IV

Beneath Art's flier swept the tumbled mountains of Ozark Park. Once

there had been people who lived there and actually eked a living from

cultivating those steep and stony hillsides. Long ago that had been

given up as impractical and unnecessary, however, and the whole region

had been turned into one vast national forest. It was covered from one

end to another with mighty timber, stocked in profusion with all kinds

of wild game. That is, it had been covered the last time Art saw it.

Now, the great trees lay tumbled about like so many match sticks, their

great roots gnawed away by blind, mindless creatures. There was not a

green thing in sight. A pall of smoke hung low overhead--great fires

were raging everywhere in the dry stuff. Man had no time to protect the

trees, when his own cities were being destroyed.

Art had just left Mexico City, and was headed for Chicago. There he

intended to introduce an experiment with which he had had some degree

of success elsewhere. He had constructed an ark of thick plastocrete,

into which the passengers could be hermetically sealed. Oxygen and food

were synthetically manufactured, enabling them to live without danger

from the unknown poison in the water. But in his heart, he knew that

this was a poor device, that there must be some simpler, more direct

solution. After the death of Haight, he had wanted to take one of the

Institute's ships, and blast off for Mars. He was sure that the savants

of that age-old planet could help. But Dr. Theller had been strongly

against this, in fact refused to permit it.

As he sped over the ruined forest, a grim look came over Art's face. He

had not seen Elene since the night of Haight's death, four days ago.

Since then he had been in the thick of the fight, as before. Elene had

been suspicious that the death of the British scientist had been no

accident, and had promised to investigate and keep in touch with him.

Her lovely face had appeared several times in his televisor screen,

during the first two days, although she had nothing to report except

that she loved him. But two more days had passed without a word. Art

could raise nobody at the laboratory. He frowned, and thought that he

had better have a look there, before he went on to Chicago.

Something caught his eye, below and ahead. There was a patch of

untouched forest, a little canyon that had not as yet been invaded by

the monsters that were ruining the surrounding country. There the huge

trees still waved, calm and unmolested. But there was something else,

something sharp and bright that had captured his attention. Yes, there

it was again--a tiny fleck of sky blue. The same sky blue with which

his ship, like all the fliers of the Interplanetary Institute, were

painted!

* * * * *

He swung around, and came down in a tight spiral. As he levelled

off, he saw a tiny figure, standing at the side of the wrecked ship.

It waved frantically, and no doubt shouted. Art settled gently in a

thicket of vining maple, and clambered stiffly out of his ship, as the

marooned pilot came running toward him. Great Glorious Galaxies! It was

Elene!

"Oh, Art, I don't know how you found me, but I'm so glad it's you,

darling," she sobbed in his arms.

"Elene, I wasn't looking for you--didn't even know you were lost!" he

exclaimed. "It's a miracle that I stumbled on you like this."

"But didn't Dr. Theller--no--of course he wouldn't--"

"How did you ever happen to crash _here_?"

"Dr. Theller sent me with Paul Hedrik, that new boy, you remember,

the nice blond one--to check casualty lists in San Francisco. We were

crossing the Park, at about thirty thousand, when we ran out of rocket

fuel. Well, that wasn't so serious, we could easily make a long glide,

and if we could find a place safe from these--worms--we could make a

helicopter landing. But Paul saw this little canyon dead ahead. It was

the only safe looking place for miles. That meant we had to come in at

a steep angle. He licked in the braking jets, hoping there would be a

little fuel left in the lines. There was. One of the jets was plugged

or something--it exploded back into the cockpit. Paul was killed

instantly. I was stunned. The ship was out of control, but I finally

came to and managed to make a crash landing somehow."

"Where's Paul's body?" Art asked.

"Still in there." She pointed to the wrecked flier. "My televisor was

smashed. I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in there. I made a

little camp over there by the creek. It was awfully cold, even though I

built a fire. But I wasn't frightened--I had my friends--"

"Your friends!" exclaimed Art. "Who--"

"Don't you see them?" she asked, pointing. And he did see what the

gloom of the forest had at first hidden from his unaccustomed eyes. The

leafy corridors were swarming with creatures. Deer, oppossum, raccoon,

bear, even a puma or two, all were gathered there in dumb resignation.

They knew with unerring instinct that they were trapped, that there was

no escape from this tiny island. They made no attempt to molest each

other, or the humans who such a short time ago had been their deadly

enemies. They drank occasionally from the little creek, but they did

not eat.

"You see, I couldn't be lonely," she continued. "It could even have

been fun, if I hadn't known that those millions of horrible little jaws

were out there in the dark, gnawing, gnawing. You can even hear them.

You can hear the big trees crashing down, all day, all night."

