He hurried forward, keeping to the tangled jungle wall wherever
possible. As he neared the barrier, it tended toward a
semi-translucence. The bluish light beyond seemed to have no source,
and Curt had the impression of a vast grotto that reached interminably
above, curving away into the fog.
Now he could see vague outlines beyond, towering and bulky. Other
shapes moved about, appearing to Curt as shadows seen through faintly
frosted glass.
"Buildings--and people!" Undoubtedly, the silver spacer had come here;
there was probably an overhead entrance. Curt moved closer, and heard
the faintest murmur of sound beyond, as of men and machines at work.
Excitement caught at his brain. Now he knew, with sharp certainty, that
he'd found the thing that DeHarries and other planetary leaders were
seeking! Only for some inimical purpose would men, whoever they were,
band together in so secret and inaccessible spot as K'Yarthan Swamp!
Curt examined the barrier. It was some sort of power screen; he felt a
dangerous radiation that decided him against trying his electro on it.
He hurried back to the others.
"Can't tell how far it extends," he told them. "It's an Electronic
Curtain, that's for sure! And there are men and buildings behind it."
"We've got to find an entrance somewhere." A terrible grimness took
hold of Lorine, as she thought of her father. But Curt shook his head
doubtfully.
"If we tried our electros on it--" This came from Tor Ekkov, and Curt
laughed mirthlessly.
"Sure, you try that, if you're tired of your present identity. It would
turn you into a billion disorganized electrons!"
"I have an idea." Lorine turned back to the swamp edge. She stood
pondering, staring at the stern of the alien spacer. "How far would you
say that goes beneath the surface?"
They saw her meaning, as she pointed out the angle of the stern. The
spacer was gigantic, and the other end should almost certainly reach
somewhere beneath the Electronic Curtain!
They set to work at once. By strewing thick foliage across the mud they
formed a path that bore their weight. With electros at pencil-thin
sharpness, they began on the spacer hull.
The metal was strange and tough, uncorrosive. Its atomic structure
resisted. But after a long while it began to soften, then to melt away
in radiant froth. A circular section gave way, fell slowly inward.
Flash-beams revealed a long empty corridor sloping gently down.
A kind of grill-work along the floor gave them foothold as they passed
slowly along the central corridor. Gradually it widened out. They saw
row upon row of arched cross-corridors, with walls curving far overhead
into interlacing spans and beams. Ceiling globes of green radiance cast
a macabre glow along their route.
If George Landreth had boarded this spacer, there was no evidence of
it now! They walked on, staring around at the widening walls that sent
back solemn echoes of their footsteps. The ship was a colossus! Curt
was estimating that they'd come a good quarter of a mile already, when
they reached a bulwark directly across the corridor.
The wall was massive, coppery, engraven with thousands of inter-twining
figures. Rikert raised his electro to burn a way through, but Lorine
stopped him.
"We'd best save our weapons! They're already weak."
Good advice, Curt thought grimly. They were rushing headlong into
trouble. It was Tor Ekkov at last who found the mechanism, a row of
tiny hidden studs. There came a faint droning sound as he fumbled at
them. Then slowly, ponderously, the entire wall slid upward.
Weapons held in readiness, they waited. But no motion or sound came
from beyond. They stepped through, found themselves in a vast circular
room so startling in its content that they were held taut in amazement.
* * * * *
Here were machines, of every sort and description, every size and
purpose. Bewildering units which somehow, seemed to form a definite
pattern. Rows of them stood against the circular wall. Tier upon tier
of switchboards, coils, banks of tubes, reached to the ceiling.
Here, Curt knew, was the spacer's central control! But close
examination showed that much of this equipment was smashed irreparably.
The forward wall itself was crumpled and twisted. Then Curt noticed
many bank niches about the wall, indicating that some of the machines
had been removed. He frowned at that.
Tor caught Curt's eye. The Martian was standing before a towering
instrument. It was alien too, but there was something familiar in the
arrangement of the huge power-tubes and the coils leading up to a
faceted screen.
"Tele-Magnum!" Tor whispered fiercely. "Or something mighty similar!
Seems to work on the same etheric principle that we--"
Curt cut him short. Despite everything, Tor had but one thought in
mind--getting his voice through to Mars!
"There's another door over here!" Rikert called.
The only mechanism on this door was a two-inch disc that swung back to
reveal a small opening, interlaced with silver wires. Then, in a rack
near by, Jeffers spied a tiny metal tube. He lifted it out gingerly.
"Take a chance," Lorine nodded. "This may be the exit we're looking
for."
Jeffers aimed the tube into the opening. A beam of red light lanced
through the wires. They heard a faint ripple of music, then a soft
whirr as the door swung back.
It was no exit, however. They stared into a room where hundreds of
crystalline coffins reposed, row upon row. They were cube-like, perhaps
two feet in dimension. Within each cubicle was a drift of almost
colorless substance which might have been either fluid or gaseous.
But what held their gaze were the things deep within the substance!
They were globules, gelatinous, tear-dropped in shape with the tapering
ends down. They gently swayed and pulsed, and deep within them could
be seen a central core of _electric-blue_ with an interlacing of tiny
filaments.
"They're in some sort of suspended animation!" Curt took a step into
the room. A feeling of incredible age was about the place. Curt walked
between row after row of the cubicles, making closer examination of
the strange life-forms. Beyond all doubt, these were identical to the
pulsing globe of light which had emerged from the body of the octopoid
creature!
"Emmons, come back," Lorine called from the door. "I--I don't think
this place is safe!"
Curt didn't think so either. They returned to the room of machines,
closing the door carefully. Lorine stared around, perplexed.
"There must be an exit somewhere!"
"Quite right, young lady. And now that you are here, I'll be glad to
show you."
It was a strange, mocking voice that came from behind them. They
whirled about, peering into the shadows.
* * * * *
From a little alcove beneath a tier of machines stepped an Earthman. He
was tall, young, blond. Four electros swung instantly up to cover him.
Only Curt didn't hold an electro, and now he snapped, "Put those guns
away!" He peered again. "I know this man!"
The stranger's smile vanished. Puzzlement came across his face as he
turned gray eyes upon Curt. He seemed searching his mind, trying to
recall something deeply imbedded in the matrix of the past.
"Robert Frane," Curt said. "Good lord, man, don't you recognize me?
Curt Emmons! You knew me at Government Spacer School--"
"Robert Frane ... yes. That is my name." It seemed an effort for him to
recall it. It was apparent he didn't recognize Curt. Curt gave it up
for the moment, studying him, wondering at the strange, puzzled look of
the man. Frane spoke in clipped phrases.
"You killed our guardian. Of course. That's how we became aware of your
presence. But how could you have known of this place? How did you come
here?"
"We'll ask the questions, Earthman!" A strength seemed to rise in
Lorine as she came a step forward, eyes blazing, electro held high. "Is
George Landreth here? Answer me that!"
"George ... Landreth." Again that strangeness about Frane, a shadow
across the eyes. "I believe that such a one is here."
"Then you will take us to him. At once!"
"Presently," the man contradicted. "Just now I will take your weapons,
please. All of them." It was not so much a command as a statement,
seeming so ridiculous that a loud guffaw come from Rikert. Lorine came
forward, not smiling, and thrust the electro hard against Frane's side.
"Enough of this talk. Your choice! Take us at once to George Landreth
or I'll blast you here and now!"