Wonder Stories, May, 1931
rolling up a map. “It’s dangerous, of course,
but as Napoleon said, ‘You can’t make an
omelet without breaking eggs’.”
“To be sure, to be sure,” said the fussy
little man in a uniform covered with gold
braid and strips of ribbon, who had just
advanced the plan. “We must expect losses.
We must expect quite severe losses, in fact It would not surprise me if the first division of battleship tanks were wiped out. But we will
certainly succeed in eliminating the robot guns on the reverse slope of the heights and perhaps some of the railroad artillery also. I think it is worth it, rightly worth it. If we succeed any
number of plans will suggest themselves, and
with our present superiority in battleships we can well afford the loss.”
“The first division, eh?” said the
brown-faced general, fluttering over some
papers. “Let’s see, that includes Vengeance,
“W
Glory, Thunderbolt and Caesar, with cruiser ELL, all right,” said the brown-faced general, and whippet tanks attached. The old
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2
Thunderbolt. Why I commanded her once!”
higher still a big gun in a turret atop threw a
“Yes, yes,” said the fussy little man.
long shadow across their work. But if the man
“Will you be good enough to give the orders,
with the scarred chin expected his companion
sir? Operation CZ-4 is the index number.”
to exhibit any sigh of nervousness at the
The other rang a bell.
remarks of his predecessor’s passing, he was
“It isn’t the heat that gets you, or the
disappointed. The small man merely gazed
noise,” said the man with the scarred chin,
with a languid lack of curiosity.
licking the end of a cigarette reflectively
“You selected duty men!” said the man
before applying it to his lips. “It’s the rotten with the scarred chin in a tone of contempt.
smell. Petrol, hot oil and sweat—yes, and
“Why, that don’t mean a thing any more, with
leather.... And that isn’t all. You have to keep all the women. What’s your woman in?”
your mask on when they start, and those new
“Artillery,”
replied the short man. “At
makes smell like rubber and medicine.”
least, she was the last I heard. They don’t pass He lit the cigarette and blew a snort of
artillery letters till they’re three months old.
smoke through his nostrils. “Last time I was
Gives away positions. Two of the kids are in
that sick when I got out I couldn’t even take a the factories—one’s thirteen and the other
nip of whiskey.”
fifteen. The other one, that’s my little girl,
“Mmmm,” murmured the short man
she’s in the National Schools. They put her
with the bald forehead. “And I get seasick
there when my wife was drafted.”
every time I go rowing on the lake.”
“Mine’s an officer,” said the other with
The man with the scarred chin looked
a touch of pride, “Captain, Don’t know where
at him sharply, “You better not be seasick.
she is, though. Last I heard she way in charge The old man’s nuts on you late draft men that
of a company in one of those black battalions
lay down. What were you in before?”
in the south. I should worry. I got a girl in the
“Aviation. I was on motor repair. I got
repair here, and I’m going to apply for a
a wife and three kids, so they gave me divorce and marry her.”
selected duty. I’m a motor man.”
The short man grunted. After a
“Well, I’m married too....” the man
moment he spoke again. “Me. I don’t want no
with the scarred chin thought for a moment.
divorce. The old lady and me, we get along. I
“You must be on the right forward motor. Last
had a nice home though. Lucky we were all
man on that job was killed quick as a wink.
away with the wife’s folks when the war
Shell from one of those robot guns came came. That airplane gas attack killed everyone through the casemate and burst right under the in our section and when we got back to the
motor. Drove one of those levers clean house everything was corroded to pieces by through him. There’s the place.”
that damn gas. Curtains fell apart when—”
He half-turned and waved in the
general direction of the tank that stood like
THEY were interrupted by the ringing of a
some questing monster in metal, snout lifted
bell like that of a glorified alarm clock from a to sniff the air, a few yards away. Half way
structure that might have been a pigpen in bad down the hundred-foot flank of the beast repair. The man with the scarred chin tossed workmen were busy painting a new and away the end of his cigarette.
shining steel plate that had been welded in just
“Come on,” he said, “that’s for
below a projecting broadside gun.
dinner.” Within the disreputable building a
Above their heads two more guns flight of stone steps led down to an projected from shielded casemates, while astonishing concrete-lined catacomb, dimly
The War of the Giants
3
fit, and showing long irregular marks of damp, Look it over. Duty in fifteen minutes. We’re
like the outlines of old maps, along the wall. A joining up with the main fleet then.”
