Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930

Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930 Page 5

by Various

  CHAPTER II

  _The People of the Hives_

  Moodily Sarka stared into the depths of the Beryl, which represented theEarth, and in which he could see everything that earthlings did, aftervisually enlarging them, through use of a microscope that could beadjusted, with relation to the Beryl, to bring out in detail any sectionof the world he wished to study. His face was utterly sad. The people atlast truly possessed the Earth--all of it that was, even with the aid ofevery miracle known to science, habitable.

  The surface of the Earth was one vast building, like a hive, and to eachhuman being was allotted by law a certain abiding place. But men nolonger died, unless they desired to do so, and then only when theSpokesmen of the Gens saw fit to grant permission; and there soon wouldbe no place for the newborn to live. Even now that point had practicallybeen reached throughout the world, and in the greater portion it _had_been reached, and passed, and men knew that while men did not die, theycould be killed!

  The vast building, towering above what had once been the surface of theearth, to heights undreamed of before the discovery, was irregular onits top, to fit the contour of the earth, and its roof, constructed ofmaterials raped from the earth's core, was so designed as to catch andconcentrate the yearly more feeble rays of the sun, so that itslife-giving warmth might continue to be the boon of living people.

  * * * * *

  It had been found as Earth cooled that life was possible to a depth ofeight miles below the one-time surface, so that the one huge buildingextended below the surface to this great depth, and was divided andre-divided to make homes for men, their wives, and their progeny. Buteven so, space was limited. Neighboring families outgrew theirsurroundings, overflowed into the habitations of their neighbors--andevery family was at constant war against its neighbors.

  Men did not die, but they could be slain, and there was scarcely a home,above or below, in all the vast building, which had not planned andexecuted murder, times and times--or which had not left its own blood inthe dwelling places of neighbors.

  No law could cope with this intolerable situation, for men, down theages, had changed in their essential characteristics but little--andrecognized one law only in their extremity, that of self-preservation.

  So there was murder rampant, and mothers who wept for children,husbands, fathers or mothers, who would never return to their homes.

  "My grandfather," whispered Sarka, his eyes peering deeply into acertain area beyond that assigned by law to the House of Cleric, wheremen of two neighboring families were locked in mortal, silent conflict,"should not have frustrated the mad scheme of Dalis! It was slaughter,wholesale and terrible, but it would have cleansed the souls of thesurvivors!"

  * * * * *

  Mentally Sarka was looking back now to that red day when Dalis, theclosest scientific rival of Sarka the First, had come to Sarka theFirst with his proposal which at the time had seemed so hideous. Sarkaremembered that interval in all its details, for he had heard it manytimes.

  "Sarka," Dalis had said in his high-pitched voice, staring at Sarka theFirst out of red-rimmed, fiery eyes, "unless something is done the worldwill rush on to self-destruction! Men will slay one another! Fatherswill kill their sons, and sons their fathers, if something is not done!For always there is marrying and giving in marriage, and each family isreaching out in all directions, seeking merely space in which to live.Formerly there were wars which automatically took thought of theoverplus of men; but to-day the world is at peace, as men regard theterm--and every man's hand is against his neighbor! There will be nomore wars, when there should be! There is but one alternative!"

  "And that?" Sarka the First had queried suspiciously.

  "The segregation of the fittest! The destruction, swiftly, painlessly,of all the others! And when the survivors have again re-populated theearth to overflowing--a repetition of the same corrective! Men will die,yes, by millions; but those who are left will be a stronger, sturdierrace, and by this process of elimination, century by century, men willevolve and become super-men!"

  "And this plan of yours?"

  * * * * *

  For a moment Dalis had paused, breathing heavily, as though almostafraid to continue. Then, while Sarka the First had listened in frozenterror, Dalis had explained his ghastly scheme.

  "If it were not for the mountains and the valleys," said Dalis, "and theworld were perfectly round and smooth of surface, that surface would becovered by water to the depth of one mile! Is that not correct! TheEarth, rotating on its axis, travels about the sun at the rate ofsomething like nineteen miles per second, so perfectly balanced thatthe oceans remain almost quiescent in their beds! But, Sarka, mark mewell! If we could, together, devise a way to halt this rotation for asmuch as a few seconds, what would happen?"

  "What would happen?" repeated Sarka the First, dropping his own voice toa husky, frightened whisper. "Why, the oceans would be hurled out oftheir beds, and a wall of water a mile high or more--it is allguesswork!--would rush eastward around the world, bearing everythingbefore it! It would uproot and destroy buildings, sweep the rockycovering of the earth free of soil; and humanity, caught on the earthbelow the highest level of the world's greatest tidal wave, would beengulfed!"

  "Exactly!" Dalis had said with a grin. "Exactly! Only--the people wewish to survive could be warned, and these could either be aloft whenthe tidal wave swept the face of the earth, or could be safely out ofreach of the waters on the sides of the highest mountains!"

  * * * * *

  Sarka the First, wanly smiling, catching his breath at last, now that herealized the utter impossibility of this mad scheme, had been minded tohumor the fancies of a man whom he had believed not quite sane.

  "Why not," he began, "take away from men the Secret of Life, so thatthey will die, as formerly, when the world was young?"

  "When all the world knows the Secret, when even children learn it beforethey are capable of walking?" demanded Dalis sarcastically. "You couldonly remove knowledge of the Secret from the brains of men by removingthose brains themselves! Your thought is more terrible even than mine,because it leads to this inescapable conclusion!"

  "But supposing for a moment your mad scheme were possible, who shouldsay whom, of all the earth's people, should be saved, whom sacrificed?"

  "What better test could be given than that which I am proposing?" Dalishad snarled. "Those worthy of being saved would save themselves! Thosewho would perish would not be worth saving! As natural, as inescapableas the law of the survival of the fittest, which has been an axiom oflife since men first crawled out of the slime and asked each otherquestions as they caught their first glimpses of the stars and ponderedthe reasons for them!"

  "But where, then, was there any point in my giving to people the Secretof Life?"

  "Had you paused to think," snapped Dalis, "you would never have done so!Your lust for power, and for fame, destroyed your foresight!"

  * * * * *

  "And is it not, Dalis," replied Sarka the First, softly, "for this,really, that you have come to me? To berate me? To throw at my head madschemes impossible of accomplishment? I have always known you for anenemy, Dalis, because you are envious of what I have accomplished, whatyou sense that I will accomplish as time passes!"

  "I do not love you, Sarka!" retorted Dalis frankly. "I despise you! Hateyou! But I need the aid of that keen brain of yours! You see, hate youthough I may, I do you honor still. I have something up here," tappingthe dome of his brow, only less lofty than that of Sarka, "which youlack. You have something I have not, never can attain! But together weare complements, each of the other, and to the two of us this scheme ispossible!"

  "I am very busy, Dalis," Sarka the First had replied coldly. "I must askyou to leave me! What you propose is impossible, unthinkable!"

  "So," retorted Dalis, "you think me mad? You think me incapable ofperfect
ing this plan about whose details you have not even yet beeninformed! You would show me the door as though you were a king and I aslave--when kings and slaves vanished from the earth millenniums ago!Then listen to me, Sarka! I know how to do this thing about which I havetold you. I can halt, for a brief moment only, the whirl of the earthabout its axis. And by so doing I can flood the earth with the waters ofthe oceans! If you will not listen to me, I shall do it myself! Youshall have two days in which to give me an answer, for I admit that Ineed you, who would balance me, make sure I made no fatal mistakes! Butif you do not, I will act ... along the lines I have hinted!"

  * * * * *

  Apparently as unconcerned as though he had not just listened to a schemefor almost total depopulation of the world, the destruction of millionsupon millions of lives, Sarka the First had dismissed Dalis--who hadstraightway used all his offices to arouse the world of science againstthe first Sarka.

  But, when the two days of grace given by Dalis had passed, there were nooceans--for Sarka the First had been planning for a century against thetime when the earth must of necessity be over-populated, and had workedand slaved in his laboratory against the contingency which haddeveloped.

  He had smiled, though there was a trace of fear on his face after Dalishad left, for _his_ scheme had been worked out--not to destroy, but tosave!

  And from this same laboratory in which Sarka now sat and pondered on thenext step in man's expansion, Sarka the First had, in fear and tremblingat first, but with his confidence growing by leaps and bounds, workedhis own miracle. Untold millions and billions of rays, whose any portionof which, coming in contact with water, immediately separated itshydrogen and oxygen, thus disintegrating its molecules, were hurledforth from their store-houses beneath the laboratory, across the facesof the mighty oceans of Earth....

  And when men saw the miracle, they rushed into the mighty valleys wherethe oceans had been, and began to build new homes!

  * * * * *

  That had been centuries ago--scores of centuries.

  Now all the earth, all the livable part of the earth, above itssurface--and below it to the depths of miles--was filled with people,like bees in a monster hive, like ants of antiquity in their warrenedhills. And there was no place now that they could go.

  So they fought among themselves for the right to live.

  "But my grandfather was right!" Sarka almost screamed it, speaking aloudin the silence of his laboratory. "My grandfather was right! Dalis waswrong! Science should be the science of Life, not of Death! Yet whithershall we go! Where now shall we find places for our people who are dailybeing born in myriads, to live, and love and flourish?"

  But there was no answer. Only the humming of the perpetually revolvingBeryl, which showed to the sad eyes of Sarka that the people of hisbeloved earth were rushing onward to Chaos, unless....

  "If only I could be sure about Jaska!" he moaned. "If only my couragewere as great as that of which I stand in need! For if I fail, evenDalis, had he succeeded with that scheme of his in grandfather's time,would be less a monster, less a criminal!"

  CHAPTER III

  _The Spokesmen of the Gens_

  For a long moment Sarka looked broodingly out across the world beyondthe metalized glass which formed the curving dome of his laboratoryroof. There was little that could be seen, for always the mighty, coldwinds, ruffed with flurries of snow and particles of ice, swept overthis artificial roof of the world. Here and there huge portions of thearea within the range of his normal vision were swept clear and clean ofsnow and ice--and looked bluely, bitterly cold and hostile.

  Without the Sarka-Belts, people who ventured forth from their hiveswould instantly freeze to the consistency of marble in those winds andstorms. For the people of Earth had built their monster habitationtoward the stars until they reached up into the altitude of perpetualcold.

  Only under that gleaming roof was there warmth. Many of the men, andwomen, and children who had lost in the now century-old fight forsurvival had merely been tossed out of the hives. A painless, swiftdeath--but each death, in a world so highly specialized that each grownperson fitted into his niche naturally and easily, was a distinct loss,not much, perhaps, but enough for the loss to be felt.

