CHAPTER V
_The Tritu Anu_
Before the car came to a stop Tiedus rummaged in a locker and stretchedforth his hands as if carrying something delicate and fragile.
"It will be necessary for you to put this on," he said: "it will beunsafe otherwise."
Blaine stared, mystified. Was this Rulan kidding him? "Put what on?" heasked.
"A thousand pardons. I had forgotten that you do not know. I hold in myhands a cloak, an invisible thing that will hide you from the guardsand from the Zara's crystal. Another secret of my father's. Dantordeveloped it for him only recently."
Blaine felt the texture of the stuff then; crumpled it in his fingersas its gossamer-like weight dropped in loose folds around his body. Butthere was nothing there: to the eyes. It simply did not exist except tothe touch, and he felt no different with it on than he had before.
"Where's Tommy?" he asked suddenly, seeing that Dantus now sat alone atthe controls.
Tiedus laughed. "He has been covered in the same manner," he said, "andis safely hidden from sight as are you."
Incredulous, disbelieving, Blaine called out to his friend in atremulous voice. And Tom Farley's awed response reassured him.
"Keep close to me," Tiedus told him. The car had stopped and hedirected them into the basket of the lift. The two Earth men collidedviolently and, clinging to each other in their ghastly invisibility,laughed crazily for a moment. As far as any observers might know therewere only the two Rulans in the basket.
* * * * *
Blaine fingered Pegrani's ray pistol when the cable lowered themswiftly to the roof of a huge steel cylinder that rose, a solitary andunlovely structure, in the midst of the jungle a thousand miles fromIlen-dar. The indicator informed him that seven energy charges stillremained in the storage chamber of the little weapon. Its possessionbrought him a measure of confidence.
Careful scrutiny of the roof had shown it to be deserted, so the basketwas brought to rest in a deeply shadowed portion. Immediately theystepped out, and it was sent swiftly aloft by remote control of aportable ether-wave that Dantor produced.
They encountered two of the green-bronze guards in one of the passagesbelow and these challenged the Rulan lads with drawn pistols. The alarmwas out! Fortunately Pegrani had not recognized Tiedus or all wouldhave been lost. But the Zara was watching every Rulan community and hadinstructed her guards to take the Earth men into custody at all costs.Those remarkable cloaks were all that saved them. They breathed easierwhen the guards passed on.
Now they were in a lift, dropping speedily into the depths of the TrituAnu. When the cage came to rest they were hustled into a maze ofwinding passageways that led ever downward. A wall of damp stonefinally blocked their progress, but at Dantus' touch of a hidden springa section of the solid rock swung aside to admit them to a concealedroom where the lights were bright and where a delegation of Rulansawaited their coming.
With the cloaks of invisibility removed, they were welcomed by Dantor,a tall white-haired Rulan who was startlingly like his son.
They were a solemn lot, these Rulans of the older generation, but theygazed on the Earth men with sympathy and understanding. An entirelydifferent breed from the Llotta.
This room was a secret laboratory, fully equipped for chemical andphysical research. Dantor sat before a smaller replica of the Zara'scrystal ball as he addressed the visitors.
* * * * *
"No doubt you are puzzled," he began, using the language of the Llottawith an accent that softened its harsh gutturals, "over the calamitythat has befallen you. And it is not to be wondered at. But your owndanger is as nothing compared with the danger that now threatens ourwhole solar system. It is to explain that and to ask your cooperationin warding off the holocaust that I have sent for you.
"Since the destruction of the Tritu Nogaru we Rulans number less thanone thousand, of whom three hundred are here. The Tritu Anu is foremostof the royal laboratories of Llotta-nar and its work is carried outentirely by our people. It is only on account of our superioraccomplishments in science that the Llotta have allowed us to exist forso long a time, and, in this connection, I might say that the Zara hasbeen taken severely to task for her wanton massacre of the Rulans ofthe Tritu Nogaru. But that is neither here nor there; it is merely asidelight I am giving you.
"The important thing is this k-metal of yours and its relation to theplans of the Llotta. Antrid, as you know, is a dying world; comingrapidly to the end of its resources. And, as our ancestors did beforeus, the Llotta have been casting their eyes about for a new home. Theinner planets beckoned, especially your Earth, but it was manifestlyimpossible to reach them as there is insufficient fuel in all Antrid toprovide for the voyage of even one space ship. Then, with the longrange searching rays of the crystal ball television and soundreproducers, they discovered the use of this k-metal. The sending ofAntazzo to your Earth followed.
"The rest you know insofar as his activities are concerned, but whatyou do not know is this: The Llotta have constructed a huge steel tubethat is set deep into the crust of Antrid; an enormous rocket-tube ifyou please, like one of those on your space ship. They plan to use theenergy of this supply of k-metal in setting up tremendous streams ofelectronic discharges from the great tube and thus to swing thesatellite from its natural orbit. They would send this entire worldhurtling through space toward the inner planets, and, by proper controlof the rocket discharges, bring it close to your Earth where it wouldbecome a secondary satellite at close range. Then they could war on youat their leisure and finally take Earth as their new home. Thus havethe Llotta planned."
"What!" Blaine exclaimed. "Why, we'd blast them from the skies beforethey were started. They haven't a chance."
