_Nine_
The sun rose high in the sky as the _Esperance_ returned to the wharf.Davis went ashore and held lengthy conversations with Manila byshort-wave radio. The biologists essayed to investigate the squid. _LaRubia_ still attempted to catch fish. All efforts seemed to tend towardfrustration.
When Terry walked over to see his victim at close range, he found thebiologists balked by the mere huge size of the squid. There wereliterally tens of tons of flesh to be handled. Squid have no backbone,but a modified internal shell is important to biologists for study. Thebiologists wanted it. The gills needed to be examined, and theirposition under the mantle noted, and their filaments counted. Thenervous system of the huge creature must have its oddities. But theactual preservation of the squid was out of the question. The merehandling of so large an object was an engineering problem.
Terry consulted the frenziedly swearing Capitan Saavedra, who was readyto weep with sheer rage as he contemplated torn nets, and fish he couldnot capture. Squids were an article of commerce. Terry took the Capitanto view this one. His crew would help the biologists get at thescientifically important items, and for reward they would have the restof the giant--more than they could load upon _La Rubia_. This would maketheir voyage profitable, and the Capitan would have the opportunity totell the most stupendous story of his capture and killing of the giant.With the evidence he'd have, people might believe him.
Presently, the crewmen of _La Rubia_ clambered over the monster, hugeknives at work under the direction of the men from Manila. There wasbitter dispute with the tracking station cook, who objected to the useof his refrigeration space to freeze biological material before it wassent to Manila by helicopter.
In mid-afternoon the _Esperance_ left the lagoon again. Thesonar-depth-finder probed the depths delicately. The objects in mid-sea,it appeared, had been rising steadily. Their previous position hadaveraged twenty-five hundred fathoms deep. They were now less than twothousand fathoms down, and there were many of them. Unfortunately, the_Esperance_ was not a steady enough platform for the instrument. But afairly accurate calculation was made, and if the unidentified objectscontinued their ascent at their present rate, they would surface notlong after sunrise. Then what?
Increasingly urgent queries came by short-wave, asking for Dr. Morton'sexplanation of how he had computed the landing place and time of thelatest bolide. His accuracy was not disputed. But astronomers andphysicists wanted to be able to do it themselves. How had he done it?
Terry came upon him sitting gloomily before a cup of coffee in thetracking station. Davis was there too.
"I wish I hadn't done it," Morton confided. "It's one of those thingsthat shouldn't happen. It's bad enough to have a giant squid to accountfor. They tell me it's a new species, by the way. Never found or evendescribed before. One of the _Pelorus_ men tells me it's an immaturespecimen, too. It's not full-grown! What will a grown-up one be like?"
"I have a hunch we'll find out when those submerged giants reach thesurface," said Davis unhappily.
Terry said, "The one we killed couldn't get out of the water. I wonderif the adult forms can walk over the land!"
Davis stared. "Should we send Deirdre to safety on the _Esperance_?"
"Safety?" asked Terry. "On a boat? When a mass of bubbles from underseacould provoke such a turmoil in the water that no ship could stayafloat? That's how one ship disappeared. It might be the _Esperance's_turn next. Who knows?" Then he added, "There's no limit to the size of aswimming creature!"
A bald-headed member of the tracking station staff walked in. Hecarried an object of clear plastic. It was a foot and a half long, aboutsix inches in diameter. There was an infinite complexity of metallicparts enclosed in the plastic.
"I caught one of the fishermen making off with this," he said in a flatvoice. "It was fastened to one of the squid's shorter arms. Thefishermen didn't want to give it up. The skipper claimed it astreasure-trove."
He put it down on the table. Davis, Terry and Morton looked at it. ThenMorton shrugged his shoulders, almost up to his ears.
"The intelligent being that made it," said Davis, "apparently came downfrom the sky in a bolide. That's easier to believe than that a submarinecivilization of earthly origin lives down in the depths. But why wouldanybody prefer the bottom of the sea to--anywhere else on earth? Wherewould such a creature come from?"
Deirdre walked in and stood by the table, watching Terry's face. Thebald-headed man said, "I could believe some pretty strange things, butyou can't make me believe that a creature can develop intelligencewithout plenty of oxygen. There's not much free oxygen at the bottom ofthe sea."
"But there's something intelligent down there," said Davis doggedly. "Ifit has to have free oxygen, you've only raised the question of where itgets it. Maybe it brings it."
Deirdre shook her head. "Foam," she said.
The four men stared at her. Then Terry said sharply, "That's it! On the_Esperance_ there's a picture of a huge mass of foam on the sea. A shipdropped right out of sight right into it. Deirdre found the answer!Something down below needs free oxygen. In quantity. Why not get it fromthe water? What to do with the hydrogen that is left? Let it loose!It'll come to the surface, make a foam-patch...."
