CHAPTER VII
DuQuesne's Voyage
Far from our solar system a cigar-shaped space-car slackened itsterrific acceleration to a point at which human beings could walk, andtwo men got up, exercised vigorously to restore the circulation to theirnumbed bodies, and went into the galley to prepare their meal--the firstsince leaving the Earth some eight hours or more before.
Because of the long and arduous journey he had decided upon, DuQuesnehad had to abandon his custom of working alone, and had studied all theavailable men with great care before selecting his companion and reliefpilot. He finally had chosen "Baby Doll" Loring--so called because ofhis curly yellow hair, his pink and white complexion, his guileless blueeyes, his slight form of rather less than medium height. But never didoutward attributes more belie the inner man! The yellow curls covered abrain agile, keen, and hard; the girlish complexion neither paled norreddened under stress; the wide blue eyes had glanced along the barrelsof so many lethal weapons, that in various localities the noose yawnedfor him; the slender body was built of rawhide and whalebone, andresponded instantly to the dictates of that ruthless brain. Under theprotection of Steel he flourished, and in return for that protection heperformed, quietly and with neatness and despatch, such odd jobs as werein his line, with which he was commissioned.
When they were seated at an excellent breakfast of ham and eggs,buttered toast, and strong, aromatic coffee, DuQuesne broke the longsilence.
"Do you want to know where we are?"
"I'd say we were a long way from home, by the way this elevator of yourshas been climbing all night."
"We are a good many million miles from the Earth, and we are gettingfarther away at a rate that would have to be measured in millions ofmiles per second." DuQuesne, watching the other narrowly as he madethis startling announcement and remembering the effect of a similar oneupon Perkins, saw with approval that the coffee-cup in midair did notpause or waver in its course. Loring noted the bouquet of his beverageand took an appreciative sip before he replied.
"You certainly can make coffee, Doctor; and good coffee is nine-tenthsof a good breakfast. As to where we are--that's all right with me. I canstand it if you can."
"Don't you want to know where we're going, and why?"
"I've been thinking about that. Before we started I didn't want to knowanything, because what a man doesn't know he can't be accused ofspilling in case of a leak. Now that we are on our way, though, maybe Ishould know enough about things to act intelligently, if somethingunforeseen should develop. If you'd rather keep it dark and give meorders when necessary, that's all right with me, too. It's your party,you know."
"I brought you along because one man can't stay on duty twenty-fourhours a day, continuously. Since you are in as deep as you can get, andsince this trip is dangerous, you should know everything there is toknow. You are one of the higher-ups now, anyway: and we understand eachother thoroughly, I believe?"
"I believe so."
Back in the bow control-room DuQuesne applied more power, but not enoughto render movement impossible.
"You don't have to drive her as hard all the way, then, as you did lastnight?"
"No, I'm out of range of Seaton's instrument now, and we don't have tokill ourselves. High acceleration is punishment for anyone and we mustkeep ourselves fit. To begin with, I suppose that you are curious aboutthat object-compass?"
"That and other things."
"An object-compass is a needle of specially-treated copper, so activatedthat it points always toward one certain object, after being once setupon it. Seaton undoubtedly has one upon me; but, sensitive as they are,they can't hold on a mass as small as a man at this distance. That waswhy we left at midnight, after he had gone to bed--so that we'd be outof range before he woke up. I wanted to lose him, as he might interfereif he knew where I was going. Now I'll go back to the beginning and tellyou the whole story."
* * * * *
Tersely, but vividly, he recounted the tale of the interstellar cruise,the voyage of the _Skylark of Space_. When he had finished, Loringsmoked for a few minutes in silence.
"There's a lot of stuff there that's hard to understand all at once. Doyou mind if I ask a few foolish questions, to get things straightenedout in my mind?"
"Go ahead--ask as many as you want to. It is hard to understand a lot ofthat Osnomian stuff--a man can't get it all at once."
"Osnome is so far away--how are you going to find it?"
"With one of the object-compasses I mentioned. I had planned onnavigating from notes I took on the trip back to the Earth, but itwasn't necessary. They tried to keep me from finding out anything, but Ilearned all about the compasses, built a few of them in their own shop,and set one on Osnome. I had it, among other things, in my pocket when Ilanded. In fact, the control of that explosive copper bullet is the onlything they had that I wasn't able to get--and I'll get that on thistrip."
"What is that arenak armor they're wearing?"
"Arenak is a synthetic metal, almost perfectly transparent. It haspractically the same refractive index as air, therefore it is, to allintents and purposes, invisible. It's about five hundred times as strongas chrome-vanadium steel, and even when you've got it to theyield-point, it doesn't break, but stretches out and snaps back, likerubber, with the strength unimpaired. It's the most wonderful thing Isaw on the whole trip. They make complete suits of it. Of course theyaren't very comfortable, but since they are only a tenth of an inch theycan be worn."
