effect our atmospheric pressure would have on youtwo. We can stand yours all right, but you'd pretty nearly pass out onours. There, that'll suit you better. Didn't you throw out your zone offorce?"
"Yes, as soon as I saw that our screens were not going to hold." TheOsnomians' labored breathing became normal as the air-pressure increasedto a value only a little below that of the dense atmosphere of theirnative planet. "I then increased the power of the screens to the extremelimit and opened the zone for a moment to see how the screens would holdwith the added power. That instant was enough. In that period aconcentrated beam, such as I had no idea could ever be generated, wentthrough the outer and inner screens as though they were not there,through the four-foot arenak of the hull, through the entire centralinstallation, and through the hull on the other side. Sitar and I werewearing suits...."
"Say, Mart, that's one bet we overlooked. It's a good idea, too--thosestrangers wore them all the time as regular equipment, apparently. Nexttime we get into a jam, be sure we do it; they might come in handy.Excuse me, Dunark--go ahead."
"We had suits on, so as soon as the ray was shut off, which was almostinstantly, I phoned the crew to jump, and we leaped out through the holein the hull. The air rushing out gave us an impetus that carried usmany miles out into space, and it required many hours for the slightattraction of the mass here to draw us back to it. We just got back afew minutes ago. That air-blast is probably what saved us, as theydestroyed our vessel with atomic bombs and hunted down the four men ofour crew, who stayed comparatively close to the scene. They rayed youfor about an hour with the most stupendous beams imaginable--no suchgenerators have ever been considered possible of construction--butcouldn't make any impression upon you. Then they shut off their powerand stood by, waiting. I wasn't looking at you when you released yourzone. One moment it was there, and the next, the stranger had been cutin pieces. The rest you know."
"We're sure glad you two got away, Dunark. Well, Mart, what say we dragthat guy in and give him the once-over?"
* * * * *
Seaton swung the attractors holding the prisoner until they were in linewith the main air-lock, then reduced the power of the repellers. As heapproached the lock various controls were actuated, and soon thestranger stood in the control room, held immovable against one wall,while Crane, with a 0.50-caliber elephant gun, stood against the other.
"Perhaps you girls should go somewhere else," suggested Crane.
"Not on your life!" protested Dorothy, who, eyes wide and flushed withexcitement, stood near a door, with a heavy automatic pistol in herhand. "I wouldn't miss this for a farm!"
"Got him solid," declared Seaton, after a careful inspection of thevarious attractors and repellers he had bearing upon the prisoner, "Nowlet's get him out of that suit. No--better read his air first,temperature and pressure--might analyze it, too."
Nothing could be seen of the person of the stranger, since he wasencased in vacuum armor, but it was plainly evident that he was veryshort and immensely broad and thick. By means of hollow needles forcedthrough the leather-like material of the suit Seaton drew off a sampleof the atmosphere within, into an Orsat apparatus, while Crane madepressure and temperature readings.
"Temperature, one hundred ten degrees. Pressure, twenty-eightpounds--about the same as ours is, now that we have stepped it up tokeep the Osnomians from suffering."
Seaton soon reported that the atmosphere was quite similar to that ofthe _Skylark_, except that it was much higher in carbon dioxide andcarried an extremely high percentage of water vapor. He took up a pairof heavy shears and laid the suit open full length, on both sides,knowing that the powerful attractors would hold the stranger immovable.He then wrenched off the helmet and cast the whole suit aside, revealingthe enemy officer, clad in a tunic of scarlet silk.
He was less than five feet tall. His legs were merely blocks, fully asgreat in diameter as they were in length, supporting a torso ofHerculean dimensions. His arms were as large as a strong man's thigh andhung almost to the floor. His astounding shoulders, fully a yard across,merged into and supported an enormous head. The being possessedrecognizable nose, ears, and mouth; and the great domed forehead andhuge cranium bespoke an immense and a highly developed brain.
But it was the eyes of this strange creature that fixed and held theattention. Large they were, and black--the dull, opaque, lusterlessblack of platinum sponge. The pupils were a brighter black, and in themflamed ruby lights: pitiless, mocking, cold. Plainly to be read in thosesinister depths were the untold wisdom of unthinkable age, sheerruthlessness, mighty power, and ferocity unrelieved. His baleful gazeswept from one member of the party to another, and to meet the glare ofthose eyes was to receive a tangible physical blow--it was actuallyponderable force; that of embodied hardness and of ruthlessnessincarnate, generated in that merciless brain and hurled forth throughthose flame-shot, Stygian orbs.
