E.E. 'Doc' Smith SF Gateway Omnibus: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron, Skylark DuQuesne

by E. E. 'Doc' Smith

  Dorothy, taken aback, opened and closed her mouth twice before she found her voice.

  ‘But, Dick, they couldn’t possibly. Would they kill them all, Dick? Surely they wouldn’t – they couldn’t.’

  ‘Surely they would – and could. They do – it’s good technique in those parts of the galaxy. Dunark has just told us of how they killed every member of the entire race of Mardonalians, in forty hours. Kondal would go the same way. Don’t kid yourself, Dimples – don’t be a simp. War up there is no species of pink tea, believe me – half of my brain has been through thirty years of Osnomian warfare, and I know precisely what I’m talking about. Let’s take a vote. Personally I’m in favor of Osnome. Mart?’

  ‘Osnome.’

  ‘Dottie? Peggy?’ Both remained silent for some time, then Dorothy turned to Margaret.

  ‘You tell him, Peggy – we both feel the same way.’

  ‘Dick, you know that we wouldn’t want the Kondalians destroyed – but the other is so – such a – well, such an utter Schrecklichkeit – isn’t there some other way out?’

  ‘I’m afraid not – but if there is any other possible way out, I’ll do my da— I’ll try to find it,’ he promised. ‘The ayes have it. Dunark, we’ll skip over to that X planet and load you up.’

  Dunark grasped Seaton’s hand. ‘Thanks, Dick,’ he said, simply. ‘But before you help me farther, and lest I might be in some degree sailing under false colors, I must tell you that, wearer of the seven disks though you are, Overlord of Osnome though you are, my brain brother though you are; had you decided against me, nothing but my death could have kept me away from that salt and your X compass.’

  ‘Why sure,’ assented Seaton, in surprise. ‘Why not? Fair enough! Anybody would do the same – don’t let that gnaw on you.’

  ‘How is your supply of platinum?’

  ‘Mighty low. We had about decided to hop over there after some. I want some of your textbooks on electricity and so on, too. I see you brought a load of platinum with you.’

  ‘Yes, a few hundred tons. We also brought along an assortment of books I knew you would be interested in, a box of radium, a few small bags of gems of various kinds, and some of our fabrics Sitar thought your karfediro would like to have. While we are here, I would like to get some books on chemistry and some other things.’

  ‘We’ll get you the Congressional Library, if you want it, and anything else you think you’d like. Well, gang, let’s go places and do things! What first, Mart?’

  ‘We had better drop back to Earth, have the laborers unload the platinum, and load on the salt, books, and other things. Then both ships will go to the X planet, as we will each want compasses on it, for future use. While we are loading, I should like to begin remodeling our instruments; to make them something like these; with Dunark’s permission. These instruments are wonders, Dick – vastly ahead of anything I have ever seen. Come and look at them, if you want to see something really beautiful.’

  ‘Coming up. But say, Mart, while I think of it, we mustn’t forget to install a zone-of-force apparatus on this ship, too. Even though we can’t use it intelligently, it certainly would be the cat’s whiskers as a defense. We couldn’t hurt anybody through it, of course, but if we should happen to be getting licked anywhere all we’d have to do would be to wrap ourselves up in it. They couldn’t touch us. Nothing that I know of is corkscrewy enough to get through it.’

  ‘That’s the second idea you’ve had since I’ve known you, Dicky,’ Dorothy smiled at Crane. ‘Do you think he should be allowed to run at large, Martin?’

  ‘That is a real idea. We may need it – you never can tell. Even if we never find any other use for the zone of force, that one is amply sufficient to justify its installation.’

  ‘Yeah, it would be, for you – and I’m getting to be a regular Safety-First Simon myself, since they opened up on us. What about those instruments?’

  The three men gathered around the instrument board and Dunark explained the changes he had made – and to such men as Seaton and Crane it was soon evident that they were examining an installation embodying sheer perfection of instrumental control – a system which only those wonder instrument-makers, the Osnomians, could have devised. The new object-compasses were housed in arenak cases after setting, and the housings were then exhausted to the highest attainable vacuum. Oscillation was set up by means of one carefully standardized electrical impulse, instead of by the clumsy finger-touch Seaton had used. The bearings, built of arenak and Osnomian jewels, were as strong as the axles of a truck, and yet were almost perfectly motionless.