"And a tenth of an inch of that stuff will stop a steel-nosedmachine-gun bullet?"
"Stop it! A tenth of an inch of arenak is harder to pierce than fiftyinches of our hardest, toughest armor steel. A sixteenth-incharmor-piercing projectile couldn't get through it. It's hard to believe,but nevertheless it's a fact. The only way to kill Seaton with a gunwould be to use one heavy enough so that the shock of the impact wouldkill him--and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he had his armor anchoredwith an attractor against that very contingency. Even if he hasn't, youcan imagine the chance of getting action against him with a gun of thatsize."
"Yes, I've heard that he is fast."
"That doesn't tell half of it. You know that I'm handy with a gunmyself?"
"You're faster than I am, and that's saying something. You're chainlightning."
"Well, Seaton is at least that much faster than I am. You've never seenhim work--I have. On that Osnomian dock he shot twice before I started,and shot twice to my once from then on. I must have been shooting aquarter of a second after he had his side all cleaned up. To make itworse I missed once with my left hand--he didn't. There's absolutely nouse tackling Richard Seaton without an Osnomian ray-generator orsomething better; but, as you know, Brookings always has been and alwayswill be a fool. He won't believe anything new until after he hasactually been shown. Well, I imagine he will be shown plenty by thisevening."
"Well, I'll never tackle him with heat. How does he get that way?"
"He's naturally fast, and has practiced sleight-of-hand work ever sincehe was a kid. He's one of the best amateur magicians in the country, andI will say that his ability along that line has come in handy for himmore than once."
"I see where you're right in wanting to get something, since we haveonly ordinary weapons and they have all that stuff. This trip is to geta little something for ourselves, I take it?"
"Exactly, and you know enough now to understand what we are out here toget for ourselves. You have guessed that we are headed for Osnome?"
"I suspected it. However, if you were going only to Osnome, you wouldhave gone alone; so I also suspect that that's only half of it. I haveno idea what it is, but you've got something else on your mind."
"You're right--I knew you were keen. When I was on Osnome I found outsomething that only four other men--all--dead--ever knew. There is arace of men far ahead of the Osnomians in science, particularly inwarfare. They live a long way beyond Osnome. It is my plan to steal anOsnomian airship and mount
all its ray screens, generators, guns, andeverything else, upon this ship, or else convert their vessel into aspace-ship. Instead of using their ordinary power, however, we will doas Seaton did, and use intra-atomic power, which is practicallyinfinite. Then we'll have everything Seaton's got, but that isn'tenough. I want enough more than he's got to wipe him out. Therefore,after we get a ship armed to suit us, we'll visit this strange planetand either come to terms with them or else steal a ship from them. Thenwe'll have their stuff and that of the Osnomians, as well as our own.Seaton won't last long after that."
"Do you mind if I ask how you got that dope?"
"Not at all. Except when right with Seaton I could do pretty much as Ipleased, and I used to take long walks for exercise. The Osnomians tiredvery easily, being so weak, and because of the light gravity of theplanet, I had to do a lot of work or walking to keep in any kind ofcondition at all. I learned Kondalian quickly, and got so friendly withthe guards, that pretty soon they quit trying to keep me in sight, butwaited at the edge of the palace grounds until I came back and joinedthem.
"Well, on one trip I was fifteen miles or so from the city when anairship crashed down in a woods about half a mile from me. It was in anuninhabited district and nobody else saw it. I went over to investigate,thinking probably I could find out something useful. It had the wholefront end cut or broken off, and that made me curious, because noimaginable fall will break an arenak hull. I walked in through the holeand saw that it was one of their fighting tenders--a combination warshipand repair shop, with all of the stuff in it that I've been telling youabout. The generators were mostly burned out and the propelling andlifting motors were out of commission. I prowled around, gettingacquainted with it, and found a lot of useful instruments and, best ofall, one of Dunark's new mechanical educators, with completeinstructions for its use. Also, I found three bodies, and thought I'dtry it out...."
"Just a minute. Only three bodies on a warship? And what good could amechanical educator do you if the men were all dead?"
"Three is all I found then, but there was another one. Three men and acaptain compose an Osnomian crew for any ordinary vessel. Everything isautomatic, you, know. As for the men being dead, that doesn't make anydifference--you can read their brains just the same, if they haven'tbeen dead too long. However, when I tried to read theirs, I found onlyblanks--their brains had been destroyed so that nobody could read them.That did look funny, so I ransacked the ship from truck to keelson, andfinally found another body, wearing an air-helmet, in a sort of closetoff the control room. I put the educator on it...."