Dr. Morton said with a sort of mirthless geniality, "I add a stroke ofpure genius! Davis just asked what would be the origin of a creaturewhich preferred the depths of the sea to any other place on earth.What's to be found down there that's missing everywhere else? Cold? No.Moisture? No. Just two things! Darkness and pressure! At the bottom ofthe Luzon Deep the pressure is over seven tons to the square inch.There's no light--I repeat, none--below three hundred fathoms. Down atthe sea-bottom it's black, black, black! Now, where in the universecould there be creatures capable of riding down here in a bolide, and inneed of an environment like that?"
Terry shook his head. He remembered seeing a book on the solar planets,in the after-cabin of the _Esperance_. He hadn't read it. The others onthe yacht must have.
"How about Jupiter?" asked Deirdre. "The gravity's four times theearth's, and the atmosphere is thousands of miles thick. The pressure atthe surface should be tons to the square inch."
Morton nodded. With the same false geniality he added, "And there'll beno light. Sunlight will never get through that muggy thick atmosphere!So we consider ourselves to be rational beings and guess that thebolides come from Jupiter! But I must admit that the last bolide washeaded inward toward the sun, and from the general direction of Jupiter.So-o-o-o, do we warn the world that creatures from Jupiter aredescending in space ships and are settling down under water, at a depthof forty-five hundred fathoms? Like hell we do!"
He got up and walked abruptly away.
"I ..." said the bald-headed man, shaking his head incredulously, "willput this gadget away and go back to carve some more squid."
"I'll talk to Manila," said Davis drearily. "Something is coming up frombelow. There shouldn't be any ships allowed to come this way until wefind out what's happening."
Deirdre smiled at Terry, now that they were alone.
"Have you anything very important to do just now?"
He shook his head.
"If the things that are coming up are--space ships, we can't fight them.If they're anything else, they can't very well fight us. If we wanted toattack something at the bottom of the sea we'd have to fumble at thejob. We wouldn't know where to begin. So maybe, if a submarine powerwants to attack at the surface of the sea, it may find it difficult,too."
He frowned. Deirdre said, "Let's go look at the sea and think thingsover!"
She very formally took his arm and they walked out. Presently, theystood on the white coral beach on the outer shore, and talked. Terry'smind came back, now and then, to how inadequate his previous guessesabout the impending menace had been. It seemed now that the menace mustbe much worse than he had imagined. But there were many things he wantedto say to Deirdre.
As they talked, they were disturbed. The helicopter, which had leftb
efore noon loaded down with biological material for Manila, wasapproaching again. It landed by the tracking station. Then they werealone again.
When night fell, they were astonished at how quickly time had passed.They went back to the station. The helicopter was on the ground. Thebiologists had stopped their work, exhausted but very excited by theirdiscovery of a new species of squid, of which an immature specimenmeasured eighty feet. It had offered extremely interesting phylogenicmaterial for the Cephalopoda in general. The photographs they'd takenwere invaluable, from a scientific viewpoint.
The crew of _La Rubia_ had returned to their boat. The _Esperance_ hadbeen out beyond the reef once more. The unidentified objects were stillrising. They had risen to less than a thousand fathoms from the surface,well before sundown. At this same rate of rise, they should reach thesurface some time after midnight. What would happen after that?
"What will happen depends," said Terry, "on how accurate theirinformation about us is. It depends on their instruments, really. Isuspect their ideas about us are weird. I find I haven't any ideas aboutthem."
At dinner, Davis said worriedly, "I talked to Manila. The mine layerthat was in the Bay left harbor yesterday. The flattop picked it up byradio and they're both going to come on here tomorrow. I had to talkabout the foam. They weren't impressed. The squid does impress them, butthe foam--no. I hate," he said indignantly, "to try to convince peopleof things I couldn't possibly be convinced of myself!"
They talked leisurely. Somebody mentioned _La Rubia_. It had been moreor less expected that her skipper would turn up for drinks andconversation again. But he hadn't. The conversation turned to theplastic objects. They might or might not pick up sounds. It was notlikely they'd respond to light. Certainly, complete images would bemeaningless to creatures who had evolved in blackness and without asense of sight. They might respond to pressure-waves, such as are knownto be picked up by fish when something struggles in the water, eventhough man-made instruments have not yet detected them. They mightfurnish data of a sensory kind that is meaningless to humans, aspictures would be to Jovians. _If_ there were such things....
"Why argue only for Jupiter?" asked Deirdre. "Venus is supposed to bemostly ocean. There could be abyssal life there."
The crew-cuts joined in the argument, but tentatively, because therewere many experts present.
