II
A great number of scientists and military men were already gatheredabout the headquarters ship. As Arcot's party arrived, they learned thateach of the wrecks was being assigned to one group. They further learnedthat because of their scientific importance, they were to go to thenearly perfect ship lying off to the west. Two Air Patrolmen were toaccompany them.
"Lieutenant Wright and Lieutenant Greer will go with you," said theColonel. "In the event of trouble from possible--thoughunlikely--survivors, they may be able to help. Is there anything furtherwe can do?"
"These men are armed with the standard sidearms, aren't they?" Arcotasked. "I think we'll all be better off if I arm them with some of thenew director-ray pistols. I have several in my boat. It will be allright, I suppose?"
"Certainly, Dr. Arcot. They are under your command."
The party, increased to five now, returned to the ship, where Arcotshowed the men the details of the ray pistols, and how to use them. Thecontrol for direction of operation was rather intricate in these earlymodels, and required considerable explanation. The theoretical range ofeven these small hand weapons was infinity in space, but in theatmosphere the energy was rather rapidly absorbed by ionization of theair, and the dispersion of the beam made it ineffective in space over arange of more than thirty-five miles.
Again entering the little molecular motion car, they went at once to thegreat hull of the fallen ship. They inspected it cautiously fromoverhead before going too close, for the dreadnought, obviously, hadlanded without the terrific concussion that the others had experienced,and there was a possibility that some of the crew had survived thecrash. The entire stern of the huge vessel had been torn off, andevidently the ship was unable to rise, but there were lights glowingthrough the portholes on the side, indicating that power had not failedcompletely.
"I think we'd better treat that monster with respect," remarked Wade,looking down at the lighted windows. "They have power, and the hull isscarcely dented except where the stern was caught by a beam. It's luckywe had those ray projector ships! They've been in service only aboutfour months, haven't they, Lieutenant?"
"Just about that, sir," the Air Patrolman replied. "They hadn't gottenthe hand weapons out in sufficient quantities to be issued to us asyet."
Morey scowled at the invader. "I don't like this at all. I wonder whythey didn't greet us with some of their beams," he said in worriedtones. It did seem that there should be some of the rays in action now.They were less than a mile from the fallen giant, and moving ratherslowly.
"I've been puzzled about that myself," commented Arcot, "and I've cometo the conclusion that either the ray projectors are fed by a separatesystem of power distribution, which has been destroyed, or that thecreatures from space are all dead."
They were to learn later, in their exploration of the ship, that theinvaders' ray projectors were fed from a separate generator, whichproduced a special form of alternating current wave for them. Thisgenerator had been damaged beyond use.
The little machine was well toward the stern of the giant now, and theylowered it till it was on a level with the torn metal. It was plain thatthe ship had been subjected to some terrific tension. The great girderswere stretched and broken, and the huge ribs were bent and twisted. Thecentral tube, which ran the length of the ship, had been drawn down toabout three quarters of its original diameter, making it necessary forthem to use their ray to enter. In moments their speedster glided intothe dark tunnel. The searchlight reaching ahead filled the metal tunnelwith a myriad deceptive reflections. The tube was lighted up far aheadof them, and seemed empty. Cautiously they advanced, with Arcot at thecontrols.
"Wade--Morey--where will we stop first?" he asked. "The engines? They'llprobably be of prime importance. We know their location. What do yousay?"
"I agree," replied Wade, and Morey nodded his approval.
They ran their craft down the long tube till they reached the door theyknew must be the engine room landing, and stepped out, each wearing analtitude suit. This ship had landed level, and progress would be mucheasier than in the other one. They waited a moment before opening thedoor into the engine room, for this led into a narrow corridor whereonly one could pass. Caution was definitely in order. The Air Patrolmeninsisted on leading the way. They had been sent along for the expresspurpose of protecting the scientists, and it was their duty to lead.After a brief argument Arcot agreed.
The two officers stepped to the door, and standing off to one side, toreit open with a ray from their pistols. It fell with a clatter to therounded metal floor of the tube, and lay there vibrating noisily, but norays of death lanced out from beyond it. Cautiously they peered aroundthe corner of the long corridor, then seeing nothing, entered. Wade camenext, then Arcot, followed by Morey.
The corridor was approximately thirty feet long, opening into the greatengine room. Already the men could hear the smooth hum of powerfulmachines, and could see the rounded backs of vast mechanisms. But therewas no sign of life, human or otherwise. They halted finally at thethreshold of the engine room.
