by Various
_We had been captured by a race of gigantic beetles._]
The Attack from Space
A SEQUEL TO "BEYOND THE HEAVISIDE LAYER"
_By Captain S. P. Meek_
"No one knows what unrevealed horrors space holds and the world will never rest entirely easy until the slow process of time again heals the protective layer."--From "Beyond the Heaviside Layer."
Over a year has passed since I wrote those lines. When they were writtenthe hole which Jim Carpenter had burned with his battery of infra-redlamps through the heaviside layer, that hollow sphere of invisiblesemi-plastic organic matter which encloses the world as a nutshell doesa kernel, was gradually filling in as he had predicted it would: everyone thought that in another ten years the world would be safely enclosedagain in its protective layer as it had been since the dawn of time.There were some adventurous spirits who deplored this fact, as it wouldeffectually bar interplanetary travel, for Hadley had proved with hislife that no space flyer could force its way through the fifty miles ofalmost solid material which barred the road to space, but they were inthe minority. Most of humanity felt that it would rather be protectedagainst the denizens of space than to have a road open for them totravel to the moon if they felt inclined.
[Sidenote: From a far world came monstrous invaders who were all themore terrifying because invisible.]
To be sure, during the five years that the hole had been open, nothingmore dangerous to the peace and well-being of the world had appearedfrom space than a few hundreds of the purple amoeba which we had foundso numerous on the outer side of the layer, when we had traveled in aHadley space ship up through the hole into the outer realms of space,and one lone specimen of the green dragons which we had alsoencountered. The amoeba had been readily destroyed by the disintegratingrays of the guarding space-ships which were stationed inside the layerat the edge of the hole and the lone dragon had fallen a ready victim tothe machine-gun bullets which had been poured into it. At first thepress had damned Jim Carpenter for opening the road for these horrors,but once their harmlessness had been clearly established, the row haddied down and the appearance of an amoeba did not merit over a squib onthe inside pages of the daily papers.
* * * * *
While the hole in the heaviside layer was no longer news for the dailypress, a bitter controversy still waged in the scientific journals as tothe reason why no observer on earth, even when using the most powerfultelescopes, could see the amoeba before they entered the hole, and thenonly when their telescopes were set up directly under the hole. When atelescope of even small power was mounted in the grounds back ofCarpenter's laboratory, the amoeba could be detected as soon as theyentered the hole, or when they passed above it through space; but, asidefrom that point of vantage, they were entirely invisible.
Carpenter's theory of the absorptive powers of the material of which theheaviside layer was composed was laughed to scorn by most scientists,who pointed out the fact that the sun, moon and stars could be readilyseen through it. Carpenter replied that the rays of colored or visiblelight could only pass through the layer when superimposed upon a carrierwave of ultra-violet or invisible light. He stated dogmatically that theamoeba and the other denizens of space absorbed all the ultra-violetlight which fell on them and reflected only the visible rays which couldnot pass through the heaviside layer because of the lack of asynchronized carrier wave of shorter wave-length.
Despetier replied at great length and showed by apparently unimpeachablemathematics that Carpenter was entirely wrong and that his statementsshowed an absolute lack of knowledge of the most elementary andfundamental laws of light transmission. Carpenter replied briefly thathe could prove by mathematics that two was equal to one and hechallenged Despetier or anyone else to satisfactorily explain theobserved facts in any other way. While they vainly tried to do so,Carpenter lapsed into silence in his Los Angeles laboratory and delvedever deeper into the problems of science. Such was the situation whenthe attack came from space.
My first knowledge of the attack came when McQuarrie, the city editor ofthe San Francisco _Clarion_, sent for me. When I entered his office hetossed a Los Angeles dispatch on the desk before me and with a growlordered me to read it. It told of the unexplained disappearance of aneleven year old boy the night before. It looked like a commonkidnapping.
"Well?" I asked as I handed him back the dispatch.
With another growl he tossed down a second telegram. I read it withastonishment, for it told of a second disappearance which had happenedabout an hour after the first. The similarity of the two cases was atonce apparent.
"Coincidence or connection?" I asked as I returned it.
"Find out!" he replied. "If I knew which it was I wouldn't be wastingthe paper's money by sending you to Los Angeles. I don't doubt that I amwasting it anyway, but as long as I am forced to keep you on as areporter, I might as well try to make you earn the money the ownerwastes on paying you a salary, even although I know it to be a hopelesstask. Go on down there and see what you can find out, if anything."
I jotted down in my notebook the names and addresses of the missingchildren and turned to leave. A boy entered and handed McQuarrie ayellow slip. He glanced at it and called me back.
"Wait a minute, Bond," he said as he handed me the dispatch. "I doubtbut you'd better fly down to Los Angeles. Another case has just beenreported."
I hastily copied down the dispatch he handed me, which was almost aduplicate of the first two with the exception of the time and the name.Three unexplained disappearances in one day was enough to warrant speed;I drew some expense money and was on my way south in a chartered planewithin an hour.
On my arrival I went to the Associated Press office and found a messagewaiting for me, directing me to call McQuarrie on the telephone at once.
"Hello, Bond," came his voice over the wire, "have you just arrived?Well, forget all about that disappearance case. Prince is on his way toLos Angeles to cover it. You hadn't been gone an hour before a wire camein from Jim Carpenter. He says, 'Send Bond to me at once by fastestconveyance. Chance for a scoop on the biggest story of the century.' Idon't know what it's about, but Jim Carpenter is always front page news.Get in touch with him at once and stay with him until you have thestory. Don't risk trying to telegraph it when you get it--telephone. Getmoving!"
I lost no time in getting Carpenter on the wire.
"Hello, First Mortgage," he greeted me. "You made good time getting downhere. Where are you?"
"At the A. P. Office."
"Grab a taxi and come out to the laboratory. Bring your grip with you:you may have to stay over night."
"I'll be right out, Jim. What's the story?"
His voice suddenly grew grave.
"It's the biggest thing you ever handled," he replied. "The fate of thewhole world may hang on it. I don't want to talk over the phone; come onout and I'll give you the whole thing."
* * * * *
An hour later I shook hands with Tim, the guard at the gate of theCarpenter laboratory, and passed through the grounds to enter Jim'sprivate office. He greeted me warmly and for a few minutes we chatted ofold times when I worked with him as an assistant in his atomicdisintegration laboratory and of the stirring events we had passedthrough together when we had ventured outside the heaviside layer in hisspace ship.
