Authors: E. E. 'Doc' Smith
Although Siblin had neither heard, felt, nor seen the captain issue any orders, all was in readiness for the take-off. The mining engineers were all on board, the vessel was sealed for flight, and the navigators and control officers were at their panels. Siblin stared intently into the ‘view box,’ the three-dimensional visiplate that mirrored faithfully every occurrence in the neighborhood of the Chloran vessel.
The lower edge of the hemisphere of force began to contract, passing smoothly through or around – the spectator could not decide which – the ruins of Mocelyn, hugging or actually penetrating the ground, allowing not even a whiff of its precious chlorin content to escape into the atmosphere of Valeron. The ship then darted into the air and the shrinking edge became an ever-decreasing circle upon the ground beneath her. That circle disappeared as the meeting edge fused and the wall of force, now a hollow sphere, contained within itself the atmosphere of the invaders.
High over the surface of the planet sped the Chloran
raider toward the nearest Valeronian city, which happened to be only a small village. Above the unfortunate settlement the callous monstrosity poised its craft, to drop its dread curtain of strangling, choking death.
Down the screen dropped, rolling out to become again a hemispherical wall, sweeping before it every milliliter of the life-giving air of Valeron and drawing behind it the noxious atmosphere of Chlora. For those who have ever inhaled even a small quantity of chlorin it is unnecessary to describe in detail the manner in which those villagers of Valeron died; for those who have not, no possible description could be adequate. Suffice it to say, therefore, that they died – horribly.
Again the wall of force rolled up, coming clear up to the outer skin of the cruiser this time, in its approach liquefying the chlorin and forcing it into storage chambers. The wall then disappeared entirely, leaving the marauding vessel starkly outlined against the sky. Then, further and even more strongly to impress the raging but impotent Klynor Siblin:
‘Beam it down!’ the amoebus captain commanded, and various officers sent out thin, whip-like tentacles toward their controls.
Projectors swung downward and dense green pillars of flaming energy erupted from the white-hot refractories of their throats. And what those green pillars struck subsided instantly into a pool of hissing, molten glass. Methodically they swept the entire area of the village. All organic matter – vegetation, bodies, humus – burst instantly into wildly raging flame and in that same instant was consumed; only the incombustible ash being left behind to merge with the metal and stone of the buildings and with the minerals of the soil as they melted to form a hellish lake.
‘You monster!’ shrieked Siblin, white, shaken, almost beside himself. ‘You vile, unspeakable monster! Of what use is such a slaughter of innocent men? They had not harmed you …’
‘Indeed they have not, nor could they,’ the Chloran interrupted callously. ‘They mean nothing whatever to me, in any way. I have gone to the trouble of wiping out this city to give you and the rest of your race an object lesson; to impress upon you how thoroughly unimportant you are to us and to bring home to you your abject helplessness. Your whole race is, as you have just shown yourself to be, childish, soft, and sentimental, and therefore incapable of real advancement. On the contrary we, the masters of the universe, do not suffer from silly inhibitions or from foolish weaknesses.’
The eye faded out, its sharp outlines blurring gradually as its highly specialized parts became transformed into or were replaced by the formless gel composing the body of the creature. The amoebus then poured himself out of the cup, assumed the shape of a doughnut, and rolled rapidly out of the room.
When the Chloran captain had gone, Siblin threw himself
upon his narrow bunk, fighting savagely to retain his self-control. He
must
escape – he
must
escape – the thought repeated itself endlessly in his mind – but how? The glass walls of his prison were his only defense against hideous death. Nowhere in any Chloran thing, nowhere in any nook or cranny of the noisome planet toward which he was speeding, could he exist for a minute except inside the cell which his captors were keeping supplied with oxygen. No tools – nothing from which to make a protective covering – no way of carrying air – nowhere to go – helpless, helpless – even to break that glass meant death …
At last he slept, fitfully, and when he awoke the vessel was deep in interplanetary space. His captors paid no further attention to him – he had air, food, and water, and if he chose to kill himself that was of no concern to them – and Siblin, able to think more calmly now, studied every phase of his predicament.
