sides. Gerry got to his feet and picked up his rubber saddlewhich he had been using as a pillow under his helmet.
"We'd better investigate," he said. "Wake Closana."
They saddled their dolphins and rode out at an easy pace, holding thebig fish down with a tight rein. As they rode the glow ahead of thembecame more definite. It seemed to come from a long row of twenty ormore lights. Then they were near enough to see each other in thereflected glow.
"It's some kind of a ship," Gerry said. "Those lights are her portholes!"
"It's more than that!" snapped Angus. "It's the _Viking_! I know thelines of her stern anywhere, even in this sunken and God forsaken spot!"
The space-ship lay quietly in the soft mud of this part of the oceanbottom. All her port holes of transparent duralite were glowing with thereflected light from inside. The twisted wrecks of her helicopters werestill visible on top of the hull, but otherwise she did not appear to bedamaged.
Gerry was in the middle as the three of them rode their dolphins upclose to one of the big windows of the control room. The ship hadevidently survived the fall into the water, for they could see dimfigures moving about inside.
"I told you that duralite hull could stand a little thing like a fallinto the ocean!" McTavish exulted.
As they crowded their finny steeds close to the glass of the controlroom window, Portok the Martian came to peer out. His red-skinned facewent pale as he saw them, and even through the ship's hull theiraudiphones picked up his agonized cry.
"Steve! Tanda! I just saw the ghosts of Norton and McTavish looking inthe window!"
Steve Brent came into the control room. He looked haggard and unshaven,and he was stained with oily grease.
"What are you raving about, Portok?" he snapped.
"It's no raving, Steve!" the little Martian chattered, "I tell you I sawthe three of them. The Chief, and Angus, and the Amazon girl--all ridingon some kind of big fish and peering in that window!"
"You're going crazy!" Steve Brent snapped, but he walked to the window.His own eyes widened as he saw the strangely clad trio sitting theirmounts outside. Gerry waved violently to him.
"Let us in, you idiot!" he shouted, forgetting that the _Viking_ did notcarry any audiphones that could pick up his words. He heard Steve'sunsteady voice.
"Maybe we're both crazy, Portok, but I think they're really out there.Open the outer door to the starboard space-lock."
* * * * *
A small door swung open on the starboard side of the _Viking's_ blue andsilver hull. That small compartment had really been designed fordropping objects into the void of outer space, or for testing thequality of the atmosphere on any stray planetoids the _Viking_ mighthave visited on her journey across the vastness of interplanetary space,but it would do for a water-lock in this instance.
Gerry and the others dismounted from their dolphins and let the reinshang. Angus gave his mount a slap on the flank. With a flip of its tailthe big fish wheeled and swam off, and after a second the othersfollowed it. Gerry led the way into the space-lock and closed the doorbehind him. It only took a few seconds for the blast of the _Viking's_powerful compressed air tanks to blow out the water. Then, as Gerryunstrapped his helmet and lifted the big glass globe off his head, SteveBrent opened the inner door and stepped into the space-lock.
"I don't know if I'm crazy or dreaming or what, Chief," he said, "butI'm damn glad to see you back."
"You're sane enough," Gerry snapped, "it's a long story, so skip it forthe moment. I thought _you_ were done for!"
"Not the _Viking_!" Larry affectionately slapped the laminated duraliteshell of the space-ship. "She can stand more than being dropped in thedrink from a few hundred feet up. Our problem is how to get going again.We've been able to crawl along the bottom by using minimum power of onerocket tube and scaring hell out of all the fish, but that's the bestwe've been able to do. Now that Angus is back he can take over. What doyou think about the helicopters?"
"I could forge new ones in a week out of that blue metal they have inGiri-Vaaka," McTavish muttered. "But God knows how we'll ever get holdof a supply. Anyway, I think I can reverse enough of the gravity platesto give this craft reserve buoyancy so she'll navigate on the surfaceinstead of hugging the bottom."