"Well," Arcot said softly. "We haven't seen anyone so far, and I hope noone has seen us. The invaders may be behind one of those big engines,quite unaware of us. _If_ they're there, and they see us, they'll beready to fight. Now remember, those weapons you have will tear looseanything they hit, so take it easy. You know something about the powerof those engines, so don't put them out of commission, and have themsplash us all over the landscape.
"But look out for the crew, and get them if they try to get you!"
Cautiously but quickly they stepped out into the great room, forming arough half circle, pistols ready for action. They walked forwardstealthily, glancing about them--and simultaneously the enemies caughtsight of each other. There were six of the invaders, each about sevenfeet tall, and surprisingly humanoid. They somewhat resembledVenerians, but they weren't Venerians, for their skin was a strangegray-white, suggesting raw dough. It seemed to Arcot that these strange,pale creatures were advancing at a slow walk, and that he stood stillwatching them as they slowly raised strange hand weapons. He seemed tonotice every detail: their short, tight-fitting suits of some elasticmaterial that didn't hamper their movements, and their strange flesh,which just seemed to escape being transparent. Their eyes were strangelylarge, and the black spot of the pupil in their white corneas created anunnatural effect.
Then abruptly their weapons came up--and Arcot responded with a suddenflick of his ray, as he flung himself to one side. Simultaneously hisfour companions let their beams fly toward the invaders. They glowedstrangely red here, but they were still effective. The six beings weresuddenly gone--but not before they had released their own beams. Andthey had taken toll. Lieutenant Wright lay motionless upon the floor.
The Terrestrians scarcely had a chance to notice this, for immediatelythere was a terrific rending crash, and clean daylight came pouring inthrough a wide opening in the wall of the ship. The five rays had notstopped on contact with the enemy, but had touched the wall behind them.An irregular opening now gaped in the smooth metal.
Suddenly there came a second jarring thud, a dull explosion; then agreat sheet of flame filled the hole--a wall of ruddy flame sweptrapidly in. Arcot swung up his ray pistol, pointing it at the mass offlaming gas. A mighty column of air came through the narrow corridorfrom the tube, rushing toward the outside, and taking the flame with it.A roaring mass of gas hovered outside of the ship.
"Lieutenant," said Arcot, swiftly, "turn your ray on that hole, and keepit there, blowing that flame outside with it. You'll find you can't putthe fire out, but if you keep it outside the ship, I believe we'll bereasonably safe." The Patrolman obeyed instantly, relieving Arcot.
Wade and Morey were already bending over the fallen man.
"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for him," the latter said grimly,"and every moment here is dangerous. Let's continue our investigationand carry him back to the ship when we leave." Arcot nodded silently.
; Solemnly they turned away from the motionless figure on the floor andset out on their investigation.
"Arcot," began Morey after a moment, "why is that gas burning like that?Can't we put it out?"
"Let's get through with this job first," replied Arcot somewhat tersely."The discussion comes after."
The bodies of the invaders were gone, so they could not examine themnow. That was a matter for the doctors and biologists, anyway. Theengines were their main interest, huge things which overshadowedeverything about them.
It must have been the concealment afforded by the engines that permittedthree of the enemy to get so close. The only warning the Terrestrianshad was a faint pink haze as they stepped around the corner of anengine; and a sudden feeling of faintness swept over them. They leapedback, out of sight, peering around the corner with nerves and musclestensed. There was no sign of movement.
As they watched, they saw a pallid hand reaching out with a ray gun; andWade swiftly pointed his own weapon. There came a sudden crash of metal,a groan and quiet. Two other aliens leaped from behind the great enginejust as the Terrestrians dodged further back; as swiftly, they too foundconcealment.
Arcot swung his ray up, and was about to pull the trigger that wouldsend the huge engine toppling over upon them, when he saw that it wasrunning. He thought of the unknown energies in the machine, thepotential destruction, and he shook his head. Cautiously he lookedaround the edge of the towering mass, waiting--his beam flashed out, andthere was a snapping sound as the ray caught a reaching hand and hurledits owner against a mighty transformer of some sort. For an instant thehuge mass tottered, then was still. In the low concentration of powerthat Arcot had used, only a small portion had been touched, and themolecules of this portion had not been enough to tip over its tremendousweight.
Only one enemy remained; and Arcot learned swiftly that he was still inaction, for before he could dodge back there came that now-familiar pinkhaziness. It touched Arcot's hand, outstretched as it had been when hefired, and a sudden numbness came over it. His pistol hand seemed tolose all feeling of warmth or cold. It was there; he could still feelthe weapon's deadened weight. Reflex action hurled him back, his handout of range of the ray. In seconds feeling began to return, and in lessthan ten his hand was normal again.
