Life Everlasting
"The life skiff!" thundered Hugh Warren. "That was Borisu. He's escaped
to his own fleet!"
"And ruined," groaned Muldoon, "everything. Now they know who we are,
where we came from, and what we want!"
MacDonald spoke again from below. "Dr. Bryant, sir--he's coming around.
Shall I--?"
"Bring him up here," ordered Lane. "And for God's sake, hurry!"
The audio clicked off. Gary turned to his companions. "Whatever we're
going to do, we've got to do fast. Now they've got wind of our scheme,
we may _never_ accomplish it. And if we don't--"
He let the sentence dangle. But all knew as well as he what must follow
if their mission failed.
Minutes later, a dazed Dr. Bryant appeared in the turret, supported
on the shoulder of the young space lieutenant. He shook his head in
sorrowful reply to Gary's unspoken query.
"I--I don't know. I can't remember a thing. I was here in the turret
with the rest of you. The next thing I knew MacDonald was breaking an
ammonia tube under my nostrils. All that happened between is--blank."
"I told you he looked sick," said Muldoon. "He looked sort of dopey.
Like he was drugged or--"
"Or," burst forth Gary Lane with a sudden comprehension, "hypnotized!
Doctor, could that have been it?"
Bryant stared at the younger man confusedly.
"Why--why, I don't know, Gary. It is possible. I remember now that
months ago, when Anjers first came to the observatory, one evening
we discussed hypnotism at great length. He claimed some small
faculty along that line. I laughed and told him it was impossible
for a mesmerist to gain control over a strong minded person. Why--he
experimented, with me as the subject. His efforts were a complete
failure. Later he acknowledged as much, and we never broached the
subject again."
"You didn't have to," grunted Lark O'Day. "That experiment wasn't
the failure you thought it, Doctor. On the contrary, it must have
been a complete success. At that time, with your cooperation, Borisu
established a control over your brain. One which he has never
relinquished."
"With my cooperation? But I concentrated upon rejecting his mental
suggestions--"
* * * * *
"That," interrupted Dr. Kang gently, "is the explanation, my good
friend. You erred in saying strong wills cannot be hypnotized.
Research indicates that quite the opposite is true. It is _only_ the
strong-willed who make good hypnotic subjects. Never the dolts, morons,
the weak of brain. For in order to accept hypnotic influence, one must
be able to concentrate solely upon a single thought to the exclusion of
all others. And only the highly intellectual have this power. I fear it
is true you have been an unwitting partner to Borisu."
"I _know_ you have," cried Gary. "There has been one thing which
bothered me all along. It was not satisfactorily explained after Borisu
admitted he was the one who attacked Muldoon in the observatory. _You_
alibied him at that time, Doctor. You said you and he were together in
your office. Had it not been for this we should have discovered long
ago who was the traitor in our midst."
"He," moaned the aged scientist, "must have compelled me to say that.
And this time he forced me to come below, open his prison cell, and
permit his escape. But what are we going to do?"
"It's not what we're going to do," fumed Flick, "but what we should
have done. I _told_ you we ought to have conked that--"
"Stow it, Flick," suggested Gary. "There's no use crying over spilt
milk. Borisu's skipped. So we'll have to abandon that plan of approach.
We must figure the next best thing."
"Skipper? Captain Warren?" Again the intercommunicating system was
alive.
"It's Sparks," said Warren, "calling from the radio turret. Yes,
Sparks? What is it?"
"A telaudio message coming in. Someone calling us by name."
"Borisu," snarled O'Day.
"Pipe it down here, Sparks," ordered the commander of the vessel.
"Throw it over the IC so we can all hear it."
"Very good, sir!" There was a moment's hush, then an instant of
metallic confusion. Then the incoming message was retransmitted from
the radio room to the control turret. A voice was calling, "_Spaceship
Liberty! Signalling the Liberty! Can you hear us?_"
Warren glanced at his friends significantly. "It _is_ Borisu," he
whispered. "I'd know that soapy, accented voice in a million." He
pressed the activating control of the turret transmitter and answered,
"Spaceship _Liberty_ answering. Hugh Warren, commanding officer,
speaking. Who are you? What do you want?"
Transmission cleared as the beam between the converging spacecraft
strengthened. It was definitely Borisu's voice addressing them. All
recognized and tensed with anger to hear the vindictive mockery in his
tone.
"What, Captain? But certainly you're clever enough to know without
being told. We not only _want_ but _demand_ the immediate surrender of
your ship!"
* * * * *
O'Day's face turned brick red. His lean jowls mottled with rage.
