CHAPTER III
_The Death of Amos Peabody_
Just how any inkling of what was happening penetrated the pain-sweptconsciousness of the blind and deaf President could never bedetermined. Possibly a thin repercussion of Grim's cry, possibly anintuition that comes to sense-bereft men. But he had jerkedspasmodically erect. There was a sharp tinkling as the weakened leglinks broke. He threw himself in a queer, awkward movement forward,directly in the path of the tubed weapon. A blinding beam flashed outof the orifice, sheared through Peabody's middle as though he were cutcleanly in half with a gigantic knife. He toppled in two sections tothe floor of the conveyor--released from all humiliation, allsuffering.
At the same time two other things happened. Grim Morgan hit the guardlike a crashing thunderbolt and Hilary's gun barked once. The monstertottered under the impact. A puzzled expression flitted over hispinkish eyes, a filmy sheath spread over them like a veil, and he fellheavily, a neat bullet hole square between his eyes.
Hilary shoved the gun back in his blouse, and stared alternately atthe huddled form of the grotesque being and all that remained of AmosPeabody. The old President had saved his life at the cost of his own.Instinctively his hand went up in formal salute to the gallant oldman.
Grim Morgan shook him by the shoulder.
"Man," he said quietly, "we have killed a Mercutian guard. Within thehour we shall be dead men too."
Hilary looked up at him sharply.
"A Mercutian," he echoed. "You mean--"
"That for three years now the Earth has been a conquered province ofthese devils from Mercury," Grim interposed swiftly. "We havecommitted the unforgivable offense and must pay for it."
* * * * *
Hilary glanced swiftly around. The express conveyor was clear ofpassengers for over a hundred yards each way. All the people withinrange had cleared off when Hilary had attempted to release Peabody.The small figure of a man got up from his chair beyond the charmedcircle, and was threading his way forward. The local conveyors seemedto be moving backward at graded speeds. Beyond was the open country,gradually thickening into scattered rows of crystal buildings. Theywere in the suburbs of Great New York. Within ten minutes the conveyorterminal would be reached.
Hilary's eyes flicked speculatively to the tiny cigar-shaped boat inwhich the dead guard had flown down to them. Its smooth gray-gleamingsurface was devoid of wings or other lifting devices. Only afan-shaped fin projected from the stern like the tail of a fish. Thecockpit, if such it could be called, was tiny, just ample enough toaccommodate the Mercutian's girth. The sunlight dazzled back from abewildering jumble of tiny lenses inset in the instrument board.Arranged along the hull, on either side, were larger disks of the samequartz-like material.
"Let's get away in the flier," he said.
"Can't," Grim said. "Those lenses you see on the instrument board arethe controls. No one knows how to operate them except the Mercutians.Our people managed to capture a few, but couldn't do a thing withthem."
Hilary stared at the motionless flier with interest. "What are thoseround glass disks stretched along the hull in a double row?" he asked."They look like burning glasses."
"That's just what they are," said Grim sadly. "The top row aresun-lenses, that throw a terrible ray for a distance of two to threehundred feet. Melts everything in its path--men trees, rocks even. Yousaw one in action in the sun-tube with which poor old Peabody was cutin half. The lower row of lenses on the flier are search beams."
"Search beams?" Hilary echoed inquiringly.
"Yes. They act like X-rays, more powerful though, and with the furtherproperty of rendering everything they touch transparently crystal fordepths of ten to fifteen feet. Lead is the only element they can notpenetrate. Another secret our scientists can not fathom, so they talklearnedly about the stream of rays polarizing the structure of matteralong a uniaxis."
"Can't those lenses be duplicated, and turned as weapons against theMercutians?"
"No. They are made of a peculiar vitreous material native to Mercury."
"And no one has found out the principle on which they work?"