  * * * * *

  Sarka, closing his eyes for a moment as though to shut out a horrorwhich in his mind he could visualize, turned back to the RevolvingBeryl, in which he kept in constant touch with all parts of the world atwill.

  "It _must_ be done!" he muttered. "I must take action. It means the lossof thousands, perhaps millions of lives, in such a war as the mind ofman has not hitherto conceived; but for a Cause greater than any whichhas ever hitherto been an excuse for armed conflict. But I must discussit with the Spokesmen of the Gens!"

  On the table before Sarka was a row of vari-colored lights, whose sourcewas beneath the floor of the laboratory, out of the heart of themaster-mountain, part of the intricate machinery of this laboratorywhich had been almost twenty centuries in the perfecting. In thedwelling place of each of the Spokesmen was a single light, colored likeone of the lights on Sarka's table. To speak with any one of theSpokesmen Sarka had but to dim the properly colored light by covering itwith the palm of his hand. The light in the home of the thus signalledSpokesman was dimmed, and the Spokesman would know that Sarka desiredto converse with him.

  Sarka noted the blue light, and shuddered. For if he covered it with hispalm it would summon Dalis, a great scientist, but an erratic one, asSarka the First had so clearly shown.

  Sarka turned again to the Beryl. The area of which Dalis was Spokesmanwas, roughly speaking, that part of what had once been the PacificOcean, north of a line drawn east and west through the southernmost ofthe Hawaiian Islands, northward to the Pole. The home of Dalis was inthe heart of what had once been an island historians claimed had beencalled Oahu, now a mountain peak still retaining a hint of thepre-Discovery name: Ohi.

  * * * * *

  The total number of the Spokesmen, the oldest of earth's inhabitants,was twelve, and the remainder of the Earth not under the tutelary ruleof Dalis was divided up among the other eleven Spokesmen. Cleric, forexample, father of Jaska, was Spokesman of that area which men had oncecalled Asia, the vast valleys of the once Indian Ocean and theMediterranean; while the youngest of the Spokesmen, in a manner servinghis apprenticeship, was tutelary head of the vast plateau once calledAfrica. The name of this man was Gerd.

  "He, at least," thought Sarka, thinking of each Spokesman in turn andcataloguing each in his mind, "will be with me. I wonder about theothers, and especially Dalis. He has always hated us!"

  Then, with the air of a man who has made up his mind and crosses hisparticular Rubicon in a single step, Sarka rose to his feet and passedalong the row of vari-colored lights, covering each one with his hand inrapid succession.

  Then he sat down again, almost holding his breath, and waited. As hestared at the row of lights his eyes lingered longest on two which werealmost golden in color--and his face was very gentle, almost reverent.For those two lights were signals to Sarka the First and Sarka theSecond, his grandfather and his father!

  * * * * *

  It was Dalis, the irascible, the fiery tempered, the erratic, who firstmade answer.

  "Yes! What is it now?"

  Sarka smiled a trifle grimly as he spoke a single word.

  "Wait!"

  The voice of Dalis, which Sarka had good cause to remember, had soundedas loudly in the laboratory as though Dalis had been present there inperson, for men had learned to communicate by voice almost without theaid of radio and its appurtenances though the principle upon which thefirst crude beginnings of radio were fashioned still applied. Each man'sdwelling place was both a "sender" and a "receiver," and men could talkand be talked to no matter where they lived--individuals telepathicallysummoned at desire of anyone wishing verbal con
tact.

  "Gerd is here!" came the voice of that Spokesman.

  To him also Sarka spoke one word.

  "Wait!"

  "I am here, Sarka!" came a musical voice. "And Jaska is with me,listening!"

  That would be Cleric, loyal friend, master scientist, but always shy ofcontact with people, though swift to anger and self-forgetfulness whenhe knew himself right and was opposed. Sarka darted a look back at theRevolving Beryl, adjusted swiftly the Beryl-microscope, and smiled intothe faces of Jaska and Cleric, who looked enough alike that they mighthave been brother and sister, though Cleric had been born ten centuriesbefore his daughter Jaska. They smiled back at him.

  * * * * *

  He shifted the Beryl-microscope and stared for a second at Dalis, therein the Beryl, and marked the antagonism Dalis was at no pains to hide.

  One by one the Spokesmen reported.

  Klaser, from the Americas; Durce from the valleys of the vanishedAtlantic; Boler from that part of the Artic Circle not included in thewedge which the Gens of Dalis thrust northward to the Pole: Vardee;Prull; Yuta; Aal; Vance and Hime. Each from his appointed area, eachfrom the official headquarters of his Gens, the name given to thosepeople who acknowledged the tutelage of a Spokesman. Each Spokesman,therefore, was the mouthpiece of millions of men, women and children.And over the Spokesmen, and not themselves Spokesmen, were threescientists: The Sarkas, First, Second and Third.

  When all twelve of the Spokesmen had reported and been bidden by Sarkato wait, a smile touched the face of Sarka for an instant as two othervoices, so nearly alike they might have been the voice of a singleperson, reported themselves.

  "I am here, son! What is it?"

  Oddly enough, Sarka's father and grandfather reported with exactly thesame words. Sarka smiled at a whimsical thought of his own. It had beensome time since the three scientist Sarkas had been together, anddespite the vast differences in their ages they might have beentriplets!

  * * * * *

  The reports were in and the Spokesmen were waiting; but for almost aminute Sarka waited still. Then he spoke swiftly those words for whichthere could be no recall:

  "Gentlemen, the time is come when we must go to war!"

  For a long moment after he had spoken there was no answer. Then it came,in the jeering laughter of the antagonistic Dalis.

  "War? Against whom? The Sarkas are always dreaming!"

  "And Dalis," continued Sarka, "shall be one of the leaders of Earthlingsin this war which I am about to propose! You doubtless recall a proposalyou once made to Sarka the First? Your proposal to halt for a fewmoments the headlong whirl of the earth about its axis, thus toflood--"

  "Stop!" interrupted Dalis. "Stop! Immediately!"

  And Sarka stopped. He had forgotten, in the excitement of his urge toexplain his plans, that the millions of people who gave officialallegiance to Dalis had never been informed of the hideous proposal hehad made, back there centuries ago, as a corrective for a world rapidlyapproaching over-population. Had his people known, never again would thevoice of Dalis be heard in life. The Spokesmen knew, and the Sarkas; butno others. Sarka understood the protest of Dalis; honored it.

  "Dalis," he went on, more softly, "after I have explained what I wish todo, you will come to me here, prepared to explain to me exactly how youplanned doing what you proposed to my grandfather--for your knowledgewill be necessary to me...."

  "Isn't it enough that your grandfather stole from me, and amplified, anidea that would have made me forever famous, without his grandson alsostealing the fruit of my brains?"

  "Your brains," said Sarka sharply, "belong to your people. What I planis for their betterment. But it means war, war which may last a century,two centuries, in which lives of countless thousands may be lost."

  * * * * *

  Sarka's last words were almost drowned out by the humming sound thatcame out of the Revolving Beryl, that perfected device which was theultimate in the evolution of television and vibration-transference.Sarka's heart sank, for he knew the meaning of that sound. So did theSpokesmen.

  "You see?" came the rasping voice of Dalis. "You hear? Look into yourBeryl! See the clenched fists of the earth's myriads being shaken atyou! Listen to the protests of the millions who hear your every word!See what Earthlings think of the prospect of war!"

  For a moment Sarka spoke directly to the people.

  "Be silent and listen! It will be war, yes; but not such a skulking,hideous war as ye wage among yourselves for a place to live! You,fathers, are guilty of slaying your sons! You, sons, of slaying yourfathers! Merely by thrusting them forth from the hives, into the OuterCold! This war I propose shall be a war that shall match your manhood,if ye indeed be men! Listen to me, and I will find for you new lands toconquer, new homes for your holding, if ye can take them!"

  "But where," interrupted the sarcastic voice of Dalis, "are these newlands of which you speak? Inside the Earth? Already our hives reach intothe Earth a distance of eight miles. Where else, then?"

  "For shame, Dalis!" snapped Sarka, "and you a scientist! Every bit ofhabitable land on this globe is some man's dwelling place! Spokesmen ofthe Gens of Earth, look out your windows! Look out and upward--and readDalis' answer in the stars!"

  * * * * *

  For a full minute there was silence throughout the earth, and Sarka sawthat the Spokesmen were doing his bidding. He himself looked out, outthrough the swirling storm which tore at the crest of the Himalayas, adark and forbidding Outside, in the starred dome of which rode the paleorbed moon!

  "It is obvious, son," came the voice of Sarka the First, "what you mean.But how accomplish it?"

  "Fifteen centuries ago, my father's father," cried Sarka, "Dalis toldyou that he possessed the power to halt for a moment the headlong whirlof the world on its axis about the sun! He could do it then--and no man,whatever he may think of Dalis as a man, has ever known him to lie! If,fifteen centuries ago, he could bring the whirling world to pause, whycan we not, now...."

  And, even though he had thought of this for years upon end, had spokenover and over to himself the words he was now using, rehearsing hisproposed argument to the Spokesmen of the Gens, Sarka found himself fora moment almost afraid to continue and speak them.

  "I understand, Sarka!" came the excited voice of Gerd, youngest of theSpokesmen. "And I follow wherever you think it best to lead! You mean... you mean...."

  "Exactly!" Sarka managed at last. "If the Earth can be stayed on itsaxis, it can be diverted from its orbit entirely! I know, for I havefound the manner of its doing, though I need the genius of Dalis tocheck my work and my calculations! We have no new land on this Earth toconquer; but the Universe is filled with countless other worlds! Whatsay ye, Spokesmen of the Gens? What say ye, Gens of Earth?"

  But for the time of a thousand heartbeats neither the Spokesmen or theGens made answer to Sarka, and all the world fell utterly silent,absorbing this unbelievable thing of which Sarka had hinted.

  * * * * *

  Over the metalized roof of the world the snows and storms, the winds andthe wraiths of the long dead moaned and screamed as with an icy voice ofabysmal warning.

  And for the time of those thousand heartbeats, the world was pausing tolisten.

  When realization came, the answer would come from the Spokesmen and fromthe Gens; and here in the Sarka laboratory, his Rubicon crossed at last,sat Sarka, staring through the Beryl-microscope into the depths of theRevolving Beryl. His face was dead white, his eyes narrowed.

  The first voice which came startled him.

  "It is mad, Sarka! Mad! Mad! But I am with you, always!"

  It was the voice of Jaska, daughter of Cleric!

  CHAPTER IV

  _The Earthlings Make Ready_

  "I too, am with you!" came the voice of Gerd.