"This is getting good. It sounds like a page of the old 'Arabian Nights'that I used to read when I was a boy. You know, it really isn'tsurprising that Brookings didn't believe a lot of this stuff."
"As I have said, a lot of it is hard to understand, but I'm going toshow it to you--all that, and more."
"Oh, I believe it, all right. After riding in this boat and looking outof the windows, I'll believe anything. Reading a dead man's brain issteep, though."
"I'll let you do it after we get there. I don't understand exactly howit works, myself, but I know how to operate one. Well, I found out thatthis man's brain was in good shape, and I got a shock when I read it.Here's what he had been through. They had been flying very high on theirway to the front when their ship was seized by an invisible force andthrown upward. He must have thought faster than the others, because heput on an air-helmet and dived into this locker where he hid under apile of gear, fixing things so that he could see out through thetransparent arenak of the wall. No sooner was he hidden that the frontend of the ship went up in a blaze of light, in spite of their rayscreens going full blast. They were up so high by that time that whenthe bow was burned off the other three fainted from lack of air. Thentheir generators went out, and pretty soon two peculiar-lookingstrangers entered. They were wearing vacuum suits and were very shortand stocky, giving the impression of enormous strength. They brought aneducator of their own with them and read the brains of the three men.Then they dropped the ship a few thousand feet and revived the threewith a drink of something out of a flask."
"Must have been different from the kind handled by most booties I know,then. The stuff we've been getting lately would make a man moreunconscious than ever."
"Some powerful drug, probably, but the Osnomian didn't know anythingabout it. After the men were revived, the strangers, apparently fromsheer cruelty and love of torturing their victims, informed them in theOsnomian language that they were from another world, on the far edge ofthe Galaxy. They even told them, knowing that the Osnomians knew nothingof astronomy, exactly where they were from. Then they went on to saythat they wanted the entire green system for themselves, and that insomething like two years of our time they were going to wipe out all thepresent inhabitants of the system and take it over, as a base forfurther operations. After that they amused themselves by describingexactly the kinds of death and destruction they were going to use. Theydescribed most of it in great detail. It's too involved to tell youabout now, but they've got rays, generators, and screens that even theOsnomians never heard of. And of course they've got intra-atomic energythe same as we have. After telling them all this and watching themsuffer, they put a machine on their heads and they dropped dead. That'sprobably what disintegrated their brains. Then they looked the ship overrather casually, as though they didn't see anything they were interestedin; crippled the motors; and went away. The vessel was then released,and crashed. This man, of course, was killed by the fall. I buried themen--I didn't want anybody else reading that brain--hid some of thestuff I wanted most, and camouflaged the ship so that I'm fairly surethat it's there yet. I decided then to make this trip."
"I see." Loring's mind was grappling with these new and strange facts."That news is staggering, Doctor. Think of it. Everybody thinks our ownworld is everything there is!"
"Our world is simply a grain of dust in the Universe. Most people knowit, academically, but very few ever give the fact any actualconsideration. But now that you've had a little time to get used to theidea of there being other worlds, and some of them as far ahead of us inscience as we are ahead of the monkeys, what do you think of it?"
"I agree with you, that we've got their stuff," said Loring. "However,it occurs to me as a possibility that they may have so much stuff thatwe won't be able to make the approach. However, if the Osnomian fittingswe're going to get are as good as you say they are, I think that twosuch men as you and I can get at least a lunch while any other crew, nomatter who they are, are getting a square meal."
"I like your style, Loring. You and I will have the world eating out ofour hands shortly after we get back. As far as actual procedure overthere is concerned, of course, I haven't made any definite plans. We'llhave to size up the situation after we get there before we can knowexactly what we'll have to do. However, we are not coming backempty-handed."
"You said something, Chief!" and the two men, so startlingly unlikephysically, but so alike inwardly, shook hands in token of their mutualdedication to a single purpose.
* * * * *
Loring was then instructed in the simple navigation of the ship ofspace, and thereafter the two men took their regular shifts at thecontrols. In due time they approached Osnome, and DuQuesne studied theplanet carefully through a telescope before he ventured down into theatmosphere.
"This half of it used to be Mardonale. I suppose it's all Kondal now.No, there's a war on down there yet--at least, there's a disturbance ofsome kind, and on this planet that means war."
"What are you looking for, exactly?" asked Loring, who was alsoexamining the terrain with a telescope.
"They've got some spherical space-ships, like Seaton's. I know they hadone, and they've probably built more of them since that time. Theirairships can't touch us, but those ball-shaped cruisers would be purepoison for us, the way we are fixed now. Can you see any of them?"