There was absolutely no possibility of escape. Rescue was out of the question. He could, however, communicate with Valeron, since in his belt were a tiny sender and receiver, attached by tight beams to instruments in the laboratory of the Quedrins. Detection of that pencil beam might well mean instant death, but that was a risk which, for the good of humanity, must be run. Lying upon his side, he concealed one ear plug under his head and manipulated the tiny sender in his belt. ‘Quedrin Radnor – Quedrin Vornel …’ he called for minutes, with no response. However, person-to-person communication was not really necessary; his messages would be recorded. He went on to describe in detail, tersely, accurately, and scientifically, everything that he had observed and deduced concerning the Chlorans, their forces, and their mechanisms.
‘We are now approaching the planet,’ he continued, now an observer reporting what he saw in the view box. ‘It is apparently largely land. It has two polar ice caps, the larger of which I call north. A dark area, which I take to be an ocean, is the most prominent feature visible at this time. It is diamond-shaped and its longer axis, lying north and south, is about one quarter of a circumference in length. Its shorter axis, about half that length, lies almost upon the equator. We are passing high above this ocean, going east.
‘East of the ocean and distant from it about one fifth of a circumference lies quite a large lake, roughly elliptical in shape, whose major axis lies approximately northeast and southwest. We are dropping toward a large city upon the southeast shore of this lake, almost equally distant from its two ends. Since I am to be examined by a so-called “Council of Great Ones,” it may be that this city is their capital.
‘No matter what happens, do not attempt to rescue me, as it is entirely hopeless. Escape is likewise impossible, because of the lethal atmosphere. There is a strong possibility, furthermore, that I may be returned to Valeron as a messenger to our race. This possibility is my only
hope of returning. I am sending this data and will continue to send it as long as is possible, simply to aid you in deciding what shall be done to defend civilization against these monsters.
‘We are now docking, near a large, hemispherical dome of force … My cell is being transported through the atmosphere toward that dome … It is opening. I do not know whether my beam can pass out through it, but I shall keep on sending … Inside the dome there is a great building, toward which I am floating … I am inside the building, inside a glass compartment which seems to be filled with air … Yes, it
is
air, for the creatures who are entering it are wearing protective suits of some transparent substance. Their bodies are now globular and they are walking, each upon three short legs. One of them is developing an eye, similar to the one I descr—’
Siblin’s message stopped in the middle of a word. The eye had developed and in its weirdly hypnotic grip the Valeronian was helpless to do anything of his own volition. Obeying the telepathic command of the Great One, he stepped out into the larger room and divested himself of his scanty clothing. One of the monstrosities studied his belt briefly, recognized his communicator instruments for what they were, and kicked them scornfully into a corner – thus rendering it impossible for either captive or captors to know when that small receiver throbbed out its urgent message from Quedrin Radnor.
The inspection and examination finished, it did not take long for the monstrosities to decide upon a course of action.
‘Take this scum back to its own planet as soon as your cargo is unloaded,’ the Great One directed. ‘You must pass near that planet on your way to explore the next one, and it will save time and inconvenience to let it carry our message to its fellows.’
Out in space, speeding toward distant Valeron, the captain again communicated with Siblin:
‘I shall land you close to one of your inhabited cities and you will at once get in touch with your Bardyle. You already know what your race is to do, and you have in your cage a sample of the ore with which you are to supply us. You shall be given twenty of your days in which to take from the mine already established by us enough of that ore to load this ship – ten thousand tons. The full amount – and pure mineral, mind you, no base rock – must be in the loading hoppers at the appointed time or I shall proceed to destroy every populated city, village, and hamlet upon the face of your globe.’
‘But that particular ore is rare!’ protested Siblin. ‘I do not believe that it will prove physically possible to recover such a vast amount of it in the short time you are allowing us.’
‘You understand the orders – obey them or die!’
Very near to Valeron, as space distances go, yet so far away
in terms of miles that he could take no active part whatever in the proceedings, Quedrin Radnor sat tense at his controls, staring into his visiplate. Even before Klynor Siblin had lifted his rocket plane off the ground, Radnor had opened his throttle wide. Then, his ship hurtling at full drive toward home, everything done that he could do, he sat and watched.
