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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/29457-h.zip b/29457-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..751faea --- /dev/null +++ b/29457-h.zip diff --git a/29457-h/29457-h.htm b/29457-h/29457-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f82d160 --- /dev/null +++ b/29457-h/29457-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1558 @@ +<!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 Loot of the Void, by Edwin K. Sloat + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; background-color: #FFFFFF; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + + +.tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + +.img1 {border:solid 1px; } + +.f1 {font-size:xx-large; font-weight:bolder; } + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Loot of the Void, by Edwin K. Sloat + +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: Loot of the Void + +Author: Edwin K. Sloat + +Release Date: July 19, 2009 [EBook #29457] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOOT OF THE VOID *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p class="center">This etext was produced from Astounding Stories September 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_001.jpg" width="500" height="548" alt="" /> +</div> +<p> </p> +<h1>Loot of the Void</h1> +<p> </p> +<h2>By Edwin K. Sloat</h2> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="sidenote">Into the Trap-Door City of great spiders goes Penrun after +the hidden plunder of the space-pirate Halkon.</div> + + +<p><span class="f1">D</span>ick Penrun glanced up incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's impossible; you would have to be two hundred years old!" +he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Lozzo nervously ran a hand through his white mop of hair.</p> + +<p>"But it is true, Sirro," he assured his companion. "We Martians +sometimes live three centuries. You should know that I am only a +hundred and seventy-five, and I do not lie when I say I was a cabin +boy under Captain Halkon."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img class="img1" src="images/image_002.jpg" width="500" height="600" alt="Down from the pinnacle of rock streaked a gigantic +spider." /> +<span class="caption">Down from the pinnacle of rock streaked a gigantic +spider.</span> +</div> + +<p>His voice sank to a whisper, and he glanced apprehensively about the +buffet of the <i>Western Star</i> which was due now in three days at the +Martian city of Nurm. Penrun's eyes followed his anxious glances +curiously. The buffet was partly filled with passengers, smoking, +gossiping women, and men at cards, or throwing dice in the Martian +gambling game of <i>diklo</i>, which was the universal fad of the moment. +No place could have been safer, Penrun reflected. Doubtless the old +man's caution was a lifelong habit acquired in his youth, if he had +actually served under Halkon.</p> + +<p>Before long the old codger would be saying that he knew the hiding +place of Halkon's treasure, about which there were probably more +legends and yarns than anything else in the Universe. A century had +elapsed since the death of the famous pirate who had preyed on the +shipping of the Void with fearless, ruthless audacity and had piled up +a fabulous treasure before that fatal day when the massed battle +spheres of the Interplanetary Council trapped his ships out near +Mercury and blew them to atoms there in the sun-beaten reaches of +space. Some of the men had been captured; old Lozzo might have been +one of them. Penrun knew the history of Halkon from childhood, and for +a very good reason.</p> + +<p>The ancient Martian stirred uneasily. His piercing blue eyes turned +again to Penrun's face.</p> + +<p>"Every word I have said is true, Sirro," he repeated hurriedly. "I +boarded this ship at New York with the sole intention of discharging +my sworn duty and giving a message to the grandson of Captain Orion +Halkon, his first male descendant."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">P</span>enrun's eyes widened in startled amazement. He, himself, was the +grandson of the notorious Halkon, a fact that not more than half a +dozen people in the Universe knew—or so he had always believed. His +mother, Halkon's only daughter, good and upright woman that she was, +had hidden that family skeleton far back in the closet and solemnly +warned Dick Penrun and his two sisters to keep it there. Yet this old +man, who had singled him out of the crowd in the buffet not thirty +minutes ago and drew him into conversation, knew the secret. Perhaps +he really had been a cabin boy under Halkon!</p> + +<p>"I have been serving out the hundred-year sentence for piracy the +judges imposed on me, a century in your own Earth prison of Sing +Sing," muttered Lozzo. "I have just been released. Quick! My inner +gods tell me my vase of life is toppling. I swore to your grandfather +that I would deliver the message. It is here. Guard well your own +life, for this paper is a thing of evil!"</p> + +<p>His hand rested nervously on the edge of the table. The ancient blue +eyes swept the buffet with a lightning glance. Then he slid his hand +forward across the polished wood. Penrun glimpsed a bit of yellow, +folded paper beneath it. Then something tweaked his hair. A deafening +explosion filled the buffet. Lozzo stiffened, his mouth gaped in a +choked scream, and he sprawled across the table, dead.</p> + +<p>As he fell, a fat white hand darted over the table toward the oblong +of folded, yellow paper lying unprotected on its surface. Penrun +clutched at it frantically. The fat fingers closed on the paper and +were gone.</p> + +<p>Penrun whirled about. The drapes of the doorway framed a heavy, pasty +face with liquid black eyes. The slug gun was aiming again, this time +at Penrun. He hurled himself sideways out of his chair as it roared a +second time. The heavy slug buried itself in the corpse of the old +Martian on the table. The face in the doorway vanished.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">T</span>he next instant Penrun was through the door and racing down the long +promenade deck under the glow of the electric lights, for the +quartering sun was shining on the opposite side of the ship. Far down +the deck ahead fled the slayer.</p> + +<p>The killer paused long enough to drop an emergency bulkhead gate. Five +minutes later when Penrun and the other passengers succeeded in +raising it, he had disappeared. One of the emergency space-suits +beside the air-lock was missing. Penrun sprang to a nearby port-hole.</p> + +<p>Far back in space he saw the tiny figure shining in the sunlight, +while the long flame of his Sextle rocket-pistol showed that he was +checking his forward momentum as rapidly as possible. Unquestionably +he would be picked up by some craft now trailing the liner, for the +murder and theft of the paper must have been carefully planned. Penrun +turned from the port-hole thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>The liner was in an uproar. News of the murder had spread like +wild-fire. Women were screaming hysterically and men shouting as they +rushed about in terror, believing that the ship was in the hands of +pirates. A squad of sailors passed on the double to take charge of the +buffet. There would be an inquest shortly. Penrun started for his +stateroom. He wanted to be alone a few minutes before the inquest took +place.</p> + +<p>His room was on the deck above. The sight of the empty passage +relieved him, but he was surprised to discover that he had not locked +the door when he left an hour ago. He stepped into the room.</p> + +<p>Instantly his hands shot upward. Something was prodding him in the +back.</p> + +<p>"One move or a sound, and I shoot," warned a sharp whisper. "Stand as +you are till I find what I want."</p> + +<p>His billfold was opened and dropped with an exclamation of +disappointment. The searcher hurried. Penrun calmly noted that the +fingers seemed to fumble and were not at all deft at this sort of +work. He glanced down, and smiled grimly. A woman! He jerked his body +away from the prodding pistol, gripped the slender hand that was about +to plunge into his coat pocket, and whirled round, catching the +intruder in his arms.</p> + +<p>Big, terrified dark eyes stared up at him out of a pale, heart-shaped +face. Then with a sob the girl wrenched free, ran out of the door and +was gone.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">H</span>e did not follow, but instead carefully locked the door and placed a +chair against it. Things had been moving too rapidly for him to feel +sure he was safe even now. Opening his left hand, he gazed down at a +bit of crumpled yellow paper he was holding there. That much he had +saved of the message from his long dead grandfather when the murderer +grabbed the folded paper from the buffet table and fled.</p> + +<p>It proved to be the bottom third of a sheet of heavy paper, and on it +was drawn a piece of a map, showing a large semi-circle, which might +have been a lake, and leading off from it were what might be a number +of crooked canals. At the end of one of these was an "X" and the word +"Here."</p> + +<p>Below the sketch were some words that had not been torn off. He read +them with growing amazement. "... aves of Titan. I swear this to be the +true and correct place of concealment of ... may he who comes to possess +it do much good and penance, for it is drenched in blood and ... Captain +Orion Halkon."</p> + +<p>Penrun sat for a long time in thought. Titan, the sixth moon of +Saturn! Nightmare of killing heat, iron cold, and monstrous spiders! +How many men had died trying to explore it! And who knew it better +than Penrun himself, the only one who had ever escaped from that +hellish cavern of the Living Dead? Old Halkon had hidden his treasure +well indeed.</p> + +<p>Penrun had never found the Caves. Legend described them as the one +safe place on the satellite where a man might live without danger of +being attacked by the spiders because the Caves were too cold for +them.</p> + +<p>Penrun doubted if there was any place that would be safe from the +monstrous insects.</p> + +<p>At any rate old Halkon had hidden his treasure there, and that part of +the map that Penrun had thought was a lake was apparently the main +cavern, and the canals, side passages. Old Halkon believed that he had +hidden his treasure well, but he could not foresee just how well. Two +thirds of the map, showing the location of the entrance to the Caves, +had been taken by the murderer of the Martian, Lozzo. The remaining +third, which showed the location of the treasure inside the Caves, was +in Penrun's possession.</p> + +<p>The murderer could find the Caves, but not the treasure inside; and +Penrun could find the treasure inside, but not the Caves.</p> + +<p>Penrun folded up the crumpled bit of paper and placed it carefully in +his shoe. Unless his guess was wrong, another attempt to get it would +be made shortly. Undoubtedly the girl had by now reported her failure +to the rest of the gang.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">T</span>he inquest was brief. The white-sheeted body of the Martian lay on +the table where he had been slain. The captain of the liner called +Penrun as the chief witness. He told a straightforward story of a +chance acquaintance with Lozzo who, he said, seemed to be afraid of +something. He had declared, so Penrun testified, that he was being +hounded for a map of some kind and he wanted Penrun to see it. Then +the murder had been committed, the map was stolen, and the murderer +had fled. That was all, Penrun concluded, he knew about the matter.</p> + +<p>Other passengers corroborated his story and he was dismissed.</p> + +<p>Throughout the inquest Penrun studied the crowd of passengers that +jammed the buffet, hoping he might catch a glimpse of the slender, +dark-eyed girl who had tried to rob him. She was nowhere to be seen. +He thought of telling the captain about her, but decided not to. She +might make another attempt to get the map, and thereby give him the +opportunity of rounding up the whole gang, or at least of learning who +they were. He told himself grimly that if he could lay hold of her +again, she would not escape so easily.</p> + +<p>If Penrun didn't realize before that he was a marked man, it was +impressed on him more forcefully three hours later on the lower deck +when two men attacked him in the darkened passage near the stern. +There was no time for pistols. A series of hurried fist-blows. He +slugged his way free and fled to the safety of his stateroom.</p> + +<p>Once there he locked the door and sat down to consider his position. +It was obvious now that he would be followed to the outposts of space, +if necessary, in an attempt to get the map from him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">A</span>fter half an hour's hard thinking he tossed away his fourth +cigarette, loosened the pistol in his armpit holster, and slipped out +of the room. He went to the captain.