atmosphere had thinned almostimperceptibly--and only by the aid of his scientific instruments had manbeen able to detect its thinning. Less and less rain fell, and finallyeven the ice-caps about the poles trickled away. Cold and gaunt andshadowy those regions lay silent and lifeless throughout the longnights, and loomed like gray ghosts in the hushed light of the summer.The sun blazed on relentlessly and the shores of the seven seas recededage after age, but with his science and his machines man had doggedlyfollowed the retreating waters, husbanded and harnessed them and thusretained his grip on life.
But now at last life on earth had come to its final battlefield. Theplans of the battle were sharply drawn, but there could be no doubt ofthe issue. No one knew this better than Omega, for the sun shone on withundiminished power. Yet the rotation of the earth had slackened untiltwenty-five hours constituted a day, while the year was 379 days and afraction in length. Man, gradually adjusting himself to the newconditions and environment, had triumphed even in the face of a losingfight. For he had learned to smile into the hollow sockets of death, tolaugh at the empty promises of life.
* * * * *
Back in their ship Omega and Thalma gazed out over the dead world, wherethe salt crystals gleamed and sparkled in the sunshine.
"Will all this ever become green again and full of joy and life?" askedThalma wearily.
"Why not?" asked Omega. "Although the race has come to its last stand,water is here and before it is gone who knows what may happen?"
Omega spoke only to please his wife, for well he knew in his heart thatthe star of hope had forever set. And always he was thinking of thatcommotion in the waters of the lake. What could have caused it? What didit portend? He was sure that the answer was to be one of tragedy.
"We know that for uncounted ages the world was green and beautiful, wasvibrant with life and joy," he went on. "And why may it not be so again,even though now it is garbed in the clothes of the sepulchre? Let ustrust in the power of our son."
Thalma did not answer, and Omega, seeing that she was terriblydepressed, fell silent. So they sat in their great airship, strangelydejected despite the close proximity of the life-giving water, while thesun flamed through the cloudless sky and set in a crimson flood beyondthe lifeless plains. Night fell but still they sat brooding. The starsshone out in the purple heavens, but they noticed not their glory. Theship was wrapped in an awful silence. No night wind whispered itsmessage nor warmed the cold, desolate earth, stretching down from thepoles, nor cooled the hot wastes about the equator. The naked mountainsrose stark and forbidding into the sky, which hung like a great,bejeweled bowl over the sun-scorched plains, where the dust of many ageslay undisturbed. The shadows lay deep and dark over the valleys andamong the streets of cities dead and silent for many ages, and searchedout deep chasms which when the world was young had felt the surge of therestless seas. No form of life winged its way through the darkness andcalled to its mate. No beast of prey rent the air with its challenge. Noinsect chirped. No slimy shape crawled over the rocks. Dark and solemn,mysterious and still, the earth sped on through the night.
* * * * *
Morning found them in much better spirits. Over their breakfast, whichconsisted almost wholly of food in tablet form, they discussed theirplans. After which they went to the lookout in the bow of the ship andgazed out at the gray world. There was no change. The sameheart-breaking monotony of death confronted them. But despite it allthey finally smiled into each other's eyes.
"It is home," said Omega proudly. "The last home we shall ever know."
"My God, look!" suddenly gasped Thalma, clutching his arm and pointing atrembling finger toward the lake. "What--is that?"
Following her gesture he stared in terror and stupefaction. Rising abovethe center of the lake where the day before they had beheld the agitatedwaters, was an enormous, scale-covered neck surmounted by a long,snake-like head whose round, red eyes were sheltered beneath black,horny hoods. The horrible creature's head was swaying back and forth asits black tongue darted in and out between wide-open jaws displayingsingle rows of sharp teeth. Fully fifteen feet above the lake the awfuleyes looked toward the land. And as the neck moved in unison with theswaying head the scales seemed to slide under and over one another aperfect armor for the neck.
