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diff --git a/29283-0.txt b/29283-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..675d7a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/29283-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1112 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 29283 *** + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Astounding Stories March 1933. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the + U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + + Salvage in Space + + + By Jack Williamson + + * * * * * + + + + +[Sidenote: To Thad Allen, meteor miner, comes the dangerous bonanza of +a derelict rocket-flier manned by death invisible.] + + +His "planet" was the smallest in the solar system, and the loneliest, +Thad Allen was thinking, as he straightened wearily in the huge, +bulging, inflated fabric of his Osprey space armor. Walking awkwardly +in the magnetic boots that held him to the black mass of meteoric +iron, he mounted a projection and stood motionless, staring moodily +away through the vision panels of his bulky helmet into the dark +mystery of the void. + +His welding arc dangled at his belt, the electrode still glowing red. +He had just finished securing to this slowly-accumulated mass of iron +his most recent find, a meteorite the size of his head. + +Five perilous weeks he had labored, to collect this rugged lump of +metal--a jagged mass, some ten feet in diameter, composed of hundreds +of fragments, that he had captured and welded together. His luck had +not been good. His findings had been heart-breakingly small; the +spectro-flash analysis had revealed that the content of the precious +metals was disappointingly minute.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The meteor or asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars +and Jupiter, is "mined" by such adventurers as Thad Allen for the +platinum, iridium and osmium that all meteoric irons contain in small +quantities. The meteor swarms are supposed by some astronomers to be +fragments of a disrupted planet, which, according to Bode's Law, +should occupy this space.] + +On the other side of this tiny sphere of hard-won treasure, his Millen +atomic rocket was sputtering, spurts of hot blue flame jetting from +its exhaust. A simple mechanism, bolted to the first sizable fragment +he had captured, it drove the iron ball through space like a ship. + +Through the magnetic soles of his insulated boots, Thad could feel the +vibration of the iron mass, beneath the rocket's regular thrust. The +magazine of uranite fuel capsules was nearly empty, now, he reflected. +He would soon have to turn back toward Mars. + +Turn back. But how could he, with so slender a reward for his efforts? +Meteor mining is expensive. There was his bill at Millen and Helion, +Mars, for uranite and supplies. And the unpaid last instalment on his +Osprey suit. How could he outfit himself again, if he returned with no +more metal than this? There were men who averaged a thousand tons of +iron a month. Why couldn't fortune smile on him? + +He knew men who had made fabulous strikes, who had captured whole +planetoids of rich metal, and he knew weary, white-haired men who had +braved the perils of vacuum and absolute cold and bullet-swift meteors +for hard years, who still hoped. + +But sometime fortune had to smile, and then.... + +The picture came to him. A tower of white metal, among the low red +hills near Helion. A slim, graceful tower of argent, rising in a +fragrant garden of flowering Martian shrubs, purple and saffron. And a +girl waiting, at the silver door--a trim, slender girl in white, with +blue eyes and hair richly brown. + +Thad had seen the white tower many times, on his holiday tramps +through the hills about Helion. He had even dared to ask if it could +be bought, to find that its price was an amount that he might not +amass in many years at his perilous profession. But the girl in white +was yet only a glorious dream.... + +[Illustration: Gigantic claws seemed to reach out of empty air.] + + * * * * * + +The strangeness of interplanetary space, and the somber mystery of it, +pressed upon him like an illimitable and deserted ocean. The sun was a +tiny white disk on his right, hanging between rosy coronal wings; his +native Earth, a bright greenish point suspended in the dark gulf below +it; Mars, nearer, smaller, a little ocher speck above the shrunken +sun. Above him, below him, in all directions was vastness, blackness, +emptiness. Ebon infinity, sprinkled with far, cold stars. + +Thad was alone. Utterly alone. No man was visible, in all the supernal +vastness of space. And no work of man--save the few tools of his +daring trade, and the glittering little rocket bolted to the black +iron behind him. It was terrible to think that the nearest human being +must be tens of millions of miles away. + +On his first trips, the loneliness had been terrible, unendurable. Now +he was becoming accustomed to it. At least, he no longer feared that +he was going mad. But sometimes.... + +Thad shook himself and spoke aloud, his voice ringing hollow in his +huge metal helmet: + +"Brace up, old top. In good company, when you're by yourself, as Dad +used to say. Be back in Helion in a week or so, anyhow. Look up Dan +and 'Chuck' and the rest of the crowd again, at Comet's place. What +price a friendly boxing match with Mason, or an evening at the +teleview theater? + +"Fresh air instead of this stale synthetic stuff! Real food, in place +of these tasteless concentrates! A hot bath, instead of greasing +yourself! + +"Too dull out here. Life--" He broke off, set his jaw. + +No use thinking about such things. Only made it worse. Besides, how +did he know that a whirring meteor wasn't going to flash him out +before he got back? + + * * * * * + +He drew his right arm out of the bulging sleeve of the suit, into its +ample interior, found a cigarette in an inside pocket, and lighted it. +The smoke swirled about in the helmet, drawn swiftly into the air +filters. + +"Darn clever, these suits," he murmured. "Food, smokes, water +generator, all where you can reach them. And darned expensive, too. +I'd better be looking for pay metal!" + +He clambered to a better position; stood peering out into space, +searching for the tiny gleam of sunlight on a