  ‘I like them myself,’ admitted Dunark. ‘Without a load the needles will rotate freely more than a thousand hours on the primary impulse, as against a few minutes in the old type; and under load they are many thousands of times as sensitive.’

  ‘You’re a blinding flash and a deafening report, ace!’ declared Seaton, enthusiastically. ‘That compass is as far ahead of my model as the Skylark is ahead of Wright’s first glider.’

  The other instruments were no less noteworthy. Dunark had adopted the Perkins telephone system, but had improved it until it was scarcely recognizable, and had made it capable of almost unlimited range. Even the guns – heavy rapid-firers, mounted in spherical bearings in the walls – were aimed and fired by remote control, from the board. He had devised full automatic steering controls; and acceleration, velocity, distance, and flight-angle meters and recorders. He had perfected a system of periscopic vision which enabled the pilot to see the entire outside surface of the shell, and to look toward any point of the heavens without interference.

  ‘This kind of takes my eye, too, prince,’ Seaton said, as he seated himself, swung a large, concave disk in front of him, and experimented with levers and dials. ‘You certainly can’t call this thing a periscope – it’s no more a periscope than I am a polyp. When you look through this plate it’s better than looking out of a window – it subtends more than the angle of vision, so that you can’t see anything but out-of-doors – I thought for a second I was going to fall out. What do you call ’em, Dunark?’

  ‘Kraloto. That would be in English … Seeing-plate? Or rather, exactly transliterated, “visiplate”.’

  ‘That’s a good word – we’ll adopt it. Mart, take a look if you want to see a set of perfect lenses and prisms.’

  Crane looked into the visiplate and gasped. The vessel had disappeared – he was looking directly down upon the Earth below him!

  ‘No trace of chromatic, spherical, or astigmatic aberration,’ he reported in surprise. ‘The refracting system is invisible – it seems as though nothing intervenes between the eye and the object. You perfected all these things since we left Osnome, Dunark? You are in a class by yourself. I could not even copy them in less than a month, and I never could have invented them.’

  ‘I did not do it alone, by any means. The Society of Instrument-Makers, of which I am only one member, installed and tested more than a hundred systems. This one represents the best features of all the systems tried. It will not be necessary for you to copy them. I brought along two complete duplicate sets, for the Skylark, as well as a dozen or so of the compasses. I thought that perhaps these particular improvements might not have occurred to you, since you Terrestrials are not as familiar as we are with complex instrumental work.’

  Crane and Seaton spoke together.

  ‘That was thoughtful of you, Dunark, and we appreciate it fully.’

  ‘That puts four more palms on your croix de guerre, ace. Thanks a lot.’

  ‘Say, Dick,’ called Dorothy, from her seat near the wall. ‘If we’re going down to the ground, how about Sitar?’

  ‘By lying down and not doing anything, and by staying in the vessel, where it is warm, she will be all right for the short time we must stay here,’ Dunark answered for his wife. ‘I will help all I can, but I do not know how much that will be.’

  ‘It isn’t so bad lying down,’ Sitar agreed. ‘I don’t like you
r Earth a bit, but I can stand it a little while. Anyway, I must stand it, so why worry about it?’

  ‘’At-a-girl!’ cheered Seaton. ‘And as for you, Dunark, you’ll pass the time just like Sitar does – lying down. If you do much chasing around down there where we live you’re apt to get your lights and liver twisted all out of shape – so you’ll stay put, horizontal. We’ve got men enough around the shop to eat this cargo in three hours, let alone unload it. While they unload and load you up we’ll install the zone apparatus, put a compass on you, put one of yours on us, and then you can hop back up here where you’re comfortable. Then as soon as we can get the Lark ready for the trip we’ll jump up here and be on our way. Everything clear? Cut the rope, Mart – let the bucket drop!’