"Not yet. Too far away to make out details. They're ce
rtainly having ahot time down there, though, in that one spot."
They dropped lower, toward the stronghold which was being so stubbornlydefended by the inhabitants of the third planet of the fourteenth sun,and so savagely attacked by the Kondalian forces.
"There, we can see what they're doing now," and DuQuesne anchored thevessel with an attractor. "I want to see if they've got many of thosespace-ships in action, and you will want to see what war is like, whenit is fought by people, who have been making war steadily for tenthousand years."
Poised at the limit of clear visibility, the two men studied theincessant battle being waged beneath them. They saw not one, but fully athousand of the globular craft high in the air and grouped in a greatcircle around an immense fortification upon the ground below. They sawno airships in the line of battle, but noticed that many such vesselswere flying to and from the front, apparently carrying supplies. Thefortress was an immense dome of some glassy, transparent material,partially covered with slag, through which they saw that the centralspace was occupied by orderly groups of barracks, and that round thecircumference were arranged gigantic generators, projectors, and othermachinery at whose purposes they could not even guess. From the base ofthe dome a twenty-mile-wide apron of the same glassy substance spreadover the ground, and above this apron and around the dome were thrownthe mighty defensive ray-screens, visible now and then in scintillatingviolet splendor as one of the copper-driven Kondalian projectors soughtin vain for an opening. But the Earth-men saw with surprise that themain attack was not being directed at the dome; that only an occasionalray was thrown against it in order to make the defenders keep theirscreens up continuously. The edge of the apron was bearing the brunt ofthat vicious and never-ceasing attack, and most concerned the desperatedefense.
For miles beyond that edge, and as deep under it as frightful rays andenormous charges of explosive copper could penetrate, the ground was oneseething, flaming volcano of molten and incandescent lava; lavaconstantly being volatilized by the unimaginable heat of those rays andbeing hurled for miles in all directions by the inconceivable power ofthose explosive copper projectiles--the heaviest projectiles that couldbe used without endangering the planet itself--being directed under theexposed edge of that unbreakable apron, which was in actuality anchoredto the solid core of the planet itself; lava flowing into and filling upthe vast craters caused by the explosions. The attack seemed fiercest atcertain points, perhaps a quarter of a mile apart around the circle, andafter a time the watchers perceived that at those points, under the edgeof the apron, in that indescribable inferno of boiling lava, destructiverays, and disintegrating copper, there were enemy machines at work.These machines were strengthening the protecting apron and extending it,very slowly, but ever wider and ever deeper as the ground under it andbefore it was volatilized or hurled away by the awful forces of theKondalian attack. So much destruction had already been wrought that theedge of the apron and its molten moat were already fully a mile belowthe normal level of that cratered, torn, and tortured plain.
Now and then one of the mechanical moles would cease its labors,overcome by the concentrated fury of destruction centered upon it. Itsshattered remnants would be withdrawn and shortly, repaired or replaced,it would be back at work. But it was not the defenders who had sufferedmost heavily. The fortress was literally ringed about with the shatteredremnants of airships, and the riddled hulls of more than a few of thosemighty globular cruisers of the void bore mute testimony to thedeadliness and efficiency of the warfare of the invaders.
Even as they watched, one of the spheres, unable for some reason tomaintain its screens or overcome by the awful forces playing upon it,flared from white into and through the violet and was hurled upward asthough shot from the mouth of some Brobdingnagian howitzer. A dooropened, and from its flaming interior four figures leaped out into theair, followed by a puff of orange-colored smoke. At the first sign oftrouble, the ship next it in line leaped in front of it and the fourfigures floated gently to the ground, supported by friendly attractorsand protected from enemy rays by the bulk and by the screens of therescuing vessel. Two great airships soared upward from back of the linesand hauled the disabled vessel to the ground by means of their powerfulattractors. The two observers saw with amazement that after briefattention from an ant-like ground-crew, the original four men climbedback into their warship and she again shot into the fray, apparently asgood as ever.
"What do you know about that!" exclaimed DuQuesne. "That gives me anidea, Loring. They must get to them that way fairly often, to judge bythe teamwork they use when it does happen. How about waiting until theydisable another one like that, and then grabbing it while its in theair, deserted and unable to fight back? One of those ships is worth athousand of this one, even if we had everything known to the Osnomians."
"That's a real idea--those boats certainly are brutes for punishment,"agreed Loring, and as both men again settled down to watch the battle,he went on: "So this is war out this way? You're right. Seaton, withhalf this stuff, could whip the combined armies and navies of the world.I don't blame Brookings much, though, at that--nobody could believe halfof this unless they could actually see it, as we are doing."
