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

by E. E. 'Doc' Smith

  ‘How much did you take, anyway?’ asked Dunark in amazement. ‘It looks bigger than the Skylark!’

  ‘It is; considerably bigger. Thought we might as well take enough while we’re here, so I set the zone for a seventy-five-foot radius. It’s probably of the order of magnitude of half a million tons, since the stuff weighs more than half a ton to the cubic foot. However, we can handle it as easily as we could a smaller bite, and that much mass will help us hold that other stuff together when we catch up with it.’

  The voyage to Osnome was uneventful. They overtook the wreckage, true to schedule, as they were approaching the green system, and attached it to the mass of metal behind them by means of attractors.

  ‘Where’ll we land this junk, Dunark?’ asked Seaton, as Osnome grew large beneath them. ‘We’ll hold this lump of metal and the fragment of the ship carrying the salt; and we’ll be able to hold some of the most important of the other stuff. But a lot of it is bound to get away from us – and the Lord help anybody who’s under it when it comes down! You might yell for help – and say, you might ask somebody to have that astronomical date ready for us as soon as we land.’

  ‘The parade ground will be empty now, so we will be able to land there. We should be able to land everything in a field of that size, I should think.’ Dunark touched the sender at his belt, and in the general code notified the city of their arrival and warned everyone to keep away from the parade ground. He then sent several messages in the official code, concluding by asking that one or two spaceships come out and help lower the burden to the ground. As the peculiar, pulsating chatter of the Osnomian telegraph died out Seaton called for help.

  ‘Come here, you two, and grab some of these attractors. I need about twelve hands to keep this plunder in the straight and narrow path.’

  The course had been carefully laid, with allowances for the various velocities and forces involved, to follow the easiest path to the Kondalian parade ground. The hemisphere of X and the fragment of the Kondal which bore the salt were held immovably in place by the main attractor and one auxiliary; and many other auxiliaries held sections of the Fenachrone vessel. However, the resistance of the air seriously affected the trajectory of many of the irregularly-shaped smaller masses of metal, and all three men were kept busy flicking attractors right and left; capturing those strays which threatened to veer off into the streets or upon the buildings of the Kondalian capital city, and shifting from one piece to another so that none of them could fall freely. Two sister ships of the Kondal appeared in answer to Dunark’s call, and their attractors aided greatly in handling the unruly collection of wreckage. A few of the smaller sections and a shower of debris fell clear, however, in spite of all efforts, and their approach was heralded by a meteoric display unprecedented in that world of continuous daylight.

  As the three vessels with their cumbersome convoy dropped down into the lower atmosphere the guns of the city roared a welcome; banners and pennons waved; the air became riotous with color from hundreds of projectors and odorous with a bewildering variety of scents; while all around them played numberless aircraft of all descriptions and sizes. The space below them was carefully avoided, but on all sides of them and above them the air was so full that it seemed incredible that no collision occurred. Tiny one-man helicopters, little more than single chairs flying about; beautiful pleasure-planes soaring and wheeling; immense multiplane liners and giant freighters – everything in the air found occasion to fly as near as possible to the Skylark in order to dip their flags in salute to Dunark, their kofedix, and to Seaton, the wearer of the seven disks – their revered Overlord.

  Finally the freight was landed without serious mishap and the Skylark leaped to the landing dock upon the palace roof, where the royal family and many nobles were waiting, in full panoply of glittering harness. Dunark and Sitar disembarked and the four others stepped out and stood at attention as Seaton addressed Roban, the Karfedix.

  ‘Sir, we greet you, but we cannot stop, even for a moment. You know that only the most urgent necessity would make us forgo the pleasure of a brief rest beneath your roof – the kofedix will presently give you the measure of that need. We shall endeavor to return soon. Greetings; and, for a time, farewell.’

  ‘Overlord, we greet you, and trust that soon we may entertain you and profit from your companionship. For what you have done, we thank you. May the great First Cause smile upon you until you return. Farewell.’

