He pressed the tiny switch in the flame-tool's handlejust as Arlok came through the door.]
The Gate to Xoran
_By Hal K. Wells_
A strange man of metal comes to Earth on a dreadful mission.
He sat in a small half-darkened booth well over in the corner--the manwith the strangely glowing blue-green eyes.
The booth was one of a score that circled the walls of the "MaoriHut," a popular night club in the San Fernando Valley some five milesover the hills from Hollywood.
It was nearly midnight. Half a dozen couples danced lazily in thecentral dancing space. Other couples remained tete-a-tete in thesecluded booths.
In the entire room only two men were dining alone. One was the slendergray-haired little man with the weirdly glowing eyes. The other wasBlair Gordon, a highly successful young attorney of Los Angeles. Bothmen had the unmistakable air of waiting for someone.
Blair Gordon's college days were not so far distant that he had yetlost any of the splendid physique that had made him an All-Americantackle. In any physical combat with the slight gray-haired stranger,Gordon knew that he should be able to break the other in two with onehand.
Yet, as he studied the stranger from behind the potted palms thatscreened his own booth. Gordon was amazed to find himself slowly beingovercome by an emotion of dread so intense that it verged upon sheerfear. There was something indescribably alien and utterly sinister inthat dimly seen figure in the corner booth.
The faint eery light that glowed in the stranger's deep-set eyes wasnot the lambent flame seen in the chatoyant orbs of somenight-prowling jungle beast. Rather was it the blue-green glow ofphosphorescent witch-light that flickers and dances in the night mistsabove steaming tropical swamps.
The stranger's face was as classically perfect in its rugged outlineas that of a Roman war-god, yet those perfect features seemed utterlylifeless. In the twenty minutes that he had been intently watching thestranger, Gordon would have sworn that the other's face had not movedby so much as the twitch of an eye-lash.
* * * * *
Then a new couple entered the Maori Hut, and Gordon promptly forgotall thought of the puzzlingly alien figure in the corner. The newarrivals were a vibrantly beautiful blond girl and a plump,sallow-faced man in the early forties. The girl was Leah Keith,Hollywood's latest screen sensation. The man was Dave Redding, herdirector.
A waiter seated Leah and her escort in a booth directly across theroom from that of Gordon. It was a maneuver for which Gordon hadtipped lavishly when he first came to the Hut.
A week ago Leah Keith's engagement to Blair Gordon had been abruptlyended by a trivial little quarrel that two volatile temperaments hadfanned into flames which apparently made reconciliation impossible. Amiserably lonely week had finally ended in Gordon's present trip tothe Maori Hut. He knew that Leah often came there, and he had anoverwhelming longing to at least see her again, even though his prideforced him to remain unseen.
Now, as he stared glumly at Leah through the palms that effectivelyscreened his own booth, Gordon heartily regretted that he had evercome. The sight of Leah's clear fresh beauty merely made him realizewhat a fool he had been to let that ridiculous little quarrel comebetween them.
Then, with a sudden tingling thrill, Gordon realized that he was notthe only one in the room who was interested in Leah and her escort.
Over in the half-darkened corner booth the eery stranger was staringat the girl with an intentness that made his weird eyes glow likeminiature pools of shimmering blue-green fire. Again Gordon felt thatvague impression of dread, as though he were in the presence ofsomething utterly alien to all human experience.
* * * * *
Gordon turned his gaze back to Leah, then caught his breath sharply insudden amaze. The necklace about Leah's throat was beginning to glowwith the same uncanny blue-green light that shone in the stranger'seyes! Faint, yet unmistakable, the shimmering radiance pulsed from thenecklace in an aura of nameless evil.
And with the coming of that aura of weird light at her throat, astrange trance was swiftly sweeping over Leah. She sat there now asrigidly motionless as some exquisite statue of ivory and jet.
Gordon stared at her in stark bewilderment. He knew the history ofLeah's necklace. It was merely an oddity, and nothing more--a freakpiece of costume jewelry made from fragments of an Arizona meteorite.Leah had worn the necklace a dozen times before, without any trace ofthe weird phenomena that were now occurring.
Dancers again thronged the floor to the blaring jazz of the negroorchestra while Gordon was still trying to force his whirling brain toa decision. He was certain that Leah was in deadly peril of some kind,yet the nature of that peril was too bizarre for his mind to imagine.