In stifled tones he choked, "Surrender! That slimy rat! All right,
Skipper. We know where we stand now. Let's unhinge the guns and give
them--"
"They are a dozen," reminded MacDonald nervously, "to our one."
"All right! So what?" blazed O'Day. "Our weapons will more than match
theirs. And we're protected by Dr. Kang's force-shield. Come on!"
He took three quick strides toward the nearest gun embrazure, and was
in the act of whipping the tarpaulin from the rotor port when Borisu's
voice sheered through again.
"That was the reformed corsair's voice I heard, was it not? Well,
_Captain_ O'Day--" He stressed the title with gentle irony--"I suggest
you think twice before opening hostilities. Having shared your
comradeship I am well aware as to the power of your weapon and the
strength of the learned Dr. Kang's force-shield. However, the weapons
mounted on our craft are not the destructive type averted by electrical
barriers. _Our_ guns are ultrawave cannon."
"Ultrawave!" repeated Dr. Kang, and stayed Lark O'Day's hand swiftly.
"Stop, Lark! If he's telling the truth, our shield is useless."
"What? But I thought it would stop anything."
"Anything of material or radiant nature--_except_ cosmic rays. They
will penetrate _all_ matter; even our force-shield. One blast of their
guns can loose upon us the dwindling destruction which they have been
using to destroy our universe."
"Well spoken, Dr. Kang," came the taunting voice from afar. "You grasp
essential truths with admirable swiftness. And now--your surrender,
Captain? You will drop your force-shield, permitting a boarding party
to enter your ship."
All the while the Magogean had been speaking, Hugh Warren's fingers
had been twisting dials on the control panel. Now, his face aflame
with anger, he roared defiantly, "Like hell we will, Borisu. The Space
Patrol dies but never surrenders! If you want to board us ... _come
find us_!"
And his finger pressed suddenly down upon the green key installed by
the Jovian engineers. A violent shudder trembled the _Liberty_ from
stem to stern, warped plates screamed in metal agony, and for an
instant it seemed the straining ship would shake herself to shards, so
great was the shock of that abrupt movement.
But even as lurching passengers tumbled headlong upon the metal deck,
as contact broke abruptly between their ship and the Magogean fleet,
Warren pressed a second stud: this time the red one.
Then horror loomed upon horror. For in the vision plate which
fore-shadowed the _Liberty's_ trajectory, appeared a gigantic darkness
blotting out all space.
Gary Lane cried hoarsely, "My God, what--"
"Hugh!" screamed Nora Powell. "What have you done?"
* * * * *
But Warren's voice smashed through their cries of dismay, roaring crisp
orders to the control room below. "Search-beams, Howard!"
And the young engineer's voice came back shakily, "Aye, sir! Search
beams it is, sir!"
The darkness before them was rent with silver radiance. And what had
seemed a black, impenetrable nothingness was now revealed as a black
landscape over which the _Liberty_ was hurtling like a bird in the
night. Dark hills loomed starkly through whipping fingers of fog. The
search-beams limned sharp outlines of crags and gulleys, forests thick
with uncombed vegetation....
Dr. Bryant cried, "A planet! But which, Warren? One of our own
universe, or--?"
Warren grinned mirthlessly. "Not on your life. The only place to lick
an enemy is in his own back yard. Thank heavens, those Jovian engineers
taught me how to use their tricky drive! I warped us clean around that
space fleet into the night side of their home planet. The world you see
beneath us is _Magog itself_!
"And now for our landing--" His fingers flickered over the studs. The
_Liberty_ dropped slowly, smoothly, speed dwindling as Warren searched
for a likely landing place--and found it. A low plateau, cradled like a
saucer between encircling hills.
No lights gleamed there; no glare of hostile cities. There was
only Stygian darkness and the interminable greenery of jungle. The
_Liberty_, enveloped in its matter-repulsing shield, struck once
lightly and bounced; dropped lower. Warren released the shield that the
ship might settle. Through the metal hull they could hear the crackling
of timber as the great ship plowed its way through virgin forest
land ... then the grating grind of metal against rock as the ship
wallowed to a landing ... and lay still.
Hugh Warren cut controls. He turned to his friends, panting, his
forehead damp with perspiration. But he forced a shaky laugh, and....
"All right, folks. Turn in your tickets. This is the place we started
for."
* * * * *
"So," said Flick Muldoon, "we're here. Actually here on Magog! We've
been working and plotting and contriving it seems like forever. And
all of a sudden when it seems like we're licked--bingo!--here we are!"
