by Earl
Tal leered at him, hearing the groan. “There is no help for it, Evan Paige,” he said vigorously. “I will conquer your people!”
A WEEK later, the regiment performed drills in the open space beyond the mouth of Mammoth Cave, under the hot sun. With Paige’s apparently reluctant guidance, Tal had conditioned the men to the new climate. Daily they had gone out into the sun, for short periods of time, acquiring a steady “tan.” Their white, unpigmented skin turned a rich red, as with Scandinavians who went to warmer climates.
Active, hardy men, they were quickly becoming acclimated to extremes of heat and cold unknown in their sheltered world. The blowing of even the gentlest wind was to them a source of wonder.
Tal, watching the drill, turned to Paige. “Look how energetic the men are. Somehow, these strange conditions are invigorating!” He drew a deep lungful of air. “In a way, Evan Paige,” he admitted thoughtfully, “your cavern is a desirable place to live in!”
Paige felt almost friendly toward the man, at this. As with Reena, a heritage of instinctive memory must be whispering to him. It told him that this was the world man was meant to live in, not the sunless depths below.
Yes, man’s world—but for how long? How near was the end of mankind’s reign, usurped by the Martian invaders? The thought chilled Paige to the marrow.
“I have been looking at the blue rock of the roof often.” It was Reena speaking, her voice awed. “Sometimes I have the feeling that nothing is there at all!”
Paige looked at her. Though she was unrelenting in her attitude toward him, she was changed. She had become vital, alive, thrillingly lovely. With her carmine-tinted face, framed by ash-blonde hair, she was like some rare, exotic blossom.
Tal’s eyes involuntarily turned upward, also, to the mystery of the sky, with a look close to fear. “Yes, at times I wonder, too.”
“How foolish!” It was Paige himself who scoffed. It was not time for them to know. “The bright light my people use gives the illusion of emptiness. The roof is there.”
“Of course!” agreed Tal, shaking his head in self-reprovement. “There must be a roof. It wouldn’t be possible to conceive of its absence.”
One more phenomenon Paige had to explain away—rain. Swift clouds came up, precipitating a brief but thorough downpour. A mere summer shower, but to the albino people, watching from the shelter of the cave, it was stark novelty. They knew water, but only in trickles that seeped down from the ocean bottoms, down into their isolated catacombs. What was this incredible dropping of lakefuls of water from the roof?
“My people use this method of watering their crops,” Paige lied magnificently. “It is easy to transport water into the gravityless region above and then propel it downward.”
Lightning and thunder, accompanying the shower, still more amazed the albino people. And it brought something of fear.
“A distant battle, in our war,” Paige improvised.
Tal pondered. “More and more I begin to wonder what manner of science your people use—”
“We are great scientists!” interposed Paige instantly. “You have seen the great lights we use, the flying machines, those thunders and flashes of our weapons, and how we handle large quantities of water. We have a great science!”
Tal automatically gave a cynical leer.
“I see it clearly now, Paige. You’ve been trying to impress me with your people’s greatness. You wish me to withdraw! But I’m more determined than ever to go on. My plans are careful. I’ve sent a messenger back to King Luth, telling him of what we have found, and to hold reinforcements ready at a moment’s notice. In the meantime—”
PAIGE’S ears caught a low sound throbbing from the sky. He interrupted Tal. “I tell you my people are powerful! Their air machines will come and blast you to dust.”
The hissing drone became louder. They all heard it. Another rocketplane sailed grandly into view, overhead.
“Blast us, eh?” grunted Tal. “We’ll see.”
He whirled, shouting orders. His men obeyed, dragging forward their cannon. Lightly mounted on smoothly swiveled bearings, the tubes could be pointed in any direction swiftly.
“Don’t!” Paige yelled, though within himself he exulted. He had played the cards right!
The cannon began to whoosh softly, as their bolts of atom-compressing force stabbed invisibly into the sky. The Martian ship was about 2,000 feet high, easily within range. But the Uldornian gunners, unused to such a fast-moving target, aimed far behind.
