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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/29353-h.zip b/29353-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..145db53 --- /dev/null +++ b/29353-h.zip diff --git a/29353-h/29353-h.htm b/29353-h/29353-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8f8c89 --- /dev/null +++ b/29353-h/29353-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2235 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Vampires Of Space, by Sewell Peaslee Wright. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr.hr2 { + width: 10%; + margin-top: 2.5em; + margin-bottom: 2.5em; + clear: both; + color: #BDBDBD; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 95%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: #C0C0C0; +} + +.caption {text-align: center; margin-top: 1px;} + +.image {text-align: center; margin: auto;} + +.tnote { + border-style: double; + border-width: 6px; + padding: 1em; + background: #FFFFFF; + text-align: left; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + font-size: 95%; + border-color: #000000; +} + +.minispace {margin-bottom: 1em;} + +.microspace {margin-bottom: .5em;} + +.nanospace {padding-bottom: .25em;} + +.sidenote { + width: 25%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 5em; + float: right; + clear: right; + font-size: 91%; + color: black; + background: #FFFFFF; + border: solid 2px; +} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vampires of Space, by Sewell Peaslee Wright + +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: Vampires of Space + +Author: Sewell Peaslee Wright + +Release Date: July 8, 2009 [EBook #29353] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VAMPIRES OF SPACE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Meredith Bach, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="tnote"> +<h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3> + +This etext was produced from Astounding Stories, March 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. +</div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="image"><img src="images/icover.jpg" width="342" height="492" alt="cover" title="" /></div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> +<div class="microspace"> </div> + + +<div class="image"><img src="images/i402.jpg" width="540" height="600" alt="Our sprays met them in mid air." title="" /><br /> +<span class="caption"><i>Our sprays met them in mid air.</i></span></div> +<div class="minispace"> </div> + + + +<h1>Vampires of Space</h1> + +<h2>By Sewell Peaslee Wright</h2> +<div class="minispace"> </div> + +<div class="sidenote">Commander John Hanson recounts +his harrowing adventure with the +Electites of space.</div> + + +<p>Sometimes, I know, I must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> +seem a crotchety old man. +"Old John Hanson," they call +me, and roll their eyes as +though to say, "Of course, you have +to forgive him on +account of his +age."</p> + +<p>But the joke +isn't always on +me. Not infrequently +I gain much amusement observing +these cocky youngsters who +strut in the blue-and-silver uniforms +of the Service in which, until more +or less recently, I bore the rank of +Commander.</p> + +<p>There is young +Clippen, for instance, +a nice, +clean youngster; +third officer, I believe, +on the <i>Caliobre</i>, one of the +newest ships of the Special Patrol +Service. He drops in to see me as +often as he has leave here at Base, +to give me the latest news, and to +coax a yarn, if he can, of the old +days. He is courteous, respectful +... and yet just a shade condescending. +The condescension of +youth.</p> + +<p>"Something new under the sun +after all, sir," he commented the +other day. That, incidentally, is a +saying of Earth, whence the larger +part of the Service's officer personnel +has always been drawn. Something +new under the sun! The +saying probably dates back to an +age long before man mastered +space.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" I leaned back more comfortably, +happy, as always, to hear +my native Earth tongue, and to +speak it. The Universal language +has its obvious advantages, but the +speech of one's fathers wings +thought straightest to the mind. +"What now?"</p> + +<p>"Creatures of space!" announced +Clippen importantly, in the fashion +of one who brings surprising news. +"'Electites,' they call them. Beings +who live in space—things, anyway; +I don't know that you could call +them beings."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>"Hm-m." I looked past him, +down a mighty corridor of +dimming years. Creatures that lived +in space.... I smiled in my beard. +"Creatures perhaps twice the height +of a man in their greatest dimension? +In shape like a crescent, with +blunted horns somewhat straightened +near the tips, and drawn close together?" +I spoke slowly, drawing +from my store of memories. "A pale +red in color, intangible and yet—"</p> + +<p>"You've heard, sir!" said Clippen +disappointedly to me. "My news is +stale."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've heard," I nodded. +"'Electites,' they call them, eh?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +That's the work of our great scientific +minds, I presume?"</p> + +<p>"Er—yes. Undoubtedly." Clippen +started to wander restlessly around +the room. He had a great respect +for the laboratory men, with their +white coats and their wise, solemn +airs, and he disliked exceedingly to +have me present my views regarding +these much overrated gentlemen. +I have always been a man of +action, and pottering over coils +and glass vials and pages of figures +has always struck me as something +not to be included in a man's +proper sphere of activity. "Well, I +believe I'll be shoving off, sir; just +dropped in for a moment," Clippen +continued. "Thought perhaps you +hadn't heard of the news; it seems +to be causing a great deal of discussion +among the officers at Base."</p> + +<p>"Something new under the sun, +eh?" I chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes. You'll agree to that, +sir, surely?" I believe the lad was +slightly nettled by my chuckle. No +one likes to bear stale news.</p> + +<p>"I'll agree to that," I said, smiling +broadly now. "'Tis easier than +debating the matter, and an old man +can't hope to hold his own in argument +with you quick-witted youngsters."</p> + +<p>"I've never noticed," replied +young Clippen rather acidly, "that +you were particularly averse to +argument, sir. Rather the reverse. +But I must be moving on; we're +shoving off soon, I hear, and you +know the routine here at Base."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>He saluted me, rather carelessly, +I should say, and I returned +the salute with the crispness +with which the gesture was rendered +in my day. When he was +gone, I turned to my desk and began +searching in that huge and +capacious drawer in which were +kept, helter-skelter, the dusty, +faded, nondescript mementoes of a +thousand adventures.</p> + +<p>I found, at last, what I was seeking. +No impressive thing, this: a +bit of metal, irregular in shape, no +larger than my palm, and three +times the thickness. One side was +smooth; the other was stained as +by great heat, and deeply pitted as +though it had been steeped in acid.</p> + +<p>Silently, I turned the bit of metal +over and over in my hands. I had +begged hard for this souvenir; had +obtained it only by passing my +word its secret would never reach +the Universe through me. But now +... now that seal of secrecy has +been removed.</p> + +<p>As I write this, slowly and +thoughtfully, as an old man writes, +relishing his words for the sake +of the memories they bring before +his eyes, a bit of metal holds +against the vagrant breeze the +filled pages of my script. A bit of +metal, no larger than my palm, and +perhaps three times the thickness. +It is irregular in shape, and smooth +on one side. The other side is +eroded as though by acid.</p> + +<p>Not an imposing thing, this ancient +bit of metal, but to me one +of my most precious possessions. +It is, beyond doubt, the only fragment +of my old ship, the <i>Ertak</i>, +now in existence and identifiable.</p> + +<p>And this story is the story of +that pitted metal and the ship from +which it came; one of the strangest +stories in all my storehouse of +memories of days when only the +highways of the Universe had been +charted, and breathless adventure +awaited him who dared the unknown +trails of the Special Patrol +Service.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>The <i>Ertak</i>, as I recall the details +now, had just touched at +Base upon the completion of a +routine patrol—one of those monotonous, +fruitless affairs which used +to prey so upon Correy's peace of +mind. Correy was my first officer +on the <i>Ertak</i>, and the keenest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +seeker after trouble I have ever +known.</p> + +<p>"The Chief presents his compliments +and requests an immediate +audience with Commander Hanson," +announced one of the brisk, little +attaches of Base, before I'd had +time to draw a second breath of +fresh air.</p> + +<p>I glanced at Correy, who was +beside me, and winked. That is, I +quickly drew down the lid of one +eye—a peculiar little gesture common +to Earth, which may mean any +one of many things.</p> + +<p>"Sounds like something's in the +wind," I commented in a swift aside. +"Better give 'no leaves' until I +come back."</p> + +<p>"Right, sir!" chuckled Correy. +"It's about time."</p> + +<p>I made my way swiftly to the +Chief's private office, and was +promptly admitted. He returned my +salute crisply, and wasted no time +in getting to the point.</p> + +<p>"How's your ship, Commander? +Good condition?"</p> + +<p>"Prime, sir."</p> + +<p>"Supplies?"</p> + +<p>"What's needed could be taken on +in two hours." In the Service, +Earth time was an almost universal +standard except in official documents.</p> + +<p>"Good!" The Chief picked up a +sheaf of papers, mostly standard +charts and position reports, I +judged, and frowned at them +thoughtfully. "I've some work cut +out for you, Commander.</p> + +<p>"Two passenger ships have recently +been reported lost in space. +That wouldn't be so alarming if +both had not, when last reported, +been in about the same position. +Perhaps it is no more than a coincidence, +but, with space travel still +viewed with a certain doubt by so +many, the Council feels something +should be done to determine the +cause of these two losses.</p> + +<p>"Accordingly, all ships have been +rerouted to avoid the area in which +it is presumed these losses took +place. The locations of the two +ships, together with their routes +and last reported positions, are +given here. There will be no formal +orders; you are to cruise until +you have determined, and if possible, +eliminated the danger, or until +you are certain that no further +danger exists."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>He slid the papers across his +desk, and I picked them up.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir!" I said. "That will be +all?"</p> + +<p>"You understand your orders?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Very well. Good luck, Commander!"</p> + +<p>I saluted and hurried out of the +room, back to my impatient first +officer.</p> + +<p>"What's up, sir?" he asked +eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Can't say that I know, to be +truthful about it. Perhaps nothing; +perhaps a great deal. Give orders +to take on all necessary supplies—in +double-quick time. I've promised +the Chief we'll be ready to shove +off in two hours. I'll meet you in +the navigating room, and give you +all the information I have."</p> + +<p>Correy saluted and rushed away +to give the necessary orders. +Thoughtfully, I made my way +through the narrow, ethon-lighted +passageways to the navigating room, +where Correy very shortly joined +me.</p> + +<p>Briefly, I repeated the Chief's +conversation, and we both bent over +the charts and position reports.</p> + +<p>"Hm-m!" Correy was lost in +thought for a moment as he fixed +the location in his mind. "Rather +on the fringe of things. Almost +anything could happen out there, +sir. That would be on the old +Belgrade route, would it not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's still used, however, as +you know, by some of the smaller,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span> +slower ships making many stops. +Or was, until the recent order. Any +guesses as to what we'll find?"