20 Million Miles to Earth

by Henry Slesar

  Then the General’s hand went up to command silence.

  “Yes, that is the creature you have been hearing rumors about, the monster now confined in Rome’s zoo. A beast from Venus, a strange and alien thing unlike anything evolution ever produced on our planet. But this animal represents more than a zoological curiosity. It may provide us the key to the secret of survival on Venus. We know now that the atmosphere is poisonous to humans, and that no second assault on the planet is possible until we devise equipment that will work effectively against this poison. And no such equipment can be devised until we understand the breathing mechanism of the monster now in the Rome zoo.”

  From the front row, a correspondent shot his hand into the air.

  “May we be permitted to see the creature?”

  The crowd responded hopefully, and McIntosh nodded.

  “I’m going to ask you correspondents to select three of your number to accompany Colonel Calder to the zoo tomorrow morning. Those selected by you will, of course, pool their interviews with the entire press corps. We will supply you later with all the necessary photographs.”

  He looked about him.

  “I guess that’s all,” he said, with a hint of humor on his mouth. “Thank you for your patience.”

  The newsmen needed no further signal. Excitedly, they scurried, jumped, and ran to the table with the telephones, or to the exit doors. Some of them tried to reach General McIntosh and the Colonel, but the two USAF officers headed swiftly for a side door, guarded by Marines.

  “Some old friends,” McIntosh grinned as they came into the room.

  Calder saw the scholarly face of Dr. Leonardo, wreathed in a gentle smile. Marisa’s smile was less certain. She stuck out her hand formally, and Calder took it.

  “Dr. Uhl arranged this permission for us,” Dr. Leonardo said. “We merely wished to pay our respects.”

  Calder’s eyes were on the girl.

  “How are you, Marisa ?”

  “I’m all right. I—I heard about the capture of the creature from Dr. Uhl. It must have been frightful—”

  “The worst is over,” Calder said. “The beast is nice and tame now. We’ve taken all the fight out of him.”

  “Colonel Calder.” Dr. Leonardo touched his arm. “I 90 have been assisting with the beast, as you know. But I am accustomed to having the help of my granddaughter. She is qualified, as you know—”

  “I know,” Calder grinned. “Almost-a-doctor. Sure, Dr. Leonardo, Marisa’s help will be appreciated. Besides, it’s really your creature when you come right down to it. Little Pepe sold it to you—for two hundred lira.”

  Marisa shivered, and Calder put his hand on her arm.

  “It won’t be pleasant. The thing has grown even more since we brought it down from the mountains. If you’re afraid—”

  “I’m not afraid!” the girl said stubbornly.

  “Then you’ve got a job.”

  In the morning, the three correspondents chosen by the newsmen’s vote met Colonel Calder in front of the American Embassy.

  One of them was a tall correct Englishman named Maples, whose eyes held a skeptical gleam. One was an American newspaperman by the name of Briggs, who couldn’t keep the grin off his face. The third was a business-like woman in a mannish gray suit named Hulda Reynolds, and it was she who kept firing questions at the Colonel

  as they waited to enter the Embassy limousine.

  “I’m sorry,” Calder said politely. “You’ll just have to wait until we get there, Miss Reynolds. You’ll know about our monster friend soon enough.”

  “This wouldn’t be some kind of high-level gag, would it Colonel ?” The American correspondent lit a cigarette. “I mean, what the heck, Bug-eyed monsters and stuff; that’s funny-paper material.”

  “We didn’t think it was so funny,” Calder answered coldly. “Not when the thing almost killed a farmer up in Messina. Not when it tore out the throat of a dog. Not when we dropped a steel net over the beast, and had to knock it out with a jolt of electricity.”

  The answer silenced them, except for the Englishman. And all he said was “Astonishing . .

  When the car finally arrived, Miss Reynolds climbed into the rear and said:

  “But couldn’t you tell us about your side of the story, Colonel? About what Venus - was like?”