"If you don't need us for anything, Dick, I think Peggy and I will goupstairs," Dorothy broke the long silence.
"Good idea, Dot. This isn't going to be pretty to watch--or to do,either, for that matter."
"If I stay here another minute I'll see that thing as long as I live;and I might be very ill. Goodbye," and heartless and bloodthirstyOsnomian though she was, Sitar had gone to join the two Terrestrialwomen.
"I didn't want to say much before the girls, but I want to check acouple of ideas with you two. Don't you think it's a safe bet that thisbird reported back to his headquarters?"
"I have been thinking that very thing," Crane spoke gravely, and Dunarknodded agreement. "Any race capable of developing such a vessel as thiswould almost certainly have developed systems of communication inproportion."
"That's the way I doped it out--and that's why I'm going to read hismind, if I have to burn out his brain to do it. We've got to know howfar away from home he is, whether he has turned in any report about us,and all about it. Also, I'm going to get the plans, power, and armamentof their most modern ships, if he knows them, so that your gang, Dunark,can build us one like them; because the next boat that tackles us willbe warned and we won't be able to take it by surprise. We won't stand achance in the _Skylark_. With a ship like theirs, however, we canrun--or we can fight, if we have to. Any other ideas, fellows?"
* * * * *
As neither Crane nor Dunark had any other suggestions to offer, Seatonbrought out the mechanical educator, watching the creature's eyesnarrowly. As he placed one headset over that motionless head the captivesneered in pure contempt, but when the case was opened and the array oftubes and transformers was revealed, that expression disappeared; andwhen he a
dded a super-power stage by cutting in a heavy-duty transformerand a five-kilowatt transmitting tube, Seaton thought that he saw aninstantaneously suppressed flicker of doubt or fear.
"That headset thing was child's play to him, but he doesn't like thelooks of this other stuff at all. I don't blame him a bit--I wouldn'tlike to be on the receiving end of this hook-up myself. I'm going to puthim on the recorder and on the visualizer," Seaton continued as heconnected spools of wire and tape, lamps, and lenses in an intricatesystem and donned a headset. "I'd hate to have much of that brain in myown skull--afraid I'd bite myself. I'm just going to look on, and when Isee anything I want, I'll grab it and put it into my own brain. I'mstarting off easy, not using the big tube."
He closed several switches, lights flashed, and the wires and tapesbegan to feed through the magnets.
"Well, I've got his language, folks, he seemed to want me to have it.It's got a lot of stuff in it that I can't understand yet, though, soguess I'll give him some English."
He changed several connections and the captive spoke, in a profoundlydeep bass voice.
"You may as well discontinue your attempt, for you will gain noinformation from me. That machine of yours was out of date with usthousands of years ago."
"Save your breath or talk sense," said Seaton, coldly. "I gave youEnglish so that you can give me the information I want. You already knowwhat it is. When you get ready to talk, say so, or throw it on thescreen of your own accord. If you don't, I'll put on enough voltage toburn your brain out. Remember, I can read your dead brain as well asthough it were alive, but I want your thoughts, as well as yourknowledge, and I'm going to have them. If you give them voluntarily, Iwill tinker up a lifeboat that you can navigate back to your own worldand let you go; if you resist I intend getting them anyway and you shallnot leave this vessel alive. You may take your choice."
"You are childish, and that machine is impotent against my will. I couldhave defied it a hundred years ago, when I was barely a grown man. Knowyou, American, that we supermen of the Fenachrone are as far above anyof the other and lesser breeds of beings who spawn in their millions intheir countless myriads of races upon the numberless planets of theUniverse as you are above the inert metal from which this, your ship,was built. The Universe is ours, and in due course we shall takeit--just as in due course I shall take this vessel. Do your worst; Ishall not speak." The creature's eyes flamed, hurling a wave of hypnoticcommand through Seaton's eyes and deep into his brain. Seaton's verysenses reeled for an instant under the impact of that awful mentalforce; but after a short, intensely bitter struggle he threw off thespell.
