Vampires of Venus
_By Anthony Pelcher_
_He seized a short knife and threw himself forward._]
Leslie Larner, an entomologist borrowed from the Earth, pits himself against the night-flying vampires that are ravaging the inhabitants of Venus.
It was as if someone had thrown a bomb into a Quaker meeting, whenadventure suddenly began to crowd itself into the life of the studiousand methodical Leslie Larner, professor of entomology.
Fame had been his since early manhood, when he began to distinguishhimself in several sciences, but the adventure and thrills he had longedfor had always fallen to the lot of others.
His father, a college professor, had left him a good working brain andnothing else. Later his mother died and he was left with no relatives inthe world, so far as he knew. So he gave his life over to study and hardwork.
Still youthful at twenty-five, he was hoping that fate would "give hima break." It did.
He was in charge of a Government department having to do with Orientalbeetles, Hessian flies, boll weevils and such, and it seemed his lifehad been just one bug after another. He took creeping, crawling thingsseriously and believed that, unless curbed, insects would some day crowdman off the earth. He sounded an alarm, but humanity was not disturbed.So Leslie Larner fell back on his microscope and concerned himself withsaving cotton, wheat and other crops. His only diversion was fishing forthe elusive rainbow trout.
He managed to spend a month each year in the Colorado Rockies anglingfor speckled beauties.
Larner was anything but a clock-watcher, but on a certain bright day inJune he was seated in his laboratory doing just that.
"Just five minutes to go," he mused.
It was just 4:25 P. M. He had finished his work, put his affairs inorder, and in five minutes would be free to leave on a much needed andwell earned vacation. His bags were packed and at the station. Hisfishing tackle, the pride of his young life, was neatly rolled in oiledsilk and stood near at hand.
"I'll just fill my calabash, take one more quiet smoke, and then for themountains and freedom," he told himself. He settled back with his feeton his desk. He half closed his eyes in solid comfort. Then the bombfell and exploded.
* * * * *
B-r-r-r-r!
The buzzer on his desk buzzed and his feet came off the desk and hit thefloor with a thud. His eyes popped open and the calabash was immediatelylaid aside.
That buzzer usually meant business, and it would be his usual luck tohave trouble crash in on him just as he was on the edge of a rainbowtrout paradise.
A messenger was ushered into the room by an assistant. The boy handedhim an envelope, said, "No answer," and departed.
Larner tore open the envelope lazily. He read and then re-read itscontents, while a look of puzzled surprise disturbed his usually placidcountenance. He spread the sheet of paper out on his desk, and for thetenth time he read:
Confidential.
Memorize this address and destroy this paper:
Tula Bela, 1726 88th Street, West, City of Hesper, Republic of Pana, Planet Venus.
Will meet you in the Frying Pan.
That was all. It was enough. Larner lost his temper. He crumpled thepaper and tossed it in the waste basket. He was not given to profanity,but he could say "Judas Priest" in a way that sizzled.
"Judas Priest!" he spluttered. "Anyone who would send a man a crazybunch of nonsense like that, at a time like this, ought to be snuffedout like a beetle!
"'Meet you in the Frying Pan,'" he quoted. Then he happened to recallsomething. "By golly, there is a fishing district in Colorado known asthe Frying Pan. That's not so crazy, but the planet Venus part surely iscuckoo."
He fished the paper out of the waste basket, found the envelope, placedthe strange message within and put it in his inside coat pocket. Then heseized his suitcase and fishing tackle, and, rushing out, hailed a taxi.Not long after he was on his way west by plane.
* * * * *
As the country unrolled under him he retrieved the strange note from hispocket. He read it again and again. Then he examined the envelope. Itwas an ordinary one of good quality, designed for business rather thansocial usage. The note paper appeared quite different. It was unruled,pure white, and of a texture which might be described as pebbly. It wasstrongly made, and of a nature unlike any paper Larner had ever seenbefore. It appeared to have been made from a fiber rather than a pulp.
"Wonder who wrote it?" Larner asked himself. "It is beautifulhandwriting, masculine yet artistic. Wonder where he got the Frying Panidea? At any rate, I'm not going to the Frying Pan this year--I'mcamping on Tennessee Creek, in Lake County, Colorado. The country thereis more beautiful and restful.
