The Black Star Passes

by Jr. John W. Campbell

  VIII

  The _Solarite_ sped swiftly toward the southwest. The sky slowly grewlighter as the miles flashed beneath them. They were catching up withthe sun. As they saw the rolling ocean beneath them give way to lowplains, they realized they were over Kaxorian land. The _Solarite_ wasflying very high, and as they showed no lights, and were not using theinvisibility apparatus, they were practically undetectable. Suddenlythey saw the lights of a mighty city looming far off to the east.

  "It's Kanor. Pass well to the west of it. That's their capital. We're oncourse." Arcot spoke from his position at the projector, telling Wadethe directions to follow on his course to the berth of the giant planes.

  The city dropped far behind them in moments, followed by another, andanother. At length, veering southward into the dusk, they entered aregion of low hills, age-old folds in the crust of the planet, roundedby untold millennia of torrential rains.

  "Easy, Wade. We are near now." Mile after mile they flashed ahead atabout a thousand miles an hour--then suddenly they saw far off to theeast a vast glow that reached into the sky, painting itself on theeternal clouds miles above.

  "There it is, Wade. Go high, and take it easy!"

  Swiftly the _Solarite_ climbed, hovering at last on the very rim of thecloud blanket, an invisible mote in a sea of gray mist. Below them theysaw a tremendous field carved, it seemed, out of the ancient hills. Fromthis height all sense of proportion was lost. It seemed but an ordinaryfield, with eighteen ordinary airplanes resting on it. One of these nowwas moving, and in a moment it rose into the air! But there seemed to beno men on all the great field. They were invisibly small from thisheight.

  Abruptly Arcot gave a great shout. "That's their surprise! They're readyfar ahead of the time we expected! If all that armada gets in the air,we're done! Down, Wade, to within a few hundred feet of the ground, andclose to the field!"

  The _Solarite_ flashed down in a power dive--down with a sickeninglurch. A sudden tremendous weight seemed to crush them as the ship wasbrought out of the dive not more than two hundred feet from the ground.Close to blacking out, Wade nevertheless shot it in as close to thefield as he dared. Anxiously he called to Arcot, who answered with abrief "Okay!" The planes loomed gigantic now, their true proportionsshowing clearly against the brilliant light of the field. A tremendouswave of sound burst from the loudspeaker as the planes rolled across theground to leap gracefully into the air--half a million tons of metal!

  From the _Solarite_ there darted a pale beam of ghostly light, faintlygray, tinged with red and green--the ionized air of the beam. It movedin a swift half circle. In an instant the whirr of the hundreds,thousands of giant propellers was drowned in a terrific roar of air.Great snowflakes fell from the air before them; it was white with thesolidified water vapor. Then came a titanic roar and the planet itselfseemed to shake! A crash, a snapping and rending as a mighty fountain ofsoil and rock cascaded skyward, and with it, twisting, turning, hurledin a dozen directions at once, twelve titanic ships reeled drunkenlyinto the air!

  For a barely perceptible interval there was an oppressive silence as theray was shut off. Then a bedlam of deafening sound burst forth anew, amighty deluge of unbearable noise as the millions of tons of pulverizedrock, humus and metal fell back. Some of it had ascended for miles; itsettled amid a howling blizzard--snow that melted as it touched themadly churned airfield.

  High above there were ten planes flying about uncertainly. Suddenly oneof these turned, heading for the ground far below, its wings screamingtheir protest as the motors roared, ever faster, with the gravity of theplanet aiding them. There was a rending, crackling crash as the wingssuddenly bent back along the sides. An instant later the fuselage torefree, rocketing downward; the wings followed more slowly--twisting,turning, dipping in mile-long swoops.

  The _Solarite_ shot away from the spot at maximum speed--away and up,with a force that nailed the occupants to the floor. Before they couldturn, behind them flared a mighty gout of light that struck to the veryclouds above, and all the landscape, for miles about, was visible in theglare of the released energy.

  As they turned, they saw on the plain, below a tremendous crater, inits center a spot that glowed white and bubbled like the top of a hugecauldron.

  Nine great planes were circling in the air; then in an instant they weregone, invisible. As swiftly the _Solarite_ darted away with a speed thatdefied the aim of any machine.

  High above the planes they went, for with his radar Arcot could tracethem. They were circling, searching for the _Solarite_.