Watched, a helpless spectator. Watched while Siblin made his futilely spectacular attack; watched the gallant plane’s destruction; watched the capture of the brave but foolhardy pilot; watched the rolling up and compression of the Chloran dome; watched in agony the obliteration of everything, animate and inanimate, pertaining to the outlying village; watched in horrified relief the departure of the invading spaceship.
Screaming through the air, her outer plating white hot from its friction, her forward rocket tubes bellowing a vicious crescendo, Radnor braked his ship savagely to a landing in the dock beside the machine shop in which she had been built. During that long return voyage his mind had not been idle. Not only had he decided what to do, he had also made rough sketches and working drawings of the changes which must be made in his peaceful space ship to make of her a superdreadnought of the void.
Nor was this as difficult an undertaking as might be supposed. She already had power enough and to spare, her generators and converters being able to supply, hundreds of times over, her maximum present drain; and, because of the ever-present danger of collision with meteorites, she was already amply equipped with repeller screens and with automatically tripped zones of force. Therefore all that was necessary was the installation of the required offensive armament – beam projectors, torpedo tubes, fields of force, controls, and the like – the designing of which was a simple matter for the brain which had tamed to man’s everyday use the ultimately violent explosiveness of intra-atomic energy.
Radnor first made sure that the machine-shop superintendent, master mechanic, and foreman understood the sketches fully and knew precisely what was to be done. Then, confident that the new projectors would project and that the as yet nonexistent oxygen bombs would explode with their theoretical violence, he hurried to the office of the Bardyle. Already gathered there was a portentous group. Besides the coordinator there were scientists, engineers, architects, and beam specialists, as well as artists, teachers, and philosophers. The group, while not large, was thoroughly
representative of Valeron’s mental, intellectual, and scientific culture. Each member of the Council Extraordinary was unwontedly serious of mien, for each knew well what horror his world was facing. Warned by the utter, unreasoning wantonness of the destruction wrought by the Chlorans, each knew that the high civilization of Valeron, so long attuned to the arts of peace that strife had become almost unthinkable, must now devote its every effort to the grim and hateful business of war.
‘Greetings, Quedrin Radnor!’ began the Bardyle. ‘Your plan for the defense of Valeron has been adopted, with a few minor alterations and additions suggested by other technical experts. It has been decided, however, that your proposed punitive visit to Chlora cannot be approved. As matters now stand it can be only an expedition of retaliation and vengeance, and as such can in no wise advance our cause.’
‘Very well, O Bardyle! It is—’ Radnor, trained from infancy in cooperation, was accepting the group decision as a matter of course when he was interrupted by an emergency call from his own laboratory. An assistant, returning to the temporarily deserted building had found the message of Klynor Siblin and had known that it should be given immediate attention.
‘Please relay it to us here, at once,’ Radnor instructed; and, when the message had been delivered:
‘Fellow councilors, I believe that this word from Klynor Siblin will operate to change your decision against my proposed flight to Chlora. With these incomplete facts and data to guide me I shall be able to study intelligently the systems of offense and of defense employed by the enemy, and shall then be in position to strengthen immeasurably our own armament. Furthermore, Siblin was alive within the hour – there may yet be some slight chance of saving his life in spite of what he has said.’
The Bardyle glanced once around the circle of tense faces, reading in them the consensus of opinion without having recourse to speech.
‘Your point is well taken, Councilor Quedrin, and for the sake of acquiring knowledge your flight is approved,’ he said slowly. ‘Provided, however – and this is a most important proviso – that you can convince us that there is a reasonable certainty of your safe return. Klynor Siblin had, of course, no idea that he would be captured. Nevertheless, the Chlorans took him, and his life is probably forfeit. You must also agree not to jeopardize your life in any attempt to rescue your friend unless you have every reason to believe that such an attempt will prove successful. We are insisting upon these assurances because your scientific ability will be of inestimable value to Valeron in this forthcoming struggle, and therefore your life must at all hazards be preserved.’