"But this street address on the planet Venus. Seems to me I readsomewhere that Marconi had received mysterious signals that he believedcame from the planet Venus. Hesper, Hesper ... it sounds familiar,somehow. Wonder if there could be anything to it?"
Something impelled him to follow out the instructions in the note. Hespent the next few hours repeating the address over and over again. Whenhe was satisfied that he had memorized it thoroughly, he tore thestrange paper into bits and sent it fluttering earthward like a tinysnowstorm.
Larner was not a gullible individual, but neither was he unimaginative.He was scientist enough to know that "the impossibilities of to-day arethe accomplishments of to-morrow." So while not convinced that the notewas a serious communication, still his mind was open.
The weird address insisted on creeping into his mind and driving outother thoughts, even those of his speckled playfellows, the rainbowtrout.
"I've a notion to change my plans and go from Denver to the Frying Pan,"he cogitated. Then he thought, "No, I won't take it that seriously."
* * * * *
Anyone who knows the Colorado Rockies knows paradise. There is no morebeautiful country on the globe. Lake County, where Larner had chosenhis fishing grounds, has as its seat the old mining camp of Leadville.It has been visited and settled more for its gold mines than the goldenglow of its sunsets above the clouds, but the gold of the sunsets iseternal, while the gold of the mines is fading quickly away.
Leadville, with its 5,000 inhabitants, nestles above the clouds, at analtitude of more than 10,000 feet. Mount Massive with its three peakslies back of the town in panorama and rises to a height of some 14,400feet. In the rugged mountains thereabouts are hundreds of lakes fed bywild streams and bubbling crystal springs. All these lakes are above theclouds.
Winter sees the whole picture decorated with bizarre snowdrifts fromtwenty to forty feet deep, but spring comes early. The beautifulcolumbines and crocuses bloom before the snow is all off the ground inthe valleys. The lands up to 12,000 feet altitude are carpeted with alight green grass and moss. Giant pines and dainty aspens, with theirsilvery bark and pinkish leaves blossom forth and whisper, while theeternal snows still linger in the higher rocky cliffs and peaks above.
Indian-paint blooms its blood red in contrast to the milder colorings.Blackbirds and bluebirds chatter and chipmunks chirp. The gold so hardto find in the mines glares from the skies. The hills cuddle in banks ofsnowy clouds, and above all a pure clear blue sky sweeps. The lakes andstreams abound with rainbow trout, the gamest of any fresh water fish.It is indeed a paradise for either poet or sportsman.
In any direction near to Leadville a man can find Heaven and recreationand rest.
Finding himself on Harrison Avenue, the main street of the county seat,Larner, after renewing some old acquaintanceships, started west in aflivver for Tennessee Creek. The flivver is a modern adjustment. Untila few years ago the only means of traversing these same hills was bypatient, sure-footed donkeys, which carried the pack while the wayfarerwalked along beside.
* * * * *
The first day's fishing was good. Trout seemed to greet him cheerily and
sprang eagerly to the fray. They bit at any sort of silken fly he cast.
The site chosen by Larner for his camp was in a mossy clearing separatedfrom the stream by a fringe of willows along the creek. Then came aborder of aspens backed by a forest of silver-tipped firs.
It was ideal and his eyes swept the scene with satisfaction. Then hebegan whittling bacon to grease his pan for frying trout over the openfire.
Suddenly he heard a rustle in the aspens, and, looking up, beheld apicture which made his eyes bulge. A man and a woman, garbed seeminglyin the costumes of another world, walked toward him. Neither were morethan five feet tall but were physically perfect, and marvelouslypleasing to the eye. There was little difference in their dress.
Both wore helmets studded with what Larner believed to be sapphires. Helearned later they were diamonds. Their clothing consisted of tighttrouserlike garments surmounted by tunics of some white pelt resemblingchamois save for color. A belt studded with precious stones encircledtheir waists. Artistic laced sandals graced their small firm feet.
Their skin was a pinkish white. Their every feature was perfection plus,and their bodies curved just enough wherever a curve should be. Thewoman was daintier and more fully developed, and her features were evenmore finely chiseled than the man. Otherwise it would have beendifficult to distinguish their sex.
Larner took in these details subconsciously, for he was awed beyondexpression. All he could do was to stand seemingly frozen, half bentover the campfire with his frying pan in his hand.
* * * * *
The man spoke.