Then the stranger with the glowing eyes took matters into his ownhands. He left his booth and began threading his way through thedancers toward Leah. As he watched the progress of that slightgray-haired figure Gordon refused to believe the evidence of his owneyes. The thing was too utterly absurd--yet Gordon was positive thatthe strong oak floor of the dancing space was visibly swaying andcreaking beneath the stranger's mincing tread!
* * * * *
The stranger paused at Leah's booth only long enough to utter a brieflow-voiced command. Then Leah, still in the grip of that strangetrance, rose obediently from her seat to accompany him.
Dave Redding rose angrily to intercept her. The stranger seemed tobarely brush the irate director with his finger tips, yet Reddingreeled back as though struck by a pile-driver. Leah and the strangerstarted for the door. Redding scrambled to his feet again and hurriedafter them.
It was then that Gordon finally shook off the stupor of utterbewilderment that had held him. Springing from his booth, he rushedafter the trio.
The dancers in his way delayed Gordon momentarily. Leah and thestranger were already gone when he reached the door. The narrow littleentrance hallway to the Hut was deserted save for a figure sprawledthere on the floor near the outer door.
It was the body of Dave Redding. Gordon shuddered as he glancedbriefly down at the huddled figure. A single mighty blow from someunknown weapon had crumpled the director's entire face in, like theshattered shell of a broken egg.
* * * * *
Gordon charged on through the outer door just as a heavy sedan camecareening out of the parking lot. He had a flashing glimpse of Leahand the stranger in the front seat of the big car.
Gordon raced for his own machine, a powerful low-slung roadster. Asingle vicious jab at the starting button, and the big motor leapedinto roaring life. Gordon shot out from the parking lot onto the mainboulevard. A hundred yards away the sedan was fleeing towardHollywood.
Gordon tramped hard on the accelerator. His engine snarled with theunleashed fury of a hundred horsepower. The gap between the two carsswiftly lessened.
Then the stranger seemed to become aware for the first time that hewas being followed. The next second the big sedan accelerated with thehurtling speed of a flying bullet. Gordon sent his own foot nearly tothe floor. The roadster jumped to eighty miles an hour, yet the sedancontinued to leave it remorselessly behind.
The two cars started up the northern slope of Cahuenga Pass with thesedan nearly two hundred yards ahead, and gaining all the time. Gordonwondered briefly if they were to flash down the other side of the Passand on into Hollywood at their present mad speed.
Then at the summit of the Pass the sedan swerved abruptly to the rightand fled west along the Mulholland Highway. Gordon's tires screamed ashe swerved the roadster in hot pursuit.
* * * * *
The dark winding mountain highway was nearly deserted at that hour ofthe night. Save for an occasional automobile that swerved franticallyto the side of the road to dodge the roaring onslaught of the racingcars, Gordon and the stranger had the road to themselves.
The stranger se
emed no longer to be trying to leave his pursuerhopelessly behind. He allowed Gordon to come within a hundred yards ofhim. But that was as near as Gordon could get, is spite of theroadster's best efforts.
Half a dozen times Gordon trod savagely upon his accelerator in adesperate attempt to close the gap, but each time the sedan fled withthe swift grace of a scudding phantom. Finally Gordon had to contenthimself with merely keeping his distance behind the glowing redtail-light of the car ahead.
They passed Laurel Canyon, and still the big sedan bored on to thewest. Then finally, half a dozen miles beyond Laurel Canyon, thestranger abruptly left the main highway and started up a narrowprivate road to the crest of one of the lonely hills. Gordon slowlygained in the next two miles. When the road ended in a windinggravelled driveway into the grounds of what was apparently a privateestate, the roadster was scarcely a dozen yards behind.
The stranger's features as he stood there stiffly erect in the vividglare of the roadster's headlights were still as devoid of allexpression as ever. The only things that really seemed alive in thatmasque of a face were the two eyes, glowing eery blue-green fire liketwin entities of alien evil.
Gordon wasted no time in verbal sparring. He motioned briefly to LeahKeith's rigid form in the front seat of the sedan.
"Miss Keith is returning to Hollywood with me," he said curtly. "Willyou let her go peaceably, or shall I--?" He left the questionunfinished, but its threat was obvious.
"Or shall you do what?" asked the stranger quietly. There was an oddlymetallic ring in his low even tones. His words were so preciselyclipped that they suggested some origin more mechanical than human.
"Or shall I take Miss Keith with me by force?" Gordon flared angrily.
"You can try to take the lady by force--if you wish." There was anunmistakable jeering note in the metallic tones.
