II

A great number of scientists and military men were already gathered

about the headquarters ship. As Arcot's party arrived, they learned that

each of the wrecks was being assigned to one group. They further learned

that because of their scientific importance, they were to go to the

nearly perfect ship lying off to the west. Two Air Patrolmen were to

accompany them.

"Lieutenant Wright and Lieutenant Greer will go with you," said the

Colonel. "In the event of trouble from possible--though

unlikely--survivors, they may be able to help. Is there anything further

we can do?"

"These men are armed with the standard sidearms, aren't they?" Arcot

asked. "I think we'll all be better off if I arm them with some of the

new director-ray pistols. I have several in my boat. It will be all

right, I suppose?"

"Certainly, Dr. Arcot. They are under your command."

The party, increased to five now, returned to the ship, where Arcot

showed the men the details of the ray pistols, and how to use them. The

control for direction of operation was rather intricate in these early

models, and required considerable explanation. The theoretical range of

even these small hand weapons was infinity in space, but in the

atmosphere the energy was rather rapidly absorbed by ionization of the

air, and the dispersion of the beam made it ineffective in space over a

range of more than thirty-five miles.

Again entering the little molecular motion car, they went at once to the

great hull of the fallen ship. They inspected it cautiously from

overhead before going too close, for the dreadnought, obviously, had

landed without the terrific concussion that the others had experienced,

and there was a possibility that some of the crew had survived the

crash. The entire stern of the huge vessel had been torn off, and

evidently the ship was unable to rise, but there were lights glowing

through the portholes on the side, indicating that power had not failed

completely.

"I think we'd better treat that monster with respect," remarked Wade,

looking down at the lighted windows. "They have power, and the hull is

scarcely dented except where the stern was caught by a beam. It's lucky

we had those ray projector ships! They've been in service only about

four months, haven't they, Lieutenant?"

"Just about that, sir," the Air Patrolman replied. "They hadn't gotten

the hand weapons out in sufficient quantities to be issued to us as

yet."

Morey scowled at the invader. "I don't like this at all. I wonder why

they didn't greet us with some of their beams," he said in worried

tones. It did seem that there should be some of the rays in action now.

They were less than a mile from the fallen giant, and moving rather

slowly.

"I've been puzzled about that myself," commented Arcot, "and I've come

to the conclusion that either the ray projectors are fed by a separate

system of power distribution, which has been destroyed, or that the

creatures from space are all dead."

They were to learn later, in their exploration of the ship, that the

invaders' ray projectors were fed from a separate generator, which

produced a special form of alternating current wave for them. This

generator had been damaged beyond use.

The little machine was well toward the stern of the giant now, and they

lowered it till it was on a level with the torn metal. It was plain that

the ship had been subjected to some terrific tension. The great girders

were stretched and broken, and the huge ribs were bent and twisted. The

central tube, which ran the length of the ship, had been drawn down to

about three quarters of its original diameter, making it necessary for

them to use their ray to enter. In moments their speedster glided into

the dark tunnel. The searchlight reaching ahead filled the metal tunnel

with a myriad deceptive reflections. The tube was lighted up far ahead

of them, and seemed empty. Cautiously they advanced, with Arcot at the

controls.

"Wade--Morey--where will we stop first?" he asked. "The engines? They'll

probably be of prime importance. We know their location. What do you

say?"

"I agree," replied Wade, and Morey nodded his approval.

They ran their craft down the long tube till they reached the door they

knew must be the engine room landing, and stepped out, each wearing an

altitude suit. This ship had landed level, and progress would be much

easier than in the other one. They waited a moment before opening the

door into the engine room, for this led into a narrow corridor where

only one could pass. Caution was definitely in order. The Air Patrolmen

insisted on leading the way. They had been sent along for the express

purpose of protecting the scientists, and it was their duty to lead.

After a brief argument Arcot agreed.

The two officers stepped to the door, and standing off to one side, tore

it open with a ray from their pistols. It fell with a clatter to the

rounded metal floor of the tube, and lay there vibrating noisily, but no

rays of death lanced out from beyond it. Cautiously they peered around

the corner of the long corridor, then seeing nothing, entered. Wade came

next, then Arcot, followed by Morey.

The corridor was approximately thirty feet long, opening into the great

engine room. Already the men could hear the smooth hum of powerful

machines, and could see the rounded backs of vast mechanisms. But there

was no sign of life, human or otherwise. They halted finally at the

threshold of the engine room.

"Well," Arcot said softly. "We haven't seen anyone so far, and I hope no

one has seen us. The invaders may be behind one of those big engines,

quite unaware of us. _If_ they're there, and they see us, they'll be

ready to fight. Now remember, those weapons you have will tear loose

anything they hit, so take it easy. You know something about the power

of those engines, so don't put them out of commission, and have them

splash us all over the landscape.