"That was close, fellow, but you didn't quite ring the bell," he saidgrimly, staring directly into those unholy eyes. "I may rate pretty lowmentally, but I can't be hypnotized into turning you loose. Also I cangive you cards and spades in certain other lines which I am about todemonstrate. Being superman didn't keep the rest of your men from goingout in my ray, and being a superman isn't going to save your brain. I amnot depending upon my intellectual or mental force--I've got an ace inthe hole in the shape of five thousand volts to apply to the mostdelicate centers of your brain. Start giving me what I want, and startquick, or I'll tear it out of you."
The giant did not answer, merely glared defiance and bitter hate.
"Take it, then!" Seaton snapped, and cut in the super-power stage andbegan turning dials and knobs, exploring that strange mind for theparticular area in which he was most interested. He soon found it, andcut in the visualizer--the stereographic device, in parallel withSolon's own brain recorder, which projected a three-dimensional pictureinto the "viewing-area" or dark space of the cabinet. Crane and Dunark,tense and silent, looked on in strained suspense as, minute afterminute, the silent battle of wills raged. Upon one side was a horribleand gigantic brain, of undreamed of power; upon the other side a strongman, fighting for all that life holds dear, wielding against thatmonstrous and frightful brain a weapon wrought of high-tensionelectricity, applied with all the skill that earthly and Osnomianscience could devise.
Seaton crouched over the amplifier, his jaw set and every muscle taut,his eyes leaping from one meter to another, his right hand slowlyturning up the potentiometer which was driving more and ever more of thesearing, torturing output of his super-power tube into that stubbornbrain. The captive was standing utterly rigid, eyes closed, every senseand faculty mustered to resist that cruelly penetrant attack upon thevery innermost recesses of his mind. Crane and Dunark scarcely breathedas the three-dimensional picture in the visualizer varied from a blankto the hazy outlines of a giant space-cruiser. It faded out as theunknown exerted himself to withstand that poignant inquisition, only tocome back in, clearer than before, as Seaton advanced the potentiometerstill farther. Finally, flesh and blood could no longer resist thatlethal probe and the picture became sharp and clear. It showed thecaptain--for he was no less an officer than the commander of thevessel--at a great council table, seated, together with many otherofficers, upon very low, enormously strong metal stools. They werereceiving orders from their Emperor; orders plainly understood by Craneand the Osnomian alike, for thought needs no translation.
"Gentlemen of the Navy," the ruler spoke solemnly, "Our preliminaryexpedition, returned some time ago, achieved its every aim, and we arenow ready to begin fulfilling our destiny, the Conquest of the Universe.This Galaxy comes first. Our base of operations will be the largestplanet of that group of brilliant green suns, for they can be seen fromany point in the Galaxy and are almost in the exact center of it. Ourastronomers," here the captain's thoughts shifted briefly to anobservatory far out in space for perfect seeing, and portrayed areflecting telescope with a mirror five miles in diameter, capable ofpenetrating unimaginable myriads of light-years into space, "havetabulated all the suns, planets, and satellites belonging to thisGalaxy, and each of you has been given a complete chart and assigned acertain area which he is to explore. Remember, gentlemen, that thisfirst major expedition is to be purely one of exploration; the one ofconquest will set out after you have returned with complete information.You will each report by torpedo every tenth of the year. We do notanticipate any serious difficulty, as we are of course the highest typeof life in the Universe; nevertheless, in the unlikely event of trouble,report it. We shall do the rest. In conclusion, I warn you again--let nopeople know that we exist. Make no conquests, and destroy all who by anychance may see you. Gentlemen, go with power."
The captain embarked in a small airboat and was shot to his vessel. Hetook his station at an immense control board and the warship shot offinstantly, with unthinkable velocity, and with not the slightestphysical shock.
At this point Seaton made the captain take them all over the ship. Theynoted its construction, its power-plant, its controls--every minutedetail of structure, operation, and maintenance was taken from thecaptain's mind and was both recorded and visualized.