</p> + +<p>"You think, then, that your life is in danger because you happened to +be talking to that old Martian when he was murdered?" asked the +captain, when Penrun had finished.</p> + +<p>"No question about it," declared Penrun. "Two attempts have been made +already."</p> + +<p>"Hmm," said the captain, frowning. "A most remarkably strange +business. I've never had anything like it aboard my ship in the twenty +years I've been traveling the Void."</p> + +<p>"I can pay for the space-sphere," urged Penrun. "My certificate of +credit will take care of it with funds to spare. All you have to do is +to let me cast off at once. If any questions are asked, you can say it +was my wish."</p> + +<p>"Hmm! Really, Mr. Penrun, this is a most unusual request. I'm not +inclined—"</p> + +<p>He stared at the communication board. The meteor warning dial was +fluctuating violently, showing the presence of a rapidly approaching +body—a meteor, or perhaps a flight of them. Gongs throughout the +liner automatically began to sound a warning for the passengers to get +into their space suits. The captain sat as though petrified.</p> + +<p>Penrun sprang to the small visi-screen beside the board and snapped on +the current. Swiftly he revolved the periscope aerial. There appeared +on the screen the hull of a long, rakish, cigar-shaped craft which +was overhauling the liner. The stranger was painted dead black and +displayed no emblem.</p> + +<p>"There's your meteor, Skipper," he remarked ironically. "And I am the +attraction that is drawing it to your ship for another murder. Do I +get the space-sphere?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">T</span>he captain sprang to his feet. "You get it, Penrun. You'll have to +hurry. I want no more murders aboard my ship. Here, down this private +stairs to the sphere air-lock. I'll make arrangements by phone. Once +you are free of the liner I'll slow down so that the black ship will +have to slow down, too. That will give you a chance to pull away and +get a good start on them."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later Penrun's newly acquired craft was sliding out of +its air-lock in the belly of the monstrous liner. He pulled away and +glanced back.</p> + +<p>The liner was already slowing down. The black pursuing craft was +hidden by its vast, curving bulk. Penrun crowded on speed as swiftly +as he dared. By the time the strange craft had made contact with the +<i>Western Star</i> his little sphere had dwindled to a mere point of light +in the black depths of space and vanished.</p> + +<p>Penrun leaned over his charts grimly, as he set a new course for the +sphere to follow. He, too, could play at this game. He'd carry the +battle to the enemy's gate. Out to Titan he'd go and match his +familiarity with the little planet against the superior numbers of his +enemies.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">T</span>en days later, Earth time, he was circling Titan, while he searched +the grim, forbidden terrain beneath. After days of studying and +speculation he had decided that the Caves must be situated in the +Inferno Range, a place so particularly vicious that no man, so far as +was known, had ever explored it. During the day the heat would boil +eggs, and at night the sub-zero cold cracked great scales off the +granite boulders. And here, too, lay the Trap-Door City of the monster +spiders!</p> + +<p>The grim, fantastic range soon appeared over the horizon, stabbing its +saw-tooth peaks far into the sky. Dawn was still lighting the world, +and a great snow-storm, a howling, furious blizzard, concealed the +lower slopes of the mountains. Penrun knew that presently the driving +snow-flakes would change to rain-drops, and the shrieking, moaning +voice of the gale would give way to the crashing, rolling thunder of +the tempest. As the day advanced the storm would die abruptly and the +clouds vanish under the deadly heat.</p> + +<p>Then the Trap-Door City, which covered the slopes above the plateau at +the three-thousand-foot level like a checker-board of shimmering, +silken circles, would spring to febrile life as the spider monsters +went streaking and leaping across the barren, distorted granite on the +day's business, the hunt for food in the lowlands, and the opening of +the trap-doors to gather in the heat of the day in the silken tunnel +homes set in the gorges and among the boulders. At sunset the doors +would all be closed, for then the rain and the electrical storm would +return, and at night the blizzard. The storm-and-heat cycle was the +deadly weather routine of the Infernos.</p> + +<p>Penrun steered for a tall, cloven peak that towered high above the +Trap-Door City. In its thin air and continuous cold he would be +comparatively safe from marauding spider scouts, and from the peak he +could watch not only the city of the monsters but the better part of +the Inferno Range as well.</p> + +<p>He was convinced that before long the mysterious black craft would +put in an appearance somewhere near this spot. Penrun knew it all too +well. There by the cataract of the White River, half a mile across the +plateau from the insect city, he had once been captured.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">N</span>ext morning when he looked down on the plateau just below the +Trap-Door City he laughed triumphantly. There sat the long +black-hulled space craft he had seen overhauling the liner.</p> + +<p>But a moment later he shook his head dubiously. Too brazen, that +landing. It was almost in the insect city. Of course, the ship was +large and heavily armed with ray-guns which poked out their sharp +snouts here and there about the hull. None the less, an experienced +explorer of Titan would never have flung such defiance at the spiders.</p> + +<p>The city was feverishly alive with the monsters now. They gathered in +groups to stare down at the strange craft, then raced away again, +darting in and out of their trap-door homes and streaking here and +there across the twisted, tortured granite of the mountainside. The +Queen's palace, a vast, raised cocoon of shimmering, silken web, was a +veritable bee-hive. Something was brewing!</p> + +<p>Abruptly the trap-door homes vomited forth monstrous insects by the +thousands which spread with prodigious speed along the mountainside. +At an unseen signal they poured down upon the plateau and charged the +space-ship.</p> + +<p>The black craft's heavy ray-guns broke into life. Attacking monsters +curled up and died as the rays bit into their onrushing ranks. The +first wave melted, but an instant later the following waves buried the +ship.</p> + +<p>Insects in the rear darted here and there, dragging away dead and +dying spiders. Here was food aplenty! The denizens of the Trap-Door +City would live well on their dead for a few days.</p> + +<p>Abruptly the attack ceased. The crackling ray-guns were still taking +toll as the monsters scurried back to the safety of their city, +leaving their dead piled high about the hull of the ship.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">P</span>enrun wondered if the monsters would abandon the heaps of their dead. +He rather expected that frenzied efforts would be made to retrieve +them for food. The problem was solved by those aboard the space-ship, +for presently it rose a score of feet in the air and moved a few +hundred yards nearer the waterfall that marked the headwaters of the +White River.</p> + +<p>At once a frantic wave of spiders swept down across the plateau +scouring it clean of the dead monsters.</p> + +<p>After that the Trap-Door City seemed deserted. Not a spider could be +seen near the shining, circular doors. Only here and there crouched a +huge, bristly warrior safe behind a jutting rock with his glittering +eight eyes fixed on the motionless black ship below.</p> + +<p>Again the weary waiting. Penrun could only hope that it would not be +long before those aboard the black ship gave him some hint of where +the entrance to the Caves might be. Time and again he trained his +glasses on the ship only to drop them resignedly. But when noon had +passed and the heat of the day was scorching the rock he did not drop +his glasses when he looked through them once again. Instead he stood +erect in horror and dismay.</p> + +<p>A girl had dashed out of the air-lock of the ship. She seemed to be +familiar. Then he recognized her as the girl who had tried to rob him +aboard the <i>Western Star</i>. Her face was drawn with agony in the +stifling, overpowering heat. She had advanced but a few yards, but +she was already staggering uncertainly.</p> + +<p>What in Heaven's name possessed her to try to venture out in that +killing heat? She wasn't even dressed in a space-suit, which would +have protected her against heat as well as cold. There was the danger +of the monster spiders! Rescue would have to be quick!</p> + +<p>Even as the thought flashed through his mind he knew she was past +saving. Down from the nearest pinnacle of rock streaked a gigantic +spider. The girl saw it, screamed, clutched her throat and fell. +Ray-guns of the ship crackled frenziedly. In vain! The insect swept +the helpless girl up in its powerful mandibles, sprang clear over the +ship and was streaking back up among the rocks in a black blur of +speed before the men inside the ship could train the guns on that +side, even if they had dared to.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">P</span>enrun watched with fascinated dread. To the cavern of the Living +Dead! The monster carrying the limp girlish form was now running up +through the city toward it, guarded by two other huge insects that had +appeared from nowhere. Through the entrance of the cavern they darted +and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Surely those aboard the ship would make an effort to rescue her, +thought Penrun, tense with horror. At least they would retaliate by +raying the city with their heavy artillery. But no! The black ship +only continued to rest there wavering in the heat. Penrun swore +vividly. The cowards! Still, perhaps they were afraid to unlimber +their heavy artillery for fear of killing the girl. Or perhaps, which +was more likely, they thought she was already dead and devoured. Few +persons knew about the Living Death.</p> + +<p>Ah, well, he'd forget about her. She was an enemy, she was one of the +group that was trying to rob and perhaps kill him. Perhaps her +companions knew that she wouldn't be killed for two or three days, and +would make an effort to rescue her. And perhaps they wouldn't.</p> + +<p>But before an hour had passed Penrun knew that he was going to master +his horror of that cavern and save her himself, or die in the attempt. +He, and he alone, had been in the cavern of the Living Dead and knew +what to expect—the fate that might be his as well as the girl's.</p> + +<p>He wondered if that Englishman, that old man with the great beard who +said he had known Shakespeare and Bacon personally, was still lying in +his silken hammock at the far end of the cave. Know Shakespeare +personally? Impossible! Yet was it more impossible than the cavern +itself? The man's English was quaint and nearly unintelligible. His +description of that comical old space-ship of brass and wood was +plausible. Perhaps he had known the Bard of Avon.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">N</span>ight had descended when Penrun finally emerged from his little ship. +The air was bitterly cold, and overhead the stars burned brilliantly. +He paused to marvel a little that the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and the +other constellations appeared just the same out here hundreds of +millions of miles from Earth as they did at home. It made one feel +infinitely small to realize the pinpoint size of the Solar Universe. +He shivered for the temperature was nearly forty below zero, and +snapped on the current of his Ecklin electro-heater which was +connected with his clothing and would keep him warm even in that cold.</p> + +<p>Another suit of slip-on clothes with an Ecklin heater, and his +lounging moccasins were in a pack on his back. If he succeeded in +releasing the girl, she would need them. The spider monsters didn't +leave their Living Dead victims any clothing usually; and little good +would it have done the Living Dead if they had.</p> + +<p>Swiftly he descended the peak, leaping easily from rock to rock, +thanks to the small gravity of the planet, and presently entered the +clouds above the insect city. Abruptly the storm broke in all its fury +with the shrieking of the gale and driving snow. In the blackness the +pencil of light from his tiny flash showed only a few yards through +the swirling, driving flakes that bit and numbed his bare face. With +pistol ready he forged slowly ahead toward the cavern of the Living +Dead.