by Jerry
He came to an abrupt stop. His eyes moved slowly about until they came to rest on the aged Lunarian who had been addressing the assemblage in fiery tones when he had arrived. The aged one shook his head.
“Will you make up your minds?” he asked after several moments of deep silence.
From different parts of the cavern voices began to be heard for and against sending any of their number outside of the Solar System. Some of the Lunarians demanded that a vote should be taken on it then and there. It was taken and found that about half of those present approved of sharing the Solar System’s defence if man could be induced to live up to his part.
“Man could and would,” Don Stelite spoke up when he sensed what they were hesitating at the aged Lunarian, he had dived like a streak from the platform and lost himself in the crowd when the violet disintegration beam and tongue of flame from the lethal tube had flashed, drew himself back upon that place of prominence.
“Chiefs of Luna,” he began as soon as he was on his feet “I had rather hoped that this day would have seen our race allied with the invaders. With their aid we could have poured out of the clefts of our world and spread death and desolation amongst those hated bipeds who enslaved us.”
There burst forth a roar of cheering from the assembled Lunarians that threatened to lift the cavern’s roof. Threats were hurled at the man on the platform. An uneasy expression came into the eyes of the Overlord of the Elder City as he fingered his lethal tube. It was one thing to destroy the two metal-clad invaders, but quite another to use the tube amongst his own kind.
The aged Lunarian motioned for silence.
“Before the coming of man amongst us,” he continued as soon as he could make himself heard, “war was unheard of, the taking of life unknown. They taught us how to take life callously, taught us by bloody example. We had hoped, with the forces of Luna dropping down on Earth like some deadly plague, to show man how well we had learned our lesson.”
The cheering threatened to start again.
“They also taught us by example,” he hurried on, “how to face death unafraid. Though we have never actually fought, that does not mean we cannot fight!”
“We can!” burst from the assembled Lunarian chiefs.
“I know we can,” the aged one continued. “We have millions of our youth trained and anxious to try their mettle. At a word from us they would leap into their tiny ships and follow us out of our ancient world against any odds.”
“Let us give the word then!” a young Lunarian chief cried, leaping upon the platform. “On, chiefs of Luna, on to your cities. Call forth your legions and let us go!”
“Wait!” the Overlord of the Elder City cried in a voice that penetrated into the farthest corners of the cavern like some stinging whip.
“Pay no attention to him,” the aged Lunarian screamed. “He has lived so long amongst men that his sympathies are wholly with those hated bipeds. He is a traitor!”
“Kill the traitor!” a Lunarian in the rear cried.
“Kill them both!” another shouted and the cry was taken up by the enraged mass.
Lunarians began clambering upon the platform from every side.
“Get off!” the Overlord said in a voice that was as cold as death, turning slowly around with lethal tube held menacingly in front of him.
Hastily did the Lunarians slip off. They recognized death when they faced it.
“You, too,” he said to the aged one who was hesitating at the edge of the platform.
There was a sudden roar at the cavern’s mouth. A number of tiny space ships came to an abrupt stop and from them there burst forth Lunarian pilots.
“Man is coming!” they cried. “Luna is surrounded by tens of thousands of mighty warships of space!”
“I go to call forth my forces,” a Lunarian chief roared. “Who will follow?”
There was a sudden surge toward the walls of that cavern. Orders were snapped and huge sections of the wall began to slide aside.
“Chiefs of Luna,” the Overlord cried, “you must listen to me. Forget this madness of going forth againBt man. You have no chance. It simply will be suicide of our race.”
“Are we to forget past wrongs?” a young Lunarian chief demanded, facing the Overlord of the Elder City.
“The past is dead,” the Overlord said slowly; “let us bury it.”
“Do not listen to him,” the aged Lunarian cried. “We have worked and planned too long to let this contemptible trai—”
The word died in his mouth as the Overlord pointed the lethal tube at him.
“Another word out of you,” he said grimly, “and it will be your last.”
The aged one pushed his way into the mass behind him and disappeared from sight.
“Our ancestors,” the Overlord continued, “should have attended to the righting of their wrongs. We have no quarrel with the descendants of ancient man. Are they not willing to return what their forbears took?”
A number of Lunarians were about to interrupt, but he hurried on:
“Fellow Lunarians, I, too, have been in favor of force to regain what rightly belongs to us. Often on Earth have I dreamed of taking my rightful place at the head of the forces of Luna and leading them against the human race. If there was the slightest chance of winning past the mouths of our chasms, I would lead you even now. Too long have we delayed.”
“Do you advise us to wait meekly in our cities and hidden caverns to be butchered by those murderous bipeds?” a Lunarian asked incredulously.
Slowly the Overlord shook his head.
“What then?”
“Mankind offers us, if we Join them in repulsing the invaders, all that we could have gained by force. I advise that we accept the offer before it is withdrawn.”
THE Lunarians gathered in knots to discuss it more fully. Here and there rash chiefs declared loudly that they would sooner die at the head of their legions than to ally themselves with them. Other Lunarians, the older and more conservative element of the gathering, realizing that their chances of winning past the mouths of Luna’s clefts was practically nil, began to think seriously of accepting the counsel of their chief.
