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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20154-8.txt b/20154-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f66c651 --- /dev/null +++ b/20154-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7723 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Invaders from the Infinite, by John Wood +Campbell + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Invaders from the Infinite + + +Author: John Wood Campbell + + + +Release Date: December 20, 2006 [eBook #20154] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE*** + + +E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/c/) + + + +INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE + +by + +JOHN W. CAMPBELL + + + + + + + +Ace Books, Inc. +1120 Avenue of the Americas +New York, N.Y. 10036 + +Copyright, 1961, by John W. Campbell, Jr. +An earlier version Copyright, 1932, by Experimenter Pub. Co. +An Ace Book, by arrangement with the Author. +All Rights Reserved +Cover by Gray Morrow. +Printed in U.S.A. + + + + +GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE + +The famous scientific trio of Arcot, Wade and Morey, challenged by the +most ruthless aliens in all the universes, blasted off on an +intergalactic search for defenses against the invaders of Earth and all +her allies. + +World after world was visited, secret after secret unleashed, and turned +to mighty weapons of intense force--and still the Thessian enemy seemed +to grow in power and ferocity. + +Mighty battles between huge space armadas were but skirmishes in the +galactic war, as the invincible aliens savagely advanced and the Earth +team hurled bolt after bolt of pure ravening energy--until it appeared +that the universe itself might end in one final flare of furious +torrential power.... + + + + +Chapter I + +INVADERS + + +Russ Evans, Pilot 3497, Rocket Squad Patrol 34, unsnapped his seat belt, +and with a slight push floated "up" into the air inside the weightless +ship. He stretched himself, and yawned broadly. + +"Red, how soon do we eat?" he called. + +"Shut up, you'll wake the others," replied a low voice from the rear of +the swift little patrol ship. "See anything?" + +"Several million stars," replied Evans in a lower voice. "And--" His +tone became suddenly severe. "Assistant Murphy, remember your manners +when addressing your superior officer. I've a mind to report you." + +A flaming head of hair topping a grinning face poked around the edge of +the door. "Lower your wavelength, lower your wavelength! You may think +you're a sun, but you're just a planetoid. But what I'd like to know, +Chief Pilot Russ Evans, is why they locate a ship in a forlorn, out of +the way place like this--three-quarters of a billion miles, out of +planetary plane. No ships ever come out here, no pirates, not a chance +to help a wrecked ship. All we can do is sit here and watch the other +fellows do the work." + +"Which is exactly why we're here. Watch--and tell the other ships where +to go, and when. Is that chow ready?" asked Russ looking at a small +clock giving New York time. + +"Uh--think she'll be on time? Come on an' eat." + +Evans took one more look at the telectroscope screen, then snapped it +off. A tiny, molecular towing unit in his hand, he pointed toward the +door to the combined galley and lunch room, and glided in the wake of +Murphy. + +"How much fuel left?" he asked, as he glided into the dizzily spinning +room. A cylindrical room, spinning at high speed, causing an artificial +"weight" for the foods and materials in it, made eating of food a less +difficult task. Expertly, he maneuvered himself to the guide rail near +the center of the room, and caught the spiral. Braking himself into +motion, he soon glided down its length, and landed on his feet. He bent +and flexed his muscles, waiting for the now-busied assistant to get to +the floor and reply. + +"They gave us two pounds extra. Lord only knows why. Must expect us to +clean up on some fleet. That makes four pound rolls left, untouched, and +two thirds of the original pound. We've been here fifteen days, and have +six more to go. The main driving power rolls have about the same amount +left, and three pound rolls in each reserve bin," replied Red, holding a +curiously moving coffee pot that strove to adjust itself to rapidly +changing air velocities as it neared the center of the room. + +"Sounds like a fleet's power stock. Martian lead or the terrestrial +isotope?" asked Evans, tasting warily a peculiar dish before him. "Say, +this is energy food. I thought we didn't get any more till Saturday." +The change from the energy-less, flavored pastes that made up the +principal bulk of a space-pilot's diet, to prevent over-eating, when no +energy was used in walking in the weightless ship, was indeed a welcome +change. + +"Uh-huh. I got hungry. Any objections?" grinned the Irishman. + +"None!" replied Evans fervently, pitching in with a will. + +Seated at the controls once more, he snapped the little switch that +caused the screen to glow with flashing, swirling colors as the +telectroscope apparatus came to life. A thousand tiny points of flame +appeared scattered on a black field with a suddenness that made them +seem to snap suddenly into being. Points, tiny dimensionless points of +light, save one, a tiny disc of blue-white flame, old Sol from a +distance of close to one billion miles, and under slight reverse +magnification. The skillful hands at the controls were turning +adjustments now, and that disc of flame seemed to leap toward him with a +hundred light-speeds, growing to a disc as large as a dime in an +instant, while the myriad points of the stars seemed to scatter like +frightened chickens, fleeing from the growing sun, out of the screen. +Other points, heretofore invisible, appeared, grew, and rushed away. + +The sun shifted from the center of the screen, and a smaller +reddish-green disc came into view--a planet, its atmosphere coloring the +light that left it toward the red. It rushed nearer, grew larger. Earth +spread as it took the center of the screen. A world, a portion of a +world, a continent, a fragment of a continent as the magnification +increased, boundlessly it seemed. + +Finally, New York spread across the screen; New York seen from the air, +with a strange lack of perspective. The buildings did not seem all to +slant toward some point, but to stand vertical, for, from a distance of +a billion miles, the vision lines were practically parallel. Titanic +shafts of glowing color in the early summer sun appeared; the hot rays +from the sun, now only 82,500,000 miles away, shimmering on the colored +metal walls. + +The new Airlines Building, a mile and a half high, supported at various +points by actual spaceship driving units, was a riot of shifting, +rainbow hues. A new trick in construction had been used here, and Evans +smiled at it. Arcot, inventor of the ship that carried him, had +suggested it to Fuller, designer of that ship, and of that building. The +colored berylium metal of the wall had been ruled with 20,000 lines to +the inch, mere scratches, but nevertheless a diffraction grating. The +result was amazingly beautiful. The sunlight, split up to its rainbow +colors, was reflected in millions of shifting tints. + +In the air, supported by tiny packs strapped to their backs, thousands +of people were moving, floating where they wished, in any direction, at +any elevation. There were none of the helicopters of even five years +ago, now. A molecular power suit was far more convenient, cost nothing +to operate, and but $50 to buy. Perfectly safe, requiring no skill, +everyone owned them. To the watcher in space, they were mere moving, +snaky lines of barely distinguishable dots that shivered and seemed to +writhe in the refractions of the air. Passing over them, seeming to pass +almost through them in this strange perspectiveless view, were the +shadowy forms of giant space liners, titanic streamlined hulls. They +were streamlined for no good reason, save that they looked faster and +more graceful than the more efficient spherical freighters, just as +passenger liners of two centuries earlier, with their steam engines, had +carried four funnels and used two. A space liner spent so minute a +portion of its journey in the atmosphere that it was really inefficient +to streamline them. + +"Won't be long!" muttered Russ, grinning cheerily at the familiar, +sunlit city. His eyes darted to the chronometer beside him. The view +seemed to be taken from a ship that was suddenly scudding across the +heavens like a frightened thing, as it ran across from Manhattan Island, +followed the Hudson for a short way, then cut across into New Jersey, +swinging over the great woodland area of Kittatiny Park, resting finally +on the New Jersey suburb of New York nestled in the Kittatinies, +Blairtown. Low apartment buildings, ten or twelve stories high, nestled +in the waving green of trees in the old roadways. When ground traffic +ceased, the streets had been torn up, and parkways substituted. + +Quickly the view singled out a single apartment, and the great smooth +roof was enlarged on the screen to the absolute maximum clarity, till +further magnification simply resulted in worse stratospheric distortion. +On the broad roof were white strips of some material, making a huge V +followed by two I's. Russ watched, his hand on the control steadying the +view under the Earth's complicated orbital motion, and rotation, further +corrections for the ship's orbital motion making the job one requiring +great skill. The view held the center with amazing clarity. Something +seemed to be happening to the last of the I's. It crumpled suddenly, +rolled in on itself and disappeared. + +"She's there, and on time," grinned Russ happily. + +He tried more magnification. Could he-- + +He was tired, terribly, suddenly tired. He took his hands from the +viewplate controls, relaxed, and dropped off to sleep. + +"What made me so tired--wonder--GOD!" He straightened with a jerk, and +his hands flew to the controls. The view on the machine suddenly +retreated, flew back with a velocity inconceivable. Earth dropped away +from the ship with an apparent velocity a thousand times that of light; +it was a tiny ball, a pinpoint, gone, the sun--a minute disc--gone--then +the apparatus was flashing views into focus from the other side of the +ship. The assistant did not reply. Evans' hands were growing ineffably +heavy, his whole body yearned for sleep. Slowly, clumsily he pawed for a +little stud. Somehow his hand found it, and the ship reeled suddenly, +little jerks, as the code message was flung out in a beam of such +tremendous power that the sheer radiation pressure made it noticeable. +Earth would be notified. The system would be warned. But light, slow +crawling thing, would take hours to cross the gulf of space, and radio +travels no faster. + +Half conscious, fighting for his faculties with all his will, the pilot +turned to the screen. A ship! A strange, glistening thing streamlined to +the nth degree, every spare corner rounded till the resistance was at +the irreducible minimum. But, in the great pilotport of the stranger, +the patrol pilot saw faces, and gasped in surprise as he saw them! +Terrible faces, blotched, contorted. Patches of white skin, patches of +brown, patches of black, blotched and twisted across the faces. Long, +lean faces, great wide flat foreheads above, skulls strangely squared, +more box-like than man's rounded skull. The ears were large, pointed +tips at the top. Their hair was a silky mane that extended low over the +forehead, and ran back, spreading above the ears, and down the neck. + +Then, as that emotion of surprise and astonishment weakened his will +momentarily, oblivion came, with what seemed a fleeting instant of +memories. His life seemed to flash before his mind in serried rank, a +file of events, his childhood, his life, his marriage, his wife, an +image of smiling comfort, then the years, images of great and near great +men, his knowledge of history, pictures of great war of 2074, pictures +of the attackers of the Black Star--then calm oblivion, quiet blankness. + +The long, silent ship that had hovered near him turned, and pointed +toward the pinhead of matter that glowed brilliantly in the flaming +jewel box of the heavens. It was gone in an instant, rushing toward Sun +and Earth at a speed that outraced the flying radio message, leaving the +ship of the Guard Patrol behind, and leaving the Pilot as he leaves our +story. + + + + +Chapter II + +CANINE PEOPLE + + +"And that," said Arcot between puffs, "will certainly be a great boon to +the Rocket Patrol, you must admit. They don't like dueling with these +space-pirates using the molecular rays, and since molecular rays have +such a tremendous commercial value, we can't prohibit the sale of ray +apparatus. Now, if you will come into the 'workshop,' Fuller, I'll give +a demonstration with friend Morey's help." + +The four friends rose, Morey, Wade and Fuller following Arcot into his +laboratory on the thirty-seventh floor of the Arcot Research Building. +As they went, Arcot explained to Fuller the results and principles of +the latest product of the ingenuity of the "Triumvirate," as Arcot, +Morey and Wade had come to be called in the news dispatches. + +"As you know, the molecular rays make all the molecules of any piece of +matter they are turned upon move in the desired direction. Since they +supply no new energy, but make the body they are turned upon supply its +own, using the energy of its own random molecular motion of heat, they +are practically impossible to stop. The energy necessary for molecular +rays to take effect is so small that the usual type of filter lets +enough of it pass. A ship equipped with filters is no better off when +attacked than one without. The rays simply drove the front end into the +rear, or _vice versa_, or tore it to pieces as the pirates desired. The +Rocket Patrol could kill off the pirates, but they lost so many men in +the process, it was a Phyrric victory. + +"For some time Morey and I have been working on something to stop the +rays. Obviously it can't be by means of any of the usual metallic energy +absorption screens. + +"We finally found a combination of rays, better frequencies, that did +what we wanted. I have such an apparatus here. What we want you to do, +of course, is the usual job of rearranging the stuff so that the +apparatus can be made from dies, and put into quantity production. As +the Official Designer for the A.A.L. you ought to do that easily." Arcot +grinned as Fuller looked in amazement at the apparatus Arcot had picked +up from the bench in the "workshop." + +"Don't get worried," laughed Morey, "that's got a lifting unit +combined--just a plain ordinary molecular lift such as you see by the +hundreds out there." Morey pointed through the great window where +thousands of those lift units were carrying men, women and children +through the air, lifting them hundreds, thousands of feet above the +streets and through the doors of buildings. + +"Here's an ordinary molecular pistol. I'm going to put the suit on, and +rise about five feet off the floor. You can turn the pistol on me, and +see what impression it makes on the suit." + +Fuller took the molecular ray pistol, while Wade helped Arcot into the +suit. He looked at the pistol dubiously, pointed it at a heavy casting +of iron resting in one corner of the room, and turned the ray at low +concentration, then pressed the trigger-button. The casting gave out a +low, scrunching grind, and slid toward him with a lurch. Instantly he +shut off the power. "This isn't any ordinary pistol. It's got seven or +eight times the ordinary power!" he exclaimed. + +"Oh yes, I forgot," Morey said. "Instead of the fuel battery that the +early pistols used, this has a space-distortion power coil. This pistol +has as much power as the usual A-39 power unit for commercial work." + +By the time Morey had explained the changes to Fuller, Arcot had the +suit on, and was floating five or six feet in the air, like a grotesque +captive balloon. "Ready, Fuller?" + +"I guess so, but I certainly hope that suit is all it is claimed to be. +If it isn't--well I'd rather not commit murder." + +"It'll work," said Arcot. "I'll bet my neck on that!" Suddenly he was +surrounded by the faintest of auras, a strange, wavering blue light, +like the hazy corona about a 400,000-volt power line. "Now try it." + +Fuller pointed the pistol at the floating man and pushed the trigger. +The brilliant blue beam of the molecular ray, and the low hum of the +air, rushing in the path of the director beam, stabbed out toward Arcot. +The faint aura about him was suddenly intensified a million times till +he floated in a ball of blue-white fire. Scarcely visible, the air about +him blazed with bluish incandescence of ionization. + +"Increase the power," suggested Morey. Fuller turned on more power. The +blue halo was shot through with tiny violet sparks, the sharp odor of +ozone in the air was stifling; the heat of wasted energy was making the +room hotter. The power increased further, and the tiny sparks were +waving streamers, that laced across the surface of the blue fire. Little +jets of electric flame reached out along the beam of the ray now. +Finally, as full power of the molecular ray was reached, the entire halo +was buried under a mass of writhing sparks that seemed to leap up into +the air above the man's head, wavering up to extinction. The room was +unbearably hot, despite the molecular ray coolers absorbing the heat of +the air, and blowing cooled air into the room. + +Fuller snapped off the ray, and put the pistol on the table beside him. +The halo died, and went out a moment later, and Arcot settled to the +floor. + +"This particular suit will stand up against anything the ordinary +commercial sets will give. The system now: remember that the rays are +short electrical waves. The easiest way to stop them is to interpose a +wave of opposite phase, and cause interference. Fine, but try to get in +tune with an unknown wave when it is moving in relation to your center +of control. It is impossible to do it before you yourself have been +rayed out of existence. We must use some system that will automatically, +instantly be out of phase. + +"The Hall effect would naturally tend to make the frequency of a wave +through a resisting medium change, and lengthen. If we can send out a +spherical wave front, and have it lengthen rapidly as it proceeds, we +will have a wave front that is, at all points, different. Any entering +wave would, sooner or later, meet a wave that was half a phase out, no +matter what the motion was, nor what the frequency, as long as it lies +within the comparatively narrow molecular wave band. What this +apparatus, or ray screen, consists of, is a machine generating a +spherical wave front of the nature of a molecular wave, but of just too +great a frequency to do anything. A second part generates a condition in +space, which opposes that wave. After traveling a certain distance, the +wave has lengthened to molecular wave type, but is now beyond the +machine which generated it, and no longer affects it, or damages it. +However, as it proceeds, it continues to lengthen, till eventually it +reaches the length of infra-light, when the air quickly absorbs it, as +it reaches one of the absorption bands for air molecular waves, and any +molecular wave must find its half-wave complement somewhere in that +wedge of waves. It does, and is at once choked off, its energy fighting +the energy of the ray screen, of course. In the air, however, the screen +is greatly helped by the fact that before the half-wave frequency is met +in the ray-wedge, the molecular ray is buried in ions, leaving the ray +screen little work to do. + +"Now your job is to design the apparatus in a form that machines can +make automatically. We tried doing it ourselves for the fun of it, but +we couldn't see how we could make a machine that didn't need at least +two humans to supervise." + +"Well," grinned Fuller, "you have it all over me as scientists, but as +economic workers--two human supervisors to make one product!" + +"All right--we agree. But no, let's see you--Lord! What was that?" Morey +started for the door on the run. The building was still trembling from +the shock of a heavy blow, a blow that seemed much as though a machine +had been wrecked on the armored roof, and a big machine at that. Arcot, +a flying suit already on, was up in the air, and darting past Morey in +an instant, streaking for the vertical shaft that would let him out to +the roof. The molecular ray pistol was already in his hand, ready to +pull any beams off unfortunate victims pinned under them. + +In a moment he had flashed up through the seven stories, and out to the +roof. A gigantic silvery machine rested there, streamlined to +perfection, its hull dazzingly beautiful in the sunlight. A door opened, +and three tall, lean men stepped from it. Already people were collecting +about the ship, flying up from below. Air patrolmen floated up in a +minute, and seeing Arcot, held the crowd back. + +The strange men were tall, eight feet or more in height. Great, round, +soft brown eyes looked in curiosity at the towering multicolored +buildings, at the people floating in the air, at the green trees and the +blue sky, the yellowish sun. + +Arcot looked at their strangely blotched and mottled heads, faces, arms +and hands. Their feet were very long and narrow, their legs long and +thin. Their faces were kindly; the mottled skin, brown and white and +black, seemed not to make them ugly. It was not a disfigurement; it +seemed oddly familiar and natural in some reminiscent way. + +"Lord, Arcot--queer specimens, yet they seem familiar!" said Morey in an +undertone. + +"They are. Their race is that of man's first and best friend, the dog! +See the brown eyes? The typical teeth? The feet still show the traces of +the dog's toe-step. Their nails, not flat like human ones but rounded? +The mottled skin, the ears--look, one is advancing." + +One of the strangers walked laboriously forward. A lighter world than +Earth was evidently his home. His great brown eyes fixed themselves on +Arcot's. Arcot watched them. They seemed to expand, grow larger; they +seemed to fill all the sky. Hypnotism! He concentrated his mind, and the +eyes suddenly contracted to the normal eyes of the stranger. The man +reeled back, as Arcot's telepathic command to sleep came, stronger than +his own will. The stranger's friends caught him, shook him, but he +slept. One of the others looked at Arcot; his eyes seemed hurt, +desperately pleading. + +Arcot strode forward, and quickly brought the man out of the trance. He +shook his head, smiled at Arcot, then, with desperate difficulty, he +enunciated some words in English, terribly distorted. + +"Ahy wizz tahk. Vokle kohds ron. Tahk by breen." + +Distorted as it was, Arcot recognized the meaning without difficulty. "I +wish (to) talk. Vocal cords wrong. Talk by brain." He switched to +communication by the Venerian method, telepathically, but without +hypnotism. + +"Good enough. When you attempted to hypnotize me, I didn't known what +you wanted. It is not necessary to hypnotize to carry on communication +by the method of the second world of this system. What brings you to our +system? From what system do you come? What do you wish to say?" + +The other, not having learned the Venerian system, had great difficulty +in communicating his thoughts, but Arcot learned that they had machines +which would make it easier, and the terrestrian invited them into his +laboratory, for the crowd was steadily growing. + +The three returned to their ship for a moment, coming out with several +peculiar headsets. Almost at once the ship started to rise, going up +more and more swiftly, as the people cleared a way for it. + +Then, in the tiniest fraction of a second, the ship was gone; it shrank +to a point, and was invisible in the blue vault of the sky. + +"Apparently they intend to stay a while," said Wade. "They are trusting +souls, for their line of retreat is cut off. We naturally have no +intention of harming them, but they can't know that." + +"I'm not so sure," said Arcot. He turned to the apparent leader of the +three and explained that there were several stories to descend, and +stairs were harder than a flying unit. "Wrap your arms about my legs, +when I rise above you, and hold on till your feet are on the floor +again," he concluded. + +The stranger walked a little closer to the edge of the shaft, and looked +down. White bulbs illuminated its walls down its length to the ground. +The man talked rapidly to his friends, looking with evident distaste at +the shaft, and the tiny pack on Arcot's back. Finally, smiling, he +evinced his willingness. Arcot rose, the man grasped his legs, and then +both rose. Over the shaft, and down to his laboratory was the work of a +moment. + +Arcot led them into his "consultation room," where a number of +comfortable chairs were arranged, facing each other. He seated them +together, and his own friends facing them. + +"Friends of another world," began Arcot, "we do not know your errand +here, but you evidently have good reason for coming to this place. It is +unlikely that your landing was the result of sheer chance. What brought +you? How came you to this point?" + +"It is difficult for me to reply. First we must be _en rapport_. Our +system is not simple as yours, but more effective, for yours depends on +thought ideas, not altogether universal. Place these on your heads, for +only a moment. I must induce temporary hypnotic coma. Let one try first +if you desire." The leader of the visitors held out one of the several +headsets they had brought, caplike things, made of laminated metal +apparently. + +Arcot hesitated, then with a grin slipped it on. + +"Relax," came a voice in Arcot's head, a low, droning voice, a voice of +command. "Sleep," it added. Arcot felt himself floating down an infinite +shaft, on some superflying suit that did not pull at him with its +straps, just floating down lightly, down and down and down. Suddenly he +reached the bottom, and found to his surprise that it led directly into +the room again! He was back. "You are awake. Speak!" came the voice. + +Arcot shook himself, and looked about. A new voice spoke now, not the +tonelessly melodious voice, but the voice of an individual, yet a mental +voice. It was perfectly clear, and perfectly comprehensible. "We have +traveled far to find you, and now we have business of the utmost import. +Ask these others to let us treat them, for we must do what we can in the +least possible time. I will explain when all can understand. I am Zezdon +Fentes, First Student of Thought. He who sits on my right is Zezdon +Afthen, and he beyond him, is Zezdon Inthel, of Physics and of +Chemistry, respectively." + +And now Arcot spoke to his friends. + +"These men have something of the greatest importance to tell us, it +seems. They want us all to hear, and they are in a hurry. The treatment +isn't at all annoying. Try it. The man on the extreme right, as we face +them, is Zezdon Fentes of Thought, Zezdon apparently meaning something +like professor, or 'First Student of.' Those next him are Zezdon Afthen +of Physics and Zezdon Inthel of Chemistry." + +Zezdon Afthen offered them the headsets, and in a moment everyone +present was wearing one. The process of putting them _en rapport_ took +very little time, and shortly all were able to communicate with ease. + +"Friends of Earth, we must tell our strange story quickly for the +benefit of your world as well as ours, and others, too. We cannot so +much as annoy. We are helpless to combat them. + +"Our world lies far out across the galaxy; even with incalculable +velocity of the great swift thing that bore us, three long months have +we traveled toward your distant worlds, hoping that at last the Invaders +might meet their masters. + +"We landed on this roof because we examined mentally the knowledge of a +pilot of one of your patrol ships. His mind told us that here we would +find the three greatest students of Science of this Solar System. So it +was here we came for help. + +"Our race has arisen," he continued, "as you have so surely determined +from the race you call canines. It was artificially produced by the +Ancient Masters when their hour of need had come. We have lost the great +science of the Ancient Ones. But we have developed a different science, +a science of the mind." + +"Dogs are far more psychic than are men. They would naturally tend to +develop such a civilization," said Arcot judiciously. + + + + +Chapter III + +A QUARTER OF A MILLION LIGHT YEARS + + +"Our civilization," continued Zezdon Afthen, "is built largely on the +knowledge of the mind. We cannot have criminals, for the man who plots +evil is surely found out by his thoughts. We cannot have lying +politicians and unjust rulers. + +"It is a peaceful civilization. The Ancient Masters feared and hated War +with a mighty aversion. But they did not make our race cowards, merely +peaceful intelligence. Now we must fight for our homes, and my race will +fight mightily. But we need weapons. + +"But my story has little to do with our race. I will tell the story of +our civilization and of the Ancient Ones later when the time is more +auspicious. + +"Four months ago, our mental vibration instruments detected powerful +emanations from space. That could only mean that a new, highly +intelligent race had suddenly appeared within a billion miles of our +world. The directional devices quickly spotted it as emanating from the +third planet of our system. Zezdon Fentes, with my aid, set up some +special apparatus, which would pick up strong thoughts and make them +visible. We had used this before to see not only what an enemy +looked upon, but also what he saw in that curious thing, the eye +of the mind, the vision of the past and the future. But while the +thought-amplification device was powerful, the new emanations were hard +to separate from each other. + +"It was done finally, when all but one man slept. That one we were +enable to tune sharply to. After that we could reach him at any time. He +was the commander. We saw him operate the ship, we saw the ship, saw it +glide over the barren, rocky surface of that world. We saw other men +come in and go out. They were strange men. Short, squat, bulky men. +Their arms were short and stocky. But their strength was enormous, +unbelievable. We saw them bend solid bars of steel as thick as my arm. +With perfect ease! + +"Their brains were tremendously active, but they were evil, selfishly +evil. Nothing that did not benefit them counted. At one time our +instruments went dead, and we feared that the commander had detected us, +but we saw what happened a little later. The second in command had +killed him. + +"We saw them examine the world, working their way across it, wearing +heavy suits, yet, for all the terrific gravity of that world, bouncing +about like rubber balls, leaping and jumping where they wanted. Their +legs would drive out like pistons, and they soared up and through the +air. + +"They were tired while they made those examinations, and slept heavily +at night. + +"Then one night there was a conference. We saw then what they intended. +Before we had tried desperately to signal them. Now we were glad that we +had failed. + +"We saw their ship rise (in the thoughts of the second in command) and +sail out into space, and rush toward our world. The world grew larger, +but it was imperfectly sketched in, for they did not know our world +well. Their telescopes did not have great power as your electric +telescopes have. + +"We saw them investigate the planet. We saw them plan to destroy any +people they found with a ray which was as follows: 'the ray which makes +all parts move as one.' We could not understand and could not interpret. +Thoughts beyond our knowledge have, of course, no meaning, even when our +mental amplifiers get them, and bring them to us." + +"The Molecular ray!" gasped Morey in surprise. "They will be an enemy." + +"You know it! It is familiar to you! You have it? You can fight it?" +asked Zezdon Afthen excitedly. + +"We know it, and can fight it, if that is all they have." + +"They have more--much more I fear," replied Zezdon Afthen. "At any rate, +we saw what they intended. If our world was inhabited, they would +destroy every one on it, and then other men of their race were to float +in on their great ships, and settle on that largest of our worlds. + +"We had to stop them so we did what we could. We had powerful machines, +which would amplify and broadcast our thoughts. So we broadcast our +thought-waves, and implanted in the mind of their leader that it would +be wise to land, and learn the extent of the civilization, and the +weapons to be met. Also, as the ship drew nearer, we made him decide on +a certain spot we had prepared for him. + +"He never guessed that the thoughts were not his own. Only the ideas +came to him, seeming to spring from his own mind. + +"He landed--and we used our one weapon. It was a thing left to one group +of rulers when the Ancient Masters left us to care for ourselves. What +it was, we never knew; we had never used it in the fifteen thousand +years since the Great Masters had passed--never had to. But now it was +brought out, and concealed behind great piles of rock in a deep canyon +where the ship of the enemy would land. When it landed, we turned the +beam of the machine on it, and the apparatus rotated it swiftly, and a +cone of the beam's ray was formed as the beam was swung through a small +circle in the vertical plane. The machine leaped backward, and though it +was so massive that a tremendous amount of labor had been required to +bring it there, the push of the pencil of force we sent out hurled it +back against a rocky cliff behind it as though it were some child's toy. +It continued to operate for perhaps a second, perhaps two. In that time +two great holes had been cut in the enemy ship, holes fifteen feet +across, that ran completely through the hull as though a die had cut +through the metal of the ship, cutting out a disc of metal. + +"There was a terrific concussion, and a roar as the air blasted out of +the ship. It did not take us long to discover that the enemy were dead. +Their terrible, bloated corpses lay everywhere in the ship. Most of the +men we were able to recognize, having seen them in the mentovisor. But +the colors were distorted, and their forms were peculiar. Indeed, the +whole ship seemed strange. The only time that things ever did seem +normal about that strange thing, when the angles of it seemed what they +were, when the machines did not seem out of proportion, out of shape, +twisted, was when on a trial trip we ventured very close to our sun." + +Arcot whistled softly and looked at Morey. Morey nodded. "Probably +right. Don't interrupt." + +"That you thought something, I understood, but the thoughts themselves +were hopelessly unintelligible to me. You know the explanation?" asked +Zezdon Afthen eagerly. + +"We think so. The ship was evidently made on a world of huge size. Those +men, their stocky, block legs and arms, their entire build and their +desire for the largest of your planets, would indicate that. Their own +world was probably even larger--they were forced to wear pressure suits +even on that large world, and could jump all over, you said. On so huge +a sphere as their native world seems to be, the gravity would be so +intense as to distort space. Geometry, such as yours seems to be, and +such as ours was, could never be developed, for you assume the existence +of a straight line, and of an absolute plane surface. These things +cannot exist in space, but on small worlds, far from the central sun's +mass, the conditions approach that without sufficient discrepency to +make the error obvious. On so huge a globe as their world the space is +so curved that it is at once obvious that no straight line exists, and +that no plane exists. Their geometry would never be like ours. When you +went close to your sun, the attraction was sufficient to curve space +into a semblance of the natural conditions on their home planet, then +your senses and the ship met a compromise condition which made it seem +more or less normal, not so obviously strange to you. + +"But continue." Arcot looked at Afthen interestedly. + +"There were none left in their ship now, and we had been careful in +locating the first hole, that it should not damage the propulsive +machinery. The second hole was accidental, due to the shift of the +machine. The machine itself was wrecked now, crushed by its own +reaction. We forgot that any pencil of force powerful enough to do what +we wanted, would tear the machine from its moorings unless fastened with +great steel bolts into the solid rock. + +"The second hole had been far to the rear, and had, by ill-luck, cut out +a portion of the driving apparatus. We could not repair that, though we +did succeed at last in lifting the great discs into place. We attempted +to cut them, and put them back in sections. Our finest saws and machines +did not nick them. Their weight was unbelievable, and yet we finally +succeeded in lifting the things into the wall of the ship. The actual +missing material did not represent more than a tiny cut, perhaps as wide +as one of your credit-discs. You could slip the thin piece of metal in +between them, but not so much as your finger. + +"Those slots we welded tight with our best steel, letting a flap hang +over on each side of the cut, and as the hot metal cooled, it was drawn +against the shining walls with terrific force. The joints were perfectly +airtight. + +"The machines proper were repaired to the greatest possible extent. It +was a heartbreaking task, for we must only guess at what machines should +be connected together. Much damage had been done by the rushing air as +it left, for it filled the machines, too, and they were not designed to +resist the terrific air pressure that was on them when the pressure in +the ship escaped. Many of the machines had been burst open, and these we +could repair when we had the necessary elements and knew their +construction from the remnants, or could find unbroken duplicates in the +stock rooms. + +"Once we connected the wrong things. This will show you what we dealt +with. They were the wrong poles--two generators, connected together in +the wrong way. There was a terrific crash when the switch was thrown, +and huge sheets of electric flame leaped from one of them. Two men were +killed, incinerated in an instant, even the odors one might expect were +killed in that flash of heat. Everything save the shining metal and +clear glass within ten feet of it was instantly wiped out. And there was +a fuse link that gave. The generator was ruined. One was left, and +several small auxiliary generators. + +"Eventually, we did the job. We made the machine work. And we are here. + +"We have come to warn you, and to ask aid. Your system also has a large +planet, slightly smaller than the largest of our system, but yet +attractive. There are approximately 50,000 planetary systems in this +universe, according to the records of the Invaders. Their world is not +of this system. It is the World Thett, sun Antseck, Universe Venone. +Where that is, or even what it means, we do not know. Perhaps you +understand. + +"But they investigated your world, and its address, according to their +records, was World 3769-8482730-3. This, I believe, means, Universe +3769, sun 8482730, world 3. They have been investigating this system now +for nearly three centuries. It was close to 200 years ago that they +visited your world--two hundred years of your time." + +"This is 2129--which makes it about the year 1929-30 that they floated +around here investigating. Why haven't they done anything?" Arcot asked +him. + +"They waited for an auspicious time. They are afraid now, for recently +they visited your world, and were utterly amazed to find the +unbelievable progress your people have made. They intend to make an +immediate attack on all worlds known to be intelligently populated. They +had made the mistake of letting one race learn too much; they cannot +afford to let it happen again. + +"There are only twenty-one inhabited worlds known, and their thousands +of scouts have already investigated nearly all the central mass of this +universe, and much of the outer rings. They have established a base in +this universe. Where I do not know. That, alone, was never mentioned in +the records. But of all peoples, they feared only your world. + +"There is one race in the universe far older than yours, but they are a +sleeping people. Long ago their culture decayed. Still, now they are not +far from you, and perhaps it will be worth the few days needed to learn +more about them. We have their location and can take you there. Their +world circles a dead star--" + +"Not any more," laughed Morey grimly. "That's another surprise for the +enemy. They had a little jog, and they certainly are wide awake now. +They are headed for big things, and they are going to do a lot." + +"But how do you know these things? You have ships that can go from +planet to planet, I know, but the records of the enemy said you could +not leave the system of your sun. They alone knew that secret." + +"Another surprise for them," said Morey. "We can--and we can move faster +than your ship, if not faster than they. The people of the dead star +have moved to a very live star--Sirius, the brightest in our heavens. +And they are as much alive now as their new sun. They can move faster +than light, also. We had a little misunderstanding a while back, when +their star passed close to ours. They came off second best, and we +haven't spoken to them since. But I think we can make valuable allies +there." + +For all Morey's jocular manner, he realized the terrible import of this +announcement. A race which had been able to cross the vast gulf of +intergalactic space in the days when Terrestrians were still developing +the airplane--and already they had mapped Jupiter, and planned their +colonies! What developments had come? They had molecular rays, cosmic +rays, the energy of matter, then--what else had they now? Lux and Relux, +the two artificial metals, made of solidified light, far stronger than +anything of molecular structure in nature, absolutely infusible, totally +inert chemically, one a perfect conductor of light and of all radiation +in space, the other a perfect reflector of all radiations--save +molecular rays. Made into the condition of reflection by the action of +special frequencies in its formation from light, molecular frequencies +were, unfortunately, able to convert it into perfectly transparent lux +metal, when the protective value was gone. + +They had that. All Earth had, perhaps. + +"There was one other race of some importance, the others were +semi-civilized. They rated us in a position between these races and the +high races--yours, those of the dead star, and those of world +3769-37:478:326:894-6. Our science had been investigated two hundred or +so years ago. + +"This other race was at a great distance from us, greater than yours, +and apparently not feared as greatly as yours. They cannot cross to +other worlds, save in small ships driven solely by fire, which the +Thessians have called a 'hopelessly inefficient and laughably awkward +thing to ride in.'" + +"Rockets," grinned Morey. "Our first ship was part rocket." + +Zezdon Fentes smiled. "But that is all. We have brought you warning, and +our plea. Can you help us?" + +"We cannot answer that. The Interplanetary Council must act. But I am +afraid that it will be all we can do to protect our own world if this +enemy attacks soon, and I fear they will. Since they have a base in this +universe, it is impossible to believe that all ships did not report back +to the home world at stated intervals. That one is missing will soon be +discovered, and it will be sought. War will start at once. Three months +it took you to reach us--they should come soon. + +"Those men who left will be on their way back from the home world from +which they came. What do you call your planet, friend?" + +"Ortol is our home," replied Zezdon Inthel. + +"At any rate, I can only assure you that your world will be given +weapons that will permit your people to defend themselves and I will get +you to your home within twenty-four hours. Your ship--is it in the +system?" + +"It waits on the second satellite of the fourth planet," replied Zezdon +Afthen. + +"Signal them, and tell them to land where a beacon of intense light, +alternating red and blue, reaches up from--this point on the map." Arcot +pointed out the spot in Vermont where their private lake and laboratory +were. + +He turned to the others, and in rapid-fire English, explained his plans. +"We need the help of these people as much as they need ours. I think +Zezdon Fentes will stay here and help you. The others will go with us to +their world. There we shall have plenty of work to do, but on the way we +are going to stop at Mars and pick up that valuable ship of theirs and +make a careful examination for possible new weapons, their system of +speed-drive, and their regular space-drive. I'm willing to make a bet +right now, that I can guess both. Their regular drive is a molecular +drive with lead disintegration apparatus for the energy, cosmic ray +absorbers for the heating, and a drive much like ours. Their speed drive +is a time distortion apparatus, I'll wager. Time distinction offers an +easy solution of speed. All speed is relative--relative to other bodies, +but also to time-speed. But we'll see. + +"I'm going to hustle some workmen to installing the biggest spare power +board I can get into the storerooms of the _Ancient Mariner_, and pack +in a ray-screen. It will be useful. Let's move." + +"Our ship," said Zezdon Afthen, "will land in three of your hours." + + + + +Chapter IV + +THE FIRST MOVE + + +The Ortolians were standing on a low, green-clad hill. Below them +stretched the green flank of the little rise, and beyond lay ridge after +ridge of the broad, smooth carpet of the beautiful Vermont hills. + +"Man of Earth," said Zezdon Afthen, turning at last to Wade, who stood +behind him. "It took us three months of constant flight at a speed +unthinkable, through space dotted with the titanic gems of the Outer +Dark, stars gleaming in red, and blue and orange, some titanic +lighthouses of our course, others dim pinpoints of glowing color. It was +a scene of unspeakable grandeur, but it was so awesomely mighty in its +scope, one was afraid, and his soul shriveled within him as he looked at +those inconceivable masses floating forever alone in the silence of the +inconceivable nothingness of eternal cold and eternal darkness. One was +awed, suppressed by their sheer magnitude. A magnificent spectacle +truly, but one no man could love. + +"Now we are at rest on a tiny pinpoint of dust in a tiny bit of a tiny +corner of an isolated universe, and the magnitude and stillness is gone. +Only the chirpings of those strange birds as they seek rest in darkness, +the soft gurgling of the little stream below, and the rustle of +countless leaves, break the silence with a satisfying existence, while +the loneliness of that great star, your sun, is lost in its tintings of +soft color, the fleeciness of the clouds, and the seeming companionship +of green hills. + +"The beauty of boundless space is awe-inspiring in its magnitude. The +beauty of Earth is something man can love. + +"Man of Earth, you have a home that you may well fight for with all the +strength of your arms, all the forces of your brain, and all the +energies of Space that you can call forth to aid you. It is a wondrous +world." Silently he stood in the gathering dusk, as first Venus winked +into being, then one by one the stars came into existence in the +deepening color of the sky. + +"Space is awesomely wonderful; this is--lovable." He gazed long at the +heavens of this world so strange, so beautiful to him, looking at the +unfamiliar heavens, as star after star flashed into the constellations +so familiar to terrestrians and to those Venerians who had been above +the clouds of Venus' eternal shroud. + +"But somewhere off there in space are other races, and far beyond the +power of our eyes to see is the star that is the sun of my world, and +around it circles that little globe that is home to me. What is +happening there now? Does it still exist? Are there people still living +on it? Oh, Man of Earth, let us reach that world quickly, you cannot +guess the pangs that attack me, for if it be destroyed, think--forever I +am without home--without friends I knew. However kind your people may be +to me, I would be forever lonely. + +"I will not think of that--only it is time your ship was ready, is it +not?" + +"I think we had better return," replied Wade softly, his English words +rousing thoughts in his mind intelligible to the Ortolians. + +The three rose in the air on the molecular suits and drove quickly down +toward the blue gem of the lake to the east, nestled among still other +green hills. Lights were showing in the great shop, where the _Ancient +Mariner_ was being fitted with the ray-shields, and all possible +weapons. Men streaming through her were hastily stocking her with vast +quantities of foods, stocks of fuel, all the spare parts they could cram +into her stock rooms. + +When the men arrived from the hilltop, the work was practically done, +and Wade stepped up to Morey, busily checking off a list of required +items. + +"Everything you ordered came through?" he asked. + +"Yes--thanks to the pull of a two-billion dollar private fortune. Who +says credit-units don't have their value? This expedition never would +have gotten through, if it hadn't been for that. + +"But we have the main space distortion power bank, and the new auxiliary +coils full. Ten tons of lead aboard for fuel. There's one thing we are +afraid of. If the enemy have a system of tubes that is able to handle +more power than our last tube--we're sunk. These brilliant people that +suggest using more tubes to a ray-power bank forget the last tube has to +handle the entire output of all the others, and modulate it correctly. +If the enemy has a better tube--it will be too bad for us." Morey was +frankly worried. + +"My end is all set, Morey. How soon will you be ready?" Arcot asked. + +"'Bout ten-fifteen minutes." Morey lit a cigarette and watched as the +last of the stuff was carried aboard. + +At last they were ready. The _Ancient Mariner_, originally built for +intergalactic exploration, was kept in working condition. New apparatus +had been incorporated in it, as their research had led to improvements, +and it was constantly in condition, ready for a trip. Many exploration +trips to the nearer stars had already been made. + +The ship was backed out from the hangar now, and rested on the great +smooth landing field, its tremendous quarter million ton mass of lux and +relux sinking a great, smooth depression in the turf of the field. They +were waiting now for the arrival of the Ortolian ship. Zezdon Afthen +assured them it would be there in a few minutes. + +High in the sky, came the whining whistle of an approaching ship, coming +at terrific velocity. It came nearer the field, darting toward the +ground at an unheard of speed, flashing down at a speed of well over +three thousand miles an hour, and, only in the last fifty feet slowed +with a sickening deceleration. Even so it landed with a crash of fully +two hundred miles of speed. Arcot gasped at the terrible landing the +pilot had made, fully expecting to see the great hull dent somewhat, +even though made of solid relux. And certainly the jar would kill every +man on board. Yet the hull did not seem harmed by the crash, and even +the ground under the ship was but slightly disturbed, though, at a +distance of some thirty feet, the entire block of soil was crushed, and +cracked by the terrific impact of hundreds of thousands of tons striking +with terrific energy. + +"Lord, it's a wonder they didn't kill themselves. I never saw such a +rotten landing," exclaimed Morey with disgust. + +"Don't be too sure. I think they landed gently, and at very low speed. +Notice how little the soil directly under them was dented?" replied +Arcot, walking forward. "They have time control, as I suspected. Ask +them. They drifted in gently. Their time rate was speeded up +tremendously, so that what was hundreds of miles per hour to us was feet +per minute to them. But come on, get the handlers to bring that junk up +to the door--they are coming out." + +One of the tall, kindly-faced canine people was standing in the doorway +now, the white light streaming out around him into the night, casting a +grotesque shadow on the landing field, for all the flood lights bathing +in it. + +Zezdon Afthen came up and spoke quickly to the man evidently in command +of the ship. The entire party went into the ship, and the cream of their +laboratory instruments was brought in. + +For hours Arcot, Morey and Wade worked at the apparatus in the ship, +measuring, calculating, following electrical and magnetic and sheer +force hook-ups of staggering complexity. They were not trying to find +the exact method of construction, only the principles involved, so that +they could perform calculations of their own, and duplicate the results +of the enemy. Thus they would be far more thoroughly familiar with the +machinery when done. + +Little attention was paid to the actual driving plant, for it was a +molecular drive with the same type of lead-fuel burner they used in +their own ship. The tubes of the power bank were, however, a puzzle to +them. They were made of relux, so that it was impossible to see the +interior of the tube. To open one was to destroy it, but calculations +made from readings of their instruments showed that they were more +efficient, and could readily carry nearly half again the load that the +best terrestrian tubes could sustain. This meant the enemy could send +heavier rays and heavier ray screens. + +But finally they returned to the _Ancient Mariner_, and as the Ortolian +ship whined its way out to space, the _Ancient Mariner_ started, rising +faster and faster through the atmosphere till it was in the night of +space. Then the molecular power was shut off. The ship suddenly seemed +to writhe, space was black and starless about them, then sparkling +weirdly distorted stars, all before them. They were moving already. +Almost before the Ortolians fully realized what was happening, a dozen +stars had swung past the ship, driving on now at better than five light +years in every second. At this speed, approximately fourteen hours would +be needed to reach Ortol. + +"Now, Arcot, perhaps you will explain to me the secret of this ship," +said Zezdon Afthen at last, turning from the great lux pilot's window, +to Arcot seated in the pilot's chair. "I know that only the broadest +principles will be intelligible to me, for I could not understand that +ship we captured, after almost four months of study. Yet it crept +through space compared with this ship. Certainly no ship could +outdistance this in a race!" + +"As a matter of fact--watch!" Arcot pushed a little metal button along a +slide to the extreme end. Again the ship seemed to writhe. Space was no +longer black, but faintly gray, and beside them, on either side, floated +two exact replicas of their ship! Zezdon Afthen stared. But in another +moment, both were gone, and space was black, yet in but a few moments a +grayness was showing, and light was appearing from all about, growing +gradually in intensity. For three seconds Arcot continued thus, then he +pulled the metal button down the slide, and flicked over another that he +had pulled to cause the second change. The stars were again before them, +their colors changed beyond all recognition at that speed. But the +orientation of the stars behind them had been familiar. Now an entirely +different set of constellation showed. + +"I merely opened the ship out to her maximum speed for a moment. I was +able to see any large star 2000 light years in our path, and there were +none. Small stars do not bother us as I will explain. When I put on full +power of the main power coils, I drove the ship up to a speed of 30 +light years a second. When I turned in the full power of the auxiliary +coils as well I doubled the power, and the speed was multiplied by +eight. The result was that in the four seconds of racing, we made +approximately 1000 light years!" + +Zezdon Afthen gasped. "Two hundred and forty light years _per second_"! +He paused in bewilderment. "Suppose we had struck a small sun, a dark +star, even a meteor at that speed? What would have been the result?" + +Arcot smiled. "The chances are excellent that we plowed through more +than one meteor, more than one dark star, and more than one small sun. + +"But this is the secret: the ship attains the speed only by going out of +space. _Nothing in space can attain the speed of light, save radiation._ +Nothing in normal space. But, we alter space, make space along patterns +we choose, and so distort it that the natural speed of radiation is +enormously greater. In fact, we so change space that nothing can go +_slower_ than a speed we fix. + +"Morey--show Afthen the coils, and explain it all to him. I've got to +stay here." + +Morey rose, and diving through the weightless ship, went down to the +power room, Zezdon Afthen following. Here, giant pots five feet high +were in close packed rows. The "pots" contained specially designed coils +storing tremendous energy, the energy of four tons of disintegrated +lead, in the only form that energy may be stored, as a strain, or +distortion in space. These charged coils distorted only the space within +themselves, making a closed field entirely within themselves. But in the +exact gravitational center of the quarter of a million ton ship was a +single high coil of different design that distorted space around it as +well as the space within it. This, as Morey explained, was the control +that altered the constants of space to suit. The coils were charged, and +the energy stored. Their energy could be pumped into the big coil, and +then, when the ship slowed to normal space, could be pumped back to +them. The pumping energy, as well as any further energy needed for +recharging the coils could be supplied by three huge power generators. + +"These energy-producers," Morey explained, "work on a principle known +for hundreds of years on Earth. Lead, when reduced to a temperature +approaching absolute zero as closely as, for instance, liquid helium, +has _no_ electrical resistance. In other words, no matter how great a +current is sent through it, there is no resistance, and no heat is +produced to raise the temperature. What we do is to send a powerful +current through a lead wire. The wire has a current density so huge that +the atoms are destroyed, and the protons and electrons coalesce into +pure radiant energy. Relux, under the influence of a magnetic field, +converts this directly into electrical potential. Electricity we can +convert to the spatial strain in the power coils, and thus the ship is +driven." Morey pointed out the huge molecular power cylinder overhead, +where the main power drive was located in the inertial center of the +ship, or as near as the great space coil would permit. + +The smaller power units for vertical lift, and for steering, were in the +side walls, hidden under heavy walls of relux. + +"The projectors for throwing molecular and heat rays are on the outside +of course. Both of these projectors are protected. The walls of the ship +are made of an outer wall of heavy lux metal, a vacuum between, and an +inner wall of heavy relux. The lux is stronger than relux, and is +therefore used for an outer shell. The inner shell of relux will reflect +any dangerous rays and serve to hold the heat in the ship, since a +perfect reflector is a perfect non-radiator. The vacuum wall is to +protect the occupants of the ship against any undue heat. If we should +get within the atmosphere of a sun, it would be disastrous if the +physical conduction of heat were permitted, for though the relux will +turn out any radiated heat, it is a conductor of heat, and we would +roast almost instantly. These artificial metals are both absolutely +infusible and non-volatile. The ship has actually been in the limb of a +star tremendously hotter than your sun or mine. + +"Now you see why it is we need not fear a collision with a small sun, +meteor or such like. Since we are in our own, artificial space, we are +alone, and there is nothing in space to run into. But, if we enter a +huge sun, the terrific gravitational field of the mass of matter would +be enough to pull the energy of our coil away from us. That actually +happened the time we made our first intergalactic exploration. But it is +almost impossible to fall into a large star--they are too brilliant. We +won't be worrying about it," grinned Morey. + +"But how did the ship we captured operate?" asked Zezdon Afthen. + +"It was a very ingenious system, very closely related to ours, really. + +"We distort space and change the velocity characteristics; in other +words, we distort the rate of motion through distance characteristics of +normal space. The Thessian ships work on the principle of distorting the +rate of progress through time instead of through space. + +"_Velocity_ is really 'units of travel through space per unit of travel +through time.' Now if we make the time unit twice as great, and the +units traveled through space are not changed, the _velocity_ is twice as +great. That is, if we are moving five light years per second, make the +second twice as long and we are moving ten light years per +double-second. Make it ten thousand times as long, and we are traveling +fifty thousand light years per ten-thousand-seconds. This is the +principle--but there is a drawback. We might increase the velocity by +slowing time passage, that is, if it takes me a year for one heartbeat, +two years to raise my arm thus, and six months to turn, my head, if all +my body processes are slowed down in this way, I will be able to live a +tremendous length of time, and though it takes me two hundred years to +go from one star to another, so low is my time rate that the two hundred +years will seem but a few minutes. I can then make a trip to a distant +star--one five light years distant, let us say, in three minutes to me. +I then will say, looking at my chronometer (which has been similarly +slowed) 'I have gone five light years in three minutes, or five thirds +light years per minute. I have exceeded the speed of light.' + +"But people back on Earth would say, he has taken two hundred years to +go five light years, therefore he has gone at a speed one fortieth of +that of light, which would be true--for their time rate. + +"But suppose I can also speed up time. That is, I can live a year in a +minute or two. Then everyone else will be exceedingly slow. The ideal +thing would be to combine these two effects, arranging that space about +your ship will have a very rapid time rate, ten thousand times that of +normal space. Then the speed of radiation through that space will be +1,860,000,000 miles per second, and a speed of 1,000,000,000 miles per +second would be possible, but still you, too, will be affected, so that +though the people back home will say you are going far faster than +light, you will say 'No, I am going only 100,000 miles per second.' + +"But now imagine that your ship and surrounding space for one mile is at +a time rate 10,000 times normal, and you, in a space of one hundred feet +within your ship, are affected by a time rate 1/10,000 that, or normal, +due to a second, reversing field. The two fields will not fight, or be +mutually antagonistic; they will merely compound their effects. Result: +you will agree that you are exceeding the speed of light! + +"Do you understand? That is the principle on which your ship operated. +There were two time-fields, overlapping time-fields. Remember the +terrible speed with which your ship landed, and yet there was no +appreciable jar according to the men? The answer of course was, that +their time rate had been speeded enough, due to the fact that one field +had been completely shut off, the other had not. + +"That is the principle. The system is so complex, naturally, that we +have not yet learned the actual method of working the process. We must +do a great deal of mathematical and physical research. + +"Wish we had it done--we could use it now," mused the terrestrian. + +"We have some other weapons, none as important, of course, as the +molecular ray and the heat ray. Or none that have been. But, if the +enemy have ray shields, then perhaps these others also will be +important. There are molecular motion guns, metal tubes, with molecular +director apparatus at one end. A metal shell is pulling the power turned +on, and the shell leaps out at a speed of about ten miles per +second--since it has been super-heated--and is very accurately aimed, as +there is no terrific shock of recoil to be taken up by the gun. + +"But a more effective weapon, if these men are as I expect them to be, +will be a peculiarly effective magnetic field concentrator device, which +will project a magnetic field as a beam for a mile or more. How useful +it will be--I don't know. We don't know what the enemy will turn against +_us_!" + + + + +Chapter V + +ORTOL + + +After Morey's explanation of the ship was completed, Wade took Arcot's +place at the controls, while Morey and Arcot retired to the calculating +room to do some of the needed mathematics on the time-field +investigation. + +Their work continued here, while the Ortolians prepared a meal and +brought it to them, and to Wade. When at last the sun of Ortol was +growing before them, Arcot took over controls from Wade once more. +Slowing their speed to less than fifty times that of light, they drove +on. The attraction of the giant sun was draining the energy from the +coils so rapidly now, that at last Arcot was forced to get into normal +space, while the planet was still close to a million miles from them. +Morey was showing the Ortolians the operation of the telectroscope and +had it trained now on the rapidly approaching planet. The planet was +easily enlarged to a point where the features of continents were +visible. The magnification was increased till cities were no longer +blurs, but truly cities. + +Suddenly, as city after city was brought under the action of the +machine, the Ortolians recognizing them with glad exclamations, one +swept into view--and as they watched, it leapt into the air, a vast +column of dust, then twisting, whirling, it fell back in utter, chaotic +ruin. + +Zezdon Fentes staggered back from the screen in horror. + +"Arcot--drive down--increase your speed--the Thessians are there already +and have destroyed one city," called Morey sharply. The men secured +themselves with heavy belts, as the deep toned hum of the warning echoed +through the ship. A moment later they staggered under an acceleration of +four gravities. Space was dark for the barest instant of time, and then +there was the scream of atmosphere as the ship rocketed through the air +of the planet at nearly fifteen hundred miles per second. The outer wall +was blazing in incandescence in a moment, and the heavy relux screens +seemed to leap into place over the windows as the blasting heat, +radiated from the incandescent walls flooded in. The millions of tons +pressure of the air on the nose of the ship would have brought it to a +stop in an instant, and had it not been that the molecular drive was on +at full power, driving the ship against the air resistance, and still +losing. The ship slowed swiftly, but was shrieking toward the destroyed +city at terrific speed. + +"Hesthis--to the--right and ahead. That would be their next attack," +said the Ortolian. Arcot altered the ship's course, and they shot toward +the distance city of Hesthis. They were slowing perceptibly, and yet, +though the city was half around the world, they reached it in half a +minute. Now Arcot's wizardry at the controls came into play, for by +altering his space field constants, he succeeded in reaching a condition +that slowed the ship almost instantly to a speed of but a mile a second, +yet without apparent deceleration. + +High in the white Ortolian sky was a shining point bearing down on the +now-visible city. Arcot slanted toward it, and the approaching ship grew +like an expanding rubber balloon. + +A ray of intense, blindingly brilliant light flashed out, and a gout of +light appeared in the center of the city. A huge flame, bright blue, +shot heavenward in roaring heat. + +Seeing that a strange ship had arrived was enough for the Thessians, and +they turned, and drove at Arcot instantly. The Thessian ship was built +for a heavy world, and for heavy acceleration in consequence, and, as +they had found from the captured ship, it was stronger than the _Ancient +Mariner_. Now the Thessians were driving at Arcot with an acceleration +and speed that convinced him dodging was useless. Suddenly space was +black around them, the sunlit world was gone. + +"Wonder what they thought of _that_!" grinned Arcot. Wade smiled grimly. + +"It's not what they thought, but what they'll do, that counts." + +Arcot came back to normal space, just in time to see the Thessian ship +spin in a quick turn, under an acceleration that would have crushed a +human to a pulp. Again the pilot dived at the terrestrian ship. Again it +vanished. Twice more he tried these fruitless tactics, seeing the ship +loom before him--bracing for the crash--then it was gone +instantaneously, and though he sailed through the spot he knew it to +have occupied, it was not there. Yet an instant later, as he turned, it +was floating, unharmed, exactly where his ship had passed! + +Rushing was useless. He stood, and prepared to give battle. A molecular +ray reached out--and disappeared in flaring ions on a shield utterly +impenetrable in the ionizing atmosphere. + +Arcot meanwhile watched the instrument of his shield. The Thessian +shield would have been impenetrable, but his shield, fed by less +efficient tubes, was not, and he knew it. Already the terrific energy of +the Thessian ray was noticeably heating the copper plates of the tube. +The seal would break soon. + +Another ray reached out, a ray of flaring light. Arcot, watching through +the "eyes" of his telectroscope viewplates, saw it for but an instant, +then the "eyes" were blasted, and the screen went blank. + +"He won't do anything with that but burn out eyes," muttered the +terrestrian. He pushed a small button when his instruments told him the +rays were off. Another scanner came into action, and the viewplate was +alive again. + +Arcot shot out a cosmic ray himself, and swept the Thessian with it +thoroughly. For the instant he needed the enemy ship was blinded. +Immediately the _Ancient Mariner_ dove, and the automatic ray-finders +could no longer hold the rays on his ship. As soon as he was out of the +deadly molecular ray he shut off his screen, and turned on all his +molecular rays. The Thessian ship, their own ray on, had been unable to +put up their screen, as Arcot was unable to use his ray with the enemy's +ray forcing him to cover with a shield. + +Almost at once the relux covering of the Thessian ship shone with +characteristic iridescence as it changed swiftly to lux metal. The +molecular ray blinked out, and a ray screen flashed out instead. The +Thessians were covering up. Their own rays were useless now. Though +Arcot could not hope to destroy their ray shield, they could no longer +attack his, for their rays were useless, and already they had lost so +much of the protective relux, that they would not be so foolhardy as to +risk a second attack of the ray. + +Arcot continued to bathe the ship in energy, keeping their "eyes" +closed. As long as he could hold his barrage on them, they would not +damage him. + +"Morey--get into the power room, strap onto the board. Throw all the +power-coil banks into the magnets. I may burn them out, but I have +hopes--" Arcot already had the generators going full power, charging the +power coils. + +Morey dived. Almost simultaneously the Thessians succeeded in the +maneuver they had been attempting for some time. There were a dozen rays +flaring wildly from the ship, searching blindly over the sky and ground, +hoping to stumble on the enemy ship, while their own ship dived and +twisted. Arcot was busily dodging the sweeping rays, but finally one hit +his viewplates, and his own ship was blind. Instantly he threw the ray +screen out, cutting off his own molecular ray. His own cosmics he set +rotating in cones that covered the three dimensions--save below, where +the city lay. Immediately the Thessian had retreated to this one segment +where Arcot did not dare throw his own rays. The Thessian cosmics +continued to make his relux screens necessary, and his ship remained +blind. + +His ray screen was showing signs of weakening. The Thessians got a third +ray into position for operation, and opened up. Almost at once the tubes +heated terrifically. In an instant they would give way. Arcot threw his +ship into space, and let the tubes cool under the water jacket. Morey +reported the coils ready as soon as he came out of space. + +Arcot cut in the new set of eyes, and put up his molecular ray screen +again. Then he cut the energy back to the coils. + +Half a mile below the enemy ship was vainly scurrying around an empty +sky. Wade laughed at the strange resemblance to a puppy chasing its +tail. The _Ancient Mariner_ was utterly lost to them. + +"Well, here goes the last trick," said Arcot grimly. "If this doesn't +work, they'll probably win, for their tubes are better than ours, and +they can maneuver faster. By win I mean force us to let them attack +Ortol. They can't really attack us; artificial space is a perfect +defense." + +Arcot's molecular ray apprized the Thessians of his presence. Their +screen flared up once more. Arcot was driving straight toward their ship +as they turned. He snapped the relux screens in front of his eyes an +instant before the enemy cosmics reached his ship. Immediately the thud +of four heavy relays rang through the ship. The quarter of a million ton +ship leaped forward under a terrific acceleration, and then, as the four +relays cut out again, the acceleration was gone. The screen regained +life as Arcot opened the shutters. Before them, still directly in their +path, was the huge Thessian ship. But now its screen was down, the relux +iridescent in decomposition. It was falling, helplessly falling to the +rocky plateau seven miles below. Its rays reached out even yet--and +again the _Ancient Mariner_ staggered under the terrific pull of some +acceleration. The Thessian ship lurched upward, and a terrific +concussion came, and the entire neighborhood of that projector +disappeared in a flash of radiation. + +Arcot drove the _Ancient Mariner_ down beneath the Thessian ship in its +long fall, and with a powerful molecular beam ripped a mighty chasm in +the deserted plateau. The Thessian ship fell into a quarter mile rift in +the solid rock, smashing its way through falling débris. A moment later +it was buried beneath a quarter mile of broken rock as Arcot swept a +molecular beam about with the grace of a mine foreman filling breaks. + +An instant later, a heat ray followed the molecular in dazzling +brilliance. A terrific gout of light appeared in the barren rocks. In +ten minutes the plateau was a white hot cauldron of molten rocks, +glowing now against a darkening sky. Night was falling. + +"That ship," said Arcot with an air of finality, "will never rise +again." + + + + +Chapter VI + +THE SECOND MOVE + + +"What happened to him, though?" asked Wade, bewildered. "I haven't yet +figured it out. He went down in a heap, and he didn't have any power. Of +course, if he had his power he could have pulled out again. He could +just melt and burn all the excess rock off, and he would be all set. But +his rays all went dead. And why the explosion?" + +"The magnetic beam is the answer. In our boat we have everything +magnetically shielded, because of the enormous magnetic flux set up by +the current flowing from the storage coils to the main coil. But--with +so many wires heavily charged with current, what would have happened if +they had not been shielded? + +"If a current cuts across a magnetic field, a side thrust is developed. +What do you suppose happened when the terrific magnetic field of the +beam and the currents in the wires of their power-board were mutually +opposed?" + +"Lord, it must have ripped away everything in the ship. It'd tear loose +even the lighting wires!" gasped Wade in amazement. + +"But if all the power of the ship was destroyed in this way, how was it +that one of their rays was operating as they fell?" asked Zezdon Afthen. + +"Each ray is a power plant in itself," explained Arcot, "and so it was +able to function. I do not know the cause of the explosion, though it +might well have been that they had light-bombs such as the Kaxorians of +Venus have," he added, thoughtfully. + +They landed, at Zezdon's advice, in the city that their arrival had been +able to save. This was Ortol's largest city, and their industrial +capital. Here, too, was the University at which Afthen taught. + +They landed, and Arcot, Morey and Wade, with the aid of Zezdon Afthen +and Zezdon Fentes worked steadily for two of their days of fifty hours +each, teaching men how to make and use the molecular ships, and the rays +and screens, heat beams, and relux. But Arcot promised that when he +returned he would have some weapon that would bring them certain and +easy salvation. In the meantime other terrestrians would follow him. + +They left the morning of their third day on the planet. A huge crowd had +come to cheer them on their way as they left, but it was the "silent +cheer" of Ortol, a telepathic well-wishing. + +"Now," said Arcot as their ship left the planet behind, "we will have to +make the next move. It certainly looks as though that next move would be +to the still-unknown race that lives on world 3769-37, 478, 326, 894-6. +Evidently we will have to have some weapon they haven't, and I think +that I know what it will be. Thanks to our trip out to the Islands of +Space." + +"Shall we go?" + +"I think it would be wise," agreed Morey. + +"And I," said Wade. The Ortolians agreed, and so, with the aid of the +photographic copies of the Thessian charts that Arcot had made, they +started for world 3769-37, 478, 326, 894-6. + +"It will take approximately twenty-two hours, and as we have been +putting off our sleep with drugs, I think that we had better catch up. +Wade, I wish you'd take the ship again, while Morey and I do a little +concentrated sleeping. We have by no means finished that calculation, +and I'd very much like to. We'll relieve you in five hours." + +Wade took the ship, and following the course Arcot laid out, they sped +through the void at the greatest safe speed. Wade had only to watch the +view-screen carefully, and if a star showed as growing rapidly, it was +proof that they were near, and nearing rapidly. If large, a touch of a +switch, and they dodged to one side, if small, they were suddenly +plunged into an instant of unbelievable radiation as they swept through +it, in a different space, yet linked to it by radiation, not light, that +were permitted in. + +Zezdon Afthen had elected to stay with him, which gave him an +opportunity he had been waiting for. "If it's none of my business, just +say so," he began. "But that first city we saw the Thessians destroy--it +was Zezdon Fentes' home, wasn't it? Did he have a family?" + +The words seemed blunt as he said them, but there was no way out, once +he had started. And Zezdon Afthen took the question with complete calm. + +"Fentes had both wives and children," he said quietly. "His loss was +great." + +Wade concentrated on the screen for a moment, trying to absorb the +shock. Then, fearing Zezdon Afthen might misinterpret his silence, he +plunged on. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't realize you were +polygamous--most people on Earth aren't, but some groups are. It's +probably a good way to improve the race. But ... Blast it, what bothers +me is that Zezdon Fentes seemed to recover from the blow so quickly! +From a canine race, I'd expect more affection, more loyalty, more...." + +He stopped in dismay. But Zezdon Afthen remained unperturbed. "More +unconcealed emotion?" he asked. "No. Affection and loyalty we have--they +_are_ characteristic of our race. But affection and loyalty should not +be uselessly applied. To _forget_ dead wives and children--that would be +insulting to their memory. But to mourn them with senseless loss of +health and balance would also be insulting--not only to their memory, +but to the entire race. + +"No, we have a better way. Fentes, my very good friend, has not +forgotten, no more than you have forgotten the death of your mother, +whom you loved. But you no longer mourn her death with a fear and horror +of that natural thing, the Eternal Sleep. Time has softened the pain. + +"If we can do the same in five minutes instead of five years, is it not +better? That is why Fentes has _forgotten_". + +"Then you have aged his memory of that event?" asked Wade in surprise. + +"That is one way of stating it," replied Zezdon Afthen seriously. + +Wade was silent for a while, absorbing this. But he could not contain +his curiosity completely. _Well, to hell with it_, he decided. +_Conventional manners and tact don't have much meaning between two +different races_. "Are you--married?" he asked. + +"Only three times," Zezdon Afthen told him blandly. "And to forestall +your next question--no, our system does not create problems. At least, +not those you're thinking of. I know my wives have never had the jealous +quarrels I see in your mind pictures." + +"It isn't safe thinking things around you," laughed Wade. "Just the +same, all of this has made me even more interested in the 'Ancient +Masters' you keep mentioning. Who were they?" + +"The Ancient Ones," began Zezdon Afthen slowly, "were men such as you +are. They descended from a primeval omnivorous mammal very closely +related to your race. Evidently the tendency of evolution on any planet +is approximately the same with given conditions. + +"The race existed as a distinct branch for approximately 1,500,000 of +your years before any noticeable culture was developed. Then it existed +for a total of 1,525,000 years before extinction. With culture and +learning they developed such marvelous means of killing themselves that +in twenty-five thousand years they succeeded perfectly. Ten thousand +years of barbaric culture--I need not relate it to you, five thousand +years of the medieval culture, then five thousand years of developed +science culture. + +"They learned to fly through space and nearly populated three worlds; +two were fully populated, one was still under colonization when the +great war broke out. An interplanetary war is not a long drawn out +struggle. The science of any people so far advanced as to have +interplanetary lines is too far developed to permit any long duration of +war. Selto declared war, and made the first move. They attacked and +destroyed the largest city of Ortol of that time. Ortolian ships drove +them off, and in turn attacked Selto's largest city. Twenty million +intelligences, twenty million lives, each with its aims, its hopes, its +loves and its strivings--gone in four days. + +"The war continued to get more and more hateful, till it became evident +that neither side would be pacified till the other was totally +subjugated. So each laid his plans, and laid them to wipe out the entire +world of the other. + +"Ortol developed a ray of light that made things not happen," explained +Zezdon Afthen, his confused thoughts clearly indicating his own +uncertainty. + +"'A ray of light that made things not happen,'" repeated Wade curiously. +"A ray, which prevented things, which caused processes to stop--_The +Negrian Death Ray_!" he exclaimed as he suddenly recognized, in this +crude and garbled description of its powers, the Negrian ray of +anti-catalysis, a ray which tended to stop the processes of life's +chemistry and bring instant, painless death. + +"Ah, you know it, too?" asked the Ortolian eagerly. "Then you will +understand what happened. The ray was turned first on Selto, and as the +whirling planet spun under it, every square foot of it was wiped clean +of every living thing, from gigantic Welsthan to microscopic Ascoptel, +and every man, woman and child was killed, painlessly, but instantly. + +"Then Thenten spun under it, and all were killed, but many who had fled +the planets were still safe--many?--a few thousand. + +"The day that Thenten spun under that ray, men of Ortol began to +complain of disease--men by the thousands, hundreds of thousands. Every +man, every woman, every child was afflicted in some way. The diseases +did not seem all the same. Some seemingly died of a disease of the +lungs, some went insane, some were paralyzed, and lay helplessly +inactive. But most of them were afflicted, for it was exceedingly +virulent, and the normal serums were helpless. Before any quantity of +new serum was made, all but a slender remnant had died, either of +starvation through paralysis, none being left to care for them, or from +the disease itself, while thousands who had gone mad were painlessly +killed. + +"The Seltonians came to Ortol, and the remaining Ortolians, with their +aid, tried to rebuild the civilization. But what a sorry thing! The +cities were gigantic, stinking, plague-ridden morgues. And the plague +broke among those few remaining people. The Ortolians had done +everything in their power with the serums--but too late. The Seltonians +had been protected with it on landing--but even that was not enough. +Again the wild fires of that loathsome disease broke out. + +"Since first those men had developed from their hairy forebears, they +had found their eternal friends were the dogs, and to them they turned +in their last extremity, breeding them for intelligence, hairlessness, +and resemblance to themselves. The Deathless ones alone remained after +three generations of my people, but with the aid of certain rays, the +rays capable of penetrating lead for a short distance, and most other +substances for considerable distances." X-rays, thought Wade. "Great +changes had been wrought. Already they had developed startling +intelligence, and were able to understand the scheme of their Masters. +Their feet and hands were being modified rapidly, and their vocal +apparatus was changing. Their jaws shortened, their chins developed, the +nose retreated. + +"Generation after generation the process went on, while the Deathless +Ancient Ones worked with their helpers, for soon my race was a real +helping organization. + +"But it was done. The successful arousing of true love-emotion followed, +and the unhappy days were gone. Quickly development followed. In five +thousand years the new race had outstripped the Ancient Masters, and +they passed, voluntarily, willingly joining in oblivion the millions who +had died before. + +"Since then our own race has risen, it has been but a short thousand +years, a thousand years of work, and hope, and continuous improvement +for us, continual accomplishment on which we can look, and a living hope +to which we could look with raised heads, and smiling faces. + +"Then our hope died, as this menace came. Do you see what you and your +world was meant to us, Man of Earth?" Zezdon Afthen raised his dark eyes +to the terrestrian with a look in their depths that made Wade +involuntarily resolve that Thet and all Thessians should be promptly +consigned to that limbo of forgotten things where they belonged. + + + + +Chapter VII + +WORLD 3769-37,478,326,894,6, TALSO + + +Wade sat staring moodily at the screen for some time, while Zezdon +Afthen, sunk in his own reveries, continued. + +"Our race was too highly psychic, and too little mechanically curious. +We learned too little of the world about, and too much of our own +processes. We are a peaceful race, for, while you and the Ancient +Masters learned the rule of existence in a world of strife, where only +the fittest, the best fighters survived, we learned life in a carefully +tended world, where the Ancient Masters taught us to live, where the one +whose social instincts were best developed, where he who would most help +the others, and the race, was permitted to live. Is it not natural that +our race will not fight among themselves? We are careful to suppress +tendencies toward criminality and struggle. The criminal and the maniac, +or those who are permanently incurable as determined by careful +examination, are 'removed' as the Leaders put it. Lethal gas. + +"At any rate, we know so pitiably little of natural science. We were +hopelessly helpless against an attacking science." + +"I promise you, Afthen, that if Earth survives, Ortol shall survive, for +we have given you all the weapons we know of and we will give your +people all the weapons we shall learn of." Morey spoke from the doorway. +Arcot was directly behind him. + +They talked for a short while, then Wade retired for some needed sleep, +while Morey and Arcot started further work on the time fields. + +Hour after hour the ship sped on through the dark of space, weirdly +distorted, glowing spots of light before them, wheeling suns that moved +and flashed as their awesome speed whirled them on. + +They had to move slower soon, as the changing stars showed them near the +space-marks of certain locating suns. Finally, still moving close to +fifteen thousand miles per second, they saw the sun they knew was sun +3769-37,478,-326,894, twice as large as Sol, two and a half times as +massive and twenty-six times as brilliant. + +Thirteen major planets they counted as they searched the system with +their powerful telectroscope, the outermost more than ten billion miles +from the parent sun, while planet six, the one indicated by the world +number, was at a distance of five hundred million miles, nearly as far +from the sun as Jupiter is from ours, yet the giant sun, giving more +than twenty-five times as much heat and light in the blue-white range, +heated the planet to approximately the same temperature Earth enjoys. +Spectroscopy showed that the atmosphere was well supplied with oxygen, +and so the inhabitants were evidently oxygen-breathing men, unlike those +of the Negrian people who live in an atmosphere of hydrogen. + +Arcot threw the ship toward the planet, and as it loomed swiftly larger, +he shut off the space-control, and set the coils for full charge, while +the ship entered the planet's atmosphere in a screaming dive, still at a +speed of better than a hundred miles a second. But this speed was +quickly damped as the ship shot high over broad oceans to the dull green +of land ahead in the daylit zone. Observations made from various +distances by means of the space-control, thus going back in time, show +that the planet had a day of approximately forty hours, the diameter was +nearly nine thousand miles, which would probably mean an inconveniently +high gravity for the terrestrians and a distressingly high gravity for +the Ortolians, used to their world even smaller than Earth, with +scarcely 80 percent of Earth's gravity. + +Wade made some volumetric analysis of the atmosphere, and with the aid +of a mouse, pronounced it "Q.A.R." (quite all right) for human beings. +It had not killed the mouse, so probably humans would find it quite all +right. + +"We'll land at the first city that comes into view," suggested Arcot. +"Afthen, you be the spokesman; you have a very considerable ability with +the mental communication, and have a better understanding of the physics +we need to explain than has Zezdon Fentes." + +They were over land, a rocky coast that shot behind them as great jagged +mountains, tipped with snow, rose beneath. Suddenly, a shining +apparition appeared from behind one of the neighboring hills, and drove +down at them with an unearthly acceleration. Arcot moved just enough to +dodge the blow, and turned to meet the ship. Instantly, now that he had +a good view of it he was certain it was a Thessian ship. Waiting no +longer to determine that it was not a ship of this world, he shot a +molecular beam at it. The beam exploded into a coruscating panoply of +pyrotechnics on the Thessian shield. The Thessian replied with all beams +he had available, including an induction-beam, an intensely brilliant +light-beam, and several molecular cannons with shells loaded with an +explosive that was very evidently condensed light. This was no +exploration ship, but a full-fledged battleship. + +The _Ancient Mariner_ was blinded instantly. None of the occupants were +hurt, but the combined pressure of the various beams hurled the ship to +one side. The induction beam alone was dangerous. It passed through the +outer lux-metal wall unhindered, and the perfectly conducting relux wall +absorbed it, and turned it into power. At once, all the metal objects in +the ship began to heat up with terrific rapidity. Since there were no +metallic conductors on the ship, no damage was done. + +Arcot immediately hid behind his perfect shield--the space-distortion. + +"That's no mild dose," he said in a tense voice, working rapidly. "He's +a real-for-sure battleship. Better get down in the power room, Morey." + +In a few moments the ship was ready again. Opening the shield somewhat, +Arcot was able to determine that no rays were being played on it, for no +energy fields disclosed as distorting the opened field, other than the +field of the sun and planet. + +Arcot opened it. The battleship was searching vainly about the +mountains, and was now some miles distant. His last view of Arcot's ship +had been a suddenly contracting ship, one that vanished in infinite +distance, the infinite distance of another space, though he did not know +it. + +Arcot turned three powerful heat beams on the Thessian ship, and drove +down toward it, accompanying them with molecular rays. The Thessian +shield stopped the moleculars, but the heat had already destroyed the +eyes of the ship. By some system of magnetic or electrostatic locating +devices, the enemy guns and rays replied, and so successfully that Arcot +was again blinded. + +He had again been driving in a line straight toward the enemy, and now +he threw in the entire power of his huge magnetic field-rays. The +induction ray disappeared, and the heat, light and cannons stopped. + +"Worked again," grinned Arcot. A new set of eyes was inserted +automatically, and the screen again lighted. The Thessian ship was +spinning end over end toward the ground. It landed with a tremendous +crash. Simultaneously from the rear of the _Ancient Mariner_ came a +terrific crash, an explosion that drove the terrestrian ship forward, as +though a giant hand had pushed it from behind. + +The _Ancient Mariner_ spun like a top, facing the direction of the +explosion, though still traveling in the direction it had been pursuing, +but backward now. Behind them the air was a gigantic pool of ionization. +Tremendous fragments of what obviously had been a ship were drifting +down, turning end over end. And those fragments of the wall showed them +to be fully four feet of solid relux. + +"Enemy got up behind somehow while the eyes were out, and was ready to +raise merry hell. Somebody blew them up beautifully. Look at the ground +down there--it's red hot. That's from the radiated heat of our recent +encounter. Heat rays reflected, light bombs turned off, heat escaping +from ions--nice little workout--and it didn't seriously bother our +defenses of two-inch relux. Now tell me: what will blow up four-foot +relux?" asked Arcot, looking at the fragments. "It seems to me those +fellows don't need any help from us; they may decline it with thanks." + +"But they may be willing to help us," replied Afthen, "and we certainly +need such help." + +"I didn't expect to come out alive from that battleship there. It was +luck. If they knew what we had, they could insulate against it in an +hour," added Arcot. + +"Let's finish those fellows over there--look!" From the wreck of the +ship they had downed, a stream of men in glistening relux suits were +filing. Any men comparable to humans would have been killed by the fall, +but not Thessians. They carried peculiar machines, and as they drove out +of the ship in dive that looked as though they had been shot from a +cannon, they turned and landed on the ground and proceeded to jump back, +leaping at a speed that was bewildering, seemingly impossible in any +living creature. + +They busied themselves quickly. It took less than thirty seconds, and +they had a large relux disc laid under the entire group and machines. +Arcot turned a molecular ray down. The rock and soil shot up all about +them, even the ship shot up, to fall back into the great pit its ray had +formed. But the ionization told of the ray shield over the little group +of men. A heat ray reached down, while the men still frantically worked +at their stubby projectors. The relux disc now showed its purpose. In an +instant the soil about them was white hot, bubbling lava. It was liquid, +boiling furiously. But the deep relux disc simply floated on it. The +enemy ship began sinking, and in a moment had fallen almost completely +beneath the white hot rock. + +A fountain of the melted lava sprung up, and under Arcot's skillful +direction, fell in a cloud of molten rock on the men working. The suits +protected, and the white hot stuff simply rolled off. But it was sinking +their boat. Arcot continued hopefully. + +Meanwhile a signaling machine was frantically calling for help and +sending out information of their plight and position. + +Then all was instantly wiped out in a single terrific jolt of the +magnetic beam. The machines jumped a little, despite their weight, and +the ray shield apparatus slumped suddenly in blazing white heat, the +interior mechanism fused. But the men were still active, and rapidly +spreading from the spot, each protected by a ray shield pack. + +A brilliant stab of molecular ray shot at each from either of two of the +_Ancient Mariner'_s projectors as Morey aided Arcot. Their little packs +flared brilliantly for an instant under the thousands of horsepower of +energy lashing at the screen, then flashed away, and the opalescent +relux yielded a moment later, and the figure went twisting, hurtling +away. Meanwhile Wade was busy with the magnetic apparatus, destroying +shield after shield, which either Arcot or Morey picked off. The fall +from even so much as half a mile seemed not sufficient to seriously +bother these supermen, for an instant later they would be up tearing +away in great leaps on their own power as their molecular suits, blown +out by the magnetic field, failed them. + +It was but a matter of minutes before the last had been chased down +either by the rays or the ship. Then, circling back, Arcot slowly +settled beside the enemy ship. + +"Wait," called Arcot sharply as Morey started for the door. + +"Don't go out yet. The friends who wrecked that little sweetheart who +crept up behind will probably show up. Wait and see what happens." +Hardly had he spoken, when a strange apparition rose from behind a rock +scarcely a quarter of a mile away. Immediately Arcot intensified the +vision screen covering him. He seemed to leap near. There was one man, +and he held what was obviously a sword by the blade, above his head, +waving it from side to side. + +"There they are--whatever they are. Intelligent all right--what more +universally obvious peace sign than a primitive weapon such as a knife +held in reverse position? You go with Zezdon Afthen. Try holding a +carving knife by the blade." + +Morey grinned as he got into his power suit, on Wade's O.K. of the +atmosphere. "They may mistake me for the cook out looking for dinner, +and I wouldn't risk my dignity that way. I'll take the baseball bat and +hold it wrong way instead." + +Nevertheless, as he stepped from the ship, with Afthen close behind, he +held the long knife by the blade, and Afthen, very awkwardly operating +his still rather unfamiliar power suit, followed. + +Into the intensely blue sunlight the men stepped. Their skin and +clothing took on a peculiar tint under the strange sunlight. + +The single stranger was joined by a second, also holding a reversed +weapon, and together they threw them down. Morey and Zezdon Afthen +followed suit. The two parties advanced toward each other. + +The strangers advanced with a swift, light step, jumping from rock to +rock, while Morey and Afthen flew part way toward them. The men of this +world were totally unlike any intelligent race Morey had conceived of. +Their head and brain case was so small as to be almost animalish. The +nose was small and well formed, the ears more or less cup-shaped with a +remarkable power of motion. Their eyes were seemingly huge, probably no +larger than a terrestrian's, though in the tiny head they were +necessarily closely placed, protected by heavy bony ridges that actually +projected from the skull to enclose them. Tiny, childlike chins +completed the head, running down to a scrawny neck. + +They were short, scarcely five feet, yet evidently of tremendous +strength for their short, heavy arms, the muscle bulging plainly under +the tight rubber-like composition garments, and the short legs whose +stocky girth proclaimed equal strength were members of a body in keeping +with them. The deep, broad chest, wide, square shoulders, heavy broad +hips, combined with the tiny head seemed to indicate a perfect +incarnation of brainless, brute strength. + +"Strangers from another planet, enemies of our enemies. What brings you +here at this time of troubles?" The thoughts came clearly from the +stocky individual before them. + +"We seek to aid, and to find aid. The menace that you face, attacks not +alone your world, but all this star cluster," replied Zezdon Afthen +steadily. + +The stranger shook his head with an evident expression of hopelessness. +"The menace is even greater than we feared. It was just fortune that +permitted us to have our weapon in workable condition at the time your +ship was attacked. It will be a day before the machine will again be +capable of successful operation. When in condition for use, it is +invincible, but--one blow in thirty hours--you can see we are not of +great aid." He shrugged. + +An enemy with evident resources of tremendous power, deadly, unknown +rays that wiped out entire cities with a single brief sweep--and no +defense save this single weapon, good but once a day! Morey could read +the utter despair of the man. + +"What is the difficulty?" asked Morey eagerly. + +"Power, lack of power. Our cities are going without power, while every +electric generator on the planet is pouring its output into the +accumulators that work these damnable, hopeless things. Invincible with +power--helpless without." + +"Ah!" Morey's face shone with delight--invincible weapon--with power. +And the _Ancient Mariner_ could generate unthinkable power. + +"What power source do you use--how do you generate your power?" + +"Combining oxidizing agent with reducing agents releases heat. Heat used +to boil liquid and the vapor runs turbines." + +"We can give you power. What wattage have you available?" + +Only Morey's thoughts had to translate "watts" to "How many man-weights +can you lift through your height per time interval, equal to this." He +gave the man some impression of a second, by counting. The man figured +rapidly. His answer indicated that approximately a total of two billion +kilowatts were available. + +"Then the weapon is invincible hereafter, if what you say is true. Our +ship alone can easily generate ten thousand times that power. + +"Come, get in the ship, accompany us to your capital." + +The men turned, and retreated to their position behind the rocks, while +Morey and Zezdon Afthen waited for them. Soon they returned, and entered +the ship. + +"Our world," explained the leader rapidly, "is a single unified colony. +The capital is 'Shesto,' our world we call 'Talso.'" His directions were +explicit, and Arcot started for Shesto, on Talso. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +UNDEFEATABLE OR UNCONTROLLABLE? + + +Fifteen minutes after they started, they came to Shesto. They were +forced to land, and explain, for their relux ship was decidedly not the +popular Talsonian idea of a life-saver. + +Shesto was defended by two of the machines, and each machine had been +equipped with two fully charged accumulators. Their four possible shots +were hoped to be sufficient protection, and, so far, had been. The city +had been attacked twice, according to Tho Stan Drel, the Talsonian: once +by a single ship which had been instantly destroyed, and once by a fleet +of six ships. The interval had permitted time to recharge the discharged +accumulator, and the fleet had been badly treated. Of the six ships, +four had been brought down in rapid succession, and the remaining two +ships had fled. + +When the first city had been wiped out, with a loss of life well in the +hundreds of thousands, the other cities had, to limit of their +abilities, set up the protective apparatus. Apparently the Thessians +were holding off for the present. + +"In a way," said Morey seriously, "it was distinctly fortunate that we +were attacked almost at once. Their instantaneous system of destruction +would have worked for the one shot needed to send the _Ancient Mariner_ +to eternal blazes." He laughed, but it was a slightly nervous laugh. + +The terrestrial ship landed in a great grassy court, and out of respect +for the parklike smoothness of the turf, Arcot left the ship on its +power units, suspended a bit above the surface. Then he, Morey and the +Talsonian left the ship. Zezdon Afthen was left with the ship and with +Wade in charge, for if some difficulties were encountered, Wade would be +able to help them with the ship, and Zezdon Afthen with the tremendous +power of his thought locating apparatus, was busy seeking out the +Thessian stronghold. + +A party of men of Talso met the terrestrians outside the ship. + +"Welcome, Men of another world, and to you go our thanks for the +destruction of one of our enemies." The clear thoughts of the spokesman +evinced his ability to concentrate. + +"And to your world must go our thanks for saving of our lives, and more +important, our ship," replied Arcot. "For the ship represents a thing of +enormous value to this entire star-system." + +"I see--understand--your--thoughts that you wish to learn more of this +weapon we use. You understand that it is a question among us as to +whether it is undefeatable, uncontrollable or just un-understandable. We +have had fair success with it. It is not a weapon, was not developed as +such; it was an experiment in the line of electric-waves. How it works, +what it is, what happens--we do not know. + +"But men who can create so marvelous a ship as this of yours, capable of +destroying a ship of the Thessians with their own weapons must certainly +be able to understand any machine we may make--and you have power?" he +finished eagerly. + +"Practically infinite power. I will throw into any power line you +suggest, all the direct current you wish." Arcot's thoughts were pure +reflection, but the Talsonian brightened at once. + +"I feared it might be alternating--but we can handle direct current. All +our transmission is done at high voltage direct current. What potential +do you generate? Will we have to install changers?" + +"We generate D.C. at any voltage up to fifty million, any power up to +that needed to lift ten trillion men through their own height in this +time a second." The power represented approximately twenty trillion +horsepower. + +The Talsonian's face went blank with amazement as he looked at the ship. +"In that tiny thing you generate such power?" he asked in amazement. + +"In that tiny ship we generate more than one million times that power," +Arcot said. + +"Our power troubles are over," declared the military man emphatically. + +"Our troubles are not over," replied a civilian who had joined the +party, with equal emphasis. "As a matter of fact, they are worse than +ever. More tantalizing. What he says means that we have a tremendous +power source, but it is in one spot. How are you going to transmit the +power? We can't possibly move any power anywhere near that amount. We +couldn't touch it to our lines without having them all go up in one +instantaneous blaze of glory. + +"We cannot drain such a lake of power through our tiny power pipes of +silver." + +"This man is Stel Felso Theu," said Tho Stan Drel. "The greatest of our +scientists, the man who has invented this weapon which alone seems to +offer us hope. And I am afraid he is right. See, there is the +University. For the power requirements of their laboratories, a heavy +power line has been installed, and it was hoped that you could carry +leads into it." His face showed evident despair greater than ever. + +"We can always feed some power into the lines. Let us see just what hope +there is. I think that it would be wiser to investigate the power lines +at once," suggested Morey. + +Ten minutes later, with but a single officer now accompanying them, Tho +Stan Drel, the terrestrial scientist, and the Talsonian scientist were +inspecting the power installation. + +They had entered a large stone building, into which led numerous very +heavy silver wires. The insulators were silicate glass. Their height +suggested a voltage of well over one hundred thousand, and such heavy +cables suggested a very heavy amperage, so that a tremendous load was +expected. + +Within the building were a series of gigantic glass tubes, their walls +fully three inches thick, and even so, braced with heavy platinum rods. +Inside the tubes were tremendous elements such as the tiny tubes of +their machine carried. Great cables led into them, and now their heating +coils were glowing a somberly deep red. + +Along the walls were the switchboards, dozens of them, all sizes, all +types of instruments, strange to the eyes of the terrestrians, and in +practically all the light-beam indicator system was used, no metallic +pointers, but tiny mirrors directing a very fine line of brilliant light +acted as a needle. The system thus had practically no inertia. + +"Are these the changers?" asked Arcot gazing at the gigantic tubes. + +"They are; each tube will handle up to a hundred thousand volts," said +Stel Felso Theu. + +"But I fear, Stel Felso Theu, that these tubes will carry power only one +way; that is, it would be impossible for power to be pumped from here +into the power house, though the process can be reversed," pointed out +Arcot. "Radio tubes work only one way, which is why they can act as +rectifiers. The same was true of these tubes. They could carry power one +way only." + +"True, of tubes in general," replied the Talsonian, "and I see by that +that you know the entire theory of our tubes, which is rather abstruse." + +"We use them on the ship, in special form," interrupted Arcot. + +"Then I will only say that the college here has a very complete electric +power plant of its own. On special occasions, the power generated here +is needed by the city, and so we arranged the tubes with switches which +could reverse the flow. At present they are operating to pour power into +the city. + +"If your ship can generate such tremendous power, I suspect that it +would be wiser to eliminate the tubes from the circuit, for they put +certain restrictions on the line. The main power plant in the city has +tube banks capable of handling anything the line would. I suggest that +your voltage be set at the maximum that the line will carry without +breakdown, and the amperage can be made as high as possible without heat +loss." + +"Good enough. The line to the city power will stand what pressure?" + +"It is good for the maximum of these tubes," replied the Talsonian. + +"Then get into communication with the city plant and tell them to +prepare for every work-unit they can carry. I'll get the generator." +Arcot turned, and flew on his power suit to the ship. + +In a few moments he was back, a molecular pistol in one hand, and +suspended in front of him on nothing but a ray of ionized air, to all +appearances, a cylindrical apparatus, with a small cubical base. + +The cylinder was about four feet long, and the cubical box about +eighteen inches on a side. + +"What is that, and what supports it?" asked the Talsonian scientists in +surprise. + +"The thing is supported by a ray which directs the molecules of a small +bar in the top clamp, driving it up," explained Morey, "and that is the +generator." + +"That! Why it is hardly as big as a man!" exclaimed the Talsonian. + +"Nevertheless, it can generate a billion horsepower. But you couldn't +get the power away if you did generate it." He turned toward Arcot, and +called to him. + +"Arcot--set it down and let her rip on about half a million horsepower +for a second or so. Air arc. Won't hurt it--she's made of lux and +relux." + +Arcot grinned, and set it on the ground. "Make an awful hole in the +ground." + +"Oh--go ahead. It will satisfy this fellow, I think," replied Morey. + +Arcot pulled a very thin lux metal cord from his pocket, and attached +one end of a long loop to one tiny switch, and the other to a second. +Then he adjusted three small dials. The wire in hand, he retreated to a +distance of nearly two hundred feet, while Morey warned the Talsonians +back. Arcot pulled one end of his cord. + +Instantly a terrific roar nearly deafened the men, a solid sheet of +blinding flame reached in a flaming cone into the air for nearly fifty +feet. The screeching roar continued for a moment, then the heat was so +intense that Arcot could stand no more, and pulled the cord. The flame +died instantly, though a slight ionization clung briefly. In a moment it +had cooled to white, and was cooling slowly through orange--red +deep--red-- + +The grass for thirty feet about was gone, the soil for ten feet about +was molten, boiling. The machine itself was in a little crater, half +sunk in boiling rock. The Talsonians stared in amazement. Then a sort of +sigh escaped them and they started forward. Arcot raised his molecular +pistol, a blue green ray reached out, and the rock suddenly was black. +It settled swiftly down, and a slight depression was the only evidence +of the terrific action. + +Arcot walked over the now cool rock, cooled by the action of the +molecular ray. In driving the molecules downward, the work was done by +the heat of these molecules. The machine was frozen in the solid lava. + +"Brilliant idea, Morey," said Arcot disgustedly. "It'll be a nice job +breaking it loose." + +Morey stuck the lux metal bar in the top clamp, walked off some +distance, and snapped on the power. The rock immediately about the +machine was molten again. A touch of the molecular pistol to the lux +metal bar, and the machine jumped free of the molten rock. + +Morey shut off the power. The machine was perfectly clean, and extremely +hot. + +"And your ship is made of that stuff!" exclaimed the Talsonian +scientist. "What will destroy it?" + +"Your weapon will, apparently." + +"But do you believe that we have power enough?" asked Morey with a +smile. + +"No--it's entirely too much. Can you tone that condensed lightning bolt +down to a workable level?" + + + + +Chapter IX + +THE IRRESISTIBLE AND THE IMMOVABLE + + +The generator Arcot had brought was one of the two spare generators used +for laboratory work. He took it now into the sub-station, and directed +the Talsonian students and the scientist in the task of connecting it +into the lines; though they knew where it belonged, he knew _how_ it +belonged. + +Then the terrestrian turned on the power, and gradually increased it +until the power authorities were afraid of breakdowns. The accumulators +were charged in the city, and the power was being shipped to other +cities whose accumulators were not completely charged. + +But, after giving simple operating instructions to the students, Arcot +and Morey went with Stel Felso Theu to his laboratory. + +"Here," Stel Felso Theu explained, "is the original apparatus. All these +other machines you see are but replicas of this. How it works, why it +works, even what it does, I am not sure of. Perhaps you will understand +it. The thing is fully charged now, for it is, in part, one of the +defenses of the city. Examine it now, and then I will show its power." + +Arcot looked it over in silence, following the great silver leads with +keen interest. Finally he straightened, and returned to the Talsonian. +In a moment Morey joined them. + +The Talsonian then threw a switch, and an intense ionization appeared +within the tube, then a minute spot of light was visible within the +sphere of light. The minute spot of radiance is the real secret of the +weapon. The ball of fire around it is merely wasted energy. + +"Now I will bring it out of the tube." There were three dials on the +control panel from which he worked, and now he adjusted one of these. +The ball of fire moved steadily toward the glass wall of the tube, and +with a crash the glass exploded inward. It had been highly evacuated. +Instantly the tiny ball of fire about the point of light expanded to a +large globe. + +"It is now in the outer air. We make the--thing, in an evacuated glass +tube, but as they are cheap, it is not an expensive procedure. The ball +will last in its present condition for approximately three hours. Feel +the exceedingly intense heat? It is radiating away its vast energy. + +"Now here is the point of greatest interest." Again the Talsonian fell +to work on his dials, watching the ball of fire. It seemed far more +brilliant in the air now. It moved, and headed toward a great slab of +steel off to one side of the laboratory. It shifted about until it was +directly over the center of the great slab. The slab rested on a scale +of some sort, and as the ball of fire touched it, the scale showed a +sudden increase in load. The ball sank into the slab of steel, and the +scale showed a steady, enormous load. Evidently the little ball was +pressing its way through as though it were a solid body. In a moment it +was through the steel slab, and out on the other side. + +"It will pass through any body with equal ease. It seems to answer only +these controls, and these it answers perfectly, and without difficulty. + +"One other thing we can do with it. I can increase its rate of energy +discharge." + +The Talsonian turned a fourth dial, well off to one side, and the +brilliance of the spot increased enormously. The heat was unbearable. +Almost at once he shut it off. + +"That is the principle we use in making it a weapon. Watch the actual +operation." + +The ball of fire shot toward an open window, out the window, and +vanished in the sky above. The Talsonian stopped the rotation of the +dials. "It is motionless now, but scarcely visible. I will now release +all the energy." He twirled the fourth dial, and instantly there was a +flash of light, and a moment later a terrific concussion. + +"It is gone." He left the controls, and went over to his apparatus. He +set a heavy silver bladed switch, and placed a new tube in the +apparatus. A second switch arced a bit as he drove it home. "Your +generator is recharging the accumulators." + +Stel Felso Theu took the backplate of the control cabinet off, and the +terrestrians looked at the control with interest. + +"Got it, Morey?" asked Arcot after a time. + +"Think so. Want to try making it up? We can do so out of spare junk +about the ship, I think. We won't need the tube if what I believe of it +is true." + +Arcot turned to the Talsonian. "We wish you to accompany us to the ship. +We have apparatus there which we wish to set up." + +Back to the ship they went. There Arcot, Morey and Wade worked rapidly. + +It was about three-quarters of an hour later when Arcot and his friends +called the others to the laboratory. They had a maze of apparatus on the +power bench, and the shining relux conductors ran all over the ship +apparently. One huge bar ran into the power room itself, and plugged +into the huge power-coil power supply. + +They were still working at it, but looked up as the others entered. +"Guess it will work," said Arcot with a grin. + +There were four dials, and three huge switches. Arcot set all four +dials, and threw one of the switches. Then he started slowly turning the +fourth dial. In the center of the room a dim, shining mist a foot in +diameter began to appear. It condensed, solidified without shrinking, a +solid ball of matter a foot in diameter. It seemed black, but was a +perfectly reflective surface--and luminous! + +"Then--then you had already known of this thing? Then why did you not +tell me when I tried to show it?" demanded the Talsonian. + +Arcot was sending the globe, now perfectly non-luminous, about the room. +It flattened out suddenly, and was a disc. He tossed a small weight on +it, and it remained fixed, but began to radiate slightly. Arcot +readjusted his dials, and it ceased radiating, held perfectly +motionless. The sphere returned, and the weight dropped to the floor. +Arcot maneuvered it about for a moment more. Then he placed his friends +behind a screen of relux, and increased the radiation of the globe +tremendously. The heat became intense, and he stopped the radiation. + +"No, Stel Felso Theu, we do not have this on our world," Arcot said. + +"You do not have it! You look at my apparatus fifteen minutes, and then +work for an hour--and you have apparatus far more effective than ours, +which required years of development!" exclaimed the Talsonian. + +"Ah, but it was not wholly new to me. This ship is driven by curving +space into peculiar coordinates. Even so, we didn't do such a hot job, +did we, Morey?" + +"No, we should have--" + +"What--it was not a good job?" interrupted the Talsonian. "You succeeded +in creating it in air--in making it stop radiating, in making a ball a +foot in diameter, made it change to a disc, made it carry a load--what +do you want?" + +"We want the full possibilities, the only thing that can save us in this +war," Morey said. + +"What you learned how to do was the reverse of the process we learned. +How you did it is a wonder--but you did. Very well--matter is +energy--does your physics know that?" asked Arcot. + +"It does; matter contains vast energy," replied the Talsonian. + +"Matter has mass, and energy because of that! Mass _is_ energy. Energy +in any known form is a field of force in space. So matter is ordinarily +a combination of magnetic, electrostatic and gravitational fields. Your +apparatus combined the three, and put them together. The result +was--matter! + +"You created matter. We can destroy it but we cannot create it. + +"What we ordinarily call matter is just a marker, a sign that there are +those energy-fields. Each bit is surrounded by a gravitational field. +The bit is just the marker of that gravitational field. + +"But that seems to be wrong. This artificial matter of yours seems also +a sort of knot, for you make all three fields, combine them, and have +the matter, but not, very apparently, like normal matter. Normal matter +also holds the fields that make it. The artificial matter is surrounded +by the right fields, but it is evidently not able to hold the fields, as +normal matter does. That was why your matter continually disintegrated +to ordinary energy. The energy was not bound properly. + +"But the reason why it would blow up so was obvious. It did not take +much to destroy the slight hold that the artificial matter had on its +field, and then it instantly proceeded to release all its energy at +once. And as you poured millions of horsepower into it all day to fill +it, it naturally raised merry hell when it let loose." + +Arcot was speaking eagerly, excitedly. + +"But here is the great fact, the important thing: It is artificially +created in a given place. It is made, and exists at the point determined +by these three coordinated dials. It is not natural, and can exist only +where it is made and nowhere else--obvious, but important. It cannot +exist save at the point designated. Then, if that point moves along a +line, the artificial matter must follow that moving point and be always +at that point. Suppose now that a slab of steel is on that line. The +point moves to it--through it. To exist, that artificial matter _must_ +follow it through the steel--if not, it is destroyed. Then the steel is +attempting to destroy the artificial matter. If the matter has +sufficient energy, it will force the steel out of the way, and +penetrate. The same is true of any other matter, lux metal or relux--it +will penetrate. To continue in existence it must. And it has great +energy, and will expend every erg of that energy of existence to +continue existence. + +"It is, as long as its energy holds out, absolutely irresistible! + +"But similarly, if it is at a given point, it must stay there, and will +expend every erg staying there. It is then immovable! It is either +irresistible in motion, or immovable in static condition. It is the +irresistible and the immovable! + +"What happens if the irresistible meets the immovable? It can only fight +with its energy of existence, and the more energetic prevails." + + + + +Chapter X + +IMPROVEMENTS AND CALCULATIONS + + +"It is still incredible. But you have done it. It is certainly +successful!" said the Talsonian scientist with conviction. + +Arcot shook his head. "Far from it--we have not realized a thousandth +part of the tremendous possibilities of this invention. We must work and +calculate and then invent. + +"Think of the possibilities as a shield--naturally if we can make the +matter we should be able to control its properties in any way we like. +We should be able to make it opaque, transparent, or any color." Arcot +was speaking to Morey now. "Do you remember, when we were caught in that +cosmic ray field in space when we first left this universe, that I said +that I had an idea for energy so vast that it would be impossible to +describe its awful power?[1] I mentioned that I would attempt to +liberate it if ever there was need? The need exists. I want to find that +secret." + +[Footnote 1: Islands of Space.] + +Stel Felso Theu was looking out through the window at a group of men +excitedly beckoning. He called the attention of the others to them, and +himself went out. Arcot and Wade joined him in a moment. + +"They tell me that Fellsheh, well to the poleward of here has used four +of its eight shots. They are still being attacked," explained the +Talsonian gravely. + +"Well, get in," snapped Arcot as he ran back to the ship. Stel Felso +hastily followed, and the _Ancient Mariner_ shot into the air, and +darted away, poleward, to the Talsonian's directions. The ground fled +behind them at a speed that made the scientist grip the hand-rail with a +tenseness that showed his nervousness. + +As they approached, a tremendous concussion and a great gout of light in +the sky informed them of the early demise of several Thessians. But a +real fleet was clustered about the city. Arcot approached low, and was +able to get quite close before detection. His ray screen was up and +Morey had charged the artificial matter apparatus, small as it was, for +operation. He created a ball of substance outside the _Ancient Mariner_, +and thrust it toward the nearest Thessian, just as a molecular hit the +_Ancient Mariner'_s ray screen. + +The artificial matter instantly exploded with terrific violence, +slightly denting the tremendously strong lux metal walls. The pressure +of the light was so great that the inner relux walls were dented inward. +The ground below was suddenly, instantaneously fused. + +"Lord--they won't pass a ray screen, obviously," Morey muttered, picking +himself from where he had fallen. + +"Hey--easy there. You blinked off the ray screen, and our relux is +seriously weakened," called Arcot, a note of worry in his voice. + +"No artificial matter with the ray screen up. I'll use the magnet," +called Morey. + +He quickly shut off the apparatus, and went to the huge magnet control. +The power room was crowded, and now that the battle was raging in truth, +with three ships attacking simultaneously, even the enormous power +capacity of the ship's generators was not sufficient, and the storage +coils had been thrown into the operation. Morey looked at the +instruments a moment. They were all up to capacity, save the ammeter +from the coils. That wasn't registering yet. Suddenly it flicked, and +the other instrument dropped to zero. They were in artificial space. + +"Come here, will you, Morey," called Arcot. In a moment Morey joined his +much worried friend. + +"That artificial matter control won't work through ray screens. The +Thessians never had to protect against moleculars here, and didn't have +them up--hence the destruction wrought. We can't take our screen down, +and we can't use our most deadly weapon with it up. If we had a big +outfit, we might throw a screen around the whole ship, and sail right +in. But we haven't. + +"We can't stand ten seconds against that fleet. I'm going to find their +base, and make them yell for help." Arcot snapped a tiny switch one +notch further for the barest instant, then snapped it back. They were +several millions miles from the planet. "Quicker," he explained, "to +simply follow those ships back home--go back in time." + +With the telectroscope, he took views at various distances, thus quickly +tracing them back to their base at the pole of the planet. Instantly +Arcot shot down, reaching the pole in less than a second, by carefully +maneuvering of the space device. + +A gigantic dome of polished relux rose from rocky, icy plains. The thing +was nearly half a mile high, a mighty rounded roof that covered an area +almost three-quarters of a mile in diameter. Titanic--that was the only +word that described it. About it there was the peculiar shimmer of a +molecular ray screen. + +Morey darted to the power room and set his apparatus into operation. He +created a ball of matter outside the ship and hurled it instantly at the +fort. It exploded with a terrific concussion as it hit the wall of the +ray screen. Almost instantly a second one followed. The concussion was +terrifically violent, the ground about was fused, and the ray screen was +opened for a moment. Arcot threw all his moleculars on the screen, as +Morey sent bomb after bomb at it. The coils supplied the energy, cracked +the rock beneath. Each energy release disrupted the ray-screen for a +moment, and the concentrated fury of the molecular beams poured through +the opened screen, and struck the relux behind. It glowed opalescent now +in a spot twenty feet across. But the relux was tremendously thick. +Thirty bombs Morey hurled, while they held their position without +difficulty, pouring their bombs and rays at the fort. + +Arcot threw the ship into space, moved, and reappeared suddenly nearly +three hundred yards further on. A snap of the eyes, and he saw that the +fleet was approaching now. He went again into space, and retreated. +Discretion was the better part of valor. But his plan had worked. + +He waited half an hour, and returned. From a distance the telectroscope +told him that one lone ship was patrolling outside the fort. He moved +toward it, creeping up behind the icy mountains. His magnetic beam +reached out. The ship lurched and fell. The magnetic beam reached out +toward the fort, from which a molecular ray had flashed already, tearing +up the icy waste which had concealed him. The ray-screen stopped it, +while again Morey turned the magnetic beam on--this time against the +fort. The ray remained on! Arcot retreated hastily. + +"They found the secret, all right. No use, Morey, come on up," called +the pilot. "They evidently put magnetic shielding around the apparatus. +That means the magnetic beam is no good to us any more. They will +certainly warn every other base, and have them install similar +protection." + +"Why didn't you try the magnetic ray on our first attack?" asked Zezdon +Afthen. + +"If it had worked, their sending apparatus would have been destroyed, +and no message could have been sent to call their attackers off +Fellsheh. By forcing them to recall their fleet I got results I couldn't +get by attacking the fleet," Arcot said. + +"I think there is little more I can do here, Stel Felso Theu. I will +take you to Shesto, and there make final arrangements till my return, +with apparatus capable of overthrowing your enemies. If you wish to +accompany me--you may." He glanced around at the others of his party. +"And our next move will be to return to Earth with what we have. Then we +will investigate the Sirian planets, and learn anything they may have of +interest, thence--to the real outer space, the utter void of +intergalactic space, and an attempt to learn the secret of that enormous +power." + +They returned to Shesto, and there Arcot arranged that the only +generator they could spare, the one already in their possession, might +be used till other terrestrian ships could bring more. They left for +Earth. Hour after hour they fled through the void, till at last old Sol +was growing swiftly ahead of them, and finally Earth itself was large on +the screens. They changed to a straight molecular drive, and dropped to +the Vermont field from which they had taken off. + +During the long voyage, Morey and Arcot had both spent much of the time +working on the time-distortion field, which would give them a tremendous +control over time, either speeding or slowing their time rate +enormously. At last, this finished, they had worked on the artificial +matter theory, to the point where they could control the shape of the +matter perfectly, though as yet they could not control its exact nature. +The possibility of such control was, however, definitely proven by the +results the machines had given them. Arcot had been more immediately +interested in the control of form. He could control the nature as to +opacity or transparency to all vibrations that normal matter is opaque +or transparent to. Light would pass, or not as he chose, but cosmics he +could not stop nor would radio or moleculars be stopped by any present +shield he could make. + +They had signaled, as soon as they slowed outside the atmosphere, and +when they settled to the field, Arcot's father and a number of very +important scientists had already arrived. + +Arcot senior greeted his son very warmly, but he was tremendously +worried, as his son soon saw. + +"What's happened, Dad--won't they believe your statements?" + +"They doubted when I went to Luna for a session with the Interplanetary +Council, but before they could say much, they had plenty of proof of my +statements," the older man answered. "News came that a fleet of +Planetary Guard ships had been wiped out by a fleet of ships from outer +space. They were huge things--nearly half a mile in length. The Guard +ships went up to them--fifty of them--and tried to signal for a +conference. The white ship was instantly wiped out--we don't know how. +They didn't have ray screens, but that wasn't it. Whatever it +was--slightly luminous ray in space--it simply released the energy of +the lux metal and relux of the ship. Being composed of light energy +simply bound by photonic attraction, it let go with terrible energy. +They can do it almost instantly from a distance. The other Guards at +once let loose with all their moleculars and cosmics. The enemy shunted +off the moleculars, and wiped out the Guard almost instantly. + +"Of course, I could explain the screen, but not the detonation ray. I am +inclined to believe from other casualties that the destruction, though +reported as an instantaneous explosion, was not that. Other ships have +been destroyed, and they seemed to catch fire, and burn, but with +terrific speed, more like gun powder than coal. It seems to start a +spreading decomposition, the ship lasts perhaps ten minutes. If it went +instantly, the shock of such a tremendous energy release would disrupt +the planet. + +"At any rate, the great fleet separated, twelve went to the North Pole +of Earth, twelve to the south, and similarly twelve to each pole of +Venus. Then one of them turned, and went back to wherever it had come +from, to report. Just turned and vanished. Similarly one from Venus +turned and vanished. That leaves twelve at each of the four poles, for, +as I said, there were an even fifty. + +"They all followed the same tactics on landing, so I'll simply tell what +happened in Attica. In the North they had to pick one of the islands a +bit to the south of the pole. They melted about a hundred square miles +of ice to find one. + +"The ships arranged themselves in a circle around the place, and +literally hundreds of men poured out of each and fell to work. In a +short time, they had set up a number of machines, the parts coming from +the ships. These machines at once set to work, and they built up a relux +wall. That wall was at least six feet thick; the floor was lined with +thick relux as well as the roof, which is simply a continuation of the +wall in a perfect dome. They had so many machines working on it, that +within twenty-four hours they had it finished. + +"We attacked twice, once in practically our entire force, with some +ray-shield machines. The result was disastrous. The second attack was +made with ray shielded machines only, and little damage was done to +either side, though the enemy were somewhat impeded by masses of ice +hurled into their position. Their relux disintegration ray was +conspicuous by its absence. + +"Yesterday--and it seems a lot longer than that, son--they started it +again. They'd been unloading it from the ship evidently. We had had +ray-shielded machines out, but they simply melted. They went down, and +Earth retreated. They're in their fortress now. We don't know how to +fight them. Now, for God's sake, tell us you have learned of some +weapon, son!" + +The older man's face was lined. His iron gray head showed his fatigue +due to hours of concentration on his work. + +"Some," replied Arcot briefly. He glanced around. Other men had arrived, +men whom he met in his work. But there were Venerians here, too, in +their protective suits, insulated against the cold of Earth, and against +its atmosphere. + +"First, though, gentlemen, allow me to introduce Stel Felso Theu of the +planet Talso, one of our allies in this struggle, and Zezdon Afthen and +Fentes of Ortol, one of our other allies. + +"As to progress, I can say only that it is in a more or less rudimentary +stage. We have the basis for great progress, a weapon of inestimable +value--but it is only the basis. It must be worked out. I am leaving +with you today the completed calculations and equations of the time +field, the system used by the Thessian invaders in propelling their +ships at a speed greater than that of light. Also, the uncompleted +calculations in regard to another matter, a weapon which our ally, +Talso, has given us, in exchange for the aid we gave in allowing them +the use of one of our generators. Unfortunately the ship could not spare +more than the single generator. I strongly advise rushing a number of +generators to Talso in intergalactic freighters. They badly need +power--power of respectable dimensions. + +"I have stopped on Earth only temporarily, and I want to leave as soon +as possible. I intend, however, to attempt an attack on the Arctic base +of the Thessians, in strong hopes that they have not armored against one +weapon that the _Ancient Mariner_ carries--though I sadly fear that old +Earth herself has played us false here. I hope to use the magnetic beam, +but Earth's polar magnetism may have forced them to armor, and they may +have sufficiently heavy material to block the effects." + +Morey already had a ground crew servicing the ship. He gave designs to +machinists on hand to make special control panels for the large +artificial matter machines. Arcot and Wade got some badly needed +equipment. + +In six hours, Arcot had announced himself ready, and a squadron of +Planetary Guard ships were ready to accompany the refitted _Ancient +Mariner_. + +They approached the pole cautiously, and were rewarded by the hiss and +roar of ice melting into water which burst into steam under a ray. It +was coming from an outpost of the camp, a tiny dome under a great mass +of ice. But the dome was of relux. A molecular reached down from a Guard +ship--and the Guard ship crumbled suddenly as dozens of moleculars from +the points hit it. + +"They know how to fight this kind of a war. That's their biggest +advantage," muttered Arcot. Wade merely swore. + +"Ray screens, no moleculars!" snapped Arcot into the transmitter. He was +not their leader, but they saw his wisdom, and the squadron commander +repeated the advice as an order. In the meantime, another ship had +fallen. The dome had its screen up, allowing the multitudes of hidden +stations outside to fight for it. + +"Hmm--something to remember when terrestrians have to retire to forts. +They will, too, before this war is over. That way the main fort doesn't +have to lower its ray screen to fight," commented Arcot. He was watching +intensely as a tiny ship swung away from one of the larger machines, and +a tremendously powerful molecular started biting at the fort's ray +screen. The ship seemed nothing but a flying ray projector, which was +what it was. + +As they had hoped, the deadly new ray stabbed out from somewhere on the +side of the fort. It was not within the fort. + +"Which means," pointed out Morey, "that they can't make stuff to stand +that. Probably the projector would be vulnerable." + +But a barrage of heat rays which immediately followed had no apparent +effect. The little radio-controlled molecular beam projector lay on the +rock under the melted ice, blazing incandescent with the rapidly +released energy of the relux. + +"Now to try the real test we came here for," Morey clambered back to the +power room, and turned on the controls of the magnetic beam. The ship +was aligned, and then he threw the last switch. The great mass of the +machine jerked violently, and plunged forward as the beam attracted the +magnetic core of the Earth. + +Morey could not see it, but almost instantly the shimmer of the +molecular screen on the fort died out. The deadly ray sprang out from +the Thessian projector--and went dead. Frantically the Thessians tried +weapon after weapon, and found them dead almost as soon as they were +turned on--which was the natural result in the terrific magnetic field. + +And these men had iron bones, their very bones were attracted by the +beam; they plunged upward toward the ship as the beam touched them, but, +accustomed to the enormous gravitation accelerations of an enormous +world, most of them were not killed. + +"Ah--!" exclaimed Arcot. He picked up the transmitter and spoke again to +the Squadron Commander. "Squadron Commander Tharnton, what relux +thickness does your ship carry?" + +"Inch and a quarter," replied the surprised voice of the commander. + +"Any of the other ships carry heavier?" + +"Yes, the special solar investigator carries five inches. What shall we +do?" + +"Tell him to lower his screen, and let loose at once on all operating +forts. His relux will stand for the time needed to shut them down for +their own screens, unless some genius decides to fight it out. As soon +as the other ships can lower their screens, tell them to do so, and tell +them to join in. I'll be able to help then. My relux has been burned, +and I'm afraid to lower the screen. It's mighty thin already." + +The squadron commander was smiling joyously as he relayed the advice as +a command. + +Almost at once a single ship, blunt, an almost perfect cylinder, lowered +its screen. In an instant the opalescence of the transformation showed +on it, but its dozen ray projectors were at work. Fort after fort glowed +opalescent, then flashed into protective ionization of screening. +Quickly other ships lowered their screens, and joined in. In a moment +more, the forts had been forced to raise their screens for protection. + +A disc of artificial matter ten feet across suddenly appeared beside the +_Ancient Mariner_. It advanced with terrific speed, struck the great +dome of the fort, and the dome caved, bent in, bent still more--but +would not puncture. The disc retreated, became a sharp cone, and drove +in again. This time the point smashed through the relux, and made a +small hole. The cone seemed to change gradually, melting into a cylinder +of twenty foot diameter, and the hole simply expanded. It continued to +expand as the cylinder became a huge disc, a hundred feet across, set in +the wall. + +Suddenly it simply dissolved. There was a terrific roar, and a mighty +column of white rushed out of the gaping hole. Figures of Thessians +caught by the terrific current came rocketing out. The inside was at +last visible. The terrific pressure was hurling the outside line of +ships about like thistledown. The _Ancient Mariner_ reeled back under +the tremendous blast of expanding gas. The snow that fell to the boiling +water below was not water, _in toto_; some was carbon dioxide--and some +oxygen chilled in the expansion of the gas. It was snowing within the +dome. The falling forms of Thessians were robbed of the life-giving air +pressure to which they were accustomed. But all this was visible for but +an instant. + +Then a small, thin sheet of artificial matter formed beside the fort, +and advanced on the dome. Like a knife cutting open an orange, it simply +went around the dome's edge, the great dome lifted like the lid of a +teapot under the enormous gas pressure remaining--then dropped under its +own weight. + +The artificial matter was again a huge disc. It settled over the exact +center of the dome--and went down. The dome caved in. It was crushed +under a load utterly inestimable. Then the great disc, like some +monstrous tamper, tamped the entire works of the Thessians into the +bed-rock of the island. Every ship, every miniature fort, every man was +caught under it--and annihilated. + +The disc dissolved. A terrific barrage of heat beams played over the +island, and the rock melted, flowed over the ruins, and left only the +spumes of steam from the Arctic ice rising from a red-hot: mass of rock, +contained a boiling pool. + +The Battle of the Arctic was done. + + + + +Chapter XI + +"WRITE OFF THE MAGNET" + + +"Squadron commander Tharnton speaking: Squadron 73-B of Planetary Guard +will follow orders from Dr. Arcot directly. Heading south to Antarctica +at maximum speed," droned the communicator. Under the official tone of +command was a note of suppressed rage and determination. "And the +squadron commander wishes Dr. Arcot every success in wiping out +Antarctica as thoroughly and completely as he destroyed the Arctic +base." + +The flight of ships headed south at a speed that heated them white in +the air, thin as it was at the hundred mile altitude, yet going higher +would have taken unnecessary time, and the white heat meant no +discomfort. They reached Antarctica in about ten minutes. The Thessian +ships were just entering through great locks in the walls of the dome. +At first sight of the terrestrial ships they turned, and shot toward the +guard-ships. Their screens were down, for, armored as they were with +very heavy relux they expected to be able to overcome the terrestrial +thin relux before theirs was seriously impaired. + +"Ships will put up screens." Arcot spoke sharply--a new plan had +occurred to him. The moleculars of the Thessians struck glowing screens, +and no damage was done. "Ships, in order of number, will lower screen +for thirty seconds, and concentrate all moleculars on one ship--the +leader. Solar investigator will not join in action." + +The flagship of the squadron lowered its screen, and a tremendous +bombardment of rays struck the leading ship practically in one point. +The relux glowed, and the opalescence shifted with bewildering, +confusing colors. Then the terrestrial ship's screen was up, before the +Thessians could concentrate on the one unprotected ship. Immediately +another terrestrial ship opened its screen and bombarded the same ship. +Two others followed--and then it was forced to use its screen. + +But suddenly a terrestrial ship crashed. Its straining screen had been +overworked--and it failed. + +Arcot's magnetic beam went into action. The Thessian ray did not go +out--it flickered, dimmed, but was apparently as deadly as ever. + +"Shielded--write off the magnet, Morey. That is one asset we lose." + +Arcot, protected in space, was thinking swiftly. Moleculars--useless. +They had to keep their own screens up. Artificial matter--bound in by +their own molecular screen! And the magnet had failed them against the +protected mechanism of the dome. The ships were not as yet protected, +but the dome was. + +"Guess the only place we'd be safe is under the ground--way under!" +commented Wade dryly. + +"Under the ground--Wade, you're a genius!" Arcot gave a shout of joy, +and told Wade to take over the ship. + +"Take the ship back into normal space, head for the hill over behind the +Dome, and drop behind it. It's solid rock, and even their rays will take +a moment or so to move it. As soon as you get there, drop to the ground, +and turn off the screen. No--here, I'll do it. You just take it there, +land on the ground, and shut off the screen. I promise the rest!" Arcot +dived for the artificial matter room. + +The ship was suddenly in normal space; its screen up. The dog-fight had +been ended. The terrestrial ships had been completely defeated. The +_Ancient Mariner'_s appearance was a signal for all the moleculars in +sight. Ten huge ships, half a dozen small forts and now the unshielded +Dome, joined in. Their screen tubes heated up violently in the brief +moment it took to dive behind the hill, a tube fused, and blew out. +Automatic devices shunted it, another tube took the load--and heated. +But their screen was full of holes before they were safe for the moment +behind the hill. + +Instantly Wade dropped the defective screen. Almost as quickly as the +screen vanished, a cylinder of artificial matter surrounded the entire +ship. The cylinder was tipped by a perfect cone of the same base +diameter. The entire system settled into the solid rock. The rock above +cracked and filled in behind them. The ship was suddenly pushed by the +base of the cylinder behind them, and drove on through the rock, the +cone parting the hard granite ahead. They went perhaps half a mile, then +stopped. In the light of the ship's windows, they could see the faint +mistiness of the inconceivably hard, artificial matter, and beyond the +slick, polished surface of the rock it was pushing aside. The cone shape +was still there. + +There was a terrific roar behind them, the rock above cracked, shifted +and moved about. + +"Raying the spot where we went down," Arcot grinned happily. + +The cone and cylinder merged, shifted together, and became a sphere. The +sphere elongated upward and the _Ancient Mariner_ turned in it, till it, +too, pointed upward. The sphere became an ellipsoid. + +Suddenly the ship was moving, accelerating terrifically. It plowed +through the solid rock, and up--into a burst of light. They were +_inside_ the dome. Great ships were berthed about the floor. Huge +machines bulked here and there--barracks for men--everything. + +The ellipsoid shrank to a sphere, the sphere grew a protuberance which +separated and became a single bar-like cylinder. The cylinder turned, +and drove through the great dome wall. A little hole but it whirled +rapidly around, sliced the top off neatly and quickly. Again, like a +gigantic teapot lid, the whole great structure lifted, settled, and +stayed there. Men, scrambling wildly toward ships, suddenly stopped, +seemed to blur and their features ran together horribly. They fell--and +were dead in an instant as the air disappeared. In another instant they +were solid blocks of ice, for the temperature was below the freezing +point of carbon dioxide. + +The giant tamper set to work. The Thessian ships went first. They were +all crumpled, battered wrecks in a few seconds of work of the terrible +disc. + +The dome was destroyed. Arcot tried something else. He put on his +control machine the equation of a hyperboloid of two branches, and +changed the constants gradually till the two branches came close. Then +he forced them against each other. Instantly they fought, fought +terribly for existence. A tremendous blast of light and heat exploded +into being. The energy of two tons of lead attempted to maintain those +two branches. It was not, fortunately, explosive, and it took place over +a relux floor. Most of the energy escaped into space. The vast flood of +light was visible on Venus, despite the clouds. + +But it fused most of Antarctica. It destroyed the last traces of the +camp in Antarctica. + +"Well--the Squadron was wiped out, I see." Arcot's voice was flat as he +spoke. The Squadron: twenty ships--four hundred men. + +"Yes--but so is the Arctic camp, and the Antarctic camp, as well," +replied Wade. + +"What next, Arcot. Shall we go out to intergalactic space at once?" +asked Morey, coming up from the power room. + +"No, we'll go back to Vermont, and have the time-field stuff I ordered +installed, then go to Sirius, and see what they have. They moved their +planets from the gravitation field of Negra, their dead, black star, to +the field of Sirius--and I'd like to know how they did it.