Chapter XI
"WRITE OFF THE MAGNET"
"Squadron commander Tharnton speaking: Squadron 73-B of Planetary Guardwill follow orders from Dr. Arcot directly. Heading south to Antarcticaat maximum speed," droned the communicator. Under the official tone ofcommand was a note of suppressed rage and determination. "And thesquadron commander wishes Dr. Arcot every success in wiping outAntarctica as thoroughly and completely as he destroyed the Arcticbase."
The flight of ships headed south at a speed that heated them white inthe air, thin as it was at the hundred mile altitude, yet going higherwould have taken unnecessary time, and the white heat meant nodiscomfort. They reached Antarctica in about ten minutes. The Thessianships were just entering through great locks in the walls of the dome.At first sight of the terrestrial ships they turned, and shot toward theguard-ships. Their screens were down, for, armored as they were withvery heavy relux they expected to be able to overcome the terrestrialthin relux before theirs was seriously impaired.
"Ships will put up screens." Arcot spoke sharply--a new plan hadoccurred to him. The moleculars of the Thessians struck glowing screens,and no damage was done. "Ships, in order of number, will lower screenfor thirty seconds, and concentrate all moleculars on one ship--theleader. Solar investigator will not join in action."
The flagship of the squadron lowered its screen, and a tremendousbombardment of rays struck the leading ship practically in one point.The relux glowed, and the opalescence shifted with bewildering,confusing colors. Then the terrestrial ship's screen was up, before theThessians could concentrate on the one unprotected ship. Immediatelyanother terrestrial ship opened its screen and bombarded the same ship.Two others followed--and then it was forced to use its screen.
But suddenly a terrestrial ship crashed. Its straining screen had beenoverworked--and it failed.
Arcot's magnetic beam went into action. The Thessian ray did not goout--it flickered, dimmed, but was apparently as deadly as ever.
"Shielded--write off the magnet, Morey. That is one asset we lose."
Arcot, protected in space, was thinking swiftly. Moleculars--useless.They had to keep their own screens up. Artificial matter--bound in bytheir own molecular screen! And the magnet had failed them against theprotected mechanism of the dome. The ships were not as yet protected,but the dome was.
"Guess the only place we'd be safe is under the ground--way under!"commented Wade dryly.
"Under the ground--Wade, you're a genius!" Arcot gave a shout of joy,and told Wade to take over the ship.
"Take the ship back into normal space, head for the hill over behind theDome, and drop behind it. It's solid rock, and even their rays will takea moment or so to move it. As soon as you get there, drop to the ground,and turn off the screen. No--here, I'll do it. You just take it there,land on the ground, and shut off the screen. I promise the rest!" Arcotdived for the artificial matter room.
The ship was suddenly in normal space; its screen up. The dog-fight hadbeen ended. The terrestrial ships had been completely defeated. The_Ancient Mariner'_s appearance was a signal for all the moleculars insight. Ten huge ships, half a dozen small forts and now the unshieldedDome, joined in. Their screen tubes heated up violently in the briefmoment it took to dive behind the hill, a tube fused, and blew out.Automatic devices shunted it, another tube took the load--and heated.But their screen was full of holes before they were safe for the momentbehind the hill.
Instantly Wade dropped the defective screen. Almost as quickly as thescreen vanished, a cylinder of artificial matter surrounded the entireship. The cylinder was tipped by a perfect cone of the same basediameter. The entire system settled into the solid rock. The rock abovecracked and filled in behind them. The ship was suddenly pushed by thebase of the cylinder behind them, and drove on through the rock, thecone parting the hard granite ahead. They went perhaps half a mile, thenstopped. In the light of the ship's windows, they could see the faintmistiness of the inconceivably hard, artificial matter, and beyond theslick, polished surface of the rock it was pushing aside. The cone shapewas still there.
There was a terrific roar behind them, the rock above cracked, shiftedand moved about.
"Raying the spot where we went down," Arcot grinned happily.
The cone and cylinder merged, shifted together, and became a sphere. Thesphere elongated upward and the _Ancient Mariner_ turned in it, till it,too, pointed upward. The sphere became an ellipsoid.
Suddenly the ship was moving, accelerating terrifically. It plowedthrough the solid rock, and up--into a burst of light. They were_inside_ the dome. Great ships were berthed about the floor. Hugemachines bulked here and there--barracks for men--everything.
The ellipsoid shrank to a sphere, the sphere grew a protuberance whichseparated and became a single bar-like cylinder. The cylinder turned,and drove through the great dome wall. A little hole but it whirledrapidly around, sliced the top off neatly and quickly. Again, like agigantic teapot lid, the whole great structure lifted, settled, andstayed there. Men, scrambling wildly toward ships, suddenly stopped,seemed to blur and their features ran together horribly. They fell--andwere dead in an instant as the air disappeared. In another instant theywere solid blocks of ice, for the temperature was below the freezingpoint of carbon dioxide.
The giant tamper set to work. The Thessian ships went first. They wereall crumpled, battered wrecks in a few seconds of work of the terribledisc.
The dome was destroyed. Arcot tried something else. He put on hiscontrol machine the equation of a hyperboloid of two branches, andchanged the constants gradually till the two branches came close. Thenhe forced them against each other. Instantly they fought, foughtterribly for existence. A tremendous blast of light and heat explodedinto being. The energy of two tons of lead attempted to maintain thosetwo branches. It was not, fortunately, explosive, and it took place overa relux floor. Most of the energy escaped into space. The vast flood oflight was visible on Venus, despite the clouds.
But it fused most of Antarctica. It destroyed the last traces of thecamp in Antarctica.
"Well--the Squadron was wiped out, I see." Arcot's voice was flat as hespoke. The Squadron: twenty ships--four hundred men.
"Yes--but so is the Arctic camp, and the Antarctic camp, as well,"replied Wade.
"What next, Arcot. Shall we go out to intergalactic space at once?"asked Morey, coming up from the power room.
"No, we'll go back to Vermont, and have the time-field stuff I orderedinstalled, then go to Sirius, and see what they have. They moved theirplanets from the gravitation field of Negra, their dead, black star, tothe field of Sirius--and I'd like to know how they did it.[2]Then--Intergalactia." He started the ship toward Vermont, while Moreygot into communication with the field, and gave them a brief report.
[Footnote 2: "The Black Star Passes."]