hundred or more men were in the main room,
The small man bent to examine the
talking in a repressed manner and clattering
motor, fingering its parts with practised hands, tin plates as they filed past a wicket where an and occasionally wagging one of the levers in
orderly was distributing portions of stew, a speculative manner to test its action; then bread and coffee. Once served, they filed to
looked about him. His motor lay in a kind of
tables made of boards placed across trestles
narrow shell well cut off on the right by a steel and ate silently and with speed.
wall. At the left was the cat-walk down which
A whistle interrupted them before the
he had come, leading forward to another steel
meal was finished, striking the sound of dishes wall with a door in it—the control station of
to a momentary silence. An under-officer the tank. Astride the catwalk and between him stood at the head of the room with a list of
and the control station the supports of the big names from which he read. The short man
turret came down, like the stout metallic legs heard his called.
of a titanic spider. Across the catwalk to the
“You’re the new motor man from the
left was another motor, its seat unoccupied.
aviation?” the officer inquired when he had
A prolonged series of hoots announced
joined the group that gathered outside. “I have that the rest of the crew were b
eing called to your papers. Why weren’t you in the combat
their quarters, and a moment later the surface sections before? Defective eyesight-.... Oh, of the catwalk rang with the impact of feet. A children. They all say that. Ever run a tank
door beyond his seat was opened and four
engine?”
men crawled through it, one after another.
“No sir,” admitted the short man.
Through the orifice he caught a glimpse of the
“Well, here, I’ll show you.” He led the
gray mounting and paralleled recoil
way to the metal monster, unlocked a door at
mechanism of a gun with a row of shells in
the stern and pointed the small man down a
racks around the casemate behind it. The last
narrow, machine-lined passage. “Mind your
of the four gunners turned to face him as he
head.”
passed through the hole and he saw it was the
“Here’s your post,” he added a man with the scarred chin. “Here we go,” he moment later, pointing to a steel chair, slightly called in encouragement. “This old tank, she’s above and behind a big motor from which a
a lucky ship. I been in her ever since the
wilderness of levers projected. “Throttle here.
general used to command here.” The casemate
Brake here, Signals on this board. Red is full door banged. An officer came down the
speed and black is reverse. The names are on
catwalk, dived into the control station and
them, but they use flashes when anything goes
emerged with an armful of packages which he
wrong. This lever is to throw your engines in
dealt out to the crew. The little man unfolded for the ammunition hoist of the turret. This
his to discover a complicated vestment—
type of tank has the eight-inch gun in the
helmet, gas-mask and bullet-proof shirt, all in turret on top instead of in the center below.
one, made of cross-braced strip steel. Each
The ammunition hoist is electric, but it’s apt to bore the red hand shaking a thunderbolt that
go out if we get hard hit. Then they have to
was the emblem of the ship.
use a mechanical hoist connected with your
He struggled into the thing as a small
engine. Watch your signal for that and never
bell rang sharply in his ear and the indicator mind what the boys in the casemates are doing
before him jerked to “Slow”. He threw in the
or the man at the other engine. That’s all.
throttle, cocked his head to catch the sound of
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4
the motor, and felt the big landship bump
a couple of machine guns had conical
across the uneven ground as they gathered
openings that seemed to run far back into their way. Feet tramped on a floor above his head.
interiors.
“What are they?” asked the little man.
Into Battle
“The fuzzy one is a radio machine.
Sends sound waves to jam up the enemy’s
THE whole structure shifted and heaved with
robot guns and radio waves to jam their
a motion not unlike that of a ship in a steady torpedoes. The others are gas—shoot big gas
swell. He felt a curious qualm. Wonder if I’m
rockets; corrosive mostly, to kill off artillery going to be seasick? He asked himself and
and tanks.”
banished the idea as the bell rang again and
“Hey, Jake!” called a gunner from one
the indicator turned red before him....
of the whippets with a blue hammer on his
They halted in what, when they got out
armor, “been up to the city?”
of the tank, proved to be a high, narrow
“Naw. No leave no more. The city’s all
valley, shut in by open pine forest. There was done for anyhow. They keep throwing gas in.”