  "Spoken like a child!" snapped Dalis. "For you are as much
a child asthis third of the dreaming Sarkas! The scheme is mad, madder even thanJaska intimates! The scheme I once proposed, in which I was cheated bythe grandfather of this madman, was times and times more feasible andpracticable!"

  "Suppose," came the soft voice of Sarka the First, interrupting Dalis,"that you put the matter up to your Gens, O wise and noble Dalis, andsee which scheme they would endorse if given the choice in thematter--and were your scheme still possible!"

  This quickly silenced the vituperation of Dalis, but in no wiseprevented his continuance as a rather loud antagonist of the plan.

  "How," he demanded, "can you return the Earth to its orbit, evengranting you are able to take this initial step? How keep life on theEarth during its flight on this rainbow-chasing voyage you propose?"

  "All these things have been taken into consideration, O Dalis!" retortedSarka. "All of my scheme is practicable, as I think you will agree whenI have told you its details. What think you of the plan, Klaser? Andyou, Durce? Boler? Vardee? Prull? Yuta? Aal? Vance? Hime?"

  When the Spokesmen had answered, some of them hesitantly, for the peopleall this time had remained silent--and none of the Spokesmen could besure how his own Gens would feel in the matter--it developed that sevenof the Spokesmen were for the scheme, if it should prove to be possible.

  "If this is the voice of the majority of the Gens," snapped Dalis,"given thus by their Spokesmen, then I vote with the majority! I shallcall upon you immediately, Sarka, for a conference!"

  * * * * *

  "I am glad," said Sarka softly, "that the majority of the Spokesmen arewith me. Especially am I glad that Dalis and Cleric vote with me. Forthe others I have only this to say: I have thought this matter over foralmost a century, and I know that the time has come when we must act, tosave ourselves from self-destruction. Had you not decided with me, Ishould have acted alone!"

  "Yes?" snapped Dalis. "How?"

  "I have, here in my laboratory," replied Sarka, "the power whereby toaccomplish the scheme of which I have told you! Had all the Gens defiedme, I would have nevertheless sent the Earth outward on its voyage,bringing it within reach of the denizens, first of the Moon, second ofMars--and you people of little courage would have been compelled tofight to save yourselves!"

  "You would have forced us into war?" came the quavering voice of Prull,the first Spokesman aside from Dalis to take active part in thediscussion. "Then why, if you had the means in the beginning to enforceyour will upon us, confer with us at all?"

  Sarka thrilled with satisfaction, for this question gave him the excusehe sought. He had been wondering and scheming how to compel theSpokesmen of the Gens to obey his will.

  "I wanted your opinions," he said shortly. "But I also wish you to knowthat I have the power to go on, whether you wish it or not--_and youmust obey me!_"

  * * * * *

  How would the twelve Gens take this ultimatum of Sarka? For breathlessmoments after he had spoken he waited, and the Spokesmen with him. Thencame the voice of Cleric, addressing his people, yet leaving thecontacts open so that Sarka and the other Spokesmen might hear.

  "What say you, O Gens of Cleric?" he cried, his voice an exultant,clarioning paean of rejoicing. "Do we follow this man who promises uslife again? Do we follow this man who promises us that once again weshall dwell in plenty, without the blood of relatives and neighbors onour hands? Answer this man, O Gens--for I say unto you that wheresoeverhe leads I would follow him!"

  Silence for a heartbeat. Then a murmuring like the sound of the waves ofthe long-vanished seas sounded in the laboratory, wherein all thingswere seen, all sounds were heard. A monster voice, loud and savage, fromthe Gens of Cleric.

  "We follow Cleric wherever he leads!" Finally the words becameintelligible. "It matters not to us whom Cleric follows, so long as wemay follow Cleric!"

  "Well spoken, O Gens of Cleric!" snapped Sarka when the murmuring dieddown to a whisper, then faded out entirely. "Deck yourselves in thewhite garments of Cleric! Emblazon upon your backs and breast the RedLily of his House! Prepare for war! These are your orders; the details Ileave to Cleric!"

  There came the voice Dalis.

  "Give your orders to my Gens direct, O Sarka!" rasped Dalis. "For Ileave this very moment to come to you!"

  "Thank you," said Sarka, a great wave of exaltation sweeping over him.He had expected Dalis to be the last and most difficult to manage. Thento the Gens of Dalis, as the blue light on the table in the laboratoryshowed Sarka that Dalis was already winging toward him: "Deck yourselvesin the green garments of Dalis! Wear as your insignia the yellow star ofhis House, and prepare for war! Make new and modern Ray Directors!Refurbish your rotting machines of destruction! Make ready, and makehaste! For the Gens of Dalis will be the first of all the Gens to movein attack against the Dwellers Outside! When the time comes I shall tellyou where you shall dwell--if you win the land I shall show you!"

  * * * * *

  The humming of myriad voices inside the laboratory was now almostcontinuous, but ever the words of Sarka went out to the Spokesmen and tothe Gens, though, save in the case of Cleric and of Dalis, he did notspeak to the Gens direct, because he did not wish in one iota to usurpthe authority of the Spokesmen themselves.

  But when less than an hour had passed, he realized that the first stephad been successfully taken, and that from now on the success or failureof the scheme rested in his own hands. Perspiration bedewed hisforehead, and for a second he prayed.

  "God of our fathers! Grant that we be not mistaken! Grant that we beright in what we plan! Grant that success attend our arms! Grant thatthis scheme of mine lead us not to catastrophe--for if this shoulddevelop, only I am guilty, and only I should be punished!"

  "Amen!"

  As one voice, the Spokesmen of the Gens spoke the word, and Sarka heardit. He had forgotten for the moment that the Spokesmen still could hearhim.

  "That is all," he said huskily. "Prepare your Gens, each of you, forsuch battle as even our histories never have recorded! For we go againstfoemen whose strength we do not know, whose manner of life we do notknow, and we must not fail! Make haste with your preparations! Your timeis short! And Spokesmen, counsel your Gens that they put aside at onceall personal differences, all family quarrels, all quarrels with theirneighbors! That each adult individual, each unmarried woman, and suchmarried woman as have all their children grown, and who no longer needthem, prepare to go forth to battle! From this laboratory, within abrief space, Dalis and the Sarkas will give you further word!"

  * * * * *

  Then he dimmed the lights, and severed contact with the Spokesmen of theGens. Only two lights he did not dim, at the moment, and to two men hespoke softly.

  "My father and my father's father! Come to me at once! For there shallbe need of the combined genius of the Sarkas if my scheme is tosucceed!"

  From both Sarkas, as though they had rehearsed the words against thisneed of them, came answer:

  "Aye, son, we come!"

  From that moment on until Dalis and the Sarkas were ready to take themost momentous step ever taken in the history of the world, the hummingwithin the laboratory did not cease. For the people, the millions andbillions of people of the hives, were busy, eagerly and feverishly busy,preparing new armament, new engines of destruction, against the timewhen there should be need of them. And for perhaps the first time incenturies, the people were happy.

  For not even the passage of a thousand centuries, or a thousand thousandcenturies, could flush from the warm hearts of men the love of conflict!

  Sarka smiled wanly, his face very pale. He had spoken, his people werebusy with preparations, and now there could be no turning back. Theworld, when he spoke the word, would rush outward to gloriousconflict--or to destruction!

  A buzzer sounded near the Exit Dome. Sarka raced to give the "Enter"Signal--and Dalis, he of the hawk-eyes, the sharp nose and sharpertongue,
entered the presence of the man who, in a twinkling, had madehimself master of the world.

  "Well," he said harshly, "I am here! What do you wish of me?"

  "We Sarkas," said Sarka easily, "wish to assure ourselves that you willdo nothing to obstruct our plans! Dalis, of the Gens of Dalis, you areprisoner of the Sarkas until you have passed your word!"

  "That I will never do!" said Dalis calmly. "I have passed my word to goforward with you; but I meant, and you knew I meant, to go forward onlyas far as to me seemed right and reasonable!"

  CHAPTER V

  _The Betrayal of Dalis_

  And until the arrival of the other two Sarkas, Dalis said nothing. Hisface flushed an angry red as Sarka the First received the "Enter" Signaland stepped into the laboratory which had once been his--which he haddelivered into the capable hands of Sarka the Second, in order to findnew channels for his genius, as a worker for the betterment of theworld's people. This he had found in organization, so that the peopleworked and labored, despite their personal quarrels, in closer harmonythan they ever had before. But now Sarka the Third had called, and thetwo Sarkas responded. Dalis snarled at his ancient enemy, who looked tobe the image of Sarka the Third and not one whit older, though one hadpreceded the other into the world by many centuries.

  "Still the pleasant, congenial Dalis, I see!" smiled Sarka the First.

  * * * * *

  For the moment it seemed that Dalis would die there of his seethinganger; but he answered no word for all of a minute. Then:

  "This mad grandson of yours has made me a prisoner, until such time as Iconcur in all his plans!"

  "If he says you are a prisoner, that you are!" snapped the elder Sarkaangrily. "Son, what is this thing you plan?"

  "For almost a century," replied Sarka, "I have been planning this. Iknew, when father told me that Dalis had sworn he was able to halt for amoment the headlong flight of the Earth in its orbit, that Dalis did notlie or bluff! In your day, even, that was possible, and I continued withthe knotty problem until I deduced the manner of its doing. I, too, canhalt the Earth's rotation, or throw it out of its orbit! I took youridea, Dalis, _independently_ of you, knowing you would never revealyour secret to a Sarka, and amplified it until I can not only halt theEarth in its orbit, but throw it out of its orbit entirely!"

  For a moment Sarka studied the angry face of Dalis, and his own was verythoughtful.

  "Dalis," he said at last, "I wish you were not our enemy! For you are agenius, and the world has need of all the knowledge of such genius as itpossesses. Why do you oppose us?"

  "Because," snarled Dalis, "I guessed something of your plan that I donot like! I do not like the Sarkas, never have; but neither have theSarkas any love for me! When you spoke to us all, I knew that somehowyou had discovered the secret! You spoke, when you delivered yourultimatum, of attacking the Moon, and after it Mars! You also granted tomy Gens what would have seemed a great honor--to anyone who did notfathom the tricky scheming of the Sarkas!--that of being the first intothe fray! If we are to be first, and the Moon is to be the firstattacked, then you plan to relieve the world forever of me, yourarch-enemy, by exiling me and all my Gens upon the Moon! A dead world,covered with ashes, whose people dwell in dank caverns, like gnomes ofthe underworld...."

  * * * * *

  "Stay!" snapped Sarka. "But I granted you a greater honor even thanthat, Dalis! I planned on your Gens, led by you, making a successfulconquest of the Moon--because only such a genius as Dalis could forcefrom this dead world a living for his Gens! Because you are the wisestof the Spokesmen, I planned for you the greatest task! Because I needyou ... I do not slay you!"