"Those were stirring times," he said, "but I have an idea, FirstMortgage, that they were merely a Sunday school picnic compared to whatwe are about to tackle."
"I guessed that you had something pretty big up your sleeve from yourmessage." I replied. "What's up now? Are we going to make a trip to themoon and interview the inhabitants?"
"We may interview them without going that far," he said. "Have you seena morning paper?"
"No."
"Look at this."
He handed me a copy of the _Gazette_. Streamer headlines told of thethree disappearances which I had come to Los Angeles to cover,
but theyhad grown to five during the time I had been flying down. I looked atJim in surprise.
"We got word of that in San Francisco," I told him, "and I came downhere to cover the story. When I got here, McQuarrie telephoned me yourmessage and told me to come and see you instead. Has your messageanything to do with this?"
"It has everything to do with it, First Mortgage; in fact, it _is_ it.Have you any preconceived ideas on the disappearance epidemic?"
"None at all."
"All the better--you'll be able to approach the matter with an unbiasedviewpoint. Don't read that hooey put out by an inspired reporter whoblames the laxness of the city government; I'll give you the factswithout embellishment. Nothing beyond the bare fact of the disappearanceis known about the first case. Robert Prosser, aged eleven, was sent tothe grocery store by his mother about six-thirty last night and failedto return. That's all we know about it, except that it happened in EagleRock. The second case we have a little more data on. William Hill, agedtwelve, was playing in Glendale last night with some companions. Theywere playing 'hide and go seek' and William hid. He could not be foundby the boy who was searching and has not been found since. Hiscompanions became frightened and reported it about eight o'clock. Theysaw nothing, but mark this! Four of them agree that they heard a soundin the air _like a motor humming_."
"That proves nothing."
"Taken alone it does not, but in view of the third case, it is quitesignificant. The third case happened about nine-thirty last night. Thistime the victim was a girl, aged ten. She was returning home from amoving picture with some companions and she disappeared. This time theother children saw her go. They say she was suddenly taken straight upinto the air and then disappeared from sight. They, also claim to haveheard a sound like a big electric fan in the air at the time, althoughthey could see nothing."
"Had they heard the details of the second disappearance?"
"They had not. I can see what you are thinking; that they wereunconsciously influenced by the account given of the other case."
"Consciously or unconsciously."
"I doubt it, for the fourth case was almost a duplicate of the third.The fourth and fifth cases happened this morning. In the fourth case thechild, for it was a nine year old girl this time, was lifted into theair in broad daylight and disappeared. This disappearance was witnessed,not only by children, but also by two adults, and their testimony agreescompletely with that of the children. The fifth case is similar to thefirst: a ten year old boy disappeared without trace. The whole city isin a reign of terror."
* * * * *
The telephone at Carpenter's elbow rang and he answered it. A shortconversation took place and he turned to me with a grim face as he hungup the receiver.
"Another case has just been reported to police headquarters from BeverlyHills," he said. "Again the child was seen to be lifted into the air bysome invisible means and disappeared. The sound of a motor was plainlyheard by five witnesses, who all agree that it was just, above theirheads, but that nothing could be seen."
"Was it in broad daylight?"
"Less than an hour ago."
"But, Jim, that's impossible!"
"Why is it impossible?"
"It would imply the invisibility of a tangible substance; of a solid."
"What of it?"
"Why, there isn't any such substance. Nothing of the sort exists."
Carpenter pointed to one of the windows of his laboratory.
"Does that window frame contain glass or not?" he asked.
I strained my eyes. Certainly nothing was visible.
"Yes," I said at a venture.
He rose and thrust his hand through the space where the glass shouldhave been.
"Has this frame glass in it?" he asked, pointing to another.
"No."
He struck the glass with his knuckle.
"I'll give up," I replied. "I am used to thinking of glass as beingtransparent but not invisible; yet I can see that under certain lightconditions it may be invisible. Granted that such is the case, do youbelieve that living organisms can be invisible?"
"Under the right conditions, yes. Has any observer been able to see anyof the purple amoeba which we know are so numerous on the outer side ofthe heaviside layer?"
"Not until they have entered the hole through the layer."
"And yet those amoeba are both solid and opaque, as you know. Why is itnot possible that men, or intelligences of some sort, are in the airabout us and yet are invisible to our eyes!"
"If they are, why haven't we received evidence of it years ago?"
"Because there has only been a hole through the heaviside layer for sixyears. Before that time they could not penetrate it any more than poorHadley could with his space ship. They have not entered the hole earlierbecause it is a very small one, at present only some two hundred andfifty yards in diameter in a sphere of over eight thousand milesdiameter. The invaders have just found the entrance."
"The invaders? Do you think that the world has been invaded?"
"I do. How else can you explain the very fact which you have justquoted, that no evidence of the presence on these invisible entities haspreviously been recorded?"
"Where did they come from?"
"They may have come from anywhere in the solar system, or even fromoutside it but I fancy, that they are from Mars or Venus."
"Why so?"
"Because they are the two planets nearest to the earth and are the oneswhere conditions are the most like they are on the earth. Venus, forexample, has an atmosphere and a gravity about .83 of earthly gravity,and life of a sort similar to that of the earth might well live there.Further, it seems more probable that the invaders have come from one ofthe nearby planets than from the realms of space beyond the solarsystem."
"What about the moon?"
"We can dismiss that because of the lack of an atmosphere."
"It sounds logical, Jim, but the idea of living organisms of sufficientsize to lift a child into the air who are invisible seems a littleabsurd."
"I never said they were invisible. I don't think they are."
"But they must be, else why weren't they seen?"
"Use your head, First Mortgage. Those purple amoeba we encountered werequite visible to us, yet they are invisible to observers on the earth."
"Yes, but that is because the heaviside layer is between them and theearth. As soon as they come below it they can be seen."
* * * * *
"Exactly. Why is it not possible that the Venetians, or Martians, orwhoever our invaders are, have encased themselves and their space flyerin a layer of some substance similar to the heaviside layer, a substancewhich is permeable to light rays only when a large proportion ofultra-violet rays accompany the visible rays? If they did this and thenconstructed the walls of their ship of some substance which absorbed allthe ultra-violet rays which fell on it; not only would the ship itselfbe invisible, but also everything contained in it--and yet they couldsee the outside world easily. That such _is_ the case is proved by thedisappearance of those children in mid-air. They were taken into a spaceship behind an ultra-violet absorbing wall and so became invisible."