* * * * *
The journey seemed to be a very long one, but finally the cluster ofgreen suns became visible and the Fenachrone began to explore the solarsystems in the area assigned to that particular vessel. Hardly had thesurvey started, however, when the two globular space-cruisers weredetected and located. The captain stopped the ship briefly, thenattacked. They watched the attack, and saw the destruction of the_Kondal_. They looked on while the captain read the brain of one ofDunark's crew, gleaning from it all the facts concerning the twospace-ships, and thought with him that the two absentees from the_Kondal_ would drift back in a few hours, and would be disposed of indue course. They learned that these things were automatically impressedupon the torpedo next to issue, as was every detail of everything thathappened in and around the vessel. They watched him impress a thought ofhis own upon the record--"the inhabitants of planet three of sun sixfour seven three Pilarone show unusual development and may causetrouble, as they have already brought knowledge of the metal of powerand of the impenetrable shield to the Central System, which is to be ourbase. Recommend vola
tilization of this planet by vessel sent on specialmission." They saw the raying of the _Skylark_. They sensed him issuecommands:
"Ray it for a time; he will probably open the shield for a moment, asthe other one did," then, after a time skipped over by the mind underexamination. "Cease raying--no use wasting power. He must openeventually, as he runs out of power. Stand by and destroy him when heopens."
The scene shifted. The captain was asleep and was awakened by an alarmgong--only to find himself floating in a mass of wreckage. Making hisway to the fragment of his vessel containing the torpedo port, hereleased the messenger, which flew, with ever-increasing velocity, backto the capital city of the Fenachrone, carrying with it a record ofeverything that had happened.
"That's what I want," thought Seaton. "Those torpedoes went home, fast.I want to know how far they have to go and how long it'll take them toget there. You know what distance a parsec is, since it is purely amathematical concept; and you must have a watch or some similarinstrument with which we can translate your years into ours. I don'twant to have to kill you, fellow, and if you'll give up even now I'llspare you. I'll get it anyway, you know--and you also know that a fewhundred volts more will kill you."
They saw the thought received, and saw its answer: "You shall learn nomore. This is the most important of all, and I shall hold it todisintegration and beyond."
Seaton advanced the potentiometer still farther, and the brain picturewaxed and waned, strengthened and faded. Finally, however, it wasrevealed by flashes that the torpedo had about a hundred and fifty-fivethousand parsecs to go and that it would take two-tenths of a year tomake the journey; that the warships which would come in answer to themessage were as fast as the torpedo; that he did indeed have in his suita watch--a device of seven dials, each turning ten times as fast as itssuccessor; and that one turn of the slowest dial measured one year ofhis time. Seaton instantly threw off his headset and opened the powerswitch.
"Grab a stopwatch quick, Mart!" he called, as he leaped to the discardedvacuum suit and searched out the peculiar timepiece. They noted theexact time consumed by one complete revolution of one of the dials, andcalculated rapidly.
"Better than I thought!" exclaimed Seaton. "That makes his year aboutfour hundred ten of our days. That gives us eighty-two days before thetorpedo gets there--longer than I'd dared hope. We've got to fight, too,not run. They figure on getting the _Skylark_, then volatilizing ourworld. Well, we can take time enough to grab off an absolutely completerecord of this guy's brain. We'll need it for what's coming, and I'mgoing to get it, if I have to kill him to do it."
He resumed his place at the educator, turned on the power, and a shadowpassed over his face.
"Poor devil, he's conked out--couldn't stand the gaff," he remarked,half-regretfully. "However that makes it easy to get what we want, andwe'd have had to kill him anyway, I guess--Bad as it is, I'd hate tobump him off in cold blood."
He threaded new spools into the machine, and for three hours, mile aftermile of tape sped between the magnets as Seaton explored every recess ofthat monstrous, yet stupendous brain.
"Well, that's that," he declared finally, as, the last bit ofinformation gleaned and recorded upon the flying tape, he removed thebody of the Fenachrone captain into space and rayed it out of existence."Now what to do?"
"How can we get this salt to Osnome?" asked Dunark whose thoughts werenever far from that store of the precious chemical. "You are alreadycrowded, and Sitar and I will crowd you still more. You have no room foradditional cargo, and yet much valuable time would be lost in going toOsnome for another vessel."
"Yes, and we've got to get a lot of 'X', too. Guess we'll have to taketime to get another vessel. I'd like to drag in the pieces of that ship,too--his instruments and a lot of the parts could be used."
"Why not do it all at once?" suggested Crane. "We can start that wholemass toward Osnome by drawing it behind us until such a velocity hasbeen attained that it will reach there at the desired time. We couldthen go to 'X,' and overtake this material near the green system."
"Right you are, ace--that's a sound idea. But say, Dunark, it wouldn'tbe good technique for you to eat our food for any length of time. Whilewe're figuring this out you'd better hop over there and bring overenough to last you two until we get you home. Give it to Shiro--after acouple of lessons, you'll find he'll be as good as any of your cooks."
