CHAPTER V
Setting the Trap
Inside of fifteen minutes we were on our way. A certain amount ofcaution was sacrificed for the sake of speed, and the men leaped awayeither across the forest top, or over open spaces of ground, butconcentration was forbidden. The Big Boss named the spot on the hillsideas the rallying point.
"We'll have to take a chance on being seen, so long as we don't group,"he declared, "at least until within five miles of the rallying spot.From then on I want every man to disappear from sight and to travelunder cover. And keep your ultrophones open, and tuned onten-four-seven-six."
Wilma and I had received our battle equipment from the Gear boss. Itconsisted of a long-gun, a hand-gun, with a special case of ammunitionconstructed of inertron, which made the load weigh but a few ounces, anda short sword. This gear we strapped over each other's shoulders, on topof our jumping belts. In addition, we each received an ultrophone, and alight inertron blanket rolled into a cylinder about six inches long bytwo or three in diameter. This fabric was exceedingly thin and light,but it had considerable warmth, because of the mixture of inertron inits composition.
The Han raider neared with incredible speed. Its rayswere both slanted astern at a sharp angle, so that it slid forward withtremendous momentum.... Whenever the disintegrator rays flashed downwardwith blinding brilliancy, forest, rocks and ground meltedinstantaneously into nothing, where they played upon them.]
"This looks like business," Wilma remarked to me with sparkling eyes.(And I might mention a curious thing here. The word "business" hadsurvived from the 20th Century American vocabulary, but not with anymeaning of "industry" or "trade," for such things being purely communityactivities were spoken of as "work" and "clearing." Business simplymeant fighting, and that was all.)
"Did you bring all this equipment from the valley?" I asked the GearBoss.
"No," he said. "There was no time to gather anything. All this stuff wecleared from the Susquannas a few hours ago. I was with the Boss on theway down, and he had me jump on ahead and arrange it. But you two hadbetter be moving. He's beckoning you now."
Hart was about to call us on our phones when we looked up. As soon as wedid so, he leaped away, waving us to follow closely.
He was a powerful man, and he darted ahead in long, swift, low leaps upthe banks of the stream, which followed a fairly straight course at thispoint. By extending ourselves, however, Wilma and I were able to catchup to him.
As we gradually synchronized our leaps with his, he outlined to us,between the grunts that accompanied each leap, his plan of action.
"We have to start the big business--unh--sooner or later," he said."And if--unh--the Hans have found any way of locating ourpositions--unh--it's time to start now, although the Council ofBosses--unh--had intended waiting a few years until enough rocket shipshave been--unh--built. But no matter what the sacrifice--unh--we can'tafford to let them get us on the run--unh--. We'll set a trap for theyellow devils in the--unh--valley if they come back for theirwreckage--unh--and if they don't, we'll go rocketing for some of theirliners--unh--on the Nu-yok, Clee-lan, Si-ka-ga course. We canuse--unh--that idea of yours of shooting up the repellor--unh--beams.Want you to give us a demonstration."
With further admonition to follow him closely, he increased his pace,and Wilma and I were taxed to our utmost to keep up with him. It wasonly in ascending the slopes that my tougher muscles overbalanced hisgreater skill, and I was able to set the pace for him, as I had forWilma.
We slept in greater comfort that night, under our inertron blankets, andwere off with the dawn, leaping cautiously to the top of the ridgeoverlooking the valley which Wilma and I had left.
The Boss scanned the sky with his ultroscope, patiently taking somefifteen minutes to the task, and then swung his phone into use, callingthe roll and giving the men their instructions.
His first order was for us all to slip our ear and chest discs intopermanent position.
These ultrophones were quite different from the one used by Wilma'scompanion scout the day I saved her from the vicious attack of thebandit Gang. That one was contained entirely in a small pocket case.These, with which we were now equipped, consisted of a pair of eardiscs, each a separate and self-contained receiving set. They slippedinto little pockets over our ears in the fabric helmets we wore, andshut out virtually all extraneous sounds. The chest discs were likewiseself-contained sending sets, strapped to the chest a few inches belowthe neck and actuated by the vibrations from the vocal cords through thebody tissues. The total range of these sets was about eighteen miles.Reception was remarkably clear, quite free from the static that somarked the 20th Century radios, and of a strength in direct proportionto the distance of the speaker.
The Boss' set was triple powered, so that his orders would cut in on anylocal conversations, which were indulged in, however, with greatrestraint, and only for the purpose of maintaining contacts.
I marveled at the efficiency of this modern method of battlecommunication in contrast to the clumsy signaling devices of moreancient times; and also at other military contrasts in which the 20thand 25th Century methods were the reverse of each other in efficiency.These modern Americans, for instance, knew little of hand to handfighting, and nothing, naturally, of trench warfare. Of barrages theywere quite ignorant, although they possessed weapons of terrific power.And until my recent flash of inspiration, no one among them, apparently,had ever thought of the scheme of shooting a rocket into a repellor beamand letting the beam itself hurl it upward into the most vital part ofthe Han ship.