</p> + +<p>"None, sir, except the obvious +one."</p> + +<p>"Meteorites?"</p> + +<p>Correy nodded.</p> + +<p>"There's some bad swarms, now +and then," he said seriously. I knew +he was thinking of one disastrous +experience the <i>Ertak</i> had had ... and +of scores of narrow escapes. +"That would be the one likely explanation."</p> + +<p>"True. But those ships were old +and slow, they could turn about +and dodge more easily than a ship +of the <i>Ertak's</i> speed. At full space +speed we're practically helpless; +can neither stop nor change our +course in time to avoid an emergency."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," shrugged Correy, +"our job's to find the facts. I took +the liberty of telling the men we +were to be ready in an hour and +a half. If we are, do we shove off +immediately?"</p> + +<p>"Just as soon as everything's +checked. I leave it to you to give +the necessary orders. I know I can +depend upon you to waste no time."</p> + +<p>"Right, sir," said Correy, grinning +like a schoolboy. "We'll waste no +time."</p> + +<p>In just a shade less than two +hours after we had set down at +Base, we were rising swiftly at +maximum atmospheric speed, on our +way to a little-traveled portion of +the universe, where two ships, in +rapid succession, had met an unknown +fate.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>"I wonder, sir, if you could +come to the navigating room +at once?" It was Kincaide's voice, +coming from the instrument in my +stateroom.</p> + +<p>"Immediately, Mr. Kincaide." I +asked no questions, for I knew my +second officer's cool-headed disposition. +If something required my +attention in the navigating room, in +his opinion, it was something important. +I threw on my uniform +hurriedly and hastened to Kincaide's +side, wondering if at last +our days of unrewarded searching +were to bear fruit.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I called you needlessly, +sir," Kincaide greeted me apologetically, +"but, considering the nature +of our mission, I thought it best +to have your opinion." He motioned +toward the two great navigating +charts, operated by super-radio reflexes, +set in the surface of the +table before him.</p> + +<p>In the center of each was the +familiar red spark which represented +the <i>Ertak</i> herself, and all +around were the glowing points of +greenish light which gave us, in +terrestial terms, the locations of the +various bodies to the right and left, +above and below.</p> + +<p>"See here, sir—and here?" Kincaide's +blunt, capable forefingers +indicated spots on each of the +charts. "Ever see anything like that +before?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head slowly. I had +seen instantly the phenomena he +had pointed out. Using again the +most understandable terminology, +to our right, and somewhat above +us, nearer by far than any of the +charted bodies, was something +which registered on our charts, as +a dim and formless haze of pinkish light.</p> + +<p>"Now the television, sir," said +Kincaide gravely.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>I bent over the huge, hooded +disk, so unlike the brilliantly +illuminated instruments of to-day, +and studied the scene reflected +there.</p> + +<p>Centered in the field was a group +of thousands of strange things, +moving swiftly toward the ship. +In shape they were not unlike +crescents, with the horns blunted, +and pushed inward, towards each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +other. They glowed with a reddish +radiance which seemed to have its +center in the thickest portion of +the crescents—and, despite their +appearance, they gave me, somehow, +an uncanny impression that they +were in some strange way, <i>alive</i>! +While they remained in a more or +less compact group, their relative +positions changed from time to time, +not aimlessly as would insensate +bodies drifting thus through the +black void of space, but with a +sort of intelligent direction.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of them, +sir?" asked Kincaide, his eyes on +my face. "Can you place them?"</p> + +<p>"No," I admitted, still staring +with a fixed fascination at the +strange scene in the television disk. +"Perhaps this is what we've been +searching for. Please call Mr. Correy +and Mr. Hendricks, and ask +them to report here immediately."</p> + +<p>Kincaide hastened to obey the order, +while I watched the strange +things in the field of the television +disk, trying to ascertain their +nature. They were not solid bodies, +for even as I viewed them, one was +superimposed upon another, and I +could see the second quite distinctly +through the substance of +the first. Nor were they rigid, for +now and again one of the crescent +arms would move searchingly, almost +like a thick, clumsy tentacle. +There was something restless, +<i>hungry</i>, in the movement of the +sharp arms of the things, that sent +a chill trickling down my spine.</p> + +<p>Correy and Hendricks arrived together; +their curiosity evident.</p> + +<p>"I believe, gentlemen," I said, +"that we're about to find out the +reason why two ships already have +disappeared in this vicinity. Look +first at the charts, and then here."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>They bent, for a moment, over +the charts, and then stared +down into the television disk. Correy +was first to speak.</p> + +<p>"What are they?" he gasped. +"Are they ... alive?"</p> + +<p>"That is what we don't know. I +believe they are, after a fashion. +And, if you'll observe, they are +headed directly towards us at a +speed which must be at least as +great as our own. Is that correct, +Mr. Kincaide?"</p> + +<p>Kincaide nodded, and began some +hasty figuring, taking his readings +from the finely ruled lines which +divided the charts into little +measured squares, and checking +speeds with the chronometers set +into the wall of the room.</p> + +<p>"But I don't understand the way +in which they register on our +navigating charts, sir," said Hendricks +slowly. Hendricks, my +youthful third officer, had an inquiring, +almost scientific mind. I +have often said he was the closest +approach to a scientist I have ever +seen in the person of an action-loving +man. "They're a blur of light +on the charts—all out of proportion +to their actual size. They must +be something more than material +bodies, or less."</p> + +<p>"They're coming towards us," +commented Correy grimly, still bent +over the disk, "as though they +knew what they were doing, and +meant business."</p> + +<p>"Yes," nodded Kincaide, picking +up the paper upon which he had +been figuring. "This is just a rule-of-thumb +estimate, but if they continue +on their present course at +their present speed, and we do +likewise, they'll be upon us in +about an hour and a quarter—less, +if anything."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>"But I can't understand their +appearance in the charts," +muttered Hendricks doggedly, still +turning that matter over in his +mind. "Unless ... unless ... ah! +I'll venture I have it, sir! The +charts are operated by super-radio +reflexes; in others words, electri<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>cally. +They would naturally be extremely +sensitive to an electrical +disturbance. Those things are electrical +in nature. Highly so. That's +the reason for the flare of light on +the charts."</p> + +<p>"Sounds logical," said Correy +immediately. "The point, as I see +it, is not what they are, but what +we're to do about them. Do you +believe, sir, that they are dangerous?"</p> + +<p>"Let me ask you some questions +to answer that one," I suggested. +"Two ships are reported lost in +space—in this immediate vicinity. +We come here to determine the +cause of those losses. We find ourselves +the evident objective of a +horde of strange things which we +cannot identify; which Mr. Hendricks, +here, seems to have good +reason to believe are somehow +electrical in nature. Putting all +these facts together, what is the +most logical conclusion?"</p> + +<p>"That these things caused the +two lost ships to be reported missing +in space!" said Hendricks.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>I glanced at Kincaide, and he +nodded gravely.</p> + +<p>"And you, Mr. Correy?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Correy shrugged.</p> + +<p>"I believe you're, right, sir. They +seem like such rather flimsy, harmless +things, though, that the disintegrator +rays will take care of +without difficulty. Shall I order the +ray operators to their stations, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Do that, please. And take personal +charge of the forward projectors, +will you? Mr. Hendricks, +will you command the after projectors? +Mr. Kincaide and I will +carry on here."</p> + +<p>"Shall we open upon them at +will, or upon orders, sir?" asked +Correy.</p> + +<p>"Upon orders," I said. "And you'll +get your orders as soon as they're +in range; I have a feeling we're +in for trouble."</p> + +<p>"I hope so, sir!" grinned Correy +from the door.</p> + +<p>Hendricks followed him silently, +but I saw there was a deep, thoughtful +frown between his brows.</p> + +<p>"I think," commented Kincaide +quietly, "that Hendricks is likely +to be more useful to us in this +matter than Correy."</p> + +<p>I nodded, and bent over the television +disk. The things were perceptibly +nearer; the hurtling group +nearly filled the disk, now.</p> + +<p>There was something horribly +eager, horribly malignant, in the +way they shone, so palely red, and +in the fashion in which their blunt +tentacles reached out toward the +<i>Ertak</i>.</p> + +<p>I glanced up at the Earth clock +on the wall.</p> + +<p>"The next hour," I said soberly, +"cannot pass too quickly for me!"</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>We had decelerated steadily +during the hour, but we were +still above maximum atmospheric +speed when at last I gave the order +to open the invaders with disintegrator +rays. They were close, but of +course the rays are not as effective +in space as when operating in a +more favorable medium, and I +wished to make sure of our prey.</p> + +<p>I pressed the attention signal to +Correy's post, and he answered +instantly.</p> + +<p>"Ready, Mr. Correy?"</p> + +<p>"Ready, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Then commence action!"</p> + +<p>Before I could repeat the command +to Hendricks, I heard the +deepening note of the atomic generators, +and knew Correy had already +begun operations.</p> + +<p>Together, and silently, Kincaide +and I bent over the television disk. +We watched for a moment, and +then, with one accord, lifted our +heads and looked into each other's +eyes.</p> + +<p>"No go, sir," said Kincaide quietly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span></p> + +<p>I nodded. It was evident the +disintegrator rays were useless here. +When they struck into the horde +of crescent-shaped things coming +so hungrily toward us, the things +changed from red to a sickly, yellowish +pink, and seemed to writhe, +as though in some discomfort, but +that was all.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps at closer range...?" +ventured Kincaide.</p> + +<p>"I think not. If Mr. Hendricks +is correct—and I believe he is—these +things aren't material; they're +not matter, as we comprehend the +word. And so, they can't be disintegrated."</p> + +<p>"Then, sir, how are we to best +them?"</p> + +<p>"First, we'll have to know more +about them. For one thing, their +mode of attack. We should know +very soon. Please recall Mr. Hendricks, +and then order all hands +to their posts. We may be in for +it."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>Hendricks came rushing in +breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"The rays are useless, sir," he +said. "They'll be on us in a few +minutes. Any further orders?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. Have you any ideas as +to their mode of attack? What +they can do to us?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. That is, no reasonable +idea."</p> + +<p>"What's your unreasonable theory, +then, Mr. Hendricks?"</p> + +<p>"I'd prefer, sir, to make further +observation first," he replied. +"They're close enough now, I think, +to watch through the ports. Have +I your permission to unshutter one +of the ports?