meteoric fragment that +might be worth capturing for its content of precious metals. For an +hour he scanned the black, star-strewn gulf, as the sputtering rocket +continued to drive him forward. + +"There she glows!" he cried suddenly, and grinned. + +Before him was a tiny, glowing fleck, that moved among the unchanging +stars. He stared at it intensely, breathing faster in the helmet. + +Always he thrilled to see such a moving gleam. What treasure it +promised! At first sight, it was impossible to determine size or +distance or rate of motion. It might be ten thousand tons of rich +metal. A fortune! It would more probably prove to be a tiny, stony +mass, not worth capturing. It might even be large and valuable, but +moving so rapidly that he could not overtake it with the power of the +diminutive Millen rocket. + +He studied the tiny speck intently, with practised eye, as the minutes +passed--an untrained eye would never have seen it at all, among the +flaming hosts of stars. Skilfully he judged, from its apparent rate of +motion and its slow increase in brilliance, its size and distance +from him. + +"Must be--must be fair size," he spoke aloud, at length. "A hundred +tons, I'll bet my helmet! But scooting along pretty fast. Stretch the +little old rocket to run it down." + +He clambered back to the rocket, changed the angle of the flaming +exhaust, to drive him directly across the path of the object ahead, +filled the magazine again with the little pellets of uranite, which +were fed automatically into the combustion chamber, and increased the +firing rate. + +The trailing blue flame reached farther backward from the incandescent +orifice of the exhaust. The vibration of the metal sphere increased. +Thad left the sputtering rocket and went back where he could see the +object before him. + + * * * * * + +It was nearer now, rushing obliquely across his path. Would he be in +time to capture it as it passed, or would it hurtle by ahead of him, +and vanish in the limitless darkness of space before his feeble rocket +could check the momentum of his ball of metal? + +He peered at it, as it drew closer. + +Its surface seemed oddly bright, silvery. Not the dull black of +meteoric iron. And it was larger, more distant, than he had thought at +first. In form, too, it seemed curiously regular, ellipsoid. It was no +jagged mass of metal. + +His hopes sank, rose again immediately. Even if it were not the mass +of rich metal for which he had prayed, it might be something as +valuable--and more interesting. + +He returned to the rocket, adjusted the angle of the nozzle again, and +advanced the firing time slightly, even at the risk of a ruinous +explosion. + +When he returned to where he could see the hurtling object before him, +he saw that it was a ship. A tapering silver-green rocket-flier. + +Once more his dreams were dashed. The officers of interplanetary +liners lose no love upon the meteor miners, claiming that their +collected masses of metal, almost helpless, always underpowered, are +menaces to navigation. Thad could expect nothing from the ship save a +heliographed warning to keep clear. + +But how came a rocket-flier here, in the perilous swarms of the meteor +belt? Many a vessel had been destroyed by collision with an asteroid, +in the days before charted lanes were cleared of drifting metal. + +The lanes more frequently used, between Earth, Mars, Venus and +Mercury, were of course far inside the orbits of the asteroids. And +the few ships running to Jupiter's moons avoided them by crossing +millions of miles above their plane. + +Could it be that legendary green ship, said once to have mysteriously +appeared, sliced up and drawn within her hull several of the primitive +ships of that day, and then disappeared forever after in the remote +wastes of space? Absurd, of course: he dismissed the idle fancy and +examined the ship still more closely. + +Then he saw that it was turning, end over end, very slowly. That meant +that its gyros were stopped; that it was helpless, drifting, disabled, +powerless to avoid hurtling meteoric stones. Had it blundered unawares +into the belt of swarms--been struck before the danger was realized? +Was it a derelict, with all dead upon it? + + * * * * * + +Either the ship's machinery was completely wrecked, Thad knew, or +there was no one on watch. For the controls of a modern rocket-flier +are so simple and so nearly automatic that a single man at the bridge +can keep a vessel upon her course. + +It might be, he thought, that a meteorite had ripped open the hull, +allowing the air to escape so quickly that the entire crew had been +asphyxiated before any repairs could be made. But that seemed +unlikely, since the ship must have been divided into several +compartments by air-tight bulkheads. + +Could the vessel have been deserted for some reason? The crew might +have mutinied, and left her in the life-tubes. She might have been +robbed by pirates, and set adrift. But with the space lanes policed as +they were, piracy and successful mutiny were rare. + +Thad saw that the flier's navigation lights were out. + +He found the heliograph signal mirror at his side, sighted it upon the +ship, and worked the mirror rapidly. He waited, repeated the call. +There was no response. + +The vessel was plainly a derelict. Could he board her, and take her to +Mars? By law, it was his duty to attempt to aid any helpless ship, or +at least to try to save any endangered lives upon her. And the salvage +award, if the ship should be deserted and he could bring her safe to +port, would be half her value. + +No mean prize, that. Half the value of ship and cargo! More than he +was apt to earn in years of mining the meteor-belt. + +With new anxiety, he measured the relative motion of the gleaming +ship. It was going to pass ahead of him. And very soon. No more time +for speculation. It was still uncertain whether it would come near +enough so that he could get a line to it. + +Rapidly he unslung from his belt the apparatus he used to capture +meteors. A powerful electromagnet, with a thin, strong wire fastened +to it, to be hurled from a helix-gun. He set the drum on which the +wire was wound upon the metal at his feet, fastened it with its +magnetic anchor, wondering if it would stand the terrific strain when +the wire tightened. + +Raising the helix to his