Paige held his breath. Would the chance pass? Would the ship escape?
But the Martian ship sealed its own doom. It slowed down and circled, obviously interested in the human figures below. They heard no cannon-roars, as with Earthly artillery, and so were unaware of being shot at.
The Uldornian gunners took better aim. Quite abruptly one wing of the ship crumpled. The craft flopped, burst into flame. It streaked down like a blazing comet to land with a sodden crash a thousand yards away. Its fiercely burning fuel formed a pyre out of which no creature could escape alive.
A hush came over the albino men. Then Tal waved triumphantly and a cheer of victory welled from his regiment.
“Thus we deal with your vaunted floating machines of war!” Tal crowed.
Paige stared at the burned Martian wreck. His spirits sang. All had worked out as he had planned.
The albino army had struck—not at his people—but at the Martians!
The Martians would retaliate, when another patrol ship searched for the missing one. Coming in force then, they might wipe out the regiment very quickly. But in the face of defeat, Tal would send a message below. The news would sweep through the underworld. King Luth would not lightly forget the annihilated regiment. He would send up stronger forces.
That had been Paige’s grand plan, from the start. To pit two powerful forces against one another. King Luth’s vast army of conquest, and the ruthless Martians. But would it work? It must, Paige told himself.
It must!
X
HE was still staring at the wreck, thinking these world-moving thoughts, when dusk settled. The Uldornian regiment had made camp in the open air, outside Mammoth Cave, for the first time.
Tal Rithor sidled up to Paige, rubbing his hands.
“I will send out scouting parties tomorrow,” he informed. “When we have learned where your people’s forces lie, well attack. I don’t care which side, in your war, they are on. I’ll conquer them both!”
Tal radiated supreme confidence that he felt since bringing down the amazing “floating machine” so easily. Paige was glad it was dark, hiding the sardonic smirk on his lips. If he hadn’t missed his guess, Tal would have a fight on his hands by the next day. The Martians would investigate the lost patrol ship, spy the camp of humans, and attack!
His spine prickled suddenly, as a shout of alarm rose from one side of the camp Paige whirled. Had the Martians arrive! already? Yet he had heard no sound of aircraft.
A sentry came running up, face working. “The enemy, sir!” he reported to Tal. “They are at the mouth of the cave!”
“The enemy,” snapped Tal. “Who?”
“Dorthians!”
Tal was already running toward his camp’s edge nearest the mouth of Mammoth Cave. With a startled gasp, Paige followed. They halted a hundred yards from the cave-mouth. The gibbous moon, rising, shed light upon uniformed figures, gun in hand, staring out, obviously surprised themselves.
“Dorthian troops!” confirmed Tal, breathing heavily. “How did they get here?”
He stared at Paige, suspicion crawling in his pale eyes.
Paige stood stunned, asking himself the same question. Then he made out the stocky figure without a uniform, standing with arms outstretched, head high, like a man viewing a heaven he had been absent from. Dr. Aronson! He was seeing the upper world again, after long months of sojourn beneath. Little wonder, Paige reflected, that he stood as if bewitched. Beside him was Sparky, also staring around raptly,
swaying a little on his game leg.
“Aronson! Sparky!” Paige called.
The scientist started, peered out and then ran in his direction.
“Halt!” yelled Tal. Behind him, his under officers had already aroused the regiment into watchful readiness. “Surrender your troops, in the name of King Luth, or we will fire!”
Aronson’s flying figure did not hesitate. Tal seemed about to give the battle signal. Paige gripped his arm fiercely. “You can’t shoot a defenseless man! He has no weapons. He wants to talk with us.”
Tal hesitated, then gave low commands. His men stood watchfully, but did not fire. Aronson came up pantingly, and almost fell in Paige’s arms.
“I can’t believe it’s you, Dr. Aronson!” Paige said, his thoughts confused. “And Dorthian troops with you! How did you convince the Kal of Dorthia.”
The scientist spoke between gulps of his lungs.
