"Simple--a disintegrator. Result, the disintegration is only begun,
when it is cut off. No explosion. Only a few elements in the victim
begin to go, but the molecular structure is broken down nevertheless. I
can set it for any degree I want.
"Dwalbuth called me a fool, but it is he who is stupid in his conceit.
Immortal! Bah! There is nothing that cannot be disintegrated."
"Then I move; we get out of here, right now!" whispered Art vehemently.
"People are dying on Earth, every minute."
"Right," agreed Denny. "Let's go." He limped to the door. "Say, guard--"
Standing behind him, the gun hidden, Klalmar-lan poured the rays over
the Voornizar, through Denny, door and all. The creature slumped
heavily to the floor, its fiery luminescence fading to a dull leaden
gray. Klalmar-lan stepped forward, turned up his disintegrator, and
impassively played the beam over the Thing on the floor, until nothing
remained but a heap of blackened slag. Then he went to work on the
lock. In a moment they were free. Art kicked the ashes of the guard
into a dark, obscure corner of the cell.
* * * * *
"We've got to find our way to the upper level, get to a televisor
someway," panted Klalmar-lan, as they hurried up the inclined
passageway.
"Don't know if I can remember all the twists and turns we followed when
they brought us down or not," Denny puzzled. "How about you, Art?" Art
shook his head doubtfully.
"You intend to bring the Martian fleet here--that is, if you can
contact them?" Elene inquired of Klalmar-lan.
"No--not here--to Earth! While they are neutralizing the Ghlak-Ileth
there, we must in some way hold off the menace here."
"You're right," Art agreed. "The fleet can't fight off a million
Voornizar ships and kill the Ghlak-Ileth, too. And it's imperative that
they get to Earth with no delay."
Through pitch black corridors, twisting, climbing, dropping again, the
party groped their way. Art had a tiny torch, which he risked flashing
on occasionally, but this helped little. All hope of retracing their
steps was soon abandoned. The lower levels of the ancient city had been
a veritable labyrinth. Realizing that they were hopelessly lost, they
stopped to take stock of the situation. Leaning against a dank, moss
grown wall, Art felt something slimy brush his leg. He flashed on his
light, and his sanity reeled. He saw a great, rat-like figure, the size
of man on his knees! The eye in its humanoid face were closed against
the light--its teeth were bared in the snarl of a cornered rat. Then it
scuttled away clumsily. Great God! It was a man shambling on his knees,
naked and unclean!
Art heard a little moan of horror--Elene had turned away, her face in
her hands.
"Did you see it, Klalmar-lan?" he muttered hoarsely to the Martian.
"Yes, my friend," was the sad reply. "I believe we have witnessed all
that is left of the glory that was Venus. A skulking creature of the
sewers--creeping on its knees." He shuddered. "They nearly did that to
us once--and they will do it to Earth, if we do not find a way out of
here soon."
There was a metallic rattle, far down the corridor, and a livid,
glowing stab of light appeared. It was a Voornizar, running--the empty
cell had been found.
"It's all right," hissed Art, "he can't possibly see us. Here we have
the advantage." Klalmar-lan grimly drew his ray gun, but Art halted
him. "Wait--I've got a plan. You stick here. Keep out of sight. The
rest of us will give ourselves up. We'll try to get him to take us to
Dwalbuth or Theller. Then you follow. See?"
Klalmar-lan nodded silently, stepped back into the shadows. Grasping
Elene and Denny by the hand, Art ran toward the Voornizar, shouting.
"Get us out of this horrible place before we go mad!" he croaked. Elene
managed a sob or two. The Voornizar grinned evilly at their panic, then
peered behind them.
"Where is the Martian?" he snarled.
"We got separated in the dark some time ago--never could locate him
again," Art answered.
"We'll find him; he can't go far," rasped the creature. "Meanwhile, I
will take you to Dwalbuth, who will see that you suffer adequately for
this attempt at escape. In the absence of the Earthman, who wants to
preserve you as his assistants, our Mighty Shan will dispose of you as
he sees fit."
The guard carried a powerful torch, and had no trouble in finding
the way out of the pits. They entered a level which had evidently
been the quarters of the well-to-do class of ancients. There were
many furnishings and decorations, most of which were badly faded
and deteriorated. Hosts of Voornizar were hurrying about on various
errands. Dwalbuth had evidently established headquarters here, from
which he superintended the preparation of the huge radium fleet. How
Klalmar-lan would ever follow them through this swarming hive was
beyond Art.