"Easy, honey--it's all over now. We're going to get out of here. We'll

get Paul's body, and--"

"But Art, don't you see what this means? If Paul hadn't forgotten to

fill the fuel tank, it we had had a full tank, we'd have been blown to

atoms when that jet exploded--it was only an accident that I escaped.

But that plugged jet was no _accident_--that was deliberate. Don't

you think it is strange that Dr. Theller shouldn't let you know when

I have been lost for two days? And that he was the only one besides

us who knew about Haight's discovery, and his coming to Washington,

and that the same accident happened to Haight? And what happened to

Denny? I tell you, there are all sorts of things about Dr. Theller

that are beginning to add up. From the very first he's occupied only a

passive role in this battle, done nothing whatever to help. He let that

specimen get away the first day, and has never had another in there for

analysis."

"What!" exclaimed Art. "No--Elene--it can't be. You don't know what

you're saying!"

V

"On the contrary, the young lady is quite right," came a deep bass

voice from behind him. Art whirled in sudden panic, reaching for his

electron gun. But what he saw froze him to immobility. A tall, gaunt

figure, its ebony skin decked with a harness of white plastic, in which

were set countless glossy black stones. The head narrow and acquiline

to the extreme, with huge, haunting black eyes. A Martian! And one of

the Greater Ring of scientists who governed the red planet, judging by

the trappings.

"You do not recognize me," chuckled the deep voice. "Why, I remember

you well. You came to Mars with Dr. Theller, let me see, June last

year, and November the year before, I believe it would be, according to

your calendar. They say we all look alike to Earthmen--but surely you

know Klalmar-lan. I was on the Committee both times."

"Of course I do," beamed Art, holding out his hand. "You had me a bit

rattled there for a minute. But you can't imagine how glad we are to

see you. Elene, meet Klalmar-lan. This is Miss Moor, my fiancee."

"Klalmar-lan," said Elene, "as Art has already told you, we are

immensely relieved to see you. We hope that you can help us rid our

planet of this scourge. Unless you do, the human race and every form of

animal life on Earth is doomed."

"I have the means of accomplishing that," he answered gravely. "For

how else do you suppose this tiny refuge has remained here, other than

through my doing?" They stood in amazement as he went on. "Furthermore,

I am rather ashamed of you, Art, for letting so many things which

should have been obvious to a man of your calibre, slip by you. But I

guess Theller did a pretty good job of covering up."

"How do you happen to be here in such an out of the way spot?" asked

Art.

"I had to have a hideout on Earth from which I could steal out and make

a few observations," the Martian explained. "And it's a good thing I

did, from what I hear. I arrived here from Venus yesterday morning,

about five--"

"Only a few hours before we crashed!" exclaimed Elene.

"Yes--the forest in this vicinity was just beginning to be attacked. I

landed on the side hill above here, and blanketed this canyon with a

choker ray. I didn't want to make it too noticeable--"

"Wait," Art interrupted, "how about this choker ray--that's the whole

thing--that's what we want to know!"

"I'll get to that," rebuked Klalmar-lan. "Anyway, I saw this ship

crash--but knowing it was one of Theller's, I had to be careful about

offering assistance. I have been watching Miss Moor and wondering if I

should have to protect her from all this vicious looking fauna which

you have here in such profusion. But I didn't dare trust her until

I heard her talk to you. My object was to contact some trustworthy

person here on Earth. Now that I've found you, I think we'd better

take off for Venus immediately. My ship is right up the hill above us.

Incidentally, I have a surprise there--an old friend of yours."

* * * * *

Mystified, the couple followed him through thick underbrush to the

space ship. They entered behind him and froze in astonishment. There,

lying on a bunk, white and still and swathed in bandages, was Denny!

"Don't be alarmed," Klalmar-lan reassured them. "I've got him under a

neural anesthetic. He's suffered a bad radium burn, but I think he'll

be all right. Should recover consciousness in a couple of hours."

Klalmar-lan was at the controls, and they were rising rapidly. The

little spot of green was visible through the rear port, falling away

behind them.

"I first met Denny on Venus, where I had been sent to watch for the

coming of Ghlak-Ileth, or Hell-worms, as we call them; for they

are no new experience to us Martians. Some three thousand Earth

years ago, they turned our once beautiful planet into a red desert,

almost exterminating our race. Three thousand years before that, our

astronomers had watched as uninhabited Mercury gave up its treasure.

According to all our calculations, Venus should have been next. When

I talked to Denny in his jungle camp, he informed me that he had

discovered remains of an ancient civilization on Venus.

"I knew then that something was terribly wrong with our theory--for we

had always considered Venus a very young planet, whose evolution of

life had not even produced a mammalian form, and would not for millions

of years. Now it seemed more plausible that at a remote age Venus was

inhabited by intelligent beings, perhaps more highly developed than

we on Earth or Mars, and that some great catastrophe wiped them out,

leaving survivors, the ancestors of the present day fauna.

