by Jerry
The Solarians were ordered to clear the way for the fleets following.
Wave after wave of Solarian ships manned by the still hot-headed youth of the human species threw themselves upon the Magellanian ships and forced them back by the sheer madness of their attack. Grudgingly did the invaders give space, each ship-length bitterly contested. Such fury they had seldom encountered. If they had not been able to make out the forms of men silhouetted against the observation windows, they would have thought that those slender, torpedo-shaped ships were manned by machines, not living creatures.
AT the head of the Lunarian legions came the large l ship bearing the crest of the Lunarian leader. Not yet had their mettle been tested. Forward the ship leaped and behind followed the forces of Luna in their tiny lightning-fast ships. The Lunarian leader gave an order and ahead shot tens of thousands of those tiny ships. Seemingly loath to be outdone by the human species, the Lunarians plunged even more recklessly at the enemy.
Now were those tiny ships coming into their own! In the relatively crowded space within the confines of that solar system, the larger ships of friend and foe were so intermingled, that the mighty disintegration rays seldom dared be used. Any object traveling in the neighborhood of one hundred miles per second suddenly arrested was almost as destructive as a powerful disintegration ray or atomic bomb.
They threw caution recklessly aside. Dodging rays, twisting around ships bearing the faintly luminous emblem of the Confederation, with little room to spare, the tiny space ships flashed at the slowly withdrawing Magellanian ships with swiftly increasing velocity. Disregarding their low-powered rays entirely, they used their tiny ships as projectiles. It seemed as if each of the Lunarians at the controls of those tiny ships was more than willing to sacrifice himself, if he could but destroy or disable one of the larger of the invaders’ ships.
When those tiny ships began smashing into them from right and left, from below and above, the gradual withdrawal of the invaders became a retreat.
Ahead, ever ahead, battled the ships bearing the crest of the leader of Luna’s forces. Before it, ship after ship fell crumpled or disintegrated.
Into the very heart of that raging inferno plunged the huge Lunarian ship with thousands of tiny ships following. The Lunarian leader gave another order and like streaks of light the tiny ships behind him, the last of the Lunarian legions, swept into the mélee. The larger ship followed as best as it could.
Past a huge cone-shaped ship, battered almost beyond recognition, that was struggling grimly with a giant Magellanian ship whose driving mechanism had been shorn off by some powerful ray, the Lunarian leader’s ship darted. An instant later it hurtled above a score or so ovoid-shaped ships that had preceded the cones, all that was left of their whole fleet. Everywhere there were groups of ships literally tearing each other to pieces. No quarter was asked or given.
Suddenly, in front of the Lunarian leader’s ship, there appeared a lone Magellanian ship. Sighting the Lunarian ship, it hurtled forward. The Lunarians, in turn, caused their ship to leap eagerly onwards. From the nose of the Lunarian ship there stabbed ahead a powerful disintegration ray. Lesser weapons mounted at various points of its long length were ready to rake the enemy as soon as it came within range. A battery of silent solenoid electric-cannon, following the approaching ship, sent forth streams of steel-jacketed missiles.
The two ships raced toward each other. From the Magellanian ship there swept forward a powerful beam to neutralize the ray from the Lunarian ship. Other vibratory weapons it brought into play. The forward part of the Lunarian ship began to glow red as a heat ray was concentrated upon its nose. Following that heat ray, a peculiar pulsating series of vibrations traveled through the Lunarian ship. The Lunarians manning it began to act strangely. At regular intervals their bodies jerked curiously, then limply relaxed.
The Magellanian ship, to avoid head-on collision, swerved sharply. As it passed, it blazed away with other weapons. A number of sharp shocks shook the Lunarian craft.
Just as the Magellanian ship was turning to finish the helpless vessel, a huge cube-shaped ship appeared suddenly, as if out of nowhere, and rayed the invader out of existence. At the instant the Magellanian ship ceased to exist the force that caused the crew of that Lunarian ship to stiffen and relax fell from them. A number of the crew were detailed to investigate the damage. The ship answered to its controls.
