Meanwhile, the Oaos still hovered on high, and when the spaceship returned to Ui they followed. Twilight had settled beyond the rim. The Oaos did not enter the city, nor did they descend. Darkness finally cloaked them, and neither machine men nor Disci knew if they had departed or not.
Thoughts of the Oaos became suddenly diverted during the night by the appearance of several balls of light falling slowly into the city. The machine men had come to know what this ominous sign meant. The Eiuks were on a raid for tender and delectable Disci. There were five of them, five who had found themselves sufficiently low in generative gas to allow them to settle at this forbidden level. Through some instinctive faculty, they realized the existence of the Uum as their hereditary prey.
The machine men hurried to make short work of the marauders from on high, yet even as 9V-774 stabbed the darkness with a beam from his ray ejector, two of the Eiuks changed from dazzling yellow to a beautiful, emerald glow as jade spots appeared suddenly upon them and merged together. This prismatic metamorphosis rapidly lost its glorifying effect as black spots came into view and grew large where spots of jade had first appeared. Like ebbing rockets, the Eiuks fell into the city, leaving a pungent odor of cin-derized flesh. The heat rays of the Zoromes stabbed down two more of the nocturnal horrors from on high, jade spots and heat rays simultaneously attacking the remaining Eiuk. In the waning glow of the final victim, the machine men saw a faint reflection from a metal globe that swooped past. The Oaos had closed for direct hits, leaving no wasted shots as a possible peril to the Uum below.
In the morning, the three Oaos were seen exactly where darkness had come upon them the night before. With the dawn, they suddenly whirled into motion, lowering and circling where the spaceship rested. Then they slowly rose on high, swooping about the ship once more and heading skyward toward the haunts of the Eiuks. It was evident that they wished the machine men to follow.
“In the ship or on the wing?” 20R-654 asked.
“Both,” was the professor’s reply. “I have an opinion that the Oaos are not going very far, yet they may.”
“It is now certain that they cannot communicate telepath-ically with us,” 744U-21 asserted. “Otherwise, they would have done so.”
The spaceship rose above the city of Ui, every inhabitant out to watch. Ship and winged escort followed the Oaos, the Zoromes positive that the Oaos were taking them to the latter’s homeland, their place of origin. High up into the mountains and still higher the Oaos led them. Soon they were among the lower ranks of the ascending Eiuks. Disregarding the many-tentacled orange globes that were now growing more numerous, the metal balls rose ever higher, penetrating the long field of Eiuks, their highest outpost. The starlit sky became darker as the atmosphere waned. The Oaos entered space, their metal sides more sharply etched where the sun shot dazzling beams of light against their hemispheres.
The flying Zoromes, now aware that the Oaos were capable of space flight, entered their spaceship, and those who left once more to resume their flight with the Oaos donned their temperature equalizers, their vulnerable, organic brains now defying the frigidity of space as well as the burning, concentrated rays of sunlight upon their metal heads.
At length, the Oaos came opposite a yawning cleft between two towering mountain pinnacles of massive breadth, and nearing this they changed their upward ascent to horizontal level so as to pass through.
“They are taking us somewhere beyond the mountains,” the professor observed, staring upward at the sunlit crags, the space between the peaks embroidered with stars.
Over the mountain pass glided the mysterious Oaos, followed by a covey of flying Zoromes and their spaceship. They were far above the roof of the world, many miles above the outermost layer of rarified atmosphere. On every side, space enshrouded them in a sunlit night, the bony mountain heights sharply etched where sunlight and shadow clashed unblendingly. The terrain over which they flew was rough, sharp and unweathered, like the surfaces of airless worlds the Zoromes had visited; much like Earth’s moon, the professor recollected.