* * * * *
The guard led them to a huge room where Dwalbuth was snarling orders to
a group of his lieutenants. On sighting the Earthmen, he dismissed his
henchmen.
"Perhaps," he began, "I have not made it clear to you just how
insignificant you, and your form of life, is in our scheme of things.
We have wiped out many races stronger than you, on a score of planets,
in my time. We are strong, immortal; you are weak, you suffer pain
easily. Do not try my patience with any more escape attempts. And you
had better tell me what you have done with that guard." There was
only silence. He screamed, "_What did you do with that guard?_" A
great three-toed claw, or hand, shot out, stopped an inch from Elene's
terror-stricken face.
"I have heard that your men consider you beautiful to look upon,"
sneered Dwalbuth, "I will change that face to a seared mask if you do
not tell me, immediately." Then Art leaped. He threw himself on the
arm with its grasping claw, bore it down. White hot, burning agony
shot through his hands and arms. Then, miraculously, it stopped.
Dwalbuth was sagging to the floor. But there came a vicious crackling
as the guard whirled to train his heat ray on them. Then he, too,
collapsed. Klalmar-lan stood in the door, grinning as he switched on
his disintegrator.
"Fasten this door the best you can," he commanded, "while I finish off
these two. Hate to take the time, but we can't risk their recovering."
This done, he stepped to the televisor, dialled his commander-in-chief
in the Greater Ring's Martian stronghold. In a few terse words, he
explained the situation and sent the fleet hurtling toward Earth. By
this time, a great pounding had begun at the door. But the Earthians
had not been idle--they had been searching frantically for an exit. And
Elene had found one, a tiny passageway behind a once secret, but now
half-rotted-away panel. They scrambled into it, crawled for a short
way. Then the tunnel debouched into a larger corridor in which they
could stand up and run. Luckily, it was crooked, and winding; for they
heard the angry snap and hiss of searching heat rays not far behind.
"Watch this," said Klalmar-lan, turning his disintegrator up higher. A
Voornizar appeared around a corner, and exploded with a muffled roar.
"Don't get the mixture too rich!" laughed Art as the fragments showered
around them. "Say, Klalmar-lan, how in blazes did you get through that
mob to follow us?"
"Easy," grinned the black man. "When you came out on that level, I was
lurking close behind. There was nothing for me to do but fall right in
with you. If you had looked around, you'd have seen me right at your
elbow. Of course, when you came to the door of Dwalbuth's staff room,
I dropped out, and just stood outside the door, acting the part of a
bored prisoner, until the fun started."
Art chuckled at the Martian's audacity. The sounds of pursuit were
getting fainter behind them. The Voornizar were learning new respect
for their once despised captives.
The tunnel now narrowed down to a width which made it passable by one
person only, and ran perfectly straight. The party formed in single
file, Klalmar-lan bringing up the rear. Denny led, with Art's flash, as
Art was nursing scorched hands and arms.
"They'll be getting after us with that paralysis ray directly," Art
worried. "What do you say to blocking the tunnel? We can surely depend
on its emerging somewhere."
"The War Gods help us if _they_ know where it comes out! But I think
you've got an idea there," agreed Klalmar-lan, turning his ray on the
roof of the tunnel a good distance behind them. It crumbled, slowly at
first, then gave way with a roar, the fragments of rock and masonry
completely choking the aperture. Klalmar-lan did not stop until he had
filled the passage for a good hundred feet.
"We can get back through there, if we have to, by using this gun, but
the Voornizar will have to dig or bore their way. Their disintegrators
are like yours of Earth--uncontrolled. They are useful out in space
for destroying an enemy space ship at a distance, but one blast under
ground here would set off enough thermal energy to blow this whole city
off the green face of Venus."
* * * * *
Denny was crouching on the floor. "Look at this!" he exclaimed. His
tiny flash revealed fresh marks in the damp sand which covered the
floor at that point. They were blurred, and had no resemblance to human
footprints.
"At least one Voornizar passed this way," commented Klalmar-lan, "but
my guess is that Dwalbuth made these tracks, and was the only one who
knew the secret of this passage."
"It's a sure thing it's leading us to some place of
importance--Dwalbuth didn't take this walk for the fresh air," Denny
contributed.
