by Various
CHAPTER XXII
_The Struggle for Mastery_
The people of all the Gens of Earth were now between two fires. Thecube-army, ruled by the mistress of the Moon, was laying waste thedwellings of the Gens, destroying them with a speed and surety of whichno earthquake, whatever its proportions, would have been capable. TheGens were forced out upon the roof of the world--where, scarcely hadthey maneuvered into their prearranged formations, than the Martiansstruck.
Those huge balls of fire, larger even than the aircars of the Moon,landed in vast and awe-inspiring numbers on the roof of theworld--landed easily, with no apparent effort or shock. The light ofthem made all the world a place of vast radiance, save only that portionwhich was being destroyed by the cube-army, and this area had a cold,chill radiance of its own.
By groups and organisations the fire-balls of Mars landed, and restedquiescent on the surface of the globe.
Sarka, pausing only long enough in his laboratory to study this strangeattack and to discover how it would get under way, was at the same timepreparing to go forth to take his own strange part in the defensiveaction of Earthlings. A vast confidence was in him....
"We will lose millions of people, father," he said softly. "But it willend in our victory, in the most glorious war ever fought on this Earth!"
"That is true, my son!" replied the older man sadly.
* * * * *
For several minutes the vast fire-balls, which seemed to be monsterglowing octagons, rested where they had landed, and even then the Gensof the people were closing on them, bringing their ray directors andatom-disintegrators into action.
Then, when the Earthlings would have destroyed the first of the vastfire-balls--and Sarka was noting that the flames which bathed the ballsseemed to have no effect whatever on Earthlings, save to outline them inmantles of fire--the fire-balls wakened to new life.
They opened like the halves of peaches falling apart, and out upon theroof of the world poured the first Martians Earth had ever seen!
They were more than twice the size, on the average, of Earth people, andat first glance seemed to resemble them very much, save that their eyes,of which each Martian was possessed of two, were set on the ends of longtentacles which could stretch forth to a length of two feet or more fromthe eye-sockets and thus be turned in any direction. Each eye wasindependent of its neighbor, as one could look forward while the otherlooked backward, or one could look right while the other looked left.
Each Martian possessed two arms on each side of a huge, powerful torso,and legs that were like the bolls of trees, compared to the slenderlimbs of Earthlings. All the Martians seemed to be dressed in the skinsof strange, vari-colored beasts. Each carried in his upper right hand aslender canelike thing some three feet in length, from whose tip thereflashed those spurts of flame which had puzzled the Earth people beforethe actual launching of the attack.
* * * * *
Beyond these weapons, the Martians seemed to possess no weapons ofoffense at all, nor of defense.
"With our ray directors and atom-disintegrators," said Sarka, movinginto the Exit Dome with Jaska, "we can blast them from the face of theEarth!"
But in a moment he realized that he had spoken too hastily.
The nearest fire-ball was, of course, within the area of the Gens ofCleric, and Sarka could here see with his naked eyes all thattranspired. The Martian passengers, who moved swiftly away from theirfire-ball vehicles, then a flight of the Gens of Cleric descended uponthe fireball and its fleeing passengers, with tiny ray directors andatom-disintegrators held to the fore, ready for action.
The Martians, at some distance from their glowing vehicle, paused andformed a ragged line, facing the ball, staring at the descending peopleof the Gens of Cleric, their tentaclelike eyes waving to and fro, oddlylike the tentacles of those aircars of the Moon.
The flight was hovering above the first fireball. In a second now, atthe command of an underling, the ray directors would destroy fire-balland Martians as thoroughly as though they had never existed at all.
* * * * *
But then a strange thing happened. At that exact moment, timing theiractions to fractions of seconds, the Martians raised and pointed theircanelike weapons of the spurting flames. They pointed them, however, notat the Earthlings, but at the fire-ball which had brought them to Earth!
Instantly the fire-ball exploded as with the roaring of a hundred mightyvolcanoes--and the descending flight of the Gens of Cleric was blastedinto countless fragments! Bits of them flew in all directions. Manydropped, the mangled, infinitesmal remains of them, down to the roof ofEarth, while many were hurled skyward through formations abovethem--while those formations, to a height of a full two miles, werebroken asunder. Many flights above that first flight were smashed andbroken, their individual members hurled in all directions by that onesingle blast of a single fire-ball.
Individuals who escaped destruction were hurled end over end, upwardthrough other flights higher above, and the whole aggregation of flightswhich had been concentrated on that first fire-ball was instantlydemoralized, while full fifty per cent of its individuals were instantlytorn to bits!
Sarka groaned to the depths of him.
"The leader of the Martians, or the master who sent them here, sent themhere to win. For if they do not win, they cannot return to Mars, as theywill have destroyed their vehicles! Their confidence is superhuman!"
"Have faith in the courage of Earthlings, son!" said Sarka.