* * * * *
Dantor nodded gravely. "I am sure of it," he agreed: "I have seen yourgreat guns in the crystal. But they are blind to that possibility. Andthere are other serious flaws in the plan. The incentive, of course,lies in the certain knowledge that we are using up the internal heat ofAntrid so rapidly that less than a century of life now remains to itspeoples. Our power is produced by admitting water to the interiorthrough myriads of tubes that serve the double purpose of introducingthe water and conveying the generated steam back to the surface, whereit produces electricity by driving great turbine generators. Thiselectricity is distributed by charging the copper shell and the groundbeneath at high frequency; it is collected from the air between by theheaters and various machines that use it. But the shortage is ever moreserious and Antrid is cooling off. Thus the need for the k-metal andthus the sending of Antazzo. And now for the flaws:
"The Zara, in killing Antazzo, frustrated her own plans, as he alone,of all her people, knew how to use this marvelous energy producer.Realizing this, she set about to make friends with you two in the hopethat the information might be obtained from you. That was a greatmistake and raised an unexpected obstacle."
"Well, I'll be damned!" Blaine exploded. "No wonder she tried her wileson me. Tried to make a sucker out of me, didn't she?"
Dantor smiled knowingly. "More about Clyone later," he said. "Actuallyshe is enamoured of you, Carson, and besides she is not reallyresponsible for the mad plan herself. But that tale can wait.
"The basic and most serious flaw in the plan is this: It can notpossibly succeed, no matter how successful their attempts. What they donot understand and will not believe when I tell them is that the onlyresult of the mad experiment will be the complete destruction of thesolar system, Antrid and themselves included. Complete and horribleannihilation, I say!" Dantor paused and eyed his visitors solemnly.
* * * * *
In his mind's eye, Blaine could not visualize such a thing nor picturethe possible explanation. But he saw that Tommy had paled and wasclenching his fists. Tommy was more of a scientist; it must be herealized what this enterprise involved.
Dantor was speaking again, in low, intense tones: "What they arerefusing to see is that the delicate balance of the solar system willbe disturbed if a body as large as Antrid is moved a half billion milessunward. All bodies are kept in their orbits by a nice balance of massattraction and centrifugal force; if a single one is altered all othersare affected. What would happen is easy to calculate. First off, whenAntrid approached the inner planets all bodies in the system wouldchange their paths and the altered forces would cause severeearthquakes, tidal waves and other natural disturbances of disastrousextent.
"These would increase in violence as Antrid drew nearer to the sun,and, if she finally took up her position as a new satellite of theEarth, the entire solar system would be in chaos. By this time, even iflife still remained on Earth, it would quickly become extinct, for thevastly increased tidal forces on that body would flood the land to thepeaks of the highest mountains. Earth would draw in closer to the sundue to loss of velocity and increased mass of the Earth-moon system.Tremendous new forces would rend asunder the Earth, its moon, andAntrid. Venus and Mars, following suit as the forces equalized, wewould have a dead universe."
* * * * *
Tommy believed him. That was apparent from his furrowed brow and grimset jaw. "I'll never give 'em the secret of the k-metal," he grated."Nor will Carson; I'll gamble on that. We'll die here before they'llget it out of us."
Blaine seconded his remarks fervently. Then, turning to the Rulanscientist, "Perhaps," he suggested, "we might remain in hiding here foran indefinite period. Perhaps even we might contrive a way of gettingto the store of k-metal and regaining possession of it. They'd belicked for sure then."
Dantor beamed. "That is exactly why I sent for you," he said. Thensobering anew, he added, "But I fear that would not be the end. Theywill not give up. Another emissary would be transmitted to duplicateAntazzo's exploit on Earth and in five of your years the danger wouldagain be faced. They would take infinite precaution to prevent a secondfailure. We must make it forever impossible--now."
"How can we? My God, it's hopeless!" Blaine groaned.
"Nothing is hopeless, my boy. Consider the plight of the Rulans. No,there is still hope and we will leave you to think it over--if you arewilling. It is necessary that we Rulans show our faces above before wearouse the suspicions of the guards."
"Of course we're willing. We'll stay as long as you say--and help."Blaine was intensely earnest and Tommy chimed in with his old timefervor and enthusiasm. But hope of success seemed remote.
A murmur of approval came from the assembled Rulans, and Dantor wiped atrace of moisture from his tired old eyes. "Thank you," he said simply."This chamber is insulated from the searching rays of the crystalspheres. You are safe for the present and will be supplied witheverything you need. And I shall return shortly to discuss the matterin further detail."
* * * * *
The two Earth men were alone then, in the uncanny silence of theunderground retreat, regarding each other with awed comprehension. Whatpatient, hopeless creatures these Rulans were! Knowing they weredoomed, and without thought of their own safety, they were bendingtheir every effort to the impossible task of saving the universe fromthe madness of the Llotta.
"What do you know about that?" Tommy said, after a while.
"It's true, what he said?" Blaine asked. "What would happen to ourworld, I mean--and to the rest?"
"Not a question of doubt. He's doped it out to a T. Smart guy, thisDantor."
"What do you think? Is there a chance? Think--"
"Hush!" Tommy interrupted him. "Didn't you hear something?"
The silence was ghastly; depressing. Blaine heard distinctly thebeating of his own heart.
Then it was there again, that sound--a muffled scream from the otherside of the stone door. A woman's scream of desperate entreaty. Ashuddering, long-drawn moan, trailing off into deathly silence.