"I can't understand it," DuQuesne frowned as he considered thesituation. "The attackers are Kondalians, all right--those ships aredevelopments of the _Skylark_--but I don't get that fort at all. Wonderif it can be the strangers already? Don't think so--they aren't due fora couple of years yet, and I don't think the Kondalians could standagainst them a minute. It must be what is left of Mardonale, although Inever heard of anything like that. Probably it is some new inventionthey dug up at the last minute. That's it, I guess," and his browcleared. "It couldn't be anything else."
* * * * *
They waited long for the incident to be repeated, and finally theirpatience was rewarded. When the next vessel was disabled and hurledupward by the concentration of enemy forces, DuQuesne darted down,seized it with his most powerful attractor, and whisked it away intospace at such a velocity that to the eyes of the Kordalians it simplydisappeared. He took the disabled warship far out into space and allowedit to cool off for a long time before deciding that it was safe to boardit. Through the transparent walls they could see no sign of life, andDuQuesne donned a vacuum suit and stepped into the airlock. As Loringheld the steel vessel close to the stranger, DuQuesne leaped lightlythrough the open door into the interior. Shutting the door, he opened anauxiliary air-tank, adjusting the gauge to one atmosphere as he did so.The pressure normal, he divested himself of the suit and made a thoroughexamination of the vessel. He then signaled Loring to follow him, andsoon both ships were over Kondal, so high as to be invisible from theground. Plunging the vessel like a bullet towards the grove in which hehad left the Kondalian airship, he slowed abruptly just in time to makea safe landing. As he stepped out upon Osnomian soil, Loring landed theEarthly ship hardly less skillfully.
"This saves us a lot of trouble, Loring. This is undoubtedly one of thefinest space-ships of the Universe, and just about ready for anything."
"How did they get to it?"
"One of the screen generators apparently weakened a trifle, probablyfrom weeks of continuous use. That let some of the rays come through;everything got hot, and the crew had to jump or roast. Nothing is hurt,though, as the ship was thrown up and out of range before the arenakmelted at all. The copper repellers are gone, of course, and most of thebars that were in use are melted down, but there was enough of the mainbar left to drive the ship and we can replace the melted stuff easilyenough. Nothing else was hurt, as there's absolutely nothing in thestructure of these vessels that can be burned. Even the insulation inthe coils and generators has a melting-point higher than that ofporcelain. And not all the copper was melted, either. Some of thesestorerooms are lined with two feet of insulation and are piled full ofbars and explosive ammunition."
"What was the smoke we saw, then?"
"That was their food-supply. It's co
oked to an ash, and their water wasall boiled away through the safety-valves. Those rays certainly can putout a lot of heat in a second or two!"
"Can the two of us put on those copper repeller-bands? This ship must beseventy-five feet in diameter."
"Yes, it's a lot bigger than the _Skylark_ was. It's one of their latestmodels, or it wouldn't have been on the front line. As to banding on therepellers--that's easy. That airship is half full of metal-workingmachinery that can do everything but talk. I know how to use most of it,from seeing it in use, and we can figure out the rest."
In that unfrequented spot there was little danger of detection from theair. And none whatsoever of detection from the ground--of ground-travelupon Osnome there is none. Nevertheless, the two men camouflaged thevessels so that they were visible only to keen and direct scrutiny, anddrove their task through to completion on the shortest possible time.The copper repellers were banded on, and much additional machinery wasinstalled in the already well-equipped shop. This done, they transferredto their warship food, water, bedding, instruments, and everything elsethey needed or wanted from their own ship and from the disabledKondalian airship. They made a last tour of inspection to be sure theyhad overlooked nothing useful, then embarked.
"Think anybody will find those ships? They could get a good line on whatwe've done."
"Probably, eventually, Loring, so we'd better destroy them. We'd bettertake a short hop first, though, to test everything out. Since you're notfamiliar with the controls of a ship of this type, you need practise.Shoot us up around that moon over there and bring us back to this spot."
"She's a sweet-handling boat--easy like a bicycle," declared Loring ashe brought the vessel lightly to a landing upon their return. "We canburn the old one up now. We'll never need her again, any more than asnake needs his last year's skin."
"She's good, all right. Those two hulks must be put out of existence,but we shouldn't do it here. The rays would set the woods afire, and themetal would condense all around. We don't want to leave any tracks, sowe'd better pull them out into space to destroy them. We could turn themloose, and as you've never worked a ray, it'll be good practice for you.Also, I want you to see for yourself just what our best armour-plateamounts to compared with arenak."
