CHAPTER VI
_Ulana_
Blaine was tugging at the lever he had seen the Rulans use in openingthe stone door from the inside. Tommy, less excited, tried to press oneof the invisible cloaks into his free hand.
"Here," he begged. "Don't be a damn fool! They'll get you, the devils."
But the great block of stone was swinging already and the young pilotsqueezed through and into the passage. He stumbled over the crumpledfigure of a young girl and into the arms of one of the green-bronzeguards.
Recovering instantly, he prodded the big fellow's ribs with the raypistol. "Stick 'em up!" he snarled. Then, realizing the words weremeaningless to the other, he said, "Raise your hands--above your head!That's right. Stand still now, or I'll use the ray."
The guard, his face ghastly in the dim light, obeyed. But his wary eyesnever left Blaine's for an instant.
A short way down the hall was the body of a young Rulan. Blaineshuddered as he saw it was headless. The ray had nearly missed thattime, its energy spent before complete disintegration was effected. Thegirl lay still at his feet. With quick fingers he frisked the guard,finding his ray pistol and one gas grenade. What was he to do with thebig fellow? He ought to let him have it, but somehow he couldn't.
Tommy was in the passageway then, invisible. The big guard stifled anamazed cry as his husky voice came out of the nothingness. These devilsof Earth men! They had worked their evil magic on the Zara: had she notordered that their lives be spared? And now there was this! Histhoughts were written large on the ordinarily expressionlesscountenance, and Blaine was tempted to laugh at his affrighted dismay.
"Come on, you bonehead," Tommy was saying in English. "Bring the bigbum inside. I'll carry the girl. Hurry; there'll be a million of themin a minute."
The girl's huddled figure was raised by unseen hands. Poised in mid-airfor a moment, it floated joggily, unsteadily through the crack of thepartly opened stone door. The guard, wide-mouthed and staring, mutteredsupplication to the war gods of Antrid.
* * * * *
Safely inside the secret chamber, the Earth men made haste to truss upthe guard and gag him. He was as tractable as a child under theinvisible fingers of Tom Farley, with eyes imploring the evil spiritsfor mercy. And when Tommy's head appeared, drifting, unsupported by abody; to be followed by arms and shoulders that seemed to materializefrom nothingness, the big fellow struggled panic-stricken in his bonds,shaking with superstitious terror.
Blaine straightened the girl's limbs where she lay on a low couch. Shewas breathing in low shuddering gasps, but a swift examination assuredhim she had not been harmed. Her beautifully chiseled ivory featureswere fixed in an expression of nameless dread. A mass of red-gold hairtumbled in confusion about her face and shoulders and when the pilotsmoothed this back his heart did a most peculiar flip-flop. Sort ofjumped into his throat and stuck there. This Rulan maiden was a visionof feminine loveliness if there ever was one; a dream.
Tommy watched him with a cynical smile, and said with mock contempt,"So you're the guy who swore you'd never tangle up with a femme! Just amonth ago, too. Now look: first you get this Zara woman all het up overyou, and now this one's got you all het up over her. You make me sick!"
There was no fitting retort. Besides, this thing that had come to himwas too serious; too big. He couldn't kid about it--even with Tom. Why,he'd always pictured this very girl in his thoughts; had always dreamedof meeting her some day. And here she was: a living, breathing reality.She was stirring, too, now; breathing easier. Her eyes opened wide;frightened, innocent ones like a child's, blue-gray and fringed withlong lashes that raised dewy from the smooth ivory of her cheeks.
* * * * *
"Antius, my brother," she exclaimed, remembering, "where is he? Isaw--I thought--and the guard; he wanted to take me--oh!"
Hands fluttering to cover her face, she was sobbing now, and Blaineraised her in his arms, clumsily attempting to comfort her.
"Your brother," he said gently; "I'm afraid the guard did away withhim. He is no more."
"Y-yes. I remember now; I saw." She shuddered and became still, hertousled golden head somehow finding a comfortable hollow beneathBlaine's shoulder.