By the time the Lunarian ship had crossed that region, the actual battle had moved far off to one side. From where it was, those within could make out with their powerful space-penetrating apparatus a plunging mass of Solarian ships still sweeping everything before it. Behind, those Solarian ships began to gather huge disks from Altai r, mighty cubes from Tau Ceti, great spheres from blue-white Vega, while from the atmosphere of the world behind began to emerge the first of the torpedo-shaped ships from Xi Ursa Majoris.
Fast were the ranks of the Solarian fleet being thinned. Full upon them were the Magellanian’s engines of destruction being concentrated. Disk-shaped ships from Altair plunged in to fill each gap as it appeared.
In the rear of the Magellanian ranks, a huge force of their ships were gathering. Their front ranks opened and forth poured an irresistible force of ships. Halted at once was the forward sweep of the Solarian fleet. The ships bearing the emblem of the Confederation, after a desperate stand, were swept back.
Ever swifter did the Lunarian leader drive his ship toward that bitterly contested region of space. Seldom were the brilliant flares that marked the plunge of tiny Lunarian ships into the larger craft of the enemy now to be seen. Those within that large Lunarian ship knew that few of their tiny ships remained.
The tide of battle had turned against the forces of the Confederation in that solar system.
UP alongside of Don Stelite’s ship at the very forefront, where rays and missiles fell thickest, a huge disk edged. Following it crept a mighty cube. They paused beside the giant Solarian ship. The identification marks on the disk showed that Zerbin of Arete 6 commanded it.
“Biped!”
“Is that you Zerbin?” Don Stelite’s mind questioned, as his hands hovered an instant above the control-board.
“Yes, biped. Our forces are being pushed back, but my ship goes forward. Aaxo of Planet 2 goes with me.”
“It is suicide.”
“I know.”
“Better death,” the thoughts of the Tau Cetian broke in sharply, “than to face the ignominy of retreat.”
“I will go with you.”
“We knew it, biped. Let us start.”
From far off to one side the Lunarian leader saw three ships, a giant torpedo, a huge disk, and a mighty cube, suddenly leave the ranks of the retreating ships and go plunging fearlessly toward the advancing wall of Magellanian ships.
“If death is so hard to face,” Aaxo of Planet 2 sent his thoughts back coldly, “we will show you how to die!”
Each captain of the retreating ships seemed to feel that to him personally was the message directed. Shame gripped them for a moment as they watched the three ships dart with ever-increasing speed at the enemy. They, too gave orders to move forward.
Fast was the ship of the Lunarian leader approaching that region of battle. As he drew near he wished that his ship had been one of those three.
In front of the Lunarian ship there appeared a giant Magellanian ship. Its mighty disintegration ray was sweeping toward the ship from Luna.
The Lunarians at the controls tried to swerve their craft from the path of the approaching ray. Compared to that mighty ray, their own powerful beam of molecular destruction was indeed puny.
Down upon the doomed ship the ray swept. Without any warning the hum of the driving mechanism within the Lunarian ship ceased. An instant later the ship was plunged into darkness. No longer did it answer to its controls.
The mighty cube commanded by Aaxo of Planet 2 was the first of the three ships at the head of the Confederation’s fleets to meet annihilation. A missil
e containing atomic-explosives penetrated four of its ten thick outer shells and exploded. A few seconds later the concentrated rays from a number of Magellanian ships wiped out of existence the disk commanded by Zerbin of Arete 6. The slender Solarian ship still kept on. All around it rays and missiles flashed. A moment later its nose glowed red as heat waves enveloped it, then it shook as if under the impact of powerful blows; still it plunged forward.
Irresistibly were the ships bearing the emblem of the Confederation following that lone ship. The Solarians, at the very forefront, fought as they had never fought before. The more furious the struggle became the more the men and few surviving Lunarians seemed to enjoy it. Centuries of suppressed instincts were finding an outlet. The reckless Solarians made a game of death. Certain members of the crews aboard the larger ships kept strict count of how many times they escaped destruction by a hair’s breadth. The few remaining tiny Lunarian ships played a game of their own, marking their score so that all could see—a sudden burst of flame in which their ship met instant annihilation as it plunged into the vitals of a Magellanian ship.