  "I thank you," bowing low, with the deepest sarcasm, "but you honor metoo much! And tell me, pray, if it is not true that you plan for theSarkas their choice of the best and newest worlds of the Universe?"

  Sarka did not answer for a second, while his sensitive nostrils quiveredwith fury. The Sarkas had not noticed, but Jaska, daughter of Cleric,had admitted herself through the Exit Dome, in a way known only to Sarkaand to herself, as she had entered many times before so as not todisturb Sarka at his labors. She now stood silently there, divestingherself of her Belt and outer clothing, beneath which was the goldentoga worn by all the women of the earth. Dalis, however, had seen her,and his eyes narrowed craftily as he awaited the answer of Sarka.

  "Dalis," said Sarka softly, "it is not for you to question me, but toobey me! I have not undertaken this step without mastering all itsdetails, and I refuse to allow you to swerve me in a single one of themfrom my plan."

  * * * * *

  Dalis straightened, standing stiffly at savage attention, and met theangry eyes of Sarka without flinching. There was no fear in Dalis, asall the world knew. But he was a schemer, and selfish.

  "After all," he said, "I have known Sarkas to make promises they couldnot keep! How do I know, how does the world know, that you can do whatyou say you can do?"

  "If," said Sarka, "I close all contact of this laboratory with the worldoutside, so that none may hear what I say save we four, and I thenwhisper here the secret you never told, Dalis, when my father's fatherrefused to help you--will you then believe?"

  The face of Dalis went suddenly white, but he nodded, his eyes burningredly. Jaska moved closer to the men, who stood near the table of thevari-colored lights.

  "You needed my father's father," said Sarka softly, "because the secretof your scheme rested here in this laboratory, which is the highestpoint in the world! You pretended to need him in your scheme; but youdid not need my father's father, though you _did_ need his laboratory,and some of the facts of science that _he_ discovered. So you came tohim with your scheme, discovered that he believed, though he denied it,your scheme was possible--because he refused to aid you in it! Then, asan excuse to re-enter this laboratory, you told him you would returnwithin two days! Now, shall I tell you your secret?"

  * * * * *

  The lips of Dalis were moving soundlessly. His right hand started torise, as though he would make it signal the negative he was unable for amoment to speak. But even as he stood there, swaying slightly on hisfeet, Sarka dashed to the lights on the table, disconnecting them one byone; to the Revolving Beryl, which then ceased to revolve for the firsttime in centuries--whirled when he had finished, and stepped to the verycenter of the room.

  "Now," he whispered, "your secret, Dalis!"

  Still the hand upraised, still Dalis tried to speak, and could not.

  Sarka spoke, in a hoarse, almost terrified whisper, four words:

  "The Beryl! The Ovoids!"

  Gasps of surprise from the other two Sarkas, whose eyes for a secondflashed to the huge Beryl, which now was still, silent--and blind.Dawning comprehension was evident in their faces.

  "The success of the Revolving Beryl," whispered Sarka, "which sees allthat transpires in this world, depends on one fact: that its revolvingis proportionately timed to infinite exactness with the revolution ofthe Earth about its axis! This Beryl is the Master Beryl of the Earth,which was why Dalis needed this Beryl, and could use no other!"

  * * * * *

  "Suppose that for a period of two days, uniformly progressive, thisBeryl were forced to revolve in sharp jerks at an increasing rate ofspeed! With all connections in place, and all the world's Beryls attunedto the speed of this one--what would happen? What would happen if asingle Gens were marshalled in warlike array atop the area of the Gens,and kept up a steady, rhythmic march for a period of hours?"

  "In a few hours," whispered Sarka the First, "the roof of the Gens areawould begin to vibrate, to vibrate throughout all the area, and eveninto all surrounding Gens areas--and in time the roof would collapse!"

  "Exactly!" said Sarka, breathing heavily. "This Beryl, when attuned toall other Beryls in the world, would have this vibratory effect, notonly on a certain area of the world--but upo
n the entire world!--Forcethe speed of the Beryls to the uttermost limit, and you sway the worldto your will! As a marching horde would sway the roof of a vast sectionof the world if the horde's commander willed!

  "But that is not enough! The world would tremble, but nothing more! TheEarth's store of Ovidum, which is Anti-Gravitational, and used in minutequantities in our Anti-Gravitational Ovoids, is evenly distributedthroughout the world. By vibration of the Beryls I can control it,scatter it or gather it all together wherever I will! By shiftingthrough vibration this Anti-Gravitational material, I can disrupt, makeuneven, or nullify the pull of gravity on the Earth!"

  "That would do it," said Dalis, finding his voice at last; "but howwould you control the course the Earth would take, thus thrown out ofits orbit?"

  "That, my dear Dalis, is for the moment my secret!"

  "But is it?" Dalis suddenly shouted.

  * * * * *

  Before the three Sarkas could recover from their surprise at the man'ssudden vehemence, he made a swift, terrifying move. He leaped away fromthem to stand beside Jaska, daughter of Cleric.

  "Sarka," he shrieked, "I know you love this woman! Note this little tubeI hold against her side. With it I can cause her to vanish for all time,merely by a slight pressure of the fingers! And that will I do, unlessyou immediately open all contacts with the world and remain silent whileI tell the people of Earth how you would betray them!"

  The three Sarkas were petrified with amazement and horror, for theyrecognized the slender tube in the hand of Dalis as a Ray Director, theworld's greatest engine of destruction, and knew that it would doexactly as Dalis had said it would.

  Automatically, because they were brave men, they had stepped a triflecloser to Jaska and Dalis. Perspiration poured from their cheeks as theystared at this rebel. But their fears were for Jaska, who now spoke forthe first time.

  "Let him do as he wills," she said smilingly, "since for the good of theworld I do not fear to die! Refuse him, Sarka, and know that I go intoDeath's Darkness loving you always, and knowing that you will succeed inthe end, in spite of the opposition of men like Dalis!"

  * * * * *

  A man of unexpected actions, this Dalis, for while the attentions of theSarkas were on the little tableau he had staged, his eyes had darted tothe Beryl, to the control which Sarka had touched to still itsrevolving. Now he sprang away from Jaska, was free of her and the Sarkasbefore any could move to intercept him.

  He dashed to the Beryl. Instantly it swept into motion, while Daliswhirled to face the Sarkas, and from his lips came a burst of triumphantlaughter. One hand was on the Beryl Control, the other still held theRay Director.

  "Fools!" he cried. "Fools! Duped like children! And now it is Dalis whois master of the world! Move closer to me, and I will turn my RayDirector upon this Beryl, which you have so kindly informed me is masterof all the Beryls and of all Ovidum deposits! Be glad that I do not turnit upon you; but for you I have a kinder, more honorable fate! I now ammaster, and will direct the destiny of the world! But I will neverleave it, because I suspect that it is the most pleasant of all theworlds! I will, however, choose for the Sarkas a world that shall be thedreariest in all the Universe!"

  The Sarkas whirled as soft laughter came from Jaska, daughter of Cleric.Strange, lilting laughter. They turned in time to see her vanish throughthe Exit Dome; but for a long moment her jeering laughter seemed tosound in the laboratory she had left-and, to judge by her laughter, hadbetrayed! For Dalis, arch-traitor, echoed her laughter!

  CHAPTER VI

  _The Beryls in Tune_

  "Remember," said Dalis, as the Beryl began to revolve and its hummingmounted moment by moment to normal, "that you must concur in whatever Isay to the people of the Earth--for if you do not, I swear that I willdestroy this Master Beryl! Then what happens to your scheme, Sarka theThird? You see, there is no change in the plans, save one: I am themaster, not you!"

  Dalis was not a madman, for the world conceded him place in its list ofgeniuses next below the three Sarkas, which was high honor indeed; butDalis possessed in abundance that most universal of all humanemotions--jealousy. For centuries he had been nursing it, watching theSarkas always in the niches just above him, yet never being able toattain to their eminence. Now....

  He had outwitted them. It might be for a moment only, but while hismastery lasted he would drink deeply of personal satisfaction. Now,however, there was no gloating in his face, for he realized, as Sarkahad realized, the infinite gravity of the whole situation. If a mistakewere made, the world would plunge to destruction--or go cooling foreverin a headlong race through space.

  "I keep the Ray Director hidden," he whispered, while the murmuring ofthe Master Beryl mounted as it gained speed again, "but know you,Sarkas, that its muzzle points at the Master Beryl, always!"

  * * * * *

  Now the forms of Earth were appearing on the Beryl. Men in countlesshordes were maneuvering in myriads, legions and armies, across the faceof the globe. There was no marching, but an effortless, swift as lightalmost, aerial maneuvering. For each human being possessed thetight-fitting metalized cloth, with the gleaming helmet in whoseskull-pan was the Anti-Gravitational Ovoid, which was the "outside"garment of earthlings. With the Ovoid sitting exactly against the skull,man had but to will himself in any direction, at any livable height, andthe action took place. In the same way, one man, to whom others in anorganization gave allegiance by appointment, could will all hisunderlings into whatever formation he desired.

  As beautiful and effortless at the flight of those birds which hadvanished from the earth centuries before.

  "Remember, Dalis," said Sarka, "that while the speed of the Earth in itsorbit is between eighteen and nineteen miles per second, once thrown outof its orbit, and forced to follow a straight or nearly straight line,the speed may be many times that-or much less!"

  "The simplest facts of science," snarled Dalis, "were known to me athousand years before you were born! Now I shall tell the Spokesmen ofthe Gens, and be sure that you second what I say!"

  He paused. Then, raising his voice impressively, he spoke.

  "O Spokesmen of the Gens, O Gens of Earth, hark ye to the words of Dalisand of Sarka! The time has come to try the experiment of which Sarkatold you, and which I, Dalis, of the Gens of Dalis, have found good, andhereby certify! See that all your Beryls are mathematically tuned tocatch every sound, every vibration, every picture, from this Beryl ofSarka, henceforth to be known as the Master Beryl!

  * * * * *

  "No matter what happens, no matter what changes take place in thetemperature of your homes, no matter what storms may come, touch notyour Beryls until instructed from this laboratory! Tune your Beryls,then leave them, and hasten faster with your preparations for war! EachSpokesman of a Gens will at once instruct the members of his Gens thatall partitions between families shall immediately be removed, outwardfrom a common center in each case, until one hundred families occupy asingle dwelling place. Materials from destroyed partitions shall becarefully hoarded, and the newer and bigger areas shall becomemaneuvering places for the hundred families which will occupy each givenarea!