  6

  The Peace Conference

  ‘Here’s a chart of the green system, Mart, with all the motions and the rest of the dope that they’ve been able to get. How’d it be for you to navigate us over to the third planet of the fourteenth sun?’

  ‘While you build a Fenachrone super-generator?’

  ‘Right, the first time. Your deducer is hitting on all eight, as usual. That big beam is hot stuff, and their screens are something to write home about, too.’

  ‘How can their rays be any hotter than ours, Dick?’ Dorothy asked curiously. ‘I thought you said we had the very last word in rays.’

  ‘I thought we did, but those birds we met back there spoke a couple of later words. They work on an entirely different system than ours do. They generate an extremely short carrier wave, like the Millikan cosmic ray, by recombining some of the electrons and protons of their disintegrating metal, and upon this wave they impose a pure heat frequency of terrific power. The Millikan rays will penetrate anything except a special screen or a zone of force, and carry with them – something like radio frequencies carry sound frequencies – the heat rays, which volatilize anything they touch. Their screens are a lot better than ours, too – they generate the entire spectrum. It’s a sweet system, and when we revamp ours so as to be just like it, we’ll be able to talk turkey to those folks on the third planet.’

  ‘How long will it take you to build it?’ asked Crane, who, dexterously turning the pages of Vega’s Handbuch, was calculating their course.

  ‘A day or so – three or four, maybe. I’ve got all the stuff, and with my Osnomian tools it won’t take long. If you find you’ll get there before I get done, you’ll have to loaf a while – kill a little time.’

  ‘Are you going to connect the power plant to operate on the entire vessel and all its contents?’

  ‘No – can’t do it without designing the whole thing, and that’s hardly worthwhile for the short time we’ll use this out-of-date ship.’

  Building those generators would have been a long and difficult task for a corps of Earthly mechanics and electricians, but to Seaton it was merely a job. The ‘shop’ had been enlarged and had been filled to capacity with Osnomian machinery; machine tools that were capable of performing automatically and with the utmost precision and speed almost any conceivable mechanical operation. He put a dozen of them to work, and before the vessel reached its destination, the new offensive and defensive weapons had been installed and thoroughly tested. He had added a third screen-generator, so that now, in addition to the four-foot hull of arenak and the repellors, warding off any material projectile, the Skylark was also protected by an outer, an intermediate, and an inner ray-screen; each driven by the super-power of a four-hundred-pound bar and each covering the entire spectrum – capable of neutralizing any dangerous frequency known to those master-scientists, the Fenachrone.

  As the Skylark approached the planet, Seaton swung number six visiplate upon it, and directed their flight toward a great army base. Darting down upon it, he snatched an officer into the airlock, closed the door, and leaped back into space. He brought the captive into the control room pinioned by auxiliary attractors, and relieved him of his weapons. He then rapidly read his mind, encountering no noticeable resistance, released the attractors, and addressed him in his own language.

  ‘Please be seated, lieutenant,’ Seaton said courteously, motioning him to one of the seats. ‘We come in peace. Please pardon my discourtesy in handling you, but it was necessary in order to learn your language and thus to ge
t in touch with your commanding officer.’

  The officer, overcome with astonishment that he had not been killed instantly, sank into the seat indicated, without a reply, and Seaton went on:

  ‘Please be kind enough to signal your commanding officer that we are coming down at once, for a peace conference. By the way, I can read your signals, and will send them myself if necessary.’

  Briefly the stranger worked an instrument attached to his harness, and the Skylark descended slowly toward the fortress.

  ‘I know, of course, that your vessels will attack,’ Seaton remarked, as he noted a crafty gleam in the eyes of the officer. ‘I intend to let them use all their power for a time, to prove to them the impotence of their weapons. After that, I shall tell you what to say to them.’