  3

  Skylark Two Sets Out

  ‘Say, Mart, I just got conscious! It never occurred to me until just now, as Dunark left, that I’m just as good an instrument-maker as Dunark is – the same one, in fact – and I’ve got a hunch. You know that needle on DuQuesne hasn’t been working for quite a while? Well, I don’t believe it’s out of commission at all. I think he’s gone somewhere, so far away that it can’t read on him. I’m going to house it in, re-jewel it, and find out where he is.’

  ‘An excellent idea. He has even you worrying, and as for myself …’

  ‘Worrying! That bird is simply pulling my cork! I’m so scared he’ll get Dottie that I’m running around in circles and biting myself in the small of the back. He’s working on something, you can bet your shirt on that, and what gripes me is he’s aiming at the girls, not at us or the job.’

  ‘I should say that someone had aimed at you fairly accurately, judging by the number of bullets stopped lately by that arenak armor of yours. I wish that I could take some of the strain, but they are centering all their attacks upon you.’

  ‘Yeah – I can’t stick my nose outside our yard without somebody throwing lead at it. ’Sfunny, too. You’re more important to the power plant than I am.’

  ‘You should know why. They are not afraid of me. While my spirit is willing enough, it was your skill and rapidity with a pistol that frustrated four attempts at abduction in as many days. It is positively uncanny, the way you explode into action. With all my practice, I didn’t even have my pistol out until it was all over, yesterday. And besides Prescott’s guards, we had four policemen with us – detailed to “guard” us because of the number of gunmen you had had to kill before that!’

  ‘It ain’t practice so much, Mart – it’s a gift I’ve always been fast, and I react automatically. You think first, that’s why you’re so slow. Those cops were funny. They didn’t know what it was all about until it was all over but calling the wagon. That was the worst yet. One of their slugs struck directly in front of my left eye – it was kinda funny, at that, seeing it splash – and I thought I was inside a boiler in a rivet-shop when those machine-guns cut loose. It was hectic, all right, while it lasted. But one thing I’ll tell the attentive world – we ain’t doing all the worrying. Very few, if any, of the gangsters they send after us are getting back – wonder what they think when they shoot at us and we don’t drop?

  ‘But I’m afraid I’m beginning to crack, Mart,’ Seaton went on, his voice becoming grimly earnest. ‘I don’t like anything about this whole mess. I don’t like all four of us wearing armor all the time. I don’t like living constantly under guard. I don’t like all this killing, and this constant menace of losing Dorothy if I let her out of my sight for five seconds is driving me mad. Also, to tell you the truth, I’m devilishly afraid that they’ll figure out something that will work. I could grab off two women, or kill two men, if they had armor and guns enough to fight a war. I believe that DuQuesne could, too – and the rest of that bunch aren’t imbeciles, either, by any means. I won’t feel safe until all four of us are in the Skylark and a long ways from here. I’m glad we’re pulling out, and I don’t intend to come back until I find DuQuesne. He’s the bird I’m going to get – and when I get him I’ll tell the cock-eyed world that he’ll stay got. There won’t be any two atoms of his entire carcass left in the same township. I meant that promise when I gave it to him – and I didn’t mean maybe.’

  ‘He realizes that fully. He knows that it is now definitely either his life or our own, and he is really dangerous. When he took Steel over and opened war upon us, he did it with his eyes wide open. With his ideas, he must have a monopoly of X or nothing; and he knows the only possible way of getting it. However, you and I both know that he would not let either one of us live, even though we surrendered.’

  ‘You chirped it! But that guy’s going to find out that he’s started something. But how about turning up a few RPM’s? We don’t want to keep Dunark waiting too long.’

  ‘There is very little to do beyond installing the new instruments; and that is nearly done. We can finish pumping out the compass en route. You have already installed every weapon of offense and defense known to either Earthly or Osnomian warfare, including those generators and screens you moaned so about not having during the battle over Kondal. I believe that we have on board every article for which either of us has been able to imagine even the slightest use.’

  ‘Yeah, we’ve got her so full of plunder that there’s hardly room left for quarters. You ain’t figuring on taking anybody but Shiro along, are you?’

  ‘No. I suppose there is no real necessity for taking even him, but he wants very much to go, and may prove himself useful.’

