“But what do you intend doing?” Jus asked testily.
“I intend that we shall trap this unwelcome visitor and bend it to our needs. We will use the forces of the cosmos not only to save the life that will then be flourishing on at present unborn worlds, but also to provide our sun-desolated System with light and heat once more. Tonight I shall broadcast to the people and inform them of my plans for the future.”
* * * *
Within two hours every man, woman and child on the planet knew what was coming—and also what was proposed. By Valno’s orders, all normal work ceased and everything was concentrated into a mighty effort to get the populace underground and safely housed against the onslaught when it should come.
As come it did—inevitably, within the space of a year. But by this time everybody was below. They saw through the specially-devised screens the chaos taking place on the surface, ending in the planet being torn in half. The actual cleavage took only ten minutes, and in that time the populated half was hurled far away from the two raging suns and sailed into the comparatively cool darkness.
Still the chaos continued, and out of it—by the juxtaposition of the two suns—was born the Solar System, as yet only visible as streamers of flaming gas. It was at this point that the view of the exterior was cut off by Valno’s orders. The time had come for all to sink into suspended animation until that time, millions of years hence—when Genesis would again be abroad, this time to sail into a trap, if Valno’s mysterious scheme worked out as intended.
So, by degrees, the buried population began to relax into sleep. It became deeper—and ever deeper—until at last it was false death.
* * * *
Valno stirred slowly. The black abyss in which his mind had been immersed for untold ages began to resume life. Memories—ambitions—plans. They floated gradually into his returning consciousness. He was breathing. His heart was beating. He opened his eyes and raised himself on one elbow. In silence he watched a small army of robots moving efficiently amongst the vast machines, busy with their tasks of controlling the air and temperature regulators.
“It seems but yesterday,” he muttered. “Yet no less than three thousand million years must have elapsed! Genesis is returning.”
He got up stiffly, then turned as Jus came forward. He bowed as he beheld his ruler.
“Greetings, Valno: I have been revived for nearly an hour. The visi-screens reveal the people reviving everywhere, resuming their interrupted tasks. Many things have happened. Here and there some machines have broken down. However, no matter. There are scenes in the observatory I think you ought to see.”
“I’ll join you immediately.”
Valno turned to the stimulating apparatus, absorbed a given quantum of radiation, then accompanied the astronomer through a maze of warm, brightly-lighted passages to the observatory. In silence Jus motioned to the mirrors of the X-ray telescope. The lights dimmed. The two stood silent, surveying the scene.
“So, eight worlds,” Valno said finally. “Four large and four small, and between the orbits of the inner and outer groups lie the remains of Asta. That third world there! From its appearance it looks as though it might possess life.”
“It does,” Jus responded. “Of all these planets it is the only one with intelligence upon it. Comparatively inferior intelligence. Educated bipeds. See!”
He fingered the huge controlling switchboard. The third world leapt suddenly from a cloudy ball into a world of land and water, clouds drifting lazily in the atmosphere.
“You see?” Jus asked. “Cities—ocean-going vessels—airplanes. Here and there traces of war, an atavistic throwback. They understand radio and television. Our spatial radio system is successful in picking up their electro-magnetic waves. Naturally their language is odd.”
“The language expert will soon interpret it,” Valno answered absently. “I would rather like to know the reactions of these odd people to Genesis, when it comes.”
“I will attend to it, Valno. Meanwhile, the present facts concerning our System are these: we are four thousand five hundred million miles from the sun; we spin at a revolution of ten hours twelve minutes in relation to him. We circle him every five hundred years. The outer three worlds of our System are dead, being so far from the sun. They could come back to life if we could get warmth to the life spores.”
Valno smiled. “If my calculations are correct, my friend, we will have a sun again—that wanderer Genesis will be turned to good account. In fact, we have got to have him. We cannot forever live down here. The moment Genesis comes within telescopic range, advise me. In the meanwhile, have the language expert keep a close check on all radio messages exchanged on the third world. Tell him to record anything he thinks important. I’m anxious to judge the intellect of these people.”
Jus inclined his head, then after a final glance at the mirror Valno turned and went swiftly out.
* * * *
Once recovery was complete throughout the underground city, Valno gathered his people for action once more. He set them to work on the building of machines which were vast, even for Ixonia. Mammoth blast furnaces began to work ceaselessly, casting the moulds for machinery, the details of which were only known to Valno himself.
Most of the time he studied the behaviour of the condensed half of Ixonia, watched it proceeding on its three-hundred-year circuit of the far-distant sun, noticed the intricacies of its orbit—then he studied its relationship to rapidly-twirling Ixonia. He smiled at what he saw, smiled even more when his laboratory tests revealed that Ixonia possessed unlimited quantities of natural electric current, begotten of the time when for ages it had twirled on its leisurely way in comparatively close proximity to the now removed sun.
“Force and power, planet-sized,” Valno murmured. “It only needs to be harnessed—”
He broke off, surprised by the arrival of Jus. With his usual impassivity the astronomer placed a small sound-recorder on the bench and switched it on.