</p> + +<p>He bumped into the snow-covered rock before he realized he was close +to the place. With every nerve alert and the shrieking, freezing gale +forgotten he slipped the flashlight back into its holder and drew +another pistol. The door, he recalled, opened inward. It was not +fastened, but just inside the entrance crouched a gigantic insect on +guard.</p> + +<p>Penrun was tense and ready. He kicked the door so viciously that its +elastic, silken frame sagged inward under the impact of his foot. +Against the glow of the green light inside the cavern he saw a +nightmarish monster rising to its feet. Both pistols stabbed viciously +as the monster thrust forward a thick, bristly leg to shut the door +again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">A</span> ray bit off the leg at the second joint. The other ray ripped open +the soft, tumid abdomen. Penrun had barely time to throw himself aside +as the convulsed, dying monster hurled itself tigerishly forward +through the doorway out into the driving storm in a final frenzied +effort to seize and rend his frail human enemy.</p> + +<p>Penrun slipped into the cavern. The deathly cold outside would finish +the horrible insect. As he kicked the big door shut he was crouched +and tense, for the ancient gray attendant monster whose poisoned bite +had paralyzed thousands for this living hell was moving forward +curiously.</p> + +<p>Both pistols flamed to life. The fearsome head of the monster with its +poisoned mandible shriveled to nothing under the searing rays. Penrun +sprang backward and jerked open the door. Then he closed it again. The +old spider was moving feebly. Instead of the galvanic death of the +guard, the huge gray insect's legs buckled under it and it slumped +down to the floor of the cave where it quivered a few seconds, then +relaxed in death.</p> + +<p>As Penrun stepped forward around the carcass the cave filled with +hysterical screams and hoarse insane shouting of joy and terror. He +looked up at the high vaulted roof where the strange diamond-shaped +crystal diffused its green light along the shimmering silken web, then +turned his gaze downward to the rock floor beneath his feet. At last +he gritted his teeth and forced himself to look at the walls.</p> + +<p>Again he saw tier upon tier of hammocks, each holding a naked human +being, helpless and paralyzed from the poisoned bite of the attendant +monster spider. Some could weep, some could smile, some could talk, +yet none could move either hand or foot. A few were mercifully +unconscious, but the rest were not. Many were insane. Yet they all lay +alike year after year, century after century, if need be, kept alive +by the rays of the strange green light in the roof. This was the +cavern of the Living Dead!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">P</span>enrun knew the tragic future of these unfortunates. A few, perhaps, +would go as food for the Queen in times of famine. The remainder +would become living incubators for the larvae of the Queen which would +be planted in their living bodies by the monster attendant to eat away +the vitals until death mercifully ended the victim's life, and the +growing spider emerged to feed on a new victim, or to go its way.</p> + +<p>A thousand helpless human beings swung in their silken hammocks +awaiting their fate. Penrun had learned about them during those two +horrible days he had been held prisoner here before he had succeeded +in raying the novice attendant and the monster guard with the pistol +from his armpit holster that the spiders had overlooked when they +captured him. He recalled again how he had dashed frantically from +hammock to hammock trying to rouse some of the Living Dead to escape +with him. Not one of them could respond.</p> + +<p>Reports to the Interplanetary Council? He had made them, written and +oral, and had only been laughed at for a half-crazy explorer. The +Council would not even investigate.</p> + +<p>Now Penrun did not tarry. He strode swiftly back to the far end of the +cavern.</p> + +<p>"The girl who was just brought in, is she safe?" he asked hoarsely.</p> + +<p>None seemed to know, but presently he knew she was still unhurt, for +he found her bound hand and foot to the rock wall with heavy silken +webs. Nearly all her clothing had been torn off her. She looked up +hopelessly. A great fear appeared in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You!" she gasped. "Are you responsible for this?"</p> + +<p>"I have come for you," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, swiftly +removing the pack from his back.</p> + +<p>She cowered against the wall.</p> + +<p>"You—you inhuman beast!" Her face was white with horror.</p> + +<p>He cut the silken bonds.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">"D</span>on't be a fool!" he said roughly. "I have no power over these +monsters. Hurry into those clothes! Do you want to be bitten in the +small of the back and lie paralyzed for years in a hammock like these +other unfortunates, then suffer untold agony for months while spiders' +larvae eat out your vitals? Hurry, I say! We must get out of here at +once!"</p> + +<p>He turned away. He wanted to see that old Englishman who said he had +known Shakespeare. His wish was in vain. The old man's sightless eyes +stared up at the silken roof. The long, heavy beard that lay across +the breast stirred. The beady, glittering eyes of an infant spider +peeped out. Penrun uttered a curse of loathing. His pistol stabbed +death into the foul insect.</p> + +<p>He felt a touch on his arm. The girl was waiting.</p> + +<p>"I am ready," she said quietly. "Oh, let us hurry!"</p> + +<p>Dawn was lighting the world outside, and the driving blizzard was +already changing to rain. Penrun seized the girl's hand and ran madly +up the mountainside toward the peak. The spiders usually did not +venture out in the rain, but in the face of danger from the ship they +would be abroad as early as possible this morning.</p> + +<p>Penrun suddenly spurted madly. Half a dozen gigantic spiders were +moving cautiously along the lower edge of the city, their bodies +looming up grotesquely in the misty rain. The girl stumbled, struck +her head against a boulder, and lay still. Penrun caught her up in his +arms and sprinted madly up the steep slope.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">A</span> rock loosened by his flying feet rattled and pounded down the +hillside. Instantly the monsters whirled round, sighted him and +started in pursuit. With a mighty leap he cleared a ten-foot ledge, +carrying his unconscious burden, and plunged into the sheltering mist +of the clouds. Up, up! Thank God for the weak gravity!</p> + +<p>A swishing rattle of claws on rock shot by them in the fog, turned and +swept back. Penrun sprang straight upward, rising nearly a dozen feet +in the air as the monsters streaked past underneath.</p> + +<p>Only a little farther! Savagely he forced his failing strength to +carry them up the slope. The air was chilling fast and the mist +thinning. He broke into clear air as the fog behind them filled with +the rattle of racing claws on the barren granite and the grating roar +of the baffled monsters, seeking frantically for their intended +victims.</p> + +<p>He staggered on another hundred yards before he collapsed with lungs +laboring desperately in the rarefied air.</p> + +<p>Below them a bristly monster charged out of the fog, sighted them +lying up among the rocks, and leaped after them. Penrun jerked up a +pistol with trembling fingers and loosed its deadly ray. The huge +spider stumbled and ploughed head-on among the rocks with a flurry of +legs. It rose loggily, for its fierce energy was dwindling rapidly in +the biting cold. Again the pistol crackled. The gigantic insect +toppled over and rolled down the mountainside into the fog and +vanished.</p> + +<p>"Are we safe now?"</p> + +<p>Penrun turned. The girl was now sitting up somewhat unsteadily, with +an ugly bruise on her forehead.</p> + +<p>"I think so," he replied. "Up there in my space-sphere we shall be +quite safe."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">T</span>ogether they plodded silently up the sharp incline of the peak, her +hand in his. And as they went he marveled that her eyes could be so +beautiful now that the fear and horror had vanished from their +depths.</p> + +<p>The storm clouds below had broken up and dissolved under the +increasing heat, revealing the Trap-Door City, seemingly deserted, and +the motionless black ship still resting on the plateau. Penrun turned +to the girl beside him in the control nest of the space-sphere.</p> + +<p>"What are your friends waiting for all this time?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"They're not my friends," she retorted. "And you might have guessed +that they are waiting for you to arrive with the other third of the +map. They are planning to surprise you and rob you of it. The entrance +to the Caves is under the edge of the Cataract over there, and by +waiting here they are sure to be on hand when you arrive. Only"—her +brows puckered in a little frown—"I don't understand why they remain +out there on the open rock after Helgers has picked a hiding-place for +the ship."</p> + +<p>"Helgers?"</p> + +<p>"He is the leader of the gang, and he is the man who killed that poor +old Martian aboard the <i>Western Star</i> for the map. Helgers learned +about the treasure and the existence of the map through a convict who +was with Lozzo in the prison. Helgers pretends to be an importer in +Chicago—he actually owns a nice little business there—but in reality +he is one of the biggest smugglers in the Universe."</p> + +<p>"How do you come to be with him?"</p> + +<p>"I was coming to that," she replied. "My parents live on Ganymede."</p> + +<p>Penrun nodded. He was familiar with the fourth satellite of Jupiter +and its fertile provinces.</p> + +<p>"My father is an American, but my grandfather on my mother's side was +a Medan nobleman. He was ruined by that notorious pirate, Captain +Halkon, who descended with his ships on our city and carried off +everything of value, including the vast amount of scrip credits owned +by the state which were entrusted to my grandfather. You know the +Ganymedan debtor's law?"</p> + +<p>He did indeed! It was one of the most infamous laws of the Universe: +ruling that the debts of the father descended to the children and +their children's children until paid.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">"M</span>y family is now poor," she went on. "For a century or more we have +striven to pay off the debt caused by the loss of those state funds. +That's the way matters stood when I received a letter from my brother +Tom in Chicago, who was employed in the office of Helgers' legitimate +importing business, little aware of the smuggling. Tom had somehow got +wind of the near discovery of Halkon's treasure, and I saw a chance to +get a part of it by joining Helgers' party. He might not want us, but +he would be practically forced to take us to keep our mouths shut. I +felt that we were honestly entitled to a part of that treasure which +had been stolen from our family, and with it we could pay off that old +debt that had ridden our family like an Old Man of the Sea for more +than a century.</p> + +<p>"Getting into the expedition proved much simpler than I had expected. +When Tom told Helgers about me he was very eager to help us—he is one +of those men who is always anxious to help a girl if he thinks she is +good-looking enough. So you see when I held you up in your stateroom I +was merely performing my part of the scheme, although I didn't know +then that Helgers had already slain the old Martian and leaped out +into space.</p> + +<p>"After that the <i>Osprey</i>—the ship down there on the +plateau—overhauled the <i>Western Star</i> and took us off, and shortly +afterward I learned most unpleasantly that Helgers had no intention of +giving Tom and me our share unless I gave myself to him in exchange. I +told Tom, and trouble started. It came to a head yesterday and there +was a fight and—and Helgers killed Tom."</p> + +<p>She began to weep quietly. Penrun stared grimly down at the black, +motionless ship. Presently the girl resumed her story.</p> + +<p>"I managed to get the air-lock open and escaped from the ship. Then +that horrid spider caught me. You know the rest."</p> + +<p>Her voice trailed off. Penrun remained silent for a while.</p> + +<p>"You haven't even told me your name," he reminded her gently.</p> + +<p>"Irma Boardle," she replied with a wan smile.</p> + +<p>"I am Dick Penrun, in case you don't already know me. Captain Halkon +was my grandfather. We always tried to keep the knowledge of it a +family secret, since we were ashamed of it. If I—we get our hands on +that treasure, I can promise you that the debt hanging over your +family shall be paid first, Miss Boardle."</p> + +<p>"Not Miss Boardle. Call me Irma," she said, the wan smile growing +suddenly warm.</p> + +<p>Penrun looked at her thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"But we aren't near the treasure yet," he said. "Between the spider +monsters and the human monsters in the ship, our chances are rather +slim. We'll just have to wait until we get a break."