could notreach these, the angle of fire was wrong; but I could see the base ofthe lights, and as they swung again toward me, I fired into the centerof the beam. It blinked out. Holaf clapped me on the shoulder.
"Get the rest of the lights, man, never mind the damned insects! TheCroen will take care of them soon enough."
One by one I put out the search beams, the sky overhead grew dark again.
"These are the creatures who expect to conquer the earth!" I cried outscornfully to Holaf. "They could be bested by a bunch of boy scouts withtwenty-twos!"
"They have never fought! They are only priests, not warriors. They arenot thinking of conquering anything now, without their willing servants.They are fighting only for life!"
Overhead still wheeled the circle of guarding disks, manned, I knew, bythe inexperienced priest-like insect men. I took a careful aim at theglowing transparent bulge in the center of the nearest, hoping the alienplastic was as soft as the earth plastics. But there was no way to tellif it had pierced the shell of plastic, or if it had done any harm.
Fumbling in my pockets, I pulled out a loaded clip, lay there ponderingwith the clip in front of my nose. Absently I noted the black bandaround the nose of the bullets, indicating it was a high-velocity,armor-piercing cartridge, manufactured by the U.S. Army for exactly suchemergencies as I faced. I did not know if it would prove too big apowder-charge for my rifle, I did not know then even how I came to havethe cartridges. Polter had bought some Army ammunition and these musthave been among his things. I may have been firing them steadily and notknown the difference.
I inserted the clip, and lay there with my fore-sight following the diskship in its steady circling flight. Just where would an armor-piercingsteel bullet do the most harm? I shot the clip out at the great roundbody of the thing, trying to guess where a hit might damage machinery orpierce fuel tanks. There was no visible result, and I gave the flyingdisks up as a bad job. How did I know they were built to resist meteorsin ultra high-speed space flight? It didn't even occur to me.
"Where're your buddies?" I asked Holaf. He lay beside me peering downinto the street below.
"Gone to join the Shinro. They are storming the doors of the palacenow." He gestured toward the street.
I leaned over the parapet. Below in the street the hideous, mutilatedbodies of the Shinro moved in a mass. They had brought up a huge beam,and were pounding it against the great palace doors. Others climbedtoward the tall barred windows, some of them slipped through. But of thewhite-robed Jivros there was now no visible sign.
I was about to send a few shots through those same windows, when awaving white cloth from a window near the top of the huge structure drewmy eyes. A sudden fear struck my heart. Could that be my Zoorph, leftthere--could that be Carna? I felt sure it was, and something warm andpitiful seemed to flutter in my chest as I thought of her alone amongthose hopping Jivros. I got to my feet, started across the roof.
"Where are you going, earthman?" asked Holaf, placing a hand on myshoulder.
"I am going into that place, but there is no need you accompanying me. Ithink I saw Carna at her window, a prisoner! I would like to free her."
Holaf gave a cry of unbelief.
"No, you cannot do that! The Croen means to destroy that place down tothe ground. Carna will have to perish with it. It is too bad, but youcannot enter there. I know what is going to happen."
Even as he spoke, a great white blossom of flame spurted suddenly overour heads, spread and spread across the sky above the circling ships.Looking up, my eyes were struck blind. I dropped to the roof surfacewith agony. Then came the terrific, stunning concussion. The prince wasletting off the fireworks at last! I exulted, even as I despaired.Somehow I only now realized that this waiting, strange Zoorph in herprison, who faced death because forgotten by her friends--_must notdie!_ In my heart some warm thing she had waked there with her magicbreathed, moved, sprang into complete life. I could not see her die! Imust get into that place that I saw was doomed, even as I now saw two ofthe great ships above falter in flight, turn and slide downward atincreasing speed. The concussion had broken them, perhaps destroyed thelife within them. I realized that in a short time the same thing wasgoing to happen to the headquarters of the Jivros.
Below, the booming of the great ram against the palace door ceased,there came wild shouts, cheers, running feet, terrible screams of agony.I ran down the ramps up which we had ascended to the roof. Heedless ofdanger, I raced along the dark street, across the wide-open spacesurrounding the palace.