* * * * *
Faster and faster the _Skylark_ flew, pulling behind her the mass ofwreckage, held by every available attractor. When the calculatedvelocity had been attained, the attractors were shut off and the vesseldarted away toward that planet, still in the Carboniferous Age, whichpossessed at least one solid ledge of metallic "X," the rarest of allearthly metals. As the automatic controls held the cruiser upon hercourse, the six wanderers sat long in discussion as to what should bedone, what could be done, to avert the threatened destruction of all thecivilization of the Galaxy except the monstrous and unspeakable cultureof the Fenachrone. Nearing their destination, Seaton rose to his feet.
"Well, folks, it's like this. We've got our backs to the wall. Dunarkhas troubles of his own--if the Third Planet doesn't get him theFenachrone will, and the Third Planet is the more pressing danger. Thatlets him out. We've got nearly six months before the Fenachrone can getback here...."
"But how can they possibly find us here, or wherever we'll be by thattime, Dick?" asked Dorothy. "The battle was a long way from here."
"With that much start they probably couldn't find us," Seaton repliedsoberly. "It's the world I'm thinking about. They've got to be stopped,and stopped cold--and we've got only six months to do it in.... Osnome'sgot the best tools and the fastest workmen I know of...." his voice diedaway in thought.
"That sort of thing is in your department, Dick."
Crane was calm and judicial as always. "I will, of course, do anything Ican. But you probably have a plan of campaign already laid out?"
"After a fashion. We've got to find out how to work through this zone offorce or we're sunk without a trace. Even with rays, screens, and shipsequal to theirs, we couldn't keep them from sending a vessel to destroythe earth; and they'd probably get us too, eventually. They've got a lotof stuff we don't know about, of course, since I took only one man'smind. While he was a very able man, he didn't know all that all the restof them do, any more than any one man has all the earthly science known.Absolutely our only chance is to control that zone--it's the only thingthey haven't got. Of course, it may be impossible, but I won't believethat, until I've exhausted a lot of possibilities. Dunark, can you sparea crew to build us a duplicate of that Fenachrone ship, besides thoseyou are going to build for yourself?"
"Certainly. I will be only too glad to do so."
"Well, then, while Dunark is doing that, I suggest that we go to thisThird Planet, abduct a few of their leading scientists, and read theirminds. Then do the same, visiting every other highly advanced planet wecan locate. There is a good chance that, by combining the best points ofthe warfares of many worlds, we can evolve something that will enable usto turn back these invaders."
"Why not send a copper torpedo to destroy their entire planet?"suggested Dunark.
"Wouldn't work. Their detecting screens would locate it a thousandmillion miles off in space, and they would ray it. With a zone of forcethat would get through their screens, that would be the first thing I'ddo. You see, every thought comes back to that zone. We've got to getthrough it some way."
The course alarm sounded, and they saw that a planet lay directly intheir path. It was "X," and enough negative acceleration was applied tomake an easy landing possible.
"Isn't it going to be a long, slow job, chopping off two tons of thatmetal and fighting away those terrible animals besides?" asked Margaret.
"It'll take about a millionth of a second, Peg. I'm going to bite it offwith the zone, just as I took that bite out of our field. The rotationof the planet will throw us away from the surface, then w
e'll releasethe zone and drag our prey off with us. See?"
The _Skylark_ descended rapidly toward that well-remembered ledge ofmetal to which the object compass had led them.
"This is exactly where we landed before," Margaret commented insurprise, and Dorothy added:
"Yes, and there's that horrible tree that ate the dinosaur or whateverit was. I thought you blew it up for me, Dick?"
"I did, Dottie--blew it into atoms. Must be a good location forcarnivorous trees--and they must grow awfully fast, too. As to its beingthe same place, Peg--sure it is. That's what object compasses are for."
Everything appeared as it had been at the time of their first visit. Therank Carboniferous vegetation, intensely, vividly green, was motionlessin the still, hot, heavy air; the living nightmares inhabiting thatprimitive world were lying in the cooler depths of the jungle, shelteredfrom the torrid rays of that strange and fervent sun.
"How about it, Dot? Want to see some of your little friends again? Ifyou do, I'll give them a shot and bring them out."
"Heavens, no! I saw them once--if I never see them again, that will betwenty minutes too soon!"