"I hope we did not startle you," he said. "I thought my note wouldpartly prepare you for this meeting. We expected to find you in theFrying Pan district. When you did not appear there we tuned our radiolocator to your heart beats and in that way located you here. It washardly a second's space-flying time from where we were."
Larner said nothing. He could only stand and gape.
"I do not wonder that you are surprised," said the strange little man."I will explain that I am Nern Bela, of the City of Hesper, on theplanet Venus. This is my sister Tula. We greet you in the interest ofthe Republic of Pana, which embraces all of the planet you know asVenus."
When Larner recovered his breath, he lost his temper.
"I don't know what circus you escaped from, but I crave solitude and Ihave no time to be bothered with fairy tales," he said with brutalbruskness.
Expressions of hurt surprise swept the countenances of his visitors.
The man spoke again:
"We are just what we assert we are, and our finding you was madenecessary by a condition which grieves the souls of all the 900,000,000inhabitants of Venus. We have come to plead with you to come with us anduse your scientific knowledge to thwart a scourge which threatens thelives of millions of people."
There was a quiet dignity about the man and an air of pride about thewoman which made Larner stop and think, or try to. He rubbed his handover his brow and looked questioningly at the pair.
"If you are what you say you are, how did you get here?" he asked.
"We came in a targo, a space-flying ship, capable of doing 426,000 milesan hour. This is just 1200 times as fast as 355 miles an hour, thehighest speed known on earth. Come with us and we will show you ourship." They looked at him appealingly, and both smiled a smile ofwistful friendliness.
Larner, without a word, threw down his frying pan and followed themthrough the aspens. The brother and sister walking ahead of him gave hiseyes a treat. He surveyed the perfect form of the girl. Her perfectionwas beyond his ken.
"They certainly are not of this world," he mused.
* * * * *
A few hundred yards farther on there was a beach of pebbles, where thestream had changed its course. On this plot sat a gigantic sphericalmachine of a glasslike material. It was about 300 feet in diameter andit was tapered on two sides into tees which Larner rightly took to belights.
"This is a targo, our type of space-flyer," said Nern Bela. "It iscapable of making two trips a year between Venus and the earth. We havevisited this planet often, always landing in some mountain or junglefastness as heretofore we did not desire earth-dwellers to know of ourpresence."
"Why not?" asked Larner, his mouth agape and his eyes protruding. Hismind was so full of questions that he fairly blurted his first one.
"Because," said Bela, slowly and frankly, "because our race knows nosickness and we feared contagion, as your race has not yet learned tocontrol its being."
"Oh," said Lamer thoughtfully. He realized that humans of the earth,whom he had always regarded as God's most perfect beings, were not soperfect after all.
"How do you people control your being, as you express it?" he asked.
"It is simple," was the reply. "For ninety centuries we have ceased tobreed imperfection, crime and disease. We deprived no one of thepleasures of life, but only the most perfect mental and physicalspecimens of our people cared to have children. In other words, while wemake no claim to controlling our sex habits, we do control results."
"Oh," said Larner again.
Nern Bela led the way to a door which opened into the side of thespace-flyer near its base. "We have a crew of four men and four women,"he said. "They handle the entire ship, with my sister and I in command,making six souls aboard in all."
"Why men and women?" thought Larner.
As if in answer to his thought Bela said:
"On the earth the two sexes have struggled for sex supremacy. This hasthrown your civilization out of balance. On Venus we have struggled forsex equality and have accomplished it. This is a perfect balance. Manand women engage in all endeavor and share all favors and rewardsalike."
"In war, too?" asked Larner.
"There has not been war on Venus for 600,000 years," said Bela. "Thereis only the one nation, and the people all live in perfect accord. Ouronly trouble in centuries is a dire peril which now threatens ourpeople, and it is of this that I wish to talk to you more at length."
* * * * *
They were standing close to the targo. Larner was struck by the peculiarmaterial of which it was constructed. There was a question in his eyes,and Nern Bela answered it:
"The metal is duranium; it is metalized quartz. It is frictionless,conducts no current or ray except repulsion and attraction ray NTR69X6by which it is propelled. It is practically transparent, lighter thanair and harder than a diamond. It is cast in moulds after being meltedor, rather, fused.
"We use cold light which we produce by forcing oxygen through air tubesinto a vat filled with the fat of a deep sea fish resembling your whale.You are aware, of course, that that is exactly how cold light isproduced by the firefly, except for the fact that the firefly uses hisown fat."