“Here, Valno, is an interpreted record of third world communications. You may find it interesting.”
“—and I say there will come a time when the very forces which brought our Solar System into life will return! That is inevitable because space curves in a perfect circle. Only one thing can prevent the return of the force or the star which tore filaments of gas from our sun, and that is some distant catastrophe which might destroy the wanderer completely. That chance is remote.
“That such a catastrophe occurred in the past is beyond cavil. We have the asteroids, the remains of a world far in precedence to ours. We have Pluto, a misfit on the remote edges of the System—a dense world obviously afflicted at one time by vast heat which, from the present position of the sun, could only have occurred by the presence of a hot body in outer space. Then again, we know today that the views set forth by Dr. Baade in 1931 are correct: Pluto is not a broken fragment or satellite of Neptune. It is the outermost world of another group of worlds beyond visual range.
“A System, my friends, that at one time had a sun. Maybe our sun. We have proof of other worlds by the strange perturbations of Neptune, outlined by Professor Lowell, and quite unaccounted for by the mere size of Pluto alone. There are other worlds beyond, but until we have enough telescopic power we shall never view them. None the less, we can assured that at one time these worlds had warmth. Pluto alone indicates that. What happened once can happen again, though I sincerely trust it will not be in the course of Man’s evolution—”
With a click the record ceased. Jus switched off and said:
“There was nothing else of importance, Valno. Clearly, these third-world people don’t know yet how accurate this astronomer of theirs is. Pluto? So that is what they have called the condensed half of our world. I wonder what they’ll do when Genesis becomes apparent to them?—which it will before very long. It is already visible to us because we’re nearer to it—”
“It is?” Valno interrupted sharply. “Then we must get to work at onc
e and swing Pluto round to act as a snare.”
Jus gazed blankly. “Do what?”
“This Pluto—as the third worlders call him—is practically equal in weight to our own half world here, is he not?”
“Certainly, but less in size. Contracted.”
“Exactly. For that reason it can be contracted to an even smaller size, turned into a tight-packed core of neutrons.”
“But how? And even if you accomplished it its weight would be just the same no matter how small you made it.”
“Quite so—unless a battering ram of neutrons were projected at it after it had been contracted. Then its weight would increase rapidly without much change in size. Am I right?”
“Well—yes, but where do you propose to get the enormous power necessary for such a feat?”
“I propose to use this half world of ours as a natural dynamo. I have been experimenting recently and, as I anticipated, it has huge stores of natural electricity at the North Magnetic Pole. To this pole swarm billions of tons of nickel iron, neutronic material of which the core of any world is fashioned. Now you see? Fields of force generated by this world’s natural spinning against ether, or space-time, or whatever it may be termed.”
“And you propose to tap this supply of energy?”
“That is what our workers have been engaged upon recently—constructing the necessary machinery. We shall be able to use this energy in whatever manner we wish and have an inexhaustible supply. At will we can project a beam of pure force, or of neutrons, or of compression.”
“True; but do you believe that dense matter can be compressed as easily as the more rarefied state?”
“Of course! In the long run, dense matter is not less compressible than rarefied matter, only its compression is more jerky. The apparent incompressibility of solids and liquids is due to the fact that the ridiculously small pressures science can produce are unable to get over the first jerk. With this new source of infinite power we shall accomplish it—place a controlling shell of energy around Pluto, then move him as far towards approaching Genesis as we can. Increase his weight until he is strong enough to drag Genesis aside towards him.”
“Then?”
“I see nothing to stop Pluto becoming the neutronic core of Genesis.”
Jus was silent for a while, then he shook his head doubtfully.
“I can only hope you’re right! Since the Computing-Room was destroyed we have no means of checking your reasoning.”
Valno laughed. “Pessimism, Jus! Figures cannot lie. We would merely have seen what I have outlined.”
* * * *
The visible reappearance of Genesis lent a spur to the activity of the Ixonians. The high-pressure work already in force was increased two-fold. Every member of the race was pressed into commission for the construction of the intricate machinery Valno had devised.
As fast as it was completed he and Jus took charge of the proceedings, accompanying armies of workers up the twenty-mile shafts-to Ixonia’s cold, airless surface, directing operations from within their transparent, air-tight tractors which wandered over the torn, rocky wastes which had once been fair countryside.
They set up their temporary headquarters at the North Magnetic Pole, which, since Ixonia revolved almost on its side, directly faced the vastly distant sun. Here the light was equivalent to two full moons on Earth. Pluto too, with his relatively high albedo, added his percentage of light, moving slowly across the star-dusted sky like a distended satellite.
By degrees, directly over the North Polar Cap, a fantastically large projector was erected, rearing nearly one thousand feet in to the ebony dark, strengthened and supported by mammoth girders sunk deeply into the rocks. From it, penetrating down into the underworld city, led the myriad cables for its controls, all leading back to the special laboratory wherein were housed power-magnets, transformers, incredibly complex induction coils, rectifiers and numberless other devices all essential for the tapping of the stupendous energy stored within Ixonia.