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, sir." The <i>Ertak</i>, like +all Special Patrol ships of the +period, had but few ports, and +these were kept heavily shuttered. +Her hull was double; she was really +two ships, one inside the other, +the two skins being separated and +braced by innumerable trusses. Between +the outer and the inner skin +the air pressure was kept about +one half of normal, thus distributing +the strain of the pressure +equally between the two hulls.</p> + +<p>In order to arrange for a port +or an exit, it was necessary to bring +these two skins close together at the +desired point, and strengthen this +weak point with many braces. As a +further protection against an emergency—and +a fighting ship must be +prepared against all emergencies—the +ports were all shuttered with +massive doors of solid metal, hermetically +fitted. I am explaining this +so much in detail for the benefit of +those not familiar with the ships of +my day, and because this information +is necessary that one may have a +complete understanding of subsequent events.</p> + +<p>Hendricks, upon receiving my +permission, sprang to one of the +two ports in the navigating room +and unshuttered it.</p> + +<p>"The lights, please?" he asked, +over his shoulder. Kincaide nodded, +and switched off the <i>ethon</i> tubes +which illuminated the room. The +three of us crowded around the +recessed port.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>The things were not only close: +they were veritably upon us! +Even as we looked, one of them +swept by the port so close that, +save for the thick crystal, one +might have reached out into space +and touched it.</p> + +<p>The television disk had represented +them very accurately. They +were, in their greatest dimension, +perhaps twice the height of a man, +and at close range their reddish +color was more brilliant than I had +imagined; in the thickest portion +of the crescent, which seemed to +be the nucleus, the radiance of the +thing was almost blinding.</p> + +<p>It was obvious that they were +not material bodies. There were +no definite boundaries to their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> +bodies; they faded off into nothingness +in a sort of fringe, almost +like a dim halo.</p> + +<p>An attention signal sounded +sharply, and Kincaide groped his +way swiftly to answer it.</p> + +<p>"It's Correy, sir," he said. "He +reports his rays are utterly useless, +and asks for further orders."</p> + +<p>"Tell him to cease action, and +report here immediately." I turned +to Hendricks, staring out the port +beside me. "Well, what do you +make of them now?"</p> + +<p>Before he could reply, Kincaide +called out sharply.</p> + +<p>"Come here, sir! The charts are +out of commission. We've gone +blind."</p> + +<p>It was true. The charts were no +more than twin rectangles of lambent +red flame, with a yellow spark +glowing dimly in the center of +each, the fine black lines ruled in +the surface showing clearly against +the wavering red fire.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hendricks!" I snapped. +"Let's have your theory—reasonable +or otherwise."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>Hendricks, his face pressed +at an angle against one side +of the port, turned toward me, and +swung the shutter into place. Kincaide +snapped on the lights.</p> + +<p>"It's no longer a theory, sir," +he said in a choked, hushed voice, +"although it's still unreasonable. +These things—are <i>eating</i> us!"</p> + +<p>"Eating us?" Correy's voice +joined Kincaide's and mine in the +exclamation of amazement. He had +just entered the navigating room +in response to my order.</p> + +<p>"Eroding us, absorbing us—whatever +you want to call it. There's +one at work close enough to the +port so that I could see it. It is +feeding upon our hull as an electric +arc feeds upon its electrodes!"</p> + +<p>"Farewell <i>Ertak</i>!" said Correy +grimly. "Anything the rays can't +lick—wins!"</p> + +<p>"Not yet!" I contradicted him. +"Kincaide, what's the nearest body +upon which we can set down?"</p> + +<p>"N-127, sir," he replied promptly. +"Just logged her a few minutes +ago." He poured hastily through +a dog-eared index. "Here it is: +'N-127, atmosphere unbreathable; +largely nitrogen, oxygen insufficient +to support human life; no +animal life reported; insects, large +but reported non-poisonous; vegetation +heroic in size, probably with +edible fruits, although reports are +incomplete on this score; water unfit +for drinking purpose unless distilled; +land area approximately—'"</p> + +<p>"That's enough," I interrupted. +"Mr. Correy, set a course for N-127 +by the readings of the television +instrument. Mr. Kincaide, accelerate +to maximum space speed, and +set us down on dry land as quickly +as emergency speed can put us +there. And you, Mr. Hendricks, +please tell us all you know—or +guess—about the enemy."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>Hendricks waited, moodily +silent, until the ship was +coming around on her course, picking +up speed every instant. Kincaide +had gradually increased the +pull of the gravity pads to about +twice normal, so that we found it +barely possible to move about. The +<i>Ertak</i> was an old-timer, but she +could pick up speed when she had +to that would have thrown us all +headlong were it not for the artificial +gravity anchorage of the pads.</p> + +<p>"It's all guess-work," began Hendricks +slowly, "so I hope you won't +place too much reliance in my theories, +sir. I'll just give you my line +of reasoning, and you can evaluate +it for yourself.</p> + +<p>"These things are creatures of +space. No form of life, as we know +it, can live in space. Therefore, +they are not material; they are not +matter, like ourselves.</p> + +<p>"From their effect upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> +charts, we decided they were electrical +in nature. Not made up of +atoms and electrons, but of pure +electrical energy in an unfamiliar +form.</p> + +<p>"Then, remembering that they +exist in space, and concluding that +they were the destroyers of the +two ships we know of, I began +wondering how they brought about +the destruction—or at least, the +disappearance—of these two ships. +Life of any kind must have something +to feed upon. To produce +one kind of energy we must convert, +apparently consume, some +other kind of energy. Even our +atomic generators slowly but surely +eat up the metal in which is +locked the power which makes this +ship's power possible.</p> + +<p>"But, in space, what could these +things feed upon? What—if not +those troublesome bodies, meteorites? +And meteorites, as we know, +are largely metallic in composition. +And ships are made of metal.</p> + +<p>"Here are the only proofs, if +proofs you can call them, that these +are not wild ideas: first, the disintegrator +rays, working upon an +electrical principle, reacted upon +but did not destroy these things, +as might be expected from the +meeting of two not dissimilar manifestations +of energy; and the fact +that I did, from the port, see one +of these space-things, or part of +one, flattened out upon the body of +the <i>Ertak</i>, and feeding upon her +skin, already roughened and pitted +slightly from the thing's hungry +activities."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>Hendricks fell silent, staring +down at the floor. He was +only a youngster, and the significance +of his remarks was as plain +to him as it was to the rest of +us. If these monsters from the void +were truly feeding on the skin of +our ship, vampire-like, it would +not be long before it would be +weakened; weakened to the danger +point, weakened until we would +explode in space like a gigantic +bomb, to leave our fragments to +whirl onward forever through the +darkness and the silence of outer +space.</p> + +<p>"And what, sir, do you plan to +do when we reach this N-127?" +asked Correy. "Burn them off with +a run through the atmosphere?"</p> + +<p>"No; that wouldn't work, I imagine." +I glanced at Hendricks inquiringly, +and he shook his head. +"My only thought was to land, so +that we would have some chance. +Outside the ship we can at least +attack; locked in here we're helpless."</p> + +<p>"Attack, sir? With what?" asked +Kincaide curiously.</p> + +<p>"That I can't answer. But at +least we can fight—with solid +ground under our feet. And that's +something."</p> + +<p>"You're right, sir!" grinned Correy. +It was the first smile that had +appeared on the faces of any of +us in many minutes. "And fight we +will! And if we lose the ship, at +least we'll be alive, with a hope of +rescue."</p> + +<p>Hendricks glanced up at him and +shook his head, smiling crookedly.</p> + +<p>"You forget," he remarked, "that +there's no air to breathe on N-127. +An atmosphere of nitrogen. And +no water that's drinkable—if the +reports are accurate. A breathing +mask will not last long, even the +new types."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Kincaide. "The +tanks hold about a ten-hours' supply; +less, if the wearer is working +hard, or fighting."</p> + +<p>Ten hours! No more, if we did +not find some way to destroy these +leeches of space before they destroyed +the <i>Ertak</i>.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>During the next half hour little +was said. We were drawing +close to our tiny, uninhabited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> +haven, and both Correy and Kincaide +were busy with their navigation. +Working in reverse, as it +were, from the rough readings of +the television disk settings, an ordinarily +simple task was made extremely +difficult.</p> + +<p>I helped Correy interpret his +headings, and kept a weather eye +on the gauges over the operating +table. We were slipping into the +atmospheric fringe of N-127, and +the surface-temperature gauge was +slowly climbing. Hendricks sat +hunched heavily in a corner, his +head bowed in his hands.</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Kincaide at +length, "I can take over visually +now." He unshuttered one of the +ports, and peered out. N-127 was +full abreast of us, and we were +dropping sideways toward her at +a gradually diminishing speed. The +impression given us, due to the +gravity pads in the keel of the +ship, was that we were right side +up, and N-127 was approaching us +swiftly from the side.</p> + +<p>"'Vegetation of heroic size' is +right, too," said Correy, who had +been examining the terrain at close +range, through the medium of the +television disk. "Two of the leaves +on some of the weeds would make +an awning for the whole ship. See +any likely place to land, Kincaide?"</p> + +<p>"Nowhere except along the shore—and +then we'll have to do some +nice work and lay the <i>Ertak</i> parallel +to the edge of the water. The +beach is narrow, but apparently the +only barren portion. Will that be +all right, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Use your own judgment, but +waste no time. Correy, break out +the breathing masks, and order the +men at the air-lock exit port to +stand by. I'm going out to have +a look at these things."</p> + +<p>"May I go with you, sir?" asked +Hendricks sharply.</p> + +<p>"And I?" pleaded Kincaide and +Correy in chorus.</p> + +<p>"You, Hendricks, but not you +two. The ship needs officers, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Then why not me instead of +you, sir?" argued Correy. "You +don't know what you're going up +against."</p> + +<p>"All the more reason I shouldn't +be receiving any information second-hand," +I said. "And as for +Hendricks, he's the laboratory man +of the <i>Ertak</i>. And these things are +his particular pets. Right, Hendricks?"</p> + +<p>"Right, sir!" said my third officer +grimly.</p> + +<p>Correy muttered under his +breath, something which sounded +very much like profanity, but I let +it pass.</p> + +<p>I knew just how he felt.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>I have never liked to wear a +breathing mask. I feel shut in, +frustrated, more or less helpless. +The hiss of the air and the everlasting +<i>flap-flap</i> of the exhaust-valve +disturb me. But they are +very handy things when you walk +abroad on a world which has no +breathable atmosphere.</p> + +<p>You've probably seen, in the +museums, the breathing masks of +that period. They were very new +and modern then, although they +certainly appear cumbersome by +comparison with the devices of to-day.