  “That will be part of the final summation report from Washington. But I’ll tell you this much. It’s a world out of a madman’s dream. Full of yellow dust clouds and desert and fog. You can’t see more than a few feet ahead of you, and then all you see is misty and blurred . .

  “What about gravity? Did you float?” Miss Reynolds giggled.

  “No, there’s hardly a difference. But it’s an eerie world; you never see the sunlight or the stars. I got the feeling that it was newborn, smoldering . . .”

  It wasn’t a long drive to the Rome zoo, but the atmosphere was moody in the limousine by the time they reached it, the correspondents strangely effected by the Colonel’s words. When they got out of the car, the American named Briggs recaptured his good humor, and grinned at the animals in their cages.

  “Been a long time since I went to the zoo. Never heard a lion roar in Italian before.”

  The sound of trumpeting caught their ear.

  “Or an elephant, either,” Briggs said. “Hiya, Jumbo.” He waved casually at the gray mammoth behind the huge cage. It lifted its trunk in salute.

  “This way,” Calder directed.

  They went around the elephant cage to the site of a smaller cage guarded by two armed Roman policemen. Colonel Calder led them through the gate to a door cut in the side of an enormous cement structure. There was another officer there, and Calder spoke to him briefly. He saluted, and pushed the door open.

  “What kind of place is this?” Miss Reynolds asked.

  “It’s the elephant house,” Calder told her. “It was the only place we could keep the beast. I think you’ll see why in a moment.”

  The sound of slow, labored moaning was constant in the large room they found themselves in. The correspondents didn’t remark upon the sound, until they saw its source.

  “Holy jumping—”

  “Incredible!”

  “A nightmare!”

  They stood in stunned silence before the gigantic, jerrybuilt wooden table about seven feet from the floor level, easily twenty-five feet long and twenty feet across. It was just about large enough to hold the monstrous beast that lay unconscious and moaning on its surface.

  A strong metal band girded the creature’s midriff and imprisoned him to the table, permitting the scientists and technicians in attendance to perform their mysterious and complex examinations of the creature’s body. One attendant, standing on a raised platform with three steps, maneuvered a block and tackle connected to a shining steel chain around the creature’s left wrist. He pulled on the device, and the creature’s great three-taloned hand rose into the air. Its right hand was chained to the table.

  They watched as the technician carried an electric wire, clamped by cathodes to the wrist of the beast, to a complicated control panel studded with illuminated dials and gauges. There were other such electrical boards around the room, winking and humming, incongruous in the elephant house of the Rome zoo. A small industrial Fork-Lift rolled across the stone floor.

  Dr. Uhl was at one end of the table, supervising the activity of the attendants. Several white-coated scientists, their faces absorbed, were employing a variety of instruments to the scaly hide of the oblivious beast. Among them, Calder recognized Dr. Leonardo, aided by his granddaughter Marisa. Her motions were sure as the Doctor murmured his instructions, but there was an elusive, light of horror and loathing in the girl’s eyes.

  It was Miss Reynolds who was first able to overcome her awe, and speak.

  “The—the size of the thing! It must weigh a ton!”

  Calder spread his hands.

  “And only eight days ago, the creature was only this tall. We’re not even cer
tain that the growth process is over yet.”

  The Englishman tugged at a suddenly tight collar. “How do you account for such an astounding rate of growth, Colonel Calder? Or is that normal on Venus?”

  “No, we don’t think so. Our scientists here believe that the Earth’s atmosphere has upset its metabolic rate. The more it breathes, the more tissue it builds—and the bigger it gets. Now if you’ll all come this way—”

  They hesitated for a moment, and then followed Colonel Calder closer to the scene of the activity.

  He directed them towards the rear of the great table, where the creature’s fantastic tail hung limply. The electric cable clamped to its hide was attached to a panel that was being carefully observed by a bristly-haired man of middle years. His eyes didn’t leave the spinning dials as the Colonel and the correspondents approached.

  “You may have heard of Dr. Hans Albert of Vienna,” Calder said. “He was flown here specially; probably the world’s top expert in anesthesia.”

  Dr. Albert glanced up, smiled shyly, and his gaze returned to the dials.