shoulder, he trained it upon a point well +ahead of the rushing flier, and stood waiting for the exact moment to +press the lever. The slender spindle of the ship was only a mile away +now, bright in the sunlight. He could see no break in her polished +hull, save for the dark rows of circular ports. She was not, by any +means, completely wrecked. + +He read the black letters of her name. + +_Red Dragon._ + +The name of her home port, below, was in smaller letters. But in a +moment he made them out. San Francisco. The ship then came from the +Earth! From the very city where Thad was born! + + * * * * * + +The gleaming hull was near now. Only a few hundred yards away. +Passing. Aiming well ahead of her, to allow for her motion, Thad +pressed the key that hurled the magnet from the helix. It flung away +from him, the wire screaming from the reel behind it. + +Thad's mass of metal swung on past the ship, as he returned to the +rocket and stopped its clattering explosions. He watched the tiny +black speck of the magnet. It vanished from sight in the darkness of +space, appeared again against the white, burnished hull of the rocket +ship. + +For a painful instant he thought he had missed. Then he saw that the +magnet was fast to the side of the flier, near the stern. The line +tightened. Soon the strain would come upon it, as it checked the +momentum of the mass of iron. He set the friction brake. + +Thad flung himself flat, grasped the wire above the reel. Even if the +mass of iron tore itself free, he could hold to the wire, and himself +reach the ship. + +He flung past the deserted vessel, behind it, his lump of iron swung +like a pebble in a sling. A cloud of smoke burst from the burned +lining of the friction brake, in the reel. Then the wire was all out; +there was a sudden jerk. + +And the hard-gathered sphere of metal was gone--snapped off into +space. Thad clung desperately to the wire, muscles cracking, tortured +arms almost drawn from their sockets. Fear flashed over his mind; what +if the wire broke, and left him floating helpless in space? + + * * * * * + +It held, though, to his relief. He was trailing behind the ship. +Eagerly he seized the handle of the reel; began to wind up the mile of +thin wire. Half an hour later, Thad's suited figure bumped gently +against the shining hull of the rocket. He got to his feet, and gazed +backward into the starry gulf, where his sphere of iron had long since +vanished. + +"Somebody is going to find himself a nice chunk of metal, all welded +together and equipped for rocket navigation," he murmured. "As for +me--well, I've simply _got_ to run this tub to Mars!" + +He walked over the smooth, refulgent hull, held to it by magnetic +soles. Nowhere was it broken, though he found scars where small +meteoric particles had scratched the brilliant polish. So no meteor +had wrecked the ship. What, then, was the matter? Soon he would know. + +The _Red Dragon_ was not large. A hundred and thirty feet long, Thad +estimated, with a beam of twenty-five feet. But her trim lines bespoke +design recent and good; the double ring of black projecting rockets at +the stern told of unusual speed. + +A pretty piece of salvage, he reflected, if he could land her on +Mars. Half the value of such a ship, unharmed and safe in port, would +be a larger sum than he dared put in figures. And he must take her in, +now that he had lost his own rocket! + +He found the life-tubes, six of them, slender, silvery cylinders, +lying secure in their niches, three along each side of the flier. None +was missing. So the crew had not willingly deserted the ship. + +He approached the main air-lock, at the center of the hull, behind the +projecting dome of the bridge. It was closed. A glance at the dials +told him there was full air pressure within it. It had, then, last +been used to enter the rocket, not to leave it. + + * * * * * + +Thad opened the exhaust valve, let the air hiss from the chamber of +the lock. The huge door swung open in response to his hand upon the +wheel, and he entered the cylindrical chamber. In a moment the door +was closed behind him, air was hissing into the lock again. + +He started to open the face-plate of his helmet, longing for a breath +of air that did not smell of sweat and stale tobacco smoke, as that in +his suit always did, despite the best chemical purifiers. Then he +hesitated. Perhaps some deadly gas, from the combustion chambers.... + +Thad opened the inner valve, and came upon the upper deck of the +vessel. A floor ran the full length of the ship, broken with hatches +and companionways that gave to the rocket rooms, cargo holds, and +quarters for crew and passengers below. There was an enclosed ladder +that led to bridge and navigating room in the dome above. The hull +formed an arched roof over it. + +The deck was deserted, lit only by three dim blue globes, hanging from +the curved roof. All seemed in order--the fire-fighting equipment +hanging on the walls, and the huge metal patches and welding equipment +for repairing breaks in the hull. Everything was clean, bright with +polish or new paint. + +And all was very still. The silence held a vague, brooding threat that +frightened Thad, made him wish for a moment that he was back upon his +rugged ball of metal. But he banished his fear, and strode down the +deck. + +Midway of it he found a dark stain upon the clean metal. The black of +long-dried blood. A few tattered scraps of cloth beside it. No more +than bloody rags. And a heavy meat cleaver, half hidden beneath a bit +of darkened fabric. + +Mute record of tragedy! Thad strove to read it. Had a man fought here +and been killed? It must have been a struggle of peculiar violence, to +judge by the dark spattered stains, and the indescribable condition of +the remnants of clothing. But what had he fought? Another man, or some +thing? And what had become of victor and vanquished? + +He walked on down the deck. + +The torturing silence was broken by the abrupt patter of quick little +footsteps behind him. He turned quickly, nervously, with a hand going +instinctively to his welding arc, which, he knew, would make a fairly +effective weapon. + + * * * * * + +It was merely a dog. A little dog, yellow, nondescript, pathetically +delighted. With a sharp, eager bark, it leaped up at Thad, pawing at +his armor and licking