</p> + +<p>Our masks consisted of a huge +shirt of air-tight, light material +which was belted in tightly around +the waist, and bloused out like an +ancient balloon when inflated. The +arm-holes were sealed by two heavy +bands of elastic, close to the shoulders, +and the head-piece was of +thin copper, set with a broad, +curved band of crystal which extended +from one side to the other, +across the front, giving the wearer +a clear view of everything except +that which was directly behind +him. The balloon-like blouse, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> +course, was designed to hold a +small reserve supply of air, for an +emergency, should anything happen +to the tank upon the shoulders, or +the valve which released the air +from it.</p> + +<p>They were cumbersome, uncomfortable +things, but I donned mine +and adjusted the menore, built into +the helmet, to full strength. I +wanted to be sure I kept in communication +with both Hendricks +and the sentries at the air-lock exit, +and of course, inside the helmets, +verbal communication was impossible.</p> + +<p>I glanced at Hendricks, and saw +that he was ready and waiting. We +were standing inside the air-lock, +and the mighty door of the port +had just finished turning in its +threads, and was swinging back +slowly on its massive gimbals.</p> + +<p>"Let's go, Hendricks," I emanated. +"Remember, take no chances, +and keep your eyes open."</p> + +<p>"I'll remember, sir," replied Hendricks, +and together we stepped +out onto the coarse gravel of the +beach.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>Before us, waves of an unhealthy, +cloudy green rolled +slowly, heavily shoreward, but we +had no eyes for this, nor for the +amazing vegetation of the place, +plainly visible on the curving +shores. We took a few hurried +steps away from the ship, and then +turned to survey the monsters +which had attacked it.</p> + +<p>They literally covered the ship; +in several places their transparent, +glowing bodies overlapped. And the +sides of the <i>Ertak</i>, ordinarily polished +and smooth as the surface of +a mirror, were dull and deeply +eroded.</p> + +<p>"Notice, sir," emanated Hendricks +excitedly, "how much +brighter the things are! They <i>are</i> +feeding, and they are growing +stronger and more brilliant. They +—look out, sir! They're attacking! +Our copper helmets—"</p> + +<p>But I had seen it as quickly as he. +Half a dozen of the glowing things, +sensing in some way the presence +of a metal which they apparently +preferred to that of the <i>Ertak's</i> +hull, suddenly detached themselves +and came swarming directly down +upon us.</p> + +<p>I was standing closer to the ship +than Hendricks, and they attacked +me first. Several of them dropped +upon me, their glowing bodies covering +the vision-piece, and blinding +me with their light. I waved my +arms and started to run blindly, +incoherent warnings coming to me +through the menore from Hendricks +and the sentries.</p> + +<p>The things had no weight, but +they emitted a strange, electric +warmth which seemed to penetrate +my entire body instantly as I ran +unseeingly, trying to find the ship, +tearing at the fastenings of my +mask as I ran. I could not, of +course, enter the ship with these +things clinging to my garments.</p> + +<p>Suddenly I felt water splash under +my feet; felt its grateful coolness +upon my legs, and with a +gasp I realized I had in my confusion +been running away from the +ship, instead of toward it. I +stopped, trying to get a grip on +myself.</p> + +<p>The belt of the breathing mask +came loose, and I tore the thing +from me, holding my breath and +staring around wildly. The ship +was only a few yards away, and +Hendricks, his mask already off, +was running toward me.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>"Back!" I shouted. "I'm all +right now. Back!" He hesitated +for an instant until I caught +up with him, and then, together, +we gained the safety of the air-lock. +Without orders, the men +swung shut the ponderous door, +and Hendricks and I stood there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> +panting, and drawing in breaths +of the <i>Ertak's</i> clean, reviving air.</p> + +<p>"That possibility was one we +overlooked, sir," said Hendricks. +"Let's see what's happening."</p> + +<p>We opened the shutter of a port +nearby and gazed out onto the +beach we had so hurriedly deserted. +There were three or four of +the glowing things huddled shapelessly +around our abandoned suits, +and ragged holes showed in several +places in the thin copper helmets. +Even as we looked, they dissolved +into nothingness, and after +a few seconds of hesitation, the +things swarmed swiftly back to the +ship.</p> + +<p>"Well," I commented, trying to +keep my voice reasonably free from +the feelings which gripped me, "I +believe we're beaten, Hendricks. At +least, we're helpless against them. +Our only chance is that they'll +leave us before they have eaten +through the second skin; so long +as we still have that, we can live +... and perhaps be found."</p> + +<p>"I doubt they'll leave us while +there's a scrap of metal left, sir," +said Hendricks slowly. "Something's +brought them from their +usual haunts. There's no reason +why they should leave a certainty +for an uncertainty. But we're not +quite through trying. I saw something—have +I your permission to +make another try at them? Alone, +sir?"</p> + +<p>"Any chance of success, lad?" +I asked, searching his eyes.</p> + +<p>"A chance, sir," he replied, his +glance never wavering. "I can be +ready in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"Then, go ahead—on one condition: +that you let me come with +you."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir; as you wish. +Have two other breathing masks +ready. I'll be back very soon."</p> + +<p>And he left me hastily, taking +the steps of the companionway two +at a time.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>It was nearly an hour before +Hendricks returned, bringing +with him two of the most amazing +pieces of apparatus I have ever +seen.</p> + +<p>To make each of them, he had +taken a flask of compressed air +from our emergency stores, and +run a flexible tube from it into a +cylindrical drinking water container. +Another tube, which I recognized +as being a part of our fire-extinguishers, +and terminating in +a metal nozzle, sprouted from the +water container. Both tubes were +securely sealed into the mouth of +the metal cylinder, and lengths of +hastily-knotted rope had been bound +around each contrivance so that the +two heavy containers, the air flask +and the small water tank could be +slung from the shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Here, sir," he said hastily, "get +into a breathing mask, and put on +these things as you see me do. No +time to explain anything now, except +this: as soon as you're outside +the ship, turn the valve that opens +the compressed air flask. Hold this +hose, coming from the water container, +in your right hand. Don't +touch the metal nozzle. Use the +hose just as you'd use a portable +disintegrator-ray projector."</p> + +<p>I nodded, and followed his instructions +as swiftly as possible. +The two containers were heavy, +but I adjusted their ropes across +my shoulders so that my left hand +had easy access to the valve of the +air flask, and the water container +was under my right arm where I +could have the full use of the hose.</p> + +<p>"Let me go first, sir," breathed +Hendricks as we stood again in +the air-lock, and the door turned +out of its threaded seat and swung +open. "Keep your eyes on me, and +do as I do!"</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>He ran heavily out of the ship, +his burdens lurching. I saw +him turn the pet-cock of the air<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> +flask, and I did likewise. A fine, +powerful spray shot from the nozzle +of the tube in my right hand, +and I whirled around to face the +ship.</p> + +<p>Several of the things were detaching +themselves from the ship, +and instinctively, I turned the +spray upon them. Hendricks, I +could see out of the corner of my +eye, did likewise. And now a most +amazing thing happened.</p> + +<p>The spray seemed to dissolve +the crescent-shaped creatures; +where it hit, ragged holes appeared. +A terrible hissing, crackling sound +came to my ears, even through the +muffling mask I wore.</p> + +<p>"It works! It works!" Hendricks +was crying over and over, hardly +aware, in his excitement, that he +was wearing a menore. "We're +saved!"</p> + +<p>I put down three of the things +in as many seconds. The central +nucleus, in the thickest portion of +the crescent, was always the last +to go, and it seemed to explode in +a little shower of crackling sparks. +Hendricks accounted for four in +the same length of time.</p> + +<p>"Keep back, sir!" he ordered in +a sort of happy delirium. "Let them +come to us! We'll get them as they +come. And they'll come, all right! +Look at them! Look at them! +Quick, sir!"</p> + +<p>The things showed no fear, no +intelligence. But one by one they +sensed the nearness of the copper +helmets we wore, and detached +themselves from the ship. They +moved like red tongues of flame +upon the fat sides of the <i>Ertak</i>; +crawling, uneasy flames, releasing +themselves swiftly, one after the +other.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>Our sprays met them in mid-air, +and they dissolved like +mist, one after the other.... I +directed my death-dealing spray +with a grim delight, and as each +glowing heart crackled and exploded, +I chuckled to myself.</p> + +<p>The sweat was running down my +face; I was shaking with excitement +One side of the ship was +already cleared of the things; they +were slipping over the top now, +one or two at a time, and as rapidly +as they came, we wiped them +out.</p> + +<p>At last there came a period in +which there were none of the +things in sight; none coming over +the top of the sorely tried ship.</p> + +<p>"Stay here and watch, Hendricks," +I ordered. "I'll look on the +other side. I believe we've got them +all!"</p> + +<p>I hurried, as best I could, around +to the other side of the <i>Ertak</i>. +Her hull was pitted and corroded, +but there was no other evidence of +the crescent-shaped things which +had so nearly brought about the +ship's untimely, ghastly end.</p> + +<p>"Hendricks!" I emanated happily. +"'Nothing Less Than Complete +Success!' And that's ours +right now! They're gone—all of +them!"</p> + +<p>I slipped the contrivances from +my shoulders and ran back to the +other side of the ship. Hendricks +was executing some weird sort of +dance, patting the containers, +swinging them wildly about his +body, with an understandable fondness.</p> + +<p>"Come inside, you idiot," I suggested, +"and tell us how you did +it. And see how it feels to be a +hero!"</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>"It was just luck," Hendricks +tried to make us believe, a +few minutes later, when Kincaide, +Correy, and myself were through +slapping his back and shaking his +hands. "When you, sir, splashed +into the water, I had just torn off +my mask. I saw some of the water +fall on one of the things clustered +upon your helmet, and I distinctly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> +heard it hiss, as it fell. And where +it fell, it made a ragged hole, +which very slowly closed up, leaving +a dim spot in the tentacle +where the hole had been. As I figure +it, the water—to put it crudely—short-circuited +the electrical energy +of the things. That, too, is +just a guess, but I think it's a +good one.</p> + +<p>"Of course, it was a long chance, +but it seemed like our only one. +There was nothing more or less than +acidulated water in the containers; +and the air flasks, of course, were +merely to supply the pressure to +throw the water out in a powerful +spray. It happened to work, and +there isn't anybody any happier +about it than I am. I'm young, and +there're lots of things I want to +do before I bleach my bones on a +little deserted world like this, that +isn't important enough to even +have a name!"</p> + +<p>That was typical of Hendricks. +He was a practical scientist, willing +and eager to try out his own +devices. A man of action first—as +a man should be.