  ‘Do you think this is altogether safe, Dick?’ asked Crane as they saw a fleet of gigantic airships soaring upward to meet them.

  ‘Nothing sure but death and taxes,’ returned Seaton cheerfully, ‘but don’t forget that we’ve got Fenachrone armament now, instead of Osnomian. I’m betting that they can’t begin to drive anything through even our outer screen. And even if our outer screen should begin to go into the violet – I don’t think it will even go cherry-red – out goes our zone of force and we automatically go up where no possible airship can reach. Since their only spaceships are rocket-driven, and of practically no maneuverability, they stand a fat chance of getting to us. Anyway, we must get in touch with them, to find out if they know anything we don’t, and this is the only way I know of to do it. Besides, I want to head Dunark off from wrecking this world. They’re exactly the same kind of folks he is, you notice, and I don’t like civil war. Any suggestions? Keep an eye on that bird, then, Mart, and we’ll go down.’

  The Skylark dropped down into the midst of the fleet, which instantly turned against her the full force of their giant guns and their immense ray batteries. Seaton held the Skylark motionless, staring into his visiplate, his right hand grasping the zone-switch.

  ‘The outer screen isn’t even getting warm!’ he exulted after a moment. The repellors were hurling the shells back long before they reached even the outer screen, and they were exploding harmlessly in the air. The full power of the beam-generators, too, which had been so destructive to the Osnomian defenses, was only sufficient to bring the outer screen to a dull red glow. After fifteen minutes of passive acceptance of everything the airships could bring to bear Seaton spoke to the lieutenant.

  ‘Sir, please signal the commanding officer of vessel seven two four that I am going to cut it in two in the middle. Have him remove all men in that part of the ship to the ends, and have parachutes in readiness, as I do not wish to cause any loss of life.’

  The signal was sent, and, the officer already daunted by the fact that their utmost efforts could not even make the stranger’s screens radiate, it was obeyed. Seaton then threw on the frightful power of the Fenachrone super-generators. The defensive screens of the doomed warship flashed once – a sparkling, coruscating display of incandescent brilliance – and in the same instant went down. Simultaneously the entire mid-section of the vessel exploded into radiation and disappeared; completely volatilized.

  ‘Sir, please signal the entire fleet to cease action, and to follow me down. If they do not do so, I will destroy the rest of them.’

  The Skylark dropped to the ground, followed by the fleet of warships, who settled in a ring about her – inactive, but ready.

  ‘Will you please loan me your sending instrument, sir?’ Seaton asked. ‘From this point on I can carry on negotiations better direct than through you.’

  The lieutenant found his voice as he surrendered the instrument.

  ‘Sir, are you the Overlord of Osnome, of whom we have heard? We had supposed that one a mythical character, but you must be he – no one else would spare lives that he could take, and the Overlord is the only being reputed to have a skin the color of yours.’

  ‘Yes, lieutenant, I am the Overlord – and I have decided to become the Overlord of the entire green system, as well as of Osnome.’

  He then sent out a call to the commander-in-chief of all the armies of the planet, informing him that he was coming to visit him at once, and the Skylark tore through the air to the capital city. No sooner had the Earthly vessel alighted upon the palace grounds than she was surrounded by a ring of warships who, however, made no offensive move. Seaton again used the telegraph.

  ‘Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the planet Urvania; greetings from the Overlord of this solar system. I invite you to come into my vessel, unarmed and alone, for a conference: I come in peace and, peace or war as you decide, no harm shall come to you until after you have returned to your own command. Think well before you reply.’

  ‘If I refuse?’

  ‘I shall destroy one of the vessels surrounding me, and shall continue to destroy them, one every ten seconds, until you agree to come. If you still do not agree, I shall destroy all the armed forces upon this planet, then destroy all your people who are at present upon Osnome. I wish to avoid bloodshed and destruction, but I can and I will do as I have said.’

  ‘I will come.’