[2] +Then--Intergalactia." He started the ship toward Vermont, while Morey +got into communication with the field, and gave them a brief report. + +[Footnote 2: "The Black Star Passes."] + + + + +Chapter XII + +SIRIUS + + +They landed about half an hour later, and Arcot simply went into the +cottage, and slept--with the aid of a light soporific. Morey and Wade +directed the disposition of the machines, but Dr. Arcot senior really +finished the job. The machines would be installed in less than ten +hours, for the complete plans Arcot and Morey had made, with the modern +machines for translating plans to metal and lux had made the actual +construction quick, while the large crew of men employed required but +little time. + +When Arcot and his friends awoke, the machines were ready. + +"Well, Dad, you have the plans for all the machines we have. I expect to +be back in two weeks. In the meantime you might set up a number of ships +with very heavy relux walls, walls that will stand rays for a while, and +equip them with the rudimentary artificial matter machines you have, and +go ahead with the work on the calculations. Thett will land other +machines here--or on the moon. Probably they will attempt to ray the +whole Earth. They won't have concentration of ray enough to move the +planet, or to seriously chill it. But life is a different matter--it's +sensitive. It is quite apt to let go even under a mild ray. I think that +a few exceedingly powerful ray screen stations might be set up, and the +Heavyside Layer used to transmit the vibrations entirely around the +Earth. You can see the idea easily enough. If you think it +worthwhile--or better, if you can convince the thickheaded politicians +of the Interplanatary Defense Commission that it is-- + +"Beyond that, I'll see you in about two weeks," Arcot turned, and +entered the ship. + +"I'll line up for Sirius and let go." Arcot turned the ship now, for +Earth was well behind, and lined it on Sirius, bright in the utter black +of space. He pushed his control to "1/2," and the space closed in about +them. Arcot held it there while the chronometer moved through six and a +half seconds. Sirius was at a distance almost planetary in its magnitude +from them. Controlling directly now, he brought the ship closer, till a +planet loomed large before them--a large world, its rocky continents, +its rolling oceans and jagged valleys white under the enormous +energy-flood from the gigantic star of Sirius, twenty-six times more +brilliant than the sun they had left. + +"But, Arcot, hadn't you better take it easy?" Wade asked. "They might +take us for enemies--which wouldn't be so good." + +"I suppose it would be wise to go slowly. I had planned, as a matter of +fact, on looking up a Thessian ship, taking a chance on a fight, and +proving our friendship," replied Arcot. + +Morey saw Arcot's logic--then suddenly burst into laughter. +"Absolutely--attack a Thessian. But since we don't see any around now, +we'll have to make one!" + +Wade was completely mystified, and gave Morey a doubtful, sarcastic +look. "Sounds like a good idea, only I wonder if this constant terrific +mental strain--" + +"Come along and find out!" Arcot threw the ship into artificial space +for safety, holding it motionless. The planet, invisible to them, +retreated from their motionless ship. + +In the artificial matter control room, Arcot set to work, and developed +a very considerable string of forms on his board, the equations of their +formations requiring all the available formation controls. + +"Now," said Arcot at last, "you stay here, Morey, and when I give the +signal, create the thing back of the nearest range of hills, raise it, +and send it toward us." + +At once they returned to normal space, and darted down toward the now +distant planet. They landed again near another city, one which was +situated close to a range of mountains ideally suited to their purposes. +They settled, while Zezdon Afthen sent out the message of friendship. He +finally succeeded in getting some reaction, a sensation of scepticism, +of distrust--but of interest. They needed friends, and only hoped that +these were friends. Arcot pushed a little signal button, and Morey began +his share of the play. From behind a low hill a slim, pointed form +emerged, a beautifully streamlined ship, the lines obviously those of a +Thessian, the windows streaming light, while the visible ionization +about the hull proclaimed its molecular ray screen. Instantly Zezdon +Afthen, who had carefully refrained from learning the full nature of +their plans, felt the intense emotion of the discovery, called out to +the others, while his thoughts were flashed to the Sirians below. + +From the attacking ship, a body shot with tremendous speed, it flashed +by, barely missing the _Ancient Mariner_, and buried itself in the +hillside beyond. With a terrific explosion it burst, throwing the soil +about in a tremendous crater. The _Ancient Mariner_ spun about, turned +toward the other ship, and let loose a tremendous bombardment of +molecular and cosmic rays. A great flame of ionized air was the only +result. A new ray reached out from the other ship, a fan-like spreading +ray. It struck the _Ancient Mariner_, and did not harm it, though the +hillside behind was suddenly withered and blackened, then smoking as the +temperature rose. + +Another projectile was launched from the attacking ship, and exploded +terrifically but a few hundred feet from the _Ancient Mariner_. The +terrestrial ship rocked and swayed, and even the distant attacker rocked +under the explosion. + +A projectile, glowing white, leaped from the Earthship. It darted toward +the enemy ship, seemed to barely touch it, then burst into terrific +flames that spread, eating the whole ship, spreading glowing flame. In +an instant the blazing ship slumped, started to fall, then seemingly +evaporated, and before it touched the ground, was completely gone. + +The relief in Zezdon Afthen's mind was genuine, and it was easily +obvious to the Sirians that the winning ship was friendly, for, with all +its frightful armament, it had downed a ship obviously of Thett. Though +not exactly like the others, it had the all too familiar lines. + +"They welcome us now," said Zezdon Afthen's mental message to his +companions. + +"Tell them we'll be there--with bells on or thoughts to that effect," +grinned Arcot. Morey had appeared in the doorway, smiling broadly. + +"How was the show?" he asked. + +"Terrible--Why didn't you let it fall, and break open?" + +"What would happen to the wreckage as we moved?" he asked sarcastically. +"I thought it was a darned good demonstration." + +"It was convincing," laughed Arcot. "They want us now!" + +The great ship circled down, landing gently just outside of the city. +Almost at once one of the slim, long Sirian ships shot up from a +courtyard of the city, racing out and toward the _Ancient Mariner_. +Scarcely a moment later half a hundred other ships from all over the +city were on the way. Sirians seemed quite humanly curious. + +"We'll have to be careful here. We have to use altitude suits, as the +Negrians breathe an atmosphere of hydrogen instead of oxygen," explained +Arcot rapidly to the Ortolian and the Talsonian who were to accompany +him. "We will all want to go, and so, although this suit will be +decidedly uncomfortable for you and Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu, I +think it wise that you all wear it. It will be much more convincing to +the Sirians if we show that people of no less than three worlds are +already interested in this alliance." + +A considerable number of Sirian ships had landed about them, and the +tall, slim men of the 100,000,000-year-old race were watching them with +their great brown eyes from a slight distance, for a cordon of men with +evident authority were holding them back. + +"Who are you, friends?" asked a single man who stood within the cordon. +His strongly built frame, a great high brow and broad head designated +him a leader at a glance. + +Despite the vast change the light of Sirius had wrought, Arcot +recognized in him the original photographs he had seen from the planet +old Sol had captured as Negra had swept past. So it was he who answered +the thought-question. + +"I am of the third planet of the sun your people sought as a home a few +years back in time, Taj Lamor. Because you did not understand us, and +because we did not understand you, we fought. We found the records of +your race on the planet our sun captured, and we know now what you most +wanted. Had we been able to communicate with you then, as we can now, +our people would never have fought. + +"At last you have reached that sun you so needed, thanks, no doubt, to +the genius that was with you. + +"But now, in your new-found peace comes a new enemy, one who wants not +only yours, but every sun in this galaxy. + +"You have tried your ray of death, the anti-catalyst? And it but +sputters harmlessly on their screens? You have been swept by their +terrible rays that fuse mountains, then hurl them into space? Our world +and the world of each of these men is similarly menaced. + +"See, here is Zezdon Afthen, from Ortol, far on the other side of the +galaxy, and here is Stel Felso Theu, of Talso. Their worlds, as well as +yours and mine have been attacked by this menace from a distant galaxy, +from Thett, of the sun Ansteck, of the galaxy Venone. + +"Now we must form an alliance of far wider scope than ever has existed +before. + +"To you we have come, for your race is older by far than any race of our +alliance. Your science has advanced far higher. What weapons have you +discovered among those ancient documents, Taj Lamor? We have one weapon +that you no doubt need; a screen, which will stop the rays of the +molecule director apparatus. What have you to offer us?" + +"We need your help badly," was the reply. "We have been able to keep +them from landing on our planets, but it has cost us much. They have +landed on a planet we brought with us when we left the black star, but +it is not inhabited. From this as a base they have made attacks on us. +We tried throwing the planet into Sirius. They merely left the planet +hurriedly as it fell toward the star, and broke free from our attractive +ray." + +"The attractive ray! Then you have uncovered that secret?" asked Arcot +eagerly. + +Taj Lamor had some of his men bring an attractive ray projector to the +ship. The apparatus turned out to be nearly a thousand tons in weight, +and some twenty feet long, ten feet wide and approximately twelve feet +high. It was impossible to load the huge machine into the _Ancient +Mariner_, so an examination was conducted on the spot, with instruments +whose reading was intelligible to the terrestrians operating it. Its +principal fault lay in the fact that, despite the enormous energy of +matter given out, the machine still gobbled up such titanic amounts of +energy before the attraction could be established, that a very large +machine was needed. The ray, so long as maintained, used no more power +than was actually expended in moving the planet or other body. The power +used while the ray was in action corresponded to the work done, but a +tremendous power was needed to establish it, and this power could never +be recovered. + +Further, no reaction was produced in the machine, no matter what body it +was turned upon. In swinging a planet then, a spaceship could be used as +the base for the reaction was not exerted on the machine. + +From such meager clues, and the instruments, Arcot got the hints that +led him to the solution of the problem, for the documents, from which +Taj Lamor had gotten his information, had been disastrously wiped out, +when one of their cities fell, and Taj Lamor had but copied the machines +of his ancestors. + +The immense value of these machines was evident, for they would permit +Arcot to do many things that would have been impossible without them. +The explanation as he gave it to Stel Felso Theu, foretold the uses to +which it might be put. + +"As a weapon," he pointed out, "its most serious fault is that it takes +a considerable time to pump in the power needed. It has here, +practically the same fault which the artificial matter had on your +world. + +"As I see it, the ray is actually a directed gravitational field. + +"Now here is one thing that makes it more interesting, and more useful. +It seems to defy the laws of mechanics. It acts, but there is no +apparent reaction! A small ship can swing a world! Remember, the field +that generates the attraction is an integral, interwoven part of the +mesh of Space. It is created by something outside of itself. Like the +artificial matter, it exists there, and there alone. There is reaction +on that attractive field, but it is created in Space at that given +point, and the reaction is taken by all Space. No wonder it won't move. + +"The work considerations are fairly obvious. The field is built up. That +takes energy. The beam is focused on a body, the body falls nearer, and +immediately absorbs the energy in acquiring a velocity. The machine +replenishes the energy, because it is set to maintain a certain +energy-level in the field. Therefore the machine must do the work of +moving the ship, just as though it were a driving apparatus. After the +beam has done what is wanted, it may be shut off, and the energy in the +field is now available for any work needed. It may be drained back into +power coils such as ours for instance, or one might just spend that last +iota of power on the job. + +"As a driving device it might be set to pull the entire ship along, and +still not have any acceleration detectable to the occupants. + +"I think we'll use that on our big ship," he finished, his eyes far away +on some future idea. + +"Natural gravity of natural matter is, luckily, not selective. It goes +in all directions. But this artificial gravity is controlled so that it +does not spread, and the result is that the mass-attraction of a mass of +matter does not fall off as the inverse square of the distance, but like +the ray from the parallel beam spotlight, continues undiminished. + +"Actually, they create an exceedingly intense, exceedingly small +gravitational field, and direct it in a straight line. The building up +of this field is what takes time." + +Zezdon Afthen, who had a question which was troubling him, looked +anxiously at his friends. Finally he broke into their thoughts which had +been too cryptically abbreviated for him to follow, like the work of a +professor solving some problem, his steps taken so swiftly and so +abbreviated that their following was impossible to his students. + +"But how is it that the machine is not moved when exerting such force on +some other body?" he asked at last. + +"Oh, the ray concentrates the gravitational force, and projects it. The +actual strain is in space. It is space that takes the strain, but in +normal cases, unless the masses are very large, no considerable +acceleration is produced over any great distance. That law operates in +the case of the pulled body; it pulls the gravitational field as a +normal field, the inverse-square law applying. + +"But on the other hand, the gravity-beam pulls with a constant force. + +"It might be likened to the light-pressure effects of a spotlight and a +star. The spotlight would push the sun with a force that was constant; +no matter what the distance, while the light pressure of the sun would +vary as the inverse square of the distance. + +"But remember, it is not a body that pulls another body, but a +gravitational field that pulls another. The field is in space. A normal +field is necessarily attached to the matter that it represents, or that +represents it as you prefer, but this artificial field has no connection +in the form of matter. It is a product of a machine, and exists only as +a strain in space. To move it you must move all space, since it, like +artificial matter, exists only where it is created in space. + +"Do you see now why the law of action and reaction is apparently +flouted? Actually the reaction is taken up by space." + +Arcot rose, and stretched. Morey and Wade had been looking at him, and +now they asked when he intended leaving for the intergalactic spaces. + +"Now, I think. We have a lot of work to do. At present we have the +mathematics of the artificial matter to carry on, and the math of the +artificial gravity to develop. We gave the Sirians all we had on +artificial matter and on moleculars. + +"They gave us all they had--which wasn't much beyond the artificial +gravity, and a lot of work. At any rate, let's go!" + + + + +Chapter XIII + +ATTACKED + + +The _Ancient Mariner_ stirred, and rose lightly from its place beside +the city. Visible over the horizon now, and coming at terrific speed, +was a fleet of seven Thessian ships. + +They must do their best to protect that city. Arcot turned the ship and +called his decision to Morey. As he did so, one of the Thessian ships +suddenly swerved violently, and plunged downward. The attractive ray was +in action. It struck the rocks of Neptune, and plunged in. Half buried, +it stopped. Stopped--and backed out! The tremendously strong relux and +lux had withstood the blow, and these strange, inhumanly powerful men +had not been injured! + +Two of the ships darted toward him simultaneously, flashing out +molecular rays. The rays glanced off of Arcot's screen already in place, +but the tubes were showing almost at once that this could not be +sustained. It was evident that the swiftly approaching ships would soon +break down the shields. Arcot turned the ship and drove to one side. His +eyes went dead. + +He cut into artificial space, waited ten seconds, then cut back. The +scene before him changed. It seemed a different world. The light was +very dim, so dim he could scarcely see the images on the view plate. +They were so deep a red that they were very near to black. Even Sirius, +the flaming blue-white star was red. The darting Thessian ships were +moving quite slowly now, moving at a speed that was easy to follow. +Their rays, before ionizing the air brilliantly red, were now dark. The +instruments showed that the screen was no longer encountering serious +loading, and, further, the load was coming in at a frequency harmlessly +far down the radio spectrum! + +Arcot stared in wide-eyed amazement. What could the Thessians have done +that caused this change? He reached up and increased the amplification +on the eyes to a point that made even the dim illumination sufficient. +Wade was staring in amazement, too. + +"Lord! What an idea!" suddenly exclaimed Arcot. + +Wade was staring at Arcot in equally great amazement. "What's the +secret?" he asked. + +"Time, man, time! We are in an advanced time plane, living faster than +they, our atoms of fuel are destroyed faster, our second is shorter. In +one second of our earthly time our generators do the same amount of work +as usual, but they do many, many times more work in one second, of the +time we were in! We are under the advanced time field." + +Wade could see it all. The red light--normal light seen through eyes +enormously speeded in all perceptions. The change, the dimness--dim +because less energy reached them per second of their time. Then came +this blue light, as they reached the X-ray spectrum of Sirius, and saw +X-rays as normal light--shielded, tremendously shielded by the +atmosphere, but the enormous amplification of the eyes made up for it. + +The remaining Thessians seemed to get the idea simultaneously, and +started for Arcot in his own time field. The Thessian ship appeared to +be actually leaping at him. Suddenly, his speed increased inconceivably. +Simultaneously, Arcot's hand, already started toward the space-control +switch, reached it, and pushed it to the point that threw the ship into +artificial Space. The last glimmer of light died suddenly, as the +Thessian ship's bow loomed huge beside the _Ancient Mariner_. + +There was a terrific shock that hurled the ship violently to one side, +threw the men about inside the ship. Simultaneously the lights blinked +out. + +Light returned as the automatic emergency incandescent lights in the +room, fed from an energy store coil, flashed on abruptly. The men were +white-faced, tense in their positions. Swiftly Morey was looking over +the indicators on his remote-reading panel, while Arcot stared at the +few dials before the actual control board. + +"_There's an air pressure outside the ship!_" he cried out in surprise. +"High oxygen, very little nitrogen, breathable apparently, provided +there are no poisons. Temperature ten below zero C." + +"Lights are off because relays opened when the crash short circuited +them." Morey and the entire group were suddenly shaking. + +"Nervous shock," commented Zezdon Afthen. "It will be an hour or more +before we will be in condition to work." + +"Can't wait," replied Arcot testily, his nerves on edge, too. + +"Morey, make some good strong coffee if you can, and we'll waste a +little air on some smokes." + +Morey rose and went to the door that led through the main passage to the +galley. "Heck of a job--no weight at all," he muttered. "There is air in +the passage, anyway." He opened the door, and the air rushed from the +control room to the passage till the pressure was equalized. The door to +the power room was shut, but it was bulged, despite its two-inch lux +metal, and through its clear material he could see the wreckage of the +power room. + +"Arcot," he called. "Come here and look at the power room. Quintillions +of miles from home, we can't shut off this field now." + +Arcot was with him in a moment. The tremendous mass of the nose of the +Thessian ship had caught them full amid-ship, and the powerful ram had +driven through the room. Their lux walls had not been touched; only a +sledge-hammer blow would have bent them under any circumstances, let +alone breaking them. But the tremendously powerful main generator was +split wide open. And the mechanical damage was awful. The prow of the +ship had been driven deep into the machine, and the power room was a +wreck. + +"And," pointed out Morey, "we can't handle a job like that. It will take +a tremendous amount of machinery back on a planet to work that stuff, +and we couldn't bend that bar, let alone fix it." + +"Get the coffee, will you please, Morey? I have an idea that's bound to +work," said Arcot looking fixedly at the machinery. + +Morey turned and went to the galley. + +Five minutes later they returned to the corridor, where Arcot stood +still, looking fixedly at the engine room. They were carrying small +plastic balloons with coffee in them. + +They drank the coffee and returned to the control room, and sat about, +the terrestrians smoking peacefully, the Ortolian and the Talsonian +satisfying themselves with some form of mild narcotic from Ortol, which +Zezdon Afthen introduced. + +"Well, we have a lot more to do," Arcot said. "The air-apparatus stopped +working a while back, and I don't want to sit around doing nothing while +the air in the storage tanks is used up. Did you notice our friends, the +enemy?" Through the great pilot's window the bulk of the Thessian ship's +bow could be seen. It was cut across with an exactitude of mathematical +certainty. + +"Easy to guess what happened," Morey grinned. "They may have wrecked us, +but we sure wrecked them. They got half in and half out of our space +field. Result--the half that was in, stayed in. The half that was out +stayed out. The two halves were instantaneously a billion miles apart, +and that beautifully exact surface represents the point our space cut +across. + +"That being decided, the next question is how to fix this poor old +wreck." Morey grinned a bit. "Better, how to get out of here, and down +to old Neptune." + +"Fix it!" replied Arcot. "Come on; you get in your space suit, take the +portable telectroscope and set it up in space, motionless, in such a +position that it views both our ship and the nose of the Thessian +machine, will you, Wade? Tune it to--seven-seven-three." Morey rose with +Arcot, and followed him, somewhat mystified, down the passage. At the +airlock Wade put on his space suit, and the Ortolian helped him with it. +In a moment the other three men appeared bearing the machine. It was +practically weightless, though it would fall slowly if left to itself, +for the mass of the _Ancient Mariner_ and the front end of the Thessian +ship made a considerable attractive field. But it was clumsy, and needed +guiding here in the ship. + +Wade took it into the airlock, and a moment later into space with him. +His hand molecular-driving unit pulling him, he towed the machine into +place, and with some difficulty got it practically motionless with +respect of the two bodies, which were now lying against each other. + +"Turn it a bit, Wade, so that the _Ancient Mariner_ is just in its +range," came Arcot's thoughts. Wade did so. "Come on back and watch the +fun." + +Wade returned. Arcot and the others were busy placing a heavy emergency +lead from the storeroom in the place of one of the broken leads. In five +minutes they had it fixed where they wanted it. + +Into the control room went Arcot, and started the power-room teleview +plate. Connected into the system of view plates, the scene was visible +now on all the plates in the ship. Well off to one side of the room, +prepared for such emergencies, and equipped with individual power +storage coils that would run it for several days, the view plate +functioned smoothly. + +"Now, we are ready," said Arcot. The Talsonian proved he understood +Arcot's intentions by preceding him to the laboratory. + +Arcot had two viewplates operating here. One was covering the scene as +shown by the machine outside, and the other showed the power room. + +Arcot stepped over to the artificial-matter machine, and worked swiftly +on it. In a moment the power from the storage coils of the ship was +flowing through the new cable, and into the machine. A huge ring +appeared about the nose of the Thessian ship, fitting snugly over it. A +terrific wrench--and it was free of the _Ancient Mariner_. The ring +contracted and formed a chunk of the stuff free of the broken nose of +the ship. + +It was carried over to the wall of the _Ancient Mariner_, a smaller +piece snipped off as before, and carried inside. A piece of perhaps half +a ton mass. "I hope they use good stuff," grinned Arcot. The piece was +deposited on the floor of the ship, and a disc formed of artificial +matter plugged the hole in its side. Another took a piece of the relux +from the broken Thessian ship, pushed it into the hole on the ship. The +space about the scene of operation was a crackling inferno of energy +breaking down into heat and light. Arcot dematerialized his tremendous +tools, and the wall of the _Ancient Mariner_ was neatly patched with +relux smoothed over as perfectly as before. A second time, using some of +the relux he had brought within the ship, and the inner wall was +rebuilt. The job was absolutely perfect, save that now, where there had +been lux, there was an outer wall of relux. + +The main generator was crumpled up, and torn out. The auxiliary +generators would have to carry the load. The great cables were swiftly +repaired in the same manner, a perfect cylinder forming about them, and +a piece of relux from the store Arcot had sliced from the enemy ship, +welding them perfectly under enormous pressure, pressure that made them +flow perfectly into one another as heat alone could not. + +In less than half an hour the ship was patched up, the power room +generally repaired, save for a few minor things that had to be replaced +from the stores. The main generator was gone, but that was not an +essential. The door was straightened and the job done. + +In an hour they were ready to proceed. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +INTERGALACTIC SPACE + + +"Well, Sirius has retreated a bit," observed Arcot. The star was indeed +several trillions of miles away. Evidently they had not been motionless +as they had thought, but the interference of the Thessian ship had +thrown their machine off. + +"Shall we go back, or go on?" asked Morey. + +"The ship works. Why return?" asked Wade. "I vote we go on." + +"Seconded," added Arcot. + +"If they who know most of the ship vote for a continuance of the +journey, then assuredly we who know so little can only abide by their +judgment. Let us continue," said Zezdon Afthen gravely. + +Space was suddenly black about them. Sirius was gone, all the jewels of +the heavens were gone in the black of swift flight. Ten seconds later +Arcot lowered the space-control. Black behind them the night of space +was pricked by points of light, the infinite multitude of the stars. +Before them lay--nothing. The utter emptiness of space between the +galaxies. + +"Thlek Styrs! What happened?" asked Morey in amazement, his pet Venerian +phrase rolling out in his astonishment. + +"Tried an experiment, and it was overly successful," replied Arcot, a +worried look on his face. "I tried combining the Thessian high speed +_time_ distortion with our high _speed_ space distortion--both on low +power. 'There ain't no sich animals,' as the old agriculturist remarked +of the giraffe. God knows what speed we hit, but it was plenty. We must +be ten thousand light years beyond the galaxy." + +"That's a fine way to start the trip. You have the old star maps to get +back however, have you not?" asked Wade. + +"Yes, the maps we made on our first trip out this way are in the +cabinet. Look 'em up, will you, and see how far we have to go before we +reach the cosmic fields?" + +Arcot was busy with his instruments, making a more accurate +determination of their distance from the "edge" of the galaxy. He +adopted the figure of twelve thousand five hundred light years as the +probable best result. Wade was back in a moment with the information +that the fields lay about sixteen thousand light years out. Arcot went +on, at a rate that would reach the fields in two hours. + +Several hours more were spent in measurements, till at last Arcot +announced himself satisfied. + +"Good enough--back we go." Again in the control room, he threw on the +drive, and shot through the twenty-seven thousand light years of cosmic +ray fields, and then more leisurely returned to the galaxy. The star +maps were strangely off. They could follow them, but only with +difficulty as the general configuration of the constellations that were +their guides were visibly altered to the naked eye. + +"Morey," said Arcot softly, looking at the constellation at which they +were then aiming, and at the map before him, "there is something very, +very rotten. The Universe either 'ain't what it used to be' or we have +traveled in more than space." + +"I know it, and I agree with you. Obviously, from the degree of +alteration off the constellations, we are off by about 100,000 years. +Question: how come? Question: what are we going to do about it?" + +"Answer one: remembering what we observed _in re_ Sirius, I suspect that +the interference of that Thessian ship, with its time-field opposing our +space-field did things to our time-frame. We were probably thrown off +then. + +"As to the second question, we have to determine number one first. Then +we can plan our actions." + +With Wade's help, and by coming to rest near several of the stars, then +observing their actual motions, they were able to determine their +time-status. The estimate they made finally was of the order of eighty +thousand years in the past! The Thessian ship had thrown them that much +out of their time. + +"This isn't all to the bad," said Morey with a sigh. "We at least have +all the time we could possibly use to determine the things we want for +this fight. We might even do a lot of exploring for the archeologists of +Earth and Venus and Ortol and Talso. As to getting back--that's a +question." + +"Which is," added Arcot, "easy to answer now, thank the good Lord. All +we have to do is wait for our time to catch up with us. If we just wait +eighty thousand years, eight hundred centuries, we will be in our own +time." + +"Oh, I think waiting so long would be boring," said Wade sarcastically. +"What do you suggest we do in the intervening eighty millenniums? Play +cards?" + +"Oh, cards or chess. Something like that," grinned Arcot. "Play cards, +calculate our fields--and turn on the time rate control." + +"Oh--I take it back. You win! Take all! I forgot all about that," Wade +smiled at his friend. "That will save a little waiting, won't it." + +"The exploring of our worlds would without doubt be of infinite benefit +to science, but I wonder if it would not be of more direct benefit if we +were to get back to our own time, alive and well. Accidents always +happen, and for all our weapons, we might easily meet some animal which +would put an abrupt and tragic finish to our explorations. Is it not +so?" asked Stel Felso Theu. + +"Your point is good, Stel Felso Theu. I agree with you. We will do no +more exploring than is necessary, or safe." + +"We might just as well travel slowly on the time retarder, and work on +the way. I think the thing to do is to go back to Earth, or better, the +solar system, and follow the sun in its path." + +They returned, and the desolation that the sun in its journey passes +through is nothing to the utter, oppressive desolation of empty space +between the stars, for it has its family of planets--and it has no +conscious thought. + +The Sun was far from the point that it had occupied when the travelers +had left it, billions on billions of miles further on its journey around +the gravitational center of our galactic universe, and in the eighty +millenniums that they must wait, it would go far. + +They did not go to the planets now, for, as Arcot said in reply to Stel +Felso Theu's suggestion that they determine more accurately their +position in time, life had not developed to an extent that would enable +them to determine the year according to our calendar. + +So for thirty thousand years they hung motionless as the sun moved on, +and the little spots of light, that were worlds, hurled about it in a +mad race. Even Pluto, in its three-hundred-year-long track seemed madly +gyrating beneath them; Mercury was a line of light, as it swirled about +the swiftly moving sun. + +But that thirty thousand years was thirty days to the men of the ship. +Their time rate immensely retarded, they worked on their calculations. +At the end of that month Arcot had, with the help of Morey and Wade, +worked out the last of the formulas of artificial matter, and the +machines had turned out the last graphical function of the last branch +of research that they could discover. It was a time of labor for them, +and they worked almost constantly, stopping occasionally for a game of +some sort to relax the nervous tension. + +At the end of that month they decided that they would go to Earth. + +They speeded their time rate now, and flashed toward Earth at enormous +speed that brought them within the atmosphere in minutes. They had +landed in the valley of the Nile. Arcot had suggested this as a means of +determining the advancement of life of man. Man had evidently +established some of his earliest civilizations in this valley where +water and sun for his food plants were assured. + +"Look--there _are_ men here!" exclaimed Wade. Indeed, below them were +villages, of crude huts made of timber and stone and mud. Rubble work +walls, for they needed little shelter here, and the people were but +savages. + +"Shall we land?" asked Arcot, his voice a bit unsteady with suppressed +excitement. + +"Of course!" replied Morey without turning from his station at the +window. Below them now, less than half a mile down on the patchwork of +the Nile valley, men were standing, staring up, collecting in little +groups, gesticulating toward the strange thing that had materialized in +the air above them. + +"Does every one agree that we land?" asked Arcot. + +There were no dissenting voices, and the ship sank gently toward a road +below and to the left. A little knot of watchers broke, and they fled in +terror as the great machine approached, crying out to their friends, +casting affrighted glances at the huge, shining monster behind them. + +Without a jar the mighty weight of the ship touched the soil of its +native planet, touched it fifty millenniums before it was made, five +hundred centuries before it left! + +Arcot's brow furrowed. "There is one thing puzzles me--I can't see how +we can come back. Don't you see, Morey, we have disturbed the lives of +those people. We have affected history. This must be written into the +history that exists. + +"This seems to banish the idea of free thought. We have changed history, +yet history is that which is already done! + +"Had I never been born, had--but I _was_ already--I existed fifty-eighty +thousand years before I was born!" + +"Let's go out and think about that later. We'll go to a psych hospital, +if we don't stop thinking about problems of space and time for a little +while. We need some kind of relaxation." + +"I suggest that we take our weapons with us. These men may have weapons +of chemical nature, such as poisons injected into the flesh on small +sticks hurled either by a spring device or by pneumatic pressure of the +lungs," said Stel Felso Theu as he rose from his seat unstrapping +himself. + +"Arrows and blow-guns we call 'em. But it's a good idea, Stel Felso, and +I think we will," replied Arcot. "Let's not all go out at once, and the +first group to go out goes out on foot, so they won't be scared off by +our flying around." + +Arcot, Wade, Zezdon Afthen, and Stel Felso Theu went out. The natives +had retreated to a respectful distance, and were now standing about, +looking on, chattering to themselves. They were edging nearer. + +"Growing bold," grinned Wade. + +"It is the characteristic of intelligent races manifesting +itself--curiosity," pointed out Stel Felso Theu. + +"Are these the type of men still living in this valley, or who will be +living there in fifty thousand years?" asked Zezdon Afthen. + +"I'd say they weren't Egyptians as we know them, but typical Neolithic +men. It seems they have brains fully as large as some of the men I see +on the streets of New York. I wonder if they have the ability to learn +as much as the average man of--say about 1950?" + +The Neolithic men were warming up. There was an orator among them, and +his grunts, growls, snorts and gestures were evidently affecting them. +They had sent the women back (by the simple and direct process of +sweeping them up in one arm and heaving them in the general direction of +home). The men were brandishing polished stone knives and axes, various +instruments of war and peace. One favorite seemed to be a large club. + +"Let's forestall trouble," suggested Arcot. He drew his ray pistol, and +turned it on the ground directly in front of them, and about halfway +between them and the Neoliths. A streak of the soil about two feet wide +flashed into intense radiation under the impact of millions on millions +of horsepower of radiant energy. Further, it was fused to a depth of +twenty feet or more, and intensely hot still deeper. The Neoliths took a +single look at it, then turned, and raced for home. + +"Didn't like our looks. Let's go back." + +They wandered about the world, investigating various peoples, and proved +to their own satisfaction that there was no Atlantis, not at this time +at any rate. But they were interested in seeing that the polar caps +extended much farther toward the equator; they had not retreated at that +time to the extent that they had by the opening of history. + +They secured some fresh game, an innovation in their larder, and a +welcome one. Then the entire ship was swept out with fresh, clean air, +their water tanks filled with water from the cold streams of the melting +glaciers. The air apparatus was given a new stock to work over. + +Their supplies in a large measure restored, thousands of aerial +photographic maps made, they returned once more to space to wait. + +Their time was taken up for the most part by actual work on the enormous +mass of calculation necessary. It is inconceivable to the layman what +tremendous labor is involved in the development of a single mathematical +hypothesis, and a concrete illustration of it was the long time, with +tremendously advanced calculating machines, that was required in their +present work. + +They had worked out the problem of the time-field, but there they had +been aided by the actual apparatus, and the possibilities of making +direct tests on machines already set up. The problem of artificial +matter, at length fully solved, was a different matter. This had +required within a few days of a month (by their clocks; close to thirty +thousand years of Earth's time), for they had really been forced to +develop it all from the beginning. In the small improvements Arcot had +instituted in Stel Felso Theu's device, he had really merely followed +the particular branch that Stel Felso Theu had stumbled upon. Hence it +was impossible to determine with any great variety, the type of matter +created. Now, however, Arcot could make any known kind of matter, and +many unknown kinds. + +But now came the greatest problem of all. They were ready to start work +on the data they had collected in space. + +"What," asked Zezdon Afthen, as he watched the three terrestrians begin +their work, "is the nature of the thing you are attempting to harness?" + +"In a word, energy," replied Arcot, pausing. + +"We are attempting to harness energy in its primeval form, in the form +of a space-field. Remember, mass is a measure of energy. Two centuries +ago a scientist of our world proposed the idea that energy could be +measured by mass, and proceeded to prove that the relationship was the +now firmly intrenched formula E=Mc^{2}. + +"The sun is giving off energy. It is giving off mass, then, in the form +of light photons. The field of the sun's gravity must be constantly +decreasing as its mass decreases. It is a collapsing field. It is true, +the sun's gravitational field does decrease, by a minute amount, despite +the fact that our sun loses a thousand million tons of matter every four +minutes. The percentage change is minute, but the energy released +is--immeasurable. + +"But, I am going to invent a new power unit, Afthen. I will call it the +'sol,' the power of a sun. One sol is the rating of our sun. And I will +measure the energy I use in terms of sun-powers, not horsepower. That +may tell you of its magnitude!" + +"But," Zezdon Afthen asked, "while you men of Earth work on this +problem, what is there for us? We have no problems, save the problem of +the fate of our world, still fifty thousand years of your time in the +future. It is terrible to wait, wait, wait and think of what may be +happening in that other time. Is there nothing we can do to help? I know +our hopeless ignorance of your science. Stel Felso Theu can scarcely +understand the thoughts you use, and I can scarcely understand his +explanations! I cannot help you there, with your calculations, but is +there nothing I can do?" + +"There is, Ortolian, decidedly. We badly need your help, and as Stel +Felso Theu cannot aid us here as much as he can by working with you, I +will ask him to do so. I want your knowledge of psycho-mechanical +devices to help us. Will you make a machine controlled by mental +impulses? I want to see such a system and know how it is done that I may +control machines by such a system." + +"Gladly. It will take time, for I am not the expert worker that you are, +and I must make many pieces of apparatus, but I will do what I can," +exclaimed Zezdon Afthen eagerly. + +So, while Arcot and his group continued their work of determining the +constants of the space-energy field, the others were working on the +mental control apparatus. + + + + +Chapter XV + +ALL-POWERFUL GODS + + +Again there was a period of intense labor, while the ship drifted +through time, following Earth in its mad careening about the sun, and +the sun as it rushed headlong through space. At the end of a thirty-day +period, they had reached no definite position in their calculations, and +the Talsonian reported, as a medium between the two parties of +scientists, that the work of the Ortolian had not reached a level that +would make a scientific understanding possible. + +As the ship needed no replenishing, they determined to finish their +present work before landing, and it was nearly forty thousand years +after their first arrival that they again landed on Earth. + +It was changed now; the ice caps had retreated visibly, the Nile delta +was far longer, far more prominent, and cities showed on the Earth here +and there. + +Greece, they decided would be the next stop, and to Greece they went, +landing on a mountain side. Below was a village, a small village, a +small thing of huts and hovels. But the villagers attacked, swarming up +the hillside furiously, shouting and shrieking warnings of their +terrible prowess to these men who came from the "shining house," +ordering them to flee from them and turn over their possession to them. + +"What'll we do?" asked Morey. He and Arcot had come out alone this time. + +"Take one of these fellows back with us, and question him. We had best +get a more or less definite idea of what time-age we are in, hadn't we? +We don't want to overshoot by a few centuries, you know!" + +The villagers were swarming up the side of the hill, armed with weapons +of bronze and wood. The bronze implements of murder were rare, and +evidently costly, for those that had them were obviously leaders, and +better dressed than the others. + +"Hang it all, I have only a molecular pistol. Can't use that, it would +be a plain massacre!" exclaimed Arcot. + +But suddenly several others, who had come up from one side, appeared +from behind a rock. The scientists were wearing their power suits, and +had them on at low power, leaving a weight of about fifty pounds. Morey, +with his normal weight well over two hundred, jumped far to one side of +a clumsy rush of a peasant, leaped back, and caught him from behind. +Lifting the smaller man above his head, he hurled him at two others +following. The three went down in a heap. + +Most of the men were about five feet tall, and rather lightly built. The +"Greek God" had not yet materialized among them. They were probably +poorly fed, and heavily worked. Only the leaders appeared to be in good +physical condition, and the men could not develop to large stature. +Arcot and Morey were giants among them, and with their greater skill, +tremendous jumping ability, and far greater strength, easily overcame +the few who had come by the side. One of the leaders was picked up, and +trussed quickly in a rope a fellow had carried. + +"Look out," called Wade from above. Suddenly he was standing beside +them, having flown down on the power suit. "Caught your thoughts--rather +Zezdon Afthen did." He handed Arcot a ray pistol. The rest of the Greeks +were near now, crying in amazement, and running more slowly. They didn't +seem so anxious to attack. Arcot turned the ray pistol to one side. + +"Wait!" called Morey. A face peered from around the rock toward which +Arcot had aimed his pistol. It was that of a girl, about fifteen years +old in appearance, but hard work had probably aged her face. Morey bent +over, heaved on a small boulder, about two hundred pounds of rock, and +rolled it free of the depression it rested in, then caught it on a +molecular ray, hurled it up. Arcot turned his heat ray on it for an +instant, and it was white hot. Then the molecular ray threw it over +toward the great rock, and crushed it against it. Three children +shrieked and ran out from the rock, scurrying down the hillside. + +The soldiers had stopped. They looked at Morey. Then they looked at the +great rock, three hundred yards from him. They looked at the rock +fragments. + +"They think you threw it," grinned Arcot. + +"What else--they saw me pick it up, saw me roll it, and it flew. What +else could they think?" + +Arcot's heat ray hissed out, and the rocks sputtered and cracked, then +glowed white. There was a dull explosion, and chips of rock flew up. +Water, imprisoned, had been turned into steam. In a moment the whistle +and crackle of combined heat and molecular rays stabbing out from +Arcot's hands had built a barrier of fused rocks. + +Leisurely Arcot and Morey carried their now revived prisoner back to the +ship, while Wade flew ahead to open the locks. + +Half an hour later the prisoner was discharged, much to his surprise, +and the ship rose. They had been able to learn nothing from him. Even +the Greek Gods, Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, all the later Greek gods, were +unknown, or so greatly changed that Arcot could not recognize them. + +"Well," he said at length, "it seems all we know is that they came +before any historical Greeks we know of. That puts them back quite a +bit, but I don't know how far. Shall we go see the Egyptians?" + +They tried Egypt, a few moments across the Mediterranean, landing close +to the mouth of the Nile. The people of a village near by immediately +set out after them. Better prepared this time, Arcot flew out to meet +them with Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu. Surely, he felt, the sight +of the strange men would be no more terrifying than the ship or the men +flying. And that did not seem to deter their attack. Apparently the +proverb that "Discretion is the better part of valor," had not been +invented. + +Arcot landed near the head of the column, and cut off two or three men +from the rest with the aid of his ray pistol. Zezdon Afthen quickly +searched his mind, and with Arcot's aid they determined he did not know +any of the Gods that Arcot suggested. + +Finally they had to return to the ship, disappointed. They had had the +slight satisfaction of finding that the Sun God was Ralz, the later +Egyptian Ra might well have been an evolved form of that name. + +They restocked the ship, fresh game and fruits again appearing on the +menu, then once again they launched forth into space to wait for their +own time. + +"It seems to me that we must have produced some effect by our visit," +said Arcot, shaking his head solemnly. + +"We did, Arcot," replied Morey softly. "We left an impress in history, +an impress that still is, and an impress that affected countless +thousands. + +"Meet the Egyptian Gods with their heads strange to terrestrians, the +Gods who fly through the air without wings, come from a shining house +that flies, whose look, whose pointed finger melts the desert sands, and +the moist soil!" he continued softly, nodding toward the Ortolian and +the Talsonian. + +"Their 'impossible' Gods existed, and visited them. Indubitably some +genius saw that here was a chance for fame and fortune and sold 'charms' +against the 'Gods.' Result: we are carrying with us some of the oldest +deities. Again, we did leave our imprint in history." + +"And," cried Wade excitedly, "meet the great Hercules, who threw men +about. I always knew that Morey was a brainless brute, but I never +realized the marvelous divining powers of those Greeks so +perfectly--now, the Incarnation of Dumb Power!" Dramatically Wade +pointed to Morey, unable even now to refrain from some unnecessary +comments. + +"All right, Mercury, the messenger of the Gods speaks. The little flaps +on Wade's flying shoes must indeed have looked like the winged shoes of +legend. Wade was Mercury, too brainless for anything but carrying the +words of wisdom uttered by others. + +"And Arcot," continued Morey, releasing Wade from his condescending +stare, "is Jove, hurling the rockfusing, destroying thunderbolts!" + +"The Gods that my friends have been talking of," explained Arcot to the +curious Ortolians, "are legendary deities of Earth. I can see now that +we did leave an imprint on history in the only way we could--as Gods, +for surely no other explanation could have occurred to those men." + +The days passed swiftly in the ship, as their work approached +completion. Finally, when the last of the equation of Time, artificial +matter, and the most awful of their weapons, the unlimited Cosmic Power, +had been calculated, they fell to the last stage of the work. The actual +appliances were designed. Then the completed apparatus that the Ortolian +and the Talsonian had been working on, was carefully investigated by the +terrestrial physicists, and its mechanism studied. Arcot had great plans +for this, and now it was incorporated in their control apparatus. + +The one remaining problem was their exact location in time. Already +their progress had brought them well up to the nineteenth century, but, +as Morey sadly remarked, they couldn't tell what date, for they were +sadly lacking in history. Had they known the real date, for instance, of +the famous battle of Bull Run, they could have watched it in the +telectroscope, and so determined their time. As it was, they knew only +that it was one of the periods of the first half of the decade of 1860. + +"As historians, we're a bunch of first-class kitchen mechanics. Looks +like we're due for another landing to locate the exact date," agreed +Arcot. + +"Why land now? Let's wait until we are nearer the time to which we +belong, so we won't have to watch so carefully and so long," suggested +Wade. + +They argued this question for about two hundred years as a matter of +fact. After that, it was academic anyway. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +HOME AGAIN + + +They were getting very near their own time, Arcot felt. Indeed, they +must already exist on Earth. "One thing that puzzles me," he commented, +"is what would happen if we were to go down now, and see ourselves." + +"Either we can't or we don't want to do it," pointed out Morey, "because +we didn't." + +"I think the answer is that nothing can exist two times at the same +time-rate," said Arcot. "As long as we were in a different time-rate we +could exist at two times. When we tried to exist simultaneously, we +could not, and we were forced to slip through time to a time wherein we +either did not exist or wherein we had not yet been. Since we were +nearer the time when we last existed in normal time, than we were to the +time of our birth, we went to the time we left. I suspect that we will +find we have just left Earth. Shall we investigate?" + +"Absolutely, Arcot, and here's hoping we didn't overshoot the mark by +much." As Morey intimated, had they gone much beyond the time they left +Earth, they might find conditions very serious, indeed. But now they +went at once toward Earth on the time control. As they neared, they +looked anxiously for signs of the invasion. Arcot spotted the only +evident signs, however; two large spheres, tiny points in appearance on +the telectroscope screen, were circling Earth, one at about 1,000 miles, +moving from east to west, the other about 1,200 miles moving from north +to south. + +"It seems the enemy have retreated to space to do their fighting. I +wonder how long we were away." + +As they swept down at a speed greater than light, they were invisible +till Arcot slowed down near the atmosphere. Instantly half a dozen fast +ships darted toward them, but the ship was very evidently unlike the +Thessian ships, and no attack was made. First the occupants would have +an opportunity to prove their friendliness. + +"Terrestrians Arcot, Morey and Wade reporting back from exploration in +space, with two friends. All have been on Earth with us previously," +said Arcot into the radio vision apparatus. + +"Very well, Dr. Arcot. You are going to New York or Vermont?" asked the +Patrol commander. + +"Vermont." + +"Yes, Sir. I'll see that you aren't stopped again." + +And, thanks to the message thus sent ahead, they were not, and in less +than half an hour they landed once more in Vermont, on the field from +which they had started. + +The group of scientists who had been here on their last call had gone, +which seemed natural enough to them, who had been working for three +months in the interval of their trip, but to Dr. Arcot senior, as he saw +them, it was a misfortune. + +"Now I never will get straight all you'll have ready, and I didn't +expect you back till next week. The men have all gone back to their +laboratories, since that permits of better work on the part of each, but +we can call them here in half an hour. I'm sure they'll want to come. +What did you learn, Son, or haven't you done any calculating on your +data as yet?" + +"We learned plenty, and I feel quite sure that a hint of what we have +would bring all those learning-hounds around us pretty quickly, Dad," +laughed Arcot junior, "and believe it or not, we've been calculating on +this stuff for three months since we left yesterday!" + +"What!" + +"Yes, it's true! We were on our time field, and turned on the space +control--and a Thessian ship picked that moment to run into us. We cut +the ship in half as neatly as you please, but it threw us eighty +thousand years into the past. We have been coasting through time on +retarded rate while Earth caught up with itself, so to speak. In the +meantime--three months in a day! + +"But don't call those men. Let them come to the appointment, while we do +some work, and we have plenty of work to do, I assure you. We have a +list of things to order from the standard supply houses, and I think you +better get them for us, Dad." Arcot's manner became serious now. "We +haven't gotten our Government Expense Research Cards yet, and you have. +Order the stuff, and get it out here, while we get ready for it. +Honestly, I believe that a few ships such as this apparatus will permit, +will be enough in themselves to do the job. It really is a pity that the +other men didn't have the opportunity we had for crowding much work into +little time! + +"But then, I wouldn't want to take that road to concentration again +myself! + +"Have the enemy amused you in my absence? Come on, let's sit down in the +house instead of standing here in the sun." + +They started toward the house, as Arcot senior explained what had +happened in the short time they had been away. + +"There is a friend of yours here, whom you haven't seen in some time, +Son. He came with some allies." + +As they entered the house, they could hear the boards creak under some +heavy weight that moved across the floor, soundlessly and light of +motion in itself. A shadow fell across the hall floor, and in the +doorway a tremendously powerfully-built figure stood. + +He seemed to overflow the doorway, nearly six and a half feet tall, and +fully as wide as the door. His rugged, bronzed face was smiling +pleasantly, and his deep-set eyes seemed to flash; a living force flowed +from them. + +"Torlos! By the Nine Planets! Torlos of Nansal! Say, I didn't expect you +here, and I will not put my hand in that meatgrinder of yours," grinned +Arcot happily, as Torlos stretched forth a friendly, but quite too +powerful hand. + +Torlos of Nansal, that planet Arcot had discovered on his first voyage +across space, far in another Island of Space, another Island Universe, +was not constructed as are human beings of Earth, nor of Venus, Talso, +or Ortol, but most nearly resembled, save in size, the Thessians. Their +framework, instead of being stone, as is ours, was iron, their bones +were pure metallic iron, far stronger than bone. On these far stronger +bones were great muscles of an entirely different sort, a muscle that +used heat of the body as its fuel, a muscle that was utterly tireless, +and unbelievably powerful. Not a chemical engine, but a molecular motion +engine, it had no chemical fatigue-products that would tire it, and +needed only the constant heat supply the body sucked from the air to +work indefinitely. Unlimited by waste-carrying considerations, the +strength was enormous. + +It was one of the commercial space freighters plying between Nansal, +Sator, Earth and Venus that had brought the news of this war to him, +Torlos explained, and he, as the new Trade Coordinator and Fourth of the +Four who now ruled Nansal, had suggested that they go to the aid of the +man who had so aided them in their great war with Sator. It was Arcot's +gift of the secret of the molecular ray and the molecular ship that had +enabled them to overcome their enemy of centuries, and force upon them +an unwelcome peace. + +Now, with a fleet of fifty interstellar, or better, intergalactic +battleships, Nansal was coming to Earth's aid. + +The battleships were now on patrol with all of Earth's and Venus' fleet. +But the Nansalian ships were all equipped with the enormously rapid +space distortion system of travel, of course, and were a shock troop in +the patrol. The Terrestrian and Venerian patrols were not so equipped in +full. + +"And Arcot, from what I have learned from your father, it seems that I +can be of real assistance," finished Torlos. + +"But now, I think, I should know what the enemy has done. I see they +built some forts." + +"Yes," replied Arcot senior, "they did. They decided that the system +used on the forts of North and South poles was too effective. They moved +to space, and cut off slices of Luna, pulled it over on their molecular +rays, and used some of the most magnificent apparatus you ever dreamed +of. I have just started working on the mathematics of it. + +"We sent out a fleet to do some investigating, but they attacked, and +stopped work in the meantime. Whatever the ray is that can destroy +matter at a distance, they are afraid that we could find its secret too +easily, and block it, for they don't think it is a weapon, and it is +evidently slow in action." + +"Then it isn't what I thought it was," muttered Arcot. + +"What did you think it was?" asked his father. + +"Er--tell you later. Go on with the account." + +"Well, to continue. We have not been idle. Following your suggestion, we +built up a large ray screen apparatus, in fact, several of them, and +carried them in ships to different parts of the world. Also some of the +planets, lest they start dropping worlds on us. They are already in +operation, sending their defensive waves against the Heaviside layer. +Radio is poor, over any distance, and we can't call Venus from inside +the layer now. However, we tested the protection, and it works--far more +efficiently than we calculated, due to the amazing conductivity of the +layer. + +"If they intend to attack in that way, I suspect that it will be soon, +for they are ready now, as we discovered. An attack on their fort was +met with a ray screen from the fort. + +"They fight with a wild viciousness now. They won't let a ship get near +them. They destroy everything on sight. They seem tremendously afraid of +that apparatus of yours. Too bad we had no more." + +"We will have--if you will let me get to work." + +They went to the ship, and entered it. Arcot senior did not follow, but +the others waited, while the ship left Earth once more, and floated in +space. Immediately they went into the time-field. + +They worked steadily, sleeping when necessary, and the giant strength of +Torlos was frequently as great an asset as his indefatigable work. He +was learning rapidly, and was able to do a great deal of the work +without direction. He was not a scientist, and the thing was new to him, +but his position as one of the best of the secret intelligence force of +Nansal had proven his brains, and he did his share. + +The others, scientists all, found the operations difficult, for work had +been allotted to each according to his utmost capabilities. + +It was still nearly a week of their time before the apparatus was +completed to the extent possible, less than a minute of normal time +passing. + +Finally the unassembled, but completed apparatus, was carried to the +laboratory of the cottage, and word was sent to all the men of Earth +that Arcot was going to give a demonstration of the apparatus he hoped +would save them. The scientists from all over Earth and Venus were +interested, and those of Earth came, for there was no time for the men +of Venus to arrive to inspect the results. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +POWER OF MIND + + +It was night. The stars visible through the laboratory windows winked +violently in the disturbed air of the Heaviside layer, for the molecular +ray screen was still up. + +The laboratory was dimly lighted now, all save the front of the room. +There, a mass of compact boxes were piled one on another, and +interconnected in various and indeterminate ways. And one table lay in a +brilliant path of illumination. Behind it stood Arcot. He was talking to +the dim white group of faces beyond the table, the scientists of Earth +assembled. + +"I have explained our power. It is the power of all the universe--Cosmic +Power--which is necessarily vaster than all others combined. + +"I cannot explain the control in the time I have at my disposal but the +mathematics of it, worked out in two months of constant effort, you can +follow from the printed work which will appear soon. + +"The second thing, which some of you have seen before, has already been +partly explained. It is, in brief, artificially created matter. The two +important things to remember about it are that it _is_, that it _does +exist_, and that it exists _only where it is determined to exist by the +control there, and nowhere else_. + +"These are all coordinated under the new mental relay control. Some of +you will doubt this last, but think of it under this light. Will, +thought, concentration--they are efforts, they require energy. Then they +can exert energy! That is the key to the whole thing. + +"But now for the demonstration." + +Arcot looked toward Morey, who stood off to one side. There was a heavy +thud as Morey pushed a small button. The relay had closed. Arcot's mind +was now connected with the controls. + +A globe of cloudiness appeared. It increased in density, and was a +solid, opalescent sphere. + +"There is a sphere, a foot in diameter, ten feet from me," droned Arcot. +The sphere was there. "It is moving to the left." The sphere moved to +the left at Arcot's thought. "It is rising." The sphere rose. "It is +changing to a disc two feet across." The sphere seemed to flow, and was +a disc two feet across as Arcot's toneless voice of concentration +continued. + +"It is changing into a hand, like a human hand." The disc changed into a +human hand, the fingers slightly bent, the soft, white fingers of a +woman with the pink of the flesh and the wrinkles at the knuckles +visible. The wrist seemed to fade gradually into nothingness, the end of +the hand was as indeterminate as are things in a dream, but the hand was +definite. + +"The hand is reaching for the bar of lux metal on the floor." The soft, +little hand moved, and reached down and grasped the half ton bar of lux +metal, wrapped dainty fingers about it and lifted it smoothly and +effortlessly to the table, and laid it there. + +A mistiness suddenly solidified to another hand. The second hand joined +the first, and fell to work on the bar, and pulled. The bar stretched +finally under an enormous load. One hand let go, and the thud of the +highly elastic lux metal bar's return to its original shape echoed +through the soundless room. These men of the twenty-second century knew +what relux and lux metals were, and knew their enormous strength. Yet it +was putty under these hands. The hands that looked like a woman's! + +The bar was again placed on the table, and the hands disappeared. There +was a thud, and the relay had opened. + +"I can't demonstrate the power I have. It is impossible. The +power is so enormous that nothing short of a sun could serve as a +demonstration-hall. It is utterly beyond comprehension under any +conditions. I have demonstrated artificial matter, and control by mental +action. + +"I'm now going to show you some other things we have learned. Remember, +I can control perfectly the properties of artificial matter, by +determining the structure it shall have. + +"Watch." + +Morey closed the relay. Arcot again set to work. A heavy ingot of iron +was raised by a clamp that fastened itself upon it, coming from nowhere. +The iron moved, and settled over the table. As it approached, a +mistiness that formed became a crucible. The crucible showed the gray of +pure iron, but it was artificial matter. The iron settled in the +crucible, and a strange process of flowing began. The crucible became a +ball, and colors flowed across its surface, till finally it was glowing +richly silvery. The ball opened, and a great lump of silvery stuff was +within it. It settled to the floor, and the ball disappeared, but the +silvery metal did not. + +"Platinum," said Morey softly. A gasp came from the audience. "Only +platinum could exist there, and the matter had to rearrange itself as +platinum." He could rearrange it in any form he chose, either absorbing +or supplying energy of existence and energy of formation. + +The mistiness again appeared in the air, and became a globe, a globe of +brown. But it changed, and disappeared. Morey recognized the signal. "He +will now make the artificial matter into all the elements, and many +nonexistent elements, unstable, atomic figures." There followed a long +series of changes. + +The material shifted again, and again. Finally the last of the natural +elements was left behind, all 104 elements known to man were shown, and +many others. + +"We will skip now. This is element of atomic weight 7000." + +It was a lump of soft, oozy blackness. One could tell from the way that +Arcot's mind handled it that it was soft. It seemed cold, terribly cold. +Morey explained: + +"It is very soft, for its atom is so large that it is soft in the +molecular state. It is tremendously photoelectric, losing electrons +very readily, and since its atom has so enormous a volume, its electrons +are very far from the nucleus in the outer rings, and they absorb rays +of very great length; even radio and some shorter audio waves seem to +affect it. That accounts for its blackness, and the softness as Arcot +has truly depicted it. Also, since it absorbs heat waves and changes +them to electrical charges, it tends to become cold, as the frost Arcot +has shown indicates. Remember, that that is infinitely hard as you see +it, for it is artificial matter, but Arcot has seen natural matter +forced into this exceedingly explosive atomic figuration. + +"It is so heavily charged in the nucleus that its X-ray spectrum is well +toward the gamma! The inner electrons can scarcely vibrate." + +Again the substance changed--and was gone. + +"Too far--atom of weight 20,000 becomes invisible and nonexistent as +space closes in about it--perhaps the origin of our space. Atoms of this +weight, if breaking up, would form two or more atoms that would exist in +our space, then these would be unstable, and break down further into +normal atoms. We don't know. + +"And one more substance," continued Morey as he opened the relay once +more. Arcot sat down and rested his head in his hands. He was not +accustomed to this strain, and though his mind was one of the most +powerful on Earth, it was very hard for him. + +"We have a substance of commercial and practical use now. Cosmium. Arcot +will show one method of making it." + +Arcot resumed his work, seated now. A formation reached out, and grasped +the lump of platinum still on the floor. Other bars of iron were brought +over from the stack of material laid ready, and piled on a broad sheet +that had formed in the air, tons of it, tens of tons. Finally he +stopped. There was enough. The sheet wrapped itself into a sphere, and +contracted, slowly, steadily. It was rampant with energy, energy flowed +from it, and the air about was glowing with ionization. There was a +feeling of awful power that seeped into the minds of the watchers, and +held them spellbound before the glowing, opalescent sphere. The tons of +matter were compressed now to a tiny ball! Suddenly the energy flared +out violently, a terrific burst of energy, ionizing the air in the +entire room, and shooting it with tiny, burning sparks. Then it was +over. The ball split, and became two planes. Between them was a small +ball of a glistening solid. The planes moved slowly together, and the +ball flattened, and flowed. It was a sheet. + +A clamp of artificial matter took it, and held the paper-thin sheet, +many feet square, in the air. It seemed it must bend under its own +enormous weight of tons, but thin as it was it did not. + +"Cosmium," said Morey softly. + +Arcot crumpled it, and pressed it once more between artificial matter +tools. It was a plate, thick as heavy cardboard, and two feet on a side. +He set it in a holder of artificial matter, a sort of frame, and caused +the controls to lock. + +Taking off the headpiece he had worn, he explained, "As Morey said, +Cosmium. Briefly, density, 5007.89. Tensile strength, about two hundred +thousand times that of good steel!" The audience gasped. That seems +little to men who do not realize what it meant. An inch of this stuff +would be harder to penetrate than three miles of steel! + +"Our new ship," continued Arcot, "will carry six-inch armor. Six inches +would be the equivalent of eighteen miles of solid steel, with the +enormous improvement that it will be concentrated, and so will have far +greater resistance than any amount of steel. Its tensile strength would +be the equivalent of an eighteen-mile wall of steel. + +"But its most important properties are that it reflects everything we +know of. Cosmics, light, and even moleculars! It is made of cosmic ray +photons, as lux is made of light photons, but the inexpressibly tighter +bond makes the strength enormous. It cannot be handled by any means save +by artificial matter tools. + +"And now I am going to give a demonstration of the theatrical +possibilities of this new agent. Hardly scientific--but amusing." + +But it wasn't exactly amusing. + +Arcot again donned the headpiece. "I think," he continued, "that a +manifestation of the super-natural will be most interesting. Remember +that all you see is real, and all effects are produced by artificial +matter generated by the cosmic energy, as I have explained, and are +controlled by my mind." + +Arcot had chosen to give this demonstration with definite reason. +Apparently a bit of scientific playfulness, yet he knew that nothing is +so impressive, nor so lastingly remembered as a theatrical demonstration +of science. The greatest scientist likes to play with his science. + +But Arcot's experiment now--it was on a level of its own! + +From behind the table, apparently crawling up the leg came a thing! It +was a hand. A horrible, disjointed hand. It was withered and incarmined +with blood, for it was severed from its wrist, and as it hunched itself +along, moving by a ghastly twitching of fingers and thumb, it left a +trail of red behind it. The papers to be distributed rustled as it +passed, scurrying suddenly across the table, down the leg, and racing +toward the light switch! By some process of writhing jerks it reached +it, and suddenly the room was plunged into half-light as the lights +winked out. Light filtering over the transom of the door from the hall +alone illuminated the hall, but the hand glowed! It glowed, and scurried +away with an awful rustling, scuttling into some unseen hole in the +wall. The quiet of the hall was the quiet of tenseness. + +From the wall, coming through it, came a mistiness that solidified as it +flowed across. It was far to the right, a bent stooped figure, a figure +half glimpsed, but fully known, for it carried in its bony, glowing hand +a great, nicked scythe. Its rattling tread echoed hollowly on the floor. +Stooping walk, shuffling gait, the great metal scythe scraping on the +floor, half seen as the gray, luminous cloak blew open in some unfelt +breeze of its ephemeral world, revealing bone; dry, gray bone. Only the +scythe seemed to know Life, and it was red with that Life. Slow running, +sticky lifestuff. + +Death paused, and raised his awful head. The hood fell back from the +cavernous eyesockets, and they flamed with a greenish radiance that made +every strained face in the room assume the same deathly pallor. + +"The Scythe, the Scythe of Death," grated the rusty Voice. "The Scythe +is slow, too slow. I bring new things," it cackled in its cracked voice, +"new things of my tools. See!" The clutching bones dropped the rattling +Scythe, and the handle broke as it fell, and rotted before their eyes. +"Heh, heh," the Thing cackled as it watched. "Heh--what Death touches, +rots as he leaves it." The grinning, blackened skull grinned wider, in +an awful, leering cavity, rotting, twisted teeth showed. But from under +his flapping robe, the skeletal hands drew something--ray pistols! + +"These--these are swifter!" The Thing turned, and with a single leering +glance behind, flowed once more through the wall. + +A gasp, a stifled, groaning gasp ran through the hall, a half sob. + +But far, far away they could hear something clanking, dragging its slow +way along. Spellbound they turned to the farthest corner--and looked +down the long, long road that twined off in distance. A lone, luminous +figure plodded slowly along it, his half human shamble bringing him +rapidly nearer. + +Larger and larger he loomed, clearer and clearer became the figure, and +his burden. Broken, twisted steel, or metal of some sort, twisted and +blackened. + +"It's over--it's over--and my toys are here. I win, I always win. For I +am the spawn of Mars, of War, and of Hate, the sister of War, and my +toys are the things they leave behind." It gesticulated, waving the +twisted stuff and now through the haze, they could see them--buildings. +The framework of buildings and twisted liners, broken weapons. + +It loomed nearer, the cavernous, glowing eyes under low, shaggy brows, +became clear, the awful brutal hate, the lust of Death, the rotting +flesh of Disease--all seemed stamped on the Horror that approached. + +"Ah!" It had seen them! "Ahh!" It dropped the buildings, the broken +things, and shuffled into a run, toward them! Its face changed, the lips +drew back from broken, stained teeth, the curling, cruel lips, and the +rotting flesh of the face wrinkled into a grin of lust and hatred. The +shaggy mop of its hair seemed to writhe and twist, the long, thin +fingers grasped spasmodically as it neared. The torn, broken fingernails +were visible--nearer--nearer--nearer-- + +"Oh, God--stop it!" A voice shrieked out of the dark as someone leaped +suddenly to his feet. + +Simultaneously with the cry the Thing puffed into nothingness of energy +from which it had sprung, and a great ball of clear, white glowing light +came into being in the center of the room, flooding it with a light that +dazzled the eyes, but calmed broken nerves. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +EARTH'S DEFENSES + + +"I am sorry, Arcot. I did not know, for I see I might have helped, but +to me, with my ideas of horror, it was as you said, amusement," said +Torlos. They were sitting now in Arcot's study at the cottage; Arcot, +his father, Morey, Wade, Torlos, the three Ortolians and the Talsonian. + +"I know, Torlos. You see, where I made my mistake, as I have said, was +in forgetting that in doing as I did, picturing horror, like a snowball +rolling, it would grow greater. The idea of horror, started, my mind +pictured one, and it inspired greater horror, which in turn reacted on +my all too reactive apparatus. As you said, the things changed as you +watched, molding themselves constantly as my mind changed them, under +its own initiative and the concentrated thoughts of all those others. It +was a very foolish thing to do, for that last Thing--well, remember it +_was_, it existed, and the idea of hate and lust it portrayed was caused +by my mind, but my mind could picture what it would do, if such were its +emotions, and it would do them because my mind pictured them! And +_nothing_ could resist it!" Arcot's face was white once more as he +thought of the danger he had run, of the terrible consequences possible +of that 'amusement.' + +"I think we had best start on the ship. I'll go get some sleep now, and +then we can go." + +Arcot led the way to the ship, while Torlos, Morey and Wade and Stel +Felso Theu accompanied him. The Ortolians were to work on Earth, aiding +in the detection of attacks by means of their mental investigation of +the enemy. + +"Well--good-bye, Dad. Don't know when I'll be back. Maybe twenty-five +thousand years from now, or twenty-five thousand years ago. But we'll +get back somehow. And we'll clean out the Thessians!" + +He entered the ship, and rose into space. + +"Where are you going, Arcot?" asked Morey. + +"Eros," replied Arcot laconically. + +"Not if my mind is working right," cried Wade suddenly. All the others +were tense, listening for inaudible sounds. + +"I quite agree," replied Arcot. The ship turned about, and dived toward +New York, a hundred thousand miles behind now, at a speed many times +that of light as Arcot snapped into time. Across the void, Zezdon +Fentes' call had come--New York was to be attacked by the Thessians, New +York and Chicago next. New York because the orbits of their two forts +were converging over that city in a few minutes! + +They were in the atmosphere, screaming through it as their relux glowed +instantaneously in the Heaviside layer, then was through before damage +could be done. The screen was up. + +Scarcely a minute after they passed, the entire heavens blazed into +light, the roar of tremendous thunders crashing above them, great +lightning bolts rent the upper air for miles as enormous energies +clashed. + +"Ah--they are sending everything they have against that screen, and it's +hot. We have ten of our biggest tube stations working on it, and more +coming in, to our total of thirty, but they have two forts, and Lord +knows how many ships. + +"I think me I'm going to cause them some worrying." + +Arcot turned the ship, and drove up again, now at a speed very low to +them but as they had the time-field up, very great. They passed the +screen, and a tremendous bolt struck the ship. Everything in it was +shielded, but the static was still great enough to cause them some +trouble as the time-field and electric field fought. But the time-field, +because of its very nature, could work faster, and they won through +undamaged, though the enormous current seemed flowing for many minutes +as they drifted slowly past it. Slowly--at fifty miles a second. + +Out in space, free of the atmosphere, Arcot shot out to the point where +the Thessians were congregating. The shining dots of their ships and the +discs of the forts were visible from Earth save for the air's +distortion. + +They seemed a miniature Milky Way, their deadly beams concentrated on +Earth. + +Then the Thessians discovered that the terrestrial fleet was in action. +A ship glowed with the ray, the opalescence of relux under moleculars +visible on its walls. It simply searched for its opponent while its +relux slowly yielded. It found it in time, and the terrestrial ship put +up its screen. + +The terrestrial fleet set to work, everything they had flying at the +Thessian giants, but the Thessians had heavier ships, and heavier tubes. +More power was winning for them. Inevitably, when the Sun's interference +somewhat weakened the ray shield-- + +About that time Arcot arrived. The nearest fort dived toward the further +with an acceleration that smashed it against no less than ten of its own +ships before they could so much as move. + +When the way was clear to the other fort--and that fort had moved, the +berserk fort started off a new tack--and garnered six more wrecks on its +side. + +Then Thett's emissaries located Arcot. The screen was up, and the +Negrian attractive ray apparatus which Arcot had used was working +through it. The screen flashed here and there and collapsed under the +full barrage of half the Thessian fleet, as Arcot had suspected it +would. But the same force that made it collapse operated a relay that +turned on the space control, and Thett's molecular ray energy steamed +off to outer space. + +"We worried them, then dug our hole and dragged it in after us, as +usual, but damn it, we can't hurt them!" said Arcot disgustedly. "All we +can do is tease them, then go hide where it's perfectly safe, in +artificial--" Arcot stopped in amazement. The ship had been held under +such space control that space was shut in about them, and they were +motionless. The dials had reached a steady point, the current flow had +become zero, and they hung there with only the very slow drain of the +Sun's gravitational field and that of the planet's field pulling on the +ship. Suddenly the current had leaped, and the dials giving the charge +in the various coil banks had moved them down toward zero. + +"Hey--they've got a wedge in here and are breaking out our hole. Turn on +all the generators, Morey." Arcot was all action now. Somehow, +inconceivable though it was, the Thessians had spotted them, and got +some means of attacking them, despite their invulnerable position in +another space! + +The generators were on, pouring enormous power into the coils, and the +dials surged, stopped, and climbed ever so slowly. They should have +jumped back under that charge, ordinarily dangerously heavy. For perhaps +thirty seconds they climbed, then they started down at full speed! + +Arcot's hand darted to the time field, and switched it on full. The dial +jerked, swung, then swung back, and started falling in unison with the +dials, stopped, and climbed. All climbed swiftly, gaining ever more +rapidly. With what seemed a jerk, the time dial flew over, and back, as +Arcot opened the switch. They were free, and the dial on the space +control coils was climbing normally now. + +"By the Nine Planets, did they drink out our energy! The energy of six +tons of lead just like that!" + +"How'd they do it?" asked Wade. + +Torlos kept silent, and helped Morey replace the coils of lead wire with +others from stock. + +"Same way we tickled them," replied Arcot, carefully studying the +control instruments, "with the gravity ray! We knew all along that +gravitational fields drank out the energy--they simply pulled it out +faster than we could pump it in, and used four different rays on us +doing it. Which speaks well for a little ship! But they burned off the +relux on one room here, and it's a wreck. The molecs hit everything in +it. Looks like something bad," called Arcot. The room was Morey's, but +he'd find that out himself. "In the meantime, see if you can tell where +we are. I got loose from their rays by going on both the high speed +time-field and the space control at full, with all generators going full +blast. Man, they had a stranglehold on us that time! But wait till we +get that new ship turned out!" + +With the telectroscope they could see what was happening. The terrific +bombardment of rays was continuing, and the fleets were locked now in a +struggle, the combined fleets of Earth and Venus and of Nansal, far +across the void. Many of the terrestrian, or better, Solarian ships, +were equipped with space distortion apparatus, now, and had some measure +of safety in that the attractive rays of the Thessians could not be so +concentrated on them. In numbers was safety; Arcot had been endangered +because he was practically alone at the time they attacked. + +But it was obvious that the Solarian fleet was losing. They could not +compete with the heavier ships, and now the frequent flaming bursts of +light that told of a ship caught in the new deadly ray showed another +danger. + +"I think Earth is lost if you cannot aid it soon, Arcot, for other +Thessian ships are coming," said Stel Felso Theu softly. + +From out of the plane of the planetary orbits they were coming, across +space from some other world, a fleet of dozens of them. They were +visible as one after another leapt into normal time-rates. + +"Why don't they fight in advanced time?" asked Morey, half aloud. + +"Because the genius that designed that apparatus didn't think of it. +Remember, Morey, those ships have their time apparatus connected with +their power apparatus so that the power has to feed the time +continuously. They have no coils like ours. When they advance their +time, they're weakened every other way. + +"We need that new ship. Are we going to make it?" demanded Arcot. + +"Take weeks at best. What chance?" asked Morey. + +"Plenty; watch." As he spoke, Arcot pulled open the time controls, and +spun the ship about. They headed off toward a tiny point of light far +beyond. It rushed toward them, grew with the swiftness of an exploding +bomb, and was suddenly a great, rough fragment of a planet hanging +before them, miles in extent. + +"Eros," explained Wade laconically to Torlos. "Part of an ancient planet +that was destroyed before the time of man, or life on Earth. The planet +got too near the sun when its orbit was irregular, and old Sol pulled it +to pieces. This is one of the pieces. The other asteroids are the rest. +All planetary surfaces are made up of great blocks; they aren't +continuous, you know. Like blocks of concrete in a building, they can +slide a bit on each other, but friction holds them till they slip with a +jar and we have earthquakes. This is one of the planetary blocks. We see +Eros from Earth intermittently, for when this thing turns broadside it +reflects a lot of light; edge on it does not reflect so much." + +It was a desolate bit of rock. Bare, airless, waterless rock, of +enormous extent. It was contorted and twisted, but there were no great +cracks in it for it was a single planetary block. + +Arcot dropped the ship to the barren surface, and anchored it with an +attractive ray at low concentration. There was no gravity of consequence +on this bit of rock. + +"Come on, get to work. Space suits, and rush all the apparatus out," +snapped Arcot. He was on his feet, the power of the ship in neutral now. +Only the attractor was on. In the shortest possible time they got into +their suits, and under Arcot's direction set up the apparatus on the +rocky soil as fast as it was brought out. In all, less than fifteen +minutes were needed, yet Arcot was hurrying them more and more. Torlos' +tremendous strength helped, even on this gravitationless world, for he +could accelerate more quickly with his burdens. + +At last it was up for operation. The artificial matter apparatus was +operated by cosmic power, and controlled by mental operation, or by +mathematical formula as they pleased. Immediately Arcot set to work. A +giant hollow cylinder drilled a great hole completely through the thin, +curved surface of the ancient planetary block, through twelve miles of +solid rock--a cylinder of artificial matter created on a scale possible +only to cosmic power. The cylinder, half a mile across, contained a huge +plug of matter. Then the artificial matter contracted swiftly, +compressing the matter, and simultaneously treating it with the +tremendous fields that changed its energy form. In seconds it was a +tremendous mass of cosmium. + +A second smaller cylinder bored a plug from the rock, and worked on it. +A huge mass of relux resulted. Now other artificial matter tools set to +work at Arcot's bidding, and cut pieces from his huge masses of raw +materials, and literally, quick as thought, built a great framework of +them, anchored in the solid rock of the planetoid. + +Then a tremendous plane of matter formed, and neatly bisected the +planetoid, two great flat pieces of rock were left where one had +been--miles across, miles thick--planetary chips. + +On the great framework that had been constructed, four tall shafts of +cosmium appeared, and each was a hollow tube, up the center of which ran +a huge cable of relux. At the peak of each mile-high shaft was a great +globe. Now in the framework below things were materializing as Arcot's +flying thoughts arranged them--great tubes of cosmium with relux +element--huge coils of relux conductors, insulated with microscopic but +impenetrable layers of cosmium. + +Still, for all his swiftness of mind and accuracy of thought, he had to +correct two mistakes in all his work. It was nearly an hour before the +thing was finished. Then, two hundred feet long, a hundred wide, and +fifty in height, the great mechanism was completed, the tall columns +rising from four corners of the greater framework that supported it. + +Then, into it, Arcot turned the powers of the cosmos. The stars in the +airless space wavered and danced as though seen through a thick +atmosphere. Tingling power ran through them as it flowed into the +tremendous coils. For thirty seconds--then the heavens were as before. + +At last Arcot spoke. Through the radio communicators, and through the +thought-channels, his ideas came as he took off the headpiece. "It's +done now, and we can rest." There was a tremendous crash from within the +apparatus. The heavens reeled before them, and shifted, then were still, +but the stars were changed. The sun shone weirdly, and the stars were +altered. + +"That is a time shifting apparatus on a slightly larger scale," replied +Arcot to Torlos' question, "and is designed to give us a chance to work. +Come on, let's sleep. A week here should be a few minutes of Earthtime." + +"You sleep, Arcot. I'll prepare the materials for you," suggested Morey. +So Arcot and Wade went to sleep, while Morey and the Talsonian and +Torlos worked. First Morey bound the _Ancient Mariner_ to the frame of +the time apparatus, safely away from the four luminous balls, +broadcasters of the time field. Then he shut off the attractive ray, and +bound himself in the operator's seat of the apparatus of the artificial +matter machine. + +A plane of artificial matter formed, and a stretch of rock rose under +its lift as it cleft the rock apart. A great cleared, level space +resulted. Other artificial matter enclosed the rock, and the fragments +cut free were treated under tremendous pressure. In a few moments a +second enormous mass of cosmium was formed. + +For three hours Morey worked steadily, building a tremendous reserve of +materials. Lux metal he did not make, but relux, the infusible, perfect +conductor, and cosmium in tremendous masses, he did make. And he made +some great blocks of oxygen from the rock, transmuting the atoms, and +stored it frozen on the plane, with liquid hydrogen in huge tanks, and +some metals that would be needed. Then he slept while they waited for +Arcot. + +Eight hours after he had lain down, Arcot was up, and ate his breakfast. +He set to work at once with the machine. It didn't suit him, it seemed, +and first he made a new tool, a small ship that could move about, +propelled by a piece of artificial matter, and the entire ship was a +tremendously greater artificial matter machine, with a greater power +than before! + +His thoughts, far faster than hands could move, built up the gigantic +hull of the new ship, and put in the rooms, and the brace members in +less than twelve hours. A titanic shell of eight-inch cosmium, a space, +with braces of the same nonconductor of heat, cosmium, and a two inch +inner hull. A tiny space in the gigantic hull, a space less than one +thousand cubic feet in dimension was the control and living quarters. + +It was held now on great cosmium springs, but Arcot was not by any means +through. One man must do all the work, for one brain must design it, and +though he received the constant advice and help of Morey and the others, +it was his brain that pictured the thing that was built. + +At last the hull was completed. A single, glistening tube, of enormous +bulk, a mile in length, a thousand feet in diameter. Yet nearly all of +that great bulk would be used immediately. Some room would be left for +additional apparatus they might care to install. Spare parts they did +not have to carry--they could make their own from the energy abounding +in space. + +The enormous, shining hull was a thing of beauty through stark grandeur +now, but obviously incomplete. The ray projectors were not mounted, but +they were to be ray projectors of a type never before possible. Space is +the transmitter of all rays, and it is in space that those energy forms +exist. Arcot had merely to transfer the enormously high energy level of +the space-curvature to any form of energy he wanted, and now, with the +complete statistics on it, he was able to do that directly. No tubes, no +generators, only fields that changed the energy already there--the +immeasurable energy available! + +The next period of work he started the space distortion apparatus. That +must go at the exact center of the ship. One tremendous coil, big enough +for the _Ancient Mariner_ to lie in easily! Minutes, and flying thoughts +had made it--then came thousands of the individual coils, by thinking of +one, and picturing it many times! In ranks, rows, and columns they were +piled into a great block, for power must be stored for use of this +tremendous machine, while in the artificial space when its normal power +was not available, and that power source must be tremendous. + +Then the time apparatus, and after that the driving apparatus. Not the +molecular drive now, but an attraction ray focused on their own ship, +with projectors scattered about the ship that it might move effortlessly +in every direction. And provision was made for a force-drive by means of +artificial matter, planes of it pushing the ship where it was wanted. +But with the attraction-drive they would be able to land safely, without +fear of being crushed by their own weight on Thett, for all its enormous +gravity. + +The control was now suspended finally, with a series of attraction +drives about it, locking it immovably in place, while smaller attraction +devices stimulated gravity for the occupants. + +Then finally the main apparatus--the power plant--was installed. The +enormous coils which handled, or better, caused space to handle as they +directed, powers so great that whole suns could be blasted +instantaneously, were put in place, and the field generators that would +make and direct their rays, their ray screen if need be, and handle +their artificial matter. Everything was installed, and all but a rather +small space was occupied. + +It had been six weeks of continuous work for them, for the mind of each +was aiding in this work, indirectly or directly, and it neared +completion now. + +"But, we need one more thing, Arcot. That could never land on any planet +smaller than Jupiter. What is its mass?" suggested Morey. + +"Don't know, I'm sure, but it is of the order of a billion tons. I know +you are right. What are we going to do?" + +"Put on a tender." + +"Why not the _Ancient Mariner_?" asked Wade. + +"It isn't fitting. It was designed for individual use anyway," replied +Morey. "I suggest something more like this on a small scale. We won't +have much work on that, merely think of every detail of the big ship on +a small scale, with the exception of the control cube furnishings. +Instead of the numerous decks, swimming pool and so forth, have a large, +single room." + +"Good enough," replied Arcot. + +As if by magic, a machine appeared, a "small" machine of +two-hundred-foot length, modified slightly in some parts, its bottom +flattened, and equipped with an attractor anchor. Then they were ready. + +"We will leave the _Mariner_ here, and get it later. This apparatus +won't be needed any longer, and we don't want the enemy to get it. Our +trial trip will be a fight!" called Arcot as he leaped from his seat. +The mass of the giant ship pulled him, and he fell slowly toward it. + +Into its open port he flew, the others behind him, their suits still on. +The door shut behind them as Arcot, at the controls, closed it. As yet +they had not released the air supplies. It was airless. + +Now the hiss of air, and the quickening of heat crept through it. The +water in the tanks thawed as the heat came, soaking through from the +great heaters. In minutes the air and heat were normal throughout the +great bulk. There was air in power compartments, though no one was +expected to go there, for the control room alone need be occupied; +vision-screens here viewed every part of the ship, and all about it. + +The eyes of the new ship were set in recesses of the tremendously strong +cosmium wall, and over them, protecting them, was an infinitely thin, +but infinitely strong wall of artificial matter, permanently maintained. +It was opaque to all forms of radiation known from the longest Hertzian +to the shortest cosmics, save for the very narrow band of visible light. +Whether this protection would stop the Thessian beam that was so deadly +to lux and relux was not, of course, known. But Arcot hoped it would, +and, if that beam was radiant energy, or material particles, it would. + +"We'll destroy our station here now, and leave the _Ancient Mariner_ +where it is. Of course we are a long way out of the orbit this planetoid +followed, due to the effect of the time apparatus, but we can note where +it is, and we'll be able to find it when we want it," said Arcot, seated +at the great control board now. There were no buttons now, or visible +controls; all was mental. + +A tiny sphere of artificial matter formed, and shot toward the control +board of the time machine outside. It depressed the main switch, and +space about them shifted, twisted, and returned to normal. The time +apparatus was off for the first time in six weeks. + +"Can't fuse that, and we can't crush it. It's made of cosmium, and +trying to crush it against the rock would just drive it into it. We'll +see what we can do though," muttered Arcot. A plane of artificial matter +formed just beneath it, and sheared it from its bed on the planetoid, +cutting through the heavy cosmium anchors. The framework lifted, and the +apparatus with it. A series of planes, a gigantic honeycomb formed, and +the apparatus was cut across again and again, till only small fragments +were left of it. Then these were rolled into a ball, and crushed by a +sphere of artificial matter beyond all repair. The enemy would never +learn their secret. + +A huge cylinder of artificial matter cut a great gouge from the plane +that was left where the apparatus had been, and a clamp of the same +material picked up the _Ancient Mariner_, deposited it there, then +covered it with rubble and broken rock. A cosmic flashed on the rock for +an instant, and it was glowing, incandescent lava. The _Ancient Mariner_ +was buried under a hundred feet of rapidly solidifying rock, but rock +which could be fused away from its infusible walls when the time came. + +"We're ready to go now--get to work with the radio, Morey, when we get +to Earth." + +The gravity seemed normal here as they walked about, no accelerations +affected them as the ship darted forward, for all its inconceivably +great mass, like an arrow, then flashed forward under time control. The +sun was far distant now, for six weeks they had been traveling with the +section of Eros under time control. But with their tremendous time +control plant, and the space control, they reached the solar system in +very little time. + +It seemed impossible to them that that battle could still be waging, but +it was. The ships of Earth and Venus, battling now as a last, hopeless +stand, over Chicago, were attempting to stop the press of a great +Thessian fleet. Thin, long Negrian, or Sirian ships had joined them in +the hour of Earth time that the men had been working. Still, despite the +reinforcements, they were falling back. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +THE BATTLE OF EARTH + + +It had been an anxious hour for the forces of the Solar System. + +They were in the last fine stages of Earth's defense when the general +staff received notice that a radio message of tremendous power had +penetrated the ray screen, with advice for them. It was signed "Arcot." + +"Bringing new weapon. Draw all ships within the atmosphere when I start +action, and drive Thessians back into space. Retire as soon as a +distance of ten thousand miles is reached. I will then handle the +fleet," was the message. + +"Gentlemen: We are losing. The move suggested would be eminently poor +tactics unless we are sure of being able to drive them. If we don't, we +are lost in any event. I trust Arcot. How vote you?" asked General +Hetsar Sthel. + +The message was relayed to the ships. Scarcely a moment after the +message had been relayed, a tremendous battleship appeared in space, +just beyond the battle. It shot forward, and planted itself directly in +the midst of the battle, brushing aside two huge Thessians in its +progress. The Thessian ships bounced off its sides, and reeled away. It +lay waiting, making no move. All the Thessian ships above poured the +full concentration of their moleculars into its tremendous bulk. A +diffused glow of opalescence ran over every ship--save the giant. The +moleculars were being reflected from its sides, and their diffused +energy attacked the very ships that were sending them! + +A fort moved up, and the deadly beam of destruction reached out, +luminous even in space. + +"Now," muttered Morey, "we shall see what cosmium will stand." + +A huge spot on the side of the ship had become incandescent. A vapor, a +strange puff of smokiness exploded from it, and disappeared instantly. +Another came and faster and faster they followed each other. The cosmium +was disintegrating under the ray, but very slowly, breaking first into +gaseous cosmic rays, then free, and spreading. + +"We will not fight," muttered Morey happily as he saw Arcot shift in his +seat. + +Arcot picked the moleculars. They reached out, touched the heavy relux +of the fort, and it exploded into opalescence that was hazily white, the +colors shifted so quickly. A screen sprang into being, and the ray was +chopped off. The screen was a mass of darting flames as energies of +stupendous magnitude clashed. + +Arcot used a bit more of his inconceivable power. The ray struck the +screen, and it flashed once--then died into blackness. The fort suddenly +crumpled in like a dented can, and rolled clumsily away. The other fort +was near now, and started an attack of its own. Arcot chose the +artificial matter this time. He was not watching the many attacking +ships. + +The great ship careened suddenly, fell over heavily to one side. +"Foolish of me," said Arcot. "They tried crashing us." + +A mass of crumpled, broken relux and lux surrounded by a haze of gas +lying against a slight scratch on the great sides, told the story. Eight +inches of cosmium does not give way. + +Yet another ship tried it. But it stopped several feet away from the +real wall of the ship. It struck a wall even more unyielding--artificial +matter. + +But now Arcot was using this major weapon--artificial matter. Ship after +ship, whether fleeing or attacking, was surrounded suddenly by a great +sphere of it, a sudden terrific blaze of energy as the sphere struck the +ray shield, the control forces now backed by the energy of all the +millions of stars of space shattered it in an instant. Then came the +inexorable crush of the artificial matter, and a ball of matter alone +remained. + +But the pressing disc of the battle-front which had been lowering on +Chicago, greatest of Earth's metropolises, was lifted. This disc-front +was staggering back now as Arcot's mighty ship weakened its strength, +and destroyed its morale, under the steady drive of the now hopeful +Solarians. + +The other gigantic fort moved up now, with twenty of the largest +battleships. The fort turned loose its destructive ray--and Arcot tried +his new "magnet." It was not a true magnet, but a transformed space +field, a field created by the energy of all the universe. + +The fort was gigantic. Even Arcot's mighty ship was a small thing beside +it, but suddenly it seemed warped and twisted as space curved visibly in +a magnetic field of such terrific intensity as to be immeasurable. + +Arcot's armory was tested and found not wanting. + +Suddenly every Thessian ship in sight ceased to exist. They disappeared. +Instantly Arcot threw on all time power, and darted toward Venus. The +Thessians were already nearing the planet, and no possible rays could +overtake them. An instantaneous touch of the space control, and the +mighty ship was within hundreds of miles of the atmosphere. + +Space twisted about them, reeled, and was firm. The Thessian fleet was +before them in a moment, visible now as they slowed to normal speed. +Startled, no doubt, to find before them the ship they had fled, they +charged on for a space. Then, as though by some magic, they stopped and +exploded in gouts of light. + +When space had twisted, seconds before, it was because Arcot had drawn +on the enormous power of space to an extent that had been appreciable +even to it--ten sols. That was forty million tons of matter a second, +and for a hundredth part of a second it had flowed. Before them, in a +vast plane, had been created an infinitesimally thin film of artificial +matter, four hundred thousand tons of it, and into this invisible, +infinitely hard barrier, the Thessian fleet had rammed. And it was gone. + +"I think," said Arcot softly, as he took off his headpiece, "that the +beginning of the end is in sight." + +"And I," said Morey, "think it is now out of sight. Half a dozen ships +stopped. And they are gone now, to warn the others." + +"What warning? What can they tell? Only that their ships were destroyed +by something they couldn't see." Arcot smiled. "I'm going home." + + + + +Chapter XX + +DESTRUCTION + + +Some time later, Arcot spoke. "I have just received a message from +Zezdon Fentes that he has an important communication to make, so I will +go down to New York instead of to Chicago, if you gentlemen do not mind. +Morey will take you to Chicago in the tender, and I can find Zezdon +Fentes." + +Zezdon Fentes' message was brief. He had discovered from the minds of +several who had been killed by the magnetic field Arcot had used, and +not destroyed, that they had a base in this universe. Thett's base was +somewhere near the center of the galaxy, on a system of unusually large +planets, circling a rather small star. But what star their minds had not +revealed. + +"It's up to us then to locate said star," said Arcot, after listening to +Zezdon Fentes' account: "I think the easiest way will be to follow them +home. We can go to your world, Zezdon Fentes, and see what they are +doing there, and drive them off. Then to yours, Stel Felso. I place your +world second as it is far better able to defend itself than is Ortol. It +is agreeable?" + +It was, and the ship which had been hanging in the atmosphere over New +York, where Zezdon Afthen, Fentes and Inthel had come to it in a +taxi-ship, signaled for the crowd to clear away above. The enormous bulk +of the shining machine, the savior of Earth, had attracted a very great +amount of attention, naturally, and thousands on thousands of hardy +souls had braved the cold of the fifteen mile height with altitude suits +or in small ships. Now they cleared away, and as the ship slowly rose, +the tremendous concentrated mental well-wishing of the thousands reached +the men within the ship. "That," observed Morley, "is one thing cosmium +won't stop. In some ways I wish it would--because the mental power that +could be wielded by any great number of those highly advanced Thessians, +if they know its possibilities, is not a thing to neglect." + +"I can answer that, terrestrian," thought Zezdon Afthen. "Our +instruments show great mental powers, and great ability to concentrate +the will in mental processes, but they indicate a very slight +development of these abilities. Our race, despite the fact that our +mental powers are much less than those of such men as Arcot and +yourself, have done, and can do many things your greater minds cannot, +for we have learned the direction of the will. We need not fear the will +of the Thessians. I feel confident of that!" + +The ship was in space now, and as Arcot directed it toward Ortol, far +far across the Island, he threw on, for the moment, the combined power +of space distortion and time fields. Instantly the sun vanished, and +when, less than a second later, he cut off the space field, and left +only the time, the constellations were instantly recognizable. They were +within a dozen light years of Ortol. + +"Morey, may I ask what you call this machine?" asked Torlos. + +"You may, but I can't answer," laughed Morey. "We were so anxious to get +it going that we didn't name it. Any suggestions?" + +For a moment none of them made any suggestions, then slowly came Arcot's +thoughts, clear and sharp, the thoughts of carefully weighed decision. + +"The swiftest thing that ever was _thought_! The most irresistible +thing, _thought_, for nothing can stop its progress. The most +destructive thing, _thought_. Thought, the greatest constructor, the +greatest destroyer, the product of mind, and producer of powers, the +greatest of powers. Thought is controlled by the mind. Let us call it +_Thought_!" + +"Excellent, Arcot, excellent. The _Thought_, the controller of the +powers of the cosmos!" cried Morey. + +"But the _Thought_ has not been christened, save in battle, and then it +had no name. Let us emblazen its name on it now," suggested Wade. + +Stopping their motion through space, but maintaining a time field that +permitted them to work without consuming precious time, Arcot formed +some more cosmium, but now he subjected it to a special type of +converted field, and into the cosmium, he forced some light photons, +half bound, half free. The fixture he formed into the letters, and +welded forever on the gigantic prow of the ship, and on its huge sides. +_Thought_, it stood in letters ten feet high, made of clear transparent +cosmium, and the golden light photons, imprisoned in it, the slowly +disintegrating lux metal, would cause those letters to shine for +countless aeons with the steady golden light they now had. + +The _Thought_ continued on now, and as they slowed their progress for +Ortol, they saw that messengers of Thett had barely arrived. The fort +here too had been razed to the ground, and now they were concentrating +over the largest city of Ortol. Their rays were beating down on the +great ray screen that terrestrial engineers had set up, protecting the +city, as Earth had been protected. But the fleet that stood guard was +small, and was rapidly being destroyed. A fort broke free, and plunged +at last for the ray screen. Its relux walls glowed a thousand colors as +the tremendous energy of the ray-screen struck them--but it was through! + +A molecular ray reached down for the city--and stopped halfway in a +tremendous coruscating burst of light and energy. Yet there was none of +the sheen of the ray screen. Merely light. + +The fort was still driving downward. Then suddenly it stopped, and the +side dented in like the side of a can some one has stepped on, and it +came to sudden rest against an invisible, impenetrable barrier. A +molecular reached down from somewhere in space, hit the ray screen of +Ortol, which the Thessians had attacked for hours, and the screen +flashed into sudden brilliance, and disappeared. The ray struck the +Thessian fort, and the fort burst into tremendous opalescence, while the +invisible barrier the ray had struck was suddenly a great sheet of +flaming light. In less than half a second the opalescence was gone, the +fort shuddered, and shrieked out of the planet's atmosphere, a mass of +lux now, and susceptible to the moleculars. And everything that lived +within that fort had died instantly and painlessly. + +The fleet which had been preparing to follow the leading fort was +suddenly stopped; it halted indecisively. + +Then the _Thought_ became visible as its great golden letters showed +suddenly, streaking up from distant space. Every ship turned cosmic and +moleculars on it. The cosmic rebounded from the cosmium walls, and from +the artificial matter that protected the eyes. The moleculars did not +affect either, but the invisible protective sheet that the _Thought_ was +maintaining in the Ortolian atmosphere became misty as it fought the +slight molecular rebounds. + +The _Thought_ went into action. The fort which remained was the point of +attack. The fort had turned its destructive ray on the cosmium ship with +the result that, as before, the cosmium slowly disintegrated into puffs +of cosmic rays. The vapor seemed to boil out, puff suddenly, then was +gone. Arcot put up a wall of artificial matter to test the effect. The +ray went right through the matter, without so much as affecting it. He +tried a sheet of pure energy, an electro-magnetic energy stream of +tremendous power. The ray bent sharply to one side. But in a moment the +Thessians had realigned it. + +"It's a photonic stream, but of some type that doesn't affect ordinary +matter, but only artificial matter such as lux, relux, or cosmium. If +the artificial matter would only fight it, I'd be all right." The +thought running through Arcot's mind reached the others. + +A tremendous burst of light energy to the rear announced the fact that a +Thessian had crashed against the artificial matter wall that surrounded +the ship. Arcot was throwing the Thessian destructive beam from side to +side now, and twice succeeded in misdirecting it so that it hit the +enemy machines. + +The _Thought_ sent out its terrific beam of magnetic energy. The ray was +suddenly killed, and the fort cruised helplessly on. Its driving +apparatus was dead. The diffused cosmic reached out, and as the magnetic +field, the relux and the cosmics interacted, the great fort was suddenly +blue-white--then instantly a dust that scattered before an enormous +blast of air. + +From the _Thought_ a great shell of artificial matter went, a visible, +misty wall, that curled forward, and wrapped itself around the Thessian +ships with a motion of tremendous speed, yet deceptive, for it seemed to +billow and flow. + +A Thessian warship decided to brush it away--and plowed into +inconceivable strength. The ship crumpled to a mass of broken relux. + +The greater part of the Thessian fleet had already fled, but there +remained half a hundred great battleships. And now, within half a +million miles of the planet, there began a battle so weird that +astronomers who watched could not believe it. + +From behind the _Thought_, where it hung motionless beyond the misty +wall, a Thing came. + +The Thessian ships had realized now that the misty sphere that walled +them in was impenetrable, and their rays were off, for none they now had +would penetrate it. The forts were gone. + +But the Thing that came behind the _Thought_ was a ship, a little ship +of the same misty white, and it flowed into, and through the wall, and +was within their prison. The Thessian ships turned their rays toward it, +and waited. What was this thing? + +The ovaloid ship which drifted so slowly toward them suddenly seemed to +jerk, and from it reached pseudopods! An amoeba on a titanic scale! It +writhed its way purposefully toward the nearest ship, and while that +ship waited, a pseudopod reached out, and suddenly drove through the +four foot relux armor! A second pseudopod followed with lightning +rapidity, and in an instant the ship had been split from end to end! + +Now a hundred rays were leaping toward the thing, and the rays burst +into fire and gouts of light, blackened, burned pseudopods seemed to +fall from the thing and hastily it retreated from the enclosure, flowing +once more through the wall that stopped their rays. + +But another Thing came. It was enormous, a mile long, a great, shining +scaly thing, a dragon, and on its mighty neck was mounted an enormous, +distorted head, with great flat nose and huge flapping nostrils. It was +a Thessian head! The mouth, fifty feet across, wrinkled into an horrific +grin, and broken, stained teeth of iron showed in the mouth. Great +talons upraised, it rent the misty wall that bound them, and writhed its +awful length in. The swish of its scales seemed to come to the watchers, +as it chased after a great battleship whose pilot fled in terror. Faster +than the mighty spaceship the awful Thing caught it in mighty talons +that ripped through solid relux. Scratching, fluttering enormous, +blood-red wings, the silvery claws tore away great masses of relux, +sending them flying into space. + +Again rays struck at it. Cosmic and moleculars with blinding pencils of +light. For now in the close space of the Wall was an atmosphere, the air +of two great warships, and though the space was great, the air in the +ships was dense. + +The rays struck its awful face. The face burst into light, and black, +greasy smoke steamed up, as the thing writhed and twisted horribly, +awful screams ringing out. Then it was free, and half the face was +burned away, and a grinning, bleeding, half-cooked face writhed and +screamed in anger at them. It darted at the nearest ship, and ripped out +that ray that burned it--and quivered into death. It quivered, then +quickly faded into mist, a haze, and was gone! + +A last awful thing--a thing they had not noticed as all eyes watched +that Thing--was standing by the rent in the Sphere now, the gigantic +Thessian, with leering, bestial jaws, enormous, squat limbs, the webbed +fingers and toes, and the heavy torso of his race, grinning at them. In +one hand was a thing--and his jaws munched. Thett's men stared in horror +as they recognized that thing in his hand--a Thessian body! He grinned +happily and reached for a battleship--a ray burned him. He howled, and +leaped into their midst. + +Then the Thessians went mad. All fought, and they fought each other, +rays of all sorts, their moleculars and their cosmics, while in their +midst the Giant howled his glee, and laughed and laughed-- + +Eventually it was over, and the last limping Thessian ship drove itself +crazily against the wreck of its last enemy. And only wreckage was left. + +"Lord, Arcot! Why in the Universe did you do that--and how did you +conceive those horrors?" asked Morey, more than a little amazed at the +tactics Arcot had displayed. + +Arcot shook himself, and disconnected his controls. "Why--why I don't +know. I don't know what made me do that, I'm sure. I never imagined +anything like that dragon thing--how did--" + +His keen eyes fixed themselves suddenly on Zezdon Fentes, and their +tremendous hypnotic power beat down the resistance of the Ortolian's +trained mind. Arcot's mind opened for the others the thoughts of Zezdon +Fentes. + +He had acted as a medium between the minds of the Thessians, and Arcot. +Taking the horror-ideas of the Thessians, he had imprinted them on +Arcot's mind while Arcot was at work with the controls. In Arcot's mind, +they had acted exactly as had the ideas that night on Earth, only here +the demonstration had been carried to the limit, and the horror ideas +were compounded to the utmost. The Thessians, highly developed minds +though they were, were not resistant and they had broken. The Allies, +with their different horror-ideas, had been but slightly affected. + +"We will leave you on Ortol, Zezdon Fentes. We know you have done much, +and perhaps your own mind has given a bit. We hope you recover. I think +you agree with me, Zezdon Afthen and Inthel?" thought Arcot. + +"We do, heartily, and are heartily sorry that one of our race has acted +in this way. Let us proceed to Talso, as soon as possible. You might +send Fentes down in a shell of artificial matter," suggested Zezdon +Afthen. + +"Which," said Arcot, after this had been done, and they were on their +way to Talso, "shows the danger of a mad _Thought_!" + + + + +Chapter XXI + +THE POWER OF "_THE THOUGHT_" + + +But it seemed, or must have seemed to any infinite being capable of +watching it as it moved now, that the _Thought_ was a mad thought. With +the time control opened to the limit, and a touch of the space control, +it fled across the Universe at a velocity such as no other thing was +capable of. + +One star--it flashed to a disc, loomed enormous--overpowering--then +suddenly they were flashing _through_ it! The enormous coils fed their +current into the space-coils and the time field, and the ship seemed to +twist and writhe in distorted space as the gravitational field of a +giant star, and a giant ship's space field fought for a fraction of time +so short as to be utterly below measurement. Then the ship was gone--and +behind it a star, the center of which had suddenly been hurled into +another space forever, as the counteracting, gravitational field of the +outer layers was removed for a moment, and only its own enormous density +affected space, writhed and collapsed upon itself, to explode into a +mighty sea of flames. Planets it formed, we know, by a process such as +can happen when only this man-made accident happens. + +But the ship fled on, its great coils partly discharged, but still far +more charged than need be. + +It was minutes to Talso where it had been hours with the _Ancient +Mariner_, but now they traveled with the speed of _Thought_! + +Talso too was the scene of a battle, and more of a battle than Ortol had +been, for here where more powerful defensive forces had been active, the +Thessians had been more vengeful. All their remaining ships seemed +concentrated here. And the great molecular screen that terrestrian +engineers had flung up here had already fallen. Great holes had +opened in it, as two great forts, and a thousand ships, some mighty +battleships of the intergalactic spaces, some little scout cruisers, +had turned their rays on the struggling defensive machines. It had held +for hours, thanks to the tremendous tubes that Talso had in their +power-distribution stations, but in the end had fallen, but not before +many of their largest cities had been similarly defended, and the people +of the others had scattered broadcast. + +True, wherever they might be, a diffused molecular would find them and +destroy all life save under the few screens, but if the Thessians once +diffused their rays, without entering the atmosphere, the broken screen +would once more be able to hold. + +No fleet had kept the Thessian forces out of this atmosphere, but dozens +of more adequately powered artificial matter bomb stations had taught +Thett respect for Talso. But Talso's own ray screen had stopped their +bombs. They could only send their bombs as high as the screen. They did +not have Arcot's tremendous control power to maintain the matter without +difficulty even beyond a screen. + +At last the screen had fallen, and the Thessian ships, a hole once made, +were able to move, and kept that hole always under them, though if it +once were closed, they would again have the struggle to open it. + +Exploding matter bombs had twice caused such spatial strains and ionized +conditions as to come near closing it, but finally the Thessian fleet +had arranged a ring of ships about the hole, and opened a cylinder of +rays that reached down to the planet. + +Like some gigantic plow the rays tore up mountains, oceans, glaciers and +land. Tremendous chasms opened in straight lines as it plowed along. +Unprotected cities flashed into fountains of rock and soil and steel +that leaped upwards as the rays touched, and were gone. Protected +cities, their screens blazing briefly under the enormous ray +concentrations as the ships moved on, unheeding, stood safe on islands +of safety amidst the destruction. Here in the lower air, where ions +would be so plentiful, Thett did not try to break down the screens, for +the air would aid the defenders. + +Finally, as Thett's forces had planned, they came to one of the ionized +layer ray-screen stations that was still projecting its cone of +protective screening to the layer above. Every available ray was turned +on that station, and, designed as it was for protecting part of a world, +the station was itself protected, but slowly, slowly as its already +heated tubes weakened their electronic emission, the disc of ions +retreated more and more toward the station, as, like some splashing +stream, the Thessian rays played upon it forcing it back. A rapidly +accelerating retreat, faster and faster, as the disc changed from the +dull red of normal defense to the higher and bluer quanta of failing, +less complete defense, the disc of interference retreated. + +Then, with a flash of light, and a roar as the soil below spouted up, +the station was gone. It had failed. + +Instantly the ring of ships expanded as the great screen was weakened by +the withdrawal of this support. Wider was the path of destruction now as +the forces moved on. + +But high, high in the sky, far out of sight of the naked eye, was a tiny +spot that was in reality a giant ship. It was flashing forward, and in +moments it was visible. Then, as another deserted city vanished, it was +above the Thessian fleet. + +Their rays were directed downward through a hole that was even larger. A +second station had gone with that city. But, as by magic, the hole +closed up, and chopped their rays off with a decisiveness that startled +them. The interference was so sharp now that not even the dullest of +reds showed where their beams touched. The close interference was giving +off only radio! In amazement they looked for this new station of such +enormous power that their combined rays did not noticeably affect it. A +world had been fighting their rays unsuccessfully. What single station +could do this, if the many stations of the world could not? There was +but one they knew of, and they turned now to search for the ship they +knew must be there. + +"No horrors this time; just clean, burning energy," muttered Arcot. + +It was clean, and it was burning. In an instant one of the forts was a +mass of opalescence that shifted so swiftly it was purest white, then +rocketed away, lifeless, and no longer relux. + +The other fort had its screen up, though its power, designed to +withstand the attack of a fleet of enormous intergalactic, +matter-driven, fighting ships lasted but an instant under the driving +power of half a million million suns, concentrated in one enormous ray +of energy. The sheer energy of the ray itself, molecular ray though it +was, heated the material it struck to blinding incandescence even as it +hurled it at a velocity close to that of light into outer space. With +little sparkling flashes battleships of the void after giant cruisers +flashed into lux, and vanished under the ray. + +A tremendous combined ray of magnetism and cosmic ray energy replaced +the molecular, and the ships exploded into a dust as fine as the +primeval gas from which came all matter. + +Sweeping energy, so enormous that the defenses of the ships did not even +operate against it, shattered ship after ship, till the few that +remained turned, and, faster than the pursuing energies could race +through space, faster than light, headed for their base. + +"That was fair fight; energy against energy," said Arcot delightedly, +for his new toy, which made playthings of suns and fed on the cosmic +energy of a universe, was behaving nicely, "and as I said, Stel Felso +Theu, at the beginning of this war, the greater Power wins, always. And +in our island here, I have five hundred thousand million separate power +plants, each generating at the rate of decillions of ergs a second, +backing this ship. + +"Your world will be safe now, and we will head for our last embattled +ally, Sirius." The titanic ship turned, and disappeared from the view of +the madly rejoicing billions of Talso below, as it sped, far faster than +light, across a universe to relieve another sorely tried civilization. + +Knowing their cause was lost, hopeless in the knowledge that nothing +known to them could battle that enormous force concentrated in one ship, +the _Thought_, the Thessians had but one aim now, to do all the damage +in their power before leaving. + +Already their tremendous, unarmed and unarmored transports were +departing with their hundreds of thousands from that base system for the +far-off Island of Space from which they had come. Their battlefleets +were engaged in destroying all the cities of the allies, and those other +helpless races of our system that they could. Those other inhabited +worlds, many of which were completely wiped out because Arcot had no +knowledge of them, were relieved only when the general call for retreat +to protect the mother planet was sent out. + +But Sirius was looming enormous before them. And its planets, heavily +defended now by the combined Sirian, Terrestrial and Venerian fleets and +great ray screens as well as a few matter-bomb stations, were suffering +losses none the less. For the old Sixth of Negra, the Third here, had +fallen. Slipping in on the night side of the planet, all power off, and +so sending forth no warning impulses till it actually fell through the +ray screen, a small fleet of scouts had entered. Falling still under +simple gravity, they had been missed by the rays till they had fallen to +so small a distance, that no humans or men of our allied systems could +have stopped, but only their enormous iron boned strength permitted them +to resist the acceleration they used to avert collision with the planet. +Then scattering swiftly, they had blasted the great protective screen +stations by attacking on the sides, where the ray screen projectors were +not mounted. Designed to protect above, they had no side armor, and the +Sixth was opened to attack. + +Two and one-half billion people lost their lives painlessly and +instantaneously as tremendous diffused moleculars played on the +revolving planet. + +Arcot arrived soon after this catastrophe. The Thessians left almost +immediately, after the loss of three hundred or more ships. One hundred +and fifty wrecks were found. The rest were so blasted by the forces +which attacked them, that no traces could be found, and no count made. + +But as those ships fled back to their base, Arcot, with the wonderfully +delicate mental control of his ship, was able to watch them, and follow +them; for, invisible under normal conditions, by twisting space in the +same manner that they did he was able to see them flee, and follow. + +Light year after light year they raced toward the distant base. They +reached it in two hours, and Arcot saw them from a distance sink to the +various worlds. There were twelve gigantic worlds, each far larger than +Jupiter of Sol, and larger than Stwall of Talso's sun, Renl. + +"I think," said Arcot as he stopped the ship at a third of a light year, +"that we had best destroy those planets. We may kill many men, and +innocent non-combatants, but they have killed many of our races, and it +is necessary. There are, no doubt, other worlds of this Universe here +that we do not know of that have felt the vengeance of Thett, and if we +can cause such trouble to them by destroying these worlds, and putting +the fear of our attacking their mother world into them, they will call +off those other fleets. I could have been invisible to Thett's ships as +we followed them here, and for the greater part of the way I was, for I +was sufficiently out of their time-rate, so that they were visible only +by the short ultra-violet, which would have put in their infra-red, and, +no photo-electric cell will work on quanta of such low energy. When at +last I was sure of the sun for which they were heading, I let them see +us, and they know we are aware of their base, and that we can follow +them. + +"I will destroy one of these worlds, and follow a fleet as it starts for +their home nebula. Gradually, as they run, I will fade into +invisibility, and they will not know that I have dropped back here to +complete the work, but will think I am still following. Probably they +will run to some other nebula in an effort to throw me off, but they +will most certainly send back a ship to call the fleets here to the +defense of Thett. + +"I think that is the best plan. Do you agree?" + +"Arcot," asked Morey slowly, "if this race attempts to settle another +Universe, what would that indicate of their own?" + +"Hmmm--that it was either populated by their own race or that another +race held the parts they did not, and that the other race was stronger," +replied Arcot. "The thought idea in their minds has always been a single +world, single solar system as their home, however." + +"And single solar systems cannot originate in this Space," replied +Morey, referring to the fact that in the primeval gas from which all +matter in this Universe and all others came, no condensation of mass +less than thousands of millions of times that of a sun could form and +continue. + +"We can only investigate--and hope that they do not inhabit the whole +system, for I am determined that, unpleasant as the idea may be, there +is one race that we cannot afford to have visiting us, and it is going +to be permanently restrained in one way or another. I will first have a +conference with their leaders and if they will not be peaceful--the +_Thought_ can destroy or make a Universe! But I think that a second race +holds part of that Universe, for several times we have read in their +minds the thought of the 'Mighty Warless Ones of Venone.'" + +"And how do you plan to destroy so large a planet as these are?" asked +Morey, indicating the telectroscope screen. + +"Watch and see!" said Arcot. + +They shot suddenly toward the distant sun, and as it expanded, planets +came into view. Moving ever slower on the time control, Arcot drove the +ship toward a gigantic planet at a distance of approximately 300,000,000 +miles from its primary, the sun of this system. + +Arcot fell into step with the planet as it moved about in its orbit, and +watched the speed indicator carefully. + +"What's the orbital speed, Morey?" asked Arcot. + +"About twelve and a half miles per second," replied the somewhat +mystified Morey. + +"Excellent, my dear Watson," replied Arcot. "And now does my dear friend +know the average molecular velocity of ordinary air?" + +"Why, about one-third of a mile a second, average." + +"And if that planet as a whole should stop moving, and the individual +molecules be given the entire energy, what would their average velocity +be? And what temperature would that represent?" asked Arcot. + +"Good--Why, they would have to have the same kinetic energy as +individuals as they now have as a whole, and that would be an average +molecular velocity in random motion of 12.5 miles a second--giving +about--about--about--twelve thousand degrees centigrade!" exclaimed +Morey in surprise. "That would put it in the far blue-white region!" + +"Perfect. Now watch." Arcot donned the headpiece he had removed, and +once more took charge. He was very far from the planet, as distances go, +and they could not see his ship. But he wanted to be seen. So he moved +closer, and hung off to the sunward side of the planet, then moved to +the night side, but stayed in the light. In seconds, a battlefleet was +out attempting to destroy him. + +Surrounding the ship with a wall of artificial matter, lest they annoy +him, he set to work. + +Directly in the orbit of the planet, a faint mistiness appeared, and +rapidly solidified to a titanic cup, directly in the path of the planet. + +Arcot was pouring energy into the making of that matter at such a rate +that space was twisted now about them. The meter before them, which had +not registered previously, was registering now, and had moved over to +three. Three sols--and was still climbing. It stopped when ten were +reached. Ten times the energy of our sun was pouring into that +condensation, and it solidified quickly. + +The Thessians had seen the danger now. It was less than ten minutes away +from their planet, and now great numbers of ships of all sorts started +up from the planet, swarming out like rats from a sinking vessel. + +Majestically the great world moved on in its orbit toward the thin wall +of infinite strength and infinite toughness. Already Thessian +battleships were tearing at that wall with rays of all types, and the +wall sputtered back little gouts of light, and remained. The meters on +the _Thought_ were no longer registering. The wall was built, and now +Arcot had all the giant power of the ship holding it there. Any attempt +to move it or destroy it, and all the energy of the Universe would rush +to its defense! + +The atmosphere of the planet reached the wall. Instantly, as the +pressure of that enormous mass of air touched it, the wall fought, and +burst into a blaze of energy. It was fighting now, and the meter that +measured sun-powers ran steadily, swiftly up the scale. But the men were +not watching the meter; they were watching the awesome sight of Man +stopping a world in its course! Turning a world from its path! + +But the meter climbed suddenly, and the world was suddenly a tremendous +blaze of light. The solid rock had struck the giant cup, 110,000 miles +in diameter. It was silent, as a world pitted its enormous kinetic +energy against the combined forces of a universe. Soundless--and as +hopeless. Its strength was nothing, its energy pitted unnoticed against +the energy of five hundred thousand million suns--as vain as those +futile attempts of the Thessian battleships on the invulnerable walls of +the _Thought_. + +What use is there to attempt description of that scene as +2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of rock and metal and matter +crashed against a wall of energy, immovable and inconceivable. The +planet crumpled, and split wide. A thousand pieces, and suddenly there +was a further mistiness about it, and the whole enormous mass, seeming +but a toy, as it was from this distance in space, and as it was in this +ship, was enclosed in that same, immovable, unalterable wall of energy. + +The ship was as quiet and noiseless, as without indication of strain as +when it hummed its way through empty space. But the planet crumpled and +twirled, and great seas of energy flashed about it. + +The world, seeming tiny, was dashed helpless against a wall that stopped +it, but the wall flared into equal and opposite energy, so that matter +was raised not to the twelve thousand Morey had estimated but nearer +twenty-four thousand degrees. It was over in less than half an hour, and +a broken, misshapen mass of blue incandescence floated in space. It +would fall now, toward the sun, and it would, because it was motionless +and the sun moved, take an eccentric orbit about that sun. Eventually, +perhaps, it would wipe out the four inferior planets, or perhaps it +would be broken as it came within the Roches limit of that sun. But the +planet was now a miniature sun, and not so very small, at that. + +And from every planet of the system was pouring an assorted stream of +ships, great and small, and they all set panic-stricken across the void +in the same direction. They had seen the power of the _Thought_, and did +not contest any longer its right to this system. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +THETT + + +Through the utter void of intergalactic space sped a tiny shell, a wee +mite of a ship. Scarcely twenty feet long, it was one single power +plant. The man who sat alone in it, as it tore through the void at the +maximum speed that even its tiny mass was capable of, when every last +twist possible had been given to the distorted time fields, watched a +far, far galaxy ahead that seemed unchanging. + +Hours, days sped by, and he did not move from his position in the ship. +But the ship had crossed the great gulf, and was speeding through the +galaxy now. He was near the end. At a reckless speed, he sat motionless +before the controls, save for slight movements of supple fingers that +directed the ship at a mad pace about some gigantic sun and its family +of planets. Suns flashed, grew to discs, and were left behind in the +briefest instant. + +The ship slowed, the terrific pace it had been holding fell, and dull +whine of overworked generators fell to a contented hum. A star was +looming, expanding before it. The great sun glowed the characteristic +red of a giant as the ship slowed to less than a light-speed, and turned +toward a gigantic planet that circled the red sun. The planet was very +close to 50,000 miles in diameter, and it revolved at a distance of four +and one half billions of miles from the surface of its sun, which made +the distance to the center of the titanic primary four billion, eight +hundred million miles, in round figures, for the sun's diameter was +close to six hundred and fifty million miles! Greater even than Antares, +whose diameter is close to four hundred million miles, was this star of +another universe, and even from the billions of miles of distance that +its planet revolved, the disc was enormous, a titanic disc of dull red +flame. But so low was its surface temperature, that even that enormous +disc did not overheat the giant planet. + +The planet's atmosphere stretched out tens of thousands of miles into +space, and under the enormous gravitational acceleration of the +tremendous mass of that planet, it was near the surface a blanket dense +as water. There was no temperature change upon it, though its night was +one hundred hours long, and its day the same. The centrifugal force of +the rapid rotation of this enormous body had flattened it when still +liquid till it seemed now more of the shape of a pumpkin than of an +orange. It was really a double planet, for its satellite was a world of +one hundred thousand miles diameter, yet smaller in comparison to its +giant primary than is Luna in comparison to Earth. It revolved at a +distance of five million miles from its primary's center, and it, too, +was swarming with its people. + +But the racing ship sped directly toward the great planet, and shrieked +its way down through the atmosphere, till its outer shell was radiating +far in the violet. + +Straight it flew to where a gigantic city sprawled in the heaped, somber +masonry, but in some order yet, for on closer inspection the appearance +of interlaced circles came over the edge of the giant cities. Ray +screens were circular and the city was protected by dozens of stations. + +The scout was going well under the speed of light now, and a message, +imperative and commanding, sped ahead of him. Half a dozen patrol boats +flashed up, and fell in beside him, and with him raced to a gigantic +building that reared its somber head from the center of the city. + +Under a white sky they proceeded to it, and landed on its roof. From the +little machine the single man came out. Using the webbed hands and feet +that had led the Allied scientists to think them an aquatic race, he +swam upward, and through the water-dense atmosphere of the planet toward +the door. + +Trees overtopped the building, for it had but four stories, above +ground, though it was the tallest in the city. The trees, like seaweed, +floated most of their enormous weight in the dense air, but the +buildings under the gravitational acceleration, which was more than one +hundred times Earth's gravity, could not be built very high ere they +crumple under their own weight. Though one of these men weighed +approximately two hundred pounds on Earth, for all their short stature, +on this planet their weight was more than ten tons! Only the enormously +dense atmosphere permitted them to move. + +And such an atmosphere! At a temperature of almost exactly 360 degrees +centigrade, there was no liquid water on the planet, naturally. At that +temperature water cannot be a liquid, no matter what the pressure, and +it was a gas. In their own bodies there was liquid water, but only +because they lived on heat, their muscles absorbed their energy for work +from the heat of the air. They carried in their own muscles +refrigeration, and, with that aid, were able to keep liquid water for +their life processes. With death, the water evaporated. Almost the +entire atmosphere was made up of oxygen, with but a trace of nitrogen, +and some amount of carbon dioxide. + +Here their enormous strength was not needed, as Arcot had supposed, to +move their own bodies, but to enable them to perform the ordinary tasks +of life. The mere act of lifting a thing weighing perhaps ten pounds on +Earth, here required a lifting force of more than half a ton! No wonder +enormous strength had been developed! Such things as a man might carry +with him, perhaps a ray pistol, would weigh half a ton; his money would +weigh near to a hundred pounds! + +But--there were no guns on this world. A man could throw a stone perhaps +a short distance, but when a gravitational acceleration of more than a +half a mile per second acted on it, and it was hurled through an +atmosphere dense as water--what chance was there for a long range? + +But these little men of enormous strength did not know other schemes of +existence, save in the abstract, and as things of comical peculiarity. +To them life on a planet like Earth was as life to a terrestrian on a +planetoid such as Ceres, Juno or Eros would have seemed. Even on +Thettsost, the satellite planet of Thett, life was strange, and they +used lux roofs over their cities, though their weight there was four +tons! + +As the scout swam through the dense atmosphere of his world toward the +entrance way to the building, guards stopped him, and examined his +credentials. Then he was led through long halls, and down a shaft ten +stories below the planet's surface, to where a great table occupied a +part of a low ceilinged, wide room. This room was shielded, interference +screens of all known kinds lined the hollow walls, no rays could reach +through it to the men within. The guard changed, and new men examined +the scout's credentials, and he was led still deeper into the bowels of +the planet. Once more the guard changed, and he entered a room guarded +not by single shields but by triple, and walled with six foot relux, and +ceiled with the same strong material. But here, under the enormous +gravity, even its great strength required aid in the form of pillars. + +A giant of his race sat before a low table. The table ran half the +length of the room, and beside it sat four other men. But there were +places for more than two dozen. + +"A scout from the colony? What news?" demanded the leader. His voice was +a growl, deep and throaty. + +"Oh mighty Sthanto, I bring news of resistance. We waited too long, in +our explorations, and those men of World 3769-8482730-3 have learned too +much. We were wrong. They had found the secret of exceeding the speed of +light, and can travel through space fully as rapidly as we can, and now, +since by some means we cannot fathom, they have learned to combine both +our own system and theirs, they have one enormous engine of destruction +that travels across their huge universe in less time than it takes us to +travel across a planetary system. + +"Our cause is lost, which is by far the least of our troubles. Thett is +in danger. We cannot hope to combat that ship." + +"Thalt--what means have we. Can we not better them?" demanded Sthanto of +his chief scientist. + +"Great Sthanto, we know that such a substance can be made when pressure +can be brought to bear on cosmic rays under the influence of field +24-7649-321, but that field cannot be produced, because no sufficient +concentration of energy is available. Energy cannot be released rapidly +enough to replace the losses when the field is developing. The fact that +they have that material indicates their possession of an unguessed and +terrific energy source. I would have said that there was no energy +greater than the energy of matter, but we know the properties of this +material and that the triple ray which has at last been perfected, can +be produced providing your order for all energy sources is given, will +release its energy at a speed comparable to the rate of energy relux in +a twin ray, but that the release takes place only in the path of the +ray." + +"What more, Scout?" asked Sthanto smoothly. + +"The ship first appeared in connection with our general attack on world +3769-8482730-3. The attack was near success, their screens were already +failing. They have devised a new and very ionized layer as a conductor. +It was exceedingly difficult to break, and since their sun had been +similarly screened, we could not throw masses of that matter upon them. + +"In another sthan of time, we would have destroyed their world. Then the +ship appeared. It has molecular rays, magnetic beams and cosmic rays, +and a fourth weapon we know nothing of. It has molecular screens, we +suspect, but has not had occasion to use them. + +"Our heaviest molecular screens flash under their molecular rays. +Ordinary screens fall instantly without momentary defense. The ray power +is incalculable. + +"Their magnetic beams are used in conjunction with cosmics. The action +of the two causes the relux to induce current, and due to reaction of +currents on the magnetic field--" + +"And the resistance due to the relux, the relux is first heated to +incandescence and then the ship opens out as the air pressure bends the +magnetically softened relux?" finished Thalt. + +"No, the effect is even more terrific. It explodes into powder," replied +the scout. + +"And what happens to worlds that the magnetic ray touches?" inquired the +scientist. + +"A corner of it touched the world we fought over, and the world shook," +replied the colonist. + +"And the last weapon?" asked Sthanto, his voice soft now. + +"It seems a ghost. It is a mistiness that comes into existence like a +cloud, and what it touches is crushed, what it rams is shattered. It +surrounds the great ship, and machines crashing into it at a speed of +more than six times that of light are completely destroyed, without in +the slightest injuring the shield. + +"Then--what caused my departure from the colony--it showed once more its +unutterable power. The mistiness formed in the path of our colonial +world, number 3769-1-5, and the planet swept against that wall of +mistiness, and was shattered, and turned in less than five sthan to a +ball of blue-white fire. The wall stopped the planet in its motion. We +could not fight that machine, and we left the worlds. The others are +coming," finished the scout. + +The ruler turned his slightly smiling face to the commander of his +armies, who sat beside him. + +"Give orders," he said softly, almost gently, "that a triple ray station +be set up under the direction of Thalt, and further notice that all +power be made instantly available to it. Add that the colonists are +returning defeated, and bringing danger at their heels. The triple ray +will destroy each ship as it enters the system." His hand under the +table pushed an invisible protuberance, and from the perfectly +conducting relux floor to the equally perfectly conducting ceiling, and +between four pillars grouped around the spot where the scout stood, +terrific arcs suddenly came into being. They lasted for the thousandth +part of a second, and when they suddenly died away, as swiftly as they +had come, there was not even ash where the scout had been. + +"Have you any suggestions, Thalt?" he asked of the scientist, his voice +as soft as before. + +"I quite agree with your conduct so far, but the future conduct you had +planned is quite unsatisfactory," replied the scientist. The ruler sat +motionless in his great seat, staring fixedly at the scientist. "I think +it is time I take your place, therefore." The place where the ruler had +been was suddenly seen as through a dark cloud, then the cloud was gone, +and with it the king, only his relux chair, and the bits of lux or relux +that had been about his garments remained. + +"He was a fool," said the scientist softly, as he rose, "to plan on +removing his scientist. Are there any who object to my succession?" + +"No one objects," said Faslar, the ex-king's Prime Minister and +councilor. + +"Then I think, Phantal, Commander of planetary forces, that you had best +see Ranstud, my assistant, and follow out the plan outlined by my +predecessor. And you Tastal, Commander of Fleets, had best bring your +fleets near the planets for protection. Go." + +"May I suggest, mighty Thalt," said Faslar after the others had left, +"that my knowledge will be exceedingly useful to you. You have two +commanders, neither of whom loves you, and neither of whom is highly +capable. The family of Thadstil would be glad to learn who removed that +honored gentleman, and the family of Datstir would gladly support him +who brought the remover of their head to them. + +"This would remove two unwelcome menaces, and open places for such as +Ranstud and your son Warrtil. + +"And," he said hastily as he saw a slight shift in Thalt's eyes, "I +might say further that the bereaved ones of Parthel would find great +interest in certain of my papers, which are only protected by my +personal constant watchfulness." + +"Ah, so? And what of Kelston Faln, Faslar?" smiled the new Sthanta. + +Thalt's hand relaxed and they started a conversation and discussion on +means of defense. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +VENONE + + +Up from Earth, out of its clear blue sky, and into the glare and dark of +space and near a sun the ship soared. They had been holding it +motionless over New York, and now as it rose, hundreds of tiny craft, +and a few large excursion ships followed it until it was out of Earth's +atmosphere. Then--it was gone. Gone across space, racing toward that far +Universe at a speed no other thing could equal. In minutes the great +disc of the Universe had taken form behind them, as they took their +route photographs to find their way back to Earth after the battle, if +still they could come. + +Then into the stillness of the Intergalactic spaces. + +"This will be our first opportunity to test the full speed of this ship. +We have never tried its velocity, and we should measure it now. Take a +sight on the diameter of the Island, as seen from here, Morey. Then we +will travel ten seconds, and look again." + +Half a million light years from the center of the Island now, the great +disc spread out over the vast space behind them, apparently the size of +a dinner plate at about thirty inches distance, it was more than two +hundred and fifty thousand light years across. Checking carefully, Morey +read their distance as just shy of five hundred thousand light years. + +"Hold on--here we go," called Arcot. Space was suddenly black, and +beside them ran the twin ghost ships that follow always when space is +closed to the smallest compass, for light leaving, goes around a space +whose radius is measured in miles, instead of light centuries and +returns. There was no sound, no slightest vibration, only Torlos' iron +bones felt a slight shock as the inconceivable currents flowed into the +gigantic space distortion coil from the storage fields, their shielded +magnetic flux leaking by in some slight degree. + +For ten seconds that seemed minutes Arcot held the ship on the course +under the maximum combined powers of space distortion and time field +distortion. Then he released both simultaneously. + +The velvet black of space was about them as before, but now the disc of +the Nebula was tiny behind them! So tiny was it, that these men, who +knew its magnitude, gasped in sudden wonder. None of them had been able +to conceive of such a velocity as this ship had shown! In seconds, Morey +announced a moment later, they had traveled _one million, one hundred +thousand light years_! Their velocity was six hundred and sixty +quadrillion miles per second! + +"Then it will take us only a little over one thousand seconds to travel +the hundred and fifty million light years, at 110,000 light years per +second--that's about the radius of our galaxy, isn't it!" exclaimed +Wade. + +They started on now, and one thousand and ten seconds, or a little more +than eighteen minutes later, they stopped again. So far behind them now +as to be almost lost in the far scattered universes, lay their own +Island, and carefully they photographed the Universe that now lay less +than twenty million light years ahead. Still, it was further, even after +crossing this enormous gulf, than are many of those nebulae we see from +Earth, many of which lie within that distance. They must proceed +cautiously now, for they did not know the exact distance to the Nebula. +Carefully, running forward in jumps of five million light years, +forty-five second drives, they worked nearer. + +Then finally they entered the Island, and drove toward the denser +center. + +"Good Lord, Arcot, look at those suns!" exclaimed Morey in amazement. +For the first time they were seeing the suns of this system at a range +that permitted observation, and Arcot had stopped to observe. The first +one they had chosen had been a blue-white giant of enormous mass, nearly +one hundred and fifty times as heavy as our own sun, and all the +enormous surface was radiating power into space at a rate of nearly +thirty thousand horsepower per square inch! No planets circled it, +however, in its journey through space. + +"I've been noticing the number of giants here. Look around." + +The _Thought_ moved on, on to other suns. They must find one that was +inhabited. + +They stopped at last near a great orange giant, and examined it. It had +indeed planets, and as Arcot watched, he saw in the telectroscope a line +of gigantic freighters rise from the world, and whisk off to nothingness +as they exceeded the speed of light! Instantly he started the _Thought_ +searching in time fields for the freighters. He found them, and followed +them as they raced across the void. He knew he was visible to them, and +as he suspected, they soon stopped, slowing down and signaling to him. + +"Morey--take the _Thought_. I'm going to visit them in the _Banderlog_ +as I think we shall name the tender," called Arcot, stripping off the +headset, and leaving the control seat. The other fleet of ships was now +less than a hundred thousand miles away, clearly visible in the +telectroscope. They were still signaling, and Arcot had set an automatic +signaling device flashing an enormously powerful searchlight toward them +in a succession of dots and dashes, an obvious signal, though also, +obviously unintelligible to those others. + +"Is it safe, Arcot?" asked Torlos anxiously. To approach those enormous +ships in the relatively tiny _Banderlog_ seemed unwise. + +"Far safer than they'll believe. Remember, only the _Thought_ could +stand up against such weapons as even the _Banderlog_ carries, run as +they are by cosmic energy," replied Arcot, diving down toward the little +tender. + +In a moment it was out through the lock, and sped away from them like a +bullet, reaching the distant stranger fleet in less than ten seconds. + +"They are communicating by thought!" announced Zezdon Afthen presently. +"But I cannot understand them, for the impulses are too weak to be +intelligently received." + +For nearly an hour the _Banderlog_ hung beside the fleet, then it turned +about, and raced once more to the _Thought_. Inside the lock, and a +moment later Arcot appeared again on the threshold of the door. He +looked immensely relieved. + +"Well, I have some good news," he said and smiled, sitting down. "Follow +that bunch, Morey, and I'll tell you about it. Set it and she'll hold +nicely. We have a long way to go, and those are slow freighters, +accompanied by one Cruiser. + +"Those men," he began, "are men of Venone. You remember Thett's records +said something of the Mighty Warless Ones of Venone? Those are they. +They inhabit most of this universe, leaving the Thessians but four +planets of a minor sun, way off in one corner. It seems the Thessians +are their undesirable exiles, those who have, from generation to +generation, been either forced to go there, or who wanted to go there. + +"They did not like the easier and more effective method of disposing of +undesirables, the instantaneous death chamber they now use. Thett was +their prison world. No one ever returned and his family could go with +him if they desired, but if they did not, they were carefully watched +for outcroppings of undesirable traits--murder, crime of any sort, any +habitual tendency to injustice. + +"About six hundred years ago of our time, Thett revolted. There were +scientists there, and their scientists had discovered a thing that they +had been seeking for generations--the Twin-ray. I don't know what it is, +and the Venonians don't either. It is the ray that destroys relux and +lux, however, and can be carried only on a machine the size of their +forts, due to some limitations. Just what those limitations are the +Venonians don't know. Other than that ray they had no new weapons. + +"But it was enough. Their guard ships which had circled the worlds of +the prison system, Antseck, were suddenly destroyed, so suddenly that +Venone received no word of it till a consignment ship, bringing +prisoners, discovered their absence. The consignment ship returned +without landing. Thett was now independent. But they were bound to their +system, for although they had the molecular ships, they had never been +permitted to have time apparatus, nor to see it, nor was any one who +knew its principles ever consigned there. The result was that they were +as isolated as ever. + +"This was for two centuries. Two centuries later it was worked out by +one of their scientists, and the Warless Ones had a War of defense. +Their small fleet of cruisers, designed for rescue work and for clearing +space lanes of wrecks and asteroids, was destroyed instantly, their +world was protected only by the ray screen, which the Thessians did not +have, and by the fact that they could build more cruisers. In less than +a year Thett was defeated, and beaten back to her world, though Venone +could not overcome Thett, now, for around their planets they had so many +forts projecting the deadly rays, that no ship could approach. + +"Then Thett learned how to make the screen, and came again. Venone had +planetoid stations, that projected molecular rays of an intensity I +wonder at, with their system of projecting. It seems these people have +force-power feeds that operate through space, by which an entire solar +system can tie in for power, and they fed these stations in that way. +Lord only knows what tubes they had, but the Thessians couldn't get the +power to fight. + +"They've been let alone since then, they did not know why. I told them +what their dear friends had been doing in that time, and the Venonians +were immensely surprised, and very evidently sorry. They begged my +pardon for letting loose such a menace, quite sincerely feeling that it +was their fault. They offered any help they could give, and I told them +that a chart of this system would be of the greatest use. They are going +now to Venone, and we are to go with them, and see what they have to +offer. Also, they want a demonstration of this 'remarkable ship that can +defeat whole fleets of Thessians, and destroy or make planets at will,'" +concluded Arcot. + +"I do not in the least blame them for wanting to see this ship in +operation, Arcot, but they are, very evidently, a much older race than +yours," said Torlos, his thoughts coming clear and sharp, as those of a +man who has thought over what he says carefully. "Are you not running +danger that their minds may be more powerful than yours, that this story +they have told you is but a ruse to get this ship on their world where +thousand, millions can concentrate their will against you and capture +the ship by mind where they cannot capture it by force?" + +"That," agreed Arcot, "is where 'the rub' comes in as an ancient poet of +Earth put it. I don't know and I did not have a chance to see. Wherefore +I am about to do some work. Let me have the controls, Morey, will you?" + +Arcot made a new ship. It was made entirely, perforce, of cosmium, lux +and relux, for those were the only forms of matter he could create in +space permanently from energy. It was equipped with gravity drive, and +time distortion speed apparatus, and his far better trained mind +finished this smaller ship with his titanic tools in less than the two +days that it took them to reach Venone. In the meantime, the Venonian +cruiser had drawn close, and watched in amazement as the ship was +fashioned from the energy of space, became a thing of glistening matter, +materializing from the absolute void of space, and forming under titanic +tools such as the commander could not visualize. + +Now, this move was partly the reason for this construction, for while +the Venonian was busy, absorbed in watching the miraculous construction, +his mind was not shielded, and it was open for observation of two such +wonderfully trained minds as those of Zezdon Afthen and Zezdon Inthel. +With their instruments and wonderfully developed mind-science, aided at +times by Morey's less skillful, but more powerful mind of his older +race, and powerful too, both because of long concentration and training, +and because of his individual inheritance, they examined the minds of +many of the officers of the ship without their awareness. + +As a final test, Arcot, having finished the ship, suggested that the +Venonian officer and one of the men of his ship have a trial of mental +powers. + +Zezdon Afthen tried first, and between the two ships, racing along side +by side at a speed unthinkable, the two men struggled with those forces +of will. + +Quickly Zezdon Afthen told Arcot what he had learned. + +The sun of Venone was close, now, and Arcot prepared to use as he +intended the little space machine he had made. Morey took it, and went +away from the _Thought_ flying on its time field. The ship had been +stocked with lead fuel for its matter-burning generators from the supply +that had been brought on the _Thought_ for emergencies, and the air had +come from the _Thought_'s great tanks. Morey was going to Venone ahead +of the _Thought_ to scout--"to see many of the important men of Venone +and find out from them what I can of the relationship between Venone and +Thett." + +Hours later Morey returned with a favorable report. He had seen many of +the important men of Venone, and conversed with them mentally from the +safety of his ship, where the specially installed gravity apparatus had +protected him and the ship against the enormous gravity of this gigantic +world. He did not describe Venone; he wanted them to see it as he had +first seen it. + +So the little ship, which had served its purpose now, was destroyed, +nearly a light year from Venone, and left a crushed wreck when two +plates of artificial matter had closed upon it, destroying the +apparatus, lest some unwelcome finder use it. There was little about it, +the gravity apparatus alone perhaps, that might have been of use to +Thett, and Thett already had the ray--but why take needless risk? + +Then once more they were racing toward Venone. Soon the giant star of +which it was a planet loomed enormous. Then, at Morey's direction, they +swung, and before them loomed a planet. Large as Thett, near a half +million miles in diameter, its mass was very closely equal to that of +our sun. Yet it was but the burned-out sweepings of the outermost +photospheric layers of this giant sun, and the radioactive atoms that +made a sun active were not here; it was a cold planet. But its density +was far, far higher than that of our sun, for our sun is but slightly +denser than ordinary sea water. This world was dense as copper, for with +the deeper sweepings of the tidal strains that had formed it, more of +the heavier atoms had gone into its making, and its core was denser than +that of Earth. + +About it swept two gigantic satellite Worlds, each larger than Jupiter, +but satellites of a satellite here! And Venone itself was inhabited by +countless millions, yet their low, green tile and metal cities were +invisible in the aspect of rolling lands with tiny hillocks, dwarfed by +gigantic bulbous trees that floated their enormous weight in the +water-dense atmosphere. + +Here, too, there were no seas, for the temperature was above the +critical temperature of water, and only in the self-cooling bodies of +these men and in the trees which similarly cooled themselves, could +there be liquid. + +The sun of the world was another of the giant red stars, close to three +hundred and fifty times the mass of our sun. It was circled by but three +giant planets. Its enormous disc was almost invisible from the surface +of the world as the _Thought_ sank slowly through fifteen thousand miles +of air, due to the screening effect on light passing through so much +air. Earth could have rested on this planet and not extended beyond its +atmosphere! Had Earth been situated at this planet's center, the Moon +could have revolved about it, and would not have been beyond the +planet's surface! + +In silent wonder the terrestrians watched the titanic world as they +sank, and their friends looked on amazed, comprehending even less of the +significance of what they saw. Already within the titanic gravitational +field, they could see that indescribable effects were being produced on +them, and on the ship. Arcot alone could know the enormous gravitation, +and his accelerometer told him now that he was subject to a +gravitational acceleration of three thousand four hundred and +eighty-seven feet per second, or almost exactly one hundred and nine +times Earth's pull. + +"The _Thought_ weighs one billion, two hundred and six million, five +hundred thousand tons, with tender, on Earth. Here it weighs +approximately one hundred and twenty-one billion tons," said Arcot +softly. + +"Can you set it down? It may crush under this load if the gravity drive +isn't supporting it," asked Torlos anxiously. + +"Eight inches cosmium, and everything else supported by cosmium. I made +this thing to stand any conceivable strain. Watch--if the planet's +surface will take the load," replied Arcot. + +They were still sinking, and now a number of small marvelously +streamlined ships were clustered around the slowly settling giant. In a +few moments more people, hundreds, thousands of men were flying through +the air up to the ship. + +A cruiser had appeared, and was very evidently intent on leading them +somewhere, and Arcot followed it as it streaked through the dense air. +"No wonder they streamline," he muttered as he saw the enormous force it +took to drive the gigantic ship through this air. The air pressure +outside their ship now was so great, that the sheer crushing effect of +the air pressure alone was enormous. The pressure was well over nine +tons to the square inch, on the surface of that enormous ship! + +They landed approximately fifty miles from a large city which was the +capital. The land seemed absolutely level, and the horizon faded off in +distance in an atmosphere absolutely clear. There was no dust in the air +at their height of nearly three hundred feet, for dust was too heavy on +this world. There were no clouds. The mountains of this enormous world +were not large, could not be large, for their sheer weight would tear +them down, but what mountains there were were jagged, tortured rock, +exceedingly sharp in outline. + +"No rain--no temperature change to break them down," said Wade looking +at them. "The zone of fracture can't be deep here." + +"What, Wade, is the zone of fracture?" asked Torles. + +"Rock has weight. Any substance, no matter how brittle, will flow if +sufficient pressure is brought to bear from all sides. A thing which can +flow will not break or fracture. You can't imagine the pressure to which +the rock three hundred feet down is subject to. There is the enormous +mass of atmosphere, the tremendous mass of rock above, and all forced +down by this gravitation. By the time you get down half a mile, the rock +is under such an inconceivably great pressure that it will flow like +mud. The rock there cannot break; it merely flows under pressure. Above, +the rock can break, instead of flowing. That is the zone of fracture. On +Earth the zone of fracture is ten miles deep. Here it must be of the +order of only five hundred feet! And the planetary blocks that made a +planet's surface float on the zone of flowage--they determine the zone +of fracture." + +The gigantic ship had been sinking, and now, suddenly it gave a very +unexpected demonstration of Wade's words. It had landed, and Arcot shut +off the power. There was a roaring, and the giant ship trembled, rocked, +and rolled along a bit. Instantly Arcot drove it into the air. + +"Whoa--can't do it. The ship will stand it, and won't bend under the +load--but the planet won't. We caused a Venone-quake. One of those +planetary blocks Wade was talking about slipped under the added strain." + +Quickly Wade explained that all the planetary blocks were floating, +truly floating, and in equilibrium just as a boat must be. The added +load had been sufficiently great, so that, with an already extant +overload on this particular planetary block, this "boat" had sunk a bit +further into the flowage zone, till it was once more at rest and +balanced. + +"They wish us to come out that they may see us, strangers and friends +from another Island," interrupted Zezdon Afthen. + +"Tell them they'd have to scrape us up off the ground, if we attempted +it. We come from a world where we weigh about as much as a pebble here," +said Wade, grinning at the thought of terrestrians trying to walk on +this world. + +"Don't--tell them we'll be right out," said Arcot sharply. "All of us." + +Morey and the others all stared at Arcot in amazement. It was utterly +impossible! + +But Zezdon Afthen did as Arcot had asked. Almost immediately, another +Morey stepped out of the airlock wearing what was obviously a pressure +suit. Behind him came another Wade, Torlos, Stel Felso Theu, and indeed +all the members of their party save Arcot himself! The Galactians stared +in wonder--then comprehended and laughed together. Arcot had sent +artificial matter images of them all! + +Their images stepped out, and the Venonian crowd which had collected, +stared in wonder at the giants, looming twice their height above them. + +"You see not us, but images of us. We cannot withstand your gravity nor +your air pressure, save in the protection of our ship. But these images +are true images of us." + +For some time then they communicated, and finally Arcot agreed to give a +demonstration of their power. At the suggestion of the cruiser commander +who had seen the construction of a spaceship from the emptiness of +space, Arcot rapidly constructed a small, very simple, molecular drive +machine of pure cosmium, making it entirely from energy. It required but +minutes, and the Venonians stared in wonder as Arcot's unbelievable +tools created the machine before their eyes. The completed ship Arcot +gave to an official of the city who had appeared. The Venonian looked at +the thing skeptically, and half expecting it to vanish like the tools +that made it, gingerly entered the port. Powered as it was by lead +burning cosmic ray generators, the lead alone having been made by +transmutation of natural matter, it was powerful, and speedy. The +official entered it, and finding it still existing, tried it out. Much +to his amazement it flew, and operated perfectly. + +Nearly ten hours Arcot and his friends stayed at Venone, and before they +left, the Venonians, for all their vast differences of structure, had +proven themselves true, kindly honest men, and a race that our Alliance +has since found every reason to respect and honor. Our commerce with +them, though carried on under difficulties, is none the less a bond of +genuine friendship. + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +THETT PREPARES + + +Streaking through the void toward Thett was again a tiny scout ship. It +carried but a single man, and with all the power of the machine he was +darting toward distant Thett, at a speed insanely reckless, but he knew +that he must maintain such a speed if his mission were to be successful. + +Again a tiny ship entered Thett's far-flung atmosphere, and slowed to +less than a light speed, and sent its signal call ahead. In moments the +patrol ship, less than three hundred miles away, had reached it, and +together they streaked through the dense air in a screaming dive toward +Shatnsoma, the capital city. It was directly beneath, and it was not +long before they had reached the great palace grounds, and settled on +the upper roof. Then the scout leaped out of his tiny craft, and dove +for the door. Flashing his credentials, he dove down, and into the first +shielded room. Here precious seconds were wasted while a check was made +of the credentials the man carried, then he was sent through to the +Council Room. And he, too, stood on that exact spot where the other +scout, but a few weeks before, had stood--and vanished. Waiting, it +seemed, were four councilors and the new Sthanto, Thalt. + +"What news, Scout?" asked the Sthanto. + +"They have arrived in the Universe to Venone, and gone to the planet +Venone. They were on the planet when I left. None of our scouts were +able to approach the place, as there were innumerable Venonian watchers +who would have recognized our deeper skin-color, and destroyed us. Two +scouts were rayed, though the Galactians did not see this. Finally we +captured two Venonians who had seen it, and attempted to force the +information we needed from them. A young man and his chosen mate. + +"The man would tell nothing, and we were hurried. So we turned to the +girl. These accursed Venonians are courageous for all their pacifism. We +were hurried, and yet it was long before we forced her to tell what we +needed to know so vitally. She had been one of the notetakers for the +Venonian government. We got most of their conversation, but she died of +burns before she finished. + +"The Galactians know nothing of the twin-ray beyond its action, and that +it is an electro-magnetic phenomenon, though they have been able to +distort it by using a sheet of pure energy. But their walls are +impregnable to it, and their power of creating matter from the pure +energy of space, as we saw from a distance, would enable them to easily +defeat it, were it not that the twin-ray passes through matter without +harming it. Any ray which will destroy matter of the natural electrical +types, will be stopped. + +"The girl was damnably clever, for she gave us only the things we +already knew, and but few new facts; knowing that she would inevitably +die soon, she talked--but it was empty talk. The one thing of import we +have learned is that they burn no fuel, use no fuel of any sort but in +some inconceivable manner get their energy from the radiations of the +suns of space. This could not be great--but we know she told the truth, +and we know their power is great. She told the truth, for we could +determine when she lied, by mental action, of course. + +"But more we could not learn. The man died without telling anything, +merely cursing. He knew nothing anyway, as we already had determined," +concluded the scout. + +Silently the Sthanto sat in thought for some moments. Then he raised his +head, and looked at the scout once more. + +"You have done well. You secured some information of import, which was +more than we had dared hope for. But you managed things poorly. The +woman should not have died so soon. We can only guess. + +"The radiation of the suns of space--hmmm--" Sthanto Thalt's brow +wrinkled in thought. "The radiation of the _suns_ of space. Were his +power derived from the sun near which he is operating, he would not have +said _suns_. It was more than one?" + +"It was, oh Sthanto," replied the scout positively. + +"His power is unreasonable. I doubt that he gave the true explanation. +It may well have been that he did not trust the Venonians. I would not, +for all their warless ways. But surely the suns of space give very +little power at any given point at random. Else space would not be cold. + +"But go, Scout, and you will be assigned a position in the fleet. The +Colonial fleet, the remains of it, have arrived, and the colonists been +removed. They failed. We will use their ships. You will be assigned." +The scout left, and was indeed assigned to a ship of the colonists. The +incoming colonial transports had been met at the outposts of the system, +and rayed out of existence at once--failures, and bringing danger at +their heels. Besides--there was no room for them on Thett without +Thessians being crowded uncomfortably. + +As their battleships arrived they were conducted to one of the +satellites, and each man was "fumigated," lest he bring disease to the +mother planet. Men entered, men apparently emerged. But they were +different men. + +"It seems," said the Sthanto softly, after the scout had left, "that we +will have little difficulty, for they are, we know, vulnerable to the +triple ray. And if we can but once destroy their driving units they will +be helpless on our world. I doubt that wild tale of their using no fuel. +Even if that be true they will be helpless with their power apparatus +destroyed, and--if we miss the first time, we can seek it out, or drive +them off! + +"All of which is dependent on the fact that they attack at a point where +we have a triple ray station to meet them. There are but three of these, +actually, but I have had dummy stations, apparently identical with our +other real stations, set up in many places. + +"This gibberish we hear of creating matter--it is impossible, and surely +unsuitable as a weapon. Their misty wall--that may be a force plane, but +I know of no such possibility. The artificial substance though--why +should any one make it? It but consumes energy, and once made is no more +dangerous than ordinary matter, save that there is the possibility of +creating it in dangerous position. Remember, we have heard already of +the mental suggestions planes--mere force planes--_plus_ a wonderfully +developed power of suggestion. They do most of their damage by mental +impression. Remember, we have heard already of the mental suggestions of +horrible things that drove one fleet of the weak-minded colonists mad. + +"And that, I think, we will use to protect ourselves. If we can, with +the apparatus which you, my son, have developed, cause them to believe +that all the other forts are equally dangerous, and that this one on +Thett is the best point of attack--It will be easy. Can you do it?" + +"I can, Oh Sthanto, if but a sufficient number of powerful minds may be +brought to aid me," replied the youngest of the four councilmen. + +"And you, Ranstud, are the stations ready?" asked the ruler. + +"We are ready." + + + + +Chapter XXV + +WITH GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE + + +The _Thought_ arose from Venone after long hours, and at Arcot's +suggestion, they assumed an orbit about the world, at a distance of two +million miles, and all on board slept, save Torlos, the tireless +molecular motion machine of flesh and iron. He acted as guard, and as he +had slept but four days before, he explained there was really no reason +for him to sleep as yet. + +But the terrestrians would feel the greatest strain of the coming +encounter, especially Arcot and Morey, for Morey was to help by +repairing any damage done, by working from the control board of the +_Banderlog_. The little tender had sufficient power to take care of any +damage that Thett might inflict, they felt sure. + +For they had not learned of the triple ray. + +It was hours later that, rested and refreshed, they started for Thett. +Following the great space-chart that they had been given by the +Venonians, a series of blocks of clear lux metal, with tiny points of +slowly disintegrating lux, such as had been used to illuminate the +letters of the _Thought_'s name representing suns, the colors and +relative intensity being shown. Then there was a more manageable guide +in the form of photographs, marked for route by constellations +formations as well, which would be their actual guide. + +At the maximum speed of the time apparatus, for thus they could better +follow the constellations, the _Thought_ plunged along in the wake of +the tiny scout ship that had already landed on Thett. And, hours later, +they saw the giant red sun of Antseck, the star of Thett and its system. + +"We're about there," said Arcot, a peculiar tenseness showing in his +thoughts. "Shall we barge right in, or wait and investigate?" + +"We'll have to chance it. Where is their main fort here?" + +"From the direction, I should say it was to the left and ahead of our +position," replied Zezdon Afthen. + +The ship moved ahead, while about it the tremendous Thessian battlefleet +buzzed like flies, thousands of ships now, and more coming with each +second. + +In a few moments the titanic ship had crossed a great plain, and came to +a region of bare, rocky hills several hundred feet high. Set in those +hills, surrounded by them, was a huge sphere, resting on the ground. As +though by magic the Thessian fleet cleared away from the _Thought_. The +last one had not left, when Arcot shot a terrific cosmic ray toward the +sphere. It was relux, and he knew it, but he knew what would happen when +that cosmic ray hit it. The solometer flickered and steadied at three as +that inconceivable ray flashed out. + +Instantly there was a terrific explosion. The soil exploded into +hydrogen atoms, and expanded under heat that lashed it to more than a +million degrees in the tiniest fraction of a second. The terrific recoil +of the ray-pressure was taken by all space, for it was generated in +space itself, but the direct pressure struck the planet, and that +titanic planet reeled! A tremendous fissure opened, and the section that +had been struck by the ray smashed its way suddenly far into the planet, +and a geyser of fluid rock rolled over it, twenty miles deep in that +world. The relux sphere had been struck by the ray, and had turned it, +with the result that it was pushed doubly hard. The enormously thick +relux strained and dented, then shot down as a whole, into the +incandescent rock. + +For miles the vaporized rock was boiling off. Then the fort sent out a +ray, and that ray blasted the rock that had flowed over it as Arcot's +titanic ray snapped out. In moments the fort was at the surface +again--and a molecular hit it. The molecular did not have the energy the +cosmic had carried, but it was a single concentrated beam of destruction +ten feet across. It struck the fort--and the fort recoiled under its +energy. The marvelous new tubes that ran its ray screen flashed +instantly to a temperature inconceivable, and, so long as the elements +embedded in the infusible relux remained the metals they were, those +tubes could not fail. But they were being lashed by the energy of half a +sun. The tubes failed. The elements heated to that enormous temperature +when elements cannot exist--and broke to other elements that did not +resist. The relux flashed into blinding iridescence-- + +And from the fort came a beam of pure silvery light. It struck the +_Thought_ just behind the bow, for the operator was aiming for the point +where he knew the control room and pilot must be. But Arcot had designed +the ship for mental control, which the enemy operator could not guess. +The beam was a flat beam, perhaps an inch thick, but it fanned out to +fifty feet width. And where it touched the _Thought_, there was a +terrific explosion, and inconceivably violent energy lashed out as the +cosmium instantaneously liberated its energy. + +A hundred feet of the nose was torn off the ship, and the enormously +dense air of Thett rushed in. But that beam had cut through the very +edge of one of the ray projectors, or better, one of the ray feed +apparatus. And the ray feed released it without control; it released all +the energy it could suck in from space about it, as one single beam of +cosmic energy, somewhat lower than the regular cosmics, and it flashed +out in a beam as solid matter. + +There was air about the ship, and the air instantly exploded into atoms +of a different sort, threw off their electrons, and were raised to the +temperature at which no atom can exist, and became protons and +electrons. But so rapidly was that coil sucking energy from space that +space tended to close in about it, and in enormous spurts the energy +flooded out. It was directed almost straight up, and but one ship was +caught in its beam. It was made of relux, but the relux was powdered +under the inconceivable blow that countless quintillions of cosmic ray +photons struck it. That ray was in fact, a solid mass of cosmium moving +with the velocity of light. And it was headed for that satellite of +Thett, which it would reach in a few hours time. + +The _Thought_, due to the spatial strains of the wounded coil, was +constantly rushing away to an almost infinite distance, as the ship +approached that other space toward which the coil tended with its load, +and rushing back, as the coil, reaching a spatial condition which +supplied no energy, fell back. In a hundredth of a second it had reached +equilibrium, and they were in a weirdly, terribly distorted space. But +the triple-ray of the Thessians seemed to sheer off, and miss, no matter +how it was directed. And it was painfully weak, for the coil sucked up +the energy of whatsoever matter disintegrated in the neighborhood. + +Then suddenly the performance was over. And they plunged into artificial +space that was black and clean, and not a thing of wavering, struggling +energies. Morey, from his control in the _Banderlog_, had succeeded in +getting sufficient energy, by using his space distortion coils, to +destroy the great projector mechanism. Instantly Arcot, now able to +create the artificial space without the destruction of the coils by the +struggling ray-feed coil, had thrown them to comparative safety. + +Space writhed before they could so much as turn from the instruments. +The Thessians had located their artificial space, and reached it with an +attraction ray. They already had been withstanding the drain of the +enormous fields of the giant planet and the giant sun; the attractive +ray was an added strain. Arcot looked at his instruments, and with a +grim smile set a single dial. The space about them became black again. + +"Pulling our energy--merely let 'em pull. They're pulling on an ocean, +not a lake this time. I don't think they'll drain those coils very +quickly." He looked at his instruments. "Good for two and a half hours +at this rate. + +"Morey, you sure did your job then. I was helpless. The controls +wouldn't answer, of course, with that titanic thing flopping its wings, +so to speak. What are we going to do?" + +Morey stood in the doorway, and from his pocket drew a cigarette, handed +it to Arcot, another to each of the others who smoked, and lit them, and +his own. "Smoke," he said, and puffed. "Smoke and think. From our last +experience with a minor tragedy, it helps." + +"But--this is no minor tragedy, they have burst open the wall of this +invulnerable ship, destroyed one of those enormous coils, and can do it +again," exclaimed Zezdon Afthen, exceedingly nervous, so nervous that +the normal courage of the man was gone. His too-psychic breeding was +against him as a warrior. + +"Afthen," replied Stel Felso Theu calmly, "when our friends have smoked, +and thought, the _Thought_ will be repaired perfectly, and it will be +made invulnerable to that weapon." + +"I hope so, Stel Felso Theu," smiled Arcot. He was feeling better +already. "But do you know what that weapon is, Morey?" + +"Got some readings on it with the _Banderlog_'s instruments, and I think +I do. Twin-ray is right," replied Morey. + +"Hm-hm--so I think. It's a super-photon. What they do is to use a field +somewhat similar to the field we use in making cosmium, except that in +theirs, instead of the photons lying side by side, they slide into one +another, compounding. They evidently get three photons to go into one. +Now, as we know, that size photon doesn't exist for the excellent reason +that it can't in this space. Space closes in about it. Therefore they +have a projected field to accompany it that tends to open out space--and +they are using that, not the attractive ray, on us now. The result is +that for a distance not too great, the triple-ray exists in normal +space--then goes into another. Now the question is how can we stop it? I +have an idea--have you any?" + +"Yes, but my idea can't exist in this space either," grinned Morey. + +"I think it can. If it's what I think, remember it will have a terrific +electric field." + +"It's what you think, then. Come on." Arcot and Morey went to the +calculating room, while Wade took over the ship. But one of the +ray-feeds had been destroyed, and they had three more in action, as well +as their most important weapon, artificial matter. Wade threw on the +time field, and started the emergency lead burner working to recharge +the coils that the Thessians were constantly draining. Being in their +own peculiar space, they could not draw energy from the stars, and Arcot +didn't want to return to normal space to discharge them, unless +necessary. + +"How's the air pressure in the rest of the ship?" asked Wade. + +"Triple normal," replied Morey. "The Thessian atmosphere leaked in and +sent it up terrifically, but when we went into our own space, at the +halfway point, a lot leaked out. But the ship is full of water now. It +was a bit difficult coming up from the _Banderlog_, and I didn't want to +breathe the air I wasn't sure of. But let's work." + +They worked. For eight hours of the time they were now in they continued +to work. The supply of lead metal gave out before the end of the fourth +hour, and the coils were nearing the end of their resistance. It would +soon be necessary for Arcot to return to normal space. So they stopped, +their calculations very nearly complete. Throwing all the remaining +energy into the coils, they a little more than held the space about +them, and moved away from Thett at a speed of about twice that of light. +For an hour more Arcot worked, while the ship plowed on. Then they were +ready. + +As Arcot took over the controls, space reeled once more, and they were +alone, far from Thett. The suns of this space were flashing and glowing +about them, and the unlimited energy of a universe was at Arcot's +command. But all the remaining atmosphere in the ship had either gone +instantaneously in the vacuum, or solidified as the chill of expansion +froze it. + +To the amazement of the extra-terrestrians, Arcot's first move was to +create a titanic plane of artificial matter, and neatly bisect the +_Thought_ at the middle! He had thrown all of the controls thus +interrupted into neutral, and in the little more than half of the ship +which contained the control cabin, was also the artificial matter +control. It was busy now. With bewildering speed, with the speed of +thought trained to construct, enormous masses of cosmium were appearing +beside them in space as Arcot created them from pure energy. Cosmium, +relux and some clear cosmium-like lux metal. Ordinary cosmium was +reflective, and he wanted something with cosmium's strength, and the +clearness of lux. + +In seconds, under Arcot's flying thought manipulation, a great tube had +been welded to the original hull, and the already gigantic ship +lengthened by more than five hundred feet! Immediately great artificial +matter tools gripped the broken nose-section, clamped it into place, and +welded it with cosmium flowing under the inconceivable pressure till it +was again a single great hull. + +Then the Thessian fleet found them. The coils were charged now, and they +could have escaped, but Arcot had to work. The Thessians were attacked +with moleculars, cosmics, and a great twin-ray. Arcot could not use his +magnet, for it had been among those things severed from the control. He +had two ray feeds, and the artificial matter. There were nearly three +thousand ships attacking him with a barrage of energy that was +inconceivably great, but the cosmium walls merely turned it aside. It +took Arcot less than ten seconds to wipe out that fleet of ships! He +created a wall of artificial matter at twenty feet from the ship--and +another at twenty thousand miles. It was thin, yet it was utterly +impenetrable. He swept the two walls together, and forced them against +each other until his instruments told him only free energy remained +between them. Then he released the outer wall, and a terrific flood of +energy swept out. + +"I don't think we'll be attacked again," said Morey softly. They were +not. Thett had only one other fleet, and had no intention of losing the +powers of their generators at this time when they so badly needed them. +The strange ship had retired for repairs--very well, they could attack +again--and maybe-- + +Arcot was busy. In the great empty space that had been left, he +installed a second collector coil as gigantic as the main artificial +matter generator. Then he repaired the broken ray feed, and it, and the +companion coil which, with it, had been in the severed nose section, +were now in the same relative position to the new collector coil that +they had had with relation to the artificial matter coil. Next Arcot +built two more ray feeds. Now in the gigantic central power room there +loomed two tremendous power collectors, and six smaller ray feed +collectors. + +His next work was to reconnect the severed connectors and controls. Then +he began work on the really new apparatus. Nothing he had constructed so +far was more than a duplicate of existing apparatus, and he had been +able to do it almost instantly, from memory. Now he must vision +something new to his experience, and something that was forced to exist +in part in this space, and partly in another. He tried four times before +the apparatus had been completed correctly, and the work occupied ten +hours. But at last it was done. The _Thought_ was ready now for the +battle. + +"Got it right at last?" asked Wade. "I hope so." + +"It's right--tried it a little. I don't think you noticed it. I'm going +down now to give them a nice little dose," said Arcot grimly. His ship +was repaired--but they had caused him plenty of trouble. + +"How long have we been out here, their time?" asked Wade. + +"About an hour and a half." The _Thought_ had been on the time field at +all times save when the Thessian fleet attacked. + +"I think, Earthman, that you are tired, and should rest, lest you make a +tired thought and do great harm," suggested Zezdon Afthen. + +"I want to finish it!" replied Arcot, sharply. He was tired. + +In seconds the _Thought_ was once more over that fortified station in +the mountains--and the triple-ray reached out--and suddenly, about the +ship, was a wall of absolute, utter blackness. The triple-ray touched +it, and exploded into coruscating, blinding energy. It could not +penetrate it. More energy lashed at the wall of blackness as the +operators within the sphere-fort turned in the energy of all the +generators under their control. The ground about the fort was a great +lake of dazzling lava as far as the eye could see, for the triple-ray +was releasing its energy, and the wall of black was releasing an equal, +and opposing energy! + +"Stopped!" cried Arcot happily. "Now here is where we give them +something to think about. The magnet and the heat!" + +He turned the two enormous forces simultaneously on the point where he +knew the fort was, though it was invisible behind the wall of black that +protected him. From his side, the energy of the spot where all the +system of Thett was throwing its forces, was invisible. + +Then he released them. Instantly there was a terrific gout of light on +that wall of blackness. The ship trembled, and space turned gray about +them. The black wall dissolved into grayness in one spot, as a flood of +energy beyond comprehension exploded from it. The enormously strong +cosmium wall dented as the pressure of the escaping radiation struck it, +and turned X-ray hot under the minute percentage it absorbed. The +triple-ray bent away, and faded to black as the cosmic force playing +about it, actually twisted space beyond all power of its mechanism to +overcome. Then, in the tiniest fraction of a second it was over, and +again there was blackness and only the brilliant, blinding blue of the +cosmium wall testified to its enormous temperature, cooling now far more +slowly through green to red. + +"Lord--you're right, Zezdon Afthen. I'm going to sleep," called Arcot. +And the ship was suddenly far, far away from Thett. Morey took over, and +Arcot slept. First Morey straightened the uninjured wall and ironed out +the dents. + +"What, Morey, is the wall of Blackness?" asked Stel Felso Theu. + +"It's solid matter. A thing that you never saw before. That wall of +matter is made of a double layer of protons lying one against the other. +It absorbs absolutely every and all radiation, and because it is solid +matter, not tiny sprinklings of matter in empty space, as is the matter +of even the densest star, it stops the triple-ray. That matter is +nothing but protons; there are no electrons there, and the positive +electrical field is inconceivably great, but it is artificial matter, +and that electrical field exerts its strain not in pulling and +electrifying other bodies, but in holding space open, in keeping it from +closing in about that concentrated matter, just as it does about a +single proton, except that here the entire field energy is so absorbed. + +"Arcot was tired, and forgot. He turned his magnet and his heat against +it. The heat fought the solid matter with the same energy that created +it, and with an energy that had resources as great. The magnet curved +space about it, and about us. The result was the terrific energy release +you saw, and the hole in the wall. All Thett couldn't make any +impression on it. One of the rays blasted a hole in it," said Morey with +a laugh. For he, too, loved this mighty thing, the almost living ideas +of his friend's brain. + +"But it is as bad as the space defense. It works both ways. We can't +send through it but neither can they. Any thing we use that attacks +them, attacks it, and so destroys it--and it fights." + +"We're worse off than ever!" said Morey gloomily. + +"My friend, you, too, are tired. Sleep, sleep soundly, sleep till I +call--sleep!" And Morey slept under Zezdon Afthen's will, till Torlos +carried him gently to his room. Then Afthen let the sleep relax to a +natural one. Wade decided he might as well follow under his own power, +for now he knew he was tired, and could not overcome Zezdon Afthen, who +was not. + + * * * * * + +On Thett, the fort was undestroyed, and now floating on its power units +in a sea of blazing lava. Within, men were working quickly to install a +second set of the new tubes in the molecular motion ray screen, and +other men were transmitting the orders of the Sthanto who had come here +as the place of actually greatest safety. + +"Order all battleships to the nearest power-feed station, and command +that all power available be transmitted to the station attacked. I +believe it will be this one. There is no limit on the power transmission +lines, and we need all possible power," he commanded his son, now in +charge of all land and spatial forces. + +"And Ranstud, what happened to that molecular ray screen?" + +"I do not know. I cannot understand such power. + +"But what most worries me is his wall of darkness," said Ranstud +seriously. + +"But he was forced to retire for all his wall of darkness, as you saw. + +"He can maintain it but a short time, and it was full of holes when he +fled." + +"Old Sthanto is much too confident, I believe," said an assistant +working at one of the great boards in the enemy's fort, to one of his +friends. "And I think he has lost his science-knowledge. Any power-man +could tell what happened. They tried to use their own big rays against +us, and their screen stopped them from going out, just as it stopped +ours on the way in. Ours had been working at it for seconds, and hadn't +bothered them. Then for a bare instant their ray touched it--and they +retired. That shield of blackness is absolutely new." + +"They have many men on that ship of theirs," replied his friend, helping +to lift the three hundred ton load of a vacuum tube into place, "for it +is evident that they built new apparatus, and it is evident their ship +was increased in size to contain it. Also the nose was repaired. They +probably worked under a time field, for they accomplished an impossible +amount of work in the period they were gone." + +Ranstud had come up behind them, and overheard the later part of this +conversation. "And what," he asked suddenly, "did your meters tell you +when our ray opened his ship?" + +"Councilor of Science-wisdom, they told us that our power diminished, +and our generators gave off but little power when his power was +exceedingly little, we still had much." + +"Have you heard the myth of the source of his power, in the story that +he gets it from all the stars of the Island?" + +"We have, Great Councilor. And I for one believe it, for he sucked the +power from our generators. So might he suck the power from the +inconceivably greater generators of the Suns. I believe that we should +treat with them, for if they be like the peace-loving fools of Venone, +we might win a respite in which to learn their secret." + +Ranstud walked away slowly. He agreed, in his heart, but he loved life +too well to tell the Sthanto what to do, and he had no intention of +sacrificing himself for the possible good of the race. + +So they prepared for another attack of the _Thought_, and waited. + + + + +Chapter XXVI + +MAN, CREATOR AND DESTROYER + + +"What we must find," said Arcot, between contented puffs, for he had +slept well, and his breakfast had been good, "is some weapon which will +attack them, but won't attack us. The question is, what is it? And I +think, I think--I know." His eyes were dreamy, his thoughts so +cryptically abbreviated that not even Morey could follow them. + +"Fine--what is it?" asked Morey after vainly striving to deduce some +sense from the formulas that were chasing through Arcot's thoughts. Here +and there he recognized them: Einstein's energy formula, Planck's +quantum formulas, Nitsu Thansi's electron interference formulas, +Stebkowfski's proton interference, Williamson's electric field, and his +own formulas appeared, and others so abbreviated he could not recognize +them. + +"Do you remember what Dad said about the way the Thessians made the +giant forts out in space--hauled matter from the moon and transformed it +to lux and relux. Remember, I said then I thought it might be a ray--but +found it wasn't what I thought? I want to to use the ray I was thinking +of. The only question in my mind is--what is going to happen to us when +I use it?" + +"What's the ray?" + +"Why is it, Morey, that an electron falls through the different quantum +energy levels, falls successively lower and lower till it reaches its +'lowest energy level,' and can radiate no more. Why can't it fill +another step, and reach the proton? Why has it no more quanta to +release? We know that electrons tend to fall always to lower energy +level orbits. Why do they stop?" + +"And," said Morey, his own eyes dreamily bright now, "what would happen +if it did? If it fell all the way?" + +"I cannot follow your thoughts, Earthmen, beyond a glimpse of an +explosion. And it seems it is Thett that is exploding, and that Thett is +exploding itself. Can you explain?" asked Stel Felso Theu. + +"Perhaps--you know that electrons in their planetary orbits, so called, +tend to fall away to orbits of lower energy, till they reach the lowest +energy orbit, and remain fixed till more energy comes and is absorbed, +driving them out again. Now we want to know why they don't fall lower, +fall all the way? As a matter of fact, thanks to some work I did last +year with disintegrating lead, we do know. And thanks to the absolute +stability of artificial matter, we can handle such a condition. + +"The thing we are interested in is this: Artificial matter has no +tendency to radiate, its electrons have no tendency to fall into the +proton, for the matter is created, and remains as it was created. But +natural matter does have a tendency to let the electron fall into the +proton. A force, the 'lowest energy wall,' over which no electron can +jump, caused by the enormous space distorting of the proton's mass and +electrical attraction, prevents it. What we want to do is to remove that +force, iron it out. Requires inconceivable power to do so in a mass the +size of Thett-but then--! + +"And here's what will happen: Our wall of protonic material won't be +affected by it in the least, because it has no tendency to collapse, as +has normal matter, but Thett, beyond the wall, _has_ that tendency, and +the ray will release the energy of every planetary electron on Thett, +and every planetary electron will take with it the energy of one proton. +And it will take about one one-hundred-millionth of a second. Thett will +disappear in one instantaneous flash of radiation, radiation in the high +cosmics! + +"Here's the trouble: Thett represents a mass as great as our sun. And +our sun can throw off energy at the present rate of one sol for a period +of some ten million million years, three and a half million tons of +matter a second for ten million years. If all of that went up in _one +one-hundred-millionth of a second_, how many sols?" asked Morey. + +"Too many, is all I can say. Even this ship couldn't maintain its walls +of energy against that!" declared Stel Felso Theu, awed by the thought. + +"But that same power would be backing this ship, and helping it to +support its wall. We would operate from--half a million miles." + +"We will. If we are destroyed--so is Thett, and all the worlds of Thett. +Let that flood of energy get loose, and everything within a dozen light +years will be destroyed. We will have to warn the Venonians, that their +people on nearby worlds may escape in the time before the energy reaches +them," said Arcot slowly. + +The _Thought_ started toward one of the nearer suns, and as it went, +Arcot and Morey were busy with the calculators. They finished their +work, and started back from that world, having given their message of +warning, with the artificial matter constructors. When they reached +Thett, less than a quarter of an hour of Thessian time had passed. But, +before they reached Thett, Arcot's viewplates were blinded for an +instant as a terrific flood of energy struck the artificial matter +protectors, and caused them to flame into defense. Thett's satellite was +sending its message of instantaneous destruction. That terrific ray had +reached it, touched it, and left it a shattered, glowing ball of +hydrogen. + +"There won't be even that left when we get through with Thett!" said +Arcot grimly. The apparatus was finished, and once more they were over +the now fiery-red lava sea that had been mountains. The fort was still +in action. Arcot had cut a sheet of sheer energy now, and as the +triple-ray struck it, he knew what would happen. It did. The triple-ray +shunted off at an angle of forty-five degrees in the energy field, and +spread instantly to a diffused beam of blackness. Arcot's molecular +reached out. The lava was instantly black, and mountains of ice were +forming over the struggling defenses of the fort. The molecular screen +was working. + +"I'd like to know how they make tubes that'll stand that, Morey," said +Arcot, pointing to an instrument that read .01 millisols. "They have +tubes now, that would have wiped us out in minutes, seconds before +this." + +The triple-ray snapped off. They were realigning it to hit the ship now, +correcting for the shield. Arcot threw out his protonic shield, and +retreated to half a million miles, as he had said. + +"Here goes." But before even his thoughts could send Theft to radiation, +the entire side of the planet blazed suddenly incandescent. Thett was +learning what had happened when their ray had wounded the _Thought_. + +And then, in the barest instant of time, there was no Thett. There was +an instant of intolerable radiation, then momentary blackness, and then +the stars were shining where Thett had been. Thett was utterly gone. + +But Arcot did not see this. About him there was a tremendous roar, +titanic generator-converters that had not so much as hummed under the +impact of Thett's greatest weapons, whined and shuddered now. The two +enormous generators, the blackness of the protonic shield, and the great +artificial matter generator, throwing an inner shield impervious to the +cosmics Thett gave off as it vanished, both were whining. And the six +smaller machines, which Arcot had succeeded in interconnecting with the +protonic generator, were whining too. Space was weirdly distorted, +glowing gray about them, the great generators struggling to maintain the +various walls of protecting power against the surge of energy as Thett, +a world of matter, disintegrated. + +But the very energy that fought to destroy those walls was absorbed in +defending it, and by that much the attacking energy was lessened. Still, +it seemed hours, days that the battle of forces continued. + +Then it was over, and the skies were clear once more as Arcot lowered +the protonic screen silently. The white sky of Thett was gone, and only +the black starriness of space remained. + +"_It's gone!_" gasped Torlos. He had been expecting it--still, the +disappearance of a world-- + +"We will have to do no more. No ships had time to escape, and the risk +we run is too great," said Morey slowly. "The escaping energy from that +world will destroy the others of this system as completely, and it will +probably cause the sun itself to blow up--perhaps to form new planets, +and so the process repeats itself. But Venone knows better now, and +their criminals will not populate more worlds. + +"And we can go--home. To our little dust specks." + +"But they're wonderfully welcome dust specks, and utterly important to +us, Earthman," reminded Zezdon Afthen. + +"Let us go then," said Arcot. + + * * * * * + +It was dusk, and the rose tints of the recently-set sun still hung on +the clouds that floated like white bits of cotton in the darkening blue +sky. The dark waters of the little lake, and the shadowy tree-clad hills +seemed very beautiful. And there was a little group of buildings down +there, and a broad cleared field. On the field rested a shining, slim +shape, seventy-five feet long, ten feet in diameter. + +But all, the lake, the mountains even, were dwarfed by the silent, +glistening ruby of a gigantic machine that settled very, very slowly, +and very, very gently downward. It touched the rippled surface of the +lake with scarcely a splash, then hung, a quarter submerged in that +lake. + +Lights were showing in the few windows the huge bulk had, and lights +showed now in the buildings on the shore. Through an open door light was +streaming, casting silhouettes of two men. And now a tiny door opened in +the enormous bulk that occupied the lake, and from it came five figures, +that floated up, and away, and toward the cottage. + +"Hello, Son. You have been gone long," said Arcot, senior, gravely, as +his son landed lightly before him. + +"I thought so. Earth has moved in her orbit. More than six months?" + +His father smiled a bit wryly. "Yes. Two years and three months. You got +caught in another time field and thrown the other way this time?" + +"Time and force. Do you know the story yet?" + +"Part of it--Venone sent a ship to us within a month of the time you +left, and said that all Thett's system had disappeared save for one +tremendous gas cloud--mostly hydrogen. Their ships were met by such a +blast of cosmic rays as they came toward Thett that the radiation +pressure made it almost impossible to advance. There were two distinct +waves. One was rather slighter, and was more in the gamma range, so they +suspected that two bodies had been directly destroyed; one small one, +and one large one were reduced completely to cosmics. Your warning to +Sentfenn was taken seriously, and they have vacated all planets near. It +was the force field created when you destroyed Thett that threw you +forward? Where are the others?" + +"Zezdon Afthen and Zezdon Inthel we took home, and dropped in their +power suits, without landing. Stel Felso Theu as well. We will visit +them later." + +"Have you eaten? Then let us eat, and after supper we'll tell you what +little there is to tell." + +"But Arcot," said Morey slowly, "I understand that Dad will be here +soon, so let us wait. And I have something of which I have not spoken to +you as yet. Worked it out and made it on the back trip. Installed in the +_Thought_ with the _Banderlog_'s controls. It is--well, will you +look?--Fuller! Come and see the new toy you designers are going to have +to work on!" + +They had all been depressed by the thought of their long absence, by the +scenes of destruction they had witnessed so recently. They were +beginning to feel better. + +"Watch." Morey's thoughts concentrated. The _Thought_ outside had been +left on locked controls, but the apparatus Morey had installed responded +to his thoughts from this distance. + +Before them in the room appeared a cube that was obviously copper. It +stayed there but a moment, beaming brightly, then there was a snapping +of energies about them--and it dropped to the floor and rang with the +impact! + +"It was not created from the air," said Morey simply. + +"And now," said Arcot, looking at it, "Man can do what never before was +possible. From the nothingness of Space he can make anything. + +"Man alone in this space is Creator and Destroyer. + +"It is a high place. + +"May he henceforth live up to it." + +And he looked out toward the mighty starlit hull that had destroyed a +solar system--and could create another. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Books by JOHN W. CAMPBELL in Ace editions: + + +THE BLACK STAR PASSES + +THE MIGHTIEST MACHINE + +ISLANDS OF SPACE + +THE PLANETEERS & THE ULTIMATE WEAPON + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE*** + + +******* This file should be named 20154-8.txt or 20154-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/5/20154 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Invaders from the Infinite</p> +<p>Author: John Wood Campbell</p> +<p>Release Date: December 20, 2006 [eBook #20154]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/c/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="ifti001" id="ifti001"></a> +<img src="images/ifti001.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1><i>INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE</i></h1> + +<h2>by JOHN W. CAMPBELL</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h4>ACE BOOKS, INC.<br /> +1120 Avenue of the Americas<br /> +New York, N.Y. 10036</h4> + +<h4>Copyright, 1961, by John W. Campbell, Jr.<br /> + +An earlier version Copyright, 1932, by Experimenter Pub. Co.<br /> + +An Ace Book, by arrangement with the Author.<br /> + +All Rights Reserved<br /> + +<i>Cover by Gray Morrow.</i><br /> + +Printed in U.S.A.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE</h2> + +<p>The famous scientific trio of Arcot, Wade and Morey, challenged by the +most ruthless aliens in all the universes, blasted off on an +intergalactic search for defenses against the invaders of Earth and all +her allies.</p> + +<p>World after world was visited, secret after secret unleashed, and turned +to mighty weapons of intense force—and still the Thessian enemy seemed +to grow in power and ferocity.</p> + +<p>Mighty battles between huge space armadas were but skirmishes in the +galactic war, as the invincible aliens savagely advanced and the Earth +team hurled bolt after bolt of pure ravening energy—until it appeared +that the universe itself might end in one final flare of furious +torrential power....</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#Chapter_I">Chapter I--INVADERS</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_II">Chapter II--CANINE PEOPLE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_III">Chapter III--CANINE PEOPLE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_IV">Chapter IV--THE FIRST MOVE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_V">Chapter V--ORTOL</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_VI">Chapter VI--THE SECOND MOVE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_VII">Chapter VII--WORLD 3769-37,478,326,894,6, TALSO</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_VIII">Chapter VIII--UNDEFEATABLE OR UNCONTROLLABLE?</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_IX">Chapter IX--THE IRRESISTIBLE AND THE IMMOVABLE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_X">Chapter X--IMPROVEMENTS AND CALCULATIONS</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XI">Chapter XI--"WRITE OFF THE MAGNET"</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XII">Chapter XII--SIRIUS</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XIII">Chapter XIII--ATTACKED</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XIV">Chapter XIV--INTERGALACTIC SPACE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XV">Chapter XV--ALL-POWERFUL GODS</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XVI">Chapter XVI--HOME AGAIN</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XVII">Chapter XVII--POWER OF MIND</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XVIII">Chapter XVIII--EARTH'S DEFENSES</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XIX">Chapter XIX--THE BATTLE OF EARTH</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XX">Chapter XX--DESTRUCTION</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XXI">Chapter XXI--THE POWER OF "<i>THE THOUGHT</i>"</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XXII">Chapter XXII--THETT</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XXIII">Chapter XXIII--VENONE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XXIV">Chapter XXIV--THETT PREPARES</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XXV">Chapter XXV--WITH GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE</a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XXVI">Chapter XXVI--MAN, CREATOR AND DESTROYER</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Books_by_JOHN_W_CAMPBELL_in_Ace_editions">Books by JOHN W. CAMPBELL in Ace editions:</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a>Chapter I</h2> + +<h3>INVADERS</h3> + + +<p>Russ Evans, Pilot 3497, Rocket Squad Patrol 34, unsnapped his seat belt, +and with a slight push floated "up" into the air inside the weightless +ship. He stretched himself, and yawned broadly.</p> + +<p>"Red, how soon do we eat?" he called.</p> + +<p>"Shut up, you'll wake the others," replied a low voice from the rear of +the swift little patrol ship. "See anything?"</p> + +<p>"Several million stars," replied Evans in a lower voice. "And—" His +tone became suddenly severe. "Assistant Murphy, remember your manners +when addressing your superior officer. I've a mind to report you."</p> + +<p>A flaming head of hair topping a grinning face poked around the edge of +the door. "Lower your wavelength, lower your wavelength! You may think +you're a sun, but you're just a planetoid. But what I'd like to know, +Chief Pilot Russ Evans, is why they locate a ship in a forlorn, out of +the way place like this—three-quarters of a billion miles, out of +planetary plane. No ships ever come out here, no pirates, not a chance +to help a wrecked ship. All we can do is sit here and watch the other +fellows do the work."</p> + +<p>"Which is exactly why we're here. Watch—and tell the other ships where +to go, and when. Is that chow ready?" asked Russ looking at a small +clock giving New York time.</p> + +<p>"Uh—think she'll be on time? Come on an' eat."</p> + +<p>Evans took one more look at the telectroscope screen, then snapped it +off. A tiny, molecular towing unit in his hand, he pointed toward the +door to the combined galley and lunch room, and glided in the wake of +Murphy.</p> + +<p>"How much fuel left?" he asked, as he glided into the dizzily spinning +room. A cylindrical room, spinning at high speed, causing an artificial +"weight" for the foods and materials in it, made eating of food a less +difficult task. Expertly, he maneuvered himself to the guide rail near +the center of the room, and caught the spiral. Braking himself into +motion, he soon glided down its length, and landed on his feet. He bent +and flexed his muscles, waiting for the now-busied assistant to get to +the floor and reply.</p> + +<p>"They gave us two pounds extra. Lord only knows why. Must expect us to +clean up on some fleet. That makes four pound rolls left, untouched, and +two thirds of the original pound. We've been here fifteen days, and have +six more to go. The main driving power rolls have about the same amount +left, and three pound rolls in each reserve bin," replied Red, holding a +curiously moving coffee pot that strove to adjust itself to rapidly +changing air velocities as it neared the center of the room.</p> + +<p>"Sounds like a fleet's power stock. Martian lead or the terrestrial +isotope?" asked Evans, tasting warily a peculiar dish before him. "Say, +this is energy food. I thought we didn't get any more till Saturday." +The change from the energy-less, flavored pastes that made up the +principal bulk of a space-pilot's diet, to prevent over-eating, when no +energy was used in walking in the weightless ship, was indeed a welcome +change.</p> + +<p>"Uh-huh. I got hungry. Any objections?" grinned the Irishman.</p> + +<p>"None!" replied Evans fervently, pitching in with a will.</p> + +<p>Seated at the controls once more, he snapped the little switch that +caused the screen to glow with flashing, swirling colors as the +telectroscope apparatus came to life. A thousand tiny points of flame +appeared scattered on a black field with a suddenness that made them +seem to snap suddenly into being. Points, tiny dimensionless points of +light, save one, a tiny disc of blue-white flame, old Sol from a +distance of close to one billion miles, and under slight reverse +magnification. The skillful hands at the controls were turning +adjustments now, and that disc of flame seemed to leap toward him with a +hundred light-speeds, growing to a disc as large as a dime in an +instant, while the myriad points of the stars seemed to scatter like +frightened chickens, fleeing from the growing sun, out of the screen. +Other points, heretofore invisible, appeared, grew, and rushed away.</p> + +<p>The sun shifted from the center of the screen, and a smaller +reddish-green disc came into view—a planet, its atmosphere coloring the +light that left it toward the red. It rushed nearer, grew larger. Earth +spread as it took the center of the screen. A world, a portion of a +world, a continent, a fragment of a continent as the magnification +increased, boundlessly it seemed.</p> + +<p>Finally, New York spread across the screen; New York seen from the air, +with a strange lack of perspective. The buildings did not seem all to +slant toward some point, but to stand vertical, for, from a distance of +a billion miles, the vision lines were practically parallel. Titanic +shafts of glowing color in the early summer sun appeared; the hot rays +from the sun, now only 82,500,000 miles away, shimmering on the colored +metal walls.</p> + +<p>The new Airlines Building, a mile and a half high, supported at various +points by actual spaceship driving units, was a riot of shifting, +rainbow hues. A new trick in construction had been used here, and Evans +smiled at it. Arcot, inventor of the ship that carried him, had +suggested it to Fuller, designer of that ship, and of that building. The +colored berylium metal of the wall had been ruled with 20,000 lines to +the inch, mere scratches, but nevertheless a diffraction grating. The +result was amazingly beautiful. The sunlight, split up to its rainbow +colors, was reflected in millions of shifting tints.</p> + +<p>In the air, supported by tiny packs strapped to their backs, thousands +of people were moving, floating where they wished, in any direction, at +any elevation. There were none of the helicopters of even five years +ago, now. A molecular power suit was far more convenient, cost nothing +to operate, and but $50 to buy. Perfectly safe, requiring no skill, +everyone owned them. To the watcher in space, they were mere moving, +snaky lines of barely distinguishable dots that shivered and seemed to +writhe in the refractions of the air. Passing over them, seeming to pass +almost through them in this strange perspectiveless view, were the +shadowy forms of giant space liners, titanic streamlined hulls. They +were streamlined for no good reason, save that they looked faster and +more graceful than the more efficient spherical freighters, just as +passenger liners of two centuries earlier, with their steam engines, had +carried four funnels and used two. A space liner spent so minute a +portion of its journey in the atmosphere that it was really inefficient +to streamline them.</p> + +<p>"Won't be long!" muttered Russ, grinning cheerily at the familiar, +sunlit city. His eyes darted to the chronometer beside him. The view +seemed to be taken from a ship that was suddenly scudding across the +heavens like a frightened thing, as it ran across from Manhattan Island, +followed the Hudson for a short way, then cut across into New Jersey, +swinging over the great woodland area of Kittatiny Park, resting finally +on the New Jersey suburb of New York nestled in the Kittatinies, +Blairtown. Low apartment buildings, ten or twelve stories high, nestled +in the waving green of trees in the old roadways. When ground traffic +ceased, the streets had been torn up, and parkways substituted.</p> + +<p>Quickly the view singled out a single apartment, and the great smooth +roof was enlarged on the screen to the absolute maximum clarity, till +further magnification simply resulted in worse stratospheric distortion. +On the broad roof were white strips of some material, making a huge V +followed by two I's. Russ watched, his hand on the control steadying the +view under the Earth's complicated orbital motion, and rotation, further +corrections for the ship's orbital motion making the job one requiring +great skill. The view held the center with amazing clarity. Something +seemed to be happening to the last of the I's. It crumpled suddenly, +rolled in on itself and disappeared.</p> + +<p>"She's there, and on time," grinned Russ happily.</p> + +<p>He tried more magnification. Could he—</p> + +<p>He was tired, terribly, suddenly tired. He took his hands from the +viewplate controls, relaxed, and dropped off to sleep.</p> + +<p>"What made me so tired—wonder—GOD!" He straightened with a jerk, and +his hands flew to the controls. The view on the machine suddenly +retreated, flew back with a velocity inconceivable. Earth dropped away +from the ship with an apparent velocity a thousand times that of light; +it was a tiny ball, a pinpoint, gone, the sun—a minute disc—gone—then +the apparatus was flashing views into focus from the other side of the +ship. The assistant did not reply. Evans' hands were growing ineffably +heavy, his whole body yearned for sleep. Slowly, clumsily he pawed for a +little stud. Somehow his hand found it, and the ship reeled suddenly, +little jerks, as the code message was flung out in a beam of such +tremendous power that the sheer radiation pressure made it noticeable. +Earth would be notified. The system would be warned. But light, slow +crawling thing, would take hours to cross the gulf of space, and radio +travels no faster.</p> + +<p>Half conscious, fighting for his faculties with all his will, the pilot +turned to the screen. A ship! A strange, glistening thing streamlined to +the nth degree, every spare corner rounded till the resistance was at +the irreducible minimum. But, in the great pilotport of the stranger, +the patrol pilot saw faces, and gasped in surprise as he saw them! +Terrible faces, blotched, contorted. Patches of white skin, patches of +brown, patches of black, blotched and twisted across the faces. Long, +lean faces, great wide flat foreheads above, skulls strangely squared, +more box-like than man's rounded skull. The ears were large, pointed +tips at the top. Their hair was a silky mane that extended low over the +forehead, and ran back, spreading above the ears, and down the neck.</p> + +<p>Then, as that emotion of surprise and astonishment weakened his will +momentarily, oblivion came, with what seemed a fleeting instant of +memories. His life seemed to flash before his mind in serried rank, a +file of events, his childhood, his life, his marriage, his wife, an +image of smiling comfort, then the years, images of great and near great +men, his knowledge of history, pictures of great war of 2074, pictures +of the attackers of the Black Star—then calm oblivion, quiet blankness.</p> + +<p>The long, silent ship that had hovered near him turned, and pointed +toward the pinhead of matter that glowed brilliantly in the flaming +jewel box of the heavens. It was gone in an instant, rushing toward Sun +and Earth at a speed that outraced the flying radio message, leaving the +ship of the Guard Patrol behind, and leaving the Pilot as he leaves our +story.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a>Chapter II</h2> + +<h3>CANINE PEOPLE</h3> + + +<p>"And that," said Arcot between puffs, "will certainly be a great boon to +the Rocket Patrol, you must admit. They don't like dueling with these +space-pirates using the molecular rays, and since molecular rays have +such a tremendous commercial value, we can't prohibit the sale of ray +apparatus. Now, if you will come into the 'workshop,' Fuller, I'll give +a demonstration with friend Morey's help."</p> + +<p>The four friends rose, Morey, Wade and Fuller following Arcot into his +laboratory on the thirty-seventh floor of the Arcot Research Building. +As they went, Arcot explained to Fuller the results and principles of +the latest product of the ingenuity of the "Triumvirate," as Arcot, +Morey and Wade had come to be called in the news dispatches.</p> + +<p>"As you know, the molecular rays make all the molecules of any piece of +matter they are turned upon move in the desired direction. Since they +supply no new energy, but make the body they are turned upon supply its +own, using the energy of its own random molecular motion of heat, they +are practically impossible to stop. The energy necessary for molecular +rays to take effect is so small that the usual type of filter lets +enough of it pass. A ship equipped with filters is no better off when +attacked than one without. The rays simply drove the front end into the +rear, or <i>vice versa</i>, or tore it to pieces as the pirates desired. The +Rocket Patrol could kill off the pirates, but they lost so many men in +the process, it was a Phyrric victory.</p> + +<p>"For some time Morey and I have been working on something to stop the +rays. Obviously it can't be by means of any of the usual metallic energy +absorption screens.</p> + +<p>"We finally found a combination of rays, better frequencies, that did +what we wanted. I have such an apparatus here. What we want you to do, +of course, is the usual job of rearranging the stuff so that the +apparatus can be made from dies, and put into quantity production. As +the Official Designer for the A.A.L. you ought to do that easily." Arcot +grinned as Fuller looked in amazement at the apparatus Arcot had picked +up from the bench in the "workshop."</p> + +<p>"Don't get worried," laughed Morey, "that's got a lifting unit +combined—just a plain ordinary molecular lift such as you see by the +hundreds out there." Morey pointed through the great window where +thousands of those lift units were carrying men, women and children +through the air, lifting them hundreds, thousands of feet above the +streets and through the doors of buildings.</p> + +<p>"Here's an ordinary molecular pistol. I'm going to put the suit on, and +rise about five feet off the floor. You can turn the pistol on me, and +see what impression it makes on the suit."</p> + +<p>Fuller took the molecular ray pistol, while Wade helped Arcot into the +suit. He looked at the pistol dubiously, pointed it at a heavy casting +of iron resting in one corner of the room, and turned the ray at low +concentration, then pressed the trigger-button. The casting gave out a +low, scrunching grind, and slid toward him with a lurch. Instantly he +shut off the power. "This isn't any ordinary pistol. It's got seven or +eight times the ordinary power!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I forgot," Morey said. "Instead of the fuel battery that the +early pistols used, this has a space-distortion power coil. This pistol +has as much power as the usual A-39 power unit for commercial work."</p> + +<p>By the time Morey had explained the changes to Fuller, Arcot had the +suit on, and was floating five or six feet in the air, like a grotesque +captive balloon. "Ready, Fuller?"</p> + +<p>"I guess so, but I certainly hope that suit is all it is claimed to be. +If it isn't—well I'd rather not commit murder."</p> + +<p>"It'll work," said Arcot. "I'll bet my neck on that!" Suddenly he was +surrounded by the faintest of auras, a strange, wavering blue light, +like the hazy corona about a 400,000-volt power line. "Now try it."</p> + +<p>Fuller pointed the pistol at the floating man and pushed the trigger. +The brilliant blue beam of the molecular ray, and the low hum of the +air, rushing in the path of the director beam, stabbed out toward Arcot. +The faint aura about him was suddenly intensified a million times till +he floated in a ball of blue-white fire. Scarcely visible, the air about +him blazed with bluish incandescence of ionization.</p> + +<p>"Increase the power," suggested Morey. Fuller turned on more power. The +blue halo was shot through with tiny violet sparks, the sharp odor of +ozone in the air was stifling; the heat of wasted energy was making the +room hotter. The power increased further, and the tiny sparks were +waving streamers, that laced across the surface of the blue fire. Little +jets of electric flame reached out along the beam of the ray now. +Finally, as full power of the molecular ray was reached, the entire halo +was buried under a mass of writhing sparks that seemed to leap up into +the air above the man's head, wavering up to extinction. The room was +unbearably hot, despite the molecular ray coolers absorbing the heat of +the air, and blowing cooled air into the room.</p> + +<p>Fuller snapped off the ray, and put the pistol on the table beside him. +The halo died, and went out a moment later, and Arcot settled to the +floor.</p> + +<p>"This particular suit will stand up against anything the ordinary +commercial sets will give. The system now: remember that the rays are +short electrical waves. The easiest way to stop them is to interpose a +wave of opposite phase, and cause interference. Fine, but try to get in +tune with an unknown wave when it is moving in relation to your center +of control. It is impossible to do it before you yourself have been +rayed out of existence. We must use some system that will automatically, +instantly be out of phase.</p> + +<p>"The Hall effect would naturally tend to make the frequency of a wave +through a resisting medium change, and lengthen. If we can send out a +spherical wave front, and have it lengthen rapidly as it proceeds, we +will have a wave front that is, at all points, different. Any entering +wave would, sooner or later, meet a wave that was half a phase out, no +matter what the motion was, nor what the frequency, as long as it lies +within the comparatively narrow molecular wave band. What this +apparatus, or ray screen, consists of, is a machine generating a +spherical wave front of the nature of a molecular wave, but of just too +great a frequency to do anything. A second part generates a condition in +space, which opposes that wave. After traveling a certain distance, the +wave has lengthened to molecular wave type, but is now beyond the +machine which generated it, and no longer affects it, or damages it. +However, as it proceeds, it continues to lengthen, till eventually it +reaches the length of infra-light, when the air quickly absorbs it, as +it reaches one of the absorption bands for air molecular waves, and any +molecular wave must find its half-wave complement somewhere in that +wedge of waves. It does, and is at once choked off, its energy fighting +the energy of the ray screen, of course. In the air, however, the screen +is greatly helped by the fact that before the half-wave frequency is met +in the ray-wedge, the molecular ray is buried in ions, leaving the ray +screen little work to do.</p> + +<p>"Now your job is to design the apparatus in a form that machines can +make automatically. We tried doing it ourselves for the fun of it, but +we couldn't see how we could make a machine that didn't need at least +two humans to supervise."</p> + +<p>"Well," grinned Fuller, "you have it all over me as scientists, but as +economic workers—two human supervisors to make one product!"</p> + +<p>"All right—we agree. But no, let's see you—Lord! What was that?" Morey +started for the door on the run. The building was still trembling from +the shock of a heavy blow, a blow that seemed much as though a machine +had been wrecked on the armored roof, and a big machine at that. Arcot, +a flying suit already on, was up in the air, and darting past Morey in +an instant, streaking for the vertical shaft that would let him out to +the roof. The molecular ray pistol was already in his hand, ready to +pull any beams off unfortunate victims pinned under them.</p> + +<p>In a moment he had flashed up through the seven stories, and out to the +roof. A gigantic silvery machine rested there, streamlined to +perfection, its hull dazzingly beautiful in the sunlight. A door opened, +and three tall, lean men stepped from it. Already people were collecting +about the ship, flying up from below. Air patrolmen floated up in a +minute, and seeing Arcot, held the crowd back.</p> + +<p>The strange men were tall, eight feet or more in height. Great, round, +soft brown eyes looked in curiosity at the towering multicolored +buildings, at the people floating in the air, at the green trees and the +blue sky, the yellowish sun.</p> + +<p>Arcot looked at their strangely blotched and mottled heads, faces, arms +and hands. Their feet were very long and narrow, their legs long and +thin. Their faces were kindly; the mottled skin, brown and white and +black, seemed not to make them ugly. It was not a disfigurement; it +seemed oddly familiar and natural in some reminiscent way.</p> + +<p>"Lord, Arcot—queer specimens, yet they seem familiar!" said Morey in an +undertone.</p> + +<p>"They are. Their race is that of man's first and best friend, the dog! +See the brown eyes? The typical teeth? The feet still show the traces of +the dog's toe-step. Their nails, not flat like human ones but rounded? +The mottled skin, the ears—look, one is advancing."</p> + +<p>One of the strangers walked laboriously forward. A lighter world than +Earth was evidently his home. His great brown eyes fixed themselves on +Arcot's. Arcot watched them. They seemed to expand, grow larger; they +seemed to fill all the sky. Hypnotism! He concentrated his mind, and the +eyes suddenly contracted to the normal eyes of the stranger. The man +reeled back, as Arcot's telepathic command to sleep came, stronger than +his own will. The stranger's friends caught him, shook him, but he +slept. One of the others looked at Arcot; his eyes seemed hurt, +desperately pleading.</p> + +<p>Arcot strode forward, and quickly brought the man out of the trance. He +shook his head, smiled at Arcot, then, with desperate difficulty, he +enunciated some words in English, terribly distorted.</p> + +<p>"Ahy wizz tahk. Vokle kohds ron. Tahk by breen."</p> + +<p>Distorted as it was, Arcot recognized the meaning without difficulty. "I +wish (to) talk. Vocal cords wrong. Talk by brain." He switched to +communication by the Venerian method, telepathically, but without +hypnotism.</p> + +<p>"Good enough. When you attempted to hypnotize me, I didn't known what +you wanted. It is not necessary to hypnotize to carry on communication +by the method of the second world of this system. What brings you to our +system? From what system do you come? What do you wish to say?"</p> + +<p>The other, not having learned the Venerian system, had great difficulty +in communicating his thoughts, but Arcot learned that they had machines +which would make it easier, and the terrestrian invited them into his +laboratory, for the crowd was steadily growing.</p> + +<p>The three returned to their ship for a moment, coming out with several +peculiar headsets. Almost at once the ship started to rise, going up +more and more swiftly, as the people cleared a way for it.</p> + +<p>Then, in the tiniest fraction of a second, the ship was gone; it shrank +to a point, and was invisible in the blue vault of the sky.</p> + +<p>"Apparently they intend to stay a while," said Wade. "They are trusting +souls, for their line of retreat is cut off. We naturally have no +intention of harming them, but they can't know that."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure," said Arcot. He turned to the apparent leader of the +three and explained that there were several stories to descend, and +stairs were harder than a flying unit. "Wrap your arms about my legs, +when I rise above you, and hold on till your feet are on the floor +again," he concluded.</p> + +<p>The stranger walked a little closer to the edge of the shaft, and looked +down. White bulbs illuminated its walls down its length to the ground. +The man talked rapidly to his friends, looking with evident distaste at +the shaft, and the tiny pack on Arcot's back. Finally, smiling, he +evinced his willingness. Arcot rose, the man grasped his legs, and then +both rose. Over the shaft, and down to his laboratory was the work of a +moment.</p> + +<p>Arcot led them into his "consultation room," where a number of +comfortable chairs were arranged, facing each other. He seated them +together, and his own friends facing them.</p> + +<p>"Friends of another world," began Arcot, "we do not know your errand +here, but you evidently have good reason for coming to this place. It is +unlikely that your landing was the result of sheer chance. What brought +you? How came you to this point?"</p> + +<p>"It is difficult for me to reply. First we must be <i>en rapport</i>. Our +system is not simple as yours, but more effective, for yours depends on +thought ideas, not altogether universal. Place these on your heads, for +only a moment. I must induce temporary hypnotic coma. Let one try first +if you desire." The leader of the visitors held out one of the several +headsets they had brought, caplike things, made of laminated metal +apparently.</p> + +<p>Arcot hesitated, then with a grin slipped it on.</p> + +<p>"Relax," came a voice in Arcot's head, a low, droning voice, a voice of +command. "Sleep," it added. Arcot felt himself floating down an infinite +shaft, on some superflying suit that did not pull at him with its +straps, just floating down lightly, down and down and down. Suddenly he +reached the bottom, and found to his surprise that it led directly into +the room again! He was back. "You are awake. Speak!" came the voice.</p> + +<p>Arcot shook himself, and looked about. A new voice spoke now, not the +tonelessly melodious voice, but the voice of an individual, yet a mental +voice. It was perfectly clear, and perfectly comprehensible. "We have +traveled far to find you, and now we have business of the utmost import. +Ask these others to let us treat them, for we must do what we can in the +least possible time. I will explain when all can understand. I am Zezdon +Fentes, First Student of Thought. He who sits on my right is Zezdon +Afthen, and he beyond him, is Zezdon Inthel, of Physics and of +Chemistry, respectively."</p> + +<p>And now Arcot spoke to his friends.</p> + +<p>"These men have something of the greatest importance to tell us, it +seems. They want us all to hear, and they are in a hurry. The treatment +isn't at all annoying. Try it. The man on the extreme right, as we face +them, is Zezdon Fentes of Thought, Zezdon apparently meaning something +like professor, or 'First Student of.' Those next him are Zezdon Afthen +of Physics and Zezdon Inthel of Chemistry."</p> + +<p>Zezdon Afthen offered them the headsets, and in a moment everyone +present was wearing one. The process of putting them <i>en rapport</i> took +very little time, and shortly all were able to communicate with ease.</p> + +<p>"Friends of Earth, we must tell our strange story quickly for the +benefit of your world as well as ours, and others, too. We cannot so +much as annoy. We are helpless to combat them.</p> + +<p>"Our world lies far out across the galaxy; even with incalculable +velocity of the great swift thing that bore us, three long months have +we traveled toward your distant worlds, hoping that at last the Invaders +might meet their masters.</p> + +<p>"We landed on this roof because we examined mentally the knowledge of a +pilot of one of your patrol ships. His mind told us that here we would +find the three greatest students of Science of this Solar System. So it +was here we came for help.</p> + +<p>"Our race has arisen," he continued, "as you have so surely determined +from the race you call canines. It was artificially produced by the +Ancient Masters when their hour of need had come. We have lost the great +science of the Ancient Ones. But we have developed a different science, +a science of the mind."</p> + +<p>"Dogs are far more psychic than are men. They would naturally tend to +develop such a civilization," said Arcot judiciously.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a>Chapter III</h2> + +<h3>A QUARTER OF A MILLION LIGHT YEARS</h3> + + +<p>"Our civilization," continued Zezdon Afthen, "is built largely on the +knowledge of the mind. We cannot have criminals, for the man who plots +evil is surely found out by his thoughts. We cannot have lying +politicians and unjust rulers.</p> + +<p>"It is a peaceful civilization. The Ancient Masters feared and hated War +with a mighty aversion. But they did not make our race cowards, merely +peaceful intelligence. Now we must fight for our homes, and my race will +fight mightily. But we need weapons.</p> + +<p>"But my story has little to do with our race. I will tell the story of +our civilization and of the Ancient Ones later when the time is more +auspicious.</p> + +<p>"Four months ago, our mental vibration instruments detected powerful +emanations from space. That could only mean that a new, highly +intelligent race had suddenly appeared within a billion miles of our +world. The directional devices quickly spotted it as emanating from the +third planet of our system. Zezdon Fentes, with my aid, set up some +special apparatus, which would pick up strong thoughts and make them +visible. We had used this before to see not only what an enemy +looked upon, but also what he saw in that curious thing, the eye +of the mind, the vision of the past and the future. But while the +thought-amplification device was powerful, the new emanations were hard +to separate from each other.</p> + +<p>"It was done finally, when all but one man slept. That one we were +enable to tune sharply to. After that we could reach him at any time. He +was the commander. We saw him operate the ship, we saw the ship, saw it +glide over the barren, rocky surface of that world. We saw other men +come in and go out. They were strange men. Short, squat, bulky men. +Their arms were short and stocky. But their strength was enormous, +unbelievable. We saw them bend solid bars of steel as thick as my arm. +With perfect ease!</p> + +<p>"Their brains were tremendously active, but they were evil, selfishly +evil. Nothing that did not benefit them counted. At one time our +instruments went dead, and we feared that the commander had detected us, +but we saw what happened a little later. The second in command had +killed him.</p> + +<p>"We saw them examine the world, working their way across it, wearing +heavy suits, yet, for all the terrific gravity of that world, bouncing +about like rubber balls, leaping and jumping where they wanted. Their +legs would drive out like pistons, and they soared up and through the +air.</p> + +<p>"They were tired while they made those examinations, and slept heavily +at night.</p> + +<p>"Then one night there was a conference. We saw then what they intended. +Before we had tried desperately to signal them. Now we were glad that we +had failed.</p> + +<p>"We saw their ship rise (in the thoughts of the second in command) and +sail out into space, and rush toward our world. The world grew larger, +but it was imperfectly sketched in, for they did not know our world +well. Their telescopes did not have great power as your electric +telescopes have.</p> + +<p>"We saw them investigate the planet. We saw them plan to destroy any +people they found with a ray which was as follows: 'the ray which makes +all parts move as one.' We could not understand and could not interpret. +Thoughts beyond our knowledge have, of course, no meaning, even when our +mental amplifiers get them, and bring them to us."</p> + +<p>"The Molecular ray!" gasped Morey in surprise. "They will be an enemy."</p> + +<p>"You know it! It is familiar to you! You have it? You can fight it?" +asked Zezdon Afthen excitedly.</p> + +<p>"We know it, and can fight it, if that is all they have."</p> + +<p>"They have more—much more I fear," replied Zezdon Afthen. "At any rate, +we saw what they intended. If our world was inhabited, they would +destroy every one on it, and then other men of their race were to float +in on their great ships, and settle on that largest of our worlds.</p> + +<p>"We had to stop them so we did what we could. We had powerful machines, +which would amplify and broadcast our thoughts. So we broadcast our +thought-waves, and implanted in the mind of their leader that it would +be wise to land, and learn the extent of the civilization, and the +weapons to be met. Also, as the ship drew nearer, we made him decide on +a certain spot we had prepared for him.</p> + +<p>"He never guessed that the thoughts were not his own. Only the ideas +came to him, seeming to spring from his own mind.</p> + +<p>"He landed—and we used our one weapon. It was a thing left to one group +of rulers when the Ancient Masters left us to care for ourselves. What +it was, we never knew; we had never used it in the fifteen thousand +years since the Great Masters had passed—never had to. But now it was +brought out, and concealed behind great piles of rock in a deep canyon +where the ship of the enemy would land. When it landed, we turned the +beam of the machine on it, and the apparatus rotated it swiftly, and a +cone of the beam's ray was formed as the beam was swung through a small +circle in the vertical plane. The machine leaped backward, and though it +was so massive that a tremendous amount of labor had been required to +bring it there, the push of the pencil of force we sent out hurled it +back against a rocky cliff behind it as though it were some child's toy. +It continued to operate for perhaps a second, perhaps two. In that time +two great holes had been cut in the enemy ship, holes fifteen feet +across, that ran completely through the hull as though a die had cut +through the metal of the ship, cutting out a disc of metal.</p> + +<p>"There was a terrific concussion, and a roar as the air blasted out of +the ship. It did not take us long to discover that the enemy were dead. +Their terrible, bloated corpses lay everywhere in the ship. Most of the +men we were able to recognize, having seen them in the mentovisor. But +the colors were distorted, and their forms were peculiar. Indeed, the +whole ship seemed strange. The only time that things ever did seem +normal about that strange thing, when the angles of it seemed what they +were, when the machines did not seem out of proportion, out of shape, +twisted, was when on a trial trip we ventured very close to our sun."</p> + +<p>Arcot whistled softly and looked at Morey. Morey nodded. "Probably +right. Don't interrupt."</p> + +<p>"That you thought something, I understood, but the thoughts themselves +were hopelessly unintelligible to me. You know the explanation?" asked +Zezdon Afthen eagerly.</p> + +<p>"We think so. The ship was evidently made on a world of huge size. Those +men, their stocky, block legs and arms, their entire build and their +desire for the largest of your planets, would indicate that. Their own +world was probably even larger—they were forced to wear pressure suits +even on that large world, and could jump all over, you said. On so huge +a sphere as their native world seems to be, the gravity would be so +intense as to distort space. Geometry, such as yours seems to be, and +such as ours was, could never be developed, for you assume the existence +of a straight line, and of an absolute plane surface. These things +cannot exist in space, but on small worlds, far from the central sun's +mass, the conditions approach that without sufficient discrepency to +make the error obvious. On so huge a globe as their world the space is +so curved that it is at once obvious that no straight line exists, and +that no plane exists. Their geometry would never be like ours. When you +went close to your sun, the attraction was sufficient to curve space +into a semblance of the natural conditions on their home planet, then +your senses and the ship met a compromise condition which made it seem +more or less normal, not so obviously strange to you.</p> + +<p>"But continue." Arcot looked at Afthen interestedly.</p> + +<p>"There were none left in their ship now, and we had been careful in +locating the first hole, that it should not damage the propulsive +machinery. The second hole was accidental, due to the shift of the +machine. The machine itself was wrecked now, crushed by its own +reaction. We forgot that any pencil of force powerful enough to do what +we wanted, would tear the machine from its moorings unless fastened with +great steel bolts into the solid rock.</p> + +<p>"The second hole had been far to the rear, and had, by ill-luck, cut out +a portion of the driving apparatus. We could not repair that, though we +did succeed at last in lifting the great discs into place. We attempted +to cut them, and put them back in sections. Our finest saws and machines +did not nick them. Their weight was unbelievable, and yet we finally +succeeded in lifting the things into the wall of the ship. The actual +missing material did not represent more than a tiny cut, perhaps as wide +as one of your credit-discs. You could slip the thin piece of metal in +between them, but not so much as your finger.</p> + +<p>"Those slots we welded tight with our best steel, letting a flap hang +over on each side of the cut, and as the hot metal cooled, it was drawn +against the shining walls with terrific force. The joints were perfectly +airtight.</p> + +<p>"The machines proper were repaired to the greatest possible extent. It +was a heartbreaking task, for we must only guess at what machines should +be connected together. Much damage had been done by the rushing air as +it left, for it filled the machines, too, and they were not designed to +resist the terrific air pressure that was on them when the pressure in +the ship escaped. Many of the machines had been burst open, and these we +could repair when we had the necessary elements and knew their +construction from the remnants, or could find unbroken duplicates in the +stock rooms.</p> + +<p>"Once we connected the wrong things. This will show you what we dealt +with. They were the wrong poles—two generators, connected together in +the wrong way. There was a terrific crash when the switch was thrown, +and huge sheets of electric flame leaped from one of them. Two men were +killed, incinerated in an instant, even the odors one might expect were +killed in that flash of heat. Everything save the shining metal and +clear glass within ten feet of it was instantly wiped out. And there was +a fuse link that gave. The generator was ruined. One was left, and +several small auxiliary generators.</p> + +<p>"Eventually, we did the job. We made the machine work. And we are here.</p> + +<p>"We have come to warn you, and to ask aid. Your system also has a large +planet, slightly smaller than the largest of our system, but yet +attractive. There are approximately 50,000 planetary systems in this +universe, according to the records of the Invaders. Their world is not +of this system. It is the World Thett, sun Antseck, Universe Venone. +Where that is, or even what it means, we do not know. Perhaps you +understand.</p> + +<p>"But they investigated your world, and its address, according to their +records, was World 3769-8482730-3. This, I believe, means, Universe +3769, sun 8482730, world 3. They have been investigating this system now +for nearly three centuries. It was close to 200 years ago that they +visited your world—two hundred years of your time."</p> + +<p>"This is 2129—which makes it about the year 1929-30 that they floated +around here investigating. Why haven't they done anything?" Arcot asked +him.</p> + +<p>"They waited for an auspicious time. They are afraid now, for recently +they visited your world, and were utterly amazed to find the +unbelievable progress your people have made. They intend to make an +immediate attack on all worlds known to be intelligently populated. They +had made the mistake of letting one race learn too much; they cannot +afford to let it happen again.</p> + +<p>"There are only twenty-one inhabited worlds known, and their thousands +of scouts have already investigated nearly all the central mass of this +universe, and much of the outer rings. They have established a base in +this universe. Where I do not know. That, alone, was never mentioned in +the records. But of all peoples, they feared only your world.</p> + +<p>"There is one race in the universe far older than yours, but they are a +sleeping people. Long ago their culture decayed. Still, now they are not +far from you, and perhaps it will be worth the few days needed to learn +more about them. We have their location and can take you there. Their +world circles a dead star—"</p> + +<p>"Not any more," laughed Morey grimly. "That's another surprise for the +enemy. They had a little jog, and they certainly are wide awake now. +They are headed for big things, and they are going to do a lot."</p> + +<p>"But how do you know these things? You have ships that can go from +planet to planet, I know, but the records of the enemy said you could +not leave the system of your sun. They alone knew that secret."</p> + +<p>"Another surprise for them," said Morey. "We can—and we can move faster +than your ship, if not faster than they. The people of the dead star +have moved to a very live star—Sirius, the brightest in our heavens. +And they are as much alive now as their new sun. They can move faster +than light, also. We had a little misunderstanding a while back, when +their star passed close to ours. They came off second best, and we +haven't spoken to them since. But I think we can make valuable allies +there."</p> + +<p>For all Morey's jocular manner, he realized the terrible import of this +announcement. A race which had been able to cross the vast gulf of +intergalactic space in the days when Terrestrians were still developing +the airplane—and already they had mapped Jupiter, and planned their +colonies! What developments had come? They had molecular rays, cosmic +rays, the energy of matter, then—what else had they now? Lux and Relux, +the two artificial metals, made of solidified light, far stronger than +anything of molecular structure in nature, absolutely infusible, totally +inert chemically, one a perfect conductor of light and of all radiation +in space, the other a perfect reflector of all radiations—save +molecular rays. Made into the condition of reflection by the action of +special frequencies in its formation from light, molecular frequencies +were, unfortunately, able to convert it into perfectly transparent lux +metal, when the protective value was gone.</p> + +<p>They had that. All Earth had, perhaps.</p> + +<p>"There was one other race of some importance, the others were +semi-civilized. They rated us in a position between these races and the +high races—yours, those of the dead star, and those of world +3769-37:478:326:894-6. Our science had been investigated two hundred or +so years ago.</p> + +<p>"This other race was at a great distance from us, greater than yours, +and apparently not feared as greatly as yours. They cannot cross to +other worlds, save in small ships driven solely by fire, which the +Thessians have called a 'hopelessly inefficient and laughably awkward +thing to ride in.'"</p> + +<p>"Rockets," grinned Morey. "Our first ship was part rocket."</p> + +<p>Zezdon Fentes smiled. "But that is all. We have brought you warning, and +our plea. Can you help us?"</p> + +<p>"We cannot answer that. The Interplanetary Council must act. But I am +afraid that it will be all we can do to protect our own world if this +enemy attacks soon, and I fear they will. Since they have a base in this +universe, it is impossible to believe that all ships did not report back +to the home world at stated intervals. That one is missing will soon be +discovered, and it will be sought. War will start at once. Three months +it took you to reach us—they should come soon.</p> + +<p>"Those men who left will be on their way back from the home world from +which they came. What do you call your planet, friend?"</p> + +<p>"Ortol is our home," replied Zezdon Inthel.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, I can only assure you that your world will be given +weapons that will permit your people to defend themselves and I will get +you to your home within twenty-four hours. Your ship—is it in the +system?"</p> + +<p>"It waits on the second satellite of the fourth planet," replied Zezdon +Afthen.</p> + +<p>"Signal them, and tell them to land where a beacon of intense light, +alternating red and blue, reaches up from—this point on the map." Arcot +pointed out the spot in Vermont where their private lake and laboratory +were.</p> + +<p>He turned to the others, and in rapid-fire English, explained his plans. +"We need the help of these people as much as they need ours. I think +Zezdon Fentes will stay here and help you. The others will go with us to +their world. There we shall have plenty of work to do, but on the way we +are going to stop at Mars and pick up that valuable ship of theirs and +make a careful examination for possible new weapons, their system of +speed-drive, and their regular space-drive. I'm willing to make a bet +right now, that I can guess both. Their regular drive is a molecular +drive with lead disintegration apparatus for the energy, cosmic ray +absorbers for the heating, and a drive much like ours. Their speed drive +is a time distortion apparatus, I'll wager. Time distinction offers an +easy solution of speed. All speed is relative—relative to other bodies, +but also to time-speed. But we'll see.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to hustle some workmen to installing the biggest spare power +board I can get into the storerooms of the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, and pack +in a ray-screen. It will be useful. Let's move."</p> + +<p>"Our ship," said Zezdon Afthen, "will land in three of your hours."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a>Chapter IV</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST MOVE</h3> + + +<p>The Ortolians were standing on a low, green-clad hill. Below them +stretched the green flank of the little rise, and beyond lay ridge after +ridge of the broad, smooth carpet of the beautiful Vermont hills.</p> + +<p>"Man of Earth," said Zezdon Afthen, turning at last to Wade, who stood +behind him. "It took us three months of constant flight at a speed +unthinkable, through space dotted with the titanic gems of the Outer +Dark, stars gleaming in red, and blue and orange, some titanic +lighthouses of our course, others dim pinpoints of glowing color. It was +a scene of unspeakable grandeur, but it was so awesomely mighty in its +scope, one was afraid, and his soul shriveled within him as he looked at +those inconceivable masses floating forever alone in the silence of the +inconceivable nothingness of eternal cold and eternal darkness. One was +awed, suppressed by their sheer magnitude. A magnificent spectacle +truly, but one no man could love.</p> + +<p>"Now we are at rest on a tiny pinpoint of dust in a tiny bit of a tiny +corner of an isolated universe, and the magnitude and stillness is gone. +Only the chirpings of those strange birds as they seek rest in darkness, +the soft gurgling of the little stream below, and the rustle of +countless leaves, break the silence with a satisfying existence, while +the loneliness of that great star, your sun, is lost in its tintings of +soft color, the fleeciness of the clouds, and the seeming companionship +of green hills.</p> + +<p>"The beauty of boundless space is awe-inspiring in its magnitude. The +beauty of Earth is something man can love.</p> + +<p>"Man of Earth, you have a home that you may well fight for with all the +strength of your arms, all the forces of your brain, and all the +energies of Space that you can call forth to aid you. It is a wondrous +world." Silently he stood in the gathering dusk, as first Venus winked +into being, then one by one the stars came into existence in the +deepening color of the sky.</p> + +<p>"Space is awesomely wonderful; this is—lovable." He gazed long at the +heavens of this world so strange, so beautiful to him, looking at the +unfamiliar heavens, as star after star flashed into the constellations +so familiar to terrestrians and to those Venerians who had been above +the clouds of Venus' eternal shroud.</p> + +<p>"But somewhere off there in space are other races, and far beyond the +power of our eyes to see is the star that is the sun of my world, and +around it circles that little globe that is home to me. What is +happening there now? Does it still exist? Are there people still living +on it? Oh, Man of Earth, let us reach that world quickly, you cannot +guess the pangs that attack me, for if it be destroyed, think—forever I +am without home—without friends I knew. However kind your people may be +to me, I would be forever lonely.</p> + +<p>"I will not think of that—only it is time your ship was ready, is it +not?"</p> + +<p>"I think we had better return," replied Wade softly, his English words +rousing thoughts in his mind intelligible to the Ortolians.</p> + +<p>The three rose in the air on the molecular suits and drove quickly down +toward the blue gem of the lake to the east, nestled among still other +green hills. Lights were showing in the great shop, where the <i>Ancient +Mariner</i> was being fitted with the ray-shields, and all possible +weapons. Men streaming through her were hastily stocking her with vast +quantities of foods, stocks of fuel, all the spare parts they could cram +into her stock rooms.</p> + +<p>When the men arrived from the hilltop, the work was practically done, +and Wade stepped up to Morey, busily checking off a list of required +items.</p> + +<p>"Everything you ordered came through?