  "Facing a crisis as we are, no thought can be given to privacy, andneighborly quarrels must be forgotten! This move is necessary because nosingle dwelling place is large enough to be used as a place ofmaneuver--and from now on until the command is given, maneuvers must notbe held Outside! For hark ye, O Spokesmen, O Gens of Earth, we are aboutto start upon our voyage into outer space! Spokesmen, call in yourmaneuvering myriads! You have five minutes!"

  In five minutes not a flying man could be seen in all the cold, stormyoutside. Dalis spoke again.

  "Tune your Beryls and remove partitions, taking care that in reducingpartitions you so estimate your stresses and strains that the roof ofthe world be not endangered by weight that is unsupported, or improperlysupported!


  "Food Conservers, redouble your production and rush your transportationof Food Capsules!

  "Mothers of men, take over the labors of your sons and your husbands!Sisters and sweethearts of men, join the myriads in maneuvers, for you,too, may require knowledge of fighting!"

  * * * * *

  In spite of himself, an ejaculation of admiration escaped the lips ofSarka. Hearing it, Dalis turned to him, and a flush of pleasure tingedhis cheeks as Sarka shaped one word with his lips:

  "Excellent!"

  Then, after a pause, Sarka spoke directly to the Gens of Earth.

  "Take heed of the words of Dalis, for they are also the words of theSarkas!"

  Then an expression of surprise flashed across the face of Sarka asDalis' fingers began to move in a swift sort of pantomime--for the signmanual he used was the secret manual of Jaska and Sarka! His heart coldwithin him at this new proof of her betrayal, Sarka nevertheless notedthe words which dropped silently off the fingers of this enemy of theSarkas.

  "You are wise to resist no further! Together we can do much, and if yougive your word not to oppose me, we can work together; but I will be themaster!"

  "But, if we grant you the mastery, will you heed our advice if it isgood?"

  "I will, but I alone will be the judge of its worth!"

  "Then we work together henceforth. Let us begin! In the time required tomove from here to the Moon, our people will have ample opportunity toperfect themselves in maneuvers! Are you ready, O my father, andfather's father?"

  "Ready!" they said together.

  * * * * *

  But for a moment Dalis hesitated. "Your word!" he snapped, looking ateach Sarka in turn, and each in his turn nodded. They had given theirword, but not their love, to Dalis. Dalis bowed low to Sarka theYoungest, who darted to the onyx base in which revolved the MasterBeryl, and pressed a small lever of metalized jade, set in a slot on thesouthern side of the base of onyx. The humming sound within the Berylbecame perceptibly louder, and as the minutes passed, and Sarka stood,arms folded, watching the Revolving Beryl, it continued to increase.

  Here was the crisis, and as they watched its sure, certain approach,they forgot their enmities, Dalis and the Sarkas, and watched thewhirling Beryl. Minute by minute its humming increased. The figuresstill were plain to be seen within the Beryl, but were becoming blurredof outline. Partitions had been removed all over the earth, increasingthe size of rooms a hundredfold, reducing their number a hundredfold.The Gens of Earth, by hundred-families, were maneuvering under the Headsof Hundreds. The depths of the Master Beryl, therefore, was a maze offlying men, with their extremities slightly blurred, and becoming moreso as the Master Beryl increased its speed.

  * * * * *

  Here now was shown the value of the organization fostered by Sarka theFirst--for in all the world there was no single Beryl out of tune withthe Master Beryl; and as the Master Beryl increased the speed of itsrevolving, so increased at the same time the speed of all the otherBeryls. Minute by minute the humming of the Master, and with it theothers, increased in volume.

  "Father!" spoke Sarka. "To the Observatory, behind the Beryl, please, towatch the stars, and from them to note the direction we take when thecombined vibrations of the Beryls have affected the quiescence ofEarth's deposits of Ovidum and, through its shifting, disturbed theflight of the Earth in its orbit!"

  With a brief nod Sarka's father hurried around the Master Beryl to thetiny Observatory beyond, from which, through the Micro-Telescopes, thosewho knew could read the secrets of the planets, the stars--the Universe.Sarka watched him go, wondering if Dalis might not forbid him. But Dalismerely watched him go and said nothing.

  * * * * *

  Now that the time of Change was upon the world, Dalis realized hisresponsibility. It was little wonder that he began to be for the firsttime a little bit afraid.

  "Note, Dalis!" snapped Sarka, and Dalis started nervously as his namewas spoken. "Feel the trembling of the laboratory, just as the sametrembling affects all the other buildings in the world in which Berylsare located. As the minutes pass the trembling will go deeper anddeeper, and by to-morrow the first tremors will be reaching into theEarth to several miles below the last habitable Inner Level! Andthen....

  "Then," repeated Sarka tersely, "my father will know by his study of thestars in which new direction we are traveling! For within twenty-fourhours the Earth will have started on its voyage of conquest!"

  "Is there no way, Sarka," queried Dalis, "by which we can control thedirection of our flight!"

  "There _is_ a way, O wise and gallant Dalis! But since you do not knowit, who now is master?"

  Dalis' face became as pale as chalk, and Sarka smiled a little as hewatched him. Then, wondering what new resolve stirred the depths of thismaster egotist of the earth, he watched emotions flash to and fro acrossthe face of Dalis, watched the color return to his cheeks. The cold ofdeath gripped at his heart when Dalis spoke.

  "I do not fear death, O wise and gallant Sarka!" he mocked. "For I havelived fully and well, and for many, many centuries! You know that I donot fear to slay people of the Earth, for did I not propose to yourfather's father that a flood would be beneficial to unfit earthlings?Hear, then! Keep your secret, and I shall allow the Earth to go outwardinto space, out of control, in whatever direction it will. If any otherworlds happen to lie in our pathway...."

  * * * * *

  Dalis shrugged indifferently, turning his back on Sarka, to peer againinto the depths of the Master Beryl, whose voice had risen to a vastermurmur, whose pictures were becoming moment by moment more blurred astime fled irrevocably into eternity.

  Sarka the First took advantage of his opportunity, and leaped at theback of Dalis, hands extended to fasten them in the throat of hisancient enemy. Dalis whirled, with a burst of laughter, and the muzzleof his Ray Director covered the person of the First Sarka. In a flashthe spot where Sarka the First had been was vacant, and there was nosingle sign to show that he had ever stood there!

  Silence then in the laboratory, save for the mounting murmur of theMaster Beryl!

  CHAPTER VII

  _Outer Space_

  "He only proved a belief I have entertained for centuries!" snarledDalis. "That all the male Sarkas are fools--and the females for bearingthem!"

  Sarka said nothing, but within his breast a deep hatred was forming forDalis. He had disliked him before, and had been amused by him; but inthe busy life of Sarka there had been no time for hatred of anyone. Busypeople had no time for hatreds.

  "You should be torn to pieces for that, Dalis!" was all he said. "Weneeded my father's father in our efforts! But the loss to the world ofone super-genius cannot be balanced by slaying another--so you are safe!

  "What he could do, I can do!" snapped Dalis.

  Sarka turned away from him, seating himself beside the table of thevari-colored lights, and his heart was heavy as lead in his breast. Heblamed Jaska for much of this, and his heart was burdened, despite hertreachery, by the fact that he loved her, always would love her. Lovewas the one possession which made centuries of life desirable to men ofthe Earth. For men could spend centuries in seeking a true mate, knowingthat there were other centuries still in which to enjoy her. Woman wasman's greatest boon, his excuse for living, as was man excuse for woman.Through the centuries, when humankind remained forever young, the joy ineach other of those truly mated grew as their knowledge grew....

  * * * * *

  And now Jaska had failed Sarka, when for half a century they had lovedeach other! Why had she done it? He had given her no reason to do so.Had there been some other reason? Why had she laughed, and left them,after the betrayal of the Master Beryl into the hands of Dalis?

  "Before God," whispered Sarka, "I believe that you, Jaska, were playinga game to dupe Dalis, as he played a game to dupe us!"


  Down in his heart he was not sure. But somehow, just to whisper tohimself his faith in Jaska, gave it back to him in some measure, and byso much lightened the weight upon his heart. For now hisresponsibilities were greater than they had ever been before, and he hadneed of all his faculties.

  "She'll come back, or somehow communicate with me, and explaineverything," he told himself. But he refused to ponder on how Dalis thebetrayer had gained possession of the secret sign manual he had believedknown only to Jaska and himself. That, too, might be explainedsatisfactorily, for Dalis was cunning.

  From the side of the laboratory opposite the Revolving Beryl came a softtinkling sound, like the striking of a musical bell. Sarka rose wearily,strode to the wall, where a narrow aperture opened, in which rested FoodCapsules sufficient for one meal for three men. He smiled wryly. Theyknew then, the Food Conservers deep in the earth as they were, thatSarka the First was no more--and sent food for three men! All the worldknew, perhaps, yet no single person had raised voice in protest--or ifany had, the mounting murmur of the Beryls had drowned it out.

  * * * * *

  "Sarka!" spoke Dalis suddenly. "At what time do you estimate that theflight of the Earth in its orbit will be materially affected?"

  "It is being affected this moment, Dalis, shifting the Ovidum store!"said Sarka shortly. "Within twelve hours we will be in readiness tostart our journey!"

  Remaining absolutely motionless within the domed laboratory, it was nowpossible to feel the ever so slight motion, not only of the laboratory,but of the mountain crest upon which it rested. Not so much a to-and-fromotion as a round-about motion.

  Just as the slightest sound flies outward through space endlessly, andthe slightest vibration moves outward until the end of time and ofspace, Sarka knew that the vibration set up by the Beryl, slight thoughit was, was already being felt at the Poles of the Earth. Not enough tobe noticed there, but existant, just the same.

  "In twelve hours the world will be fighting against this combinedvibration and Anti-Gravitational Force we are starting, and second bysecond accelerating," Sarka explained to Dalis: "fighting to remain onits pathway about the Sun! But we will win against it, and with each newvibration, each succeeding one being more strongly felt, we will forcethe Earth that much more against the _pull_ which holds it in itsorbit!"

  The laboratory was trembling. The mountain beneath it was trembling.Both in accordance with scientific design. There was no element ofchance in it, for the mountain moved, and the laboratory on its crestmoved, as science willed. It was now difficult for Sarka to remain stillwhere he sat, for the trembling was exciting his heart action, andcausing the blood to rush to his cheeks, making him feverish. He roseto his feet and began pacing the floor.

  He strode to the jade lever, moved it ahead a fraction of a fraction ofan inch, and perceptibly the murmuring of the Beryl increased, as didthe trembling of the laboratory and of the mountain.

  * * * * *

  Twelve hours later exactly, Sarka shouted a single word to Dalis.

  "Now!"