"If the walls absorbed all the ultra-violet and were impermeable tolight without ultra-violet, the ship would appear as a black opaquesubstance and could be seen."
"That would be true except for one thing which you are forgetting. Theheaviside layer, as I have repeatedly proved, is a splendid conductor ofultra-violet. The rays falling on it are probably bent along the line ofthe covering layer so that they open up and bend around the ship in thesame manner as flowing water will open up and flow around a stone andthen come together again. The light must flow around the solid ship andthen join again in such a manner that the eye can detect nointerruption."
"Jim, all that sounds reasonable, but have you any proof of it?"
"No, First Mortgage, I haven't--yet; but if the Lord is good to us we'llhave
definite proof this afternoon and be in a position to successfullycombat this new menace to the world."
"Do you expect me to go on another one of your crack-brained expeditionsinto the unknown with you?"
* * * * *
"Certainly I do, but this time we won't go out of the known. I have ourold space flyer which we took beyond the heaviside layer six years agoready for action and we're going to look for the invaders thisafternoon."
"How will we see them if they are invisible?"
"They are invisible to ordinary light but not to ultra-violet light.While most of the ultra-violet is deflected and flows around the ship orelse is absorbed, I have an idea that, if we bathe it in a sufficientconcentration of ultra-violet, some would be reflected. We are going tolook for the reflected portion."
"Ultra-violet light is invisible."
"It is to the eye, but it can be detected. You know that radium isactivated and glows under ultra-violet?"
"Yes."
"Mounted on our flyer are six ultra-violet searchlights. By the side ofeach one is a wide angle telescopic concentrator which will focus anyreflected ultra-violet onto a radium coated screen and thus make itvisible to us. In effect the apparatus is a camera obscura with all lensmade of rock crystal or fused quartz, both of which allow free passageto ultra-violet."
"What will we do if we find them?"
"Mounted beneath the telescope is a one-pounder gun with radite shells.If we locate them, we will use our best efforts to shoot them down."
"Suppose they are armed too?"
* * * * *
"In that case I hope that you shoot faster and straighter than they do.If you don't--well, old man, it'll just be too damned bad."
"I don't know that the _Clarion_ hires me to go out and shoot atinvisible invaders from another planet, but if I don't go with you, Iexpect you'd just about call up the _Echo_ or the _Gazette_ and ask themfor a gunner."
"Just about."
"In that case, I may as well be sacrificed as anyone else. When do westart?"
"You old faker!" cried Jim, pounding me on the back. "You wouldn't missthe trip for anything. If you're ready we'll start right now. Everythingis ready."
"Including the sacrifice," I replied, rising. "All right, Jim, let's goand get it over with. If we live, I'll have to get back in time totelephone the story to McQuarrie for the first edition."
I followed Jim out of the laboratory and to a large open space behindthe main building where the infra-red generators with which he hadpierced the hole through the heaviside layer had been located. Thereflectors were still in place, but the bank of generators had beenremoved. A gang of men were hard at work erecting a huge parabolicreflector in the center of the circle, about the periphery of which theinfra-red reflectors were placed. In an open space near the center stooda Hadley space ship, toward which Jim led the way.
* * * * *
I wondered at the activity and meant to ask what it portended, but inthe excitement of boarding the flyer forgot it. I followed Jim in; heclosed the door and started the air conditioner.
"Here, First Mortgage," he said as he turned from the control board andfaced me, "here are the fluoroscopic screens. They are arranged in abank, so that you can keep an eye on all of them readily. Beneath eachtelescope is an automatic one-pounder gun with its mount geared to thetelescope and the light, so that the gun bears continually on the pointin space represented by the center of the fluoroscopic screen whichbelongs to that light. If we locate anything, turn your beam until theobject is in the exact center of the screen where these two cross-hairsare. When you have it lined up, push this button and the gun will fire."
"What about reloading?"
"The guns are self-loading. Each one has twenty shells in its magazineand will fire one shot each time the button is pushed until it is empty.If you empty one magazine, I can turn the ship so that another gun willbear. This gives you a total of one hundred and twenty shots quicklyavailable; there are sixty extra rounds, which we can break out and loadinto the magazines in a few seconds. Do you understand everything?"
"I guess so. Everything seems clear enough."
"All right; sit down and we'll start."
* * * * *
I took my seat, and Jim pulled the starting lever. I was glued to theseat and the heavy springs in the cushion were compressed almost totheir limit by the sudden acceleration. As soon as we were well clearof the ground Jim reduced his power, and in a few moments we werefloating motionless in the air, a thousand feet up. He left the controlboard and came to my side.
"Start your ultra lights," he said as he joined me. "We may be able tospot something from here."
I started the lights and we stared at the screens before us. Nothingappeared on any of them except the one pointing directly down, and onlyan image of the ground, appeared on it. Under Jim's tutelage I swung thebeams in wide circles, covering the space around us, but nothingappeared.
"Those beams won't project over five miles in this atmosphere," he said,"and the ship we are looking for may be so small that we would havetrouble locating it at any great distance. I am going to move over nearthe scene of the last disappearance. Keep your lights swinging and singout if you see anything on the screens."
I could feel the ship start to move slowly under the force of a sidedischarge from the rocket motor, and I swung the beams of the six lightsaround, trying to cover the entire area about us. Nothing appeared onthe screens for an hour, and my head began to ache from the strain ofunremitting close observation of the glowing screens. A buzz soundingover the hum of the rocket motor attracted my attention; Jim pulled hislevers to neutral with the exception of the one which maintained ourelevation and stepped to an instrument on the wall of the flyer.
"Hello," he called. "What? Where did it happen? All right, thanks, we'llmove over that way at once."
* * * * *
He turned from the radio telephone and spoke.
"Another disappearance has just been reported," he said. "It happened onthe outskirts of Pasadena. Keep your eyes open: I'm going to head inthat direction."
A few minutes later we were floating over Pasadena. Jim stopped theflyer and joined me at the screens. We swung our beams in wide circlesto cover the entire area around us, but no image on the screens rewardedus.