Larner was positively fascinated. He smoothed the metal of the targo inappreciation of its marvelous construction, but he longed most to seethe curious light giving mechanism, for this was closer to his own lineof entomology. He had always believed that the light giving organs offireflys and deep-sea fishes could be reproduced mechanically.
The interior of the ship resembled in a vague way that of an oceanliner. It was controlled by an instrument board at which a man and agirl sat. They did not raise their heads as the three people entered.
When called by Bela and his sister, who seemed to give commands inunison, the crew assembled and were presented to the visitor.
"Earth-dwellers are not the curiosity to us that we seem to be to you,"said Tula Bela, speaking for the first time and smiling sweetly.
Larner was too engrossed to note the remark further than to nod hishead. He was lost in contemplation of these strange people, all garbedexactly alike and all surpassingly lovely to look upon.
* * * * *
An odor of food wafted from the galley, and Larner remembered he washungry, with the hunger of health. He had swung his basket of fish overh
is shoulder when he left his campfire, and Tula took it from him.
"Would you like to have our chef prepare them for you?" she said, as shecaught his hungry glance at his day's catch. This time Larner answeredher.
"If you will pardon me," he said awkwardly. "Really I am famished."
"You will not miss your fish dinner," said the girl.
"I believe there is enough for all of us," said Larner. "I caught twentybeauties. I never knew fish to bite like that. Why, they--" and he wasoff on a voluminous discourse on a favorite subject.
Those assembled listened sympathetically. Then Tula took the fish, andsoon the aroma of broiling trout mingled with the other entrancinggalley odors.
After a dinner at which some weird yet satisfying viands were served andmuch unusual conversation indulged in, Nern Bela led the way to whatappeared to be the captain's quarters. The crew and their visitor satdown to discuss a subject which proved to be of such a terrifying natureas to scar human souls.
"People on Venus," said Nern, as his eyes took on a worried expression,"are unable to leave their homes after nightfall due to some strangenocturnal beast which attacks them and vampirishly drains all blood fromtheir veins, leaving the dead bodies limp and empty."
"What? How?" questioned Larner leaning far forward over the conferencetable.
The others nodded their heads, and in the eyes of the women there wasterror. Larner could not but believe this.
"The beasts, or should I say insects, are as large as your horses andthey fly, actually fly, by night, striking down humans, domestic animalsand all creatures of warm blood. How many there are we have no means ofknowing, and we cannot find their hiding and breeding places. They arenot native to our planet, and where they come from we cannot imagine.They are actually monstrous flys, or bugs, or some form of insects."
* * * * *
Larner was overcome by incredulity and showed it. "Insects as big ashorses?" he questioned and he could hardly suppress a smile.
"Believe us, in the name of the God of us all," insisted Nern. "Theyhave a mouth which consists of a large suction disk, in the center ofwhich is a lancelike tongue. The lance is forced into the body at anyconvenient point, and the suction disk drains out the blood. If we onlyknew their source! They attack young children and the aged, up to fivehundred years, alike."
"What! Five hundred years?" exploded Larner again.
"I should have explained," said Nern, simply, "that Venus dwellers, dueto our advanced knowledge of sanitation and health conversation, liveabout 800 years and then die invariably of old age. The only unnaturalcause of death encountered is this giant insect. Accidents do occur, butthey are rare. There are no deliberate killings on Venus."
Larner did not answer. He only pondered. The more he ran over thestrange happenings of the last week in his mind the more he believed hewas dreaming. His thoughts took a strange turn: "Why do these vainpeople go around dressed in jeweled ornaments?"
Nern again anticipated a question. "Diamonds, gold and many of what youcall precious stones are common on Venus," he volunteered. "Talc andmany other things are more valuable."
"Talc?"
"Yes, we use an immense quantity of it. We have a wood that is harderthan your steel. We build machinery with it. We cannot use oil tolubricate these wooden shafts and bearings as it softens the wood, soall parts exposed to friction are sprayed constantly by a gust of talcfrom a blower.
"You use talc mostly for toilet purposes. We use it for variouspurposes. There is little left on Venus, and it is more valuable to usthan either gold or diamonds. We draw on your planet now for talc. Youdump immense quantities. We just shipped one hundred 1,000-ton globes ofit from the Cripple Creek district, and the district never missed it. Wedrew most of it from your mine dumps."