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes—thanks to the pull of a two-billion dollar private fortune. Who +says credit-units don't have their value? This expedition never would +have gotten through, if it hadn't been for that.</p> + +<p>"But we have the main space distortion power bank, and the new auxiliary +coils full. Ten tons of lead aboard for fuel. There's one thing we are +afraid of. If the enemy have a system of tubes that is able to handle +more power than our last tube—we're sunk. These brilliant people that +suggest using more tubes to a ray-power bank forget the last tube has to +handle the entire output of all the others, and modulate it correctly. +If the enemy has a better tube—it will be too bad for us." Morey was +frankly worried.</p> + +<p>"My end is all set, Morey. How soon will you be ready?" Arcot asked.</p> + +<p>"'Bout ten-fifteen minutes." Morey lit a cigarette and watched as the +last of the stuff was carried aboard.</p> + +<p>At last they were ready. The <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, originally built for +intergalactic exploration, was kept in working condition. New apparatus +had been incorporated in it, as their research had led to improvements, +and it was constantly in condition, ready for a trip. Many exploration +trips to the nearer stars had already been made.</p> + +<p>The ship was backed out from the hangar now, and rested on the great +smooth landing field, its tremendous quarter million ton mass of lux and +relux sinking a great, smooth depression in the turf of the field. They +were waiting now for the arrival of the Ortolian ship. Zezdon Afthen +assured them it would be there in a few minutes.</p> + +<p>High in the sky, came the whining whistle of an approaching ship, coming +at terrific velocity. It came nearer the field, darting toward the +ground at an unheard of speed, flashing down at a speed of well over +three thousand miles an hour, and, only in the last fifty feet slowed +with a sickening deceleration. Even so it landed with a crash of fully +two hundred miles of speed. Arcot gasped at the terrible landing the +pilot had made, fully expecting to see the great hull dent somewhat, +even though made of solid relux. And certainly the jar would kill every +man on board. Yet the hull did not seem harmed by the crash, and even +the ground under the ship was but slightly disturbed, though, at a +distance of some thirty feet, the entire block of soil was crushed, and +cracked by the terrific impact of hundreds of thousands of tons striking +with terrific energy.</p> + +<p>"Lord, it's a wonder they didn't kill themselves. I never saw such a +rotten landing," exclaimed Morey with disgust.</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure. I think they landed gently, and at very low speed. +Notice how little the soil directly under them was dented?" replied +Arcot, walking forward. "They have time control, as I suspected. Ask +them. They drifted in gently. Their time rate was speeded up +tremendously, so that what was hundreds of miles per hour to us was feet +per minute to them. But come on, get the handlers to bring that junk up +to the door—they are coming out."</p> + +<p>One of the tall, kindly-faced canine people was standing in the doorway +now, the white light streaming out around him into the night, casting a +grotesque shadow on the landing field, for all the flood lights bathing +in it.</p> + +<p>Zezdon Afthen came up and spoke quickly to the man evidently in command +of the ship. The entire party went into the ship, and the cream of their +laboratory instruments was brought in.</p> + +<p>For hours Arcot, Morey and Wade worked at the apparatus in the ship, +measuring, calculating, following electrical and magnetic and sheer +force hook-ups of staggering complexity. They were not trying to find +the exact method of construction, only the principles involved, so that +they could perform calculations of their own, and duplicate the results +of the enemy. Thus they would be far more thoroughly familiar with the +machinery when done.</p> + +<p>Little attention was paid to the actual driving plant, for it was a +molecular drive with the same type of lead-fuel burner they used in +their own ship. The tubes of the power bank were, however, a puzzle to +them. They were made of relux, so that it was impossible to see the +interior of the tube. To open one was to destroy it, but calculations +made from readings of their instruments showed that they were more +efficient, and could readily carry nearly half again the load that the +best terrestrian tubes could sustain. This meant the enemy could send +heavier rays and heavier ray screens.</p> + +<p>But finally they returned to the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, and as the Ortolian +ship whined its way out to space, the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> started, rising +faster and faster through the atmosphere till it was in the night of +space. Then the molecular power was shut off. The ship suddenly seemed +to writhe, space was black and starless about them, then sparkling +weirdly distorted stars, all before them. They were moving already. +Almost before the Ortolians fully realized what was happening, a dozen +stars had swung past the ship, driving on now at better than five light +years in every second. At this speed, approximately fourteen hours would +be needed to reach Ortol.</p> + +<p>"Now, Arcot, perhaps you will explain to me the secret of this ship," +said Zezdon Afthen at last, turning from the great lux pilot's window, +to Arcot seated in the pilot's chair. "I know that only the broadest +principles will be intelligible to me, for I could not understand that +ship we captured, after almost four months of study. Yet it crept +through space compared with this ship. Certainly no ship could +outdistance this in a race!"</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact—watch!" Arcot pushed a little metal button along a +slide to the extreme end. Again the ship seemed to writhe. Space was no +longer black, but faintly gray, and beside them, on either side, floated +two exact replicas of their ship! Zezdon Afthen stared. But in another +moment, both were gone, and space was black, yet in but a few moments a +grayness was showing, and light was appearing from all about, growing +gradually in intensity. For three seconds Arcot continued thus, then he +pulled the metal button down the slide, and flicked over another that he +had pulled to cause the second change. The stars were again before them, +their colors changed beyond all recognition at that speed. But the +orientation of the stars behind them had been familiar. Now an entirely +different set of constellation showed.</p> + +<p>"I merely opened the ship out to her maximum speed for a moment. I was +able to see any large star 2000 light years in our path, and there were +none. Small stars do not bother us as I will explain. When I put on full +power of the main power coils, I drove the ship up to a speed of 30 +light years a second. When I turned in the full power of the auxiliary +coils as well I doubled the power, and the speed was multiplied by +eight. The result was that in the four seconds of racing, we made +approximately 1000 light years!"</p> + +<p>Zezdon Afthen gasped. "Two hundred and forty light years <i>per second</i>"! +He paused in bewilderment. "Suppose we had struck a small sun, a dark +star, even a meteor at that speed? What would have been the result?"</p> + +<p>Arcot smiled. "The chances are excellent that we plowed through more +than one meteor, more than one dark star, and more than one small sun.</p> + +<p>"But this is the secret: the ship attains the speed only by going out of +space. <i>Nothing in space can attain the speed of light, save radiation.</i> +Nothing in normal space. But, we alter space, make space along patterns +we choose, and so distort it that the natural speed of radiation is +enormously greater. In fact, we so change space that nothing can go +<i>slower</i> than a speed we fix.</p> + +<p>"Morey—show Afthen the coils, and explain it all to him. I've got to +stay here."</p> + +<p>Morey rose, and diving through the weightless ship, went down to the +power room, Zezdon Afthen following. Here, giant pots five feet high +were in close packed rows. The "pots" contained specially designed coils +storing tremendous energy, the energy of four tons of disintegrated +lead, in the only form that energy may be stored, as a strain, or +distortion in space. These charged coils distorted only the space within +themselves, making a closed field entirely within themselves. But in the +exact gravitational center of the quarter of a million ton ship was a +single high coil of different design that distorted space around it as +well as the space within it. This, as Morey explained, was the control +that altered the constants of space to suit. The coils were charged, and +the energy stored. Their energy could be pumped into the big coil, and +then, when the ship slowed to normal space, could be pumped back to +them. The pumping energy, as well as any further energy needed for +recharging the coils could be supplied by three huge power generators.</p> + +<p>"These energy-producers," Morey explained, "work on a principle known +for hundreds of years on Earth. Lead, when reduced to a temperature +approaching absolute zero as closely as, for instance, liquid helium, +has <i>no</i> electrical resistance. In other words, no matter how great a +current is sent through it, there is no resistance, and no heat is +produced to raise the temperature. What we do is to send a powerful +current through a lead wire. The wire has a current density so huge that +the atoms are destroyed, and the protons and electrons coalesce into +pure radiant energy. Relux, under the influence of a magnetic field, +converts this directly into electrical potential. Electricity we can +convert to the spatial strain in the power coils, and thus the ship is +driven." Morey pointed out the huge molecular power cylinder overhead, +where the main power drive was located in the inertial center of the +ship, or as near as the great space coil would permit.</p> + +<p>The smaller power units for vertical lift, and for steering, were in the +side walls, hidden under heavy walls of relux.</p> + +<p>"The projectors for throwing molecular and heat rays are on the outside +of course. Both of these projectors are protected. The walls of the ship +are made of an outer wall of heavy lux metal, a vacuum between, and an +inner wall of heavy relux. The lux is stronger than relux, and is +therefore used for an outer shell. The inner shell of relux will reflect +any dangerous rays and serve to hold the heat in the ship, since a +perfect reflector is a perfect non-radiator. The vacuum wall is to +protect the occupants of the ship against any undue heat. If we should +get within the atmosphere of a sun, it would be disastrous if the +physical conduction of heat were permitted, for though the relux will +turn out any radiated heat, it is a conductor of heat, and we would +roast almost instantly. These artificial metals are both absolutely +infusible and non-volatile. The ship has actually been in the limb of a +star tremendously hotter than your sun or mine.</p> + +<p>"Now you see why it is we need not fear a collision with a small sun, +meteor or such like. Since we are in our own, artificial space, we are +alone, and there is nothing in space to run into. But, if we enter a +huge sun, the terrific gravitational field of the mass of matter would +be enough to pull the energy of our coil away from us. That actually +happened the time we made our first intergalactic exploration. But it is +almost impossible to fall into a large star—they are too brilliant. We +won't be worrying about it," grinned Morey.</p> + +<p>"But how did the ship we captured operate?" asked Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>"It was a very ingenious system, very closely related to ours, really.</p> + +<p>"We distort space and change the velocity characteristics; in other +words, we distort the rate of motion through distance characteristics of +normal space. The Thessian ships work on the principle of distorting the +rate of progress through time instead of through space.</p> + +<p>"<i>Velocity</i> is really 'units of travel through space per unit of travel +through time.' Now if we make the time unit twice as great, and the +units traveled through space are not changed, the <i>velocity</i> is twice as +great. That is, if we are moving five light years per second, make the +second twice as long and we are moving ten light years per +double-second. Make it ten thousand times as long, and we are traveling +fifty thousand light years per ten-thousand-seconds. This is the +principle—but there is a drawback. We might increase the velocity by +slowing time passage, that is, if it takes me a year for one heartbeat, +two years to raise my arm thus, and six months to turn, my head, if all +my body processes are slowed down in this way, I will be able to live a +tremendous length of time, and though it takes me two hundred years to +go from one star to another, so low is my time rate that the two hundred +years will seem but a few minutes. I can then make a trip to a distant +star—one five light years distant, let us say, in three minutes to me. +I then will say, looking at my chronometer (which has been similarly +slowed) 'I have gone five light years in three minutes, or five thirds +light years per minute. I have exceeded the speed of light.'</p> + +<p>"But people back on Earth would say, he has taken two hundred years to +go five light years, therefore he has gone at a speed one fortieth of +that of light, which would be true—for their time rate.</p> + +<p>"But suppose I can also speed up time. That is, I can live a year in a +minute or two. Then everyone else will be exceedingly slow. The ideal +thing would be to combine these two effects, arranging that space about +your ship will have a very rapid time rate, ten thousand times that of +normal space. Then the speed of radiation through that space will be +1,860,000,000 miles per second, and a speed of 1,000,000,000 miles per +second would be possible, but still you, too, will be affected, so that +though the people back home will say you are going far faster than +light, you will say 'No, I am going only 100,000 miles per second.'</p> + +<p>"But now imagine that your ship and surrounding space for one mile is at +a time rate 10,000 times normal, and you, in a space of one hundred feet +within your ship, are affected by a time rate 1/10,000 that, or normal, +due to a second, reversing field. The two fields will not fight, or be +mutually antagonistic; they will merely compound their effects. Result: +you will agree that you are exceeding the speed of light!</p> + +<p>"Do you understand? That is the principle on which your ship operated. +There were two time-fields, overlapping time-fields. Remember the +terrible speed with which your ship landed, and yet there was no +appreciable jar according to the men? The answer of course was, that +their time rate had been speeded enough, due to the fact that one field +had been completely shut off, the other had not.</p> + +<p>"That is the principle. The system is so complex, naturally, that we +have not yet learned the actual method of working the process. We must +do a great deal of mathematical and physical research.</p> + +<p>"Wish we had it done—we could use it now," mused the terrestrian.</p> + +<p>"We have some other weapons, none as important, of course, as the +molecular ray and the heat ray. Or none that have been. But, if the +enemy have ray shields, then perhaps these others also will be +important. There are molecular motion guns, metal tubes, with molecular +director apparatus at one end. A metal shell is pulling the power turned +on, and the shell leaps out at a speed of about ten miles per +second—since it has been super-heated—and is very accurately aimed, as +there is no terrific shock of recoil to be taken up by the gun.</p> + +<p>"But a more effective weapon, if these men are as I expect them to be, +will be a peculiarly effective magnetic field concentrator device, which +will project a magnetic field as a beam for a mile or more. How useful +it will be—I don't know. We don't know what the enemy will turn against +<i>us</i>!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a>Chapter V</h2> + +<h3>ORTOL</h3> + + +<p>After Morey's explanation of the ship was completed, Wade took Arcot's +place at the controls, while Morey and Arcot retired to the calculating +room to do some of the needed mathematics on the time-field +investigation.</p> + +<p>Their work continued here, while the Ortolians prepared a meal and +brought it to them, and to Wade. When at last the sun of Ortol was +growing before them, Arcot took over controls from Wade once more. +Slowing their speed to less than fifty times that of light, they drove +on. The attraction of the giant sun was draining the energy from the +coils so rapidly now, that at last Arcot was forced to get into normal +space, while the planet was still close to a million miles from them. +Morey was showing the Ortolians the operation of the telectroscope and +had it trained now on the rapidly approaching planet. The planet was +easily enlarged to a point where the features of continents were +visible. The magnification was increased till cities were no longer +blurs, but truly cities.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as city after city was brought under the action of the +machine, the Ortolians recognizing them with glad exclamations, one +swept into view—and as they watched, it leapt into the air, a vast +column of dust, then twisting, whirling, it fell back in utter, chaotic +ruin.</p> + +<p>Zezdon Fentes staggered back from the screen in horror.</p> + +<p>"Arcot—drive down—increase your speed—the Thessians are there already +and have destroyed one city," called Morey sharply. The men secured +themselves with heavy belts, as the deep toned hum of the warning echoed +through the ship. A moment later they staggered under an acceleration of +four gravities. Space was dark for the barest instant of time, and then +there was the scream of atmosphere as the ship rocketed through the air +of the planet at nearly fifteen hundred miles per second. The outer wall +was blazing in incandescence in a moment, and the heavy relux screens +seemed to leap into place over the windows as the blasting heat, +radiated from the incandescent walls flooded in. The millions of tons +pressure of the air on the nose of the ship would have brought it to a +stop in an instant, and had it not been that the molecular drive was on +at full power, driving the ship against the air resistance, and still +losing. The ship slowed swiftly, but was shrieking toward the destroyed +city at terrific speed.</p> + +<p>"Hesthis—to the—right and ahead. That would be their next attack," +said the Ortolian. Arcot altered the ship's course, and they shot toward +the distance city of Hesthis. They were slowing perceptibly, and yet, +though the city was half around the world, they reached it in half a +minute. Now Arcot's wizardry at the controls came into play, for by +altering his space field constants, he succeeded in reaching a condition +that slowed the ship almost instantly to a speed of but a mile a second, +yet without apparent deceleration.</p> + +<p>High in the white Ortolian sky was a shining point bearing down on the +now-visible city. Arcot slanted toward it, and the approaching ship grew +like an expanding rubber balloon.</p> + +<p>A ray of intense, blindingly brilliant light flashed out, and a gout of +light appeared in the center of the city. A huge flame, bright blue, +shot heavenward in roaring heat.</p> + +<p>Seeing that a strange ship had arrived was enough for the Thessians, and +they turned, and drove at Arcot instantly. The Thessian ship was built +for a heavy world, and for heavy acceleration in consequence, and, as +they had found from the captured ship, it was stronger than the <i>Ancient +Mariner</i>. Now the Thessians were driving at Arcot with an acceleration +and speed that convinced him dodging was useless. Suddenly space was +black around them, the sunlit world was gone.</p> + +<p>"Wonder what they thought of <i>that</i>!" grinned Arcot. Wade smiled grimly.</p> + +<p>"It's not what they thought, but what they'll do, that counts."</p> + +<p>Arcot came back to normal space, just in time to see the Thessian ship +spin in a quick turn, under an acceleration that would have crushed a +human to a pulp. Again the pilot dived at the terrestrian ship. Again it +vanished. Twice more he tried these fruitless tactics, seeing the ship +loom before him—bracing for the crash—then it was gone +instantaneously, and though he sailed through the spot he knew it to +have occupied, it was not there. Yet an instant later, as he turned, it +was floating, unharmed, exactly where his ship had passed!</p> + +<p>Rushing was useless. He stood, and prepared to give battle. A molecular +ray reached out—and disappeared in flaring ions on a shield utterly +impenetrable in the ionizing atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Arcot meanwhile watched the instrument of his shield. The Thessian +shield would have been impenetrable, but his shield, fed by less +efficient tubes, was not, and he knew it. Already the terrific energy of +the Thessian ray was noticeably heating the copper plates of the tube. +The seal would break soon.</p> + +<p>Another ray reached out, a ray of flaring light. Arcot, watching through +the "eyes" of his telectroscope viewplates, saw it for but an instant, +then the "eyes" were blasted, and the screen went blank.</p> + +<p>"He won't do anything with that but burn out eyes," muttered the +terrestrian. He pushed a small button when his instruments told him the +rays were off. Another scanner came into action, and the viewplate was +alive again.</p> + +<p>Arcot shot out a cosmic ray himself, and swept the Thessian with it +thoroughly. For the instant he needed the enemy ship was blinded. +Immediately the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> dove, and the automatic ray-finders +could no longer hold the rays on his ship. As soon as he was out of the +deadly molecular ray he shut off his screen, and turned on all his +molecular rays. The Thessian ship, their own ray on, had been unable to +put up their screen, as Arcot was unable to use his ray with the enemy's +ray forcing him to cover with a shield.</p> + +<p>Almost at once the relux covering of the Thessian ship shone with +characteristic iridescence as it changed swiftly to lux metal. The +molecular ray blinked out, and a ray screen flashed out instead. The +Thessians were covering up. Their own rays were useless now. Though +Arcot could not hope to destroy their ray shield, they could no longer +attack his, for their rays were useless, and already they had lost so +much of the protective relux, that they would not be so foolhardy as to +risk a second attack of the ray.</p> + +<p>Arcot continued to bathe the ship in energy, keeping their "eyes" +closed. As long as he could hold his barrage on them, they would not +damage him.</p> + +<p>"Morey—get into the power room, strap onto the board. Throw all the +power-coil banks into the magnets. I may burn them out, but I have +hopes—" Arcot already had the generators going full power, charging the +power coils.</p> + +<p>Morey dived. Almost simultaneously the Thessians succeeded in the +maneuver they had been attempting for some time. There were a dozen rays +flaring wildly from the ship, searching blindly over the sky and ground, +hoping to stumble on the enemy ship, while their own ship dived and +twisted. Arcot was busily dodging the sweeping rays, but finally one hit +his viewplates, and his own ship was blind. Instantly he threw the ray +screen out, cutting off his own molecular ray. His own cosmics he set +rotating in cones that covered the three dimensions—save below, where +the city lay. Immediately the Thessian had retreated to this one segment +where Arcot did not dare throw his own rays. The Thessian cosmics +continued to make his relux screens necessary, and his ship remained +blind.</p> + +<p>His ray screen was showing signs of weakening. The Thessians got a third +ray into position for operation, and opened up. Almost at once the tubes +heated terrifically. In an instant they would give way. Arcot threw his +ship into space, and let the tubes cool under the water jacket. Morey +reported the coils ready as soon as he came out of space.</p> + +<p>Arcot cut in the new set of eyes, and put up his molecular ray screen +again. Then he cut the energy back to the coils.</p> + +<p>Half a mile below the enemy ship was vainly scurrying around an empty +sky. Wade laughed at the strange resemblance to a puppy chasing its +tail. The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> was utterly lost to them.</p> + +<p>"Well, here goes the last trick," said Arcot grimly. "If this doesn't +work, they'll probably win, for their tubes are better than ours, and +they can maneuver faster. By win I mean force us to let them attack +Ortol. They can't really attack us; artificial space is a perfect +defense."</p> + +<p>Arcot's molecular ray apprized the Thessians of his presence. Their +screen flared up once more. Arcot was driving straight toward their ship +as they turned. He snapped the relux screens in front of his eyes an +instant before the enemy cosmics reached his ship. Immediately the thud +of four heavy relays rang through the ship. The quarter of a million ton +ship leaped forward under a terrific acceleration, and then, as the four +relays cut out again, the acceleration was gone. The screen regained +life as Arcot opened the shutters. Before them, still directly in their +path, was the huge Thessian ship. But now its screen was down, the relux +iridescent in decomposition. It was falling, helplessly falling to the +rocky plateau seven miles below. Its rays reached out even yet—and +again the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> staggered under the terrific pull of some +acceleration. The Thessian ship lurched upward, and a terrific +concussion came, and the entire neighborhood of that projector +disappeared in a flash of radiation.</p> + +<p>Arcot drove the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> down beneath the Thessian ship in its +long fall, and with a powerful molecular beam ripped a mighty chasm in +the deserted plateau. The Thessian ship fell into a quarter mile rift in +the solid rock, smashing its way through falling débris. A moment later +it was buried beneath a quarter mile of broken rock as Arcot swept a +molecular beam about with the grace of a mine foreman filling breaks.</p> + +<p>An instant later, a heat ray followed the molecular in dazzling +brilliance. A terrific gout of light appeared in the barren rocks. In +ten minutes the plateau was a white hot cauldron of molten rocks, +glowing now against a darkening sky. Night was falling.</p> + +<p>"That ship," said Arcot with an air of finality, "will never rise +again."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a>Chapter VI</h2> + +<h3>THE SECOND MOVE</h3> + + +<p>"What happened to him, though?" asked Wade, bewildered. "I haven't yet +figured it out. He went down in a heap, and he didn't have any power. Of +course, if he had his power he could have pulled out again. He could +just melt and burn all the excess rock off, and he would be all set. But +his rays all went dead. And why the explosion?"</p> + +<p>"The magnetic beam is the answer. In our boat we have everything +magnetically shielded, because of the enormous magnetic flux set up by +the current flowing from the storage coils to the main coil. But—with +so many wires heavily charged with current, what would have happened if +they had not been shielded?</p> + +<p>"If a current cuts across a magnetic field, a side thrust is developed. +What do you suppose happened when the terrific magnetic field of the +beam and the currents in the wires of their power-board were mutually +opposed?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, it must have ripped away everything in the ship. It'd tear loose +even the lighting wires!" gasped Wade in amazement.</p> + +<p>"But if all the power of the ship was destroyed in this way, how was it +that one of their rays was operating as they fell?" asked Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>"Each ray is a power plant in itself," explained Arcot, "and so it was +able to function. I do not know the cause of the explosion, though it +might well have been that they had light-bombs such as the Kaxorians of +Venus have," he added, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>They landed, at Zezdon's advice, in the city that their arrival had been +able to save. This was Ortol's largest city, and their industrial +capital. Here, too, was the University at which Afthen taught.</p> + +<p>They landed, and Arcot, Morey and Wade, with the aid of Zezdon Afthen +and Zezdon Fentes worked steadily for two of their days of fifty hours +each, teaching men how to make and use the molecular ships, and the rays +and screens, heat beams, and relux. But Arcot promised that when he +returned he would have some weapon that would bring them certain and +easy salvation. In the meantime other terrestrians would follow him.</p> + +<p>They left the morning of their third day on the planet. A huge crowd had +come to cheer them on their way as they left, but it was the "silent +cheer" of Ortol, a telepathic well-wishing.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Arcot as their ship left the planet behind, "we will have to +make the next move. It certainly looks as though that next move would be +to the still-unknown race that lives on world 3769-37, 478, 326, 894-6. +Evidently we will have to have some weapon they haven't, and I think +that I know what it will be. Thanks to our trip out to the Islands of +Space."</p> + +<p>"Shall we go?"</p> + +<p>"I think it would be wise," agreed Morey.</p> + +<p>"And I," said Wade. The Ortolians agreed, and so, with the aid of the +photographic copies of the Thessian charts that Arcot had made, they +started for world 3769-37, 478, 326, 894-6.</p> + +<p>"It will take approximately twenty-two hours, and as we have been +putting off our sleep with drugs, I think that we had better catch up. +Wade, I wish you'd take the ship again, while Morey and I do a little +concentrated sleeping. We have by no means finished that calculation, +and I'd very much like to. We'll relieve you in five hours."</p> + +<p>Wade took the ship, and following the course Arcot laid out, they sped +through the void at the greatest safe speed. Wade had only to watch the +view-screen carefully, and if a star showed as growing rapidly, it was +proof that they were near, and nearing rapidly. If large, a touch of a +switch, and they dodged to one side, if small, they were suddenly +plunged into an instant of unbelievable radiation as they swept through +it, in a different space, yet linked to it by radiation, not light, that +were permitted in.</p> + +<p>Zezdon Afthen had elected to stay with him, which gave him an +opportunity he had been waiting for. "If it's none of my business, just +say so," he began. "But that first city we saw the Thessians destroy—it +was Zezdon Fentes' home, wasn't it? Did he have a family?"</p> + +<p>The words seemed blunt as he said them, but there was no way out, once +he had started. And Zezdon Afthen took the question with complete calm.</p> + +<p>"Fentes had both wives and children," he said quietly. "His loss was +great."</p> + +<p>Wade concentrated on the screen for a moment, trying to absorb the +shock. Then, fearing Zezdon Afthen might misinterpret his silence, he +plunged on. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't realize you were +polygamous—most people on Earth aren't, but some groups are. It's +probably a good way to improve the race. But ... Blast it, what bothers +me is that Zezdon Fentes seemed to recover from the blow so quickly! +From a canine race, I'd expect more affection, more loyalty, more...."</p> + +<p>He stopped in dismay. But Zezdon Afthen remained unperturbed. "More +unconcealed emotion?" he asked. "No. Affection and loyalty we have—they +<i>are</i> characteristic of our race. But affection and loyalty should not +be uselessly applied. To <i>forget</i> dead wives and children—that would be +insulting to their memory. But to mourn them with senseless loss of +health and balance would also be insulting—not only to their memory, +but to the entire race.</p> + +<p>"No, we have a better way. Fentes, my very good friend, has not +forgotten, no more than you have forgotten the death of your mother, +whom you loved. But you no longer mourn her death with a fear and horror +of that natural thing, the Eternal Sleep. Time has softened the pain.</p> + +<p>"If we can do the same in five minutes instead of five years, is it not +better? That is why Fentes has <i>forgotten</i>".</p> + +<p>"Then you have aged his memory of that event?" asked Wade in surprise.</p> + +<p>"That is one way of stating it," replied Zezdon Afthen seriously.</p> + +<p>Wade was silent for a while, absorbing this. But he could not contain +his curiosity completely. <i>Well, to hell with it</i>, he decided. +<i>Conventional manners and tact don't have much meaning between two +different races</i>. "Are you—married?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Only three times," Zezdon Afthen told him blandly. "And to forestall +your next question—no, our system does not create problems. At least, +not those you're thinking of. I know my wives have never had the jealous +quarrels I see in your mind pictures."</p> + +<p>"It isn't safe thinking things around you," laughed Wade. "Just the +same, all of this has made me even more interested in the 'Ancient +Masters' you keep mentioning. Who were they?"</p> + +<p>"The Ancient Ones," began Zezdon Afthen slowly, "were men such as you +are. They descended from a primeval omnivorous mammal very closely +related to your race. Evidently the tendency of evolution on any planet +is approximately the same with given conditions.</p> + +<p>"The race existed as a distinct branch for approximately 1,500,000 of +your years before any noticeable culture was developed. Then it existed +for a total of 1,525,000 years before extinction. With culture and +learning they developed such marvelous means of killing themselves that +in twenty-five thousand years they succeeded perfectly. Ten thousand +years of barbaric culture—I need not relate it to you, five thousand +years of the medieval culture, then five thousand years of developed +science culture.</p> + +<p>"They learned to fly through space and nearly populated three worlds; +two were fully populated, one was still under colonization when the +great war broke out. An interplanetary war is not a long drawn out +struggle. The science of any people so far advanced as to have +interplanetary lines is too far developed to permit any long duration of +war. Selto declared war, and made the first move. They attacked and +destroyed the largest city of Ortol of that time. Ortolian ships drove +them off, and in turn attacked Selto's largest city. Twenty million +intelligences, twenty million lives, each with its aims, its hopes, its +loves and its strivings—gone in four days.</p> + +<p>"The war continued to get more and more hateful, till it became evident +that neither side would be pacified till the other was totally +subjugated. So each laid his plans, and laid them to wipe out the entire +world of the other.</p> + +<p>"Ortol developed a ray of light that made things not happen," explained +Zezdon Afthen, his confused thoughts clearly indicating his own +uncertainty.</p> + +<p>"'A ray of light that made things not happen,'" repeated Wade curiously. +"A ray, which prevented things, which caused processes to stop—<i>The +Negrian Death Ray</i>!" he exclaimed as he suddenly recognized, in this +crude and garbled description of its powers, the Negrian ray of +anti-catalysis, a ray which tended to stop the processes of life's +chemistry and bring instant, painless death.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you know it, too?" asked the Ortolian eagerly. "Then you will +understand what happened. The ray was turned first on Selto, and as the +whirling planet spun under it, every square foot of it was wiped clean +of every living thing, from gigantic Welsthan to microscopic Ascoptel, +and every man, woman and child was killed, painlessly, but instantly.</p> + +<p>"Then Thenten spun under it, and all were killed, but many who had fled +the planets were still safe—many?—a few thousand.</p> + +<p>"The day that Thenten spun under that ray, men of Ortol began to +complain of disease—men by the thousands, hundreds of thousands. Every +man, every woman, every child was afflicted in some way. The diseases +did not seem all the same. Some seemingly died of a disease of the +lungs, some went insane, some were paralyzed, and lay helplessly +inactive. But most of them were afflicted, for it was exceedingly +virulent, and the normal serums were helpless. Before any quantity of +new serum was made, all but a slender remnant had died, either of +starvation through paralysis, none being left to care for them, or from +the disease itself, while thousands who had gone mad were painlessly +killed.</p> + +<p>"The Seltonians came to Ortol, and the remaining Ortolians, with their +aid, tried to rebuild the civilization. But what a sorry thing! The +cities were gigantic, stinking, plague-ridden morgues. And the plague +broke among those few remaining people. The Ortolians had done +everything in their power with the serums—but too late. The Seltonians +had been protected with it on landing—but even that was not enough. +Again the wild fires of that loathsome disease broke out.</p> + +<p>"Since first those men had developed from their hairy forebears, they +had found their eternal friends were the dogs, and to them they turned +in their last extremity, breeding them for intelligence, hairlessness, +and resemblance to themselves. The Deathless ones alone remained after +three generations of my people, but with the aid of certain rays, the +rays capable of penetrating lead for a short distance, and most other +substances for considerable distances." X-rays, thought Wade. "Great +changes had been wrought. Already they had developed startling +intelligence, and were able to understand the scheme of their Masters. +Their feet and hands were being modified rapidly, and their vocal +apparatus was changing. Their jaws shortened, their chins developed, the +nose retreated.</p> + +<p>"Generation after generation the process went on, while the Deathless +Ancient Ones worked with their helpers, for soon my race was a real +helping organization.</p> + +<p>"But it was done. The successful arousing of true love-emotion followed, +and the unhappy days were gone. Quickly development followed. In five +thousand years the new race had outstripped the Ancient Masters, and +they passed, voluntarily, willingly joining in oblivion the millions who +had died before.</p> + +<p>"Since then our own race has risen, it has been but a short thousand +years, a thousand years of work, and hope, and continuous improvement +for us, continual accomplishment on which we can look, and a living hope +to which we could look with raised heads, and smiling faces.</p> + +<p>"Then our hope died, as this menace came. Do you see what you and your +world was meant to us, Man of Earth?" Zezdon Afthen raised his dark eyes +to the terrestrian with a look in their depths that made Wade +involuntarily resolve that Thet and all Thessians should be promptly +consigned to that limbo of forgotten things where they belonged.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a>Chapter VII</h2> + +<h3>WORLD 3769-37,478,326,894,6, TALSO</h3> + + +<p>Wade sat staring moodily at the screen for some time, while Zezdon +Afthen, sunk in his own reveries, continued.</p> + +<p>"Our race was too highly psychic, and too little mechanically curious. +We learned too little of the world about, and too much of our own +processes. We are a peaceful race, for, while you and the Ancient +Masters learned the rule of existence in a world of strife, where only +the fittest, the best fighters survived, we learned life in a carefully +tended world, where the Ancient Masters taught us to live, where the one +whose social instincts were best developed, where he who would most help +the others, and the race, was permitted to live. Is it not natural that +our race will not fight among themselves? We are careful to suppress +tendencies toward criminality and struggle. The criminal and the maniac, +or those who are permanently incurable as determined by careful +examination, are 'removed' as the Leaders put it. Lethal gas.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, we know so pitiably little of natural science. We were +hopelessly helpless against an attacking science."</p> + +<p>"I promise you, Afthen, that if Earth survives, Ortol shall survive, for +we have given you all the weapons we know of and we will give your +people all the weapons we shall learn of." Morey spoke from the doorway. +Arcot was directly behind him.</p> + +<p>They talked for a short while, then Wade retired for some needed sleep, +while Morey and Arcot started further work on the time fields.</p> + +<p>Hour after hour the ship sped on through the dark of space, weirdly +distorted, glowing spots of light before them, wheeling suns that moved +and flashed as their awesome speed whirled them on.</p> + +<p>They had to move slower soon, as the changing stars showed them near the +space-marks of certain locating suns. Finally, still moving close to +fifteen thousand miles per second, they saw the sun they knew was sun +3769-37,478,-326,894, twice as large as Sol, two and a half times as +massive and twenty-six times as brilliant.</p> + +<p>Thirteen major planets they counted as they searched the system with +their powerful telectroscope, the outermost more than ten billion miles +from the parent sun, while planet six, the one indicated by the world +number, was at a distance of five hundred million miles, nearly as far +from the sun as Jupiter is from ours, yet the giant sun, giving more +than twenty-five times as much heat and light in the blue-white range, +heated the planet to approximately the same temperature Earth enjoys. +Spectroscopy showed that the atmosphere was well supplied with oxygen, +and so the inhabitants were evidently oxygen-breathing men, unlike those +of the Negrian people who live in an atmosphere of hydrogen.</p> + +<p>Arcot threw the ship toward the planet, and as it loomed swiftly larger, +he shut off the space-control, and set the coils for full charge, while +the ship entered the planet's atmosphere in a screaming dive, still at a +speed of better than a hundred miles a second. But this speed was +quickly damped as the ship shot high over broad oceans to the dull green +of land ahead in the daylit zone. Observations made from various +distances by means of the space-control, thus going back in time, show +that the planet had a day of approximately forty hours, the diameter was +nearly nine thousand miles, which would probably mean an inconveniently +high gravity for the terrestrians and a distressingly high gravity for +the Ortolians, used to their world even smaller than Earth, with +scarcely 80 percent of Earth's gravity.</p> + +<p>Wade made some volumetric analysis of the atmosphere, and with the aid +of a mouse, pronounced it "Q.A.R." (quite all right) for human beings. +It had not killed the mouse, so probably humans would find it quite all +right.</p> + +<p>"We'll land at the first city that comes into view," suggested Arcot. +"Afthen, you be the spokesman; you have a very considerable ability with +the mental communication, and have a better understanding of the physics +we need to explain than has Zezdon Fentes."</p> + +<p>They were over land, a rocky coast that shot behind them as great jagged +mountains, tipped with snow, rose beneath. Suddenly, a shining +apparition appeared from behind one of the neighboring hills, and drove +down at them with an unearthly acceleration. Arcot moved just enough to +dodge the blow, and turned to meet the ship. Instantly, now that he had +a good view of it he was certain it was a Thessian ship. Waiting no +longer to determine that it was not a ship of this world, he shot a +molecular beam at it. The beam exploded into a coruscating panoply of +pyrotechnics on the Thessian shield. The Thessian replied with all beams +he had available, including an induction-beam, an intensely brilliant +light-beam, and several molecular cannons with shells loaded with an +explosive that was very evidently condensed light. This was no +exploration ship, but a full-fledged battleship.</p> + +<p>The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> was blinded instantly. None of the occupants were +hurt, but the combined pressure of the various beams hurled the ship to +one side. The induction beam alone was dangerous. It passed through the +outer lux-metal wall unhindered, and the perfectly conducting relux wall +absorbed it, and turned it into power. At once, all the metal objects in +the ship began to heat up with terrific rapidity. Since there were no +metallic conductors on the ship, no damage was done.</p> + +<p>Arcot immediately hid behind his perfect shield—the space-distortion.</p> + +<p>"That's no mild dose," he said in a tense voice, working rapidly. "He's +a real-for-sure battleship. Better get down in the power room, Morey."</p> + +<p>In a few moments the ship was ready again. Opening the shield somewhat, +Arcot was able to determine that no rays were being played on it, for no +energy fields disclosed as distorting the opened field, other than the +field of the sun and planet.</p> + +<p>Arcot opened it. The battleship was searching vainly about the +mountains, and was now some miles distant. His last view of Arcot's ship +had been a suddenly contracting ship, one that vanished in infinite +distance, the infinite distance of another space, though he did not know +it.</p> + +<p>Arcot turned three powerful heat beams on the Thessian ship, and drove +down toward it, accompanying them with molecular rays. The Thessian +shield stopped the moleculars, but the heat had already destroyed the +eyes of the ship. By some system of magnetic or electrostatic locating +devices, the enemy guns and rays replied, and so successfully that Arcot +was again blinded.</p> + +<p>He had again been driving in a line straight toward the enemy, and now +he threw in the entire power of his huge magnetic field-rays. The +induction ray disappeared, and the heat, light and cannons stopped.</p> + +<p>"Worked again," grinned Arcot. A new set of eyes was inserted +automatically, and the screen again lighted. The Thessian ship was +spinning end over end toward the ground. It landed with a tremendous +crash. Simultaneously from the rear of the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> came a +terrific crash, an explosion that drove the terrestrian ship forward, as +though a giant hand had pushed it from behind.</p> + +<p>The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> spun like a top, facing the direction of the +explosion, though still traveling in the direction it had been pursuing, +but backward now. Behind them the air was a gigantic pool of ionization. +Tremendous fragments of what obviously had been a ship were drifting +down, turning end over end. And those fragments of the wall showed them +to be fully four feet of solid relux.</p> + +<p>"Enemy got up behind somehow while the eyes were out, and was ready to +raise merry hell. Somebody blew them up beautifully. Look at the ground +down there—it's red hot. That's from the radiated heat of our recent +encounter. Heat rays reflected, light bombs turned off, heat escaping +from ions—nice little workout—and it didn't seriously bother our +defenses of two-inch relux. Now tell me: what will blow up four-foot +relux?" asked Arcot, looking at the fragments. "It seems to me those +fellows don't need any help from us; they may decline it with thanks."</p> + +<p>"But they may be willing to help us," replied Afthen, "and we certainly +need such help."</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect to come out alive from that battleship there. It was +luck. If they knew what we had, they could insulate against it in an +hour," added Arcot.</p> + +<p>"Let's finish those fellows over there—look!" From the wreck of the +ship they had downed, a stream of men in glistening relux suits were +filing. Any men comparable to humans would have been killed by the fall, +but not Thessians. They carried peculiar machines, and as they drove out +of the ship in dive that looked as though they had been shot from a +cannon, they turned and landed on the ground and proceeded to jump back, +leaping at a speed that was bewildering, seemingly impossible in any +living creature.</p> + +<p>They busied themselves quickly. It took less than thirty seconds, and +they had a large relux disc laid under the entire group and machines. +Arcot turned a molecular ray down. The rock and soil shot up all about +them, even the ship shot up, to fall back into the great pit its ray had +formed. But the ionization told of the ray shield over the little group +of men. A heat ray reached down, while the men still frantically worked +at their stubby projectors. The relux disc now showed its purpose. In an +instant the soil about them was white hot, bubbling lava. It was liquid, +boiling furiously. But the deep relux disc simply floated on it. The +enemy ship began sinking, and in a moment had fallen almost completely +beneath the white hot rock.</p> + +<p>A fountain of the melted lava sprung up, and under Arcot's skillful +direction, fell in a cloud of molten rock on the men working. The suits +protected, and the white hot stuff simply rolled off. But it was sinking +their boat. Arcot continued hopefully.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a signaling machine was frantically calling for help and +sending out information of their plight and position.</p> + +<p>Then all was instantly wiped out in a single terrific jolt of the +magnetic beam. The machines jumped a little, despite their weight, and +the ray shield apparatus slumped suddenly in blazing white heat, the +interior mechanism fused. But the men were still active, and rapidly +spreading from the spot, each protected by a ray shield pack.</p> + +<p>A brilliant stab of molecular ray shot at each from either of two of the +<i>Ancient Mariner'</i>s projectors as Morey aided Arcot. Their little packs +flared brilliantly for an instant under the thousands of horsepower of +energy lashing at the screen, then flashed away, and the opalescent +relux yielded a moment later, and the figure went twisting, hurtling +away. Meanwhile Wade was busy with the magnetic apparatus, destroying +shield after shield, which either Arcot or Morey picked off. The fall +from even so much as half a mile seemed not sufficient to seriously +bother these supermen, for an instant later they would be up tearing +away in great leaps on their own power as their molecular suits, blown +out by the magnetic field, failed them.</p> + +<p>It was but a matter of minutes before the last had been chased down +either by the rays or the ship. Then, circling back, Arcot slowly +settled beside the enemy ship.</p> + +<p>"Wait," called Arcot sharply as Morey started for the door.</p> + +<p>"Don't go out yet. The friends who wrecked that little sweetheart who +crept up behind will probably show up. Wait and see what happens." +Hardly had he spoken, when a strange apparition rose from behind a rock +scarcely a quarter of a mile away. Immediately Arcot intensified the +vision screen covering him. He seemed to leap near. There was one man, +and he held what was obviously a sword by the blade, above his head, +waving it from side to side.</p> + +<p>"There they are—whatever they are. Intelligent all right—what more +universally obvious peace sign than a primitive weapon such as a knife +held in reverse position? You go with Zezdon Afthen. Try holding a +carving knife by the blade."</p> + +<p>Morey grinned as he got into his power suit, on Wade's O.K. of the +atmosphere. "They may mistake me for the cook out looking for dinner, +and I wouldn't risk my dignity that way. I'll take the baseball bat and +hold it wrong way instead."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as he stepped from the ship, with Afthen close behind, he +held the long knife by the blade, and Afthen, very awkwardly operating +his still rather unfamiliar power suit, followed.</p> + +<p>Into the intensely blue sunlight the men stepped. Their skin and +clothing took on a peculiar tint under the strange sunlight.</p> + +<p>The single stranger was joined by a second, also holding a reversed +weapon, and together they threw them down. Morey and Zezdon Afthen +followed suit. The two parties advanced toward each other.</p> + +<p>The strangers advanced with a swift, light step, jumping from rock to +rock, while Morey and Afthen flew part way toward them. The men of this +world were totally unlike any intelligent race Morey had conceived of. +Their head and brain case was so small as to be almost animalish. The +nose was small and well formed, the ears more or less cup-shaped with a +remarkable power of motion. Their eyes were seemingly huge, probably no +larger than a terrestrian's, though in the tiny head they were +necessarily closely placed, protected by heavy bony ridges that actually +projected from the skull to enclose them. Tiny, childlike chins +completed the head, running down to a scrawny neck.</p> + +<p>They were short, scarcely five feet, yet evidently of tremendous +strength for their short, heavy arms, the muscle bulging plainly under +the tight rubber-like composition garments, and the short legs whose +stocky girth proclaimed equal strength were members of a body in keeping +with them. The deep, broad chest, wide, square shoulders, heavy broad +hips, combined with the tiny head seemed to indicate a perfect +incarnation of brainless, brute strength.</p> + +<p>"Strangers from another planet, enemies of our enemies. What brings you +here at this time of troubles?" The thoughts came clearly from the +stocky individual before them.</p> + +<p>"We seek to aid, and to find aid. The menace that you face, attacks not +alone your world, but all this star cluster," replied Zezdon Afthen +steadily.</p> + +<p>The stranger shook his head with an evident expression of hopelessness. +"The menace is even greater than we feared. It was just fortune that +permitted us to have our weapon in workable condition at the time your +ship was attacked. It will be a day before the machine will again be +capable of successful operation. When in condition for use, it is +invincible, but—one blow in thirty hours—you can see we are not of +great aid." He shrugged.</p> + +<p>An enemy with evident resources of tremendous power, deadly, unknown +rays that wiped out entire cities with a single brief sweep—and no +defense save this single weapon, good but once a day! Morey could read +the utter despair of the man.</p> + +<p>"What is the difficulty?" asked Morey eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Power, lack of power. Our cities are going without power, while every +electric generator on the planet is pouring its output into the +accumulators that work these damnable, hopeless things. Invincible with +power—helpless without."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" Morey's face shone with delight—invincible weapon—with power. +And the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> could generate unthinkable power.</p> + +<p>"What power source do you use—how do you generate your power?"</p> + +<p>"Combining oxidizing agent with reducing agents releases heat. Heat used +to boil liquid and the vapor runs turbines."</p> + +<p>"We can give you power. What wattage have you available?"</p> + +<p>Only Morey's thoughts had to translate "watts" to "How many man-weights +can you lift through your height per time interval, equal to this." He +gave the man some impression of a second, by counting. The man figured +rapidly. His answer indicated that approximately a total of two billion +kilowatts were available.</p> + +<p>"Then the weapon is invincible hereafter, if what you say is true. Our +ship alone can easily generate ten thousand times that power.</p> + +<p>"Come, get in the ship, accompany us to your capital."</p> + +<p>The men turned, and retreated to their position behind the rocks, while +Morey and Zezdon Afthen waited for them. Soon they returned, and entered +the ship.</p> + +<p>"Our world," explained the leader rapidly, "is a single unified colony. +The capital is 'Shesto,' our world we call 'Talso.'" His directions were +explicit, and Arcot started for Shesto, on Talso.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a>Chapter VIII</h2> + +<h3>UNDEFEATABLE OR UNCONTROLLABLE?</h3> + + +<p>Fifteen minutes after they started, they came to Shesto. They were +forced to land, and explain, for their relux ship was decidedly not the +popular Talsonian idea of a life-saver.</p> + +<p>Shesto was defended by two of the machines, and each machine had been +equipped with two fully charged accumulators. Their four possible shots +were hoped to be sufficient protection, and, so far, had been. The city +had been attacked twice, according to Tho Stan Drel, the Talsonian: once +by a single ship which had been instantly destroyed, and once by a fleet +of six ships. The interval had permitted time to recharge the discharged +accumulator, and the fleet had been badly treated. Of the six ships, +four had been brought down in rapid succession, and the remaining two +ships had fled.</p> + +<p>When the first city had been wiped out, with a loss of life well in the +hundreds of thousands, the other cities had, to limit of their +abilities, set up the protective apparatus. Apparently the Thessians +were holding off for the present.</p> + +<p>"In a way," said Morey seriously, "it was distinctly fortunate that we +were attacked almost at once. Their instantaneous system of destruction +would have worked for the one shot needed to send the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> +to eternal blazes." He laughed, but it was a slightly nervous laugh.</p> + +<p>The terrestrial ship landed in a great grassy court, and out of respect +for the parklike smoothness of the turf, Arcot left the ship on its +power units, suspended a bit above the surface. Then he, Morey and the +Talsonian left the ship. Zezdon Afthen was left with the ship and with +Wade in charge, for if some difficulties were encountered, Wade would be +able to help them with the ship, and Zezdon Afthen with the tremendous +power of his thought locating apparatus, was busy seeking out the +Thessian stronghold.</p> + +<p>A party of men of Talso met the terrestrians outside the ship.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, Men of another world, and to you go our thanks for the +destruction of one of our enemies." The clear thoughts of the spokesman +evinced his ability to concentrate.</p> + +<p>"And to your world must go our thanks for saving of our lives, and more +important, our ship," replied Arcot. "For the ship represents a thing of +enormous value to this entire star-system."</p> + +<p>"I see—understand—your—thoughts that you wish to learn more of this +weapon we use. You understand that it is a question among us as to +whether it is undefeatable, uncontrollable or just un-understandable. We +have had fair success with it. It is not a weapon, was not developed as +such; it was an experiment in the line of electric-waves. How it works, +what it is, what happens—we do not know.</p> + +<p>"But men who can create so marvelous a ship as this of yours, capable of +destroying a ship of the Thessians with their own weapons must certainly +be able to understand any machine we may make—and you have power?" he +finished eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Practically infinite power. I will throw into any power line you +suggest, all the direct current you wish." Arcot's thoughts were pure +reflection, but the Talsonian brightened at once.</p> + +<p>"I feared it might be alternating—but we can handle direct current. All +our transmission is done at high voltage direct current. What potential +do you generate? Will we have to install changers?"</p> + +<p>"We generate D.C. at any voltage up to fifty million, any power up to +that needed to lift ten trillion men through their own height in this +time a second." The power represented approximately twenty trillion +horsepower.</p> + +<p>The Talsonian's face went blank with amazement as he looked at the ship. +"In that tiny thing you generate such power?" he asked in amazement.</p> + +<p>"In that tiny ship we generate more than one million times that power," +Arcot said.</p> + +<p>"Our power troubles are over," declared the military man emphatically.</p> + +<p>"Our troubles are not over," replied a civilian who had joined the +party, with equal emphasis. "As a matter of fact, they are worse than +ever. More tantalizing. What he says means that we have a tremendous +power source, but it is in one spot. How are you going to transmit the +power? We can't possibly move any power anywhere near that amount. We +couldn't touch it to our lines without having them all go up in one +instantaneous blaze of glory.</p> + +<p>"We cannot drain such a lake of power through our tiny power pipes of +silver."</p> + +<p>"This man is Stel Felso Theu," said Tho Stan Drel. "The greatest of our +scientists, the man who has invented this weapon which alone seems to +offer us hope. And I am afraid he is right. See, there is the +University. For the power requirements of their laboratories, a heavy +power line has been installed, and it was hoped that you could carry +leads into it." His face showed evident despair greater than ever.</p> + +<p>"We can always feed some power into the lines. Let us see just what hope +there is. I think that it would be wiser to investigate the power lines +at once," suggested Morey.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, with but a single officer now accompanying them, Tho +Stan Drel, the terrestrial scientist, and the Talsonian scientist were +inspecting the power installation.</p> + +<p>They had entered a large stone building, into which led numerous very +heavy silver wires. The insulators were silicate glass. Their height +suggested a voltage of well over one hundred thousand, and such heavy +cables suggested a very heavy amperage, so that a tremendous load was +expected.</p> + +<p>Within the building were a series of gigantic glass tubes, their walls +fully three inches thick, and even so, braced with heavy platinum rods. +Inside the tubes were tremendous elements such as the tiny tubes of +their machine carried. Great cables led into them, and now their heating +coils were glowing a somberly deep red.</p> + +<p>Along the walls were the switchboards, dozens of them, all sizes, all +types of instruments, strange to the eyes of the terrestrians, and in +practically all the light-beam indicator system was used, no metallic +pointers, but tiny mirrors directing a very fine line of brilliant light +acted as a needle. The system thus had practically no inertia.</p> + +<p>"Are these the changers?" asked Arcot gazing at the gigantic tubes.</p> + +<p>"They are; each tube will handle up to a hundred thousand volts," said +Stel Felso Theu.</p> + +<p>"But I fear, Stel Felso Theu, that these tubes will carry power only one +way; that is, it would be impossible for power to be pumped from here +into the power house, though the process can be reversed," pointed out +Arcot. "Radio tubes work only one way, which is why they can act as +rectifiers. The same was true of these tubes. They could carry power one +way only."</p> + +<p>"True, of tubes in general," replied the Talsonian, "and I see by that +that you know the entire theory of our tubes, which is rather abstruse."</p> + +<p>"We use them on the ship, in special form," interrupted Arcot.</p> + +<p>"Then I will only say that the college here has a very complete electric +power plant of its own. On special occasions, the power generated here +is needed by the city, and so we arranged the tubes with switches which +could reverse the flow. At present they are operating to pour power into +the city.</p> + +<p>"If your ship can generate such tremendous power, I suspect that it +would be wiser to eliminate the tubes from the circuit, for they put +certain restrictions on the line. The main power plant in the city has +tube banks capable of handling anything the line would. I suggest that +your voltage be set at the maximum that the line will carry without +breakdown, and the amperage can be made as high as possible without heat +loss."</p> + +<p>"Good enough. The line to the city power will stand what pressure?"</p> + +<p>"It is good for the maximum of these tubes," replied the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>"Then get into communication with the city plant and tell them to +prepare for every work-unit they can carry. I'll get the generator." +Arcot turned, and flew on his power suit to the ship.</p> + +<p>In a few moments he was back, a molecular pistol in one hand, and +suspended in front of him on nothing but a ray of ionized air, to all +appearances, a cylindrical apparatus, with a small cubical base.</p> + +<p>The cylinder was about four feet long, and the cubical box about +eighteen inches on a side.</p> + +<p>"What is that, and what supports it?" asked the Talsonian scientists in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"The thing is supported by a ray which directs the molecules of a small +bar in the top clamp, driving it up," explained Morey, "and that is the +generator."</p> + +<p>"That! Why it is hardly as big as a man!" exclaimed the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, it can generate a billion horsepower. But you couldn't +get the power away if you did generate it." He turned toward Arcot, and +called to him.</p> + +<p>"Arcot—set it down and let her rip on about half a million horsepower +for a second or so. Air arc. Won't hurt it—she's made of lux and +relux."</p> + +<p>Arcot grinned, and set it on the ground. "Make an awful hole in the +ground."</p> + +<p>"Oh—go ahead. It will satisfy this fellow, I think," replied Morey.</p> + +<p>Arcot pulled a very thin lux metal cord from his pocket, and attached +one end of a long loop to one tiny switch, and the other to a second. +Then he adjusted three small dials. The wire in hand, he retreated to a +distance of nearly two hundred feet, while Morey warned the Talsonians +back. Arcot pulled one end of his cord.</p> + +<p>Instantly a terrific roar nearly deafened the men, a solid sheet of +blinding flame reached in a flaming cone into the air for nearly fifty +feet. The screeching roar continued for a moment, then the heat was so +intense that Arcot could stand no more, and pulled the cord. The flame +died instantly, though a slight ionization clung briefly. In a moment it +had cooled to white, and was cooling slowly through orange—red +deep—red—</p> + +<p>The grass for thirty feet about was gone, the soil for ten feet about +was molten, boiling. The machine itself was in a little crater, half +sunk in boiling rock. The Talsonians stared in amazement. Then a sort of +sigh escaped them and they started forward. Arcot raised his molecular +pistol, a blue green ray reached out, and the rock suddenly was black. +It settled swiftly down, and a slight depression was the only evidence +of the terrific action.</p> + +<p>Arcot walked over the now cool rock, cooled by the action of the +molecular ray. In driving the molecules downward, the work was done by +the heat of these molecules. The machine was frozen in the solid lava.</p> + +<p>"Brilliant idea, Morey," said Arcot disgustedly. "It'll be a nice job +breaking it loose."</p> + +<p>Morey stuck the lux metal bar in the top clamp, walked off some +distance, and snapped on the power. The rock immediately about the +machine was molten again. A touch of the molecular pistol to the lux +metal bar, and the machine jumped free of the molten rock.</p> + +<p>Morey shut off the power. The machine was perfectly clean, and extremely +hot.</p> + +<p>"And your ship is made of that stuff!" exclaimed the Talsonian +scientist. "What will destroy it?"</p> + +<p>"Your weapon will, apparently."</p> + +<p>"But do you believe that we have power enough?" asked Morey with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"No—it's entirely too much. Can you tone that condensed lightning bolt +down to a workable level?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a>Chapter IX</h2> + +<h3>THE IRRESISTIBLE AND THE IMMOVABLE</h3> + + +<p>The generator Arcot had brought was one of the two spare generators used +for laboratory work. He took it now into the sub-station, and directed +the Talsonian students and the scientist in the task of connecting it +into the lines; though they knew where it belonged, he knew <i>how</i> it +belonged.</p> + +<p>Then the terrestrian turned on the power, and gradually increased it +until the power authorities were afraid of breakdowns. The accumulators +were charged in the city, and the power was being shipped to other +cities whose accumulators were not completely charged.</p> + +<p>But, after giving simple operating instructions to the students, Arcot +and Morey went with Stel Felso Theu to his laboratory.</p> + +<p>"Here," Stel Felso Theu explained, "is the original apparatus. All these +other machines you see are but replicas of this. How it works, why it +works, even what it does, I am not sure of. Perhaps you will understand +it. The thing is fully charged now, for it is, in part, one of the +defenses of the city. Examine it now, and then I will show its power."</p> + +<p>Arcot looked it over in silence, following the great silver leads with +keen interest. Finally he straightened, and returned to the Talsonian. +In a moment Morey joined them.</p> + +<p>The Talsonian then threw a switch, and an intense ionization appeared +within the tube, then a minute spot of light was visible within the +sphere of light. The minute spot of radiance is the real secret of the +weapon. The ball of fire around it is merely wasted energy.</p> + +<p>"Now I will bring it out of the tube." There were three dials on the +control panel from which he worked, and now he adjusted one of these. +The ball of fire moved steadily toward the glass wall of the tube, and +with a crash the glass exploded inward. It had been highly evacuated. +Instantly the tiny ball of fire about the point of light expanded to a +large globe.</p> + +<p>"It is now in the outer air. We make the—thing, in an evacuated glass +tube, but as they are cheap, it is not an expensive procedure. The ball +will last in its present condition for approximately three hours. Feel +the exceedingly intense heat? It is radiating away its vast energy.</p> + +<p>"Now here is the point of greatest interest." Again the Talsonian fell +to work on his dials, watching the ball of fire. It seemed far more +brilliant in the air now. It moved, and headed toward a great slab of +steel off to one side of the laboratory. It shifted about until it was +directly over the center of the great slab. The slab rested on a scale +of some sort, and as the ball of fire touched it, the scale showed a +sudden increase in load. The ball sank into the slab of steel, and the +scale showed a steady, enormous load. Evidently the little ball was +pressing its way through as though it were a solid body. In a moment it +was through the steel slab, and out on the other side.</p> + +<p>"It will pass through any body with equal ease. It seems to answer only +these controls, and these it answers perfectly, and without difficulty.</p> + +<p>"One other thing we can do with it. I can increase its rate of energy +discharge."</p> + +<p>The Talsonian turned a fourth dial, well off to one side, and the +brilliance of the spot increased enormously. The heat was unbearable. +Almost at once he shut it off.</p> + +<p>"That is the principle we use in making it a weapon. Watch the actual +operation."</p> + +<p>The ball of fire shot toward an open window, out the window, and +vanished in the sky above. The Talsonian stopped the rotation of the +dials. "It is motionless now, but scarcely visible. I will now release +all the energy." He twirled the fourth dial, and instantly there was a +flash of light, and a moment later a terrific concussion.</p> + +<p>"It is gone." He left the controls, and went over to his apparatus. He +set a heavy silver bladed switch, and placed a new tube in the +apparatus. A second switch arced a bit as he drove it home. "Your +generator is recharging the accumulators."</p> + +<p>Stel Felso Theu took the backplate of the control cabinet off, and the +terrestrians looked at the control with interest.</p> + +<p>"Got it, Morey?" asked Arcot after a time.</p> + +<p>"Think so. Want to try making it up? We can do so out of spare junk +about the ship, I think. We won't need the tube if what I believe of it +is true."</p> + +<p>Arcot turned to the Talsonian. "We wish you to accompany us to the ship. +We have apparatus there which we wish to set up."</p> + +<p>Back to the ship they went. There Arcot, Morey and Wade worked rapidly.</p> + +<p>It was about three-quarters of an hour later when Arcot and his friends +called the others to the laboratory. They had a maze of apparatus on the +power bench, and the shining relux conductors ran all over the ship +apparently. One huge bar ran into the power room itself, and plugged +into the huge power-coil power supply.</p> + +<p>They were still working at it, but looked up as the others entered. +"Guess it will work," said Arcot with a grin.</p> + +<p>There were four dials, and three huge switches. Arcot set all four +dials, and threw one of the switches. Then he started slowly turning the +fourth dial. In the center of the room a dim, shining mist a foot in +diameter began to appear. It condensed, solidified without shrinking, a +solid ball of matter a foot in diameter. It seemed black, but was a +perfectly reflective surface—and luminous!</p> + +<p>"Then—then you had already known of this thing? Then why did you not +tell me when I tried to show it?" demanded the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>Arcot was sending the globe, now perfectly non-luminous, about the room. +It flattened out suddenly, and was a disc. He tossed a small weight on +it, and it remained fixed, but began to radiate slightly. Arcot +readjusted his dials, and it ceased radiating, held perfectly +motionless. The sphere returned, and the weight dropped to the floor. +Arcot maneuvered it about for a moment more. Then he placed his friends +behind a screen of relux, and increased the radiation of the globe +tremendously. The heat became intense, and he stopped the radiation.</p> + +<p>"No, Stel Felso Theu, we do not have this on our world," Arcot said.</p> + +<p>"You do not have it! You look at my apparatus fifteen minutes, and then +work for an hour—and you have apparatus far more effective than ours, +which required years of development!" exclaimed the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but it was not wholly new to me. This ship is driven by curving +space into peculiar coordinates. Even so, we didn't do such a hot job, +did we, Morey?"</p> + +<p>"No, we should have—"</p> + +<p>"What—it was not a good job?" interrupted the Talsonian. "You succeeded +in creating it in air—in making it stop radiating, in making a ball a +foot in diameter, made it change to a disc, made it carry a load—what +do you want?"</p> + +<p>"We want the full possibilities, the only thing that can save us in this +war," Morey said.</p> + +<p>"What you learned how to do was the reverse of the process we learned. +How you did it is a wonder—but you did. Very well—matter is +energy—does your physics know that?" asked Arcot.</p> + +<p>"It does; matter contains vast energy," replied the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>"Matter has mass, and energy because of that! Mass <i>is</i> energy. Energy +in any known form is a field of force in space. So matter is ordinarily +a combination of magnetic, electrostatic and gravitational fields. Your +apparatus combined the three, and put them together. The result +was—matter!</p> + +<p>"You created matter. We can destroy it but we cannot create it.</p> + +<p>"What we ordinarily call matter is just a marker, a sign that there are +those energy-fields. Each bit is surrounded by a gravitational field. +The bit is just the marker of that gravitational field.</p> + +<p>"But that seems to be wrong. This artificial matter of yours seems also +a sort of knot, for you make all three fields, combine them, and have +the matter, but not, very apparently, like normal matter. Normal matter +also holds the fields that make it. The artificial matter is surrounded +by the right fields, but it is evidently not able to hold the fields, as +normal matter does. That was why your matter continually disintegrated +to ordinary energy. The energy was not bound properly.</p> + +<p>"But the reason why it would blow up so was obvious. It did not take +much to destroy the slight hold that the artificial matter had on its +field, and then it instantly proceeded to release all its energy at +once. And as you poured millions of horsepower into it all day to fill +it, it naturally raised merry hell when it let loose."</p> + +<p>Arcot was speaking eagerly, excitedly.</p> + +<p>"But here is the great fact, the important thing: It is artificially +created in a given place. It is made, and exists at the point determined +by these three coordinated dials. It is not natural, and can exist only +where it is made and nowhere else—obvious, but important. It cannot +exist save at the point designated. Then, if that point moves along a +line, the artificial matter must follow that moving point and be always +at that point. Suppose now that a slab of steel is on that line. The +point moves to it—through it. To exist, that artificial matter <i>must</i> +follow it through the steel—if not, it is destroyed. Then the steel is +attempting to destroy the artificial matter. If the matter has +sufficient energy, it will force the steel out of the way, and +penetrate. The same is true of any other matter, lux metal or relux—it +will penetrate. To continue in existence it must. And it has great +energy, and will expend every erg of that energy of existence to +continue existence.</p> + +<p>"It is, as long as its energy holds out, absolutely irresistible!</p> + +<p>"But similarly, if it is at a given point, it must stay there, and will +expend every erg staying there. It is then immovable! It is either +irresistible in motion, or immovable in static condition. It is the +irresistible and the immovable!</p> + +<p>"What happens if the irresistible meets the immovable? It can only fight +with its energy of existence, and the more energetic prevails."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a>Chapter X</h2> + +<h3>IMPROVEMENTS AND CALCULATIONS</h3> + + +<p>"It is still incredible. But you have done it. It is certainly +successful!" said the Talsonian scientist with conviction.</p> + +<p>Arcot shook his head. "Far from it—we have not realized a thousandth +part of the tremendous possibilities of this invention. We must work and +calculate and then invent.</p> + +<p>"Think of the possibilities as a shield—naturally if we can make the +matter we should be able to control its properties in any way we like. +We should be able to make it opaque, transparent, or any color." Arcot +was speaking to Morey now. "Do you remember, when we were caught in that +cosmic ray field in space when we first left this universe, that I said +that I had an idea for energy so vast that it would be impossible to +describe its awful power?<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> I mentioned that I would attempt to +liberate it if ever there was need? The need exists. I want to find that +secret."</p> + +<p>Stel Felso Theu was looking out through the window at a group of men +excitedly beckoning. He called the attention of the others to them, and +himself went out. Arcot and Wade joined him in a moment.</p> + +<p>"They tell me that Fellsheh, well to the poleward of here has used four +of its eight shots. They are still being attacked," explained the +Talsonian gravely.</p> + +<p>"Well, get in," snapped Arcot as he ran back to the ship. Stel Felso +hastily followed, and the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> shot into the air, and +darted away, poleward, to the Talsonian's directions. The ground fled +behind them at a speed that made the scientist grip the hand-rail with a +tenseness that showed his nervousness.</p> + +<p>As they approached, a tremendous concussion and a great gout of light in +the sky informed them of the early demise of several Thessians. But a +real fleet was clustered about the city. Arcot approached low, and was +able to get quite close before detection. His ray screen was up and +Morey had charged the artificial matter apparatus, small as it was, for +operation. He created a ball of substance outside the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, +and thrust it toward the nearest Thessian, just as a molecular hit the +<i>Ancient Mariner'</i>s ray screen.</p> + +<p>The artificial matter instantly exploded with terrific violence, +slightly denting the tremendously strong lux metal walls. The pressure +of the light was so great that the inner relux walls were dented inward. +The ground below was suddenly, instantaneously fused.</p> + +<p>"Lord—they won't pass a ray screen, obviously," Morey muttered, picking +himself from where he had fallen.</p> + +<p>"Hey—easy there. You blinked off the ray screen, and our relux is +seriously weakened," called Arcot, a note of worry in his voice.</p> + +<p>"No artificial matter with the ray screen up. I'll use the magnet," +called Morey.</p> + +<p>He quickly shut off the apparatus, and went to the huge magnet control. +The power room was crowded, and now that the battle was raging in truth, +with three ships attacking simultaneously, even the enormous power +capacity of the ship's generators was not sufficient, and the storage +coils had been thrown into the operation. Morey looked at the +instruments a moment. They were all up to capacity, save the ammeter +from the coils. That wasn't registering yet. Suddenly it flicked, and +the other instrument dropped to zero. They were in artificial space.</p> + +<p>"Come here, will you, Morey," called Arcot. In a moment Morey joined his +much worried friend.</p> + +<p>"That artificial matter control won't work through ray screens. The +Thessians never had to protect against moleculars here, and didn't have +them up—hence the destruction wrought. We can't take our screen down, +and we can't use our most deadly weapon with it up. If we had a big +outfit, we might throw a screen around the whole ship, and sail right +in. But we haven't.</p> + +<p>"We can't stand ten seconds against that fleet. I'm going to find their +base, and make them yell for help." Arcot snapped a tiny switch one +notch further for the barest instant, then snapped it back. They were +several millions miles from the planet. "Quicker," he explained, "to +simply follow those ships back home—go back in time."</p> + +<p>With the telectroscope, he took views at various distances, thus quickly +tracing them back to their base at the pole of the planet. Instantly +Arcot shot down, reaching the pole in less than a second, by carefully +maneuvering of the space device.</p> + +<p>A gigantic dome of polished relux rose from rocky, icy plains. The thing +was nearly half a mile high, a mighty rounded roof that covered an area +almost three-quarters of a mile in diameter. Titanic—that was the only +word that described it. About it there was the peculiar shimmer of a +molecular ray screen.</p> + +<p>Morey darted to the power room and set his apparatus into operation. He +created a ball of matter outside the ship and hurled it instantly at the +fort. It exploded with a terrific concussion as it hit the wall of the +ray screen. Almost instantly a second one followed. The concussion was +terrifically violent, the ground about was fused, and the ray screen was +opened for a moment. Arcot threw all his moleculars on the screen, as +Morey sent bomb after bomb at it. The coils supplied the energy, cracked +the rock beneath. Each energy release disrupted the ray-screen for a +moment, and the concentrated fury of the molecular beams poured through +the opened screen, and struck the relux behind. It glowed opalescent now +in a spot twenty feet across. But the relux was tremendously thick. +Thirty bombs Morey hurled, while they held their position without +difficulty, pouring their bombs and rays at the fort.</p> + +<p>Arcot threw the ship into space, moved, and reappeared suddenly nearly +three hundred yards further on. A snap of the eyes, and he saw that the +fleet was approaching now. He went again into space, and retreated. +Discretion was the better part of valor. But his plan had worked.</p> + +<p>He waited half an hour, and returned. From a distance the telectroscope +told him that one lone ship was patrolling outside the fort. He moved +toward it, creeping up behind the icy mountains. His magnetic beam +reached out. The ship lurched and fell. The magnetic beam reached out +toward the fort, from which a molecular ray had flashed already, tearing +up the icy waste which had concealed him. The ray-screen stopped it, +while again Morey turned the magnetic beam on—this time against the +fort. The ray remained on! Arcot retreated hastily.</p> + +<p>"They found the secret, all right. No use, Morey, come on up," called +the pilot. "They evidently put magnetic shielding around the apparatus. +That means the magnetic beam is no good to us any more. They will +certainly warn every other base, and have them install similar +protection."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you try the magnetic ray on our first attack?" asked Zezdon +Afthen.</p> + +<p>"If it had worked, their sending apparatus would have been destroyed, +and no message could have been sent to call their attackers off +Fellsheh. By forcing them to recall their fleet I got results I couldn't +get by attacking the fleet," Arcot said.</p> + +<p>"I think there is little more I can do here, Stel Felso Theu. I will +take you to Shesto, and there make final arrangements till my return, +with apparatus capable of overthrowing your enemies. If you wish to +accompany me—you may." He glanced around at the others of his party. +"And our next move will be to return to Earth with what we have. Then we +will investigate the Sirian planets, and learn anything they may have of +interest, thence—to the real outer space, the utter void of +intergalactic space, and an attempt to learn the secret of that enormous +power."</p> + +<p>They returned to Shesto, and there Arcot arranged that the only +generator they could spare, the one already in their possession, might +be used till other terrestrian ships could bring more. They left for +Earth. Hour after hour they fled through the void, till at last old Sol +was growing swiftly ahead of them, and finally Earth itself was large on +the screens. They changed to a straight molecular drive, and dropped to +the Vermont field from which they had taken off.</p> + +<p>During the long voyage, Morey and Arcot had both spent much of the time +working on the time-distortion field, which would give them a tremendous +control over time, either speeding or slowing their time rate +enormously. At last, this finished, they had worked on the artificial +matter theory, to the point where they could control the shape of the +matter perfectly, though as yet they could not control its exact nature. +The possibility of such control was, however, definitely proven by the +results the machines had given them. Arcot had been more immediately +interested in the control of form. He could control the nature as to +opacity or transparency to all vibrations that normal matter is opaque +or transparent to. Light would pass, or not as he chose, but cosmics he +could not stop nor would radio or moleculars be stopped by any present +shield he could make.</p> + +<p>They had signaled, as soon as they slowed outside the atmosphere, and +when they settled to the field, Arcot's father and a number of very +important scientists had already arrived.</p> + +<p>Arcot senior greeted his son very warmly, but he was tremendously +worried, as his son soon saw.</p> + +<p>"What's happened, Dad—won't they believe your statements?"</p> + +<p>"They doubted when I went to Luna for a session with the Interplanetary +Council, but before they could say much, they had plenty of proof of my +statements," the older man answered. "News came that a fleet of +Planetary Guard ships had been wiped out by a fleet of ships from outer +space. They were huge things—nearly half a mile in length. The Guard +ships went up to them—fifty of them—and tried to signal for a +conference. The white ship was instantly wiped out—we don't know how. +They didn't have ray screens, but that wasn't it. Whatever it +was—slightly luminous ray in space—it simply released the energy of +the lux metal and relux of the ship. Being composed of light energy +simply bound by photonic attraction, it let go with terrible energy. +They can do it almost instantly from a distance. The other Guards at +once let loose with all their moleculars and cosmics. The enemy shunted +off the moleculars, and wiped out the Guard almost instantly.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I could explain the screen, but not the detonation ray. I am +inclined to believe from other casualties that the destruction, though +reported as an instantaneous explosion, was not that. Other ships have +been destroyed, and they seemed to catch fire, and burn, but with +terrific speed, more like gun powder than coal. It seems to start a +spreading decomposition, the ship lasts perhaps ten minutes. If it went +instantly, the shock of such a tremendous energy release would disrupt +the planet.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, the great fleet separated, twelve went to the North Pole +of Earth, twelve to the south, and similarly twelve to each pole of +Venus. Then one of them turned, and went back to wherever it had come +from, to report. Just turned and vanished. Similarly one from Venus +turned and vanished. That leaves twelve at each of the four poles, for, +as I said, there were an even fifty.</p> + +<p>"They all followed the same tactics on landing, so I'll simply tell what +happened in Attica. In the North they had to pick one of the islands a +bit to the south of the pole. They melted about a hundred square miles +of ice to find one.</p> + +<p>"The ships arranged themselves in a circle around the place, and +literally hundreds of men poured out of each and fell to work. In a +short time, they had set up a number of machines, the parts coming from +the ships. These machines at once set to work, and they built up a relux +wall. That wall was at least six feet thick; the floor was lined with +thick relux as well as the roof, which is simply a continuation of the +wall in a perfect dome. They had so many machines working on it, that +within twenty-four hours they had it finished.</p> + +<p>"We attacked twice, once in practically our entire force, with some +ray-shield machines. The result was disastrous. The second attack was +made with ray shielded machines only, and little damage was done to +either side, though the enemy were somewhat impeded by masses of ice +hurled into their position. Their relux disintegration ray was +conspicuous by its absence.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday—and it seems a lot longer than that, son—they started it +again. They'd been unloading it from the ship evidently. We had had +ray-shielded machines out, but they simply melted. They went down, and +Earth retreated. They're in their fortress now. We don't know how to +fight them. Now, for God's sake, tell us you have learned of some +weapon, son!"</p> + +<p>The older man's face was lined. His iron gray head showed his fatigue +due to hours of concentration on his work.</p> + +<p>"Some," replied Arcot briefly. He glanced around. Other men had arrived, +men whom he met in his work. But there were Venerians here, too, in +their protective suits, insulated against the cold of Earth, and against +its atmosphere.</p> + +<p>"First, though, gentlemen, allow me to introduce Stel Felso Theu of the +planet Talso, one of our allies in this struggle, and Zezdon Afthen and +Fentes of Ortol, one of our other allies.</p> + +<p>"As to progress, I can say only that it is in a more or less rudimentary +stage. We have the basis for great progress, a weapon of inestimable +value—but it is only the basis. It must be worked out. I am leaving +with you today the completed calculations and equations of the time +field, the system used by the Thessian invaders in propelling their +ships at a speed greater than that of light. Also, the uncompleted +calculations in regard to another matter, a weapon which our ally, +Talso, has given us, in exchange for the aid we gave in allowing them +the use of one of our generators. Unfortunately the ship could not spare +more than the single generator. I strongly advise rushing a number of +generators to Talso in intergalactic freighters. They badly need +power—power of respectable dimensions.</p> + +<p>"I have stopped on Earth only temporarily, and I want to leave as soon +as possible. I intend, however, to attempt an attack on the Arctic base +of the Thessians, in strong hopes that they have not armored against one +weapon that the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> carries—though I sadly fear that old +Earth herself has played us false here. I hope to use the magnetic beam, +but Earth's polar magnetism may have forced them to armor, and they may +have sufficiently heavy material to block the effects."</p> + +<p>Morey already had a ground crew servicing the ship. He gave designs to +machinists on hand to make special control panels for the large +artificial matter machines. Arcot and Wade got some badly needed +equipment.</p> + +<p>In six hours, Arcot had announced himself ready, and a squadron of +Planetary Guard ships were ready to accompany the refitted <i>Ancient +Mariner</i>.</p> + +<p>They approached the pole cautiously, and were rewarded by the hiss and +roar of ice melting into water which burst into steam under a ray. It +was coming from an outpost of the camp, a tiny dome under a great mass +of ice. But the dome was of relux. A molecular reached down from a Guard +ship—and the Guard ship crumbled suddenly as dozens of moleculars from +the points hit it.</p> + +<p>"They know how to fight this kind of a war. That's their biggest +advantage," muttered Arcot. Wade merely swore.</p> + +<p>"Ray screens, no moleculars!" snapped Arcot into the transmitter. He was +not their leader, but they saw his wisdom, and the squadron commander +repeated the advice as an order. In the meantime, another ship had +fallen. The dome had its screen up, allowing the multitudes of hidden +stations outside to fight for it.</p> + +<p>"Hmm—something to remember when terrestrians have to retire to forts. +They will, too, before this war is over. That way the main fort doesn't +have to lower its ray screen to fight," commented Arcot. He was watching +intensely as a tiny ship swung away from one of the larger machines, and +a tremendously powerful molecular started biting at the fort's ray +screen. The ship seemed nothing but a flying ray projector, which was +what it was.</p> + +<p>As they had hoped, the deadly new ray stabbed out from somewhere on the +side of the fort. It was not within the fort.</p> + +<p>"Which means," pointed out Morey, "that they can't make stuff to stand +that. Probably the projector would be vulnerable."</p> + +<p>But a barrage of heat rays which immediately followed had no apparent +effect. The little radio-controlled molecular beam projector lay on the +rock under the melted ice, blazing incandescent with the rapidly +released energy of the relux.</p> + +<p>"Now to try the real test we came here for," Morey clambered back to the +power room, and turned on the controls of the magnetic beam. The ship +was aligned, and then he threw the last switch. The great mass of the +machine jerked violently, and plunged forward as the beam attracted the +magnetic core of the Earth.</p> + +<p>Morey could not see it, but almost instantly the shimmer of the +molecular screen on the fort died out. The deadly ray sprang out from +the Thessian projector—and went dead. Frantically the Thessians tried +weapon after weapon, and found them dead almost as soon as they were +turned on—which was the natural result in the terrific magnetic field.</p> + +<p>And these men had iron bones, their very bones were attracted by the +beam; they plunged upward toward the ship as the beam touched them, but, +accustomed to the enormous gravitation accelerations of an enormous +world, most of them were not killed.</p> + +<p>"Ah—!" exclaimed Arcot. He picked up the transmitter and spoke again to +the Squadron Commander. "Squadron Commander Tharnton, what relux +thickness does your ship carry?"</p> + +<p>"Inch and a quarter," replied the surprised voice of the commander.</p> + +<p>"Any of the other ships carry heavier?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the special solar investigator carries five inches. What shall we +do?"</p> + +<p>"Tell him to lower his screen, and let loose at once on all operating +forts. His relux will stand for the time needed to shut them down for +their own screens, unless some genius decides to fight it out. As soon +as the other ships can lower their screens, tell them to do so, and tell +them to join in. I'll be able to help then. My relux has been burned, +and I'm afraid to lower the screen. It's mighty thin already."</p> + +<p>The squadron commander was smiling joyously as he relayed the advice as +a command.</p> + +<p>Almost at once a single ship, blunt, an almost perfect cylinder, lowered +its screen. In an instant the opalescence of the transformation showed +on it, but its dozen ray projectors were at work. Fort after fort glowed +opalescent, then flashed into protective ionization of screening. +Quickly other ships lowered their screens, and joined in. In a moment +more, the forts had been forced to raise their screens for protection.</p> + +<p>A disc of artificial matter ten feet across suddenly appeared beside the +<i>Ancient Mariner</i>. It advanced with terrific speed, struck the great +dome of the fort, and the dome caved, bent in, bent still more—but +would not puncture. The disc retreated, became a sharp cone, and drove +in again. This time the point smashed through the relux, and made a +small hole. The cone seemed to change gradually, melting into a cylinder +of twenty foot diameter, and the hole simply expanded. It continued to +expand as the cylinder became a huge disc, a hundred feet across, set in +the wall.</p> + +<p>Suddenly it simply dissolved. There was a terrific roar, and a mighty +column of white rushed out of the gaping hole. Figures of Thessians +caught by the terrific current came rocketing out. The inside was at +last visible. The terrific pressure was hurling the outside line of +ships about like thistledown. The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> reeled back under +the tremendous blast of expanding gas. The snow that fell to the boiling +water below was not water, <i>in toto</i>; some was carbon dioxide—and some +oxygen chilled in the expansion of the gas. It was snowing within the +dome. The falling forms of Thessians were robbed of the life-giving air +pressure to which they were accustomed. But all this was visible for but +an instant.</p> + +<p>Then a small, thin sheet of artificial matter formed beside the fort, +and advanced on the dome. Like a knife cutting open an orange, it simply +went around the dome's edge, the great dome lifted like the lid of a +teapot under the enormous gas pressure remaining—then dropped under its +own weight.</p> + +<p>The artificial matter was again a huge disc. It settled over the exact +center of the dome—and went down. The dome caved in. It was crushed +under a load utterly inestimable. Then the great disc, like some +monstrous tamper, tamped the entire works of the Thessians into the +bed-rock of the island. Every ship, every miniature fort, every man was +caught under it—and annihilated.</p> + +<p>The disc dissolved. A terrific barrage of heat beams played over the +island, and the rock melted, flowed over the ruins, and left only the +spumes of steam from the Arctic ice rising from a red-hot: mass of rock, +contained a boiling pool.</p> + +<p>The Battle of the Arctic was done.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a>Chapter XI</h2> + +<h3>"WRITE OFF THE MAGNET"</h3> + + +<p>"Squadron commander Tharnton speaking: Squadron 73-B of Planetary Guard +will follow orders from Dr. Arcot directly. Heading south to Antarctica +at maximum speed," droned the communicator. Under the official tone of +command was a note of suppressed rage and determination. "And the +squadron commander wishes Dr. Arcot every success in wiping out +Antarctica as thoroughly and completely as he destroyed the Arctic +base."</p> + +<p>The flight of ships headed south at a speed that heated them white in +the air, thin as it was at the hundred mile altitude, yet going higher +would have taken unnecessary time, and the white heat meant no +discomfort. They reached Antarctica in about ten minutes. The Thessian +ships were just entering through great locks in the walls of the dome. +At first sight of the terrestrial ships they turned, and shot toward the +guard-ships. Their screens were down, for, armored as they were with +very heavy relux they expected to be able to overcome the terrestrial +thin relux before theirs was seriously impaired.</p> + +<p>"Ships will put up screens." Arcot spoke sharply—a new plan had +occurred to him. The moleculars of the Thessians struck glowing screens, +and no damage was done. "Ships, in order of number, will lower screen +for thirty seconds, and concentrate all moleculars on one ship—the +leader. Solar investigator will not join in action."</p> + +<p>The flagship of the squadron lowered its screen, and a tremendous +bombardment of rays struck the leading ship practically in one point. +The relux glowed, and the opalescence shifted with bewildering, +confusing colors. Then the terrestrial ship's screen was up, before the +Thessians could concentrate on the one unprotected ship. Immediately +another terrestrial ship opened its screen and bombarded the same ship. +Two others followed—and then it was forced to use its screen.</p> + +<p>But suddenly a terrestrial ship crashed. Its straining screen had been +overworked—and it failed.</p> + +<p>Arcot's magnetic beam went into action. The Thessian ray did not go +out—it flickered, dimmed, but was apparently as deadly as ever.</p> + +<p>"Shielded—write off the magnet, Morey. That is one asset we lose."</p> + +<p>Arcot, protected in space, was thinking swiftly. Moleculars—useless. +They had to keep their own screens up. Artificial matter—bound in by +their own molecular screen! And the magnet had failed them against the +protected mechanism of the dome. The ships were not as yet protected, +but the dome was.</p> + +<p>"Guess the only place we'd be safe is under the ground—way under!" +commented Wade dryly.</p> + +<p>"Under the ground—Wade, you're a genius!" Arcot gave a shout of joy, +and told Wade to take over the ship.</p> + +<p>"Take the ship back into normal space, head for the hill over behind the +Dome, and drop behind it. It's solid rock, and even their rays will take +a moment or so to move it. As soon as you get there, drop to the ground, +and turn off the screen. No—here, I'll do it. You just take it there, +land on the ground, and shut off the screen. I promise the rest!" Arcot +dived for the artificial matter room.</p> + +<p>The ship was suddenly in normal space; its screen up. The dog-fight had +been ended. The terrestrial ships had been completely defeated. The +<i>Ancient Mariner'</i>s appearance was a signal for all the moleculars in +sight. Ten huge ships, half a dozen small forts and now the unshielded +Dome, joined in. Their screen tubes heated up violently in the brief +moment it took to dive behind the hill, a tube fused, and blew out. +Automatic devices shunted it, another tube took the load—and heated. +But their screen was full of holes before they were safe for the moment +behind the hill.</p> + +<p>Instantly Wade dropped the defective screen. Almost as quickly as the +screen vanished, a cylinder of artificial matter surrounded the entire +ship. The cylinder was tipped by a perfect cone of the same base +diameter. The entire system settled into the solid rock. The rock above +cracked and filled in behind them. The ship was suddenly pushed by the +base of the cylinder behind them, and drove on through the rock, the +cone parting the hard granite ahead. They went perhaps half a mile, then +stopped. In the light of the ship's windows, they could see the faint +mistiness of the inconceivably hard, artificial matter, and beyond the +slick, polished surface of the rock it was pushing aside. The cone shape +was still there.</p> + +<p>There was a terrific roar behind them, the rock above cracked, shifted +and moved about.</p> + +<p>"Raying the spot where we went down," Arcot grinned happily.</p> + +<p>The cone and cylinder merged, shifted together, and became a sphere. The +sphere elongated upward and the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> turned in it, till it, +too, pointed upward. The sphere became an ellipsoid.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the ship was moving, accelerating terrifically. It plowed +through the solid rock, and up—into a burst of light. They were +<i>inside</i> the dome. Great ships were berthed about the floor. Huge +machines bulked here and there—barracks for men—everything.</p> + +<p>The ellipsoid shrank to a sphere, the sphere grew a protuberance which +separated and became a single bar-like cylinder. The cylinder turned, +and drove through the great dome wall. A little hole but it whirled +rapidly around, sliced the top off neatly and quickly. Again, like a +gigantic teapot lid, the whole great structure lifted, settled, and +stayed there. Men, scrambling wildly toward ships, suddenly stopped, +seemed to blur and their features ran together horribly. They fell—and +were dead in an instant as the air disappeared. In another instant they +were solid blocks of ice, for the temperature was below the freezing +point of carbon dioxide.</p> + +<p>The giant tamper set to work. The Thessian ships went first. They were +all crumpled, battered wrecks in a few seconds of work of the terrible +disc.</p> + +<p>The dome was destroyed. Arcot tried something else. He put on his +control machine the equation of a hyperboloid of two branches, and +changed the constants gradually till the two branches came close. Then +he forced them against each other. Instantly they fought, fought +terribly for existence. A tremendous blast of light and heat exploded +into being. The energy of two tons of lead attempted to maintain those +two branches. It was not, fortunately, explosive, and it took place over +a relux floor. Most of the energy escaped into space. The vast flood of +light was visible on Venus, despite the clouds.</p> + +<p>But it fused most of Antarctica. It destroyed the last traces of the +camp in Antarctica.</p> + +<p>"Well—the Squadron was wiped out, I see." Arcot's voice was flat as he +spoke. The Squadron: twenty ships—four hundred men.</p> + +<p>"Yes—but so is the Arctic camp, and the Antarctic camp, as well," +replied Wade.</p> + +<p>"What next, Arcot. Shall we go out to intergalactic space at once?" +asked Morey, coming up from the power room.</p> + +<p>"No, we'll go back to Vermont, and have the time-field stuff I ordered +installed, then go to Sirius, and see what they have. They moved their +planets from the gravitation field of Negra, their dead, black star, to +the field of Sirius—and I'd like to know how they did it.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +Then—Intergalactia." He started the ship toward Vermont, while Morey +got into communication with the field, and gave them a brief report.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a>Chapter XII</h2> + +<h3>SIRIUS</h3> + + +<p>They landed about half an hour later, and Arcot simply went into the +cottage, and slept—with the aid of a light soporific. Morey and Wade +directed the disposition of the machines, but Dr. Arcot senior really +finished the job. The machines would be installed in less than ten +hours, for the complete plans Arcot and Morey had made, with the modern +machines for translating plans to metal and lux had made the actual +construction quick, while the large crew of men employed required but +little time.</p> + +<p>When Arcot and his friends awoke, the machines were ready.</p> + +<p>"Well, Dad, you have the plans for all the machines we have. I expect to +be back in two weeks. In the meantime you might set up a number of ships +with very heavy relux walls, walls that will stand rays for a while, and +equip them with the rudimentary artificial matter machines you have, and +go ahead with the work on the calculations. Thett will land other +machines here—or on the moon. Probably they will attempt to ray the +whole Earth. They won't have concentration of ray enough to move the +planet, or to seriously chill it. But life is a different matter—it's +sensitive. It is quite apt to let go even under a mild ray. I think that +a few exceedingly powerful ray screen stations might be set up, and the +Heavyside Layer used to transmit the vibrations entirely around the +Earth. You can see the idea easily enough. If you think it +worthwhile—or better, if you can convince the thickheaded politicians +of the Interplanatary Defense Commission that it is—</p> + +<p>"Beyond that, I'll see you in about two weeks," Arcot turned, and +entered the ship.</p> + +<p>"I'll line up for Sirius and let go." Arcot turned the ship now, for +Earth was well behind, and lined it on Sirius, bright in the utter black +of space. He pushed his control to "1/2," and the space closed in about +them. Arcot held it there while the chronometer moved through six and a +half seconds. Sirius was at a distance almost planetary in its magnitude +from them. Controlling directly now, he brought the ship closer, till a +planet loomed large before them—a large world, its rocky continents, +its rolling oceans and jagged valleys white under the enormous +energy-flood from the gigantic star of Sirius, twenty-six times more +brilliant than the sun they had left.</p> + +<p>"But, Arcot, hadn't you better take it easy?" Wade asked. "They might +take us for enemies—which wouldn't be so good."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it would be wise to go slowly. I had planned, as a matter of +fact, on looking up a Thessian ship, taking a chance on a fight, and +proving our friendship," replied Arcot.</p> + +<p>Morey saw Arcot's logic—then suddenly burst into laughter. +"Absolutely—attack a Thessian. But since we don't see any around now, +we'll have to make one!"</p> + +<p>Wade was completely mystified, and gave Morey a doubtful, sarcastic +look. "Sounds like a good idea, only I wonder if this constant terrific +mental strain—"</p> + +<p>"Come along and find out!" Arcot threw the ship into artificial space +for safety, holding it motionless. The planet, invisible to them, +retreated from their motionless ship.</p> + +<p>In the artificial matter control room, Arcot set to work, and developed +a very considerable string of forms on his board, the equations of their +formations requiring all the available formation controls.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Arcot at last, "you stay here, Morey, and when I give the +signal, create the thing back of the nearest range of hills, raise it, +and send it toward us."</p> + +<p>At once they returned to normal space, and darted down toward the now +distant planet. They landed again near another city, one which was +situated close to a range of mountains ideally suited to their purposes. +They settled, while Zezdon Afthen sent out the message of friendship. He +finally succeeded in getting some reaction, a sensation of scepticism, +of distrust—but of interest. They needed friends, and only hoped that +these were friends. Arcot pushed a little signal button, and Morey began +his share of the play. From behind a low hill a slim, pointed form +emerged, a beautifully streamlined ship, the lines obviously those of a +Thessian, the windows streaming light, while the visible ionization +about the hull proclaimed its molecular ray screen. Instantly Zezdon +Afthen, who had carefully refrained from learning the full nature of +their plans, felt the intense emotion of the discovery, called out to +the others, while his thoughts were flashed to the Sirians below.</p> + +<p>From the attacking ship, a body shot with tremendous speed, it flashed +by, barely missing the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, and buried itself in the +hillside beyond. With a terrific explosion it burst, throwing the soil +about in a tremendous crater. The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> spun about, turned +toward the other ship, and let loose a tremendous bombardment of +molecular and cosmic rays. A great flame of ionized air was the only +result. A new ray reached out from the other ship, a fan-like spreading +ray. It struck the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, and did not harm it, though the +hillside behind was suddenly withered and blackened, then smoking as the +temperature rose.</p> + +<p>Another projectile was launched from the attacking ship, and exploded +terrifically but a few hundred feet from the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>. The +terrestrial ship rocked and swayed, and even the distant attacker rocked +under the explosion.</p> + +<p>A projectile, glowing white, leaped from the Earthship. It darted toward +the enemy ship, seemed to barely touch it, then burst into terrific +flames that spread, eating the whole ship, spreading glowing flame. In +an instant the blazing ship slumped, started to fall, then seemingly +evaporated, and before it touched the ground, was completely gone.</p> + +<p>The relief in Zezdon Afthen's mind was genuine, and it was easily +obvious to the Sirians that the winning ship was friendly, for, with all +its frightful armament, it had downed a ship obviously of Thett. Though +not exactly like the others, it had the all too familiar lines.</p> + +<p>"They welcome us now," said Zezdon Afthen's mental message to his +companions.</p> + +<p>"Tell them we'll be there—with bells on or thoughts to that effect," +grinned Arcot. Morey had appeared in the doorway, smiling broadly.</p> + +<p>"How was the show?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Terrible—Why didn't you let it fall, and break open?"</p> + +<p>"What would happen to the wreckage as we moved?" he asked sarcastically. +"I thought it was a darned good demonstration."</p> + +<p>"It was convincing," laughed Arcot. "They want us now!"</p> + +<p>The great ship circled down, landing gently just outside of the city. +Almost at once one of the slim, long Sirian ships shot up from a +courtyard of the city, racing out and toward the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>. +Scarcely a moment later half a hundred other ships from all over the +city were on the way. Sirians seemed quite humanly curious.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to be careful here. We have to use altitude suits, as the +Negrians breathe an atmosphere of hydrogen instead of oxygen," explained +Arcot rapidly to the Ortolian and the Talsonian who were to accompany +him. "We will all want to go, and so, although this suit will be +decidedly uncomfortable for you and Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu, I +think it wise that you all wear it. It will be much more convincing to +the Sirians if we show that people of no less than three worlds are +already interested in this alliance."</p> + +<p>A considerable number of Sirian ships had landed about them, and the +tall, slim men of the 100,000,000-year-old race were watching them with +their great brown eyes from a slight distance, for a cordon of men with +evident authority were holding them back.</p> + +<p>"Who are you, friends?" asked a single man who stood within the cordon. +His strongly built frame, a great high brow and broad head designated +him a leader at a glance.</p> + +<p>Despite the vast change the light of Sirius had wrought, Arcot +recognized in him the original photographs he had seen from the planet +old Sol had captured as Negra had swept past. So it was he who answered +the thought-question.</p> + +<p>"I am of the third planet of the sun your people sought as a home a few +years back in time, Taj Lamor. Because you did not understand us, and +because we did not understand you, we fought. We found the records of +your race on the planet our sun captured, and we know now what you most +wanted. Had we been able to communicate with you then, as we can now, +our people would never have fought.</p> + +<p>"At last you have reached that sun you so needed, thanks, no doubt, to +the genius that was with you.</p> + +<p>"But now, in your new-found peace comes a new enemy, one who wants not +only yours, but every sun in this galaxy.</p> + +<p>"You have tried your ray of death, the anti-catalyst? And it but +sputters harmlessly on their screens? You have been swept by their +terrible rays that fuse mountains, then hurl them into space? Our world +and the world of each of these men is similarly menaced.</p> + +<p>"See, here is Zezdon Afthen, from Ortol, far on the other side of the +galaxy, and here is Stel Felso Theu, of Talso. Their worlds, as well as +yours and mine have been attacked by this menace from a distant galaxy, +from Thett, of the sun Ansteck, of the galaxy Venone.</p> + +<p>"Now we must form an alliance of far wider scope than ever has existed +before.</p> + +<p>"To you we have come, for your race is older by far than any race of our +alliance. Your science has advanced far higher. What weapons have you +discovered among those ancient documents, Taj Lamor? We have one weapon +that you no doubt need; a screen, which will stop the rays of the +molecule director apparatus. What have you to offer us?"</p> + +<p>"We need your help badly," was the reply. "We have been able to keep +them from landing on our planets, but it has cost us much. They have +landed on a planet we brought with us when we left the black star, but +it is not inhabited. From this as a base they have made attacks on us. +We tried throwing the planet into Sirius. They merely left the planet +hurriedly as it fell toward the star, and broke free from our attractive +ray."</p> + +<p>"The attractive ray! Then you have uncovered that secret?" asked Arcot +eagerly.</p> + +<p>Taj Lamor had some of his men bring an attractive ray projector to the +ship. The apparatus turned out to be nearly a thousand tons in weight, +and some twenty feet long, ten feet wide and approximately twelve feet +high. It was impossible to load the huge machine into the <i>Ancient +Mariner</i>, so an examination was conducted on the spot, with instruments +whose reading was intelligible to the terrestrians operating it. Its +principal fault lay in the fact that, despite the enormous energy of +matter given out, the machine still gobbled up such titanic amounts of +energy before the attraction could be established, that a very large +machine was needed. The ray, so long as maintained, used no more power +than was actually expended in moving the planet or other body. The power +used while the ray was in action corresponded to the work done, but a +tremendous power was needed to establish it, and this power could never +be recovered.</p> + +<p>Further, no reaction was produced in the machine, no matter what body it +was turned upon. In swinging a planet then, a spaceship could be used as +the base for the reaction was not exerted on the machine.</p> + +<p>From such meager clues, and the instruments, Arcot got the hints that +led him to the solution of the problem, for the documents, from which +Taj Lamor had gotten his information, had been disastrously wiped out, +when one of their cities fell, and Taj Lamor had but copied the machines +of his ancestors.</p> + +<p>The immense value of these machines was evident, for they would permit +Arcot to do many things that would have been impossible without them. +The explanation as he gave it to Stel Felso Theu, foretold the uses to +which it might be put.</p> + +<p>"As a weapon," he pointed out, "its most serious fault is that it takes +a considerable time to pump in the power needed. It has here, +practically the same fault which the artificial matter had on your +world.</p> + +<p>"As I see it, the ray is actually a directed gravitational field.</p> + +<p>"Now here is one thing that makes it more interesting, and more useful. +It seems to defy the laws of mechanics. It acts, but there is no +apparent reaction! A small ship can swing a world! Remember, the field +that generates the attraction is an integral, interwoven part of the +mesh of Space. It is created by something outside of itself. Like the +artificial matter, it exists there, and there alone. There is reaction +on that attractive field, but it is created in Space at that given +point, and the reaction is taken by all Space. No wonder it won't move.</p> + +<p>"The work considerations are fairly obvious. The field is built up. That +takes energy. The beam is focused on a body, the body falls nearer, and +immediately absorbs the energy in acquiring a velocity. The machine +replenishes the energy, because it is set to maintain a certain +energy-level in the field. Therefore the machine must do the work of +moving the ship, just as though it were a driving apparatus. After the +beam has done what is wanted, it may be shut off, and the energy in the +field is now available for any work needed. It may be drained back into +power coils such as ours for instance, or one might just spend that last +iota of power on the job.</p> + +<p>"As a driving device it might be set to pull the entire ship along, and +still not have any acceleration detectable to the occupants.</p> + +<p>"I think we'll use that on our big ship," he finished, his eyes far away +on some future idea.</p> + +<p>"Natural gravity of natural matter is, luckily, not selective. It goes +in all directions. But this artificial gravity is controlled so that it +does not spread, and the result is that the mass-attraction of a mass of +matter does not fall off as the inverse square of the distance, but like +the ray from the parallel beam spotlight, continues undiminished.</p> + +<p>"Actually, they create an exceedingly intense, exceedingly small +gravitational field, and direct it in a straight line. The building up +of this field is what takes time."</p> + +<p>Zezdon Afthen, who had a question which was troubling him, looked +anxiously at his friends. Finally he broke into their thoughts which had +been too cryptically abbreviated for him to follow, like the work of a +professor solving some problem, his steps taken so swiftly and so +abbreviated that their following was impossible to his students.</p> + +<p>"But how is it that the machine is not moved when exerting such force on +some other body?" he asked at last.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the ray concentrates the gravitational force, and projects it. The +actual strain is in space. It is space that takes the strain, but in +normal cases, unless the masses are very large, no considerable +acceleration is produced over any great distance. That law operates in +the case of the pulled body; it pulls the gravitational field as a +normal field, the inverse-square law applying.</p> + +<p>"But on the other hand, the gravity-beam pulls with a constant force.</p> + +<p>"It might be likened to the light-pressure effects of a spotlight and a +star. The spotlight would push the sun with a force that was constant; +no matter what the distance, while the light pressure of the sun would +vary as the inverse square of the distance.</p> + +<p>"But remember, it is not a body that pulls another body, but a +gravitational field that pulls another. The field is in space. A normal +field is necessarily attached to the matter that it represents, or that +represents it as you prefer, but this artificial field has no connection +in the form of matter. It is a product of a machine, and exists only as +a strain in space. To move it you must move all space, since it, like +artificial matter, exists only where it is created in space.</p> + +<p>"Do you see now why the law of action and reaction is apparently +flouted? Actually the reaction is taken up by space."</p> + +<p>Arcot rose, and stretched. Morey and Wade had been looking at him, and +now they asked when he intended leaving for the intergalactic spaces.</p> + +<p>"Now, I think. We have a lot of work to do. At present we have the +mathematics of the artificial matter to carry on, and the math of the +artificial gravity to develop. We gave the Sirians all we had on +artificial matter and on moleculars.</p> + +<p>"They gave us all they had—which wasn't much beyond the artificial +gravity, and a lot of work. At any rate, let's go!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a>Chapter XIII</h2> + +<h3>ATTACKED</h3> + + +<p>The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> stirred, and rose lightly from its place beside +the city. Visible over the horizon now, and coming at terrific speed, +was a fleet of seven Thessian ships.</p> + +<p>They must do their best to protect that city. Arcot turned the ship and +called his decision to Morey. As he did so, one of the Thessian ships +suddenly swerved violently, and plunged downward. The attractive ray was +in action. It struck the rocks of Neptune, and plunged in. Half buried, +it stopped. Stopped—and backed out! The tremendously strong relux and +lux had withstood the blow, and these strange, inhumanly powerful men +had not been injured!</p> + +<p>Two of the ships darted toward him simultaneously, flashing out +molecular rays. The rays glanced off of Arcot's screen already in place, +but the tubes were showing almost at once that this could not be +sustained. It was evident that the swiftly approaching ships would soon +break down the shields. Arcot turned the ship and drove to one side. His +eyes went dead.</p> + +<p>He cut into artificial space, waited ten seconds, then cut back. The +scene before him changed. It seemed a different world. The light was +very dim, so dim he could scarcely see the images on the view plate. +They were so deep a red that they were very near to black. Even Sirius, +the flaming blue-white star was red. The darting Thessian ships were +moving quite slowly now, moving at a speed that was easy to follow. +Their rays, before ionizing the air brilliantly red, were now dark. The +instruments showed that the screen was no longer encountering serious +loading, and, further, the load was coming in at a frequency harmlessly +far down the radio spectrum!</p> + +<p>Arcot stared in wide-eyed amazement. What could the Thessians have done +that caused this change? He reached up and increased the amplification +on the eyes to a point that made even the dim illumination sufficient. +Wade was staring in amazement, too.</p> + +<p>"Lord! What an idea!" suddenly exclaimed Arcot.</p> + +<p>Wade was staring at Arcot in equally great amazement. "What's the +secret?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Time, man, time! We are in an advanced time plane, living faster than +they, our atoms of fuel are destroyed faster, our second is shorter. In +one second of our earthly time our generators do the same amount of work +as usual, but they do many, many times more work in one second, of the +time we were in! We are under the advanced time field."</p> + +<p>Wade could see it all. The red light—normal light seen through eyes +enormously speeded in all perceptions. The change, the dimness—dim +because less energy reached them per second of their time. Then came +this blue light, as they reached the X-ray spectrum of Sirius, and saw +X-rays as normal light—shielded, tremendously shielded by the +atmosphere, but the enormous amplification of the eyes made up for it.</p> + +<p>The remaining Thessians seemed to get the idea simultaneously, and +started for Arcot in his own time field. The Thessian ship appeared to +be actually leaping at him. Suddenly, his speed increased inconceivably. +Simultaneously, Arcot's hand, already started toward the space-control +switch, reached it, and pushed it to the point that threw the ship into +artificial Space. The last glimmer of light died suddenly, as the +Thessian ship's bow loomed huge beside the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>.</p> + +<p>There was a terrific shock that hurled the ship violently to one side, +threw the men about inside the ship. Simultaneously the lights blinked +out.</p> + +<p>Light returned as the automatic emergency incandescent lights in the +room, fed from an energy store coil, flashed on abruptly. The men were +white-faced, tense in their positions. Swiftly Morey was looking over +the indicators on his remote-reading panel, while Arcot stared at the +few dials before the actual control board.</p> + +<p>"<i>There's an air pressure outside the ship!</i>" he cried out in surprise. +"High oxygen, very little nitrogen, breathable apparently, provided +there are no poisons. Temperature ten below zero C."</p> + +<p>"Lights are off because relays opened when the crash short circuited +them." Morey and the entire group were suddenly shaking.</p> + +<p>"Nervous shock," commented Zezdon Afthen. "It will be an hour or more +before we will be in condition to work."</p> + +<p>"Can't wait," replied Arcot testily, his nerves on edge, too.</p> + +<p>"Morey, make some good strong coffee if you can, and we'll waste a +little air on some smokes."</p> + +<p>Morey rose and went to the door that led through the main passage to the +galley. "Heck of a job—no weight at all," he muttered. "There is air in +the passage, anyway." He opened the door, and the air rushed from the +control room to the passage till the pressure was equalized. The door to +the power room was shut, but it was bulged, despite its two-inch lux +metal, and through its clear material he could see the wreckage of the +power room.</p> + +<p>"Arcot," he called. "Come here and look at the power room. Quintillions +of miles from home, we can't shut off this field now."</p> + +<p>Arcot was with him in a moment. The tremendous mass of the nose of the +Thessian ship had caught them full amid-ship, and the powerful ram had +driven through the room. Their lux walls had not been touched; only a +sledge-hammer blow would have bent them under any circumstances, let +alone breaking them. But the tremendously powerful main generator was +split wide open. And the mechanical damage was awful. The prow of the +ship had been driven deep into the machine, and the power room was a +wreck.</p> + +<p>"And," pointed out Morey, "we can't handle a job like that. It will take +a tremendous amount of machinery back on a planet to work that stuff, +and we couldn't bend that bar, let alone fix it."</p> + +<p>"Get the coffee, will you please, Morey? I have an idea that's bound to +work," said Arcot looking fixedly at the machinery.</p> + +<p>Morey turned and went to the galley.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later they returned to the corridor, where Arcot stood +still, looking fixedly at the engine room. They were carrying small +plastic balloons with coffee in them.</p> + +<p>They drank the coffee and returned to the control room, and sat about, +the terrestrians smoking peacefully, the Ortolian and the Talsonian +satisfying themselves with some form of mild narcotic from Ortol, which +Zezdon Afthen introduced.</p> + +<p>"Well, we have a lot more to do," Arcot said. "The air-apparatus stopped +working a while back, and I don't want to sit around doing nothing while +the air in the storage tanks is used up. Did you notice our friends, the +enemy?" Through the great pilot's window the bulk of the Thessian ship's +bow could be seen. It was cut across with an exactitude of mathematical +certainty.</p> + +<p>"Easy to guess what happened," Morey grinned. "They may have wrecked us, +but we sure wrecked them. They got half in and half out of our space +field. Result—the half that was in, stayed in. The half that was out +stayed out. The two halves were instantaneously a billion miles apart, +and that beautifully exact surface represents the point our space cut +across.</p> + +<p>"That being decided, the next question is how to fix this poor old +wreck." Morey grinned a bit. "Better, how to get out of here, and down +to old Neptune."</p> + +<p>"Fix it!" replied Arcot. "Come on; you get in your space suit, take the +portable telectroscope and set it up in space, motionless, in such a +position that it views both our ship and the nose of the Thessian +machine, will you, Wade? Tune it to—seven-seven-three." Morey rose with +Arcot, and followed him, somewhat mystified, down the passage. At the +airlock Wade put on his space suit, and the Ortolian helped him with it. +In a moment the other three men appeared bearing the machine. It was +practically weightless, though it would fall slowly if left to itself, +for the mass of the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> and the front end of the Thessian +ship made a considerable attractive field. But it was clumsy, and needed +guiding here in the ship.</p> + +<p>Wade took it into the airlock, and a moment later into space with him. +His hand molecular-driving unit pulling him, he towed the machine into +place, and with some difficulty got it practically motionless with +respect of the two bodies, which were now lying against each other.</p> + +<p>"Turn it a bit, Wade, so that the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> is just in its +range," came Arcot's thoughts. Wade did so. "Come on back and watch the +fun."</p> + +<p>Wade returned. Arcot and the others were busy placing a heavy emergency +lead from the storeroom in the place of one of the broken leads. In five +minutes they had it fixed where they wanted it.</p> + +<p>Into the control room went Arcot, and started the power-room teleview +plate. Connected into the system of view plates, the scene was visible +now on all the plates in the ship. Well off to one side of the room, +prepared for such emergencies, and equipped with individual power +storage coils that would run it for several days, the view plate +functioned smoothly.</p> + +<p>"Now, we are ready," said Arcot. The Talsonian proved he understood +Arcot's intentions by preceding him to the laboratory.</p> + +<p>Arcot had two viewplates operating here. One was covering the scene as +shown by the machine outside, and the other showed the power room.</p> + +<p>Arcot stepped over to the artificial-matter machine, and worked swiftly +on it. In a moment the power from the storage coils of the ship was +flowing through the new cable, and into the machine. A huge ring +appeared about the nose of the Thessian ship, fitting snugly over it. A +terrific wrench—and it was free of the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>. The ring +contracted and formed a chunk of the stuff free of the broken nose of +the ship.</p> + +<p>It was carried over to the wall of the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, a smaller +piece snipped off as before, and carried inside. A piece of perhaps half +a ton mass. "I hope they use good stuff," grinned Arcot. The piece was +deposited on the floor of the ship, and a disc formed of artificial +matter plugged the hole in its side. Another took a piece of the relux +from the broken Thessian ship, pushed it into the hole on the ship. The +space about the scene of operation was a crackling inferno of energy +breaking down into heat and light. Arcot dematerialized his tremendous +tools, and the wall of the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> was neatly patched with +relux smoothed over as perfectly as before. A second time, using some of +the relux he had brought within the ship, and the inner wall was +rebuilt. The job was absolutely perfect, save that now, where there had +been lux, there was an outer wall of relux.</p> + +<p>The main generator was crumpled up, and torn out. The auxiliary +generators would have to carry the load. The great cables were swiftly +repaired in the same manner, a perfect cylinder forming about them, and +a piece of relux from the store Arcot had sliced from the enemy ship, +welding them perfectly under enormous pressure, pressure that made them +flow perfectly into one another as heat alone could not.</p> + +<p>In less than half an hour the ship was patched up, the power room +generally repaired, save for a few minor things that had to be replaced +from the stores. The main generator was gone, but that was not an +essential. The door was straightened and the job done.</p> + +<p>In an hour they were ready to proceed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a>Chapter XIV</h2> + +<h3>INTERGALACTIC SPACE</h3> + + +<p>"Well, Sirius has retreated a bit," observed Arcot. The star was indeed +several trillions of miles away. Evidently they had not been motionless +as they had thought, but the interference of the Thessian ship had +thrown their machine off.</p> + +<p>"Shall we go back, or go on?" asked Morey.</p> + +<p>"The ship works. Why return?" asked Wade. "I vote we go on."</p> + +<p>"Seconded," added Arcot.</p> + +<p>"If they who know most of the ship vote for a continuance of the +journey, then assuredly we who know so little can only abide by their +judgment. Let us continue," said Zezdon Afthen gravely.</p> + +<p>Space was suddenly black about them. Sirius was gone, all the jewels of +the heavens were gone in the black of swift flight. Ten seconds later +Arcot lowered the space-control. Black behind them the night of space +was pricked by points of light, the infinite multitude of the stars. +Before them lay—nothing. The utter emptiness of space between the +galaxies.</p> + +<p>"Thlek Styrs! What happened?" asked Morey in amazement, his pet Venerian +phrase rolling out in his astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Tried an experiment, and it was overly successful," replied Arcot, a +worried look on his face. "I tried combining the Thessian high speed +<i>time</i> distortion with our high <i>speed</i> space distortion—both on low +power. 'There ain't no sich animals,' as the old agriculturist remarked +of the giraffe. God knows what speed we hit, but it was plenty. We must +be ten thousand light years beyond the galaxy."</p> + +<p>"That's a fine way to start the trip. You have the old star maps to get +back however, have you not?" asked Wade.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the maps we made on our first trip out this way are in the +cabinet. Look 'em up, will you, and see how far we have to go before we +reach the cosmic fields?"</p> + +<p>Arcot was busy with his instruments, making a more accurate +determination of their distance from the "edge" of the galaxy. He +adopted the figure of twelve thousand five hundred light years as the +probable best result. Wade was back in a moment with the information +that the fields lay about sixteen thousand light years out. Arcot went +on, at a rate that would reach the fields in two hours.</p> + +<p>Several hours more were spent in measurements, till at last Arcot +announced himself satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Good enough—back we go." Again in the control room, he threw on the +drive, and shot through the twenty-seven thousand light years of cosmic +ray fields, and then more leisurely returned to the galaxy. The star +maps were strangely off. They could follow them, but only with +difficulty as the general configuration of the constellations that were +their guides were visibly altered to the naked eye.</p> + +<p>"Morey," said Arcot softly, looking at the constellation at which they +were then aiming, and at the map before him, "there is something very, +very rotten. The Universe either 'ain't what it used to be' or we have +traveled in more than space."</p> + +<p>"I know it, and I agree with you. Obviously, from the degree of +alteration off the constellations, we are off by about 100,000 years. +Question: how come? Question: what are we going to do about it?"</p> + +<p>"Answer one: remembering what we observed <i>in re</i> Sirius, I suspect that +the interference of that Thessian ship, with its time-field opposing our +space-field did things to our time-frame. We were probably thrown off +then.</p> + +<p>"As to the second question, we have to determine number one first. Then +we can plan our actions."</p> + +<p>With Wade's help, and by coming to rest near several of the stars, then +observing their actual motions, they were able to determine their +time-status. The estimate they made finally was of the order of eighty +thousand years in the past! The Thessian ship had thrown them that much +out of their time.</p> + +<p>"This isn't all to the bad," said Morey with a sigh. "We at least have +all the time we could possibly use to determine the things we want for +this fight. We might even do a lot of exploring for the archeologists of +Earth and Venus and Ortol and Talso. As to getting back—that's a +question."</p> + +<p>"Which is," added Arcot, "easy to answer now, thank the good Lord. All +we have to do is wait for our time to catch up with us. If we just wait +eighty thousand years, eight hundred centuries, we will be in our own +time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think waiting so long would be boring," said Wade sarcastically. +"What do you suggest we do in the intervening eighty millenniums? Play +cards?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, cards or chess. Something like that," grinned Arcot. "Play cards, +calculate our fields—and turn on the time rate control."</p> + +<p>"Oh—I take it back. You win! Take all! I forgot all about that," Wade +smiled at his friend. "That will save a little waiting, won't it."</p> + +<p>"The exploring of our worlds would without doubt be of infinite benefit +to science, but I wonder if it would not be of more direct benefit if we +were to get back to our own time, alive and well. Accidents always +happen, and for all our weapons, we might easily meet some animal which +would put an abrupt and tragic finish to our explorations. Is it not +so?" asked Stel Felso Theu.