Midnight came. The open sea outside the reef showed nothing unusual. Thewaves glittered palely at their tips. There were little flashings in thewater where an occasional surface fish darted. The stars shone. The moonwas not yet risen.
Two o'clock came. The _Esperance_ people were divided. Terry and Daviswere too apprehensive to sleep. Deirdre'd gone confidently to the yachtto turn in. The crew-cuts slept peacefully, too. Davis said uneasily,"I've got a feeling that the ... objects are at the surface, or veryclose to it, but that they simply aren't showing themselves. I thinkthey're lying in ambush. The squid that was killed must have had troublegetting into the lagoon. They probably won't try to get the big ones in.They'll wait...."
Terry shook his head.
"We killed that little one--save the mark!--and its death was probablyreported in some fashion. So maybe they'll use the big ones on thesurface as bait for another kind of weapon. Foam, for example. We knowhow a ship simply dropped out of sight, as if into a hole."
"I know!" said Davis drearily. "I told the flattop about that. But Idon't think they really believe it."
At two-thirty Davis and Terry went down to the yacht. They stood on thedeck. They kept watch by mere instinct. There was no activity anywhere.Faint noises were coming from _La Rubia_. Maybe her crew was repackingthe hastily loaded masses of squid-flesh. The last-quarter moon rose atlong last, and shone upon the glassy-rippled water of the lagoon.Star-images danced beside its reflection.
A little after three, quite abruptly, the Diesels of _La Rubia_ rumbledand boomed. The dark silhouette of the ship headed across the lagoontoward its opening. Terry swore.
"She lifted her anchor without making a noise," he said angrily. "Herskipper wants to get to Manila with his catch before it spoils!Damnation! I told him not to leave without warning. Anything could bewaiting outside!"
He raced for the shore and the outboard motorboat. Davis shouted downthe forecastle and pelted after him. Terry had the outboard in the waterby the time Davis arrived. He jumped in and pulled the starter. Themotor caught.
The outboard went rushing across the water. Its wake was a brilliantbluish luminescence.
The booming of the Diesels grew louder. Capitan Saavedra thought he hadput over a fast one on _los americanos_, who had moved the fish fromwhere he regularly captured them in vast quantities and gathered them ina lagoon where his nets tore. They had given him most of a monstersquid, true, but they had reserved certain parts for themselves. Theywere undoubtedly the most valuable parts. So when labor officiallyceased at sundown, _La Rubia's_ skipper only pretended to accept theidea. In the last hour his crew had quietly completed loading _La Rubia_with squid. They'd been carefully silent. They'd lifted anchor withoutnoise. Now _La Rubia_ headed for the lagoon entrance, heavy in the waterbut with precise information about what coral heads needed to be dodged.She had on board a cargo history had no parallel for. Her skipperexpected to be rewarded with fame, as well as cash.
When the outboard motor rushed toward _La Rubia_, Capitan Saavedrazestfully gave his engines full throttle. When the racketing, roaringmotorboat arrived beside his ship, and Terry shouted to him to stop, hechuckled and drove on. In fact, he left _La Rubia's_ pilot-house to wavecheerfully at the two men. They frantically ran close and shouted to himabove the rat-tat-tatting of their own motor and the rumble of hisDiesels.
_La Rubia_ reached the lagoon entrance with the smaller boat close ather side, and Terry still shouting.
But Capitan Saavedra did not believe. Maybe he did not understand.Certainly he did not obey. Ocean swells lifted and tossed the motorboat.It became necessary to slow down, for safety. But _La Rubia_ wentgrandly on, into the open sea.
"We can't force him to stop," said Davis in a despairing voice. "Hewon't. I only hope we're wrong, and he gets through!"
The outboard stayed where it was, and swells tossed it haphazardly. _LaRubia_ switched on her navigation lights. She drove zestfully to thesouthward. She sailed on, dwindling in size, as the drone of her Dieselsdiminished in volume.
Looking back, Terry saw the _Esperance_ approaching from the lagoon,dark figures on her deck. Terry shouted, cries answered him, and the_Esperance_ came to a stop as the motorboat drew alongside.
Terry and Davis scrambled to her deck while one of the crew-cuts led thesmaller boat astern and tethered it.
"We're safe enough here," Terry said bitterly, "and since you've come,we can stay and watch if anything happens. If only she keeps ongoing...."
But _La Rubia_ did not. Her lights showed that she had changed course.She changed course again. Her masthead light began to waver from side toside. She wallowed in such a way that it was clear she was neither oncourse nor in motion any longer.
Nobody gave orders, but the _Esperance's_ engine roared. The action fromthis point on became an automatic and quick response to an emergency.