The taunt was the last thing needed to unleash Gordon's volatiletemper. He stepped forward and swung a hard left hook for thatexpressionless masque of a face. But the blow never landed. Thestranger dodged with uncanny swiftness. His answering gesture seemedmerely the gentlest possible push with an outstretched hand, yetGordon was sent reeling backward a full dozen steps by the terrificforce of that apparently gentle blow.
* * * * *
Recovering himself, Gordon grimly returned to the attack. The strangeragain flung out one hand in the contemptuous gesture with which onewould brush away a troublesome fly, but this time Gordon was morecautious. He neatly dodged the stranger's blow, then swung a viciousright squarely for his adversary's unprotected jaw.
The blow smashed solidly home with all of Gordon's weight behind it.The stranger's jaw buckled and gave beneath that shattering impact.Then abruptly his entire face crumpled into distorted ruin. Gordonstaggered back a step in sheer horror at the gruesome result of hisblow.
The stranger flung a hand up to his shattered features. When his handcame away again, his whole face came away with it!
Gordon had one horror-stricken glimpse of a featureless blob ofrubbery bluish-gray flesh in which fiendish eyes of blue-green fireblazed in malignant fury.
Then the stranger fumbled at his collar, ripping the linen swiftlyaway. Something lashed out from beneath his throat--a loathsomesnake-like object, slender and forked at the end. For one ghastlymoment, as the writhing tentacle swung into line with him, Gordon sawits forked ends glow strange fire--one a vivid blue, the other asparkling green.
Then the world was abruptly blotted out for Blair Gordon.
* * * * *
Consciousness returned to Gordon as swiftly and painlessly as it hadleft him. For a moment he blinked stupidly in a dazed effort tocomprehend the incredible scene before him.
He was seated in a chair over near the wall of a large room that wasflooded with livid red light from a single globe overhead. Beside himsat Leah Keith, also staring with dazed eyes in an effort tocomprehend her surroundings. Directly in front of them stood a figureof stark nightmare horror.
The weirdly glowing eyes identified the figure as that of the strangerat the Maori Hut, but there every point of resemblance ceased. Onlythe cleverest of facial masques and body padding could ever haveenabled this monstrosity to pass unnoticed in a world of normal humanbeings.
Now that his disguise was completely stripped away, his slight framewas revealed as a grotesque parody of that of a human being, with armsand legs like pipe-stems, a bald oval head that merged with necklessrigidity directly into a heavy-shouldered body that tapered into analmost wasp-like slenderness at the waist. He was naked save for aloin cloth of some metallic fabric. His bluish-gray skin had a dulloily sheen strangely suggestive of fine grained flexible metal.
The creature's face was hideously unlike anything human. Beneath theglowing eyes was a small circular mouth orifice with a cluster ofgill-like appendages on either side of it. Patches of lighter-coloredskin on either side of the head seemed to serve as ears. From a pointjust under the head, where the throat of a human being would havebeen, dangled the foot-and-a-half long tentacle whose forked tip hadsent Gordon into oblivion.
Behind the creature Gordon was dimly aware of a maze of complicatedand utterly unfamiliar apparatus ranged along the opposite wall,giving the room the appearance of being a laboratory of some kind.
* * * * *
Gordon's obvious bewilderment seemed to amuse the bluish-graymonstrosity. "May I introduce myself?" he asked with a mocking note inhis metallic voice. "I am Arlok of Xoran. I am an explorer of Space,and more particularly an Opener of Gates. My home is upon Xoran, whichis one of the eleven major planets that circle about the giantblue-white sun that your astronomers call Rigel. I am here to open theGate between your world and mine."
Gordon reached a reassuring hand over to Leah. All memory of theirquarrel was obliterated in the face of their present peril. He felther slender fingers twine firmly with his. The warm contact gave themboth new courage.
"We of Xoran need your planet and intend to take possession of it,"Arlok continued, "but the vast distance which separates Rigel fromyour solar system makes it impracticable to transport any considerablenumber of our people here in space-cars for, though our space-carstravel with practically the speed of light, it requires over fivehundred and forty years for them to cross that great void. So I wassent as a lone pioneer to your Earth to do the work necessary here inorder to open the Gate that will enable Xoran to cross the barrier inless than a minute of your time.
* * * * *
"That gate is the one through the fourth dimension, for Xoran and yourplanet in a four-dimensional universe are almost touching each otherin spite of the great distance separating them in a three-dimensionaluniverse. We of Xoran, being three-dimensional creatures like youEarthlings, can not even exist on a four-dimensional plane. But wecan, by the use of apparatus to open a Gate, pass through a thinsector of the fourth dimension and emerge in a far distant part of ourthree-dimensional universe.