"All right--we'll grab us a piece of this ledge and beat it."
Seaton lowered the vessel to the ledge, focussed the main anchoringattractor upon it, and threw on the zone of force. Almost immediately hereleased the zone, pointed the bar parallel to the compass bearing uponOsnome, and slowly applied the power.
"How much did you take, anyway?" asked Dunark in amazement. "It looksbigger than the _Skylark_!"
"It is; considerably bigger. Thought we might as well take enough whilewe're here, so I set the zone for a seventy-five-foot radius. It'sprobably of the order of magnitude of half a million tons, since thestuff weighs more than half a ton to the cubic foot. However, we canhandle it as easily as we could a smaller bite, and that much mass willhelp us hold that other stuff together when we catch up with it."
* * * * *
The voyage to Osnome was uneventful. They overtook the wreckage, true toschedule, as they were approaching the green system, and attached it tothe mass of metal behind them by means of attractors.
"Where'll we land this junk, Dunark?" asked Seaton, as Osnome grew largebeneath them. "We'll hold this lump of metal and the fragment of theship carrying the salt; and we'll be able to hold some of the mostimportant of the other stuff. But a lot of it is bound to get away fromus--and the Lord help anybody who's under it when it comes down! Youmight yell for help--and say, you might ask somebody to have thatastronomical data ready for us as soon as we land."
"The parade ground will be empty now, so we will land there," Dunarkreplied. "We should be able to land everything in a field of that size,I should think." He touched the sender at his belt, and in the generalcode notified the city of their arrival and warned everyone to keep awayfrom the parade ground. He then sent several messages in the officialcode, concluding by asking that one or two space-ships come out and helplower the burden to the ground. As the peculiar, pulsating chatter ofthe Osnomian telegraph died out, Seaton called for help.
"Come here, you two, and grab some of these attractors. I need abouttwelve hands to keep this plunder in the straight and narrow path."
The course had been carefully laid, with allowance for the variousvelocities and forces involved, to follow the easiest path to theKondalian parade ground. The hemisphere of "X" and the fragment of the_Kondal_ which bore the salt were held immovably in place by the mainattractor and one auxiliary; and many other auxiliaries held sections ofthe Fenachrone vessel. However, the resistance of the air seriouslyaffected the trajectory of many of the irregularly shaped smaller massesof metal, and all three men were kept busy flicking attractors right andleft; capturing those strays which threatened to veer off into thestreets or upon the buildings of the Kondalian capital city, andshifting from one piece to another so that none should fall freely. Twosister-ships of the _Kondal_ appeared as if by magic in answer toDunark's call, and their attractors aided greatly in handling the unrulycollection of wreckage. A few of the smaller sections and a shower ofdebris fell clear, however, in spite of all efforts, and their approachwas heralded by a meteoric display unprecedented in that world ofcontinuous daylight.
As the three vessels with their cumbersome convoy dropped down into thelower atmosphere, the guns of the city roared a welcome; banners andpennons waved; the air became riotous with color from hundreds ofprojectors and odorous with a bewildering variety of scents; while allaround them played numberless aircraft of all descriptions and sizes.The space below them was carefully avoided, but on all sides and abovethem the air was so full that it seemed marvelous that no collisionoccurred. Tiny one-man helicopters, little more than single chairsflying about; beautiful pleasure-planes, soaring and wheeling; immensemultiplane liners and giant helicopter freighters--everything in the airfound occasion to fly as near as possible to the Skylark in order to diptheir flags in salute to Dunark, their Kofedix, and to Seaton, thewearer of the seven disks--their revered Overlord.
Finally the freight was landed without serious mishap and the _Skylark_leaped to the landing dock upon the palace roof, where the royal familyand many nobles were waiting, in full panoply of glittering harness.Dunark and Sitar disembarked and the four others stepped out and stoodat attention as Seaton addressed Roban, the Karfedix.
"Sir, we greet you, but we cannot stop, even for a moment. You know thatonly the most urgent necessity would make us forego the pleasure of abrief rest beneath your roof--the Kofedix will presently give you themeasure of that dire need. We shall endeavor to return soon. Greetings,and, for a time, farewell."
"Overlord, we greet you, and trust that soon we may entertain you andprofit from your companionship. For what you have done, we thank you.May the great First Cause smile upon you until your return. Farewell."