It had been too much and too sudden for speech. Aladdian was on her
feet now, even she was still gripped by the awe of the vast debacle.
Mark watched Ernest Carston stumble dazedly from the Laboratory room,
the appalling horror in his eyes betraying how intimately Earth's
tragedy was his. He'd sent them out there to conquer, and they had
remained to die. No one spoke. The crowding men who'd hoped for a
victory by Luhor, even turned away before the magnitude of his power.
The laboratory on Vulcan reflected in miniature the shocked silence of
four worlds. They'd seen the mightiest armada of all time reduced to
nothing in a space of minutes.
Aladdian was the first to act. With the same beam, through which they'd
watched the holocaust, she contacted Earth. She tuned the Council
chamber where gray faces looked to the Coordinator in bewilderment and
fear. But the Coordinator, stricken to the depths of his narrow soul,
was incapable of speech. In the oppressive silence Aladdian's winged
figure materialized on the screen.
"I greet you, Earthians, for the last time." Her molten voice had
overtones of sadness. "You have seen your mighty fleet destroyed. Earth
is defenseless. Luhor is on his way to Earth."
"How--how do you know?" The Coordinator was moved to speech now,
galvanized into life by a more immediate fear!
"How? Because I am right now in telepathic contact with Luhor's mind."
"We shall fight to the end!"
"Yes, I expected that of you. You would condemn Earth to the same fate
as your Fleet. Awaken, Earthmen! No weapon that you have can destroy
allotropic metal. You have seen Luhor's ships slice through your
vessels as if they were paper. You're at his mercy now."
Aladdian allowed her words to sink while she widened the beam to
include Mars and Venus as well as Earth, that her voice might carry to
the entire Federation.
"I am not speaking to you only, now, but to three worlds whose fate
depends on your decision. Agree to what I ask, and the danger from
Luhor will be eliminated."
"What do you ask?" The Coordinator's voice came through as a mere
whisper.
"Three things only. Absolute liberation of Venus and Mars, which means
equal representation at the Tri-Planetary Federation Council. Complete
abolishment of the inhuman Swamp of Paradim. And Venus to retain
Vulcan with its allotropic metal as a measure of final safety. Agree to
these points before the assembled peoples of the inhabited planets who
are listening now, and Luhor shall never reach Earth."
On Mars and Earth and Venus her winged figures were reflected, while
her voice cadenced in the ears of untold millions.
"First," came the Coordinator's voice, "how are _you_ to prevent that
fiend Luhor from pursuing his course? And second, what guarantees will
we have that Venus will not build more of the allotropic cruisers to
attack?" Although white and shaken, the Coordinator could still snarl.
"I will answer your second question first. As you well know, Venus
has never in all her history resorted to war. Rather than kill," her
voice became bitter, "we submitted to Earth's cruel domination. We saw
the inhuman Prison Swamp spring into being, for greed of the Josmian
pearls; death and persecution for the sake of power. I even personally
suffered this!" She held up her wings whose tendons had been cut. "Yet
despite it all, history does not record murder by Venusians. _That_,
Earthian, is your guarantee that we shall keep the peace. As to Luhor,
I and I alone can stop him now. This is an offered chance you may take
or leave. Remember, Luhor's fleet has ten times the speed of Earth's
fastest vessel, and will be there sooner than you suppose. Think fast,
Earthian!"
"Think also," Mark interposed in a voice of steel, "that here on Vulcan
we have the allotropic metal, the means to work it, and the men to
build our own cruisers if we so desire!"
"I accept," the Coordinator said sullenly. Despite his fear and
helpless rage, he could only envisage defeat and destruction should
Luhor arrive at Earth. As for Aladdian on Vulcan stopping the mad
half-breed, he did not see how it was possible; but he had nothing
further to lose by agreeing. With a gesture, he ordered the Council to
draw up a pact.
Four worlds watched the signatures grow one by one. Then, and not until
then, did Aladdian play her last card as she brought Venus into focus.
"_NOW!_"
* * * * *
The single word was the last she uttered as she opened her arms. Her
people were ready. They knew the sacrifice.
Millions of miles away an entire _Planet_, as if it had been a single
cosmic mind, concentrated on Luhor's fleet. A mighty stream of thought
flowed out, vast but intangible. Wave upon wave, directed by Aladdian,
the accumulated thought-vibrations beat ceaselessly upon the minds
of Luhor and his men. And on Venus, slowly, here and there a winged
figure fell and lay still, its mind sapped by the prodigious effort
that knew no bounds. But the knowledge that Aladdian, their Princess,
who directed the combined flow, was under an infinitely greater mental
strain than any of them individually, gave them added inspiration.
Aladdian had long since made all the others, even Mark, leave the
Laboratory. She maintained her vigil and efforts alone. On her magnum
screen, which had shifted to cosmic space, the six invulnerable vessels
continued their purposeful route toward Earth. Serenely they sped.
But suddenly, with an odd twist, one of the Spacers plunged headlong
without warning into a sister ship. Both exploded into a cataract of
flame. Another wavered, wheeled, then plunged toward outer space at
vertiginous speed, to disappear in a dwindling dot of silver. Of the
remaining three, one began to fire broadsides against the others,
then rotated over and over out of control, while air-locks opened and
figures leaped out to instantaneous death in the frigidity of space. It
was a scene of silent horror.
But while scores died in space, hundreds died on Venus at the magnitude
of the effort. Still the Venusian populace of millions concentrated in
purposeful silence.
A sense of madness unleashed stole into the laboratory room where
Aladdian stood alone, motionless and white-faced. She scarcely
breathed. Her blue eyes were dilated. On the screen now only one
cruiser remained. Not until then did Aladdian move, her hand reaching
out automatically to the dials. A second later the interior of Luhor's
cruiser lay revealed.
The huge half-breed had held out to the last. He'd realized what was
happening, knew that the thought-power of an entire telepathic nation
was reaching out across vast distances of space, the ghastly vibration
of madness battering against the brains of his men. Now even Luhor
began to succumb, his brutal face contorted by spasms of demoniac
evil. His crew of men around him were already insane. A few sobbed
monotonously on their knees, rocking from side to side. Others were
already dead. One crewman was absorbed in daintily flaying another with
a bright, keen penknife, while the rest were systematically destroying
the ship and each other.
In the midst of the scene, Luhor's face went suddenly grey and
blank. He drew his electro-pistol and like a man possessed, used it
methodically about him until only he remained alive. It was then that
Aladdian used her last remaining strength, directing Luhor like an
automaton to the controls, where he remained frozen. The vessel heeled
in space and changed course, heading away from Earth now, speeding
directly sunward toward Vulcan Base.
Within the laboratory room, Aladdian swayed, her face whiter than
death; she grasped at the instrument panel for support, but her fingers
closed on air, as she crumpled to the floor.