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>None of us, I think, spent a +really easy moment until the +<i>Ertak</i> was back at Base. Our outer +hull was weakened by at least +half, and we were obliged to increase +the degree of vacuum there +and thus place the major portion +of the load on the inner skin. It +was a ticklish business, but those +old ships were solidly built, and +we made it.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had completed my +report to the Chief, the <i>Ertak</i> was +sent instantly to a secret field, under +heavy guard, and a new outer +hull put in place.</p> + +<p>"This can't be made public," the +Chief warned me. "It would ruin +the whole future of space travel, +as people are just learning to accept +it as a matter of course. You +will swear your men to utter secrecy, +and pass me your word, in +behalf of your officers and yourself, +that you will not divulge any +details of this trip."</p> + +<p>The scientists, of course, questioned +me for days; they turned +up their noses at the crude apparatus +Hendricks had made, and +which had saved the <i>Ertak</i> and all +her crew—but they kept it, I noticed, +for future reference.</p> + +<p>All ships were immediately supplied +with devices very similar, +but more compact, the use of which +only chief officers knew. And the +scientists, to my knowledge, never +did improve greatly on the model +made for them by my third officer.</p> + +<p>Whether or not these devices +were ever used, I do not know. The +silver-sleeves at Base are a close-mouthed +crew. Hendricks always +held that the group of things which +so nearly caused the deaths of all +of us had wandered into our portion +of Universe from some part +of space beyond the fringe of our +knowledge.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>But the same source which supplied +one brood may supply +another. Evidently, from young +Clippen's report, this thing has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> +happened. And since starting this +account, I have determined why +the powers that be are willing now +to have the knowledge made public. +The new silicide coating with +which all space ships have been +covered, is proof against all electrical +action. That it is smoother +and reduces friction, is, in my +opinion, no more than a rather +halty explanation. It is, in reality, +the decidedly belated scientific answer +to a question raised back in +the hey-day of the <i>Ertak</i>, and my +own youth.</p> + +<p>That was many, many years ago, +as the crabbed, uncertain writing +on these pages proves.</p> + +<p>And now, rather thankfully, I +am about to place the last of these +pages under the curious weight +which has held the others in place +as I have written. That irregular +bit of metal from the hull of the +<i>Ertak</i>, so deeply pitted on the one +side, where the hungry things had +sapped our precious strength.</p> + +<p>"Electites," the scientists have +dubbed these strange crescent-shaped +things, young Clippen said. +"Electites!" Something new under +the sun!</p> + +<p>New to this generation, perhaps, +but not to old John Hanson.</p> +<div class="microspace"> </div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vampires of Space, by Sewell Peaslee Wright + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VAMPIRES OF SPACE *** + +***** This file should be named 29353-h.htm or 29353-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/5/29353/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Meredith Bach, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Vampires of Space + +Author: Sewell Peaslee Wright + +Release Date: July 8, 2009 [EBook #29353] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VAMPIRES OF SPACE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Meredith Bach, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Astounding Stories, March 1932. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this + publication was renewed.] + + +[Illustration: _Our sprays met them in mid air._] + + + + +Vampires of Space + +By Sewell Peaslee Wright + + Commander John Hanson recounts his harrowing adventure with + the Electites of space. + + +Sometimes, I know, I must seem a crotchety old man. "Old John Hanson," +they call me, and roll their eyes as though to say, "Of course, you have +to forgive him on account of his age." + +But the joke isn't always on me. Not infrequently I gain much amusement +observing these cocky youngsters who strut in the blue-and-silver +uniforms of the Service in which, until more or less recently, I bore +the rank of Commander. + +There is young Clippen, for instance, a nice, clean youngster; third +officer, I believe, on the _Caliobre_, one of the newest ships of the +Special Patrol Service. He drops in to see me as often as he has leave +here at Base, to give me the latest news, and to coax a yarn, if he can, +of the old days. He is courteous, respectful ... and yet just a shade +condescending. The condescension of youth. + +"Something new under the sun after all, sir," he commented the other +day. That, incidentally, is a saying of Earth, whence the larger part of +the Service's officer personnel has always been drawn. Something new +under the sun! The saying probably dates back to an age long before man +mastered space. + +"Yes?" I leaned back more comfortably, happy, as always, to hear my +native Earth tongue, and to speak it. The Universal language has its +obvious advantages, but the speech of one's fathers wings thought +straightest to the mind. "What now?" + +"Creatures of space!" announced Clippen importantly, in the fashion of +one who brings surprising news. "'Electites,' they call them. Beings who +live in space--things, anyway; I don't know that you could call them +beings." + + * * * * * + +"Hm-m." I looked past him, down a mighty corridor of dimming years. +Creatures that lived in space.... I smiled in my beard. "Creatures +perhaps twice the height of a man in their greatest dimension? In shape +like a crescent, with blunted horns somewhat straightened near the tips, +and drawn close together?" I spoke slowly, drawing from my store of +memories. "A pale red in color, intangible and yet--" + +"You've heard, sir!" said Clippen disappointedly to me. "My news is +stale." + +"Yes, I've heard," I nodded. "'Electites,' they call them, eh? That's +the work of our great scientific minds, I presume?" + +"Er--yes. Undoubtedly." Clippen started to wander restlessly around the +room. He had a great respect for the laboratory men, with their white +coats and their wise, solemn airs, and he disliked exceedingly to have +me present my views regarding these much overrated gentlemen. I have +always been a man of action, and pottering over coils and glass vials +and pages of figures has always struck me as something not to be +included in a man's proper sphere of activity. "Well, I believe I'll be +shoving off, sir; just dropped in for a moment," Clippen continued. +"Thought perhaps you hadn't heard of the news; it seems to be causing a +great deal of discussion among the officers at Base." + +"Something new under the sun, eh?" I chuckled. + +"Why, yes. You'll agree to that, sir, surely?" I believe the lad was +slightly nettled by my chuckle. No one likes to bear stale news. + +"I'll agree to that," I said, smiling broadly now. "'Tis easier than +debating the matter, and an old man can't hope to hold his own in +argument with you quick-witted youngsters." + +"I've never noticed," replied young Clippen rather acidly, "that you +were particularly averse to argument, sir. Rather the reverse. But I +must be moving on; we're shoving off soon, I hear, and you know the +routine here at Base." + + * * * * * + +He saluted me, rather carelessly, I should say, and I returned the +salute with the crispness with which the gesture was rendered in my day. +When he was gone, I turned to my desk and began searching in that huge +and capacious drawer in which were kept, helter-skelter, the dusty, +faded, nondescript mementoes of a thousand adventures. + +I found, at last, what I was seeking. No impressive thing, this: a bit +of metal, irregular in shape, no larger than my palm, and three times +the thickness. One side was smooth; the other was stained as by great +heat, and deeply pitted as though it had been steeped in acid. + +Silently, I turned the bit of metal over and over in my hands. I had +begged hard for this souvenir; had obtained it only by passing my word +its secret would never reach the Universe through me. But now ... now +that seal of secrecy has been removed. + +As I write this, slowly and thoughtfully, as an old man writes, +relishing his words for the sake of the memories they bring before his +eyes, a bit of metal holds against the vagrant breeze the filled pages +of my script. A bit of metal, no larger than my palm, and perhaps three +times the thickness. It is irregular in shape, and smooth on one side. +The other side is eroded as though by acid. + +Not an imposing thing, this ancient bit of metal, but to me one of my +most precious possessions. It is, beyond doubt, the only fragment of my +old ship, the _Ertak_, now in existence and identifiable. + +And this story is the story of that pitted metal and the ship from which +it came; one of the strangest stories in all my storehouse of memories +of days when only the highways of the Universe had been charted, and +breathless adventure awaited him who dared the unknown trails of the +Special Patrol Service. + + * * * * * + +The _Ertak_, as I recall the details now, had just touched at Base upon +the completion of a routine patrol--one of those monotonous, fruitless +affairs which used to prey so upon Correy's peace of mind. Correy was my +first officer on the _Ertak_, and the keenest seeker after trouble I +have ever known. + +"The Chief presents his compliments and requests an immediate audience +with Commander Hanson," announced one of the brisk, little attaches of +Base, before I'd had time to draw a second breath of fresh air. + +I glanced at Correy, who was beside me, and winked. That is, I quickly +drew down the lid of one eye--a peculiar little gesture common to Earth, +which may mean any one of many things. + +"Sounds like something's in the wind," I commented in a swift aside. +"Better give 'no leaves' until I come back." + +"Right, sir!" chuckled Correy. "It's about time." + +I made my way swiftly to the Chief's private office, and was promptly +admitted. He returned my salute crisply, and wasted no time in getting +to the point. + +"How's your ship, Commander? Good condition?" + +"Prime, sir." + +"Supplies?" + +"What's needed could be taken on in two hours." In the Service, Earth +time was an almost universal standard except in official documents. + +"Good!" The Chief picked up a sheaf of papers, mostly standard charts +and position reports, I judged, and frowned at them thoughtfully. "I've +some work cut out for you, Commander. + +"Two passenger ships have recently been reported lost in space. That +wouldn't be so alarming if both had not, when last reported, been in +about the same position. Perhaps it is no more than a coincidence, but, +with space travel still viewed with a certain doubt by so many, the +Council feels something should be done to determine the cause of these +two losses. + +"Accordingly, all ships have been rerouted to avoid the area in which +it is presumed these losses took place. The locations of the two ships, +together with their routes and last reported positions, are given here. +There will be no formal orders; you are to cruise until you have +determined, and if possible, eliminated the danger, or until you are +certain that no further danger exists." + + * * * * * + +He slid the papers across his desk, and I picked them up. + +"Yes, sir!" I said. "That will be all?" + +"You understand your orders?