a cloistered air about the place that made the
“But I get letters from my girl in the
ribbon of camouflage above them seem National Schools,” objected the little man.
grossly inappropriate. The little man pulled off
“All right, all right,” said the other.
his metal shirt, and observing that the others
“But do you know where the National Schools
had merely snapped open the face part that
are now? They’re out in the country, along
held the gas mask put it on again in confusion.
with everything else. You ain’t seen any
All around them were gathered the newspapers but army newspapers lately have ungainly rhomboids of more tanks; three other
you? Because there ain’t any.” The
battleships, each with its heavy turret gun atop conversation was interrupted by another series and its row of three to five broadside guns. A of hoots and the irregular eddies of men in the few whippets scurried about like insects and
valley separated into orderly streams which
up ahead, where the valley split in two to
delivered themselves into the tanks again. An
round a projecting shoulder of mountain, some
officer came down the catwalk of the
cruiser tanks could be seen—long and narrow
Thunderbolt distributing the composition with two of three guns apiece.
gloves which were the protection against
The man with the scarred chin gave a
corrosive gases likely to seep even into the
glance around and a low whistle. “Must be
air-tight interior of the tank. A fan somewhere going to be a battle,” he said, “Well, I’m glad began a screeching buzz—the air purifier that
we’re in a lucky ship.”
insured a gas-free supply of air for the motors His companion looked around. of the tank. A moment or two more and the
“Where’s the infantry?” he asked innocently.
indicators moved to “Slow” again.
“Infantry?
Ha,
ha. They haven’t had
It was dark when they halted under the
infantry for the last two years. You wait; shadows of another forest. The gauges showed you’ll see why. Too much gas and things.
no gas in the atmosphere; the crews stretched
Look.”
themselves luxuriously, with open masks,
He pointed up the valley where three
drifting off to sleep without a word, and being more tanks of battleship size were coming to
awakened an hour or two later when a convoy
join the group. One of them looked not unlike
of provision machines brought them fresh
a metal porcupine with spikes of wire jutting
rations instead of the pocket tabloid food they in every direction; the others unarmed save for had expected to use. The small man ate his
The War of the Giants
5
with heavy-lidded eyes, went to sleep tanks, at the edge of the wood they were immediately and did not wake again until he
leaving. As if released by that signal, clouds felt himself shaken and woke to see a non-of intense black smoke poured from them and
commissioned officer pointing him toward the
from the whippets, settling along the ground
tank.
in tattered ribbons in the still air. There was It was in the false dawn; Lights and
another crash of sound and a tree tottered
luminous panels in the machine showed most
majestically downward at the edge of the
of th
e crew busy about some small concern,
wood. The smoke cloud hid everything but the
resolutely occupying themselves to relieve the whippets at its edges; the Thunderbolt rocked tension of the moment before a battle. The
with sound as the turret gun on her roof went
wood was filled with subdued whisperings,
off suddenly, aimed at a target eight miles
and rocked gently to the sound of distant, oft-away.
repeated thunder—far-away artillery, the
A cloud of airplanes soared like
small man guessed, though he had not heard it
wintering geese across the sky, and from away
before.
beyond the river, another cloud rose to meet
There was a momentary pause, the bell
them. The smoke surrounding the tanks was
rang and the signal moved. Going into action,
shot with vivid flame as a shell burst right
he thought, and breathed a silent prayer that
among them, the fragments of its casing
this tank was indeed the “lucky ship” his ringing against their walls. Then more and acquaintance had proclaimed it.
more shells, many of them adding a curious
white smoke to mingle with the black
FAR above them, out of sight in the purple-
effluvium of the land-ships.
black of the dawn sky, an airplane circled, and The whippets clustered and then
its radio sprang into lively clicking as the row spread at the edge of the water, waiting for the of dots emerged from the wood and started
larger ships to force a passage. Shells were
like slugs across the low slope that led down
falling more thickly now, occasionally hitting.
to a river....
The small man felt a great heave as his ship
The tanks were lumbering in orderly
passed over the remains of a whippet, blown
ranks across the rolling slope that had once
to disordered fragments by a direct bit; and
been a grain field of some kind, for a few ears still there was no sign of an enemy save where of feral corn could be seen among the weeds
The War of the giants by Fletcher Pratt Page 1