"Well, there have been theories. We haven't many scientists left, youknow. But the most popular one is that these lenses have the power ofconcentrating the rays of the sun to an almost infinite degree, andthen spreading them out again, each individual beam with theconcentrated energy of the whole. Some new way of rearranging quantaof energy."
"Hmm!" Hilary's brow was wrinkled. For a long moment he stared andthought.
* * * * *
At last he snapped back to their present situation: the dead guard attheir feet, the dismembered body of Amos Peabody, the cowed groups ofEarthmen on the speeding conveyors, keeping respectful distances.
"We'd better start moving if we want to get away," he said.
"It's no use." Grim spread his hands resignedly. "We'll have to takeour medicine."
Hilary flared angrily. "You're talking nonsense. What's to prevent usfrom hopping to another platform? There is no other Mercutian insight."
"No, but there were plenty of Earthmen who saw us."
"They won't tell."
"Oh, won't they?" Grim shook his head quietly. "You don't realize whathas happened. Their spirit has been crushed until they are actuallyslavish in soul as well as in body. They fought bravely enough on thefirst invasion. Even after the conquest there were plenty of menlooking for an opportunity to fight them again. Amos Peabody headedthe revolt. It was smothered in blood, so effectually that only slavesare left. Peabody was left as a horrible warning. He was sent fromcity to city to be exhibited to the populace, unattended on the way,so confident were the Mercutians of the terror they had inspired."
"So you think those Earthmen who saw us will report to their masters,"Hilary said slowly.
Grim nodded.
"I know it--they'll expect to curry favor in return."
Hilary felt a web of circumstance tighten around him. His jawtautened. Thank the Lord he had been away--on his own. He had not thesoul of a slave--yet.
"Won't you fight for your life?" he asked the big man curiously.
A spark lit in the mild blue eyes, died down.
"Yes if there were a chance," he said dully. "But there is none. Thewhole Earth is honeycombed with their guards. They have fliers, sunweapons, invisible search beams. We'd never elude them."
Hilary snorted impatiently. "We have good Earth brains, haven't we?I've traveled all the outer planets and never met any intelligenceequal to that of a man, and I won't admit for a moment that theMercutians are any exceptions."
A man stepped casually onto the express, took one startled look at thedead guard, at them, and fled precipitately back.
* * * * *
"Another one to spread the alarm," Morgan said grimly. "There'll be adozen guards dropping down on us in the next five minutes."
"Let's get going then." Hilary was pulling the big man along by mainforce when he heard a movement in back of them. He stopped, whirled,automatic thrusting its blue nose forward.
The little man who had gotten up before on the express was pushingrapidly toward them.
"Stop." Hilary's voice was harsh with command.
But the little man did not heed. He literally stumbled in his haste,crying: "You've killed a Mercutian."
"What of it, my bantam?" Hilary inquired softly, the muzzle of his gunboring into a lean flat stomach. The little man was actually pressingagainst the automatic in his excitement.
"What of it?" he shrilled excitedly. "God, all this time I've beenwaiting to find someone with guts enough to smash one of them. Sir,I'm proud to shake your hand."
He reached over the wicked-looking muzzle, gripped Hilary's fist,still tight on the gun butt, and pumped vigorously. He dropped thehand, swerved on Grim.
"And you too, sir." His little fingers were engulfed in a mighty paw."I saw it all, I tell you," he babbled. "We'v
e got them on the run.We'll sweep the filthy devils clean off the Earth. We'll annihilatethem."
"Whoa there, my little gamecock." Morgan grinned down at the excitedlittle man. "One Mercutian doesn't make a Roman holiday. They'replenty more where he came from. You'd better clear out before theycome, or you'll be included in the party."
The little fellow--he was not much more than five feet no inchestall--drew himself up to his full height. "What," he ejaculated, "medesert my friends? Wat Tyler's never had that said of him yet. Westick together, to hell and back again."