"But look out for the crew, and get them if they try to get you!"

Cautiously but quickly they stepped out into the great room, forming a

rough half circle, pistols ready for action. They walked forward

stealthily, glancing about them--and simultaneously the enemies caught

sight of each other. There were six of the invaders, each about seven

feet tall, and surprisingly humanoid. They somewhat resembled

Venerians, but they weren't Venerians, for their skin was a strange

gray-white, suggesting raw dough. It seemed to Arcot that these strange,

pale creatures were advancing at a slow walk, and that he stood still

watching them as they slowly raised strange hand weapons. He seemed to

notice every detail: their short, tight-fitting suits of some elastic

material that didn't hamper their movements, and their strange flesh,

which just seemed to escape being transparent. Their eyes were strangely

large, and the black spot of the pupil in their white corneas created an

unnatural effect.

Then abruptly their weapons came up--and Arcot responded with a sudden

flick of his ray, as he flung himself to one side. Simultaneously his

four companions let their beams fly toward the invaders. They glowed

strangely red here, but they were still effective. The six beings were

suddenly gone--but not before they had released their own beams. And

they had taken toll. Lieutenant Wright lay motionless upon the floor.

The Terrestrians scarcely had a chance to notice this, for immediately

there was a terrific rending crash, and clean daylight came pouring in

through a wide opening in the wall of the ship. The five rays had not

stopped on contact with the enemy, but had touched the wall behind them.

An irregular opening now gaped in the smooth metal.

Suddenly there came a second jarring thud, a dull explosion; then a

great sheet of flame filled the hole--a wall of ruddy flame swept

rapidly in. Arcot swung up his ray pistol, pointing it at the mass of

flaming gas. A mighty column of air came through the narrow corridor

from the tube, rushing toward the outside, and taking the flame with it.

A roaring mass of gas hovered outside of the ship.

"Lieutenant," said Arcot, swiftly, "turn your ray on that hole, and keep

it there, blowing that flame outside with it. You'll find you can't put

the fire out, but if you keep it outside the ship, I believe we'll be

reasonably safe." The Patrolman obeyed instantly, relieving Arcot.

Wade and Morey were already bending over the fallen man.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for him," the latter said grimly,

"and every moment here is dangerous. Let's continue our investigation

and carry him back to the ship when we leave." Arcot nodded silently.

Solemnly they turned away from the motionless figure on the floor and

set out on their investigation.

"Arcot," began Morey after a moment, "why is that gas burning like that?

Can't we put it out?"

"Let's get through with this job first," replied Arcot somewhat tersely.

"The discussion comes after."

The bodies of the invaders were gone, so they could not examine them

now. That was a matter for the doctors and biologists, anyway. The

engines were their main interest, huge things which overshadowed

everything about them.

It must have been the concealment afforded by the engines that permitted

three of the enemy to get so close. The only warning the Terrestrians

had was a faint pink haze as they stepped around the corner of an

engine; and a sudden feeling of faintness swept over them. They leaped

back, out of sight, peering around the corner with nerves and muscles

tensed. There was no sign of movement.

As they watched, they saw a pallid hand reaching out with a ray gun; and

Wade swiftly pointed his own weapon. There came a sudden crash of metal,

a groan and quiet. Two other aliens leaped from behind the great engine

just as the Terrestrians dodged further back; as swiftly, they too found

concealment.

Arcot swung his ray up, and was about to pull the trigger that would

send the huge engine toppling over upon them, when he saw that it was

running. He thought of the unknown energies in the machine, the

potential destruction, and he shook his head. Cautiously he looked

around the edge of the towering mass, waiting--his beam flashed out, and

there was a snapping sound as the ray caught a reaching hand and hurled

its owner against a mighty transformer of some sort. For an instant the

huge mass tottered, then was still. In the low concentration of power

that Arcot had used, only a small portion had been touched, and the

molecules of this portion had not been enough to tip over its tremendous

weight.

Only one enemy remained; and Arcot learned swiftly that he was still in

action, for before he could dodge back there came that now-familiar pink

haziness. It touched Arcot's hand, outstretched as it had been when he

fired, and a sudden numbness came over it. His pistol hand seemed to

lose all feeling of warmth or cold. It was there; he could still feel

the weapon's deadened weight. Reflex action hurled him back, his hand

out of range of the ray. In seconds feeling began to return, and in less

than ten his hand was normal again.