Back across those millions of miles of interplanetary space to that outermost planet were the invaders driven. Wave after wave of ships threw themselves upon them. Back they were forced, back and back. Just outside of the atmosphere of that outermost planet, the invaders were forced to halt by the press of reinforcements pouring up steadily from below. Unable to move either backward or forward, they fought like fiends.
Enveloping that planet like a shell, the fleets of the Confederation began to contract. With desperate fury the invaders sought to break through. Each time they were driven back. But it was not until a great sphere from Vega plunged through the closely packed ranks of Magellanian ships and destroyed the matter-transmitter on that outermost planet was the fate of the invaders in that solar system sealed.
BROKEN had been the surface of that world before the coming of the Confederation’s fleets. Now mountains rose and fell like waves on an angry sea. As a tortured creature, did that world shrink and writhe under those mighty blows.
Not a structure remained standing on that planet when the rain of crashing projectiles and concentrated heat waves Anally ceased. To make sure that those metal-clad invaders and their ships were wholly wiped from that battered world, thousands of small ships dropped into the atmosphere to examine every square foot of its surface. No sign of life could they find.
The fleet of globular ships from the solar system of Vega were despatched out beyond the outermost planet. to overtake and destroy any of the Magellanian ships that might have sought to escape by flight. The remaining fleets were split into two forces—one whose task was to destroy any of the wrecked ships belonging to the invaders, the other was to investigate all wrecks bearing the Confederation’s emblem and rescue the survivors.
A darkened wreck was rushing swiftly toward the sun of that solar system. No sign of life could be noted about it as it was drawn toward its doom. At the speed it was traveling, it would soon enter the fiery embrace of that sun and be reduced to a mass of glowing vapor.
It was a Solarian ship, though it bore little resemblance to one. The rear part containing the driving mechanism and power generators was gone, cut cleanly off by a powerful disintegration ray, while the forward end was so seered by heat and riddled by darting missiles that it resembled nothing but a shapeless mass of metal. Somehow, the identification marks on one side of the forward end of the wreck had escaped the onslaught of the destructive forces that had brought it to its present state. Under the Confederation’s emblem could still be made out part of the faintly luminous crest of the Lunarian leader.
There was life aboard that Lunarian wreck. In the control room, just back of the pilot chamber, a few living creatures still were conscious. Only those who had been in the control room at the instant when the ray had sheered off the rear part of the ship, one of them was the Lunarian leader, still lived. With the cutting off of the power supply of the ship all air-tight doors had automatically closed.
Over and over the wreck was turning as it hurtled toward that sun; for, following the destruction of their source of power, the stabilizing gyroscopes in the center of the ship had ceased to spin. The Lunarians tied themselves down to whatever solid object they could reach to prevent themselves from being thrown about.
Each passing moment saw the chance of rescuing those Lunarians grow less as the wreck rushed with ever-increasing speed toward the flaming sun. All means of communication, except a small emergency set, was dead. While the battle raged it was useless to even try to get aid. With a forlorn hope that the struggle was over, they started the small transmitter.
Slowly were the fleets beginning to assemble in the void of space between the orbits of the two planets of that solar system. Practically all the Magellanian wrecks and those that had sought to escape by flight had been destroyed. The ships sent to rescue the survivors of the wrecks bearing the emblem of the Confederation were returning.
DON STELITE’S ship, seared by heat rays and crisscrossed with long scars where countless fragments of exploding ships had grazed it, nose partly melted away, driving generators loose in their beds, walls cracked and air leaking through, yet still able to travel, was being driven back and forth by its commander, who was searching frantically for his Lunarian friend. A message sent by the small emergency transmitter aboard the Lunarian ship had been picked up by a great sphere from Vega and passed on to the Solarians. The message, repeated at intervals for a short while, gave the approximate position and condition of the wreck.