One of the Oaos commenced suddenly to act queerly. It no longer pursued the straight course to which the remaining two globes still held. The metal sphere dipped strangely, side-slipping and rolling in an apparent effort to rise once more to the level of its companions. As the Zoromes flew near, the eccentric globe shot suddenly downward in what the professor divined was not an intentional drop but a direct fall. More than a hundred feet below them lay the base of the enormous cleft, and against the jagged rocks the falling Oao smashed in ruin.
Strangely enough, the Oaos above did not stop to examine their fallen companion but kept on through the pass. As one, the flying machine men darted to the wrecked globe. Its mechanism lay in broken, detached confusion among crushed and ruptured plates of the metal sphere. But nowhere could the machine men discover its inmates. The only remainder suggesting organic habitation was the swiftly-congealed green fluid which lay spattered about in hardened chunks. This the machine men knew as the killing liquid which the Oaos had shot forth among the Ooaurs and Eiuks. No were was there the least trace of organic life; all was mechanism, so much of it that the machine men were positive that there existed no surplus room for a passenger of any kind.
“These metal globes are governed by remote control,” was 744U-21>s ultimatum.
“Come,” said the professor. “We must follow.”
Already the spaceship was nearly out of sight, still on the track of the remaining Oaos. The flying Zoromes rapidly made up the distance between.
“Why do you suppose the globe crashed?” queried 4F-686.
“Probably because something happened to its mechanism,” 12W-62 replied. “The other globes could do nothing for it, and so they kept onward.”
Shortly after the machine men had caught up with the spaceship, they saw more of the wrecked globes strewn about the mountain pass. How long they had been there was undeterminable.
“There is probably something about the coldness and lack of air in space which wreaks special havoc with the spheres up here,” was the professors opinion. “It would account for the fact that the two we are now following are progressing at their swiftest pace. They want to be free of here as soon as possible.”
“You mean their directors want them free of here,” 6W-438 corrected.
“Yes, their directors, whatever manner of things they may be. We have accorded the Oaos separate individualities so long that it is a bit difficult to acclimate ourselves to the idea that they are merely inanimate proxies.”
“The directors evidently live on the other side of this lofty mountain range.”
Such was the general belief among the machine men of Zor at these latest developments.
Without apparent warning, the cleft merged into a sheer precipice, dropping away for several miles to reveal the country which lay beyond. The Oaos did not descend but still sped straight over the strange country partly veiled by the atmosphere so far below. The machine men could see but little of the topography, for thin clouds hung over the surface.
As if guided by a single thought, the two Oaos dropped quickly toward the ocean of air as they found themselves free of the gaunt mountain peaks. One of them continued to drop so swiftly that the winged Zoromes lost sight of it. The other, though falling at a swift pace, was not difficult to follow. The machine men sensed a subtle anxiety of the globe to be out of space as quickly as it could safely drop. From a telescope aboard the spaceship, 75J-02 announced that the first metal sphere never checked its descent, still hurtling downward at a terrific rate as it pierced the cloud blanket.
“Lost from control,” was the professor’s thought. “The same fate as those back there in the mountain pass.”
Gaining the atmosphere, the single remaining globe checked somewhat its mad descent until it reached the clouds, where it decelerated gradually. For a time the machine men lost sight of the globe, until they, too, had dropped through the clouds. Far to one side lay a city, and fu
rther away they could see more of them, tiny and almost phantasmic in the distance.
The globe headed directly for the city, the flying Zoromes and their spaceship flanking the flight of the surviving Oao. Eagerly, the cosmic travelers stared at the spectacle of the city growing rapidly in their vision.
They were scarcely afflicted with surprise through sight of the city, but when cruising slowly above the outlying buildings they gained their first glimpse of the inhabitants, a real mental shock lay in store for them. Organic disks rolled along on many feet, large, staring eyes ogling excitedly at them. The streets and tops of the buildings were full of them. The machine men had evidently been expected; the Zoromes had realized this the moment they had discovered the secret of the Oaos far up in the airless mountain pass. But to find the directors of the mechanical Oaos to be Disci was a feature for which the machine men had never looked.