He turned to the others with a wry grin. "Whew--that was a narrow

squeak! I must say their ray is a gentlemenly sort of thing. It either

kills you, or doesn't injure you at all. There it goes again!"

A shaft of pink radiance reached the end of the engine, just grazing it,

evidently absorbed by its mass. "Pinning us down," Wade grated. They

certainly couldn't step out into the open space--but they couldn't stay

where they were indefinitely, either. Reinforcements might arrive!

"Look," Wade pointed with his pistol, "he's under that big metal bar--up

there in the roof--see it? I'll pull it down; he may get nervous and

come into sight." Swiftly Arcot sprang forward and caught his arm.

"Lord--don't do that, Wade--there's too much stuff here that we don't

know anything about. Too much chance of your smashing us with him. I'm

going to try to get around to the other side of this machine and see

what I can do, while you fellows keep him occupied."

Arcot disappeared around the black humming giant. Interminably the

others waited for something to happen; then suddenly the beam that had

been playing at irregular intervals across the end of the machine, swung

quickly to the other side; and simultaneously another ray seemed to leap

from the machine itself. They met and crossed. There came a momentary

crashing arc, then both went dead, as the apparatus that generated them

blew out under terrific overload.

The invader evidently carried a spare, for the watchers saw him dart

from concealment, clawing at his pocket pouch. They turned their rays on

him, and just as his projector came free, a ray hurled him violently to

the left. He crashed into a huge motor, and the result was not nice.

The projector had been jerked from his hand and lay off to the side.

Arcot ran to it and picked it up just as they heard the Lieutenant call

an alarmed inquiry.

"I think we're okay now," Arcot answered. "I hope there are no more--but

by all means stay where you are, and use as little power as possible in

blowing that flame outside. It uses up the atmosphere of the ship, and

though we don't need it, I think we'd better take things easy. Call us

if anything looks odd to you."

For several minutes the three scientists looked about them in awe-struck

wonder. They were the first men of Earth to see the driving equipment of

one of the tremendous Kaxorian planes, and they felt tiny beside its

great bulk; but now, as they examined this engine room, they realized

that even the huge plane shrank into insignificance beside this

interstellar cruiser.

All about them loomed the great rounded backs of giant electric

motor-generators of some sort. Across the roof ran a network of gigantic

metal bars, apparently conductors, but so large that they suggested

heavy structural members. The machines they ran into loomed fully thirty

feet into the air; they were longer than cylinders, thirty feet in

diameter, and there was a group of four main machines fully a hundred

twenty feet long! There were many smaller mechanisms--yet these smaller

ones would easily have constituted a complete power supply for the

average big city. Along each wall ran a bank of transformers, cast in

the same heroic mold. These seemed connected with the smaller machines,

there being four conductors leading into each of the minor units, two

intake, and two, apparently, output leads, suggesting rotary converters.

The multiple units and the various types and sizes of transformers made

it obvious that many different frequencies were needed. Some of the

transformers had air cores, and led to machines surrounded with a

silvery white metal instead of the usual iron. These, apparently, were

generating current at an extremely high frequency.

"Well," Morey commented, "they ought to have power enough. But do you

notice that those four main units have their leads radiating in

different directions? The one on the left there seems to lead to that

big power board at the front--or better, bow. I think it would be worth

investigating."

Arcot nodded. "I had the same idea. You notice that two of the main

power units are still working, but that those other two have stopped?

Probably the two dead ones have something to do with the motion of the

ship. But there's one point I think is of even greater interest. All the

machines we have seen, all the conspicuous ones, are secondary power

sources. There are no primary sources visible. Notice that those two

main conduits lead over to the right, and toward the bow. Let's check

where they go to."

As they talked they followed the huge conductors back to their point of

convergence. Suddenly they rounded one of the huge main power units, and

saw before them, at the center of square formed by these machines, a low

platform of transparent light-metal. At the exact center of this

platform, which was twenty feet in diameter, there was a table, about

seven feet across and raised about five feet above the level of the

platform on stout light-metal legs. On the table were two huge cubes of

solid silver, and into these cubes ran all the conductors they had seen.

In the space of about six inches left between the blocks of metal, there

was a small box constructed of some strange new material. It was the

most perfect reflecting surface that any of the men had ever imagined.

Indeed, it was so perfect a reflector that they were unable to see it,

but could detect its presence only by the mirror images, and the fact

that it blotted out objects behind it.

Now they noticed that through the huge blocks of metal there were two

small holes, and two thin wires of this same reflecting material led

into those holes. The wires led directly up to the roof, and, suspended

on three-foot hangers of the light-metal, continued on toward the bow.

Could this be the source of power for the entire ship? It seemed

impossible, yet there were many other seeming impossible things here,

among them that strangely reflecting matter.