Nearer and nearer to the flaming sun of that solar system Don Stelite drove his ship. It was very close to that sun. Through the multiple walls of the ship the heat was beginning to penetrate. Suddenly a Solarian distress call was picked up. Its position was checked and toward it the badly battered giant torpedo flashed.
The ship calling for aid was not the Lunarian vessel. As quickly as possible the crew of that disabled ship was taken off. Inquiries amongst the rescued men brought to light information regarding the ship that was sought. One of the officers recalled seeing part of a Solarian ship, that bore the crest of the leader of Luna’s forces, pass. The sun was drawing it to itself at a tremendous speed.
Though it was exceeding dangerous to approach any closer to the sun, Don Stelite ordered his ship forward. The temperature within was mounting rapidly. A black spot was sighted. Swiftly did the giant torpedo overhaul it. Those on watch by the observation windows, protected by thick screens against the fierce glare of the nearby sun, saw that it was part of a Solarian ship. It was revolving slowly as the powerful gravitational pull of the huge luminary drew it to itself. As it turned over a portion of the crest of the Overlord of the Elder City was made out.
The search was ended!
Luckily the wreck had been sighted when it was. Only a few moments more, at the utmost, could Don Stelite’s ship have continued toward that sun. The part of the ship facing that gigantic mass of flame was already beginning to glow red. Though its refrigerating system was working at top speed, the temperature within had risen to a dangerous point.
No sign of life came from the wreck. Their signals remained unanswered. Wasting no time the giant torpedo drew the Lunarian ship out of that region as rapidly as possible.
With a sinking heart Don Stelite, recalling how high the temperature within his own ship had risen despite the fact that its refrigerating system was working at its greatest speed, gave orders to board the wreck. He went first. Lunarian dead were everywhere. They were gruesome to look upon. The temperature in this ship had risen above the boiling point of water. In the control room he found his Lunarian friend and some members of the crew.
Averting his gaze from the ghastly thing that had been his friend, Don Stelite hurried from that chamber. With as much speed as his bulky pressure-suit would allow, he rushed down the long corridors and chambers with their heavy doors until he reached a jagged opening that showed space beyond. Through that
opening he leaped far from the wreck and shot toward his own ship.
Casting the wreck with its burden of gruesome dead adrift, the battered giant torpedo darted back toward the region where the fleets had gathered. The crews of the assembled fleets were in space swarming about their ships, from which streamed tiny figures pushing huge plates of thick metal and machinery with which to repair the jagged outer walls of their ships. The battered newcomer, drawing near the Solarian ranks, was ordered to do likewise.
Barely had the fleets patched up the outer shells of their ships and other vital parts that had suffered harm.
when orders came to them to reenter the transmitter on the inner planet. Another solar system was threatened by the invaders.
Into the transmitter on that inner planet began streaming the first of the fleets of the force of which the Solarians were part, and then out of another transmitter in another solar system near the center of the galaxy they began pouring. There they found other fleets waiting, some three score, that had been sent to make sure the invaders were quickly crushed. The force of which the Solarians were part took their place behind the waiting fleets.
Learning through their scouts of the great array that was sweeping out to meet them, the invaders turned and fled back in the direction of the solar system from which they had come. In pursuit streamed the fleets that bore the emblem of the Confederation.
The invaders kept their lead. Time passed, but the distance between the two forces seemed neither to lessen nor increase. Too far ahead were the invaders for the rays of the pursuing fleets to reach them. One advantage had the Magellanians, and that was to be able to strew clouds of huge shells, loaded with their most powerful destructive agents, in the path of the pursuers. Although most of them were rayed out of existence before they could do harm, a few slipped through to spread destruction. Even the largest of the giant space ships encountering those missiles was doomed to utter destruction.
For the fleets of the Confederation it settled into a grim chase. Quarter of the distance to that nearby star was slowly crossed, then half; still the gap between them seemed the same.