it, standing on its hind legs and reaching +toward the visor of his helmet. + +It was very thin, as if from long starvation. Both ears were ragged +and bloody, and there was a long, unhealed scratch across the +shoulder, somewhat inflamed, but not a serious wound. + +The bright, eager eyes were alight with joy. But Thad thought he saw +fear in them. And even through the stiff fabric of the Osprey suit, he +felt that the dog was trembling. + +Suddenly, with a low whine, it shrank close to his side. And another +sound reached Thad's ears. + +A cry, weird and harrowing beyond telling. A scream so thin and so +high that it roughened his skin, so keenly shrill that it tortured his +nerves; a sound of that peculiar frequency that is more agonizing than +any bodily pain. + +When silence came again, Thad was standing with his back against the +wall, the welding arc in his hand. His face was cold with sweat, and a +queer chill prickled up and down his spine. The yellow dog crouched +whimpering against his legs. + +Ominous, threatening stillness filled the ship again, disturbed only +by the whimpers and frightened growls of the dog. Trying to calm his +overwrought nerves, Thad listened--strained his ears. He could hear +nothing. And he had no idea from which direction the terrifying sound +had come. + +A strange cry. Thad knew it had been born in no human throat. Nor in +the throat of any animal he knew. It had carried an alien note that +overcame him with instinctive fear and horror. What had voiced it? Was +the ship haunted by some dread entity? + + * * * * * + +For many minutes Thad stood upon the deck, waiting, tensely grasping +the welding tool. But the nerve-shattering scream did not come again. +Nor any other sound. The yellow dog seemed half to forget its fear. It +leaped up at his face again, with another short little bark. + +The air must be good, he thought, if the dog could live in it. + +He unscrewed the face-plate of his helmet, and lifted it. The air +that struck his face was cool and clean. He breathed deeply, +gratefully. And at first he did not notice the strange odor upon it: a +curious, unpleasant scent, earthly, almost fetid, unfamiliar. + +The dog kept leaping up, whining. + +"Hungry, boy?" Thad whispered. + +He fumbled in the bulky inside pockets of his suit, found a slab of +concentrated food, and tossed it out through the opened panel. The dog +sprang upon it, wolfed it eagerly, and came back to his side. + +Thad set at once about exploring the ship. + +First he ascended the ladder to the bridge. A metal dome covered it, +studded with transparent ports. Charts and instruments were in order. +And the room was vacant, heavy with the fatal silence of the ship. + + * * * * * + +Thad had no expert's knowledge of the flier's mechanism. But he had +studied interplanetary navigation, to qualify for his license to carry +masses of metal under rocket power through the space lanes and into +planetary atmospheres. He was sure he could manage the ship if its +mechanism were in good order, though he was uncertain of his ability +to make any considerable repairs. + +To his relief, a scrutiny of the dials revealed nothing wrong. + +He started the gyro motors, got the great wheels to spinning, and thus +stopped the slow, end-over-end turning of the flier. Then he went to +the rocket controls, warmed three of the tubes, and set them to +firing. The vessel answered readily to her helm. In a few minutes he +had the red fleck of Mars over the bow. + +"Yes, I can run her, all right," he announced to the dog, which had +followed him up the steps, keeping close to his feet. "Don't worry, +old boy. We'll be eating a juicy beefsteak together, in a week. At +Comet's place in Helion, down by the canal. Not much style--but the +eats! + +"And now we're going to do a little detective work, and find out what +made that disagreeable noise. And what happened to all your +fellow-astronauts. Better find out, before it happens to us!" + +He shut off the rockets, and climbed down from the bridge again. + +When Thad started down the companionway to the officers' quarters, in +the central one of the five main compartments of the ship, the dog +kept close to his legs, growling, trembling, hackles lifted. Sensing +the animal's terror, pitying it for the naked fear in its eyes, Thad +wondered what dramas of horror it might have seen. + +The cabins of the navigator, calculator, chief technician, and first +officer were empty, and forbidding with the ominous silence of the +ship. They were neatly in order, and the berths had been made since +they were used. But there was a large bloodstain, black and circular, +on the floor of the calculator's room. + +The captain's cabin held evidence of a violent struggle. The door had +been broken in. Its fragments, with pieces of broken furniture, books, +covers from the berth, and three service pistols, were scattered about +in indescribable confusion, all stained with blood. Among the +frightful debris, Thad found several scraps of clothing, of dissimilar +fabrics. The guns were empty. + + * * * * * + +Attempting to reconstruct the action of the tragedy from those grim +clues, he imagined that the five officers, aware of some peril, had +gathered here, fought, and died. + +The dog refused to enter the room. It stood at the door, looking +anxiously after him, trembling and whimpering pitifully. Several times +it sniffed the air and drew back, snarling. Thad thought that the +unpleasant earthy odor he had noticed upon opening the face-plate of +his helmet was stronger here. + +After a few minutes of searching through the wildly disordered room, +he found the ship's log--or its remains. Many pages had been torn from +the book, and the remainder, soaked with blood, formed a stiff black +mass. + +Only one legible entry did he find, that on a page torn from the book, +which somehow had escaped destruction. Dated five months before, it +gave the position of the vessel and her bearings--she was then just +outside Jupiter's orbit, Earthward bound--and concluded with a remark +of sinister implications: + + "Another man gone this morning. Simms, assistant technician. + A fine workman. O'Deen swears he heard something moving on + the deck. Cook thinks some of the doctor's stuffed + monstrosities have come to life. Ridiculous, of course. But + what is one to