* * * * *
Nern tried not to look bored as he explained more in detail: "We brought100 hollow spheres constructed of duranium. We suspended these over theCripple Creek district at an altitude of 10,000 feet above the earth'ssurface. Because of the crystal glint of duranium they were invisible toearth dwellers at that height. Then we used a suction draft at night,drawing the talc from the earth, filling one drum after another. This isdone by tuning in a certain selective attraction that attracts onlytalc. It draws it right out of your ground in tiny particles andassembles it in the transportation drums as pure talc. On the earth, ifnoticed at all, it would have been called a dust storm.
"The drums, when loaded with talc, are set to attract the properplanetary force and they go speeding toward Venus at the rate of 426,000miles an hour. They are prevented from colliding with meteors by anautomatic magnetic device. This is controlled by magnetic force alone,and when the targo gets too close to a meteor it changes its courseinstantly. The passenger targo we ride in acts similarly. And now may Ireturn to the subject of the vampires of Venus?"
"Pardon my ignorance," said Larner, and for the first time in his lifehe felt very ignorant indeed.
"I know little more than I have told you," said Nern, rather hopelessly."Our knowledge of your world, your people and your language comes fromour listening in on you and observing you without being observed orheard. This might seem like taking an advantage of you, were it not forthe fact that we respect confidences, and subjugate all else to science.We have helped you at times, by telepathically suggesting ideas to yourthinkers.
"We would have given you all our inventions in this way, gladly, but inmany instances we were unable to find minds attuned to accept suchadvanced ideas. We have had the advantage of you because our planet isso many millions of years older than your own." There was a plaintivenote in Nern's voice as he talked.
* * * * *
"But now we are on our knees to you, so to speak. We do not knoweverything and, desperately, we need the aid of a man of your caliber.In behalf of the distraught people of Venus, I am asking you bluntly tomake a great sacrifice. Will you face the dangers of a trip to Venus anduse your knowledge to aid us in exterminating these creatures of hell?"There was positive pleading in his voice, and in the eyes of hisbeautiful sister there were tears.
"But what would my superiors in the Government Bureau think?" feeblyprotested Larner, "I could not explain...."
"You have no superiors in your line. Our Government needs you at thistime more than any earthly government. Your place here is a fixture. Youcan always return to it, should you live. We are asking you to face ahorrible death with us. You can name your own compensation, but I knowyou are not interested so much in reward.
"Now, honestly, my good professor, there is no advantage to be gained byexplanation. Just disappear. In the name of God and in the interests ofscience and the salvation of a people who are at your mercy, just dropout of sight. Drop out of life on this planet. Come with us. The causeis worthy of the man I believe you to be."
"I will go," said Larner, and his hosts waited for no more. An instantlater the targo shot out into interstellar space.
"How do you know what course to follow?" asked Larner after a reasonabletime, when he had recovered from his surprise at the sudden take-off.
"We do not need to know. Our machine is tuned to be attracted by theplanetary force of Venus alone. We could not go elsewhere. A repulsionray finds us as we near Venus and protects us against too violent alanding. We will land on Venus like a feather about three months fromto-night."
The time of the journey through outer space was of little moment savefor one incident. Larner and the other travelers were suddenly andrather rudely jostled about the rapidly flying craft.
Larner lost his breath but not his speech. "What happened?" he inquired.
"We just automatically dodged a meteor," explained Nern.
* * * * *
Most of the time of the trip was spent by Larner in listening toexplanations of customs and traditions of the people of the brightestplanet in the universe.
There was a question Larner had desired to ask Nern Bela, yet hehesitated to do so. Finally one evening during the journey to Venus,when the travelers had been occupying themselves in a scientificdiscussion of comparative evolution on the two planets, Larner saw hisopportunity.
"Why," he asked rather hesitatingly, "did the people of Venus alwaysremain so small? Why did you not strive more for height? The Japanese,who are the shortest in stature of earth people, always wanted to betall."
"Without meaning any offense," replied Nern, "I must say that it ischaracteristic of earth dwellers to want something without knowing anygood reason why they want it. It is perfectly all right for you peopleto be tall, but for us it is not so fitting. You see, Venus is smallerthan the earth. Size is comparative. You think we are not tall becauseyou are used to taller people. Comparatively we are tall enough. Inproportion to the size of our planet we are exactly the right size. Wekeep our population at 900,000,000, and that is the perfectly exactnumber of people who can live comfortably on our planet."