And then, bravely, she sat erect and faced him. "I--I suppose Ishouldn't feel so badly," she said. "We always expect it. But I was sofond of him, and he was the last. I am alone now."
"Not alone," said Blaine; "you have me--us, that is. We are the Earthmen, you know. And you are safe here."
"You are Carson?" she inquired.
"Yes, and my friend is Farley. That is how your people address us, butwe had rather you call us Blaine and Tommy."
Tom Farley was grinning like an idiot. Didn't he have any more sense?Blaine thought. The girl would think he was making fun of her.
"I am Ulana," she said simply.
The stone door opened silently and Tiedus slipped in, closing itswiftly behind him. He stared at the girl and at the trussed-up figureof the guard.
"So!" he exclaimed; "this is the explanation." He breathed heavily asif he had run a long way, and his face was flushed with excitement.
"Why? What's wrong?" Blaine sensed a calamity.
"The Zara--she must have seen you in the crystal. She is in a murderousrage and has visited her wrath on the Tritu Anu. Even now Dantor is onhis way to Ilen-dar in answer to her summons."
"Tiedus! I'm sorry. It is my fault entirely, but--but we heard Ulanacry out."
"You did quite right, Carson. I should have done the same myself. Andactually it makes little difference as far as we Rulans are concerned.We had not long to remain in this life, anyway. It is only that yourhiding place might be revealed; that our plans to outwit the Llottawill fail."
"You--you think she will make away with Dantor?"
"No; he is too valuable as a scientist. But the guards are awaiting herorders to repeat what happened in the Tritu Nogaru. She depends on thework of this laboratory a great deal, though it may be she will stayher hand."
* * * * *
He was fussing with the controls of the small crystal as he spoke, andit sprang into life with the peculiar shifting milkiness. Then,clearly, they were looking into the council chamber at Ilen-dar. Clyonewas there, pacing the floor. Dantor had just arrived with two of thegreen-bronze guards. The Zara, though nervous, was curiously calm andpolite in her greeting of the aged scientist.
"Dantor," she said, "I want these Earth men."
"I can not produce them, Your Majesty."
"You will not, you mean." Clyone dropped her voice. "For two reasons,Dantor, I must have these Earth men. And they must not be harmed. Weneed them on account of this k-metal that was brought by Antazzo, whoseugly body I so foolishly destroyed."
"Two reasons, you said, oh Clyone?" Dantor smiled knowingly.
"Yes, two!" said the Zara defiantly. "I love this Carson, if you mustknow. And it is the only influence for good that ever has come into mylife, Dantor. Oh, can't you see? I _must_ have them."
Blaine felt the hot blood mount to his temples. Tommy giggled like amoron. And Ulana drew away, ever so slightly, it was true, but still itwas a definite withdrawal. Damn this leopard woman, anyway!
"He is not for you, oh Clyone," Dantor was saying, "To people of hisworld the very thought of such a woman as yourself is repulsive. Amurderess he would call you! Their reactions to the taking of humanlife are entirely different from those of the Llotta. They are--youwill pardon my saying it--more like those of the Rulans. The Llottahold life cheap; they hold it dear. To your people you are not a badwoman; only a foolish one who sometimes, in the heat of passion, upsetstheir plans by the sudden snuffing out of a life that is valuable tothose plans. Do you not see my point? He is different; to him you arethe wickedest woman whom he has ever encountered--a monster."
* * * * *
This was strong talk. B
laine drew a quick breath, anticipating anotherof her black rages and sudden death for poor old Dantor.
But Clyone suddenly was on her knees before the old scientist, pleadingwith him! Creature of strange caprices! Though humanlike in heremotions when in her softer moods, she was more like the feline towhich Blaine had likened her, when those soft moods had passed.
Somewhere overhead, in the chambers of the Tritu Anu, there was thesound of a muffled explosion. Its shock was felt even here in therock-hewn secret apartment. Tiedus went white. Quickly he manipulatedthe controls of the crystal sphere.
"It can't be," he exclaimed. "The guards would not disobey her, and shehas ordered no action."