"The situation of our two worlds," Arlok continued, "is somewhat likethat of two dots on opposite ends of a long strip of paper that iscurved almost into a circle. To two-dimensional beings capable only ofrealizing and traveling along the two dimensions of the paper itselfthose dots might be many feet apart, yet in the third dimensionstraight across free space they might be separated by only thethousandth part of an inch. In order to take that short cut across thethird dimension the two-dimensional creatures of the paper would haveonly to transform a small strip of the intervening space into atwo-dimensional surface like their paper.
"They could, do this, of course, by the use of propervibration-creating machinery, for all things in a material universeare merely a matter of vibration. We of Xoran plan to cross thebarrier of the fourth dimension by creating a narrow strip ofvibrations powerful enough to exactly match and nullify those of thefourth dimension itself. The result will be that this narrow stripwill temporarily become an area of t
hree dimensions only, an area overwhich we can safely pass from our world to yours."
* * * * *
Arlok indicated one of the pieces of apparatus along the opposite wallof the room. It was an intricate arrangement of finely wound coilswith wires leading to scores of needle-like points which constantlyshimmered and crackled with tiny blue-white flames. Thick cables ranto a bank of concave reflectors of some gleaming grayish metal.
"There is the apparatus which will supply the enormous power necessaryto nullify the vibrations of the fourth dimensional barrier," Arlokexplained. "It is a condenser and adapter of the cosmic force that youcall the Millikan rays. In Xoran a similar apparatus is already set upand finished, but the Gate can only be opened by simultaneous actionsfrom both sides of the barrier. That is why I was sent on my longjourney through space to do the necessary work here. I am now nearlyfinished. A very few hours more will see the final opening of theGate. Then the fighting hordes of Xoran can sweep through the barrierand overwhelm your planet.
"When the Gate from Xoran to a new planet is first opened," Arlokcontinued, "our scientists always like to have at least one pair ofspecimens of the new world's inhabitants sent through to them forexperimental use. So to-night, while waiting for one of my finalcastings to cool, I improved the time by making a brief raid upon theplace that you call the Maori Hut. The lady here seemed an excellenttype of your Earthling women, and the meteoric iron in her necklacemade a perfect focus for electric hypnosis. Her escort was tooinferior a specimen to be of value to me so I killed him when heattempted to interfere. When you gave chase I lured you on until Icould see whether you might be usable. You proved an excellentspecimen, so I merely stunned you. Very soon now I shall be ready tosend the two of you through the Gate to our scientists in Xoran."
* * * * *
A cold wave of sheer horror swept over Gordon. It was impossible todoubt the stark and deadly menace promised in the plan of this grimvisitor from an alien universe--a menace that loomed not only forGordon and Leah but for the teeming millions of a doomed anddefenseless world.
"Let me show you Xoran," Arlok offered. "Then you may be better ableto understand." He turned his back carelessly upon his two captivesand strode over to the apparatus along the opposite wall.
Gordon longed to hurl himself upon the unprotected back of theretreating Xoranian, but he knew that any attempt of that kind wouldbe suicidal. Arlok's deadly tentacle would strike him down before hewas halfway across the room.
He searched his surroundings with desperate eyes for anything thatmight serve as a weapon. Then his pulse quickened with sudden hope.There on a small table near Leah was the familiar bulk of a .45calibre revolver, loaded and ready for use. It was included in amiscellaneous collection of other small earthly tools and objects thatArlok had apparently collected for study.
There was an excellent chance that Leah might be able to secure thegun unobserved. Gordon pressed her fingers in a swift attempt atsignalling, then jerked his head ever so slightly toward the table. Amoment later the quick answering pressure of Leah's fingers told himthat she had understood his message. From the corner of his eye Gordonsaw Leah's other hand begin cautiously groping behind her for therevolver.
* * * * *
Then both Gordon and Leah froze into sudden immobility as Arlok facedthem again from beside an apparatus slightly reminiscent of an earthlyradio set. Arlok threw a switch, and a small bank of tubes glowed palegreen. A yard-square plate of bluish-gray metal on the wall above theapparatus glowed with milky fluorescence.
"It is easy to penetrate the barrier with light waves," Arlokexplained. "That is a Gate that can readily be opened from eitherside. It was through it that we first discovered your Earth."
Arlok threw a rheostat on to more power. The luminous plate clearedswiftly. "And there, Earthlings, is Xoran!" Arlok said proudly.