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">A</span>s the day wore on there was a note of menace in the silence that hung +over the Trap-Door City. It was nothing tangible, unless it was the +appearance of two long silvery rods mounted on the top of the huge +cocoon-palace of the Queen aiming down at Helgers' ship. Penrun could +have sworn they were not there yesterday. The sight of them made him +uneasy.</p> + +<p>Helgers must have interpreted the silence differently, for presently a +man emerged from the ship, protected against the heat by a clumsy +space-suit. He hesitated, then walked slowly away from the ship, and +paused again, waiting for the spiders to attack. Not a movement was +made in the city. Presently he moved on again toward the cataract +which had dwindled in the heat of the day to a mere trickle of hot +water down to the pool in the gorge more than half a mile below.</p> + +<p>After a time the man reached the cataract. He descended the short path +that led down under the lip of rock to another ledge a few feet below +it. The entrance to the Caves opened out onto this lower ledge. Little +wonder, thought Penrun, that no one knew where the Caves were.</p> + +<p>Some time later two other men from the ship followed him.</p> + +<p>"Fools!" muttered Penrun, following them through his glasses. "They +think the spiders are afraid of their ray artillery. I'll bet the +monsters are either waiting until all the men wander out of the ship, +or else they're getting ready to spring some hellish surprise."</p> + +<p>Other men came out of the ship, carrying rock drills, a roll of cable +and a powerful little windlass. Instead of going to the Caves, they +went round the ship to the other side under the doubtful protection of +the ray-guns, and sank two shafts into the granite. Into these they +drove steel posts and anchored the windlass. One end of the cable was +attached to the windlass and the other to the nose of the ship. Then +they slowly dragged the big craft across the plateau on rollers from +the ship's store room.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">"T</span>hat's strange!" exclaimed Penrun. "The ship can't rise! I wonder +what's wrong, and why they are pulling it away from instead of toward +the Caves."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what's the matter with the ship, but I believe I know +why they are moving it," volunteered Irma. "They're taking it to that +hiding-place I told you Helgers picked out—there behind that upthrust +of rock. You see, they think you know where the Caves are because you +have explored Titan, and they think you will come directly here, so +they want the ship hidden to make sure you land."</p> + +<p>Half a hundred men in their space-suits toiled like ants about the big +cylindrical craft until they at last jockeyed it into position behind +the natural screen of rock. Even before it was in place other men were +swarming over the ship with paint machines, coloring it a granite +gray. When they had finished the ship was nearly invisible from the +sky.</p> + +<p>Penrun paid little attention to their preparations. His attention was +centered on those two shining rods atop the Queen's silken palace. +They now aimed at the ship in its new position. A strange idea flashed +through his mind. Those rods had in some mysterious way put the +elevating machinery of the <i>Osprey</i> out of commission!</p> + +<p>Suppose the spiders turned them next on his own space-sphere up here +on the peak? The thought sent a shudder through him. Visions of the +final flight across the nightmarish, distorted granite, the running +down and capture of himself and Irma, the paralyzing bite of the +monsters in the cavern of the Living Dead flashed across his mind. +Cold sweat stood out on his forehead. Instinctively his hand leaped to +the propulsion control and hovered there.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">Y</span>et why hadn't the spiders attacked the ship, now that they had it +helpless? It was not their usual tactics to give their victims a +chance to free themselves. Why, why? There could be only one answer. +They were waiting for something! Penrun's eyes glinted suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Irma," he said rapidly, "we are in serious danger. The spiders have +obviously put the elevating machinery of the <i>Osprey</i> out of +commission. Helgers and his men are doomed to the Living Death as +surely as though they were already lying in the silken hammocks. If +the monsters choose, they could do the same thing to our sphere and +doom us to the same fate. I believe they are waiting for something. +While they wait we have a chance to get the treasure and escape. Shall +we risk it, or shall we go while we know we are safe?"</p> + +<p>She looked up at him evenly.</p> + +<p>"If you think we have a fair chance to get the treasure and escape, I +say let's risk it," she said firmly.</p> + +<p>"Good!" he exclaimed. "Here we go!"</p> + +<p>The little sphere slipped out of its cleft in the peak and dropped +swiftly into the valley on the side opposite the Trap-Door City and +its mysterious menace. Day was swiftly dying, and the lower passes of +the mountains were already hazy with rapidly forming storm-clouds.</p> + +<p>"Look!" cried Irma excitedly. "What are those things?"</p> + +<p>Far in the distance a long line of wavering red lights snaked swiftly +through the dusky valley toward them. Penrun picked up his binoculars.</p> + +<p>"Spiders," he announced. "Scores of them. Each is carrying a sort of +red torch. I have a feeling that those are what the monsters of the +Trap-Door City have been waiting for."</p> + +<p>He urged the sphere to swifter flight along the range. Miles from the +Caves, he swept up over the peaks, and dropped down on the lowlands +side. Dusk was deepening rapidly as he raced back toward the White +River cataract under the pall of the gathering storm.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">A</span>mong the boulders on the rough mountainside near the mouth of the +Caves he eased the craft down to a gentle landing.</p> + +<p>"Wait here," he told Irma. "I'll investigate and see if it is safe to +enter the Caves."</p> + +<p>They had seen the three men return to the ship, but others might have +gone to the Caves after that. Penrun made his way down the slope to +the lip of the cataract and the yawning blackness of the abysmal gorge +below it.</p> + +<p>Overhead the storm was gathering swiftly, and the saffron light of the +dying day illuminated the plateau eerily. Half a mile away the +Trap-Door City shimmered fantastically in the uncertain light. Penrun +repressed a shudder. The Devil's own playground! Thank God, he and +Irma would be out of it soon!</p> + +<p>He crept down the narrow path that led under the ledge of the +trickling cataract. Outside, a bolt of lightning stabbed down from the +darkened heavens. Its lurid flash revealed the huge figure of a man, +pistol in hand, beside the entrance to the Caves.</p> + +<p>Too late to retreat now, even had he wished to. Penrun's weapon +flashed first. A scream of pain and fury answered the flash, and the +man's pistol clattered down on the rock. The next instant Penrun was +helpless in the clutch of a mighty pair of arms that tried to squeeze +the life out of him.</p> + +<p>"Burn, me, will ye, ye dirty scum!" roared the giant of a man +tightening his grip. "I'll break your damned back for ye and heave ye +into the gorge!"</p> + +<p>Penrun writhed frenziedly, trying to twist his pistol around against +his enemy's back, while they struggled desperately about the ledge +above the dizzy blackness of the gorge. But the pistol struck the wall +beside the entrance and fell under their trampling feet.</p> + +<p>Penrun was gasping in agony at the intolerable pain in his spine. +Darting points of light danced before his eyes. Then from the opening +in the rock showed a beam of white light and a man slowly emerged from +the Caves. The grip on Penrun relaxed slightly as the man came toward +the two combatants. Penrun could distinguish him closely now. A heavy, +pasty face with liquid black eyes and a crown of thinning hair. +Helgers! He was staggering and grunting under the weight of a heavy +metal box.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">"W</span>hat's the matter, Borgain?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Got this bird, Penrun, we been waitin' for!"</p> + +<p>"We don't need him, now that we already have the treasure. Still, it's +a good thing we found him. Just as well to have no tales circulating +about the Universe about our find. Toss him into the gorge, and go +down and watch the other three chests until I get—"</p> + +<p>"Dick, Dick!" Irma's excited voice floated down from up among the +boulders. "The spiders with those red cylinder torches have arrived! +They are attacking the <i>Osprey</i>!"</p> + +<p>Helgers jerked up his head.</p> + +<p>"Why, if it isn't the little spitfire!" he exclaimed in pleased +astonishment. "I thought the damned spiders had eaten her long before +this. Rather changes things, Borgain. I'll just go on up and let my +little playmate know I am here. Toss our friend over the edge there, +and bring up another treasure chest."</p> + +<p>"What was that she was sayin' about the spiders attackin' the +<i>Osprey</i>?" Borgain's voice was anxious.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nothing the boys can't handle," said Helgers confidently. +"In case they don't, we'll have to feel sorry for them and take our +friend's sphere. Only have to split the treasure two ways, in that +case," he added, moving up the slope.</p> + +<p>Borgain's answer was a grunt of surprise, for his captive had squirmed +suddenly out of his clutch. The big man plunged forward recklessly +with arms outstretched in the groping darkness. Penrun, desperately +remembering the sickening drop at their feet to the pool three +thousand feet below, backed against the rock.</p> + +<p>A flash of lightning. Borgain's ape-like arms were nearing him. Penrun +lashed out at the darkened features. His knuckles bit deep into the +flesh. He slipped aside as Borgain, mouthing fearful curses, rammed +into the rock wall and rebounded.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">A</span>gain the fumbling search. Another lightning flash. Penrun struck with +frenzied desperation. Borgain took the blow behind the ear and +staggered. He whirled, wild with fury, and charged vainly along the +narrow ledge.</p> + +<p>"I'll get ye this time, damn your dirty carcass—ugh!"</p> + +<p>Guided by the sound of his voice, Penrun struck with all his strength. +Borgain's nose flattened under the blow. He whirled half around.</p> + +<p>"I'll kill ye! I'll kill—help, help—a-ah!"</p> + +<p>Lost in the blackness he had plunged over the lip of the rock, +thinking he was charging Penrun. Down into the yawning gorge his body +hurtled, the sound of his frenzied, dwindling screams floating up +eerily out of the black, ominous depths.</p> + +<p>Penrun crouched against the wall, sick and trembling. Irma, Helgers! +He must hurry! He fumbled again for the pistols. They were gone. +Crawling forward now, still shaken by his narrow escape from death, he +gained the pathway. The rain was drumming wildly on the barren granite +now, and the pitch-blackness was shattered only by ghastly lightning +bolts.</p> + +<p>Guided by the flashes, he clambered up the slope and halted abruptly. +The door of the space-sphere was open, and, silhouetted against the +soft glow of light within it, was Irma, seated dejectedly with bowed +head, heedless of the cold rain beating down upon her. Helgers was +nowhere to be seen. Penrun dashed forward.</p> + +<p>"Irma, Irma!" he cried. "What has happened? Where is he?"</p> + +<p>She raised her head slowly and stared at him as at one risen from the +dead. Then she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"He said they had killed you—had thrown your body into the gorge," +she sobbed. "I—I just didn't want to live after that. Are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit," he assured her fervently. "But where is Helgers?"</p> + +<p>"I pistoled him," she said quietly. "I had no choice. He came at me +after I warned him to keep away. He fell over there among the rocks. +Oh, Dick, let us hurry away from this mad place!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="f1">H</span>e stared at the rain-swept rocks. The heavy metal treasure chest lay +a few yards away where Helgers had dropped it. Penrun moved cautiously +toward the spot where he had fallen. He was gone. The rain had washed +away any traces of blood that might have remained.</p> + +<p>While Penrun hesitated, the roar of the tempest was split by a man's +scream of agony. A lurid flash of lightning an instant later revealed +a gigantic spider down by the cataract with Helgers' struggling body +in his mandible jaws. Returning blackness blotted out the scene.