When they towed the two vessels far out into space, Loring put intopractise the instruction he had received from DuQuesne concerning thecomplex armament of their vessel. He swung the beam-projector upon theKondalian airship, pressed the connectors of the softener ray, the heatray, and the induction ray, and threw the master switch. Almostinstantly the entire hull became blinding white, but it was severalseconds before the extremely refractory material began to volatilize.Though the metal was less than an inch think, it retained its shape andstrength stubbornly, and only slowly did it disappear in flaming,flaring gusts of incandescent gas.
"There, you've seen what an inch of arenak is like," said DuQuesne whenthe destruction was complete. "Now shine it on that sixty-inchchrome-vanadium armor hull of our old bus and see what happens."
Loring did so. As the beam touched it, the steel disappeared in oneflare of radiance--as he swung the projector in one flashing arc fromthe stem to the stern there was nothing left. Loring, swinging the beam,whistled in amazement.
"Wow! What a difference! And this ship of ours has a skin of arenak sixfeet thick!"
"Yes. Now you understand why I didn't want to argue with anybody outhere as long as we were in our steel ship."
"I understand, all right; but I can't understand the power of theserays. Suppose I had had all twenty of them on instead of only three?"
"In that case, I think that we could have whipped even the short, thickstrangers."
"You and me both. But say, every ship's got to have a name. This new oneof ours is such a sweet, harmless, inoffensive little thing, we'd bettername her the _Violet_, hadn't we?"
* * * * *
DuQuesne started the _Violet_ off in the direction of the solar systemoccupied by the warlike strangers, but he did not hurry. He and Loringpracticed incessantly for days at the controls, darting here and there,putting on terrific acceleration until the indicators showed a velocityof hundreds of thousand of miles per second, then reversing theacceleration until the velocity was zero. They studied the controls andalarm system until each knew perfectly every instrument, every tinylight, and the tone of each bell. They practiced with the rays, singlyand in combination, with the visiplates, and with the many levers anddials, until each was so familiar with the complex installation that hishandling of every control had become automatic. Not until then didDuQuesne give the word to start out in earnest toward their goal, at anunthinkable distance.
They had not been under way long when an alarm bell sounded its warningand a brilliant green light began flashing upon the board.
"Hm ... m," DuQuesne frowned as he reversed the bar. "Outsideintra-atomic energy detector. Somebody's using power out here.Direction, about dead ahead--straight down. Let's see if we can seeanything."
He swung number six, the telescopic visiplate, into connection. Afterwhat seemed to them a long time they saw a sudden sharp flash,apparently an immense distance ahead, and simultaneously three morealarm bells rang and three colored lights flashed briefly.
"Somebody got quite a jolt then. Three rays in action at once for threeor four seconds," reported DuQuesne, as he applied still more negativeacceleration.
"I'd like to know what this is all about!" he exclaimed after a time, asthey saw a subdued glow, which lasted a minute or two. As the warninglight was flashing more and more slowly and with diminishing intensity,the _Violet_ was once more put upon her course. As she proceeded,however, the warnings of the liberation of intra-atomic energy grewstronger and stronger, and both men scanned their path intensely for asight of the source of the disturbance, while their velocity was cut toonly a few hundred miles an hour. Suddenly the indicator swerved andpointed behind them, showing that they had passed the object, whateverit was. DuQuesne instantly applied power and snapped on a smallsearchlight.
"If it's so small that we couldn't see it when we passed it, it'snothing to be afraid of. We'll be able to find it with a light."
After some search, they saw an object floating in space-apparently avacuum suit!
"Shall one of us get in the airlock, or shall we bring it in with anattractor?" asked Loring.
"An attractor, by all means. Two or three of them, in fact, tospread-eagle whatever it is. Never take any chances. It's probably anOsnomian, but you never can tell. It may be one of those other people.We know they were around here a few weeks ago, and they're the only onesI know of that have intra-atomic power besides us and the Osnomians."
"That's no Osnomian," he continued, as the stranger was drawn into theairlock. "He's big enough around for four Osnomians, and very short.We'll take no chances at all with that fellow."
The captive was brought into the control room pinioned head, hand, andfoot with attractors and repellers, before DuQuesne approached him. Hethen read the temperature and pressure of the stranger's air-supply, andallowed the surplus air to escape slowly before removing the stranger'ssuit and revealing one of the Fenachrone--eyes closed, unconscious ordead.
DuQuesne leaped for the educator and handed Loring a headset.
"Put this on quick. He may be only unconscious, and we might not be ableto get a thing from him if he were awake."