Hilary grinned as he slipped the weapon back into his blouse. He wasbeginning to like this little firebrand. In truth, Grim had ratherfairly described him as a gamecock. His stature, the bristly red hairthat flamed above a freckled face, the lightest of blue eyes thatsnapped with excitement, the peculiar strut of him.
"You'll do," he said briefly.
* * * * *
At a safe distance a crowd was gathering, a crowd of Earthmen. Grimsurveyed them carefully. They were milling back and forth, but no onedared come closer. "Slaves," he grunted, "not a spark left in them."His eyes swept the heavens. Two faint black specks appeared in theblue distance, from the direction of Great New York.
"They're coming for us," he said quietly.
"Let them," crowed the fiery little bantam, "we'll meet them man toman."
He wrenched the tube from the stiffened fingers of the dead guard,swung it exultingly aloft.
"You little fool," Hilary cried sharply, and struck it down again."We're not waiting for them. That's suicide. Come. I'm afraid it's toolate for you to turn back now. You've been seen with us."
He dashed across the moving belts, Grim and Wat, a grotesquelyassorted pair, directly behind him.
Passengers, men and women both, scattered at their approach, stark,servile fear smothering their dulled countenances. Cries arose on allsides. "The Magnificents are coming."
The black specks became larger, forming themselves into swift one-manfliers. The three men pelted across the graded conveyors as hard asthey could run. No Earthman tried to stop them; one look at their grimfaces would have been a most potent dissuader. And fortunately therewere no Mercutians within hailing distance other than the rapidlynearing fliers.
They flung themselves off the last slow-moving platform, panting.
"Which way now?" Hilary asked. His quick eye raked the scene forpossible hideouts. They were on a smoothly clipped lawn, heavinggently up to a pretty rambling structure, built on an antique design,pleasingly irregular and nestling to the ground as though it wereindigenous to the soil. The walls were modern, though, ofvita-crystal, which possessed the peculiar property of permitting_all_ of the beneficial rays of the sun to penetrate, and yetpresented a perfectly opaque appearance to the outside world.
No other hiding place was in sight. The lawn stretched smooth on allsides except for a scattering of trees--poor enough cover. TheMercutians were almost directly overhead now, preparing to swoop.
* * * * *
"Our only chance seems to be the house," Hilary answered his ownquestion quietly.
Grim shook his head. "Their search beams can penetrate thevita-crystal walls as though they were transparent glass."
Hilary's heart sank. "Can't help it," he said laconically. "Come on."
The three men broke into a run. It was only a hundred yards, but theMercutians were coming down fast. They had been seen. A flash as ofmolten metal gleamed overhead. A blinding ray leaped for the ground,struck viciously a little ahead of the running men. The velvet greengrass crisped to ash; the soil underneath scorched.
"Scatter!" Hilary shouted.
Instantly the men spread out. Another blast hissed down at them, soclose to Hilary that the heat seared his left side like a red-hotiron. The Mercutians were getting the range. Wat Tyler stopped shortwith a howl of defiance. He whipped the hand tube he had taken fromthe dead guard out of his blouse.
"Hide it, you fool!" Hilary yelled back at him. "We don't want them toknown we are armed."
Wat obeyed reluctantly. He shook his fist high in the air, and startedto run again. It was not an instant too soon, either. A beam slithereddown the smoldering air, and the Earth literally boiled under itsimpact, directly on the spot where Wat had stopped to shake his fist.All about them the terrible rays were slashing now.
But a last desperate burst of speed carried the Earthmen onto a wideenclosed portico, in the old manner. Hilary pounded on thevita-crystal door. It was tightly locked.
* * * * *
"Step back a moment," Morgan rumbled.
Hilary obeyed. The big man spat thoughtfully upon his hands, workedhis shoulders tentatively. Then he too retreated to the outermost edgeof the portico. Above, the crystal suddenly shattered. Sharp-edgedfragments showered down upon them. There was little time to waste.
