by H. B. Hickey
His eyesroved over them, trying to discover what armament they carried. None wasvisible. Their firing tubes were much the same as those of Earth design,but slightly smaller.
His attention was diverted from his study by a sudden disturbance aboardthe closest ship. The sound of an angry feminine voice came clearly throughan open porthole, and mingled with it was a pleading, deeper tone. Aninstant later a door was flung open and out of it came hurtling one of themen of Teris. He hit the ground, rolled over, and came to his knees facingthe open door and the giant woman who stood framed in it.
* * * * *
That the man was pleading for his very life was obvious to Ben, but it wasequally plain that his pleas were having no effect. The woman on the shiputtered a single contemptuous word that cut the pleas short. On her facewas a sadistic anticipation such as Ben had never before seen. Slowly sheraised a cylinder in her hand and pointed it at the man on the ground.
From the cylinder came a violet light, weak at first, but growing inintensity as she pressed some sort of trigger. The man shrieked in agony asthe light played on him. Then the smell of burning flesh came to Ben'snostrils, and the shriek became a single high pitched scream which chokedoff suddenly.
Ben's escort laughed with ghoulish enjoyment, said something to the womanin the doorway, and gestured at the charred body on the ground. The violetlight grew to blinding intensity. A puff of smoke and the body was gone.
"What was that for?" Ben gasped.
His escort smiled indulgently and shot a question at the other woman. Thereply was a shrug of shoulders and a few short syllables.
"He did something that displeased her," she told Ben. At his look of horrorshe laughed again, apparently pleased to have shocked him.
He noticed, as they went along, that the space ships decreased in size.Those in the first rows had been comparable to Earth's battle cruisers,those in the last were one or two man jobs. His own ship, the _Rapier_, wasat the very end of the last line.
Beyond was a vast army of men, both rosy skinned and hairy, at work on agigantic excavation project. Great power shovels scooped load after load ofearth. But most of the work was being done by the men who labored withprimitive pick and shovel.
Above the sound of digging rose the sharp voices of the giant women ofTeris, each with a battalion under her command. As far as Ben's eyes couldreach men were digging at the ground.
He was hustling along to a point where a dirt spattered group struggledwith a metallic lining for the half-mile hole it had excavated. At thatpoint his escort turned him over to the woman who bossed that crew. Ben sawin the hand of the overseer one of the violet ray cylinders.
"Down there," she said curtly, pointing to where a small knot of men workedon a terrace fifty feet below. "They will tell you what to do."
Ben had found nothing strange in the fact that his escort had spokenEnglish fluently. She had been present at his electroanalysis. But hedoubted that all the women of Teris could have the same command of thelanguage. Nevertheless he said nothing and clambered down the ladder to theterrace beneath. Ben's unasked question was answered when he saw the fivefaces turned up toward him.
* * * * *
Earth men! Even the grime that covered them could not hide that. And therewas added proof in their widening eyes. They were sorry to see anotherEarth man captive, yet happy at sight of one of their own kind. Willinghands helped Ben down from the bottom rung of the ladder.
"We'd heard they had picked up another ship," one of the men said. "But weweren't sure the rumor was true."
"True enough, as you can see. I'm Ben Sessions."
His outstretched hand was grasped and shaken cordially. Names were flung athim. Murchison, Davies, Kennard, Bannon, Murchison.
"Wait a second," Ben said. "I thought I heard Murchison twice."
"You did," said the big, rawboned man at whom he was staring. "The first ismy daughter Sally."
It was only then that Ben noticed how small and slender was the figure ofthe one next to Murchison. Even the girl's loose robe, similar to that ofthe men, could not quite conceal her femininity. Her hair was cut short,her hands toil hardened.
"Carson didn't tell me," Ben muttered. He grinned at Murchison. "I expectedto find you and two assistants, but I didn't know one would be yourdaughter."
"Expected--?" Hope glinted in five pairs of eyes. Above them there was ashouted command to get to work, and a cylinder was waved threateningly.
"I'll explain as we go along," Ben said hastily. "Show me what to do."
Bannon, a short, thickset man with a mop of unruly black hair shoved a pairof tongs into Ben's hands and quickly explained how to hold the rivets withwhich the group was working. In effect they were constructing a hugecylinder. Looking down, Ben saw that it descended into the bowels of Teris.
The others were pressing Ben for his explanation but he insisted that theytell their stories first. The same thing had happened to them as to him.Within some thousands of miles of Teris they had felt a force pull themtoward it. Then they had passed out and awakened to find themselvesprisoners.
"I know all that," Ben said. "But in all the time you've been here you musthave found out a good deal. What goes on here? Why are they taking prisonerevery one who approaches the planet? Why do they conceal its existence fromour system?"
Murchison paused between blows of his hammer, as though to wipe sweat fromhis brow.
"Since you seem in a hurry," he said, "I will tell it in brief. You are inthe center of a planet whose evil people are engaged in one enterprise: theconquering and subjugating of our universe."
"I thought that might be it," Ben nodded. "But subjugating billions ofpeople may prove tougher than they think."
"Their intention is to reduce our population so it can be easily handled.And I can assure you that these women are perfectly capable of slaughteringas many people as they think necessary. They have both the means and thecontempt for human life that such an undertaking requires."
Ben hazarded a guess. "This project is part of their preparation?"
"The final part. Since the surface of Teris has a temperature of absolutezero it can only be reached from here through a series of locks. What theyare building now are new locks big enough to handle their largest ships. Assoon as that's done they plan to attack."
"Any idea when that will be?"
"About a week, Earth time." Murchison's shoulders sagged with despair."We've been wracking our brains for a way to stop them, but it's no use.They're as clever as they are evil. They've even sent doubles of each of usmen to Earth to pave the way for the attack. I suppose you've seen yourdouble."
"No."
"Then they haven't made one. You have to be awake while it's being done. Isuppose they didn't think it necessary now that there's so little timeleft."
"Less time than I thought," Ben grunted. "I'd better get moving." He tiltedhis head back and shouted to the woman above.
* * * * *
For a second time Ben stood before Arndis, queen of Teris. Her eyes probedat him, trying to divine his thoughts. There was anger in those eyes. Ifshe detected a single flaw in his story it would mean Ben's death. Morethan that, it would mean disaster for Earth. He talked fast.
"When we found that plate in the firing tube of Murchison's ship we knew hewas lying. We figured he'd discovered valuable deposits out here and wastrying to keep them secret."
"That was all?"
"It's enough, isn't it? Enough for Interplanetary Intelligence to send meon this mission. Those false papers I carried are proof that we suspectedsomething. And if I'm not back in the time we allowed they'll have ourentire battle fleet out looking for me."
"Very clever," Arndis smiled. "But if you are trying to frighten us you arefailing. The women of Teris had a high civilization before your Earth wasborn. We can do things you never dreamed of."
At her command Ben's arms were seized and bound behind him. He was
carriedswiftly into a room nearby, a room filled with a maze of scientificapparatus. On what appeared to be an operating table was a transparentshell, and beneath this Ben was strapped.
Through the shell he saw one of the men of Teris brought into the room andplaced in a similar position on another table. Wires were strung betweenthe two shells and somewhere a machine began to hum. The shells filled witha white vapor that lingered a moment and then was gone.
Although he had known what was to happen Ben could not control hisamazement. For the man who came out of the other shell was an exact replicaof himself! Within minutes he saw the other dressed in his own flying suit.
"You see how