  The laboratory was swinging about in a sort of circle in a way that madeone dizzy if one remained still for the merest second. Sarka, glancingout into the Outside, across which blew the storms of the heights, andnoting that no cracks appeared in the surface of the world's vast roof,knew that this swaying motion had been transmitted evenly to all theEarth, and that, so far at least, his calculations had been correct.

  But Dalis was in a cold sweat of fear, and deathly sick. The motion ofthe laboratory, like the inside of a whirling top, made him ill, thoughSarka could tell that he fought against it with all his great will.

  Sarka strode to him, looked him in the eyes for a moment. Dalis lookedback, glaring defiance.

  "Are you afraid, Dalis?" he shouted, to be heard above the screaming ofthe Master Beryl.

  "I am not afraid," croaked Dalis. "Has the time arrived?"

  Sarka paused, as though for dramatic effect, and raised his right handhigh, while his left hand dropped to the metalized jade lever. Therestill was room in the slot in the onyx base for the lever to moveforward ever so little.

  * * * * *

  "We have reached the exact place," cried Sarka, "where the Earth can, bypressure upon this lever, be continued on in its orbit--or forced out ofit--out into space! Which shall it be, Dalis? If I move the leverforward we start our voyage, and may not be able to return!"

  For a moment the nostrils of Dalis quivered as though with fear. Hisface was white with his illness; but out of his eyes peered the fanaticself-confidence of the man.

  "Push it forward, O Sarka!" he managed.

  Sarka, smiling slightly, pushed the lever to its uttermost limit, stillwith his right arm upraised. For full five minutes he stood thus, andthen....

  "Now!" he shouted, bringing down his arm. "We have begun our journeyinto space! Come, let us look Outside, and await the first reports frommy father!"

  The two men, forgetting again for a moment the fact of their enmity,strode to the southern wall of the laboratory and looked out across theroof of the world.

  "You will note, Dalis," said Sarka conversationally, "that in a matterof hours, the roaring of the Etheric winds will possess everything! Wewill have passed into the infinite reaches of Outer Space, where, if Imay make so bold as to say so, it were better if Dalis, self-namedmaster of the world, knew whither he was going!"

  CHAPTER VIII

  _Moon Minions Prepare_

  "It is time," said Sarka softly, "that we who have urged the world toforget its quarrels should forget our own. What difference who ismaster, so long as success attend our efforts?"

  "Then tell me your secret of control of our flight!" snapped Dalis.

  Before Sarka could answer, however, Sarka the Second entered thelaboratory area before the Master Beryl. He looked a question at hisson, and Sarka knew that his father was asking what had become of Sarkathe First. He shrugged his shoulders, and nodded his head toward Dalis.Sarka the Second gave no more sign of perturbation than had his son, butdeep within his eyes were signal fires of fury which centuries ofpenance on the part of Dalis would not erase. But now, with Sarka theFirst gone, Dalis must live.

  "We are headed," said Sarka's father softly, "in the general directionof the Moon! If we could travel toward it in a straight line, we wouldreach it, if we kept our pace of about eighteen miles per second, inapproximately four hours! But since we are out of control, I fear wewill pass it too far away for our fighters to fly across the interveningspace! Or we may be drawn against it, in planetary collision, which ofcourse means annihilation. We are traveling noticeably faster than whilein the earth's orbit. I am able to see something of the preparation ofMoon-men to receive us!"

  * * * * *

  Dalis turned to Sarka, and the perspiration bedewed his forehead. Inorder to make this mad mission successful, he must know Sarka's secretof control. Had he been in Sarka's place, _he_ would have kept hissecret, no matter what happened, and he believed in his heart that Sarkawould do the same. It never occurred to him that Sarka, no matter whothe master, would divulge his secret in order to save humanity fromdestruction.

  "We have approximately four hours, Dalis!" Sarka prompted the betrayer."I need at least an hour for my experiments! Do you, knowing as you dothat I have planned all this out, know exactly what course our voyageshould take, still insist on holding the reins yourself?"

  "I agree, for this time, to listen to your advice, as I promised you!"

  "Then let me suggest that you do some of the work which I had plannedshould be done by my father's father! It is time that the world'sInduction Conduits be placed in operation, in order that our people besupplied with equable temperature from the Earth's Core, as ourtemperature changes due to our position with relation to the sun! Standback and give me the controls!"

  * * * * *

  For a mo
ment Dalis stared at the two Sarkas. Would they seize power themoment he moved away from the Beryl Control? In their places he knew hewould have done it. In their places he knew he would never havesubmerged self in the good of the people. But, somewhat diffidently, hemoved away. Sarka the Second returned to the Observatory, behind theBeryl, while Sarka stopped before the table where the lights were.

  After a moment of thought-conversation with Sarka the Second in theObservatory, he dimmed the light which connected his laboratory with theheadquarters of Klaser, in the Americas.

  "Klaser," he barked, "for the period of one second cut the speed ofevery Beryl within your Gens to half its present speed!"

  "I obey, O Sarka!" came the voice of Klaser.

  "Have we changed direction?" Sarka mentally questioned his father.

  "Slightly, but we are curving away, instead of toward the Moon! Tryagain!"

  Sarka dimmed the light of Cleric, who instantly made answer.

  "I am here, Sarka!"

  "Stop the Beryls of your Gens for two seconds, but be prepared to speedthem up immediately afterward, if ordered, to the speed at which theyare now revolving! Klaser, hold the speed of your Beryls as they are!"

  "I obey, O Sarka!" came the musical tones of Cleric.

  "I hear, O Sarka!" replied Klaser.

  "Now, my father," queried Sarka again, telepathically, "what directiondo we travel?"

  "We are heading in a direction which will cause us to pass the Moon at adistance of approximately fifty thousand miles!"

  "From which point our fighters can reach the Moon in exactly two hours,after they have passed through our atmosphere!" cried Sarka exultantly,aloud.

  "True, son!" replied Sarka the Second, mentally. "I suggest you holdour course steady as it is!"

  * * * * *

  The motion of the earth now was as that of a steadily falling body, andthe shifting of the Ovidum store caused by vibrations set up by theBeryls had set the Earth on its course toward the Moon. Sarka now gaveinstructions to Klaser and to Cleric to return the speed of the Berylsto that which they had attained at the moment the journey of the Earthhad begun--thus bringing them once more into harmony with the MasterBeryl, and rendering the Ovidum static.

  Dalis re-entered the laboratory from the Wall Tube, near the Dome Exit,by which he had passed down to the lowest Inner Level, and staredsuspiciously at the two Sarkas. He found them half-smiling theirsatisfaction.

  "We pass the Moon within fifty thousand miles!" exulted Sarka. "A flightof two hours for the Gens which attacks the Moon! Do you refuse, ODalis, to send your Gens against the Moon?"

  "Why not send the Gens of Gerd!" demanded Dalis. "He is the youngest ofthe Spokesmen, and what better test is there for him than this?"

  "It is because he is so young that we do not wish to send him," repliedSarka coldly. "The colonization of the Moon by Earthlings requires theguiding genius of a Spokesman who has the experience of a Dalis--or aSarka, else you would now be dead!"

  "Then let it be a Sarka!" barked Dalis.

  "Who, then, will control the further flight of the Earth?"

  "You! Let your father lead my Gens against the Moon!"

  "What will your Gens say, O Dalis? That their revered Spokesman fearedto lead them in person?"

  "Enough of this squabbling," snapped Sarka the Second. "Do you notrealize that within a matter of hours, some Gens must be sent intobattle? Come with me to the Observatory, where you will be givensomething beside squabbling with which to occupy your minds!"

  * * * * *

  Leaving the earth on its lonely flight through space, the three menhurried to the Observatory, where they seated themselves before theeye-pieces of the Micro-Telescopes, whose outer circles had been aimedat the Moon.

  For a moment the three stared breathlessly at the surface of this deadsister of the Earth. They noted her valleys, her craters which seemedbottomless, and saw that even as they watched, valleys and cratersbecame sharper of outline, proving that they were approaching the Moonat a tremendous speed. It seemed, too, as though they were headingtoward sure collision, though Sarka the Second had said that they wouldpass the Moon at a distance of fifty thousand miles.

  "You will note activity at the very rims of the craters!" said the ElderSarka easily. "The craters are man-made, not volcanic, as somescientists believe, and are shaped to converge the rays of the sun, asour roof is created for the same purpose. But note the activity at therims of the craters!"

  * * * * *

  Closer the men peered, studying the rims as instructed by Sarka theSecond. All about them--and as they watched, activity became apparent onthe inner slopes of the craters--winged creatures seemed to be flying.They looked like tiny oblate spheroids, and they were in swift action,darting to and fro like bees which have been disturbed in their hives.

  "Those spheres are of metal," said Sarka the Second, "and they are thefighting Aircars of the Moon-men!"

  Neither Dalis nor Sarka denied this statement, for they knew it to befact. It became apparent that the movement of the Aircars was not amovement of chance, but as skillfully ordered as any maneuvers whichhad, during the last few hours, been executed by any of the Gens ofEarth. That they were of metal became apparent when, through theMicro-Telescopes, the watchers caught the glint of the sun on thesurfaces of the cars.

  Sarka did a swift mental calculation, and announced the result.

  "Those Aircars average something like four hundred feet in length, andare doubtless filled with fighting Moon-men!"

  "That's right," said Dalis, who also had been calculating this verything, "but our Ray Directors will disintegrate the Aircars as easily asmy Ray Director disintegrated Sarka the First!"

  * * * * *

  "The remaining Sarkas received this statement in silence, for Dalis'choice of a comparison had been an unhappy one, to say the least.

  "I am wondering," said Sarka, "if you, my father, and you Dalis, havenoted the peculiar appendages of the Aircars?"

  "I saw them some minutes ago," said his father moodily, "and I am almostafraid to guess their use! If they are what I fear they are, then theMoon-men have been expecting this attack of ours for years and years,and have been preparing for it! If they have known, and have beenpreparing, then we are facing a race of super-Beings indeed--for we haveknown but little of their activities!"

  "What, then," said Dalis, "do you think is the purpose of thoseappendages?"

  "Those appendages, cilia, flagella, call them whatever you wish, areman-made tentacles, created for the purpose of seizing, crushing anddestroying--then discarding...."

  For a full two minutes the three men sat there, and horrible doubtsflooded their brains. For the conclusion was obvious. The Gens of Earthwould go into action flying, not as organizations, inside an Aircar, butas individuals, in swarms, myriads, legions and hordes. In order to dothe utmost damage with their Ray Directors and Atom Disintegrators,they must approach within a reasonable distance--and the picture ofthose mighty tentacles, hurled like leashed lightning bolts into themidst of the attackers, folding in individuals by scores and hundreds,crushing them and dropping them contemptuously, was horrible in theextreme to contemplate!

