CHAPTER IV
Capture!
He had transferred five to their new position before his pursuer arrivedbeneath the trap and began to push upward mightily upon it. Shelbytransferred several more ingots to the pile just to make sure that themonster could not enter. Then, fighting off the diaphanous veil ofunconsciousness that was trying to drop over him, he looked about forsomething with which to effect his escape.
A long bar of metal caught his eye. He seized it, and with all hisstrength thrust upward at one of the ceiling windows. But the thickglass, crisscrossed by rods of metal, was not easily shattered.
A rattling noise attracted his attention. He glanced back toward thetrap. His pile of ingots was trembling as if shaken by a miniatureearthquake. The door was rising upward! It settled back and rose again.An inch crack appeared, and through it Shelby could see two eyes and themuzzle of a pistol. He leaped out of range just in time to avoid thebullet that whizzed across the room and flattened itself against thewall.
He darted around toward the hinged side of the trap, where he knew thatthe black horror could not fire at him, and devoted his attention toanother window. He would have reinforced the barricade with more ingots,but he realized that by spending his nearly exhausted strength that wayhe would be defeating his own purpose.
A dozen times he jabbed up viciously with the bar before a tiny crackappeared in the round pane of glass. The trapdoor behind him was beingshaken violently. An ingot on top of the pile was jarred from its placeand crashed to the floor. Yes, the window was giving. A small holeappeared in it.
A pair of shiny black forearms had forced their way from under the edgeof the trapdoor. Slowly and mightily the shoulders of the monster surgedupward. The door was rising, and this time it did not seem that it wouldsink back.
Shelby had finished his task. Now, with the upper end of the bar thrustthrough the opening he had made in the window, and the lower end restingin a slight depression in the floor, he proceeded to climb it to safety.His head and shoulders were through the hole when the monster at lastburst its way into the room below. But the thing was just an instant toolate to hinder him.
Sweating and bloody, Shelby drew himself to the roof and staggered overto the landing stage. Yes, his plane was there.
The night air, and the flush of success was refreshing him. Hisexaltation leaped higher and higher as his plane swept him up from thesummit of the tower of the mysterious Selba.
A wild refrain was drumming in his mind: "Hekalu Selba is dead! I havekilled him!" There was nothing more to do but notify the Municipal AirPatrol--an S. O. S. with his siren would accomplish that. They wouldraid the tower. If any of the Martian's fellow plotters sought tocontinue with the project the Earthman's new weapon would take care ofthem.
Shelby was reaching for the siren button, and then a terrific explosionthundered up from somewhere below, and several hundred yards to hisright. He saw the orange flash, and then, in an instant the whole citywent dark. Another crash came and another. Shelby saw a dark form glidethrough the air. From far beneath him he heard a troubled murmur mixedwith the din of colliding vehicles. Sirens shrieked. In the distance tohis right, a great plume of lurid flame blossomed in the sky.
The low purr of a machine gun sounded behind him, and he heard thealmost inaudible tick-tick of poisoned needle-darts piercing thefuselage of his craft.
He zoomed sharply upward for a thousand feet, and then glanced back.There was a dim shadow out there--he was being followed. But thisdiscovery, and the realization that the city was attacked made but avague impression upon his fast-dimming mind. The warm fluid that oozedfrom his shoulder, making his clothing sodden and sticky, had all butdrained his vital energy.
Somehow he began to doubt that he had killed Selba. It had been only adream, and the monstrous thing that had sought his life had been a dreamtoo. Hekalu was pursuing him now, trying to kill him! The idea tookhold, for he could no longer distinguish fancy from reality. It broughtto him a vague fear which would have been completely out of place withhim had he not been so near gone from loss of blood. It was like achild's fear of the dark.
He began to fly towards home in a wild zigzag course like a dazed bat,but this favored him, for it enabled him to avoid the darts from thepursuing plane. Luckily he remembered that while under fire combatfliers do not make use of their automatic pilots except as a lastresort, for these devices cannot direct the complex movements necessaryin dodging enemy bullets. Automatically Shelby watched the guidinginstruments and followed their directions.
Several times he signaled with his siren, but no one answered him.Thousands of sirens were hooting, and the Air Patrol was very busy. Thedarkness, the explosions and the muffled roar from the streetscontinued.
Two ideas now possessed Shelby's mind and he clung to them with the grimpersistence of a wounded tiger. One was to get home, secure his weaponand rush it to the federal authorities. The other was to hurry to JaniceDarell.
Presently his plane bounded down awkwardly on the landing platform ofthe building in which his apartment was located. He stumbled out, anddown the dark stair. The elevators were not working. Somehow he foundhis door and unlocked it. He groped toward the wall safe. It was open,and the little black case which contained the unfinished atomic rayprojector was gone. A neat round hole had been drilled in the metal doorof the safe.
The view-phone bell was ringing. Shelby stumbled to the instrument andmoved its switches. The view-plate did not work but he heard a faintvoice which he recognized as Jan's. "Is that you, Austin?" it said."Can't you help me? Something is out there. It has me cornered in myroom. It has killed old Rufus. The house police--" There the connectionsnapped.