The schooner-yacht plunged ahead at top speed. Terry switched on therecorder and the ultrapowerful sound projector. Davis bent over thesearchlight. Two of the crew-cuts readied the bazookas.
Suddenly, a flare went off on _La Rubia's_ deck. Her stubby masts andspars became startlingly bright. Screams came across the waves, evenabove the growling of the surf and above the noise of the _Esperance's_engine.
The flare shot through the air. It arched in a high parabola, bright inthe sky, and fell into the sea. Another flare was ignited.
The _Esperance's_ searchlight flicked on. A long pencil of light reachedacross the waves as she raced on. More screamings were heard. Anotherflare burned. It arched overside. The _Esperance_ plunged on,shouldering aside the heavier waves of open water.
A half-mile. A quar
ter-mile. _La Rubia_ wallowed crazily, and moreshrieks came from her deck. Then the fishing boat seemed to swing.Beyond her, a conical, glistening and utterly horrifying monsteremerged, a mere few yards from her rail. Enormous eyes glittered in thesearchlight rays. A monstrous tentacle with a row of innumerablesucker-disks reached over the stern of _La Rubia_.
Another flare swept from the fishing boat's deck in the direction of thegiant squid. It fell upon wetted, shining flesh. The monster jerked, and_La Rubia_ was shaken from stem to stern. Hurriedly, Terry pressed thepower-feed button, and the sound projector was on. Its effect wasinstantaneous. The monster began to writhe convulsively. It wasgigantic. It was twice, three times the size of the squid captured inthe lagoon. Terry heard his own voice cry out, "Bazookas! Use 'em! Use'em!"
Flaring rocket missiles sped toward the giant. Davis flung one of thehand grenades he'd manufactured. The yacht plunged on toward theclutched, half-sunk fishing boat. The hand grenade exploded against themonster's flesh. Simultaneously, the bazooka-missiles hit their targetand flung living, incandescent flame deep into the creature's body.Those flames would melt steel. They bored deeply into the squid, andthey were infinitely more damaging than bullets.
The creature leaped from the water, as chunks of its flesh exploded. Itwas a mountainous horror risen from the sea. As it leaped, it hadsquirted the inky substance which is the squid's ultimate weapon ofdefense. But, unlike small squid, this beast of the depths squirtedphosphorescent ink.
The beast splashed back into the sea, and the wave of its descent sweptover the deck of _La Rubia_. The fishing boat nearly capsized. But themonster had not escaped the anguish of its wounds. It fought the injuredspots as though an enemy still gnawed there. It was a struggling madnessin the sea.
The _Esperance_ swung to approach the half-sunken trawler, and Terrykept the searchlight on the turmoil. The beast knew panic. It waswounded, and the abyss is not a place where the weak or wounded can longsurvive. Its fellows would be coming....
They did. Something enormous moved swiftly under the sea toward thewounded monster. It could be seen by the phosphorescence its motioncreated, as it approached the surface. There was a jar, a jolt. Somepart of it actually touched the _Esperance's_ keel. The huge monstermoved ahead, but a trailing tentacle flicked up to what it had touched amoment before.
The ugly tentacle trailed over the yacht's rail. The rail shattered. Theforecastle hatch was wiped out. The bowsprit became mere debris whichdangled foolishly from the standing rigging.
The _Esperance_ bucked wildly at this fleeting contact. Nick fired abazooka-shell, but it missed. Holding fast, Davis flung a grenade. Itdetonated uselessly. It was then that Deirdre screamed.
Terry froze for an instant. There had simply been no time for him tothink that Deirdre might be aboard. It was inexcusable, but nothingcould be done now.
Tony had been knocked overside by the shock of the contact with thegiant, and was swimming desperately trying to follow the yacht and climbback on board. Terry flashed the searchlight about. He found Tony,splashing. The _Esperance_ swung in her own length while Terry kept thesearchlight beam focused. More shrieks came from _La Rubia_. Davis threwa rope and Tony caught it. They hauled him aboard, and the _Esperance_turned again to pluck away the trawler's crewmen.
There were unbelievable splashings off to port. Terry flung thelightbeam in that direction. It fell upon unimaginable conflict. Themonster that had passed under the yacht now battled the wounded squid.They fought on the surface, horribly. A maze of intertwining tentaclesglistened in the light, and their revolting bodies appeared now andagain as the battered creature fought to protect itself, and the otherto devour. Other enormous squids came hurrying to the scene. They flungthemselves into the gruesome fight, tearing at the dying monster and ateach other. There were still others on the way....
The sea resounded with desperate mooing sounds.