  * * * * *

  It was difficult to estimate the possible speed of the Aircars of theMoon-men, at least at this distance. Besides, perhaps not a single oneof them was traveling at top speed, because of the fact of their crowdedtraffic.

  This thought passed through the minds of the three men.

  "But we'll know," said Sarka dully, "when they get into action. For if Iam not mistaken, those Aircars are being mustered on the rims of thosecraters to await orders, not to resist our attack, but to launch theirown attack before we are ready! Dalis, are you going to allow your Gensto go into action against these Outsiders, without the inspiration ofyour personal leadership?"

  The nostrils of
Dalis were quivering with the intensity of his emotion.His vast egotism told him that he, Dalis, could successfully combatthese Aircars of the Moon-men, and he wished with all his heart to issuethe orders to his Gens. But, vain as he was, he did not even wish tohave the appearance of acceding to the original plan of Sarka! Sarka hadplanned for Dalis to attack the dwellers of the Moon, and Dalis hadrefused. Now, when this challenge of the Aircars was a direct challengeto his genius as a potential warlord of earth and he wished to acceptthe challenge, he was torn two ways.

  Should he go ahead under the common leadership of the Sarkas? Or shouldhe still refuse battle--and perhaps see some lesser Spokesman go forthto win glory and imperishable renown to himself?

  * * * * *

  A thought message, a command almost, impinged on the brains of thethree.

  "I wish to speak with you aloud!" The message was from Jaska!

  The three men rose and darted into the room of the Master Beryl. Theyhad no sooner entered than the clear voice of Jaska sounded in thelaboratory.

  "Sarka, I am no traitor! I am Jaska, who loves you! I am in theheadquarters of Dalis at Ohi, and the Gens of Dalis has indicated itsallegiance to me, having been informed by me that it is the wish ofDalis, whose presence is needed at the place of the Master Beryl!Command us, O Sarka, for we are ready to attack!"

  There the voice ended, while the two Sarkas turned again to face Dalis.

  Sarka now was glad that Dalis knew the secret sign manual, and hisfingers worked swiftly as he spoke to the rebel.

  "Will you, then, Dalis, allow your Gens to be led to glory by a woman? Awoman, moreover, who has duped you?"

  "The woman is a fool!" said Dalis. "She will lead the Gens todestruction!"

  "Who, then, will be blamed if she does? Your Gens believe she is theirnew Spokesman at your wish! If they are told otherwise, they will thinkthat Dalis himself is afraid to lead them!"

  "We shall see," said Dalis, "if I could win honor by leading my Gens ina successful attack against the Moon-men, how much greater will be myglory if Jaska attacks, is repulsed--and I go in to turn defeat intovictory!"

  Thus spake the colossal selfishness of Dalis, who took no thought of thepossible, nay, certain, loss of countless lives because of hisobstinancy.

  "I suggest," he said, "that you instruct your beloved Jaska to makeready; for if I am not mistaken, when we return to the Observatory wewill discover that the Aircars of the Moon-men have left their cratersand are racing outward from the Moon to meet us! Or perhaps you wouldlead my Gens, to safeguard Jaska!"

  CHAPTER IX

  _The Attack of the Yellow Stars_

  "Why should I safeguard Jaska?" asked Sarka quietly. "She is a truedaughter of Cleric! If Cleric does not fear for her to be Spokesman of aGens, why should I? He is her father. If she wins, the more glory willbe hers! If she loses, she will at least have tried!"

  "Meaning," snarled Dalis, "that I have refused even to try!"

  Sarka shrugged expressively, and the three stepped once more into theObservatory, took their places before the Micro-Telescopes. For a momentthey could not see the outline of the Moon, for during their briefsojourn in the laboratory the Moon seemed to have disintegrated, flyinginto countless spheroidal pieces.

  "You see?" said Dalis. "The Moon-men do not wait for us! They attack!"

  It was all too true that the Aircars which had been mustered at the rimsof the Moon's craters had been hurled outward into space, outward towardthe on-rushing Earth, and the myriad numbers of them for a time shut outall view of the surface of the Moon.

  "God!" spoke Sarka, and it was like a prayer. His cheeks were pale asdeath, for in a moment he would speak the word which would send the Gensof Dalis, under the leadership of Jaska, out against these formidableAircars of the Moon-men, and the appearance of the on-rushing cars wasterrifying. That their flying radius, outward, was a great one, wasmanifest by the fact that the Earth would not for another hour reach itsclosest estimated point with the Moon.

  * * * * *

  Sarka, exchanging glances with his father, rose and stepped again intothe laboratory. Even as he entered the room of the Master Beryl,Jaska's broken signal came through.

  "I am ready, Sarka!" came her soft voice, vibrant with confidence. "TheGens is ready, and the Gens believes in me!"

  For a moment Sarka hesitated before taking the plunge. Then he spoke thefatal words.

  "Go, Jaska, and my love goes with you!"

  As the Earth approached closer to the Moon, the revolving of the Berylshad been decreased, so that the motion of the Master Beryl was almostnormal--normal being that speed with which it revolved when it wasnecessary to use it for visual contact with the people of the Earth.

  Out of the area of the Gens of Dalis darted the green specks which werethe flying people of Dalis! Sarka, staring in among them, focussing theBeryl-microscope, sought for some way of identifying Jaska, who ledthem. A thrill coursed through him when he made her out,unmistakably--dressed still in the tight white clothing of her own Gens,with the Red Lily of the house of Cleric on her breast and on her back!The daughter of Cleric was leading the Gens of Dalis into combat underher own colors and her father's insignia!

  * * * * *

  Sarka raced back to the Observatory, seated himself again to watch theattack, which must of necessity be joined within a matter almost ofminutes. Those myriads of Aircars flying outward from the Moon, hadseemed invincible; but up until now he had never seen an entire Gensmustered at one time. His whole being thrilled with the awesome grandeurof the spectacle; it seemed that not an able-bodied individual of theGens of Dalis had failed to answer the muster of the Gens.

  Millions upon millions of people, taking off the icy roof of that partof the Earth lying between Ohi and the North Pole, from the heart ofwhat had once been part of the Pacific Ocean.

  So many of them were there that when they were free of the Earth,flashing outward at two thousand miles an hour, it was impossible to seethe Moon or those formidable Aircars--and still, out of the heart of thearea of the Gens of Dalis, came other myriads, each flight waiting onlyfor the preceding flight to clear!

  The green, tight fitting clothing of the Gens of Dalis, each individualwearing the yellow star of the Spokesman of the Gens! A marvelous,awe-inspiring sight!

  And this was but a single area, and the earth was divided into twelvesuch areas, some smaller, none larger, which showed Sarka for the firsttime a hint of the mighty man-power, and fighting woman-power which hecontrolled. However, once free of the Earth, conduct of the fight wouldbe in the hands of the Spokesman--Jaska, acting for Dalis.

  * * * * *

  Sarka turned to Dalis, his eyes flashing.

  "Does it not thrill you, O Dalis?" he demanded. "Do you not wish nowthat you had gone out with your people as their leader?"

  "They follow Jaska like sheep," he stated with a snort. "But wait! MyGens seem invincible, because it bulks between us and the Aircars of theMoon-Dwellers! Wait, see how the battle goes! The Gens may yet have needof Dalis!"

  Sarka studied those outgoing hosts, which were dwindling away to merespecks with vast speed, for through the cordons and cordons of them hecould now see the Aircars more plainly. It was still possible, when onelooked through the Micro-Telescopes, to see the slim figure of Jaskaleading the attack. She was in the vanguard of the Gens of Dalis leadingher people onward as though she had been born to command--utterlyfearless.

  "And I was small enough," whispered Sarka, "to doubt you! I even toldyou that I doubted you! Forgive me, Jaska! Forgive me!"

  And still, as Level after Level gave up its myriads, the Gens of Dalisshot forth from the Gens area, and winged away, following the lead ofJaska. Millions of people, armed with Ray Directors and AtomDisintegrators. How tiny the individuals seemed, against the mighty bulkof those Aircars of the Moon!

  But Sarka did not fear, save for the safety of
Jaska, as he wasrealizing anew that he had scarcely skimmed the surface of the man-mightof the Earth.

  * * * * *

  Now, seen through the myriads of the Dalis Gens, he could see again theon-rushing Aircars, and his heart misgave him for a moment as he couldtell, by estimation, that at least a hundred families were outlinedagainst each individual car, which moment by moment grew larger.

  Those tentacles were now much in evidence, rising and falling under andaround the racing Aircars like serpents, or dragging ropes; but seeminglike living things in the sentient manner of their moving--eager to comein contact with the first of the earthlings, and to wrap those tentaclesabout them, crush them, hurl them into space.

  Sarka went back into the laboratory only long enough to attune theBeryls of the Earth to a point where the Earth would remain almoststationary, comparatively speaking, taking a curving course about thesurface of the Moon, as it had for countless millions of years coursedabout the Sun.

  Then, back to the Observatory, to see how went the battle. Through theMicro-Telescopes the first meeting was plain to be seen. The Gens ofDalis rushed headlong to meet the Aircars and many of them rushedheadlong to their destruction.

  Sarka noted a group of perhaps a hundred people break forth from thevanguard of the attackers, and mount to a safe height above the Aircarsagainst which the Gens were hurling themselves. A sigh of relief escapedhim, and he wished there were some way in which he could learn theindividual identities of the ninety and nine who had taken Jaskaforcibly out of danger! For her white clothing, and her Red Lily ofCleric were plainly visible and recognizable! The men of the Gens ofDalis might permit the leadership of a woman, but they would not permither to be needlessly endangered.

  * * * * *

  Sarka turned to Dalis, and noted that the face of the master egotist waspale and drawn, his nostrils quivering with emotion, as he watched hisGens go into battle, and a feeling of satisfaction coursed through Sarkalike a little white flame. Dalis was proud of his Gens, and now waswishing that he, and not Jaska, were leading them onward.

  "I would wager something," whispered Sarka to himself, "that Dalis willnot be able to stand it! That before battle has been joined for tenminutes, he will have gone out to take over the leadership of the Gens!Jaska must have guessed that, too! Wise, clever Jaska!"

  With a fearless massing of forces, the people of the yellow stars joinedbattle with the Aircars! The manner of men who flew the Aircars wasstill unknown to the people of Earth.

  But in a trice they would know.

  In a matter of minutes Earth would realize the horror of what faced theGens of Dalis, whom Jaska led!

  For with the sending out of their Aircars the Moon-men had given but themerest hint of their ponderous, devastating might!