  The tiny machine was invisible in the darkness, but its invisibility wasnot revealed by the Kaxorian's radio detectors. In the momentary lull,Fuller asked a question.

  "Wade, how is it that those ships can be invisible when they are drivenby light, and have the light stored in them? They're perfectlytransparent. Why can't we see the light?"

  "They are storing the light. It's bound--it can't escape. You can't seelight unless it literally hits you in the eye. Their stored light can'treach you, for it is held by its own attraction and by the special fieldof the big generators."

  They seemed to be above one of the Kaxorian planes now. Arcot caught theroar of the invisible propellers.

  "To the left, Wade--faster--hold it--left--ah!" Arcot pushed a button.

  Down from the _Solarite_ there dropped a little canister, one of thebombs that Arcot had prepared the night before. To hit an invisibletarget is ordinarily difficult, but when that target is far larger thanthe proverbial side of a barn, it is not very difficult, at that. Butnow Arcot's companions watched for the crash of the explosion, the flashof light. What sort of bomb was it that Arcot hoped would penetrate thattremendous armor?

  Suddenly they saw a great spot of light, a spot that spread withstartling rapidity, a patch of light that ran, and moved. It flewthrough the air at terrific speed. It was a pallid light, green and wanand ghostly, that seemed to flow and ebb.

  For an instant Morey and the others stared in utter surprise. Thensuddenly Morey burst out laughing.

  "Ho--you win, Arcot. That was one they didn't think of, I'll bet!Luminous paint--and by the hundred gallon! Radium paint, I suppose, andno man has ever found how to stop the glow of radium. That plane sticksout like a sore thumb!"

  Indeed, the great luminous splotch made the gigantic plane clearlyevident against the gray clouds. Visible or not, that plane was marked.

  Quickly Arcot tried to maneuver the _Solarite_ over another of the greatships, for now the danger was only from those he could not see. Suddenlyhe had an idea.

  "Morey--go back to the power room and change the adjustment on themeteorite avoider to half a mile!" At once Morey understood his plan,and hastened to put it into effect.

  The illuminated plane was diving, twisting wildly now. The _Solarite_flashed toward it with sickening speed, then suddenly the gigantic bulkof the plane loomed off to the right of the tiny ship, the great metalhull, visible now, rising in awesome might. They were too near; theyshot away to a greater distance--then again that ghostly beam reachedout--and for just a fraction of a second it touched the giant plane.

  The titanic engine of destruction seemed suddenly to be in the grip ofsome vastly greater Colossus--a clutching hand that closed! The planejumped back with an appalling crash, a roar of rending metal. For aninstant there came the sound like a mighty buzz-saw as the giantpropellers of one wing cut into the body of the careening plane. In thatinstant, the great power storage tank split open with an impact like thebursting of a world. The _Solarite_ was hurled back by an explosion thatseemed to rend the very atoms of the air, and all about them was atorrid blaze of heat and light that seemed to sear their faces and handswith its intensity.

  Then in a time so brief that it seemed never to have happened, it wasgone, and only the distant drone of the other ships' propellers came tothem. There was no luminous spot. The radium paint had been destroyedin the only possible way--it was volatilized through all the atmosphere!

  The
Terrestrians had known what to expect; had known what would happen;and they had not looked at the great ship in that last instant. But theKaxorians had naturally been looking at it. They had never seen the sundirectly, and now they had been looking at a radiance almost asbrilliant. They were temporarily blinded; they could only fly a straightcourse in response to the quick order of their squadron commander.

  And in that brief moment that they were unable to watch him, Arcotdropped two more bombs in quick succession. Two bright spots formed inthe black night. No longer did these planes feel themselvesinvulnerable, able to meet any foe! In an instant they had put on everylast trace of power, and at their top speed they were racing west, awayfrom their tiny opponent--in the only direction that was open to them.

  But it was useless. The _Solarite_ could pick up speed in half the timethey could, and in an instant Arcot again trained his beam on the mightysplotch of light that was a fleeing plane.

  Out of the darkness came a ghostly beam, for an instant of time so shortthat before the explosive shells of the other could be trained on it,the _Solarite_ had moved. Under that touch the mighty plane begancrumbling, then it splintered beneath the driving blow of the greatwing, as it shot toward the main body of the plane at several miles asecond--driving into and through it! The giant plane twisted and turnedas it fell swiftly downward into the darkness--and, again there camethat world-rocking explosion, and the mighty column of light.