“Sparky did it When the news of Uldorn’s first major victory came through, Sparky worked on him. The Kal was worried. Sparky told him this cavern-world extended over parts of Uldorn, which he could counter-attack. He didn’t try to say any more about what this ‘cavern’ really is, or our strange story of Martian invasion. He simply appealed to the Kal’s practical side, that from here he might find a way to invade Uldorn and stave off what looked like the eventual downfall of Dorthia. The Kal finally agreed to send up an expeditionary regiment.”
He stopped, panting for breath.
“Exactly how I worked on King Luth!” Paige went on briefly, explaining his part. “Good work you and Sparky did,” he finished. “We got the albino people out here after all, into this world they positively wouldn’t believe in! And now, we have some real work ahead of us.”
HE went on, telling of the Martian ship shot down, and the eventuality of Martian attack. Tal’s face was suddenly before him, dark with rage. He had listened closely as they spoke in English. Paige suddenly realized he might have understood.
He had—in distorted fashion. “Treachery!” he spat out. “You two planned this. One of you to lure an Uldornian regiment into your cavern, the other a Dorthian regiment, to fall upon us. And then your forces—the ‘Martians’ you call them—are to join with Dorthia in invading Uldorn!”
He glared accusingly at them. Neither Paige nor Aronson could think of anything to say that would sound sensible. Tal’s face worked dangerously. “But I’ll show you how you have underestimated me. I’ll wipe out the Dorthians and then deal with your forces!”
Whirling, he screamed out the order to begin battle. Then he turned back, directing his aides to chain Paige and Aronson to a great boulder, out of range of the battle zone. Reena was brought up a moment later, and chained. Tal eyed the three of them.
“When we have won, I’ll deal with you. If we should happen to face defeat, our last shots will take you with us!”
He dashed away, to direct the struggle. Paige looked at the girl. In the glow of moonlight, she was a picture of loveliness. Her eyes were on him, not hostile now, but in complete understanding.
“Forgive me, Evan!” she murmured. “I see now what you planned. The presence of the Dorthian troops here shows your good intention, however it turned out. You had hoped the Dorthian troops would get here first, to strike at Uldorn?”
Paige shook his head, groaning.
“No. My plans are all shattered. I had hoped to pit Tal against the Martians. Now, instead, the Dorthians and Uldornians will decimate each other. When the Martians come, they will find little opposition. Don’t you understand, Reena, it’s the Martians who are to be feared! They come from another world, beyond the roof.”
Paige stopped. How could he explain this to the girl who still thought of Earth’s surface as a huge cave, with a roof? The conception of another planet, hanging in space millions of miles away, could have no meaning to her. So he thought.
She was staring at him thoughtfully. “There is no—no roof?” she queried slowly.
Paige glanced at her hopefully. “None at all. Space goes on forever.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath, as though assimilating that fact, once and for all. It was not less in degree than a person of upper Earth having suddenly to believe that the sky was a roof.
“And these Martians you speak of—they come from another world, far away? From up there, many times farther than the greatest distance in Dorthia?”
Paige pointed to the fiery red speck of Mars, following the moon. “From there they have come.”
“They are not human?” she whispered.
“They are monsters; ruthless beings who are killing off my people relentlessly.” He watched the girl. What effect was it having on her, if she believed?
She believed, now. He could see that in the dread and horror that darkened her eyes.
“My people,” she said suddenly, “should help your people, Dorthians and Uldornians alike!”
Paige choked. If this girl’s reaction were only a symbol, a token, of how all the albino people might react, if they once knew and understood! But then he turned bitter, defeated eyes on the battle raging.
“Your civilization fights a civil war,” he groaned, “while mine goes under!”
XI
THEY watched the battle.
It was fought under the dim light of the moon. But to the albino people, it was natural, like the battles fought underground in their sunless labyrinths.
Tal had deployed his men in a wide circle facing the cave mouth. Steady fire poured in, and steady fire returned. The Uldornians were at a tactical disadvantage. But on the other hand, Tal had remembered the advanced military maneuvers Paige had employed below. Sparky was commanding a regiment of Dorthians who probably misunderstood most of his orders, new to them.