"The answer," he went on, "was plain--the Ghlak-Ileth had already been

to Venus! In all probability, Earth would suffer the effect of the next

raid! Denny had started for Earth with his crew. I hurried to my ship

and followed him. About two hours out, my mass detector indicated the

presence of matter about ten thousand miles ahead, but moving _toward_

me. In a little while I saw it, approaching headon. A huge blob of a

ship, gleaming like quicksilver, shaped like a great flat-bellied slug.

The Ghosts of Outer Space had come again!"

"Hold it!" cried Art. "This is getting beyond me. Who are these--"

"We call them Ghosts, or Voornizar, because they bear little

resemblance to anything mortal, although they are terribly real. They

are the masters, the creators of these Hell-worms, whom they planted

countless eons ago on the planets of our Solar System. The impelling

energy of these Ghlak-Ileth, as with their masters, and in fact all the

machinery they use, is the disintegration of radium, of which they are

partially composed. They devour it for food.

"We believe that the Voornizar originate in some planetary system

far beyond the awful void which surrounds our solar family. Long

ago, they found their radium supply disappearing, and were forced to

wander in search of new deposits. They developed the Ghlak-Ileth in

their laboratories to do the work of removing the radium. They were

probably planted as tiny eggs or spores, each with an infinitesimal bit

of radium to furnish life energy. When the creatures hatched, their

instinct was to dig downward. As they went, they fed on radium and

other elements.

"Thus, ever growing and multiplying, they remained, finally absorbing

every bit of radium in the planet. After a fixed period, they became

imbued with the impulse to return to the surface. There they were

collected by the Voornizar, who returned at exactly the proper time,

to extract the radium for their own use. The period of three thousand

years is, we believe, the time necessary for a round trip from here

to the habitat of the Voornizar. However, it may be only the period

between meals--for time means nothing to them--nor do heat, cold or

lack of atmosphere affect them."

"How can we possibly combat such a menace?" asked Elene hopelessly.

* * * * *

"This time we Martians are ready," Klalmar-lan told them. "Before, we

were forced to resort to pitiful devices such as lead lined boats,

which shut out the deadly emanations of the _radon_ gas which seeped

to the surface from the Ghlak-Ileth on the sea bottoms. But now we

have developed a weapon--the choker ray, harmless to organisms like

ourselves, but able instantly to halt any sort of disintegration,

particularly radio-activity. It will stop the Voornizar instantly.

"As soon as I recognized this Voornizar ship, I let her have the

choker beam. She immediately lost headway, began to drift. I came

alongside and boarded her, being careful to put on a space suit, for

the Voornizar require no atmosphere, and would not be likely to have

the ship's interior conditioned. I found what I expected. There was not

a living creature, or moving piece of machinery aboard. I had heard the

fearsome Ghosts described many times, but these were the first I had

seen. Their silvery, amorphous bodies are said to glow with a blinding

white effulgence, but in death, these had turned to a dull leaden

hue. There were hundreds of them in the great ship, which seemed to

me mostly occupied by machinery with which to attract and grapple the

radium worms, and holds in which to store them.

"On an upper deck, I found a row of small staterooms, which I thought

wise to investigate. And well that I did, for my former presumption

that nothing lived on the ship was not quite correct. That was one who

_barely_ lived--"

"Barely is the word, my friend," came a weak voice from the bunk, "I

don't know what you did to those devils, but you sure stopped them in

their tracks."

Denny had recovered consciousness. The trio hurried to his side.

"So they couldn't quite kill you?" Art grinned down at the space pilot.

"Weren't trying!" replied Denny briefly. "They seemed interested in

the discoveries I'd made on Venus. Had the nicest ways of getting

information; simple, too. All they had to do was touch my skin and I

got a radium burn."

"You must have passed out just after I used the ray on them,"

Klalmar-lan commented. "But how did they get you in the first place?"

"Just slipped up behind us, showing a friendly signal, and slapped

some kind of paralysis ray on us--went through the permirium hull and

everything. They came aboard--but only took me off. The rest of the

crew they left lying there, paralyzed. Then they just swung away a

few miles and disintegrated the whole works. That was pretty tough to

take--some of those boys had been to hell and back with me."

"They paid for that massacre," growled Klalmar-lan. "But that was only

one of their countless thousands, perhaps millions of ships. I believe

that they have a huge base on Venus, from which they are preparing to

swoop down on Earth when the Ghlak-Ileth are ready. We will have to

locate that base. Then we will radio the Martian Fleet. We have half a

million ships, armed with choker rays and disintegrators. Long have we

prepared to seize the treasure of Venus, and at the same time revenge

ourselves on our ancient enemy. Speaking for the Greater Ring," and

he drew himself up proudly, "I can promise you that we will fight as

fiercely to save your race from extinction, though there be no gain, if

it will in some measure alleviate the great wrong we have done you in

leaving you unwarned and unprepared."