He turned to the others with a wry grin. "Whew--that was a narrowsqueak! I must say their ray is a gentlemenly sort of thing. It eitherkills you, or doesn't injure you at all. There it goes again!"
A shaft of pink radiance reached the end of the engine, just grazing it,evidently absorbed by its mass. "Pinning us down," Wade grated. Theycertainly couldn't step out into the open space--but they couldn't staywhere they were indefinitely, either. Reinforcements might arrive!
"Look," Wade pointed with his pistol, "he's under that big metal bar--upthere in the roof--see it? I'll pull it down; he may get nervous andcome into sight." Swiftly Arcot sprang forward and caught his arm.
"Lord--don't do that, Wade--there's too much stuff here that we don'tknow anything about. Too much chance of your smashing us with him. I'mgoing to try to get around to the other side of this machine and seewhat I can do, while you fellows keep him occupied."
Arcot disappeared around the black humming giant. Interminably theothers waited for something to happen; then suddenly the beam that hadbeen playing at irregular intervals across the end of the machine, swungquickly to the other side; and simultaneously another ray seemed to leapfrom the machine itself. They met and crossed. There came a momentarycrashing arc, then both went dead, as the apparatus that generated themblew out under terrific overload.
The invader evidently carried a spare, for the watchers saw him dartfrom concealment, clawing at his pocket pouch. They turned their rays onhim, and just as his projector came free, a ray hurled him violently tothe left. He crashed into a huge motor, and the result was not nice.
The projector had been jerked from his hand and lay off to the side.Arcot ran to it and picked it up just as they heard the Lieutenant callan alarmed inquiry.
"I think we're okay now," Arcot answered. "I hope there are no more--butby all means stay where you are, and use as little power as possible inblowing that flame outside. It uses up the atmosphere of the ship, andthough we don't need it, I think we'd better take things easy. Call usif anything looks odd to you."
For several minutes the three scientists looked about them in awe-struckwonder. They were the first men of Earth to see the driving equipment ofone of the tremendous Kaxorian planes, and they felt tiny beside itsgreat bulk; but now, as they examined this engine room, they realizedthat even the huge plane shrank into insignificance beside thisinterstellar cruiser.
All about them loomed the great rounded backs of giant electricmotor-generators of some sort. Across the roof ran a network of giganticmetal bars, apparently conductors, but so large that they suggestedheavy structural members. The machines they ran into loomed fully thirtyfeet into the air; they were longer than cylinders, thirty feet indiameter, and there was a group of four main machines fully a hundredtwenty feet long! There were many smaller mechanisms--yet these smallerones would easily have constituted a complete power supply for theaverage big city. Along each wall ran a bank of transformers, cast inthe same heroic mold. These seemed connected with the smaller machines,there being four conductors leading into each of the minor units, twointake, and two, apparently, output leads, suggesting rotary converters.The multiple units and the various types and sizes of transformers madeit obvious that many different frequencies were needed. Some of thetransformers had air cores, and led to machines surrounded with asilvery white metal instead of the usual iron. These, apparently, weregenerating current at an extremely high frequency.
"Well," Morey commented, "they ought to have power enough. But do younotice that those four main units have their leads radiating indifferent directions? The one on the left there seems to lead to thatbig power board at the front--or better, bow. I think it would be worthinvestigating."
Arcot nodded. "I had the same idea. You notice that two of the mainpower units are still working, but that those other two have stopped?Probably the two dead ones have something to do with the motion of theship. But there's one point I think is of even greater interest. All themachines we have seen, all the conspicuous ones, are secondary powersources. There are no primary sources visible. Notice that those twomain conduits lead over to the right, and toward the bow. Let's checkwhere they go to."
As they talked they followed the huge conductors back to their point ofconvergence. Suddenly they rounded one of the huge main power units, andsaw before them, at the center of square formed by these machines, a lowplatform of transparent light-metal. At the exact center of thisplatform, which was twenty feet in diameter, there was a table, aboutseven feet across and raised about five feet above the level of theplatform on stout light-metal legs. On the table were two huge cubes ofsolid silver, and into these cubes ran all the conductors they had seen.
In the space of about six inches left between the blocks of metal, therewas a small box constructed of some strange new material. It was themost perfect reflecting surface that any of the men had ever imagined.Indeed, it was so perfect a reflector that they were unable to see it,but could detect its presence only by the mirror images, and the factthat it blotted out objects behind it.
Now they noticed that through the huge blocks of metal there were twosmall holes, and two thin wires of this same reflecting material ledinto those holes. The wires led directly up to the roof, and, suspendedon three-foot hangers of the light-metal, continued on toward the bow.
Could this be the source of power for the entire ship? It seemedimpossible, yet there were many other seeming impossible things here,among them that strangely reflecting matter.