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"Very well. Good luck, Commander!" + +I saluted and hurried out of the room, back to my impatient first +officer. + +"What's up, sir?" he asked eagerly. + +"Can't say that I know, to be truthful about it. Perhaps nothing; +perhaps a great deal. Give orders to take on all necessary supplies--in +double-quick time. I've promised the Chief we'll be ready to shove off +in two hours. I'll meet you in the navigating room, and give you all the +information I have." + +Correy saluted and rushed away to give the necessary orders. +Thoughtfully, I made my way through the narrow, ethon-lighted +passageways to the navigating room, where Correy very shortly joined me. + +Briefly, I repeated the Chief's conversation, and we both bent over the +charts and position reports. + +"Hm-m!" Correy was lost in thought for a moment as he fixed the location +in his mind. "Rather on the fringe of things. Almost anything could +happen out there, sir. That would be on the old Belgrade route, would it +not?" + +"Yes. It's still used, however, as you know, by some of the smaller, +slower ships making many stops. Or was, until the recent order. Any +guesses as to what we'll find?" + +"None, sir, except the obvious one." + +"Meteorites?" + +Correy nodded. + +"There's some bad swarms, now and then," he said seriously. I knew he +was thinking of one disastrous experience the _Ertak_ had had ... and of +scores of narrow escapes. "That would be the one likely explanation." + +"True. But those ships were old and slow, they could turn about and +dodge more easily than a ship of the _Ertak's_ speed. At full space +speed we're practically helpless; can neither stop nor change our course +in time to avoid an emergency." + +"Well, sir," shrugged Correy, "our job's to find the facts. I took the +liberty of telling the men we were to be ready in an hour and a half. If +we are, do we shove off immediately?" + +"Just as soon as everything's checked. I leave it to you to give the +necessary orders. I know I can depend upon you to waste no time." + +"Right, sir," said Correy, grinning like a schoolboy. "We'll waste no +time." + +In just a shade less than two hours after we had set down at Base, we +were rising swiftly at maximum atmospheric speed, on our way to a +little-traveled portion of the universe, where two ships, in rapid +succession, had met an unknown fate. + + * * * * * + +"I wonder, sir, if you could come to the navigating room at once?" It +was Kincaide's voice, coming from the instrument in my stateroom. + +"Immediately, Mr. Kincaide." I asked no questions, for I knew my second +officer's cool-headed disposition. If something required my attention +in the navigating room, in his opinion, it was something important. I +threw on my uniform hurriedly and hastened to Kincaide's side, wondering +if at last our days of unrewarded searching were to bear fruit. + +"Perhaps I called you needlessly, sir," Kincaide greeted me +apologetically, "but, considering the nature of our mission, I thought +it best to have your opinion." He motioned toward the two great +navigating charts, operated by super-radio reflexes, set in the surface +of the table before him. + +In the center of each was the familiar red spark which represented the +_Ertak_ herself, and all around were the glowing points of greenish +light which gave us, in terrestial terms, the locations of the various +bodies to the right and left, above and below. + +"See here, sir--and here?" Kincaide's blunt, capable forefingers +indicated spots on each of the charts. "Ever see anything like that +before?" + +I shook my head slowly. I had seen instantly the phenomena he had +pointed out. Using again the most understandable terminology, to our +right, and somewhat above us, nearer by far than any of the charted +bodies, was something which registered on our charts, as a dim and +formless haze of pinkish light. + +"Now the television, sir," said Kincaide gravely. + + * * * * * + +I bent over the huge, hooded disk, so unlike the brilliantly illuminated +instruments of to-day, and studied the scene reflected there. + +Centered in the field was a group of thousands of strange things, moving +swiftly toward the ship. In shape they were not unlike crescents, with +the horns blunted, and pushed inward, towards each other. They glowed +with a reddish radiance which seemed to have its center in the thickest +portion of the crescents--and, despite their appearance, they gave me, +somehow, an uncanny impression that they were in some strange way, +_alive_! While they remained in a more or less compact group, their +relative positions changed from time to time, not aimlessly as would +insensate bodies drifting thus through the black void of space, but with +a sort of intelligent direction. + +"What do you make of them, sir?" asked Kincaide, his eyes on my face. +"Can you place them?" + +"No," I admitted, still staring with a fixed fascination at the strange +scene in the television disk. "Perhaps this is what we've been searching +for. Please call Mr. Correy and Mr. Hendricks, and ask them to report +here immediately." + +Kincaide hastened to obey the order, while I watched the strange things +in the field of the television disk, trying to ascertain their nature. +They were not solid bodies, for even as I viewed them, one was +superimposed upon another, and I could see the second quite distinctly +through the substance of the first. Nor were they rigid, for now and +again one of the crescent arms would move searchingly, almost like a +thick, clumsy tentacle. There was something restless, _hungry_, in the +movement of the sharp arms of the things, that sent a chill trickling +down my spine. + +Correy and Hendricks arrived together; their curiosity evident. + +"I believe, gentlemen," I said, "that we're about to find out the reason +why two ships already have disappeared in this vicinity. Look first at +the charts, and then here." + + * * * * * + +They bent, for a moment, over the charts, and then stared down into the +television disk. Correy was first to speak. + +"What are they?" he gasped. "Are they ... alive?" + +"That is what we don't know. I believe they are, after a fashion. And, +if you'll observe, they are headed directly towards us at a speed which +must be at least as great as our own. Is that correct, Mr. Kincaide?" + +Kincaide nodded, and began some hasty figuring, taking his readings from +the finely ruled lines which divided the charts into little measured +squares, and checking speeds with the chronometers set into the wall of +the room. + +"But I don't understand the way in which they register on our navigating +charts, sir," said Hendricks slowly. Hendricks, my youthful third +officer, had an inquiring, almost scientific mind. I have often said he +was the closest approach to a scientist I have ever seen in the person +of an action-loving man. "They're a blur of light on the charts--all out +of proportion to their actual size. They must be something more than +material bodies, or less." + +"They're coming towards us," commented Correy grimly, still bent over +the disk, "as though they knew what they were doing, and meant +business." + +"Yes," nodded Kincaide, picking up the paper upon which he had been +figuring. "This is just a rule-of-thumb estimate, but if they continue +on their present course at their present speed, and we do likewise, +they'll be upon us in about an hour and a quarter--less, if anything." + + * * * * * + +"But I can't understand their appearance in the charts," muttered +Hendricks doggedly, still turning that matter over in his mind. "Unless +... unless ... ah! I'll venture I have it, sir! The charts are operated +by super-radio reflexes; in others words, electrically. They would +naturally be extremely sensitive to an electrical disturbance. Those +things are electrical in nature. Highly so. That's the reason for the +flare of light on the charts." + +"Sounds logical," said Correy immediately. "The point, as I see it, is +not what they are, but what we're to do about them. Do you believe, sir, +that they are dangerous?" + +"Let me ask you some questions to answer that one," I suggested. "Two +ships are reported lost in space--in this immediate vicinity. We come +here to determine the cause of those losses. We find ourselves the +evident objective of a horde of strange things which we cannot identify; +which Mr. Hendricks, here, seems to have good reason to believe are +somehow electrical in nature. Putting all these facts together, what is +the most logical conclusion?" + +"That these things caused the two lost ships to be reported missing in +space!" said Hendricks. + + * * * * * + +I glanced at Kincaide, and he nodded gravely. + +"And you, Mr. Correy?" I asked. + +Correy shrugged. + +"I believe you're, right, sir. They seem like such rather flimsy, +harmless things, though, that the disintegrator rays will take care of +without difficulty. Shall I order the ray operators to their stations, +sir?" + +"Do that, please. And take personal charge of the forward projectors, +will you? Mr. Hendricks, will you command the after projectors? Mr. +Kincaide and I will carry on here." + +"Shall we open upon them at will, or upon orders, sir?" asked Correy. + +"Upon orders," I said. "And you'll get your orders as soon as they're in +range; I have a feeling we're in for trouble." + +"I hope so, sir!" grinned Correy from the door. + +Hendricks followed him silently, but I saw there was a deep, thoughtful +frown between his brows. + +"I think," commented Kincaide quietly, "that Hendricks is likely to be +more useful to us in this matter than Correy." + +I nodded, and bent over the television disk. The things were perceptibly +nearer; the hurtling group nearly filled the disk, now. + +There was something horribly eager, horribly malignant, in the way they +shone, so palely red, and in the fashion in which their blunt tentacles +reached out toward the _Ertak_. + +I glanced up at the Earth clock on the wall. + +"The next hour," I said soberly, "cannot pass too quickly for me!" + + * * * * * + +We had decelerated steadily during the hour, but we were still above +maximum atmospheric speed when at last I gave the order to open the +invaders with disintegrator rays. They were close, but of course the +rays are not as effective in space as when operating in a more favorable +medium, and I wished to make sure of our prey. + +I pressed the attention signal to Correy's post, and he answered +instantly. + +"Ready, Mr. Correy?" + +"Ready, sir!" + +"Then commence action!" + +Before I could repeat the command to Hendricks, I heard the deepening +note of the atomic generators, and knew Correy had already begun +operations. + +Together, and silently, Kincaide and I bent over the television disk. We +watched for a moment, and then, with one accord, lifted our heads and +looked into each other's eyes. + +"No go, sir," said Kincaide quietly. + +I nodded. It was evident the disintegrator rays were useless here. When +they struck into the horde of crescent-shaped things coming so hungrily +toward us, the things changed from red to a sickly, yellowish pink, and +seemed to writhe, as though in some discomfort, but that was all. + +"Perhaps at closer range...?" ventured Kincaide. + +"I think not. If Mr. Hendricks is correct--and I believe he is--these +things aren't material; they're not matter, as we comprehend the word. +And so, they can't be disintegrated." + +"Then, sir, how are we to best them?" + +"First, we'll have to know more about them. For one thing, their mode of +attack. We should know very soon. Please recall Mr. Hendricks, and then +order all hands to their posts. We may be in for it." + + * * * * * + +Hendricks came rushing in breathlessly. + +"The rays are useless, sir," he said. "They'll be on us in a few +minutes. Any further orders?" + +"Not yet. Have you any ideas as to their mode of attack? What they can +do to us?" + +"No, sir. That is, no reasonable idea." + +"What's your unreasonable theory, then, Mr. Hendricks?" + +"I'd prefer, sir, to make further observation first," he replied. +"They're close enough now, I think, to watch through the ports. Have I +your permission to unshutter one of the ports?" + +"Certainly, sir." The _Ertak_, like all Special Patrol ships of the +period, had but few ports, and these were kept heavily shuttered. Her +hull was double; she was really two ships, one inside the other, the two +skins being separated and braced by innumerable trusses. Between the +outer and the inner skin the air pressure was kept about one half of +normal, thus distributing the strain of the pressure equally between the +two hulls. + +In order to arrange for a port or an exit, it was necessary to bring +these two skins close together at the desired point, and strengthen this +weak point with many braces. As a further protection against an +emergency--and a fighting ship must be prepared against all +emergencies--the ports were all shuttered with massive doors of solid +metal, hermetically fitted. I am explaining this so much in detail for +the benefit of those not familiar with the ships of my day, and because +this information is necessary that one may have a complete understanding +of subsequent events. + +Hendricks, upon receiving my permission, sprang