About the palace door the dead were sprawled in mangled heaps. Among thedead were several white robes, now stained with the pale blood of theJivros. I surmised the frightened creatures had opened the door,intending to kill the men wielding the ram--and had been unable to do acomplete job. The doors gaped open. I stumbled over the reeking heap ofslain. A dying man raised one horrible crab claw to me, called out myname! It was Jake, his ugly face now a horror. I had not even known hehad received the reviving shot of the Croen medicine.
I bent to hear his words, but he only looked at me for a second, hislips formed one word: "Gold!" He laughed bitterly, repeated it: "Gold,hell!" and then his head dropped lifeless.
I raced on into the place, and at my heels came Holaf. In his hands heheld the vibro gun, and on his face was a wild triumph. He kept cryingaloud:
"Death to the Jivros! An end to tyranny!"
I had no time for the political angles which so inspired Holaf. I racedupward along the same paths by which Prince Genner had led me to my owndetention quarters. I did not know how to reach Carna's room except thatit lay directly above my own. I raced into the open door of the prince'squarters, and to that window by which Carna had entered. I leaned out,shouted at the top of my voice.
"Zoorph, are you there?"
Her voice came to me with a message of relief, yet it justified my worsefears. She was here, and the place was about to be blasted by sometitanic explosive of the Croen science creation! Her words wereindistinct, but the tone was almost mocking, and I thought I heard herlaugh.
"Can you come down, Carna, or do I have to come after you?"
Seconds later the knotted drape she had used before swayed down intosight, I grasped it to steady it. Her bare legs followed, and now hervoice came to me with a sweet mockery:
"Never let it be said that Carna required a lover to climb to herwindow! Rather let it be said that passion made Carna risk...."
Overhead another of the terrible blasts of flame blazed across the sky.The light blazed all about us, and Carna leaped from the window ledgeinto my arms even as the concussion struck at us. I lost my balance; wefell to the floor together ... and her voice went calmly, mockingly on,loud in the sudden ensuing silence:
"... death itself to be at her lover's side! And it sounds as if we bothrisked death this night!"
I lay there staring into those mysterious depths of her strangewide-spaced eyes, and she giggled a little. I could not help laughing.Even as I struggled to retain sense an almost hysterical laugh of reliefbroke from me.
We got to our feet, and in spite of the terrible danger, our arms kepthold of each other, our eyes still held together, and our lips weredrawn together and burned there for minutes.
"This is madness, woman, we must get out of here. The Croen has madebombs for the prince's ships. He has rebelled against the Jivros,released the Croen, Cyane, they will blast this place, perhaps the wholecity, before this night is over!"
"So no one placed any value on the life or the help of Carna but theearth man! Why did you come here for me, Carl?"
"I saw your scarf at the window. I learned then what I did not knowbefore--I could not let you die! Do you know what I felt when I knew youwere still in this prison?"
"Of course I know. You see, Carl, the magic of the Zoorphs is really amagic of love. You love me, and I willed it so. You will always love menow!"
I was not entranced by her words.
"We have no time for a discussion of metaphysics or
of love, woman.Come, we must get out."
Carna gestured toward the doorway. I whirled, stood frozen with startlednerves. There stood the old Jivro whom I had met in the council besidethe queen. In his hands were no weapons, and at his back were no tallSchree guards. I wondered if the desertion of the Jivros had been socomplete. Even as I stooped to retrieve the heavy rifle from the floor,his hands gestured, and the rifle eluded my reach, seeming to glideacross the floor. I followed it, and he gestured again.
Some force seemed to freeze me. It had not been nerves that held mebefore, I learned, but his eyes upon me! Unwinking, the ancient masterof what worlds unknown to me, regarded me, and I knew I was helplessbefore the power he controlled. My lips moved, but no sound came out.
A sudden blast of light came from the window, and the vast concussionshook the building terribly. For an instant I felt freedom in my limbs.I tugged out the