  ‘I’ll say he’ll be useful. None of us really enjoys polishing brass or washing dishes – and besides, he’s one star cook and an A-1 housekeeper.’

  The installation of the new instruments was soon completed, and while Dorothy and Margaret made last-minute preparations for departure the men called a meeting of the managing directors and department heads of the Seaton-Crane Co., Engineers. The chiefs gave brief reports in turn. Units Number One and Number Two of the immense new central super-power plant were in continuous operation. Number Three was almost ready to cut in. Number Four was being rushed to completion. Number Five was well under way. The research laboratory was keeping well up on its problems. Troubles were less than had been anticipated. Financially, it was a gold-mine. With no expense for boilers or fuel and thus with a relatively small investment in plant and a very small operating cost, they were selling power at one-sixth of prevailing rates, and still profits were almost paying for all new construction. With the completion of Number Five, rates would be reduced still further.

  ‘In short, dad, everything’s slick,’ remarked Seaton to Mr Vaneman, after the others had gone.

  ‘Yes; your plan of getting the best men possible, paying them well, and giving them complete authority and sole responsibility, has worked to perfection. I have never seen an undertaking of such size go forward so smoothly and with such fine cooperation.’

  ‘That’s the way we wanted it. We hand-picked the directors, and put it up to you, strictly. You did the same to the managers. They passed it along. Everybody knows that his end is up to him, and him alone – so he digs in.’

  ‘However, Dick, while everything at the Works is so fine, when is this other thing going to break?’

  ‘We’ve won all the way so far, but I’m afraid something’s about due. That’s the big reason I want to get Dot away for a while. You know what they’re up to.’

  ‘Too well,’ the older man answered. ‘Dottie or Mrs Crane, or both. Her mother – she is telling her goodbye now – and I agree that the danger here is greater than out there.’

  ‘Danger out there? With the Skylark fixed the way she is now, Dot’s a lot safer than you are, in bed. Your house might fall down, you know.’

  ‘You’re probably right, son – I know you, and I know Martin Crane. Together, and in the Skylark, I believe you invincible.’

  ‘All set, Dick?’ asked Dorothy, appearing in the doorway.

  ‘All set. You’ve the dope for Prescott and everybody, dad. We may be back in six months, a
nd we may see something to investigate, and have to be gone a year or so. Don’t begin to lose any sleep until after we’ve been out – oh, say three years. We’ll make it a point to be back by then.’

  Farewells were said, the party embarked, and Skylark Two shot upward. Seaton flipped a phone set over his head and spoke.

  ‘Dunark! … Coming out, heading directly for X … No, better stay quite a ways off to one side when we get going good … Yeah, I’m accelerating twenty six point oh oh oh … Yes, I’ll call you now and then, until the radio waves get lost, to check the course with you. After that, keep on the last course, reverse at the calculated distance, and by the time we’re pretty well slowed down we’ll feel around for each other with the compasses and go in together … Yeah … Uh-huh … Fine! So-long!’

  In order that the two vessels should keep reasonably close together, it had been agreed that each should be held at an acceleration of exactly twenty-six feet per second, positive and negative. This figure represented a compromise between the gravitational forces of the two worlds upon which the different parties lived. While considerably less than the acceleration of gravitation at the surface of the Earth, the Tellurians could readily accustom themselves to it; and it was not enough greater than that of Osnome to hamper seriously the activities of the green people.

  Well clear of the Earth’s influence, Seaton assured himself that everything was functioning properly, then stretched to his full height, writhed his arms over his head, and heaved a deep sigh of relief.

  ‘Folks,’ he declared, ‘this is the first time I’ve felt right since we got out of this old bottle. Why, I feel so good a cat could walk up to me and scratch me right in the eye, and I wouldn’t even scratch back. Yowp! I’m a wild Siberian catamount, and this is my night to howl. Whee-ee-yerow!’

  Dorothy laughed, a gay, lilting carol.

  ‘Haven’t I always told you he had cat blood in him, Peggy? Just like all tomcats, every once in a while he has to stretch his claws and yowl. But go ahead, Dickie, I like it – this is the first uproar you’ve made in weeks. I believe I’ll join you!’