Well were those Lunarians aware of what was going on at the edge of the galaxy. Many of them had more than once, listening to the reports coming from the area of that vast conflict, wished that they were out there. The thought of actually flashing at an opposing force at the galaxy’s edge in their tiny space ships quickened their pulse. Using that as an inducement, the more conservative element finally won over the hot-heads amongst them to throw in their lot with the human species.
A few hours after the decision was reached, the Overlord of the Elder City and other Lunarian chiefs, accompanied by his human friend, left for Earth to see the Two. On the following day the Lunarians returned with a document that gave them equality with the bipeds.
The tiny Lunarian space ships, built to attack Earth, had a maximum cruising range of about one million miles. To make those ships fit for action beyond the Earth-Luna system, they would have to be equipped with small matter-transmitting sets through which supplies could be sent at the almost instantaneous speed of gravitation. Next, more destructive weapons would have to be substituted in the place of lethal tubes. Men and Lunarians worked side by side installing the necessary apparatus in the tiny ships.
Communication between the Two and man’s representative on the Supreme Council had been kept up ever since he had arrived at the headquarters of the Confederation with his suite. Facts relating to the combined Lunarian and human forces: the number and size of each class of warships of space, their armament, the crews they carried, and so forth, were forwarded through him to the galaxy’s great governing body.
The first great interstellar matter-transmitting mechanism at the southern tip of earth was at last completed. It was tested and found to function perfectly. A huge globular ship of space bearing the emblem of the Confederation shot out of the great opening of the mechanism. The captain of that
ship bore orders from the Supreme Council to the Two.
An endless line of space ships moved steadily into the mighty mouth of the great interstellar matter-transmitting apparatus on Earth. The whine of its disintegrating and sending mechanism was awe-inspiring to hear. On their way at last were the first of the Solarian legions.
Huge interstellar warships, giants of the Solarian fleet, had gone first, smaller craft followed. Of those smaller craft there seemed to be no end. Into the mammoth opening that led to the vibratory chamber of that mechanism, they flashed in ranks of five abreast and five ranks high, twenty-five at a time. At last came the rearmost twenty-five. Behind them majestically moved a giant interstellar warship. For a moment it seemed as if it were the last of the Solarian fleet, then out of the heavens dropped another huge space ship, about one-third the size of the giant ship, that bore upon its bow and stern the crest of the Overlord of the Elder City. Following that space ship came tens of thousands of tiny ships—Lunarian legions.
SIDE by side in the forward pilot chamber of that large Lunarian ship stood the Overlord of the Elder City and Don Stelite who had won permission to accompany his Lunarian friend at the head of the forces of Luna to the galaxy’s edge. His own ship, the giant that had preceded the Lunarian craft, would take him off out there.
Each was sunk in his own thoughts as the mouth of the great transportation apparatus loomed large. What swift death would they meet out there? Forces even greater than the entire Solarian fleet were known to have flashed from the mouth of great matter-transmitting machines and met instant annihilation before they could strike one blow. What would their fate be?
“Well, Lune, we are next. My ship has just disappeared into the mouth of the transmitting mechanism. Another moment and we will receive the signal to enter.”
“I am beginning to feel queer, Don. It is hard to put the feeling into words. I am not exactly afraid, but—”
“I know, old friend. Ever since I boarded this ship I have been feeling the same way. It will pass in a moment.”
“You really think so?”
“Sure. In another moment we will be in the sending chamber and past the thinking stage.”
The Lunarian breathed deeply.
“Here we go, Lune.”
The ship received the signal to enter and swiftly moved into the vibratory chamber of the transmitter. Solid matter under its influence seemed to ripple like liquid. A shrill sounding note set everything quivering. Through its own momentum the ship moved yet further in. A glowing screen from which a myriad pin-points of light were reaching greedily toward the ship barred further progress, while from the sides of the chamber came knife-like beams of pulsating light that seemed to shave off molecular-thin wafers of ship and contents, then questing fingers of force sought out each atom and tore it asunder.
Out of another vibratory chamber on the outermost planet of a far-off solar system flowed the Solarian forces.
Up and out of that atmosphere and into the void of space the Solarian ships hurtled. Orders came to halt and form themselves into orderly ranks.
The Lunarian legions were the last of the Solarian forces to issue from that interstellar transportation apparatus on that outermost planet. The Lunarian leader gave the order to his forces to form themselves into orderly ranks. Up and down the lines of tiny ships from Luna the leader of the Lunarian legions in his large ship flashed, then took his place at their head and waited for further orders.
Orders came to Don Stelite to board his ship. The Solarian forces would soon be moving off.
The giant warship of space, which Don Stelite commanded drew near the Lunarian ship. Two members of the Lunarian crew brought the man a semi-rigid pressure-suit equipped with a tiny propulsive beam and helped him into it. Before the helmet of the suit was screwed down the man bid his friend farewell. Together they went to an air-lock nearest the approaching ship. The man, moving awkwardly in the bulky suit, stumbled, and would have fallen as he stepped within the air-lock, if the Lunarian had not steadied him. A moment later he was in space, speeding toward his ship.