A wild surge of anger quickened the engineer's weakly beating heart. Hetried to reach the door, and then he felt a stinging sensation in theback of his neck. A needle-dart charged with a sleep-producing drug hadstruck him. He slumped to the floor.
A moment later a thing of metal and fabric, fitted with drills anddelicate thread-like tentacles, and formed like a giant Sadu moth ofMars, darted out from behind a curtain where it had been hiding. It flewup through the air-tube which had been its means of entrance to theroom. On the roof it met a black nightmare, and by means of signs tracedin the air with an intelligence that was paradoxically human, itdirected the monster to Shelby's apartment below.
* * * * *
The first sensation which bore itself in upon Shelby's consciousnesswhen he was regaining his senses was a terrific throbbing pain in hishead. He opened his rheum-plastered eyelids and looked about him. He waslying in a bunk within a small dim-lit compartment. Polished duraluminwalls gleamed all about. At the center of his prison was a table, andbeyond, built into the opposite wall, was another bunk. There was ablack blob of something sprawling on the mattress, but he could not seeclearly what it was. The illumination globe in the ceiling was notburning, and only a faint glow filtered through the curtained, circularwindow. A muffled purring vibration told Shelby that he was aboard aspeeding space ship.
Aroused evidently by the stirring of its charge, the thing in theopposite berth arose and strode leisurely toward the Earthian. The metalof its harness tinkled, and sharp points of light flashed against itsebony body, like gems sewn into a sable curtain that is being swayed bya vagrant draft of air.
The Earthman recognized the creature immediately as his recent pursuer.It had pressed the light switch now, and the illumination globe glowedsoftly. Then the thing bent over Shelby, and with a gentleness that wassurprising, it rolled him over and examined his bandaged wound briefly.
The young man conquered his revulsion sufficiently to look up into themonster's face. He thought that it was odd that the sight of it did notterrify him. No, really it was not more hideous than the visages ofinsects he had seen through a microscope. He studied the hard chitinousvisors that blinked over the monster's eyes--the hollow where its noseshould have been; and he searched for some hint that there was a humanpersonality wi
thin that knotted carcass but found none. The liplessmouth and the blankly staring eyes were without any expression that hecould interpret.
Two things struck Shelby as being peculiar--the fact that the monsterdid not seem to breathe, and the icy coldness of its hands.
The thing walked to the door, unlocked it, and left the room. Theengineer heard a grating of the key being turned when the door had beenshut.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to move about without beingobserved, he jumped out of bed and hurried to the window. It was thenthat he noticed that there was a metal band about his right ankle. Along light chain led from it to an eyelet in the wall. Truly he _was_ aprisoner!
A single glance through the porthole confirmed what he had known wastrue--the black sky and the unwinking stars of space.
There was a narrow walk beneath the window, running the full length ofthe flier's hull. The railing of woven wire cast a checkered shadow onthe walk. Somewhere toward the stern a blazing sun was shining, butShelby could not see it.
His first thoughts concerned some means of spoiling the plans of Selba'sband. He guessed, of course, that they were responsible for his presentposition, and he realized that it was likely that the zero hour of theirattack upon the planets was not far off. Could he escape?--a practicalimpossibility.
Nevertheless he looked longingly at the emergency space-boat huggingclose to the hull of its mother ship, and fitted so admirably into herstreamlining. If he could get to the entrance of that boat--it was insome other room farther toward the bow--he could give his captors a runfor their money and perhaps reach Earth. And if he did? Shelby had greatconfidence in the Atomic Ray. He removed the top from the button wherehe had secreted the pink crystal. It was still there.
But how could he get into the space-boat? Plainly it could not beaccomplished now. Perhaps soon--in a few hours maybe, an opportunitywould present itself. And there were other things he might do. A momentin the engine room, and he could blow the ship to atoms, and with it,most of the ringleaders of the Selba crowd. Stoically Shelby realizedthat he too would be destroyed, but if he could serve his world, hewould not hesitate to make the move.
Bent on getting as well acquainted with his present environment as hecould, the Earthman proceeded to examine minutely everything that waswithin the range of his senses. He tested the strength of his chain, andbegan to fumble over each link, without having any definite idea of whatvalue the knowledge gleaned from such a procedure would be to him.
He had reached about the tenth link when he heard a sound above the purrof rocket motors--voices. There were two of them. One was a man's; theother was soft and feminine. Shelby knew it at once--Janice Darell's! Soshe too was aboard the space flier! He realized it with a pang ofapprehension. In vain the Earthman tried to catch the words they weresaying, but beyond detecting the chilly tone in the girl's voice, hecould get no idea of what they were talking about. Apparently they werein the room next to his.
He heard footsteps in the hall outside, and returned quickly to hisbunk. Three people entered the room. The first was the black monster.Shelby gave a gasp when he saw who followed it--Jan. She looked tiredand worn but in her face there was no hint of fear. She smiled wanly atShelby. There was another behind her. It was Hekalu Selba--the man theEarthian thought he had killed! For once Shelby was really dumbfounded.He uttered the Martian's name without thinking.