The _Esperance_ bumped against _La Rubia_. Frantic, hystericallyfrightened men clambered up from the deck of the sinking trawler to theyacht. As soon as they were aboard they implored their rescuers to headfor land, immediately.
"Get 'em all off!" bellowed Terry, in command by simple virtue of havingclear ideas of what had to be done. "Get 'em all off!"
The stout skipper of _La Rubia_ jumped over the yacht's rail. Withoutorders, the yacht's engine bellowed. The _Esperance_ turned toward theshore, which now seemed very far away.
Something splashed to starboard. The sea glowed all around it. Terrypoured the pain-sound exactly in that direction. The monster went intoconvulsions. The yacht swerved away to keep its distance. She raced on,past the spot where the giant flailed its tentacles insanely about. Itmooed.
The _Esperance_ raced at full speed toward the island. About a mileahead, the surf roared and foamed on the coral reef almost awash.
Back at the scene of the battle of monsters, there was a sudden break inthe conflict. One of the wounded giants broke free. It may have been theone the _Esperance_ had first attacked; perhaps it was another, whichmight have been partly devoured while still fighting.
In any case, one of them broke loose and fled, with the hellish packafter it. It is the instinct of squids, if injured, to try to find somesubmarine cavern in which to hide. The monster dived, and the otherspursued it. There was no opening in the reef barrier--not underwater.But there was an opening on the surface. The crippled beast had to finda refuge, or be torn to bits. It may have been guided by instinct, orperhaps the current flowing into or out of the lagoon furnished theclue. In any case, the fleeing creature darted crazily into the channelused by the _Esperance_ for passage. For a little way, it proceededunderwater. Then it grounded itself. Hopelessly.
And the pursuing pack arrived.
The sight from the _Esperance's_ deck was straight out of the worstpossible nightmare. Glistening serpentine tentacles writhed and flailedthe seas. They tore the swells to froth. The pursuers had flungthemselves savagely upon the helpless one. The gap in the reef wasclosed by the battling giants. They slavered. They gripped. They tore.They rent each other....
Terry saw a tentacle as thick as a barrel which had been haggled halfthrough and dangled futilely as its stump still tried to fight.
And more giants came. Terry shouted, and the _Esperance_ turned. Hecould see large patches of phosphorescence under the surface. Andsuddenly, he noticed that a few of them had swerved toward the_Esperance_. As they approached the sound-horn stung them. They wentinto convulsive struggling, as the sound played upon them, and theypassed the _Esperance_ by.
Davis found Terry beside the sound-weapon's controls watching the seawith desperate intensity.
"Listen," said Davis fiercely, "we're out at sea and we can't get backinto the lagoon! We'd better get away from here!"
"Across deep water?" demanded Terry. "That dangerous foam can come upfrom deep water, but maybe not from shallow water. We've got to stayclose to the reef until the flattop comes and bombs these creatures--ifit will ever come!"
Davis made a helpless gesture. Terry said crisply, "Get the 'copter tohang over the reef and report on the fighting there. Tell it to reportto the flattop. They may not believe us, but they may send a planeanyway. And if the ships come, they'll have to believe about the foam!Tell them to listen for it underwater. They've got sonar gear."
Davis stumbled away. Presently, the dark figure of Nick lowered himselfthrough what had been the forecastle hatch. Davis followed him.
Deirdre came over to Terry.
"Terry ..."
"I'm going to beat in the heads," said Terry, "of those idiots who cameafter your father and me without throwing you on the wharf first!"
"They'd have wasted precious time," said Deirdre calmly. "I wouldn'thave let them. Do you think I want to be ashore when you ..."
There was the faintest of palings of the horizon to the east. Terry saidgrimly, "I'm going to try to find a passage through the surf, to get youashore. I'm keeping the _Esperance_ in shallow water--inside thehundred-fathom line
--but I don't trust it. Certainly I don't trust aship to make you safer!"
"It's going to be daybreak soon," she protested. "Then...."
"Then we won't be able to see what goes on underwater," he told her."Those ... creatures down below are smart!"
There was a racketing, rumbling roar from the island. A light rose abovethe tree-tops. Presently a parachute-flare lit up. Then there wasanother, as if the men in the helicopter did not believe what they sawthe first time.
"Terry," said Deirdre shakily, "I'm ... glad we found each other, nomatter what happens...."
Davis came up from below.
"The flattop's only a few miles away. They're now proceeding at topspeed. The mine layer's following. They'll be here by sunrise."
* * * * *
Far away to the east, some brightness entered into the paling of thesky. A drab, colorless light spread over the sea. The ocean was a dark,slate blue. Swells flattened abruptly about a quarter-mile away. Terryaimed the sound-weapon and pressed the button. Something giganticstarted up, and the top of a huge squid's mantle pierced the surface.The giant leaped convulsively, high above the water, save for trailingtentacles. It was larger than a whale. It fell back into the sea with aloud splash, and moved away quickly.