The tunnel's length seemed interminable, although Art estimated they
had not covered over four or five Earth miles. They found a tiny spring
of pure water trickling down the moss-shrouded stone wall, and drank
gratefully. Their lunch consisted of a few food tablets which Art had
been carrying.
At last a dim glow of light appeared ahead. Advancing warily, they
found the passage ran squarely into a plate metal barrier, which leaned
away from them at a slight angle. About head height, there was a small
ragged hole burned into it, through which came the light they had seen.
Denny applied his eyes to this.
"Smokin' Mercury!" he exclaimed, sotto voice. "Get a load of this,
Art!" Art looked. The sight was awesome. Far below, and stretching
into the dim distance, was a vast cavern. As far as the eye could see,
its floor was covered with huge silvery shapes--the mighty cruisers of
the Voornizar. Their close-packed ranks seemed to stretch for miles
into the darkness. The only light was the luminescence of the ships
themselves. The great domed roof was shrouded with gloom. The vantage
point from which Art looked seemed to be located high in the curved
side, and the metal barricade against which the tunnel ended was
actually the shell of the Gargantuan cavity.
Klalmar-lan then had a quick glance, then turned to them, elated.
"This is it! We've stumbled on the main pool. There must be nearly a
million ships down there."
Elene was looking now--she was unable to see any egress through which
the ships could be trundled to the surface. Doubtless there was a ramp
or elevator of some sort, probably on the far side beyond their range
of vision. Many Voornizar were moving among the great hulks, servicing
them, effecting minor repairs.
"We are now probably well outside the city proper," continued
Klalmar-lan. "Apparently this was once a great assembly hall, where
huge mass meetings or possibly some kind of sporting events, were held.
Some ancient king, wishing to spy upon the doings of his subjects
unobserved, caused this passageway to be dug and the peekhole to be
cut. Dwalbuth, in turn, utilized it for somewhat the same purpose."
"Looks like the work of a twentieth-century acetylene torch," laughed
Denny.
"That might afford an excellent clue as to the comparative development
of their civilization," agreed Klalmar-lan gravely. "But enough
theorizing. We must utterly destroy all these ships. Wait here."
They watched as he moved back through the tunnel a short distance. He
trained his pistol on the wall. Rapidly a hole began to appear.
"It can't be far to the surface," he told them. "I'm going to burn a
tunnel upward at a steep angle. Keep a good watch in both directions."
Just then Art, his eye glued to the opening, saw that something was
amiss below. The Voornizar were running about excitedly. Faintly he
heard their discordant shouting, and the crackle of heat rays. Then he
saw, skimming and swerving above the rows of giant ships, a familiar
sight! Klalmar-lan's own spaceship, in which they had originally
embarked from Earth! Wildly, it plunged toward Art, then swung
erratically away and headed in a steep climb for the top of the dome.
Several small patrol fliers appeared, racing in pursuit. Searchlights
lanced through the blackness, illuminating the heretofore invisible
ceiling, which was apparently just what the pilot of Klalmar-lan's
ship hoped for. A passing searchlight beam revealed for an instant a
round, jagged hole in the center of the room; the little rocket ship
shot through it like an escaping minnow. The hole had evidently been
newly made by the Voornizar for the passage of their smaller and more
maneuverable craft, a half dozen of which now flashed through in
pursuit.
Art turned and related what he had seen.
* * * * *
"That was Theller, or I'm not a broken down space eater," growled
Denny, "Here, let me spell you on that excavation work a while,
Klalmar-lan." Klalmar-lan had a tough job--it was getting more
difficult as the hole progressed. Hot gobbets of molten lava came
splashing down from time to time, preventing him from entering the
hole and following up his work. Acrid, choking fumes began to fill
the tunnel, but Klalmar-lan refused to let Denny or Art take over, on
account of their burned hands. It was two hours before daylight began
to show, fifty feet above.
"Now, while those rocks are cooling sufficiently for us to crawl
out, I'll show you what my plan is," said Klalmar-lan. "Has anyone
a chrono?" Elene slipped one from her wrist, handed it to him.
Quickly, he slipped it out of its case, began removing various parts.
He attached it to the trigger ring of his pistol, made a delicate
adjustment. Then he set the gun to full disintegrator. He rigged it so
that the muzzle pointed through the peep-hole, aimed at the ships below.