</p> + +<p>Irma's pistol stabbed a ray through the driving rain at the hideous +monster. Instantly its grating roar for help rang out, and a group of +red lights from the doomed <i>Osprey</i> across the plateau, detached +themselves from the others and came streaking for the cataract.</p> + +<p>Penrun seized the heavy treasure chest and staggered to the sphere.</p> + +<p>"Hurry, here they come!" screamed the girl.</p> + +<p>He fell through the door with his burden just as the foremost monster +leaped the river. The next instant Irma sent the sphere rocketing +upward. Just before they plunged into the clouds they caught a last +glimpse of the <i>Osprey</i> with her ray guns melted off by the red +cylinder torches, and great holes gaping in her sides through which +the monsters were carrying out the members of the crew to their cavern +of the Living Dead.</p> + +<p>As the sphere burst through the storm cloud into the frigid air above +it, Irma gave a cry and pointed at the peak where they had hidden in +the sphere. The peak was now alive with moving red lights of monsters +searching vainly for them. The scene dropped swiftly below as the +sphere gathered speed for its homeward journey.</p> + +<p>"We got only a small portion of the treasure, but it will be enough," +said Penrun. "After we pay your family's debt, I want to spend a +hundred thousand or so for a specially chartered battle-sphere which +will come back here to Titan. If the Interplanetary Council will do +nothing about the Trap-Door City, I shall, independently. Not rays, +but good old primitive bombs such as they used back in the Twentieth +Century. I'll blow the hellish place off the face of the map and with +it the cavern of the Living Dead. I think those lying in the hammocks +would thank me for releasing them in that way."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Loot of the Void, by Edwin K. 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Sloat + +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: Loot of the Void + +Author: Edwin K. Sloat + +Release Date: July 19, 2009 [EBook #29457] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOOT OF THE VOID *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from Astounding Stories September 1932. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the + U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + + Loot of the Void + + + By Edwin K. Sloat + + * * * * * + + + + +[Sidenote: Into the Trap-Door City of great spiders goes Penrun after +the hidden plunder of the space-pirate Halkon.] + + +Dick Penrun glanced up incredulously. + +"Why, that's impossible; you would have to be two hundred years old!" +he exclaimed. + +Lozzo nervously ran a hand through his white mop of hair. + +"But it is true, Sirro," he assured his companion. "We Martians +sometimes live three centuries. You should know that I am only a +hundred and seventy-five, and I do not lie when I say I was a cabin +boy under Captain Halkon." + +[Illustration: _Down from the pinnacle of rock streaked a gigantic +spider._] + +His voice sank to a whisper, and he glanced apprehensively about the +buffet of the _Western Star_ which was due now in three days at the +Martian city of Nurm. Penrun's eyes followed his anxious glances +curiously. The buffet was partly filled with passengers, smoking, +gossiping women, and men at cards, or throwing dice in the Martian +gambling game of _diklo_, which was the universal fad of the moment. +No place could have been safer, Penrun reflected. Doubtless the old +man's caution was a lifelong habit acquired in his youth, if he had +actually served under Halkon. + +Before long the old codger would be saying that he knew the hiding +place of Halkon's treasure, about which there were probably more +legends and yarns than anything else in the Universe. A century had +elapsed since the death of the famous pirate who had preyed on the +shipping of the Void with fearless, ruthless audacity and had piled up +a fabulous treasure before that fatal day when the massed battle +spheres of the Interplanetary Council trapped his ships out near +Mercury and blew them to atoms there in the sun-beaten reaches of +space. Some of the men had been captured; old Lozzo might have been +one of them. Penrun knew the history of Halkon from childhood, and for +a very good reason. + +The ancient Martian stirred uneasily. His piercing blue eyes turned +again to Penrun's face. + +"Every word I have said is true, Sirro," he repeated hurriedly. "I +boarded this ship at New York with the sole intention of discharging +my sworn duty and giving a message to the grandson of Captain Orion +Halkon, his first male descendant." + + * * * * * + +Penrun's eyes widened in startled amazement. He, himself, was the +grandson of the notorious Halkon, a fact that not more than half a +dozen people in the Universe knew--or so he had always believed. His +mother, Halkon's only daughter, good and upright woman that she was, +had hidden that family skeleton far back in the closet and solemnly +warned Dick Penrun and his two sisters to keep it there. Yet this old +man, who had singled him out of the crowd in the buffet not thirty +minutes ago and drew him into conversation, knew the secret. Perhaps +he really had been a cabin boy under Halkon! + +"I have been serving out the hundred-year sentence for piracy the +judges imposed on me, a century in your own Earth prison of Sing +Sing," muttered Lozzo. "I have just been released. Quick! My inner +gods tell me my vase of life is toppling. I swore to your grandfather +that I would deliver the message. It is here. Guard well your own +life, for this paper is a thing of evil!" + +His hand rested nervously on the edge of the table. The ancient blue +eyes swept the buffet with a lightning glance. Then he slid his hand +forward across the polished wood. Penrun glimpsed a bit of yellow, +folded paper beneath it. Then something tweaked his hair. A deafening +explosion filled the buffet. Lozzo stiffened, his mouth gaped in a +choked scream, and he sprawled across the table, dead. + +As he fell, a fat white hand darted over the table toward the oblong +of folded, yellow paper lying unprotected on its surface. Penrun +clutched at it frantically. The fat fingers closed on the paper and +were gone. + +Penrun whirled about. The drapes of the doorway framed a heavy, pasty +face with liquid black eyes. The slug gun was aiming again, this time +at Penrun. He hurled himself sideways out of his chair as it roared a +second time. The heavy slug buried itself in the corpse of the old +Martian on the table. The face in the doorway vanished. + + * * * * * + +The next instant Penrun was through the door and racing down the long +promenade deck under the glow of the electric lights, for the +quartering sun was shining on the opposite side of the ship. Far down +the deck ahead fled the slayer. + +The killer paused long enough to drop an emergency bulkhead gate. Five +minutes later when Penrun and the other passengers succeeded in +raising it, he had disappeared. One of the emergency space-suits +beside the air-lock was missing. Penrun sprang to a nearby port-hole. + +Far back in space he saw the tiny figure shining in the sunlight, +while the long flame of his Sextle rocket-pistol showed that he was +checking his forward momentum as rapidly as possible. Unquestionably +he would be picked up by some craft now trailing the liner, for the +murder and theft of the paper must have been carefully planned. Penrun +turned from the port-hole thoughtfully. + +The liner was in an uproar. News of the murder had spread like +wild-fire. Women were screaming hysterically and men shouting as they +rushed about in terror, believing that the ship was in the hands of +pirates. A squad of sailors passed on the double to take charge of the +buffet. There would be an inquest shortly. Penrun started for his +stateroom. He wanted to be alone a few minutes before the inquest took +place. + +His room was on the deck above. The sight of the empty passage +relieved him, but he was surprised to discover that he had not locked +the door when he left an hour ago. He stepped into the room. + +Instantly his hands shot upward. Something was prodding him in the +back. + +"One move or a sound, and I shoot," warned a sharp whisper. "Stand as +you are till I find what I want." + +His billfold was opened and dropped with an exclamation of +disappointment. The searcher hurried. Penrun calmly noted that the +fingers seemed to fumble and were not at all deft at this sort of +work. He glanced down, and smiled grimly. A woman! He jerked his body +away from the prodding pistol, gripped the slender hand that was about +to plunge into his coat pocket, and whirled round, catching the +intruder in his arms. + +Big, terrified dark eyes stared up at him out of a pale, heart-shaped +face. Then with a sob the girl wrenched free, ran out of the door and +was gone. + + * * * * * + +He did not follow, but instead carefully locked the door and placed a +chair against it. Things had been moving too rapidly for him to feel +sure he was safe even now. Opening his left hand, he gazed down at a +bit of crumpled yellow paper he was holding there. That much he had +saved of the message from his long dead grandfather when the murderer +grabbed the folded paper from the buffet table and fled. + +It proved to be the bottom third of a sheet of heavy paper, and on it +was drawn a piece of a map, showing a large semi-circle, which might +have been a lake, and leading off from it were what might be a number +of crooked canals. At the end of one of these was an "X" and the word +"Here." + +Below the sketch were some words that had not been torn off. He read +them with growing amazement. "... aves of Titan. I swear this to be the +true and correct place of concealment of ... may he who comes to possess +it do much good and penance, for it is drenched in blood and ... Captain +Orion Halkon." + +Penrun sat for a long time in thought. Titan, the sixth moon of +Saturn! Nightmare of killing heat, iron cold, and monstrous spiders! +How many men had died trying to explore it! And who knew it better +than Penrun himself, the only one who had ever escaped from that +hellish cavern of the Living Dead? Old Halkon had hidden his treasure +well indeed. + +Penrun had never found the Caves. Legend described them as the one +safe place on the satellite where a man might live without danger of +being attacked by the spiders because the Caves were too cold for +them. + +Penrun doubted if there was any place that would be safe from the +monstrous insects. + +At any rate old Halkon had hidden his treasure there, and that part of +the map that Penrun had thought was a lake was apparently the main +cavern, and the canals, side passages. Old Halkon believed that he had +hidden his treasure well, but he could not foresee just how well. Two +thirds of the map, showing the location of the entrance to the Caves, +had been taken by the murderer of the Martian, Lozzo. The remaining +third, which showed the location of the treasure inside the Caves, was +in Penrun's possession. + +The murderer could find the Caves, but not the treasure inside; and +Penrun could find the treasure inside, but not the Caves. + +Penrun folded up the crumpled bit of paper and placed it carefully in +his shoe. Unless his guess was wrong, another attempt to get it would +be made shortly. Undoubtedly the girl had by now reported her failure +to the rest of the gang. + + * * * * * + +The inquest was brief. The white-sheeted body of the Martian lay on +the table where he had been slain. The captain of the liner called +Penrun as the chief witness. He told a straightforward story of a +chance acquaintance with Lozzo who, he said, seemed to be afraid of +something. He had declared, so Penrun testified, that he was being +hounded for a map of some kind and he wanted Penrun to see it. Then +the murder had been committed, the map was stolen, and the murderer +had fled. That was all, Penrun concluded, he knew about the matter. + +Other passengers corroborated his story and he was dismissed. + +Throughout the inquest Penrun studied the crowd of passengers that +jammed the buffet, hoping he might catch a glimpse of the slender, +dark-eyed girl who had tried to rob him. She was nowhere to be seen. +He thought of telling the captain about her, but decided not to. She +might make another attempt to get the map, and thereby give him the +opportunity of rounding up the whole gang, or at least of learning who +they were. He told himself grimly that if he could lay hold of her +again, she would not escape so easily. + +If Penrun didn't realize before that he was a marked man, it was +impressed on him more forcefully three hours later on the lower deck +when two men attacked him in the darkened passage near the stern. +There was no time for pistols. A series of hurried fist-blows. He +slugged his way free and fled to the safety of his stateroom. + +Once there he locked the door and sat down to consider his position. +It was obvious now that he would be followed to the outposts of