Leah and Gordon gasped in sheer amaze as the glowing plate became averitable window into another world--a world of utter and alienterror.
The livid light of a giant red sun blazed mercilessly down upon alandscape from which every vestige of animal and plant life hadapparently been stripped. Naked rocks and barren soil stretchedillimitably to the far horizon in a vast monotony of utter desolation.
Arlok twirled the knob of the apparatus, and another scene flashedinto view. In this scene great gleaming squares and cones of metalrose in towering clusters from the starkly barren land. Hordes ofcreatures like Arlok swarmed in and around the metal buildings. Giantmachines whirled countless wheels in strange tasks. From a thousandgreat needle-like projections on the buildings spurted shimmeringsheets of crackling flame, bathing the entire scene in a whirling mistof fiery vapors.
Gordon realized dimly that he must be looking into one of the citiesof Xoran, but every detail of the chaotic whirl of activity was tooutterly unfamiliar to carry any real significance to his bewilderedbrain. He was as hopelessly overwhelmed as an African savage would beif transported suddenly into the heart of Times Square.
* * * * *
Arlok again twirled the knob. The scene shifted, apparently to anotherplanet. This world was still alive, with rich verdure and swarmingmillions of people strangely like those of Earth. But it was a doomedworld. The dread Gate to Xoran had already been opened here. Legionsof bluish-gray Xoranians were attacking the planet's inhabitants, andthe attack of those metallic hosts was irresistible.
The slight bodies of the Xoranians seemed as impervious to bullets andmissiles as though armor-plated. The frantic defense of thebeleaguered people of the doomed planet caused hardly a casualty inthe Xoranian ranks.
The attack of the Xoranians was hideously effective. Clouds of denseyellow fog belched from countless projectors in the hands of thebluish-gray hosts, and beneath that deadly miasma all animal and plantlife on the doomed planet was crumbling, dying, and rotting into aliquid slime. Then even the slime was swiftly obliterated, and theXoranians were left triumphant upon a world starkly desolate.
"That was one of the minor planets in the swarm that make up the solarsystem of the sun that your astronomers call Canopus," Arlokexplained. "Our first task in conquering a world is to rid it of theunclean surface scum of animal and plant life. When this noxioussurface mold is eliminated, the planet is then ready to furnish ussustenance, for we Xoranians live directly upon the metallic elementsof the planet itself. Our bodies are of a substance of which yourscientists have never even dreamed--deathless, invincible, livingmetal!"
* * * * *
Arlok again twirled the control of the apparatus and the scene wasshifted back to the planet of Xoran, this time to the interior of whatwas apparently a vast laboratory. Here scores of Xoranian scientistswere working upon captives who were pathetically like human beings ofEarth itself, working with lethal gases and deadly liquids as humanscientists might experiment upon noxious pests. The details of thescene were so utterly revolting, the tortures that were beinginflicted so starkly horrible, that Leah and Gordon sank back in theirchairs sick and shaken.
Arlok snapped off a switch, and the green light in the tubes died."That last scene was the laboratory to which I shall send you twopresently," he said callously as he started back across the roomtoward them.
Gordon lurched to his feet, his brain a seething whirl of hate inwhich all thought of caution was gone as he tensed his muscles to hurlhimself upon that grim monstrosity from the bleak and desolate realmof Xoran.
Then he felt Leah tugging surreptitiously at his right hand. The nextmoment the bulk of something cold and hard met his fingers. It was therevolver. Leah had secured it while Arlok was busy with hisinter-dimensional televisor.
Arlok was rapidly approaching them. Gordon hoped against hope that themenace of that deadly tentacle might be diverted for the fraction of asecond necessary for him to get in a crippling shot. Leah seemed todivine his thought. She suddenly scream
ed hysterically and flungherself on the floor almost at Arlok's feet.
* * * * *
Arlok stopped in obvious wonder and bent over Leah. Gordon tookinstant advantage of the Xoranian's diverted attention. He whipped therevolver from behind him and fired point-blank at Arlok's unprotectedhead.
The bullet struck squarely, but Arlok was not even staggered. A tinyspot of bluish-gray skin upon his oval skull gleamed faintly for amoment under the bullet's impact. Then the heavy pellet of lead, asthoroughly flattened as though it had struck the triple armor of abattleship, dropped spent and harmless to the floor.
Arlok straightened swiftly. For the moment he seemed to have nothought of retaliating with his deadly tentacle. He merely stood therequite still with one thin arm thrown up to guard his glowing eyes.