There was a low railing about the central platform, apparently intended

to keep observers at a safe distance, so they decided against any more

detailed investigation. As they were about to discuss their unusual

find, the Lieutenant called that he heard sounds behind him.

At once the three ran rapidly toward the narrow corridor that had given

them entrance. The flaming gas was still shooting through the hole in

the wall of the ship, and the rush of air through the corridor made it

difficult to hear any sounds there, and exceedingly difficult to walk.

"Turn on more power, Lieutenant, and see if we can't draw out the

enemy," suggested Arcot, while they braced themselves around the tube

exit.

As the Patrolman increased the power of his beam, the moan of the air

through the corridor increased suddenly to a terrific roar, and a

cyclonic gale swept through. But none of the invaders were drawn out.

After the Lieutenant had shut off the blast from his pistol at Arcot's

signal, the latter said: "I don't think anything less than a war tank

could stand that pressure. It's probable that we'll be attacked if we

stay here much longer, though--and we may not be able to get out at all.

I think, Lieutenant, I'll ask you to stay here while we go out and get

the ship ready to leave." He paused, grinning. "Be sure to keep that

flame outside. You'll be in the position of Hercules after Atlas left

him holding the skies on his shoulders. You can't shut off the ray for

long or we'll have a first-rate explosion. We'll signal when we're ready

by firing a revolver, and you make it to the ship as fast as you can

travel."

Arcot's expression became solemn. "We'll have to carry Wright back to

the ship. He was a brave man, and he certainly deserves burial in the

soil of his own world. And, Morey, we'll have to look up his family.

Your father's company will have to take care of them if they need help."

Slowly the men forced their way back toward their ship, fighting against

the roaring column of air, their burden hindering them somewhat; but at

last they reached the open tunnel. Even here the air was in violent

motion.

They got into their boat as quickly as possible, and set the controls

for reverse flight. Then Wade fired the signal shot. In moments they saw

Lieutenant Greer bucking against the current of air, continuing under

its own momentum.

By the time he was in the ship an ominous calm had fallen. Swiftly they

sped down the corridor, and had almost reached the open air, when

suddenly there was a dull rumble behind them, and they were caught on a

wave of pressure that hurled them along at terrific speed. In a flash

they sped into the open air, the great tunnel with its thick walls and

flared opening acting like a gigantic blunderbus, with the ship as its

bullet. Arcot made no attempt to slow down the little craft, but pressed

his foot heavily on the vertical accelerator. The ship rocketed up with

terrific speed, and the acceleration pinned the men down to their seats

with tripled weight.

Anxiously they watched the huge invader as they sped away from it. At

Arcot's direction Morey signaled the other groups of scientists to get

out of danger with all speed, warning of the impending blow-up. As the

moments sped by the tension mounted. Arcot stared fixedly into the

screen before him, keeping the giant space ship in focus. As they sped

mile upon miles away from it, he began to relax a bit.

Not a word was spoken as they watched and waited. Actually, very little

time passed before the explosion, but to the watchers the seconds

dragged endlessly. Then at twenty-seven miles, the screen flared into a

sheet of blinding white radiance. There was a timeless instant--then a

tremendous wave of sound, a roaring, stunning concussion smote the ship,

shaking it with unrestrained fury--to cease as abruptly as it came.

Immediately they realized the reason. They were rushing away from the

explosion faster than the sound it made, hence could not hear it. After

the first intolerable flash, details became visible. The great ship

seemed to leap into countless tremendous fragments, each rushing away

from the point of the blow-up. They did not go far; the force was not

sustained long enough, nor was it great enough to overcome the inertia

of so vast a mass for more than moments. Huge masses rained to earth, to

bury themselves in the soil.

There came a momentary lull. Then suddenly, from the mass which

evidently held the wrecked engine room, there shot out a beam of intense

white light that swept around in a wide, erratic arc. Whatever it

touched fused instantly into a brilliantly glowing mass of liquid

incandescence. The field itself, fragments of the wreckage, fused and

mingled under its fury. The beam began to swing, faster and faster, as

the support that was holding it melted; then abruptly it turned upon

itself. There came a sudden blast of brilliance to rival that of the

sun--and the entire region became a molten lake. Eyes streaming,

temporarily blinded, the men turned away from the screen.

"That," said Arcot ruefully, "is that! It seems that our visitors don't

want to leave any of their secrets lying around for us to investigate.

I've an idea that all the other wrecks will go like this one did." He

scowled. "You know, we really didn't learn much. Guess we'd better call

the headquarters ship and ask for further instructions. Will you attend

to it, Lieutenant Greer?"