* * * * *
Arriving on Venus, Larner was assigned a laboratory and office in one ofthe Government buildings. It was a world seemingly made of glass.Quartz, of rose, white and crystal coloring, Larner found, was thecommonest country rock of the planet. In many cases it was shot full ofsplinters of gold which the natives had not taken the trouble torecover. This quartz was of a terrific hardness and was used inbuilding, paving, and public works generally. The effect wasbewildering. It was a world of shimmering crystal.
The atmosphere of Venus had long puzzled Larner. While not an astronomerin the largest sense of the word, yet he had a keen interest in theheavens as a giant puzzle picture, and he had given some spare time tothe study.
He knew that from all indications Venus had a most unusual atmosphere.He had read that the atmosphere was considerably denser than that of theearth, and that its presence made observation difficult. The actualsurface of the planet he knew could hardly be seen due, either to thisatmosphere, or seemingly perpetual cloud banks.
He had read that the presence of atmosphere surrounding Venus isindicated to earthly astronomers, during the planet's transit, by ringsof light due to the reflection and scattering of collected sunlight byits atmosphere.
Astronomers on earth, he knew, had long been satisfied of the presenceof great cloud banks, as rocks and soils could not have such highreflecting power. He knew that like the moon, Venus, when viewed fromthe earth, presents different phases from the crescent to the full ortotal stage.
Looking up at the sky from the quartz streets of Venus, Larner beheld,in sweeping grandeur, massed cloud banks, many of them apparently rainclouds.
Nern noted his skyward gaze, and said:
"We have accomplished meteorological control. Those clouds were broughtunder control when we conquered interplanetary force, and what you callgravity. We form them and move them at will. They are our rain factory.We make rain when and where we will. This insures our crops and makesfor health and contentment.
"The air, you will note, is about the same or a little more moist thanthe earth air at sea level. This is due to the planet's position nearerthe sun.
"We have been striving for centuries to make the air a little drier andmore rare, but we have not succeeded yet. The heavy content ofdisintegrated quartz in our soil makes moisture very necessary for ourcrops, so our moist atmosphere is evidently a provision of providence.We are used to breathing this moist air, and when I first visited theearth I was made uncomfortable by your rarified atmosphere. Now I canadjust myself to breathing the air of either planet. However, I findmyself drinking a great deal more water on earth than on Venus."
* * * * *
In this fairyland which had enjoyed centuries of peace, health andaccord, stark terror now reigned. In some instances the finely-bred,marvellously intelligent people were in a mental condition bordering onmadness.
This was especially true in the farming districts, where whole herds oflats had been wiped out. Lats, Larner gleaned, were a common farm animalsimilar to the bovine species on earth, only more wooly. On thesecreatures the Venus dwellers depended for their milk and dairy supplies,and for their warmer clothing, which was made from the skin. The hairwas used for brushes, in the building trades, and a thousand ways inmanufacturing.
Besides the domestic animals hundreds of people continued to meet death,and only a few of the flying vampires had been hunted down. The giantinsects were believed to breed slowly as compared to earth insects,their females producing not more than ten eggs, by estimate, after whichdeath overtook the adult. In spite of this they were reported to beincreasing.
In the Government building Larner was placed in touch with all theGovernment scientists of Venus. His nearest collaborator was one ZornZada, most profound scientist of the planet. The two men, with a scoreof assistants, worked elbow to elbow on the most gigantic scientificmystery in the history of two planets.
A specimen of the dread invader was mounted and studied by thescientists, who were so engrossed in their work that they hardly tooktime to eat. As for sleep, there was little of it. Days were spent inresearch and nights in hunting the monsters. This hunting was done bynewly recruited soldiers and scientists. The weapons used were a shortray-gun of high destructive power which disintegrated the bodies of theenemies by atomic energy blasts. The quarry was wary, however, andstruck at isolated individuals rather than massed fighting lines.
* * * * *
Seated at his work-bench Larner asked Zorn Zada what had become of NernBela. In his heart he had a horrible lurking fear that the beautifulTula Bela might fall before a swarm of the strange vampires, but he didnot voice this anxiety.
"Nern and his sister are explorers and navigators," was the reply. "Theyhave been assigned to carry you anywhere on this or any other planetwhere your work may engage you. They await your orders. They are toovaluable as space-navigators to be placed in harm's way."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Larner bent to his labors.