It was much to ask, for if one single one of these fire-balls couldwreak such havoc with the people of Earth, what would be the destructionby the countless other unexploded fireballs of the Martians?
* * * * *
Still, the Spokesmen themselves must discover a way to hold their own,to win against the Martians. For Sarka there was greater work to do. Hemust oppose the wills of Luar and of Dalis in a mighty mental conflict,which would decide whether the homes of men would be saved, or utterlydestroyed by the Moon-cubes.
But as he left through the Exit Dome, with Jaska by his side, heshuddered, and was just a little sick inside as he saw the fearfulresult of that first explosion of a Martian fire-ball! Bits of humanwreckage were scattered over the Earth for a great distance in alldirections from where the fire-ball had exploded. And at that spot agigantic crater had been torn in the roof of the world, going down tonone knew what depths.
Even the Martians, here only to consolidate positions which had passedthe demolition of the Moon-cubes, were capable of demolitions almost asghastly and complete as those of the cubes!
The sound was incapable of being described, for outside the laboratorythe sound of the advance of the Moon-cubes eating into the dwellings ofmen, tumbling them down, grinding them to powder, was cataclysmic in itsmighty volume. A million express trains crashing head-on into walls ofgalvanized iron at top speed, simultaneously.
Ear-drum crashing blows as fireballs exploded. The screams and shrieksof maimed and dying Earthlings--of Earthlings unwounded but possessed ofabysmal fear....
* * * * *
Then, resolutely, Sarka turned his back on the conflict between theMartians and the people of Earth, and hurtled across the devastatedroof of the world toward that area which was feeling the destructiveforce of the vandal cube-army. As he flew, Jaska keeping pace with himin silence, his mind was busy.
Passage through the white flames of the Moon had given him the key.Those white flames--source of all life on the Moon--rendered almostgodlike those whom it bathed ... gave them unbelievable access of mentalbrilliance ... were the source of that blue column which had forced theEarth outward toward Mars ... were the source, in some way, of the cubesthemselves, as he and Jaska, after passing through them, owed their nownear-divinity to the same white flames! Those flames had made Luarmistress of the Moon--therefore of the Gnomes and of the cubes!Therefo
re, Sarka, having been bathed in the flames, should make himselfmaster of the cubes, if he could out-will the combined determinations ofLuar and of Dalis!
His confidence was supreme as he fled through outer darkness toward theeery light which came from the area of demolitions. Looking ahead, hecould see tiny glows in the sky, which he knew to be the rebels ofDalis' Gens, flying to keep their rendezvous with him.
Higher mounted his courage and his confidence as he approached theroaring crash, perpetual and always mounting, which showed him where thecube-army was busiest. The sound vibrated the very air, causing thebodies of Sarka to tingle with it, causing them to flutter and shake intheir flight with its awesome power. But they did not hold back, flewonward through the gloom, leaving behind them the brightly lighted areaswhere Gens of Earth battled with the fireballs of the Martians, movinginto the area of the eery glowing of the cubes.
* * * * *
Just as he approached the spot where mighty dwellings were tumblingbefore the march of the cube-army, he sent a single command toward thecube which had piloted him from the Moon.
"Come to me on the edge of the crevasse nearest the place of mostdestruction!"
Would the cube now be subservient to his will? He wondered. Everythingdepended upon that. If not, then he might as well try to stay the forcesof a mighty avalanche with his breath, as halt the cube-army with hiswill.
But strangely enough, the closer he came to the vast area of tumblingdwellings the calmer he became, the more sure that he would win againstthe cubes.
For when he landed at the lip of the crevasse, across which he couldlook for a hundred miles, a single cube gleamed brightly almost at hisfeet, awaiting his orders!
One by one, by twos, threes, fours, dozens, came the glowing people whohad been bathed in the white flames of the Moon's life-source, and aseach dropped down beside him, Sarka gave a command.
"Drop down in the midst of the cubes! Make your own cube the rallyingpoint for this vast army of cubes, force the cubes to desist in theirmighty destruction, be subservient to your will--and do you, each ofyou, be subservient to _my_ will!"
* * * * *
Away dropped the rebels, glowing points of white flame, dropping downthe sides of the crevasse, a mighty, awesome canyon, into the very heartof the activity of the cubes, and from the brain of Sarka, aided by thewill of Jaska, went forth a simple command:
"Cease your march of destruction, O Moon-cubes, and harken to the willof Sarka, your master! Draw back from your labors, and muster, not assquares, rectangles and columns, but as individual cubes, in the areaalready devastated by you! Rally about the glowing people who havepassed through the flames which were your Moon-mother, and wait fororders! Take no further heed of commands from Dalis and Luar!"
Instantly it seemed to Sarka that he had drawn into some invisiblevortex which tore at his brain, at his body, at his soul. Inside him acold voice seemed to say:
"Fool, Sarka! My will is greater than yours!"