"Doggone it, they must have left here in a hurry," grumbled Jim.
Even as he spoke the flyer gave a lurch which nearly threw me off myseat and which sent Jim sprawling on the floor. With a white face heleaped to the control board and pulled the lever controlling our oneworking stern motor to full power. For a moment the ship moved upwardand then came to a dead stop, although the motor still roared at fullspeed.
"Can't you see anything, Pete?" cried Jim as he threw our second sternmotor into gear.
Again the ship moved upward for a few feet and then stopped. I swung thesearchlights frantically in all directions, but five of the screensremained blank and the sixth showed only the ground below us.
"Not a thing," I replied.
"Something ought to show," he muttered, and suddenly shut off bothmotors. The flyer gave a sickening lurch toward the ground, but we fellonly a hundred yards before our motion stopped. We hung suspended in theair with no motors working. Jim joined me at the screens and we swungthe lights rapidly without success.
"Look, Pete!" Jim cried hoarsely.
* * * * *
My gaze followed his pointing finger and I saw the door of our flyerspringing out as though some force from the outside were trying towrench it open. The pull ceased for an instant, then came again; thesturdy latches burst and the door was torn from its hinges. Jim swungone of the searchlights until the beam was at right angles to the hullof the flyer and pressed the gun button. A crash filled the confinedspace of the flyer as a one-pounder radite shell tore out into space.
"They're there but still invisible," he exclaimed as he shifted thedirection of the gun and fired again. "I am shooting by guess-work, butI might score a hit."
He changed the direction of the gun again, but before he could press thebutton he was lifted into the air and drawn rapidly toward the opendoor.
"Shoot, Pete!" he shouted. "Shoot and keep on shooting--it's your onlychance!"
I turned to the knobs controlling the guns and lights, but, before Icould make a move, something hard and cold grasped me about the middleand I was lifted into the air and drawn toward the open door after Jim.I tore at the thing holding me with my hands, but it was a smooth roundthing like a two-inch thick wire, and I could get no grip on it toloosen it. Out through the door I went and was drawn through the air afew feet behind Jim. He moved ahead of me for fifteen or twenty feet andthen vanished in mid-air. I dared not struggle in mid-air and I wasdrawn through a door into a large space flyer which became visible as Ientered it. The flexible wire or rod which had held me uncoiled and Iwas free on the floor beside Jim Carpenter. This much was clear andunderstandable, but when I looked at the crew of that space ship, I wassure that I had lost my mind or was seeing visions. I had naturallyexpected men, or at least something in semi-human form, but instead ofanything of the sort, before me stood a dozen gigantic beetles!
* * * * *
I rubbed my eyes and looked again. There was no mistaking the fact thatwe had been captured by a race of gigantic beetles flying an invisiblespace ship. When I had time later to examine them critically, I couldsee marked differences between our captors and the beetles we wereaccustomed to see on the earth besides the mere matter of size. To beginwith, their bodies were relatively much smaller, the length of shell ofthe largest specimen not being over four feet, while the head of thesame insect, exclusive of the horns or pinchers, was a good eighteeninches in length. The pinchers, which by all beetle proportions shouldhave been a couple of feet long at the least, did not extend over thehead a distance greater than eight inches, although they were sturdy andpowerful.
Instead of traveling with their shells horizontal as do earthly beetles,these insects stood erect on their two lower pairs of legs, which wereof different lengths so that all four feet touched the ground when theshell was vertical. The two upper pairs of legs were used as arms, thetopmost pair[A] being quite short and splitting out at the end into fourflexible claws about five inches long, which they used as fingers. Theseupper arms, which sprouted from a point near the top of the head, werepeculiar in that they apparently had no joints like the other threepairs but were flexible like an elephant's trunk. The second pair ofarms were armed with long, vicious-looking hooks. The backplatesconcealed only very rudimentary wings, not large enough to enable theinsects to fly, although Jim told me later that they could fly on theirown planet, where the lessened gravity made such extensive wing supportsas would be needed on earth unnecessary.
[Footnote A: Mr. Bond has made a laughable error in his description.Like all of the coleoptera, the Mercurians were hexapoda (six legged).What Mr. Bond continually refers to in his narrative as "upper arms"were really the antenna of the insects which split at the end into fourflexible appendages resembling fingers. His mistake is a natural one,for the Mercurians used their antenna as extra arms.--James S.Carpenter.]
The backplates were a brilliant green in color, with six-inch stripes ofchrome yellow running lengthwise and crimson spots three inches indiameter arranged in rows between the stripes. Their huge-faceted eyessparkled like crystal when the light fell on them, and from time to timewaves of various colors passed over them, evidently reflecting theinsect's emotions. Although they gave the impression of great muscularpower, their movements were slow and sluggish, and they seemed to havedifficulty in getting around.
* * * * *
As my horrified gaze took in these monstrosities I turned with a shudderto Jim Carpenter.
"Am I crazy, Jim," I asked, "or do you see these things too?"
"I see them all right, Pete," he replied. "It isn't as surprising as itseems at first glance. You expected to find human beings; so did I, butwhat reason had we for doing so? It is highly improbable, when you cometo consider the matter, that evolution should take the same courseelsewhere as it did on earth. Why not beetles, or fish, or horned toads,for that matter?"
"No reason, I guess," I answered; "I just hadn't expected anything ofthe sort. What do you suppose they mean to do with us?"
"I haven't any idea, old man. We'll just have to wait and see. I'll tryto talk to them, although I don't expect much luck at it."
He turned to the nearest beetle and slowly and clearly spoke a fewwords. The insect gave no signs of comprehension, although it watchedthe movement of Jim's lips carefully. It is my opinion, and Jim agreeswith me, that the insects were both deaf and dumb, for during the entiretime we were associated with them, we never heard them give forth asound under any circumstances, nor saw them react to any sound that wemade. Either they had some telepathic means of communication or elsethey made and heard sounds beyond the range of the human ear, for it wasevident from their actions that they frequently communicated with oneanother.
* * * * *
When Jim failed in his first attempt to communicate he looked around foranother method. He noticed my notebook, which had fallen on the floorwhen I was set down; he picked it up and drew a pencil from his pocket.The insects watched his movements carefully, and when he had made asketch in the book, the nearest one took it from him and examined itcarefully and then passed it to another one, who also examined it. Thesketch which Jim had drawn showed the outline of the Hadley space flyerfrom which he had been taken. When the beetles had examined the sketch,one of them stepped to an instrument board in the center of the ship andmade an adjustment. Then he pointed with one of his lower arms.