</p> + +<p>"Your point is good, Stel Felso Theu. I agree with you. We will do no +more exploring than is necessary, or safe."</p> + +<p>"We might just as well travel slowly on the time retarder, and work on +the way. I think the thing to do is to go back to Earth, or better, the +solar system, and follow the sun in its path."</p> + +<p>They returned, and the desolation that the sun in its journey passes +through is nothing to the utter, oppressive desolation of empty space +between the stars, for it has its family of planets—and it has no +conscious thought.</p> + +<p>The Sun was far from the point that it had occupied when the travelers +had left it, billions on billions of miles further on its journey around +the gravitational center of our galactic universe, and in the eighty +millenniums that they must wait, it would go far.</p> + +<p>They did not go to the planets now, for, as Arcot said in reply to Stel +Felso Theu's suggestion that they determine more accurately their +position in time, life had not developed to an extent that would enable +them to determine the year according to our calendar.</p> + +<p>So for thirty thousand years they hung motionless as the sun moved on, +and the little spots of light, that were worlds, hurled about it in a +mad race. Even Pluto, in its three-hundred-year-long track seemed madly +gyrating beneath them; Mercury was a line of light, as it swirled about +the swiftly moving sun.</p> + +<p>But that thirty thousand years was thirty days to the men of the ship. +Their time rate immensely retarded, they worked on their calculations. +At the end of that month Arcot had, with the help of Morey and Wade, +worked out the last of the formulas of artificial matter, and the +machines had turned out the last graphical function of the last branch +of research that they could discover. It was a time of labor for them, +and they worked almost constantly, stopping occasionally for a game of +some sort to relax the nervous tension.</p> + +<p>At the end of that month they decided that they would go to Earth.</p> + +<p>They speeded their time rate now, and flashed toward Earth at enormous +speed that brought them within the atmosphere in minutes. They had +landed in the valley of the Nile. Arcot had suggested this as a means of +determining the advancement of life of man. Man had evidently +established some of his earliest civilizations in this valley where +water and sun for his food plants were assured.</p> + +<p>"Look—there <i>are</i> men here!" exclaimed Wade. Indeed, below them were +villages, of crude huts made of timber and stone and mud. Rubble work +walls, for they needed little shelter here, and the people were but +savages.</p> + +<p>"Shall we land?" asked Arcot, his voice a bit unsteady with suppressed +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" replied Morey without turning from his station at the +window. Below them now, less than half a mile down on the patchwork of +the Nile valley, men were standing, staring up, collecting in little +groups, gesticulating toward the strange thing that had materialized in +the air above them.</p> + +<p>"Does every one agree that we land?" asked Arcot.</p> + +<p>There were no dissenting voices, and the ship sank gently toward a road +below and to the left. A little knot of watchers broke, and they fled in +terror as the great machine approached, crying out to their friends, +casting affrighted glances at the huge, shining monster behind them.</p> + +<p>Without a jar the mighty weight of the ship touched the soil of its +native planet, touched it fifty millenniums before it was made, five +hundred centuries before it left!</p> + +<p>Arcot's brow furrowed. "There is one thing puzzles me—I can't see how +we can come back. Don't you see, Morey, we have disturbed the lives of +those people. We have affected history. This must be written into the +history that exists.</p> + +<p>"This seems to banish the idea of free thought. We have changed history, +yet history is that which is already done!</p> + +<p>"Had I never been born, had—but I <i>was</i> already—I existed fifty-eighty +thousand years before I was born!"</p> + +<p>"Let's go out and think about that later. We'll go to a psych hospital, +if we don't stop thinking about problems of space and time for a little +while. We need some kind of relaxation."</p> + +<p>"I suggest that we take our weapons with us. These men may have weapons +of chemical nature, such as poisons injected into the flesh on small +sticks hurled either by a spring device or by pneumatic pressure of the +lungs," said Stel Felso Theu as he rose from his seat unstrapping +himself.</p> + +<p>"Arrows and blow-guns we call 'em. But it's a good idea, Stel Felso, and +I think we will," replied Arcot. "Let's not all go out at once, and the +first group to go out goes out on foot, so they won't be scared off by +our flying around."</p> + +<p>Arcot, Wade, Zezdon Afthen, and Stel Felso Theu went out. The natives +had retreated to a respectful distance, and were now standing about, +looking on, chattering to themselves. They were edging nearer.</p> + +<p>"Growing bold," grinned Wade.</p> + +<p>"It is the characteristic of intelligent races manifesting +itself—curiosity," pointed out Stel Felso Theu.</p> + +<p>"Are these the type of men still living in this valley, or who will be +living there in fifty thousand years?" asked Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>"I'd say they weren't Egyptians as we know them, but typical Neolithic +men. It seems they have brains fully as large as some of the men I see +on the streets of New York. I wonder if they have the ability to learn +as much as the average man of—say about 1950?"</p> + +<p>The Neolithic men were warming up. There was an orator among them, and +his grunts, growls, snorts and gestures were evidently affecting them. +They had sent the women back (by the simple and direct process of +sweeping them up in one arm and heaving them in the general direction of +home). The men were brandishing polished stone knives and axes, various +instruments of war and peace. One favorite seemed to be a large club.</p> + +<p>"Let's forestall trouble," suggested Arcot. He drew his ray pistol, and +turned it on the ground directly in front of them, and about halfway +between them and the Neoliths. A streak of the soil about two feet wide +flashed into intense radiation under the impact of millions on millions +of horsepower of radiant energy. Further, it was fused to a depth of +twenty feet or more, and intensely hot still deeper. The Neoliths took a +single look at it, then turned, and raced for home.</p> + +<p>"Didn't like our looks. Let's go back."</p> + +<p>They wandered about the world, investigating various peoples, and proved +to their own satisfaction that there was no Atlantis, not at this time +at any rate. But they were interested in seeing that the polar caps +extended much farther toward the equator; they had not retreated at that +time to the extent that they had by the opening of history.</p> + +<p>They secured some fresh game, an innovation in their larder, and a +welcome one. Then the entire ship was swept out with fresh, clean air, +their water tanks filled with water from the cold streams of the melting +glaciers. The air apparatus was given a new stock to work over.</p> + +<p>Their supplies in a large measure restored, thousands of aerial +photographic maps made, they returned once more to space to wait.</p> + +<p>Their time was taken up for the most part by actual work on the enormous +mass of calculation necessary. It is inconceivable to the layman what +tremendous labor is involved in the development of a single mathematical +hypothesis, and a concrete illustration of it was the long time, with +tremendously advanced calculating machines, that was required in their +present work.</p> + +<p>They had worked out the problem of the time-field, but there they had +been aided by the actual apparatus, and the possibilities of making +direct tests on machines already set up. The problem of artificial +matter, at length fully solved, was a different matter. This had +required within a few days of a month (by their clocks; close to thirty +thousand years of Earth's time), for they had really been forced to +develop it all from the beginning. In the small improvements Arcot had +instituted in Stel Felso Theu's device, he had really merely followed +the particular branch that Stel Felso Theu had stumbled upon. Hence it +was impossible to determine with any great variety, the type of matter +created. Now, however, Arcot could make any known kind of matter, and +many unknown kinds.</p> + +<p>But now came the greatest problem of all. They were ready to start work +on the data they had collected in space.</p> + +<p>"What," asked Zezdon Afthen, as he watched the three terrestrians begin +their work, "is the nature of the thing you are attempting to harness?"</p> + +<p>"In a word, energy," replied Arcot, pausing.</p> + +<p>"We are attempting to harness energy in its primeval form, in the form +of a space-field. Remember, mass is a measure of energy. Two centuries +ago a scientist of our world proposed the idea that energy could be +measured by mass, and proceeded to prove that the relationship was the +now firmly intrenched formula E=Mc<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p>"The sun is giving off energy. It is giving off mass, then, in the form +of light photons. The field of the sun's gravity must be constantly +decreasing as its mass decreases. It is a collapsing field. It is true, +the sun's gravitational field does decrease, by a minute amount, despite +the fact that our sun loses a thousand million tons of matter every four +minutes. The percentage change is minute, but the energy released +is—immeasurable.</p> + +<p>"But, I am going to invent a new power unit, Afthen. I will call it the +'sol,' the power of a sun. One sol is the rating of our sun. And I will +measure the energy I use in terms of sun-powers, not horsepower. That +may tell you of its magnitude!"</p> + +<p>"But," Zezdon Afthen asked, "while you men of Earth work on this +problem, what is there for us? We have no problems, save the problem of +the fate of our world, still fifty thousand years of your time in the +future. It is terrible to wait, wait, wait and think of what may be +happening in that other time. Is there nothing we can do to help? I know +our hopeless ignorance of your science. Stel Felso Theu can scarcely +understand the thoughts you use, and I can scarcely understand his +explanations! I cannot help you there, with your calculations, but is +there nothing I can do?"</p> + +<p>"There is, Ortolian, decidedly. We badly need your help, and as Stel +Felso Theu cannot aid us here as much as he can by working with you, I +will ask him to do so. I want your knowledge of psycho-mechanical +devices to help us. Will you make a machine controlled by mental +impulses? I want to see such a system and know how it is done that I may +control machines by such a system."</p> + +<p>"Gladly. It will take time, for I am not the expert worker that you are, +and I must make many pieces of apparatus, but I will do what I can," +exclaimed Zezdon Afthen eagerly.</p> + +<p>So, while Arcot and his group continued their work of determining the +constants of the space-energy field, the others were working on the +mental control apparatus.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a>Chapter XV</h2> + +<h3>ALL-POWERFUL GODS</h3> + + +<p>Again there was a period of intense labor, while the ship drifted +through time, following Earth in its mad careening about the sun, and +the sun as it rushed headlong through space. At the end of a thirty-day +period, they had reached no definite position in their calculations, and +the Talsonian reported, as a medium between the two parties of +scientists, that the work of the Ortolian had not reached a level that +would make a scientific understanding possible.</p> + +<p>As the ship needed no replenishing, they determined to finish their +present work before landing, and it was nearly forty thousand years +after their first arrival that they again landed on Earth.</p> + +<p>It was changed now; the ice caps had retreated visibly, the Nile delta +was far longer, far more prominent, and cities showed on the Earth here +and there.</p> + +<p>Greece, they decided would be the next stop, and to Greece they went, +landing on a mountain side. Below was a village, a small village, a +small thing of huts and hovels. But the villagers attacked, swarming up +the hillside furiously, shouting and shrieking warnings of their +terrible prowess to these men who came from the "shining house," +ordering them to flee from them and turn over their possession to them.</p> + +<p>"What'll we do?" asked Morey. He and Arcot had come out alone this time.</p> + +<p>"Take one of these fellows back with us, and question him. We had best +get a more or less definite idea of what time-age we are in, hadn't we? +We don't want to overshoot by a few centuries, you know!"</p> + +<p>The villagers were swarming up the side of the hill, armed with weapons +of bronze and wood. The bronze implements of murder were rare, and +evidently costly, for those that had them were obviously leaders, and +better dressed than the others.</p> + +<p>"Hang it all, I have only a molecular pistol. Can't use that, it would +be a plain massacre!" exclaimed Arcot.</p> + +<p>But suddenly several others, who had come up from one side, appeared +from behind a rock. The scientists were wearing their power suits, and +had them on at low power, leaving a weight of about fifty pounds. Morey, +with his normal weight well over two hundred, jumped far to one side of +a clumsy rush of a peasant, leaped back, and caught him from behind. +Lifting the smaller man above his head, he hurled him at two others +following. The three went down in a heap.</p> + +<p>Most of the men were about five feet tall, and rather lightly built. The +"Greek God" had not yet materialized among them. They were probably +poorly fed, and heavily worked. Only the leaders appeared to be in good +physical condition, and the men could not develop to large stature. +Arcot and Morey were giants among them, and with their greater skill, +tremendous jumping ability, and far greater strength, easily overcame +the few who had come by the side. One of the leaders was picked up, and +trussed quickly in a rope a fellow had carried.</p> + +<p>"Look out," called Wade from above. Suddenly he was standing beside +them, having flown down on the power suit. "Caught your thoughts—rather +Zezdon Afthen did." He handed Arcot a ray pistol. The rest of the Greeks +were near now, crying in amazement, and running more slowly. They didn't +seem so anxious to attack. Arcot turned the ray pistol to one side.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" called Morey. A face peered from around the rock toward which +Arcot had aimed his pistol. It was that of a girl, about fifteen years +old in appearance, but hard work had probably aged her face. Morey bent +over, heaved on a small boulder, about two hundred pounds of rock, and +rolled it free of the depression it rested in, then caught it on a +molecular ray, hurled it up. Arcot turned his heat ray on it for an +instant, and it was white hot. Then the molecular ray threw it over +toward the great rock, and crushed it against it. Three children +shrieked and ran out from the rock, scurrying down the hillside.</p> + +<p>The soldiers had stopped. They looked at Morey. Then they looked at the +great rock, three hundred yards from him. They looked at the rock +fragments.</p> + +<p>"They think you threw it," grinned Arcot.</p> + +<p>"What else—they saw me pick it up, saw me roll it, and it flew. What +else could they think?"</p> + +<p>Arcot's heat ray hissed out, and the rocks sputtered and cracked, then +glowed white. There was a dull explosion, and chips of rock flew up. +Water, imprisoned, had been turned into steam. In a moment the whistle +and crackle of combined heat and molecular rays stabbing out from +Arcot's hands had built a barrier of fused rocks.</p> + +<p>Leisurely Arcot and Morey carried their now revived prisoner back to the +ship, while Wade flew ahead to open the locks.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the prisoner was discharged, much to his surprise, +and the ship rose. They had been able to learn nothing from him. Even +the Greek Gods, Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, all the later Greek gods, were +unknown, or so greatly changed that Arcot could not recognize them.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said at length, "it seems all we know is that they came +before any historical Greeks we know of. That puts them back quite a +bit, but I don't know how far. Shall we go see the Egyptians?"</p> + +<p>They tried Egypt, a few moments across the Mediterranean, landing close +to the mouth of the Nile. The people of a village near by immediately +set out after them. Better prepared this time, Arcot flew out to meet +them with Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu. Surely, he felt, the sight +of the strange men would be no more terrifying than the ship or the men +flying. And that did not seem to deter their attack. Apparently the +proverb that "Discretion is the better part of valor," had not been +invented.</p> + +<p>Arcot landed near the head of the column, and cut off two or three men +from the rest with the aid of his ray pistol. Zezdon Afthen quickly +searched his mind, and with Arcot's aid they determined he did not know +any of the Gods that Arcot suggested.</p> + +<p>Finally they had to return to the ship, disappointed. They had had the +slight satisfaction of finding that the Sun God was Ralz, the later +Egyptian Ra might well have been an evolved form of that name.</p> + +<p>They restocked the ship, fresh game and fruits again appearing on the +menu, then once again they launched forth into space to wait for their +own time.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that we must have produced some effect by our visit," +said Arcot, shaking his head solemnly.</p> + +<p>"We did, Arcot," replied Morey softly. "We left an impress in history, +an impress that still is, and an impress that affected countless +thousands.</p> + +<p>"Meet the Egyptian Gods with their heads strange to terrestrians, the +Gods who fly through the air without wings, come from a shining house +that flies, whose look, whose pointed finger melts the desert sands, and +the moist soil!" he continued softly, nodding toward the Ortolian and +the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>"Their 'impossible' Gods existed, and visited them. Indubitably some +genius saw that here was a chance for fame and fortune and sold 'charms' +against the 'Gods.' Result: we are carrying with us some of the oldest +deities. Again, we did leave our imprint in history."</p> + +<p>"And," cried Wade excitedly, "meet the great Hercules, who threw men +about. I always knew that Morey was a brainless brute, but I never +realized the marvelous divining powers of those Greeks so +perfectly—now, the Incarnation of Dumb Power!" Dramatically Wade +pointed to Morey, unable even now to refrain from some unnecessary +comments.</p> + +<p>"All right, Mercury, the messenger of the Gods speaks. The little flaps +on Wade's flying shoes must indeed have looked like the winged shoes of +legend. Wade was Mercury, too brainless for anything but carrying the +words of wisdom uttered by others.</p> + +<p>"And Arcot," continued Morey, releasing Wade from his condescending +stare, "is Jove, hurling the rockfusing, destroying thunderbolts!"</p> + +<p>"The Gods that my friends have been talking of," explained Arcot to the +curious Ortolians, "are legendary deities of Earth. I can see now that +we did leave an imprint on history in the only way we could—as Gods, +for surely no other explanation could have occurred to those men."</p> + +<p>The days passed swiftly in the ship, as their work approached +completion. Finally, when the last of the equation of Time, artificial +matter, and the most awful of their weapons, the unlimited Cosmic Power, +had been calculated, they fell to the last stage of the work. The actual +appliances were designed. Then the completed apparatus that the Ortolian +and the Talsonian had been working on, was carefully investigated by the +terrestrial physicists, and its mechanism studied. Arcot had great plans +for this, and now it was incorporated in their control apparatus.</p> + +<p>The one remaining problem was their exact location in time. Already +their progress had brought them well up to the nineteenth century, but, +as Morey sadly remarked, they couldn't tell what date, for they were +sadly lacking in history. Had they known the real date, for instance, of +the famous battle of Bull Run, they could have watched it in the +telectroscope, and so determined their time. As it was, they knew only +that it was one of the periods of the first half of the decade of 1860.</p> + +<p>"As historians, we're a bunch of first-class kitchen mechanics. Looks +like we're due for another landing to locate the exact date," agreed +Arcot.</p> + +<p>"Why land now? Let's wait until we are nearer the time to which we +belong, so we won't have to watch so carefully and so long," suggested +Wade.</p> + +<p>They argued this question for about two hundred years as a matter of +fact. After that, it was academic anyway.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a>Chapter XVI</h2> + +<h3>HOME AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>They were getting very near their own time, Arcot felt. Indeed, they +must already exist on Earth. "One thing that puzzles me," he commented, +"is what would happen if we were to go down now, and see ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Either we can't or we don't want to do it," pointed out Morey, "because +we didn't."</p> + +<p>"I think the answer is that nothing can exist two times at the same +time-rate," said Arcot. "As long as we were in a different time-rate we +could exist at two times. When we tried to exist simultaneously, we +could not, and we were forced to slip through time to a time wherein we +either did not exist or wherein we had not yet been. Since we were +nearer the time when we last existed in normal time, than we were to the +time of our birth, we went to the time we left. I suspect that we will +find we have just left Earth. Shall we investigate?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely, Arcot, and here's hoping we didn't overshoot the mark by +much." As Morey intimated, had they gone much beyond the time they left +Earth, they might find conditions very serious, indeed. But now they +went at once toward Earth on the time control. As they neared, they +looked anxiously for signs of the invasion. Arcot spotted the only +evident signs, however; two large spheres, tiny points in appearance on +the telectroscope screen, were circling Earth, one at about 1,000 miles, +moving from east to west, the other about 1,200 miles moving from north +to south.</p> + +<p>"It seems the enemy have retreated to space to do their fighting. I +wonder how long we were away."</p> + +<p>As they swept down at a speed greater than light, they were invisible +till Arcot slowed down near the atmosphere. Instantly half a dozen fast +ships darted toward them, but the ship was very evidently unlike the +Thessian ships, and no attack was made. First the occupants would have +an opportunity to prove their friendliness.</p> + +<p>"Terrestrians Arcot, Morey and Wade reporting back from exploration in +space, with two friends. All have been on Earth with us previously," +said Arcot into the radio vision apparatus.</p> + +<p>"Very well, Dr. Arcot. You are going to New York or Vermont?" asked the +Patrol commander.</p> + +<p>"Vermont."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir. I'll see that you aren't stopped again."</p> + +<p>And, thanks to the message thus sent ahead, they were not, and in less +than half an hour they landed once more in Vermont, on the field from +which they had started.</p> + +<p>The group of scientists who had been here on their last call had gone, +which seemed natural enough to them, who had been working for three +months in the interval of their trip, but to Dr. Arcot senior, as he saw +them, it was a misfortune.</p> + +<p>"Now I never will get straight all you'll have ready, and I didn't +expect you back till next week. The men have all gone back to their +laboratories, since that permits of better work on the part of each, but +we can call them here in half an hour. I'm sure they'll want to come. +What did you learn, Son, or haven't you done any calculating on your +data as yet?"</p> + +<p>"We learned plenty, and I feel quite sure that a hint of what we have +would bring all those learning-hounds around us pretty quickly, Dad," +laughed Arcot junior, "and believe it or not, we've been calculating on +this stuff for three months since we left yesterday!"</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's true! We were on our time field, and turned on the space +control—and a Thessian ship picked that moment to run into us. We cut +the ship in half as neatly as you please, but it threw us eighty +thousand years into the past. We have been coasting through time on +retarded rate while Earth caught up with itself, so to speak. In the +meantime—three months in a day!</p> + +<p>"But don't call those men. Let them come to the appointment, while we do +some work, and we have plenty of work to do, I assure you. We have a +list of things to order from the standard supply houses, and I think you +better get them for us, Dad." Arcot's manner became serious now. "We +haven't gotten our Government Expense Research Cards yet, and you have. +Order the stuff, and get it out here, while we get ready for it. +Honestly, I believe that a few ships such as this apparatus will permit, +will be enough in themselves to do the job. It really is a pity that the +other men didn't have the opportunity we had for crowding much work into +little time!</p> + +<p>"But then, I wouldn't want to take that road to concentration again +myself!</p> + +<p>"Have the enemy amused you in my absence? Come on, let's sit down in the +house instead of standing here in the sun."</p> + +<p>They started toward the house, as Arcot senior explained what had +happened in the short time they had been away.</p> + +<p>"There is a friend of yours here, whom you haven't seen in some time, +Son. He came with some allies."</p> + +<p>As they entered the house, they could hear the boards creak under some +heavy weight that moved across the floor, soundlessly and light of +motion in itself. A shadow fell across the hall floor, and in the +doorway a tremendously powerfully-built figure stood.</p> + +<p>He seemed to overflow the doorway, nearly six and a half feet tall, and +fully as wide as the door. His rugged, bronzed face was smiling +pleasantly, and his deep-set eyes seemed to flash; a living force flowed +from them.</p> + +<p>"Torlos! By the Nine Planets! Torlos of Nansal! Say, I didn't expect you +here, and I will not put my hand in that meatgrinder of yours," grinned +Arcot happily, as Torlos stretched forth a friendly, but quite too +powerful hand.</p> + +<p>Torlos of Nansal, that planet Arcot had discovered on his first voyage +across space, far in another Island of Space, another Island Universe, +was not constructed as are human beings of Earth, nor of Venus, Talso, +or Ortol, but most nearly resembled, save in size, the Thessians. Their +framework, instead of being stone, as is ours, was iron, their bones +were pure metallic iron, far stronger than bone. On these far stronger +bones were great muscles of an entirely different sort, a muscle that +used heat of the body as its fuel, a muscle that was utterly tireless, +and unbelievably powerful. Not a chemical engine, but a molecular motion +engine, it had no chemical fatigue-products that would tire it, and +needed only the constant heat supply the body sucked from the air to +work indefinitely. Unlimited by waste-carrying considerations, the +strength was enormous.</p> + +<p>It was one of the commercial space freighters plying between Nansal, +Sator, Earth and Venus that had brought the news of this war to him, +Torlos explained, and he, as the new Trade Coordinator and Fourth of the +Four who now ruled Nansal, had suggested that they go to the aid of the +man who had so aided them in their great war with Sator. It was Arcot's +gift of the secret of the molecular ray and the molecular ship that had +enabled them to overcome their enemy of centuries, and force upon them +an unwelcome peace.</p> + +<p>Now, with a fleet of fifty interstellar, or better, intergalactic +battleships, Nansal was coming to Earth's aid.</p> + +<p>The battleships were now on patrol with all of Earth's and Venus' fleet. +But the Nansalian ships were all equipped with the enormously rapid +space distortion system of travel, of course, and were a shock troop in +the patrol. The Terrestrian and Venerian patrols were not so equipped in +full.</p> + +<p>"And Arcot, from what I have learned from your father, it seems that I +can be of real assistance," finished Torlos.</p> + +<p>"But now, I think, I should know what the enemy has done. I see they +built some forts."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Arcot senior, "they did. They decided that the system +used on the forts of North and South poles was too effective. They moved +to space, and cut off slices of Luna, pulled it over on their molecular +rays, and used some of the most magnificent apparatus you ever dreamed +of. I have just started working on the mathematics of it.</p> + +<p>"We sent out a fleet to do some investigating, but they attacked, and +stopped work in the meantime. Whatever the ray is that can destroy +matter at a distance, they are afraid that we could find its secret too +easily, and block it, for they don't think it is a weapon, and it is +evidently slow in action."</p> + +<p>"Then it isn't what I thought it was," muttered Arcot.</p> + +<p>"What did you think it was?" asked his father.</p> + +<p>"Er—tell you later. Go on with the account."</p> + +<p>"Well, to continue. We have not been idle. Following your suggestion, we +built up a large ray screen apparatus, in fact, several of them, and +carried them in ships to different parts of the world. Also some of the +planets, lest they start dropping worlds on us. They are already in +operation, sending their defensive waves against the Heaviside layer. +Radio is poor, over any distance, and we can't call Venus from inside +the layer now. However, we tested the protection, and it works—far more +efficiently than we calculated, due to the amazing conductivity of the +layer.</p> + +<p>"If they intend to attack in that way, I suspect that it will be soon, +for they are ready now, as we discovered. An attack on their fort was +met with a ray screen from the fort.</p> + +<p>"They fight with a wild viciousness now. They won't let a ship get near +them. They destroy everything on sight. They seem tremendously afraid of +that apparatus of yours. Too bad we had no more."</p> + +<p>"We will have—if you will let me get to work."</p> + +<p>They went to the ship, and entered it. Arcot senior did not follow, but +the others waited, while the ship left Earth once more, and floated in +space. Immediately they went into the time-field.</p> + +<p>They worked steadily, sleeping when necessary, and the giant strength of +Torlos was frequently as great an asset as his indefatigable work. He +was learning rapidly, and was able to do a great deal of the work +without direction. He was not a scientist, and the thing was new to him, +but his position as one of the best of the secret intelligence force of +Nansal had proven his brains, and he did his share.</p> + +<p>The others, scientists all, found the operations difficult, for work had +been allotted to each according to his utmost capabilities.</p> + +<p>It was still nearly a week of their time before the apparatus was +completed to the extent possible, less than a minute of normal time +passing.</p> + +<p>Finally the unassembled, but completed apparatus, was carried to the +laboratory of the cottage, and word was sent to all the men of Earth +that Arcot was going to give a demonstration of the apparatus he hoped +would save them. The scientists from all over Earth and Venus were +interested, and those of Earth came, for there was no time for the men +of Venus to arrive to inspect the results.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a>Chapter XVII</h2> + +<h3>POWER OF MIND</h3> + + +<p>It was night. The stars visible through the laboratory windows winked +violently in the disturbed air of the Heaviside layer, for the molecular +ray screen was still up.</p> + +<p>The laboratory was dimly lighted now, all save the front of the room. +There, a mass of compact boxes were piled one on another, and +interconnected in various and indeterminate ways. And one table lay in a +brilliant path of illumination. Behind it stood Arcot. He was talking to +the dim white group of faces beyond the table, the scientists of Earth +assembled.</p> + +<p>"I have explained our power. It is the power of all the universe—Cosmic +Power—which is necessarily vaster than all others combined.</p> + +<p>"I cannot explain the control in the time I have at my disposal but the +mathematics of it, worked out in two months of constant effort, you can +follow from the printed work which will appear soon.</p> + +<p>"The second thing, which some of you have seen before, has already been +partly explained. It is, in brief, artificially created matter. The two +important things to remember about it are that it <i>is</i>, that it <i>does +exist</i>, and that it exists <i>only where it is determined to exist by the +control there, and nowhere else</i>.</p> + +<p>"These are all coordinated under the new mental relay control. Some of +you will doubt this last, but think of it under this light. Will, +thought, concentration—they are efforts, they require energy. Then they +can exert energy! That is the key to the whole thing.</p> + +<p>"But now for the demonstration."</p> + +<p>Arcot looked toward Morey, who stood off to one side. There was a heavy +thud as Morey pushed a small button. The relay had closed. Arcot's mind +was now connected with the controls.</p> + +<p>A globe of cloudiness appeared. It increased in density, and was a +solid, opalescent sphere.</p> + +<p>"There is a sphere, a foot in diameter, ten feet from me," droned Arcot. +The sphere was there. "It is moving to the left." The sphere moved to +the left at Arcot's thought. "It is rising." The sphere rose. "It is +changing to a disc two feet across." The sphere seemed to flow, and was +a disc two feet across as Arcot's toneless voice of concentration +continued.</p> + +<p>"It is changing into a hand, like a human hand." The disc changed into a +human hand, the fingers slightly bent, the soft, white fingers of a +woman with the pink of the flesh and the wrinkles at the knuckles +visible. The wrist seemed to fade gradually into nothingness, the end of +the hand was as indeterminate as are things in a dream, but the hand was +definite.</p> + +<p>"The hand is reaching for the bar of lux metal on the floor." The soft, +little hand moved, and reached down and grasped the half ton bar of lux +metal, wrapped dainty fingers about it and lifted it smoothly and +effortlessly to the table, and laid it there.</p> + +<p>A mistiness suddenly solidified to another hand. The second hand joined +the first, and fell to work on the bar, and pulled. The bar stretched +finally under an enormous load. One hand let go, and the thud of the +highly elastic lux metal bar's return to its original shape echoed +through the soundless room. These men of the twenty-second century knew +what relux and lux metals were, and knew their enormous strength. Yet it +was putty under these hands. The hands that looked like a woman's!</p> + +<p>The bar was again placed on the table, and the hands disappeared. There +was a thud, and the relay had opened.</p> + +<p>"I can't demonstrate the power I have. It is impossible. The +power is so enormous that nothing short of a sun could serve as a +demonstration-hall. It is utterly beyond comprehension under any +conditions. I have demonstrated artificial matter, and control by mental +action.</p> + +<p>"I'm now going to show you some other things we have learned. Remember, +I can control perfectly the properties of artificial matter, by +determining the structure it shall have.</p> + +<p>"Watch."</p> + +<p>Morey closed the relay. Arcot again set to work. A heavy ingot of iron +was raised by a clamp that fastened itself upon it, coming from nowhere. +The iron moved, and settled over the table. As it approached, a +mistiness that formed became a crucible. The crucible showed the gray of +pure iron, but it was artificial matter. The iron settled in the +crucible, and a strange process of flowing began. The crucible became a +ball, and colors flowed across its surface, till finally it was glowing +richly silvery. The ball opened, and a great lump of silvery stuff was +within it. It settled to the floor, and the ball disappeared, but the +silvery metal did not.</p> + +<p>"Platinum," said Morey softly. A gasp came from the audience. "Only +platinum could exist there, and the matter had to rearrange itself as +platinum." He could rearrange it in any form he chose, either absorbing +or supplying energy of existence and energy of formation.</p> + +<p>The mistiness again appeared in the air, and became a globe, a globe of +brown. But it changed, and disappeared. Morey recognized the signal. "He +will now make the artificial matter into all the elements, and many +nonexistent elements, unstable, atomic figures." There followed a long +series of changes.</p> + +<p>The material shifted again, and again. Finally the last of the natural +elements was left behind, all 104 elements known to man were shown, and +many others.</p> + +<p>"We will skip now. This is element of atomic weight 7000."</p> + +<p>It was a lump of soft, oozy blackness. One could tell from the way that +Arcot's mind handled it that it was soft. It seemed cold, terribly cold. +Morey explained:</p> + +<p>"It is very soft, for its atom is so large that it is soft in the +molecular state. It is tremendously photoelectric, losing electrons +very readily, and since its atom has so enormous a volume, its electrons +are very far from the nucleus in the outer rings, and they absorb rays +of very great length; even radio and some shorter audio waves seem to +affect it. That accounts for its blackness, and the softness as Arcot +has truly depicted it. Also, since it absorbs heat waves and changes +them to electrical charges, it tends to become cold, as the frost Arcot +has shown indicates. Remember, that that is infinitely hard as you see +it, for it is artificial matter, but Arcot has seen natural matter +forced into this exceedingly explosive atomic figuration.</p> + +<p>"It is so heavily charged in the nucleus that its X-ray spectrum is well +toward the gamma! The inner electrons can scarcely vibrate."</p> + +<p>Again the substance changed—and was gone.</p> + +<p>"Too far—atom of weight 20,000 becomes invisible and nonexistent as +space closes in about it—perhaps the origin of our space. Atoms of this +weight, if breaking up, would form two or more atoms that would exist in +our space, then these would be unstable, and break down further into +normal atoms. We don't know.</p> + +<p>"And one more substance," continued Morey as he opened the relay once +more. Arcot sat down and rested his head in his hands. He was not +accustomed to this strain, and though his mind was one of the most +powerful on Earth, it was very hard for him.</p> + +<p>"We have a substance of commercial and practical use now. Cosmium. Arcot +will show one method of making it."</p> + +<p>Arcot resumed his work, seated now. A formation reached out, and grasped +the lump of platinum still on the floor. Other bars of iron were brought +over from the stack of material laid ready, and piled on a broad sheet +that had formed in the air, tons of it, tens of tons. Finally he +stopped. There was enough. The sheet wrapped itself into a sphere, and +contracted, slowly, steadily. It was rampant with energy, energy flowed +from it, and the air about was glowing with ionization. There was a +feeling of awful power that seeped into the minds of the watchers, and +held them spellbound before the glowing, opalescent sphere. The tons of +matter were compressed now to a tiny ball! Suddenly the energy flared +out violently, a terrific burst of energy, ionizing the air in the +entire room, and shooting it with tiny, burning sparks. Then it was +over. The ball split, and became two planes. Between them was a small +ball of a glistening solid. The planes moved slowly together, and the +ball flattened, and flowed. It was a sheet.</p> + +<p>A clamp of artificial matter took it, and held the paper-thin sheet, +many feet square, in the air. It seemed it must bend under its own +enormous weight of tons, but thin as it was it did not.</p> + +<p>"Cosmium," said Morey softly.</p> + +<p>Arcot crumpled it, and pressed it once more between artificial matter +tools. It was a plate, thick as heavy cardboard, and two feet on a side. +He set it in a holder of artificial matter, a sort of frame, and caused +the controls to lock.</p> + +<p>Taking off the headpiece he had worn, he explained, "As Morey said, +Cosmium. Briefly, density, 5007.89. Tensile strength, about two hundred +thousand times that of good steel!" The audience gasped. That seems +little to men who do not realize what it meant. An inch of this stuff +would be harder to penetrate than three miles of steel!</p> + +<p>"Our new ship," continued Arcot, "will carry six-inch armor. Six inches +would be the equivalent of eighteen miles of solid steel, with the +enormous improvement that it will be concentrated, and so will have far +greater resistance than any amount of steel. Its tensile strength would +be the equivalent of an eighteen-mile wall of steel.</p> + +<p>"But its most important properties are that it reflects everything we +know of. Cosmics, light, and even moleculars! It is made of cosmic ray +photons, as lux is made of light photons, but the inexpressibly tighter +bond makes the strength enormous. It cannot be handled by any means save +by artificial matter tools.</p> + +<p>"And now I am going to give a demonstration of the theatrical +possibilities of this new agent. Hardly scientific—but amusing."</p> + +<p>But it wasn't exactly amusing.</p> + +<p>Arcot again donned the headpiece. "I think," he continued, "that a +manifestation of the super-natural will be most interesting. Remember +that all you see is real, and all effects are produced by artificial +matter generated by the cosmic energy, as I have explained, and are +controlled by my mind."</p> + +<p>Arcot had chosen to give this demonstration with definite reason. +Apparently a bit of scientific playfulness, yet he knew that nothing is +so impressive, nor so lastingly remembered as a theatrical demonstration +of science. The greatest scientist likes to play with his science.</p> + +<p>But Arcot's experiment now—it was on a level of its own!</p> + +<p>From behind the table, apparently crawling up the leg came a thing! It +was a hand. A horrible, disjointed hand. It was withered and incarmined +with blood, for it was severed from its wrist, and as it hunched itself +along, moving by a ghastly twitching of fingers and thumb, it left a +trail of red behind it. The papers to be distributed rustled as it +passed, scurrying suddenly across the table, down the leg, and racing +toward the light switch! By some process of writhing jerks it reached +it, and suddenly the room was plunged into half-light as the lights +winked out. Light filtering over the transom of the door from the hall +alone illuminated the hall, but the hand glowed! It glowed, and scurried +away with an awful rustling, scuttling into some unseen hole in the +wall. The quiet of the hall was the quiet of tenseness.</p> + +<p>From the wall, coming through it, came a mistiness that solidified as it +flowed across. It was far to the right, a bent stooped figure, a figure +half glimpsed, but fully known, for it carried in its bony, glowing hand +a great, nicked scythe. Its rattling tread echoed hollowly on the floor. +Stooping walk, shuffling gait, the great metal scythe scraping on the +floor, half seen as the gray, luminous cloak blew open in some unfelt +breeze of its ephemeral world, revealing bone; dry, gray bone. Only the +scythe seemed to know Life, and it was red with that Life. Slow running, +sticky lifestuff.</p> + +<p>Death paused, and raised his awful head. The hood fell back from the +cavernous eyesockets, and they flamed with a greenish radiance that made +every strained face in the room assume the same deathly pallor.</p> + +<p>"The Scythe, the Scythe of Death," grated the rusty Voice. "The Scythe +is slow, too slow. I bring new things," it cackled in its cracked voice, +"new things of my tools. See!" The clutching bones dropped the rattling +Scythe, and the handle broke as it fell, and rotted before their eyes. +"Heh, heh," the Thing cackled as it watched. "Heh—what Death touches, +rots as he leaves it." The grinning, blackened skull grinned wider, in +an awful, leering cavity, rotting, twisted teeth showed. But from under +his flapping robe, the skeletal hands drew something—ray pistols!</p> + +<p>"These—these are swifter!" The Thing turned, and with a single leering +glance behind, flowed once more through the wall.</p> + +<p>A gasp, a stifled, groaning gasp ran through the hall, a half sob.</p> + +<p>But far, far away they could hear something clanking, dragging its slow +way along. Spellbound they turned to the farthest corner—and looked +down the long, long road that twined off in distance. A lone, luminous +figure plodded slowly along it, his half human shamble bringing him +rapidly nearer.</p> + +<p>Larger and larger he loomed, clearer and clearer became the figure, and +his burden. Broken, twisted steel, or metal of some sort, twisted and +blackened.</p> + +<p>"It's over—it's over—and my toys are here. I win, I always win. For I +am the spawn of Mars, of War, and of Hate, the sister of War, and my +toys are the things they leave behind." It gesticulated, waving the +twisted stuff and now through the haze, they could see them—buildings. +The framework of buildings and twisted liners, broken weapons.</p> + +<p>It loomed nearer, the cavernous, glowing eyes under low, shaggy brows, +became clear, the awful brutal hate, the lust of Death, the rotting +flesh of Disease—all seemed stamped on the Horror that approached.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" It had seen them! "Ahh!" It dropped the buildings, the broken +things, and shuffled into a run, toward them! Its face changed, the lips +drew back from broken, stained teeth, the curling, cruel lips, and the +rotting flesh of the face wrinkled into a grin of lust and hatred. The +shaggy mop of its hair seemed to writhe and twist, the long, thin +fingers grasped spasmodically as it neared. The torn, broken fingernails +were visible—nearer—nearer—nearer—</p> + +<p>"Oh, God—stop it!" A voice shrieked out of the dark as someone leaped +suddenly to his feet.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with the cry the Thing puffed into nothingness of energy +from which it had sprung, and a great ball of clear, white glowing light +came into being in the center of the room, flooding it with a light that +dazzled the eyes, but calmed broken nerves.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a>Chapter XVIII</h2> + +<h3>EARTH'S DEFENSES</h3> + + +<p>"I am sorry, Arcot. I did not know, for I see I might have helped, but +to me, with my ideas of horror, it was as you said, amusement," said +Torlos. They were sitting now in Arcot's study at the cottage; Arcot, +his father, Morey, Wade, Torlos, the three Ortolians and the Talsonian.</p> + +<p>"I know, Torlos. You see, where I made my mistake, as I have said, was +in forgetting that in doing as I did, picturing horror, like a snowball +rolling, it would grow greater. The idea of horror, started, my mind +pictured one, and it inspired greater horror, which in turn reacted on +my all too reactive apparatus. As you said, the things changed as you +watched, molding themselves constantly as my mind changed them, under +its own initiative and the concentrated thoughts of all those others. It +was a very foolish thing to do, for that last Thing—well, remember it +<i>was</i>, it existed, and the idea of hate and lust it portrayed was caused +by my mind, but my mind could picture what it would do, if such were its +emotions, and it would do them because my mind pictured them! And +<i>nothing</i> could resist it!" Arcot's face was white once more as he +thought of the danger he had run, of the terrible consequences possible +of that 'amusement.'</p> + +<p>"I think we had best start on the ship. I'll go get some sleep now, and +then we can go."</p> + +<p>Arcot led the way to the ship, while Torlos, Morey and Wade and Stel +Felso Theu accompanied him. The Ortolians were to work on Earth, aiding +in the detection of attacks by means of their mental investigation of +the enemy.</p> + +<p>"Well—good-bye, Dad. Don't know when I'll be back. Maybe twenty-five +thousand years from now, or twenty-five thousand years ago. But we'll +get back somehow. And we'll clean out the Thessians!"</p> + +<p>He entered the ship, and rose into space.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, Arcot?" asked Morey.</p> + +<p>"Eros," replied Arcot laconically.</p> + +<p>"Not if my mind is working right," cried Wade suddenly. All the others +were tense, listening for inaudible sounds.</p> + +<p>"I quite agree," replied Arcot. The ship turned about, and dived toward +New York, a hundred thousand miles behind now, at a speed many times +that of light as Arcot snapped into time. Across the void, Zezdon +Fentes' call had come—New York was to be attacked by the Thessians, New +York and Chicago next. New York because the orbits of their two forts +were converging over that city in a few minutes!</p> + +<p>They were in the atmosphere, screaming through it as their relux glowed +instantaneously in the Heaviside layer, then was through before damage +could be done. The screen was up.</p> + +<p>Scarcely a minute after they passed, the entire heavens blazed into +light, the roar of tremendous thunders crashing above them, great +lightning bolts rent the upper air for miles as enormous energies +clashed.</p> + +<p>"Ah—they are sending everything they have against that screen, and it's +hot. We have ten of our biggest tube stations working on it, and more +coming in, to our total of thirty, but they have two forts, and Lord +knows how many ships.</p> + +<p>"I think me I'm going to cause them some worrying."</p> + +<p>Arcot turned the ship, and drove up again, now at a speed very low to +them but as they had the time-field up, very great. They passed the +screen, and a tremendous bolt struck the ship. Everything in it was +shielded, but the static was still great enough to cause them some +trouble as the time-field and electric field fought. But the time-field, +because of its very nature, could work faster, and they won through +undamaged, though the enormous current seemed flowing for many minutes +as they drifted slowly past it. Slowly—at fifty miles a second.</p> + +<p>Out in space, free of the atmosphere, Arcot shot out to the point where +the Thessians were congregating. The shining dots of their ships and the +discs of the forts were visible from Earth save for the air's +distortion.</p> + +<p>They seemed a miniature Milky Way, their deadly beams concentrated on +Earth.</p> + +<p>Then the Thessians discovered that the terrestrial fleet was in action. +A ship glowed with the ray, the opalescence of relux under moleculars +visible on its walls. It simply searched for its opponent while its +relux slowly yielded. It found it in time, and the terrestrial ship put +up its screen.</p> + +<p>The terrestrial fleet set to work, everything they had flying at the +Thessian giants, but the Thessians had heavier ships, and heavier tubes. +More power was winning for them. Inevitably, when the Sun's interference +somewhat weakened the ray shield—</p> + +<p>About that time Arcot arrived. The nearest fort dived toward the further +with an acceleration that smashed it against no less than ten of its own +ships before they could so much as move.</p> + +<p>When the way was clear to the other fort—and that fort had moved, the +berserk fort started off a new tack—and garnered six more wrecks on its +side.</p> + +<p>Then Thett's emissaries located Arcot. The screen was up, and the +Negrian attractive ray apparatus which Arcot had used was working +through it. The screen flashed here and there and collapsed under the +full barrage of half the Thessian fleet, as Arcot had suspected it +would. But the same force that made it collapse operated a relay that +turned on the space control, and Thett's molecular ray energy steamed +off to outer space.</p> + +<p>"We worried them, then dug our hole and dragged it in after us, as +usual, but damn it, we can't hurt them!" said Arcot disgustedly. "All we +can do is tease them, then go hide where it's perfectly safe, in +artificial—" Arcot stopped in amazement. The ship had been held under +such space control that space was shut in about them, and they were +motionless. The dials had reached a steady point, the current flow had +become zero, and they hung there with only the very slow drain of the +Sun's gravitational field and that of the planet's field pulling on the +ship. Suddenly the current had leaped, and the dials giving the charge +in the various coil banks had moved them down toward zero.</p> + +<p>"Hey—they've got a wedge in here and are breaking out our hole. Turn on +all the generators, Morey." Arcot was all action now. Somehow, +inconceivable though it was, the Thessians had spotted them, and got +some means of attacking them, despite their invulnerable position in +another space!</p> + +<p>The generators were on, pouring enormous power into the coils, and the +dials surged, stopped, and climbed ever so slowly. They should have +jumped back under that charge, ordinarily dangerously heavy. For perhaps +thirty seconds they climbed, then they started down at full speed!</p> + +<p>Arcot's hand darted to the time field, and switched it on full. The dial +jerked, swung, then swung back, and started falling in unison with the +dials, stopped, and climbed. All climbed swiftly, gaining ever more +rapidly. With what seemed a jerk, the time dial flew over, and back, as +Arcot opened the switch. They were free, and the dial on the space +control coils was climbing normally now.</p> + +<p>"By the Nine Planets, did they drink out our energy! The energy of six +tons of lead just like that!"</p> + +<p>"How'd they do it?" asked Wade.</p> + +<p>Torlos kept silent, and helped Morey replace the coils of lead wire with +others from stock.</p> + +<p>"Same way we tickled them," replied Arcot, carefully studying the +control instruments, "with the gravity ray! We knew all along that +gravitational fields drank out the energy—they simply pulled it out +faster than we could pump it in, and used four different rays on us +doing it. Which speaks well for a little ship! But they burned off the +relux on one room here, and it's a wreck. The molecs hit everything in +it. Looks like something bad," called Arcot. The room was Morey's, but +he'd find that out himself. "In the meantime, see if you can tell where +we are. I got loose from their rays by going on both the high speed +time-field and the space control at full, with all generators going full +blast. Man, they had a stranglehold on us that time! But wait till we +get that new ship turned out!"</p> + +<p>With the telectroscope they could see what was happening. The terrific +bombardment of rays was continuing, and the fleets were locked now in a +struggle, the combined fleets of Earth and Venus and of Nansal, far +across the void. Many of the terrestrian, or better, Solarian ships, +were equipped with space distortion apparatus, now, and had some measure +of safety in that the attractive rays of the Thessians could not be so +concentrated on them. In numbers was safety; Arcot had been endangered +because he was practically alone at the time they attacked.</p> + +<p>But it was obvious that the Solarian fleet was losing. They could not +compete with the heavier ships, and now the frequent flaming bursts of +light that told of a ship caught in the new deadly ray showed another +danger.</p> + +<p>"I think Earth is lost if you cannot aid it soon, Arcot, for other +Thessian ships are coming," said Stel Felso Theu softly.</p> + +<p>From out of the plane of the planetary orbits they were coming, across +space from some other world, a fleet of dozens of them. They were +visible as one after another leapt into normal time-rates.</p> + +<p>"Why don't they fight in advanced time?" asked Morey, half aloud.</p> + +<p>"Because the genius that designed that apparatus didn't think of it. +Remember, Morey, those ships have their time apparatus connected with +their power apparatus so that the power has to feed the time +continuously. They have no coils like ours. When they advance their +time, they're weakened every other way.</p> + +<p>"We need that new ship. Are we going to make it?" demanded Arcot.</p> + +<p>"Take weeks at best. What chance?" asked Morey.</p> + +<p>"Plenty; watch." As he spoke, Arcot pulled open the time controls, and +spun the ship about. They headed off toward a tiny point of light far +beyond. It rushed toward them, grew with the swiftness of an exploding +bomb, and was suddenly a great, rough fragment of a planet hanging +before them, miles in extent.</p> + +<p>"Eros," explained Wade laconically to Torlos. "Part of an ancient planet +that was destroyed before the time of man, or life on Earth. The planet +got too near the sun when its orbit was irregular, and old Sol pulled it +to pieces. This is one of the pieces. The other asteroids are the rest. +All planetary surfaces are made up of great blocks; they aren't +continuous, you know. Like blocks of concrete in a building, they can +slide a bit on each other, but friction holds them till they slip with a +jar and we have earthquakes. This is one of the planetary blocks. We see +Eros from Earth intermittently, for when this thing turns broadside it +reflects a lot of light; edge on it does not reflect so much."</p> + +<p>It was a desolate bit of rock. Bare, airless, waterless rock, of +enormous extent. It was contorted and twisted, but there were no great +cracks in it for it was a single planetary block.</p> + +<p>Arcot dropped the ship to the barren surface, and anchored it with an +attractive ray at low concentration. There was no gravity of consequence +on this bit of rock.</p> + +<p>"Come on, get to work. Space suits, and rush all the apparatus out," +snapped Arcot. He was on his feet, the power of the ship in neutral now. +Only the attractor was on. In the shortest possible time they got into +their suits, and under Arcot's direction set up the apparatus on the +rocky soil as fast as it was brought out. In all, less than fifteen +minutes were needed, yet Arcot was hurrying them more and more. Torlos' +tremendous strength helped, even on this gravitationless world, for he +could accelerate more quickly with his burdens.</p> + +<p>At last it was up for operation. The artificial matter apparatus was +operated by cosmic power, and controlled by mental operation, or by +mathematical formula as they pleased. Immediately Arcot set to work. A +giant hollow cylinder drilled a great hole completely through the thin, +curved surface of the ancient planetary block, through twelve miles of +solid rock—a cylinder of artificial matter created on a scale possible +only to cosmic power. The cylinder, half a mile across, contained a huge +plug of matter. Then the artificial matter contracted swiftly, +compressing the matter, and simultaneously treating it with the +tremendous fields that changed its energy form. In seconds it was a +tremendous mass of cosmium.</p> + +<p>A second smaller cylinder bored a plug from the rock, and worked on it. +A huge mass of relux resulted. Now other artificial matter tools set to +work at Arcot's bidding, and cut pieces from his huge masses of raw +materials, and literally, quick as thought, built a great framework of +them, anchored in the solid rock of the planetoid.</p> + +<p>Then a tremendous plane of matter formed, and neatly bisected the +planetoid, two great flat pieces of rock were left where one had +been—miles across, miles thick—planetary chips.</p> + +<p>On the great framework that had been constructed, four tall shafts of +cosmium appeared, and each was a hollow tube, up the center of which ran +a huge cable of relux. At the peak of each mile-high shaft was a great +globe. Now in the framework below things were materializing as Arcot's +flying thoughts arranged them—great tubes of cosmium with relux +element—huge coils of relux conductors, insulated with microscopic but +impenetrable layers of cosmium.</p> + +<p>Still, for all his swiftness of mind and accuracy of thought, he had to +correct two mistakes in all his work. It was nearly an hour before the +thing was finished. Then, two hundred feet long, a hundred wide, and +fifty in height, the great mechanism was completed, the tall columns +rising from four corners of the greater framework that supported it.</p> + +<p>Then, into it, Arcot turned the powers of the cosmos. The stars in the +airless space wavered and danced as though seen through a thick +atmosphere. Tingling power ran through them as it flowed into the +tremendous coils. For thirty seconds—then the heavens were as before.</p> + +<p>At last Arcot spoke. Through the radio communicators, and through the +thought-channels, his ideas came as he took off the headpiece. "It's +done now, and we can rest." There was a tremendous crash from within the +apparatus. The heavens reeled before them, and shifted, then were still, +but the stars were changed. The sun shone weirdly, and the stars were +altered.</p> + +<p>"That is a time shifting apparatus on a slightly larger scale," replied +Arcot to Torlos' question, "and is designed to give us a chance to work. +Come on, let's sleep. A week here should be a few minutes of Earthtime."</p> + +<p>"You sleep, Arcot. I'll prepare the materials for you," suggested Morey. +So Arcot and Wade went to sleep, while Morey and the Talsonian and +Torlos worked. First Morey bound the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> to the frame of +the time apparatus, safely away from the four luminous balls, +broadcasters of the time field. Then he shut off the attractive ray, and +bound himself in the operator's seat of the apparatus of the artificial +matter machine.</p> + +<p>A plane of artificial matter formed, and a stretch of rock rose under +its lift as it cleft the rock apart. A great cleared, level space +resulted. Other artificial matter enclosed the rock, and the fragments +cut free were treated under tremendous pressure. In a few moments a +second enormous mass of cosmium was formed.</p> + +<p>For three hours Morey worked steadily, building a tremendous reserve of +materials. Lux metal he did not make, but relux, the infusible, perfect +conductor, and cosmium in tremendous masses, he did make. And he made +some great blocks of oxygen from the rock, transmuting the atoms, and +stored it frozen on the plane, with liquid hydrogen in huge tanks, and +some metals that would be needed. Then he slept while they waited for +Arcot.</p> + +<p>Eight hours after he had lain down, Arcot was up, and ate his breakfast. +He set to work at once with the machine. It didn't suit him, it seemed, +and first he made a new tool, a small ship that could move about, +propelled by a piece of artificial matter, and the entire ship was a +tremendously greater artificial matter machine, with a greater power +than before!</p> + +<p>His thoughts, far faster than hands could move, built up the gigantic +hull of the new ship, and put in the rooms, and the brace members in +less than twelve hours. A titanic shell of eight-inch cosmium, a space, +with braces of the same nonconductor of heat, cosmium, and a two inch +inner hull. A tiny space in the gigantic hull, a space less than one +thousand cubic feet in dimension was the control and living quarters.</p> + +<p>It was held now on great cosmium springs, but Arcot was not by any means +through. One man must do all the work, for one brain must design it, and +though he received the constant advice and help of Morey and the others, +it was his brain that pictured the thing that was built.</p> + +<p>At last the hull was completed. A single, glistening tube, of enormous +bulk, a mile in length, a thousand feet in diameter. Yet nearly all of +that great bulk would be used immediately. Some room would be left for +additional apparatus they might care to install. Spare parts they did +not have to carry—they could make their own from the energy abounding +in space.</p> + +<p>The enormous, shining hull was a thing of beauty through stark grandeur +now, but obviously incomplete. The ray projectors were not mounted, but +they were to be ray projectors of a type never before possible. Space is +the transmitter of all rays, and it is in space that those energy forms +exist. Arcot had merely to transfer the enormously high energy level of +the space-curvature to any form of energy he wanted, and now, with the +complete statistics on it, he was able to do that directly. No tubes, no +generators, only fields that changed the energy already there—the +immeasurable energy available!</p> + +<p>The next period of work he started the space distortion apparatus. That +must go at the exact center of the ship. One tremendous coil, big enough +for the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> to lie in easily! Minutes, and flying thoughts +had made it—then came thousands of the individual coils, by thinking of +one, and picturing it many times! In ranks, rows, and columns they were +piled into a great block, for power must be stored for use of this +tremendous machine, while in the artificial space when its normal power +was not available, and that power source must be tremendous.</p> + +<p>Then the time apparatus, and after that the driving apparatus. Not the +molecular drive now, but an attraction ray focused on their own ship, +with projectors scattered about the ship that it might move effortlessly +in every direction. And provision was made for a force-drive by means of +artificial matter, planes of it pushing the ship where it was wanted. +But with the attraction-drive they would be able to land safely, without +fear of being crushed by their own weight on Thett, for all its enormous +gravity.</p> + +<p>The control was now suspended finally, with a series of attraction +drives about it, locking it immovably in place, while smaller attraction +devices stimulated gravity for the occupants.</p> + +<p>Then finally the main apparatus—the power plant—was installed. The +enormous coils which handled, or better, caused space to handle as they +directed, powers so great that whole suns could be blasted +instantaneously, were put in place, and the field generators that would +make and direct their rays, their ray screen if need be, and handle +their artificial matter. Everything was installed, and all but a rather +small space was occupied.</p> + +<p>It had been six weeks of continuous work for them, for the mind of each +was aiding in this work, indirectly or directly, and it neared +completion now.</p> + +<p>"But, we need one more thing, Arcot. That could never land on any planet +smaller than Jupiter. What is its mass?" suggested Morey.</p> + +<p>"Don't know, I'm sure, but it is of the order of a billion tons. I know +you are right. What are we going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Put on a tender."</p> + +<p>"Why not the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>?" asked Wade.</p> + +<p>"It isn't fitting. It was designed for individual use anyway," replied +Morey. "I suggest something more like this on a small scale. We won't +have much work on that, merely think of every detail of the big ship on +a small scale, with the exception of the control cube furnishings. +Instead of the numerous decks, swimming pool and so forth, have a large, +single room."</p> + +<p>"Good enough," replied Arcot.</p> + +<p>As if by magic, a machine appeared, a "small" machine of +two-hundred-foot length, modified slightly in some parts, its bottom +flattened, and equipped with an attractor anchor. Then they were ready.</p> + +<p>"We will leave the <i>Mariner</i> here, and get it later. This apparatus +won't be needed any longer, and we don't want the enemy to get it. Our +trial trip will be a fight!" called Arcot as he leaped from his seat. +The mass of the giant ship pulled him, and he fell slowly toward it.</p> + +<p>Into its open port he flew, the others behind him, their suits still on. +The door shut behind them as Arcot, at the controls, closed it. As yet +they had not released the air supplies. It was airless.</p> + +<p>Now the hiss of air, and the quickening of heat crept through it. The +water in the tanks thawed as the heat came, soaking through from the +great heaters. In minutes the air and heat were normal throughout the +great bulk. There was air in power compartments, though no one was +expected to go there, for the control room alone need be occupied; +vision-screens here viewed every part of the ship, and all about it.</p> + +<p>The eyes of the new ship were set in recesses of the tremendously strong +cosmium wall, and over them, protecting them, was an infinitely thin, +but infinitely strong wall of artificial matter, permanently maintained. +It was opaque to all forms of radiation known from the longest Hertzian +to the shortest cosmics, save for the very narrow band of visible light. +Whether this protection would stop the Thessian beam that was so deadly +to lux and relux was not, of course, known. But Arcot hoped it would, +and, if that beam was radiant energy, or material particles, it would.</p> + +<p>"We'll destroy our station here now, and leave the <i>Ancient Mariner</i> +where it is. Of course we are a long way out of the orbit this planetoid +followed, due to the effect of the time apparatus, but we can note where +it is, and we'll be able to find it when we want it," said Arcot, seated +at the great control board now. There were no buttons now, or visible +controls; all was mental.</p> + +<p>A tiny sphere of artificial matter formed, and shot toward the control +board of the time machine outside. It depressed the main switch, and +space about them shifted, twisted, and returned to normal. The time +apparatus was off for the first time in six weeks.</p> + +<p>"Can't fuse that, and we can't crush it. It's made of cosmium, and +trying to crush it against the rock would just drive it into it. We'll +see what we can do though," muttered Arcot. A plane of artificial matter +formed just beneath it, and sheared it from its bed on the planetoid, +cutting through the heavy cosmium anchors. The framework lifted, and the +apparatus with it. A series of planes, a gigantic honeycomb formed, and +the apparatus was cut across again and again, till only small fragments +were left of it. Then these were rolled into a ball, and crushed by a +sphere of artificial matter beyond all repair. The enemy would never +learn their secret.</p> + +<p>A huge cylinder of artificial matter cut a great gouge from the plane +that was left where the apparatus had been, and a clamp of the same +material picked up the <i>Ancient Mariner</i>, deposited it there, then +covered it with rubble and broken rock. A cosmic flashed on the rock for +an instant, and it was glowing, incandescent lava. The <i>Ancient Mariner</i> +was buried under a hundred feet of rapidly solidifying rock, but rock +which could be fused away from its infusible walls when the time came.</p> + +<p>"We're ready to go now—get to work with the radio, Morey, when we get +to Earth."</p> + +<p>The gravity seemed normal here as they walked about, no accelerations +affected them as the ship darted forward, for all its inconceivably +great mass, like an arrow, then flashed forward under time control. The +sun was far distant now, for six weeks they had been traveling with the +section of Eros under time control. But with their tremendous time +control plant, and the space control, they reached the solar system in +very little time.</p> + +<p>It seemed impossible to them that that battle could still be waging, but +it was. The ships of Earth and Venus, battling now as a last, hopeless +stand, over Chicago, were attempting to stop the press of a great +Thessian fleet. Thin, long Negrian, or Sirian ships had joined them in +the hour of Earth time that the men had been working. Still, despite the +reinforcements, they were falling back.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a>Chapter XIX</h2> + +<h3>THE BATTLE OF EARTH</h3> + + +<p>It had been an anxious hour for the forces of the Solar System.</p> + +<p>They were in the last fine stages of Earth's defense when the general +staff received notice that a radio message of tremendous power had +penetrated the ray screen, with advice for them. It was signed "Arcot."</p> + +<p>"Bringing new weapon. Draw all ships within the atmosphere when I start +action, and drive Thessians back into space. Retire as soon as a +distance of ten thousand miles is reached. I will then handle the +fleet," was the message.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen: We are losing. The move suggested would be eminently poor +tactics unless we are sure of being able to drive them. If we don't, we +are lost in any event. I trust Arcot. How vote you?" asked General +Hetsar Sthel.</p> + +<p>The message was relayed to the ships. Scarcely a moment after the +message had been relayed, a tremendous battleship appeared in space, +just beyond the battle. It shot forward, and planted itself directly in +the midst of the battle, brushing aside two huge Thessians in its +progress. The Thessian ships bounced off its sides, and reeled away. It +lay waiting, making no move. All the Thessian ships above poured the +full concentration of their moleculars into its tremendous bulk. A +diffused glow of opalescence ran over every ship—save the giant. The +moleculars were being reflected from its sides, and their diffused +energy attacked the very ships that were sending them!</p> + +<p>A fort moved up, and the deadly beam of destruction reached out, +luminous even in space.</p> + +<p>"Now," muttered Morey, "we shall see what cosmium will stand."</p> + +<p>A huge spot on the side of the ship had become incandescent. A vapor, a +strange puff of smokiness exploded from it, and disappeared instantly. +Another came and faster and faster they followed each other. The cosmium +was disintegrating under the ray, but very slowly, breaking first into +gaseous cosmic rays, then free, and spreading.</p> + +<p>"We will not fight," muttered Morey happily as he saw Arcot shift in his +seat.</p> + +<p>Arcot picked the moleculars. They reached out, touched the heavy relux +of the fort, and it exploded into opalescence that was hazily white, the +colors shifted so quickly. A screen sprang into being, and the ray was +chopped off. The screen was a mass of darting flames as energies of +stupendous magnitude clashed.</p> + +<p>Arcot used a bit more of his inconceivable power. The ray struck the +screen, and it flashed once—then died into blackness. The fort suddenly +crumpled in like a dented can, and rolled clumsily away. The other fort +was near now, and started an attack of its own. Arcot chose the +artificial matter this time. He was not watching the many attacking +ships.</p> + +<p>The great ship careened suddenly, fell over heavily to one side. +"Foolish of me," said Arcot. "They tried crashing us."</p> + +<p>A mass of crumpled, broken relux and lux surrounded by a haze of gas +lying against a slight scratch on the great sides, told the story. Eight +inches of cosmium does not give way.</p> + +<p>Yet another ship tried it. But it stopped several feet away from the +real wall of the ship. It struck a wall even more unyielding—artificial +matter.</p> + +<p>But now Arcot was using this major weapon—artificial matter. Ship after +ship, whether fleeing or attacking, was surrounded suddenly by a great +sphere of it, a sudden terrific blaze of energy as the sphere struck the +ray shield, the control forces now backed by the energy of all the +millions of stars of space shattered it in an instant. Then came the +inexorable crush of the artificial matter, and a ball of matter alone +remained.</p> + +<p>But the pressing disc of the battle-front which had been lowering on +Chicago, greatest of Earth's metropolises, was lifted. This disc-front +was staggering back now as Arcot's mighty ship weakened its strength, +and destroyed its morale, under the steady drive of the now hopeful +Solarians.</p> + +<p>The other gigantic fort moved up now, with twenty of the largest +battleships. The fort turned loose its destructive ray—and Arcot tried +his new "magnet." It was not a true magnet, but a transformed space +field, a field created by the energy of all the universe.</p> + +<p>The fort was gigantic. Even Arcot's mighty ship was a small thing beside +it, but suddenly it seemed warped and twisted as space curved visibly in +a magnetic field of such terrific intensity as to be immeasurable.</p> + +<p>Arcot's armory was tested and found not wanting.</p> + +<p>Suddenly every Thessian ship in sight ceased to exist. They disappeared. +Instantly Arcot threw on all time power, and darted toward Venus. The +Thessians were already nearing the planet, and no possible rays could +overtake them. An instantaneous touch of the space control, and the +mighty ship was within hundreds of miles of the atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Space twisted about them, reeled, and was firm. The Thessian fleet was +before them in a moment, visible now as they slowed to normal speed. +Startled, no doubt, to find before them the ship they had fled, they +charged on for a space. Then, as though by some magic, they stopped and +exploded in gouts of light.</p> + +<p>When space had twisted, seconds before, it was because Arcot had drawn +on the enormous power of space to an extent that had been appreciable +even to it—ten sols. That was forty million tons of matter a second, +and for a hundredth part of a second it had flowed. Before them, in a +vast plane, had been created an infinitesimally thin film of artificial +matter, four hundred thousand tons of it, and into this invisible, +infinitely hard barrier, the Thessian fleet had rammed. And it was gone.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Arcot softly, as he took off his headpiece, "that the +beginning of the end is in sight."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Morey, "think it is now out of sight. Half a dozen ships +stopped. And they are gone now, to warn the others."</p> + +<p>"What warning? What can they tell? Only that their ships were destroyed +by something they couldn't see." Arcot smiled. "I'm going home."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a>Chapter XX</h2> + +<h3>DESTRUCTION</h3> + + +<p>Some time later, Arcot spoke. "I have just received a message from +Zezdon Fentes that he has an important communication to make, so I will +go down to New York instead of to Chicago, if you gentlemen do not mind. +Morey will take you to Chicago in the tender, and I can find Zezdon +Fentes."</p> + +<p>Zezdon Fentes' message was brief. He had discovered from the minds of +several who had been killed by the magnetic field Arcot had used, and +not destroyed, that they had a base in this universe. Thett's base was +somewhere near the center of the galaxy, on a system of unusually large +planets, circling a rather small star. But what star their minds had not +revealed.</p> + +<p>"It's up to us then to locate said star," said Arcot, after listening to +Zezdon Fentes' account: "I think the easiest way will be to follow them +home. We can go to your world, Zezdon Fentes, and see what they are +doing there, and drive them off. Then to yours, Stel Felso. I place your +world second as it is far better able to defend itself than is Ortol. It +is agreeable?"</p> + +<p>It was, and the ship which had been hanging in the atmosphere over New +York, where Zezdon Afthen, Fentes and Inthel had come to it in a +taxi-ship, signaled for the crowd to clear away above. The enormous bulk +of the shining machine, the savior of Earth, had attracted a very great +amount of attention, naturally, and thousands on thousands of hardy +souls had braved the cold of the fifteen mile height with altitude suits +or in small ships. Now they cleared away, and as the ship slowly rose, +the tremendous concentrated mental well-wishing of the thousands reached +the men within the ship. "That," observed Morley, "is one thing cosmium +won't stop. In some ways I wish it would—because the mental power that +could be wielded by any great number of those highly advanced Thessians, +if they know its possibilities, is not a thing to neglect."</p> + +<p>"I can answer that, terrestrian," thought Zezdon Afthen. "Our +instruments show great mental powers, and great ability to concentrate +the will in mental processes, but they indicate a very slight +development of these abilities. Our race, despite the fact that our +mental powers are much less than those of such men as Arcot and +yourself, have done, and can do many things your greater minds cannot, +for we have learned the direction of the will. We need not fear the will +of the Thessians. I feel confident of that!"</p> + +<p>The ship was in space now, and as Arcot directed it toward Ortol, far +far across the Island, he threw on, for the moment, the combined power +of space distortion and time fields. Instantly the sun vanished, and +when, less than a second later, he cut off the space field, and left +only the time, the constellations were instantly recognizable. They were +within a dozen light years of Ortol.</p> + +<p>"Morey, may I ask what you call this machine?" asked Torlos.</p> + +<p>"You may, but I can't answer," laughed Morey. "We were so anxious to get +it going that we didn't name it. Any suggestions?"</p> + +<p>For a moment none of them made any suggestions, then slowly came Arcot's +thoughts, clear and sharp, the thoughts of carefully weighed decision.</p> + +<p>"The swiftest thing that ever was <i>thought</i>! The most irresistible +thing, <i>thought</i>, for nothing can stop its progress. The most +destructive thing, <i>thought</i>. Thought, the greatest constructor, the +greatest destroyer, the product of mind, and producer of powers, the +greatest of powers. Thought is controlled by the mind. Let us call it +<i>Thought</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Excellent, Arcot, excellent. The <i>Thought</i>, the controller of the +powers of the cosmos!" cried Morey.</p> + +<p>"But the <i>Thought</i> has not been christened, save in battle, and then it +had no name. Let us emblazen its name on it now," suggested Wade.</p> + +<p>Stopping their motion through space, but maintaining a time field that +permitted them to work without consuming precious time, Arcot formed +some more cosmium, but now he subjected it to a special type of +converted field, and into the cosmium, he forced some light photons, +half bound, half free. The fixture he formed into the letters, and +welded forever on the gigantic prow of the ship, and on its huge sides. +<i>Thought</i>, it stood in letters ten feet high, made of clear transparent +cosmium, and the golden light photons, imprisoned in it, the slowly +disintegrating lux metal, would cause those letters to shine for +countless aeons with the steady golden light they now had.</p> + +<p>The <i>Thought</i> continued on now, and as they slowed their progress for +Ortol, they saw that messengers of Thett had barely arrived. The fort +here too had been razed to the ground, and now they were concentrating +over the largest city of Ortol. Their rays were beating down on the +great ray screen that terrestrial engineers had set up, protecting the +city, as Earth had been protected. But the fleet that stood guard was +small, and was rapidly being destroyed. A fort broke free, and plunged +at last for the ray screen. Its relux walls glowed a thousand colors as +the tremendous energy of the ray-screen struck them—but it was through!</p> + +<p>A molecular ray reached down for the city—and stopped halfway in a +tremendous coruscating burst of light and energy. Yet there was none of +the sheen of the ray screen. Merely light.</p> + +<p>The fort was still driving downward. Then suddenly it stopped, and the +side dented in like the side of a can some one has stepped on, and it +came to sudden rest against an invisible, impenetrable barrier. A +molecular reached down from somewhere in space, hit the ray screen of +Ortol, which the Thessians had attacked for hours, and the screen +flashed into sudden brilliance, and disappeared. The ray struck the +Thessian fort, and the fort burst into tremendous opalescence, while the +invisible barrier the ray had struck was suddenly a great sheet of +flaming light. In less than half a second the opalescence was gone, the +fort shuddered, and shrieked out of the planet's atmosphere, a mass of +lux now, and susceptible to the moleculars. And everything that lived +within that fort had died instantly and painlessly.</p> + +<p>The fleet which had been preparing to follow the leading fort was +suddenly stopped; it halted indecisively.</p> + +<p>Then the <i>Thought</i> became visible as its great golden letters showed +suddenly, streaking up from distant space. Every ship turned cosmic and +moleculars on it. The cosmic rebounded from the cosmium walls, and from +the artificial matter that protected the eyes. The moleculars did not +affect either, but the invisible protective sheet that the <i>Thought</i> was +maintaining in the Ortolian atmosphere became misty as it fought the +slight molecular rebounds.</p> + +<p>The <i>Thought</i> went into action. The fort which remained was the point of +attack. The fort had turned its destructive ray on the cosmium ship with +the result that, as before, the cosmium slowly disintegrated into puffs +of cosmic rays. The vapor seemed to boil out, puff suddenly, then was +gone. Arcot put up a wall of artificial matter to test the effect. The +ray went right through the matter, without so much as affecting it. He +tried a sheet of pure energy, an electro-magnetic energy stream of +tremendous power. The ray bent sharply to one side. But in a moment the +Thessians had realigned it.</p> + +<p>"It's a photonic stream, but of some type that doesn't affect ordinary +matter, but only artificial matter such as lux, relux, or cosmium. If +the artificial matter would only fight it, I'd be all right." The +thought running through Arcot's mind reached the others.</p> + +<p>A tremendous burst of light energy to the rear announced the fact that a +Thessian had crashed against the artificial matter wall that surrounded +the ship. Arcot was throwing the Thessian destructive beam from side to +side now, and twice succeeded in misdirecting it so that it hit the +enemy machines.</p> + +<p>The <i>Thought</i> sent out its terrific beam of magnetic energy. The ray was +suddenly killed, and the fort cruised helplessly on. Its driving +apparatus was dead. The diffused cosmic reached out, and as the magnetic +field, the relux and the cosmics interacted, the great fort was suddenly +blue-white—then instantly a dust that scattered before an enormous +blast of air.</p> + +<p>From the <i>Thought</i> a great shell of artificial matter went, a visible, +misty wall, that curled forward, and wrapped itself around the Thessian +ships with a motion of tremendous speed, yet deceptive, for it seemed to +billow and flow.</p> + +<p>A Thessian warship decided to brush it away—and plowed into +inconceivable strength. The ship crumpled to a mass of broken relux.</p> + +<p>The greater part of the Thessian fleet had already fled, but there +remained half a hundred great battleships. And now, within half a +million miles of the planet, there began a battle so weird that +astronomers who watched could not believe it.</p> + +<p>From behind the <i>Thought</i>, where it hung motionless beyond the misty +wall, a Thing came.</p> + +<p>The Thessian ships had realized now that the misty sphere that walled +them in was impenetrable, and their rays were off, for none they now had +would penetrate it. The forts were gone.</p> + +<p>But the Thing that came behind the <i>Thought</i> was a ship, a little ship +of the same misty white, and it flowed into, and through the wall, and +was within their prison. The Thessian ships turned their rays toward it, +and waited. What was this thing?</p> + +<p>The ovaloid ship which drifted so slowly toward them suddenly seemed to +jerk, and from it reached pseudopods! An amoeba on a titanic scale! It +writhed its way purposefully toward the nearest ship, and while that +ship waited, a pseudopod reached out, and suddenly drove through the +four foot relux armor! A second pseudopod followed with lightning +rapidity, and in an instant the ship had been split from end to end!</p> + +<p>Now a hundred rays were leaping toward the thing, and the rays burst +into fire and gouts of light, blackened, burned pseudopods seemed to +fall from the thing and hastily it retreated from the enclosure, flowing +once more through the wall that stopped their rays.</p> + +<p>But another Thing came. It was enormous, a mile long, a great, shining +scaly thing, a dragon, and on its mighty neck was mounted an enormous, +distorted head, with great flat nose and huge flapping nostrils. It was +a Thessian head! The mouth, fifty feet across, wrinkled into an horrific +grin, and broken, stained teeth of iron showed in the mouth. Great +talons upraised, it rent the misty wall that bound them, and writhed its +awful length in. The swish of its scales seemed to come to the watchers, +as it chased after a great battleship whose pilot fled in terror. Faster +than the mighty spaceship the awful Thing caught it in mighty talons +that ripped through solid relux. Scratching, fluttering enormous, +blood-red wings, the silvery claws tore away great masses of relux, +sending them flying into space.</p> + +<p>Again rays struck at it. Cosmic and moleculars with blinding pencils of +light. For now in the close space of the Wall was an atmosphere, the air +of two great warships, and though the space was great, the air in the +ships was dense.</p> + +<p>The rays struck its awful face. The face burst into light, and black, +greasy smoke steamed up, as the thing writhed and twisted horribly, +awful screams ringing out. Then it was free, and half the face was +burned away, and a grinning, bleeding, half-cooked face writhed and +screamed in anger at them. It darted at the nearest ship, and ripped out +that ray that burned it—and quivered into death. It quivered, then +quickly faded into mist, a haze, and was gone!</p> + +<p>A last awful thing—a thing they had not noticed as all eyes watched +that Thing—was standing by the rent in the Sphere now, the gigantic +Thessian, with leering, bestial jaws, enormous, squat limbs, the webbed +fingers and toes, and the heavy torso of his race, grinning at them. In +one hand was a thing—and his jaws munched. Thett's men stared in horror +as they recognized that thing in his hand—a Thessian body! He grinned +happily and reached for a battleship—a ray burned him. He howled, and +leaped into their midst.</p> + +<p>Then the Thessians went mad. All fought, and they fought each other, +rays of all sorts, their moleculars and their cosmics, while in their +midst the Giant howled his glee, and laughed and laughed—</p> + +<p>Eventually it was over, and the last limping Thessian ship drove itself +crazily against the wreck of its last enemy. And only wreckage was left.</p> + +<p>"Lord, Arcot! Why in the Universe did you do that—and how did you +conceive those horrors?" asked Morey, more than a little amazed at the +tactics Arcot had displayed.</p> + +<p>Arcot shook himself, and disconnected his controls. "Why—why I don't +know. I don't know what made me do that, I'm sure. I never imagined +anything like that dragon thing—how did—"</p> + +<p>His keen eyes fixed themselves suddenly on Zezdon Fentes, and their +tremendous hypnotic power beat down the resistance of the Ortolian's +trained mind. Arcot's mind opened for the others the thoughts of Zezdon +Fentes.</p> + +<p>He had acted as a medium between the minds of the Thessians, and Arcot. +Taking the horror-ideas of the Thessians, he had imprinted them on +Arcot's mind while Arcot was at work with the controls. In Arcot's mind, +they had acted exactly as had the ideas that night on Earth, only here +the demonstration had been carried to the limit, and the horror ideas +were compounded to the utmost. The Thessians, highly developed minds +though they were, were not resistant and they had broken. The Allies, +with their different horror-ideas, had been but slightly affected.</p> + +<p>"We will leave you on Ortol, Zezdon Fentes. We know you have done much, +and perhaps your own mind has given a bit. We hope you recover. I think +you agree with me, Zezdon Afthen and Inthel?" thought Arcot.</p> + +<p>"We do, heartily, and are heartily sorry that one of our race has acted +in this way. Let us proceed to Talso, as soon as possible. You might +send Fentes down in a shell of artificial matter," suggested Zezdon +Afthen.</p> + +<p>"Which," said Arcot, after this had been done, and they were on their +way to Talso, "shows the danger of a mad <i>Thought</i>!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XXI" id="Chapter_XXI"></a>Chapter XXI</h2> + +<h3>THE POWER OF "<i>THE THOUGHT</i>"</h3> + + +<p>But it seemed, or must have seemed to any infinite being capable of +watching it as it moved now, that the <i>Thought</i> was a mad thought. With +the time control opened to the limit, and a touch of the space control, +it fled across the Universe at a velocity such as no other thing was +capable of.</p> + +<p>One star—it flashed to a disc, loomed enormous—overpowering—then +suddenly they were flashing <i>through</i> it! The enormous coils fed their +current into the space-coils and the time field, and the ship seemed to +twist and writhe in distorted space as the gravitational field of a +giant star, and a giant ship's space field fought for a fraction of time +so short as to be utterly below measurement. Then the ship was gone—and +behind it a star, the center of which had suddenly been hurled into +another space forever, as the counteracting, gravitational field of the +outer layers was removed for a moment, and only its own enormous density +affected space, writhed and collapsed upon itself, to explode into a +mighty sea of flames. Planets it formed, we know, by a process such as +can happen when only this man-made accident happens.</p> + +<p>But the ship fled on, its great coils partly discharged, but still far +more charged than need be.</p> + +<p>It was minutes to Talso where it had been hours with the <i>Ancient +Mariner</i>, but now they traveled with the speed of <i>Thought</i>!</p> + +<p>Talso too was the scene of a battle, and more of a battle than Ortol had +been, for here where more powerful defensive forces had been active, the +Thessians had been more vengeful. All their remaining ships seemed +concentrated here. And the great molecular screen that terrestrian +engineers had flung up here had already fallen. Great holes had +opened in it, as two great forts, and a thousand ships, some mighty +battleships of the intergalactic spaces, some little scout cruisers, +had turned their rays on the struggling defensive machines. It had held +for hours, thanks to the tremendous tubes that Talso had in their +power-distribution stations, but in the end had fallen, but not before +many of their largest cities had been similarly defended, and the people +of the others had scattered broadcast.</p> + +<p>True, wherever they might be, a diffused molecular would find them and +destroy all life save under the few screens, but if the Thessians once +diffused their rays, without entering the atmosphere, the broken screen +would once more be able to hold.</p> + +<p>No fleet had kept the Thessian forces out of this atmosphere, but dozens +of more adequately powered artificial matter bomb stations had taught +Thett respect for Talso. But Talso's own ray screen had stopped their +bombs. They could only send their bombs as high as the screen. They did +not have Arcot's tremendous control power to maintain the matter without +difficulty even beyond a screen.</p> + +<p>At last the screen had fallen, and the Thessian ships, a hole once made, +were able to move, and kept that hole always under them, though if it +once were closed, they would again have the struggle to open it.</p> + +<p>Exploding matter bombs had twice caused such spatial strains and ionized +conditions as to come near closing it, but finally the Thessian fleet +had arranged a ring of ships about the hole, and opened a cylinder of +rays that reached down to the planet.</p> + +<p>Like some gigantic plow the rays tore up mountains, oceans, glaciers and +land. Tremendous chasms opened in straight lines as it plowed along. +Unprotected cities flashed into fountains of rock and soil and steel +that leaped upwards as the rays touched, and were gone. Protected +cities, their screens blazing briefly under the enormous ray +concentrations as the ships moved on, unheeding, stood safe on islands +of safety amidst the destruction. Here in the lower air, where ions +would be so plentiful, Thett did not try to break down the screens, for +the air would aid the defenders.</p> + +<p>Finally, as Thett's forces had planned, they came to one of the ionized +layer ray-screen stations that was still projecting its cone of +protective screening to the layer above. Every available ray was turned +on that station, and, designed as it was for protecting part of a world, +the station was itself protected, but slowly, slowly as its already +heated tubes weakened their electronic emission, the disc of ions +retreated more and more toward the station, as, like some splashing +stream, the Thessian rays played upon it forcing it back. A rapidly +accelerating retreat, faster and faster, as the disc changed from the +dull red of normal defense to the higher and bluer quanta of failing, +less complete defense, the disc of interference retreated.</p> + +<p>Then, with a flash of light, and a roar as the soil below spouted up, +the station was gone. It had failed.</p> + +<p>Instantly the ring of ships expanded as the great screen was weakened by +the withdrawal of this support. Wider was the path of destruction now as +the forces moved on.</p> + +<p>But high, high in the sky, far out of sight of the naked eye, was a tiny +spot that was in reality a giant ship. It was flashing forward, and in +moments it was visible. Then, as another deserted city vanished, it was +above the Thessian fleet.</p> + +<p>Their rays were directed downward through a hole that was even larger. A +second station had gone with that city. But, as by magic, the hole +closed up, and chopped their rays off with a decisiveness that startled +them. The interference was so sharp now that not even the dullest of +reds showed where their beams touched. The close interference was giving +off only radio! In amazement they looked for this new station of such +enormous power that their combined rays did not noticeably affect it. A +world had been fighting their rays unsuccessfully. What single station +could do this, if the many stations of the world could not? There was +but one they knew of, and they turned now to search for the ship they +knew must be there.</p> + +<p>"No horrors this time; just clean, burning energy," muttered Arcot.</p> + +<p>It was clean, and it was burning. In an instant one of the forts was a +mass of opalescence that shifted so swiftly it was purest white, then +rocketed away, lifeless, and no longer relux.</p> + +<p>The other fort had its screen up, though its power, designed to +withstand the attack of a fleet of enormous intergalactic, +matter-driven, fighting ships lasted but an instant under the driving +power of half a million million suns, concentrated in one enormous ray +of energy. The sheer energy of the ray itself, molecular ray though it +was, heated the material it struck to blinding incandescence even as it +hurled it at a velocity close to that of light into outer space. With +little sparkling flashes battleships of the void after giant cruisers +flashed into lux, and vanished under the ray.</p> + +<p>A tremendous combined ray of magnetism and cosmic ray energy replaced +the molecular, and the ships exploded into a dust as fine as the +primeval gas from which came all matter.</p> + +<p>Sweeping energy, so enormous that the defenses of the ships did not even +operate against it, shattered ship after ship, till the few that +remained turned, and, faster than the pursuing energies could race +through space, faster than light, headed for their base.</p> + +<p>"That was fair fight; energy against energy," said Arcot delightedly, +for his new toy, which made playthings of suns and fed on the cosmic +energy of a universe, was behaving nicely, "and as I said, Stel Felso +Theu, at the beginning of this war, the greater Power wins, always. And +in our island here, I have five hundred thousand million separate power +plants, each generating at the rate of decillions of ergs a second, +backing this ship.</p> + +<p>"Your world will be safe now, and we will head for our last embattled +ally, Sirius." The titanic ship turned, and disappeared from the view of +the madly rejoicing billions of Talso below, as it sped, far faster than +light, across a universe to relieve another sorely tried civilization.</p> + +<p>Knowing their cause was lost, hopeless in the knowledge that nothing +known to them could battle that enormous force concentrated in one ship, +the <i>Thought</i>, the Thessians had but one aim now, to do all the damage +in their power before leaving.</p> + +<p>Already their tremendous, unarmed and unarmored transports were +departing with their hundreds of thousands from that base system for the +far-off Island of Space from which they had come. Their battlefleets +were engaged in destroying all the cities of the allies, and those other +helpless races of our system that they could. Those other inhabited +worlds, many of which were completely wiped out because Arcot had no +knowledge of them, were relieved only when the general call for retreat +to protect the mother planet was sent out.</p> + +<p>But Sirius was looming enormous before them. And its planets, heavily +defended now by the combined Sirian, Terrestrial and Venerian fleets and +great ray screens as well as a few matter-bomb stations, were suffering +losses none the less. For the old Sixth of Negra, the Third here, had +fallen. Slipping in on the night side of the planet, all power off, and +so sending forth no warning impulses till it actually fell through the +ray screen, a small fleet of scouts had entered. Falling still under +simple gravity, they had been missed by the rays till they had fallen to +so small a distance, that no humans or men of our allied systems could +have stopped, but only their enormous iron boned strength permitted them +to resist the acceleration they used to avert collision with the planet. +Then scattering swiftly, they had blasted the great protective screen +stations by attacking on the sides, where the ray screen projectors were +not mounted. Designed to protect above, they had no side armor, and the +Sixth was opened to attack.</p> + +<p>Two and one-half billion people lost their lives painlessly and +instantaneously as tremendous diffused moleculars played on the +revolving planet.</p> + +<p>Arcot arrived soon after this catastrophe. The Thessians left almost +immediately, after the loss of three hundred or more ships. One hundred +and fifty wrecks were found. The rest were so blasted by the forces +which attacked them, that no traces could be found, and no count made.</p> + +<p>But as those ships fled back to their base, Arcot, with the wonderfully +delicate mental control of his ship, was able to watch them, and follow +them; for, invisible under normal conditions, by twisting space in the +same manner that they did he was able to see them flee, and follow.</p> + +<p>Light year after light year they raced toward the distant base. They +reached it in two hours, and Arcot saw them from a distance sink to the +various worlds. There were twelve gigantic worlds, each far larger than +Jupiter of Sol, and larger than Stwall of Talso's sun, Renl.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Arcot as he stopped the ship at a third of a light year, +"that we had best destroy those planets. We may kill many men, and +innocent non-combatants, but they have killed many of our races, and it +is necessary. There are, no doubt, other worlds of this Universe here +that we do not know of that have felt the vengeance of Thett, and if we +can cause such trouble to them by destroying these worlds, and putting +the fear of our attacking their mother world into them, they will call +off those other fleets. I could have been invisible to Thett's ships as +we followed them here, and for the greater part of the way I was, for I +was sufficiently out of their time-rate, so that they were visible only +by the short ultra-violet, which would have put in their infra-red, and, +no photo-electric cell will work on quanta of such low energy. When at +last I was sure of the sun for which they were heading, I let them see +us, and they know we are aware of their base, and that we can follow +them.</p> + +<p>"I will destroy one of these worlds, and follow a fleet as it starts for +their home nebula. Gradually, as they run, I will fade into +invisibility, and they will not know that I have dropped back here to +complete the work, but will think I am still following. Probably they +will run to some other nebula in an effort to throw me off, but they +will most certainly send back a ship to call the fleets here to the +defense of Thett.</p> + +<p>"I think that is the best plan. Do you agree?"</p> + +<p>"Arcot," asked Morey slowly, "if this race attempts to settle another +Universe, what would that indicate of their own?"</p> + +<p>"Hmmm—that it was either populated by their own race or that another +race held the parts they did not, and that the other race was stronger," +replied Arcot. "The thought idea in their minds has always been a single +world, single solar system as their home, however."</p> + +<p>"And single solar systems cannot originate in this Space," replied +Morey, referring to the fact that in the primeval gas from which all +matter in this Universe and all others came, no condensation of mass +less than thousands of millions of times that of a sun could form and +continue.</p> + +<p>"We can only investigate—and hope that they do not inhabit the whole +system, for I am determined that, unpleasant as the idea may be, there +is one race that we cannot afford to have visiting us, and it is going +to be permanently restrained in one way or another. I will first have a +conference with their leaders and if they will not be peaceful—the +<i>Thought</i> can destroy or make a Universe! But I think that a second race +holds part of that Universe, for several times we have read in their +minds the thought of the 'Mighty Warless Ones of Venone.'"</p> + +<p>"And how do you plan to destroy so large a planet as these are?" asked +Morey, indicating the telectroscope screen.</p> + +<p>"Watch and see!" said Arcot.</p> + +<p>They shot suddenly toward the distant sun, and as it expanded, planets +came into view. Moving ever slower on the time control, Arcot drove the +ship toward a gigantic planet at a distance of approximately 300,000,000 +miles from its primary, the sun of this system.</p> + +<p>Arcot fell into step with the planet as it moved about in its orbit, and +watched the speed indicator carefully.</p> + +<p>"What's the orbital speed, Morey?" asked Arcot.</p> + +<p>"About twelve and a half miles per second," replied the somewhat +mystified Morey.</p> + +<p>"Excellent, my dear Watson," replied Arcot. "And now does my dear friend +know the average molecular velocity of ordinary air?"</p> + +<p>"Why, about one-third of a mile a second, average."</p> + +<p>"And if that planet as a whole should stop moving, and the individual +molecules be given the entire energy, what would their average velocity +be? And what temperature would that represent?" asked Arcot.</p> + +<p>"Good—Why, they would have to have the same kinetic energy as +individuals as they now have as a whole, and that would be an average +molecular velocity in random motion of 12.5 miles a second—giving +about—about—about—twelve thousand degrees centigrade!" exclaimed +Morey in surprise. "That would put it in the far blue-white region!"</p> + +<p>"Perfect. Now watch." Arcot donned the headpiece he had removed, and +once more took charge. He was very far from the planet, as distances go, +and they could not see his ship. But he wanted to be seen. So he moved +closer, and hung off to the sunward side of the planet, then moved to +the night side, but stayed in the light. In seconds, a battlefleet was +out attempting to destroy him.</p> + +<p>Surrounding the ship with a wall of artificial matter, lest they annoy +him, he set to work.</p> + +<p>Directly in the orbit of the planet, a faint mistiness appeared, and +rapidly solidified to a titanic cup, directly in the path of the planet.</p> + +<p>Arcot was pouring energy into the making of that matter at such a rate +that space was twisted now about them. The meter before them, which had +not registered previously, was registering now, and had moved over to +three. Three sols—and was still climbing. It stopped when ten were +reached. Ten times the energy of our sun was pouring into that +condensation, and it solidified quickly.</p> + +<p>The Thessians had seen the danger now. It was less than ten minutes away +from their planet, and now great numbers of ships of all sorts started +up from the planet, swarming out like rats from a sinking vessel.</p> + +<p>Majestically the great world moved on in its orbit toward the thin wall +of infinite strength and infinite toughness. Already Thessian +battleships were tearing at that wall with rays of all types, and the +wall sputtered back little gouts of light, and remained. The meters on +the <i>Thought</i> were no longer registering. The wall was built, and now +Arcot had all the giant power of the ship holding it there. Any attempt +to move it or destroy it, and all the energy of the Universe would rush +to its defense!</p> + +<p>The atmosphere of the planet reached the wall. Instantly, as the +pressure of that enormous mass of air touched it, the wall fought, and +burst into a blaze of energy. It was fighting now, and the meter that +measured sun-powers ran steadily, swiftly up the scale. But the men were +not watching the meter; they were watching the awesome sight of Man +stopping a world in its course! Turning a world from its path!</p> + +<p>But the meter climbed suddenly, and the world was suddenly a tremendous +blaze of light. The solid rock had struck the giant cup, 110,000 miles +in diameter. It was silent, as a world pitted its enormous kinetic +energy against the combined forces of a universe. Soundless—and as +hopeless. Its strength was nothing, its energy pitted unnoticed against +the energy of five hundred thousand million suns—as vain as those +futile attempts of the Thessian battleships on the invulnerable walls of +the <i>Thought</i>.</p> + +<p>What use is there to attempt description of that scene as +2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of rock and metal and matter +crashed against a wall of energy, immovable and inconceivable. The +planet crumpled, and split wide. A thousand pieces, and suddenly there +was a further mistiness about it, and the whole enormous mass, seeming +but a toy, as it was from this distance in space, and as it was in this +ship, was enclosed in that same, immovable, unalterable wall of energy.</p> + +<p>The ship was as quiet and noiseless, as without indication of strain as +when it hummed its way through empty space. But the planet crumpled and +twirled, and great seas of energy flashed about it.</p> + +<p>The world, seeming tiny, was dashed helpless against a wall that stopped +it, but the wall flared into equal and opposite energy, so that matter +was raised not to the twelve thousand Morey had estimated but nearer +twenty-four thousand degrees. It was over in less than half an hour, and +a broken, misshapen mass of blue incandescence floated in space. It +would fall now, toward the sun, and it would, because it was motionless +and the sun moved, take an eccentric orbit about that sun. Eventually, +perhaps, it would wipe out the four inferior planets, or perhaps it +would be broken as it came within the Roches limit of that sun. But the +planet was now a miniature sun, and not so very small, at that.</p> + +<p>And from every planet of the system was pouring an assorted stream of +ships, great and small, and they all set panic-stricken across the void +in the same direction. They had seen the power of the <i>Thought</i>, and did +not contest any longer its right to this system.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XXII" id="Chapter_XXII"></a>Chapter XXII</h2> + +<h3>THETT</h3> + + +<p>Through the utter void of intergalactic space sped a tiny shell, a wee +mite of a ship. Scarcely twenty feet long, it was one single power +plant. The man who sat alone in it, as it tore through the void at the +maximum speed that even its tiny mass was capable of, when every last +twist possible had been given to the distorted time fields, watched a +far, far galaxy ahead that seemed unchanging.</p> + +<p>Hours, days sped by, and he did not move from his position in the ship. +But the ship had crossed the great gulf, and was speeding through the +galaxy now. He was near the end. At a reckless speed, he sat motionless +before the controls, save for slight movements of supple fingers that +directed the ship at a mad pace about some gigantic sun and its family +of planets. Suns flashed, grew to discs, and were left behind in the +briefest instant.</p> + +<p>The ship slowed, the terrific pace it had been holding fell, and dull +whine of overworked generators fell to a contented hum. A star was +looming, expanding before it. The great sun glowed the characteristic +red of a giant as the ship slowed to less than a light-speed, and turned +toward a gigantic planet that circled the red sun. The planet was very +close to 50,000 miles in diameter, and it revolved at a distance of four +and one half billions of miles from the surface of its sun, which made +the distance to the center of the titanic primary four billion, eight +hundred million miles, in round figures, for the sun's diameter was +close to six hundred and fifty million miles! Greater even than Antares, +whose diameter is close to four hundred million miles, was this star of +another universe, and even from the billions of miles of distance that +its planet revolved, the disc was enormous, a titanic disc of dull red +flame. But so low was its surface temperature, that even that enormous +disc did not overheat the giant planet.</p> + +<p>The planet's atmosphere stretched out tens of thousands of miles into +space, and under the enormous gravitational acceleration of the +tremendous mass of that planet, it was near the surface a blanket dense +as water. There was no temperature change upon it, though its night was +one hundred hours long, and its day the same. The centrifugal force of +the rapid rotation of this enormous body had flattened it when still +liquid till it seemed now more of the shape of a pumpkin than of an +orange. It was really a double planet, for its satellite was a world of +one hundred thousand miles diameter, yet smaller in comparison to its +giant primary than is Luna in comparison to Earth. It revolved at a +distance of five million miles from its primary's center, and it, too, +was swarming with its people.</p> + +<p>But the racing ship sped directly toward the great planet, and shrieked +its way down through the atmosphere, till its outer shell was radiating +far in the violet.</p> + +<p>Straight it flew to where a gigantic city sprawled in the heaped, somber +masonry, but in some order yet, for on closer inspection the appearance +of interlaced circles came over the edge of the giant cities. Ray +screens were circular and the city was protected by dozens of stations.</p> + +<p>The scout was going well under the speed of light now, and a message, +imperative and commanding, sped ahead of him. Half a dozen patrol boats +flashed up, and fell in beside him, and with him raced to a gigantic +building that reared its somber head from the center of the city.</p> + +<p>Under a white sky they proceeded to it, and landed on its roof. From the +little machine the single man came out. Using the webbed hands and feet +that had led the Allied scientists to think them an aquatic race, he +swam upward, and through the water-dense atmosphere of the planet toward +the door.</p> + +<p>Trees overtopped the building, for it had but four stories, above +ground, though it was the tallest in the city. The trees, like seaweed, +floated most of their enormous weight in the dense air, but the +buildings under the gravitational acceleration, which was more than one +hundred times Earth's gravity, could not be built very high ere they +crumple under their own weight. Though one of these men weighed +approximately two hundred pounds on Earth, for all their short stature, +on this planet their weight was more than ten tons! Only the enormously +dense atmosphere permitted them to move.</p> + +<p>And such an atmosphere! At a temperature of almost exactly 360 degrees +centigrade, there was no liquid water on the planet, naturally. At that +temperature water cannot be a liquid, no matter what the pressure, and +it was a gas. In their own bodies there was liquid water, but only +because they lived on heat, their muscles absorbed their energy for work +from the heat of the air. They carried in their own muscles +refrigeration, and, with that aid, were able to keep liquid water for +their life processes. With death, the water evaporated. Almost the +entire atmosphere was made up of oxygen, with but a trace of nitrogen, +and some amount of carbon dioxide.</p> + +<p>Here their enormous strength was not needed, as Arcot had supposed, to +move their own bodies, but to enable them to perform the ordinary tasks +of life. The mere act of lifting a thing weighing perhaps ten pounds on +Earth, here required a lifting force of more than half a ton! No wonder +enormous strength had been developed! Such things as a man might carry +with him, perhaps a ray pistol, would weigh half a ton; his money would +weigh near to a hundred pounds!</p> + +<p>But—there were no guns on this world. A man could throw a stone perhaps +a short distance, but when a gravitational acceleration of more than a +half a mile per second acted on it, and it was hurled through an +atmosphere dense as water—what chance was there for a long range?</p> + +<p>But these little men of enormous strength did not know other schemes of +existence, save in the abstract, and as things of comical peculiarity. +To them life on a planet like Earth was as life to a terrestrian on a +planetoid such as Ceres, Juno or Eros would have seemed. Even on +Thettsost, the satellite planet of Thett, life was strange, and they +used lux roofs over their cities, though their weight there was four +tons!</p> + +<p>As the scout swam through the dense atmosphere of his world toward the +entrance way to the building, guards stopped him, and examined his +credentials. Then he was led through long halls, and down a shaft ten +stories below the planet's surface, to where a great table occupied a +part of a low ceilinged, wide room. This room was shielded, interference +screens of all known kinds lined the hollow walls, no rays could reach +through it to the men within. The guard changed, and new men examined +the scout's credentials, and he was led still deeper into the bowels of +the planet. Once more the guard changed, and he entered a room guarded +not by single shields but by triple, and walled with six foot relux, and +ceiled with the same strong material. But here, under the enormous +gravity, even its great strength required aid in the form of pillars.</p> + +<p>A giant of his race sat before a low table. The table ran half the +length of the room, and beside it sat four other men. But there were +places for more than two dozen.</p> + +<p>"A scout from the colony? What news?" demanded the leader. His voice was +a growl, deep and throaty.</p> + +<p>"Oh mighty Sthanto, I bring news of resistance. We waited too long, in +our explorations, and those men of World 3769-8482730-3 have learned too +much. We were wrong. They had found the secret of exceeding the speed of +light, and can travel through space fully as rapidly as we can, and now, +since by some means we cannot fathom, they have learned to combine both +our own system and theirs, they have one enormous engine of destruction +that travels across their huge universe in less time than it takes us to +travel across a planetary system.</p> + +<p>"Our cause is lost, which is by far the least of our troubles. Thett is +in danger. We cannot hope to combat that ship."</p> + +<p>"Thalt—what means have we. Can we not better them?" demanded Sthanto of +his chief scientist.</p> + +<p>"Great Sthanto, we know that such a substance can be made when pressure +can be brought to bear on cosmic rays under the influence of field +24-7649-321, but that field cannot be produced, because no sufficient +concentration of energy is available. Energy cannot be released rapidly +enough to replace the losses when the field is developing. The fact that +they have that material indicates their possession of an unguessed and +terrific energy source. I would have said that there was no energy +greater than the energy of matter, but we know the properties of this +material and that the triple ray which has at last been perfected, can +be produced providing your order for all energy sources is given, will +release its energy at a speed comparable to the rate of energy relux in +a twin ray, but that the release takes place only in the path of the +ray."</p> + +<p>"What more, Scout?" asked Sthanto smoothly.</p> + +<p>"The ship first appeared in connection with our general attack on world +3769-8482730-3. The attack was near success, their screens were already +failing. They have devised a new and very ionized layer as a conductor. +It was exceedingly difficult to break, and since their sun had been +similarly screened, we could not throw masses of that matter upon them.</p> + +<p>"In another sthan of time, we would have destroyed their world. Then the +ship appeared. It has molecular rays, magnetic beams and cosmic rays, +and a fourth weapon we know nothing of. It has molecular screens, we +suspect, but has not had occasion to use them.</p> + +<p>"Our heaviest molecular screens flash under their molecular rays. +Ordinary screens fall instantly without momentary defense. The ray power +is incalculable.</p> + +<p>"Their magnetic beams are used in conjunction with cosmics. The action +of the two causes the relux to induce current, and due to reaction of +currents on the magnetic field—"</p> + +<p>"And the resistance due to the relux, the relux is first heated to +incandescence and then the ship opens out as the air pressure bends the +magnetically softened relux?" finished Thalt.</p> + +<p>"No, the effect is even more terrific. It explodes into powder," replied +the scout.</p> + +<p>"And what happens to worlds that the magnetic ray touches?" inquired the +scientist.</p> + +<p>"A corner of it touched the world we fought over, and the world shook," +replied the colonist.</p> + +<p>"And the last weapon?" asked Sthanto, his voice soft now.</p> + +<p>"It seems a ghost. It is a mistiness that comes into existence like a +cloud, and what it touches is crushed, what it rams is shattered. It +surrounds the great ship, and machines crashing into it at a speed of +more than six times that of light are completely destroyed, without in +the slightest injuring the shield.</p> + +<p>"Then—what caused my departure from the colony—it showed once more its +unutterable power. The mistiness formed in the path of our colonial +world, number 3769-1-5, and the planet swept against that wall of +mistiness, and was shattered, and turned in less than five sthan to a +ball of blue-white fire. The wall stopped the planet in its motion. We +could not fight that machine, and we left the worlds. The others are +coming," finished the scout.</p> + +<p>The ruler turned his slightly smiling face to the commander of his +armies, who sat beside him.</p> + +<p>"Give orders," he said softly, almost gently, "that a triple ray station +be set up under the direction of Thalt, and further notice that all +power be made instantly available to it. Add that the colonists are +returning defeated, and bringing danger at their heels. The triple ray +will destroy each ship as it enters the system." His hand under the +table pushed an invisible protuberance, and from the perfectly +conducting relux floor to the equally perfectly conducting ceiling, and +between four pillars grouped around the spot where the scout stood, +terrific arcs suddenly came into being. They lasted for the thousandth +part of a second, and when they suddenly died away, as swiftly as they +had come, there was not even ash where the scout had been.</p> + +<p>"Have you any suggestions, Thalt?" he asked of the scientist, his voice +as soft as before.</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with your conduct so far, but the future conduct you had +planned is quite unsatisfactory," replied the scientist. The ruler sat +motionless in his great seat, staring fixedly at the scientist. "I think +it is time I take your place, therefore." The place where the ruler had +been was suddenly seen as through a dark cloud, then the cloud was gone, +and with it the king, only his relux chair, and the bits of lux or relux +that had been about his garments remained.</p> + +<p>"He was a fool," said the scientist softly, as he rose, "to plan on +removing his scientist. Are there any who object to my succession?"</p> + +<p>"No one objects," said Faslar, the ex-king's Prime Minister and +councilor.</p> + +<p>"Then I think, Phantal, Commander of planetary forces, that you had best +see Ranstud, my assistant, and follow out the plan outlined by my +predecessor. And you Tastal, Commander of Fleets, had best bring your +fleets near the planets for protection. Go."</p> + +<p>"May I suggest, mighty Thalt," said Faslar after the others had left, +"that my knowledge will be exceedingly useful to you. You have two +commanders, neither of whom loves you, and neither of whom is highly +capable. The family of Thadstil would be glad to learn who removed that +honored gentleman, and the family of Datstir would gladly support him +who brought the remover of their head to them.</p> + +<p>"This would remove two unwelcome menaces, and open places for such as +Ranstud and your son Warrtil.</p> + +<p>"And," he said hastily as he saw a slight shift in Thalt's eyes, "I +might say further that the bereaved ones of Parthel would find great +interest in certain of my papers, which are only protected by my +personal constant watchfulness."</p> + +<p>"Ah, so? And what of Kelston Faln, Faslar?" smiled the new Sthanta.</p> + +<p>Thalt's hand relaxed and they started a conversation and discussion on +means of defense.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIII" id="Chapter_XXIII"></a>Chapter XXIII</h2> + +<h3>VENONE</h3> + + +<p>Up from Earth, out of its clear blue sky, and into the glare and dark of +space and near a sun the ship soared. They had been holding it +motionless over New York, and now as it rose, hundreds of tiny craft, +and a few large excursion ships followed it until it was out of Earth's +atmosphere. Then—it was gone. Gone across space, racing toward that far +Universe at a speed no other thing could equal. In minutes the great +disc of the Universe had taken form behind them, as they took their +route photographs to find their way back to Earth after the battle, if +still they could come.</p> + +<p>Then into the stillness of the Intergalactic spaces.</p> + +<p>"This will be our first opportunity to test the full speed of this ship. +We have never tried its velocity, and we should measure it now. Take a +sight on the diameter of the Island, as seen from here, Morey. Then we +will travel ten seconds, and look again."</p> + +<p>Half a million light years from the center of the Island now, the great +disc spread out over the vast space behind them, apparently the size of +a dinner plate at about thirty inches distance, it was more than two +hundred and fifty thousand light years across. Checking carefully, Morey +read their distance as just shy of five hundred thousand light years.</p> + +<p>"Hold on—here we go," called Arcot. Space was suddenly black, and +beside them ran the twin ghost ships that follow always when space is +closed to the smallest compass, for light leaving, goes around a space +whose radius is measured in miles, instead of light centuries and +returns. There was no sound, no slightest vibration, only Torlos' iron +bones felt a slight shock as the inconceivable currents flowed into the +gigantic space distortion coil from the storage fields, their shielded +magnetic flux leaking by in some slight degree.</p> + +<p>For ten seconds that seemed minutes Arcot held the ship on the course +under the maximum combined powers of space distortion and time field +distortion. Then he released both simultaneously.</p> + +<p>The velvet black of space was about them as before, but now the disc of +the Nebula was tiny behind them! So tiny was it, that these men, who +knew its magnitude, gasped in sudden wonder. None of them had been able +to conceive of such a velocity as this ship had shown! In seconds, Morey +announced a moment later, they had traveled <i>one million, one hundred +thousand light years</i>! Their velocity was six hundred and sixty +quadrillion miles per second!</p> + +<p>"Then it will take us only a little over one thousand seconds to travel +the hundred and fifty million light years, at 110,000 light years per +second—that's about the radius of our galaxy, isn't it!" exclaimed +Wade.</p> + +<p>They started on now, and one thousand and ten seconds, or a little more +than eighteen minutes later, they stopped again. So far behind them now +as to be almost lost in the far scattered universes, lay their own +Island, and carefully they photographed the Universe that now lay less +than twenty million light years ahead. Still, it was further, even after +crossing this enormous gulf, than are many of those nebulae we see from +Earth, many of which lie within that distance. They must proceed +cautiously now, for they did not know the exact distance to the Nebula. +Carefully, running forward in jumps of five million light years, +forty-five second drives, they worked nearer.</p> + +<p>Then finally they entered the Island, and drove toward the denser +center.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord, Arcot, look at those suns!" exclaimed Morey in amazement. +For the first time they were seeing the suns of this system at a range +that permitted observation, and Arcot had stopped to observe. The first +one they had chosen had been a blue-white giant of enormous mass, nearly +one hundred and fifty times as heavy as our own sun, and all the +enormous surface was radiating power into space at a rate of nearly +thirty thousand horsepower per square inch! No planets circled it, +however, in its journey through space.</p> + +<p>"I've been noticing the number of giants here. Look around."</p> + +<p>The <i>Thought</i> moved on, on to other suns. They must find one that was +inhabited.</p> + +<p>They stopped at last near a great orange giant, and examined it. It had +indeed planets, and as Arcot watched, he saw in the telectroscope a line +of gigantic freighters rise from the world, and whisk off to nothingness +as they exceeded the speed of light! Instantly he started the <i>Thought</i> +searching in time fields for the freighters. He found them, and followed +them as they raced across the void. He knew he was visible to them, and +as he suspected, they soon stopped, slowing down and signaling to him.</p> + +<p>"Morey—take the <i>Thought</i>. I'm going to visit them in the <i>Banderlog</i> +as I think we shall name the tender," called Arcot, stripping off the +headset, and leaving the control seat. The other fleet of ships was now +less than a hundred thousand miles away, clearly visible in the +telectroscope. They were still signaling, and Arcot had set an automatic +signaling device flashing an enormously powerful searchlight toward them +in a succession of dots and dashes, an obvious signal, though also, +obviously unintelligible to those others.</p> + +<p>"Is it safe, Arcot?" asked Torlos anxiously. To approach those enormous +ships in the relatively tiny <i>Banderlog</i> seemed unwise.</p> + +<p>"Far safer than they'll believe. Remember, only the <i>Thought</i> could +stand up against such weapons as even the <i>Banderlog</i> carries, run as +they are by cosmic energy," replied Arcot, diving down toward the little +tender.</p> + +<p>In a moment it was out through the lock, and sped away from them like a +bullet, reaching the distant stranger fleet in less than ten seconds.</p> + +<p>"They are communicating by thought!" announced Zezdon Afthen presently. +"But I cannot understand them, for the impulses are too weak to be +intelligently received."</p> + +<p>For nearly an hour the <i>Banderlog</i> hung beside the fleet, then it turned +about, and raced once more to the <i>Thought</i>. Inside the lock, and a +moment later Arcot appeared again on the threshold of the door. He +looked immensely relieved.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have some good news," he said and smiled, sitting down. "Follow +that bunch, Morey, and I'll tell you about it. Set it and she'll hold +nicely. We have a long way to go, and those are slow freighters, +accompanied by one Cruiser.</p> + +<p>"Those men," he began, "are men of Venone. You remember Thett's records +said something of the Mighty Warless Ones of Venone? Those are they. +They inhabit most of this universe, leaving the Thessians but four +planets of a minor sun, way off in one corner. It seems the Thessians +are their undesirable exiles, those who have, from generation to +generation, been either forced to go there, or who wanted to go there.</p> + +<p>"They did not like the easier and more effective method of disposing of +undesirables, the instantaneous death chamber they now use. Thett was +their prison world. No one ever returned and his family could go with +him if they desired, but if they did not, they were carefully watched +for outcroppings of undesirable traits—murder, crime of any sort, any +habitual tendency to injustice.</p> + +<p>"About six hundred years ago of our time, Thett revolted. There were +scientists there, and their scientists had discovered a thing that they +had been seeking for generations—the Twin-ray. I don't know what it is, +and the Venonians don't either. It is the ray that destroys relux and +lux, however, and can be carried only on a machine the size of their +forts, due to some limitations. Just what those limitations are the +Venonians don't know. Other than that ray they had no new weapons.</p> + +<p>"But it was enough. Their guard ships which had circled the worlds of +the prison system, Antseck, were suddenly destroyed, so suddenly that +Venone received no word of it till a consignment ship, bringing +prisoners, discovered their absence. The consignment ship returned +without landing. Thett was now independent. But they were bound to their +system, for although they had the molecular ships, they had never been +permitted to have time apparatus, nor to see it, nor was any one who +knew its principles ever consigned there. The result was that they were +as isolated as ever.</p> + +<p>"This was for two centuries. Two centuries later it was worked out by +one of their scientists, and the Warless Ones had a War of defense. +Their small fleet of cruisers, designed for rescue work and for clearing +space lanes of wrecks and asteroids, was destroyed instantly, their +world was protected only by the ray screen, which the Thessians did not +have, and by the fact that they could build more cruisers. In less than +a year Thett was defeated, and beaten back to her world, though Venone +could not overcome Thett, now, for around their planets they had so many +forts projecting the deadly rays, that no ship could approach.</p> + +<p>"Then Thett learned how to make the screen, and came again. Venone had +planetoid stations, that projected molecular rays of an intensity I +wonder at, with their system of projecting. It seems these people have +force-power feeds that operate through space, by which an entire solar +system can tie in for power, and they fed these stations in that way. +Lord only knows what tubes they had, but the Thessians couldn't get the +power to fight.</p> + +<p>"They've been let alone since then, they did not know why. I told them +what their dear friends had been doing in that time, and the Venonians +were immensely surprised, and very evidently sorry. They begged my +pardon for letting loose such a menace, quite sincerely feeling that it +was their fault. They offered any help they could give, and I told them +that a chart of this system would be of the greatest use. They are going +now to Venone, and we are to go with them, and see what they have to +offer. Also, they want a demonstration of this 'remarkable ship that can +defeat whole fleets of Thessians, and destroy or make planets at will,'" +concluded Arcot.</p> + +<p>"I do not in the least blame them for wanting to see this ship in +operation, Arcot, but they are, very evidently, a much older race than +yours," said Torlos, his thoughts coming clear and sharp, as those of a +man who has thought over what he says carefully. "Are you not running +danger that their minds may be more powerful than yours, that this story +they have told you is but a ruse to get this ship on their world where +thousand, millions can concentrate their will against you and capture +the ship by mind where they cannot capture it by force?"</p> + +<p>"That," agreed Arcot, "is where 'the rub' comes in as an ancient poet of +Earth put it. I don't know and I did not have a chance to see. Wherefore +I am about to do some work. Let me have the controls, Morey, will you?"</p> + +<p>Arcot made a new ship. It was made entirely, perforce, of cosmium, lux +and relux, for those were the only forms of matter he could create in +space permanently from energy. It was equipped with gravity drive, and +time distortion speed apparatus, and his far better trained mind +finished this smaller ship with his titanic tools in less than the two +days that it took them to reach Venone. In the meantime, the Venonian +cruiser had drawn close, and watched in amazement as the ship was +fashioned from the energy of space, became a thing of glistening matter, +materializing from the absolute void of space, and forming under titanic +tools such as the commander could not visualize.</p> + +<p>Now, this move was partly the reason for this construction, for while +the Venonian was busy, absorbed in watching the miraculous construction, +his mind was not shielded, and it was open for observation of two such +wonderfully trained minds as those of Zezdon Afthen and Zezdon Inthel. +With their instruments and wonderfully developed mind-science, aided at +times by Morey's less skillful, but more powerful mind of his older +race, and powerful too, both because of long concentration and training, +and because of his individual inheritance, they examined the minds of +many of the officers of the ship without their awareness.</p> + +<p>As a final test, Arcot, having finished the ship, suggested that the +Venonian officer and one of the men of his ship have a trial of mental +powers.</p> + +<p>Zezdon Afthen tried first, and between the two ships, racing along side +by side at a speed unthinkable, the two men struggled with those forces +of will.</p> + +<p>Quickly Zezdon Afthen told Arcot what he had learned.</p> + +<p>The sun of Venone was close, now, and Arcot prepared to use as he +intended the little space machine he had made. Morey took it, and went +away from the <i>Thought</i> flying on its time field. The ship had been +stocked with lead fuel for its matter-burning generators from the supply +that had been brought on the <i>Thought</i> for emergencies, and the air had +come from the <i>Thought</i>'s great tanks. Morey was going to Venone ahead +of the <i>Thought</i> to scout—"to see many of the important men of Venone +and find out from them what I can of the relationship between Venone and +Thett."</p> + +<p>Hours later Morey returned with a favorable report. He had seen many of +the important men of Venone, and conversed with them mentally from the +safety of his ship, where the specially installed gravity apparatus had +protected him and the ship against the enormous gravity of this gigantic +world. He did not describe Venone; he wanted them to see it as he had +first seen it.</p> + +<p>So the little ship, which had served its purpose now, was destroyed, +nearly a light year from Venone, and left a crushed wreck when two +plates of artificial matter had closed upon it, destroying the +apparatus, lest some unwelcome finder use it. There was little about it, +the gravity apparatus alone perhaps, that might have been of use to +Thett, and Thett already had the ray—but why take needless risk?</p> + +<p>Then once more they were racing toward Venone. Soon the giant star of +which it was a planet loomed enormous. Then, at Morey's direction, they +swung, and before them loomed a planet. Large as Thett, near a half +million miles in diameter, its mass was very closely equal to that of +our sun. Yet it was but the burned-out sweepings of the outermost +photospheric layers of this giant sun, and the radioactive atoms that +made a sun active were not here; it was a cold planet. But its density +was far, far higher than that of our sun, for our sun is but slightly +denser than ordinary sea water. This world was dense as copper, for with +the deeper sweepings of the tidal strains that had formed it, more of +the heavier atoms had gone into its making, and its core was denser than +that of Earth.