Color came into the sky. The sun's upper rim appeared. Flecks of goldspread upon the sea.
Far, far away at the horizon a dark speck appeared. As the sun climbedup over the edge of the world, the speck turned golden. There was a mistof smoke above it. A plane took off from the ship. Another planefollowed.
Fighter planes flashed toward the island. One of them zoomed sharply,like a bird astonished at something it has seen below. It whirled andcame back over that spot. There was the rasping whine of a machine gun.Something like a giant snake reared up and fell back again. And now moreplanes appeared.
Sunrise was suddenly complete. Terry stared out over the sea. And hecould not believe his eyes, accustomed as he was to the highly unlikely,now. Giant squids were afloat at the surface. He saw one here, andanother there, and another, and another.... They were emerging by tens,by scores.
"They've been sent up," said Terry very grimly, "by an entity thatdidn't evolve on the earth. They're ... domesticated, in a way. They'rewatchdogs for whatever arrives in bolides that fall in the Luzon Deep.They are the reason for the shining circle of sea from which thousandsof tons of living fish were drawn down into the abyss. Thecreatures--the ... _ellos_ who listen to what fish and fishermensay--they keep these things as domestic animals. And they have to feedthem. Those mooings were the ... cries of these things waiting to befed. Try to imagine that, Deirdre! In the blackness of the pit, in theabyss at the bottom of the sea...."
A tentacle broke surface. Terry swung the sound-beam. A mantle rearedabove the waves. A bazooka-shell hit it. Something huge and stupid andmonstrous fought the impalpable thing that hurt it....
Davis approached.
"These," he said absurdly, "aren't the creatures who made the plasticobjects. Maybe we ought to try to open communication with their masters.Why should we fight? If we prove we can defend ourselves...."
"I suspect," said Terry, "that all intelligent beings think the sameway, intelligently. If we landed on another planet, on some part of thatplanet that the natives didn't use but we could, it wouldn't be sensiblefor those natives to welcome us! Trade with us, perhaps. But let ussettle down, no!"
There was a bomb explosion out at sea. A plane had dropped ahundred-pound bomb on a monster at the surface. The flattop was nowdistinct. Golden, almost horizontal sunlight struck upon it. Off to thewest a plane dived steeply, something dropped from it, and the planelevelled off. A three-hundred-foot fountain erupted from the surface.Then there came absolute proof that intelligence lay behind all this. Itwas not human intelligence, to be sure. Men are tool-using creaturesnowadays. They imagine robots for fighting, and nowadays they make them,but many centuries ago men ceased to try to use animals as combatants inwar.
The creatures under the sea had not. They'd send up giant squids to dobattle with men, as men once sent elephants against the Macedonian army.It was naive. But the generals, the tacticians, the strategists of theDeep did not remain wedded to the one weapon. Already, they saw thatbeasts could be fought by men. So their instruments of battle changed.Doubtless, orders were given, and five miles under the seasomething--something men could not have duplicated--began thetransformation of seawater into gas, in quantities past imagining. Tiny,tiny bubbles were produced by some unguessable engine, and rose towardthe surface, in a steady stream. At the bottom they were under apressure of tons to the square inch. But the pressure lessened as theyrose, and as they rose they swelled. A bubble which was pinhead-size atthe sea-bed grew to be the size of a basketball a half-mile up, andwould have been the size of a house a mile up, except that then itseparated into smaller ones. They rose and rose and expanded andseparated. Five miles up from their origin, at little more thanatmospheric pressure, they made a rising column of insubstantiality. Atthe surface they became foam. But under the foam there was more foam,and under that still more. A ship sailing from normal ocean water intosuch airy stuff would drop like a stone into the miles-long cone ofsemi-nothingness. Nothing solid could float there. Nothing substantialcould rest its weight upon such rushing thistledown.
And the first of the bubble-weapons appeared at the surface in the formof a patch of foam. Its source--and hence the place of itsappearance--could be moved. It could be shifted under any ship, thoughthere would be a time-interval, always, before the foam at the surfacewas exactly above the gas-generating engine below. It could be moved toanticipate the movements of a ship. But there was always that time-lag.
The _Esperance_ headed back toward the heap of monsters at the break inthe reef. Other giant squids emerged and joined the pack. A plane cameover and bombed it. The _Esperance_ turned away. The mine layer fromManila appeared at the horizon. The flattop made a sudden violent turn,and more foam appeared upon the water. It curled and writhed and piledup to be ten--twenty--thirty yards in height.