Gordon sent the remainder of the revolver's bullets crashing home asfast as his finger could press the trigger. At that murderously shortrange the smashing rain of lead should have dropped a charginggorilla. But for all the effect Gordon's shots had upon the Xoranian,his ammunition might as well have been pellets of paper. Arlok'sglossy hide merely, glowed momentarily in tiny patches as the bulletsstruck and flattened harmlessly--and that was all.
His last cartridge fired, Gordon flung the empty weapon squarely atthe blue monstrosity's hideous face. Arlok made no attempt to dodge.The heavy revolver struck him high on the forehead, then reboundedharmlessly to the floor. Arlok paid no more attention to the blow thana man would to the casual touch of a wind-blown feather.
Gordon desperately flung himself forward upon the Xoranian in one lastmad effort to overwhelm him. Arlok dodged Gordon's wild blows, thengently swept the Earth man into the embrace of his thin arms. For onehelpless moment Gordon sensed the incredible strength and adamantinehardness of the Xoranian's slender figure, together with anoverwhelming impression of colossal weight in that deceptively slightbody.
* * * * *
Then Arlok contemptuously flung Gordon away from him. As Gordonstaggered backward, Arlok's tentacle lashed upward and levelled uponhim. Its twin tips again glowed brilliant green and livid blue.Instantly every muscle in Gordon's body was paralyzed. He stood thereas rigid as a statue, his body completely deadened from the neck down.Beside him stood Leah, also frozen motionless in that same weirdpower.
"Earthling, you are beginning to try my patience," Arlok snapped. "Canyou not realize that I am utterly invincible in any combat with you?The living metal of my body weighs over sixteen hundred pounds, as youmeasure weight. The strength inherent in that metal is sufficient totear a hundred of your Earth men to shreds. But I do not even have totouch you to vanquish you. The electric content of my bodily structureis so infinitely superior to yours that with this tentacle-organ ofmine I can instantly short-circuit the feeble currents of your nerveimpulses and bring either paralysis or death as I choose.
"But enough of this!" Arlok broke off abruptly. "My materials are nowready, and it is time that I finished my work. I shall put you out ofmy way for a few hours until I am ready to send you through the Gateto the laboratories of Xoran."
The green and blue fire of the tentacle's tips flamed to dazzlingbrightness. The paralysis of Gordon's body swept swiftly over hisbrain. Black oblivion engulfed him.
* * * * *
When Gordon again recovered consciousness he found that he was lyingon the floor of what was apparently a narrow hall, near the foot of astairway. His hands were lashed tightly behind him, and his feet andlegs were so firmly pinioned together that he could scarcely move.
Beside him lay Leah, also tightly bound. A short distance down thehall was the closed door of Arlok's work-room, recognizable by thethin line of red light gleaming beneath it.
Moonlight through a window at the rear of the hall made objects aroundGordon fairly clear. He looked at Leah and saw tears glistening on herlong lashes.
"Oh, Blair, I was afraid you'd never waken again," the girl sobbed. "Ithought that fiend had killed you!" Her voice broke hysterically.
"Steady, darling," Gordon said soothingly. "We simply can't give upnow, you know. If that monstrosity ever opens that accursed Gate ofhis our entire world is doomed. There must be some way to stop him.We've got to find that way and try it--even if it seems only oneforlorn chance in a million."
* * * * *
Gordon shook his head to clear the numbness still lingering from theeffect of Arlok's tentacle. The Xoranian seemed unable to produce aparalysis of any great duration with his weird natural weapon.Accordingly, he had been forced to bind his captives like two trussedfowls while he returned to his labors.
Lying close together as they were, it was a comparatively easy matterfor them to get their bound hands within reach of each other, butafter fifteen minutes of vain work Gordon realized that any attempt atuntying the ropes was useless. Arlok's prodigious strength had drawnthe knots so tight that no human power could ever loosen them.
Then Gordon suddenly thought of the one thing in his pockets thatmight help them. It was a tiny cigarette lighter, of thespring-trigger type. It was in his vest pocket completely out of reachof his bound hands, but there was a way out of that difficulty.
Gordon and Leah twisted and rolled their bodies like twocontortionists until they succeeded in getting into such a positionthat Leah was able to get her teeth in the cloth of the vest pocket'sedge. A moment of desperate tugging, then the fabric gave way. Thelighter dropped from the torn pocket to the floor, where Leahretrieved it.