space, +if necessary, in an attempt to get the map from him. + + * * * * * + +After half an hour's hard thinking he tossed away his fourth +cigarette, loosened the pistol in his armpit holster, and slipped out +of the room. He went to the captain. + +"You think, then, that your life is in danger because you happened to +be talking to that old Martian when he was murdered?" asked the +captain, when Penrun had finished. + +"No question about it," declared Penrun. "Two attempts have been made +already." + +"Hmm," said the captain, frowning. "A most remarkably strange +business. I've never had anything like it aboard my ship in the twenty +years I've been traveling the Void." + +"I can pay for the space-sphere," urged Penrun. "My certificate of +credit will take care of it with funds to spare. All you have to do is +to let me cast off at once. If any questions are asked, you can say it +was my wish." + +"Hmm! Really, Mr. Penrun, this is a most unusual request. I'm not +inclined--" + +He stared at the communication board. The meteor warning dial was +fluctuating violently, showing the presence of a rapidly approaching +body--a meteor, or perhaps a flight of them. Gongs throughout the +liner automatically began to sound a warning for the passengers to get +into their space suits. The captain sat as though petrified. + +Penrun sprang to the small visi-screen beside the board and snapped on +the current. Swiftly he revolved the periscope aerial. There appeared +on the screen the hull of a long, rakish, cigar-shaped craft which +was overhauling the liner. The stranger was painted dead black and +displayed no emblem. + +"There's your meteor, Skipper," he remarked ironically. "And I am the +attraction that is drawing it to your ship for another murder. Do I +get the space-sphere?" + + * * * * * + +The captain sprang to his feet. "You get it, Penrun. You'll have to +hurry. I want no more murders aboard my ship. Here, down this private +stairs to the sphere air-lock. I'll make arrangements by phone. Once +you are free of the liner I'll slow down so that the black ship will +have to slow down, too. That will give you a chance to pull away and +get a good start on them." + +Five minutes later Penrun's newly acquired craft was sliding out of +its air-lock in the belly of the monstrous liner. He pulled away and +glanced back. + +The liner was already slowing down. The black pursuing craft was +hidden by its vast, curving bulk. Penrun crowded on speed as swiftly +as he dared. By the time the strange craft had made contact with the +_Western Star_ his little sphere had dwindled to a mere point of light +in the black depths of space and vanished. + +Penrun leaned over his charts grimly, as he set a new course for the +sphere to follow. He, too, could play at this game. He'd carry the +battle to the enemy's gate. Out to Titan he'd go and match his +familiarity with the little planet against the superior numbers of his +enemies. + + * * * * * + +Ten days later, Earth time, he was circling Titan, while he searched +the grim, forbidden terrain beneath. After days of studying and +speculation he had decided that the Caves must be situated in the +Inferno Range, a place so particularly vicious that no man, so far as +was known, had ever explored it. During the day the heat would boil +eggs, and at night the sub-zero cold cracked great scales off the +granite boulders. And here, too, lay the Trap-Door City of the monster +spiders! + +The grim, fantastic range soon appeared over the horizon, stabbing its +saw-tooth peaks far into the sky. Dawn was still lighting the world, +and a great snow-storm, a howling, furious blizzard, concealed the +lower slopes of the mountains. Penrun knew that presently the driving +snow-flakes would change to rain-drops, and the shrieking, moaning +voice of the gale would give way to the crashing, rolling thunder of +the tempest. As the day advanced the storm would die abruptly and the +clouds vanish under the deadly heat. + +Then the Trap-Door City, which covered the slopes above the plateau at +the three-thousand-foot level like a checker-board of shimmering, +silken circles, would spring to febrile life as the spider monsters +went streaking and leaping across the barren, distorted granite on the +day's business, the hunt for food in the lowlands, and the opening of +the trap-doors to gather in the heat of the day in the silken tunnel +homes set in the gorges and among the boulders. At sunset the doors +would all be closed, for then the rain and the electrical storm would +return, and at night the blizzard. The storm-and-heat cycle was the +deadly weather routine of the Infernos. + +Penrun steered for a tall, cloven peak that towered high above the +Trap-Door City. In its thin air and continuous cold he would be +comparatively safe from marauding spider scouts, and from the peak he +could watch not only the city of the monsters but the better part of +the Inferno Range as well. + +He was convinced that before long the mysterious black craft would +put in an appearance somewhere near this spot. Penrun knew it all too +well. There by the cataract of the White River, half a mile across the +plateau from the insect city, he had once been captured. + + * * * * * + +Next morning when he looked down on the plateau just below the +Trap-Door City he laughed triumphantly. There sat the long +black-hulled space craft he had seen overhauling the liner. + +But a moment later he shook his head dubiously. Too brazen, that +landing. It was almost in the insect city. Of course, the ship was +large and heavily armed with ray-guns which poked out their sharp +snouts here and there about the hull. None the less, an experienced +explorer of Titan would never have flung such defiance at the spiders. + +The city was feverishly alive with the monsters now. They gathered in +groups to stare down at the strange craft, then raced away again, +darting in and out of their trap-door homes and streaking here and +there across the twisted, tortured granite of the mountainside. The +Queen's palace, a vast, raised cocoon of shimmering, silken web, was a +veritable bee-hive. Something was brewing! + +Abruptly the trap-door homes vomited forth monstrous insects by the +thousands which spread with prodigious speed along the mountainside. +At an unseen signal they poured down upon the plateau and charged the +space-ship. + +The black craft's heavy ray-guns broke into life. Attacking monsters +curled up and died as the rays bit into their onrushing ranks. The +first wave melted, but an instant later the following waves buried the +ship. + +Insects in the rear darted here and there, dragging away dead and +dying spiders. Here was food aplenty! The denizens of the Trap-Door +City would live well on their dead for a few days. + +Abruptly the attack ceased. The crackling ray-guns were still taking +toll as the monsters scurried back to the safety of their city, +leaving their dead piled high about the hull of the ship. + + * * * * * + +Penrun wondered if the monsters would abandon the heaps of their dead. +He rather expected that frenzied efforts would be made to retrieve +them for food. The problem was solved by those aboard the space-ship, +for presently it rose a score of feet in the air and moved a few +hundred yards nearer the waterfall that marked the headwaters of the +White River. + +At once a frantic wave of spiders swept down across the plateau +scouring it clean of the dead monsters. + +After that the Trap-Door City seemed deserted. Not a spider could be +seen near the shining, circular doors. Only here and there crouched a +huge, bristly warrior safe behind a jutting rock with his glittering +eight eyes fixed on the motionless black ship below. + +Again the weary waiting. Penrun could only hope that it would not be +long before those aboard the black ship gave him some hint of where +the entrance to the Caves might be. Time and again he trained his +glasses on the ship only to drop them resignedly. But when noon had +passed and the heat of the day was scorching the rock he did not drop +his glasses when he looked through them once again. Instead he stood +erect in horror and dismay. + +A girl had dashed out of the air-lock of the ship. She seemed to be +familiar. Then he recognized her as the girl who had tried to rob him +aboard the _Western Star_. Her face was drawn with agony in the +stifling, overpowering heat. She had advanced but a few yards, but +she was already staggering uncertainly. + +What in Heaven's name possessed her to try to venture out in that +killing heat? She wasn't even dressed in a space-suit, which would +have protected her against heat as well as cold. There was the danger +of the monster spiders! Rescue would have to be quick! + +Even as the thought flashed through his mind he knew she was past +saving. Down from the nearest pinnacle of rock streaked a gigantic +spider. The girl saw it, screamed, clutched her throat and fell. +Ray-guns of the ship crackled frenziedly. In vain! The insect swept +the helpless girl up in its powerful mandibles, sprang clear over the +ship and was streaking back up among the rocks in a black blur of +speed before the men inside the ship could train the guns on that +side, even if they had dared to. + + * * * * * + +Penrun watched with fascinated dread. To the cavern of the Living +Dead! The monster carrying the limp girlish form was now running up +through the city toward it, guarded by two other huge insects that had +appeared from nowhere. Through the entrance of the cavern they darted +and disappeared. + +Surely those aboard the ship would make an effort to rescue her, +thought Penrun, tense with horror. At least they would retaliate by +raying the city with their heavy artillery. But no! The black ship +only continued to rest there wavering in the heat. Penrun swore +vividly. The cowards! Still, perhaps they were afraid to unlimber +their heavy artillery for fear of killing the girl. Or perhaps, which +was more likely, they thought she was already dead and devoured. Few +persons knew about the Living Death. + +Ah, well, he'd forget about her. She was an enemy, she was one of the +group that was trying to rob and perhaps kill him. Perhaps her +companions knew that she wouldn't be killed for two or three days, and +would make an effort to rescue her. And perhaps they wouldn't. + +But before an hour had passed Penrun knew that he was going to master +his horror of that cavern and save her himself, or die in the attempt. +He, and he alone, had been in the cavern of the Living Dead and knew +what to expect--the fate that might be his as well as the girl's. + +He wondered if that Englishman, that old man with the great beard who +said he had known Shakespeare and Bacon personally, was still lying in +his silken hammock at the far end of the cave. Know Shakespeare +personally? Impossible! Yet was it more impossible than the cavern +itself? The man's English was quaint and nearly unintelligible. His +description of that comical old space-ship of brass and wood was +plausible. Perhaps he had known the Bard of Avon. + + * * * * * + +Night had descended when Penrun finally emerged from his little ship. +The air was bitterly cold, and overhead the stars burned brilliantly. +He paused to marvel a little that the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and the +other constellations appeared just the same out here hundreds of +millions of miles from Earth as they did at home. It made one feel +infinitely small to realize the pinpoint size of the Solar Universe. +He shivered for the temperature was nearly forty below zero, and +snapped on the current of his Ecklin electro-heater which was +connected with his clothing and would keep him warm even in that cold. + +Another suit of slip-on clothes with an Ecklin heater, and his +lounging moccasins were in a pack on his back. If he succeeded in +releasing the girl, she would need them. The spider monsters didn't +leave their Living Dead victims any clothing usually; and little good +would it have done the Living Dead if they had. + +Swiftly he descended the peak, leaping easily from rock to rock, +thanks to the small gravity of the planet, and presently entered the +clouds above the insect city. Abruptly the storm broke in all its fury +with the shrieking of the gale and driving snow. In the blackness the +pencil of light from his tiny flash showed only a few yards through +the swirling, driving flakes that bit and numbed his bare face. With +pistol ready he forged slowly ahead toward the cavern of the Living +Dead. + +He bumped into the snow-covered rock before he realized he was close +to the place. With every nerve alert and the shrieking, freezing gale +forgotten he slipped the flashlight back into its holder and drew +another pistol. The door, he recalled, opened inward. It was not +fastened, but just inside the entrance crouched a gigantic insect on +guard. + +Penrun was tense and ready. He kicked the door so viciously that its +elastic, silken frame sagged inward under the impact of his foot. +Against the glow of the green light