We looked in the direction in which he pointed; to our astonishment, thewalls of the flyer seemed to dissolve, or at least to become perfectlytransparent. The floor of the space ship was composed of some silverymetal, and from it had risen walls of the same material, but now theeffect was as though we were suspended in mid-air, with nothing eitheraround us or under us. I gasped and grabbed at the instrument board forsupport. Then I felt foolish as I realized that there was no change inthe feel of the floor for all its transparency and that we were notfalling.
* * * * *
A short distance away we could see our flyer suspended in the air, heldup by two long flexible rods or wires similar to those which had liftedus from our ship into our prison. I saw a dozen more of these rodscoiled up, hanging in the air, evidently, but really on the floor nearthe edge of the flyer, ready for use. Jim suddenly grasped me by thearm.
"Look behind you in a moment," he said, "but don't start!"
He took the notebook in his hand and started to draw a sketch. I lookedbehind as he had told me to. Hanging in the air in a position which toldme that they must have been in a different compartment of the flyer,were five children. They were white as marble, and lay perfectlymotionless.
"Are they dead, Jim?" I asked in a low voice without looking at him.
"I don't know," he replied, "but we'll find out a little later. I amrelieved to find them here, and I doubt if they are harmed."
The sketch which he was making was one of the solar system, and, when hehad finished, he marked the earth with a cross and handed the notebookto one of the beetles. The insect took it and showed it to hiscompanions; so far as I was able to judge expressions, they were amazedto find that we had knowledge of the heavenly bodies. The beetle tookJim's pencil in one of its hands and, after examining it carefully, madea cross on the circle which Jim had drawn to represent the planetMercury.
* * * * *
"They come from Mercury," exclaimed Jim in surprise as he showed me thesketch. "That accounts for a good many things; why they are so
lethargic, for one thing. Mercury is much smaller than the earth and thegravity is much less. According to Mercurian standards, they must weigha ton each. It is quite a tribute to their muscular development thatthey can move and support their weight against our gravity. They canunderstand a drawing all right, so we have a means of communicating withthem, although a pretty slow one and dependent entirely on my limitedskill as a cartoonist. I wonder if we are free to move about?"
"The only way to find out is to try," I replied and stood erect. Thebeetles offered no objection and Jim stood up beside me. We walked, orrather edged, our way toward the side of the ship. The insects watchedus when we started to move and then evidently decided that we wereharmless. They turned from us to the working of the ship. One of themmanipulated some dials on the instrument board. One of the rods whichheld our flyer released its grip, came in toward the Mercurian ship andcoiled itself up on the floor, or the place where the floor should havebeen. The insect touched another dial. Jim threw caution to the winds,raced across the floor and grasped the beetle by the arm.
The insect looked at him questioningly; Jim produced the notebook anddrew a sketch representing our flyer falling. On the level be had usedto represent the ground he made another sketch of it lying in ruins. Thebeetle nodded comprehendingly and turned to another dial; the ship sankslowly toward the ground.
* * * * *
We sank until we hung only a few feet from the ground when our flyer wasgently lowered down. When it rested on the ground, the wire which hadheld it uncoiled, came aboard and coiled itself up beside the others. Asthe Mercurian ship rose I noticed idly that the door which had been tornfrom our ship and dropped lay within a few yards of the ship itself. TheMercurian ship rose to an elevation of a hundred feet, drifting gentlyover the city.
As we rose I determined to try the effect of my personality on thebeetles. I approached the one who seemed to be the leader and, puttingon the most woeful expression I could muster, I looked at the floor. Hedid not understand me and I pretended that I was falling and grasped athim. This time he nodded and stepped to the instrument board. In amoment the floor became visible. I thanked him as best I could inpantomime and approached the walls. They were so transparent that I feltan involuntary shrinking as I approached them. I edged my way cautiouslyforward until my outstretched hand encountered a solid substance. Ilooked out.
At the slow speed we were traveling the drone of our motors was hardlyaudible to us, and I felt sure that it could not be heard on the ground.Once their curiosity was satisfied, our captors paid little or noattention to me and left me free to come and go as I wished. I made myway cautiously toward the children, but ran into a solid wall.Remembering Jim's words, I made my way back toward him withoutdisplaying any interest.
* * * * *
Jim could probably have wandered around as I did had he wished, but hechose to occupy his time differently. With his notebook and pencil hecarried on an extensive conversation, if that term can be applied to acrudely executed set of drawings, with the leader of the beetles. I wasnot especially familiar with the methods of control of space ships and Icould make nothing of the maze of dials and switches on the instrumentboard.
For half an hour we drifted slowly along. Presently one of the beetlesapproached, seized my arm and turned me about. With one of his arms hepointed ahead. A mile away I could see another space flyer similar tothe one we were on.
"Here comes another one, Jim." I called.
"Yes, I saw it some time ago. I don't know where the third one is."
"Are there three of them?"
"Yes. Three of them came here yesterday and are exploring the countryround about here. They are scouts sent out from the fleet of our brotherplanet to see if the road was clear and what the world was like. Theyspotted the hole through the layer with their telescope and sent theirfleet out to pay us a visit. He tells me that the scouts have reportedfavorably and that the whole fleet, several thousand ships, as near as Ican make out, are expected here this evening."
"Have you solved the secret of their invisibility?"
* * * * *
"Partly. It is as I expected. The walls of the ship are double, theinner one of metal and the outer one of vitrolene or some similarperfectly transparent substance. The space between the walls is filledwith some substance which will bend both visible and ultra-violet raysalong a path around the ship and then lets them go in their originaldirection. The reason why we can see through the walls and see theprotective coating of that ship coming is that they are generating somesort of a ray here which acts as a carrier for the visible light rays. Idon't know what sort of a ray it is, but when I get a good look at theirgenerators, I may be able to tell. Are you beginning to itch and burn?"
"Yes, I believe that I am, although I hadn't noticed it until youspoke."
"I have been noticing it for some time. From its effects on the skin, Iam inclined to believe it to be a ray of very short wave-length,possibly something like our X-ray, or even shorter."
