The Earth-Tube

by Gawain Edwards

  “If he has saved America,” he said, “then no reward could be too great for him!”

  “No,” replied Dr. Scott.

  The Executive resumed command of himself. “In the meantime,” he remarked dryly, “there is other business. For one thing, it looks as if it would be wise, for the time being, to reinstate Angell as Secretary of War.”

  “What!” exclaimed Dr. Scott.

  The President smiled, waving his hand toward a pile of documents and papers on a table. “Petitions and special requests,” he explained. “The mothers’ societies and women’s clubs all want Dr. Angell back; he was such a convincing speaker.”

  “But he’s absolutely incompetent!”

  “Oh. “ The President raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. “In war. yes. But before the convention, say, of the Allied Patriotic Societies, he’s a positive genius. Speech-making is quite an important art. a most important art in a country like ours. let me assure you!”

  “But the defense. ?”

  “As for the defense, that is already in the hands of your efficient young associate.”

  “But my dear Mr. President. !”

  The President held up his hand.

  “That is the only way, for the time being, to satisfy these organizations. The Associated Knitting Mothers of the Pan-Americas, for instance, write me that they have been unable to arouse the proper spirit with regard to war activities in their ranks, so great has been the dearth of good speeches since the dismissal of Dr. Angell. And, of course, my dear Dr. Scott, we must have the proper spirit about these serious matters!”

  “Of course. of course,” replied Dr. Scott vaguely. “The association’s war activities must be kept up, though for the life of me I can’t imagine why.”

  “Neither can I,” admitted the President. “And that’s exactly the unpatriotic state of mind the members of these important societies get into, without the benefit of oratory. You see the danger of it?”

  “Well. “

  “It is also possible that Angell can stop the increasing migration to Europe, if enough people believe what he says over the radio. That would be something,” continued the President.

  Dr. Scott reluctantly agreed.

  The President picked up the telephone.

  “Inform Dr. Angell that his title has been restored, and announce to the newspapers that the former Secretary has been reinstated as head of the Department of War, with full power to speak at banquets, dinners, conventions, and patriotic ladies’ meetings,” he ordered.

  When the stenographer at the other end of the line had finished taking down the order, the President gave another.

  “Announce also that King Henderson will superintend the defense, and that he has been placed in full charge of all military arrangements, with unlimited power over the army, navy, the aircraft branch, and the bureau of munitions.”

  “Now as to other business,” the President continued, turning back briskly toward the scientist. “We must consider. “

  He paused when he saw a twinkle in the eyes of the elder man. His own answered.

  “Now we have two War Secretaries. one to make speeches, the other to fight the wars. “ said Dr. Scott.

  In a moment the two men were laughing together like old cronies at a reunion.

  “If they ever get tired of having you for President,” declared the scientist, “I’m going to nominate you for Emperor!”

  Above them they heard the drone of a fast airplane. It was King, headed northeastward for New York. He had been in touch with the defense forces at Houston and the Southwest, the munitions and liquid-air factories, and the organization he had created for moving shells and men to the front. Already, as he flew swiftly through the air toward Diane, the cold blue liquid, which was to be delivered to the hostile tanks, was on its way southward, where the defenders of the city of Houston were preparing to receive it.

  II

  King Henderson was once more in the cool quiet of Dr. Scott’s library. The air of thoughtfulness, of comfort without luxury, of complete living and self-sacrifice with which the room was impregnated from the personality of the old man, filled him with a sense of peace, mingled with nostalgia. Never again, he was thinking, would the old, simple relations of that household be resumed; never again could he be quite a member of it as he once had been. In a few swift months, charged with portent for the whole world, he had been caught up from the humble position of a laboratory worker to that of a world figure, and now, though he would give anything to return to the simplicity of it, the old relations were gone. without possibility of replacement.

  In addition, there was Diane. He loved her; he worshiped her.

  They were sitting, all four, in the quiet half-light of the room, King, Diane, Anna, and Dr. Scott, who had followed him from Washington.

  “And now the war comes to an end. “ began Dr. Scott.

  “I wanted particularly to speak to you about that,” King returned. “The Asians. they will never allow themselves to be beaten by one blow. There is something in the wind; I can feel it, yet I do not know what measures they can take against us or how we shall be able to combat them.”

  “They hold a fearful club over the head of the world,” the elder scientist observed.

  “You mean the earth-tube?”

  “Yes, I am convinced that if they collapse that tube they could destroy the earth. The most disastrous earthquakes on record are caused by slippages in the earth’s crust of only a fraction of an inch. The disturbances we must expect if the earth-tube is suddenly collapsed are too frightful to think about. If the earth itself were not blown apart by explosions of steam caused by the inrushing sea, the displacements of heavy material at the earth’s core could make and unmake continents, swallow mountain chains and grow new ones elsewhere, and raze cities as if the hand of God had swept them out of existence.”

  “As serious as that?” queried King. Dr. Scott nodded with conviction.