  Again and yet again the _Solarite_ found and destroyed Kaxoriansuper-planes, protected in the uneven conflict by their diminutive sizeand the speed of their elusive maneuvering.

  But to remind the men of the _Solarite_ that they were not alone, therecame a sudden report just behind them, and they turned to see that oneof the energy bombs had barely fallen short! In an instant thecomparative midget shot up at top speed, out of danger. It looped andturned, hunting, feeling with its every detector for that other ship.The great planes were spread out now. In every direction they could belocated--and all were leaving the scene of the battle. But one by onethe _Solarite_ shot after them, and always the speed of the little shipwas greater.

  Two escaped. They turned off their useless invisibility apparatus andvanished into the night.

  The _Solarite_, supported by her vertical lift units, coasted toward astop. The drone of the fleeing super-planes diminished and was gone, andfor a time the thrum of the generator and the tap-dance of relaysadjusting circuits was the only sound aboard.

  Wade sighed finally. "Well, gentlemen, now we've got it, what do we dowith it?"

  "What do you mean?" Morey asked.

  "Victory. The Jack-pot. Having the devices we just demonstrated, we arenow the sole owners, by right of conquest, of one highly disturbednation of several million people. With that gadget there, we can pick itup and throw it away.

  "Personally, I have a feeling that we've just won the largest whiteelephant in history. We don't just walk off and leave it, you know. Wedon't want it. But we've got it.

  "Our friends in Sonor are not going to want the problem either; theyjust wanted the Kaxorians combed out of their hair.

  "As I say--we've got it, now--but what do we do with it?"

  "It's basically their problem, isn't it?" protested Fuller. Morey lookedsomewhat stricken, and thoroughly bewildered. "I hadn't considered thataspect very fully; I've been too darned busy trying to stay alive."

  Wade shook his head. "Look, Fuller-it was their problem before, too,wasn't it? How'd they handle it? If you just let them alone, what doyou suppose they'll do with the problem this time?"

  "The same thing they did before," Arcot groaned. "I'm tired. Let's getsome sleep first, anyway."

  "Sure; that makes good sense," Wade agreed. "Sleep on it, yes. But go tosleep on it--well, that's what the not-so-bright Sonorans tried doing.

  "And off-hand, I'd say we were elected. The Kaxorians undoubtedly have anice, two thousand year old hatred for the Sonorans who so snobbishlyignored them, isolated them, and considered them unfit for association.The Sonorans, on the other hand, are now thoroughly scared, and will befeeling correspondingly vindictive. They won this time by a fluke--ourcoming. I can just see those two peoples getting together and settlingany kind of sensible, long-term treaty of mutual cooperation!"

  Arcot and Morey both nodded wearily. "That is so annoyingly correct,"Morey agreed. "And you know blasted well none of us is going to sleepuntil we have some line of attack on this white elephant disposalproblem. Anybody any ideas?"

  Fuller looked at the other three. "You know, in design when twoincompatible materials must be structurally united, we tie each to athird material that is compatible with both.

  "Sonor didn't win this fight. Kaxor didn't win it. Earth--in the_persona_ of the _Solarite_--did. Earth isn't mad at anybody, hasn'tbeen damaged by anybody, and hasn't been knowingly ignoring anybody.

  "The Sonorans want to be let alone; it won't work, but they can learnthat. I think if we run the United Nations in on this thing, we may beable to get them to accept our white elephant for us.

  "They'll be making the same mistake Sonor did if they don't--knowinglyignoring the existence of a highly intelligent and competent race. Itdoesn't seem to work, judging from history both at home and here."

  The four looked at each other, and found agreement.

  "That's something more than a problem to sleep on," Morey said. "I'llget in touch with Sonor and tell 'em the shooting is over, so they canget some sleep too.

  "It's obvious a bunch of high-power research teams are going to beneeded in both countries. Earth has every reason to respect Sonoranmental sciences as well as Kaxorian light-engineering. And Earth--as wejust thoroughly demonstrated--has some science of her own. Obviously,the interaction of the three is to the maximum advantage of each--andwill lead to a healing of the breach that now exists."

  Arcot looked up and yawned. "I'm putting this on autopilot at twentymiles up, and going to sleep. We can kick this around for a monthanyway--and this is not the night to start."

  "The decision is unanimous," Wade grinned.