There was a low railing about the central platform, apparently intendedto keep observers at a safe distance, so they decided against any moredetailed investigation. As they were about to discuss their unusualfind, the Lieutenant called that he heard sounds
behind him.
At once the three ran rapidly toward the narrow corridor that had giventhem entrance. The flaming gas was still shooting through the hole inthe wall of the ship, and the rush of air through the corridor made itdifficult to hear any sounds there, and exceedingly difficult to walk.
"Turn on more power, Lieutenant, and see if we can't draw out theenemy," suggested Arcot, while they braced themselves around the tubeexit.
As the Patrolman increased the power of his beam, the moan of the airthrough the corridor increased suddenly to a terrific roar, and acyclonic gale swept through. But none of the invaders were drawn out.
After the Lieutenant had shut off the blast from his pistol at Arcot'ssignal, the latter said: "I don't think anything less than a war tankcould stand that pressure. It's probable that we'll be attacked if westay here much longer, though--and we may not be able to get out at all.I think, Lieutenant, I'll ask you to stay here while we go out and getthe ship ready to leave." He paused, grinning. "Be sure to keep thatflame outside. You'll be in the position of Hercules after Atlas lefthim holding the skies on his shoulders. You can't shut off the ray forlong or we'll have a first-rate explosion. We'll signal when we're readyby firing a revolver, and you make it to the ship as fast as you cantravel."
Arcot's expression became solemn. "We'll have to carry Wright back tothe ship. He was a brave man, and he certainly deserves burial in thesoil of his own world. And, Morey, we'll have to look up his family.Your father's company will have to take care of them if they need help."
Slowly the men forced their way back toward their ship, fighting againstthe roaring column of air, their burden hindering them somewhat; but atlast they reached the open tunnel. Even here the air was in violentmotion.
They got into their boat as quickly as possible, and set the controlsfor reverse flight. Then Wade fired the signal shot. In moments they sawLieutenant Greer bucking against the current of air, continuing underits own momentum.
By the time he was in the ship an ominous calm had fallen. Swiftly theysped down the corridor, and had almost reached the open air, whensuddenly there was a dull rumble behind them, and they were caught on awave of pressure that hurled them along at terrific speed. In a flashthey sped into the open air, the great tunnel with its thick walls andflared opening acting like a gigantic blunderbus, with the ship as itsbullet. Arcot made no attempt to slow down the little craft, but pressedhis foot heavily on the vertical accelerator. The ship rocketed up withterrific speed, and the acceleration pinned the men down to their seatswith tripled weight.
Anxiously they watched the huge invader as they sped away from it. AtArcot's direction Morey signaled the other groups of scientists to getout of danger with all speed, warning of the impending blow-up. As themoments sped by the tension mounted. Arcot stared fixedly into thescreen before him, keeping the giant space ship in focus. As they spedmile upon miles away from it, he began to relax a bit.
Not a word was spoken as they watched and waited. Actually, very littletime passed before the explosion, but to the watchers the secondsdragged endlessly. Then at twenty-seven miles, the screen flared into asheet of blinding white radiance. There was a timeless instant--then atremendous wave of sound, a roaring, stunning concussion smote the ship,shaking it with unrestrained fury--to cease as abruptly as it came.
Immediately they realized the reason. They were rushing away from theexplosion faster than the sound it made, hence could not hear it. Afterthe first intolerable flash, details became visible. The great shipseemed to leap into countless tremendous fragments, each rushing awayfrom the point of the blow-up. They did not go far; the force was notsustained long enough, nor was it great enough to overcome the inertiaof so vast a mass for more than moments. Huge masses rained to earth, tobury themselves in the soil.
There came a momentary lull. Then suddenly, from the mass whichevidently held the wrecked engine room, there shot out a beam of intensewhite light that swept around in a wide, erratic arc. Whatever ittouched fused instantly into a brilliantly glowing mass of liquidincandescence. The field itself, fragments of the wreckage, fused andmingled under its fury. The beam began to swing, faster and faster, asthe support that was holding it melted; then abruptly it turned uponitself. There came a sudden blast of brilliance to rival that of thesun--and the entire region became a molten lake. Eyes streaming,temporarily blinded, the men turned away from the screen.
"That," said Arcot ruefully, "is that! It seems that our visitors don'twant to leave any of their secrets lying around for us to investigate.I've an idea that all the other wrecks will go like this one did." Hescowled. "You know, we really didn't learn much. Guess we'd better callthe headquarters ship and ask for further instructions. Will you attendto it, Lieutenant Greer?"
The Black Star Passes Page 20