"Have you found out what they intend to do with us?"
"I don't think they have decided yet. Possibly they are going to take usup to the leader of their fleet and let him decide. The cuss that is incommand of this ship seems surprised to death to find out that I cancomprehend the principles of his ship. He seems to think that I am asort of a rara avis, a freak of nature. He intimated that he wouldrecommend that we be used for vivisection."
"Good Lord!"
"It's not much more worse than the fate they design for the rest oftheir captives, at that."
"What is that?"
"It's a long story that I'll have to tell you later. I want to watchthis meeting."
* * * * *
The other ship had approached to within a few yards and floatedstationary, while some sort of communication was exchanged between thetwo. I could not fathom the method used, but the commander of our craftclamped what looked like a pair of headphones against his body andplugged the end of a wire leading from them into his instrument board.From time to time various colored lights glowed on the board beforehim. After a time he uncoupled his device from the board, and one of thelong rods shot out from our ship to the other. It returned in a momentclamped around the body of a young girl. As the came on board, she waslowered onto the deck beside the other children. Like them, she wasstiff and motionless. I gave an exclamation and sprang forward.
"Pete!"
Jim's voice recalled me to myself, and I watched the child laid with theothers with as disinterested an expression as I could muster. I hadnever made a mistake in following Jim Carpenter's lead and I knew thatsomewhere in his head a plan was maturing which might offer us somechance of escape.
Our ship moved ahead down a long slant, gradually dropping nearer to theground. I watched the maneuver with interest while Jim, with his friendthe beetle commander, went over the ship. The insect was evidentlyamused at Jim and was determined to find out the limits of hisintelligence, for he pointed out various controls and motors of the shipand made elaborate sketches which Jim seemed to comprehend fairly well.
* * * * *
One of the beetles approached the control board and motioned me back. Istepped away from the board; evidently a port in the side of the vesselopened, for I felt a breath of air and could hear the hum of the city. Iwalked to the side and glanced down, and found that we were floatingabout twenty feet off the ground over a street on the edge of the city.On the street a short distance ahead of us two children, evidentlyreturning from school, to judge by the books under their arms, werewalking unsuspectingly along. A turn of the dial sped up our motors, andas the hum rang out in a louder key the children looked upward. Two ofthe long flexible wires shot out and wrapped themselves about thechildren; screaming, they were lifted into the space flyer. The portthrough which they came in shut with a clang and the ship rose rapidlyinto the air. The c
hildren were released from the wires which coiledthemselves up on deck and the beetle who had operated them steppedforward and grasped the nearer of the children, a boy of about eleven,by the arm. He raised the boy, who was paralyzed with terror, up towardhis head and gazed steadily into his eyes. Slowly the boy ceasedstruggling and became white and rigid. The beetle laid him on the deckand turned to the girl. Involuntarily I gave a shout and sprang forward,but Jim grasped me by the arm.
"Keep quiet, you darned fool!" he cried. "We can do nothing now. Waitfor a chance!"
"We can't stand here and see murder done!" I protested.
"It's not murder. Pete, those children aren't being hurt. They are beinghypnotized so that they can be transported to Mercury."
"Why are they taking them to Mercury?" I demanded.
"As nearly as I can make out, there is a race of men up there who aresubject to these beetles. This ship is radium propelled, and the men andwomen are the slaves who work in the radium mines. Of course the workerssoon become sexless, but others are kept for breeding purposes to keepthe race alive. Through generations of in-breeding, the stock is aboutplayed out and are getting too weak to be of much value.
"The Mercurians have been studying the whole universe to find a racewhich will serve their purpose and they have chosen us to be thevictims. When their fleet gets here, they plan to capture thousands ofselected children and carry them to Mercury in order to infuse theirblood into the decadent race of slaves they have. Those who are notsuitable for breeding when they grow up will die as slaves in the radiummines."
* * * * *
"Horrible!" I gasped. "Why are they taking children, Jim? Wouldn'tadults suit their purpose better?"
"They are afraid to take adults. On Mercury an earthman would havemuscles of unheard of power and adults would constantly strive to riseagainst their masters. By getting children, they hope to raise them toknow nothing else than a life of slavery and get the advantage of theirstrength without risk. It is a clever scheme."
"And are we to stand here and let them do it?"
"Not on your life, but we had better hold easy for a while. If I can geta few minutes more with that brute I'll know enough about running thisship that we can afford to do away with them. You have a pistol, haven'tyou?"
"No."
"The devil! I thought you had. I have an automatic, but it only carrieseight shells. There are eleven of these insects and unless we can getthe jump on them, they'll do us. I saw what looks like a knife lyingnear the instrument board; get over near it and get ready to grab it assoon as you hear my pistol. These things are deaf and if I work it rightI may be able to do several of them in before they know what'shappening. When you attack, don't try to ram them in the back; theirbackplates are an inch thick and will be proof against a knife thrust.Aim at their eyes; if you can blind them, they'll be helpless. Do youunderstand?"
"I'll do my best, Jim," I replied. "Since you have told me their plans Iam itching to get at them."
* * * * *
I edged over toward the knife, but as I did so I saw a better weapon. Onthe floor lay a bar of silvery metal about thirty inches long and aninch in diameter. I picked it up and toyed with it idly, meanwhileedging around to get behind the insect which I had marked for my firstattentions. Jim was talking again by means of the notebook with hisbeetle friend. They walked around the ship, examining everything in it.
"Are you ready, Pete?" came Jim's voice at last.
"All set," I replied, getting a firmer grasp on my bar and edging towardone of the insects.
"Well, don't start until I fire. You notice the bug I am talking to?Don't kill him unless you have to. This ship is a little too complicatedfor me to fathom, so I want this fellow taken prisoner. We'll use him asour engineer when we take control."
"I understand."
"All right, get ready."
I kept my eye on Jim. He had drawn the beetle with whom he was talkingto a position where they were behind the rest. Jim pointed at somethingbehind the insect's back and the beetle turned. As it did so, Jimwhipped out his pistol and, taking careful aim, fired at one of theinsects.