A secret company of Uldornians crept to the side of the cave-mouth, and attacked. When the Dorthians blindly flocked to resist, a second flanking group fell on their side.
The battle raged on, while the moon slowly climbed the zenith. Paige foresaw already that, all else being equal, one or the other side would win by a slim margin, depending on luck. He ground his teeth helplessly, at the thought of human beings, albino or not, killing one another off, in the very world where an alien power wanted just that.
“Aronson,” he muttered, “I guess we’ve failed.”
“Hsst!”
It was a low warning from back of them, in the shadow of the boulder they were chained to. The crouching form of Sparky crept close, one eye cautiously on the guard who stood with back turned, watching the battle.
“Sparky!” breathed Paige. “How—”
“Hi, Sarge,” whispered Sparky, pressing his hand. His mouth twisted a little. “Deserted again—the Dorthians. Wanted to find you. Figure out something. This fight is crazy. We should be blasting at the Martians!”
“Yes,” Paige said brokenly. “After all my planning, and yours, we run up against this stupid, blind, senseless stone wall. The underworld people fight below, and now above, too. And the Martians, meanwhile, take over Earth!”
Sparky’s face twisted convulsively. “Lord! How I’d like to get one more lick at the Martians!”
Paige laughed a little wildly, bitterly. “You can, maybe. I think there’s an undamaged Earth plane, a mile away.” He dismissed the thought. “But Sparky, can you free us?”
Sparky was already aiming his Dorthian blast-pistol at a portion of the chain that held Reena. Three bolts and the chain clinked apart. Reena stood free.
“Hurry!” whispered Paige.
Sparky sent two bolts at Aronson’s chain. The guard turned, finally hearing. With a shout of alarm he ran forward, pistol upraised.
“Got to do it,” muttered Sparky, aiming at him.
But there was only a dull click from his weapon. “Used my shots!” he cried. “And I have no more charge-clips. Sarge, I’ve got to go. I’m deserting again.”
With that Sparky scuttled away as fast as he could, with his limp. The guard fired several times i
nto the darkness beyond the boulder, then gave up and turned back. Reena, though free, had not left, her hand on Paige’s arm.
She was sharing his fate, but Paige said nothing. What did it mean now? Tal would win, take them below, and warn King Luth against the campaign in the upper world, convinced now that Paige had planned a trap.
PAIGE cursed, and looked up at the garnet speck of Mars, that seemed like a mocking red eye. Faintly, through the roar of battle, he heard a low drone from the opposite direction. The beating of a propeller, lifting an Earth plane into the air. Sparky had found the plane intact. He was off to have his last lick at the Martians. He would not let mocking fate make him a deserter of duty a fourth time.
Paige reviled fate, and wished he were with Sparky.
The red eye of Mars glared down gloatingly on the battle. Slowly Tal was winning out, driving the Dorthians back into the cave-mouth where he would gain strategic positions and cut them to pieces.
“Dr. Aronson,” Paige said again, “we’ve failed.”
A low hissing drone snaked through the upper air.
Paige started, ears alert. Was it the drone of a propeller, or the throbbing beat of rocket jets?
It was both!
An Earth plane streaked across the moon’s face. Hounding after it drummed a fleet of seven Martian ships, rocket jets flaming brilliantly. The lone Earth ship shot up suddenly, in a power-climb. Daringly, madly, it swooped over the Martian ships, raking them with machine-gun fire. A wasp against seven deadly eagles. One Martian ship swung out of line wobbled, and then flopped Earthward in flames.
Again the Earth plane swooped, guns chattering. Another Martian ship plummeted down like a comet. Paige stared in disbelief. It was the most amazing exhibition of flying and fighting he had ever thought possible. Who could that wizard flyer be?
A gasp tore from Paige’s throat.
“Sparky!” he screamed. “Give ’em hell, Sparky!”
It was all clear now. Sparky had flown to the nearest Martian base, probably at Cincinnati. Charged down from the sky speaking a challenge with bullets. The Martian fleet had given chase. By some miracle, Sparky had outflown the superior Martian craft, led them here.