Lynn Graham, plodding at long and weary last into the outskirts of
the city, wondered again--with the vague, dull incuriosity which was
the only emotion of which her exhausted brain was capable--what had
been the meaning of those sounds she had heard from the desert wastes
behind her a few hours ago.
It was all very mysterious ... mysterious and alarming. First had come
the wails. Not wails, really, but dreadful, ear-splitting howls like
the bellowing of some monstrous beast. Then out of the darkness behind
her had come hurtling a small roller. A madly ricocheting vehicle
without lights. She had attempted to signal the driver ... but in vain.
As well try to hitch a ride on a runaway comet as on that speeding car.
And now? Now she was entering a city which ought to be asleep, but,
instead, was seething with furious activity. Lights shone from the
windows of buildings, shacks, stores. Crowds congregated at corners,
huddled groups of frightened figures that looked astonishingly like
mobs of refugees.
It was as though a mass-panic had seized the entire city. Earthmen
gathered their families fearfully about them; Titanians scurried,
slithered, hobbled in every direction in helter-skelter confusion.
Vainly Lynn accosted passers-by in search of an explanation. Her
queries were met with terror-numbed stares, with mumbles, with
incomprehensible mouthings.
"_We heard.... Danger approaching.... Someone said.... Must leave the
city.... They told us.... Giant beast.... Death...._"
Despairing of ever learning the truth from such informants, Lynn fought
her way to a public audio booth. After a longer-than-usual wait, her
call was put through. Over the selenoplate she stared into the worried
eyes of her father.
A prayer of relief and gratitude escaped the Colonel as he recognized
his caller.
"Lynn! Thank the Lord you're safe! I've been worried sick about you.
And so has that young doctor--"
"Rocky? You mean he and Bud escaped? They're with you at the base?"
"Roswell--I mean _Russell_--is. Mulligan has gone out with the Fleet on
scout patrol."
"F-fleet?" stammered Lynn. "Scout patrol? Daddy--what _is_ this all
about? I seem to be the only person on this world who doesn't know
what's wrong--"
* * * * *
A voice at the other end of the wire said politely, "May I, sir?"--and
Colonel Graham's face faded back to be replaced by the grave,
sharp-lined features of the young S.I.D. captain. "Lynn--" he began,
and even in that tense moment Lynn Graham found time to wonder that he
had dropped all pretense of formality--"Lynn, we are all in the gravest
peril. Colossus has broken loose!"
"Co-colossus?"
"The _Thing_ for which those manacles were forged. It turned out to
be a giant humanoid. Bud and I saw it. It was more than a thousand
feet tall when it escaped Grossman. Now it has more than doubled that
height!"
Lynn gasped.
"But--but where is it?"
"After it broke from its underground cell it headed west. For almost
seven hours it has been roaming the planet wildly and at will. It
completely destroyed the mining-town of Hawesbury and the villages of
Placer and Dry Ditch."
"But aren't we doing anything to stop it? It must be destroyed--"
"Three flights are out looking for it. Two haven't been able to contact
it at all ... the third is unreported. We fear that flight ... found
it!" Russell's voice was more sober than ever. "Lynn ... our weapons
seem to be useless against it. Its skin is incredibly tough, hard,
resistant. Heat does not bother it, and our heaviest HE shells are like
pebbles upon a hippo's hide."
"But there must be _some_ way--"
"There has _got_ to be some way," nodded Russell, "for if we don't find
it ... and soon ... Titan will be a dead world, peopled by a single,
monstrous entity. Now--" He abandoned explanations for a more immediate
problem--"you stand tight. I'm coming to New Boston to get you."
"Oh, that's not necessary. I'll hire a transport."
"There's no such thing. The road between here and the city is and
has been thronged with refugees for hours. I don't believe there's a
commercial roller left in the city. Because, you see--"
"Yes?" pressed Lynn as he hesitated.
"Never mind. I'll be right there for you."
"You were going to tell me something, Rocky. What?"
"Well," said Rocky reluctantly, "I guess you'd better know. According
to the seismograph, Colossus has almost completed his circumambulation
of Titan ... and is on his way back toward New Boston. You must be
very, very careful. And now, good-bye! See you later!"
The circuit faded, and he was gone. Lynn stood for a moment thinking
swiftly. Then she decided. Better to _do_ something than to just sit
waiting ... waiting ... waiting ... in a city gone mad with fear. She
would start toward the Base _now_, meet Rocky on the way.
Having made her decision, she turned quickly and took her place in the
jostling throng pressing southward....
* * * * *
Rocky, moving north on the New Boston safeway, as he wormed his roller
through the ever-thickening mass of panicky Titanians and terrified
Earth colonists rushing to the safety of the Base was once again--for
perhaps the hundredth time--trying to grasp that elusive half-thought
which had lurked in the back of his brain ever since Colossus had
broken free.
Something Grossman had said--Grossman who now cowered in a Patrol cell,
far from the haughty, autocratic figure he had pretended to be--had
brushed a spark in Rocky's mind. But now that spark had dulled, and
Rocky could not recapture it. It had something to do with Colossus ...
it suggested some means of combating....
"_Damnation!_"
The hordes of refugees had been parting like a flesh sea before him
ever since he left the Fort gates. But now the numbers were becoming
so great that he could not move the roller through them except at a
crawl. He realized this, and gave up the unequal struggle. He called an
Earthman to him.
"Here, you--can you drive a roller?"
"Yes, indeed, sir!"
"Then take this back to Colonel Graham at the Fort. Tell him Captain
Russell is going ahead on foot."
The colonist stared at him strikingly. "You--do you mean you're going
back toward the city, sir? But you can't do that! It--it's suicide.
They say a huge monster, ten miles tall, is coming to smash the city to
pieces--"
Rocky said tightly, "Never mind that now. You give my message to the
Commandant--_understand_?" And he climbed from the car and forced his
way against the tide, northward on foot.
It was as he was pressing along that he thought of Bud Mulligan, who
had gone out with "B" flight in an effort to find and destroy--or at
least delay--Colossus. Thinking of Bud reminded him that they wore on
their persons the means of constant communication. The chances were
greatly against Bud's being on the beam, but it was worth a try. He
took the miniature vocoder from his breast pocket and activated it
on the secret S.I.D. wave-length. Vastly to his surprise, he got an
immediate reply.
"O.Q., chief! Where in Tophet have you been? I've been buzzing you for
the past hour and a half!"