"What other wild animals or harmful insects have you on this planet?" heasked Zorn.
"I get your thought," replied the first scientist of Venus. "You areseeking a natural enemy to this deadly flying menace, are you not?"
"Yes," admitted Larner.
"All insects left on Venus with this one exception are beneficial," saidZorn. "There are no wild animals, and no harmful insects. All animals,insects and birds have been domesticated and are fed by their keepers.We get fabrics from forms of what you call spiders and otherweb-builders and cocoon spinners. All forms of birds, beasts andcrawling and flying things have been brought under the dominion of man.We will have to seek another way out than by finding an enemy parasite."
"Where do you think these insect invaders came from?" asked Larner.
"You have noticed they are unlike anything you have on earth inanatomical construction," said the savant. "They partake of the generalfeatures of Coleoptera (beetles), in that they wear a sheath of armor,yet their mouth parts are more on the order of the Diptera (flys). Iregard them more as a fly than a beetle, because most Coleoptera arehelpful to humanity while practically all, if not all, Diptera aremalignant.
"As to their original habitat, I believe they migrated here from someother planet."
"They could not fly through space," said Larner.
"No, that is the mystery of it," agreed Zorn. "How they got here andwhere they breed are the questions that we have to answer."
* * * * *
Long days passed on Venus. Long days and sleepless nights. The biginsects were hunted nightly by men armed with ray-guns, and nightly theblood-sucking monsters took their toll of humanity and animals.
Finally Larner and Zorn determined to capture one of the insects alive,muzzle its lance and suction pad, and give it sufficient freedom to findits way back to its hiding place. By following the shackled monster thescientists hop
ed to find the breeding grounds.
All the provinces of the planet joined in the drive. Men turned out inautomatic vehicles, propelled by energy gathered from the atmosphere.They came on foot and in aircraft. Mobilization was at given points and,leading the van, were Zorn and Larner and their confreres in the targoof Nern and Tula Bela. The great army of Venus carried giantsearchlights and was armed with deadly ray-guns.
* * * * *
Headquarters of the vast Army of Offense was in the targo of the Belas.Larner was in supreme command. Just before the big army set out to scourthe planet to seek the breeding place of the monsters Larner issued abulletin that set all Venus by the ears.
Addressed to President Vole Vesta of the Republic of Pana and the goodpeople of Venus, it read:
As is generally known, it has been the habit of the nation's space-flying merchantmen to visit the sunlit side of the planet Mercury to obtain certain rare woods and other materials not found on this planet.
One side of Mercury, as is known, is always turned from the sun and is in a condition of perpetual night. In this perpetual darkness and dampness, where many rivers flow into warm black swamps, the vampires have bred for centuries. Conditions were ideal for their growth, and so through the ages they evolved into the monsters we have encountered lately on Venus.
During some comparatively recent visit to Mercury the grubs of these insects have found their way abroad a vegetation-laden targo left standing near the edge of the black swamps of Mercury. These grubs were thus transported to Venus and underwent their natural metamorphosis here. Reaching adult stage, they have found some place to hide and breed, and thus is explained the origin of the vampires of Venus.
This was widely read and discussed and was finally accepted as the meansof the invasion of peaceful, beautiful Venus by a horror that might wellhave originated in hell.
However, this did not reveal the breeding grounds, or remove thenation-wide scourge of the horrible winged vampires, so the mobilizationof all the forces of the planet continued.
* * * * *
As day followed day the hordes of fighting Venus dwellers grew in theconcentration camps. In the targo of the Belas, Larner, brain-weary andbody-racked as he was with overwork, found a grain of happiness in beingin the presence of Nern and his beautiful, petite sister.
With Zorn, Larner was supervising the construction of a big net ofstrongly woven wire mesh, in which it was hoped to catch one of thevampires. It was decided to bait the trap with a fat female lat.
Zorn, Larner and the Belas fared forth from the concentration campfollowed by a company of soldiers carrying the big net. Tula with herown hand led the fat lat heifer. His eyes were filled with commiserationfor the poor animal.
Thousands of soldiers and citizenry, in fighting array, watched thedeparture of the little group.
In a glade the trap was set and the net arranged to fall over themonster once it attacked the calf. From a thicket, in utter darkness,Zorn and Larner and the two Belas waited for the possible catch. Thewhole nation stood awaiting the order to advance.