Swiftly, then, the searching ray of the apparatus swung back to theTritu Anu itself, boring into the vast structure above them. One of thechemical laboratories was completely wrecked; maimed and dying Rulanswere everywhere in the ruins. And those who staggered to their feetwere shot down by the green-bronze guards who stood at the doorway.
Then, floor after floor was revealed in the all-seeing crystal.Everywhere it was the same. Merciless, cold-blooded destruction of theRulan scientists, the most valuable of all in the Llott scheme ofthings. The Earth men were speechless with horror. Ulana once moreburied her head in Carson's shoulder, moaning helplessly.
The scene shifted again to the council chamber of the palace inIlen-dar. The Zara had not risen from her knees; she was still pleadingwith Dantor. She knew nothing of the massacre.
"Ianito!" Tiedus gasped. "It must be he."
* * * * *
And once more the view was changed. They were in the huge dome throughwhich they had entered this mad world. Near the base of the greattelescope a bullet-headed Llott was gazing into the depths of one ofthe crystal spheres, watching the carnage in the Tritu Anu and shoutinghis orders to the guards. "Slay, slay, slay!" he yelled. "Not a Rulanshall remain in all Antrid. It is Ianito commanding you, Ianito theGreat, master of our destinies, Dictator Supreme. Let not one escape; Icommand it. Then will come the great day of release; of conquest. A newhome, a new world awaits you for the taking."
"It is as I thought," Tiedus groaned: "it is the end. He has takenthings in his own hands at last."
The sphere went blank at his touch of a lever. His shoulders droopedand he spread his hands in a gesture of resignation.
"What in the devil!" Tommy exploded. "Can this guy overrule the Zara?Is he that powerful?"
"He is actual ruler of the world that is Antrid; the power behind thethrone. Clyone must do his bidding. He has seen that she is softeningand resolved to speed things up himself."
A sudden bedlam could be heard in the corridor outside the stone door.This Ianito had gone the Zara one better. He had located them; probablysaw the capture of the guard and the rescue of Ulana on the very spotwhere his minions now hammered for entrance.
"They will take you!" Tiedus whispered. "There is no doubt as to theorders issued by Ianito. They will take you alive and bring you to him.You will be compelled to yield the secret of the metal that energizes."
"Not on your life! We'll refuse." Blaine was very positive.
Tiedus smiled sadly. "There is the pink gas, you know," he remindedhim. "No, Carson, there is but one way. You must go out into the jungleand hide for a time. Dantor will return later; it is certain he will bespared. And he will contrive some way of outwitting them. Come; thereis a passage."
Blaine saw the wisdom of the argument. It was their only chance. Therewas a blast that shook the ground beneath their feet, and a hugesection of the stone door was blown into the room. He drew Ulana closewith a possessive encircling arm.
* * * * * * * * * *
They were in a dark narrow passage now, following the whispered voiceof Tiedus. It was damp and rankly odorous there in the darkness, andslimy things wriggled over the floor, brushing their ankles clammily.Behind them there was the roar of another explosion and the shouting ofangry voices. The guards were in the secret chamber and hot on theirtrail.
Tiedus was fumbling with something ahead of them where they had halted;something that rattled and clanked and finally came free. A door openedinto the deep-shadowed green of the jungle.
"Go now, quickly," he warned them. "Hide yourselves as far in as youdare go. You will be lost, but will later be directed by a mentalmessage from Dantor. I shall advise him from the spirit world. We dothat, you know, we Rulans. But I must leave you now; I must hold backthe guards to give you time. Go, friends; farewell."
In his hand Tiedus held the ray pistol they had taken from the capturedguard. He would account for a few of the Llotta at least. Blainereached for him to restrain him; it was unthinkable that this fine ladshould sacrifice himself for them. But Tiedus was gone; he had slippedaway into the black depths of the passageway.
"Come on, snap into it!" Tommy grated, his voice brittle withsuppressed emotion. "The kid's right; let's go." He pushed his way intothe matted growth of the jungle.
Holding Ulana close and not daring to look into her eyes lest he shouldsee what he knew was there, Blaine followed his friend. The mysteriousdepths of the pale green forest closed in about them.