The noble grinned in Satanic amusement. "It is I, none other, myfriend," he said. "Aren't you glad to see me? You look as though youwere being visited by a ghost."
The Martian chuckled. "But thanks to a breast armor I still belong tothis plane of existence. I admit though that you gave me a great scarewhen you nearly, but not quite, escaped. My four bombing fliers suppliedan adequate diversion for the Municipal Patrol, didn't they? And my Sadumoth, radio controlled automaton--it functioned perfectly!"
* * * * *
Shelby rose from the bunk and sauntered toward his captor. Hekalu madeno move to stop him. "Now that you have Miss Darell and me nicelytrapped, what do you intend to do?" Shelby inquired coldly.
The Martian laughed. "You have a very inquisitive nature, Mr. Shelby,"he said. "What do you expect me to do? Continue with my plans which youso almost successfully spoiled, my friend." Here Hekki's voice becamesuddenly excited and husky; his lips curled and his eyes took on thefanatical look of a megalomaniac who sees within his grasp his dream ofpower.
"Very soon," he lisped, "we strike. Mars first, then your planet. Ishall be great--greater than all the combined rulers of the millenniumsgone by, and Janice here, will share my greatness." The slender arm ofSelba stole around the waist of the girl beside him. She did not try todraw away. "That last little idea maddens you, doesn't it, Mr. Shelby?"he added with a sneer.
Shelby felt a flush of heat in his cheeks. What happened to Jan that sheshould permit the noble to be so familiar with her? Had she been dazzledby his wealth and his promises of what stupendous things the futurewould bring? For a fraction of a second something seemed to let go inthe Earthman's mind, and then he saw the fleeting look in the girl'seyes. He checked the impulse that had urged him to send a fist crashinginto the face of the smirking noble. Certainly such an act of violencecould accomplish no good.
Shelby looked at the black monster. It was standing beside the table,and leaned forward, so that its knuckles rested ape-like upon the floor.It was gazing narrowly at the Martian, and its mouth opened and closednervously. There was a faint something in its almost blank face whichsuggested to the Earthman that the bond of friendship between the Princeof Selba and this weird devil of the void was none too strong.
Hekalu withdrew his arm from about the girl. He nodded toward thebejeweled nightmare. "I had almost forgotten my lieutenant here, Mr.Shelby," he said. "He is the ruler of the empire from which I amrecruiting my forces--my chief ally. Since his people do not employ alanguage of sounds, he has no vocal name; but for the sake ofconvenience I have christened him Alkebar, which means 'The Unknown.' Hewas my companion on my recent trip to Earth, for he wanted very much tosee what a beautiful place is your world." There was a sinister hint inthese last words.
Hekki made a few quick signs to Alkebar with his fingers, and thenturned to the girl. "I must ask you two to leave us now, Jan," he said."Mr. Shelby and I have an important matter to discuss."
Alkebar grasped Janice's arm with a horny paw, and hurried her throughthe door. But nevertheless Shelby caught a fleeting glimpse of her faceas her lips formed, but did not utter, the word--"Wait." Hekki did notsee.
The Earthman turned upon the Martian. "I am going to usurp your assumedright to start this little private conversation, Akar Hekalu," he toldhim. "There is only one thing I have to say. You are a noble, the son ofa long line of nobles who righted wrongs and avenged insults on thefield of honor. You have wronged me, no you have outraged me. ThereforeI challenge you to combat. Choose your weapons. No place will suit mebetter than this room; no time better than now." But if Austin hadexpected to nettle Hekalu into a mood for fighting, he was disappointed.
The Martian was smiling mockingly. "Life is sweet," he said, "sweeter tome than it has ever been before. I do not wish to die--not even by yourhands. And you--you have certain knowledge and information which isvaluable to me. You must live. I was going to talk to you about what youknow. That weapon of yours--we are working on a projector. But somethingis evidently missing--a tiny element."
"What you have learned about the Atomic Ray," Shelby cut in, "youlearned through your own efforts. If you can steal the remainder of thenecessary information from my brain, you are welcome. Otherwise, Iurgently invite you to go to the devil."
Hekki's face assumed a look of infinite though make-believe sadness. Itwas a trick such as a designing woman might use to attract somedesirable male.
"I am sorry to hear you talk so, Mr. Shelby," he said. "But as yousuggest, I believe that there are ways of stealing knowledge even fromyour mind. For instance, in an old vault ben
eath my palace at Taboor, Ionce found a sealed vat containing a certain fluid. The Ancient Oneswere wise, for when they desired any man to talk, they thrust his armsor his legs, or perchance his whole body into the fluid. Very slowly,and with some discomfort, it ate away the tissue of his nerves. I mustleave you now, my friend. Think well, and may the gods that rule theuniverse guide you on the right course."
He opened the door. Shelby caught a glimpse of a long hall, and at thefar end, the bewildering maze of control-room equipment. The panelclosed.