  “It is unlikely, however,” said King, “that they would attempt such a dangerous thing. It would probably be equally as disastrous to them as to us. Except as a last resort, or the result of an accident, I think they will not destroy the earth-tube. But there are matters almost as horrible to contemplate which are of immediate concern. They have new and fearful weapons, I believe, which they kept secret from me even during the period of my five-day education at the hands of Gun-Tar. I have learned that many things were hidden from me even though I was marked for death.”

  Dr. Scott nodded. “Yes?” he inquired.

  “For instance, the poisonous gas with which they have attacked us.26 We know no protection against that. To breathe it is certain death for any living thing, plant or animal. It spreads across the country like a monstrous plague, against the wind or with it. It lingers in the hollows for many days. There is no way to drive it off; no way, even, to remove the bodies of those who have suffered by contact with it.

  “But more horrible still is the power with which they drive those giant tanks. From things I heard in Tiplis, only half explained, and from information I have received since my return, I am convinced that these fiends have succeeded in isolating life as a force. a new and usable force which is only imperfectly utilized in these bodies of ours. They have created machines to turn life into mechanical power, and now, I tell you, those Juggernauts which are sweeping the country, tearing, crushing, terrorizing. they are not mere machines; they are alive!

  “Steam, deadly rays, gas, guns, energy to turn their wheels, power to crush and burn and destroy. these they draw from the life force with which they are vitalized. at the expense of thousands of captured men.”

  The horror of this revelation held them all silent, until Diane, speaking thinly, as in a trance, exclaimed, “I must see King. at once. alone! Please let me see him now!”

  Dr. Scott and Anna, confused and startled, hastily withdrew. King looked at Diane questioningly, rising from his chair. She came to meet him, her arms outstretched. Her white sheer r
obe still reflected the Asian mode; her sandaled feet and the flesh of her arms were as white and pale as was her face. Her voice throbbed with emotion as she came up to King. Flinging her arms about his neck she sobbed upon his breast.

  “Oh, it is good. so good to see you once again!” she exclaimed.

  He calmed her as well as he could, trembling himself at the contact of her flesh, the warm, fragile paleness of her. Enfolding her body in his arms pro-tectingly, he stroked her hair. “Diane. Diane!” he exclaimed. “I love you. I will take care of you. But tell me. “

  She drew back.

  “The Tal Majod,” she said. “I have received word from him. He is in America now, to direct the war himself!”

  “Diane! But how could he send you word?”

  She caught aside the robe on her breast. King saw there a tiny harness, such as he had observed upon the person of Gun-Tar, and over her left breast was suspended a small silvered instrument.

  “My communication phone,” she explained. “I forgot to remove it when we were preparing to make our escape from Tiplis, and since then I have been curiously unable to make up my mind to take it off.”

  “And they have spoken to you through that?”

  She nodded. “They have learned that I am still alive, though at first they were certain that we both had been killed by the air-blast. By some mysterious means they have also learned that I. am close to you, and that you are charged with the full weight of the defense.

  “Now they are attacking you through me, King! I do not want harm to come to you or to the country I love. I don’t know what to do!”

  “Have they threatened you. or me?”

  “Yes. At first they begged me to come back. Painted the Asian pleasures. the grandeur of San Adel, the love of the Emperor. They promised me immunity and position. But I refused. I would not go back to the Asians now at any cost. I would rather die here by my own hand than surrender my body to the Tal Majod.”

  King saw that she was weeping. He gathered her close to him, but she drew away again.

  “I must tell you all of it, now,” she continued hysterically. “When they saw that I could not be induced to return of my own free will, they threatened me. I should be killed, secretly, at night, they said. This house would be bombed. An assassin would creep in here with a knife. There would be poison in my food. ...

  “Night after night these threats kept up. I could not sleep. I dared not communicate with any one but you, and you were busy at the factories. Nor could I bring myself to leave the receiver off or refuse to listen to it. The Tal Majod, whose personality compels like hypnotism, had grasped me even through the distance and the air.

  “But now, King, they have begun to threaten not only me but you. Some great disaster is about to befall America; they will not even wait to see if your defense with liquid air is a success. The Tal Majod is crafty. This morning I received this message, which I have translated and written down for you. Make what you can of it. I know it means attack from a new quarter; that it is no common warfare they bring, but some subtle destruction which cannot be met by ordinary means.”

  She took from her girdle a carefully folded paper. Upon it was written:

  “O Daughter of the Vile Americas, outcast and shamed Wife of the Tal Majod, hear if you will: Tonight the wings of the Tal Majod will fly, and by tomorrow noon Americans will kill themselves, and with them will America collapse before the knives and scimitars of Tal Majod.”

  King re-read the message thoughtfully. “And there is no way by which this doom may be averted?” he asked.

  “Yes,” replied Diane. “It is promised that I will be saved and North America left unharmed if I will first kill you with poison and then return to Tiplis.”

  “Have you replied?”

  “No.”

  “Then do not. I must talk this matter over with Dr. Scott.”

  Diane was trembling. She touched King on the sleeve detaining him. “He and his daughter suspect and hate me. I cannot talk to them.”

  “Surely you have misunderstood Dr. Scott and Anna,” returned King. “They have been like father and sister to me.”