Then they twisted their bodies back to back. Leah managed to get thelighter flaming in her bound hands. Gordon groped in an effort toguide the ropes on his wrists over the tiny flickering flame.
* * * * *
Then there came the faint welcome odor of smoldering rope as thelighter's tiny flame bit into the bonds. Gordon bit his lips tosuppress a cry of pain as the flame seared into his skin as well. Theflame bit deeper into the rope. A single strand snapped.
Then another strand gave way. To Gordon the process seemed endless asthe flame scorched rope and flesh alike. A long minute of lancingagony that seemed hours--then Gordon could stand no more. He tensedhis muscles in one mighty agonized effort to end the torture of theflame.
The weakened rope gave way completely beneath that pain-maddenedlunge. Gordon's hands were free. It was an easy matter now to use thelighter to finish freeing himself and Leah. They made their wayswiftly back to the window at the rear of the hall. It slid silentlyupward. A moment later, and they were out in the brilliantmoonlight--free.
They made their way around to the front of the house. Behind the drawnshades of one of the front rooms an eery glow of red light marked thelocation of Arlok's work-room. They heard the occasional clink oftools inside the room as the Xoranian diligently worked to completehis apparatus.
They crept stealthily up to where one of the French windows of Arlok'swork-room swung slightly ajar. Through the narrow crevice they couldsee Arlok's grotesque back as he labored over the complex assembly ofapparatus against the wall.
A heavy stone flung through the window would probably wreck thatdelicate mechanism completely, yet the two watchers knew that such arespite would be only a temporary one. As long as Arlok remained aliveon this planet to build other gates to Xoran, Earth's eventual doomwas certain. Complete destruction of Arlok himself was Earth's onlyhope of salvation.
* * * * *
The Xoranian seemed to be nearing the end of his labors. He left theapparatus momentarily and walked over to a work-bench where he pickedup a slender rod-like tool. Donning a heavy glove to shield his lefthand, he selected a small plate of bluish-gray metal, then pressed aswitch in the handle of the tool in his right hand.
A blade of blinding white flame, seemingly as solid as a blade ofmetal, spurted for the length of a foot from the tool's tip. Arlokbegan cutting the plate with the flame, the blade she
aring through theheavy metal as easily as a hot knife shears through butter.
The sight brought a sudden surge of exultant hope to Gordon. Heswiftly drew Leah away from the window, far enough to the side thattheir low-voiced conversation could not be heard from inside thework-room.
"Leah, there is our one chance!" he explained excitedly. "That bluefiend _is_ vulnerable, and that flame-tool of his is the weapon toreach his vulnerability. Did you notice how careful he was to shieldhis other hand with a glove before he turned the tool on? He can behurt by that blade of flame, and probably hurt badly."
Leah nodded in quick understanding. "If I could lure him out of theroom for just a moment, you could slip in through the window and getthat flame-tool, Blair," she suggested eagerly.
"That might work," Gordon agreed reluctantly. "But, Leah, don't runany more risks than you absolutely have to!" He picked up a smallrock. "Here, take this with you. Open the door into the hall andattract Arlok's attention by throwing the rock at his preciousapparatus. Then the minute he sees you, try to escape out through thehall again. He'll leave his work to follow you. When he returns to hiswork-room I'll be in there waiting for him. And I'll be waiting with aweapon that can stab through even that armor-plated hide of his!"
They separated, Leah to enter the house, Gordon to return to thewindow.
* * * * *
Arlok was back over in front of the apparatus, fitting into place thepiece of metal he had just cut. The flame-tool, its switch now turnedoff, was still on the work-bench.
Gordon's heart pounded with excitement as he crouched there with hiseyes fixed upon the closed hall door. The minutes seemed to draginterminably. Then suddenly Gordon's muscles tensed. The knob of thehall door had turned ever so slightly. Leah was at her post!
The next moment the door was flung open with a violence that sent itslamming back against the wall. The slender figure of Leah stoodframed in the opening, her dark eyes blazing as she flung one hand upto hurl her missile.
Arlok whirled just as Leah threw the rock straight at the intricateGate-opening apparatus. With the speed of thought the Xoranian flunghis own body over to shield his fragile instruments. The rock thuddedharmlessly against his metallic chest.
Then Arlok's tentacle flung out like a striking cobra, its forked tipflaming blue and green fire as it focussed upon the open door. ButLeah was already gone. Gordon heard her flying footsteps as she raceddown the hall. Arlok promptly sped after her in swift pursuit.