Hart patiently placed his men, first giving his instructions to thecampmasters, and then remaining silent, while they placed theindividuals.
In the end, the hundred men were ringed about the valley, on thehillsides and tops, each in a position from which he had a good view ofthe wreckage of the Han ship. But not a man had come in view, so far asI could see, in the whole process.
The Boss explained to me that it was his idea that he, Wilma and Ishould investigate the wreck. If Han ships should appear in the sky, wewould leap for the hillsides.
I suggested to him to have the men set up their long-guns trained on animaginary circle surrounding the wreck. He busied himself with thisafter the three of us leaped down to the Han ship, serving as a targethimself, while he called on the men individually to aim their pieces andlock them in position.
In the meantime Wilma and I climbed into the wreckage, but did not findmuch. Practically all of the instruments and machinery had been twistedout of all recognizable shape, or utterly destroyed by the ship'sdisintegrator rays which apparently had continued to operate in themidst of its warped remains for some moments after the crash.
It was unpleasant work searching the mangled bodies of the crew. But ithad to be done. The Han clothing, I observed, was quite different fromthat of the Americans, and in many respects more like the garb to whichI had been accustomed in the earlier part of my life. It was made ofsynthetic fabrics like silks, loose and comfortable trousers of kneelength, and sleeveless shirts.
No protection, except that against drafts, was needed, Wilma explainedto me, for the Han cities were entirely enclosed, with splendidarrangements for ventilation and heating. These arrangements of coursewere equally adequate in their airships. The Hans, indeed, had quite adistaste for unshaded daylight, since their lighting apparatus diffuseda controlled amount of violet rays, making the unmodified sunlightunnecessary for health, and undesirable for comfort. Since the Hans didnot have the secret of inertron, none of them wore anti-gravity belts.Yet in spite of the fact that they had to bear their own full weights atall times, they were physically far inferior to the Americans, for theylived lives of degenerative physical inertia, having machinery of everydescription for the performance of all labor, and convenient conveyancesfor any movement of more than a few steps.
Even from the twisted wreckage of this ship I could see that seats,chairs and couches played an extremely important part in their scheme ofexistence.<
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But none of the bodies were overweight. They seemed to have been thebodies of men in good health, but muscularly much underdeveloped. Wilmaexplained to me that they had mastered the science of gland control, andof course dietetics, to the point where men and women among them notuncommonly reached the age of a hundred years with arteries and generalhealth in splendid condition.
I did not have time to study the ship and its contents as carefully as Iwould have liked, however. Time pressed, and it was our business todiscover some clue to the deadly accuracy with which the ship hadspotted the Wyoming Works.
The Boss had hardly finished his arrangements for the ring barrage, whenone of the scouts on an eminence to the north, announced the approach ofseven Han ships, spread out in a great semi-circle.
Hart leaped for the hillside, calling to us to do likewise, but Wilmaand I had raised the flaps of our helmets and switched off our"speakers" for conversation between ourselves, and by the time wediscovered what had happened, the ships were clearly visible, so fastwere they approaching.
"Jump!" we heard the Boss order, "Deering to the north. Rogers to theeast."
But Wilma looked at me meaningly and pointed to where the twisted platesof the ship, projecting from the ground, offered a shelter.
"Too late, Boss," she said. "They'd see us. Besides I think there'ssomething here we ought to look at. It's probably their magnetic graph."
"You're signing your death warrant," Hart warned.
"We'll risk it," said Wilma and I together.
"Good for you," replied the Boss. "Take command then, Rogers, for thepresent. Do you all know his voice, boys?"
A chorus of assent rang in our ears, and I began to do some fastthinking as the girl and I ducked into the twisted mass of metal.
"Wilma, hunt for that record," I said, knowing that by the simpleprocess of talking I could keep the entire command continuously informedas to the situation. "On the hillsides, keep your guns trained on thecircles and stand by. On the hilltops, how many of you are there? Speakin rotation from Bald Knob around to the east, north, west."
In turn the men called their names. There were twenty of them.
I assigned them by name to cover the various Han ships, numbering thelatter from left to right.
"Train your rockets on their repellor rays about three-quarters of theway up, between ships and ground. Aim is more important than elevation.Follow those rays with your aim continuously. Shoot when I tell you, notbefore. Deering has the record. The Hans probably have not seen us, orat least think there are but two of us in the valley, since they'resettling without opening up disintegrators. Any opinions?"
My ear discs remained silent.
"Deering and I remain here until they land and debark. Stand by and keepalert."
Rapidly and easily the largest of the Han ships settled to the earth.Three scouted sharply to the south, rising to a higher level. The othersfloated motionless about a thousand feet above.
Peeping through a small fissure between two plates, I saw the vast hulkof the ship come to rest full on the line of our prospective ringbarrage. A door clanged open a couple of feet from the ground, and oneby one the crew emerged.