The flattop fired a shell into it. There was a gigantic flash and flame,and for an instant there was no foam, but only peculiarly pock-markedocean surface, instantly covered by more foam which piled up as before.
"Gas," said Terry grimly. "Hydrogen. You guessed right, Deirdre!"
Now the flattop shot off plane after plane, as if they were projectiles.They swung in the air and flew low to drop bombs in the now wabbling,moving, sweeping patch of white stuff. It was a huge discoloration ofthe ocean surface. It was almost in diameter as the flattop's length.Now the carrier dodged it warily.
There were dull concussions everywhere. Giant squids writhed indeath-agonies. White foam-patches appeared here and there--but somehowhaphazardly--as if fumbling for the ships. One patch swept close to _LaRubia_, and that small derelict seemed to tremble. And then the fishingboat touched the very edge of the white stuff, and was engulfed in it.She vanished instantly, as if she had fallen into a hole in the sea.When the foam-patch passed on, the sea was empty.
The effect of the foam, actually, was that of a gigantic, slavering,blind gullet straining to devour. It moved erratically over the surface.Terry called to Deirdre, "Have Nick tell the flattop that the foam onlycomes up from deep water. If they can get inside the hundred-fathomcurve they're safe! Maybe even five hundred. Maybe more. But the foamonly comes up from deep water!"
The mine layer came on from the horizon at topmost speed. Apparently,they had received warning from the carrier, because the ship suddenlybegan to zig-zag. The carrier itself adopted the unpredictablechange-of-course system which had been originally designed to frustratesubmarines lying in wait. Both ships adopted it just in time. A raveningarea of foam appeared directly before the mine layer's bow just as sheturned aside. The mine layer dumped a mine. Terry saw it go overboard.But it would have five miles to sink before it hit bottom.
Terry called Davis and jerkily explained that the mines
would have to bearmed when they went overboard--set so that they would explode when theyhit bottom. He explained that depth-bombs might be useful againstsquids, but if they went off at a fixed depth they would be harmlessagainst the enemy which deployed the squids.
The carrier, in the middle of a ninety-degree zig-zag turn, found herbow projecting into a foam-patch. The bow sank deep. The carrier'spropellers were out of the water as her bow pointed downward. Had thefoam stayed still for two seconds, the carrier would have slid into thecolumn of gigantic ascending bubbles and plunged to destruction. But thefoam swerved sidewise.
The carrier escaped, and was infinitely cautious after that. She madeshort, swift, unpredictable dashes this way and that.... Heranti-aircraft guns rumbled and rattled at things upon the surface.Presently, her depth-finder discovered an underwater extension of theisland's mountain-foundation, and the ship took refuge where the waterwas less than a hundred fathoms deep. There she lay, shooting off planesand retrieving them, her guns flashing at whatever targets appeared.
Twice, as it happened, snaky, monstrous arms flung themselves up andheaved at the flattop as if the giant squids hoped to overturn even anaircraft carrier by their weight. But those arms were blasted tonothingness. The only damage they did was that a twenty-foot section oftentacle--writhing independently on the flight-deck--broke thelanding-gear of a returning plane which collided with it.
The mine layer ploughed across the sea. From time to time she heavedsomething overboard. Nothing seemed to happen. But each mine was,nevertheless, so adjusted that it could explode any time it touchedsomething underwater. They did not allow the usual time so that the minelayer could get away. The mine layer had ample time, because the mineshad to go slowly spinning down five long miles to the bottom of theLuzon Deep.
Twenty mines went down before the first one detonated. The concussionwas felt on the _Esperance_, twenty-seven thousand feet up and inshallow water. Then another, and another, and another. The mine layercontinued to sow her destructive seed. Far behind her, a monstrousspouting of gas and spume rose up hundreds of feet. There was anotherconcussion, and another....
The _Esperance_ quivered, and Terry said grimly to Deirdre, "We set offfive pounds of explosive down the Deep, and the bathyscaphe returned allsmashed. What will the creature do now? I wish we could get some minesdown to the bottom there!"
Davis came up, beaming--but shaking.
"The carrier's sending some planes down to drop eggs at the spot wherethe fish were dragged down!" he said zestfully.
Gigantic, terrifying masses of gas leaped skyward where the gasesreleased by the exploding mines finally reached the surface. The minelayer zig-zagged, and dropped a mine. She zig-zagged again, and droppedanother. Presently, she took refuge beside the carrier. The _Esperance_drove over and came to a stop between the two armed vessels. Someoneshouted down by megaphone from the carrier's deck, "What happened toyou? What hit your bowsprit?"
Terry shouted back, "You shot those beasts. We've been wrestling with'em!"