to one of the two ports +in the navigating room and unshuttered it. + +"The lights, please?" he asked, over his shoulder. Kincaide nodded, and +switched off the _ethon_ tubes which illuminated the room. The three of +us crowded around the recessed port. + + * * * * * + +The things were not only close: they were veritably upon us! Even as we +looked, one of them swept by the port so close that, save for the thick +crystal, one might have reached out into space and touched it. + +The television disk had represented them very accurately. They were, in +their greatest dimension, perhaps twice the height of a man, and at +close range their reddish color was more brilliant than I had imagined; +in the thickest portion of the crescent, which seemed to be the nucleus, +the radiance of the thing was almost blinding. + +It was obvious that they were not material bodies. There were no +definite boundaries to their bodies; they faded off into nothingness in +a sort of fringe, almost like a dim halo. + +An attention signal sounded sharply, and Kincaide groped his way swiftly +to answer it. + +"It's Correy, sir," he said. "He reports his rays are utterly useless, +and asks for further orders." + +"Tell him to cease action, and report here immediately." I turned to +Hendricks, staring out the port beside me. "Well, what do you make of +them now?" + +Before he could reply, Kincaide called out sharply. + +"Come here, sir! The charts are out of commission. We've gone blind." + +It was true. The charts were no more than twin rectangles of lambent red +flame, with a yellow spark glowing dimly in the center of each, the fine +black lines ruled in the surface showing clearly against the wavering +red fire. + +"Mr. Hendricks!" I snapped. "Let's have your theory--reasonable or +otherwise." + + * * * * * + +Hendricks, his face pressed at an angle against one side of the port, +turned toward me, and swung the shutter into place. Kincaide snapped on +the lights. + +"It's no longer a theory, sir," he said in a choked, hushed voice, +"although it's still unreasonable. These things--are _eating_ us!" + +"Eating us?" Correy's voice joined Kincaide's and mine in the +exclamation of amazement. He had just entered the navigating room in +response to my order. + +"Eroding us, absorbing us--whatever you want to call it. There's one at +work close enough to the port so that I could see it. It is feeding upon +our hull as an electric arc feeds upon its electrodes!" + +"Farewell _Ertak_!" said Correy grimly. "Anything the rays can't +lick--wins!" + +"Not yet!" I contradicted him. "Kincaide, what's the nearest body upon +which we can set down?" + +"N-127, sir," he replied promptly. "Just logged her a few minutes ago." +He poured hastily through a dog-eared index. "Here it is: 'N-127, +atmosphere unbreathable; largely nitrogen, oxygen insufficient to +support human life; no animal life reported; insects, large but reported +non-poisonous; vegetation heroic in size, probably with edible fruits, +although reports are incomplete on this score; water unfit for drinking +purpose unless distilled; land area approximately--'" + +"That's enough," I interrupted. "Mr. Correy, set a course for N-127 by +the readings of the television instrument. Mr. Kincaide, accelerate to +maximum space speed, and set us down on dry land as quickly as emergency +speed can put us there. And you, Mr. Hendricks, please tell us all you +know--or guess--about the enemy." + + * * * * * + +Hendricks waited, moodily silent, until the ship was coming around on +her course, picking up speed every instant. Kincaide had gradually +increased the pull of the gravity pads to about twice normal, so that we +found it barely possible to move about. The _Ertak_ was an old-timer, +but she could pick up speed when she had to that would have thrown us +all headlong were it not for the artificial gravity anchorage of the +pads. + +"It's all guess-work," began Hendricks slowly, "so I hope you won't +place too much reliance in my theories, sir. I'll just give you my line +of reasoning, and you can evaluate it for yourself. + +"These things are creatures of space. No form of life, as we know it, +can live in space. Therefore, they are not material; they are not +matter, like ourselves. + +"From their effect upon the charts, we decided they were electrical in +nature. Not made up of atoms and electrons, but of pure electrical +energy in an unfamiliar form. + +"Then, remembering that they exist in space, and concluding that they +were the destroyers of the two ships we know of, I began wondering how +they brought about the destruction--or at least, the disappearance--of +these two ships. Life of any kind must have something to feed upon. To +produce one kind of energy we must convert, apparently consume, some +other kind of energy. Even our atomic generators slowly but surely eat +up the metal in which is locked the power which makes this ship's power +possible. + +"But, in space, what could these things feed upon? What--if not those +troublesome bodies, meteorites? And meteorites, as we know, are largely +metallic in composition. And ships are made of metal. + +"Here are the only proofs, if proofs you can call them, that these are +not wild ideas: first, the disintegrator rays, working upon an +electrical principle, reacted upon but did not destroy these things, as +might be expected from the meeting of two not dissimilar manifestations +of energy; and the fact that I did, from the port, see one of these +space-things, or part of one, flattened out upon the body of the +_Ertak_, and feeding upon her skin, already roughened and pitted +slightly from the thing's hungry activities." + + * * * * * + +Hendricks fell silent, staring down at the floor. He was only a +youngster, and the significance of his remarks was as plain to him as it +was to the rest of us. If these monsters from the void were truly +feeding on the skin of our ship, vampire-like, it would not be long +before it would be weakened; weakened to the danger point, weakened +until we would explode in space like a gigantic bomb, to leave our +fragments to whirl onward forever through the darkness and the silence +of outer space. + +"And what, sir, do you plan to do when we reach this N-127?" asked +Correy. "Burn them off with a run through the atmosphere?" + +"No; that wouldn't work, I imagine." I glanced at Hendricks inquiringly, +and he shook his head. "My only thought was to land, so that we would +have some chance. Outside the ship we can at least attack; locked in +here we're helpless." + +"Attack, sir? With what?" asked Kincaide curiously. + +"That I can't answer. But at least we can fight--with solid ground under +our feet. And that's something." + +"You're right, sir!" grinned Correy. It was the first smile that had +appeared on the faces of any of us in many minutes. "And fight we will! +And if we lose the ship, at least we'll be alive, with a hope of +rescue." + +Hendricks glanced up at him and shook his head, smiling crookedly. + +"You forget," he remarked, "that there's no air to breathe on N-127. An +atmosphere of nitrogen. And no water that's drinkable--if the reports +are accurate. A breathing mask will not last long, even the new types." + +"That's so," said Kincaide. "The tanks hold about a ten-hours' supply; +less, if the wearer is working hard, or fighting." + +Ten hours! No more, if we did not find some way to destroy these leeches +of space before they destroyed the _Ertak_. + + * * * * * + +During the next half hour little was said. We were drawing close to our +tiny, uninhabited haven, and both Correy and Kincaide were busy with +their navigation. Working in reverse, as it were, from the rough +readings of the television disk settings, an ordinarily simple task was +made extremely difficult. + +I helped Correy interpret his headings, and kept a weather eye on the +gauges over the operating table. We were slipping into the atmospheric +fringe of N-127, and the surface-temperature gauge was slowly climbing. +Hendricks sat hunched heavily in a corner, his head bowed in his hands. + +"I believe," said Kincaide at length, "I can take over visually now." He +unshuttered one of the ports, and peered out. N-127 was full abreast of +us, and we were dropping sideways toward her at a gradually diminishing +speed. The impression given us, due to the gravity pads in the keel of +the ship, was that we were right side up, and N-127 was approaching us +swiftly from the side. + +"'Vegetation of heroic size' is right, too," said Correy, who had been +examining the terrain at close range, through the medium of the +television disk. "Two of the leaves on some of the weeds would make an +awning for the whole ship. See any likely place to land, Kincaide?" + +"Nowhere except along the shore--and then we'll have to do some nice +work and lay the _Ertak_ parallel to the edge of the water. The beach is +narrow, but apparently the only barren portion. Will that be all right, +sir?" + +"Use your own judgment, but waste no time. Correy, break out the +breathing masks, and order the men at the air-lock exit port to stand +by. I'm going out to have a look at these things." + +"May I go with you, sir?" asked Hendricks sharply. + +"And I?" pleaded Kincaide and Correy in chorus. + +"You, Hendricks, but not you two. The ship needs officers, you know." + +"Then why not me instead of you, sir?" argued Correy. "You don't know +what you're going up against." + +"All the more reason I shouldn't be receiving any information +second-hand," I said. "And as for Hendricks, he's the laboratory man of +the _Ertak_. And these things are his particular pets. Right, +Hendricks?" + +"Right, sir!" said my third officer grimly. + +Correy muttered under his breath, something which sounded very much like +profanity, but I let it pass. + +I knew just how he felt. + + * * * * * + +I have never liked to wear a breathing mask. I feel shut in, frustrated, +more or less helpless. The hiss of the air and the everlasting +_flap-flap_ of the exhaust-valve disturb me. But they are very handy +things when you walk abroad on a world which has no breathable +atmosphere. + +You've probably seen, in the museums, the breathing masks of that +period. They were very new and modern then, although they certainly +appear cumbersome by comparison with the devices of to-day. + +Our masks consisted of a huge shirt of air-tight, light material which +was belted in tightly around the waist, and bloused out like an ancient +balloon when inflated. The arm-holes were sealed by two heavy bands of +elastic, close to the shoulders, and the head-piece was of thin copper, +set with a broad, curved band of crystal which extended from one side to +the other, across the front, giving the wearer a clear view of +everything except that which was directly behind him. The balloon-like +blouse, of course, was designed to hold a small reserve supply of air, +for an emergency, should anything happen to the tank upon the shoulders, +or the valve which released the air from it. + +They were cumbersome, uncomfortable things, but I donned mine and +adjusted the menore, built into the helmet, to full strength. I wanted +to be sure I kept in communication with both Hendricks and the sentries +at the air-lock exit, and of course, inside the helmets, verbal +communication was impossible. + +I glanced at Hendricks, and saw that he was ready and waiting. We were +standing inside the air-lock, and the mighty door of the port had just +finished turning in its threads, and was swinging back slowly on its +massive gimbals. + +"Let's go, Hendricks," I emanated. "Remember, take no chances, and keep +your eyes open." + +"I'll remember, sir," replied Hendricks, and together we stepped out +onto the coarse gravel of the beach. + + * * * * * + +Before us, waves of an unhealthy, cloudy green rolled slowly, heavily +shoreward, but we had no eyes for this, nor for the amazing vegetation +of the place, plainly visible on the curving shores. We took a few +hurried steps away from the ship, and then turned to survey the monsters +which had attacked it. + +They literally covered the ship; in several places their transparent, +glowing bodies overlapped. And the sides of the _Ertak_, ordinarily +polished and smooth as the surface of a mirror, were dull and deeply +eroded. + +"Notice, sir," emanated Hendricks excitedly, "how much brighter the +things are! They _are_ feeding, and they are growing stronger and more +brilliant. They--look out, sir! They're