On the fourth night the vigil was rewarded in a manner frightful torelate.
A clumsy flutter of giant wings broke the stillness.
The four waiting forms in the thicket rejoiced, believing the fat latwas about to be attacked.
Onward came the approaching horror. The measured flap, flap of itsarmored wings drawing nearer and nearer. Then, horror--horrors!
A feminine scream rent the air. Cries loud and shrill arose above ahysterical feminine cry for help.
The monster had chosen Tula Bela for its prey!
* * * * *
Zorn exploded an alarm bomb. A compressed air siren brought the armyforward on the run. Giant floodlights began to light up the scene. Theblood of Larner and Nern froze.
The monster had borne the girl to the ground. Its frightful lance andcupper was upraised to strike. Larner was the nearest and the quickestto act. He grabbed for his ray-gun, swung at his belt. It was gone! Inhorror he remembered he had left it at the base. He seized a short knifeand threw himself forward, rolling his body between that of the girl andthe descending lance and cupper.
As the lance pierced his shoulder Larner, in one wild gesture of frenzy,drove his knife through the soft, yielding flesh of the vampire's organof suction.
Protected by no bony structure the snout of the monster was amputated.
The terrible creature had been disarmed of his most formidable weapon,but he continued to fight. Larner felt the spikes on the monster's legstear at his flesh.
"Don't kill the thing," he shouted. "Bring on the net. For the love ofGod bring on the net!" Then he lost consciousness.
It was daylight when Larner, somewhat weakened from loss of blood,regained consciousness.
The beautiful Tula Bela was leaning over him.
She whispered comforting words to him in a language he did not fullyunderstand. She whispered happy exclamations in words he did not knowthe meaning of, but the tone was unmistakably those of a sweethearttowards her lover.
Finally, in answer to a true scientist's question in his eyes, she saidin English:
"They caught the thing alive. They await your order to advance."
"Let us be on our way," said Larner, and he started to arise.
"You are hardly strong enough," said Tula.
"Believe me, I am all right," insisted Larner, and after several trialshe got to his feet. His constitution was naturally strong and his willwas stronger, so he fought back all feelings of weakness and soonannounced himself ready to go ahead with the project at hand. For speedwas all important, and the young professor found himself unable toremain inactive.
* * * * *
He rejoiced when Zorn told him that the big insect that had attackedTula Bela had been captured alive and had been kept well nourished bylat's blood injected into its stomach.
With Zorn Larner went to inspect the hideous monstrosity and found it inleash and straining. It was ready to be used to lead the way back to itsbreeding place.
Its wings shackled, the lumbering insect floundered on its way straightnorth. Ponderously and half blindly it crawled as the searchlights'glare was kept far enough in advance to keep from blinding the monster.
True to instinct it finally brought up at early dawn under a high cliffof smoky quartz. Here, in the great crevices, the drove of diabolicalvampires were hiding.
As the light struck their dens, they attempted clumsily to take wing,but a interlacing network of devastating disintegrating rays from theray-guns shattered their bodies to dust, which was borne away by thewind.
The next few months were spent in combing the quartz crags of Venus forsimilar infested areas, but only the one breeding nest was found. Thescourge had been conquered in its first and only stronghold.
* * * * *
So ended the greatest reign of terror in the history of Venus.
Leslie Larner was given a vote of thanks, and riches were showered uponhim by the good people of the sky's brightest star.
His modesty was characteristic, and he insisted that his part in savinghumanity on the planet had been small.
Passage back to earth was offered him, but Nern and Tula Bela urged himto say and live his life on Venus. This he finally agreed to do.
"If I returned," he said, "I would always be tempted to tell myexperiences while away, and there is not a jury in the world which wouldaccount me sane after I had once spoken."
* * * * *
That the story of Larner's adventure reached earth dwellers at all isdue to the fact that Nern Bela on a subsequent visit to the earthnarrated it to a Colorado quartz miner. This miner, a bronzed andbearded prospector for gold, stumbled on the targo in a mountainfastness, and there was nought to do but make him welcom
e and pledge himto secrecy.
The miner surveyed the crystal targo in rapt wonderment and said: "Andto think I am the only earth man who ever viewed such a craft!"
"No," answered Nern Bela, "there is one other." And then the stirringstory of Leslie Larner's life on Venus was told.