  CHAPTER X

  _Tentacles of Terror_

  Dalis had always been a stormy petrel, but as he sat before hisMicro-Telescope, watching his Gens go into battle against the Moon-men,not even Sarka the Second guessed the depth of infamy of which Daliswas capable.

  Dalis had given a hint, but Sarka had, in his sudden realization of thefact that Jaska really loved him, and was no traitor, forgotten thathint. How had Dalis learned the secret sign-manual of Jaska and Sarka?Therein lay the hint.

  Dalis, in common with all other Earth's scientists, possessed theability to think deeply, yet to so mask his thoughts that no one elsecould grasp them telepathically--and it was well for the peace of mindof the Sarkas that they could not read the black thought of the man, orlook into the future, even so far as a dozen years.

  The Gens of the yellow stars moved into contact with the Aircars of theMoon. Earth and Moon were gripped in the horror of war, the war betweenworlds, where no quarter might be asked or given, because fought betweenalien peoples who did not so much as comprehend each other's languages,or even their signals.

  The people of the Gens swarmed about the Aircars like myriad swarms ofangry bees, but it was only to Dalis that this simile came, for onlyDalis, of these three, had ever seen a swarm of bees.

  * * * * *

  Sweeping in closely, the Gens brought forth from their resting places intheir Sarka-Belts their Ray Directors and their Atom-Disintegrators, andturned the blighting rays of them against the gleaming, ice-coloredsides of the aerial monsters.

  But even as the Gens brought their instruments of destruction into play,the mighty tentacles of the first hundred Aircars had got into action.Down they whirled to catch at the flying bodies of the pigmylikeindividuals of the Gens, and hundreds of Earthlings were caught in thosetentacles in the first moment of conflict.

  Sarka studied the reaction of the people, thus captured. He could seethe expressions of unutterable agony on their faces, could see theircheeks turn black with--what? There was no way of knowing; but all sortsof guesses were possible. Those tentacles, from their action upon thehuman beings which they encompassed, might be charged with electricity.For the people they captured turned black, then shriveled slowly--andwere released by the tentacles....

  They fell sluggishly away, through the great space which yet separatedthe Earth and the Moon. But the people who fell, fell aimlessly, goingneither toward the Earth or the Moon, like black feathers in a vagrantbreeze.

  "Great God, do you see father?" cried Sarka. "The--whatever it is--thatturns our people into cinders and drops them, has no effect on theAnti-Gravitational Ovoids in the skull-pans of the helmets, and withoutmental direction, the Ovoids neither rise nor fall but wander aimlessly!

  "See? As the fight continues, those who still live, as they dart hereand there through the battle area, will be confronted continually by theblackened faces and shriveled figures of their departed friends,relatives and neighbors, and will see at first hand what will happen tothemselves if they are caught by the tentacles!"

  * * * * *

  From the lips of Dalis came one single burst of laughter, filled withbitterness. No other word came from his lips, no other sign. He merelysat and stared, and masked his hell-black thoughts so that neither ofthe Sarkas might read them. But in the fertile mind of Dalis a plan wasbeing born--a plan that, he knew, had always been growing back in hismental depths, somewhere, down the centuries, since first he had becomean enemy of the Sarkas. The Sarkas ruled the Earth, and....

  But he would spring his surprise when he believed the time right, forDalis possessed a faculty which neither of the Sarkas possessed--anexample of it being his incomprehensible knowledge of the secret codeof moving fingers used by Sarka and Jaska.

  The Gens of Dalis drew back in consternation at this wholesale takingoff of the first line of attack. Out of that first line, comprisingperhaps a thousand families, scarcely a hundred had escaped the gropingof those mighty tentacles of the Aircars--and the black, shriveledthings which had been men floated all about the Aircars which haddestroyed them, warnings to those who followed them into the fray. Thosewho had somehow escaped the wrath of the tentacles in the firstengagement fled back into the heart of the next line of sky-skirmishers,fear and horror in their faces.

  Here, answering to the will of Jaska, a mile or so above the heart ofthe conflict, they reformed with their people, and prepared again toattack. But how to attack these formidable Aircars successfully?

  * * * * *

  That was the question. Ray Directors had been turned against them, butsomething was decidedly wrong. The first car to feel the blast of evenone of those Ray Directors should have vanished, become as nothing, ashad the body of Sarka the First before the Ray Director of Dalis.

  But apparently nothing had happened. Why?

  Grimly Dalis and the two remaining Sarkas pondered the problem,wondering at the same time what Jaska would now do, how reform her Gens,how send it again to an attack that seemed hopeless.

  "There they go again!" whispered Sarka.

  The first two myriads of the Ge
ns of Dalis had now crowded togetheruntil they formed a veritable cloud which masked, for a moment, theAircars of the Moon. Then, as one person, answering to the will ofJaska, they swept in to the attack again.

  But as they approached the Aircars, they divided four ways--up, down,to right and to left, and smashed into the Aircars from four directionsat once. Jaska, knowing that countless lives must be lost to destroythese monsters of the Moon, was trying to down them by mass attack,hoping that, while the inner groups gave their lives, those who followedafter them would get in close enough to use their Ray Directors and AtomDisintegrators.

  "She is wasting lives to no avail!" cried Dalis. "There is a way to beatthese people!"

  "It is really your responsibility, O Dalis!" snapped Sarka. "Why do younot go out and lead your Gens? If you know, why remain here and watchthe destruction of all the people of your Gens?"

  "You know why our Ray Directors and Atom Disintegrators do not work, orwork but poorly? Because our fighters are within the gravitational pullof the Moon, instead of the Earth, and machines which work perfectly onEarth are thrown out of balance when under the influence of the Moon!"

  "Then," cried Sarka, "we must sweep in close enough to our people...."

  * * * * *

  Without waiting to say another word, for thousands of men were dyingeach breath-space, Sarka raced into the laboratory and gave the signalto race up the speed of the Beryls, to attune them with the increasingspeed of the Master Beryl, whose jade lever now was set at the halfwaymark in the onyx slot.

  When he returned to the Observatory, Dalis was gone, and Sarka theSecond sat alone.

  "I knew he would go," said Sarka, "for he cannot endure to see someoneelse take credit for winning this first victory--if it is even possibleto win it! I knew that, vain though he is, Dalis is yet a man!"

  "I am not so sure of that, son!" replied the Elder Sarka. "For I haveknown him longer than you have! There's something else in that brain ofhis which takes no thought of the death of people of his Gens--or forthe betterment of the other people of the Earth! I wonder...."

  But even as he spoke, Dalis was away, flying free and fast toward thescene of battle. In a few minutes his will would be felt by his Gens,and Jaska could return again. Sarka sought for her. She was still safe,high above the battle. Thousands and thousands of those shriveled thingsnow floated in the space about the cars, above them, below them,everywhere. But the Gens of Dalis had at last caused some trouble to theAircars of the Moon.

  A hundred of them, like stricken birds, were falling downward toward theMoon, great holes torn in their sides. But as they fell, theirtentacles, which whipped here and there like snakes in theirdeath-throes, carried with them their full capacity in people of theGens of Dalis!

  * * * * *

  With the partial destruction of the Aircars which were falling, theforce that actuated the death-dealing of those tentacles seemed to havegone out of them. For the people now held in the grip of the mightytentacles were still alive! Their squirmings could be plainly seen, andtheir cries could have been heard, had it not been that the noise ofbattle drowned out all other sounds.

  A hundred Aircars falling, and the men and fighting women of the Gens ofDalis, with new courage in them now they realized that the Aircars werenot entirely invincible, renewed the attack with savage vigor.

  Taking no thought of the death which must surely come to them, theycircled and pressed the Aircars; and when the tentacles caught at someof them, others climbed to the very body of the Aircars, over theshriveling bodies of the dying, and turned their Ray Directors and AtomDisintegrators against the gray sides of the monsters.

  Even before Dalis had reached the vanguard of his Gens another hundredAircars were falling, each with its tentacles wrapped tightly about suchof the earthlings as they could grasp. Falling ... falling ... stillliving, plunging down.

  Now Dalis had reached the scene of the fray, and was assuming command.

  As he did so a single white-robed figure, life-size when seen throughthe Micro-Telescopes, darted out of the fray and headed at top speed forthe dwelling place of Sarka. Jaska, relieved, was returning home!

  But though Jaska flew at top speed, she did not seem to grow larger, ordraw nearer to the Earth!

  * * * * *

  Out of the ruck of the defenders of the Moon, a single Aircar, whosegleaming gray side was marked with queer crimson splashes, broke free topursue Jaska!

  She fled at top speed, yet the Aircar was gaining, proof that the Moonhad developed speed greater than Earth had attained.

  "But why," queried Sarka, "does she draw no nearer?"

  "Great God!" ejaculated Sarka the Second, after a brief examination ofcertain chartographs beside his Micro-Telescope. "We are moving awayfrom the Moon! Something is forcing us away! The people of the Moon havesomething whose nature we do not know, capable of forcing them away fromus--while they pull our people toward them! You see? If they pulled ustoward them, we could overthrow them, for we outnumber them perhapsthousands to one; but if they force themselves away faster than the Gensof Dalis, if defeated, can follow us, they can destroy, or capture, theGens at their leisure!"

  * * * * *

  Suddenly, out of the Earth, past the all-seeing eyes of theMicro-Telescopes, swept a new myriad. Men in white, wearing the Red Lilyof the House of Cleric! Cleric was sending out men to rescue Jaska fromthe Aircar which pursued her! But would Jaska or these who went forthto fetch her ever be able again to attain landing place upon the Earth!

  It looked doubtful.

  Even as Sarka asked himself this question fresh Aircars shot from therims of Moon craters, rushing outward to add their weight in the battleagainst the Gens of Dalis. The Gens of Dalis was doomed!

  In the mind of Sarka the Second there still loomed a hellish doubt thatwould not down.

  The men of Cleric were surrounding Jaska now, protecting her with theirlives against the tentacles of that lone Aircar splashed withcrimson--and all were flying a losing race with the Earth, which wasstill being forced outward from the Moon!

  * * * * *

  _IN THE NEXT ISSUE_

  ON THE PLANET OF DREAD

  _An Exciting Interplanetary Story_

  By R. F. Starzl

  EARTH, THE MARAUDER

  _Part Two of the Thrilling Novel_

  By Arthur J. Burks

  THE FLYING CITY

  _A Novelet Concerning an Amazing Aerial Metropolis_

  By H. Thompson Rich

  MURDER MADNESS

  _The Conclusion of the Gripping Continued Novel_

  By Murray Leinster

  ----And Others!

  * * * * *

  Marable, in a desperate frenzy, hacked at the reptile'sawful head.]

 

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