inside the cavern he saw a +nightmarish monster rising to its feet. Both pistols stabbed viciously +as the monster thrust forward a thick, bristly leg to shut the door +again. + + * * * * * + +A ray bit off the leg at the second joint. The other ray ripped open +the soft, tumid abdomen. Penrun had barely time to throw himself aside +as the convulsed, dying monster hurled itself tigerishly forward +through the doorway out into the driving storm in a final frenzied +effort to seize and rend his frail human enemy. + +Penrun slipped into the cavern. The deathly cold outside would finish +the horrible insect. As he kicked the big door shut he was crouched +and tense, for the ancient gray attendant monster whose poisoned bite +had paralyzed thousands for this living hell was moving forward +curiously. + +Both pistols flamed to life. The fearsome head of the monster with its +poisoned mandible shriveled to nothing under the searing rays. Penrun +sprang backward and jerked open the door. Then he closed it again. The +old spider was moving feebly. Instead of the galvanic death of the +guard, the huge gray insect's legs buckled under it and it slumped +down to the floor of the cave where it quivered a few seconds, then +relaxed in death. + +As Penrun stepped forward around the carcass the cave filled with +hysterical screams and hoarse insane shouting of joy and terror. He +looked up at the high vaulted roof where the strange diamond-shaped +crystal diffused its green light along the shimmering silken web, then +turned his gaze downward to the rock floor beneath his feet. At last +he gritted his teeth and forced himself to look at the walls. + +Again he saw tier upon tier of hammocks, each holding a naked human +being, helpless and paralyzed from the poisoned bite of the attendant +monster spider. Some could weep, some could smile, some could talk, +yet none could move either hand or foot. A few were mercifully +unconscious, but the rest were not. Many were insane. Yet they all lay +alike year after year, century after century, if need be, kept alive +by the rays of the strange green light in the roof. This was the +cavern of the Living Dead! + + * * * * * + +Penrun knew the tragic future of these unfortunates. A few, perhaps, +would go as food for the Queen in times of famine. The remainder +would become living incubators for the larvae of the Queen which would +be planted in their living bodies by the monster attendant to eat away +the vitals until death mercifully ended the victim's life, and the +growing spider emerged to feed on a new victim, or to go its way. + +A thousand helpless human beings swung in their silken hammocks +awaiting their fate. Penrun had learned about them during those two +horrible days he had been held prisoner here before he had succeeded +in raying the novice attendant and the monster guard with the pistol +from his armpit holster that the spiders had overlooked when they +captured him. He recalled again how he had dashed frantically from +hammock to hammock trying to rouse some of the Living Dead to escape +with him. Not one of them could respond. + +Reports to the Interplanetary Council? He had made them, written and +oral, and had only been laughed at for a half-crazy explorer. The +Council would not even investigate. + +Now Penrun did not tarry. He strode swiftly back to the far end of the +cavern. + +"The girl who was just brought in, is she safe?" he asked hoarsely. + +None seemed to know, but presently he knew she was still unhurt, for +he found her bound hand and foot to the rock wall with heavy silken +webs. Nearly all her clothing had been torn off her. She looked up +hopelessly. A great fear appeared in her eyes. + +"You!" she gasped. "Are you responsible for this?" + +"I have come for you," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, swiftly +removing the pack from his back. + +She cowered against the wall. + +"You--you inhuman beast!" Her face was white with horror. + +He cut the silken bonds. + + * * * * * + +"Don't be a fool!" he said roughly. "I have no power over these +monsters. Hurry into those clothes! Do you want to be bitten in the +small of the back and lie paralyzed for years in a hammock like these +other unfortunates, then suffer untold agony for months while spiders' +larvae eat out your vitals? Hurry, I say! We must get out of here at +once!" + +He turned away. He wanted to see that old Englishman who said he had +known Shakespeare. His wish was in vain. The old man's sightless eyes +stared up at the silken roof. The long, heavy beard that lay across +the breast stirred. The beady, glittering eyes of an infant spider +peeped out. Penrun uttered a curse of loathing. His pistol stabbed +death into the foul insect. + +He felt a touch on his arm. The girl was waiting. + +"I am ready," she said quietly. "Oh, let us hurry!" + +Dawn was lighting the world outside, and the driving blizzard was +already changing to rain. Penrun seized the girl's hand and ran madly +up the mountainside toward the peak. The spiders usually did not +venture out in the rain, but in the face of danger from the ship they +would be abroad as early as possible this morning. + +Penrun suddenly spurted madly. Half a dozen gigantic spiders were +moving cautiously along the lower edge of the city, their bodies +looming up grotesquely in the misty rain. The girl stumbled, struck +her head against a boulder, and lay still. Penrun caught her up in his +arms and sprinted madly up the steep slope. + + * * * * * + +A rock loosened by his flying feet rattled and pounded down the +hillside. Instantly the monsters whirled round, sighted him and +started in pursuit. With a mighty leap he cleared a ten-foot ledge, +carrying his unconscious burden, and plunged into the sheltering mist +of the clouds. Up, up! Thank God for the weak gravity! + +A swishing rattle of claws on rock shot by them in the fog, turned and +swept back. Penrun sprang straight upward, rising nearly a dozen feet +in the air as the monsters streaked past underneath. + +Only a little farther! Savagely he forced his failing strength to +carry them up the slope. The air was chilling fast and the mist +thinning. He broke into clear air as the fog behind them filled with +the rattle of racing claws on the barren granite and the grating roar +of the baffled monsters, seeking frantically for their intended +victims. + +He staggered on another hundred yards before he collapsed with lungs +laboring desperately in the rarefied air. + +Below them a bristly monster charged out of the fog, sighted them +lying up among the rocks, and leaped after them. Penrun jerked up a +pistol with trembling fingers and loosed its deadly ray. The huge +spider stumbled and ploughed head-on among the rocks with a flurry of +legs. It rose loggily, for its fierce energy was dwindling rapidly in +the biting cold. Again the pistol crackled. The gigantic insect +toppled over and rolled down the mountainside into the fog and +vanished. + +"Are we safe now?" + +Penrun turned. The girl was now sitting up somewhat unsteadily, with +an ugly bruise on her forehead. + +"I think so," he replied. "Up there in my space-sphere we shall be +quite safe." + + * * * * * + +Together they plodded silently up the sharp incline of the peak, her +hand in his. And as they went he marveled that her eyes could be so +beautiful now that the fear and horror had vanished from their +depths. + +The storm clouds below had broken up and dissolved under the +increasing heat, revealing the Trap-Door City, seemingly deserted, and +the motionless black ship still resting on the plateau. Penrun turned +to the girl beside him in the control nest of the space-sphere. + +"What are your friends waiting for all this time?" he asked abruptly. + +"They're not my friends," she retorted. "And you might have guessed +that they are waiting for you to arrive with the other third of the +map. They are planning to surprise you and rob you of it. The entrance +to the Caves is under the edge of the Cataract over there, and by +waiting here they are sure to be on hand when you arrive. Only"--her +brows puckered in a little frown--"I don't understand why they remain +out there on the open rock after Helgers has picked a hiding-place for +the ship." + +"Helgers?" + +"He is the leader of the gang, and he is the man who killed that poor +old Martian aboard the _Western Star_ for the map. Helgers learned +about the treasure and the existence of the map through a convict who +was with Lozzo in the prison. Helgers pretends to be an importer in +Chicago--he actually owns a nice little business there--but in reality +he is one of the biggest smugglers in the Universe." + +"How do you come to be with him?" + +"I was coming to that," she replied. "My parents live on Ganymede." + +Penrun nodded. He was familiar with the fourth satellite of Jupiter +and its fertile provinces. + +"My father is an American, but my grandfather on my mother's side was +a Medan nobleman. He was ruined by that notorious pirate, Captain +Halkon, who descended with his ships on our city and carried off +everything of value, including the vast amount of scrip credits owned +by the state which were entrusted to my grandfather. You know the +Ganymedan debtor's law?" + +He did indeed! It was one of the most infamous laws of the Universe: +ruling that the debts of the father descended to the children and +their children's children until paid. + + * * * * * + +"My family is now poor," she went on. "For a century or more we have +striven to pay off the debt caused by the loss of those state funds. +That's the way matters stood when I received a letter from my brother +Tom in Chicago, who was employed in the office of Helgers' legitimate +importing business, little aware of the smuggling. Tom had somehow got +wind of the near discovery of Halkon's treasure, and I saw a chance to +get a part of it by joining Helgers' party. He might not want us, but +he would be practically forced to take us to keep our mouths shut. I +felt that we were honestly entitled to a part of that treasure which +had been stolen from our family, and with it we could pay off that old +debt that had ridden our family like an Old Man of the Sea for more +than a century. + +"Getting into the expedition proved much simpler than I had expected. +When Tom told Helgers about me he was very eager to help us--he is one +of those men who is always anxious to help a girl if he thinks she is +good-looking enough. So you see when I held you up in your stateroom I +was merely performing my part of the scheme, although I didn't know +then that Helgers had already slain the old Martian and leaped out +into space. + +"After that the _Osprey_--the ship down there on the +plateau--overhauled the _Western Star_ and took us off, and shortly +afterward I learned most unpleasantly that Helgers had no intention of +giving Tom and me our share unless I gave myself to him in exchange. I +told Tom, and trouble started. It came to a head yesterday and there +was a fight and--and Helgers killed Tom." + +She began to weep quietly. Penrun stared grimly down at the black, +motionless ship. Presently the girl resumed her story. + +"I managed to get the air-lock open and escaped from the ship. Then +that horrid spider caught me. You know the rest." + +Her voice trailed off. Penrun remained silent for a while. + +"You haven't even told me your name," he reminded her gently. + +"Irma Boardle," she replied with a wan smile. + +"I am Dick Penrun, in case you don't already know me. Captain Halkon +was my grandfather. We always tried to keep the knowledge of it a +family secret, since we were ashamed of it. If I--we get our hands on +that treasure, I can promise you that the debt hanging over your +family shall be paid first, Miss Boardle." + +"Not Miss Boardle. Call me Irma," she said, the wan smile growing +suddenly warm. + +Penrun looked at her thoughtfully. + +"But we aren't near the treasure yet," he said. "Between the spider +monsters and the human monsters in the ship, our chances are rather +slim. We'll just have to wait until we get a break." + + * * * * * + +As the day wore on there was a note of menace in the silence that hung +over the Trap-Door City. It was nothing tangible, unless it was the +appearance of two long silvery rods mounted on the top of the huge +cocoon-palace of the Queen aiming down at Helgers' ship. Penrun could +have sworn they were not there yesterday. The sight of them made him +uneasy. + +Helgers must have interpreted the silence differently, for presently a +man emerged from the ship, protected against the heat by a clumsy +space-suit. He hesitated, then walked slowly away from the ship, and +paused again, waiting for the spiders to attack. Not a movement was +made in the city. Presently he moved on again toward the cataract +which had dwindled in the heat of the day to a mere trickle of hot +water down to the pool in the gorge more than half a mile below. + +After a time the man reached the cataract. He descended the short path +that led down under the lip of rock to another ledge a few