Loring donned the headset, still staring at the monstrous form withamazement, not unmixed with awe, while DuQuesne, paying no attention toanything except the knowledge he was seeking, manipulated the controlsof the instrument. His first quest was for the weapons and armament ofthe vessel. In this he was disappointed, as he learned that the strangerwas one of the navigating engineers, and as such, had no detailedknowledge of the matters of prime importance to the inquisitor. He didhave a complete knowledge of the marvelous Fenachrone propulsion system,however, and this DuQuesne carefully transferred to his own brain. Hethen rapidl
y explored other regions of that fearsome organ of thought.
As the gigantic and inhuman brain was spread before them, DuQuesne andLoring read not only the language, customs, and culture of theFenachrone, but all their plans for the future, as well as the events ofthe past. Plainly in his mind they perceived how he had been cast adriftin the emptiness of the void. They saw the Fenachrone cruiser lying inwait for the two globular vessels. Looking through an extraordinarilypowerful telescope with the eyes of their prisoner, they saw themapproach, all unsuspecting. DuQuesne recognized all five persons in the_Skylark_ and Dunark and Sitar in the Kondal; such was that unearthlyoptical instrument and so clear was the impression upon the mind beforehim. They saw the attack and the battle. They saw the _Skylark_ throwoff her zone of force and attack; saw this one survivor standingdirectly in line with a huge projector-spring, and saw the springsevered by the zone. The free end, under its thousands of pounds oftension, had struck the being upon the side of the head, and the forceof the blow, only partially blocked by the heavy helmet, had hurled himout through the yawning gap in the wall and hundreds of miles out intospace.
Suddenly the clear view of the brain of the Fenachrone became blurredand meaningless and the flow of knowledge ceased--the prisoner hadregained consciousness and was trying with all his gigantic strength tobreak from those intangible bonds that held him. So powerful were theforces upon him, however, that only a few twitching muscles gaveevidence that he was struggling at all. Glancing about him he recognizedthe attractors and repellers bearing upon him, ceased his efforts toescape, and hurled the full power of his baleful gaze into the blackeyes so close to his own. But DuQuesne's mind, always under perfectcontrol and now amply reenforced by a considerable proportion of thestranger's own knowledge and power, did not waver under the force ofeven that hypnotic glare.
"It is useless, as you observe," he said coldly, in the stranger's owntongue, and sneered. "You are perfectly helpless. Unlike you of theFenachrone, however, men of my race do not always kill strangers atsight, merely because they are strangers. I will spare your life, if youcan give me anything of enough value to me to make extra time andtrouble worth while."
"You read my mind while I could not resist your childish efforts. I willhave no traffic whatever with you who have destroyed my vessel. If youhave mentality enough to understand any portion of my mind--which Idoubt--you already know the fate in store for you. Do with me what youwill." This from the stranger.
* * * * *
DuQuesne pondered long before he replied; considering whether it was tohis advantage to inform this stranger of the facts. Finally he decided.
"Sir, neither I nor this vessel had anything to do with the destructionof your warship. Our detectors discovered you floating in empty space;we stopped and rescued you from death. We have seen nothing else, savewhat we saw pictured in your own brain. I know that, in common with allof your race, you possess neither conscience nor honor, as we understandthe terms. An automatic liar by instinct and training whenever you thinklies will best serve your purpose, you may yet have intelligence enoughto recognize simple truth when you hear it. You already have observedthat we are of the same race as those who destroyed your vessel, andhave assumed that we are with them. In that you are wrong. It is truethat I am acquainted with those others, but they are my enemies. I amhere to kill them, not to aid them. You have already helped me in oneway--I know as much as does my enemy concerning the impenetrable shieldof force. If I will return you unharmed to your own planet, will youassist me in stealing one of your ships of space, so that I may destroythat Earth-vessel?"
The Fenachrone, paying no attention to DuQuesne's barbed commentsconcerning his honor and veracity, did not hesitate an instant in hisreply.
"I will not. We supermen of the Fenachrone will allow no vessel of ours,with its secrets unknown to any others of the Universe, to fall into thehands of any of the lesser breeds of men."
"Well, you didn't try to lie that time, anyway," said DuQuesne, "butthink a minute. Seaton, my enemy, already has one of your vessels--don'tthink he is too much of a fool to put it back together and to learn itsevery secret. Then, too, remember that I have your mind, and can getalong without you; even though I am willing to admit that you could beof enough help to me so that I would save your life in exchange for thathelp. Also remember that, superman though you may be, your mentalitycannot cope with the forces I have bearing upon you. Neither will yourbeing a superman enable your body to retain life after I have pushed youthrough yonder door, dressed as you are in a silken tunic."