At last Valno was satisfied and returned below with his workers. A brief interval was granted for relaxation and stimulus, then he went direct to the power laboratory accompanied by Jus and a few of the more important members of the race.
Upon three sides of the power-room were X-ray television screens, all giving different aspects of the magnetic pole. One viewed the projector; another charted Pluto’s movement across a graded scale; still another was able to give a vantage point of any part of the heavens.
Moving to the control board, Valno raised his hand. Instantly forty attendant workers performed their tasks. Forty multiple switches slammed into position; engines thundered into life. Ixonia quaked to its depths with the impact of devastating energy probings.
His hands flitting over the major keyboard, Valno began his task, every move checked by Jus as he watched the small mathematical machines which balanced the figures. One slip and the elemental forces would blast Ixonia asunder. The din mounted. The electrical machinery became enveloped in a weird aura, a play of natural electric forces which was almost terrifying in its majestic promise of supernatural power. Then to the pre-calculated second Valno’s fingers suddenly raced across a higher set of keys. The power note changed and was converted into an electro-magnetic beam of inconceivable strength. It stabbed suddenly from the tower top and flashed out into space, invisible, traceable only by highly-sensitive instruments, hurling itself directly at Pluto.
The dense little world visibly staggered in its orbit under the terrific impact—but only for a matter of seconds. Again the power changed. Along the electro-magnetic beam surged another energy form—a binding globe of pure force, expanding as it hurdled the gap between worlds, until by the time it had reached Pluto its distension was over three thousand miles in diameter.
Within minutes the little world was ensnared within it, like a ball inside a soap bubble. Pluto ceased to obey the control of the distant sun and instead wavered loosely at the behest of the magnetic shackles holding it.
Slowly, straining under the colossal load, the movable head of the projector began to turn. The electro-magnetic beam and Pluto moved in consequence, starting the commencement of a vast circle round the heavens. Valno’s hands dropped from the switches. He snapped automatic controls into position and then smiled.
“So far we have succeeded,” he announced, satisfied. “Unfortunately, our planet has no bracing supports to hold it whilst Pluto makes this arc across space. Not that that will matter seriously. Our calculations show that we cannot shift more than eighty thousand miles out of position: also we have slightly heavier weight. Down here in this reinforced underground we’ll come to no harm.”
“What effect do you imagine Pluto’s removal is going to have on that other System?” Jus asked. “My calculations did not embody that factor.”
“Hardly any effect at all. It is not a major planet like its young giant neighbours. I doubt if its removal will even be felt, though, of course, it will be noticed that it is moving in the sky.” Valno turned to the language expert. “Resume contact with the third-worlders and notify me of their, reactions.”
The expert bowed and departed. Valno looked at the humming machinery.
“Whilst we wait through the weeks for Pluto to turn in an arc far enough to bring him directly in the track of Genesis we can begin the process of rejuvenation on the surface. Firstly we need the basis of our atmosphere, and new oceans—oxygen and hydrogen. Later we will add the nitrogen, argon and other gases. Release the valves on quarter pressure.”
He sat watching as the order was obeyed. The twin gases emerging from different giant storage cylinders began to filter up through pipes to the surface. Once there, the utter cold of space immediately froze them both into separate congealments. But by degrees, as Pluto drifted across the sky in the ether-beam grip, a solid carpet of basic atmosphere and water crept over the rocky crags of Ixonia, ever expanding, held to the planet by its gravitation.
&n
bsp; Later, when this carpet covered the globe—perhaps a matter of years at its slow, careful rate of progress—would come the other gases. Then, as Valno hoped, a free mingling under the warmth of a new sun. A new world. Life!
* * * *
For three months Pluto continued its travelling, crossing over from the side of the sun to the opposite side of the heavens. Then the force beam was gradually extended, forcing the dense planet further and further away into space at constantly mounting velocity, following a course timed to cross the path of approaching Genesis at a distance of eighty million miles, Ixonia’s former distance from the sun before the catastrophe.
Valno and Jus watched the progress of their captive with untiring vigilance, found considerable amusement in the recorded translations of third world broadcasts that were occasionally brought by the language expert.
“The third-worlders have actually come to the conclusion that intelligent life is guiding the destinies of Pluto,” Valno remarked with a smile, switching the machine on for Jus’s benefit. “Their imagination is profounder than I thought. They will be interesting indeed to watch as they evolve. Listen to this—”
“—and three months ago Pluto suddenly behaved like a madman’s world! It ceased to continue in its normal orbit. Instead it moved rapidly across the heavens and then started to recede from us. Now it is scarcely visible! It cannot be that k has been drawn by that deadly approaching star from space, otherwise other small bodies would have been affected too. Our only assumption is that life of an incredibly high scientific order exists somewhere beyond Pluto.
“Yet, even if that be so, it does not make our position any the less grave. In eighteen months that fast-approaching star will pass close by our sun. Creation will repeat itself. Unimaginable disasters will overtake us! Somehow we have got to have protection. Descend into the earth, build shelters, do everything that can be done.”
The John Russell Fearn Science Fiction Megapack Page 62