think?" + +Pondering the significance of those few lines, Thad climbed back to +the deck. Was the ship haunted by some weird death, that had seized +the crew man by man, mysteriously? That was the obvious implication. +And if the flier had been still outside Jupiter's orbit when those +words were written, it must have been weeks before the end. A lurking, +invisible death! The scream he had heard.... + + * * * * * + +He descended into the forecastle, and came upon another such silent +record of frightful carnage as he had found in the captain's cabin. +Dried blood, scraps of cloth, knives and other weapons. A fearful +question was beginning to obsess him. What had become of the bodies of +those who must have died in these conflicts? He dared not think the +answer. + +Gripping the welding arc, Thad approached the after hatch, giving to +the cargo hold. Trepidation almost overpowered him, but he was +determined to find the sinister menace of the ship, before it found +him. The dog whimpered, hung back, and finally deserted him, +contributing nothing to his peace of mind. + +The hold proved to be dark. An indefinite black space, oppressive with +the terrible silence of the flier. The air within it bore still more +strongly the unpleasant fetor. + +Thad hesitated on the steps. The hold was not inviting. But at the +thought that he must sleep, unguarded, while taking the flier to Mars, +his resolution returned. The uncertainty, the constant fear, would be +unendurable. + +He climbed on down, feeling for the light button. He found it, as his +feet touched the floor. Blue light flooded the hold. + +It was filled with monstrous things, colossal creatures, such as +nothing that ever lived upon the Earth; like nothing known in the +jungles of Venus or the deserts of Mars, or anything that has been +found upon Jupiter's moons. + +They were monsters remotely resembling insects or crustaceans, but as +large as horses or elephants; creatures upreared upon strange limbs, +armed with hideously fanged jaws, cruel talons, frightful, saw-toothed +snouts, and glittering scales, red and yellow and green. They leered +at him with phosphorescent eyes, yellow and purple. + +They cast grotesquely gigantic shadows in the blue light.... + + * * * * * + +A cold shock of horror started along Thad's spine, at sight of those +incredible nightmare things. Automatically he flung up the welding +tool, flicking over the lever with his thumb, so that violet electric +flame played about the electrode. + +Then he saw that the crowding, hideous things were motionless, that +they stood upon wooden pedestals, that many of them were supported +upon metal bars. They were dead. Mounted. Collected specimens of some +alien life. + +Grinning wanly, and conscious of a weakness in the knees, he muttered: +"They sure will fill the museum, if everybody gets the kick out of +them that I did. A little too realistic, I'd say. Guess these are the +'stuffed monstrosities' mentioned in the page out of the log. No +wonder the cook was afraid of them. Some of then do look hellishly +alive!" + +He started across the hold, shrinking involuntarily from the armored +enormities that seemed crouched to spring at him, motionless eyes +staring. + +So, at the end of the long space, he found the treasure. + +Glittering in the blue light, it looked unreal. Incredible. A dazzling +dream. He stopped among the fearful things that seemed gathered as if +to guard it, and stared with wide eyes through the opened face-plate +of his helmet. + +He saw neat stacks of gold ingots, new, freshly smelted; bars of +silver-white iridium, of argent platinum, of blue-white osmium. Many +of them. Thousands of pounds, Thad knew. He trembled at thought of +their value. Almost beyond calculation. + +Then he saw the coffer, lying beyond the piled, gleaming ingots--a +huge box, eight feet long; made of some crystal that glittered with +snowy whiteness, filled with sparkling, iridescent gleams, and inlaid +with strange designs, apparently in vermilion enamel. + +With a little cry, he ran toward the chest, moving awkwardly in the +loose, deflated fabric of the Osprey suit. + + * * * * * + +Beside the coffer, on the floor of the hold, was literally a mountain +of flame--blazing gems, heaped as if they had been carelessly dumped +from it; cut diamonds, incredibly gigantic; monster emeralds, +sapphires, rubies; and strange stones, that Thad did not recognize. + +And Thad gasped with horror, when he looked at the designs of the +vermilion inlay, in the white, gleaming crystal. Weird forms. Shapes +of creatures somewhat like gigantic spiders, and more unlike them. +Demoniac things, wickedly fanged, jaws slavering. Executed with +masterly skill, that made them seem living, menacing, secretly +gloating! + +Thad stared at them for long minutes, fascinated almost hypnotically. +Three times he approached the chest, to lift the lid and find what it +held. And three times the unutterable horror of those crimson images +thrust him back, shuddering. + +"Nothing but pictures," he muttered hoarsely. + +A fourth time he advanced, trembling, and seized the lid of the +coffer. Heavy, massive, it was fashioned also of glistening white +crystal, and inlaid in crimson with weirdly hideous figures. Great +hinges of white platinum held it on the farther side; it was fastened +with a simple, heavy hasp of the precious metal. + +Hands quivering, Thad snapped back the hasp, lifted the lid. + +New treasure in the chest would not have surprised him. He was +prepared to meet dazzling wonders of gems or priceless metal. Nor +would he have been astonished at some weird creature such as one of +those whose likenesses were inlaid in the crystal. + +But what he saw made him drop the massive lid. + +A woman lay in the chest--motionless, in white. + + * * * * * + +In a moment he raised the lid again; examined the still form more +closely. The woman had been young. The features were regular, good to +look upon. The eyes were closed; the white face appeared very +peaceful. + +Save for the extreme, cadaverous pallor, there was no mark of death. +With a fancy that the body might be miraculously living, sleeping, +Thad thrust an arm out through the opened panel of his suit, and +touched a slender, bare white arm. It was stiff, very cold. + +The still, pallid face was framed in fine brown hair. The fair, small +hands were crossed upon the breast, over the simple white garment. + +A queer ache came into his heart. Something made him think of a white +tower in the red hills near Helion, and a girl waiting in its fragrant +garden of saffron and purple--a girl like this. + +The body lay upon a bed of blazing jewels. + +It appeared, Thad thought, as if the pile of gems upon the floor had +been hastily scraped from the coffer, to make room for the quiet form. +He wondered how long it had lain there. It looked as if it might have +been living but minutes before. Some preservative.... + +His thought was broken by a sound that rang from the open hatchway on +the deck above--the furious barking and yelping of the dog. Abruptly +that was silent, and in its place came the uncanny and terrifying +scream that Thad had heard once before, on this flier of mystery. A +shriek so keen and shrill that it seemed to tear out his nerves by +their roots. The voice of the haunter of the ship. + + * * * * * + +When Thad came back upon the deck, the dog was still barking +nervously. He saw the animal forward, almost at the bow. Hackles +raised, tail between its legs, it was slinking backward, barking +sharply as if to call for aid. + +Apparently it was retreating from something between Thad and itself. +But Thad, searching the dimly-lit deck, could see no source of alarm. +Nor could the structures upon it have shut any large object from his +view. + +"It's all right!" Thad called, intending to reassure the frightened +animal, but finding his voice queerly dry. "Coming on the double, old +man. Don't worry." + +The dog had reached the end of the deck. It stopped yelping, but +snarled and whined as if in terror. It began darting back and forth, +moving exactly as if something were slowly closing in upon it, +trapping it in the corner. But Thad could see nothing. + +Then it made a wild dash back toward Thad, darting along by the wall, +as if trying to run past an unseen enemy. + +Thad thought he heard quick, rasping footsteps, then, that were not +those of the dog. And something seemed to catch the dog in mid-air, as +it leaped. It was hurled howling to the deck. For a moment it +struggled furiously, as if an invisible claw had pinned it down. Then +it escaped, and fled whimpering to Thad's side. + +He saw a new wound across its hips. Three long, parallel scratches, +from which fresh red blood was trickling. + +Regular scraping sounds came from the end of the deck, where no moving +thing was to be seen--sounds such as might be made by the walking of +feet with unsheathed claws. Something was coming back toward Thad. +Something that was _invisible_! + + * * * * * + +Terror seized him, with the knowledge. He had nerved himself to face +desperate men, or a savage animal. But an invisible being, that could +creep upon him and strike unseen! It was incredible ... yet he had +seen the dog knocked down, and the bleeding wound it had received. + +His heart paused, then beat very quickly. For the moment he thought +only blindly, of escape. He knew only an overpowering desire to hide, +to conceal himself from the invisible thing. Had it been possible, he +might have tried to leave the flier. + +Beside him was one of the companionways amidships, giving access to a +compartment of the vessel that he had not explored. He turned, leaped +down the steps, with the terrified dog at his heels. + +Below, he found himself in a short hall, dimly lighted. Several metal +doors opened from it. He tried one at random. It gave. He sprang +through, let the dog follow, closed and locked it. + +Trying to listen, he leaned weakly against the door. The rushing of +his breath, swift and regular. The loud hammer of his thudding heart. +The dog's low whines. Then--unmistakable scraping sounds, outside. + +The scratching of claws, Thad knew. Invisible claws! + +He stood there, bracing the door with the weight of his body, holding +the welding arc ready in his hand. Several times the hinges creaked, +and he felt a heavy pressure against the panels. But at last the +scratching sounds ceased. He relaxed. The monster had withdrawn, at +least for a time. + +When he had time to think, the invisibility of the thing was not so +incredible. The mounted creatures he had seen in the hold were +evidence that the flier had visited some unknown planet, where weird +life reigned. It was not beyond reason that such a planet should be +inhabited by beings invisible to human sight. + +Human vision, as he knew, utilizes only a tiny fraction of the +spectrum. The creature must be largely transparent to visible light, +as human flesh is radiolucent to hard X-rays. Quite possibly it could +be seen by infra-red or ultra-violet light--evidently it was visible +enough to the dog's eyes, with their different range of sensitivity. + + * * * * * + +Pushing the subject from his mind, he turned to survey the room into +which he had burst. It had apparently been occupied by a woman. A +frail blue silk dress and more intimate items of feminine wearing +apparel were hanging above the berth. Two pairs of delicate black +slippers stood neatly below it. + +Across from him was a dressing table, with a large mirror above it. +Combs, pins, jars of cosmetic cluttered it. And Thad saw upon it a +little leather-bound book, locked, stamped on the back "Diary." + +He crossed the room and picked up the little book, which smelled +faintly of jasmine. Momentary shame overcame him at thus stealing the +secrets of an unknown girl. Necessity, however, left him no choice but +to seize any chance of learning more of this ship of mystery and her +invisible haunter. He broke the flimsy fastening. + +Linda Cross was the name written on the fly-leaf, in a firm, clear +feminine hand. On the next page was the photograph, in color, of a +girl, the brown-haired girl whose body Thad had discovered in the +crystal coffer in the hold. Her eyes, he saw, had been blue. He +thought she looked very lovely--like the waiting girl in his old dream +of the silver tower in the red hills by Helion. + +The diary, it appeared, had not been kept very devotedly. Most of the +pages were blank. + +One of the first entries, dated a year and a half before, told of a +party that Linda had attended in San Francisco, and of her refusal to +dance with a certain man, referred to as "Benny," because he had been +unpleasantly insistent about wanting to marry her. It ended: + + "Dad said to-night that we're going off in the _Dragon_ + again. All the way to Uranus, if the new fuel works as he + expects. What a lark, to explore a few new worlds of our + own! Dad says one of Uranus' moons is as large as Mercury. + And Benny won't be proposing again soon!" + +Turning on, Thad found other scattered entries, some of them dealing +with the preparation for the voyage, the start from San Francisco--and +a huge bunch of flowers from "Benny," the long months of the trip +through space, out past the orbit of Mars, above the meteor belt, +across Jupiter's orbit, beyond the track of Saturn, which was the +farthest point that rocket explorers had previously reached, and on to +Uranus, where they could not land because of the unstable surface. + + * * * * * + +The remainder of the entries Thad found less frequent, shorter, +bearing the mark of excitement: landing upon Titania, the third and +largest satellite of Uranus; unearthly forests, sheltering strange and +monstrous life; the hunting of weird creatures, and mounting them for +museum specimens. + +Then the discovery of a ruined city, whose remains indicated that it +had been built by a lost race of intelligent, spiderlike things; the +finding of a temple whose walls were of precious metals, containing a +crystal chest filled with wondrous gems; the smelting of the metal +into convenient ingots, and the transfer of the treasure to the hold. + +The first sinister note there entered the diary: + + "Some of the men say we shouldn't have disturbed the temple. + Think it will bring us bad luck. Rubbish, of course. But one + man did vanish while they were smelting the gold. Poor Mr. + Tom James. I suppose he ventured away from the rest, and + something caught him." + +The few entries that followed were shorter, and showed increasing +nervous tension. They recorded the departure from Titania, made almost +as soon as the treasure was loaded. The last was made several weeks +later. A dozen men had vanished from the crew, leaving only gouts of +blood to hint the manner of their going. The last entry ran: + + "Dad says I'm to stay in here to-day. Old dear, he's afraid + the thing will get me--whatever it is. It's really serious. + Two men taken from their berths last night. And not a trace. + Some of them think it's a curse on the treasure. One of them + swears he saw Dad's stuffed specimens moving about in the + hold. + + "Some terrible thing must have slipped aboard the flier, out + of the jungle. That's what Dad and the captain think. Queer + they can't find it. They've searched all over. Well...." + +Musing and regretful, Thad turned back for another look at the smiling +girl in the photograph. + +What a tragedy her death had been! Reading the diary had made him like +her. Her balance and humor. Her quiet affection for "Dad." The calm +courage with which she seemed to have faced the creeping, lurking +death that darkened the ship with its unescapable shadow. + +How had her body come to be in the coffer, he wondered, when all the +others were--gone? It had shown no marks of violence. She must have +died of fear. No, her face had seemed too calm and peaceful for that. +Had she chosen easy death by some poison, rather than that other +dreadful fate? Had her body been put in the chest to protect it, and +the poison arrested decomposition? + +Thad was still studying the picture, thoughtfully and sadly, when the +dog, which had been silent, suddenly growled again, and retreated from +the door, toward the corner of the room. + +The invisible monster had returned. Thad heard its claws scratching +across the door again. And he heard another dreadful sound--not the +long, shrill scream that had so grated on his nerves before, but a +short, sharp coughing or barking, a series of shrill, indescribable +notes that could have been made by no beast he knew. + + * * * * * + +The decision to open the door cost a huge effort of Thad's will. + +For hours he had waited, thinking desperately. And the thing outside +the door had waited as patiently, scratching upon it from time to +time, uttering those dreadful, shrill coughing cries. + +Sooner or later, he would have to face the monster. Even if he could +escape from the room and avoid it for a time, he would have to meet it +in the end. And it might creep upon him while he slept. + +To be sure, the issue of the combat was extremely doubtful. The +monster, apparently, had succeeded in killing every man upon the +flier, even though some of them had been armed. It must be large and +very ferocious. + +But Thad was not without hope. He still wore his Osprey-suit. The +heavy fabric, made of metal wires impregnated with a tough, elastic +composition, should afford considerable protection against the thing. + +The welding arc, intended to fuse refractive meteoric iron, would be +no mean weapon, at close quarters. And the quarters would be close. + +If only he could find some way to make the thing visible! + +Paint, or something of the kind, would stick to its skin.... His eyes, +searching the room, caught the jar of face powder on the dressing +table. Dash that over it! It ought to stick enough to make the outline +visible. + +So, at last, holding the powder ready in one hand, he waited until a +time when the pressure upon the door had just relaxed, and he knew the +monster was waiting outside. Swiftly, he opened the door.... + + * * * * * + +Thad had partially overcome the instinctive horror that the unseen +being had first aroused in him. But it returned in a sickening wave +when he heard the short, shrill, coughing cries, hideously eager, that +greeted the opening of the door. And the quick rasping of naked claws +upon the floor. _Sounds from nothingness!