"I have the normal love of life," was the reply, "but some things cannotbe done, even with life at stake. Stealing a vessel of the Fenachrone isone of those things. I can, however, do this much--if you will return meto my own planet, you two shall be received as guests aboard one of ourvessels and shall be allowed to witness the vengeance of the Fenachroneupon your enemy. Then you shall be returned to your vessel and allowedto depart unharmed."
"Now you are lying by rote--I know just what you'd do," said DuQuesne."Get that idea out of your head right now. The attractors now holdingyou will not be released until after you have told all. Then, and thenonly, will we try to discover a way of returning you to your own worldsafely, and yet in a manner which will in no way jeopardize my ownsafety. Incidentally, I warn you that the first sign of an attempt toplay false with me in any way will mean your instant death."
The prisoner remained silent, analyzing every feature of the situation,and DuQuesne continued, coldly:
"Here's something else for you to think about. If you are unwilling tohelp us, what is to prevent me from killing you, and then hunting upSeaton and making peace with him for the duration of this forthcomingwar? With the fragments of your vessel, which he has; with my knowledgeof your mind, reenforced by your own dead brain; and with the vastresources of all the planets of the green system; there is no doubt thatthe plans of the Fenachrone will be seriously interfered with. Myriadsof your race will certainly lose their lives, and it is quite possiblethat your entire race would be destroyed. Understand that I care nothingfor the green system. You are welcome to it if you do as I ask. If youdo not, I shall warn them and help them simply to protect my world,which is now my own personal property."
"In return for our armament and equipment, you promise not to warn thegreen system against us? The death of your enemy takes first place inyour mind?" The stranger spoke thoughtfully. "In that I understand yourviewpoint thoroughly. But, after I have remodeled your power-plant intoours and have piloted you to our planet, what assurance have I that youwill liberate me, as you have said?"
"None whatever--I have made and am asking no promises, since I cannotexpect you to trust me, any more than I can trust you. Enough of thisargument! I am master here, and I am dictating terms. We can get alongwithout you. Therefore you must decide quickly whether you would ratherdie suddenly and surely, here in space and right now, or help us as Idemand and live until you get back home--enjoying meanwhile your lifeand whatever chance you think you may have of being liberated within theatmosphere of your own planet."
"Just a minute, Chief!" Loring said, in English, his back to theprisoner. "Wouldn't we gain more by killing him and going back to Seatonand the green system, as you suggested?"
"No." DuQuesne also turned away, to shield his features from themind-reading gaze of the Fenachrone. "That was pure bluff. I don't wantto get within a million miles of Seaton until after we have the armamentof this fellow's ships. I couldn't make peace with Seaton now, even if Iwanted to--and I haven't the slightest intention of trying. I intendkilling him on sight. Here's what we're going to do. First, we'll getwhat we came after. Then we'll find the _Skylark_ and blow her clearout of space, and take over the pieces of that Fenachrone ship. Afterthat we'll head for the green system, and with their own stuff and whatwe'll give them, they'll be able to give those fiends a hot reception.By the time they finally destroy the Osnomians--if they do--we'll havethe world ready fo
r them." He turned to the Fenachrone. "What is yourdecision?"
"I submit, in the hope that you will keep your promise, since there isno alternative but death," and the awful creature, still loosely held bythe attractors and carefully watched by DuQuesne and Loring, fairly toreinto the task of rebuilding the Osnomian power-plant into thespace-annihilating drive of the Fenachrone--for he well knew one factthat DuQuesne's hurried inspection had failed to glean from thelabyrinthine intricacies of that fearsome brain: that once within thedetector screens of that distant solar system these Earth-beings wouldbe utterly helpless before the forces which would inevitably be turnedupon them. Also, he realized that time was precious, and resolved todrive the _Violet_ so unmercifully that she would overtake that fleeingtorpedo, now many hours upon its way--the torpedo bearing news, for thefirst time in Fenachrone history, of the overwhelming defeat and captureof one of its mighty engines of interstellar war.
In a very short time, considering the complexity of the undertaking, theconversion of the power-plant was done and the repellers, alreadysupposed the ultimate in protection, were reenforced by aten-thousand-pound mass of activated copper, effective for untoldmillions of miles. Their monstrous pilot then set the bar and advancedboth levers of the dual power control out to the extreme limit of theirtravel.
There was no sense of motion or of acceleration, since the new system ofpropulsion acted upon every molecule of matter within the radius ofactivity of the bar, which had been set to include the entire hull. Thepassengers felt only the utter lack of all weight and the other peculiarsensations with which they were already familiar, as each had hadprevious experience of free motion in space. But in spite of the lack ofapparent motion, the _Violet_ was now leaping through the unfathomabledepths of interstellar space with the unthinkable speed of five timesthe velocity of light!