As the sound of the shot rang out I raised my bar and leaped forward. Ibrought it down with crushing force on the head of the nearest beetle.My victim fell forward, and I heard Jim's pistol bark again; but I hadno time to watch him. As the beetle I struck fell the others turned andI had two of them coming at me with outstretched arms, ready to graspme. I swung my bar, and the arm of one of them fell limp; but the otherseized me with both its hands, and I felt the cruel hooks of its lowerarms against the small of my back.
* * * * *
One of my arms was still free; I swung my bar again, and it struck mycaptor on the back of the head. It was stunned by the blow and fell. Iseized the knife from the floor, and threw myself down beside it andstruck at its eyes, trying to roll it over so as to protect me from theother who was trying to grasp me.
I felt hands clutch me from behind; I was wrenched loose from the bodyof my victim and lifted into the air. I was turned about and staredhard into the implacable crystalline eyes of one of the insects. For amoment my senses reeled and then, without volition, I dropped my bar. Iremembered the children and realized that I was being hypnotized. Ifought against the feeling, but my senses reeled and I almost went limp,when the sound of a pistol shot, almost in my ear, roused me. The spellof the beetle was momentarily broken. I thrust the knife which I stillgrasped at the eyes before me. My blow went home, but the insect raisedme and bent me toward him until my head lay on top of his and the hugehorns which adorned his head began to close. Another pistol shotsounded, and I was suddenly dropped.
I grasped my bar as I fell and leaped up. The flyer was a shambles. Deadinsects lay on all sides while Jim, smoking pistol in hand, was staringas though fascinated into the eyes of one of the surviving beetles. Iran forward and brought my bar down on the insect's head, but as I didso I was grasped from behind.
"Jim, help!" I cried as I was swung into the air. The insect whirled mearound and then threw me to the floor. I had an impression of falling;then everything dissolved in a flash of light. I was unconscious onlyfor a moment, and I came to to find Jim Carpenter standing over me,menacing my assailant with his gun.
"Thanks, Jim," I said faintly.
"If you're conscious again, get up and get your bar," he replied. "Mypistol is empty and I don't know how long I can run a bluff on thisfellow."
* * * * *
I scrambled to my feet and grasped the bar. Jim stepped behind me andreloaded his pistol.
"All right," he said when he had finished. "I'll take charge of thisfellow. Go around and see if the rest are dead. If they aren't when youfind them, see that they are when you leave them. We're taking noprisoners."
I went the rounds of the prostrate insects. None of them were beyondmoving except two whose heads had been crushed by my bar, but I obeyedJim's orders. When I rejoined him with my bloody bar, the only beetleleft alive was the commander, whom Jim was covering with his pistol.
"Take the gun," he said when I reported my actions, "and give me thebar."
We exchanged weapons and Jim turned to the captive.
"Now, old fellow," he said grimly, "either you run this ship as I wantyou to, or you're a dead Indian. Savvy?"
He took his pencil and notebook from his pocket and drew a sketch of ourHadley space ship. On the other end of the sheet he drew a picture ofthe Mercurian ship, and then drew a line connecting the two. The insectlooked at the sketch but made no movement.
"All right, if that's the way you feel about it," said Jim. He raisedthe bar and brought it down with crushing force on one of the insect'slower arms. The arm fell as though paralyzed and a blue light playedacross the beetle's eyes. Jim extended the sketch again and raised thebar threateningly. The beetle moved over to the control board, Jimfollowing closely, and set the ship in mot
ion. Ten minutes later itrested on the ground beside the ship in which we had first taken theair.
* * * * *
Following Jim's pictured orders the beetle opened the door of theMercurian ship and followed Jim into the Hadley. As we emerged from theMercurian ship I looked back. It had vanished completely.
"The children, Jim!" I gasped.
"I haven't forgotten them," he replied, "but they are all right for thepresent. If we turned them loose now, we'd have ninety reporters aroundus in ten minutes. I want to get our generators modified first."
He pointed toward the spot where the Mercurian ship had stood and thentoward our generators. The beetle hesitated, but Jim swung his baragainst the insect's side in a vicious blow. Again came the play of bluelight over the eyes; the beetle bent over our generaters and set towork. Jim handed me the bar and bent over to help. They were bothmechanics of a high order and they worked well together; in an hour thebeetle started the generators and swung one of the searchlights towardhis old ship. It leaped into view on the radium coated screen.
"Good business!" ejaculated Jim. "We'll repair this door; then we'll beready to release the children and start out."
* * * * *
We followed the beetle into the Mercurian ship, which it seemed to beable to see. It opened a door leading into another compartment of theflyer, and before us lay the bodies of eight children. The beetle liftedthe first one, a little girl, up until his many-faceted eyes looked fullinto the closed ones of the child. There was a flicker of an eyelash, atrace of returning color, and then a scream of terror from the child.The beetle set the girl down and Jim bent over her.
"It's all right now, little lady," he said, clumsily smoothing her hair.
"You're safe now. Run along to your mother. First Mortgage, take chargeof her and take her outside. It isn't well for children to see thesethings."
The child clung to my hand: I led her out of the ship, which promptlyvanished as we left it. One by one, seven other children joined us, thelast one, a miss of not over eight, in Jim's arms. The beetle followedbehind him.
"Do any of you know where you are?" asked Jim as he came out.
"I do, sir," said one of the boys. "I live close to here."
"All right, take these youngsters to your house and tell your mother totelephone their parents to come and get them. If anyone asks you whathappened, tell them to see Jim Carpenter to-morrow. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"All right, run along then. Now, First Mortgage, let's go hunting."
* * * * *
We wired our captive up so securely that I felt that there was nopossible chance of his escape; then, with Jim at the controls and me atthe guns, we fared forth in search of the invaders. Back and forth overthe city we flew without sighting another spaceship in the air. Jim gavean exclamation of impatience and swung on a wider circle, which took usout over the water. I kept the searchlights working. Presently, farahead over the water, a dark spot came into view. I called to Jim and weapproached it at top speed.
"Don't shoot until we are within four hundred yards," cautioned Jim.
I held my fire until we were within the specified distance. The newcomerwas another of the Mercurian space-ships; with a feeling of joy I swungmy beam until the cross-hairs of the screen rested full on the invader.
"All ready!" I sung out.
"If you are ready, Gridley, you may fire!" replied Jim. I pressed thegun button. The crash of the gun was followed by another report fromoutside as the radite shell burst against the Mercurian flyer. Thedeadly explosive did its work, and the shattered remains of the wreckfell, to be engulfed in the sea below.