"A plesiosaurian!" exclaimed Omega, leveling his glasses at the beast."No--how can that be?" he added in bewilderment. "Those monsters weresupposed to be extinct ages ago. And they had a smooth skin, while thisthing has scales, like those of a brontosaurus, which was really a landanimal. This must be a cross between the two that through the process ofevolution has been developed. Anyway it is the last of the species andit has come here--to die."
"Like us it has followed the water and come here to die," said Thalma asshe also leveled glasses.
For several minutes they watched the swaying head which every littlewhile twisted from side to side, as the blazing eyes seemed to besearching for prey, while a whitish saliva dripped from the jaws. Thebody of the beast, which they knew to be enormous, was hidden beneaththe water, but the agitation on the surface showed that powerful feetand legs were stirring.
"Yes, it has come here to die," repeated Omega, "to fight for the lastdrop of earth's water. It now has possession of the lake, and unless wekill it, it will kill us or drive us away."
Almost with the words Omega seized an atomic gun and pointed it at thebrute's head. But before he could sight the weapon and pull the triggerthe monster, as though sensing danger, suddenly jerked down its head anda moment later it had disappeared beneath the surface.
"It has gone!" cried Thalma. She was trembling as with a chill, and hereyes were wide with terror.
"It will appear again," said Omega, "and then we will kill it, for thewater belongs to man. Doubtless that huge beast is all that remains oflife on earth save ourselves. To-night while you sleep here in the ship,I will take a gun, take position behind a rock on the shore of the lakeand watch for its appearance. I think shortly after nightfall when therocks are cool it leaves the water and comes on land in a vain searchfor food, for beyond a doubt it has devoured everything in the lake,save marine mosses and the like. Yet as it has survived all contemporarylife except man, it may live for centuries unless we destroy it."
"But there are not centuries of water out there," Thalma said. "As toyour hunting this monster alone, I will not hear of it. I shall go withyou. Together we will destroy this menace of our new home."
* * * * *
All Omega's eloquence could not dissuade her. So, after the sun had setand the dry cold had chilled the hot rocks, they set out along the shoreof the lake and looked eagerly out over the still water for a sight oftheir enemy. Nothing disturbed the silvery surface of the water.Crouching behind a mass of coral they waited, but throughout the long,still night they watched without reward, for nothing moved within theirrange of vision. The stars, wonderfully large and brilliant in thatrarefied atmosphere, seemed to be the only link between them and theunknown. Only their own hurried breathing and the muffled thumps oftheir wildly beating hearts broke the silence. And as the sun rose againabove the dead plains, weary and discouraged they returned to the ship.
While keeping up a bold front for Thalma's sake, Omega's heart was sad,for he well knew that unless they could vanquish that marine monsterthey were doomed. That such a dreadful creature had come to them fromthe mists of antiquity, as it were, was incredible. Yet he had seen it,Thalma had seen it, and it resembled some of the sea-monsters he hadheard of in the past. They could not doubt its existence and mustprepare for the worst.
Omega's name had been conferred on him by an ironical whim of fate. Whenhe was born there were still many people on earth inhabiting the lowvalleys of the Pacific's floor where much water still remained. But thedroughts had increased with the years, and before Omega had reachedmiddle-life all rain had ceased to fall. The atmosphere became so rare,even near the ground, that it was di
fficult for the people with the aidof their machines to draw sufficient oxygen and nitrogen from it toprepare the food which had been man's principal sustenance for ages.
Gradually the weaker peoples had succumbed. But the remnants of thenations gathered about the receding waters, all foreseeing the end, butall determined to defer it as long as possible. There was no recourse.For ages before Omega was born the nations, knowing that the earth wasdrying up, had fought one another for the privilege of migrating toanother planet to fight its inhabitants for its possession. The battlehad been so bitterly contested that two-thirds of the combatants wereslain. By the aid of their space-cars the victors colonized otherplanets in our solar system leaving the vanquished on earth to shift forthemselves. There was nothing for them to do but to fight on and awaitthe end, for no space-car