feet below +it. The entrance to the Caves opened out onto this lower ledge. Little +wonder, thought Penrun, that no one knew where the Caves were. + +Some time later two other men from the ship followed him. + +"Fools!" muttered Penrun, following them through his glasses. "They +think the spiders are afraid of their ray artillery. I'll bet the +monsters are either waiting until all the men wander out of the ship, +or else they're getting ready to spring some hellish surprise." + +Other men came out of the ship, carrying rock drills, a roll of cable +and a powerful little windlass. Instead of going to the Caves, they +went round the ship to the other side under the doubtful protection of +the ray-guns, and sank two shafts into the granite. Into these they +drove steel posts and anchored the windlass. One end of the cable was +attached to the windlass and the other to the nose of the ship. Then +they slowly dragged the big craft across the plateau on rollers from +the ship's store room. + + * * * * * + +"That's strange!" exclaimed Penrun. "The ship can't rise! I wonder +what's wrong, and why they are pulling it away from instead of toward +the Caves." + +"I don't know what's the matter with the ship, but I believe I know +why they are moving it," volunteered Irma. "They're taking it to that +hiding-place I told you Helgers picked out--there behind that upthrust +of rock. You see, they think you know where the Caves are because you +have explored Titan, and they think you will come directly here, so +they want the ship hidden to make sure you land." + +Half a hundred men in their space-suits toiled like ants about the big +cylindrical craft until they at last jockeyed it into position behind +the natural screen of rock. Even before it was in place other men were +swarming over the ship with paint machines, coloring it a granite +gray. When they had finished the ship was nearly invisible from the +sky. + +Penrun paid little attention to their preparations. His attention was +centered on those two shining rods atop the Queen's silken palace. +They now aimed at the ship in its new position. A strange idea flashed +through his mind. Those rods had in some mysterious way put the +elevating machinery of the _Osprey_ out of commission! + +Suppose the spiders turned them next on his own space-sphere up here +on the peak? The thought sent a shudder through him. Visions of the +final flight across the nightmarish, distorted granite, the running +down and capture of himself and Irma, the paralyzing bite of the +monsters in the cavern of the Living Dead flashed across his mind. +Cold sweat stood out on his forehead. Instinctively his hand leaped to +the propulsion control and hovered there. + + * * * * * + +Yet why hadn't the spiders attacked the ship, now that they had it +helpless? It was not their usual tactics to give their victims a +chance to free themselves. Why, why? There could be only one answer. +They were waiting for something! Penrun's eyes glinted suddenly. + +"Irma," he said rapidly, "we are in serious danger. The spiders have +obviously put the elevating machinery of the _Osprey_ out of +commission. Helgers and his men are doomed to the Living Death as +surely as though they were already lying in the silken hammocks. If +the monsters choose, they could do the same thing to our sphere and +doom us to the same fate. I believe they are waiting for something. +While they wait we have a chance to get the treasure and escape. Shall +we risk it, or shall we go while we know we are safe?" + +She looked up at him evenly. + +"If you think we have a fair chance to get the treasure and escape, I +say let's risk it," she said firmly. + +"Good!" he exclaimed. "Here we go!" + +The little sphere slipped out of its cleft in the peak and dropped +swiftly into the valley on the side opposite the Trap-Door City and +its mysterious menace. Day was swiftly dying, and the lower passes of +the mountains were already hazy with rapidly forming storm-clouds. + +"Look!" cried Irma excitedly. "What are those things?" + +Far in the distance a long line of wavering red lights snaked swiftly +through the dusky valley toward them. Penrun picked up his binoculars. + +"Spiders," he announced. "Scores of them. Each is carrying a sort of +red torch. I have a feeling that those are what the monsters of the +Trap-Door City have been waiting for." + +He urged the sphere to swifter flight along the range. Miles from the +Caves, he swept up over the peaks, and dropped down on the lowlands +side. Dusk was deepening rapidly as he raced back toward the White +River cataract under the pall of the gathering storm. + + * * * * * + +Among the boulders on the rough mountainside near the mouth of the +Caves he eased the craft down to a gentle landing. + +"Wait here," he told Irma. "I'll investigate and see if it is safe to +enter the Caves." + +They had seen the three men return to the ship, but others might have +gone to the Caves after that. Penrun made his way down the slope to +the lip of the cataract and the yawning blackness of the abysmal gorge +below it. + +Overhead the storm was gathering swiftly, and the saffron light of the +dying day illuminated the plateau eerily. Half a mile away the +Trap-Door City shimmered fantastically in the uncertain light. Penrun +repressed a shudder. The Devil's own playground! Thank God, he and +Irma would be out of it soon! + +He crept down the narrow path that led under the ledge of the +trickling cataract. Outside, a bolt of lightning stabbed down from the +darkened heavens. Its lurid flash revealed the huge figure of a man, +pistol in hand, beside the entrance to the Caves. + +Too late to retreat now, even had he wished to. Penrun's weapon +flashed first. A scream of pain and fury answered the flash, and the +man's pistol clattered down on the rock. The next instant Penrun was +helpless in the clutch of a mighty pair of arms that tried to squeeze +the life out of him. + +"Burn, me, will ye, ye dirty scum!" roared the giant of a man +tightening his grip. "I'll break your damned back for ye and heave ye +into the gorge!" + +Penrun writhed frenziedly, trying to twist his pistol around against +his enemy's back, while they struggled desperately about the ledge +above the dizzy blackness of the gorge. But the pistol struck the wall +beside the entrance and fell under their trampling feet. + +Penrun was gasping in agony at the intolerable pain in his spine. +Darting points of light danced before his eyes. Then from the opening +in the rock showed a beam of white light and a man slowly emerged from +the Caves. The grip on Penrun relaxed slightly as the man came toward +the two combatants. Penrun could distinguish him closely now. A heavy, +pasty face with liquid black eyes and a crown of thinning hair. +Helgers! He was staggering and grunting under the weight of a heavy +metal box. + + * * * * * + +"What's the matter, Borgain?" he asked. + +"Got this bird, Penrun, we been waitin' for!" + +"We don't need him, now that we already have the treasure. Still, it's +a good thing we found him. Just as well to have no tales circulating +about the Universe about our find. Toss him into the gorge, and go +down and watch the other three chests until I get--" + +"Dick, Dick!" Irma's excited voice floated down from up among the +boulders. "The spiders with those red cylinder torches have arrived! +They are attacking the _Osprey_!" + +Helgers jerked up his head. + +"Why, if it isn't the little spitfire!" he exclaimed in pleased +astonishment. "I thought the damned spiders had eaten her long before +this. Rather changes things, Borgain. I'll just go on up and let my +little playmate know I am here. Toss our friend over the edge there, +and bring up another treasure chest." + +"What was that she was sayin' about the spiders attackin' the +_Osprey_?" Borgain's voice was anxious. + +"Oh, that's nothing the boys can't handle," said Helgers confidently. +"In case they don't, we'll have to feel sorry for them and take our +friend's sphere. Only have to split the treasure two ways, in that +case," he added, moving up the slope. + +Borgain's answer was a grunt of surprise, for his captive had squirmed +suddenly out of his clutch. The big man plunged forward recklessly +with arms outstretched in the groping darkness. Penrun, desperately +remembering the sickening drop at their feet to the pool three +thousand feet below, backed against the rock. + +A flash of lightning. Borgain's ape-like arms were nearing him. Penrun +lashed out at the darkened features. His knuckles bit deep into the +flesh. He slipped aside as Borgain, mouthing fearful curses, rammed +into the rock wall and rebounded. + + * * * * * + +Again the fumbling search. Another lightning flash. Penrun struck with +frenzied desperation. Borgain took the blow behind the ear and +staggered. He whirled, wild with fury, and charged vainly along the +narrow ledge. + +"I'll get ye this time, damn your dirty carcass--ugh!" + +Guided by the sound of his voice, Penrun struck with all his strength. +Borgain's nose flattened under the blow. He whirled half around. + +"I'll kill ye! I'll kill--help, help--a-ah!" + +Lost in the blackness he had plunged over the lip of the rock, +thinking he was charging Penrun. Down into the yawning gorge his body +hurtled, the sound of his frenzied, dwindling screams floating up +eerily out of the black, ominous depths. + +Penrun crouched against the wall, sick and trembling. Irma, Helgers! +He must hurry! He fumbled again for the pistols. They were gone. +Crawling forward now, still shaken by his narrow escape from death, he +gained the pathway. The rain was drumming wildly on the barren granite +now, and the pitch-blackness was shattered only by ghastly lightning +bolts. + +Guided by the flashes, he clambered up the slope and halted abruptly. +The door of the space-sphere was open, and, silhouetted against the +soft glow of light within it, was Irma, seated dejectedly with bowed +head, heedless of the cold rain beating down upon her. Helgers was +nowhere to be seen. Penrun dashed forward. + +"Irma, Irma!" he cried. "What has happened? Where is he?" + +She raised her head slowly and stared at him as at one risen from the +dead. Then she burst into tears. + +"He said they had killed you--had thrown your body into the gorge," +she sobbed. "I--I just didn't want to live after that. Are you hurt?" + +"Not a bit," he assured her fervently. "But where is Helgers?" + +"I pistoled him," she said quietly. "I had no choice. He came at me +after I warned him to keep away. He fell over there among the rocks. +Oh, Dick, let us hurry away from this mad place!" + + * * * * * + +He stared at the rain-swept rocks. The heavy metal treasure chest lay +a few yards away where Helgers had dropped it. Penrun moved cautiously +toward the spot where he had fallen. He was gone. The rain had washed +away any traces of blood that might have remained. + +While Penrun hesitated, the roar of the tempest was split by a man's +scream of agony. A lurid flash of lightning an instant later revealed +a gigantic spider down by the cataract with Helgers' struggling body +in his mandible jaws. Returning blackness blotted out the scene. + +Irma's pistol stabbed a ray through the driving rain at the hideous +monster. Instantly its grating roar for help rang out, and a group of +red lights from the doomed _Osprey_ across the plateau, detached +themselves from the others and came streaking for the cataract. + +Penrun seized the heavy treasure chest and staggered to the sphere. + +"Hurry, here they come!" screamed the girl. + +He fell through the door with his burden just as the foremost monster +leaped the river. The next instant Irma sent the sphere rocketing +upward. Just before they plunged into the clouds they caught a last +glimpse of the _Osprey_ with her ray guns melted off by the red +cylinder torches, and great holes gaping in her sides through which +the monsters were carrying out the members of the crew to their cavern +of the Living Dead. + +As the sphere burst through the storm cloud into the frigid air above +it, Irma gave a cry and pointed at the peak where they had hidden in +the sphere. The peak was now alive with moving red lights of monsters +searching vainly for them. The scene dropped swiftly below as the +sphere gathered speed for its homeward journey. + +"We got only a small portion of the treasure, but it will be enough," +said Penrun. "After we pay your family's debt, I want to spend a +hundred thousand or so for a specially chartered battle-sphere which +will come back here to Titan. If the Interplanetary Council will do +nothing about the Trap-Door City, I shall, independently. Not rays, +but good old primitive bombs such as they used back in the Twentieth +Century. I'll blow the hellish place off the face of the map and with +it the cavern of the Living Dead. I think those lying in the hammocks +would thank me for releasing them in that way." + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Loot of the Void, by Edwin K. 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