The Lunarian hurried to an observation window. He was just in time to see the giant space ship go hurtling toward the other mighty ships of space.
As the Solarian fleet moved forward, another fleet of ships began emerging from the atmosphere of the world that they had just left. And then from other planets of that solar system, there must have been at least ten, some on the other side of their sun, came yet other fleets from matter-transmitting machines on those worlds. One by one they fell in behind the Solarian fleet which in turn was moving off to that huge gathering of fleets far ahead.
Slowly the Solarian fleet caught up with the huge gathering of fleets it had been ordered to join. Behind, and on either side, were other fleets pouring from that solar system which had received similar instructions from the galaxy’s great commanding body. The entire force moved slowly as if waiting for something.
Then from the direction of an exceedingly bright nearby star that could not have been more than one-sixth of a light year off, came a mass of ships. Long before they had been sighted, the automatic devices for detecting matter in space had pointed in their direction and had given their total mass and distance, and the speed at which they were approaching. The vanguard of that approaching force, a solid wall of ships from which poured forth a flood of disintegration beams to clear their path of all interstellar debris, flashed into view. Stretching far into space in the direction of that nearby star came the main body, a myriad quivering lines of ships. Passing all comprehension was their number. They, too, bore the emblem of the Confederation.
At a speed approaching that of light they drew near the slow-moving fleets. To the commander of the Solarian fleet, as well as to the commanders of all the other fleets, came the order to speed up. As the vanguard of that mighty force swept past the host of ships of which the Solarian fleet was now part, it was increasing its speed swiftly and smoothly. When the mighty force behind the vanguard came abreast, it, too, was flashing along at that terrific velocity. Side by side the two vast aggregations of fleets swept along.
From a half score other nearby stars came other quivering lines of ships composed of fleets from thousands of solar systems. All of them bore the emblem of the Confederation. The forces of the galaxy were gathering for a supreme effort.
At the headquarters of the Confederation thousands of strange creatures, no two alike, representatives of their races, stared moodily at a large television screen, darkening at intervals, that showed yet another of the forces of the galaxy being destroyed by the invaders.
WHEN the Magellanian hordes had come within a certain distance of our island universe, ten immense fleets had split from the huge column and sped off while the main force came to a slow stop and hung motionless in space. With each of the ten fleets there went six huge globes of planetary dimensions. So great was the number of ships of each of those ten fleets that nothing could withstand them. Down they swept through the Confederation’s defences, sweeping solar system after solar system bare of their original inhabitants, replacing them with their own metal-clad species from the huge globes.
On the planets they had captured, they found immense structures housing complicated apparatus, whose purpose at first puzzled them. They were the machines used by the vanquished races to instantly bridge the void between their solar systems. The Magellanians had long been familiar with the mechanism for transmitting matter on directed radio waves, but not on gravitational lines of force. Quickly they solved the use of those structures. Using the transportation facilities they found, they swept into the interior of the galaxy to spread death and desolation.
Outside of the island universe there still remained the main column. For a while it remained motionless in space, then it began to move forward, an invincible force. In front of them sped a closely packed mass of giant ships of space, from which poured myriads of powerful disintegration beams. The only defense against those disintegration vibrati
ons were like rays of equal strength to neutralize them, more powerful rays would sweep the vibrations back to their source and destroy them.
Hastily the Supreme Council gathered together what fleets it could from hundreds of solar systems and sent them forth against the Magellanian column. Numbered amongst the first gathering of fleets were pleasure-craft with various forms of armament hurriedly added, lumbering freight-carriers, and ships built for various purposes that had nothing to do with interstellar warfare.
Greatly outnumbered and outclassed though they were, they hurtled fearlessly at the mighty invading force that seemed to extend in all directions into the infinite.
Steadily the Magellanian column swept forward. Each of the countless myriad beams that formed the practically solid wall of disintegration rays before the advancing Magellanian column was more powerful than the most powerful ray the ships of the Confederation possessed. Matter in front of those rays was being swept out of existence at the rate of five thousand cubic feet per second. It was only by being shielded by the ships in front that those behind escaped destruction, for yet a little while.
In desperation the rearmost fleets of the Confederation swept around to the comparatively unprotected flank of the great force and were shattered. The broken fleets drew slowly away from the side of the Magellanian column against which they had vainly broken themselves, reformed their thinned ranks into some semblance of order and plunged again at the invaders. Swift was their doom.
Again the Supreme Council gathered together fleets of slow and awkward ships—hopelessly undermanned—and hurled them at the enemy. Another gathering of fleets was brought together, smaller in number than the two preceding forces, and launched at the seemingly invincible foes from an alien universe. They met an even swifter fate.
Paying no more attention than to brush off the fleets from the galaxy as if they were so many troublesome insects, the invaders continued their course. Coming within a certain distance of the edge of the island universe, the great column came to a slow halt again. Ships were shifted back and forth. Intense activity was going on in the center of the column around the remaining globes of planetary dimensions. That activity did not augur well for the races of the Confederation.