Flick's face had a curiously woebegone expression. "I'm confused. No
kidding, I'm up a tree. All this time, even though I knew where we were
heading, I kept thinking subconsciously that we'd never make it. And
now we're here, and I'm puzzled even worse. What are we going to do
here?"
Dr. Bryant said, "Well, I should say the _first_ thing we must do is
test the gravity and atmosphere of Magog to make sure it's safe for us
to venture outside."
"We won't have to worry about that," said Warren. "I told you the
_Liberty_ had all the latest gadgets. The testing apparatus went into
action automatically upon our landing. We'll have a complete report in
a few minutes."
"Then," said O'Day, "the first thing we must do is find a good hiding
place for the _Liberty_. Or if there isn't one, camouflage the ship
immediately. It's night now, but with morning I've got an idea the
Magogean fleet will be circling this planet looking for us. Borisu and
his buddies aren't dummies. They'll know we used the quad drive to
scoot, and they'll leave no stone unturned--"
Dr. Kang interrupted quietly, "I think that is _another_ point on which
you need have no apprehension. By the time morning comes we shall have
either accomplished or failed in our mission."
"What?" Gary Lane whistled. "Aren't you a little optimistic, Doctor?
We're going to work as swiftly as possible, yes. But getting our job
done in a couple of hours is a bit too much to expect."
Kang's ivory features framed a wisp of a smile. "Have you forgotten
Borisu's remarks concerning the time differential between our planets?"
Gary said testily, "Not by a long sight. And it's been worrying me
plenty. Borisu said Magog had been playing the cosmic ray cannon on our
universe for only twenty years. Yet it is a scientifically recognized
fact that the planet which existed between Mars and Jupiter in our
system was destroyed no less than 40,000 Earth years ago. Isn't that
so, Dr. Bryant?"
"Quite true, Gary," agreed the older scientist worriedly.
"Therefore," pointed out Lane, "every Magogean year is the equivalent
of two thousand Earth years; every day on this planet the equivalent of
three Earth years. And--" His breath caught in his throat--"since our
calculations prove that the critical dwindling point of Sol can be at
most no more than two months away, we must fulfill our task here in a
matter of Magogean _hours_--or our universe will die!"
* * * * *
At his words the younger men in the turret sprang to their feet as one.
Flick spoke for all when he cried, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's
get going! My God, we've got to move and move fast--"
"Gently, gently," chided Dr. Kang. Again one of his rare smiles touched
his lips. "Youth is impetuous. It is written, 'The young man tests the
balance of the sword; the elder sage admires its chaste engraving.' Dr.
Lane's discovery would be frightening ... if it were based on fact. But
there is another way of viewing the matter. One you have not pondered.
Have you failed to take into consideration the _length_ of the Magogean
year?"
Dr. Bryant stopped him in mid-sentence, his eyes lighting with swift
admiration. "But, of course! That is extremely important. If the
orbital revolution of Magog takes longer than that of Earth--"
"I believe," said Dr. Kang placidly, "you will find it does.
Approximately 2000 times longer! We have not, just now, the time to
study the truth of my conjecture. But from certain factors I have
noticed, I believe we shall find this to be true. The size of Magog
argues a slow orbital movement.
"In brief, my friends, I conclude that Magog revolves about its primary
but a single time while Earth is whirling around the Sun _two thousand_
times. There is, therefore, a one-to-one correspondence between the
time units of our systems. We may completely disregard their relative
size. A 'day' on Magog may equal 2000 Earth days--but twenty-four
Earthly hours spent on Magog are of no longer duration than the same
period spent on Earth. We may govern our actions accordingly."
Gary said soberly, "I certainly hope you are right, Doctor. Otherwise,
howsoever short a time we spend in this system may be too long to save
our universe. But--but you realize what this _means_, don't you? I am
thinking now of the life span of the Magogeans."
Dr. Kang nodded. "I realize very well. It means that if they live an
average of sixty to a hundred Magogean years, each of them exists for
a period of many _thousands_ of Earth years. But--" He shrugged--"is
it too unreasonable to concede this? Has not our Earthly science
already suggested that the shortness of our life span may be due to
the bombardment of cosmic rays? Here on Magog where they do not live
beneath this lethal radiation--"
Dr. Bryant's fine features cleared, his eyes lighted raptly. He said,
"Then it is not only the _immediate_ existence of our universe for
which we are fighting, but another and greater goal. One of which
mankind has dreamed for centuries. If we succeed in putting to an end
this cosmic radiation, we may win for our people not only life, but--"
"Yes," nodded Dr. Kang. "Almost ... eternal life!"