Conjecture flew thick and fast among the machine men of Zor. What relationship did these Disci bear to the Uum of the city of Ui on the other side of the gigantic mount? in range near the world’s rim? And why did they send their mechanical spheres over there?
The machine men had lost sight of the lone Oao that had brought them there. Now they saw more of the Oaos rising slowly to meet them. The attitude of the citizens was all friendship. A large spot was already cleared for the spaceship to land in the center of the city, and at once the machine men realized that these new Disci had perfected television, for the empty spot was one which allowed the spaceship a perfect fit. As the ship settled, the Zoromes became aware of a similarity in the general architecture of the city to the few larger and more elaborate buildings back in the center of Ui. The greatest contrast between the two cities, however, was the lack of a wall here, the machine men noticed.
Crowds of Disci came milling about the ship as it landed, making the air ring with their acclaiming din. It was evident that the machine men were held in high esteem, and probably, the professor thought, because of their befriending the Uum.
“Hail, metal men!”
This was the concensus of the cries arising from the multitudinous Disci. From out of the ship came the Zoromes, while those on the wing settled upon the ship’s hull or flew down to the narrow ring of space surrounding the ship, this space commencing to fill with the shoving throngs of Disci.
“What are you to the inhabitants of the solitary city beyond the mountains?” Professor Jameson queried, concentrating his mental faculties to the attunement of the Disci about them.
Many and slightly varied were the excited replies in answer to the startling question which framed itself so unexpectedly in the minds of the Disci.
“Our brethren!”
“The lost nation!”
“Ancestral relatives!”
“The isolated colony!”
And in return, the questions flew thick and fast regarding the machine men.
“Where are you from?”
“What manner of things are you, who are of metal yet are capable of thought projection?”
Out of the confusion, several of the Disci, apparently officials of some importance among their people, stepped out of the crowd and came alongside the gathering machine men.
“We are the Urum,” spoke one of the Disci, the machine men divining the perogative to the uttered speech. “You have befriended our unfortunate people beyond the barrier mountains, and therefore we hold you highly in our regard. You have protected our people from the Undum and Elkiri, their natural enemies. Here, we have no fear of the Undum, though the Elkiri occasionally float down to attack us, for species of them live on both sides of the mountains.”
At this point, the machine men were aware of vocal appellations dissimilar to those indicative of the Ooaurs and Eiuks of Ui mention.
“How did your people in this lost colony get over the mountains?” asked 744U-21, expecting to hear a tale of lost space navigation. “It must have been a very long time ago, for they have almost forgotten you. You have become but an obscure legend to them. When they die, they believe their souls will float over the mountains.
“Is that so?” queried the Disci. “You see, we have no way of listening to their talk, though with our metal globes we can watch them. Unfortunately, the flight of the globes through space precludes the possibility of transmitting speech, an accomplishment supplementary to television on this side of the mountain. But here―I am failing to answer your questions. How did our inaccessible colony get where it now is? Not over the mountains but under them.”
“The old river tunnel!” 6W-438 exclaimed. “We explored it!”
“Yes, so have we―with the metal globes―as far as it goes. I feel that you have now grasped the significance of our relative positions, we and our old colony. Yes, an earthquake destroyed nearly the entire tunnel, even to sealing the entrance at this end. Our colony has not progressed, you have noticed now by comparison with our city. In fact, it has degenerated if anything. Our only contact with them is rather a one-sided affair with the metal globes. They evidently do not understand them.”
“You are right.” 744U-21 confirmed the latter supposition.
“Tell me,” urged the Urum. “How do you think, you things of mechanism?”
“We are not entirely mechanical,” replied 744U-21, and he explained their combination of organic brain and metal body.
“Why do you not build the metal spheres large enough to carry yourselves back and forth across the airless voids in the mountains?” the professor suggested.