"We've got six hours to get out of here and put plenty of miles between
us and this place," he informed them. Hurriedly they scrambled up the
chimney he had made. The rock had cooled rapidly, as it was pouring
rain above, and water ran down in little rivulets. The four of them
were drenched by the time they reached the surface. The rain was
beating down in such a torrent that they could hardly get their breath.
It was warm, like a tepid shower. It was difficult to see more than a
few feet, but it was evident that they were in thick jungle.
"Let's head West," shouted Denny. "There's a bay that runs in here,
toward the city. We came in that way before, from the sea. Shouldn't
be far from here. If we can get on the open beach, it'll be lots
better going than this damned jungle." With this they had to agree,
and no time was lost in plunging into the jungle in the direction he
had indicated. The four were now weaponless, and would have fallen
easy prey to any one of a dozen varieties of carnivorous monsters
who habitually roamed the forest. But the creatures evidently did
not consider the rain conducive to good hunting, and so they were
unmolested. Two hours of exhausting struggle brought them out on the
beach, which had not been over a mile away.
"Now we can make time," said Denny. "This narrow strip of beach will
take us almost straight away from the space port for about twenty
miles."
"We'll do our best to cover it in the four hours we have left," Art
chuckled. They set out at a rapid clip, keeping a wary eye on both
jungle and sea, from either of which might spring sudden death at
any moment. The rain stopped, but lead-colored clouds still swirled
overhead, for Venus was eternally overcast. Plenty of drinking water
was to be found in the hollows of huge leaves--but the need for food
was becoming keen with all of them. Still, they did not dare tarry long
enough to find sustenance.
"There are a few species of fish in these waters which I know to be
edible," explained Denny. "When it's safe to stop, we can catch a few."
* * * * *
"You may stop right now!" commanded a harsh voice from behind them.
They whirled--there, in the fringe of the jungle, his gray hair awry,
his eyes glittering with desperation, stood Doctor Theller, covering
them with the wide mouth of an electronic pistol.
"You--the Martian--I need your services. Come along--there's no time to
lose. The rest of you come, too." There was nothing to do but trudge
ahead of him through the jungle in the direction he indicated. There,
as they had expected, lay Klalmar-lan's ship.
"You are having a little trouble with my ship?" inquired the Martian
insolently, winking at his comrades.
"Yes, damn you--and you're going to fix it!" snarled the scientist.
"It was necessary for me to fly through a narrow opening--I grazed the
edge slightly. Two of the starboard main propulsion jets were sheared
away. I had no trouble losing my pursuers in the mist, but when I cut
in the main jets to leave the atmosphere, I merely looped about in
crazy trajectories. The right adjustment of the firing pattern would
compensate for this, but I could not find it. On one of my own ships,
yes, but this confounded Martian oddity is beyond my understanding. I
had to drop down here, and attempt to trace out the connections from
the firing panel. This I have been unable to do. You will do it for me!"
"Apparently you no longer occupy your former position of esteem with
the Voornizar," mocked Art.
"Get in the ship!" snapped Theller, glancing sharply at them. "You,
Klalmar-lan, pilot the ship. Set the course for Mars."
"Mars!"
"Yes. We will land in a remote area, where we will pose as refugees
from Earth. That is, all of us except Klalmar-lan, of whom I will
dispose before reaching there. I am not beaten yet. I have friends
there, and with the secrets I have learned of the Martian weapons and
defenses, I will be able to build anew."
Art stepped forward, ignoring the threatening gun muzzle. "Doctor
Theller, it strikes me that you are in no position to dictate terms
to us. You are in as great a danger as we, how great a danger, you do
not even dream. Only Klalmar-lan can pilot this crippled ship. This he
can, and will, refuse to do. Now here are our terms. We will take you
to Mars alive, where we will turn you over to the authorities." Art was
loath to reveal as yet that they could set their course for Earth and
arrive there in perfect safety. "You do not dare kill any of us."
"Don't I?" sneered the scientist. "Watch me. If Klalmar-lan does not
get into that pilot seat before I count ten, I will blast Elene to a
cinder. Then I will kill you, Art. Then Denny. When only Klalmar-lan is
left, I will destroy him by inches, burning away a hand or foot at a
time." The electronic pistol swung toward Elene and he began counting.
White-faced, Art motioned despairingly to Klalmar-lan. The Martian's
black eyes were obsidian as he silently strapped himself in the seat.
The rest followed, Doctor Theller last, his pistol covering them.
Suddenly there was a sickening lurch, a numbing crash, and blackening
oblivion.