* * * * *

"Thank you, Klalmar-lan," answered Denny simply. "However, I've got to

warn you--there's something rotten on our side of it. Those _Things_

spoke English--and had a pretty fair knowledge of Earth science and

Earth affairs."

"Yes, we know where the rotten spot is located," replied Klalmar-lan.

"He's been building up a machinery against us for some time, unknown

to some of you who worked nearest him. Got away with several of our

secrets, too--the force field, for one--"

"The force field!" ejaculated Art. "That's how he got Haight! Remember

that night, Elene?"

"Of course," she cried. "Haight had found the secret of the Ghlak-Ileth

and their high radium content."

"Yes," agreed Klalmar-lan, "and that secret Dr. Theller knew he must

suppress at all costs. The force field he no doubt projected as a beam

through some hidden port in the laboratory roof. Playing it about like

an invisible searchlight, he met the incoming flier with a barrier as

effective as a stone wall."

"The Voornizar must have contacted him long ago, and made some kind

of deal--probably offered him all the radium he could use," mused

Art. "I would guess that he planned to establish a new laboratory

on Venus--that's why he was so interested in that city you found,

Denny--interested enough to discredit your story on Earth, and order

you held by the Voornizar!"

"And to go a step farther," interjected Klalmar-lan, "I will wager that

we find the Voornizar's base not so far from that city."

"What ghastly treachery!" gasped Elene. "To betray his own Mother Earth

to annihilation. Already millions have died--"

Art, watching her, saw her freeze in silence. He tried to glance at the

others, but his eyeballs would not move in their sockets. He tried to

move; his whole body was gripped in a rigid paralysis! There was utter

silence and stillness in the hurtling ship. Art's thoughts were racing.

What fools they had been, flocking around Denny's bunk when he came

to. They had totally neglected to watch the control panel, where the

mass detector would have warned them of an approaching ship. Now they

had been surprised and seized with the same deadly paralysis that had

trapped Denny before.

The air lock swung inward. None of the four were surprised to see Dr.

Theller step through the port, keeping a careful distance between

himself and the two grotesque monstrosities who followed him. Theller

was without space suit or arms. Art stared with horrified fascination

at the two Voornizar. The dazzling, white hot radiance that ceaselessly

flowed from them made it difficult to identify their form. They seemed

to have none; yet they could take any shape. Fundamentally, they

were a tube about a foot in diameter and some seven feet high. They

had a slit-like mouth near the top, and a huge crystalline eye which

surmounted their exact top. They seemed to favor a bilateral form,

although the number of pairs of arms appeared indeterminate. But as

Art watched, above each slit mouth appeared a huge beak nose and above

this, deep, staring sightless hollows. A horrible caricature of a human

face! Demoniac laughter came from the lipless mouth of one!

* * * * *

"So you pitiful Martians had a weapon that would stop the Voornizar!"

it boomed. "You fool, did you not know that we are immortal? Only when

we lack radium can one of us die--and then, he only suspends animation

until sustenance can be brought. I know not the principle of the thing

you fashioned, although its effect is to halt radio-activity. Think

ye that would kill us?" The thing's laughter roared. "We merely lay

inert--waiting only for the next contact with a living Voornizar or

any bit of active radium, to set our life process in motion once more.

Think ye that you can fight a million mighty ships with such a harmless

weapon?

"Had you known that the transport you captured carried me, Dwalbuth,

mighty Shan of the Voornizar, you might not have so carelessly left us

drifting in space, to be found and revived by Dr. Theller."

"Before we release you from the paralysis," spoke up Theller, "I want

to tell you that resistance is futile. These people can project, from

that single eye, a ray of any frequency, ranging from ultraviolet to

infra-red, and would have no trouble in burning you to a crisp in a

fraction of a second. Also, as Pilot Denny has reason to know, their

slightest touch will cause a severe burn." He searched Denny, still

lying on the bunk, found nothing. He removed Art and Elene's electron

pistols. From Klalmar-lan's belt he took the choker ray gun, gave it a

contemptuous glance, and flung it squarely in Klalmar-lan's face, just

as Dwalbuth flicked a bluish light from a tiny torch over the four,

releasing them from the paralysis. Klalmar-lan caught the gun, staring

down at it with dumb despair and sick disappointment written all over

his handsome ebony face.

"We'll put them in my ship," said Theller, motioning them toward

the lock. Denny rose and hobbled painfully along with them. "The

Earth people I can use for helpers, if I can educate them to the

practicability of such a course; the Martian I will destroy, after I

have wrung from him a few of the secrets I need for my conquest of his

planet."