</p> + +<p>About it swept two gigantic satellite Worlds, each larger than Jupiter, +but satellites of a satellite here! And Venone itself was inhabited by +countless millions, yet their low, green tile and metal cities were +invisible in the aspect of rolling lands with tiny hillocks, dwarfed by +gigantic bulbous trees that floated their enormous weight in the +water-dense atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Here, too, there were no seas, for the temperature was above the +critical temperature of water, and only in the self-cooling bodies of +these men and in the trees which similarly cooled themselves, could +there be liquid.</p> + +<p>The sun of the world was another of the giant red stars, close to three +hundred and fifty times the mass of our sun. It was circled by but three +giant planets. Its enormous disc was almost invisible from the surface +of the world as the <i>Thought</i> sank slowly through fifteen thousand miles +of air, due to the screening effect on light passing through so much +air. Earth could have rested on this planet and not extended beyond its +atmosphere! Had Earth been situated at this planet's center, the Moon +could have revolved about it, and would not have been beyond the +planet's surface!</p> + +<p>In silent wonder the terrestrians watched the titanic world as they +sank, and their friends looked on amazed, comprehending even less of the +significance of what they saw. Already within the titanic gravitational +field, they could see that indescribable effects were being produced on +them, and on the ship. Arcot alone could know the enormous gravitation, +and his accelerometer told him now that he was subject to a +gravitational acceleration of three thousand four hundred and +eighty-seven feet per second, or almost exactly one hundred and nine +times Earth's pull.</p> + +<p>"The <i>Thought</i> weighs one billion, two hundred and six million, five +hundred thousand tons, with tender, on Earth. Here it weighs +approximately one hundred and twenty-one billion tons," said Arcot +softly.</p> + +<p>"Can you set it down? It may crush under this load if the gravity drive +isn't supporting it," asked Torlos anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Eight inches cosmium, and everything else supported by cosmium. I made +this thing to stand any conceivable strain. Watch—if the planet's +surface will take the load," replied Arcot.</p> + +<p>They were still sinking, and now a number of small marvelously +streamlined ships were clustered around the slowly settling giant. In a +few moments more people, hundreds, thousands of men were flying through +the air up to the ship.</p> + +<p>A cruiser had appeared, and was very evidently intent on leading them +somewhere, and Arcot followed it as it streaked through the dense air. +"No wonder they streamline," he muttered as he saw the enormous force it +took to drive the gigantic ship through this air. The air pressure +outside their ship now was so great, that the sheer crushing effect of +the air pressure alone was enormous. The pressure was well over nine +tons to the square inch, on the surface of that enormous ship!</p> + +<p>They landed approximately fifty miles from a large city which was the +capital. The land seemed absolutely level, and the horizon faded off in +distance in an atmosphere absolutely clear. There was no dust in the air +at their height of nearly three hundred feet, for dust was too heavy on +this world. There were no clouds. The mountains of this enormous world +were not large, could not be large, for their sheer weight would tear +them down, but what mountains there were were jagged, tortured rock, +exceedingly sharp in outline.</p> + +<p>"No rain—no temperature change to break them down," said Wade looking +at them. "The zone of fracture can't be deep here."</p> + +<p>"What, Wade, is the zone of fracture?" asked Torles.</p> + +<p>"Rock has weight. Any substance, no matter how brittle, will flow if +sufficient pressure is brought to bear from all sides. A thing which can +flow will not break or fracture. You can't imagine the pressure to which +the rock three hundred feet down is subject to. There is the enormous +mass of atmosphere, the tremendous mass of rock above, and all forced +down by this gravitation. By the time you get down half a mile, the rock +is under such an inconceivably great pressure that it will flow like +mud. The rock there cannot break; it merely flows under pressure. Above, +the rock can break, instead of flowing. That is the zone of fracture. On +Earth the zone of fracture is ten miles deep. Here it must be of the +order of only five hundred feet! And the planetary blocks that made a +planet's surface float on the zone of flowage—they determine the zone +of fracture."</p> + +<p>The gigantic ship had been sinking, and now, suddenly it gave a very +unexpected demonstration of Wade's words. It had landed, and Arcot shut +off the power. There was a roaring, and the giant ship trembled, rocked, +and rolled along a bit. Instantly Arcot drove it into the air.</p> + +<p>"Whoa—can't do it. The ship will stand it, and won't bend under the +load—but the planet won't. We caused a Venone-quake. One of those +planetary blocks Wade was talking about slipped under the added strain."</p> + +<p>Quickly Wade explained that all the planetary blocks were floating, +truly floating, and in equilibrium just as a boat must be. The added +load had been sufficiently great, so that, with an already extant +overload on this particular planetary block, this "boat" had sunk a bit +further into the flowage zone, till it was once more at rest and +balanced.</p> + +<p>"They wish us to come out that they may see us, strangers and friends +from another Island," interrupted Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>"Tell them they'd have to scrape us up off the ground, if we attempted +it. We come from a world where we weigh about as much as a pebble here," +said Wade, grinning at the thought of terrestrians trying to walk on +this world.</p> + +<p>"Don't—tell them we'll be right out," said Arcot sharply. "All of us."</p> + +<p>Morey and the others all stared at Arcot in amazement. It was utterly +impossible!</p> + +<p>But Zezdon Afthen did as Arcot had asked. Almost immediately, another +Morey stepped out of the airlock wearing what was obviously a pressure +suit. Behind him came another Wade, Torlos, Stel Felso Theu, and indeed +all the members of their party save Arcot himself! The Galactians stared +in wonder—then comprehended and laughed together. Arcot had sent +artificial matter images of them all!</p> + +<p>Their images stepped out, and the Venonian crowd which had collected, +stared in wonder at the giants, looming twice their height above them.</p> + +<p>"You see not us, but images of us. We cannot withstand your gravity nor +your air pressure, save in the protection of our ship. But these images +are true images of us."</p> + +<p>For some time then they communicated, and finally Arcot agreed to give a +demonstration of their power. At the suggestion of the cruiser commander +who had seen the construction of a spaceship from the emptiness of +space, Arcot rapidly constructed a small, very simple, molecular drive +machine of pure cosmium, making it entirely from energy. It required but +minutes, and the Venonians stared in wonder as Arcot's unbelievable +tools created the machine before their eyes. The completed ship Arcot +gave to an official of the city who had appeared. The Venonian looked at +the thing skeptically, and half expecting it to vanish like the tools +that made it, gingerly entered the port. Powered as it was by lead +burning cosmic ray generators, the lead alone having been made by +transmutation of natural matter, it was powerful, and speedy. The +official entered it, and finding it still existing, tried it out. Much +to his amazement it flew, and operated perfectly.</p> + +<p>Nearly ten hours Arcot and his friends stayed at Venone, and before they +left, the Venonians, for all their vast differences of structure, had +proven themselves true, kindly honest men, and a race that our Alliance +has since found every reason to respect and honor. Our commerce with +them, though carried on under difficulties, is none the less a bond of +genuine friendship.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIV" id="Chapter_XXIV"></a>Chapter XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THETT PREPARES</h3> + + +<p>Streaking through the void toward Thett was again a tiny scout ship. It +carried but a single man, and with all the power of the machine he was +darting toward distant Thett, at a speed insanely reckless, but he knew +that he must maintain such a speed if his mission were to be successful.</p> + +<p>Again a tiny ship entered Thett's far-flung atmosphere, and slowed to +less than a light speed, and sent its signal call ahead. In moments the +patrol ship, less than three hundred miles away, had reached it, and +together they streaked through the dense air in a screaming dive toward +Shatnsoma, the capital city. It was directly beneath, and it was not +long before they had reached the great palace grounds, and settled on +the upper roof. Then the scout leaped out of his tiny craft, and dove +for the door. Flashing his credentials, he dove down, and into the first +shielded room. Here precious seconds were wasted while a check was made +of the credentials the man carried, then he was sent through to the +Council Room. And he, too, stood on that exact spot where the other +scout, but a few weeks before, had stood—and vanished. Waiting, it +seemed, were four councilors and the new Sthanto, Thalt.</p> + +<p>"What news, Scout?" asked the Sthanto.</p> + +<p>"They have arrived in the Universe to Venone, and gone to the planet +Venone. They were on the planet when I left. None of our scouts were +able to approach the place, as there were innumerable Venonian watchers +who would have recognized our deeper skin-color, and destroyed us. Two +scouts were rayed, though the Galactians did not see this. Finally we +captured two Venonians who had seen it, and attempted to force the +information we needed from them. A young man and his chosen mate.</p> + +<p>"The man would tell nothing, and we were hurried. So we turned to the +girl. These accursed Venonians are courageous for all their pacifism. We +were hurried, and yet it was long before we forced her to tell what we +needed to know so vitally. She had been one of the notetakers for the +Venonian government. We got most of their conversation, but she died of +burns before she finished.</p> + +<p>"The Galactians know nothing of the twin-ray beyond its action, and that +it is an electro-magnetic phenomenon, though they have been able to +distort it by using a sheet of pure energy. But their walls are +impregnable to it, and their power of creating matter from the pure +energy of space, as we saw from a distance, would enable them to easily +defeat it, were it not that the twin-ray passes through matter without +harming it. Any ray which will destroy matter of the natural electrical +types, will be stopped.</p> + +<p>"The girl was damnably clever, for she gave us only the things we +already knew, and but few new facts; knowing that she would inevitably +die soon, she talked—but it was empty talk. The one thing of import we +have learned is that they burn no fuel, use no fuel of any sort but in +some inconceivable manner get their energy from the radiations of the +suns of space. This could not be great—but we know she told the truth, +and we know their power is great. She told the truth, for we could +determine when she lied, by mental action, of course.</p> + +<p>"But more we could not learn. The man died without telling anything, +merely cursing. He knew nothing anyway, as we already had determined," +concluded the scout.</p> + +<p>Silently the Sthanto sat in thought for some moments. Then he raised his +head, and looked at the scout once more.</p> + +<p>"You have done well. You secured some information of import, which was +more than we had dared hope for. But you managed things poorly. The +woman should not have died so soon. We can only guess.</p> + +<p>"The radiation of the suns of space—hmmm—" Sthanto Thalt's brow +wrinkled in thought. "The radiation of the <i>suns</i> of space. Were his +power derived from the sun near which he is operating, he would not have +said <i>suns</i>. It was more than one?"</p> + +<p>"It was, oh Sthanto," replied the scout positively.</p> + +<p>"His power is unreasonable. I doubt that he gave the true explanation. +It may well have been that he did not trust the Venonians. I would not, +for all their warless ways. But surely the suns of space give very +little power at any given point at random. Else space would not be cold.</p> + +<p>"But go, Scout, and you will be assigned a position in the fleet. The +Colonial fleet, the remains of it, have arrived, and the colonists been +removed. They failed. We will use their ships. You will be assigned." +The scout left, and was indeed assigned to a ship of the colonists. The +incoming colonial transports had been met at the outposts of the system, +and rayed out of existence at once—failures, and bringing danger at +their heels. Besides—there was no room for them on Thett without +Thessians being crowded uncomfortably.</p> + +<p>As their battleships arrived they were conducted to one of the +satellites, and each man was "fumigated," lest he bring disease to the +mother planet. Men entered, men apparently emerged. But they were +different men.</p> + +<p>"It seems," said the Sthanto softly, after the scout had left, "that we +will have little difficulty, for they are, we know, vulnerable to the +triple ray. And if we can but once destroy their driving units they will +be helpless on our world. I doubt that wild tale of their using no fuel. +Even if that be true they will be helpless with their power apparatus +destroyed, and—if we miss the first time, we can seek it out, or drive +them off!</p> + +<p>"All of which is dependent on the fact that they attack at a point where +we have a triple ray station to meet them. There are but three of these, +actually, but I have had dummy stations, apparently identical with our +other real stations, set up in many places.</p> + +<p>"This gibberish we hear of creating matter—it is impossible, and surely +unsuitable as a weapon. Their misty wall—that may be a force plane, but +I know of no such possibility. The artificial substance though—why +should any one make it? It but consumes energy, and once made is no more +dangerous than ordinary matter, save that there is the possibility of +creating it in dangerous position. Remember, we have heard already of +the mental suggestions planes—mere force planes—<i>plus</i> a wonderfully +developed power of suggestion. They do most of their damage by mental +impression. Remember, we have heard already of the mental suggestions of +horrible things that drove one fleet of the weak-minded colonists mad.</p> + +<p>"And that, I think, we will use to protect ourselves. If we can, with +the apparatus which you, my son, have developed, cause them to believe +that all the other forts are equally dangerous, and that this one on +Thett is the best point of attack—It will be easy. Can you do it?"</p> + +<p>"I can, Oh Sthanto, if but a sufficient number of powerful minds may be +brought to aid me," replied the youngest of the four councilmen.</p> + +<p>"And you, Ranstud, are the stations ready?" asked the ruler.</p> + +<p>"We are ready."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XXV" id="Chapter_XXV"></a>Chapter XXV</h2> + +<h3>WITH GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE</h3> + + +<p>The <i>Thought</i> arose from Venone after long hours, and at Arcot's +suggestion, they assumed an orbit about the world, at a distance of two +million miles, and all on board slept, save Torlos, the tireless +molecular motion machine of flesh and iron. He acted as guard, and as he +had slept but four days before, he explained there was really no reason +for him to sleep as yet.</p> + +<p>But the terrestrians would feel the greatest strain of the coming +encounter, especially Arcot and Morey, for Morey was to help by +repairing any damage done, by working from the control board of the +<i>Banderlog</i>. The little tender had sufficient power to take care of any +damage that Thett might inflict, they felt sure.</p> + +<p>For they had not learned of the triple ray.</p> + +<p>It was hours later that, rested and refreshed, they started for Thett. +Following the great space-chart that they had been given by the +Venonians, a series of blocks of clear lux metal, with tiny points of +slowly disintegrating lux, such as had been used to illuminate the +letters of the <i>Thought</i>'s name representing suns, the colors and +relative intensity being shown. Then there was a more manageable guide +in the form of photographs, marked for route by constellations +formations as well, which would be their actual guide.</p> + +<p>At the maximum speed of the time apparatus, for thus they could better +follow the constellations, the <i>Thought</i> plunged along in the wake of +the tiny scout ship that had already landed on Thett. And, hours later, +they saw the giant red sun of Antseck, the star of Thett and its system.</p> + +<p>"We're about there," said Arcot, a peculiar tenseness showing in his +thoughts. "Shall we barge right in, or wait and investigate?"</p> + +<p>"We'll have to chance it. Where is their main fort here?"</p> + +<p>"From the direction, I should say it was to the left and ahead of our +position," replied Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>The ship moved ahead, while about it the tremendous Thessian battlefleet +buzzed like flies, thousands of ships now, and more coming with each +second.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the titanic ship had crossed a great plain, and came to +a region of bare, rocky hills several hundred feet high. Set in those +hills, surrounded by them, was a huge sphere, resting on the ground. As +though by magic the Thessian fleet cleared away from the <i>Thought</i>. The +last one had not left, when Arcot shot a terrific cosmic ray toward the +sphere. It was relux, and he knew it, but he knew what would happen when +that cosmic ray hit it. The solometer flickered and steadied at three as +that inconceivable ray flashed out.</p> + +<p>Instantly there was a terrific explosion. The soil exploded into +hydrogen atoms, and expanded under heat that lashed it to more than a +million degrees in the tiniest fraction of a second. The terrific recoil +of the ray-pressure was taken by all space, for it was generated in +space itself, but the direct pressure struck the planet, and that +titanic planet reeled! A tremendous fissure opened, and the section that +had been struck by the ray smashed its way suddenly far into the planet, +and a geyser of fluid rock rolled over it, twenty miles deep in that +world. The relux sphere had been struck by the ray, and had turned it, +with the result that it was pushed doubly hard. The enormously thick +relux strained and dented, then shot down as a whole, into the +incandescent rock.</p> + +<p>For miles the vaporized rock was boiling off. Then the fort sent out a +ray, and that ray blasted the rock that had flowed over it as Arcot's +titanic ray snapped out. In moments the fort was at the surface +again—and a molecular hit it. The molecular did not have the energy the +cosmic had carried, but it was a single concentrated beam of destruction +ten feet across. It struck the fort—and the fort recoiled under its +energy. The marvelous new tubes that ran its ray screen flashed +instantly to a temperature inconceivable, and, so long as the elements +embedded in the infusible relux remained the metals they were, those +tubes could not fail. But they were being lashed by the energy of half a +sun. The tubes failed. The elements heated to that enormous temperature +when elements cannot exist—and broke to other elements that did not +resist. The relux flashed into blinding iridescence—</p> + +<p>And from the fort came a beam of pure silvery light. It struck the +<i>Thought</i> just behind the bow, for the operator was aiming for the point +where he knew the control room and pilot must be. But Arcot had designed +the ship for mental control, which the enemy operator could not guess. +The beam was a flat beam, perhaps an inch thick, but it fanned out to +fifty feet width. And where it touched the <i>Thought</i>, there was a +terrific explosion, and inconceivably violent energy lashed out as the +cosmium instantaneously liberated its energy.</p> + +<p>A hundred feet of the nose was torn off the ship, and the enormously +dense air of Thett rushed in. But that beam had cut through the very +edge of one of the ray projectors, or better, one of the ray feed +apparatus. And the ray feed released it without control; it released all +the energy it could suck in from space about it, as one single beam of +cosmic energy, somewhat lower than the regular cosmics, and it flashed +out in a beam as solid matter.</p> + +<p>There was air about the ship, and the air instantly exploded into atoms +of a different sort, threw off their electrons, and were raised to the +temperature at which no atom can exist, and became protons and +electrons. But so rapidly was that coil sucking energy from space that +space tended to close in about it, and in enormous spurts the energy +flooded out. It was directed almost straight up, and but one ship was +caught in its beam. It was made of relux, but the relux was powdered +under the inconceivable blow that countless quintillions of cosmic ray +photons struck it. That ray was in fact, a solid mass of cosmium moving +with the velocity of light. And it was headed for that satellite of +Thett, which it would reach in a few hours time.</p> + +<p>The <i>Thought</i>, due to the spatial strains of the wounded coil, was +constantly rushing away to an almost infinite distance, as the ship +approached that other space toward which the coil tended with its load, +and rushing back, as the coil, reaching a spatial condition which +supplied no energy, fell back. In a hundredth of a second it had reached +equilibrium, and they were in a weirdly, terribly distorted space. But +the triple-ray of the Thessians seemed to sheer off, and miss, no matter +how it was directed. And it was painfully weak, for the coil sucked up +the energy of whatsoever matter disintegrated in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly the performance was over. And they plunged into artificial +space that was black and clean, and not a thing of wavering, struggling +energies. Morey, from his control in the <i>Banderlog</i>, had succeeded in +getting sufficient energy, by using his space distortion coils, to +destroy the great projector mechanism. Instantly Arcot, now able to +create the artificial space without the destruction of the coils by the +struggling ray-feed coil, had thrown them to comparative safety.</p> + +<p>Space writhed before they could so much as turn from the instruments. +The Thessians had located their artificial space, and reached it with an +attraction ray. They already had been withstanding the drain of the +enormous fields of the giant planet and the giant sun; the attractive +ray was an added strain. Arcot looked at his instruments, and with a +grim smile set a single dial. The space about them became black again.</p> + +<p>"Pulling our energy—merely let 'em pull. They're pulling on an ocean, +not a lake this time. I don't think they'll drain those coils very +quickly." He looked at his instruments. "Good for two and a half hours +at this rate.</p> + +<p>"Morey, you sure did your job then. I was helpless. The controls +wouldn't answer, of course, with that titanic thing flopping its wings, +so to speak. What are we going to do?"</p> + +<p>Morey stood in the doorway, and from his pocket drew a cigarette, handed +it to Arcot, another to each of the others who smoked, and lit them, and +his own. "Smoke," he said, and puffed. "Smoke and think. From our last +experience with a minor tragedy, it helps."</p> + +<p>"But—this is no minor tragedy, they have burst open the wall of this +invulnerable ship, destroyed one of those enormous coils, and can do it +again," exclaimed Zezdon Afthen, exceedingly nervous, so nervous that +the normal courage of the man was gone. His too-psychic breeding was +against him as a warrior.</p> + +<p>"Afthen," replied Stel Felso Theu calmly, "when our friends have smoked, +and thought, the <i>Thought</i> will be repaired perfectly, and it will be +made invulnerable to that weapon."</p> + +<p>"I hope so, Stel Felso Theu," smiled Arcot. He was feeling better +already. "But do you know what that weapon is, Morey?"</p> + +<p>"Got some readings on it with the <i>Banderlog</i>'s instruments, and I think +I do. Twin-ray is right," replied Morey.</p> + +<p>"Hm-hm—so I think. It's a super-photon. What they do is to use a field +somewhat similar to the field we use in making cosmium, except that in +theirs, instead of the photons lying side by side, they slide into one +another, compounding. They evidently get three photons to go into one. +Now, as we know, that size photon doesn't exist for the excellent reason +that it can't in this space. Space closes in about it. Therefore they +have a projected field to accompany it that tends to open out space—and +they are using that, not the attractive ray, on us now. The result is +that for a distance not too great, the triple-ray exists in normal +space—then goes into another. Now the question is how can we stop it? I +have an idea—have you any?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but my idea can't exist in this space either," grinned Morey.</p> + +<p>"I think it can. If it's what I think, remember it will have a terrific +electric field."</p> + +<p>"It's what you think, then. Come on." Arcot and Morey went to the +calculating room, while Wade took over the ship. But one of the +ray-feeds had been destroyed, and they had three more in action, as well +as their most important weapon, artificial matter. Wade threw on the +time field, and started the emergency lead burner working to recharge +the coils that the Thessians were constantly draining. Being in their +own peculiar space, they could not draw energy from the stars, and Arcot +didn't want to return to normal space to discharge them, unless +necessary.</p> + +<p>"How's the air pressure in the rest of the ship?" asked Wade.</p> + +<p>"Triple normal," replied Morey. "The Thessian atmosphere leaked in and +sent it up terrifically, but when we went into our own space, at the +halfway point, a lot leaked out. But the ship is full of water now. It +was a bit difficult coming up from the <i>Banderlog</i>, and I didn't want to +breathe the air I wasn't sure of. But let's work."</p> + +<p>They worked. For eight hours of the time they were now in they continued +to work. The supply of lead metal gave out before the end of the fourth +hour, and the coils were nearing the end of their resistance. It would +soon be necessary for Arcot to return to normal space. So they stopped, +their calculations very nearly complete. Throwing all the remaining +energy into the coils, they a little more than held the space about +them, and moved away from Thett at a speed of about twice that of light. +For an hour more Arcot worked, while the ship plowed on. Then they were +ready.</p> + +<p>As Arcot took over the controls, space reeled once more, and they were +alone, far from Thett. The suns of this space were flashing and glowing +about them, and the unlimited energy of a universe was at Arcot's +command. But all the remaining atmosphere in the ship had either gone +instantaneously in the vacuum, or solidified as the chill of expansion +froze it.</p> + +<p>To the amazement of the extra-terrestrians, Arcot's first move was to +create a titanic plane of artificial matter, and neatly bisect the +<i>Thought</i> at the middle! He had thrown all of the controls thus +interrupted into neutral, and in the little more than half of the ship +which contained the control cabin, was also the artificial matter +control. It was busy now. With bewildering speed, with the speed of +thought trained to construct, enormous masses of cosmium were appearing +beside them in space as Arcot created them from pure energy. Cosmium, +relux and some clear cosmium-like lux metal. Ordinary cosmium was +reflective, and he wanted something with cosmium's strength, and the +clearness of lux.</p> + +<p>In seconds, under Arcot's flying thought manipulation, a great tube had +been welded to the original hull, and the already gigantic ship +lengthened by more than five hundred feet! Immediately great artificial +matter tools gripped the broken nose-section, clamped it into place, and +welded it with cosmium flowing under the inconceivable pressure till it +was again a single great hull.</p> + +<p>Then the Thessian fleet found them. The coils were charged now, and they +could have escaped, but Arcot had to work. The Thessians were attacked +with moleculars, cosmics, and a great twin-ray. Arcot could not use his +magnet, for it had been among those things severed from the control. He +had two ray feeds, and the artificial matter. There were nearly three +thousand ships attacking him with a barrage of energy that was +inconceivably great, but the cosmium walls merely turned it aside. It +took Arcot less than ten seconds to wipe out that fleet of ships! He +created a wall of artificial matter at twenty feet from the ship—and +another at twenty thousand miles. It was thin, yet it was utterly +impenetrable. He swept the two walls together, and forced them against +each other until his instruments told him only free energy remained +between them. Then he released the outer wall, and a terrific flood of +energy swept out.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we'll be attacked again," said Morey softly. They were +not. Thett had only one other fleet, and had no intention of losing the +powers of their generators at this time when they so badly needed them. +The strange ship had retired for repairs—very well, they could attack +again—and maybe—</p> + +<p>Arcot was busy. In the great empty space that had been left, he +installed a second collector coil as gigantic as the main artificial +matter generator. Then he repaired the broken ray feed, and it, and the +companion coil which, with it, had been in the severed nose section, +were now in the same relative position to the new collector coil that +they had had with relation to the artificial matter coil. Next Arcot +built two more ray feeds. Now in the gigantic central power room there +loomed two tremendous power collectors, and six smaller ray feed +collectors.</p> + +<p>His next work was to reconnect the severed connectors and controls. Then +he began work on the really new apparatus. Nothing he had constructed so +far was more than a duplicate of existing apparatus, and he had been +able to do it almost instantly, from memory. Now he must vision +something new to his experience, and something that was forced to exist +in part in this space, and partly in another. He tried four times before +the apparatus had been completed correctly, and the work occupied ten +hours. But at last it was done. The <i>Thought</i> was ready now for the +battle.</p> + +<p>"Got it right at last?" asked Wade. "I hope so."</p> + +<p>"It's right—tried it a little. I don't think you noticed it. I'm going +down now to give them a nice little dose," said Arcot grimly. His ship +was repaired—but they had caused him plenty of trouble.</p> + +<p>"How long have we been out here, their time?" asked Wade.</p> + +<p>"About an hour and a half." The <i>Thought</i> had been on the time field at +all times save when the Thessian fleet attacked.</p> + +<p>"I think, Earthman, that you are tired, and should rest, lest you make a +tired thought and do great harm," suggested Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>"I want to finish it!" replied Arcot, sharply. He was tired.</p> + +<p>In seconds the <i>Thought</i> was once more over that fortified station in +the mountains—and the triple-ray reached out—and suddenly, about the +ship, was a wall of absolute, utter blackness. The triple-ray touched +it, and exploded into coruscating, blinding energy. It could not +penetrate it. More energy lashed at the wall of blackness as the +operators within the sphere-fort turned in the energy of all the +generators under their control. The ground about the fort was a great +lake of dazzling lava as far as the eye could see, for the triple-ray +was releasing its energy, and the wall of black was releasing an equal, +and opposing energy!</p> + +<p>"Stopped!" cried Arcot happily. "Now here is where we give them +something to think about. The magnet and the heat!"</p> + +<p>He turned the two enormous forces simultaneously on the point where he +knew the fort was, though it was invisible behind the wall of black that +protected him. From his side, the energy of the spot where all the +system of Thett was throwing its forces, was invisible.</p> + +<p>Then he released them. Instantly there was a terrific gout of light on +that wall of blackness. The ship trembled, and space turned gray about +them. The black wall dissolved into grayness in one spot, as a flood of +energy beyond comprehension exploded from it. The enormously strong +cosmium wall dented as the pressure of the escaping radiation struck it, +and turned X-ray hot under the minute percentage it absorbed. The +triple-ray bent away, and faded to black as the cosmic force playing +about it, actually twisted space beyond all power of its mechanism to +overcome. Then, in the tiniest fraction of a second it was over, and +again there was blackness and only the brilliant, blinding blue of the +cosmium wall testified to its enormous temperature, cooling now far more +slowly through green to red.</p> + +<p>"Lord—you're right, Zezdon Afthen. I'm going to sleep," called Arcot. +And the ship was suddenly far, far away from Thett. Morey took over, and +Arcot slept. First Morey straightened the uninjured wall and ironed out +the dents.</p> + +<p>"What, Morey, is the wall of Blackness?" asked Stel Felso Theu.</p> + +<p>"It's solid matter. A thing that you never saw before. That wall of +matter is made of a double layer of protons lying one against the other. +It absorbs absolutely every and all radiation, and because it is solid +matter, not tiny sprinklings of matter in empty space, as is the matter +of even the densest star, it stops the triple-ray. That matter is +nothing but protons; there are no electrons there, and the positive +electrical field is inconceivably great, but it is artificial matter, +and that electrical field exerts its strain not in pulling and +electrifying other bodies, but in holding space open, in keeping it from +closing in about that concentrated matter, just as it does about a +single proton, except that here the entire field energy is so absorbed.</p> + +<p>"Arcot was tired, and forgot. He turned his magnet and his heat against +it. The heat fought the solid matter with the same energy that created +it, and with an energy that had resources as great. The magnet curved +space about it, and about us. The result was the terrific energy release +you saw, and the hole in the wall. All Thett couldn't make any +impression on it. One of the rays blasted a hole in it," said Morey with +a laugh. For he, too, loved this mighty thing, the almost living ideas +of his friend's brain.</p> + +<p>"But it is as bad as the space defense. It works both ways. We can't +send through it but neither can they. Any thing we use that attacks +them, attacks it, and so destroys it—and it fights."</p> + +<p>"We're worse off than ever!" said Morey gloomily.</p> + +<p>"My friend, you, too, are tired. Sleep, sleep soundly, sleep till I +call—sleep!" And Morey slept under Zezdon Afthen's will, till Torlos +carried him gently to his room. Then Afthen let the sleep relax to a +natural one. Wade decided he might as well follow under his own power, +for now he knew he was tired, and could not overcome Zezdon Afthen, who +was not.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On Thett, the fort was undestroyed, and now floating on its power units +in a sea of blazing lava. Within, men were working quickly to install a +second set of the new tubes in the molecular motion ray screen, and +other men were transmitting the orders of the Sthanto who had come here +as the place of actually greatest safety.</p> + +<p>"Order all battleships to the nearest power-feed station, and command +that all power available be transmitted to the station attacked. I +believe it will be this one. There is no limit on the power transmission +lines, and we need all possible power," he commanded his son, now in +charge of all land and spatial forces.</p> + +<p>"And Ranstud, what happened to that molecular ray screen?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. I cannot understand such power.</p> + +<p>"But what most worries me is his wall of darkness," said Ranstud +seriously.</p> + +<p>"But he was forced to retire for all his wall of darkness, as you saw.</p> + +<p>"He can maintain it but a short time, and it was full of holes when he +fled."</p> + +<p>"Old Sthanto is much too confident, I believe," said an assistant +working at one of the great boards in the enemy's fort, to one of his +friends. "And I think he has lost his science-knowledge. Any power-man +could tell what happened. They tried to use their own big rays against +us, and their screen stopped them from going out, just as it stopped +ours on the way in. Ours had been working at it for seconds, and hadn't +bothered them. Then for a bare instant their ray touched it—and they +retired. That shield of blackness is absolutely new."</p> + +<p>"They have many men on that ship of theirs," replied his friend, helping +to lift the three hundred ton load of a vacuum tube into place, "for it +is evident that they built new apparatus, and it is evident their ship +was increased in size to contain it. Also the nose was repaired. They +probably worked under a time field, for they accomplished an impossible +amount of work in the period they were gone."</p> + +<p>Ranstud had come up behind them, and overheard the later part of this +conversation. "And what," he asked suddenly, "did your meters tell you +when our ray opened his ship?"</p> + +<p>"Councilor of Science-wisdom, they told us that our power diminished, +and our generators gave off but little power when his power was +exceedingly little, we still had much."</p> + +<p>"Have you heard the myth of the source of his power, in the story that +he gets it from all the stars of the Island?"</p> + +<p>"We have, Great Councilor. And I for one believe it, for he sucked the +power from our generators. So might he suck the power from the +inconceivably greater generators of the Suns. I believe that we should +treat with them, for if they be like the peace-loving fools of Venone, +we might win a respite in which to learn their secret."</p> + +<p>Ranstud walked away slowly. He agreed, in his heart, but he loved life +too well to tell the Sthanto what to do, and he had no intention of +sacrificing himself for the possible good of the race.</p> + +<p>So they prepared for another attack of the <i>Thought</i>, and waited.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVI" id="Chapter_XXVI"></a>Chapter XXVI</h2> + +<h3>MAN, CREATOR AND DESTROYER</h3> + + +<p>"What we must find," said Arcot, between contented puffs, for he had +slept well, and his breakfast had been good, "is some weapon which will +attack them, but won't attack us. The question is, what is it? And I +think, I think—I know." His eyes were dreamy, his thoughts so +cryptically abbreviated that not even Morey could follow them.</p> + +<p>"Fine—what is it?" asked Morey after vainly striving to deduce some +sense from the formulas that were chasing through Arcot's thoughts. Here +and there he recognized them: Einstein's energy formula, Planck's +quantum formulas, Nitsu Thansi's electron interference formulas, +Stebkowfski's proton interference, Williamson's electric field, and his +own formulas appeared, and others so abbreviated he could not recognize +them.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember what Dad said about the way the Thessians made the +giant forts out in space—hauled matter from the moon and transformed it +to lux and relux. Remember, I said then I thought it might be a ray—but +found it wasn't what I thought? I want to to use the ray I was thinking +of. The only question in my mind is—what is going to happen to us when +I use it?"</p> + +<p>"What's the ray?"</p> + +<p>"Why is it, Morey, that an electron falls through the different quantum +energy levels, falls successively lower and lower till it reaches its +'lowest energy level,' and can radiate no more. Why can't it fill +another step, and reach the proton? Why has it no more quanta to +release? We know that electrons tend to fall always to lower energy +level orbits. Why do they stop?"</p> + +<p>"And," said Morey, his own eyes dreamily bright now, "what would happen +if it did? If it fell all the way?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot follow your thoughts, Earthmen, beyond a glimpse of an +explosion. And it seems it is Thett that is exploding, and that Thett is +exploding itself. Can you explain?" asked Stel Felso Theu.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps—you know that electrons in their planetary orbits, so called, +tend to fall away to orbits of lower energy, till they reach the lowest +energy orbit, and remain fixed till more energy comes and is absorbed, +driving them out again. Now we want to know why they don't fall lower, +fall all the way? As a matter of fact, thanks to some work I did last +year with disintegrating lead, we do know. And thanks to the absolute +stability of artificial matter, we can handle such a condition.</p> + +<p>"The thing we are interested in is this: Artificial matter has no +tendency to radiate, its electrons have no tendency to fall into the +proton, for the matter is created, and remains as it was created. But +natural matter does have a tendency to let the electron fall into the +proton. A force, the 'lowest energy wall,' over which no electron can +jump, caused by the enormous space distorting of the proton's mass and +electrical attraction, prevents it. What we want to do is to remove that +force, iron it out. Requires inconceivable power to do so in a mass the +size of Thett-but then—!</p> + +<p>"And here's what will happen: Our wall of protonic material won't be +affected by it in the least, because it has no tendency to collapse, as +has normal matter, but Thett, beyond the wall, <i>has</i> that tendency, and +the ray will release the energy of every planetary electron on Thett, +and every planetary electron will take with it the energy of one proton. +And it will take about one one-hundred-millionth of a second. Thett will +disappear in one instantaneous flash of radiation, radiation in the high +cosmics!</p> + +<p>"Here's the trouble: Thett represents a mass as great as our sun. And +our sun can throw off energy at the present rate of one sol for a period +of some ten million million years, three and a half million tons of +matter a second for ten million years. If all of that went up in <i>one +one-hundred-millionth of a second</i>, how many sols?" asked Morey.</p> + +<p>"Too many, is all I can say. Even this ship couldn't maintain its walls +of energy against that!" declared Stel Felso Theu, awed by the thought.</p> + +<p>"But that same power would be backing this ship, and helping it to +support its wall. We would operate from—half a million miles."</p> + +<p>"We will. If we are destroyed—so is Thett, and all the worlds of Thett. +Let that flood of energy get loose, and everything within a dozen light +years will be destroyed. We will have to warn the Venonians, that their +people on nearby worlds may escape in the time before the energy reaches +them," said Arcot slowly.</p> + +<p>The <i>Thought</i> started toward one of the nearer suns, and as it went, +Arcot and Morey were busy with the calculators. They finished their +work, and started back from that world, having given their message of +warning, with the artificial matter constructors. When they reached +Thett, less than a quarter of an hour of Thessian time had passed. But, +before they reached Thett, Arcot's viewplates were blinded for an +instant as a terrific flood of energy struck the artificial matter +protectors, and caused them to flame into defense. Thett's satellite was +sending its message of instantaneous destruction. That terrific ray had +reached it, touched it, and left it a shattered, glowing ball of +hydrogen.</p> + +<p>"There won't be even that left when we get through with Thett!" said +Arcot grimly. The apparatus was finished, and once more they were over +the now fiery-red lava sea that had been mountains. The fort was still +in action. Arcot had cut a sheet of sheer energy now, and as the +triple-ray struck it, he knew what would happen. It did. The triple-ray +shunted off at an angle of forty-five degrees in the energy field, and +spread instantly to a diffused beam of blackness. Arcot's molecular +reached out. The lava was instantly black, and mountains of ice were +forming over the struggling defenses of the fort. The molecular screen +was working.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know how they make tubes that'll stand that, Morey," said +Arcot, pointing to an instrument that read .01 millisols. "They have +tubes now, that would have wiped us out in minutes, seconds before +this."</p> + +<p>The triple-ray snapped off. They were realigning it to hit the ship now, +correcting for the shield. Arcot threw out his protonic shield, and +retreated to half a million miles, as he had said.</p> + +<p>"Here goes." But before even his thoughts could send Theft to radiation, +the entire side of the planet blazed suddenly incandescent. Thett was +learning what had happened when their ray had wounded the <i>Thought</i>.</p> + +<p>And then, in the barest instant of time, there was no Thett. There was +an instant of intolerable radiation, then momentary blackness, and then +the stars were shining where Thett had been. Thett was utterly gone.</p> + +<p>But Arcot did not see this. About him there was a tremendous roar, +titanic generator-converters that had not so much as hummed under the +impact of Thett's greatest weapons, whined and shuddered now. The two +enormous generators, the blackness of the protonic shield, and the great +artificial matter generator, throwing an inner shield impervious to the +cosmics Thett gave off as it vanished, both were whining. And the six +smaller machines, which Arcot had succeeded in interconnecting with the +protonic generator, were whining too. Space was weirdly distorted, +glowing gray about them, the great generators struggling to maintain the +various walls of protecting power against the surge of energy as Thett, +a world of matter, disintegrated.</p> + +<p>But the very energy that fought to destroy those walls was absorbed in +defending it, and by that much the attacking energy was lessened. Still, +it seemed hours, days that the battle of forces continued.</p> + +<p>Then it was over, and the skies were clear once more as Arcot lowered +the protonic screen silently. The white sky of Thett was gone, and only +the black starriness of space remained.</p> + +<p>"<i>It's gone!</i>" gasped Torlos. He had been expecting it—still, the +disappearance of a world—</p> + +<p>"We will have to do no more. No ships had time to escape, and the risk +we run is too great," said Morey slowly. "The escaping energy from that +world will destroy the others of this system as completely, and it will +probably cause the sun itself to blow up—perhaps to form new planets, +and so the process repeats itself. But Venone knows better now, and +their criminals will not populate more worlds.</p> + +<p>"And we can go—home. To our little dust specks."</p> + +<p>"But they're wonderfully welcome dust specks, and utterly important to +us, Earthman," reminded Zezdon Afthen.</p> + +<p>"Let us go then," said Arcot.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was dusk, and the rose tints of the recently-set sun still hung on +the clouds that floated like white bits of cotton in the darkening blue +sky. The dark waters of the little lake, and the shadowy tree-clad hills +seemed very beautiful. And there was a little group of buildings down +there, and a broad cleared field. On the field rested a shining, slim +shape, seventy-five feet long, ten feet in diameter.</p> + +<p>But all, the lake, the mountains even, were dwarfed by the silent, +glistening ruby of a gigantic machine that settled very, very slowly, +and very, very gently downward. It touched the rippled surface of the +lake with scarcely a splash, then hung, a quarter submerged in that +lake.</p> + +<p>Lights were showing in the few windows the huge bulk had, and lights +showed now in the buildings on the shore. Through an open door light was +streaming, casting silhouettes of two men. And now a tiny door opened in +the enormous bulk that occupied the lake, and from it came five figures, +that floated up, and away, and toward the cottage.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Son. You have been gone long," said Arcot, senior, gravely, as +his son landed lightly before him.</p> + +<p>"I thought so. Earth has moved in her orbit. More than six months?"</p> + +<p>His father smiled a bit wryly. "Yes. Two years and three months. You got +caught in another time field and thrown the other way this time?"</p> + +<p>"Time and force. Do you know the story yet?"</p> + +<p>"Part of it—Venone sent a ship to us within a month of the time you +left, and said that all Thett's system had disappeared save for one +tremendous gas cloud—mostly hydrogen. Their ships were met by such a +blast of cosmic rays as they came toward Thett that the radiation +pressure made it almost impossible to advance. There were two distinct +waves. One was rather slighter, and was more in the gamma range, so they +suspected that two bodies had been directly destroyed; one small one, +and one large one were reduced completely to cosmics. Your warning to +Sentfenn was taken seriously, and they have vacated all planets near. It +was the force field created when you destroyed Thett that threw you +forward? Where are the others?"</p> + +<p>"Zezdon Afthen and Zezdon Inthel we took home, and dropped in their +power suits, without landing. Stel Felso Theu as well. We will visit +them later."</p> + +<p>"Have you eaten? Then let us eat, and after supper we'll tell you what +little there is to tell."</p> + +<p>"But Arcot," said Morey slowly, "I understand that Dad will be here +soon, so let us wait. And I have something of which I have not spoken to +you as yet. Worked it out and made it on the back trip. Installed in the +<i>Thought</i> with the <i>Banderlog</i>'s controls. It is—well, will you +look?—Fuller! Come and see the new toy you designers are going to have +to work on!"</p> + +<p>They had all been depressed by the thought of their long absence, by the +scenes of destruction they had witnessed so recently. They were +beginning to feel better.</p> + +<p>"Watch." Morey's thoughts concentrated. The <i>Thought</i> outside had been +left on locked controls, but the apparatus Morey had installed responded +to his thoughts from this distance.</p> + +<p>Before them in the room appeared a cube that was obviously copper. It +stayed there but a moment, beaming brightly, then there was a snapping +of energies about them—and it dropped to the floor and rang with the +impact!</p> + +<p>"It was not created from the air," said Morey simply.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Arcot, looking at it, "Man can do what never before was +possible. From the nothingness of Space he can make anything.</p> + +<p>"Man alone in this space is Creator and Destroyer.</p> + +<p>"It is a high place.</p> + +<p>"May he henceforth live up to it."</p> + +<p>And he looked out toward the mighty starlit hull that had destroyed a +solar system—and could create another.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Islands of Space.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "The Black Star Passes."</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Books_by_JOHN_W_CAMPBELL_in_Ace_editions" id="Books_by_JOHN_W_CAMPBELL_in_Ace_editions"></a>Books by JOHN W. CAMPBELL in Ace editions:</h2> + + +<p>THE BLACK STAR PASSES</p> + +<p>THE MIGHTIEST MACHINE</p> + +<p>ISLANDS OF SPACE</p> + +<p>THE PLANETEERS & THE ULTIMATE WEAPON</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 20154-h.txt or 20154-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/5/20154">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/1/5/20154</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/20154-h/images/ifti001.jpg b/20154-h/images/ifti001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4726850 --- /dev/null +++ b/20154-h/images/ifti001.jpg diff --git a/20154.txt b/20154.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fb1d95 --- /dev/null +++ b/20154.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7723 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Invaders from the Infinite, by John Wood +Campbell + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Invaders from the Infinite + + +Author: John Wood Campbell + + + +Release Date: December 20, 2006 [eBook #20154] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE*** + + +E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/c/) + + + +INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE + +by + +JOHN W. CAMPBELL + + + + + + + +Ace Books, Inc. +1120 Avenue of the Americas +New York, N.Y. 10036 + +Copyright, 1961, by John W. Campbell, Jr. +An earlier version Copyright, 1932, by Experimenter Pub. Co. +An Ace Book, by arrangement with the Author. +All Rights Reserved +Cover by Gray Morrow. +Printed in U.S.A. + + + + +GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE + +The famous scientific trio of Arcot, Wade and Morey, challenged by the +most ruthless aliens in all the universes, blasted off on an +intergalactic search for defenses against the invaders of Earth and all +her allies. + +World after world was visited, secret after secret unleashed, and turned +to mighty weapons of intense force--and still the Thessian enemy seemed +to grow in power and ferocity. + +Mighty battles between huge space armadas were but skirmishes in the +galactic war, as the invincible aliens savagely advanced and the Earth +team hurled bolt after bolt of pure ravening energy--until it appeared +that the universe itself might end in one final flare of furious +torrential power.... + + + + +Chapter I + +INVADERS + + +Russ Evans, Pilot 3497, Rocket Squad Patrol 34, unsnapped his seat belt, +and with a slight push floated "up" into the air inside the weightless +ship. He stretched himself, and yawned broadly. + +"Red, how soon do we eat?" he called. + +"Shut up, you'll wake the others," replied a low voice from the rear of +the swift little patrol ship. "See anything?" + +"Several million stars," replied Evans in a lower voice. "And--" His +tone became suddenly severe. "Assistant Murphy, remember your manners +when addressing your superior officer. I've a mind to report you." + +A flaming head of hair topping a grinning face poked around the edge of +the door. "Lower your wavelength, lower your wavelength! You may think +you're a sun, but you're just a planetoid. But what I'd like to know, +Chief Pilot Russ Evans, is why they locate a ship in a forlorn, out of +the way place like this--three-quarters of a billion miles, out of +planetary plane. No ships ever come out here, no pirates, not a chance +to help a wrecked ship. All we can do is sit here and watch the other +fellows do the work." + +"Which is exactly why we're here. Watch--and tell the other ships where +to go, and when. Is that chow ready?" asked Russ looking at a small +clock giving New York time. + +"Uh--think she'll be on time? Come on an' eat." + +Evans took one more look at the telectroscope screen, then snapped it +off. A tiny, molecular towing unit in his hand, he pointed toward the +door to the combined galley and lunch room, and glided in the wake of +Murphy. + +"How much fuel left?" he asked, as he glided into the dizzily spinning +room. A cylindrical room, spinning at high speed, causing an artificial +"weight" for the foods and materials in it, made eating of food a less +difficult task. Expertly, he maneuvered himself to the guide rail near +the center of the room, and caught the spiral. Braking himself into +motion, he soon glided down its length, and landed on his feet. He bent +and flexed his muscles, waiting for the now-busied assistant to get to +the floor and reply. + +"They gave us two pounds extra. Lord only knows why. Must expect us to +clean up on some fleet. That makes four pound rolls left, untouched, and +two thirds of the original pound. We've been here fifteen days, and have +six more to go. The main driving power rolls have about the same amount +left, and three pound rolls in each reserve bin," replied Red, holding a +curiously moving coffee pot that strove to adjust itself to rapidly +changing air velocities as it neared the center of the room. + +"Sounds like a fleet's power stock. Martian lead or the terrestrial +isotope?" asked Evans, tasting warily a peculiar dish before him. "Say, +this is energy food. I thought we didn't get any more till Saturday." +The change from the energy-less, flavored pastes that made up the +principal bulk of a space-pilot's diet, to prevent over-eating, when no +energy was used in walking in the weightless ship, was indeed a welcome +change. + +"Uh-huh. I got hungry. Any objections?" grinned the Irishman. + +"None!" replied Evans fervently, pitching in with a will. + +Seated at the controls once more, he snapped the little switch that +caused the screen to glow with flashing, swirling colors as the +telectroscope apparatus came to life. A thousand tiny points of flame +appeared scattered on a black field with a suddenness that made them +seem to snap suddenly into being. Points, tiny dimensionless points of +light, save one, a tiny disc of blue-white flame, old Sol from a +distance of close to one billion miles, and under slight reverse +magnification. The skillful hands at the controls were turning +adjustments now, and that disc of flame seemed to leap toward him with a +hundred light-speeds, growing to a disc as large as a dime in an +instant, while the myriad points of the stars seemed to scatter like +frightened chickens, fleeing from the growing sun, out of the screen. +Other points, heretofore invisible, appeared, grew, and rushed away. + +The sun shifted from the center of the screen, and a smaller +reddish-green disc came into view--a planet, its atmosphere coloring the +light that left it toward the red. It rushed nearer, grew larger. Earth +spread as it took the center of the screen. A world, a portion of a +world, a continent, a fragment of a continent as the magnification +increased, boundlessly it seemed. + +Finally, New York spread across the screen; New York seen from the air, +with a strange lack of perspective. The buildings did not seem all to +slant toward some point, but to stand vertical, for, from a distance of +a billion miles, the vision lines were practically parallel. Titanic +shafts of glowing color in the early summer sun appeared; the hot rays +from the sun, now only 82,500,000 miles away, shimmering on the colored +metal walls. + +The new Airlines Building, a mile and a half high, supported at various +points by actual spaceship driving units, was a riot of shifting, +rainbow hues. A new trick in construction had been used here, and Evans +smiled at it. Arcot, inventor of the ship that carried him, had +suggested it to Fuller, designer of that ship, and of that building. The +colored berylium metal of the wall had been ruled with 20,000 lines to +the inch, mere scratches, but nevertheless a diffraction grating. The +result was amazingly beautiful. The sunlight, split up to its rainbow +colors, was reflected in millions of shifting tints. + +In the air, supported by tiny packs strapped to their backs, thousands +of people were moving, floating where they wished, in any direction, at +any elevation. There were none of the helicopters of even five years +ago, now. A molecular power suit was far more convenient, cost nothing +to operate, and but $50 to buy. Perfectly safe, requiring no skill, +everyone owned them. To the watcher in space, they were mere moving, +snaky lines of barely distinguishable dots that shivered and seemed to +writhe in the refractions of the air. Passing over them, seeming to pass +almost through them in this strange perspectiveless view, were the +shadowy forms of giant space liners, titanic streamlined hulls. They +were streamlined for no good reason, save that they looked faster and +more graceful than the more efficient spherical freighters, just as +passenger liners of two centuries earlier, with their steam engines, had +carried four funnels and used two. A space liner spent so minute a +portion of its journey in the atmosphere that it was really inefficient +to streamline them. + +"Won't be long!" muttered Russ, grinning cheerily at the familiar, +sunlit city. His eyes darted to the chronometer beside him. The view +seemed to be taken from a ship that was suddenly scudding across the +heavens like a frightened thing, as it ran across from Manhattan Island, +followed the Hudson for a short way, then cut across into New Jersey, +swinging over the great woodland area of Kittatiny Park, resting finally +on the New Jersey suburb of New York nestled in the Kittatinies, +Blairtown. Low apartment buildings, ten or twelve stories high, nestled +in the waving green of trees in the old roadways. When ground traffic +ceased, the streets had been torn up, and parkways substituted. + +Quickly the view singled out a single apartment, and the great smooth +roof was enlarged on the screen to the absolute maximum clarity, till +further magnification simply resulted in worse stratospheric distortion. +On the broad roof were white strips of some material, making a huge V +followed by two I's. Russ watched, his hand on the control steadying the +view under the Earth's complicated orbital motion, and rotation, further +corrections for the ship's orbital motion making the job one requiring +great skill. The view held the center with amazing clarity. Something +seemed to be happening to the last of the I's. It crumpled suddenly, +rolled in on itself and disappeared. + +"She's there, and on time," grinned Russ happily. + +He tried more magnification. Could he-- + +He was tired, terribly, suddenly tired. He took his hands from the +viewplate controls, relaxed, and dropped off to sleep. + +"What made me so tired--wonder--GOD!" He straightened with a jerk, and +his hands flew to the controls. The view on the machine suddenly +retreated, flew back with a velocity inconceivable. Earth dropped away +from the ship with an apparent velocity a thousand times that of light; +it was a tiny ball, a pinpoint, gone, the sun--a minute disc--gone--then +the apparatus was flashing views into focus from the other side of the +ship. The assistant did not reply. Evans' hands were growing ineffably +heavy, his whole body yearned for sleep. Slowly, clumsily he pawed for a +little stud. Somehow his hand found it, and the ship reeled suddenly, +little jerks, as the code message was flung out in a beam of such +tremendous power that the sheer radiation pressure made it noticeable. +Earth would be notified. The system would be warned. But light, slow +crawling thing, would take hours to cross the gulf of space, and radio +travels no faster. + +Half conscious, fighting for his faculties with all his will, the pilot +turned to the screen. A ship! A strange, glistening thing streamlined to +the nth degree, every spare corner rounded till the resistance was at +the irreducible minimum. But, in the great pilotport of the stranger, +the patrol pilot saw faces, and gasped in surprise as he saw them! +Terrible faces, blotched, contorted. Patches of white skin, patches of +brown, patches of black, blotched and twisted across the faces. Long, +lean faces, great wide flat foreheads above, skulls strangely squared, +more box-like than man's rounded skull. The ears were large, pointed +tips at the top. Their hair was a silky mane that extended low over the +forehead, and ran back, spreading above the ears, and down the neck. + +Then, as that emotion of surprise and astonishment weakened his will +momentarily, oblivion came, with what seemed a fleeting instant of +memories. His life seemed to flash before his mind in serried rank, a +file of events, his childhood, his life, his marriage, his wife, an +image of smiling comfort, then the years, images of great and near great +men, his knowledge of history, pictures of great war of 2074, pictures +of the attackers of the Black Star--then calm oblivion, quiet blankness. + +The long, silent ship that had hovered near him turned, and pointed +toward the pinhead of matter that glowed brilliantly in the flaming +jewel box of the heavens. It was gone in an instant, rushing toward Sun +and Earth at a speed that outraced the flying radio message, leaving the +ship of the Guard Patrol behind, and leaving the Pilot as he leaves our +story. + + + + +Chapter II + +CANINE PEOPLE + + +"And that," said Arcot between puffs, "will certainly be a great boon to +the Rocket Patrol, you must admit. They don't like dueling with these +space-pirates using the molecular rays, and since molecular rays have +such a tremendous commercial value, we can't prohibit the sale of ray +apparatus. Now, if you will come into the 'workshop,' Fuller, I'll give +a demonstration with friend Morey's help." + +The four friends rose, Morey, Wade and Fuller following Arcot into his +laboratory on the thirty-seventh floor of the Arcot Research Building. +As they went, Arcot explained to Fuller the results and principles of +the latest product of the ingenuity of the "Triumvirate," as Arcot, +Morey and Wade had come to be called in the news dispatches. + +"As you know, the molecular rays make all the molecules of any piece of +matter they are turned upon move in the desired direction. Since they +supply no new energy, but make the body they are turned upon supply its +own, using the energy of its own random molecular motion of heat, they +are practically impossible to stop. The energy necessary for molecular +rays to take effect is so small that the usual type of filter lets +enough of it pass. A ship equipped with filters is no better off when +attacked than one without. The rays simply drove the front end into the +rear, or _vice versa_, or tore it to pieces as the pirates desired. The +Rocket Patrol could kill off the pirates, but they lost so many men in +the process, it was a Phyrric victory. + +"For some time Morey and I have been working on something to stop the +rays. Obviously it can't be by means of any of the usual metallic energy +absorption screens. + +"We finally found a combination of rays, better frequencies, that did +what we wanted. I have such an apparatus here. What we want you to do, +of course, is the usual job of rearranging the stuff so that the +apparatus can be made from dies, and put into quantity production. As +the Official Designer for the A.A.L. you ought to do that easily." Arcot +grinned as Fuller looked in amazement at the apparatus Arcot had picked +up from the bench in the "workshop." + +"Don't get worried," laughed Morey, "that's got a lifting unit +combined--just a plain ordinary molecular lift such as you see by the +hundreds out there." Morey pointed through the great window where +thousands of those lift units were carrying men, women and children +through the air, lifting them hundreds, thousands of feet above the +streets and through the doors of buildings. + +"Here's an ordinary molecular pistol. I'm going to put the suit on, and +rise about five feet off the floor. You can turn the pistol on me, and +see what impression it makes on the suit." + +Fuller took the molecular ray pistol, while Wade helped Arcot into the +suit. He looked at the pistol dubiously, pointed it at a heavy casting +of iron resting in one corner of the room, and turned the ray at low +concentration, then pressed the trigger-button. The casting gave out a +low, scrunching grind, and slid toward him with a lurch. Instantly he +shut off the power. "This isn't any ordinary pistol. It's got seven or +eight times the ordinary power!" he exclaimed. + +"Oh yes, I forgot," Morey said. "Instead of the fuel battery that the +early pistols used, this has a space-distortion power coil. This pistol +has as much power as the usual A-39 power unit for commercial work." + +By the time Morey had explained the changes to Fuller, Arcot had the +suit on, and was floating five or six feet in the air, like a grotesque +captive balloon. "Ready, Fuller?" + +"I guess so, but I certainly hope that suit is all it is claimed to be. +If it isn't--well I'd rather not commit murder." + +"It'll work," said Arcot. "I'll bet my neck on that!" Suddenly he was +surrounded by the faintest of auras, a strange, wavering blue light, +like the hazy corona about a 400,000-volt power line. "Now try it." + +Fuller pointed the pistol at the floating man and pushed the trigger. +The brilliant blue beam of the molecular ray, and the low hum of the +air, rushing in the path of the director beam, stabbed out toward Arcot. +The faint aura about him was suddenly intensified a million times till +he floated in a ball of blue-white fire. Scarcely visible, the air about +him blazed with bluish incandescence of ionization. + +"Increase the power," suggested Morey. Fuller turned on more power. The +blue halo was shot through with tiny violet sparks, the sharp odor of +ozone in the air was stifling; the heat of wasted energy was making the +room hotter. The power increased further, and the tiny sparks were +waving streamers, that laced across the surface of the blue fire. Little +jets of electric flame reached out along the beam of the ray now. +Finally, as full power of the molecular ray was reached, the entire halo +was buried under a mass of writhing sparks that seemed to leap up into +the air above the man's head, wavering up to extinction. The room was +unbearably hot, despite the molecular ray coolers absorbing the heat of +the air, and blowing cooled air into the room. + +Fuller snapped off the ray, and put the pistol on the table beside him. +The halo died, and went out a moment later, and Arcot settled to the +floor. + +"This particular suit will stand up against anything the ordinary +commercial sets will give. The system now: remember that the rays are +short electrical waves. The easiest way to stop them is to interpose a +wave of opposite phase, and cause interference. Fine, but try to get in +tune with an unknown wave when it is moving in relation to your center +of control. It is impossible to do it before you yourself have been +rayed out of existence. We must use some system that will automatically, +instantly be out of phase. + +"The Hall effect would naturally tend to make the frequency of a wave +through a resisting medium change, and lengthen. If we can send out a +spherical wave front, and have it lengthen rapidly as it proceeds, we +will have a wave front that is, at all points, different. Any entering +wave would, sooner or later, meet a wave that was half a phase out, no +matter what the motion was, nor what the frequency, as long as it lies +within the comparatively narrow molecular wave band. What this +apparatus, or ray screen, consists of, is a machine generating a +spherical wave front of the nature of a molecular wave, but of just too +great a frequency to do anything. A second part generates a condition in +space, which opposes that wave. After traveling a certain distance, the +wave has lengthened to molecular wave type, but is now beyond the +machine which generated it, and no longer affects it, or damages it. +However, as it proceeds, it continues to lengthen, till eventually it +reaches the length of infra-light, when the air quickly absorbs it, as +it reaches one of the absorption bands for air molecular waves, and any +molecular wave must find its half-wave complement somewhere in that +wedge of waves. It does, and is at once choked off, its energy fighting +the energy of the ray screen, of course. In the air, however, the screen +is greatly helped by the fact that before the half-wave frequency is met +in the ray-wedge, the molecular ray is buried in ions, leaving the ray +screen little work to do. + +"Now your job is to design the apparatus in a form that machines can +make automatically. We tried doing it ourselves for the fun of it, but +we couldn't see how we could make a machine that didn't need at least +two humans to supervise." + +"Well," grinned Fuller, "you have it all over me as scientists, but as +economic workers--two human supervisors to make one product!" + +"All right--we agree. But no, let's see you--Lord! What was that?" Morey +started for the door on the run. The building was still trembling from +the shock of a heavy blow, a blow that seemed much as though a machine +had been wrecked on the armored roof, and a big machine at that. Arcot, +a flying suit already on, was up in the air, and darting past Morey in +an instant, streaking for the vertical shaft that would let him out to +the roof. The molecular ray pistol was already in his hand, ready to +pull any beams off unfortunate victims pinned under them. + +In a moment he had flashed up through the seven stories, and out to the +roof. A gigantic silvery machine rested there, streamlined to +perfection, its hull dazzingly beautiful in the sunlight. A door opened, +and three tall, lean men stepped from it. Already people were collecting +about the ship, flying up from below. Air patrolmen floated up in a +minute, and seeing Arcot, held the crowd back. + +The strange men were tall, eight feet or more in height. Great, round, +soft brown eyes looked in curiosity at the towering multicolored +buildings, at the people floating in the air, at the green trees and the +blue sky, the yellowish sun. + +Arcot looked at their strangely blotched and mottled heads, faces, arms +and hands. Their feet were very long and narrow, their legs long and +thin. Their faces were kindly; the mottled skin, brown and white and +black, seemed not to make them ugly. It was not a disfigurement; it +seemed oddly familiar and natural in some reminiscent way. + +"Lord, Arcot--queer specimens, yet they seem familiar!" said Morey in an +undertone. + +"They are. Their race is that of man's first and best friend, the dog! +See the brown eyes? The typical teeth? The feet still show the traces of +the dog's toe-step. Their nails, not flat like human ones but rounded? +The mottled skin, the ears--look, one is advancing." + +One of the strangers walked laboriously forward. A lighter world than +Earth was evidently his home. His great brown eyes fixed themselves on +Arcot's. Arcot watched them. They seemed to expand, grow larger; they +seemed to fill all the sky. Hypnotism! He concentrated his mind, and the +eyes suddenly contracted to the normal eyes of the stranger. The man +reeled back, as Arcot's telepathic command to sleep came, stronger than +his own will. The stranger's friends caught him, shook him, but he +slept. One of the others looked at Arcot; his eyes seemed hurt, +desperately pleading. + +Arcot strode forward, and quickly brought the man out of the trance. He +shook his head, smiled at Arcot, then, with desperate difficulty, he +enunciated some words in English, terribly distorted. + +"Ahy wizz tahk. Vokle kohds ron. Tahk by breen." + +Distorted as it was, Arcot recognized the meaning without difficulty. "I +wish (to) talk. Vocal cords wrong. Talk by brain." He switched to +communication by the Venerian method, telepathically, but without +hypnotism. + +"Good enough. When you attempted to hypnotize me, I didn't known what +you wanted. It is not necessary to hypnotize to carry on communication +by the method of the second world of this system. What brings you to our +system? From what system do you come? What do you wish to say?" + +The other, not having learned the Venerian system, had great difficulty +in communicating his thoughts, but Arcot learned that they had machines +which would make it easier, and the terrestrian invited them into his +laboratory, for the crowd was steadily growing. + +The three returned to their ship for a moment, coming out with several +peculiar headsets. Almost at once the ship started to rise, going up +more and more swiftly, as the people cleared a way for it. + +Then, in the tiniest fraction of a second, the ship was gone; it shrank +to a point, and was invisible in the blue vault of the sky. + +"Apparently they intend to stay a while," said Wade. "They are trusting +souls, for their line of retreat is cut off. We naturally have no +intention of harming them, but they can't know that." + +"I'm not so sure," said Arcot. He turned to the apparent leader of the +three and explained that there were several stories to descend, and +stairs were harder than a flying unit. "Wrap your arms about my legs, +when I rise above you, and hold on till your feet are on the floor +again," he concluded. + +The stranger walked a little closer to the edge of the shaft, and looked +down. White bulbs illuminated its walls down its length to the ground. +The man talked rapidly to his friends, looking with evident distaste at +the shaft, and the tiny pack on Arcot's back. Finally, smiling, he +evinced his willingness. Arcot rose, the man grasped his legs, and then +both rose. Over the shaft, and down to his laboratory was the work of a +moment. + +Arcot led them into his "consultation room," where a number of +comfortable chairs were arranged, facing each other. He seated them +together, and his own friends facing them. + +"Friends of another world," began Arcot, "we do not know your errand +here, but you evidently have good reason for coming to this place. It is +unlikely that your landing was the result of sheer chance. What brought +you? How came you to this point?" + +"It is difficult for me to reply. First we must be _en rapport_. Our +system is not simple as yours, but more effective, for yours depends on +thought ideas, not altogether universal. Place these on your heads, for +only a moment. I must induce temporary hypnotic coma. Let one try first +if you desire." The leader of the visitors held out one of the several +headsets they had brought, caplike things, made of laminated metal +apparently. + +Arcot hesitated, then with a grin slipped it on. + +"Relax," came a voice in Arcot's head, a low, droning voice, a voice of +command. "Sleep," it added. Arcot felt himself floating down an infinite +shaft, on some superflying suit that did not pull at him with its +straps, just floating down lightly, down and down and down. Suddenly he +reached the bottom, and found to his surprise that it led directly into +the room again! He was back. "You are awake. Speak!" came the voice. + +Arcot shook himself, and looked about. A new voice spoke now, not the +tonelessly melodious voice, but the voice of an individual, yet a mental +voice. It was perfectly clear, and perfectly comprehensible. "We have +traveled far to find you, and now we have business of the utmost import. +Ask these others to let us treat them, for we must do what we can in the +least possible time. I will explain when all can understand. I am Zezdon +Fentes, First Student of Thought. He who sits on my right is Zezdon +Afthen, and he beyond him, is Zezdon Inthel, of Physics and of +Chemistry, respectively." + +And now Arcot spoke to his friends. + +"These men have something of the greatest importance to tell us, it +seems. They want us all to hear, and they are in a hurry. The treatment +isn't at all annoying. Try it. The man on the extreme right, as we face +them, is Zezdon Fentes of Thought, Zezdon apparently meaning something +like professor, or 'First Student of.' Those next him are Zezdon Afthen +of Physics and Zezdon Inthel of Chemistry." + +Zezdon Afthen offered them the headsets, and in a moment everyone +present was wearing one. The process of putting them _en rapport_ took +very little time, and shortly all were able to communicate with ease. + +"Friends of Earth, we must tell our strange story quickly for the +benefit of your world as well as ours, and others, too. We cannot so +much as annoy. We are helpless to combat them. + +"Our world lies far out across the galaxy; even with incalculable +velocity of the great swift thing that bore us, three long months have +we traveled toward your distant worlds, hoping that at last the Invaders +might meet their masters. + +"We landed on this roof because we examined mentally the knowledge of a +pilot of one of your patrol ships. His mind told us that here we would +find the three greatest students of Science of this Solar System. So it +was here we came for help. + +"Our race has arisen," he continued, "as you have so surely determined +from the race you call canines. It was artificially produced by the +Ancient Masters when their hour of need had come. We have lost the great +science of the Ancient Ones. But we have developed a different science, +a science of the mind." + +"Dogs are far more psychic than are men. They would naturally tend to +develop such a civilization," said Arcot judiciously. + + + + +Chapter III + +A QUARTER OF A MILLION LIGHT YEARS + + +"Our civilization," continued Zezdon Afthen, "is built largely on the +knowledge of the mind. We cannot have criminals, for the man who plots +evil is surely found out by his thoughts. We cannot have lying +politicians and unjust rulers. + +"It is a peaceful civilization. The Ancient Masters feared and hated War +with a mighty aversion. But they did not make our race cowards, merely +peaceful intelligence. Now we must fight for our homes, and my race will +fight mightily. But we need weapons. + +"But my story has little to do with our race. I will tell the story of +our civilization and of the Ancient Ones later when the time is more +auspicious. + +"Four months ago, our mental vibration instruments detected powerful +emanations from space. That could only mean that a new, highly +intelligent race had suddenly appeared within a billion miles of our +world. The directional devices quickly spotted it as emanating from the +third planet of our system. Zezdon Fentes, with my aid, set up some +special apparatus, which would pick up strong thoughts and make them +visible. We had used this before to see not only what an enemy +looked upon, but also what he saw in that curious thing, the eye +of the mind, the vision of the past and the future. But while the +thought-amplification device was powerful, the new emanations were hard +to separate from each other. + +"It was done finally, when all but one man slept. That one we were +enable to tune sharply to. After that we could reach him at any time. He +was the commander. We saw him operate the ship, we saw the ship, saw it +glide over the barren, rocky surface of that world. We saw other men +come in and go out. They were strange men. Short, squat, bulky men. +Their arms were short and stocky. But their strength was enormous, +unbelievable. We saw them bend solid bars of steel as thick as my arm. +With perfect ease! + +"Their brains were tremendously active, but they were evil, selfishly +evil. Nothing that did not benefit them counted. At one time our +instruments went dead, and we feared that the commander had detected us, +but we saw what happened a little later. The second in command had +killed him. + +"We saw them examine the world, working their way across it, wearing +heavy suits, yet, for all the terrific gravity of that world, bouncing +about like rubber balls, leaping and jumping where they wanted. Their +legs would drive out like pistons, and they soared up and through the +air. + +"They were tired while they made those examinations, and slept heavily +at night. + +"Then one night there was a conference. We saw then what they intended. +Before we had tried desperately to signal them. Now we were glad that we +had failed. + +"We saw their ship rise (in the thoughts of the second in command) and +sail out into space, and rush toward our world. The world grew larger, +but it was imperfectly sketched in, for they did not know our world +well. Their telescopes did not have great power as your electric +telescopes have. + +"We saw them investigate the planet. We saw them plan to destroy any +people they found with a ray which was as follows: 'the ray which makes +all parts move as one.' We could not understand and could not interpret. +Thoughts beyond our knowledge have, of course, no meaning, even when our +mental amplifiers get them, and bring them to us." + +"The Molecular ray!" gasped Morey in surprise. "They will be an enemy." + +"You know it! It is familiar to you! You have it? You can fight it?" +asked Zezdon Afthen excitedly. + +"We know it, and can fight it, if that is all they have." + +"They have more--much more I fear," replied Zezdon Afthen. "At any rate, +we saw what they intended. If our world was inhabited, they would +destroy every one on it, and then other men of their race were to float +in on their great ships, and settle on that largest of our worlds. + +"We had to stop them so we did what we could. We had powerful machines, +which would amplify and broadcast our thoughts. So we broadcast our +thought-waves, and implanted in the mind of their leader that it would +be wise to land, and learn the extent of the civilization, and the +weapons to be met. Also, as the ship drew nearer, we made him decide on +a certain spot we had prepared for him. + +"He never guessed that the thoughts were not his own. Only the ideas +came to him, seeming to spring from his own mind. + +"He landed--and we used our one weapon. It was a thing left to one group +of rulers when the Ancient Masters left us to care for ourselves. What +it was, we never knew; we had never used it in the fifteen thousand +years since the Great Masters had passed--never had to. But now it was +brought out, and concealed behind great piles of rock in a deep canyon +where the ship of the enemy would land. When it landed, we turned the +beam of the machine on it, and the apparatus rotated it swiftly, and a +cone of the beam's ray was formed as the beam was swung through a small +circle in the vertical plane. The machine leaped backward, and though it +was so massive that a tremendous amount of labor had been required to +bring it there, the push of the pencil of force we sent out hurled it +back against a rocky cliff behind it as though it were some child's toy. +It continued to operate for perhaps a second, perhaps two. In that time +two great holes had been cut in the enemy ship, holes fifteen feet +across, that ran completely through the hull as though a die had cut +through the metal of the ship, cutting out a disc of metal. + +"There was a terrific concussion, and a roar as the air blasted out of +the ship. It did not take us long to discover that the enemy were dead. +Their terrible, bloated corpses lay everywhere in the ship. Most of the +men we were able to recognize, having seen them in the mentovisor. But +the colors were distorted, and their forms were peculiar. Indeed, the +whole ship seemed strange. The only time that things ever did seem +normal about that strange thing, when the angles of it seemed what they +were, when the machines did not seem out of proportion, out of shape, +twisted, was when on a trial trip we ventured very close to our sun." + +Arcot whistled softly and looked at Morey. Morey nodded. "Probably +right. Don't interrupt." + +"That you thought something, I understood, but the thoughts themselves +were hopelessly unintelligible to me. You know the explanation?" asked +Zezdon Afthen eagerly. + +"We think so. The ship was evidently made on a world of huge size. Those +men, their stocky, block legs and arms, their entire build and their +desire for the largest of your planets, would indicate that. Their own +world was probably even larger--they were forced to wear pressure suits +even on that large world, and could jump all over, you said. On so huge +a sphere as their native world seems to be, the gravity would be so +intense as to distort space. Geometry, such as yours seems to be, and +such as ours was, could never be developed, for you assume the existence +of a straight line, and of an absolute plane surface. These things +cannot exist in space, but on small worlds, far from the central sun's +mass, the conditions approach that without sufficient discrepency to +make the error obvious. On so huge a globe as their world the space is +so curved that it is at once obvious that no straight line exists, and +that no plane exists. Their geometry would never be like ours. When you +went close to your sun, the attraction was sufficient to curve space +into a semblance of the natural conditions on their home planet, then +your senses and the ship met a compromise condition which made it seem +more or less normal, not so obviously strange to you. + +"But continue." Arcot looked at Afthen interestedly. + +"There were none left in their ship now, and we had been careful in +locating the first hole, that it should not damage the propulsive +machinery. The second hole was accidental, due to the shift of the +machine. The machine itself was wrecked now, crushed by its own +reaction. We forgot that any pencil of force powerful enough to do what +we wanted, would tear the machine from its moorings unless fastened with +great steel bolts into the solid rock. + +"The second hole had been far to the rear, and had, by ill-luck, cut out +a portion of the driving apparatus. We could not repair that, though we +did succeed at last in lifting the great discs into place. We attempted +to cut them, and put them back in sections. Our finest saws and machines +did not nick them. Their weight was unbelievable, and yet we finally +succeeded in lifting the things into the wall of the ship. The actual +missing material did not represent more than a tiny cut, perhaps as wide +as one of your credit-discs. You could slip the thin piece of metal in +between them, but not so much as your finger. + +"Those slots we welded tight with our best steel, letting a flap hang +over on each side of the cut, and as the hot metal cooled, it was drawn +against the shining walls with terrific force. The joints were perfectly +airtight. + +"The machines proper were repaired to the greatest possible extent. It +was a heartbreaking task, for we must only guess at what machines should +be connected together. Much damage had been done by the rushing air as +it left, for it filled the machines, too, and they were not designed to +resist the terrific air pressure that was on them when the pressure in +the ship escaped. Many of the machines had been burst open, and these we +could repair when we had the necessary elements and knew their +construction from the remnants, or could find unbroken duplicates in the +stock rooms. + +"Once we connected the wrong things. This will show you what we dealt +with. They were the wrong poles--two generators, connected together in +the wrong way. There was a terrific crash when the switch was thrown, +and huge sheets of electric flame leaped from one of them. Two men were +killed, incinerated in an instant, even the odors one might expect were +killed in that flash of heat. Everything save the shining metal and +clear glass within ten feet of it was instantly wiped out. And there was +a fuse link that gave. The generator was ruined. One was left, and +several small auxiliary generators. + +"Eventually, we did the job. We made the machine work. And we are here. + +"We have come to warn you, and to ask aid. Your system also has a large +planet, slightly smaller than the largest of our system, but yet +attractive. There are approximately 50,000 planetary systems in this +universe, according to the records of the Invaders. Their world is not +of this system. It is the World Thett, sun Antseck, Universe Venone. +Where that is, or even what it means, we do not know. Perhaps you +understand. + +"But they investigated your world, and its address, according to their +records, was World 3769-8482730-3. This, I believe, means, Universe +3769, sun 8482730, world 3. They have been investigating this system now +for nearly three centuries. It was close to 200 years ago that they +visited your world--two hundred years of your time." + +"This is 2129--which makes it about the year 1929-30 that they floated +around here investigating. Why haven't they done anything?" Arcot asked +him. + +"They waited for an auspicious time. They are afraid now, for recently +they visited your world, and were utterly amazed to find the +unbelievable progress your people have made. They intend to make an +immediate attack on all worlds known to be intelligently populated. They +had made the mistake of letting one race learn too much; they cannot +afford to let it happen again. + +"There are only twenty-one inhabited worlds known, and their thousands +of scouts have already investigated nearly all the central mass of this +universe, and much of the outer rings. They have established a base in +this universe. Where I do not know. That, alone, was never mentioned in +the records. But of all peoples, they feared only your world. + +"There is one race in the universe far older than yours, but they are a +sleeping people. Long ago their culture decayed. Still, now they are not +far from you, and perhaps it will be worth the few days needed to learn +more about them. We have their location and can take you there. Their +world circles a dead star--" + +"Not any more," laughed Morey grimly. "That's another surprise for the +enemy. They had a little jog, and they certainly are wide awake now. +They are headed for big things, and they are going to do a lot." + +"But how do you know these things? You have ships that can go from +planet to planet, I know, but the records of the enemy said you could +not leave the system of your sun. They alone knew that secret." + +"Another surprise for them," said Morey. "We can--and we can move faster +than your ship, if not faster than they. The people of the dead star +have moved to a very live star--Sirius, the brightest in our heavens. +And they are as much alive now as their new sun. They can move faster +than light, also. We had a little misunderstanding a while back, when +their star passed close to ours. They came off second best, and we +haven't spoken to them since. But I think we can make valuable allies +there." + +For all Morey's jocular manner, he realized the terrible import of this +announcement. A race which had been able to cross the vast gulf of +intergalactic space in the days when Terrestrians were still developing +the airplane--and already they had mapped Jupiter, and planned their +colonies! What developments had come? They had molecular rays, cosmic +rays, the energy of matter, then--what else had they now? Lux and Relux, +the two artificial metals, made of solidified light, far stronger than +anything of molecular structure in nature, absolutely infusible, totally +inert chemically, one a perfect conductor of light and of all radiation +in space, the other a perfect reflector of all radiations--save +molecular rays. Made into the condition of reflection by the action of +special frequencies in its formation from light, molecular frequencies +were, unfortunately, able to convert it into perfectly transparent lux +metal, when the protective value was gone. + +They had that. All Earth had, perhaps. + +"There was one other race of some importance, the others were +semi-civilized. They rated us in a position between these races and the +high races--yours, those of the dead star, and those of world +3769-37:478:326:894-6. Our science had been investigated two hundred or +so years ago. + +"This other race was at a great distance from us, greater than yours, +and apparently not feared as greatly as yours. They cannot cross to +other worlds, save in small ships driven solely by fire, which the +Thessians have called a 'hopelessly inefficient and laughably awkward +thing to ride in.'" + +"Rockets," grinned Morey. "Our first ship was part rocket." + +Zezdon Fentes smiled. "But that is all. We have brought you warning, and +our plea. Can you help us?" + +"We cannot answer that. The Interplanetary Council must act. But I am +afraid that it will be all we can do to protect our own world if this +enemy attacks soon, and I fear they will. Since they have a base in this +universe, it is impossible to believe that all ships did not report back +to the home world at stated intervals. That one is missing will soon be +discovered, and it will be sought. War will start at once. Three months +it took you to reach us--they should come soon. + +"Those men who left will be on their way back from the home world from +which they came. What do you call your planet, friend?" + +"Ortol is our home," replied Zezdon Inthel. + +"At any rate, I can only assure you that your world will be given +weapons that will permit your people to defend themselves and I will get +you to your home within twenty-four hours. Your ship--is it in the +system?" + +"It waits on the second satellite of the fourth planet," replied Zezdon +Afthen. + +"Signal them, and tell them to land where a beacon of intense light, +alternating red and blue, reaches up from--this point on the map." Arcot +pointed out the spot in Vermont where their private lake and laboratory +were. + +He turned to the others, and in rapid-fire English, explained his plans. +"We need the help of these people as much as they need ours. I think +Zezdon Fentes will stay here and help you. The others will go with us to +their world. There we shall have plenty of work to do, but on the way we +are going to stop at Mars and pick up that valuable ship of theirs and +make a careful examination for possible new weapons, their system of +speed-drive, and their regular space-drive. I'm willing to make a bet +right now, that I can guess both. Their regular drive is a molecular +drive with lead disintegration apparatus for the energy, cosmic ray +absorbers for the heating, and a drive much like ours. Their speed drive +is a time distortion apparatus, I'll wager. Time distinction offers an +easy solution of speed. All speed is relative--relative to other bodies, +but also to time-speed. But we'll see. + +"I'm going to hustle some workmen to installing the biggest spare power +board I can get into the storerooms of the _Ancient Mariner_, and pack +in a ray-screen. It will be useful. Let's move." + +"Our ship," said Zezdon Afthen, "will land in three of your hours." + + + + +Chapter IV + +THE FIRST MOVE + + +The Ortolians were standing on a low, green-clad hill. Below them +stretched the green flank of the little rise, and beyond lay ridge after +ridge of the broad, smooth carpet of the beautiful Vermont hills. + +"Man of Earth," said Zezdon Afthen, turning at last to Wade, who stood +behind him. "It took us three months of constant flight at a speed +unthinkable, through space dotted with the titanic gems of the Outer +Dark, stars gleaming in red, and blue and orange, some titanic +lighthouses of our course, others dim pinpoints of glowing color. It was +a scene of unspeakable grandeur, but it was so awesomely mighty in its +scope, one was afraid, and his soul shriveled within him as he looked at +those inconceivable masses floating forever alone in the silence of the +inconceivable nothingness of eternal cold and eternal darkness. One was +awed, suppressed by their sheer magnitude. A magnificent spectacle +truly, but one no man could love. + +"Now we are at rest on a tiny pinpoint of dust in a tiny bit of a tiny +corner of an isolated universe, and the magnitude and stillness is gone. +Only the chirpings of those strange birds as they seek rest in darkness, +the soft gurgling of the little stream below, and the rustle of +countless leaves, break the silence with a satisfying existence, while +the loneliness of that great star, your sun, is lost in its tintings of +soft color, the fleeciness of the clouds, and the seeming companionship +of green hills. + +"The beauty of boundless space is awe-inspiring in its magnitude. The +beauty of Earth is something man can love. + +"Man of Earth, you have a home that you may well fight for with all the +strength of your arms, all the forces of your brain, and all the +energies of Space that you can call forth to aid you. It is a wondrous +world." Silently he stood in the gathering dusk, as first Venus winked +into being, then one by one the stars came into existence in the +deepening color of the sky. + +"Space is awesomely wonderful; this is--lovable." He gazed long at the +heavens of this world so strange, so beautiful to him, looking at the +unfamiliar heavens, as star after star flashed into the constellations +so familiar to terrestrians and to those Venerians who had been above +the clouds of Venus' eternal shroud. + +"But somewhere off there in space are other races, and far beyond the +power of our eyes to see is the star that is the sun of my world, and +around it circles that little globe that is home to me. What is +happening there now? Does it still exist? Are there people still living +on it? Oh, Man of Earth, let us reach that world quickly, you cannot +guess the pangs that attack me, for if it be destroyed, think--forever I +am without home--without friends I knew. However kind your people may be +to me, I would be forever lonely. + +"I will not think of that--only it is time your ship was ready, is it +not?" + +"I think we had better return," replied Wade softly, his English words +rousing thoughts in his mind intelligible to the Ortolians. + +The three rose in the air on the molecular suits and drove quickly down +toward the blue gem of the lake to the east, nestled among still other +green hills. Lights were showing in the great shop, where the _Ancient +Mariner_ was being fitted with the ray-shields, and all possible +weapons. Men streaming through her were hastily stocking her with vast +quantities of foods, stocks of fuel, all the spare parts they could cram +into her stock rooms. + +When the men arrived from the hilltop, the work was practically done, +and Wade stepped up to Morey, busily checking off a list of required +items. + +"Everything you ordered came through?" he asked. + +"Yes--thanks to the pull of a two-billion dollar private fortune. Who +says credit-units don't have their value? This expedition never would +have gotten through, if it hadn't been for that. + +"But we have the main space distortion power bank, and the new auxiliary +coils full. Ten tons of lead aboard for fuel. There's one thing we are +afraid of. If the enemy have a system of tubes that is able to handle +more power than our last tube--we're sunk. These brilliant people that +suggest using more tubes to a ray-power bank forget the last tube has to +handle the entire output of all the others, and modulate it correctly. +If the enemy has a better tube--it will be too bad for us." Morey was +frankly worried. + +"My end is all set, Morey. How soon will you be ready?" Arcot asked. + +"'Bout ten-fifteen minutes." Morey lit a cigarette and watched as the +last of the stuff was carried aboard. + +At last they were ready. The _Ancient Mariner_, originally built for +intergalactic exploration, was kept in working condition. New apparatus +had been incorporated in it, as their research had led to improvements, +and it was constantly in condition, ready for a trip. Many exploration +trips to the nearer stars had already been made. + +The ship was backed out from the hangar now, and rested on the great +smooth landing field, its tremendous quarter million ton mass of lux and +relux sinking a great, smooth depression in the turf of the field. They +were waiting now for the arrival of the Ortolian ship. Zezdon Afthen +assured them it would be there in a few minutes. + +High in the sky, came the whining whistle of an approaching ship, coming +at terrific velocity. It came nearer the field, darting toward the +ground at an unheard of speed, flashing down at a speed of well over +three thousand miles an hour, and, only in the last fifty feet slowed +with a sickening deceleration. Even so it landed with a crash of fully +two hundred miles of speed. Arcot gasped at the terrible landing the +pilot had made, fully expecting to see the great hull dent somewhat, +even though made of solid relux. And certainly the jar would kill every +man on board. Yet the hull did not seem harmed by the crash, and even +the ground under the ship was but slightly disturbed, though, at a +distance of some thirty feet, the entire block of soil was crushed, and +cracked by the terrific impact of hundreds of thousands of tons striking +with terrific energy. + +"Lord, it's a wonder they didn't kill themselves. I never saw such a +rotten landing," exclaimed Morey with disgust. + +"Don't be too sure. I think they landed gently, and at very low speed. +Notice how little the soil directly under them was dented?" replied +Arcot, walking forward. "They have time control, as I suspected. Ask +them. They drifted in gently. Their time rate was speeded up +tremendously, so that what was hundreds of miles per hour to us was feet +per minute to them. But come on, get the handlers to bring that junk up +to the door--they are coming out." + +One of the tall, kindly-faced canine people was standing in the doorway +now, the white light streaming out around him into the night, casting a +grotesque shadow on the landing field, for all the flood lights bathing +in it. + +Zezdon Afthen came up and spoke quickly to the man evidently in command +of the ship. The entire party went into the ship, and the cream of their +laboratory instruments was brought in. + +For hours Arcot, Morey and Wade worked at the apparatus in the ship, +measuring, calculating, following electrical and magnetic and sheer +force hook-ups of staggering complexity. They were not trying to find +the exact method of construction, only the principles involved, so that +they could perform calculations of their own, and duplicate the results +of the enemy. Thus they would be far more thoroughly familiar with the +machinery when done. + +Little attention was paid to the actual driving plant, for it was a +molecular drive with the same type of lead-fuel burner they used in +their own ship. The tubes of the power bank were, however, a puzzle to +them. They were made of relux, so that it was impossible to see the +interior of the tube. To open one was to destroy it, but calculations +made from readings of their instruments showed that they were more +efficient, and could readily carry nearly half again the load that the +best terrestrian tubes could sustain. This meant the enemy could send +heavier rays and heavier ray screens. + +But finally they returned to the _Ancient Mariner_, and as the Ortolian +ship whined its way out to space, the _Ancient Mariner_ started, rising +faster and faster through the atmosphere till it was in the night of +space. Then the molecular power was shut off. The ship suddenly seemed +to writhe, space was black and starless about them, then sparkling +weirdly distorted stars, all before them. They were moving already. +Almost before the Ortolians fully realized what was happening, a dozen +stars had swung past the ship, driving on now at better than five light +years in every second. At this speed, approximately fourteen hours would +be needed to reach Ortol. + +"Now, Arcot, perhaps you will explain to me the secret of this ship," +said Zezdon Afthen at last, turning from the great lux pilot's window, +to Arcot seated in the pilot's chair. "I know that only the broadest +principles will be intelligible to me, for I could not understand that +ship we captured, after almost four months of study. Yet it crept +through space compared with this ship. Certainly no ship could +outdistance this in a race!" + +"As a matter of fact--watch!" Arcot pushed a little metal button along a +slide to the extreme end. Again the ship seemed to writhe. Space was no +longer black, but faintly gray, and beside them, on either side, floated +two exact replicas of their ship! Zezdon Afthen stared. But in another +moment, both were gone, and space was black, yet in but a few moments a +grayness was showing, and light was appearing from all about, growing +gradually in intensity. For three seconds Arcot continued thus, then he +pulled the metal button down the slide, and flicked over another that he +had pulled to cause the second change. The stars were again before them, +their colors changed beyond all recognition at that speed. But the +orientation of the stars behind them had been familiar. Now an entirely +different set of constellation showed. + +"I merely opened the ship out to her maximum speed for a moment. I was +able to see any large star 2000 light years in our path, and there were +none. Small stars do not bother us as I will explain. When I put on full +power of the main power coils, I drove the ship up to a speed of 30 +light years a second. When I turned in the full power of the auxiliary +coils as well I doubled the power, and the speed was multiplied by +eight. The result was that in the four seconds of racing, we made +approximately 1000 light years!" + +Zezdon Afthen gasped. "Two hundred and forty light years _per second_"! +He paused in bewilderment. "Suppose we had struck a small sun, a dark +star, even a meteor at that speed? What would have been the result?" + +Arcot smiled. "The chances are excellent that we plowed through more +than one meteor, more than one dark star, and more than one small sun. + +"But this is the secret: the ship attains the speed only by going out of +space. _Nothing in space can attain the speed of light, save radiation._ +Nothing in normal space. But, we alter space, make space along patterns +we choose, and so distort it that the natural speed of radiation is +enormously greater. In fact, we so change space that nothing can go +_slower_ than a speed we fix. + +"Morey--show Afthen the coils, and explain it all to him. I've got to +stay here." + +Morey rose, and diving through the weightless ship, went down to the +power room, Zezdon Afthen following. Here, giant pots five feet high +were in close packed rows. The "pots" contained specially designed coils +storing tremendous energy, the energy of four tons of disintegrated +lead, in the only form that energy may be stored, as a strain, or +distortion in space. These charged coils distorted only the space within +themselves, making a closed field entirely within themselves. But in the +exact gravitational center of the quarter of a million ton ship was a +single high coil of different design that distorted space around it as +well as the space within it. This, as Morey explained, was the control +that altered the constants of space to suit. The coils were charged, and +the energy stored. Their energy could be pumped into the big coil, and +then, when the ship slowed to normal space, could be pumped back to +them. The pumping energy, as well as any further energy needed for +recharging the coils could be supplied by three huge power generators. + +"These energy-producers," Morey explained, "work on a principle known +for hundreds of years on Earth. Lead, when reduced to a temperature +approaching absolute zero as closely as, for instance, liquid helium, +has _no_ electrical resistance. In other words, no matter how great a +current is sent through it, there is no resistance, and no heat is +produced to raise the temperature. What we do is to send a powerful +current through a lead wire. The wire has a current density so huge that +the atoms are destroyed, and the protons and electrons coalesce into +pure radiant energy. Relux, under the influence of a magnetic field, +converts this directly into electrical potential. Electricity we can +convert to the spatial strain in the power coils, and thus the ship is +driven." Morey pointed out the huge molecular power cylinder overhead, +where the main power drive was located in the inertial center of the +ship, or as near as the great space coil would permit. + +The smaller power units for vertical lift, and for steering, were in the +side walls, hidden under heavy walls of relux. + +"The projectors for throwing molecular and heat rays are on the outside +of course. Both of these projectors are protected. The walls of the ship +are made of an outer wall of heavy lux metal, a vacuum between, and an +inner wall of heavy relux. The lux is stronger than relux, and is +therefore used for an outer shell. The inner shell of relux will reflect +any dangerous rays and serve to hold the heat in the ship, since a +perfect reflector is a perfect non-radiator. The vacuum wall is to +protect the occupants of the ship against any undue heat. If we should +get within the atmosphere of a sun, it would be disastrous if the +physical conduction of heat were permitted, for though the relux will +turn out any radiated heat, it is a conductor of heat, and we would +roast almost instantly. These artificial metals are both absolutely +infusible and non-volatile. The ship has actually been in the limb of a +star tremendously hotter than your sun or mine. + +"Now you see why it is we need not fear a collision with a small sun, +meteor or such like. Since we are in our own, artificial space, we are +alone, and there is nothing in space to run into. But, if we enter a +huge sun, the terrific gravitational field of the mass of matter would +be enough to pull the energy of our coil away from us. That actually +happened the time we made our first intergalactic exploration. But it is +almost impossible to fall into a large star--they are too brilliant. We +won't be worrying about it," grinned Morey. + +"But how did the ship we captured operate?" asked Zezdon Afthen. + +"It was a very ingenious system, very closely related to ours, really. + +"We distort space and change the velocity characteristics; in other +words, we distort the rate of motion through distance characteristics of +normal space. The Thessian ships work on the principle of distorting the +rate of progress through time instead of through space. + +"_Velocity_ is really 'units of travel through space per unit of travel +through time.' Now if we make the time unit twice as great, and the +units traveled through space are not changed, the _velocity_ is twice as +great. That is, if we are moving five light years per second, make the +second twice as long and we are moving ten light years per +double-second. Make it ten thousand times as long, and we are traveling +fifty thousand light years per ten-thousand-seconds. This is the +principle--but there is a drawback. We might increase the velocity by +slowing time passage, that is, if it takes me a year for one heartbeat, +two years to raise my arm thus, and six months to turn, my head, if all +my body processes are slowed down in this way, I will be able to live a +tremendous length of time, and though it takes me two hundred years to +go from one star to another, so low is my time rate that the two hundred +years will seem but a few minutes. I can then make a trip to a distant +star--one five light years distant, let us say, in three minutes to me. +I then will say, looking at my chronometer (which has been similarly +slowed) 'I have gone five light years in three minutes, or five thirds +light years per minute. I have exceeded the speed of light.' + +"But people back on Earth would say, he has taken two hundred years to +go five light years, therefore he has gone at a speed one fortieth of +that of light, which would be true--for their time rate. + +"But suppose I can also speed up time. That is, I can live a year in a +minute or two. Then everyone else will be exceedingly slow. The ideal +thing would be to combine these two effects, arranging that space about +your ship will have a very rapid time rate, ten thousand times that of +normal space. Then the speed of radiation through that space will be +1,860,000,000 miles per second, and a speed of 1,000,000,000 miles per +second would be possible, but still you, too, will be affected, so that +though the people back home will say you are going far faster than +light, you will say 'No, I am going only 100,000 miles per second.' + +"But now imagine that your ship and surrounding space for one mile is at +a time rate 10,000 times normal, and you, in a space of one hundred feet +within your ship, are affected by a time rate 1/10,000 that, or normal, +due to a second, reversing field. The two fields will not fight, or be +mutually antagonistic; they will merely compound their effects. Result: +you will agree that you are exceeding the speed of light! + +"Do you understand? That is the principle on which your ship operated. +There were two time-fields, overlapping time-fields. Remember the +terrible speed with which your ship landed, and yet there was no +appreciable jar according to the men? The answer of course was, that +their time rate had been speeded enough, due to the fact that one field +had been completely shut off, the other had not. + +"That is the principle. The system is so complex, naturally, that we +have not yet learned the actual method of working the process. We must +do a great deal of mathematical and physical research. + +"Wish we had it done--we could use it now," mused the terrestrian. + +"We have some other weapons, none as important, of course, as the +molecular ray and the heat ray. Or none that have been. But, if the +enemy have ray shields, then perhaps these others also will be +important. There are molecular motion guns, metal tubes, with molecular +director apparatus at one end. A metal shell is pulling the power turned +on, and the shell leaps out at a speed of about ten miles per +second--since it has been super-heated--and is very accurately aimed, as +there is no terrific shock of recoil to be taken up by the gun. + +"But a more effective weapon, if these men are as I expect them to be, +will be a peculiarly effective magnetic field concentrator device, which +will project a magnetic field as a beam for a mile or more. How useful +it will be--I don't know. We don't know what the enemy will turn against +_us_!" + + + + +Chapter V + +ORTOL + + +After Morey's explanation of the ship was completed, Wade took Arcot's +place at the controls, while Morey and Arcot retired to the calculating +room to do some of the needed mathematics on the time-field +investigation. + +Their work continued here, while the Ortolians prepared a meal and +brought it to them, and to Wade. When at last the sun of Ortol was +growing before them, Arcot took over controls from Wade once more. +Slowing their speed to less than fifty times that of light, they drove +on. The attraction of the giant sun was draining the energy from the +coils so rapidly now, that at last Arcot was forced to get into normal +space, while the planet was still close to a million miles from them. +Morey was showing the Ortolians the operation of the telectroscope and +had it trained now on the rapidly approaching planet. The planet was +easily enlarged to a point where the features of continents were +visible. The magnification was increased till cities were no longer +blurs, but truly cities. + +Suddenly, as city after city was brought under the action of the +machine, the Ortolians recognizing them with glad exclamations, one +swept into view--and as they watched, it leapt into the air, a vast +column of dust, then twisting, whirling, it fell back in utter, chaotic +ruin. + +Zezdon Fentes staggered back from the screen in horror. + +"Arcot--drive down--increase your speed--the Thessians are there already +and have destroyed one city," called Morey sharply. The men secured +themselves with heavy belts, as the deep toned hum of the warning echoed +through the ship. A moment later they staggered under an acceleration of +four gravities. Space was dark for the barest instant of time, and then +there was the scream of atmosphere as the ship rocketed through the air +of the planet at nearly fifteen hundred miles per second. The outer wall +was blazing in incandescence in a moment, and the heavy relux screens +seemed to leap into place over the windows as the blasting heat, +radiated from the incandescent walls flooded in. The millions of tons +pressure of the air on the nose of the ship would have brought it to a +stop in an instant, and had it not been that the molecular drive was on +at full power, driving the ship against the air resistance, and still +losing. The ship slowed swiftly, but was shrieking toward the destroyed +city at terrific speed. + +"Hesthis--to the--right and ahead. That would be their next attack," +said the Ortolian. Arcot altered the ship's course, and they shot toward +the distance city of Hesthis. They were slowing perceptibly, and yet, +though the city was half around the world, they reached it in half a +minute. Now Arcot's wizardry at the controls came into play, for by +altering his space field constants, he succeeded in reaching a condition +that slowed the ship almost instantly to a speed of but a mile a second, +yet without apparent deceleration. + +High in the white Ortolian sky was a shining point bearing down on the +now-visible city. Arcot slanted toward it, and the approaching ship grew +like an expanding rubber balloon. + +A ray of intense, blindingly brilliant light flashed out, and a gout of +light appeared in the center of the city. A huge flame, bright blue, +shot heavenward in roaring heat. + +Seeing that a strange ship had arrived was enough for the Thessians, and +they turned, and drove at Arcot instantly. The Thessian ship was built +for a heavy world, and for heavy acceleration in consequence, and, as +they had found from the captured ship, it was stronger than the _Ancient +Mariner_. Now the Thessians were driving at Arcot with an acceleration +and speed that convinced him dodging was useless. Suddenly space was +black around them, the sunlit world was gone. + +"Wonder what they thought of _that_!" grinned Arcot. Wade smiled grimly. + +"It's not what they thought, but what they'll do, that counts." + +Arcot came back to normal space, just in time to see the Thessian ship +spin in a quick turn, under an acceleration that would have crushed a +human to a pulp. Again the pilot dived at the terrestrian ship. Again it +vanished. Twice more he tried these fruitless tactics, seeing the ship +loom before him--bracing for the crash--then it was gone +instantaneously, and though he sailed through the spot he knew it to +have occupied, it was not there. Yet an instant later, as he turned, it +was floating, unharmed, exactly where his ship had passed! + +Rushing was useless. He stood, and prepared to give battle. A molecular +ray reached out--and disappeared in flaring ions on a shield utterly +impenetrable in the ionizing atmosphere. + +Arcot meanwhile watched the instrument of his shield. The Thessian +shield would have been impenetrable, but his shield, fed by less +efficient tubes, was not, and he knew it. Already the terrific energy of +the Thessian ray was noticeably heating the copper plates of the tube. +The seal would break soon. + +Another ray reached out, a ray of flaring light. Arcot, watching through +the "eyes" of his telectroscope viewplates, saw it for but an instant, +then the "eyes" were blasted, and the screen went blank. + +"He won't do anything with that but burn out eyes," muttered the +terrestrian. He pushed a small button when his instruments told him the +rays were off. Another scanner came into action, and the viewplate was +alive again. + +Arcot shot out a cosmic ray himself, and swept the Thessian with it +thoroughly. For the instant he needed the enemy ship was blinded. +Immediately the _Ancient Mariner_ dove, and the automatic ray-finders +could no longer hold the rays on his ship. As soon as he was out of the +deadly molecular ray he shut off his screen, and turned on all his +molecular rays. The Thessian ship, their own ray on, had been unable to +put up their screen, as Arcot was unable to use his ray with the enemy's +ray forcing him to cover with a shield. + +Almost at once the relux covering of the Thessian ship shone with +characteristic iridescence as it changed swiftly to lux metal. The +molecular ray blinked out, and a ray screen flashed out instead. The +Thessians were covering up. Their own rays were useless now. Though +Arcot could not hope to destroy their ray shield, they could no longer +attack his, for their rays were useless, and already they had lost so +much of the protective relux, that they would not be so foolhardy as to +risk a second attack of the ray. + +Arcot continued to bathe the ship in energy, keeping their "eyes" +closed. As long as he could hold his barrage on them, they would not +damage him. + +"Morey--get into the power room, strap onto the board. Throw all the +power-coil banks into the magnets. I may burn them out, but I have +hopes--" Arcot already had the generators going full power, charging the +power coils. + +Morey dived. Almost simultaneously the Thessians succeeded in the +maneuver they had been attempting for some time. There were a dozen rays +flaring wildly from the ship, searching blindly over the sky and ground, +hoping to stumble on the enemy ship, while their own ship dived and +twisted. Arcot was busily dodging the sweeping rays, but finally one hit +his viewplates, and his own ship was blind. Instantly he threw the ray +screen out, cutting off his own molecular ray. His own cosmics he set +rotating in cones that covered the three dimensions--save below, where +the city lay. Immediately the Thessian had retreated to this one segment +where Arcot did not dare throw his own rays. The Thessian cosmics +continued to make his relux screens necessary, and his ship remained +blind. + +His ray screen was showing signs of weakening. The Thessians got a third +ray into position for operation, and opened up. Almost at once the tubes +heated terrifically. In an instant they would give way. Arcot threw his +ship into space, and let the tubes cool under the water jacket. Morey +reported the coils ready as soon as he came out of space. + +Arcot cut in the new set of eyes, and put up his molecular ray screen +again. Then he cut the energy back to the coils. + +Half a mile below the enemy ship was vainly scurrying around an empty +sky. Wade laughed at the strange resemblance to a puppy chasing its +tail. The _Ancient Mariner_ was utterly lost to them. + +"Well, here goes the last trick," said Arcot grimly. "If this doesn't +work, they'll probably win, for their tubes are better than ours, and +they can maneuver faster. By win I mean force us to let them attack +Ortol. They can't really attack us; artificial space is a perfect +defense." + +Arcot's molecular ray apprized the Thessians of his presence. Their +screen flared up once more. Arcot was driving straight toward their ship +as they turned. He snapped the relux screens in front of his eyes an +instant before the enemy cosmics reached his ship. Immediately the thud +of four heavy relays rang through the ship. The quarter of a million ton +ship leaped forward under a terrific acceleration, and then, as the four +relays cut out again, the acceleration was gone. The screen regained +life as Arcot opened the shutters. Before them, still directly in their +path, was the huge Thessian ship. But now its screen was down, the relux +iridescent in decomposition. It was falling, helplessly falling to the +rocky plateau seven miles below. Its rays reached out even yet--and +again the _Ancient Mariner_ staggered under the terrific pull of some +acceleration. The Thessian ship lurched upward, and a terrific +concussion came, and the entire neighborhood of that projector +disappeared in a flash of radiation. + +Arcot drove the _Ancient Mariner_ down beneath the Thessian ship in its +long fall, and with a powerful molecular beam ripped a mighty chasm in +the deserted plateau. The Thessian ship fell into a quarter mile rift in +the solid rock, smashing its way through falling debris. A moment later +it was buried beneath a quarter mile of broken rock as Arcot swept a +molecular beam about with the grace of a mine foreman filling breaks. + +An instant later, a heat ray followed the molecular in dazzling +brilliance. A terrific gout of light appeared in the barren rocks. In +ten minutes the plateau was a white hot cauldron of molten rocks, +glowing now against a darkening sky. Night was falling. + +"That ship," said Arcot with an air of finality, "will never rise +again." + + + + +Chapter VI + +THE SECOND MOVE + + +"What happened to him, though?" asked Wade, bewildered. "I haven't yet +figured it out. He went down in a heap, and he didn't have any power. Of +course, if he had his power he could have pulled out again. He could +just melt and burn all the excess rock off, and he would be all set. But +his rays all went dead. And why the explosion?" + +"The magnetic beam is the answer. In our boat we have everything +magnetically shielded, because of the enormous magnetic flux set up by +the current flowing from the storage coils to the main coil. But--with +so many wires heavily charged with current, what would have happened if +they had not been shielded? + +"If a current cuts across a magnetic field, a side thrust is developed. +What do you suppose happened when the terrific magnetic field of the +beam and the currents in the wires of their power-board were mutually +opposed?" + +"Lord, it must have ripped away everything in the ship. It'd tear loose +even the lighting wires!" gasped Wade in amazement. + +"But if all the power of the ship was destroyed in this way, how was it +that one of their rays was operating as they fell?" asked Zezdon Afthen. + +"Each ray is a power plant in itself," explained Arcot, "and so it was +able to function. I do not know the cause of the explosion, though it +might well have been that they had light-bombs such as the Kaxorians of +Venus have," he added, thoughtfully. + +They landed, at Zezdon's advice, in the city that their arrival had been +able to save. This was Ortol's largest city, and their industrial +capital. Here, too, was the University at which Afthen taught. + +They landed, and Arcot, Morey and Wade, with the aid of Zezdon Afthen +and Zezdon Fentes worked steadily for two of their days of fifty hours +each, teaching men how to make and use the molecular ships, and the rays +and screens, heat beams, and relux. But Arcot promised that when he +returned he would have some weapon that would bring them certain and +easy salvation. In the meantime other terrestrians would follow him. + +They left the morning of their third day on the planet. A huge crowd had +come to cheer them on their way as they left, but it was the "silent +cheer" of Ortol, a telepathic well-wishing. + +"Now," said Arcot as their ship left the planet behind, "we will have to +make the next move. It certainly looks as though that next move would be +to the still-unknown race that lives on world 3769-37, 478, 326, 894-6. +Evidently we will have to have some weapon they haven't, and I think +that I know what it will be. Thanks to our trip out to the Islands of +Space." + +"Shall we go?" + +"I think it would be wise," agreed Morey. + +"And I," said Wade. The Ortolians agreed, and so, with the aid of the +photographic copies of the Thessian charts that Arcot had made, they +started for world 3769-37, 478, 326, 894-6. + +"It will take approximately twenty-two hours, and as we have been +putting off our sleep with drugs, I think that we had better catch up. +Wade, I wish you'd take the ship again, while Morey and I do a little +concentrated sleeping. We have by no means finished that calculation, +and I'd very much like to. We'll relieve you in five hours." + +Wade took the ship, and following the course Arcot laid out, they sped +through the void at the greatest safe speed. Wade had only to watch the +view-screen carefully, and if a star showed as growing rapidly, it was +proof that they were near, and nearing rapidly. If large, a touch of a +switch, and they dodged to one side, if small, they were suddenly +plunged into an instant of unbelievable radiation as they swept through +it, in a different space, yet linked to it by radiation, not light, that +were permitted in. + +Zezdon Afthen had elected to stay with him, which gave him an +opportunity he had been waiting for. "If it's none of my business, just +say so," he began. "But that first city we saw the Thessians destroy--it +was Zezdon Fentes' home, wasn't it? Did he have a family?" + +The words seemed blunt as he said them, but there was no way out, once +he had started. And Zezdon Afthen took the question with complete calm. + +"Fentes had both wives and children," he said quietly. "His loss was +great." + +Wade concentrated on the screen for a moment, trying to absorb the +shock. Then, fearing Zezdon Afthen might misinterpret his silence, he +plunged on. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't realize you were +polygamous--most people on Earth aren't, but some groups are. It's +probably a good way to improve the race. But ... Blast it, what bothers +me is that Zezdon Fentes seemed to recover from the blow so quickly! +From a canine race, I'd expect more affection, more loyalty, more...." + +He stopped in dismay. But Zezdon Afthen remained unperturbed. "More +unconcealed emotion?" he asked. "No. Affection and loyalty we have--they +_are_ characteristic of our race. But affection and loyalty should not +be uselessly applied. To _forget_ dead wives and children--that would be +insulting to their memory. But to mourn them with senseless loss of +health and balance would also be insulting--not only to their memory, +but to the entire race. + +"No, we have a better way. Fentes, my very good friend, has not +forgotten, no more than you have forgotten the death of your mother, +whom you loved. But you no longer mourn her death with a fear and horror +of that natural thing, the Eternal Sleep. Time has softened the pain. + +"If we can do the same in five minutes instead of five years, is it not +better? That is why Fentes has _forgotten_". + +"Then you have aged his memory of that event?" asked Wade in surprise. + +"That is one way of stating it," replied Zezdon Afthen seriously. + +Wade was silent for a while, absorbing this. But he could not contain +his curiosity completely. _Well, to hell with it_, he decided. +_Conventional manners and tact don't have much meaning between two +different races_. "Are you--married?" he asked. + +"Only three times," Zezdon Afthen told him blandly. "And to forestall +your next question--no, our system does not create problems. At least, +not those you're thinking of. I know my wives have never had the jealous +quarrels I see in your mind pictures." + +"It isn't safe thinking things around you," laughed Wade. "Just the +same, all of this has made me even more interested in the 'Ancient +Masters' you keep mentioning. Who were they?" + +"The Ancient Ones," began Zezdon Afthen slowly, "were men such as you +are. They descended from a primeval omnivorous mammal very closely +related to your race. Evidently the tendency of evolution on any planet +is approximately the same with given conditions. + +"The race existed as a distinct branch for approximately 1,500,000 of +your years before any noticeable culture was developed. Then it existed +for a total of 1,525,000 years before extinction. With culture and +learning they developed such marvelous means of killing themselves that +in twenty-five thousand years they succeeded perfectly. Ten thousand +years of barbaric culture--I need not relate it to you, five thousand +years of the medieval culture, then five thousand years of developed +science culture. + +"They learned to fly through space and nearly populated three worlds; +two were fully populated, one was still under colonization when the +great war broke out. An interplanetary war is not a long drawn out +struggle. The science of any people so far advanced as to have +interplanetary lines is too far developed to permit any long duration of +war. Selto declared war, and made the first move. They attacked and +destroyed the largest city of Ortol of that time. Ortolian ships drove +them off, and in turn attacked Selto's largest city. Twenty million +intelligences, twenty million lives, each with its aims, its hopes, its +loves and its strivings--gone in four days. + +"The war continued to get more and more hateful, till it became evident +that neither side would be pacified till the other was totally +subjugated. So each laid his plans, and laid them to wipe out the entire +world of the other. + +"Ortol developed a ray of light that made things not happen," explained +Zezdon Afthen, his confused thoughts clearly indicating his own +uncertainty. + +"'A ray of light that made things not happen,'" repeated Wade curiously. +"A ray, which prevented things, which caused processes to stop--_The +Negrian Death Ray_!" he exclaimed as he suddenly recognized, in this +crude and garbled description of its powers, the Negrian ray of +anti-catalysis, a ray which tended to stop the processes of life's +chemistry and bring instant, painless death. + +"Ah, you know it, too?" asked the Ortolian eagerly. "Then you will +understand what happened. The ray was turned first on Selto, and as the +whirling planet spun under it, every square foot of it was wiped clean +of every living thing, from gigantic Welsthan to microscopic Ascoptel, +and every man, woman and child was killed, painlessly, but instantly. + +"Then Thenten spun under it, and all were killed, but many who had fled +the planets were still safe--many?