attacking! Our copper +helmets--" + +But I had seen it as quickly as he. Half a dozen of the glowing things, +sensing in some way the presence of a metal which they apparently +preferred to that of the _Ertak's_ hull, suddenly detached themselves +and came swarming directly down upon us. + +I was standing closer to the ship than Hendricks, and they attacked me +first. Several of them dropped upon me, their glowing bodies covering +the vision-piece, and blinding me with their light. I waved my arms and +started to run blindly, incoherent warnings coming to me through the +menore from Hendricks and the sentries. + +The things had no weight, but they emitted a strange, electric warmth +which seemed to penetrate my entire body instantly as I ran unseeingly, +trying to find the ship, tearing at the fastenings of my mask as I ran. +I could not, of course, enter the ship with these things clinging to my +garments. + +Suddenly I felt water splash under my feet; felt its grateful coolness +upon my legs, and with a gasp I realized I had in my confusion been +running away from the ship, instead of toward it. I stopped, trying to +get a grip on myself. + +The belt of the breathing mask came loose, and I tore the thing from me, +holding my breath and staring around wildly. The ship was only a few +yards away, and Hendricks, his mask already off, was running toward me. + + * * * * * + +"Back!" I shouted. "I'm all right now. Back!" He hesitated for an +instant until I caught up with him, and then, together, we gained the +safety of the air-lock. Without orders, the men swung shut the ponderous +door, and Hendricks and I stood there panting, and drawing in breaths +of the _Ertak's_ clean, reviving air. + +"That possibility was one we overlooked, sir," said Hendricks. "Let's +see what's happening." + +We opened the shutter of a port nearby and gazed out onto the beach we +had so hurriedly deserted. There were three or four of the glowing +things huddled shapelessly around our abandoned suits, and ragged holes +showed in several places in the thin copper helmets. Even as we looked, +they dissolved into nothingness, and after a few seconds of hesitation, +the things swarmed swiftly back to the ship. + +"Well," I commented, trying to keep my voice reasonably free from the +feelings which gripped me, "I believe we're beaten, Hendricks. At least, +we're helpless against them. Our only chance is that they'll leave us +before they have eaten through the second skin; so long as we still have +that, we can live ... and perhaps be found." + +"I doubt they'll leave us while there's a scrap of metal left, sir," +said Hendricks slowly. "Something's brought them from their usual +haunts. There's no reason why they should leave a certainty for an +uncertainty. But we're not quite through trying. I saw something--have I +your permission to make another try at them? Alone, sir?" + +"Any chance of success, lad?" I asked, searching his eyes. + +"A chance, sir," he replied, his glance never wavering. "I can be ready +in a few minutes." + +"Then, go ahead--on one condition: that you let me come with you." + +"Very good, sir; as you wish. Have two other breathing masks ready. I'll +be back very soon." + +And he left me hastily, taking the steps of the companionway two at a +time. + + * * * * * + +It was nearly an hour before Hendricks returned, bringing with him two +of the most amazing pieces of apparatus I have ever seen. + +To make each of them, he had taken a flask of compressed air from our +emergency stores, and run a flexible tube from it into a cylindrical +drinking water container. Another tube, which I recognized as being a +part of our fire-extinguishers, and terminating in a metal nozzle, +sprouted from the water container. Both tubes were securely sealed into +the mouth of the metal cylinder, and lengths of hastily-knotted rope had +been bound around each contrivance so that the two heavy containers, the +air flask and the small water tank could be slung from the shoulders. + +"Here, sir," he said hastily, "get into a breathing mask, and put on +these things as you see me do. No time to explain anything now, except +this: as soon as you're outside the ship, turn the valve that opens the +compressed air flask. Hold this hose, coming from the water container, +in your right hand. Don't touch the metal nozzle. Use the hose just as +you'd use a portable disintegrator-ray projector." + +I nodded, and followed his instructions as swiftly as possible. The two +containers were heavy, but I adjusted their ropes across my shoulders so +that my left hand had easy access to the valve of the air flask, and the +water container was under my right arm where I could have the full use +of the hose. + +"Let me go first, sir," breathed Hendricks as we stood again in the +air-lock, and the door turned out of its threaded seat and swung open. +"Keep your eyes on me, and do as I do!" + + * * * * * + +He ran heavily out of the ship, his burdens lurching. I saw him turn the +pet-cock of the air flask, and I did likewise. A fine, powerful spray +shot from the nozzle of the tube in my right hand, and I whirled around +to face the ship. + +Several of the things were detaching themselves from the ship, and +instinctively, I turned the spray upon them. Hendricks, I could see out +of the corner of my eye, did likewise. And now a most amazing thing +happened. + +The spray seemed to dissolve the crescent-shaped creatures; where it +hit, ragged holes appeared. A terrible hissing, crackling sound came to +my ears, even through the muffling mask I wore. + +"It works! It works!" Hendricks was crying over and over, hardly aware, +in his excitement, that he was wearing a menore. "We're saved!" + +I put down three of the things in as many seconds. The central nucleus, +in the thickest portion of the crescent, was always the last to go, and +it seemed to explode in a little shower of crackling sparks. Hendricks +accounted for four in the same length of time. + +"Keep back, sir!" he ordered in a sort of happy delirium. "Let them come +to us! We'll get them as they come. And they'll come, all right! Look at +them! Look at them! Quick, sir!" + +The things showed no fear, no intelligence. But one by one they sensed +the nearness of the copper helmets we wore, and detached themselves from +the ship. They moved like red tongues of flame upon the fat sides of the +_Ertak_; crawling, uneasy flames, releasing themselves swiftly, one +after the other. + + * * * * * + +Our sprays met them in mid-air, and they dissolved like mist, one after +the other.... I directed my death-dealing spray with a grim delight, and +as each glowing heart crackled and exploded, I chuckled to myself. + +The sweat was running down my face; I was shaking with excitement One +side of the ship was already cleared of the things; they were slipping +over the top now, one or two at a time, and as rapidly as they came, we +wiped them out. + +At last there came a period in which there were none of the things in +sight; none coming over the top of the sorely tried ship. + +"Stay here and watch, Hendricks," I ordered. "I'll look on the other +side. I believe we've got them all!" + +I hurried, as best I could, around to the other side of the _Ertak_. Her +hull was pitted and corroded, but there was no other evidence of the +crescent-shaped things which had so nearly brought about the ship's +untimely, ghastly end. + +"Hendricks!" I emanated happily. "'Nothing Less Than Complete Success!' +And that's ours right now! They're gone--all of them!" + +I slipped the contrivances from my shoulders and ran back to the other +side of the ship. Hendricks was executing some weird sort of dance, +patting the containers, swinging them wildly about his body, with an +understandable fondness. + +"Come inside, you idiot," I suggested, "and tell us how you did it. And +see how it feels to be a hero!" + + * * * * * + +"It was just luck," Hendricks tried to make us believe, a few minutes +later, when Kincaide, Correy, and myself were through slapping his back +and shaking his hands. "When you, sir, splashed into the water, I had +just torn off my mask. I saw some of the water fall on one of the things +clustered upon your helmet, and I distinctly heard it hiss, as it fell. +And where it fell, it made a ragged hole, which very slowly closed up, +leaving a dim spot in the tentacle where the hole had been. As I figure +it, the water--to put it crudely--short-circuited the electrical energy +of the things. That, too, is just a guess, but I think it's a good one. + +"Of course, it was a long chance, but it seemed like our only one. There +was nothing more or less than acidulated water in the containers; and +the air flasks, of course, were merely to supply the pressure to throw +the water out in a powerful spray. It happened to work, and there isn't +anybody any happier about it than I am. I'm young, and there're lots of +things I want to do before I bleach my bones on a little deserted world +like this, that isn't important enough to even have a name!" + +That was typical of Hendricks. He was a practical scientist, willing and +eager to try out his own devices. A man of action first--as a man should +be. + + * * * * * + +None of us, I think, spent a really easy moment until the _Ertak_ was +back at Base. Our outer hull was weakened by at least half, and we were +obliged to increase the degree of vacuum there and thus place the major +portion of the load on the inner skin. It was a ticklish business, but +those old ships were solidly built, and we made it. + +As soon as I had completed my report to the Chief, the _Ertak_ was sent +instantly to a secret field, under heavy guard, and a new outer hull put +in place. + +"This can't be made public," the Chief warned me. "It would ruin the +whole future of space travel, as people are just learning to accept it +as a matter of course. You will swear your men to utter secrecy, and +pass me your word, in behalf of your officers and yourself, that you +will not divulge any details of this trip." + +The scientists, of course, questioned me for days; they turned up their +noses at the crude apparatus Hendricks had made, and which had saved the +_Ertak_ and all her crew--but they kept it, I noticed, for future +reference. + +All ships were immediately supplied with devices very similar, but more +compact, the use of which only chief officers knew. And the scientists, +to my knowledge, never did improve greatly on the model made for them by +my third officer. + +Whether or not these devices were ever used, I do not know. The +silver-sleeves at Base are a close-mouthed crew. Hendricks always held +that the group of things which so nearly caused the deaths of all of us +had wandered into our portion of Universe from some part of space beyond +the fringe of our knowledge. + + * * * * * + +But the same source which supplied one brood may supply another. +Evidently, from young Clippen's report, this thing has happened. And +since starting this account, I have determined why the powers that be +are willing now to have the knowledge made public. The new silicide +coating with which all space ships have been covered, is proof against +all electrical action. That it is smoother and reduces friction, is, in +my opinion, no more than a rather halty explanation. It is, in reality, +the decidedly belated scientific answer to a question raised back in the +hey-day of the _Ertak_, and my own youth. + +That was many, many years ago, as the crabbed, uncertain writing on +these pages proves. + +And now, rather thankfully, I am about to place the last of these pages +under the curious weight which has held the others in place as I have +written. That irregular bit of metal from the hull of the _Ertak_, so +deeply pitted on the one side, where the hungry things had sapped our +precious strength. + +"Electites," the scientists have dubbed these strange crescent-shaped +things, young Clippen said. "Electites!" Something new under the sun! + +New to this generation, perhaps, but not to old John Hanson. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vampires of Space, by Sewell Peaslee Wright + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VAMPIRES OF SPACE *** + +***** This file should be named 29353.txt or 29353.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/5/29353/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Meredith Bach, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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