But though the force of the will of Luar, whose thought he recognized,tore at him, almost shriveled the soul and brain of him with its might,he continued to send his thought-command out to the Moon-cubes, forcingit through the wall of Luar's will, hurling it like invisibleprojectiles at the cube-army below.
Exultation possessed him, buoyed him up, gave him greater courage andconfidence as the moments passed for even as all his being concentratedon the will-command to the cubes, his senses told him that the mightysound of destruction was dying away, fading out.
* * * * *
Slower now the dwellings fell, slower moved the Moon-cubes; and as theyslowed in their mighty march through the dwellings of men, so increasedthe confidence, the power of will, of Sarka and his people--the rebelsof the Gens of Dalis.
Then, after an hour, whose mighty mental conflict had bathed Sarka inthe perspiration of superhuman effort, the sound of destruction ceasedall together, and the dwellings ceased to fall.
A silent shout, like an inborn paean of rejoicing, surged through Sarkaas he noted the retreat from the dwellings of men, of the Moon-cubes!Back and back retreated the squares and the rectangles, the columns andthe globes, breaking apart as they retreated.
Within fifteen minutes after the destruction had ceased, millions ofgleaming cubes winked upward from the bottom of thecrevasse--motionless, quiescent!
Sarka sent forth another thought.
"I am your master, O cubes of the Moon!"
No sound, no movement, answered him.
"Luar and Dalis are no longer able to command you!"
Still no sound or movement of the cubes.
* * * * *
Then, taking a deep breath, as of a swimmer preparing to dive into icywater, Sarka gave a new command.
"Dissolve! Reform on the roof of the world in globes! Roll over the faceof the Earth, destroy the fire-balls of Mars--and take prisoners, insidethe globes, the attackers from Mars!"
Instantly the gleaming cubes vanished, and darkness as of a mighty pitpossessed the crevasse of destruction. Then, at the lip of the greatcrevasse, the cubes swept into form--myriads of globes which gleamedwith the cold blue brilliance of the Moon!
They had no sooner formed as globes than they were in action again,rolling over the roof of the world as with a rising crescendo of thundertumbling down the night-black sky. So mighty was their rush that theroof of the world trembled and shook.
Above their charge raced Sarka and Jaska, and with them the rebels ofthe Gens of Dalis.
All were present when the cubes crashed into the fire-balls from Mars,swept the Martians within themselves as prisoners, held themsecurely--and continued on, destroying the fire-balls in myriads. Hereand there fire-balls exploded on contact, destroying the globes, whichimmediately reformed again, as though the explosions had not been feltat all.
* * * * *
Sarka had won the allegiance of the Moon-cubes, which had defeated andtaken prisoners the Martians, destroying the vehicles in which theymight have returned to Mars. And as realization came, darkness settledover the roof of the world; the last flare of Mars faded and died.
This done, the cubes formed in mighty rows, facing the laboratory ofSarka. His heart beating madly with exultation, Sarka studied them. Thenhe stepped into the Observatory, gazed away across the space whichseparated the Earth from the Moon, sent a mental message wingingoutward.
"Luar! Dalis!"
Faintly, fearfully, came the answer.
"We hear, O Sarka!"
"Shift the blue column away from the Earth! Do not interfere as wereturn to our orbit about the sun! Obey, or I combine the totalknowledge of Mars, the Earth, and the Moon in an attack against you andyour Martian ally! Inform your ally that their people will not return,that the Earth has need of them--but that two Gens of Earth will bereceived by Martians in perfect amity, and these Gens allowed bidingplaces on Mars! Unless your ally obeys, the Martians in my hands will bedestroyed!"
In an hour the answer came, the snarling thought-answer of Dalis.
"We hear! We obey! But Dalis is never beaten while he lives! His daywill come!"
* * * * *
Sarka found himself feeling even a little sorry for sorely beaten Dalis;but his face was grim as he sent another command to the people of Daliswho had passed through the life-source of the Moon.
"Take command of the cubes, and force them to repair the damage whichhas been done to the dwellings of men--to repair them completely, overall the face of the Earth!"
As the glowing people hurried to obey, Sarka softly asked his father:
"But what shall we do with the Martians?"
Sarka the Second smiled.
"Release them and send them to the lowest level where, guarded by thecubes, they will be set to constructing fireballs like those in whichthey arrived for the use of Earth if Dalis, or
the Martians, ever attackagain! And, son...."
"Yes, O my father?" said Sarka softly.
"I have another suggestion for the employment of the cubes! Let thembuild aircars to be used by the Gens of Prull and of Klaser, astransportation to Mars whenever you are ready for them to go!"
Sarka smiled boyishly, happily.
"Yes, O my father; and is there anything else?"
"Yes! Take Jaska as your mate! Do you not see that she is waiting foryou to speak?"
Sarka turned to Jaska, whose face was glorious in her surrender, andwhose lips were parted in a loving smile--which faded only when Sarka'slips caressed it away.
(_The end._)