--a few thousand. + +"The day that Thenten spun under that ray, men of Ortol began to +complain of disease--men by the thousands, hundreds of thousands. Every +man, every woman, every child was afflicted in some way. The diseases +did not seem all the same. Some seemingly died of a disease of the +lungs, some went insane, some were paralyzed, and lay helplessly +inactive. But most of them were afflicted, for it was exceedingly +virulent, and the normal serums were helpless. Before any quantity of +new serum was made, all but a slender remnant had died, either of +starvation through paralysis, none being left to care for them, or from +the disease itself, while thousands who had gone mad were painlessly +killed. + +"The Seltonians came to Ortol, and the remaining Ortolians, with their +aid, tried to rebuild the civilization. But what a sorry thing! The +cities were gigantic, stinking, plague-ridden morgues. And the plague +broke among those few remaining people. The Ortolians had done +everything in their power with the serums--but too late. The Seltonians +had been protected with it on landing--but even that was not enough. +Again the wild fires of that loathsome disease broke out. + +"Since first those men had developed from their hairy forebears, they +had found their eternal friends were the dogs, and to them they turned +in their last extremity, breeding them for intelligence, hairlessness, +and resemblance to themselves. The Deathless ones alone remained after +three generations of my people, but with the aid of certain rays, the +rays capable of penetrating lead for a short distance, and most other +substances for considerable distances." X-rays, thought Wade. "Great +changes had been wrought. Already they had developed startling +intelligence, and were able to understand the scheme of their Masters. +Their feet and hands were being modified rapidly, and their vocal +apparatus was changing. Their jaws shortened, their chins developed, the +nose retreated. + +"Generation after generation the process went on, while the Deathless +Ancient Ones worked with their helpers, for soon my race was a real +helping organization. + +"But it was done. The successful arousing of true love-emotion followed, +and the unhappy days were gone. Quickly development followed. In five +thousand years the new race had outstripped the Ancient Masters, and +they passed, voluntarily, willingly joining in oblivion the millions who +had died before. + +"Since then our own race has risen, it has been but a short thousand +years, a thousand years of work, and hope, and continuous improvement +for us, continual accomplishment on which we can look, and a living hope +to which we could look with raised heads, and smiling faces. + +"Then our hope died, as this menace came. Do you see what you and your +world was meant to us, Man of Earth?" Zezdon Afthen raised his dark eyes +to the terrestrian with a look in their depths that made Wade +involuntarily resolve that Thet and all Thessians should be promptly +consigned to that limbo of forgotten things where they belonged. + + + + +Chapter VII + +WORLD 3769-37,478,326,894,6, TALSO + + +Wade sat staring moodily at the screen for some time, while Zezdon +Afthen, sunk in his own reveries, continued. + +"Our race was too highly psychic, and too little mechanically curious. +We learned too little of the world about, and too much of our own +processes. We are a peaceful race, for, while you and the Ancient +Masters learned the rule of existence in a world of strife, where only +the fittest, the best fighters survived, we learned life in a carefully +tended world, where the Ancient Masters taught us to live, where the one +whose social instincts were best developed, where he who would most help +the others, and the race, was permitted to live. Is it not natural that +our race will not fight among themselves? We are careful to suppress +tendencies toward criminality and struggle. The criminal and the maniac, +or those who are permanently incurable as determined by careful +examination, are 'removed' as the Leaders put it. Lethal gas. + +"At any rate, we know so pitiably little of natural science. We were +hopelessly helpless against an attacking science." + +"I promise you, Afthen, that if Earth survives, Ortol shall survive, for +we have given you all the weapons we know of and we will give your +people all the weapons we shall learn of." Morey spoke from the doorway. +Arcot was directly behind him. + +They talked for a short while, then Wade retired for some needed sleep, +while Morey and Arcot started further work on the time fields. + +Hour after hour the ship sped on through the dark of space, weirdly +distorted, glowing spots of light before them, wheeling suns that moved +and flashed as their awesome speed whirled them on. + +They had to move slower soon, as the changing stars showed them near the +space-marks of certain locating suns. Finally, still moving close to +fifteen thousand miles per second, they saw the sun they knew was sun +3769-37,478,-326,894, twice as large as Sol, two and a half times as +massive and twenty-six times as brilliant. + +Thirteen major planets they counted as they searched the system with +their powerful telectroscope, the outermost more than ten billion miles +from the parent sun, while planet six, the one indicated by the world +number, was at a distance of five hundred million miles, nearly as far +from the sun as Jupiter is from ours, yet the giant sun, giving more +than twenty-five times as much heat and light in the blue-white range, +heated the planet to approximately the same temperature Earth enjoys. +Spectroscopy showed that the atmosphere was well supplied with oxygen, +and so the inhabitants were evidently oxygen-breathing men, unlike those +of the Negrian people who live in an atmosphere of hydrogen. + +Arcot threw the ship toward the planet, and as it loomed swiftly larger, +he shut off the space-control, and set the coils for full charge, while +the ship entered the planet's atmosphere in a screaming dive, still at a +speed of better than a hundred miles a second. But this speed was +quickly damped as the ship shot high over broad oceans to the dull green +of land ahead in the daylit zone. Observations made from various +distances by means of the space-control, thus going back in time, show +that the planet had a day of approximately forty hours, the diameter was +nearly nine thousand miles, which would probably mean an inconveniently +high gravity for the terrestrians and a distressingly high gravity for +the Ortolians, used to their world even smaller than Earth, with +scarcely 80 percent of Earth's gravity. + +Wade made some volumetric analysis of the atmosphere, and with the aid +of a mouse, pronounced it "Q.A.R." (quite all right) for human beings. +It had not killed the mouse, so probably humans would find it quite all +right. + +"We'll land at the first city that comes into view," suggested Arcot. +"Afthen, you be the spokesman; you have a very considerable ability with +the mental communication, and have a better understanding of the physics +we need to explain than has Zezdon Fentes." + +They were over land, a rocky coast that shot behind them as great jagged +mountains, tipped with snow, rose beneath. Suddenly, a shining +apparition appeared from behind one of the neighboring hills, and drove +down at them with an unearthly acceleration. Arcot moved just enough to +dodge the blow, and turned to meet the ship. Instantly, now that he had +a good view of it he was certain it was a Thessian ship. Waiting no +longer to determine that it was not a ship of this world, he shot a +molecular beam at it. The beam exploded into a coruscating panoply of +pyrotechnics on the Thessian shield. The Thessian replied with all beams +he had available, including an induction-beam, an intensely brilliant +light-beam, and several molecular cannons with shells loaded with an +explosive that was very evidently condensed light. This was no +exploration ship, but a full-fledged battleship. + +The _Ancient Mariner_ was blinded instantly. None of the occupants were +hurt, but the combined pressure of the various beams hurled the ship to +one side. The induction beam alone was dangerous. It passed through the +outer lux-metal wall unhindered, and the perfectly conducting relux wall +absorbed it, and turned it into power. At once, all the metal objects in +the ship began to heat up with terrific rapidity. Since there were no +metallic conductors on the ship, no damage was done. + +Arcot immediately hid behind his perfect shield--the space-distortion. + +"That's no mild dose," he said in a tense voice, working rapidly. "He's +a real-for-sure battleship. Better get down in the power room, Morey." + +In a few moments the ship was ready again. Opening the shield somewhat, +Arcot was able to determine that no rays were being played on it, for no +energy fields disclosed as distorting the opened field, other than the +field of the sun and planet. + +Arcot opened it. The battleship was searching vainly about the +mountains, and was now some miles distant. His last view of Arcot's ship +had been a suddenly contracting ship, one that vanished in infinite +distance, the infinite distance of another space, though he did not know +it. + +Arcot turned three powerful heat beams on the Thessian ship, and drove +down toward it, accompanying them with molecular rays. The Thessian +shield stopped the moleculars, but the heat had already destroyed the +eyes of the ship. By some system of magnetic or electrostatic locating +devices, the enemy guns and rays replied, and so successfully that Arcot +was again blinded. + +He had again been driving in a line straight toward the enemy, and now +he threw in the entire power of his huge magnetic field-rays. The +induction ray disappeared, and the heat, light and cannons stopped. + +"Worked again," grinned Arcot. A new set of eyes was inserted +automatically, and the screen again lighted. The Thessian ship was +spinning end over end toward the ground. It landed with a tremendous +crash. Simultaneously from the rear of the _Ancient Mariner_ came a +terrific crash, an explosion that drove the terrestrian ship forward, as +though a giant hand had pushed it from behind. + +The _Ancient Mariner_ spun like a top, facing the direction of the +explosion, though still traveling in the direction it had been pursuing, +but backward now. Behind them the air was a gigantic pool of ionization. +Tremendous fragments of what obviously had been a ship were drifting +down, turning end over end. And those fragments of the wall showed them +to be fully four feet of solid relux. + +"Enemy got up behind somehow while the eyes were out, and was ready to +raise merry hell. Somebody blew them up beautifully. Look at the ground +down there--it's red hot. That's from the radiated heat of our recent +encounter. Heat rays reflected, light bombs turned off, heat escaping +from ions--nice little workout--and it didn't seriously bother our +defenses of two-inch relux. Now tell me: what will blow up four-foot +relux?" asked Arcot, looking at the fragments. "It seems to me those +fellows don't need any help from us; they may decline it with thanks." + +"But they may be willing to help us," replied Afthen, "and we certainly +need such help." + +"I didn't expect to come out alive from that battleship there. It was +luck. If they knew what we had, they could insulate against it in an +hour," added Arcot. + +"Let's finish those fellows over there--look!" From the wreck of the +ship they had downed, a stream of men in glistening relux suits were +filing. Any men comparable to humans would have been killed by the fall, +but not Thessians. They carried peculiar machines, and as they drove out +of the ship in dive that looked as though they had been shot from a +cannon, they turned and landed on the ground and proceeded to jump back, +leaping at a speed that was bewildering, seemingly impossible in any +living creature. + +They busied themselves quickly. It took less than thirty seconds, and +they had a large relux disc laid under the entire group and machines. +Arcot turned a molecular ray down. The rock and soil shot up all about +them, even the ship shot up, to fall back into the great pit its ray had +formed. But the ionization told of the ray shield over the little group +of men. A heat ray reached down, while the men still frantically worked +at their stubby projectors. The relux disc now showed its purpose. In an +instant the soil about them was white hot, bubbling lava. It was liquid, +boiling furiously. But the deep relux disc simply floated on it. The +enemy ship began sinking, and in a moment had fallen almost completely +beneath the white hot rock. + +A fountain of the melted lava sprung up, and under Arcot's skillful +direction, fell in a cloud of molten rock on the men working. The suits +protected, and the white hot stuff simply rolled off. But it was sinking +their boat. Arcot continued hopefully. + +Meanwhile a signaling machine was frantically calling for help and +sending out information of their plight and position. + +Then all was instantly wiped out in a single terrific jolt of the +magnetic beam. The machines jumped a little, despite their weight, and +the ray shield apparatus slumped suddenly in blazing white heat, the +interior mechanism fused. But the men were still active, and rapidly +spreading from the spot, each protected by a ray shield pack. + +A brilliant stab of molecular ray shot at each from either of two of the +_Ancient Mariner'_s projectors as Morey aided Arcot. Their little packs +flared brilliantly for an instant under the thousands of horsepower of +energy lashing at the screen, then flashed away, and the opalescent +relux yielded a moment later, and the figure went twisting, hurtling +away. Meanwhile Wade was busy with the magnetic apparatus, destroying +shield after shield, which either Arcot or Morey picked off. The fall +from even so much as half a mile seemed not sufficient to seriously +bother these supermen, for an instant later they would be up tearing +away in great leaps on their own power as their molecular suits, blown +out by the magnetic field, failed them. + +It was but a matter of minutes before the last had been chased down +either by the rays or the ship. Then, circling back, Arcot slowly +settled beside the enemy ship. + +"Wait," called Arcot sharply as Morey started for the door. + +"Don't go out yet. The friends who wrecked that little sweetheart who +crept up behind will probably show up. Wait and see what happens." +Hardly had he spoken, when a strange apparition rose from behind a rock +scarcely a quarter of a mile away. Immediately Arcot intensified the +vision screen covering him. He seemed to leap near. There was one man, +and he held what was obviously a sword by the blade, above his head, +waving it from side to side. + +"There they are--whatever they are. Intelligent all right--what more +universally obvious peace sign than a primitive weapon such as a knife +held in reverse position? You go with Zezdon Afthen. Try holding a +carving knife by the blade." + +Morey grinned as he got into his power suit, on Wade's O.K. of the +atmosphere. "They may mistake me for the cook out looking for dinner, +and I wouldn't risk my dignity that way. I'll take the baseball bat and +hold it wrong way instead." + +Nevertheless, as he stepped from the ship, with Afthen close behind, he +held the long knife by the blade, and Afthen, very awkwardly operating +his still rather unfamiliar power suit, followed. + +Into the intensely blue sunlight the men stepped. Their skin and +clothing took on a peculiar tint under the strange sunlight. + +The single stranger was joined by a second, also holding a reversed +weapon, and together they threw them down. Morey and Zezdon Afthen +followed suit. The two parties advanced toward each other. + +The strangers advanced with a swift, light step, jumping from rock to +rock, while Morey and Afthen flew part way toward them. The men of this +world were totally unlike any intelligent race Morey had conceived of. +Their head and brain case was so small as to be almost animalish. The +nose was small and well formed, the ears more or less cup-shaped with a +remarkable power of motion. Their eyes were seemingly huge, probably no +larger than a terrestrian's, though in the tiny head they were +necessarily closely placed, protected by heavy bony ridges that actually +projected from the skull to enclose them. Tiny, childlike chins +completed the head, running down to a scrawny neck. + +They were short, scarcely five feet, yet evidently of tremendous +strength for their short, heavy arms, the muscle bulging plainly under +the tight rubber-like composition garments, and the short legs whose +stocky girth proclaimed equal strength were members of a body in keeping +with them. The deep, broad chest, wide, square shoulders, heavy broad +hips, combined with the tiny head seemed to indicate a perfect +incarnation of brainless, brute strength. + +"Strangers from another planet, enemies of our enemies. What brings you +here at this time of troubles?" The thoughts came clearly from the +stocky individual before them. + +"We seek to aid, and to find aid. The menace that you face, attacks not +alone your world, but all this star cluster," replied Zezdon Afthen +steadily. + +The stranger shook his head with an evident expression of hopelessness. +"The menace is even greater than we feared. It was just fortune that +permitted us to have our weapon in workable condition at the time your +ship was attacked. It will be a day before the machine will again be +capable of successful operation. When in condition for use, it is +invincible, but--one blow in thirty hours--you can see we are not of +great aid." He shrugged. + +An enemy with evident resources of tremendous power, deadly, unknown +rays that wiped out entire cities with a single brief sweep--and no +defense save this single weapon, good but once a day! Morey could read +the utter despair of the man. + +"What is the difficulty?" asked Morey eagerly. + +"Power, lack of power. Our cities are going without power, while every +electric generator on the planet is pouring its output into the +accumulators that work these damnable, hopeless things. Invincible with +power--helpless without." + +"Ah!" Morey's face shone with delight--invincible weapon--with power. +And the _Ancient Mariner_ could generate unthinkable power. + +"What power source do you use--how do you generate your power?" + +"Combining oxidizing agent with reducing agents releases heat. Heat used +to boil liquid and the vapor runs turbines." + +"We can give you power. What wattage have you available?" + +Only Morey's thoughts had to translate "watts" to "How many man-weights +can you lift through your height per time interval, equal to this." He +gave the man some impression of a second, by counting. The man figured +rapidly. His answer indicated that approximately a total of two billion +kilowatts were available. + +"Then the weapon is invincible hereafter, if what you say is true. Our +ship alone can easily generate ten thousand times that power. + +"Come, get in the ship, accompany us to your capital." + +The men turned, and retreated to their position behind the rocks, while +Morey and Zezdon Afthen waited for them. Soon they returned, and entered +the ship. + +"Our world," explained the leader rapidly, "is a single unified colony. +The capital is 'Shesto,' our world we call 'Talso.'" His directions were +explicit, and Arcot started for Shesto, on Talso. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +UNDEFEATABLE OR UNCONTROLLABLE? + + +Fifteen minutes after they started, they came to Shesto. They were +forced to land, and explain, for their relux ship was decidedly not the +popular Talsonian idea of a life-saver. + +Shesto was defended by two of the machines, and each machine had been +equipped with two fully charged accumulators. Their four possible shots +were hoped to be sufficient protection, and, so far, had been. The city +had been attacked twice, according to Tho Stan Drel, the Talsonian: once +by a single ship which had been instantly destroyed, and once by a fleet +of six ships. The interval had permitted time to recharge the discharged +accumulator, and the fleet had been badly treated. Of the six ships, +four had been brought down in rapid succession, and the remaining two +ships had fled. + +When the first city had been wiped out, with a loss of life well in the +hundreds of thousands, the other cities had, to limit of their +abilities, set up the protective apparatus. Apparently the Thessians +were holding off for the present. + +"In a way," said Morey seriously, "it was distinctly fortunate that we +were attacked almost at once. Their instantaneous system of destruction +would have worked for the one shot needed to send the _Ancient Mariner_ +to eternal blazes." He laughed, but it was a slightly nervous laugh. + +The terrestrial ship landed in a great grassy court, and out of respect +for the parklike smoothness of the turf, Arcot left the ship on its +power units, suspended a bit above the surface. Then he, Morey and the +Talsonian left the ship. Zezdon Afthen was left with the ship and with +Wade in charge, for if some difficulties were encountered, Wade would be +able to help them with the ship, and Zezdon Afthen with the tremendous +power of his thought locating apparatus, was busy seeking out the +Thessian stronghold. + +A party of men of Talso met the terrestrians outside the ship. + +"Welcome, Men of another world, and to you go our thanks for the +destruction of one of our enemies." The clear thoughts of the spokesman +evinced his ability to concentrate. + +"And to your world must go our thanks for saving of our lives, and more +important, our ship," replied Arcot. "For the ship represents a thing of +enormous value to this entire star-system." + +"I see--understand--your--thoughts that you wish to learn more of this +weapon we use. You understand that it is a question among us as to +whether it is undefeatable, uncontrollable or just un-understandable. We +have had fair success with it. It is not a weapon, was not developed as +such; it was an experiment in the line of electric-waves. How it works, +what it is, what happens--we do not know. + +"But men who can create so marvelous a ship as this of yours, capable of +destroying a ship of the Thessians with their own weapons must certainly +be able to understand any machine we may make--and you have power?" he +finished eagerly. + +"Practically infinite power. I will throw into any power line you +suggest, all the direct current you wish." Arcot's thoughts were pure +reflection, but the Talsonian brightened at once. + +"I feared it might be alternating--but we can handle direct current. All +our transmission is done at high voltage direct current. What potential +do you generate? Will we have to install changers?" + +"We generate D.C. at any voltage up to fifty million, any power up to +that needed to lift ten trillion men through their own height in this +time a second." The power represented approximately twenty trillion +horsepower. + +The Talsonian's face went blank with amazement as he looked at the ship. +"In that tiny thing you generate such power?" he asked in amazement. + +"In that tiny ship we generate more than one million times that power," +Arcot said. + +"Our power troubles are over," declared the military man emphatically. + +"Our troubles are not over," replied a civilian who had joined the +party, with equal emphasis. "As a matter of fact, they are worse than +ever. More tantalizing. What he says means that we have a tremendous +power source, but it is in one spot. How are you going to transmit the +power? We can't possibly move any power anywhere near that amount. We +couldn't touch it to our lines without having them all go up in one +instantaneous blaze of glory. + +"We cannot drain such a lake of power through our tiny power pipes of +silver." + +"This man is Stel Felso Theu," said Tho Stan Drel. "The greatest of our +scientists, the man who has invented this weapon which alone seems to +offer us hope. And I am afraid he is right. See, there is the +University. For the power requirements of their laboratories, a heavy +power line has been installed, and it was hoped that you could carry +leads into it." His face showed evident despair greater than ever. + +"We can always feed some power into the lines. Let us see just what hope +there is. I think that it would be wiser to investigate the power lines +at once," suggested Morey. + +Ten minutes later, with but a single officer now accompanying them, Tho +Stan Drel, the terrestrial scientist, and the Talsonian scientist were +inspecting the power installation. + +They had entered a large stone building, into which led numerous very +heavy silver wires. The insulators were silicate glass. Their height +suggested a voltage of well over one hundred thousand, and such heavy +cables suggested a very heavy amperage, so that a tremendous load was +expected. + +Within the building were a series of gigantic glass tubes, their walls +fully three inches thick, and even so, braced with heavy platinum rods. +Inside the tubes were tremendous elements such as the tiny tubes of +their machine carried. Great cables led into them, and now their heating +coils were glowing a somberly deep red. + +Along the walls were the switchboards, dozens of them, all sizes, all +types of instruments, strange to the eyes of the terrestrians, and in +practically all the light-beam indicator system was used, no metallic +pointers, but tiny mirrors directing a very fine line of brilliant light +acted as a needle. The system thus had practically no inertia. + +"Are these the changers?" asked Arcot gazing at the gigantic tubes. + +"They are; each tube will handle up to a hundred thousand volts," said +Stel Felso Theu. + +"But I fear, Stel Felso Theu, that these tubes will carry power only one +way; that is, it would be impossible for power to be pumped from here +into the power house, though the process can be reversed," pointed out +Arcot. "Radio tubes work only one way, which is why they can act as +rectifiers. The same was true of these tubes. They could carry power one +way only." + +"True, of tubes in general," replied the Talsonian, "and I see by that +that you know the entire theory of our tubes, which is rather abstruse." + +"We use them on the ship, in special form," interrupted Arcot. + +"Then I will only say that the college here has a very complete electric +power plant of its own. On special occasions, the power generated here +is needed by the city, and so we arranged the tubes with switches which +could reverse the flow. At present they are operating to pour power into +the city. + +"If your ship can generate such tremendous power, I suspect that it +would be wiser to eliminate the tubes from the circuit, for they put +certain restrictions on the line. The main power plant in the city has +tube banks capable of handling anything the line would. I suggest that +your voltage be set at the maximum that the line will carry without +breakdown, and the amperage can be made as high as possible without heat +loss." + +"Good enough. The line to the city power will stand what pressure?" + +"It is good for the maximum of these tubes," replied the Talsonian. + +"Then get into communication with the city plant and tell them to +prepare for every work-unit they can carry. I'll get the generator." +Arcot turned, and flew on his power suit to the ship. + +In a few moments he was back, a molecular pistol in one hand, and +suspended in front of him on nothing but a ray of ionized air, to all +appearances, a cylindrical apparatus, with a small cubical base. + +The cylinder was about four feet long, and the cubical box about +eighteen inches on a side. + +"What is that, and what supports it?" asked the Talsonian scientists in +surprise. + +"The thing is supported by a ray which directs the molecules of a small +bar in the top clamp, driving it up," explained Morey, "and that is the +generator." + +"That! Why it is hardly as big as a man!" exclaimed the Talsonian. + +"Nevertheless, it can generate a billion horsepower. But you couldn't +get the power away if you did generate it." He turned toward Arcot, and +called to him. + +"Arcot--set it down and let her rip on about half a million horsepower +for a second or so. Air arc. Won't hurt it--she's made of lux and +relux." + +Arcot grinned, and set it on the ground. "Make an awful hole in the +ground." + +"Oh--go ahead. It will satisfy this fellow, I think," replied Morey. + +Arcot pulled a very thin lux metal cord from his pocket, and attached +one end of a long loop to one tiny switch, and the other to a second. +Then he adjusted three small dials. The wire in hand, he retreated to a +distance of nearly two hundred feet, while Morey warned the Talsonians +back. Arcot pulled one end of his cord. + +Instantly a terrific roar nearly deafened the men, a solid sheet of +blinding flame reached in a flaming cone into the air for nearly fifty +feet. The screeching roar continued for a moment, then the heat was so +intense that Arcot could stand no more, and pulled the cord. The flame +died instantly, though a slight ionization clung briefly. In a moment it +had cooled to white, and was cooling slowly through orange--red +deep--red-- + +The grass for thirty feet about was gone, the soil for ten feet about +was molten, boiling. The machine itself was in a little crater, half +sunk in boiling rock. The Talsonians stared in amazement. Then a sort of +sigh escaped them and they started forward. Arcot raised his molecular +pistol, a blue green ray reached out, and the rock suddenly was black. +It settled swiftly down, and a slight depression was the only evidence +of the terrific action. + +Arcot walked over the now cool rock, cooled by the action of the +molecular ray. In driving the molecules downward, the work was done by +the heat of these molecules. The machine was frozen in the solid lava. + +"Brilliant idea, Morey," said Arcot disgustedly. "It'll be a nice job +breaking it loose." + +Morey stuck the lux metal bar in the top clamp, walked off some +distance, and snapped on the power. The rock immediately about the +machine was molten again. A touch of the molecular pistol to the lux +metal bar, and the machine jumped free of the molten rock. + +Morey shut off the power. The machine was perfectly clean, and extremely +hot. + +"And your ship is made of that stuff!" exclaimed the Talsonian +scientist. "What will destroy it?" + +"Your weapon will, apparently." + +"But do you believe that we have power enough?" asked Morey with a +smile. + +"No--it's entirely too much. Can you tone that condensed lightning bolt +down to a workable level?" + + + + +Chapter IX + +THE IRRESISTIBLE AND THE IMMOVABLE + + +The generator Arcot had brought was one of the two spare generators used +for laboratory work. He took it now into the sub-station, and directed +the Talsonian students and the scientist in the task of connecting it +into the lines; though they knew where it belonged, he knew _how_ it +belonged. + +Then the terrestrian turned on the power, and gradually increased it +until the power authorities were afraid of breakdowns. The accumulators +were charged in the city, and the power was being shipped to other +cities whose accumulators were not completely charged. + +But, after giving simple operating instructions to the students, Arcot +and Morey went with Stel Felso Theu to his laboratory. + +"Here," Stel Felso Theu explained, "is the original apparatus. All these +other machines you see are but replicas of this. How it works, why it +works, even what it does, I am not sure of. Perhaps you will understand +it. The thing is fully charged now, for it is, in part, one of the +defenses of the city. Examine it now, and then I will show its power." + +Arcot looked it over in silence, following the great silver leads with +keen interest. Finally he straightened, and returned to the Talsonian. +In a moment Morey joined them. + +The Talsonian then threw a switch, and an intense ionization appeared +within the tube, then a minute spot of light was visible within the +sphere of light. The minute spot of radiance is the real secret of the +weapon. The ball of fire around it is merely wasted energy. + +"Now I will bring it out of the tube." There were three dials on the +control panel from which he worked, and now he adjusted one of these. +The ball of fire moved steadily toward the glass wall of the tube, and +with a crash the glass exploded inward. It had been highly evacuated. +Instantly the tiny ball of fire about the point of light expanded to a +large globe. + +"It is now in the outer air. We make the--thing, in an evacuated glass +tube, but as they are cheap, it is not an expensive procedure. The ball +will last in its present condition for approximately three hours. Feel +the exceedingly intense heat? It is radiating away its vast energy. + +"Now here is the point of greatest interest." Again the Talsonian fell +to work on his dials, watching the ball of fire. It seemed far more +brilliant in the air now. It moved, and headed toward a great slab of +steel off to one side of the laboratory. It shifted about until it was +directly over the center of the great slab. The slab rested on a scale +of some sort, and as the ball of fire touched it, the scale showed a +sudden increase in load. The ball sank into the slab of steel, and the +scale showed a steady, enormous load. Evidently the little ball was +pressing its way through as though it were a solid body. In a moment it +was through the steel slab, and out on the other side. + +"It will pass through any body with equal ease. It seems to answer only +these controls, and these it answers perfectly, and without difficulty. + +"One other thing we can do with it. I can increase its rate of energy +discharge." + +The Talsonian turned a fourth dial, well off to one side, and the +brilliance of the spot increased enormously. The heat was unbearable. +Almost at once he shut it off. + +"That is the principle we use in making it a weapon. Watch the actual +operation." + +The ball of fire shot toward an open window, out the window, and +vanished in the sky above. The Talsonian stopped the rotation of the +dials. "It is motionless now, but scarcely visible. I will now release +all the energy." He twirled the fourth dial, and instantly there was a +flash of light, and a moment later a terrific concussion. + +"It is gone." He left the controls, and went over to his apparatus. He +set a heavy silver bladed switch, and placed a new tube in the +apparatus. A second switch arced a bit as he drove it home. "Your +generator is recharging the accumulators." + +Stel Felso Theu took the backplate of the control cabinet off, and the +terrestrians looked at the control with interest. + +"Got it, Morey?" asked Arcot after a time. + +"Think so. Want to try making it up? We can do so out of spare junk +about the ship, I think. We won't need the tube if what I believe of it +is true." + +Arcot turned to the Talsonian. "We wish you to accompany us to the ship. +We have apparatus there which we wish to set up." + +Back to the ship they went. There Arcot, Morey and Wade worked rapidly. + +It was about three-quarters of an hour later when Arcot and his friends +called the others to the laboratory. They had a maze of apparatus on the +power bench, and the shining relux conductors ran all over the ship +apparently. One huge bar ran into the power room itself, and plugged +into the huge power-coil power supply. + +They were still working at it, but looked up as the others entered. +"Guess it will work," said Arcot with a grin. + +There were four dials, and three huge switches. Arcot set all four +dials, and threw one of the switches. Then he started slowly turning the +fourth dial. In the center of the room a dim, shining mist a foot in +diameter began to appear. It condensed, solidified without shrinking, a +solid ball of matter a foot in diameter. It seemed black, but was a +perfectly reflective surface--and luminous! + +"Then--then you had already known of this thing? Then why did you not +tell me when I tried to show it?" demanded the Talsonian. + +Arcot was sending the globe, now perfectly non-luminous, about the room. +It flattened out suddenly, and was a disc. He tossed a small weight on +it, and it remained fixed, but began to radiate slightly. Arcot +readjusted his dials, and it ceased radiating, held perfectly +motionless. The sphere returned, and the weight dropped to the floor. +Arcot maneuvered it about for a moment more. Then he placed his friends +behind a screen of relux, and increased the radiation of the globe +tremendously. The heat became intense, and he stopped the radiation. + +"No, Stel Felso Theu, we do not have this on our world," Arcot said. + +"You do not have it! You look at my apparatus fifteen minutes, and then +work for an hour--and you have apparatus far more effective than ours, +which required years of development!" exclaimed the Talsonian. + +"Ah, but it was not wholly new to me. This ship is driven by curving +space into peculiar coordinates. Even so, we didn't do such a hot job, +did we, Morey?" + +"No, we should have--" + +"What--it was not a good job?" interrupted the Talsonian. "You succeeded +in creating it in air--in making it stop radiating, in making a ball a +foot in diameter, made it change to a disc, made it carry a load--what +do you want?" + +"We want the full possibilities, the only thing that can save us in this +war," Morey said. + +"What you learned how to do was the reverse of the process we learned. +How you did it is a wonder--but you did. Very well--matter is +energy--does your physics know that?" asked Arcot. + +"It does; matter contains vast energy," replied the Talsonian. + +"Matter has mass, and energy because of that! Mass _is_ energy. Energy +in any known form is a field of force in space. So matter is ordinarily +a combination of magnetic, electrostatic and gravitational fields. Your +apparatus combined the three, and put them together. The result +was--matter! + +"You created matter. We can destroy it but we cannot create it. + +"What we ordinarily call matter is just a marker, a sign that there are +those energy-fields. Each bit is surrounded by a gravitational field. +The bit is just the marker of that gravitational field. + +"But that seems to be wrong. This artificial matter of yours seems also +a sort of knot, for you make all three fields, combine them, and have +the matter, but not, very apparently, like normal matter. Normal matter +also holds the fields that make it. The artificial matter is surrounded +by the right fields, but it is evidently not able to hold the fields, as +normal matter does. That was why your matter continually disintegrated +to ordinary energy. The energy was not bound properly. + +"But the reason why it would blow up so was obvious. It did not take +much to destroy the slight hold that the artificial matter had on its +field, and then it instantly proceeded to release all its energy at +once. And as you poured millions of horsepower into it all day to fill +it, it naturally raised merry hell when it let loose." + +Arcot was speaking eagerly, excitedly. + +"But here is the great fact, the important thing: It is artificially +created in a given place. It is made, and exists at the point determined +by these three coordinated dials. It is not natural, and can exist only +where it is made and nowhere else--obvious, but important. It cannot +exist save at the point designated. Then, if that point moves along a +line, the artificial matter must follow that moving point and be always +at that point. Suppose now that a slab of steel is on that line. The +point moves to it--through it. To exist, that artificial matter _must_ +follow it through the steel--if not, it is destroyed. Then the steel is +attempting to destroy the artificial matter. If the matter has +sufficient energy, it will force the steel out of the way, and +penetrate. The same is true of any other matter, lux metal or relux--it +will penetrate. To continue in existence it must. And it has great +energy, and will expend every erg of that energy of existence to +continue existence. + +"It is, as long as its energy holds out, absolutely irresistible! + +"But similarly, if it is at a given point, it must stay there, and will +expend every erg staying there. It is then immovable! It is either +irresistible in motion, or immovable in static condition. It is the +irresistible and the immovable! + +"What happens if the irresistible meets the immovable? It can only fight +with its energy of existence, and the more energetic prevails." + + + + +Chapter X + +IMPROVEMENTS AND CALCULATIONS + + +"It is still incredible. But you have done it. It is certainly +successful!" said the Talsonian scientist with conviction. + +Arcot shook his head. "Far from it--we have not realized a thousandth +part of the tremendous possibilities of this invention. We must work and +calculate and then invent. + +"Think of the possibilities as a shield--naturally if we can make the +matter we should be able to control its properties in any way we like. +We should be able to make it opaque, transparent, or any color." Arcot +was speaking to Morey now. "Do you remember, when we were caught in that +cosmic ray field in space when we first left this universe, that I said +that I had an idea for energy so vast that it would be impossible to +describe its awful power?[1] I mentioned that I would attempt to +liberate it if ever there was need? The need exists. I want to find that +secret." + +[Footnote 1: Islands of Space.] + +Stel Felso Theu was looking out through the window at a group of men +excitedly beckoning. He called the attention of the others to them, and +himself went out. Arcot and Wade joined him in a moment. + +"They tell me that Fellsheh, well to the poleward of here has used four +of its eight shots. They are still being attacked," explained the +Talsonian gravely. + +"Well, get in," snapped Arcot as he ran back to the ship. Stel Felso +hastily followed, and the _Ancient Mariner_ shot into the air, and +darted away, poleward, to the Talsonian's directions. The ground fled +behind them at a speed that made the scientist grip the hand-rail with a +tenseness that showed his nervousness. + +As they approached, a tremendous concussion and a great gout of light in +the sky informed them of the early demise of several Thessians. But a +real fleet was clustered about the city. Arcot approached low, and was +able to get quite close before detection. His ray screen was up and +Morey had charged the artificial matter apparatus, small as it was, for +operation. He created a ball of substance outside the _Ancient Mariner_, +and thrust it toward the nearest Thessian, just as a molecular hit the +_Ancient Mariner'_s ray screen. + +The artificial matter instantly exploded with terrific violence, +slightly denting the tremendously strong lux metal walls. The pressure +of the light was so great that the inner relux walls were dented inward. +The ground below was suddenly, instantaneously fused. + +"Lord--they won't pass a ray screen, obviously," Morey muttered, picking +himself from where he had fallen. + +"Hey--easy there. You blinked off the ray screen, and our relux is +seriously weakened," called Arcot, a note of worry in his voice. + +"No artificial matter with the ray screen up. I'll use the magnet," +called Morey. + +He quickly shut off the apparatus, and went to the huge magnet control. +The power room was crowded, and now that the battle was raging in truth, +with three ships attacking simultaneously, even the enormous power +capacity of the ship's generators was not sufficient, and the storage +coils had been thrown into the operation. Morey looked at the +instruments a moment. They were all up to capacity, save the ammeter +from the coils. That wasn't registering yet. Suddenly it flicked, and +the other instrument dropped to zero. They were in artificial space. + +"Come here, will you, Morey," called Arcot. In a moment Morey joined his +much worried friend. + +"That artificial matter control won't work through ray screens. The +Thessians never had to protect against moleculars here, and didn't have +them up--hence the destruction wrought. We can't take our screen down, +and we can't use our most deadly weapon with it up. If we had a big +outfit, we might throw a screen around the whole ship, and sail right +in. But we haven't. + +"We can't stand ten seconds against that fleet. I'm going to find their +base, and make them yell for help." Arcot snapped a tiny switch one +notch further for the barest instant, then snapped it back. They were +several millions miles from the planet. "Quicker," he explained, "to +simply follow those ships back home--go back in time." + +With the telectroscope, he took views at various distances, thus quickly +tracing them back to their base at the pole of the planet. Instantly +Arcot shot down, reaching the pole in less than a second, by carefully +maneuvering of the space device. + +A gigantic dome of polished relux rose from rocky, icy plains. The thing +was nearly half a mile high, a mighty rounded roof that covered an area +almost three-quarters of a mile in diameter. Titanic--that was the only +word that described it. About it there was the peculiar shimmer of a +molecular ray screen. + +Morey darted to the power room and set his apparatus into operation. He +created a ball of matter outside the ship and hurled it instantly at the +fort. It exploded with a terrific concussion as it hit the wall of the +ray screen. Almost instantly a second one followed. The concussion was +terrifically violent, the ground about was fused, and the ray screen was +opened for a moment. Arcot threw all his moleculars on the screen, as +Morey sent bomb after bomb at it. The coils supplied the energy, cracked +the rock beneath. Each energy release disrupted the ray-screen for a +moment, and the concentrated fury of the molecular beams poured through +the opened screen, and struck the relux behind. It glowed opalescent now +in a spot twenty feet across. But the relux was tremendously thick. +Thirty bombs Morey hurled, while they held their position without +difficulty, pouring their bombs and rays at the fort. + +Arcot threw the ship into space, moved, and reappeared suddenly nearly +three hundred yards further on. A snap of the eyes, and he saw that the +fleet was approaching now. He went again into space, and retreated. +Discretion was the better part of valor. But his plan had worked. + +He waited half an hour, and returned. From a distance the telectroscope +told him that one lone ship was patrolling outside the fort. He moved +toward it, creeping up behind the icy mountains. His magnetic beam +reached out. The ship lurched and fell. The magnetic beam reached out +toward the fort, from which a molecular ray had flashed already, tearing +up the icy waste which had concealed him. The ray-screen stopped it, +while again Morey turned the magnetic beam on--this time against the +fort. The ray remained on! Arcot retreated hastily. + +"They found the secret, all right. No use, Morey, come on up," called +the pilot. "They evidently put magnetic shielding around the apparatus. +That means the magnetic beam is no good to us any more. They will +certainly warn every other base, and have them install similar +protection." + +"Why didn't you try the magnetic ray on our first attack?" asked Zezdon +Afthen. + +"If it had worked, their sending apparatus would have been destroyed, +and no message could have been sent to call their attackers off +Fellsheh. By forcing them to recall their fleet I got results I couldn't +get by attacking the fleet," Arcot said. + +"I think there is little more I can do here, Stel Felso Theu. I will +take you to Shesto, and there make final arrangements till my return, +with apparatus capable of overthrowing your enemies. If you wish to +accompany me--you may." He glanced around at the others of his party. +"And our next move will be to return to Earth with what we have. Then we +will investigate the Sirian planets, and learn anything they may have of +interest, thence--to the real outer space, the utter void of +intergalactic space, and an attempt to learn the secret of that enormous +power." + +They returned to Shesto, and there Arcot arranged that the only +generator they could spare, the one already in their possession, might +be used till other terrestrian ships could bring more. They left for +Earth. Hour after hour they fled through the void, till at last old Sol +was growing swiftly ahead of them, and finally Earth itself was large on +the screens. They changed to a straight molecular drive, and dropped to +the Vermont field from which they had taken off. + +During the long voyage, Morey and Arcot had both spent much of the time +working on the time-distortion field, which would give them a tremendous +control over time, either speeding or slowing their time rate +enormously. At last, this finished, they had worked on the artificial +matter theory, to the point where they could control the shape of the +matter perfectly, though as yet they could not control its exact nature. +The possibility of such control was, however, definitely proven by the +results the machines had given them. Arcot had been more immediately +interested in the control of form. He could control the nature as to +opacity or transparency to all vibrations that normal matter is opaque +or transparent to. Light would pass, or not as he chose, but cosmics he +could not stop nor would radio or moleculars be stopped by any present +shield he could make. + +They had signaled, as soon as they slowed outside the atmosphere, and +when they settled to the field, Arcot's father and a number of very +important scientists had already arrived. + +Arcot senior greeted his son very warmly, but he was tremendously +worried, as his son soon saw. + +"What's happened, Dad--won't they believe your statements?" + +"They doubted when I went to Luna for a session with the Interplanetary +Council, but before they could say much, they had plenty of proof of my +statements," the older man answered. "News came that a fleet of +Planetary Guard ships had been wiped out by a fleet of ships from outer +space. They were huge things--nearly half a mile in length. The Guard +ships went up to them--fifty of them--and tried to signal for a +conference. The white ship was instantly wiped out--we don't know how. +They didn't have ray screens, but that wasn't it. Whatever it +was--slightly luminous ray in space--it simply released the energy of +the lux metal and relux of the ship. Being composed of light energy +simply bound by photonic attraction, it let go with terrible energy. +They can do it almost instantly from a distance. The other Guards at +once let loose with all their moleculars and cosmics. The enemy shunted +off the moleculars, and wiped out the Guard almost instantly. + +"Of course, I could explain the screen, but not the detonation ray. I am +inclined to believe from other casualties that the destruction, though +reported as an instantaneous explosion, was not that. Other ships have +been destroyed, and they seemed to catch fire, and burn, but with +terrific speed, more like gun powder than coal. It seems to start a +spreading decomposition, the ship lasts perhaps ten minutes. If it went +instantly, the shock of such a tremendous energy release would disrupt +the planet. + +"At any rate, the great fleet separated, twelve went to the North Pole +of Earth, twelve to the south, and similarly twelve to each pole of +Venus. Then one of them turned, and went back to wherever it had come +from, to report. Just turned and vanished. Similarly one from Venus +turned and vanished. That leaves twelve at each of the four poles, for, +as I said, there were an even fifty. + +"They all followed the same tactics on landing, so I'll simply tell what +happened in Attica. In the North they had to pick one of the islands a +bit to the south of the pole. They melted about a hundred square miles +of ice to find one. + +"The ships arranged themselves in a circle around the place, and +literally hundreds of men poured out of each and fell to work. In a +short time, they had set up a number of machines, the parts coming from +the ships. These machines at once set to work, and they built up a relux +wall. That wall was at least six feet thick; the floor was lined with +thick relux as well as the roof, which is simply a continuation of the +wall in a perfect dome. They had so many machines working on it, that +within twenty-four hours they had it finished. + +"We attacked twice, once in practically our entire force, with some +ray-shield machines. The result was disastrous. The second attack was +made with ray shielded machines only, and little damage was done to +either side, though the enemy were somewhat impeded by masses of ice +hurled into their position. Their relux disintegration ray was +conspicuous by its absence. + +"Yesterday--and it seems a lot longer than that, son--they started it +again. They'd been unloading it from the ship evidently. We had had +ray-shielded machines out, but they simply melted. They went down, and +Earth retreated. They're in their fortress now. We don't know how to +fight them. Now, for God's sake, tell us you have learned of some +weapon, son!" + +The older man's face was lined. His iron gray head showed his fatigue +due to hours of concentration on his work. + +"Some," replied Arcot briefly. He glanced around. Other men had arrived, +men whom he met in his work. But there were Venerians here, too, in +their protective suits, insulated against the cold of Earth, and against +its atmosphere. + +"First, though, gentlemen, allow me to introduce Stel Felso Theu of the +planet Talso, one of our allies in this struggle, and Zezdon Afthen and +Fentes of Ortol, one of our other allies. + +"As to progress, I can say only that it is in a more or less rudimentary +stage. We have the basis for great progress, a weapon of inestimable +value--but it is only the basis. It must be worked out. I am leaving +with you today the completed calculations and equations of the time +field, the system used by the Thessian invaders in propelling their +ships at a speed greater than that of light. Also, the uncompleted +calculations in regard to another matter, a weapon which our ally, +Talso, has given us, in exchange for the aid we gave in allowing them +the use of one of our generators. Unfortunately the ship could not spare +more than the single generator. I strongly advise rushing a number of +generators to Talso in intergalactic freighters. They badly need +power--power of respectable dimensions. + +"I have stopped on Earth only temporarily, and I want to leave as soon +as possible. I intend, however, to attempt an attack on the Arctic base +of the Thessians, in strong hopes that they have not armored against one +weapon that the _Ancient Mariner_ carries--though I sadly fear that old +Earth herself has played us false here. I hope to use the magnetic beam, +but Earth's polar magnetism may have forced them to armor, and they may +have sufficiently heavy material to block the effects." + +Morey already had a ground crew servicing the ship. He gave designs to +machinists on hand to make special control panels for the large +artificial matter machines. Arcot and Wade got some badly needed +equipment. + +In six hours, Arcot had announced himself ready, and a squadron of +Planetary Guard ships were ready to accompany the refitted _Ancient +Mariner_. + +They approached the pole cautiously, and were rewarded by the hiss and +roar of ice melting into water which burst into steam under a ray. It +was coming from an outpost of the camp, a tiny dome under a great mass +of ice. But the dome was of relux. A molecular reached down from a Guard +ship--and the Guard ship crumbled suddenly as dozens of moleculars from +the points hit it. + +"They know how to fight this kind of a war. That's their biggest +advantage," muttered Arcot. Wade merely swore. + +"Ray screens, no moleculars!" snapped Arcot into the transmitter. He was +not their leader, but they saw his wisdom, and the squadron commander +repeated the advice as an order. In the meantime, another ship had +fallen. The dome had its screen up, allowing the multitudes of hidden +stations outside to fight for it. + +"Hmm--something to remember when terrestrians have to retire to forts. +They will, too, before this war is over. That way the main fort doesn't +have to lower its ray screen to fight," commented Arcot. He was watching +intensely as a tiny ship swung away from one of the larger machines, and +a tremendously powerful molecular started biting at the fort's ray +screen. The ship seemed nothing but a flying ray projector, which was +what it was. + +As they had hoped, the deadly new ray stabbed out from somewhere on the +side of the fort. It was not within the fort. + +"Which means," pointed out Morey, "that they can't make stuff to stand +that. Probably the projector would be vulnerable." + +But a barrage of heat rays which immediately followed had no apparent +effect. The little radio-controlled molecular beam projector lay on the +rock under the melted ice, blazing incandescent with the rapidly +released energy of the relux. + +"Now to try the real test we came here for," Morey clambered back to the +power room, and turned on the controls of the magnetic beam. The ship +was aligned, and then he threw the last switch. The great mass of the +machine jerked violently, and plunged forward as the beam attracted the +magnetic core of the Earth. + +Morey could not see it, but almost instantly the shimmer of the +molecular screen on the fort died out. The deadly ray sprang out from +the Thessian projector--and went dead. Frantically the Thessians tried +weapon after weapon, and found them dead almost as soon as they were +turned on--which was the natural result in the terrific magnetic field. + +And these men had iron bones, their very bones were attracted by the +beam; they plunged upward toward the ship as the beam touched them, but, +accustomed to the enormous gravitation accelerations of an enormous +world, most of them were not killed. + +"Ah--!" exclaimed Arcot. He picked up the transmitter and spoke again to +the Squadron Commander. "Squadron Commander Tharnton, what relux +thickness does your ship carry?" + +"Inch and a quarter," replied the surprised voice of the commander. + +"Any of the other ships carry heavier?" + +"Yes, the special solar investigator carries five inches. What shall we +do?" + +"Tell him to lower his screen, and let loose at once on all operating +forts. His relux will stand for the time needed to shut them down for +their own screens, unless some genius decides to fight it out. As soon +as the other ships can lower their screens, tell them to do so, and tell +them to join in. I'll be able to help then. My relux has been burned, +and I'm afraid to lower the screen. It's mighty thin already." + +The squadron commander was smiling joyously as he relayed the advice as +a command. + +Almost at once a single ship, blunt, an almost perfect cylinder, lowered +its screen. In an instant the opalescence of the transformation showed +on it, but its dozen ray projectors were at work. Fort after fort glowed +opalescent, then flashed into protective ionization of screening. +Quickly other ships lowered their screens, and joined in. In a moment +more, the forts had been forced to raise their screens for protection. + +A disc of artificial matter ten feet across suddenly appeared beside the +_Ancient Mariner_. It advanced with terrific speed, struck the great +dome of the fort, and the dome caved, bent in, bent still more--but +would not puncture. The disc retreated, became a sharp cone, and drove +in again. This time the point smashed through the relux, and made a +small hole. The cone seemed to change gradually, melting into a cylinder +of twenty foot diameter, and the hole simply expanded. It continued to +expand as the cylinder became a huge disc, a hundred feet across, set in +the wall. + +Suddenly it simply dissolved. There was a terrific roar, and a mighty +column of white rushed out of the gaping hole. Figures of Thessians +caught by the terrific current came rocketing out. The inside was at +last visible. The terrific pressure was hurling the outside line of +ships about like thistledown. The _Ancient Mariner_ reeled back under +the tremendous blast of expanding gas. The snow that fell to the boiling +water below was not water, _in toto_; some was carbon dioxide--and some +oxygen chilled in the expansion of the gas. It was snowing within the +dome. The falling forms of Thessians were robbed of the life-giving air +pressure to which they were accustomed. But all this was visible for but +an instant. + +Then a small, thin sheet of artificial matter formed beside the fort, +and advanced on the dome. Like a knife cutting open an orange, it simply +went around the dome's edge, the great dome lifted like the lid of a +teapot under the enormous gas pressure remaining--then dropped under its +own weight. + +The artificial matter was again a huge disc. It settled over the exact +center of the dome--and went down. The dome caved in. It was crushed +under a load utterly inestimable. Then the great disc, like some +monstrous tamper, tamped the entire works of the Thessians into the +bed-rock of the island. Every ship, every miniature fort, every man was +caught under it--and annihilated. + +The disc dissolved. A terrific barrage of heat beams played over the +island, and the rock melted, flowed over the ruins, and left only the +spumes of steam from the Arctic ice rising from a red-hot: mass of rock, +contained a boiling pool. + +The Battle of the Arctic was done. + + + + +Chapter XI + +"WRITE OFF THE MAGNET" + + +"Squadron commander Tharnton speaking: Squadron 73-B of Planetary Guard +will follow orders from Dr. Arcot directly. Heading south to Antarctica +at maximum speed," droned the communicator. Under the official tone of +command was a note of suppressed rage and determination. "And the +squadron commander wishes Dr. Arcot every success in wiping out +Antarctica as thoroughly and completely as he destroyed the Arctic +base." + +The flight of ships headed south at a speed that heated them white in +the air, thin as it was at the hundred mile altitude, yet going higher +would have taken unnecessary time, and the white heat meant no +discomfort. They reached Antarctica in about ten minutes. The Thessian +ships were just entering through great locks in the walls of the dome. +At first sight of the terrestrial ships they turned, and shot toward the +guard-ships. Their screens were down, for, armored as they were with +very heavy relux they expected to be able to overcome the terrestrial +thin relux before theirs was seriously impaired. + +"Ships will put up screens." Arcot spoke sharply--a new plan had +occurred to him. The moleculars of the Thessians struck glowing screens, +and no damage was done. "Ships, in order of number, will lower screen +for thirty seconds, and concentrate all moleculars on one ship--the +leader. Solar investigator will not join in action." + +The flagship of the squadron lowered its screen, and a tremendous +bombardment of rays struck the leading ship practically in one point. +The relux glowed, and the opalescence shifted with bewildering, +confusing colors. Then the terrestrial ship's screen was up, before the +Thessians could concentrate on the one unprotected ship. Immediately +another terrestrial ship opened its screen and bombarded the same ship. +Two others followed--and then it was forced to use its screen. + +But suddenly a terrestrial ship crashed. Its straining screen had been +overworked--and it failed. + +Arcot's magnetic beam went into action. The Thessian ray did not go +out--it flickered, dimmed, but was apparently as deadly as ever. + +"Shielded--write off the magnet, Morey. That is one asset we lose." + +Arcot, protected in space, was thinking swiftly. Moleculars--useless. +They had to keep their own screens up. Artificial matter--bound in by +their own molecular screen! And the magnet had failed them against the +protected mechanism of the dome. The ships were not as yet protected, +but the dome was. + +"Guess the only place we'd be safe is under the ground--way under!" +commented Wade dryly. + +"Under the ground--Wade, you're a genius!" Arcot gave a shout of joy, +and told Wade to take over the ship. + +"Take the ship back into normal space, head for the hill over behind the +Dome, and drop behind it. It's solid rock, and even their rays will take +a moment or so to move it. As soon as you get there, drop to the ground, +and turn off the screen. No--here, I'll do it. You just take it there, +land on the ground, and shut off the screen. I promise the rest!" Arcot +dived for the artificial matter room. + +The ship was suddenly in normal space; its screen up. The dog-fight had +been ended. The terrestrial ships had been completely defeated. The +_Ancient Mariner'_s appearance was a signal for all the moleculars in +sight. Ten huge ships, half a dozen small forts and now the unshielded +Dome, joined in. Their screen tubes heated up violently in the brief +moment it took to dive behind the hill, a tube fused, and blew out. +Automatic devices shunted it, another tube took the load--and heated. +But their screen was full of holes before they were safe for the moment +behind the hill. + +Instantly Wade dropped the defective screen. Almost as quickly as the +screen vanished, a cylinder of artificial matter surrounded the entire +ship. The cylinder was tipped by a perfect cone of the same base +diameter. The entire system settled into the solid rock. The rock above +cracked and filled in behind them. The ship was suddenly pushed by the +base of the cylinder behind them, and drove on through the rock, the +cone parting the hard granite ahead. They went perhaps half a mile, then +stopped. In the light of the ship's windows, they could see the faint +mistiness of the inconceivably hard, artificial matter, and beyond the +slick, polished surface of the rock it was pushing aside. The cone shape +was still there. + +There was a terrific roar behind them, the rock above cracked, shifted +and moved about. + +"Raying the spot where we went down," Arcot grinned happily. + +The cone and cylinder merged, shifted together, and became a sphere. The +sphere elongated upward and the _Ancient Mariner_ turned in it, till it, +too, pointed upward. The sphere became an ellipsoid. + +Suddenly the ship was moving, accelerating terrifically. It plowed +through the solid rock, and up--into a burst of light. They were +_inside_ the dome. Great ships were berthed about the floor. Huge +machines bulked here and there--barracks for men--everything. + +The ellipsoid shrank to a sphere, the sphere grew a protuberance which +separated and became a single bar-like cylinder. The cylinder turned, +and drove through the great dome wall. A little hole but it whirled +rapidly around, sliced the top off neatly and quickly. Again, like a +gigantic teapot lid, the whole great structure lifted, settled, and +stayed there. Men, scrambling wildly toward ships, suddenly stopped, +seemed to blur and their features ran together horribly. They fell--and +were dead in an instant as the air disappeared. In another instant they +were solid blocks of ice, for the temperature was below the freezing +point of carbon dioxide. + +The giant tamper set to work. The Thessian ships went first. They were +all crumpled, battered wrecks in a few seconds of work of the terrible +disc. + +The dome was destroyed. Arcot tried something else. He put on his +control machine the equation of a hyperboloid of two branches, and +changed the constants gradually till the two branches came close. Then +he forced them against each other. Instantly they fought, fought +terribly for existence. A tremendous blast of light and heat exploded +into being. The energy of two tons of lead attempted to maintain those +two branches. It was not, fortunately, explosive, and it took place over +a relux floor. Most of the energy escaped into space. The vast flood of +light was visible on Venus, despite the clouds. + +But it fused most of Antarctica. It destroyed the last traces of the +camp in Antarctica. + +"Well--the Squadron was wiped out, I see." Arcot's voice was flat as he +spoke. The Squadron: twenty ships--four hundred men. + +"Yes--but so is the Arctic camp, and the Antarctic camp, as well," +replied Wade. + +"What next, Arcot. Shall we go out to intergalactic space at once?" +asked Morey, coming up from the power room. + +"No, we'll go back to Vermont, and have the time-field stuff I ordered +installed, then go to Sirius, and see what they have. They moved their +planets from the gravitation field of Negra, their dead, black star, to +the field of Sirius--and I'd like to know how they did it.[2] +Then--Intergalactia." He started the ship toward Vermont, while Morey +got into communication with the field, and gave them a brief report. + +[Footnote 2: "The Black Star Passes."] + + + + +Chapter XII + +SIRIUS + + +They landed about half an hour later, and Arcot simply went into the +cottage, and slept--with the aid of a light soporific. Morey and Wade +directed the disposition of the machines, but Dr. Arcot senior really +finished the job. The machines would be installed in less than ten +hours, for the complete plans Arcot and Morey had made, with the modern +machines for translating plans to metal and lux had made the actual +construction quick, while the large crew of men employed required but +little time. + +When Arcot and his friends awoke, the machines were ready. + +"Well, Dad, you have the plans for all the machines we have. I expect to +be back in two weeks. In the meantime you might set up a number of ships +with very heavy relux walls, walls that will stand rays for a while, and +equip them with the rudimentary artificial matter machines you have, and +go ahead with the work on the calculations. Thett will land other +machines here--or on the moon. Probably they will attempt to ray the +whole Earth. They won't have concentration of ray enough to move the +planet, or to seriously chill it. But life is a different matter--it's +sensitive. It is quite apt to let go even under a mild ray. I think that +a few exceedingly powerful ray screen stations might be set up, and the +Heavyside Layer used to transmit the vibrations entirely around the +Earth. You can see the idea easily enough. If you think it +worthwhile--or better, if you can convince the thickheaded politicians +of the Interplanatary Defense Commission that it is-- + +"Beyond that, I'll see you in about two weeks," Arcot turned, and +entered the ship. + +"I'll line up for Sirius and let go." Arcot turned the ship now, for +Earth was well behind, and lined it on Sirius, bright in the utter black +of space. He pushed his control to "1/2," and the space closed in about +them. Arcot held it there while the chronometer moved through six and a +half seconds. Sirius was at a distance almost planetary in its magnitude +from them. Controlling directly now, he brought the ship closer, till a +planet loomed large before them--a large world, its rocky continents, +its rolling oceans and jagged valleys white under the enormous +energy-flood from the gigantic star of Sirius, twenty-six times more +brilliant than the sun they had left. + +"But, Arcot, hadn't you better take it easy?" Wade asked. "They might +take us for enemies--which wouldn't be so good." + +"I suppose it would be wise to go slowly. I had planned, as a matter of +fact, on looking up a Thessian ship, taking a chance on a fight, and +proving our friendship," replied Arcot. + +Morey saw Arcot's logic--then suddenly burst into laughter. +"Absolutely--attack a Thessian. But since we don't see any around now, +we'll have to make one!" + +Wade was completely mystified, and gave Morey a doubtful, sarcastic +look. "Sounds like a good idea, only I wonder if this constant terrific +mental strain--" + +"Come along and find out!" Arcot threw the ship into artificial space +for safety, holding it motionless. The planet, invisible to them, +retreated from their motionless ship. + +In the artificial matter control room, Arcot set to work, and developed +a very considerable string of forms on his board, the equations of their +formations requiring all the available formation controls. + +"Now," said Arcot at last, "you stay here, Morey, and when I give the +signal, create the thing back of the nearest range of hills, raise it, +and send it toward us." + +At once they returned to normal space, and darted down toward the now +distant planet. They landed again near another city, one which was +situated close to a range of mountains ideally suited to their purposes. +They settled, while Zezdon Afthen sent out the message of friendship. He +finally succeeded in getting some reaction, a sensation of scepticism, +of distrust--but of interest. They needed friends, and only hoped that +these were friends. Arcot pushed a little signal button, and Morey began +his share of the play. From behind a low hill a slim, pointed form +emerged, a beautifully streamlined ship, the lines obviously those of a +Thessian, the windows streaming light, while the visible ionization +about the hull proclaimed its molecular ray screen. Instantly Zezdon +Afthen, who had carefully refrained from learning the full nature of +their plans, felt the intense emotion of the discovery, called out to +the others, while his thoughts were flashed to the Sirians below. + +From the attacking ship, a body shot with tremendous speed, it flashed +by, barely missing the _Ancient Mariner_, and buried itself in the +hillside beyond. With a terrific explosion it burst, throwing the soil +about in a tremendous crater. The _Ancient Mariner_ spun about, turned +toward the other ship, and let loose a tremendous bombardment of +molecular and cosmic rays. A great flame of ionized air was the only +result. A new ray reached out from the other ship, a fan-like spreading +ray. It struck the _Ancient Mariner_, and did not harm it, though the +hillside behind was suddenly withered and blackened, then smoking as the +temperature rose. + +Another projectile was launched from the attacking ship, and exploded +terrifically but a few hundred feet from the _Ancient Mariner_. The +terrestrial ship rocked and swayed, and even the distant attacker rocked +under the explosion. + +A projectile, glowing white, leaped from the Earthship. It darted toward +the enemy ship, seemed to barely touch it, then burst into terrific +flames that spread, eating the whole ship, spreading glowing flame. In +an instant the blazing ship slumped, started to fall, then seemingly +evaporated, and before it touched the ground, was completely gone. + +The relief in Zezdon Afthen's mind was genuine, and it was easily +obvious to the Sirians that the winning ship was friendly, for, with all +its frightful armament, it had downed a ship obviously of Thett. Though +not exactly like the others, it had the all too familiar lines. + +"They welcome us now," said Zezdon Afthen's mental message to his +companions. + +"Tell them we'll be there--with bells on or thoughts to that effect," +grinned Arcot. Morey had appeared in the doorway, smiling broadly. + +"How was the show?" he asked. + +"Terrible--Why didn't you let it fall, and break open?" + +"What would happen to the wreckage as we moved?" he asked sarcastically. +"I thought it was a darned good demonstration." + +"It was convincing," laughed Arcot. "They want us now!" + +The great ship circled down, landing gently just outside of the city. +Almost at once one of the slim, long Sirian ships shot up from a +courtyard of the city, racing out and toward the _Ancient Mariner_. +Scarcely a moment later half a hundred other ships from all over the +city were on the way. Sirians seemed quite humanly curious. + +"We'll have to be careful here. We have to use altitude suits, as the +Negrians breathe an atmosphere of hydrogen instead of oxygen," explained +Arcot rapidly to the Ortolian and the Talsonian who were to accompany +him. "We will all want to go, and so, although this suit will be +decidedly uncomfortable for you and Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu, I +think it wise that you all wear it. It will be much more convincing to +the Sirians if we show that people of no less than three worlds are +already interested in this alliance." + +A considerable number of Sirian ships had landed about them, and the +tall, slim men of the 100,000,000-year-old race were watching them with +their great brown eyes from a slight distance, for a cordon of men with +evident authority were holding them back. + +"Who are you, friends?" asked a single man who stood within the cordon. +His strongly built frame, a great high brow and broad head designated +him a leader at a glance. + +Despite the vast change the light of Sirius had wrought, Arcot +recognized in him the original photographs he had seen from the planet +old Sol had captured as Negra had swept past. So it was he who answered +the thought-question. + +"I am of the third planet of the sun your people sought as a home a few +years back in time, Taj Lamor. Because you did not understand us, and +because we did not understand you, we fought. We found the records of +your race on the planet our sun captured, and we know now what you most +wanted. Had we been able to communicate with you then, as we can now, +our people would never have fought. + +"At last you have reached that sun you so needed, thanks, no doubt, to +the genius that was with you. + +"But now, in your new-found peace comes a new enemy, one who wants not +only yours, but every sun in this galaxy. + +"You have tried your ray of death, the anti-catalyst? And it but +sputters harmlessly on their screens? You have been swept by their +terrible rays that fuse mountains, then hurl them into space? Our world +and the world of each of these men is similarly menaced. + +"See, here is Zezdon Afthen, from Ortol, far on the other side of the +galaxy, and here is Stel Felso Theu, of Talso. Their worlds, as well as +yours and mine have been attacked by this menace from a distant galaxy, +from Thett, of the sun Ansteck, of the galaxy Venone. + +"Now we must form an alliance of far wider scope than ever has existed +before. + +"To you we have come, for your race is older by far than any race of our +alliance. Your science has advanced far higher. What weapons have you +discovered among those ancient documents, Taj Lamor? We have one weapon +that you no doubt need; a screen, which will stop the rays of the +molecule director apparatus. What have you to offer us?" + +"We need your help badly," was the reply. "We have been able to keep +them from landing on our planets, but it has cost us much. They have +landed on a planet we brought with us when we left the black star, but +it is not inhabited. From this as a base they have made attacks on us. +We tried throwing the planet into Sirius. They merely left the planet +hurriedly as it fell toward the star, and broke free from our attractive +ray." + +"The attractive ray! Then you have uncovered that secret?" asked Arcot +eagerly. + +Taj Lamor had some of his men bring an attractive ray projector to the +ship. The apparatus turned out to be nearly a thousand tons in weight, +and some twenty feet long, ten feet wide and approximately twelve feet +high. It was impossible to load the huge machine into the _Ancient +Mariner_, so an examination was conducted on the spot, with instruments +whose reading was intelligible to the terrestrians operating it. Its +principal fault lay in the fact that, despite the enormous energy of +matter given out, the machine still gobbled up such titanic amounts of +energy before the attraction could be established, that a very large +machine was needed. The ray, so long as maintained, used no more power +than was actually expended in moving the planet or other body. The power +used while the ray was in action corresponded to the work done, but a +tremendous power was needed to establish it, and this power could never +be recovered. + +Further, no reaction was produced in the machine, no matter what body it +was turned upon. In swinging a planet then, a spaceship could be used as +the base for the reaction was not exerted on the machine. + +From such meager clues, and the instruments, Arcot got the hints that +led him to the solution of the problem, for the documents, from which +Taj Lamor had gotten his information, had been disastrously wiped out, +when one of their cities fell, and Taj Lamor had but copied the machines +of his ancestors. + +The immense value of these machines was evident, for they would permit +Arcot to do many things that would have been impossible without them. +The explanation as he gave it to Stel Felso Theu, foretold the uses to +which it might be put. + +"As a weapon," he pointed out, "its most serious fault is that it takes +a considerable time to pump in the power needed. It has here, +practically the same fault which the artificial matter had on your +world. + +"As I see it, the ray is actually a directed gravitational field. + +"Now here is one thing that makes it more interesting, and more useful. +It seems to defy the laws of mechanics. It acts, but there is no +apparent reaction! A small ship can swing a world! Remember, the field +that generates the attraction is an integral, interwoven part of the +mesh of Space. It is created by something outside of itself. Like the +artificial matter, it exists there, and there alone. There is reaction +on that attractive field, but it is created in Space at that given +point, and the reaction is taken by all Space. No wonder it won't move. + +"The work considerations are fairly obvious. The field is built up. That +takes energy. The beam is focused on a body, the body falls nearer, and +immediately absorbs the energy in acquiring a velocity. The machine +replenishes the energy, because it is set to maintain a certain +energy-level in the field. Therefore the machine must do the work of +moving the ship, just as though it were a driving apparatus. After the +beam has done what is wanted, it may be shut off, and the energy in the +field is now available for any work needed. It may be drained back into +power coils such as ours for instance, or one might just spend that last +iota of power on the job. + +"As a driving device it might be set to pull the entire ship along, and +still not have any acceleration detectable to the occupants. + +"I think we'll use that on our big ship," he finished, his eyes far away +on some future idea. + +"Natural gravity of natural matter is, luckily, not selective. It goes +in all directions. But this artificial gravity is controlled so that it +does not spread, and the result is that the mass-attraction of a mass of +matter does not fall off as the inverse square of the distance, but like +the ray from the parallel beam spotlight, continues undiminished. + +"Actually, they create an exceedingly intense, exceedingly small +gravitational field, and direct it in a straight line. The building up +of this field is what takes time." + +Zezdon Afthen, who had a question which was troubling him, looked +anxiously at his friends. Finally he broke into their thoughts which had +been too cryptically abbreviated for him to follow, like the work of a +professor solving some problem, his steps taken so swiftly and so +abbreviated that their following was impossible to his students. + +"But how is it that the machine is not moved when exerting such force on +some other body?" he asked at last. + +"Oh, the ray concentrates the gravitational force, and projects it. The +actual strain is in space. It is space that takes the strain, but in +normal cases, unless the masses are very large, no considerable +acceleration is produced over any great distance. That law operates in +the case of the pulled body; it pulls the gravitational field as a +normal field, the inverse-square law applying. + +"But on the other hand, the gravity-beam pulls with a constant force. + +"It might be likened to the light-pressure effects of a spotlight and a +star. The spotlight would push the sun with a force that was constant; +no matter what the distance, while the light pressure of the sun would +vary as the inverse square of the distance. + +"But remember, it is not a body that pulls another body, but a +gravitational field that pulls another. The field is in space. A normal +field is necessarily attached to the matter that it represents, or that +represents it as you prefer, but this artificial field has no connection +in the form of matter. It is a product of a machine, and exists only as +a strain in space. To move it you must move all space, since it, like +artificial matter, exists only where it is created in space. + +"Do you see now why the law of action and reaction is apparently +flouted? Actually the reaction is taken up by space." + +Arcot rose, and stretched. Morey and Wade had been looking at him, and +now they asked when he intended leaving for the intergalactic spaces. + +"Now, I think. We have a lot of work to do. At present we have the +mathematics of the artificial matter to carry on, and the math of the +artificial gravity to develop. We gave the Sirians all we had on +artificial matter and on moleculars. + +"They gave us all they had--which wasn't much beyond the artificial +gravity, and a lot of work. At any rate, let's go!" + + + + +Chapter XIII + +ATTACKED + + +The _Ancient Mariner_ stirred, and rose lightly from its place beside +the city. Visible over the horizon now, and coming at terrific speed, +was a fleet of seven Thessian ships. + +They must do their best to protect that city. Arcot turned the ship and +called his decision to Morey. As he did so, one of the Thessian ships +suddenly swerved violently, and plunged downward. The attractive ray was +in action. It struck the rocks of Neptune, and plunged in. Half buried, +it stopped. Stopped--and backed out! The tremendously strong relux and +lux had withstood the blow, and these strange, inhumanly powerful men +had not been injured! + +Two of the ships darted toward him simultaneously, flashing out +molecular rays. The rays glanced off of Arcot's screen already in place, +but the tubes were showing almost at once that this could not be +sustained. It was evident that the swiftly approaching ships would soon +break down the shields. Arcot turned the ship and drove to one side. His +eyes went dead. + +He cut into artificial space, waited ten seconds, then cut back. The +scene before him changed. It seemed a different world. The light was +very dim, so dim he could scarcely see the images on the view plate. +They were so deep a red that they were very near to black. Even Sirius, +the flaming blue-white star was red. The darting Thessian ships were +moving quite slowly now, moving at a speed that was easy to follow. +Their rays, before ionizing the air brilliantly red, were now dark. The +instruments showed that the screen was no longer encountering serious +loading, and, further, the load was coming in at a frequency harmlessly +far down the radio spectrum! + +Arcot stared in wide-eyed amazement. What could the Thessians have done +that caused this change? He reached up and increased the amplification +on the eyes to a point that made even the dim illumination sufficient. +Wade was staring in amazement, too. + +"Lord! What an idea!" suddenly exclaimed Arcot. + +Wade was staring at Arcot in equally great amazement. "What's the +secret?" he asked. + +"Time, man, time! We are in an advanced time plane, living faster than +they, our atoms of fuel are destroyed faster, our second is shorter. In +one second of our earthly time our generators do the same amount of work +as usual, but they do many, many times more work in one second, of the +time we were in! We are under the advanced time field." + +Wade could see it all. The red light--normal light seen through eyes +enormously speeded in all perceptions. The change, the dimness--dim +because less energy reached them per second of their time. Then came +this blue light, as they reached the X-ray spectrum of Sirius, and saw +X-rays as normal light--shielded, tremendously shielded by the +atmosphere, but the enormous amplification of the eyes made up for it. + +The remaining Thessians seemed to get the idea simultaneously, and +started for Arcot in his own time field. The Thessian ship appeared to +be actually leaping at him. Suddenly, his speed increased inconceivably. +Simultaneously, Arcot's hand, already started toward the space-control +switch, reached it, and pushed it to the point that threw the ship into +artificial Space. The last glimmer of light died suddenly, as the +Thessian ship's bow loomed huge beside the _Ancient Mariner_. + +There was a terrific shock that hurled the ship violently to one side, +threw the men about inside the ship. Simultaneously the lights blinked +out. + +Light returned as the automatic emergency incandescent lights in the +room, fed from an energy store coil, flashed on abruptly. The men were +white-faced, tense in their positions. Swiftly Morey was looking over +the indicators on his remote-reading panel, while Arcot stared at the +few dials before the actual control board. + +"_There's an air pressure outside the ship!_" he cried out in surprise. +"High oxygen, very little nitrogen, breathable apparently, provided +there are no poisons. Temperature ten below zero C." + +"Lights are off because relays opened when the crash short circuited +them." Morey and the entire group were suddenly shaking. + +"Nervous shock," commented Zezdon Afthen. "It will be an hour or more +before we will be in condition to work." + +"Can't wait," replied Arcot testily, his nerves on edge, too. + +"Morey, make some good strong coffee if you can, and we'll waste a +little air on some smokes." + +Morey rose and went to the door that led through the main passage to the +galley. "Heck of a job--no weight at all," he muttered. "There is air in +the passage, anyway." He opened the door, and the air rushed from the +control room to the passage till the pressure was equalized. The door to +the power room was shut, but it was bulged, despite its two-inch lux +metal, and through its clear material he could see the wreckage of the +power room. + +"Arcot," he called. "Come here and look at the power room. Quintillions +of miles from home, we can't shut off this field now." + +Arcot was with him in a moment. The tremendous mass of the nose of the +Thessian ship had caught them full amid-ship, and the powerful ram had +driven through the room. Their lux walls had not been touched; only a +sledge-hammer blow would have bent them under any circumstances, let +alone breaking them. But the tremendously powerful main generator was +split wide open. And the mechanical damage was awful. The prow of the +ship had been driven deep into the machine, and the power room was a +wreck. + +"And," pointed out Morey, "we can't handle a job like that. It will take +a tremendous amount of machinery back on a planet to work that stuff, +and we couldn't bend that bar, let alone fix it." + +"Get the coffee, will you please, Morey? I have an idea that's bound to +work," said Arcot looking fixedly at the machinery. + +Morey turned and went to the galley. + +Five minutes later they returned to the corridor, where Arcot stood +still, looking fixedly at the engine room. They were carrying small +plastic balloons with coffee in them. + +They drank the coffee and returned to the control room, and sat about, +the terrestrians smoking peacefully, the Ortolian and the Talsonian +satisfying themselves with some form of mild narcotic from Ortol, which +Zezdon Afthen introduced. + +"Well, we have a lot more to do," Arcot said. "The air-apparatus stopped +working a while back, and I don't want to sit around doing nothing while +the air in the storage tanks is used up. Did you notice our friends, the +enemy?" Through the great pilot's window the bulk of the Thessian ship's +bow could be seen. It was cut across with an exactitude of mathematical +certainty. + +"Easy to guess what happened," Morey grinned. "They may have wrecked us, +but we sure wrecked them. They got half in and half out of our space +field. Result--the half that was in, stayed in. The half that was out +stayed out. The two halves were instantaneously a billion miles apart, +and that beautifully exact surface represents the point our space cut +across. + +"That being decided, the next question is how to fix this poor old +wreck." Morey grinned a bit. "Better, how to get out of here, and down +to old Neptune." + +"Fix it!" replied Arcot. "Come on; you get in your space suit, take the +portable telectroscope and set it up in space, motionless, in such a +position that it views both our ship and the nose of the Thessian +machine, will you, Wade? Tune it to--seven-seven-three." Morey rose with +Arcot, and followed him, somewhat mystified, down the passage. At the +airlock Wade put on his space suit, and the Ortolian helped him with it. +In a moment the other three men appeared bearing the machine. It was +practically weightless, though it would fall slowly if left to itself, +for the mass of the _Ancient Mariner_ and the front end of the Thessian +ship made a considerable attractive field. But it was clumsy, and needed +guiding here in the ship. + +Wade took it into the airlock, and a moment later into space with him. +His hand molecular-driving unit pulling him, he towed the machine into +place, and with some difficulty got it practically motionless with +respect of the two bodies, which were now lying against each other. + +"Turn it a bit, Wade, so that the _Ancient Mariner_ is just in its +range," came Arcot's thoughts. Wade did so. "Come on back and watch the +fun." + +Wade returned. Arcot and the others were busy placing a heavy emergency +lead from the storeroom in the place of one of the broken leads. In five +minutes they had it fixed where they wanted it. + +Into the control room went Arcot, and started the power-room teleview +plate. Connected into the system of view plates, the scene was visible +now on all the plates in the ship. Well off to one side of the room, +prepared for such emergencies, and equipped with individual power +storage coils that would run it for several days, the view plate +functioned smoothly. + +"Now, we are ready," said Arcot. The Talsonian proved he understood +Arcot's intentions by preceding him to the laboratory. + +Arcot had two viewplates operating here. One was covering the scene as +shown by the machine outside, and the other showed the power room. + +Arcot stepped over to the artificial-matter machine, and worked swiftly +on it. In a moment the power from the storage coils of the ship was +flowing through the new cable, and into the machine. A huge ring +appeared about the nose of the Thessian ship, fitting snugly over it. A +terrific wrench--and it was free of the _Ancient Mariner_. The ring +contracted and formed a chunk of the stuff free of the broken nose of +the ship. + +It was carried over to the wall of the _Ancient Mariner_, a smaller +piece snipped off as before, and carried inside. A piece of perhaps half +a ton mass. "I hope they use good stuff," grinned Arcot. The piece was +deposited on the floor of the ship, and a disc formed of artificial +matter plugged the hole in its side. Another took a piece of the relux +from the broken Thessian ship, pushed it into the hole on the ship. The +space about the scene of operation was a crackling inferno of energy +breaking down into heat and light. Arcot dematerialized his tremendous +tools, and the wall of the _Ancient Mariner_ was neatly patched with +relux smoothed over as perfectly as before. A second time, using some of +the relux he had brought within the ship, and the inner wall was +rebuilt. The job was absolutely perfect, save that now, where there had +been lux, there was an outer wall of relux. + +The main generator was crumpled up, and torn out. The auxiliary +generators would have to carry the load. The great cables were swiftly +repaired in the same manner, a perfect cylinder forming about them, and +a piece of relux from the store Arcot had sliced from the enemy ship, +welding them perfectly under enormous pressure, pressure that made them +flow perfectly into one another as heat alone could not. + +In less than half an hour the ship was patched up, the power room +generally repaired, save for a few minor things that had to be replaced +from the stores. The main generator was gone, but that was not an +essential. The door was straightened and the job done. + +In an hour they were ready to proceed. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +INTERGALACTIC SPACE + + +"Well, Sirius has retreated a bit," observed Arcot. The star was indeed +several trillions of miles away. Evidently they had not been motionless +as they had thought, but the interference of the Thessian ship had +thrown their machine off. + +"Shall we go back, or go on?" asked Morey. + +"The ship works. Why return?" asked Wade. "I vote we go on." + +"Seconded," added Arcot. + +"If they who know most of the ship vote for a continuance of the +journey, then assuredly we who know so little can only abide by their +judgment. Let us continue," said Zezdon Afthen gravely. + +Space was suddenly black about them. Sirius was gone, all the jewels of +the heavens were gone in the black of swift flight. Ten seconds later +Arcot lowered the space-control. Black behind them the night of space +was pricked by points of light, the infinite multitude of the stars. +Before them lay--nothing. The utter emptiness of space between the +galaxies. + +"Thlek Styrs! What happened?" asked Morey in amazement, his pet Venerian +phrase rolling out in his astonishment. + +"Tried an experiment, and it was overly successful," replied Arcot, a +worried look on his face. "I tried combining the Thessian high speed +_time_ distortion with our high _speed_ space distortion--both on low +power. 'There ain't no sich animals,' as the old agriculturist remarked +of the giraffe. God knows what speed we hit, but it was plenty. We must +be ten thousand light years beyond the galaxy." + +"That's a fine way to start the trip. You have the old star maps to get +back however, have you not?" asked Wade. + +"Yes, the maps we made on our first trip out this way are in the +cabinet. Look 'em up, will you, and see how far we have to go before we +reach the cosmic fields?" + +Arcot was busy with his instruments, making a more accurate +determination of their distance from the "edge" of the galaxy. He +adopted the figure of twelve thousand five hundred light years as the +probable best result. Wade was back in a moment with the information +that the fields lay about sixteen thousand light years out. Arcot went +on, at a rate that would reach the fields in two hours. + +Several hours more were spent in measurements, till at last Arcot +announced himself satisfied. + +"Good enough--back we go." Again in the control room, he threw on the +drive, and shot through the twenty-seven thousand light years of cosmic +ray fields, and then more leisurely returned to the galaxy. The star +maps were strangely off. They could follow them, but only with +difficulty as the general configuration of the constellations that were +their guides were visibly altered to the naked eye. + +"Morey," said Arcot softly, looking at the constellation at which they +were then aiming, and at the map before him, "there is something very, +very rotten. The Universe either 'ain't what it used to be' or we have +traveled in more than space." + +"I know it, and I agree with you. Obviously, from the degree of +alteration off the constellations, we are off by about 100,000 years. +Question: how come? Question: what are we going to do about it?" + +"Answer one: remembering what we observed _in re_ Sirius, I suspect that +the interference of that Thessian ship, with its time-field opposing our +space-field did things to our time-frame. We were probably thrown off +then. + +"As to the second question, we have to determine number one first. Then +we can plan our actions." + +With Wade's help, and by coming to rest near several of the stars, then +observing their actual motions, they were able to determine their +time-status. The estimate they made finally was of the order of eighty +thousand years in the past! The Thessian ship had thrown them that much +out of their time. + +"This isn't all to the bad," said Morey with a sigh. "We at least have +all the time we could possibly use to determine the things we want for +this fight. We might even do a lot of exploring for the archeologists of +Earth and Venus and Ortol and Talso. As to getting back--that's a +question." + +"Which is," added Arcot, "easy to answer now, thank the good Lord. All +we have to do is wait for our time to catch up with us. If we just wait +eighty thousand years, eight hundred centuries, we will be in our own +time." + +"Oh, I think waiting so long would be boring," said Wade sarcastically. +"What do you suggest we do in the intervening eighty millenniums? Play +cards?" + +"Oh, cards or chess. Something like that," grinned Arcot. "Play cards, +calculate our fields--and turn on the time rate control." + +"Oh--I take it back. You win! Take all! I forgot all about that," Wade +smiled at his friend. "That will save a little waiting, won't it." + +"The exploring of our worlds would without doubt be of infinite benefit +to science, but I wonder if it would not be of more direct benefit if we +were to get back to our own time, alive and well. Accidents always +happen, and for all our weapons, we might easily meet some animal which +would put an abrupt and tragic finish to our explorations. Is it not +so?" asked Stel Felso Theu. + +"Your point is good, Stel Felso Theu. I agree with you. We will do no +more exploring than is necessary, or safe." + +"We might just as well travel slowly on the time retarder, and work on +the way. I think the thing to do is to go back to Earth, or better, the +solar system, and follow the sun in its path." + +They returned, and the desolation that the sun in its journey passes +through is nothing to the utter, oppressive desolation of empty space +between the stars, for it has its family of planets--and it has no +conscious thought. + +The Sun was far from the point that it had occupied when the travelers +had left it, billions on billions of miles further on its journey around +the gravitational center of our galactic universe, and in the eighty +millenniums that they must wait, it would go far. + +They did not go to the planets now, for, as Arcot said in reply to Stel +Felso Theu's suggestion that they determine more accurately their +position in time, life had not developed to an extent that would enable +them to determine the year according to our calendar. + +So for thirty thousand years they hung motionless as the sun moved on, +and the little spots of light, that were worlds, hurled about it in a +mad race. Even Pluto, in its three-hundred-year-long track seemed madly +gyrating beneath them; Mercury was a line of light, as it swirled about +the swiftly moving sun. + +But that thirty thousand years was thirty days to the men of the ship. +Their time rate immensely retarded, they worked on their calculations. +At the end of that month Arcot had, with the help of Morey and Wade, +worked out the last of the formulas of artificial matter, and the +machines had turned out the last graphical function of the last branch +of research that they could discover. It was a time of labor for them, +and they worked almost constantly, stopping occasionally for a game of +some sort to relax the nervous tension. + +At the end of that month they decided that they would go to Earth. + +They speeded their time rate now, and flashed toward Earth at enormous +speed that brought them within the atmosphere in minutes. They had +landed in the valley of the Nile. Arcot had suggested this as a means of +determining the advancement of life of man. Man had evidently +established some of his earliest civilizations in this valley where +water and sun for his food plants were assured. + +"Look--there _are_ men here!" exclaimed Wade. Indeed, below them were +villages, of crude huts made of timber and stone and mud. Rubble work +walls, for they needed little shelter here, and the people were but +savages. + +"Shall we land?" asked Arcot, his voice a bit unsteady with suppressed +excitement. + +"Of course!" replied Morey without turning from his station at the +window. Below them now, less than half a mile down on the patchwork of +the Nile valley, men were standing, staring up, collecting in little +groups, gesticulating toward the strange thing that had materialized in +the air above them. + +"Does every one agree that we land?" asked Arcot. + +There were no dissenting voices, and the ship sank gently toward a road +below and to the left. A little knot of watchers broke, and they fled in +terror as the great machine approached, crying out to their friends, +casting affrighted glances at the huge, shining monster behind them. + +Without a jar the mighty weight of the ship touched the soil of its +native planet, touched it fifty millenniums before it was made, five +hundred centuries before it left! + +Arcot's brow furrowed. "There is one thing puzzles me--I can't see how +we can come back. Don't you see, Morey, we have disturbed the lives of +those people. We have affected history. This must be written into the +history that exists. + +"This seems to banish the idea of free thought. We have changed history, +yet history is that which is already done! + +"Had I never been born, had--but I _was_ already--I existed fifty-eighty +thousand years before I was born!" + +"Let's go out and think about that later. We'll go to a psych hospital, +if we don't stop thinking about problems of space and time for a little +while. We need some kind of relaxation." + +"I suggest that we take our weapons with us. These men may have weapons +of chemical nature, such as poisons injected into the flesh on small +sticks hurled either by a spring device or by pneumatic pressure of the +lungs," said Stel Felso Theu as he rose from his seat unstrapping +himself. + +"Arrows and blow-guns we call 'em. But it's a good idea, Stel Felso, and +I think we will," replied Arcot. "Let's not all go out at once, and the +first group to go out goes out on foot, so they won't be scared off by +our flying around." + +Arcot, Wade, Zezdon Afthen, and Stel Felso Theu went out. The natives +had retreated to a respectful distance, and were now standing about, +looking on, chattering to themselves. They were edging nearer. + +"Growing bold," grinned Wade. + +"It is the characteristic of intelligent races manifesting +itself--curiosity," pointed out Stel Felso Theu. + +"Are these the type of men still living in this valley, or who will be +living there in fifty thousand years?" asked Zezdon Afthen. + +"I'd say they weren't Egyptians as we know them, but typical Neolithic +men. It seems they have brains fully as large as some of the men I see +on the streets of New York. I wonder if they have the ability to learn +as much as the average man of--say about 1950?" + +The Neolithic men were warming up. There was an orator among them, and +his grunts, growls, snorts and gestures were evidently affecting them. +They had sent the women back (by the simple and direct process of +sweeping them up in one arm and heaving them in the general direction of +home). The men were brandishing polished stone knives and axes, various +instruments of war and peace. One favorite seemed to be a large club. + +"Let's forestall trouble," suggested Arcot. He drew his ray pistol, and +turned it on the ground directly in front of them, and about halfway +between them and the Neoliths. A streak of the soil about two feet wide +flashed into intense radiation under the impact of millions on millions +of horsepower of radiant energy. Further, it was fused to a depth of +twenty feet or more, and intensely hot still deeper. The Neoliths took a +single look at it, then turned, and raced for home. + +"Didn't like our looks. Let's go back." + +They wandered about the world, investigating various peoples, and proved +to their own satisfaction that there was no Atlantis, not at this time +at any rate. But they were interested in seeing that the polar caps +extended much farther toward the equator; they had not retreated at that +time to the extent that they had by the opening of history. + +They secured some fresh game, an innovation in their larder, and a +welcome one. Then the entire ship was swept out with fresh, clean air, +their water tanks filled with water from the cold streams of the melting +glaciers. The air apparatus was given a new stock to work over. + +Their supplies in a large measure restored, thousands of aerial +photographic maps made, they returned once more to space to wait. + +Their time was taken up for the most part by actual work on the enormous +mass of calculation necessary. It is inconceivable to the layman what +tremendous labor is involved in the development of a single mathematical +hypothesis, and a concrete illustration of it was the long time, with +tremendously advanced calculating machines, that was required in their +present work. + +They had worked out the problem of the time-field, but there they had +been aided by the actual apparatus, and the possibilities of making +direct tests on machines already set up. The problem of artificial +matter, at length fully solved, was a different matter. This had +required within a few days of a month (by their clocks; close to thirty +thousand years of Earth's time), for they had really been forced to +develop it all from the beginning. In the small improvements Arcot had +instituted in Stel Felso Theu's device, he had really merely followed +the particular branch that Stel Felso Theu had stumbled upon. Hence it +was impossible to determine with any great variety, the type of matter +created. Now, however, Arcot could make any known kind of matter, and +many unknown kinds. + +But now came the greatest problem of all. They were ready to start work +on the data they had collected in space. + +"What," asked Zezdon Afthen, as he watched the three terrestrians begin +their work, "is the nature of the thing you are attempting to harness?" + +"In a word, energy," replied Arcot, pausing. + +"We are attempting to harness energy in its primeval form, in the form +of a space-field. Remember, mass is a measure of energy. Two centuries +ago a scientist of our world proposed the idea that energy could be +measured by mass, and proceeded to prove that the relationship was the +now firmly intrenched formula E=Mc^{2}. + +"The sun is giving off energy. It is giving off mass, then, in the form +of light photons. The field of the sun's gravity must be constantly +decreasing as its mass decreases. It is a collapsing field. It is true, +the sun's gravitational field does decrease, by a minute amount, despite +the fact that our sun loses a thousand million tons of matter every four +minutes. The percentage change is minute, but the energy released +is--immeasurable. + +"But, I am going to invent a new power unit, Afthen. I will call it the +'sol,' the power of a sun. One sol is the rating of our sun. And I will +measure the energy I use in terms of sun-powers, not horsepower. That +may tell you of its magnitude!" + +"But," Zezdon Afthen asked, "while you men of Earth work on this +problem, what is there for us? We have no problems, save the problem of +the fate of our world, still fifty thousand years of your time in the +future. It is terrible to wait, wait, wait and think of what may be +happening in that other time. Is there nothing we can do to help? I know +our hopeless ignorance of your science. Stel Felso Theu can scarcely +understand the thoughts you use, and I can scarcely understand his +explanations! I cannot help you there, with your calculations, but is +there nothing I can do?" + +"There is, Ortolian, decidedly. We badly need your help, and as Stel +Felso Theu cannot aid us here as much as he can by working with you, I +will ask him to do so. I want your knowledge of psycho-mechanical +devices to help us. Will you make a machine controlled by mental +impulses? I want to see such a system and know how it is done that I may +control machines by such a system." + +"Gladly. It will take time, for I am not the expert worker that you are, +and I must make many pieces of apparatus, but I will do what I can," +exclaimed Zezdon Afthen eagerly. + +So, while Arcot and his group continued their work of determining the +constants of the space-energy field, the others were working on the +mental control apparatus. + + + + +Chapter XV + +ALL-POWERFUL GODS + + +Again there was a period of intense labor, while the ship drifted +through time, following Earth in its mad careening about the sun, and +the sun as it rushed headlong through space. At the end of a thirty-day +period, they had reached no definite position in their calculations, and +the Talsonian reported, as a medium between the two parties of +scientists, that the work of the Ortolian had not reached a level that +would make a scientific understanding possible. + +As the ship needed no replenishing, they determined to finish their +present work before landing, and it was nearly forty thousand years +after their first arrival that they again landed on Earth. + +It was changed now; the ice caps had retreated visibly, the Nile delta +was far longer, far more prominent, and cities showed on the Earth here +and there. + +Greece, they decided would be the next stop, and to Greece they went, +landing on a mountain side. Below was a village, a small village, a +small thing of huts and hovels. But the villagers attacked, swarming up +the hillside furiously, shouting and shrieking warnings of their +terrible prowess to these men who came from the "shining house," +ordering them to flee from them and turn over their possession to them. + +"What'll we do?" asked Morey. He and Arcot had come out alone this time. + +"Take one of these fellows back with us, and question him. We had best +get a more or less definite idea of what time-age we are in, hadn't we? +We don't want to overshoot by a few centuries, you know!" + +The villagers were swarming up the side of the hill, armed with weapons +of bronze and wood. The bronze implements of murder were rare, and +evidently costly, for those that had them were obviously leaders, and +better dressed than the others. + +"Hang it all, I have only a molecular pistol. Can't use that, it would +be a plain massacre!" exclaimed Arcot. + +But suddenly several others, who had come up from one side, appeared +from behind a rock. The scientists were wearing their power suits, and +had them on at low power, leaving a weight of about fifty pounds. Morey, +with his normal weight well over two hundred, jumped far to one side of +a clumsy rush of a peasant, leaped back, and caught him from behind. +Lifting the smaller man above his head, he hurled him at two others +following. The three went down in a heap. + +Most of the men were about five feet tall, and rather lightly built. The +"Greek God" had not yet materialized among them. They were probably +poorly fed, and heavily worked. Only the leaders appeared to be in good +physical condition, and the men could not develop to large stature. +Arcot and Morey were giants among them, and with their greater skill, +tremendous jumping ability, and far greater strength, easily overcame +the few who had come by the side. One of the leaders was picked up, and +trussed quickly in a rope a fellow had carried. + +"Look out," called Wade from above. Suddenly he was standing beside +them, having flown down on the power suit. "Caught your thoughts--rather +Zezdon Afthen did." He handed Arcot a ray pistol. The rest of the Greeks +were near now, crying in amazement, and running more slowly. They didn't +seem so anxious to attack. Arcot turned the ray pistol to one side. + +"Wait!" called Morey. A face peered from around the rock toward which +Arcot had aimed his pistol. It was that of a girl, about fifteen years +old in appearance, but hard work had probably aged her face. Morey bent +over, heaved on a small boulder, about two hundred pounds of rock, and +rolled it free of the depression it rested in, then caught it on a +molecular ray, hurled it up. Arcot turned his heat ray on it for an +instant, and it was white hot. Then the molecular ray threw it over +toward the great rock, and crushed it against it. Three children +shrieked and ran out from the rock, scurrying down the hillside. + +The soldiers had stopped. They looked at Morey. Then they looked at the +great rock, three hundred yards from him. They looked at the rock +fragments. + +"They think you threw it," grinned Arcot. + +"What else--they saw me pick it up, saw me roll it, and it flew. What +else could they think?" + +Arcot's heat ray hissed out, and the rocks sputtered and cracked, then +glowed white. There was a dull explosion, and chips of rock flew up. +Water, imprisoned, had been turned into steam. In a moment the whistle +and crackle of combined heat and molecular rays stabbing out from +Arcot's hands had built a barrier of fused rocks. + +Leisurely Arcot and Morey carried their now revived prisoner back to the +ship, while Wade flew ahead to open the locks. + +Half an hour later the prisoner was discharged, much to his surprise, +and the ship rose. They had been able to learn nothing from him. Even +the Greek Gods, Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, all the later Greek gods, were +unknown, or so greatly changed that Arcot could not recognize them. + +"Well," he said at length, "it seems all we know is that they came +before any historical Greeks we know of. That puts them back quite a +bit, but I don't know how far. Shall we go see the Egyptians?" + +They tried Egypt, a few moments across the Mediterranean, landing close +to the mouth of the Nile. The people of a village near by immediately +set out after them. Better prepared this time, Arcot flew out to meet +them with Zezdon Afthen and Stel Felso Theu. Surely, he felt, the sight +of the strange men would be no more terrifying than the ship or the men +flying. And that did not seem to deter their attack. Apparently the +proverb that "Discretion is the better part of valor," had not been +invented. + +Arcot landed near the head of the column, and cut off two or three men +from the rest with the aid of his ray pistol. Zezdon Afthen quickly +searched his mind, and with Arcot's aid they determined he did not know +any of the Gods that Arcot suggested. + +Finally they had to return to the ship, disappointed. They had had the +slight satisfaction of finding that the Sun God was Ralz, the later +Egyptian Ra might well have been an evolved form of that name. + +They restocked the ship, fresh game and fruits again appearing on the +menu, then once again they launched forth into space to wait for their +own time. + +"It seems to me that we must have produced some effect by our visit," +said Arcot, shaking his head solemnly. + +"We did, Arcot," replied Morey softly. "We left an impress in history, +an impress that still is, and an impress that affected countless +thousands. + +"Meet the Egyptian Gods with their heads strange to terrestrians, the +Gods who fly through the air without wings, come from a shining house +that flies, whose look, whose pointed finger melts the desert sands, and +the moist soil!" he continued softly, nodding toward the Ortolian and +the Talsonian. + +"Their 'impossible' Gods existed, and visited them. Indubitably some +genius saw that here was a chance for fame and fortune and sold 'charms' +against the 'Gods.' Result: we are carrying with us some of the oldest +deities. Again, we did leave our imprint in history." + +"And," cried Wade excitedly, "meet the great Hercules, who threw men +about. I always knew that Morey was a brainless brute, but I never +realized the marvelous divining powers of those Greeks so +perfectly--now, the Incarnation of Dumb Power!" Dramatically Wade +pointed to Morey, unable even now to refrain from some unnecessary +comments. + +"All right, Mercury, the messenger of the Gods speaks. The little flaps +on Wade's flying shoes must indeed have looked like the winged shoes of +legend. Wade was Mercury, too brainless for anything but carrying the +words of wisdom uttered by others. + +"And Arcot," continued Morey, releasing Wade from his condescending +stare, "is Jove, hurling the rockfusing, destroying thunderbolts!" + +"The Gods that my friends have been talking of," explained Arcot to the +curious Ortolians, "are legendary deities of Earth. I can see now that +we did leave an imprint on history in the only way we could--as Gods, +for surely no other explanation could have occurred to those men." + +The days passed swiftly in the ship, as their work approached +completion. Finally, when the last of the equation of Time, artificial +matter, and the most awful of their weapons, the unlimited Cosmic Power, +had been calculated, they fell to the last stage of the work. The actual +appliances were designed. Then the completed apparatus that the Ortolian +and the Talsonian had been working on, was carefully investigated by the +terrestrial physicists, and its mechanism studied. Arcot had great plans +for this, and now it was incorporated in their control apparatus. + +The one remaining problem was their exact location in time. Already +their progress had brought them well up to the nineteenth century, but, +as Morey sadly remarked, they couldn't tell what date, for they were +sadly lacking in history. Had they known the real date, for instance, of +the famous battle of Bull Run, they could have watched it in the +telectroscope, and so determined their time. As it was, they knew only +that it was one of the periods of the first half of the decade of 1860. + +"As historians, we're a bunch of first-class kitchen mechanics. Looks +like we're due for another landing to locate the exact date," agreed +Arcot. + +"Why land now? Let's wait until we are nearer the time to which we +belong, so we won't have to watch so carefully and so long," suggested +Wade. + +They argued this question for about two hundred years as a matter of +fact. After that, it was academic anyway. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +HOME AGAIN + + +They were getting very near their own time, Arcot felt. Indeed, they +must already exist on Earth. "One thing that puzzles me," he commented, +"is what would happen if we were to go down now, and see ourselves." + +"Either we can't or we don't want to do it," pointed out Morey, "because +we didn't." + +"I think the answer is that nothing can exist two times at the same +time-rate," said Arcot. "As long as we were in a different time-rate we +could exist at two times. When we tried to exist simultaneously, we +could not, and we were forced to slip through time to a time wherein we +either did not exist or wherein we had not yet been. Since we were +nearer the time when we last existed in normal time, than we were to the +time of our birth, we went to the time we left. I suspect that we will +find we have just left Earth. Shall we investigate?" + +"Absolutely, Arcot, and here's hoping we didn't overshoot the mark by +much." As Morey intimated, had they gone much beyond the time they left +Earth, they might find conditions very serious, indeed. But now they +went at once toward Earth on the time control. As they neared, they +looked anxiously for signs of the invasion. Arcot spotted the only +evident signs, however; two large spheres, tiny points in appearance on +the telectroscope screen, were circling Earth, one at about 1,000 miles, +moving from east to west, the other about 1,200 miles moving from north +to south. + +"It seems the enemy have retreated to space to do their fighting. I +wonder how long we were away." + +As they swept down at a speed greater than light, they were invisible +till Arcot slowed down near the atmosphere. Instantly half a dozen fast +ships darted toward them, but the ship was very evidently unlike the +Thessian ships, and no attack was made. First the occupants would have +an opportunity to prove their friendliness. + +"Terrestrians Arcot, Morey and Wade reporting back from exploration in +space, with two friends. All have been on Earth with us previously," +said Arcot into the radio vision apparatus. + +"Very well, Dr. Arcot. You are going to New York or Vermont?" asked the +Patrol commander. + +"Vermont." + +"Yes, Sir. I'll see that you aren't stopped again." + +And, thanks to the message thus sent ahead, they were not, and in less +than half an hour they landed once more in Vermont, on the field from +which they had started. + +The group of scientists who had been here on their last call had gone, +which seemed natural enough to them, who had been working for three +months in the interval of their trip, but to Dr. Arcot senior, as he saw +them, it was a misfortune. + +"Now I never will get straight all you'll have ready, and I didn't +expect you back till next week. The men have all gone back to their +laboratories, since that permits of better work on the part of each, but +we can call them here in half an hour. I'm sure they'll want to come. +What did you learn, Son, or haven't you done any calculating on your +data as yet?" + +"We learned plenty, and I feel quite sure that a hint of what we have +would bring all those learning-hounds around us pretty quickly, Dad," +laughed Arcot junior, "and believe it or not, we've been calculating on +this stuff for three months since we left yesterday!" + +"What!" + +"Yes, it's true! We were on our time field, and turned on the space +control--and a Thessian ship picked that moment to run into us. We cut +the ship in half as neatly as you please, but it threw us eighty +thousand years into the past. We have been coasting through time on +retarded rate while Earth caught up with itself, so to speak. In the +meantime--three months in a day! + +"But don't call those men. Let them come to the appointment, while we do +some work, and we have plenty of work to do, I assure you. We have a +list of things to order from the standard supply houses, and I think you +better get them for us, Dad." Arcot's manner became serious now. "We +haven't gotten our Government Expense Research Cards yet, and you have. +Order the stuff, and get it out here, while we get ready for it. +Honestly, I believe that a few ships such as this apparatus will permit, +will be enough in themselves to do the job. It really is a pity that the +other men didn't have the opportunity we had for crowding much work into +little time! + +"But then, I wouldn't want to take that road to concentration again +myself! + +"Have the enemy amused you in my absence? Come on, let's sit down in the +house instead of standing here in the sun." + +They started toward the house, as Arcot senior explained what had +happened in the short time they had been away. + +"There is a friend of yours here, whom you haven't seen in some time, +Son. He came with some allies." + +As they entered the house, they could hear the boards creak under some +heavy weight that moved across the floor, soundlessly and light of +motion in itself. A shadow fell across the hall floor, and in the +doorway a tremendously powerfully-built figure stood. + +He seemed to overflow the doorway, nearly six and a half feet tall, and +fully as wide as the door. His rugged, bronzed face was smiling +pleasantly, and his deep-set eyes seemed to flash; a living force flowed +from them. + +"Torlos! By the Nine Planets! Torlos of Nansal! Say, I didn't expect you +here, and I will not put my hand in that meatgrinder of yours," grinned +Arcot happily, as Torlos stretched forth a friendly, but quite too +powerful hand. + +Torlos of Nansal, that planet Arcot had discovered on his first voyage +across space, far in another Island of Space, another Island Universe, +was not constructed as are human beings of Earth, nor of Venus, Talso, +or Ortol, but most nearly resembled, save in size, the Thessians. Their +framework, instead of being stone, as is ours, was iron, their bones +were pure metallic iron, far stronger than bone. On these far stronger +bones were great muscles of an entirely different sort, a muscle that +used heat of the body as its fuel, a muscle that was utterly tireless, +and unbelievably powerful. Not a chemical engine, but a molecular motion +engine, it had no chemical fatigue-products that would tire it, and +needed only the constant heat supply the body sucked from the air to +work indefinitely. Unlimited by waste-carrying considerations, the +strength was enormous. + +It was one of the commercial space freighters plying between Nansal, +Sator, Earth and Venus that had brought the news of this war to him, +Torlos explained, and he, as the new Trade Coordinator and Fourth of the +Four who now ruled Nansal, had suggested that they go to the aid of the +man who had so aided them in their great war with Sator. It was Arcot's +gift of the secret of the molecular ray and the molecular ship that had +enabled them to overcome their enemy of centuries, and force upon them +an unwelcome peace. + +Now, with a fleet of fifty interstellar, or better, intergalactic +battleships, Nansal was coming to Earth's aid. + +The battleships were now on patrol with all of Earth's and Venus' fleet. +But the Nansalian ships were all equipped with the enormously rapid +space distortion system of travel, of course, and were a shock troop in +the patrol. The Terrestrian and Venerian patrols were not so equipped in +full. + +"And Arcot, from what I have learned from your father, it seems that I +can be of real assistance," finished Torlos. + +"But now, I think, I should know what the enemy has done. I see they +built some forts." + +"Yes," replied Arcot senior, "they did. They decided that the system +used on the forts of North and South poles was too effective. They moved +to space, and cut off slices of Luna, pulled it over on their molecular +rays, and used some of the most magnificent apparatus you ever dreamed +of. I have just started working on the mathematics of it. + +"We sent out a fleet to do some investigating, but they attacked, and +stopped work in the meantime. Whatever the ray is that can destroy +matter at a distance, they are afraid that we could find its secret too +easily, and block it, for they don't think it is a weapon, and it is +evidently slow in action." + +"Then it isn't what I thought it was," muttered Arcot. + +"What did you think it was?" asked his father. + +"Er--tell you later. Go on with the account." + +"Well, to continue. We have not been idle. Following your suggestion, we +built up a large ray screen apparatus, in fact, several of them, and +carried them in ships to different parts of the world. Also some of the +planets, lest they start dropping worlds on us. They are already in +operation, sending their defensive waves against the Heaviside layer. +Radio is poor, over any distance, and we can't call Venus from inside +the layer now. However, we tested the protection, and it works--far more +efficiently than we calculated, due to the amazing conductivity of the +layer. + +"If they intend to attack in that way, I suspect that it will be soon, +for they are ready now, as we discovered. An attack on their fort was +met with a ray screen from the fort. + +"They fight with a wild viciousness now. They won't let a ship get near +them. They destroy everything on sight. They seem tremendously afraid of +that apparatus of yours. Too bad we had no more." + +"We will have--if you will let me get to work." + +They went to the ship, and entered it. Arcot senior did not follow, but +the others waited, while the ship left Earth once more, and floated in +space. Immediately they went into the time-field. + +They worked steadily, sleeping when necessary, and the giant strength of +Torlos was frequently as great an asset as his indefatigable work. He +was learning rapidly, and was able to do a great deal of the work +without direction. He was not a scientist, and the thing was new to him, +but his position as one of the best of the secret intelligence force of +Nansal had proven his brains, and he did his share. + +The others, scientists all, found the operations difficult, for work had +been allotted to each according to his utmost capabilities. + +It was still nearly a week of their time before the apparatus was +completed to the extent possible, less than a minute of normal time +passing. + +Finally the unassembled, but completed apparatus, was carried to the +laboratory of the cottage, and word was sent to all the men of Earth +that Arcot was going to give a demonstration of the apparatus he hoped +would save them. The scientists from all over Earth and Venus were +interested, and those of Earth came, for there was no time for the men +of Venus to arrive to inspect the results. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +POWER OF MIND + + +It was night. The stars visible through the laboratory windows winked +violently in the disturbed air of the Heaviside layer, for the molecular +ray screen was still up. + +The laboratory was dimly lighted now, all save the front of the room. +There, a mass of compact boxes were piled one on another, and +interconnected in various and indeterminate ways. And one table lay in a +brilliant path of illumination. Behind it stood Arcot. He was talking to +the dim white group of faces beyond the table, the scientists of Earth +assembled. + +"I have explained our power. It is the power of all the universe--Cosmic +Power--which is necessarily vaster than all others combined. + +"I cannot explain the control in the time I have at my disposal but the +mathematics of it, worked out in two months of constant effort, you can +follow from the printed work which will appear soon. + +"The second thing, which some of you have seen before, has already been +partly explained. It is, in brief, artificially created matter. The two +important things to remember about it are that it _is_, that it _does +exist_, and that it exists _only where it is determined to exist by the +control there, and nowhere else_. + +"These are all coordinated under the new mental relay control. Some of +you will doubt this last, but think of it under this light. Will, +thought, concentration--they are efforts, they require energy. Then they +can exert energy! That is the key to the whole thing. + +"But now for the demonstration." + +Arcot looked toward Morey, who stood off to one side. There was a heavy +thud as Morey pushed a small button. The relay had closed. Arcot's mind +was now connected with the controls. + +A globe of cloudiness appeared. It increased in density, and was a +solid, opalescent sphere. + +"There is a sphere, a foot in diameter, ten feet from me," droned Arcot. +The sphere was there. "It is moving to the left." The sphere moved to +the left at Arcot's thought. "It is rising." The sphere rose. "It is +changing to a disc two feet across." The sphere seemed to flow, and was +a disc two feet across as Arcot's toneless voice of concentration +continued. + +"It is changing into a hand, like a human hand." The disc changed into a +human hand, the fingers slightly bent, the soft, white fingers of a +woman with the pink of the flesh and the wrinkles at the knuckles +visible. The wrist seemed to fade gradually into nothingness, the end of +the hand was as indeterminate as are things in a dream, but the hand was +definite. + +"The hand is reaching for the bar of lux metal on the floor." The soft, +little hand moved, and reached down and grasped the half ton bar of lux +metal, wrapped dainty fingers about it and lifted it smoothly and +effortlessly to the table, and laid it there. + +A mistiness suddenly solidified to another hand. The second hand joined +the first, and fell to work on the bar, and pulled. The bar stretched +finally under an enormous load. One hand let go, and the thud of the +highly elastic lux metal bar's return to its original shape echoed +through the soundless room. These men of the twenty-second century knew +what relux and lux metals were, and knew their enormous strength. Yet it +was putty under these hands. The hands that looked like a woman's! + +The bar was again placed on the table, and the hands disappeared. There +was a thud, and the relay had opened. + +"I can't demonstrate the power I have. It is impossible. The +power is so enormous that nothing short of a sun could serve as a +demonstration-hall. It is utterly beyond comprehension under any +conditions. I have demonstrated artificial matter, and control by mental +action. + +"I'm now going to show you some other things we have learned. Remember, +I can control perfectly the properties of artificial matter, by +determining the structure it shall have. + +"Watch." + +Morey closed the relay. Arcot again set to work. A heavy ingot of iron +was raised by a clamp that fastened itself upon it, coming from nowhere. +The iron moved, and settled over the table. As it approached, a +mistiness that formed became a crucible. The crucible showed the gray of +pure iron, but it was artificial matter. The iron settled in the +crucible, and a strange process of flowing began. The crucible became a +ball, and colors flowed across its surface, till finally it was glowing +richly silvery. The ball opened, and a great lump of silvery stuff was +within it. It settled to the floor, and the ball disappeared, but the +silvery metal did not. + +"Platinum," said Morey softly. A gasp came from the audience. "Only +platinum could exist there, and the matter had to rearrange itself as +platinum." He could rearrange it in any form he chose, either absorbing +or supplying energy of existence and energy of formation. + +The mistiness again appeared in the air, and became a globe, a globe of +brown. But it changed, and disappeared. Morey recognized the signal. "He +will now make the artificial matter into all the elements, and many +nonexistent elements, unstable, atomic figures." There followed a long +series of changes. + +The material shifted again, and again. Finally the last of the natural +elements was left behind, all 104 elements known to man were shown, and +many others. + +"We will skip now. This is element of atomic weight 7000." + +It was a lump of soft, oozy blackness. One could tell from the way that +Arcot's mind handled it that it was soft. It seemed cold, terribly cold. +Morey explained: + +"It is very soft, for its atom is so large that it is soft in the +molecular state. It is tremendously photoelectric, losing electrons +very readily, and since its atom has so enormous a volume, its electrons +are very far from the nucleus in the outer rings, and they absorb rays +of very great length; even radio and some shorter audio waves seem to +affect it. That accounts for its blackness, and the softness as Arcot +has truly depicted it. Also, since it absorbs heat waves and changes +them to electrical charges, it tends to become cold, as the frost Arcot +has shown indicates. Remember, that that is infinitely hard as you see +it, for it is artificial matter, but Arcot has seen natural matter +forced into this exceedingly explosive atomic figuration. + +"It is so heavily charged in the nucleus that its X-ray spectrum is well +toward the gamma! The inner electrons can scarcely vibrate." + +Again the substance changed--and was gone. + +"Too far--atom of weight 20,000 becomes invisible and nonexistent as +space closes in about it--perhaps the origin of our space. Atoms of this +weight, if breaking up, would form two or more atoms that would exist in +our space, then these would be unstable, and break down further into +normal atoms. We don't know. + +"And one more substance," continued Morey as he opened the relay once +more. Arcot sat down and rested his head in his hands. He was not +accustomed to this strain, and though his mind was one of the most +powerful on Earth, it was very hard for him. + +"We have a substance of commercial and practical use now. Cosmium. Arcot +will show one method of making it." + +Arcot resumed his work, seated now. A formation reached out, and grasped +the lump of platinum still on the floor. Other bars of iron were brought +over from the stack of material laid ready, and piled on a broad sheet +that had formed in the air, tons of it, tens of tons. Finally he +stopped. There was enough. The sheet wrapped itself into a sphere, and +contracted, slowly, steadily. It was rampant with energy, energy flowed +from it, and the air about was glowing with ionization. There was a +feeling of awful power that seeped into the minds of the watchers, and +held them spellbound before the glowing, opalescent sphere. The tons of +matter were compressed now to a tiny ball! Suddenly the energy flared +out violently, a terrific burst of energy, ionizing the air in the +entire room, and shooting it with tiny, burning sparks. Then it was +over. The ball split, and became two planes. Between them was a small +ball of a glistening solid. The planes moved slowly together, and the +ball flattened, and flowed. It was a sheet. + +A clamp of artificial matter took it, and held the paper-thin sheet, +many feet square, in the air. It seemed it must bend under its own +enormous weight of tons, but thin as it was it did not. + +"Cosmium," said Morey softly. + +Arcot crumpled it, and pressed it once more between artificial matter +tools. It was a plate, thick as heavy cardboard, and two feet on a side. +He set it in a holder of artificial matter, a sort of frame, and caused +the controls to lock. + +Taking off the headpiece he had worn, he explained, "As Morey said, +Cosmium. Briefly, density, 5007.89. Tensile strength, about two hundred +thousand times that of good steel!" The audience gasped. That seems +little to men who do not realize what it meant. An inch of this stuff +would be harder to penetrate than three miles of steel! + +"Our new ship," continued Arcot, "will carry six-inch armor. Six inches +would be the equivalent of eighteen miles of solid steel, with the +enormous improvement that it will be concentrated, and so will have far +greater resistance than any amount of steel. Its tensile strength would +be the equivalent of an eighteen-mile wall of steel. + +"But its most important properties are that it reflects everything we +know of. Cosmics, light, and even moleculars! It is made of cosmic ray +photons, as lux is made of light photons, but the inexpressibly tighter +bond makes the strength enormous. It cannot be handled by any means save +by artificial matter tools. + +"And now I am going to give a demonstration of the theatrical +possibilities of this new agent. Hardly scientific--but amusing." + +But it wasn't exactly amusing. + +Arcot again donned the headpiece. "I think," he continued, "that a +manifestation of the super-natural will be most interesting. Remember +that all you see is real, and all effects are produced by artificial +matter generated by the cosmic energy, as I have explained, and are +controlled by my mind." + +Arcot had chosen to give this demonstration with definite reason. +Apparently a bit of scientific playfulness, yet he knew that nothing is +so impressive, nor so lastingly remembered as a theatrical demonstration +of science. The greatest scientist likes to play with his science. + +But Arcot's experiment now--it was on a level of its own! + +From behind the table, apparently crawling up the leg came a thing! It +was a hand. A horrible, disjointed hand. It was withered and incarmined +with blood, for it was severed from its wrist, and as it hunched itself +along, moving by a ghastly twitching of fingers and thumb, it left a +trail of red behind it. The papers to be distributed rustled as it +passed, scurrying suddenly across the table, down the leg, and racing +toward the light switch! By some process of writhing jerks it reached +it, and suddenly the room was plunged into half-light as the lights +winked out. Light filtering over the transom of the door from the hall +alone illuminated the hall, but the hand glowed! It glowed, and scurried +away with an awful rustling, scuttling into some unseen hole in the +wall. The quiet of the hall was the quiet of tenseness. + +From the wall, coming through it, came a mistiness that solidified as it +flowed across. It was far to the right, a bent stooped figure, a figure +half glimpsed, but fully known, for it carried in its bony, glowing hand +a great, nicked scythe. Its rattling tread echoed hollowly on the floor. +Stooping walk, shuffling gait, the great metal scythe scraping on the +floor, half seen as the gray, luminous cloak blew open in some unfelt +breeze of its ephemeral world, revealing bone; dry, gray bone. Only the +scythe seemed to know Life, and it was red with that Life. Slow running, +sticky lifestuff. + +Death paused, and raised his awful head. The hood fell back from the +cavernous eyesockets, and they flamed with a greenish radiance that made +every strained face in the room assume the same deathly pallor. + +"The Scythe, the Scythe of Death," grated the rusty Voice. "The Scythe +is slow, too slow. I bring new things," it cackled in its cracked voice, +"new things of my tools. See!" The clutching bones dropped the rattling +Scythe, and the handle broke as it fell, and rotted before their eyes. +"Heh, heh," the Thing cackled as it watched. "Heh--what Death touches, +rots as he leaves it." The grinning, blackened skull grinned wider, in +an awful, leering cavity, rotting, twisted teeth showed. But from under +his flapping robe, the skeletal hands drew something--ray pistols! + +"These--these are swifter!" The Thing turned, and with a single leering +glance behind, flowed once more through the wall. + +A gasp, a stifled, groaning gasp ran through the hall, a half sob. + +But far, far away they could hear something clanking, dragging its slow +way along. Spellbound they turned to the farthest corner--and looked +down the long, long road that twined off in distance. A lone, luminous +figure plodded slowly along it, his half human shamble bringing him +rapidly nearer. + +Larger and larger he loomed, clearer and clearer became the figure, and +his burden. Broken, twisted steel, or metal of some sort, twisted and +blackened. + +"It's over--it's over--and my toys are here. I win, I always win. For I +am the spawn of Mars, of War, and of Hate, the sister of War, and my +toys are the things they leave behind." It gesticulated, waving the +twisted stuff and now through the haze, they could see them--buildings. +The framework of buildings and twisted liners, broken weapons. + +It loomed nearer, the cavernous, glowing eyes under low, shaggy brows, +became clear, the awful brutal hate, the lust of Death, the rotting +flesh of Disease--all seemed stamped on the Horror that approached. + +"Ah!" It had seen them! "Ahh!" It dropped the buildings, the broken +things, and shuffled into a run, toward them! Its face changed, the lips +drew back from broken, stained teeth, the curling, cruel lips, and the +rotting flesh of the face wrinkled into a grin of lust and hatred. The +shaggy mop of its hair seemed to writhe and twist, the long, thin +fingers grasped spasmodically as it neared. The torn, broken fingernails +were visible--nearer--nearer--nearer-- + +"Oh, God--stop it!" A voice shrieked out of the dark as someone leaped +suddenly to his feet. + +Simultaneously with the cry the Thing puffed into nothingness of energy +from which it had sprung, and a great ball of clear, white glowing light +came into being in the center of the room, flooding it with a light that +dazzled the eyes, but calmed broken nerves. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +EARTH'S DEFENSES + + +"I am sorry, Arcot. I did not know, for I see I might have helped, but +to me, with my ideas of horror, it was as you said, amusement," said +Torlos. They were sitting now in Arcot's study at the cottage; Arcot, +his father, Morey, Wade, Torlos, the three Ortolians and the Talsonian. + +"I know, Torlos. You see, where I made my mistake, as I have said, was +in forgetting that in doing as I did, picturing horror, like a snowball +rolling, it would grow greater. The idea of horror, started, my mind +pictured one, and it inspired greater horror, which in turn reacted on +my all too reactive apparatus. As you said, the things changed as you +watched, molding themselves constantly as my mind changed them, under +its own initiative and the concentrated thoughts of all those others. It +was a very foolish thing to do, for that last Thing--well, remember it +_was_, it existed, and the idea of hate and lust it portrayed was caused +by my mind, but my mind could picture what it would do, if such were its +emotions, and it would do them because my mind pictured them! And +_nothing_ could resist it!" Arcot's face was white once more as he +thought of the danger he had run, of the terrible consequences possible +of that 'amusement.' + +"I think we had best start on the ship. I'll go get some sleep now, and +then we can go." + +Arcot led the way to the ship, while Torlos, Morey and Wade and Stel +Felso Theu accompanied him. The Ortolians were to work on Earth, aiding +in the detection of attacks by means of their mental investigation of +the enemy. + +"Well--good-bye, Dad. Don't know when I'll be back. Maybe twenty-five +thousand years from now, or twenty-five thousand years ago. But we'll +get back somehow. And we'll clean out the Thessians!" + +He entered the ship, and rose into space. + +"Where are you going, Arcot?" asked Morey. + +"Eros," replied Arcot laconically. + +"Not if my mind is working right," cried Wade suddenly. All the others +were tense, listening for inaudible sounds. + +"I quite agree," replied Arcot. The ship turned about, and dived toward +New York, a hundred thousand miles behind now, at a speed many times +that of light as Arcot snapped into time. Across the void, Zezdon +Fentes' call had come--New York was to be attacked by the Thessians, New +York and Chicago next. New York because the orbits of their two forts +were converging over that city in a few minutes! + +They were in the atmosphere, screaming through it as their relux glowed +instantaneously in the Heaviside layer, then was through before damage +could be done. The screen was up. + +Scarcely a minute after they passed, the entire heavens blazed into +light, the roar of tremendous thunders crashing above them, great +lightning bolts rent the upper air for miles as enormous energies +clashed. + +"Ah--they are sending everything they have against that screen, and it's +hot. We have ten of our biggest tube stations working on it, and more +coming in, to our total of thirty, but they have two forts, and Lord +knows how many ships. + +"I think me I'm going to cause them some worrying." + +Arcot turned the ship, and drove up again, now at a speed very low to +them but as they had the time-field up, very great. They passed the +screen, and a tremendous bolt struck the ship. Everything in it was +shielded, but the static was still great enough to cause them some +trouble as the time-field and electric field fought. But the time-field, +because of its very nature, could work faster, and they won through +undamaged, though the enormous current seemed flowing for many minutes +as they drifted slowly past it. Slowly--at fifty miles a second. + +Out in space, free of the atmosphere, Arcot shot out to the point where +the Thessians were congregating. The shining dots of their ships and the +discs of the forts were visible from Earth save for the air's +distortion. + +They seemed a miniature Milky Way, their deadly beams concentrated on +Earth. + +Then the Thessians discovered that the terrestrial fleet was in action. +A ship glowed with the ray, the opalescence of relux under moleculars +visible on its walls. It simply searched for its opponent while its +relux slowly yielded. It found it in time, and the terrestrial ship put +up its screen. + +The terrestrial fleet set to work, everything they had flying at the +Thessian giants, but the Thessians had heavier ships, and heavier tubes. +More power was winning for them. Inevitably, when the Sun's interference +somewhat weakened the ray shield-- + +About that time Arcot arrived. The nearest fort dived toward the further +with an acceleration that smashed it against no less than ten of its own +ships before they could so much as move. + +When the way was clear to the other fort--and that fort had moved, the +berserk fort started off a new tack--and garnered six more wrecks on its +side. + +Then Thett's emissaries located Arcot. The screen was up, and the +Negrian attractive ray apparatus which Arcot had used was working +through it. The screen flashed here and there and collapsed under the +full barrage of half the Thessian fleet, as Arcot had suspected it +would. But the same force that made it collapse operated a relay that +turned on the space control, and Thett's molecular ray energy steamed +off to outer space. + +"We worried them, then dug our hole and dragged it in after us, as +usual, but damn it, we can't hurt them!" said Arcot disgustedly. "All we +can do is tease them, then go hide where it's perfectly safe, in +artificial--" Arcot stopped in amazement. The ship had been held under +such space control that space was shut in about them, and they were +motionless. The dials had reached a steady point, the current flow had +become zero, and they hung there with only the very slow drain of the +Sun's gravitational field and that of the planet's field pulling on the +ship. Suddenly the current had leaped, and the dials giving the charge +in the various coil banks had moved them down toward zero. + +"Hey--they've got a wedge in here and are breaking out our hole. Turn on +all the generators, Morey." Arcot was all action now. Somehow, +inconceivable though it was, the Thessians had spotted them, and got +some means of attacking them, despite their invulnerable position in +another space! + +The generators were on, pouring enormous power into the coils, and the +dials surged, stopped, and climbed ever so slowly. They should have +jumped back under that charge, ordinarily dangerously heavy. For perhaps +thirty seconds they climbed, then they started down at full speed! + +Arcot's hand darted to the time field, and switched it on full. The dial +jerked, swung, then swung back, and started falling in unison with the +dials, stopped, and climbed. All climbed swiftly, gaining ever more +rapidly. With what seemed a jerk, the time dial flew over, and back, as +Arcot opened the switch. They were free, and the dial on the space +control coils was climbing normally now. + +"By the Nine Planets, did they drink out our energy! The energy of six +tons of lead just like that!" + +"How'd they do it?" asked Wade. + +Torlos kept silent, and helped Morey replace the coils of lead wire with +others from stock. + +"Same way we tickled them," replied Arcot, carefully studying the +control instruments, "with the gravity ray! We knew all along that +gravitational fields drank out the energy--they simply pulled it out +faster than we could pump it in, and used four different rays on us +doing it. Which speaks well for a little ship! But they burned off the +relux on one room here, and it's a wreck. The molecs hit everything in +it. Looks like something bad," called Arcot. The room was Morey's, but +he'd find that out himself. "In the meantime, see if you can tell where +we are. I got loose from their rays by going on both the high speed +time-field and the space control at full, with all generators going full +blast. Man, they had a stranglehold on us that time! But wait till we +get that new ship turned out!" + +With the telectroscope they could see what was happening. The terrific +bombardment of rays was continuing, and the fleets were locked now in a +struggle, the combined fleets of Earth and Venus and of Nansal, far +across the void. Many of the terrestrian, or better, Solarian ships, +were equipped with space distortion apparatus, now, and had some measure +of safety in that the attractive rays of the Thessians could not be so +concentrated on them. In numbers was safety; Arcot had been endangered +because he was practically alone at the time they attacked. + +But it was obvious that the Solarian fleet was losing. They could not +compete with the heavier ships, and now the frequent flaming bursts of +light that told of a ship caught in the new deadly ray showed another +danger. + +"I think Earth is lost if you cannot aid it soon, Arcot, for other +Thessian ships are coming," said Stel Felso Theu softly. + +From out of the plane of the planetary orbits they were coming, across +space from some other world, a fleet of dozens of them. They were +visible as one after another leapt into normal time-rates. + +"Why don't they fight in advanced time?" asked Morey, half aloud. + +"Because the genius that designed that apparatus didn't think of it. +Remember, Morey, those ships have their time apparatus connected with +their power apparatus so that the power has to feed the time +continuously. They have no coils like ours. When they advance their +time, they're weakened every other way. + +"We need that new ship. Are we going to make it?" demanded Arcot. + +"Take weeks at best. What chance?" asked Morey. + +"Plenty; watch." As he spoke, Arcot pulled open the time controls, and +spun the ship about. They headed off toward a tiny point of light far +beyond. It rushed toward them, grew with the swiftness of an exploding +bomb, and was suddenly a great, rough fragment of a planet hanging +before them, miles in extent. + +"Eros," explained Wade laconically to Torlos. "Part of an ancient planet +that was destroyed before the time of man, or life on Earth. The planet +got too near the sun when its orbit was irregular, and old Sol pulled it +to pieces. This is one of the pieces. The other asteroids are the rest. +All planetary surfaces are made up of great blocks; they aren't +continuous, you know. Like blocks of concrete in a building, they can +slide a bit on each other, but friction holds them till they slip with a +jar and we have earthquakes. This is one of the planetary blocks. We see +Eros from Earth intermittently, for when this thing turns broadside it +reflects a lot of light; edge on it does not reflect so much." + +It was a desolate bit of rock. Bare, airless, waterless rock, of +enormous extent. It was contorted and twisted, but there were no great +cracks in it for it was a single planetary block. + +Arcot dropped the ship to the barren surface, and anchored it with an +attractive ray at low concentration. There was no gravity of consequence +on this bit of rock. + +"Come on, get to work. Space suits, and rush all the apparatus out," +snapped Arcot. He was on his feet, the power of the ship in neutral now. +Only the attractor was on. In the shortest possible time they got into +their suits, and under Arcot's direction set up the apparatus on the +rocky soil as fast as it was brought out. In all, less than fifteen +minutes were needed, yet Arcot was hurrying them more and more. Torlos' +tremendous strength helped, even on this gravitationless world, for he +could accelerate more quickly with his burdens. + +At last it was up for operation. The artificial matter apparatus was +operated by cosmic power, and controlled by mental operation, or by +mathematical formula as they pleased. Immediately Arcot set to work. A +giant hollow cylinder drilled a great hole completely through the thin, +curved surface of the ancient planetary block, through twelve miles of +solid rock--a cylinder of artificial matter created on a scale possible +only to cosmic power. The cylinder, half a mile across, contained a huge +plug of matter. Then the artificial matter contracted swiftly, +compressing the matter, and simultaneously treating it with the +tremendous fields that changed its energy form. In seconds it was a +tremendous mass of cosmium. + +A second smaller cylinder bored a plug from the rock, and worked on it. +A huge mass of relux resulted. Now other artificial matter tools set to +work at Arcot's bidding, and cut pieces from his huge masses of raw +materials, and literally, quick as thought, built a great framework of +them, anchored in the solid rock of the planetoid. + +Then a tremendous plane of matter formed, and neatly bisected the +planetoid, two great flat pieces of rock were left where one had +been--miles across, miles thick--planetary chips. + +On the great framework that had been constructed, four tall shafts of +cosmium appeared, and each was a hollow tube, up the center of which ran +a huge cable of relux. At the peak of each mile-high shaft was a great +globe. Now in the framework below things were materializing as Arcot's +flying thoughts arranged them--great tubes of cosmium with relux +element--huge coils of relux conductors, insulated with microscopic but +impenetrable layers of cosmium. + +Still, for all his swiftness of mind and accuracy of thought, he had to +correct two mistakes in all his work. It was nearly an hour before the +thing was finished. Then, two hundred feet long, a hundred wide, and +fifty in height, the great mechanism was completed, the tall columns +rising from four corners of the greater framework that supported it. + +Then, into it, Arcot turned the powers of the cosmos. The stars in the +airless space wavered and danced as though seen through a thick +atmosphere. Tingling power ran through them as it flowed into the +tremendous coils. For thirty seconds--then the heavens were as before. + +At last Arcot spoke. Through the radio communicators, and through the +thought-channels, his ideas came as he took off the headpiece. "It's +done now, and we can rest." There was a tremendous crash from within the +apparatus. The heavens reeled before them, and shifted, then were still, +but the stars were changed. The sun shone weirdly, and the stars were +altered. + +"That is a time shifting apparatus on a slightly larger scale," replied +Arcot to Torlos' question, "and is designed to give us a chance to work. +Come on, let's sleep. A week here should be a few minutes of Earthtime." + +"You sleep, Arcot. I'll prepare the materials for you," suggested Morey. +So Arcot and Wade went to sleep, while Morey and the Talsonian and +Torlos worked. First Morey bound the _Ancient Mariner_ to the frame of +the time apparatus, safely away from the four luminous balls, +broadcasters of the time field. Then he shut off the attractive ray, and +bound himself in the operator's seat of the apparatus of the artificial +matter machine. + +A plane of artificial matter formed, and a stretch of rock rose under +its lift as it cleft the rock apart. A great cleared, level space +resulted. Other artificial matter enclosed the rock, and the fragments +cut free were treated under tremendous pressure. In a few moments a +second enormous mass of cosmium was formed. + +For three hours Morey worked steadily, building a tremendous reserve of +materials. Lux metal he did not make, but relux, the infusible, perfect +conductor, and cosmium in tremendous masses, he did make. And he made +some great blocks of oxygen from the rock, transmuting the atoms, and +stored it frozen on the plane, with liquid hydrogen in huge tanks, and +some metals that would be needed. Then he slept while they waited for +Arcot. + +Eight hours after he had lain down, Arcot was up, and ate his breakfast. +He set to work at once with the machine. It didn't suit him, it seemed, +and first he made a new tool, a small ship that could move about, +propelled by a piece of artificial matter, and the entire ship was a +tremendously greater artificial matter machine, with a greater power +than before! + +His thoughts, far faster than hands could move, built up the gigantic +hull of the new ship, and put in the rooms, and the brace members in +less than twelve hours. A titanic shell of eight-inch cosmium, a space, +with braces of the same nonconductor of heat, cosmium, and a two inch +inner hull. A tiny space in the gigantic hull, a space less than one +thousand cubic feet in dimension was the control and living quarters. + +It was held now on great cosmium springs, but Arcot was not by any means +through. One man must do all the work, for one brain must design it, and +though he received the constant advice and help of Morey and the others, +it was his brain that pictured the thing that was built. + +At last the hull was completed. A single, glistening tube, of enormous +bulk, a mile in length, a thousand feet in diameter. Yet nearly all of +that great bulk would be used immediately. Some room would be left for +additional apparatus they might care to install. Spare parts they did +not have to carry--they could make their own from the energy abounding +in space. + +The enormous, shining hull was a thing of beauty through stark grandeur +now, but obviously incomplete. The ray projectors were not mounted, but +they were to be ray projectors of a type never before possible. Space is +the transmitter of all rays, and it is in space that those energy forms +exist. Arcot had merely to transfer the enormously high energy level of +the space-curvature to any form of energy he wanted, and now, with the +complete statistics on it, he was able to do that directly. No tubes, no +generators, only fields that changed the energy already there--the +immeasurable energy available! + +The next period of work he started the space distortion apparatus. That +must go at the exact center of the ship. One tremendous coil, big enough +for the _Ancient Mariner_ to lie in easily! Minutes, and flying thoughts +had made it--then came thousands of the individual coils, by thinking of +one, and picturing it many times! In ranks, rows, and columns they were +piled into a great block, for power must be stored for use of this +tremendous machine, while in the artificial space when its normal power +was not available, and that power source must be tremendous. + +Then the time apparatus, and after that the driving apparatus. Not the +molecular drive now, but an attraction ray focused on their own ship, +with projectors scattered about the ship that it might move effortlessly +in every direction. And provision was made for a force-drive by means of +artificial matter, planes of it pushing the ship where it was wanted. +But with the attraction-drive they would be able to land safely, without +fear of being crushed by their own weight on Thett, for all its enormous +gravity. + +The control was now suspended finally, with a series of attraction +drives about it, locking it immovably in place, while smaller attraction +devices stimulated gravity for the occupants. + +Then finally the main apparatus--the power plant--was installed. The +enormous coils which handled, or better, caused space to handle as they +directed, powers so great that whole suns could be blasted +instantaneously, were put in place, and the field generators that would +make and direct their rays, their ray screen if need be, and handle +their artificial matter. Everything was installed, and all but a rather +small space was occupied. + +It had been six weeks of continuous work for them, for the mind of each +was aiding in this work, indirectly or directly, and it neared +completion now. + +"But, we need one more thing, Arcot. That could never land on any planet +smaller than Jupiter. What is its mass?" suggested Morey. + +"Don't know, I'm sure, but it is of the order of a billion tons. I know +you are right. What are we going to do?" + +"Put on a tender." + +"Why not the _Ancient Mariner_?" asked Wade. + +"It isn't fitting. It was designed for individual use anyway," replied +Morey. "I suggest something more like this on a small scale. We won't +have much work on that, merely think of every detail of the big ship on +a small scale, with the exception of the control cube furnishings. +Instead of the numerous decks, swimming pool and so forth, have a large, +single room." + +"Good enough," replied Arcot. + +As if by magic, a machine appeared, a "small" machine of +two-hundred-foot length, modified slightly in some parts, its bottom +flattened, and equipped with an attractor anchor. Then they were ready. + +"We will leave the _Mariner_ here, and get it later. This apparatus +won't be needed any longer, and we don't want the enemy to get it. Our +trial trip will be a fight!" called Arcot as he leaped from his seat. +The mass of the giant ship pulled him, and he fell slowly toward it. + +Into its open port he flew, the others behind him, their suits still on. +The door shut behind them as Arcot, at the controls, closed it. As yet +they had not released the air supplies. It was airless. + +Now the hiss of air, and the quickening of heat crept through it. The +water in the tanks thawed as the heat came, soaking through from the +great heaters. In minutes the air and heat were normal throughout the +great bulk. There was air in power compartments, though no one was +expected to go there, for the control room alone need be occupied; +vision-screens here viewed every part of the ship, and all about it. + +The eyes of the new ship were set in recesses of the tremendously strong +cosmium wall, and over them, protecting them, was an infinitely thin, +but infinitely strong wall of artificial matter, permanently maintained. +It was opaque to all forms of radiation known from the longest Hertzian +to the shortest cosmics, save for the very narrow band of visible light. +Whether this protection would stop the Thessian beam that was so deadly +to lux and relux was not, of course, known. But Arcot hoped it would, +and, if that beam was radiant energy, or material particles, it would. + +"We'll destroy our station here now, and leave the _Ancient Mariner_ +where it is. Of course we are a long way out of the orbit this planetoid +followed, due to the effect of the time apparatus, but we can note where +it is, and we'll be able to find it when we want it," said Arcot, seated +at the great control board now. There were no buttons now, or visible +controls; all was mental. + +A tiny sphere of artificial matter formed, and shot toward the control +board of the time machine outside. It depressed the main switch, and +space about them shifted, twisted, and returned to normal. The time +apparatus was off for the first time in six weeks. + +"Can't fuse that, and we can't crush it. It's made of cosmium, and +trying to crush it against the rock would just drive it into it. We'll +see what we can do though," muttered Arcot. A plane of artificial matter +formed just beneath it, and sheared it from its bed on the planetoid, +cutting through the heavy cosmium anchors. The framework lifted, and the +apparatus with it. A series of planes, a gigantic honeycomb formed, and +the apparatus was cut across again and again, till only small fragments +were left of it. Then these were rolled into a ball, and crushed by a +sphere of artificial matter beyond all repair. The enemy would never +learn their secret. + +A huge cylinder of artificial matter cut a great gouge from the plane +that was left where the apparatus had been, and a clamp of the same +material picked up the _Ancient Mariner_, deposited it there, then +covered it with rubble and broken rock. A cosmic flashed on the rock for +an instant, and it was glowing, incandescent lava. The _Ancient Mariner_ +was buried under a hundred feet of rapidly solidifying rock, but rock +which could be fused away from its infusible walls when the time came. + +"We're ready to go now--get to work with the radio, Morey, when we get +to Earth." + +The gravity seemed normal here as they walked about, no accelerations +affected them as the ship darted forward, for all its inconceivably +great mass, like an arrow, then flashed forward under time control. The +sun was far distant now, for six weeks they had been traveling with the +section of Eros under time control. But with their tremendous time +control plant, and the space control, they reached the solar system in +very little time. + +It seemed impossible to them that that battle could still be waging, but +it was. The ships of Earth and Venus, battling now as a last, hopeless +stand, over Chicago, were attempting to stop the press of a great +Thessian fleet. Thin, long Negrian, or Sirian ships had joined them in +the hour of Earth time that the men had been working. Still, despite the +reinforcements, they were falling back. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +THE BATTLE OF EARTH + + +It had been an anxious hour for the forces of the Solar System. + +They were in the last fine stages of Earth's defense when the general +staff received notice that a radio message of tremendous power had +penetrated the ray screen, with advice for them. It was signed "Arcot." + +"Bringing new weapon. Draw all ships within the atmosphere when I start +action, and drive Thessians back into space. Retire as soon as a +distance of ten thousand miles is reached. I will then handle the +fleet," was the message. + +"Gentlemen: We are losing. The move suggested would be eminently poor +tactics unless we are sure of being able to drive them. If we don't, we +are lost in any event. I trust Arcot. How vote you?" asked General +Hetsar Sthel. + +The message was relayed to the ships. Scarcely a moment after the +message had been relayed, a tremendous battleship appeared in space, +just beyond the battle. It shot forward, and planted itself directly in +the midst of the battle, brushing aside two huge Thessians in its +progress. The Thessian ships bounced off its sides, and reeled away. It +lay waiting, making no move. All the Thessian ships above poured the +full concentration of their moleculars into its tremendous bulk. A +diffused glow of opalescence ran over every ship--save the giant. The +moleculars were being reflected from its sides, and their diffused +energy attacked the very ships that were sending them! + +A fort moved up, and the deadly beam of destruction reached out, +luminous even in space. + +"Now," muttered Morey, "we shall see what cosmium will stand." + +A huge spot on the side of the ship had become incandescent. A vapor, a +strange puff of smokiness exploded from it, and disappeared instantly. +Another came and faster and faster they followed each other. The cosmium +was disintegrating under the ray, but very slowly, breaking first into +gaseous cosmic rays, then free, and spreading. + +"We will not fight," muttered Morey happily as he saw Arcot shift in his +seat. + +Arcot picked the moleculars. They reached out, touched the heavy relux +of the fort, and it exploded into opalescence that was hazily white, the +colors shifted so quickly. A screen sprang into being, and the ray was +chopped off. The screen was a mass of darting flames as energies of +stupendous magnitude clashed. + +Arcot used a bit more of his inconceivable power. The ray struck the +screen, and it flashed once--then died into blackness. The fort suddenly +crumpled in like a dented can, and rolled clumsily away. The other fort +was near now, and started an attack of its own. Arcot chose the +artificial matter this time. He was not watching the many attacking +ships. + +The great ship careened suddenly, fell over heavily to one side. +"Foolish of me," said Arcot. "They tried crashing us." + +A mass of crumpled, broken relux and lux surrounded by a haze of gas +lying against a slight scratch on the great sides, told the story. Eight +inches of cosmium does not give way. + +Yet another ship tried it. But it stopped several feet away from the +real wall of the ship. It struck a wall even more unyielding--artificial +matter. + +But now Arcot was using this major weapon--artificial matter. Ship after +ship, whether fleeing or attacking, was surrounded suddenly by a great +sphere of it, a sudden terrific blaze of energy as the sphere struck the +ray shield, the control forces now backed by the energy of all the +millions of stars of space shattered it in an instant. Then came the +inexorable crush of the artificial matter, and a ball of matter alone +remained. + +But the pressing disc of the battle-front which had been lowering on +Chicago, greatest of Earth's metropolises, was lifted. This disc-front +was staggering back now as Arcot's mighty ship weakened its strength, +and destroyed its morale, under the steady drive of the now hopeful +Solarians. + +The other gigantic fort moved up now, with twenty of the largest +battleships. The fort turned loose its destructive ray--and Arcot tried +his new "magnet." It was not a true magnet, but a transformed space +field, a field created by the energy of all the universe. + +The fort was gigantic. Even Arcot's mighty ship was a small thing beside +it, but suddenly it seemed warped and twisted as space curved visibly in +a magnetic field of such terrific intensity as to be immeasurable. + +Arcot's armory was tested and found not wanting. + +Suddenly every Thessian ship in sight ceased to exist. They disappeared. +Instantly Arcot threw on all time power, and darted toward Venus. The +Thessians were already nearing the planet, and no possible rays could +overtake them. An instantaneous touch of the space control, and the +mighty ship was within hundreds of miles of the atmosphere. + +Space twisted about them, reeled, and was firm. The Thessian fleet was +before them in a moment, visible now as they slowed to normal speed. +Startled, no doubt, to find before them the ship they had fled, they +charged on for a space. Then, as though by some magic, they stopped and +exploded in gouts of light. + +When space had twisted, seconds before, it was because Arcot had drawn +on the enormous power of space to an extent that had been appreciable +even to it--ten sols. That was forty million tons of matter a second, +and for a hundredth part of a second it had flowed. Before them, in a +vast plane, had been created an infinitesimally thin film of artificial +matter, four hundred thousand tons of it, and into this invisible, +infinitely hard barrier, the Thessian fleet had rammed. And it was gone. + +"I think," said Arcot softly, as he took off his headpiece, "that the +beginning of the end is in sight." + +"And I," said Morey, "think it is now out of sight. Half a dozen ships +stopped. And they are gone now, to warn the others." + +"What warning? What can they tell? Only that their ships were destroyed +by something they couldn't see." Arcot smiled. "I'm going home." + + + + +Chapter XX + +DESTRUCTION + + +Some time later, Arcot spoke. "I have just received a message from +Zezdon Fentes that he has an important communication to make, so I will +go down to New York instead of to Chicago, if you gentlemen do not mind. +Morey will take you to Chicago in the tender, and I can find Zezdon +Fentes." + +Zezdon Fentes' message was brief. He had discovered from the minds of +several who had been killed by the magnetic field Arcot had used, and +not destroyed, that they had a base in this universe. Thett's base was +somewhere near the center of the galaxy, on a system of unusually large +planets, circling a rather small star. But what star their minds had not +revealed. + +"It's up to us then to locate said star," said Arcot, after listening to +Zezdon Fentes' account: "I think the easiest way will be to follow them +home. We can go to your world, Zezdon Fentes, and see what they are +doing there, and drive them off. Then to yours, Stel Felso. I place your +world second as it is far better able to defend itself than is Ortol. It +is agreeable?" + +It was, and the ship which had been hanging in the atmosphere over New +York, where Zezdon Afthen, Fentes and Inthel had come to it in a +taxi-ship, signaled for the crowd to clear away above. The enormous bulk +of the shining machine, the savior of Earth, had attracted a very great +amount of attention, naturally, and thousands on thousands of hardy +souls had braved the cold of the fifteen mile height with altitude suits +or in small ships. Now they cleared away, and as the ship slowly rose, +the tremendous concentrated mental well-wishing of the thousands reached +the men within the ship. "That," observed Morley, "is one thing cosmium +won't stop. In some ways I wish it would--because the mental power that +could be wielded by any great number of those highly advanced Thessians, +if they know its possibilities, is not a thing to neglect." + +"I can answer that, terrestrian," thought Zezdon Afthen. "Our +instruments show great mental powers, and great ability to concentrate +the will in mental processes, but they indicate a very slight +development of these abilities. Our race, despite the fact that our +mental powers are much less than those of such men as Arcot and +yourself, have done, and can do many things your greater minds cannot, +for we have learned the direction of the will. We need not fear the will +of the Thessians. I feel confident of that!" + +The ship was in space now, and as Arcot directed it toward Ortol, far +far across the Island, he threw on, for the moment, the combined power +of space distortion and time fields. Instantly the sun vanished, and +when, less than a second later, he cut off the space field, and left +only the time, the constellations were instantly recognizable. They were +within a dozen light years of Ortol. + +"Morey, may I ask what you call this machine?" asked Torlos. + +"You may, but I can't answer," laughed Morey. "We were so anxious to get +it going that we didn't name it. Any suggestions?" + +For a moment none of them made any suggestions, then slowly came Arcot's +thoughts, clear and sharp, the thoughts of carefully weighed decision. + +"The swiftest thing that ever was _thought_! The most irresistible +thing, _thought_, for nothing can stop its progress. The most +destructive thing, _thought_. Thought, the greatest constructor, the +greatest destroyer, the product of mind, and producer of powers, the +greatest of powers. Thought is controlled by the mind. Let us call it +_Thought_!" + +"Excellent, Arcot, excellent. The _Thought_, the controller of the +powers of the cosmos!" cried Morey. + +"But the _Thought_ has not been christened, save in battle, and then it +had no name. Let us emblazen its name on it now," suggested Wade. + +Stopping their motion through space, but maintaining a time field that +permitted them to work without consuming precious time, Arcot formed +some more cosmium, but now he subjected it to a special type of +converted field, and into the cosmium, he forced some light photons, +half bound, half free. The fixture he formed into the letters, and +welded forever on the gigantic prow of the ship, and on its huge sides. +_Thought_, it stood in letters ten feet high, made of clear transparent +cosmium, and the golden light photons, imprisoned in it, the slowly +disintegrating lux metal, would cause those letters to shine for +countless aeons with the steady golden light they now had. + +The _Thought_ continued on now, and as they slowed their progress for +Ortol, they saw that messengers of Thett had barely arrived. The fort +here too had been razed to the ground, and now they were concentrating +over the largest city of Ortol. Their rays were beating down on the +great ray screen that terrestrial engineers had set up, protecting the +city, as Earth had been protected. But the fleet that stood guard was +small, and was rapidly being destroyed. A fort broke free, and plunged +at last for the ray screen. Its relux walls glowed a thousand colors as +the tremendous energy of the ray-screen struck them--but it was through! + +A molecular ray reached down for the city--and stopped halfway in a +tremendous coruscating burst of light and energy. Yet there was none of +the sheen of the ray screen. Merely light. + +The fort was still driving downward. Then suddenly it stopped, and the +side dented in like the side of a can some one has stepped on, and it +came to sudden rest against an invisible, impenetrable barrier. A +molecular reached down from somewhere in space, hit the ray screen of +Ortol, which the Thessians had attacked for hours, and the screen +flashed into sudden brilliance, and disappeared. The ray struck the +Thessian fort, and the fort burst into tremendous opalescence, while the +invisible barrier the ray had struck was suddenly a great sheet of +flaming light. In less than half a second the opalescence was gone, the +fort shuddered, and shrieked out of the planet's atmosphere, a mass of +lux now, and susceptible to the moleculars. And everything that lived +within that fort had died instantly and painlessly. + +The fleet which had been preparing to follow the leading fort was +suddenly stopped; it halted indecisively. + +Then the _Thought_ became visible as its great golden letters showed +suddenly, streaking up from distant space. Every ship turned cosmic and +moleculars on it. The cosmic rebounded from the cosmium walls, and from +the artificial matter that protected the eyes. The moleculars did not +affect either, but the invisible protective sheet that the _Thought_ was +maintaining in the Ortolian atmosphere became misty as it fought the +slight molecular rebounds. + +The _Thought_ went into action. The fort which remained was the point of +attack. The fort had turned its destructive ray on the cosmium ship with +the result that, as before, the cosmium slowly disintegrated into puffs +of cosmic rays. The vapor seemed to boil out, puff suddenly, then was +gone. Arcot put up a wall of artificial matter to test the effect. The +ray went right through the matter, without so much as affecting it. He +tried a sheet of pure energy, an electro-magnetic energy stream of +tremendous power. The ray bent sharply to one side. But in a moment the +Thessians had realigned it. + +"It's a photonic stream, but of some type that doesn't affect ordinary +matter, but only artificial matter such as lux, relux, or cosmium. If +the artificial matter would only fight it, I'd be all right." The +thought running through Arcot's mind reached the others. + +A tremendous burst of light energy to the rear announced the fact that a +Thessian had crashed against the artificial matter wall that surrounded +the ship. Arcot was throwing the Thessian destructive beam from side to +side now, and twice succeeded in misdirecting it so that it hit the +enemy machines. + +The _Thought_ sent out its terrific beam of magnetic energy. The ray was +suddenly killed, and the fort cruised helplessly on. Its driving +apparatus was dead. The diffused cosmic reached out, and as the magnetic +field, the relux and the cosmics interacted, the great fort was suddenly +blue-white--then instantly a dust that scattered before an enormous +blast of air. + +From the _Thought_ a great shell of artificial matter went, a visible, +misty wall, that curled forward, and wrapped itself around the Thessian +ships with a motion of tremendous speed, yet deceptive, for it seemed to +billow and flow. + +A Thessian warship decided to brush it away--and plowed into +inconceivable strength. The ship crumpled to a mass of broken relux. + +The greater part of the Thessian fleet had already fled, but there +remained half a hundred great battleships. And now, within half a +million miles of the planet, there began a battle so weird that +astronomers who watched could not believe it. + +From behind the _Thought_, where it hung motionless beyond the misty +wall, a Thing came. + +The Thessian ships had realized now that the misty sphere that walled +them in was impenetrable, and their rays were off, for none they now had +would penetrate it. The forts were gone. + +But the Thing that came behind the _Thought_ was a ship, a little ship +of the same misty white, and it flowed into, and through the wall, and +was within their prison. The Thessian ships turned their rays toward it, +and waited. What was this thing? + +The ovaloid ship which drifted so slowly toward them suddenly seemed to +jerk, and from it reached pseudopods! An amoeba on a titanic scale! It +writhed its way purposefully toward the nearest ship, and while that +ship waited, a pseudopod reached out, and suddenly drove through the +four foot relux armor! A second pseudopod followed with lightning +rapidity, and in an instant the ship had been split from end to end! + +Now a hundred rays were leaping toward the thing, and the rays burst +into fire and gouts of light, blackened, burned pseudopods seemed to +fall from the thing and hastily it retreated from the enclosure, flowing +once more through the wall that stopped their rays. + +But another Thing came. It was enormous, a mile long, a great, shining +scaly thing, a dragon, and on its mighty neck was mounted an enormous, +distorted head, with great flat nose and huge flapping nostrils. It was +a Thessian head! The mouth, fifty feet across, wrinkled into an horrific +grin, and broken, stained teeth of iron showed in the mouth. Great +talons upraised, it rent the misty wall that bound them, and writhed its +awful length in. The swish of its scales seemed to come to the watchers, +as it chased after a great battleship whose pilot fled in terror. Faster +than the mighty spaceship the awful Thing caught it in mighty talons +that ripped through solid relux. Scratching, fluttering enormous, +blood-red wings, the silvery claws tore away great masses of relux, +sending them flying into space. + +Again rays struck at it. Cosmic and moleculars with blinding pencils of +light. For now in the close space of the Wall was an atmosphere, the air +of two great warships, and though the space was great, the air in the +ships was dense. + +The rays struck its awful face. The face burst into light, and black, +greasy smoke steamed up, as the thing writhed and twisted horribly, +awful screams ringing out. Then it was free, and half the face was +burned away, and a grinning, bleeding, half-cooked face writhed and +screamed in anger at them. It darted at the nearest ship, and ripped out +that ray that burned it--and quivered into death. It quivered, then +quickly faded into mist, a haze, and was gone! + +A last awful thing--a thing they had not noticed as all eyes watched +that Thing--was standing by the rent in the Sphere now, the gigantic +Thessian, with leering, bestial jaws, enormous, squat limbs, the webbed +fingers and toes, and the heavy torso of his race, grinning at them. In +one hand was a thing--and his jaws munched. Thett's men stared in horror +as they recognized that thing in his hand--a Thessian body! He grinned +happily and reached for a battleship--a ray burned him. He howled, and +leaped into their midst. + +Then the Thessians went mad. All fought, and they fought each other, +rays of all sorts, their moleculars and their cosmics, while in their +midst the Giant howled his glee, and laughed and laughed-- + +Eventually it was over, and the last limping Thessian ship drove itself +crazily against the wreck of its last enemy. And only wreckage was left. + +"Lord, Arcot! Why in the Universe did you do that--and how did you +conceive those horrors?" asked Morey, more than a little amazed at the +tactics Arcot had displayed. + +Arcot shook himself, and disconnected his controls. "Why--why I don't +know. I don't know what made me do that, I'm sure. I never imagined +anything like that dragon thing--how did--" + +His keen eyes fixed themselves suddenly on Zezdon Fentes, and their +tremendous hypnotic power beat down the resistance of the Ortolian's +trained mind. Arcot's mind opened for the others the thoughts of Zezdon +Fentes. + +He had acted as a medium between the minds of the Thessians, and Arcot. +Taking the horror-ideas of the Thessians, he had imprinted them on +Arcot's mind while Arcot was at work with the controls. In Arcot's mind, +they had acted exactly as had the ideas that night on Earth, only here +the demonstration had been carried to the limit, and the horror ideas +were compounded to the utmost. The Thessians, highly developed minds +though they were, were not resistant and they had broken. The Allies, +with their different horror-ideas, had been but slightly affected. + +"We will leave you on Ortol, Zezdon Fentes. We know you have done much, +and perhaps your own mind has given a bit. We hope you recover. I think +you agree with me, Zezdon Afthen and Inthel?" thought Arcot. + +"We do, heartily, and are heartily sorry that one of our race has acted +in this way. Let us proceed to Talso, as soon as possible. You might +send Fentes down in a shell of artificial matter," suggested Zezdon +Afthen. + +"Which," said Arcot, after this had been done, and they were on their +way to Talso, "shows the danger of a mad _Thought_!" + + + + +Chapter XXI + +THE POWER OF "_THE THOUGHT_" + + +But it seemed, or must have seemed to any infinite being capable of +watching it as it moved now, that the _Thought_ was a mad thought. With +the time control opened to the limit, and a touch of the space control, +it fled across the Universe at a velocity such as no other thing was +capable of. + +One star--it flashed to a disc, loomed enormous--overpowering--then +suddenly they were flashing _through_ it! The enormous coils fed their +current into the space-coils and the time field, and the ship seemed to +twist and writhe in distorted space as the gravitational field of a +giant star, and a giant ship's space field fought for a fraction of time +so short as to be utterly below measurement. Then the ship was gone--and +behind it a star, the center of which had suddenly been hurled into +another space forever, as the counteracting, gravitational field of the +outer layers was removed for a moment, and only its own enormous density +affected space, writhed and collapsed upon itself, to explode into a +mighty sea of flames. Planets it formed, we know, by a process such as +can happen when only this man-made accident happens. + +But the ship fled on, its great coils partly discharged, but still far +more charged than need be. + +It was minutes to Talso where it had been hours with the _Ancient +Mariner_, but now they traveled with the speed of _Thought_! + +Talso too was the scene of a battle, and more of a battle than Ortol had +been, for here where more powerful defensive forces had been active, the +Thessians had been more vengeful. All their remaining ships seemed +concentrated here. And the great molecular screen that terrestrian +engineers had flung up here had already fallen. Great holes had +opened in it, as two great forts, and a thousand ships, some mighty +battleships of the intergalactic spaces, some little scout cruisers, +had turned their rays on the struggling defensive machines. It had held +for hours, thanks to the tremendous tubes that Talso had in their +power-distribution stations, but in the end had fallen, but not before +many of their largest cities had been similarly defended, and the people +of the others had scattered broadcast. + +True, wherever they might be, a diffused molecular would find them and +destroy all life save under the few screens, but if the Thessians once +diffused their rays, without entering the atmosphere, the broken screen +would once more be able to hold. + +No fleet had kept the Thessian forces out of this atmosphere, but dozens +of more adequately powered artificial matter bomb stations had taught +Thett respect for Talso. But Talso's own ray screen had stopped their +bombs. They could only send their bombs as high as the screen. They did +not have Arcot's tremendous control power to maintain the matter without +difficulty even beyond a screen. + +At last the screen had fallen, and the Thessian ships, a hole once made, +were able to move, and kept that hole always under them, though if it +once were closed, they would again have the struggle to open it. + +Exploding matter bombs had twice caused such spatial strains and ionized +conditions as to come near closing it, but finally the Thessian fleet +had arranged a ring of ships about the hole, and opened a cylinder of +rays that reached down to the planet. + +Like some gigantic plow the rays tore up mountains, oceans, glaciers and +land. Tremendous chasms opened in straight lines as it plowed along. +Unprotected cities flashed into fountains of rock and soil and steel +that leaped upwards as the rays touched, and were gone. Protected +cities, their screens blazing briefly under the enormous ray +concentrations as the ships moved on, unheeding, stood safe on islands +of safety amidst the destruction. Here in the lower air, where ions +would be so plentiful, Thett did not try to break down the screens, for +the air would aid the defenders. + +Finally, as Thett's forces had planned, they came to one of the ionized +layer ray-screen stations that was still projecting its cone of +protective screening to the layer above. Every available ray was turned +on that station, and, designed as it was for protecting part of a world, +the station was itself protected, but slowly, slowly as its already +heated tubes weakened their electronic emission, the disc of ions +retreated more and more toward the station, as, like some splashing +stream, the Thessian rays played upon it forcing it back. A rapidly +accelerating retreat, faster and faster, as the disc changed from the +dull red of normal defense to the higher and bluer quanta of failing, +less complete defense, the disc of interference retreated. + +Then, with a flash of light, and a roar as the soil below spouted up, +the station was gone. It had failed. + +Instantly the ring of ships expanded as the great screen was weakened by +the withdrawal of this support. Wider was the path of destruction now as +the forces moved on. + +But high, high in the sky, far out of sight of the naked eye, was a tiny +spot that was in reality a giant ship. It was flashing forward, and in +moments it was visible. Then, as another deserted city vanished, it was +above the Thessian fleet. + +Their rays were directed downward through a hole that was even larger. A +second station had gone with that city. But, as by magic, the hole +closed up, and chopped their rays off with a decisiveness that startled +them. The interference was so sharp now that not even the dullest of +reds showed where their beams touched. The close interference was giving +off only radio! In amazement they looked for this new station of such +enormous power that their combined rays did not noticeably affect it. A +world had been fighting their rays unsuccessfully. What single station +could do this, if the many stations of the world could not? There was +but one they knew of, and they turned now to search for the ship they +knew must be there. + +"No horrors this time; just clean, burning energy," muttered Arcot. + +It was clean, and it was burning. In an instant one of the forts was a +mass of opalescence that shifted so swiftly it was purest white, then +rocketed away, lifeless, and no longer relux. + +The other fort had its screen up, though its power, designed to +withstand the attack of a fleet of enormous intergalactic, +matter-driven, fighting ships lasted but an instant under the driving +power of half a million million suns, concentrated in one enormous ray +of energy. The sheer energy of the ray itself, molecular ray though it +was, heated the material it struck to blinding incandescence even as it +hurled it at a velocity close to that of light into outer space. With +little sparkling flashes battleships of the void after giant cruisers +flashed into lux, and vanished under the ray. + +A tremendous combined ray of magnetism and cosmic ray energy replaced +the molecular, and the ships exploded into a dust as fine as the +primeval gas from which came all matter. + +Sweeping energy, so enormous that the defenses of the ships did not even +operate against it, shattered ship after ship, till the few that +remained turned, and, faster than the pursuing energies could race +through space, faster than light, headed for their base. + +"That was fair fight; energy against energy," said Arcot delightedly, +for his new toy, which made playthings of suns and fed on the cosmic +energy of a universe, was behaving nicely, "and as I said, Stel Felso +Theu, at the beginning of this war, the greater Power wins, always. And +in our island here, I have five hundred thousand million separate power +plants, each generating at the rate of decillions of ergs a second, +backing this ship. + +"Your world will be safe now, and we will head for our last embattled +ally, Sirius." The titanic ship turned, and disappeared from the view of +the madly rejoicing billions of Talso below, as it sped, far faster than +light, across a universe to relieve another sorely tried civilization. + +Knowing their cause was lost, hopeless in the knowledge that nothing +known to them could battle that enormous force concentrated in one ship, +the _Thought_, the Thessians had but one aim now, to do all the damage +in their power before leaving. + +Already their tremendous, unarmed and unarmored transports were +departing with their hundreds of thousands from that base system for the +far-off Island of Space from which they had come. Their battlefleets +were engaged in destroying all the cities of the allies, and those other +helpless races of our system that they could. Those other inhabited +worlds, many of which were completely wiped out because Arcot had no +knowledge of them, were relieved only when the general call for retreat +to protect the mother planet was sent out. + +But Sirius was looming enormous before them. And its planets, heavily +defended now by the combined Sirian, Terrestrial and Venerian fleets and +great ray screens as well as a few matter-bomb stations, were suffering +losses none the less. For the old Sixth of Negra, the Third here, had +fallen. Slipping in on the night side of the planet, all power off, and +so sending forth no warning impulses till it actually fell through the +ray screen, a small fleet of scouts had entered. Falling still under +simple gravity, they had been missed by the rays till they had fallen to +so small a distance, that no humans or men of our allied systems could +have stopped, but only their enormous iron boned strength permitted them +to resist the acceleration they used to avert collision with the planet. +Then scattering swiftly, they had blasted the great protective screen +stations by attacking on the sides, where the ray screen projectors were +not mounted. Designed to protect above, they had no side armor, and the +Sixth was opened to attack. + +Two and one-half billion people lost their lives painlessly and +instantaneously as tremendous diffused moleculars played on the +revolving planet. + +Arcot arrived soon after this catastrophe. The Thessians left almost +immediately, after the loss of three hundred or more ships. One hundred +and fifty wrecks were found. The rest were so blasted by the forces +which attacked them, that no traces could be found, and no count made. + +But as those ships fled back to their base, Arcot, with the wonderfully +delicate mental control of his ship, was able to watch them, and follow +them; for, invisible under normal conditions, by twisting space in the +same manner that they did he was able to see them flee, and follow. + +Light year after light year they raced toward the distant base. They +reached it in two hours, and Arcot saw them from a distance sink to the +various worlds. There were twelve gigantic worlds, each far larger than +Jupiter of Sol, and larger than Stwall of Talso's sun, Renl. + +"I think," said Arcot as he stopped the ship at a third of a light year, +"that we had best destroy those planets. We may kill many men, and +innocent non-combatants, but they have killed many of our races, and it +is necessary. There are, no doubt, other worlds of this Universe here +that we do not know of that have felt the vengeance of Thett, and if we +can cause such trouble to them by destroying these worlds, and putting +the fear of our attacking their mother world into them, they will call +off those other fleets. I could have been invisible to Thett's ships as +we followed them here, and for the greater part of the way I was, for I +was sufficiently out of their time-rate, so that they were visible only +by the short ultra-violet, which would have put in their infra-red, and, +no photo-electric cell will work on quanta of such low energy. When at +last I was sure of the sun for which they were heading, I let them see +us, and they know we are aware of their base, and that we can follow +them. + +"I will destroy one of these worlds, and follow a fleet as it starts for +their home nebula. Gradually, as they run, I will fade into +invisibility, and they will not know that I have dropped back here to +complete the work, but will think I am still following. Probably they +will run to some other nebula in an effort to throw me off, but they +will most certainly send back a ship to call the fleets here to the +defense of Thett. + +"I think that is the best plan. Do you agree?" + +"Arcot," asked Morey slowly, "if this race attempts to settle another +Universe, what would that indicate of their own?" + +"Hmmm--that it was either populated by their own race or that another +race held the parts they did not, and that the other race was stronger," +replied Arcot. "The thought idea in their minds has always been a single +world, single solar system as their home, however." + +"And single solar systems cannot originate in this Space," replied +Morey, referring to the fact that in the primeval gas from which all +matter in this Universe and all others came, no condensation of mass +less than thousands of millions of times that of a sun could form and +continue. + +"We can only investigate--and hope that they do not inhabit the whole +system, for I am determined that, unpleasant as the idea may be, there +is one race that we cannot afford to have visiting us, and it is going +to be permanently restrained in one way or another. I will first have a +conference with their leaders and if they will not be peaceful--the +_Thought_ can destroy or make a Universe! But I think that a second race +holds part of that Universe, for several times we have read in their +minds the thought of the 'Mighty Warless Ones of Venone.'" + +"And how do you plan to destroy so large a planet as these are?" asked +Morey, indicating the telectroscope screen. + +"Watch and see!" said Arcot. + +They shot suddenly toward the distant sun, and as it expanded, planets +came into view. Moving ever slower on the time control, Arcot drove the +ship toward a gigantic planet at a distance of approximately 300,000,000 +miles from its primary, the sun of this system. + +Arcot fell into step with the planet as it moved about in its orbit, and +watched the speed indicator carefully. + +"What's the orbital speed, Morey?" asked Arcot. + +"About twelve and a half miles per second," replied the somewhat +mystified Morey. + +"Excellent, my dear Watson," replied Arcot. "And now does my dear friend +know the average molecular velocity of ordinary air?" + +"Why, about one-third of a mile a second, average." + +"And if that planet as a whole should stop moving, and the individual +molecules be given the entire energy, what would their average velocity +be? And what temperature would that represent?" asked Arcot. + +"Good--Why, they would have to have the same kinetic energy as +individuals as they now have as a whole, and that would be an average +molecular velocity in random motion of 12.5 miles a second--giving +about--about--about--twelve thousand degrees centigrade!" exclaimed +Morey in surprise. "That would put it in the far blue-white region!" + +"Perfect. Now watch." Arcot donned the headpiece he had removed, and +once more took charge. He was very far from the planet, as distances go, +and they could not see his ship. But he wanted to be seen. So he moved +closer, and hung off to the sunward side of the planet, then moved to +the night side, but stayed in the light. In seconds, a battlefleet was +out attempting to destroy him. + +Surrounding the ship with a wall of artificial matter, lest they annoy +him, he set to work. + +Directly in the orbit of the planet, a faint mistiness appeared, and +rapidly solidified to a titanic cup, directly in the path of the planet. + +Arcot was pouring energy into the making of that matter at such a rate +that space was twisted now about them. The meter before them, which had +not registered previously, was registering now, and had moved over to +three. Three sols--and was still climbing. It stopped when ten were +reached. Ten times the energy of our sun was pouring into that +condensation, and it solidified quickly. + +The Thessians had seen the danger now. It was less than ten minutes away +from their planet, and now great numbers of ships of all sorts started +up from the planet, swarming out like rats from a sinking vessel. + +Majestically the great world moved on in its orbit toward the thin wall +of infinite strength and infinite toughness. Already Thessian +battleships were tearing at that wall with rays of all types, and the +wall sputtered back little gouts of light, and remained. The meters on +the _Thought_ were no longer registering. The wall was built, and now +Arcot had all the giant power of the ship holding it there. Any attempt +to move it or destroy it, and all the energy of the Universe would rush +to its defense! + +The atmosphere of the planet reached the wall. Instantly, as the +pressure of that enormous mass of air touched it, the wall fought, and +burst into a blaze of energy. It was fighting now, and the meter that +measured sun-powers ran steadily, swiftly up the scale. But the men were +not watching the meter; they were watching the awesome sight of Man +stopping a world in its course! Turning a world from its path! + +But the meter climbed suddenly, and the world was suddenly a tremendous +blaze of light. The solid rock had struck the giant cup, 110,000 miles +in diameter. It was silent, as a world pitted its enormous kinetic +energy against the combined forces of a universe. Soundless--and as +hopeless. Its strength was nothing, its energy pitted unnoticed against +the energy of five hundred thousand million suns--as vain as those +futile attempts of the Thessian battleships on the invulnerable walls of +the _Thought_. + +What use is there to attempt description of that scene as +2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of rock and metal and matter +crashed against a wall of energy, immovable and inconceivable. The +planet crumpled, and split wide. A thousand pieces, and suddenly there +was a further mistiness about it, and the whole enormous mass, seeming +but a toy, as it was from this distance in space, and as it was in this +ship, was enclosed in that same, immovable, unalterable wall of energy. + +The ship was as quiet and noiseless, as without indication of strain as +when it hummed its way through empty space. But the planet crumpled and +twirled, and great seas of energy flashed about it. + +The world, seeming tiny, was dashed helpless against a wall that stopped +it, but the wall flared into equal and opposite energy, so that matter +was raised not to the twelve thousand Morey had estimated but nearer +twenty-four thousand degrees. It was over in less than half an hour, and +a broken, misshapen mass of blue incandescence floated in space. It +would fall now, toward the sun, and it would, because it was motionless +and the sun moved, take an eccentric orbit about that sun. Eventually, +perhaps, it would wipe out the four inferior planets, or perhaps it +would be broken as it came within the Roches limit of that sun. But the +planet was now a miniature sun, and not so very small, at that. + +And from every planet of the system was pouring an assorted stream of +ships, great and small, and they all set panic-stricken across the void +in the same direction. They had seen the power of the _Thought_, and did +not contest any longer its right to this system. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +THETT + + +Through the utter void of intergalactic space sped a tiny shell, a wee +mite of a ship. Scarcely twenty feet long, it was one single power +plant. The man who sat alone in it, as it tore through the void at the +maximum speed that even its tiny mass was capable of, when every last +twist possible had been given to the distorted time fields, watched a +far, far galaxy ahead that seemed unchanging. + +Hours, days sped by, and he did not move from his position in the ship. +But the ship had crossed the great gulf, and was speeding through the +galaxy now. He was near the end. At a reckless speed, he sat motionless +before the controls, save for slight movements of supple fingers that +directed the ship at a mad pace about some gigantic sun and its family +of planets. Suns flashed, grew to discs, and were left behind in the +briefest instant. + +The ship slowed, the terrific pace it had been holding fell, and dull +whine of overworked generators fell to a contented hum. A star was +looming, expanding before it. The great sun glowed the characteristic +red of a giant as the ship slowed to less than a light-speed, and turned +toward a gigantic planet that circled the red sun. The planet was very +close to 50,000 miles in diameter, and it revolved at a distance of four +and one half billions of miles from the surface of its sun, which made +the distance to the center of the titanic primary four billion, eight +hundred million miles, in round figures, for the sun's diameter was +close to six hundred and fifty million miles! Greater even than Antares, +whose diameter is close to four hundred million miles, was this star of +another universe, and even from the billions of miles of distance that +its planet revolved, the disc was enormous, a titanic disc of dull red +flame. But so low was its surface temperature, that even that enormous +disc did not overheat the giant planet. + +The planet's atmosphere stretched out tens of thousands of miles into +space, and under the enormous gravitational acceleration of the +tremendous mass of that planet, it was near the surface a blanket dense +as water. There was no temperature change upon it, though its night was +one hundred hours long, and its day the same. The centrifugal force of +the rapid rotation of this enormous body had flattened it when still +liquid till it seemed now more of the shape of a pumpkin than of an +orange. It was really a double planet, for its satellite was a world of +one hundred thousand miles diameter, yet smaller in comparison to its +giant primary than is Luna in comparison to Earth. It revolved at a +distance of five million miles from its primary's center, and it, too, +was swarming with its people. + +But the racing ship sped directly toward the great planet, and shrieked +its way down through the atmosphere, till its outer shell was radiating +far in the violet. + +Straight it flew to where a gigantic city sprawled in the heaped, somber +masonry, but in some order yet, for on closer inspection the appearance +of interlaced circles came over the edge of the giant cities. Ray +screens were circular and the city was protected by dozens of stations. + +The scout was going well under the speed of light now, and a message, +imperative and commanding, sped ahead of him. Half a dozen patrol boats +flashed up, and fell in beside him, and with him raced to a gigantic +building that reared its somber head from the center of the city. + +Under a white sky they proceeded to it, and landed on its roof. From the +little machine the single man came out. Using the webbed hands and feet +that had led the Allied scientists to think them an aquatic race, he +swam upward, and through the water-dense atmosphere of the planet toward +the door. + +Trees overtopped the building, for it had but four stories, above +ground, though it was the tallest in the city. The trees, like seaweed, +floated most of their enormous weight in the dense air, but the +buildings under the gravitational acceleration, which was more than one +hundred times Earth's gravity, could not be built very high ere they +crumple under their own weight. Though one of these men weighed +approximately two hundred pounds on Earth, for all their short stature, +on this planet their weight was more than ten tons! Only the enormously +dense atmosphere permitted them to move. + +And such an atmosphere! At a temperature of almost exactly 360 degrees +centigrade, there was no liquid water on the planet, naturally. At that +temperature water cannot be a liquid, no matter what the pressure, and +it was a gas. In their own bodies there was liquid water, but only +because they lived on heat, their muscles absorbed their energy for work +from the heat of the air. They carried in their own muscles +refrigeration, and, with that aid, were able to keep liquid water for +their life processes. With death, the water evaporated. Almost the +entire atmosphere was made up of oxygen, with but a trace of nitrogen, +and some amount of carbon dioxide. + +Here their enormous strength was not needed, as Arcot had supposed, to +move their own bodies, but to enable them to perform the ordinary tasks +of life. The mere act of lifting a thing weighing perhaps ten pounds on +Earth, here required a lifting force of more than half a ton! No wonder +enormous strength had been developed! Such things as a man might carry +with him, perhaps a ray pistol, would weigh half a ton; his money would +weigh near to a hundred pounds! + +But--there were no guns on this world. A man could throw a stone perhaps +a short distance, but when a gravitational acceleration of more than a +half a mile per second acted on it, and it was hurled through an +atmosphere dense as water--what chance was there for a long range? + +But these little men of enormous strength did not know other schemes of +existence, save in the abstract, and as things of comical peculiarity. +To them life on a planet like Earth was as life to a terrestrian on a +planetoid such as Ceres, Juno or Eros would have seemed. Even on +Thettsost, the satellite planet of Thett, life was strange, and they +used lux roofs over their cities, though their weight there was four +tons! + +As the scout swam through the dense atmosphere of his world toward the +entrance way to the building, guards stopped him, and examined his +credentials. Then he was led through long halls, and down a shaft ten +stories below the planet's surface, to where a great table occupied a +part of a low ceilinged, wide room. This room was shielded, interference +screens of all known kinds lined the hollow walls, no rays could reach +through it to the men within. The guard changed, and new men examined +the scout's credentials, and he was led still deeper into the bowels of +the planet. Once more the guard changed, and he entered a room guarded +not by single shields but by triple, and walled with six foot relux, and +ceiled with the same strong material. But here, under the enormous +gravity, even its great strength required aid in the form of pillars. + +A giant of his race sat before a low table. The table ran half the +length of the room, and beside it sat four other men. But there were +places for more than two dozen. + +"A scout from the colony? What news?" demanded the leader. His voice was +a growl, deep and throaty. + +"Oh mighty Sthanto, I bring news of resistance. We waited too long, in +our explorations, and those men of World 3769-8482730-3 have learned too +much. We were wrong. They had found the secret of exceeding the speed of +light, and can travel through space fully as rapidly as we can, and now, +since by some means we cannot fathom, they have learned to combine both +our own system and theirs, they have one enormous engine of destruction +that travels across their huge universe in less time than it takes us to +travel across a planetary system. + +"Our cause is lost, which is by far the least of our troubles. Thett is +in danger. We cannot hope to combat that ship." + +"Thalt--what means have we. Can we not better them?" demanded Sthanto of +his chief scientist. + +"Great Sthanto, we know that such a substance can be made when pressure +can be brought to bear on cosmic rays under the influence of field +24-7649-321, but that field cannot be produced, because no sufficient +concentration of energy is available. Energy cannot be released rapidly +enough to replace the losses when the field is developing. The fact that +they have that material indicates their possession of an unguessed and +terrific energy source. I would have said that there was no energy +greater than the energy of matter, but we know the properties of this +material and that the triple ray which has at last been perfected, can +be produced providing your order for all energy sources is given, will +release its energy at a speed comparable to the rate of energy relux in +a twin ray, but that the release takes place only in the path of the +ray." + +"What more, Scout?" asked Sthanto smoothly. + +"The ship first appeared in connection with our general attack on world +3769-8482730-3. The attack was near success, their screens were already +failing. They have devised a new and very ionized layer as a conductor. +It was exceedingly difficult to break, and since their sun had been +similarly screened, we could not throw masses of that matter upon them. + +"In another sthan of time, we would have destroyed their world. Then the +ship appeared. It has molecular rays, magnetic beams and cosmic rays, +and a fourth weapon we know nothing of. It has molecular screens, we +suspect, but has not had occasion to use them. + +"Our heaviest molecular screens flash under their molecular rays. +Ordinary screens fall instantly without momentary defense. The ray power +is incalculable. + +"Their magnetic beams are used in conjunction with cosmics. The action +of the two causes the relux to induce current, and due to reaction of +currents on the magnetic field--" + +"And the resistance due to the relux, the relux is first heated to +incandescence and then the ship opens out as the air pressure bends the +magnetically softened relux?" finished Thalt. + +"No, the effect is even more terrific. It explodes into powder," replied +the scout. + +"And what happens to worlds that the magnetic ray touches?" inquired the +scientist. + +"A corner of it touched the world we fought over, and the world shook," +replied the colonist. + +"And the last weapon?" asked Sthanto, his voice soft now. + +"It seems a ghost. It is a mistiness that comes into existence like a +cloud, and what it touches is crushed, what it rams is shattered. It +surrounds the great ship, and machines crashing into it at a speed of +more than six times that of light are completely destroyed, without in +the slightest injuring the shield. + +"Then--what caused my departure from the colony--it showed once more its +unutterable power. The mistiness formed in the path of our colonial +world, number 3769-1-5, and the planet swept against that wall of +mistiness, and was shattered, and turned in less than five sthan to a +ball of blue-white fire. The wall stopped the planet in its motion. We +could not fight that machine, and we left the worlds. The others are +coming," finished the scout. + +The ruler turned his slightly smiling face to the commander of his +armies, who sat beside him. + +"Give orders," he said softly, almost gently, "that a triple ray station +be set up under the direction of Thalt, and further notice that all +power be made instantly available to it. Add that the colonists are +returning defeated, and bringing danger at their heels. The triple ray +will destroy each ship as it enters the system." His hand under the +table pushed an invisible protuberance, and from the perfectly +conducting relux floor to the equally perfectly conducting ceiling, and +between four pillars grouped around the spot where the scout stood, +terrific arcs suddenly came into being. They lasted for the thousandth +part of a second, and when they suddenly died away, as swiftly as they +had come, there was not even ash where the scout had been. + +"Have you any suggestions, Thalt?" he asked of the scientist, his voice +as soft as before. + +"I quite agree with your conduct so far, but the future conduct you had +planned is quite unsatisfactory," replied the scientist. The ruler sat +motionless in his great seat, staring fixedly at the scientist. "I think +it is time I take your place, therefore." The place where the ruler had +been was suddenly seen as through a dark cloud, then the cloud was gone, +and with it the king, only his relux chair, and the bits of lux or relux +that had been about his garments remained. + +"He was a fool," said the scientist softly, as he rose, "to plan on +removing his scientist. Are there any who object to my succession?" + +"No one objects," said Faslar, the ex-king's Prime Minister and +councilor. + +"Then I think, Phantal, Commander of planetary forces, that you had best +see Ranstud, my assistant, and follow out the plan outlined by my +predecessor. And you Tastal, Commander of Fleets, had best bring your +fleets near the planets for protection. Go." + +"May I suggest, mighty Thalt," said Faslar after the others had left, +"that my knowledge will be exceedingly useful to you. You have two +commanders, neither of whom loves you, and neither of whom is highly +capable. The family of Thadstil would be glad to learn who removed that +honored gentleman, and the family of Datstir would gladly support him +who brought the remover of their head to them. + +"This would remove two unwelcome menaces, and open places for such as +Ranstud and your son Warrtil. + +"And," he said hastily as he saw a slight shift in Thalt's eyes, "I +might say further that the bereaved ones of Parthel would find great +interest in certain of my papers, which are only protected by my +personal constant watchfulness." + +"Ah, so? And what of Kelston Faln, Faslar?" smiled the new Sthanta. + +Thalt's hand relaxed and they started a conversation and discussion on +means of defense. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +VENONE + + +Up from Earth, out of its clear blue sky, and into the glare and dark of +space and near a sun the ship soared. They had been holding it +motionless over New York, and now as it rose, hundreds of tiny craft, +and a few large excursion ships followed it until it was out of Earth's +atmosphere. Then--it was gone. Gone across space, racing toward that far +Universe at a speed no other thing could equal. In minutes the great +disc of the Universe had taken form behind them, as they took their +route photographs to find their way back to Earth after the battle, if +still they could come. + +Then into the stillness of the Intergalactic spaces. + +"This will be our first opportunity to test the full speed of this ship. +We have never tried its velocity, and we should measure it now. Take a +sight on the diameter of the Island, as seen from here, Morey. Then we +will travel ten seconds, and look again." + +Half a million light years from the center of the Island now, the great +disc spread out over the vast space behind them, apparently the size of +a dinner plate at about thirty inches distance, it was more than two +hundred and fifty thousand light years across. Checking carefully, Morey +read their distance as just shy of five hundred thousand light years. + +"Hold on--here we go," called Arcot. Space was suddenly black, and +beside them ran the twin ghost ships that follow always when space is +closed to the smallest compass, for light leaving, goes around a space +whose radius is measured in miles, instead of light centuries and +returns. There was no sound, no slightest vibration, only Torlos' iron +bones felt a slight shock as the inconceivable currents flowed into the +gigantic space distortion coil from the storage fields, their shielded +magnetic flux leaking by in some slight degree. + +For ten seconds that seemed minutes Arcot held the ship on the course +under the maximum combined powers of space distortion and time field +distortion. Then he released both simultaneously. + +The velvet black of space was about them as before, but now the disc of +the Nebula was tiny behind them! So tiny was it, that these men, who +knew its magnitude, gasped in sudden wonder. None of them had been able +to conceive of such a velocity as this ship had shown! In seconds, Morey +announced a moment later, they had traveled _one million, one hundred +thousand light years_! Their velocity was six hundred and sixty +quadrillion miles per second! + +"Then it will take us only a little over one thousand seconds to travel +the hundred and fifty million light years, at 110,000 light years per +second--that's about the radius of our galaxy, isn't it!" exclaimed +Wade. + +They started on now, and one thousand and ten seconds, or a little more +than eighteen minutes later, they stopped again. So far behind them now +as to be almost lost in the far scattered universes, lay their own +Island, and carefully they photographed the Universe that now lay less +than twenty million light years ahead. Still, it was further, even after +crossing this enormous gulf, than are many of those nebulae we see from +Earth, many of which lie within that distance. They must proceed +cautiously now, for they did not know the exact distance to the Nebula. +Carefully, running forward in jumps of five million light years, +forty-five second drives, they worked nearer. + +Then finally they entered the Island, and drove toward the denser +center. + +"Good Lord, Arcot, look at those suns!" exclaimed Morey in amazement. +For the first time they were seeing the suns of this system at a range +that permitted observation, and Arcot had stopped to observe. The first +one they had chosen had been a blue-white giant of enormous mass, nearly +one hundred and fifty times as heavy as our own sun, and all the +enormous surface was radiating power into space at a rate of nearly +thirty thousand horsepower per square inch! No planets circled it, +however, in its journey through space. + +"I've been noticing the number of giants here. Look around." + +The _Thought_ moved on, on to other suns. They must find one that was +inhabited. + +They stopped at last near a great orange giant, and examined it. It had +indeed planets, and as Arcot watched, he saw in the telectroscope a line +of gigantic freighters rise from the world, and whisk off to nothingness +as they exceeded the speed of light! Instantly he started the _Thought_ +searching in time fields for the freighters. He found them, and followed +them as they raced across the void. He knew he was visible to them, and +as he suspected, they soon stopped, slowing down and signaling to him. + +"Morey--take the _Thought_. I'm going to visit them in the _Banderlog_ +as I think we shall name the tender," called Arcot, stripping off the +headset, and leaving the control seat. The other fleet of ships was now +less than a hundred thousand miles away, clearly visible in the +telectroscope. They were still signaling, and Arcot had set an automatic +signaling device flashing an enormously powerful searchlight toward them +in a succession of dots and dashes, an obvious signal, though also, +obviously unintelligible to those others. + +"Is it safe, Arcot?" asked Torlos anxiously. To approach those enormous +ships in the relatively tiny _Banderlog_ seemed unwise. + +"Far safer than they'll believe. Remember, only the _Thought_ could +stand up against such weapons as even the _Banderlog_ carries, run as +they are by cosmic energy," replied Arcot, diving down toward the little +tender. + +In a moment it was out through the lock, and sped away from them like a +bullet, reaching the distant stranger fleet in less than ten seconds. + +"They are communicating by thought!" announced Zezdon Afthen presently. +"But I cannot understand them, for the impulses are too weak to be +intelligently received." + +For nearly an hour the _Banderlog_ hung beside the fleet, then it turned +about, and raced once more to the _Thought_. Inside the lock, and a +moment later Arcot appeared again on the threshold of the door. He +looked immensely relieved. + +"Well, I have some good news," he said and smiled, sitting down. "Follow +that bunch, Morey, and I'll tell you about it. Set it and she'll hold +nicely. We have a long way to go, and those are slow freighters, +accompanied by one Cruiser. + +"Those men," he began, "are men of Venone. You remember Thett's records +said something of the Mighty Warless Ones of Venone? Those are they. +They inhabit most of this universe, leaving the Thessians but four +planets of a minor sun, way off in one corner. It seems the Thessians +are their undesirable exiles, those who have, from generation to +generation, been either forced to go there, or who wanted to go there. + +"They did not like the easier and more effective method of disposing of +undesirables, the instantaneous death chamber they now use. Thett was +their prison world. No one ever returned and his family could go with +him if they desired, but if they did not, they were carefully watched +for outcroppings of undesirable traits--murder, crime of any sort, any +habitual tendency to injustice. + +"About six hundred years ago of our time, Thett revolted. There were +scientists there, and their scientists had discovered a thing that they +had been seeking for generations--the Twin-ray. I don't know what it is, +and the Venonians don't either. It is the ray that destroys relux and +lux, however, and can be carried only on a machine the size of their +forts, due to some limitations. Just what those limitations are the +Venonians don't know. Other than that ray they had no new weapons. + +"But it was enough. Their guard ships which had circled the worlds of +the prison system, Antseck, were suddenly destroyed, so suddenly that +Venone received no word of it till a consignment ship, bringing +prisoners, discovered their absence. The consignment ship returned +without landing. Thett was now independent. But they were bound to their +system, for although they had the molecular ships, they had never been +permitted to have time apparatus, nor to see it, nor was any one who +knew its principles ever consigned there. The result was that they were +as isolated as ever. + +"This was for two centuries. Two centuries later it was worked out by +one of their scientists, and the Warless Ones had a War of defense. +Their small fleet of cruisers, designed for rescue work and for clearing +space lanes of wrecks and asteroids, was destroyed instantly, their +world was protected only by the ray screen, which the Thessians did not +have, and by the fact that they could build more cruisers. In less than +a year Thett was defeated, and beaten back to her world, though Venone +could not overcome Thett, now, for around their planets they had so many +forts projecting the deadly rays, that no ship could approach. + +"Then Thett learned how to make the screen, and came again. Venone had +planetoid stations, that projected molecular rays of an intensity I +wonder at, with their system of projecting. It seems these people have +force-power feeds that operate through space, by which an entire solar +system can tie in for power, and they fed these stations in that way. +Lord only knows what tubes they had, but the Thessians couldn't get the +power to fight. + +"They've been let alone since then, they did not know why. I told them +what their dear friends had been doing in that time, and the Venonians +were immensely surprised, and very evidently sorry. They begged my +pardon for letting loose such a menace, quite sincerely feeling that it +was their fault. They offered any help they could give, and I told them +that a chart of this system would be of the greatest use. They are going +now to Venone, and we are to go with them, and see what they have to +offer. Also, they want a demonstration of this 'remarkable ship that can +defeat whole fleets of Thessians, and destroy or make planets at will,'" +concluded Arcot. + +"I do not in the least blame them for wanting to see this ship in +operation, Arcot, but they are, very evidently, a much older race than +yours," said Torlos, his thoughts coming clear and sharp, as those of a +man who has thought over what he says carefully. "Are you not running +danger that their minds may be more powerful than yours, that this story +they have told you is but a ruse to get this ship on their world where +thousand, millions can concentrate their will against you and capture +the ship by mind where they cannot capture it by force?" + +"That," agreed Arcot, "is where 'the rub' comes in as an ancient poet of +Earth put it. I don't know and I did not have a chance to see. Wherefore +I am about to do some work. Let me have the controls, Morey, will you?" + +Arcot made a new ship. It was made entirely, perforce, of cosmium, lux +and relux, for those were the only forms of matter he could create in +space permanently from energy. It was equipped with gravity drive, and +time distortion speed apparatus, and his far better trained mind +finished this smaller ship with his titanic tools in less than the two +days that it took them to reach Venone. In the meantime, the Venonian +cruiser had drawn close, and watched in amazement as the ship was +fashioned from the energy of space, became a thing of glistening matter, +materializing from the absolute void of space, and forming under titanic +tools such as the commander could not visualize. + +Now, this move was partly the reason for this construction, for while +the Venonian was busy, absorbed in watching the miraculous construction, +his mind was not shielded, and it was open for observation of two such +wonderfully trained minds as those of Zezdon Afthen and Zezdon Inthel. +With their instruments and wonderfully developed mind-science, aided at +times by Morey's less skillful, but more powerful mind of his older +race, and powerful too, both because of long concentration and training, +and because of his individual inheritance, they examined the minds of +many of the officers of the ship without their awareness. + +As a final test, Arcot, having finished the ship, suggested that the +Venonian officer and one of the men of his ship have a trial of mental +powers. + +Zezdon Afthen tried first, and between the two ships, racing along side +by side at a speed unthinkable, the two men struggled with those forces +of will. + +Quickly Zezdon Afthen told Arcot what he had learned. + +The sun of Venone was close, now, and Arcot prepared to use as he +intended the little space machine he had made. Morey took it, and went +away from the _Thought_ flying on its time field. The ship had been +stocked with lead fuel for its matter-burning generators from the supply +that had been brought on the _Thought_ for emergencies, and the air had +come from the _Thought_'s great tanks. Morey was going to Venone ahead +of the _Thought_ to scout--"to see many of the important men of Venone +and find out from them what I can of the relationship between Venone and +Thett." + +Hours later Morey returned with a favorable report. He had seen many of +the important men of Venone, and conversed with them mentally from the +safety of his ship, where the specially installed gravity apparatus had +protected him and the ship against the enormous gravity of this gigantic +world. He did not describe Venone; he wanted them to see it as he had +first seen it. + +So the little ship, which had served its purpose now, was destroyed, +nearly a light year from Venone, and left a crushed wreck when two +plates of artificial matter had closed upon it, destroying the +apparatus, lest some unwelcome finder use it. There was little about it, +the gravity apparatus alone perhaps, that might have been of use to +Thett, and Thett already had the ray--but why take needless risk? + +Then once more they were racing toward Venone. Soon the giant star of +which it was a planet loomed enormous. Then, at Morey's direction, they +swung, and before them loomed a planet. Large as Thett, near a half +million miles in diameter, its mass was very closely equal to that of +our sun. Yet it was but the burned-out sweepings of the outermost +photospheric layers of this giant sun, and the radioactive atoms that +made a sun active were not here; it was a cold planet. But its density +was far, far higher than that of our sun, for our sun is but slightly +denser than ordinary sea water. This world was dense as copper, for with +the deeper sweepings of the tidal strains that had formed it, more of +the heavier atoms had gone into its making, and its core was denser than +that of Earth. + +About it swept two gigantic satellite Worlds, each larger than Jupiter, +but satellites of a satellite here! And Venone itself was inhabited by +countless millions, yet their low, green tile and metal cities were +invisible in the aspect of rolling lands with tiny hillocks, dwarfed by +gigantic bulbous trees that floated their enormous weight in the +water-dense atmosphere. + +Here, too, there were no seas, for the temperature was above the +critical temperature of water, and only in the self-cooling bodies of +these men and in the trees which similarly cooled themselves, could +there be liquid. + +The sun of the world was another of the giant red stars, close to three +hundred and fifty times the mass of our sun. It was circled by but three +giant planets. Its enormous disc was almost invisible from the surface +of the world as the _Thought_ sank slowly through fifteen thousand miles +of air, due to the screening effect on light passing through so much +air. Earth could have rested on this planet and not extended beyond its +atmosphere! Had Earth been situated at this planet's center, the Moon +could have revolved about it, and would not have been beyond the +planet's surface! + +In silent wonder the terrestrians watched the titanic world as they +sank, and their friends looked on amazed, comprehending even less of the +significance of what they saw. Already within the titanic gravitational +field, they could see that indescribable effects were being produced on +them, and on the ship. Arcot alone could know the enormous gravitation, +and his accelerometer told him now that he was subject to a +gravitational acceleration of three thousand four hundred and +eighty-seven feet per second, or almost exactly one hundred and nine +times Earth's pull. + +"The _Thought_ weighs one billion, two hundred and six million, five +hundred thousand tons, with tender, on Earth. Here it weighs +approximately one hundred and twenty-one billion tons," said Arcot +softly. + +"Can you set it down? It may crush under this load if the gravity drive +isn't supporting it," asked Torlos anxiously. + +"Eight inches cosmium, and everything else supported by cosmium. I made +this thing to stand any conceivable strain. Watch--if the planet's +surface will take the load," replied Arcot. + +They were still sinking, and now a number of small marvelously +streamlined ships were clustered around the slowly settling giant. In a +few moments more people, hundreds, thousands of men were flying through +the air up to the ship. + +A cruiser had appeared, and was very evidently intent on leading them +somewhere, and Arcot followed it as it streaked through the dense air. +"No wonder they streamline," he muttered as he saw the enormous force it +took to drive the gigantic ship through this air. The air pressure +outside their ship now was so great, that the sheer crushing effect of +the air pressure alone was enormous. The pressure was well over nine +tons to the square inch, on the surface of that enormous ship! + +They landed approximately fifty miles from a large city which was the +capital. The land seemed absolutely level, and the horizon faded off in +distance in an atmosphere absolutely clear. There was no dust in the air +at their height of nearly three hundred feet, for dust was too heavy on +this world. There were no clouds. The mountains of this enormous world +were not large, could not be large, for their sheer weight would tear +them down, but what mountains there were were jagged, tortured rock, +exceedingly sharp in outline. + +"No rain--no temperature change to break them down," said Wade looking +at them. "The zone of fracture can't be deep here." + +"What, Wade, is the zone of fracture?" asked Torles. + +"Rock has weight. Any substance, no matter how brittle, will flow if +sufficient pressure is brought to bear from all sides. A thing which can +flow will not break or fracture. You can't imagine the pressure to which +the rock three hundred feet down is subject to. There is the enormous +mass of atmosphere, the tremendous mass of rock above, and all forced +down by this gravitation. By the time you get down half a mile, the rock +is under such an inconceivably great pressure that it will flow like +mud. The rock there cannot break; it merely flows under pressure. Above, +the rock can break, instead of flowing. That is the zone of fracture. On +Earth the zone of fracture is ten miles deep. Here it must be of the +order of only five hundred feet! And the planetary blocks that made a +planet's surface float on the zone of flowage--they determine the zone +of fracture." + +The gigantic ship had been sinking, and now, suddenly it gave a very +unexpected demonstration of Wade's words. It had landed, and Arcot shut +off the power. There was a roaring, and the giant ship trembled, rocked, +and rolled along a bit. Instantly Arcot drove it into the air. + +"Whoa--can't do it. The ship will stand it, and won't bend under the +load--but the planet won't. We caused a Venone-quake. One of those +planetary blocks Wade was talking about slipped under the added strain." + +Quickly Wade explained that all the planetary blocks were floating, +truly floating, and in equilibrium just as a boat must be. The added +load had been sufficiently great, so that, with an already extant +overload on this particular planetary block, this "boat" had sunk a bit +further into the flowage zone, till it was once more at rest and +balanced. + +"They wish us to come out that they may see us, strangers and friends +from another Island," interrupted Zezdon Afthen. + +"Tell them they'd have to scrape us up off the ground, if we attempted +it. We come from a world where we weigh about as much as a pebble here," +said Wade, grinning at the thought of terrestrians trying to walk on +this world. + +"Don't--tell them we'll be right out," said Arcot sharply. "All of us." + +Morey and the others all stared at Arcot in amazement. It was utterly +impossible! + +But Zezdon Afthen did as Arcot had asked. Almost immediately, another +Morey stepped out of the airlock wearing what was obviously a pressure +suit. Behind him came another Wade, Torlos, Stel Felso Theu, and indeed +all the members of their party save Arcot himself! The Galactians stared +in wonder--then comprehended and laughed together. Arcot had sent +artificial matter images of them all! + +Their images stepped out, and the Venonian crowd which had collected, +stared in wonder at the giants, looming twice their height above them. + +"You see not us, but images of us. We cannot withstand your gravity nor +your air pressure, save in the protection of our ship. But these images +are true images of us." + +For some time then they communicated, and finally Arcot agreed to give a +demonstration of their power. At the suggestion of the cruiser commander +who had seen the construction of a spaceship from the emptiness of +space, Arcot rapidly constructed a small, very simple, molecular drive +machine of pure cosmium, making it entirely from energy. It required but +minutes, and the Venonians stared in wonder as Arcot's unbelievable +tools created the machine before their eyes. The completed ship Arcot +gave to an official of the city who had appeared. The Venonian looked at +the thing skeptically, and half expecting it to vanish like the tools +that made it, gingerly entered the port. Powered as it was by lead +burning cosmic ray generators, the lead alone having been made by +transmutation of natural matter, it was powerful, and speedy. The +official entered it, and finding it still existing, tried it out. Much +to his amazement it flew, and operated perfectly. + +Nearly ten hours Arcot and his friends stayed at Venone, and before they +left, the Venonians, for all their vast differences of structure, had +proven themselves true, kindly honest men, and a race that our Alliance +has since found every reason to respect and honor. Our commerce with +them, though carried on under difficulties, is none the less a bond of +genuine friendship. + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +THETT PREPARES + + +Streaking through the void toward Thett was again a tiny scout ship. It +carried but a single man, and with all the power of the machine he was +darting toward distant Thett, at a speed insanely reckless, but he knew +that he must maintain such a speed if his mission were to be successful. + +Again a tiny ship entered Thett's far-flung atmosphere, and slowed to +less than a light speed, and sent its signal call ahead. In moments the +patrol ship, less than three hundred miles away, had reached it, and +together they streaked through the dense air in a screaming dive toward +Shatnsoma, the capital city. It was directly beneath, and it was not +long before they had reached the great palace grounds, and settled on +the upper roof. Then the scout leaped out of his tiny craft, and dove +for the door. Flashing his credentials, he dove down, and into the first +shielded room. Here precious seconds were wasted while a check was made +of the credentials the man carried, then he was sent through to the +Council Room. And he, too, stood on that exact spot where the other +scout, but a few weeks before, had stood--and vanished. Waiting, it +seemed, were four councilors and the new Sthanto, Thalt. + +"What news, Scout?" asked the Sthanto. + +"They have arrived in the Universe to Venone, and gone to the planet +Venone. They were on the planet when I left. None of our scouts were +able to approach the place, as there were innumerable Venonian watchers +who would have recognized our deeper skin-color, and destroyed us. Two +scouts were rayed, though the Galactians did not see this. Finally we +captured two Venonians who had seen it, and attempted to force the +information we needed from them. A young man and his chosen mate. + +"The man would tell nothing, and we were hurried. So we turned to the +girl. These accursed Venonians are courageous for all their pacifism. We +were hurried, and yet it was long before we forced her to tell what we +needed to know so vitally. She had been one of the notetakers for the +Venonian government. We got most of their conversation, but she died of +burns before she finished. + +"The Galactians know nothing of the twin-ray beyond its action, and that +it is an electro-magnetic phenomenon, though they have been able to +distort it by using a sheet of pure energy. But their walls are +impregnable to it, and their power of creating matter from the pure +energy of space, as we saw from a distance, would enable them to easily +defeat it, were it not that the twin-ray passes through matter without +harming it. Any ray which will destroy matter of the natural electrical +types, will be stopped. + +"The girl was damnably clever, for she gave us only the things we +already knew, and but few new facts; knowing that she would inevitably +die soon, she talked--but it was empty talk. The one thing of import we +have learned is that they burn no fuel, use no fuel of any sort but in +some inconceivable manner get their energy from the radiations of the +suns of space. This could not be great--but we know she told the truth, +and we know their power is great. She told the truth, for we could +determine when she lied, by mental action, of course. + +"But more we could not learn. The man died without telling anything, +merely cursing. He knew nothing anyway, as we already had determined," +concluded the scout. + +Silently the Sthanto sat in thought for some moments. Then he raised his +head, and looked at the scout once more. + +"You have done well. You secured some information of import, which was +more than we had dared hope for. But you managed things poorly. The +woman should not have died so soon. We can only guess. + +"The radiation of the suns of space--hmmm--" Sthanto Thalt's brow +wrinkled in thought. "The radiation of the _suns_ of space. Were his +power derived from the sun near which he is operating, he would not have +said _suns_. It was more than one?" + +"It was, oh Sthanto," replied the scout positively. + +"His power is unreasonable. I doubt that he gave the true explanation. +It may well have been that he did not trust the Venonians. I would not, +for all their warless ways. But surely the suns of space give very +little power at any given point at random. Else space would not be cold. + +"But go, Scout, and you will be assigned a position in the fleet. The +Colonial fleet, the remains of it, have arrived, and the colonists been +removed. They failed. We will use their ships. You will be assigned." +The scout left, and was indeed assigned to a ship of the colonists. The +incoming colonial transports had been met at the outposts of the system, +and rayed out of existence at once--failures, and bringing danger at +their heels. Besides--there was no room for them on Thett without +Thessians being crowded uncomfortably. + +As their battleships arrived they were conducted to one of the +satellites, and each man was "fumigated," lest he bring disease to the +mother planet. Men entered, men apparently emerged. But they were +different men. + +"It seems," said the Sthanto softly, after the scout had left, "that we +will have little difficulty, for they are, we know, vulnerable to the +triple ray. And if we can but once destroy their driving units they will +be helpless on our world. I doubt that wild tale of their using no fuel. +Even if that be true they will be helpless with their power apparatus +destroyed, and--if we miss the first time, we can seek it out, or drive +them off! + +"All of which is dependent on the fact that they attack at a point where +we have a triple ray station to meet them. There are but three of these, +actually, but I have had dummy stations, apparently identical with our +other real stations, set up in many places. + +"This gibberish we hear of creating matter--it is impossible, and surely +unsuitable as a weapon. Their misty wall--that may be a force plane, but +I know of no such possibility. The artificial substance though--why +should any one make it? It but consumes energy, and once made is no more +dangerous than ordinary matter, save that there is the possibility of +creating it in dangerous position. Remember, we have heard already of +the mental suggestions planes--mere force planes--_plus_ a wonderfully +developed power of suggestion. They do most of their damage by mental +impression. Remember, we have heard already of the mental suggestions of +horrible things that drove one fleet of the weak-minded colonists mad. + +"And that, I think, we will use to protect ourselves. If we can, with +the apparatus which you, my son, have developed, cause them to believe +that all the other forts are equally dangerous, and that this one on +Thett is the best point of attack--It will be easy. Can you do it?" + +"I can, Oh Sthanto, if but a sufficient number of powerful minds may be +brought to aid me," replied the youngest of the four councilmen. + +"And you, Ranstud, are the stations ready?" asked the ruler. + +"We are ready." + + + + +Chapter XXV + +WITH GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE + + +The _Thought_ arose from Venone after long hours, and at Arcot's +suggestion, they assumed an orbit about the world, at a distance of two +million miles, and all on board slept, save Torlos, the tireless +molecular motion machine of flesh and iron. He acted as guard, and as he +had slept but four days before, he explained there was really no reason +for him to sleep as yet. + +But the terrestrians would feel the greatest strain of the coming +encounter, especially Arcot and Morey, for Morey was to help by +repairing any damage done, by working from the control board of the +_Banderlog_. The little tender had sufficient power to take care of any +damage that Thett might inflict, they felt sure. + +For they had not learned of the triple ray. + +It was hours later that, rested and refreshed, they started for Thett. +Following the great space-chart that they had been given by the +Venonians, a series of blocks of clear lux metal, with tiny points of +slowly disintegrating lux, such as had been used to illuminate the +letters of the _Thought_'s name representing suns, the colors and +relative intensity being shown. Then there was a more manageable guide +in the form of photographs, marked for route by constellations +formations as well, which would be their actual guide. + +At the maximum speed of the time apparatus, for thus they could better +follow the constellations, the _Thought_ plunged along in the wake of +the tiny scout ship that had already landed on Thett. And, hours later, +they saw the giant red sun of Antseck, the star of Thett and its system. + +"We're about there," said Arcot, a peculiar tenseness showing in his +thoughts. "Shall we barge right in, or wait and investigate?" + +"We'll have to chance it. Where is their main fort here?" + +"From the direction, I should say it was to the left and ahead of our +position," replied Zezdon Afthen. + +The ship moved ahead, while about it the tremendous Thessian battlefleet +buzzed like flies, thousands of ships now, and more coming with each +second. + +In a few moments the titanic ship had crossed a great plain, and came to +a region of bare, rocky hills several hundred feet high. Set in those +hills, surrounded by them, was a huge sphere, resting on the ground. As +though by magic the Thessian fleet cleared away from the _Thought_. The +last one had not left, when Arcot shot a terrific cosmic ray toward the +sphere. It was relux, and he knew it, but he knew what would happen when +that cosmic ray hit it. The solometer flickered and steadied at three as +that inconceivable ray flashed out. + +Instantly there was a terrific explosion. The soil exploded into +hydrogen atoms, and expanded under heat that lashed it to more than a +million degrees in the tiniest fraction of a second. The terrific recoil +of the ray-pressure was taken by all space, for it was generated in +space itself, but the direct pressure struck the planet, and that +titanic planet reeled! A tremendous fissure opened, and the section that +had been struck by the ray smashed its way suddenly far into the planet, +and a geyser of fluid rock rolled over it, twenty miles deep in that +world. The relux sphere had been struck by the ray, and had turned it, +with the result that it was pushed doubly hard. The enormously thick +relux strained and dented, then shot down as a whole, into the +incandescent rock. + +For miles the vaporized rock was boiling off. Then the fort sent out a +ray, and that ray blasted the rock that had flowed over it as Arcot's +titanic ray snapped out. In moments the fort was at the surface +again--and a molecular hit it. The molecular did not have the energy the +cosmic had carried, but it was a single concentrated beam of destruction +ten feet across. It struck the fort--and the fort recoiled under its +energy. The marvelous new tubes that ran its ray screen flashed +instantly to a temperature inconceivable, and, so long as the elements +embedded in the infusible relux remained the metals they were, those +tubes could not fail. But they were being lashed by the energy of half a +sun. The tubes failed. The elements heated to that enormous temperature +when elements cannot exist--and broke to other elements that did not +resist. The relux flashed into blinding iridescence-- + +And from the fort came a beam of pure silvery light. It struck the +_Thought_ just behind the bow, for the operator was aiming for the point +where he knew the control room and pilot must be. But Arcot had designed +the ship for mental control, which the enemy operator could not guess. +The beam was a flat beam, perhaps an inch thick, but it fanned out to +fifty feet width. And where it touched the _Thought_, there was a +terrific explosion, and inconceivably violent energy lashed out as the +cosmium instantaneously liberated its energy. + +A hundred feet of the nose was torn off the ship, and the enormously +dense air of Thett rushed in. But that beam had cut through the very +edge of one of the ray projectors, or better, one of the ray feed +apparatus. And the ray feed released it without control; it released all +the energy it could suck in from space about it, as one single beam of +cosmic energy, somewhat lower than the regular cosmics, and it flashed +out in a beam as solid matter. + +There was air about the ship, and the air instantly exploded into atoms +of a different sort, threw off their electrons, and were raised to the +temperature at which no atom can exist, and became protons and +electrons. But so rapidly was that coil sucking energy from space that +space tended to close in about it, and in enormous spurts the energy +flooded out. It was directed almost straight up, and but one ship was +caught in its beam. It was made of relux, but the relux was powdered +under the inconceivable blow that countless quintillions of cosmic ray +photons struck it. That ray was in fact, a solid mass of cosmium moving +with the velocity of light. And it was headed for that satellite of +Thett, which it would reach in a few hours time. + +The _Thought_, due to the spatial strains of the wounded coil, was +constantly rushing away to an almost infinite distance, as the ship +approached that other space toward which the coil tended with its load, +and rushing back, as the coil, reaching a spatial condition which +supplied no energy, fell back. In a hundredth of a second it had reached +equilibrium, and they were in a weirdly, terribly distorted space. But +the triple-ray of the Thessians seemed to sheer off, and miss, no matter +how it was directed. And it was painfully weak, for the coil sucked up +the energy of whatsoever matter disintegrated in the neighborhood. + +Then suddenly the performance was over. And they plunged into artificial +space that was black and clean, and not a thing of wavering, struggling +energies. Morey, from his control in the _Banderlog_, had succeeded in +getting sufficient energy, by using his space distortion coils, to +destroy the great projector mechanism. Instantly Arcot, now able to +create the artificial space without the destruction of the coils by the +struggling ray-feed coil, had thrown them to comparative safety. + +Space writhed before they could so much as turn from the instruments. +The Thessians had located their artificial space, and reached it with an +attraction ray. They already had been withstanding the drain of the +enormous fields of the giant planet and the giant sun; the attractive +ray was an added strain. Arcot looked at his instruments, and with a +grim smile set a single dial. The space about them became black again. + +"Pulling our energy--merely let 'em pull. They're pulling on an ocean, +not a lake this time. I don't think they'll drain those coils very +quickly." He looked at his instruments. "Good for two and a half hours +at this rate. + +"Morey, you sure did your job then. I was helpless. The controls +wouldn't answer, of course, with that titanic thing flopping its wings, +so to speak. What are we going to do?" + +Morey stood in the doorway, and from his pocket drew a cigarette, handed +it to Arcot, another to each of the others who smoked, and lit them, and +his own. "Smoke," he said, and puffed. "Smoke and think. From our last +experience with a minor tragedy, it helps." + +"But--this is no minor tragedy, they have burst open the wall of this +invulnerable ship, destroyed one of those enormous coils, and can do it +again," exclaimed Zezdon Afthen, exceedingly nervous, so nervous that +the normal courage of the man was gone. His too-psychic breeding was +against him as a warrior. + +"Afthen," replied Stel Felso Theu calmly, "when our friends have smoked, +and thought, the _Thought_ will be repaired perfectly, and it will be +made invulnerable to that weapon." + +"I hope so, Stel Felso Theu," smiled Arcot. He was feeling better +already. "But do you know what that weapon is, Morey?" + +"Got some readings on it with the _Banderlog_'s instruments, and I think +I do. Twin-ray is right," replied Morey. + +"Hm-hm--so I think. It's a super-photon. What they do is to use a field +somewhat similar to the field we use in making cosmium, except that in +theirs, instead of the photons lying side by side, they slide into one +another, compounding. They evidently get three photons to go into one. +Now, as we know, that size photon doesn't exist for the excellent reason +that it can't in this space. Space closes in about it. Therefore they +have a projected field to accompany it that tends to open out space--and +they are using that, not the attractive ray, on us now. The result is +that for a distance not too great, the triple-ray exists in normal +space--then goes into another. Now the question is how can we stop it? I +have an idea--have you any?" + +"Yes, but my idea can't exist in this space either," grinned Morey. + +"I think it can. If it's what I think, remember it will have a terrific +electric field." + +"It's what you think, then. Come on." Arcot and Morey went to the +calculating room, while Wade took over the ship. But one of the +ray-feeds had been destroyed, and they had three more in action, as well +as their most important weapon, artificial matter. Wade threw on the +time field, and started the emergency lead burner working to recharge +the coils that the Thessians were constantly draining. Being in their +own peculiar space, they could not draw energy from the stars, and Arcot +didn't want to return to normal space to discharge them, unless +necessary. + +"How's the air pressure in the rest of the ship?" asked Wade. + +"Triple normal," replied Morey. "The Thessian atmosphere leaked in and +sent it up terrifically, but when we went into our own space, at the +halfway point, a lot leaked out. But the ship is full of water now. It +was a bit difficult coming up from the _Banderlog_, and I didn't want to +breathe the air I wasn't sure of. But let's work." + +They worked. For eight hours of the time they were now in they continued +to work. The supply of lead metal gave out before the end of the fourth +hour, and the coils were nearing the end of their resistance. It would +soon be necessary for Arcot to return to normal space. So they stopped, +their calculations very nearly complete. Throwing all the remaining +energy into the coils, they a little more than held the space about +them, and moved away from Thett at a speed of about twice that of light. +For an hour more Arcot worked, while the ship plowed on. Then they were +ready. + +As Arcot took over the controls, space reeled once more, and they were +alone, far from Thett. The suns of this space were flashing and glowing +about them, and the unlimited energy of a universe was at Arcot's +command. But all the remaining atmosphere in the ship had either gone +instantaneously in the vacuum, or solidified as the chill of expansion +froze it. + +To the amazement of the extra-terrestrians, Arcot's first move was to +create a titanic plane of artificial matter, and neatly bisect the +_Thought_ at the middle! He had thrown all of the controls thus +interrupted into neutral, and in the little more than half of the ship +which contained the control cabin, was also the artificial matter +control. It was busy now. With bewildering speed, with the speed of +thought trained to construct, enormous masses of cosmium were appearing +beside them in space as Arcot created them from pure energy. Cosmium, +relux and some clear cosmium-like lux metal. Ordinary cosmium was +reflective, and he wanted something with cosmium's strength, and the +clearness of lux. + +In seconds, under Arcot's flying thought manipulation, a great tube had +been welded to the original hull, and the already gigantic ship +lengthened by more than five hundred feet! Immediately great artificial +matter tools gripped the broken nose-section, clamped it into place, and +welded it with cosmium flowing under the inconceivable pressure till it +was again a single great hull. + +Then the Thessian fleet found them. The coils were charged now, and they +could have escaped, but Arcot had to work. The Thessians were attacked +with moleculars, cosmics, and a great twin-ray. Arcot could not use his +magnet, for it had been among those things severed from the control. He +had two ray feeds, and the artificial matter. There were nearly three +thousand ships attacking him with a barrage of energy that was +inconceivably great, but the cosmium walls merely turned it aside. It +took Arcot less than ten seconds to wipe out that fleet of ships! He +created a wall of artificial matter at twenty feet from the ship--and +another at twenty thousand miles. It was thin, yet it was utterly +impenetrable. He swept the two walls together, and forced them against +each other until his instruments told him only free energy remained +between them. Then he released the outer wall, and a terrific flood of +energy swept out. + +"I don't think we'll be attacked again," said Morey softly. They were +not. Thett had only one other fleet, and had no intention of losing the +powers of their generators at this time when they so badly needed them. +The strange ship had retired for repairs--very well, they could attack +again--and maybe-- + +Arcot was busy. In the great empty space that had been left, he +installed a second collector coil as gigantic as the main artificial +matter generator. Then he repaired the broken ray feed, and it, and the +companion coil which, with it, had been in the severed nose section, +were now in the same relative position to the new collector coil that +they had had with relation to the artificial matter coil. Next Arcot +built two more ray feeds. Now in the gigantic central power room there +loomed two tremendous power collectors, and six smaller ray feed +collectors. + +His next work was to reconnect the severed connectors and controls. Then +he began work on the really new apparatus. Nothing he had constructed so +far was more than a duplicate of existing apparatus, and he had been +able to do it almost instantly, from memory. Now he must vision +something new to his experience, and something that was forced to exist +in part in this space, and partly in another. He tried four times before +the apparatus had been completed correctly, and the work occupied ten +hours. But at last it was done. The _Thought_ was ready now for the +battle. + +"Got it right at last?" asked Wade. "I hope so." + +"It's right--tried it a little. I don't think you noticed it. I'm going +down now to give them a nice little dose," said Arcot grimly. His ship +was repaired--but they had caused him plenty of trouble. + +"How long have we been out here, their time?" asked Wade. + +"About an hour and a half." The _Thought_ had been on the time field at +all times save when the Thessian fleet attacked. + +"I think, Earthman, that you are tired, and should rest, lest you make a +tired thought and do great harm," suggested Zezdon Afthen. + +"I want to finish it!" replied Arcot, sharply. He was tired. + +In seconds the _Thought_ was once more over that fortified station in +the mountains--and the triple-ray reached out--and suddenly, about the +ship, was a wall of absolute, utter blackness. The triple-ray touched +it, and exploded into coruscating, blinding energy. It could not +penetrate it. More energy lashed at the wall of blackness as the +operators within the sphere-fort turned in the energy of all the +generators under their control. The ground about the fort was a great +lake of dazzling lava as far as the eye could see, for the triple-ray +was releasing its energy, and the wall of black was releasing an equal, +and opposing energy! + +"Stopped!" cried Arcot happily. "Now here is where we give them +something to think about. The magnet and the heat!" + +He turned the two enormous forces simultaneously on the point where he +knew the fort was, though it was invisible behind the wall of black that +protected him. From his side, the energy of the spot where all the +system of Thett was throwing its forces, was invisible. + +Then he released them. Instantly there was a terrific gout of light on +that wall of blackness. The ship trembled, and space turned gray about +them. The black wall dissolved into grayness in one spot, as a flood of +energy beyond comprehension exploded from it. The enormously strong +cosmium wall dented as the pressure of the escaping radiation struck it, +and turned X-ray hot under the minute percentage it absorbed. The +triple-ray bent away, and faded to black as the cosmic force playing +about it, actually twisted space beyond all power of its mechanism to +overcome. Then, in the tiniest fraction of a second it was over, and +again there was blackness and only the brilliant, blinding blue of the +cosmium wall testified to its enormous temperature, cooling now far more +slowly through green to red. + +"Lord--you're right, Zezdon Afthen. I'm going to sleep," called Arcot. +And the ship was suddenly far, far away from Thett. Morey took over, and +Arcot slept. First Morey straightened the uninjured wall and ironed out +the dents. + +"What, Morey, is the wall of Blackness?" asked Stel Felso Theu. + +"It's solid matter. A thing that you never saw before. That wall of +matter is made of a double layer of protons lying one against the other. +It absorbs absolutely every and all radiation, and because it is solid +matter, not tiny sprinklings of matter in empty space, as is the matter +of even the densest star, it stops the triple-ray. That matter is +nothing but protons; there are no electrons there, and the positive +electrical field is inconceivably great, but it is artificial matter, +and that electrical field exerts its strain not in pulling and +electrifying other bodies, but in holding space open, in keeping it from +closing in about that concentrated matter, just as it does about a +single proton, except that here the entire field energy is so absorbed. + +"Arcot was tired, and forgot. He turned his magnet and his heat against +it. The heat fought the solid matter with the same energy that created +it, and with an energy that had resources as great. The magnet curved +space about it, and about us. The result was the terrific energy release +you saw, and the hole in the wall. All Thett couldn't make any +impression on it. One of the rays blasted a hole in it," said Morey with +a laugh. For he, too, loved this mighty thing, the almost living ideas +of his friend's brain. + +"But it is as bad as the space defense. It works both ways. We can't +send through it but neither can they. Any thing we use that attacks +them, attacks it, and so destroys it--and it fights." + +"We're worse off than ever!" said Morey gloomily. + +"My friend, you, too, are tired. Sleep, sleep soundly, sleep till I +call--sleep!" And Morey slept under Zezdon Afthen's will, till Torlos +carried him gently to his room. Then Afthen let the sleep relax to a +natural one. Wade decided he might as well follow under his own power, +for now he knew he was tired, and could not overcome Zezdon Afthen, who +was not. + + * * * * * + +On Thett, the fort was undestroyed, and now floating on its power units +in a sea of blazing lava. Within, men were working quickly to install a +second set of the new tubes in the molecular motion ray screen, and +other men were transmitting the orders of the Sthanto who had come here +as the place of actually greatest safety. + +"Order all battleships to the nearest power-feed station, and command +that all power available be transmitted to the station attacked. I +believe it will be this one. There is no limit on the power transmission +lines, and we need all possible power," he commanded his son, now in +charge of all land and spatial forces. + +"And Ranstud, what happened to that molecular ray screen?" + +"I do not know. I cannot understand such power. + +"But what most worries me is his wall of darkness," said Ranstud +seriously. + +"But he was forced to retire for all his wall of darkness, as you saw. + +"He can maintain it but a short time, and it was full of holes when he +fled." + +"Old Sthanto is much too confident, I believe," said an assistant +working at one of the great boards in the enemy's fort, to one of his +friends. "And I think he has lost his science-knowledge. Any power-man +could tell what happened. They tried to use their own big rays against +us, and their screen stopped them from going out, just as it stopped +ours on the way in. Ours had been working at it for seconds, and hadn't +bothered them. Then for a bare instant their ray touched it--and they +retired. That shield of blackness is absolutely new." + +"They have many men on that ship of theirs," replied his friend, helping +to lift the three hundred ton load of a vacuum tube into place, "for it +is evident that they built new apparatus, and it is evident their ship +was increased in size to contain it. Also the nose was repaired. They +probably worked under a time field, for they accomplished an impossible +amount of work in the period they were gone." + +Ranstud had come up behind them, and overheard the later part of this +conversation. "And what," he asked suddenly, "did your meters tell you +when our ray opened his ship?" + +"Councilor of Science-wisdom, they told us that our power diminished, +and our generators gave off but little power when his power was +exceedingly little, we still had much." + +"Have you heard the myth of the source of his power, in the story that +he gets it from all the stars of the Island?" + +"We have, Great Councilor. And I for one believe it, for he sucked the +power from our generators. So might he suck the power from the +inconceivably greater generators of the Suns. I believe that we should +treat with them, for if they be like the peace-loving fools of Venone, +we might win a respite in which to learn their secret." + +Ranstud walked away slowly. He agreed, in his heart, but he loved life +too well to tell the Sthanto what to do, and he had no intention of +sacrificing himself for the possible good of the race. + +So they prepared for another attack of the _Thought_, and waited. + + + + +Chapter XXVI + +MAN, CREATOR AND DESTROYER + + +"What we must find," said Arcot, between contented puffs, for he had +slept well, and his breakfast had been good, "is some weapon which will +attack them, but won't attack us. The question is, what is it? And I +think, I think--I know." His eyes were dreamy, his thoughts so +cryptically abbreviated that not even Morey could follow them. + +"Fine--what is it?" asked Morey after vainly striving to deduce some +sense from the formulas that were chasing through Arcot's thoughts. Here +and there he recognized them: Einstein's energy formula, Planck's +quantum formulas, Nitsu Thansi's electron interference formulas, +Stebkowfski's proton interference, Williamson's electric field, and his +own formulas appeared, and others so abbreviated he could not recognize +them. + +"Do you remember what Dad said about the way the Thessians made the +giant forts out in space--hauled matter from the moon and transformed it +to lux and relux. Remember, I said then I thought it might be a ray--but +found it wasn't what I thought? I want to to use the ray I was thinking +of. The only question in my mind is--what is going to happen to us when +I use it?" + +"What's the ray?" + +"Why is it, Morey, that an electron falls through the different quantum +energy levels, falls successively lower and lower till it reaches its +'lowest energy level,' and can radiate no more. Why can't it fill +another step, and reach the proton? Why has it no more quanta to +release? We know that electrons tend to fall always to lower energy +level orbits. Why do they stop?" + +"And," said Morey, his own eyes dreamily bright now, "what would happen +if it did? If it fell all the way?" + +"I cannot follow your thoughts, Earthmen, beyond a glimpse of an +explosion. And it seems it is Thett that is exploding, and that Thett is +exploding itself. Can you explain?" asked Stel Felso Theu. + +"Perhaps--you know that electrons in their planetary orbits, so called, +tend to fall away to orbits of lower energy, till they reach the lowest +energy orbit, and remain fixed till more energy comes and is absorbed, +driving them out again. Now we want to know why they don't fall lower, +fall all the way? As a matter of fact, thanks to some work I did last +year with disintegrating lead, we do know. And thanks to the absolute +stability of artificial matter, we can handle such a condition. + +"The thing we are interested in is this: Artificial matter has no +tendency to radiate, its electrons have no tendency to fall into the +proton, for the matter is created, and remains as it was created. But +natural matter does have a tendency to let the electron fall into the +proton. A force, the 'lowest energy wall,' over which no electron can +jump, caused by the enormous space distorting of the proton's mass and +electrical attraction, prevents it. What we want to do is to remove that +force, iron it out. Requires inconceivable power to do so in a mass the +size of Thett-but then--! + +"And here's what will happen: Our wall of protonic material won't be +affected by it in the least, because it has no tendency to collapse, as +has normal matter, but Thett, beyond the wall, _has_ that tendency, and +the ray will release the energy of every planetary electron on Thett, +and every planetary electron will take with it the energy of one proton. +And it will take about one one-hundred-millionth of a second. Thett will +disappear in one instantaneous flash of radiation, radiation in the high +cosmics! + +"Here's the trouble: Thett represents a mass as great as our sun. And +our sun can throw off energy at the present rate of one sol for a period +of some ten million million years, three and a half million tons of +matter a second for ten million years. If all of that went up in _one +one-hundred-millionth of a second_, how many sols?" asked Morey. + +"Too many, is all I can say. Even this ship couldn't maintain its walls +of energy against that!" declared Stel Felso Theu, awed by the thought. + +"But that same power would be backing this ship, and helping it to +support its wall. We would operate from--half a million miles." + +"We will. If we are destroyed--so is Thett, and all the worlds of Thett. +Let that flood of energy get loose, and everything within a dozen light +years will be destroyed. We will have to warn the Venonians, that their +people on nearby worlds may escape in the time before the energy reaches +them," said Arcot slowly. + +The _Thought_ started toward one of the nearer suns, and as it went, +Arcot and Morey were busy with the calculators. They finished their +work, and started back from that world, having given their message of +warning, with the artificial matter constructors. When they reached +Thett, less than a quarter of an hour of Thessian time had passed. But, +before they reached Thett, Arcot's viewplates were blinded for an +instant as a terrific flood of energy struck the artificial matter +protectors, and caused them to flame into defense. Thett's satellite was +sending its message of instantaneous destruction. That terrific ray had +reached it, touched it, and left it a shattered, glowing ball of +hydrogen. + +"There won't be even that left when we get through with Thett!" said +Arcot grimly. The apparatus was finished, and once more they were over +the now fiery-red lava sea that had been mountains. The fort was still +in action. Arcot had cut a sheet of sheer energy now, and as the +triple-ray struck it, he knew what would happen. It did. The triple-ray +shunted off at an angle of forty-five degrees in the energy field, and +spread instantly to a diffused beam of blackness. Arcot's molecular +reached out. The lava was instantly black, and mountains of ice were +forming over the struggling defenses of the fort. The molecular screen +was working. + +"I'd like to know how they make tubes that'll stand that, Morey," said +Arcot, pointing to an instrument that read .01 millisols. "They have +tubes now, that would have wiped us out in minutes, seconds before +this." + +The triple-ray snapped off. They were realigning it to hit the ship now, +correcting for the shield. Arcot threw out his protonic shield, and +retreated to half a million miles, as he had said. + +"Here goes." But before even his thoughts could send Theft to radiation, +the entire side of the planet blazed suddenly incandescent. Thett was +learning what had happened when their ray had wounded the _Thought_. + +And then, in the barest instant of time, there was no Thett. There was +an instant of intolerable radiation, then momentary blackness, and then +the stars were shining where Thett had been. Thett was utterly gone. + +But Arcot did not see this. About him there was a tremendous roar, +titanic generator-converters that had not so much as hummed under the +impact of Thett's greatest weapons, whined and shuddered now. The two +enormous generators, the blackness of the protonic shield, and the great +artificial matter generator, throwing an inner shield impervious to the +cosmics Thett gave off as it vanished, both were whining. And the six +smaller machines, which Arcot had succeeded in interconnecting with the +protonic generator, were whining too. Space was weirdly distorted, +glowing gray about them, the great generators struggling to maintain the +various walls of protecting power against the surge of energy as Thett, +a world of matter, disintegrated. + +But the very energy that fought to destroy those walls was absorbed in +defending it, and by that much the attacking energy was lessened. Still, +it seemed hours, days that the battle of forces continued. + +Then it was over, and the skies were clear once more as Arcot lowered +the protonic screen silently. The white sky of Thett was gone, and only +the black starriness of space remained. + +"_It's gone!_" gasped Torlos. He had been expecting it--still, the +disappearance of a world-- + +"We will have to do no more. No ships had time to escape, and the risk +we run is too great," said Morey slowly. "The escaping energy from that +world will destroy the others of this system as completely, and it will +probably cause the sun itself to blow up--perhaps to form new planets, +and so the process repeats itself. But Venone knows better now, and +their criminals will not populate more worlds. + +"And we can go--home. To our little dust specks." + +"But they're wonderfully welcome dust specks, and utterly important to +us, Earthman," reminded Zezdon Afthen. + +"Let us go then," said Arcot. + + * * * * * + +It was dusk, and the rose tints of the recently-set sun still hung on +the clouds that floated like white bits of cotton in the darkening blue +sky. The dark waters of the little lake, and the shadowy tree-clad hills +seemed very beautiful. And there was a little group of buildings down +there, and a broad cleared field. On the field rested a shining, slim +shape, seventy-five feet long, ten feet in diameter. + +But all, the lake, the mountains even, were dwarfed by the silent, +glistening ruby of a gigantic machine that settled very, very slowly, +and very, very gently downward. It touched the rippled surface of the +lake with scarcely a splash, then hung, a quarter submerged in that +lake. + +Lights were showing in the few windows the huge bulk had, and lights +showed now in the buildings on the shore. Through an open door light was +streaming, casting silhouettes of two men. And now a tiny door opened in +the enormous bulk that occupied the lake, and from it came five figures, +that floated up, and away, and toward the cottage. + +"Hello, Son. You have been gone long," said Arcot, senior, gravely, as +his son landed lightly before him. + +"I thought so. Earth has moved in her orbit. More than six months?" + +His father smiled a bit wryly. "Yes. Two years and three months. You got +caught in another time field and thrown the other way this time?" + +"Time and force. Do you know the story yet?" + +"Part of it--Venone sent a ship to us within a month of the time you +left, and said that all Thett's system had disappeared save for one +tremendous gas cloud--mostly hydrogen. Their ships were met by such a +blast of cosmic rays as they came toward Thett that the radiation +pressure made it almost impossible to advance. There were two distinct +waves. One was rather slighter, and was more in the gamma range, so they +suspected that two bodies had been directly destroyed; one small one, +and one large one were reduced completely to cosmics. Your warning to +Sentfenn was taken seriously, and they have vacated all planets near. It +was the force field created when you destroyed Thett that threw you +forward? Where are the others?" + +"Zezdon Afthen and Zezdon Inthel we took home, and dropped in their +power suits, without landing. Stel Felso Theu as well. We will visit +them later." + +"Have you eaten? Then let us eat, and after supper we'll tell you what +little there is to tell." + +"But Arcot," said Morey slowly, "I understand that Dad will be here +soon, so let us wait. And I have something of which I have not spoken to +you as yet. Worked it out and made it on the back trip. Installed in the +_Thought_ with the _Banderlog_'s controls. It is--well, will you +look?--Fuller! Come and see the new toy you designers are going to have +to work on!" + +They had all been depressed by the thought of their long absence, by the +scenes of destruction they had witnessed so recently. They were +beginning to feel better. + +"Watch." Morey's thoughts concentrated. The _Thought_ outside had been +left on locked controls, but the apparatus Morey had installed responded +to his thoughts from this distance. + +Before them in the room appeared a cube that was obviously copper. It +stayed there but a moment, beaming brightly, then there was a snapping +of energies about them--and it dropped to the floor and rang with the +impact! + +"It was not created from the air," said Morey simply. + +"And now," said Arcot, looking at it, "Man can do what never before was +possible. From the nothingness of Space he can make anything. + +"Man alone in this space is Creator and Destroyer. + +"It is a high place. + +"May he henceforth live up to it." + +And he looked out toward the mighty starlit hull that had destroyed a +solar system--and could create another. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Books by JOHN W. CAMPBELL in Ace editions: + + +THE BLACK STAR PASSES + +THE MIGHTIEST MACHINE + +ISLANDS OF SPACE + +THE PLANETEERS & THE ULTIMATE WEAPON + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVADERS FROM THE INFINITE*** + + +******* This file should be named 20154.txt or 20154.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/5/20154 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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