  “Perhaps. Perhaps it is so,” murmured Diane.

  He saw that she had been shaken by her experiences of the last two or three weeks; that she was afraid, despite the courage she had shown in the metal city, in the corridors and laboratories of Tiplis.

  “Hereafter,” he said, stroking her hand, calming her, “you will go with me, Diane. to the battle front, to the factories, and everywhere. You need no longer fear for anything. Come, come. Diane!”

  The hour for the dinner of the Chamber of Commerce of All the Americas was near, but King did not prepare for it until he had talked with Dr. Scott and communicated with the President by telephone.

  “The air forces will be out in full strength to-night over the principal cities,” he told Diane later. “Things at the front are shaping up for the defense. We need be afraid of nothing.”

  Nevertheless, he watched the skies anxiously as they moved through the thronged streets together in an open car, toward the high Pan-American Building with its hundred-story walls of steel. Even the constant ovation they received along the way could not deaden the sense of foreboding which had been growing on him for several days and which had been heightened by Diane’s message.

  Silently he gripped her hand, as they both stared upward.

  III

  That the planes of the Asians penetrated so far northward before meeting any resistance from the American forces was due largely to the fact that they were exact replicas of the defense machines, even to military markings and identifying numbers. The fraud was detected, in fact, only when it was observed by an American pilot that the numbers on the Asian planes were all the same; that the invaders had copied on each one the number of the machine they had captured several months before.

  At virtually the same hour a fleet of the invaders appeared over Washington and another over Philadelphia. The alarmed defense forces, warned too late of the true nature of these apparently friendly planes, sprang into the air after them. The long, upward-pointing guns blazed. Needles of light from hundreds of anti-aircraft placements wove across the sky, crossing and recrossing to aid the batteries and the fighting planes of the defense.

  Warning was sent to all citizens to protect themselves. The streets, which had been filled with gay throngs out to welcome King Henderson and perhaps to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Asian slave he had brought back with him from the domed city in the south, became places of terror. Cellars and basements filled rapidly. Couples hurried along the sidewalks, clinging close to the edges of buildings in panic, as the terrific battle between the Asians and the Americans began overhead.

  The dinner of the Chamber of Commerce of All the Americas was in full swing when the first alarm reached the crowded banquet hall. The Secretary of War, gesticulating and thundering behind a battery of microphones and television sets, was in the midst of his speech. Diane and King, sitting side by side on the high dais, were half lost in reverie induced by the beauty of the hall, the heavy perfume of the flowers banked up before them, the reechoed cadences of Dr. Angell’s oratory, and the soporific luxury of a banquet which had been prepared without sparing expense.

  The dinner had gone off exceedingly well. The food had been perfect, the wine excellent, the speeches pleasing. Only one thing had disturbed King; it was the fact that in some mysterious way word had leaked out about his plans for the defense. A secret which he had considered known only to himself, Dr. Scott, and the President was on every one’s lips. He heard it several times during the evening, and one fawning munition manufacturer had asked him point-blank, at the beginning of the dinner, if it were true.

  “There is a rumor that you will try the first of the liquid air at Houston to-morrow,” he said. “It will be a great moment in history if it should succeed!”

  King replied evasively, puzzled and uneasy at the speed with which the information had tr
aveled. If the inmost secrets of the War Council were always as generously and readily distributed over America as this, how was it possible for any strategy to succeed?

  “But after all,” he thought later to himself, “It doesn’t matter greatly who finds out about our liquid-air attack. Even if the Asians themselves learn of it, they will be unable to defend their tanks any better, once we get our howitzers close enough to shoot at them.”

  The disturbance at the dinner did not come until near the end of the evening.

  There was a momentary commotion near the door at one end of the room. A man there, in torn clothing, shouted, “Enemy airplanes!” Instantly the room was in confusion. Dr. Angell’s neat phrases were drowned by the buzz of many questioning voices. A uniformed messenger came in and laid a written communication before the chairman of the dinner.

  King and Diane were on their feet almost at the first shout. Vaguely they had been waiting for this announcement all through the ceremonies. Enemy airplanes! What new destruction was now about to be loosed among the people of the crowded city, whose defenders had been tricked and outwitted by the invading machines? The chairman was in a quandary. His face grew red. The uneasiness of the diners increased. Dr. Angell paused to inquire what was the matter and smiled reassuringly when it had been explained to him.

  “Ah, my friends,” he said, holding out his hand to quiet the murmurings, “it is nothing. nothing. These attackers will be shot down before they have passed the outer limits of the metropolitan area!”

  As if in direct contradiction to his words, there sounded overhead the roar of fighting planes, the crash of bursting shells. Waving the Secretary aside, King took charge of the situation. “Unfortunately,” he said quietly, but with firmness, “I am not sure but that this attack will be of extreme consequence. We have had warning of it; nevertheless, the enemy has succeeded in breaking through our lines for some sinister purpose which still remains to be seen. Please go to your homes, all of you, and stand by to support your government. I may have reason in the next few hours to call upon you in a practical way for the support many of you have volunteered verbally this evening.”