As Arlok passed through the door into the hall Gordon flung himselfinto the room, and sped straight for the work-bench. He snatched theflame-tool up, then darted over to the wall by the door. He was not asecond too soon. The heavy tread of Arlok's return was already audiblein the hall just outside.
Gordon prepared to stake everything upon his one slim chance ofdisabling that fearful tentacle before Arlok could bring it intoaction. He pressed the tiny switch in the flame-tool's handle just asArlok came through the door.
* * * * *
Arlok, startled by the glare of the flame-tool's blazing blade,whirled toward Gordon--but too late. That thin searing shaft of vividflame had already struck squarely at the base of the Xoranian'stentacle. A seething spray of hissing sparks marked the place wherethe flame bit deeply home. Arlok screamed, a ghastly metallic note ofanguish like nothing human.
The Xoranian's powerful hands clutched at Gordon, but he leapedlithely backward out of their reach. Then Gordon again attacked, theflame-tool's shining blade licking in and out like a rapier. Thesearing flame swept across one of Arlok's arms, and the Xoranianwinced. Then the blade stabbed swiftly at Arlok's waist. Arlokhalf-doubled as he flinched back. Gordon shifted his aim withlightning speed and sent the blade of flame lashing in one accurateterrible stroke that caught Arlok squarely in the eyes.
Again Arlok screamed in intolerable agony as that tearing flamedarkened forever his glowing eyes. In berserker fury the torturedXoranian charged blindly toward Gordon. Gordon warily dodged to oneside. Arlok, sightless, and with his tentacle crippled, still hadenough power in that mighty metallic body of his to tear a hundredEarth men to pieces.
Gordon stung Arlok's shoulder with the flame, then desperately leapedto one side just in time to dodge a flailing blow that would have madepulp of his body had it landed.
Arlok went stark wild in his frenzied efforts to come to grips withhis unseen adversary. Furniture crashed and splintered to kindlingwood beneath his threshing feet. Even the stout walls of the roomshivered and cracked as the incredible weight of Arlok's body caromedagainst them.
* * * * *
Gordon circled lithely around the crippled blue monstrosity like atimber wolf circling a wounded moose. He began concentrating hisattack upon Arlok's left leg. Half a dozen deep slashes with thesearing flame--then suddenly the thin leg crumpled and broke. Arlokcrashed helplessly to the floor.
Gordon was now able to shift his attack to Arlok's head. Dodging theblindly flailing arms of the Xoranian, he stabbed again and again atthat oval-shaped skull.
The searing thrusts began to have their effect. Arlok's convulsivemovements became slower and weaker. Gordon sent the flame stabbing ina long final thrust in an attempt to pierce through to that alienmetal brain.
With startling suddenness the flame burned its way home to someunknown center of life force in the oval skull. There was a brief butappalling gush of bright purple flame from Arlok's eye-sockets andmouth orifice. Then his twitching body stiffened. His bluish-gray hidedarkened with incredible swiftness into a dull black. Arlok was dead.
Gordon, sickened at the grisly ending to the battle, snapped off theflame-tool and turned to search for Leah. He found her alreadystanding in the hall door, alive, and unhurt.
* * * * *
"I escaped through the window at the end of the hall," she explained."Arlok quit following me as soon as he saw that you too were gone fromwhere he had left us tied." She shuddered as she looked down at theXoranian's mangled body. "I saw most of your fight with him, Blair. Itwas terrible; awful. But, Blair, we've won!"
"Yes, and now we'll make sure of the fruits of our victory," Gordonsaid grimly, starting over toward the Gate-opening apparatus with theflame-tool in his hand. A very few minutes' work with the shearingblade of flame reduced the intricate apparatus to a mere tangled pileof twisted metal.
Arlok, Gate-opener of Xoran, was dead--and the Gate to that grimplanet was now irrevocably closed!
"Blair, do you feel it too, that eery feeling of countless eyes stillwatching us from Xoran?" There was frank awe in Leah's half-whisperedquestion. "You know Arlok said that they had watched us for centuriesfrom their side of the barrier. I'm sure they're watching us now. Willthey send another Opener of Gates to take up the work where Arlokfailed?"
Gordon took Leah into his arms. "I don't know, dear," he admittedgravely. "They may send another messenger, but I doubt it. This worldof ours has had its warning, and it will heed it. The watchers onXoran must know that in the five hundred and forty years it would taketheir next messenger to get here, the Earth will have had more thanenough time to prepare an adequate defense for even Xoran's menace. Idoubt if there will ever again be an attempt made to open the Gate toXoran."