An enormous eruption of gas.... Then the underwater ear began to emit anunprecedented sound. It was a rushing sound, but it was only vaguelylike the noise of whatever had come up from the depths last Tuesdaynight. This was powerful beyond imagining.
"Something's coming up!" roared Terry. "Better alert for a real fightnow!"
Deirdre said with a little gasp, "The real creatures are coming up!Terry! The ... things that come in the bolides...."
He said savagely, "They've been shaken up badly by the concussionsunderwater. They resented five pounds of explosive! There's been fourhundred pounds in every mine! If they try to fight after what they'vetaken down below...."
The rushing sound from underwater was a loud, throbbing hum which had norelationship with the humming sound that drove fish. Two spoutings ofgas from mine-explosions shot up. There were more concussions in thewater.
Then something broke surface. It was huge, and looked like a rocket. Itleaped. No, it dashed upward, toward the sky. It flashed skyward,accelerating as it rose. Something else broke the surface and headed forthe heavens. This one was globular.
There were dull concussions coming from far underwater, and more rocketsbroke surface and shot skyward.
Anti-aircraft guns were fired. Shell-bursts came close, but not closeenough. Not less than twenty enormous rockets leaped out of the waterand shot up toward the sky. Some observers claimed there were more thanthirty. Down to southward, where the bathyscaphe had been crushed, theplanes that were dropping mines reported that four other objects brokeloose from the ocean and fled for empty space at speeds too great to beestimated.
Terry looked suddenly astonished.
"But ... of course!" he told Deirdre. "When you need high pressure, ofcourse you've got a weakness. You can't take concussions! Anythingunderwater is completely vulnerable to bombs! Whatever was down therehas found out that the natives--we aborigines--have a weapon they can'tface. Primitive stuff. Explosives! Chemical explosives! And creaturesthat can travel between planets and undoubtedly have atomic powerand--who knows what else--can't fight back if we drop submarine mines onthem!"
A last object broke surface and hurtled skyward. Behind it, deep, deepdown, there was a titanic explosion.
"Ah!" said Terry. "That was a time-bomb! They've gone home for good!"
* * * * *
A task force of a private yacht, a fishing boat, a satellite-trackingstation, an airplane carrier and a mine layer had driven off an invasionof earth. But the public could not be told that the earth had beeninvaded. The people who had been involved in this secret adventure hadto be satisfied with the realization that they had saved mankind.
After a jubilant dinner Terry and Deirdre sat in the veranda.
Davis came out. He blinked at the night.
"Deirdre? Terry?"
"Here," said Terry.
Davis joined them. They had drawn apart a little.
"Good news by short-wave," said Davis. "Those rockets were picked up byradar. They divided into two groups. One headed sunward. The otherheaded for deep space. My guess is Venus for one group and Jupiter forthe other. They couldn't have come from Mars. But they've gone home.Both groups."
Terry paused, and then said wryly, "Two races! Some of the bolides werebullet-shaped and some were globular. That figures. But two racescapable of space travel and both in our own solar system!"
Davis grimaced. "We've been talking about it. Our guess is that theVenus race developed in deep water, and therefore at high pressure. Andanything that developed on the solid surface of Jupiter would also beaccustomed to extremely high pressure."
Terry nodded. He was not exactly absorbed in what Davis had to say. Buthe said suddenly, "I make a guess. They didn't want to start a colonyhere. The sea-bottom here is too cold to be comfortable for the beingsfrom Venus, and far too hot to suit those from Jupiter. But both neededterrific pressure. In order to keep contact with each other, in order todo business, they could have set up a trading post here. To meet andtrade. Neither one could take over the earth. When you think of it, wecouldn't take over Venus or Jupiter! Maybe that's the answer!"
"Eh?" said Davis.
"We won't have to fight as planets," said Terry, "when we havespace-ships like they do. We couldn't gain anything by fighting. All wecan gain by is trade. They'll be pleased. It must have been horriblyinconvenient to have to set up a trading post here on earth. There werealways the natives, you know. Lately, they've noticed that we've beengetting restless. We have been. I imagine that now they'll wait for usto make space-ships and start up interplanetary trade."
Davis said, "Very true. There's going to be the devil of a mess, though.Morton will still have to explain the accuracy of his prediction aboutthe bolides' landings. I suspect he'll be censured for assuming anythingas unlikely as the truth has turned out to be."
Terry did not answer. Deirdre was saying something, and he did not hearat all.
"There are still loose e
nds," added Davis. "For instance, how do yousuppose they controlled those squids down below? What did they use foreyesight? How the devil would Jovians and Venusians agree on a meetingplace in our oceans?"
Terry answered what Deirdre'd said. She smiled at him. They'd forgottenthat Davis was there.
Creatures of the Abyss Page 9