_ + +He flung the powder at the sound. + +A form of weird horror materialized before him, still half invisible, +half outlined with the white film of adhering powder: gigantic and +hideous claws, that seemed to reach out of empty air, the side of a +huge, scaly body, a yawning, dripping jaw. For a moment Thad could see +great, hooked fangs in that jaw. Then they vanished, as if an unseen +tongue had licked the powder from them, dissolving it in fluids which +made it invisible. + +That unearthly, half-seen shape leaped at him. + +He was carried backward into the room, hurled to the floor. Claws were +rasping upon the tough fabric of his suit. His arm was seized +crushingly in half-visible jaws. + + * * * * * + +Desperately he clung to the welding tool. The heated electrode was +driven toward his body. He fought to keep it away; he knew that it +would burn through even the insulated fabric of his suit. + +A claw ripped savagely at his side. He heard the sharp, rending sound, +as the tough fabric of his suit was torn, and felt a thin pencil of +pain drawn along his body, where a claw cut his skin. + +Suddenly the suit was full of the earthy fetor of the monster's body, +nauseatingly intense. Thad gasped, tried to hold his breath, and +thrust upward hard with the incandescent electrode. He felt warm blood +trickling from the wound. + +A numbing blow struck his arm. The welding tool was carried from his +hand. Flung to the side of the room, it clattered to the floor; and +then a heavy weight came upon his chest, forcing the breath from his +lungs. The monster stood upon his body and clawed at him. + +Thad squirmed furiously. He kicked out with his feet, encountering a +great, hard body. Futilely he beat and thrust with his arms against +the pillarlike limb. + +His body was being mauled, bruised beneath the thick fabric. He heard +it tear again, along his right thigh. But he felt no pain, and thought +the claws had not reached the skin. + +It was the yellow dog that gave him the chance to recover the weapon. +The animal had been running back and forth in the opposite end of the +room, fairly howling in excitement and terror. Now, with the mad +courage of desperation, it leaped recklessly at the monster. + +A mighty, dimly seen claw caught it, hurled it back across the room. +It lay still, broken, whimpering. + +For a moment the thing had lifted its weight from Thad's body. And +Thad slipped quickly from beneath it, flung himself across the room, +snatched up the welding tool. + +In an instant the creature was upon him again. But he met it with the +incandescent electrode. He was crouched in a corner, now, where it +could come at him from only one direction. Its claws still slashed at +him ferociously. But he was able to cling to the weapon, and meet each +onslaught with hot metal. + +Gradually its mad attacks weakened. Then one of his blind, thrusting +blows seemed to burn into a vital organ. A terrible choking, +strangling sound came from the air. And he heard the thrashing +struggles of wild convulsions. At last all was quiet. He prodded the +thing again and again with the hot electrode, and it did not move. It +was dead. + +The creature's body was so heavy that Thad had to return to the +bridge, and shut off the current in the gravity plates along the keel, +before he could move it. He dragged it to the lock through which he +had entered the flier, and consigned it to space.... + + * * * * * + +Five days later Thad brought the _Red Dragon_ into the atmosphere of +Mars. A puzzled pilot came aboard, in response to his signals, and +docked the flier safely at Helion. Thad went down into the hold again, +with the astonished port authorities who had come aboard to inspect +the vessel. + +Again he passed among the grotesque and outrageous monsters in the +hold, leading the gasping officers. While they marveled at the +treasure, he lifted the weirdly embellished lid of the coffer of white +crystal, and looked once more upon the still form of the girl within +it. + +Pity stirred him. An ache came in his throat. + +Linda Cross, so quiet and cold and white, and yet so lovely. How +terrible her last days of life must have been, with doom shadowing the +vessel, and the men vanishing mysteriously, one by one! +Terrible--until she had sought the security of death. + +Strangely, Thad felt no great elation at the thought that half the +incalculable treasure about him was now safely his own, as the award +of salvage. If only the girl were still living.... He felt a +poignantly keen desire to hear her voice. + +Thad found the note when they started to lift her from the chest. A +hasty scrawl, it lay beneath her head, among glittering gems. + + "This woman is not dead. Please have her given skilled + medical attention as soon as possible. She lies in a state + of suspended animation, induced by the injection of fifty + minims of zeronel. + + "She is my daughter, Linda Cross, and my sole heir. + + "I entreat the finders of this to have care given her, and + to keep in trust for her such part of the treasure on this + ship as may remain after the payment of salvage or other + claims. + + "Sometime she will wake. Perhaps in a year, perhaps in a + hundred. The purity of my drugs is uncertain, and the + injection was made hastily, so I do not know the exact time + that must elapse. + + "If this is found, it will be because the lurking thing upon + the ship has destroyed me and all my men. + + "Please do not fail me. + + Levington Cross." + +Thad bought the white tower of his dreams, slim and graceful in its +Martian garden of saffron and purple, among the low ocher hills beside +Helion. He carried the sleeping girl through the silver door where the +girl of his dreams had waited, and set the coffer in a great, vaulted +chamber. Many times each day he came into the room where she lay, to +look into her pallid face, and feel her cold wrist. He kept a nurse in +attendance, and had a physician call daily. + +A long Martian year went by. + + * * * * * + +Looking in his mirror one day, Thad saw little wrinkles about his +eyes. He realized that the nervous strain and anxiety of waiting was +aging him. And it might be a hundred years, he remembered, before +Linda Cross came from beneath the drug's influence. + +He wondered if he should grow old and infirm, while Linda lay still +young and beautiful and unchanged in her sleep; if she might awake, +after long years, and see in him only a feeble old man. And he knew +that he would not be sorry he had waited, even if he should die before +she revived. + +On the next day, the nurse called him into the room where Linda lay. +He was bending over her when she opened her eyes. They were blue, +glorious. + +A long time she looked up at him, first in fearful wonder, then with +confidence, and dawning understanding. And at last she smiled. + + * * * * * + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 29283 *** |