"I never thought of that!" Steve said admiringly. Angus grunted, andbegan to strip off his green rubber uniform.
"It takes a Scotsman to show the rest of the Universe how to get out ofa tough spot!"
* * * * *
It was afternoon on the following day when the _Viking's_ long hullfinally broke the surface. She lay in the water like a half submergedcigar, the yellowish ripples lapping on the curved blue duralite of hersuper-structure. The twisted remains of the shattered helicopters wereugly stumps along the space-ship's sleek back. A single rocket tubeflamed and smoked astern, its blast driving the vessel through the waterat a good pace while her wake smoked and bubbled.
Gerry Norton opened the duralite dome of the upper control room andstepped out on the wet deck with a few of the others. They were well outon the great sea, with the green hills of the Giri-Savissa border a lowsmear along the horizon to starboard. This was the same lonely sea theyhad seen when they first dropped down through the clouds to Venus.
The vast and greenish-yellow waters were broken by scattered islands,bare bits of rock that were dotted with blue moss. Sea birds swoopedabout them. Lofty mountains on a distant shore were capped with snow. Inone or two places a narrow shaft of sunlight struck down through a briefgap in the canopy of eternal clouds, but otherwise there was only thatsubdued and peculiarly golden light in which there moved only a fewoddly shaped birds.
So much had happened since they first saw that lonely sea! It seemedas though much more than a week had elapsed. Savissa and its GoldenAmazons ... the arrow tipped tower of Rupin-Sang ... the Scaly hordesof Vaaka and the dread palace of the insane Lansa who had once been anEarthly officer ... the secret and water-locked halls of Luralla whereThe outlaws of Giri dwelt--many scenes went through Gerry Norton's mind.He seemed to have aged ten years since the day he brought the _Viking_down through the cloud screen. Well--the immediate problem was to getsome suitable metal to repair the smashed helicopters. The _Viking_might possibly get up into the air with the power of her rockets aloneif they beached her on a sloping shore with her nose upward, but shecould never come down safely without helicopters.
"I'll hold her on this course a while," Gerry said. "In the morning wecan strike over and try to pick up the frontiers of Savissa."
It was just at dusk that they saw white towers against the sky. Theyrose out of the sea as Gerry turned the _Viking's_ blunt nose towardthem--the mighty battlements of a vast city. Closana, who was standingon deck beside him at the time, rested her hands on the rail and staredin utter amazement.
"But it isn't possible, Geree!" she gasped, "there isn't anycivilization out there on the islands of the Great Sea!"
"Could it be a mirage?" he suggested. "A reflection of some Savissancity on the mainland?"
"No." The girl shook her head. "There are no cities of that sort in anyof these lands. Geree--there is something strange here. I do not likeit. There _cannot_ be any city ahead of us there!"
"But there it is!" Gerry said grimly. "We can't all be seeing things.We'll go closer and get a better look."
It was sunset, the unspectacular Venusian sunset which was simply aswift lessening of the golden glow from the cloud veiled sky above.Lights were gleaming from most of the tall buildings of the toweringcity as the _Viking_ drove toward it through a quiet sea. Sea birdsswooped low about the ship's wake. The watchers on deck could see thelow shore line of the island on which the city was built. Then theyheard distant bells, pleasant bells that seemed to be chiming a farewellto the day and a welcome to the night. And then a red light flashed ontop of the tallest building and in an instant the entire city vanished.
* * * * *
/> One minute the strange city had been clearly visible before them, itsgraceful towers agleam with lights as they notched the sky. The nextinstant the whole place was gone. There was nothing in sight at all buta low shoreline. It was as though a thick veil of concealing mist hadbeen suddenly drawn across between the ship and the city. Only--the airwas clear and without a trace of mist. Gerry walked across to the opendome of the upper control room.
"Cut rockets!" he snapped. "Get some kind of an anchor overboard. We'lljust stay right here off shore until morning. There's something queergoing on."
Gerry and Steve Brent leaned on the rail together, peering