  The general came out upon the field unarmed, escorted by a company of soldiers. A hundred feet from the vessel he halted the guards and came on alone, erect and soldierly. Seaton met him at the door and invited him to be seated.

  ‘What can you have to say to me?’ the general demanded, disregarding the invitation.

  ‘Many things. First, let me say that you are not only a brave man; you are a wise general – your visit to me proves it.’

  ‘It is a sign of weakness, but I believed when I heard those reports, and still believe, that a refusal would have resulted in a heavy loss of our men.’

  ‘It would have. I repeat that your act was not weakness, but wisdom. The second thing I have to say is that I had not planned on taking any active part in the management of things, either upon Osnome or upon this planet, until I learned of a catastrophe that is threatening all the civilizations in this galaxy – thus threatening my own distant world as well as those of this solar system. Third, only by superior force can I make either your race or the Osnomians listen to reason sufficiently to unite against a common foe. You have been reared in unreasoning hatred for so many generations that your minds are warped. For that reason I have assumed control of this entire system, and shall give you your choice between cooperating with us or being rendered incapable of molesting us while our attention is occupied by this threatened invasion.’

  ‘We will have no traffic with the enemy whatever. This is final.’

  ‘You just think at present that it is final. Here is a mathematical statement of what is going to happen to your world, unless I intervene. He handed the general a drawing of Dunark’s plan and described it in detail. ‘That is the answer of the Osnomians to your invasion of their planet. I do not want this world destroyed, but if you refuse to make common cause with us against a common foe, it may be necessary. Have you forces at your command sufficient to frustrate this plan?’

  ‘No; but I cannot really believe that such a deflection of celestial bodies is possible. Possible or no, you realize that I could not yield to empty threats.’

  ‘Of course not – but you were wise enough to refuse to sacrifice a few ships and men in a useless struggle against my overwhelming armament, therefore you are certainly wise enough to refuse to sacrifice your entire race. However, before you come to any definite conclusion, I will show you what threatens the galaxy.’

  He handed the other a headset and ran through the section of the record showing the plans of the invaders. He then ran a few sections showing the irresistible power at the command of the Fenachrone.

  ‘That is what awaits us all unless we combine against them.’

  ‘What are your requirements?’

  ‘I request immediate withdrawal of all your armed forces now upon Osnome and full cooperation with me in this coming war against
the invaders. In return, I will give you the secrets I have just given the Osnomians – the power and the offensive and defensive weapons of this vessel.’

  ‘The Osnomians are now building vessels such as this one?’

  ‘They are building vessels a hundred times the size of this one, with corresponding armament.’

  ‘For myself, I would agree to your terms. However, the word of the Emperor is law.’

  ‘I understand. Would you be willing to seek an immediate audience with him? I would suggest that both you and he accompany me, and we shall hold a peace conference with the Osnomian Emperor and Commander-in-Chief upon this vessel.’

  ‘I shall do so at once.’

  ‘You may accompany your general, lieutenant. Again I ask pardon for my necessary rudeness.’

  As the two Urvanian officers hurried toward the palace the other Terrestrials, who had been listening in from another room, entered.

  ‘It sounded as though you convinced him, Dick; but that language is nothing like Kondalian. Why don’t you teach it to us? Teach it to Shiro, too, so he can cook for, and talk to, our distinguished guests intelligently, if they’re going back with us.’

  As he connected up the educator Seaton explained what had happened, and concluded:

  ‘I want to stop this civil war, keep Dunark from destroying this planet, preserve Osnome for Osnomians, and make them all cooperate with us against the Fenachrone. That’s one tall order, since these folks haven’t the remotest notion of anything except killing.’

  A company of soldiers approached, and Dorothy got up hastily.

  ‘Stick around, folks, we can all talk to them.’

  ‘I believe that it would be better for you to be alone,’ Crane decided, after a moment’s thought. ‘They are used to autocratic power, and can understand nothing but one-man control. The girls and I will keep out of it.’