Grim heaved forward in a slanting rush, right shoulder extended. Hecrashed into the locked door like a runaway train. There was agrinding noise, a smash of crystal, and his shoulder was through,incased in a halo of bright, sharp edges.
The big man staggered back, his shoulder streaming blood from ahundred cuts. His face was pale and drawn.
"Good fellow," Wat yelled, "even though you are an overgrown ox." Hedarted in behind the man-mountain like a twisting snake. His deftfingers reached in through the shattered crystal, pressed something onthe inside. The door slid into its wall pocket with a sound ofgrinding glass.
Wat burst into the opened room first, Grim right behind him. Hilarybrought up the rear, Grim's great bulk blotting out for the moment anyview of the interior.
There was a sudden gasp--a girl's voice.
"Wh--What does this mean?" She was tremulous, yet unafraid.
Hilary stopped suddenly as though brought up against a solid wall. Hisheart pounded madly. That voice--but it was utterly impossible!
Wat answered, gallantly. "Sorry to annoy you, miss, but they're afterus. My partner here's wounded."
"Oh, you poor man." There was quick sympathy in the clear tones. "Butwho is after you?"
A splintering crash resounded outside.
"The Mercutians, as you no doubt hear," the little man responded withfaint irony.
The girl gasped again. "Oh my God!"
There was silence. Hilary strained his ears, yet took care to keephidden behind Grim's huge frame. What would she do now? It seemed tohim as if the whole world depended on her reply.
The girl broke the silence. She had come to a swift decision.
"They must not get you. Go upstairs, quietly, into the chamber on theleft of the hall. It's my bedroom. Their search beams can notpenetrate it; the walls are draped with lead-encrusted curtains. I'llstay down here and try to throw them off the trail."
Hilary's heart recommenced beating. A gush of joy overwhelmed him.The girl had proven herself.
Grim spoke, for the first time.
"You know the penalty of course, for hiding us."
She did not answer directly. "I can't help it. I can't surrenderEarthmen to those beasts. Besides"--there was a catch in hervoice--"it does not matter much since--"
Hilary stepped quietly from behind Grim's overshadowing bulk.
The girl's eyes went wide at the sight of him; her slender white handflew to her throat. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.
"You--you!" she choked. "Hilary!"
* * * * *
She swayed and would have fallen, had Hilary not jumped to catch her.His heart was beating thickly with excess of emotion. Joan Robbins inhis arms again--how he prayed for this moment in the icy reaches ofinterplanetary space. Yet what was she doing here in Bronxville? Herhome had always been atop the windswept Robbins Building in Great NewYork.
Her hand went softly over his features, as though to assure herselfthat it was really he.
"Oh, my dear," she whispered brokenly. "I had almost given up allhope
. Everyone was certain you were lost--long ago."
Whirrings sounded outside.
"Sorry to break up your reunion," Grim interrupted in his bass rumble,"but the Mercutians have landed on the lawn. They'll be in here rightaway."
Joan tore herself out of Hilary's arms. Her slim straight figuretautened; her velvet soft eyebrows puckered over deep-lit pools.
"Upstairs quickly, all of you," she cried. "I'll manage them somehow."
Hilary said quietly, "I won't leave you alone with those brutes. Yougo along up, and I'll remain here." The automatic gleamed in his hand.
"No, no," she panted, "you mustn't. You wouldn't have a chance. Leaveit to me." She literally pushed them with her little hands to thestairway. "Go, if you love me."
"The girl's right," Grim said, "there's a chance. If not," he shruggedhis shoulders, "we can always come down again."
Outside were heavy thuddings on the portico.
"You in there," a heavy alien voice resounded, "open or we blast ourway in." The door had been slid back into position.
There was no room for further argument. Very reluctantly Hilaryfollowed his companions up the winding stairway.
At the top of the stairs an entrance slide showed darker on the left.Wat fumbled for a moment until he found the button. The door whirredopen, even as they heard Joan's clear voice below: "Come in,Magnificents!" There was a trampling of feet.
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