“We are working upon that,” was the answer. “We have worked many long years upon that hope since we first met success in using the metal globes, but so far we have failed. Even our globes are far from what we would like them to be. They become easily unmanageable. You saw what happened to two of them.”
“And there were many more high up in the mountain pass in a like condition,” the professor added.
“Whenever we can,” explained one of the Disci, “we protect our lost colony of Uri from the Elkiri and the Undum. They are no match for our metal spheres.”
So we saw.
“We even attempted to dig out the tunnel, but we gave it up as a hopeless task.”
“You felt that more efficient space navigation would be apt to occur sooner?”
“We hope so.”
EPILOGUE
The machine men and the Urum learned much from each other. In their brief stay among the Uum, the machine men had discovered many things through conversation that the Urum had not learned in an age of using their mute Oaos. In return, the machine men learned more concerning how Uri, or Ui, had been founded by the ancients, and how several hundreds of them had been destroyed in the tunnel’s destruction by a violent temblor. The machine men had found some of the ancient bones in their exploration of the place.
The machine men assisted the Urum in bettering their metal spheres, giving forth all their extensive knowledge of space navigation to aid the perfection of the elementary efforts achieved by the Disci. They learned that the Oaos were kept in the air easily by gaseous principles the Urum had learned from close examination of the Eiuks, but in space another more rapidly exhaustible power was necessary to maintain the Oaos in flight.
The knowledge of the Urum in regard to the world they lived upon was more or less obscure, though they had long ago guessed, through observation of the world’s rim bordering the Land of Exhaustion, that their world was strangely unlike the other planets they noticed through their telescopes as circling the same sun. They were also aware, either by traditional word of the ancients, or by instruments contained in the metal spheres, that the gravity beyond the rim was considerably greater than on their own side. The machine men were able to put to rest many of their conjectures and disputes regarding the immense chunk, or cosmic fragment, on which they lived.
Most intriguing of all to the Disci were the trips into space on which the Zoromes conducted them in their spaceship. Several trips were made to Ui, and the Urum from beyond the
barrier mountains once more trod the avenues of the walled city after more than a thousand years or more.
With their spaceship, and in company with the Disci, machine men of Zor explored all sides of the planet fragment, and they found strange forms of life, both plant and animal, living in stranger environments. The planet fragment was an interesting freak of the cosmos, and the machine men decided to stay and exhaust its mysteries and natural wonders before moving on again.
On the advice of the Urum and the wishes of the Uum themselves, the latter were all transported by spaceship over the mountains to the motherland, leaving Ui deserted and silent. Ghostly memories flitted there, at night, flaming balls fell from the skies, and the stillness by the base of the mighty peaks was no longer broken by the frightened, agonized shriek of some careless Disc who had not seen fit to close an entrance. The incandescent globes bobbed searchingly in and out of the hollow eyes of the abandoned buildings, heeding the irresistable call of dawn to rise once more, perhaps forever, to the rarified heights of the stratosphere and beyond.
Roving bands of Ooaurs came and hammered madly and unresisted at the massive walls surrounding the city, many of them leaping to the top and dropping within. But they found no prey, only a vast emptiness. Once they had heard cries of alarm and had been met with sharp pikes. Now the tempting, palatable Disci were gone, as if swallowed by eternity. Only silent memories now haunted the deserted city of Ui.
THE MUSIC MONSTERS
Chapter I
A pillar of angry flame leaped skyward, tinting the swirling crepe of surrounding smoke and obscuring the figure which groped its way through the inferno. Above lay darkness, the glitter of the stars softened by the rose-tinged smoke. The curtain lifted, and again the figure became visible, this time in the act of leaping over a glowing crevice. Escape appeared hopeless, for as far as the eye could see―and the vision was more or less limited―lay the smoldering, glowing fields of volcanic terrain. Acrid smoke spread the lurid glow more evenly over the darkened, partly-cooled surfaces from the heated rivulets and white-hot lakes of fire.
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