"That's one!" cried Jim. "I'm afraid we won't have time to hunt up theother right now. This bug told me that the other Mercurians are due hereto-day, and I think we had better form ourselves into a receptioncommittee and go up to the hole to meet them."
* * * * *
He sent the ship at high speed over the city until we hovered over thelaboratory. We stopped for a moment, and Jim stepped to the radiotelephone.
"Hello, Williams," he said, "how are things going? That's fine. In anhour, you say? Well, speed it up as much as you can; we may call for itsoon."
He turned both stern motors to full power, and we shot up like a rockettoward the hole in the protective layer through which the invaders hadentered. In ten minutes we were at the altitude of the guard ships andJim asked if anything had been seen. The report was negative; Jim leftthem below the layer and sent our flyer up through the hole into space.We reached the outer surface in another ten minutes and we were none toosoon. Hardly had we debouched from the hole than ahead of us we sawanother Mercurian flyer. It was a lone one, and Jim bent over thecaptive and held a hastily made sketch before him. The sketch showedthree Mercurian flyers, one on the ground, one wrecked and the third onein the air. He touched the drawing of the one in the air and pointedtoward our port hole and looked questioningly at the beetle. The insectinspected the flyer in space and nodded.
"Good!" cried Jim. "That's the third of the trio who came ahead asscouts. Get your gun ready, First Mortgage: we're going to pick himoff."
Our ship approached the doomed Mercurian. Again I waited until we werewithin four hundred yards; then I pressed the button which hurled it, acrumpled wreck, onto the outer surface of the heaviside layer.
"Two!" cried Jim as we backed away.
"Here come plenty more," I cried as I swung the searchlight. Jim lefthis controls, glanced at the screen and whistled softly. Dropping towardus from space were hundreds of the Mercurian ships.
"We got here just in time," he said. "Break out your extra ammunitionwhile I take to the hole. We can't hope to do that bunch alone, so we'llfight a rearguard action."
* * * * *
Since our bow gun would be the only one in action, I hastily moved thespare boxes of ammunition nearer to it while Jim maneuvered the Hadleyover the hole. As the Mercurian fleet came nearer he started a slowretreat toward the earth. The Mercurians overtook us rapidly; Jim lockedhis controls at slow speed down and hurried to the bow gun.
"Start shooting as soon as you can," he said. "I'll keep the magazinefilled."
I swung the gun until the cross-hairs of the screen rested full on theleading ship and pressed the button. My aim was true, and the shatteredfragments of the ship fell toward me. The balance of the fleet sloweddown for an instant; I covered another one and pressed my button. Theship at which I had aimed was in motion and I missed it, but I had thesatisfaction of seeing another one fall in fragments. Jim was loadingthe magazine as fast as I fired. I covered another ship and fired again.A third one of our enemies fell in ruins. The rest paused and drew off.
"They're retreating, Jim!" I cried.
"Cease firing until they come on again," he replied is he took theshells from the magazines of the other guns and piled them near the bowgun.
I held my fire for a few minutes. The Mercurians retreated a shortdistance and then came on again with a rush. Twenty times my gun wentoff as fast as I could align it and press the trigger, and eighteen ofthe enemy ships were in ruins. Again the Mercurians retreated. I held myfire. We were falling more rapidly now and far below we could see theblack spots which were the guard ships. I told Jim that they were insight; he stepped to the radio telephone and ordered them to keep wellaway from the hole.
* * * * *
Again the Mercurian ships came on with a rush, this time with beams oforange light stabbing a way before them. When I told Jim of this hejumped to the controls and shot our ship down at breakneck speed.
"I don't know what sort of fighting apparatus they have, but I don'tcare to face it," he said to me. "Fire if they get close; but I hope toget out of the hole before they are in range."
Fast as we fell, the Mercurians were coming faster, and they were
notover eight hundred yards from us when he reached the level of the guardships. Jim checked our speed; I managed to pick off three more of theinvaders before we moved away from the hole. Jim stopped the side motionand jumped to the radio telephone.
"Hello, Williams!" he shouted into the instrument. "Are you ready downthere? Thank God! Full power at once, please!
"Watch what happens," he said to me, as he turned from the instrument.
Some fifty of the Mercurian flyers had reached our level and had startedto move toward us before anything happened. Then from below came a beamof intolerable light. Upward it struck, and the Mercurian ships on whichit impinged disappeared in a flash of light.
"A disintegrating ray," explained Jim. "I suspected that it might beneeded and I started Williams to rigging it up early this morning. Ihated to use it because it may easily undo the work that six years havedone in healing the break in the layer, but it was necessary. That endsthe invasion, except for those ten or twelve ships ahead of us. How isyour marksmanship? Can you pick off ten in ten shots?"
"Watch me," I said grimly as the ship started to move.
* * * * *
Pride goeth ever before a fall: it took me sixteen shots to demolish theeleven ships which had escaped destruction from the ray. As the last onefell in ruins, Jim ordered the ray shut off. We fell toward the ground.
"What are we going to do with our prisoner?" I asked.
Jim looked at the beetle meditatively.
"He would make a fine museum piece if he were stuffed," he said, "buton the whole, I think we'll let him go. He is an intelligent creatureand will probably be happier on Mercury than anywhere else. What do yousay that we put him on his ship and turn him loose?"
"To lead another invasion?" I asked.
"I think not. He has seen what has happened to this one and is morelikely to warn them to keep away. In any event, if we equip the guardships with a ray that will show the Mercurian ships up and keep thedisintegrating ray ready for action, we needn't fear another invasion.Let's let him go."
"It suits me all right, Jim, but I hold out for one thing. I will neverdare to face McQuarrie again if I fail to get a picture of him. I insiston taking his photograph before we turn him loose."
"All right, go ahead," laughed Jim. "He ought to be able to stand that,if you'll spare him an interview."
An hour later we watched the Mercurian flyer disappear into space.
"I hope I've seen the last of those bugs," I said as the flyer fadedfrom view.
"I don't know," said Jim thoughtfully. "If I have interpreted correctlythe drawings that creature made, there is a race of manlike bipeds onMercury who are slaves to those beetles and who live and die in thehorrible atmosphere of a radium mine. Some of these days I may lead anexpedition to our sister planet and look into that matter."