  “It’s the Doctor’s job to keep the creature unconscious during its examination. On Venus, we discovered that these animals are highly susceptible to electrical current. You will note the wire running to the creature’s wrist. Dr. Albert keeps eighteen hundred volts of electricity coursing through its body. More voltage and it would die —less and it would awaken.”

  “Amazing,” Miss Reynolds said, busily scrawling in her notebook.

  “You can have a closer look at the wrist connection this way.”

  Calder led them up the small stairway to the platform, upon which the technicians maneuvered the heavy equipment necessary to move the beast into position for study.

  There was a scientist directing the hoisting of the creature’s right hand, and the correspondents noted his Oriental features with interest.

  “Regular United Nations,” Briggs muttered. “Our friend from Venus should be flattered.”

  Two workmen in clean smocks- were passing a steel sling around a turbine, and attaching a huge iron hook. As the taloned right hand swung upwards, the newsmen looked in awe at the thickness of the dangling wrist.

  “You will be careful, please?” The Japanese scientist addressed the workmen courteously.

  “This is Dr. Koroku of the University of Tokyo,” Calder said quietly. “He is assisting Dr. Uhl, the civilian scientist in charge of the Venusian project.”

  “What’s the turbine for?” the Englishman asked. “Another attempt to pry secrets from the creature?”

  Dr. Koroku smiled. “We hope this electro-dynamometer will enable us to complete our examination of the aural passages.”

  Miss Reynolds poised her pencil. “Could you give us any statement on your progress so far?”

  The Japanese scientist looked at Calder, who nodded.

  “So far,” he said, “we have come to only one conclusion. The creature’s olfactory system is more highly developed than any known on this planet.”

  Calder said: “We’ll find Dr. Uhl on the other side of the platform. Maybe he’ll have something further to tell.”

  The creature’s labored breathing became louder as they moved timorously down towards the head of the beast. They saw Dr. Leonardo and his granddaughter, standing hard by its frightening jaws.

  “This is Dr. Leonardo, a prominent zoologist,” Calder said. “It was Dr. Leonardo who first had possession of the egg from which the creature hatched. The girl beside him is his granddaughter, Marisa. She’s—almost-a-doc-tor.” He grinned to himself, and Miss Reynolds looked at him sharply.

  “What was that, Colonel?”

  “Nothing. Let’s get closer and see what they’re doing.” They saw the girl hand the old man a beaker containing a clear blue liquid. He lifted the 100-cc veterinary syringe and hypodermic in his hand.

  “Sixty-seven cc’s,” Marisa said. “Correct?”

  “Exactly.” He poured the contents of the beaker into the syringe.

  “They’re feeding the creature,” Calder said in hushed tones. “It’s a compound of sulfur. Sulfur serves the beast as our vitamins serve us.”

  Miss Reynolds’ businesslike air was vanishing as she realized their proximity to the very head of the creature on the table. But just as her face was showing feminine horror, Marisa’s face was brightening as she spotted the approach of Colonel Calder.

  “Will you need me any more, grandfather?”

  “Eh? No, mi cara. Grazie.”

  She smoothed her hair and smock, and came towards the four spectators.

  Calder smiled at her. “Hello, Marisa.”

  “You caught me unprepared,” she said, brushing a cloud of sulfur powder from her hands. “I’ve been cooking over a hot creature all day . . .”

  “You look all right to me.” He drew her aside, letting the correspondents move on alone. “As a matter of fact, you look better every time I see you. Or is it the light in this room ?”

  She twisted her mouth wryly. “Maybe it’s the contrast. Next to that I look dandy. When you’re free, Colonel, I must tell you of my latest nightmare . . .”

  Calder looked towards the newsmen, who were separating around the table, gazing in fascination at the chained creature, their hands busily scrawling notes.

  “They’re doing okay. Let’s hear it now.”

  She looked at the floor. “It concerned a dark cafe—a small table—and a bottle of wine.”

  “And a burning candle?”

  She nodded slowly, and her voice became ominous.

  “The candle was burning lower, lower . . .”

  “No!”

  “Soon it will burn out!”

  Calder looked at his watch and grinned. “If we hurry, maybe we can find that dark cafe before it starts getting too late.”

  Marisa smiled back, and began untying the strings of her smock. “We can try, Colonel. I’ll go and change.”

  Calder turned to the correspondents as Marisa hurried off.

  “Now if you’ll come with me, Dr. Uhl is expecting us.”

  Reluctantly, the correspondents left the platform and followed the Colonel towards the main control board where Dr. Uhl waited.

  Calder introduced them, and Dr. Uhl said:

  “Colonel Calder informs me that you wish to hear about our guest from outer space. It’s hard to know where to begin.”

  Miss Reynolds prompted: “General McIntosh said it was important to learn how the animals survive the poisonous atmosphere of Venus.” She looked at Calder. “If they find out, Colonel— does this mean you’ll return ?”

  “Somebody will,” Calder answered. “Somebody must.”

  “If you’ll step over here,” Dr. Uhl said, “I can show you what we’re trying to achieve.”

  At a work table, he lifted a sheaf of reports.

  “We found that the creature’s respiratory system includes a sort of fibrous filtering element which blocks the poisonous vapors on the planet. Fortunately, we think we can duplicate that system almost exactly. With the help of this.”

  He picked up a spongy substance and handed it to Briggs.

  “It’s like a plastic sponge,” the newsman said. “It is made from one of the new synthetics,” the Doctor told them. “With this filtering agent as the heart of our new breathing apparatus, we believe that Man can survive the next expedition to the planet. Still, a great deal of testing quite naturally remains to be done.”

  Maples, the Englishman, said: “By the way, Doctor— there’s a rumor that gunfire has no effect on the beast. Why is that?”

  “Because the creature has no heart or lungs. Instead, it has a network of small tubes throughout its body. Hence small arms effect no damage. However, anything larger— canons, bazooka fire, that would finish him.”

  “Then he’s hostile,” Miss Reynolds said. “We’ll have to fight him for his planet.”

  “No!” Calder said sharply. “We encountered no hostility from the creatures on thei
r home world. It was only when the beast was transplanted, tortured, starved—that’s when the trouble started.”

  There was a sudden signal from the platform. They looked up to see Dr. Koroku gesturing at them.

  “Please,” he said loudly. “You will please step backwards ?”

  They moved aside as the great iron hook swung the electro-dynamometer across the roof of the elephant house. The cable grated and clanked overhead, and—

  “Look out!”

  A terrified voice called up from below as the chain, with gathering momentum, swung the equipment off its course, towards a network of dangling wires.

  “The cables! Look out for' the cables!”

  The result came instantaneously, blindingly. The turbinelike equipment struck the lines and a flash of white light illuminated the room, defining sharply the startled features of the occupants. Sparks flew from the short-circuited wires in a fiery shower. At the electrical board controlling the anesthetizing voltage, Dr. Albert shouted in alarm as the illuminated panel abruptly went black.

  “Short circuit!” he said piercingly. “The board is out—”

  The voltmeter swung down from 1800 to zero, and the board began to smoke.

  All over the elephant house, the lights blinked out, leaving only the haze of daylight glowing through the skylight. “The chains!” Calder yelled. “Watch that block and tackle!”

  The stunned attendants guiding the pulley mechanism that held the beast’s upraised right arm had ceased their activities as the lights went. Now they had lost control of their equipment, and the chain began to grind and slip.

  “Look out for the hand—” With a crash, the creature’s hand landed in a maze of paraphernalia on the platform, the reverberation knocking one of the technicians off his feet. Debris fell everywhere, but all eyes were watching the creature.

  “It’s coming around!” Dr. Uhl said.

  “Not yet,” Calder said crisply. “Everyone off that platform. Fast!”

  The correspondents were the first to obey, heading for the exits. Dr. Albert was still at the board, trying to coax life back into the dead controls, hopelessly spinning dials. The Colonel vaulted towards him and pulled him away from the useless machine.