Curt hurried to the right, not sure of his direction now in this
underground place. But he stopped abruptly at the next corridor. His
heart leaped. Huddled against the angle of the wall was the body of a
man.
Curt turned him over. It was the man he knew as Frane! Twisted tightly
around his throat, cutting into the flesh, was a plasticoid belt that
Curt recognized as Tor's.
Jeffers was right. Tor had gone fanatical crazy, determined that
nothing would stop him from reaching the Tele-Magnum and getting his
voice through to Mars! But now another thought sliced into Curt's mind.
The _Energon-form_ which had inhabited Frane's body! There were two
alternatives. Either it had emerged and seized control of Tor, or had
sped back to give the alarm.
There was no time to waste! At the end of this corridor Curt saw the
crumpled prow of the alien spacer. He hurried toward it, Jeffers
and Lorine running to keep pace beside him. Curt squeezed into the
low-arched doorway, beneath twisted and tumbled metalloy beams. Again
he was in the room where they'd seen the array of machines, including
the one Tor thought was a Tele-Magnum.
And Tor Ekkov was there. Curt knew it, as the angry sound of an electro
beam sang close. It splashed against a bulkhead beside him. Curt waved
Jeffers and the girl back, then pressed forward.
He saw Tor. The man was still Martian, Curt could tell that; the
_Energon_ hadn't reached him. But a glint of madness was in the depths
of his eyes, as he held an electro in his tight-knuckled fist. He must
have taken it from Frane, Curt thought.
And he solved the secret of the Tele-Magnum! Curt heard a faint hum,
saw the glow of the selector screen as selenic cells poured power into
the trans-etheric beam. Curt came a step nearer, into the room.
Again Tor's electro splashed fire at him.
"So it's you, Curt Emmons. No, don't come any closer!" The Martian's
eyes darted to the lensed radiant-rifle Curt held cradled in his arm.
"Throw that thing on the floor. I mean it! I'll blast you!"
Curt did as he was told. The Martian had gone mad. Helpless and
weaponless, Curt glanced at the screen. A shifting blur was
focussing--Turibek, capitol city of Mars! Tor had managed to get the
beam through!
"Don't try to stop me, Emmons. We'll never get out of this alive, I
realize that now! But I swore I'd get my voice through to my people!
Six long years I've waited--"
Curt tensed, almost leaped forward, but Tor held the weapon steady upon
him. It was then that Curt felt a pronounced overtone across his mind.
He knew the Zemmd had contacted them!
"Curt!" It was Lorine's whispered voice in the doorway behind him. He
felt the grip of an electro pressed into his hand.
"We had a fighting chance, Tor," Curt grated, "but you've ruined that!
The Zemmd has contacted us. He'll send his men down here. Yes, we'll
die!" He brought the electro unobserved to his side. "And you'd leave
the entire Federation prey to these things because of your damned
stupid fanaticism about Mars!"
"Don't try to stop me!" With his free hand Tor brought the Martian
scene sharper into focus. Nothing else mattered to him.
"A last chance, Tor! You can reach Earth on that thing. Let me contact
Earth and warn them of what goes on here! Even if we die, they can send
the Fleet and blast this place--"
Curt saw it was no use.
He brought his gun around fast, tried a snap shot from the waist. But
Tor was faster. He swayed aside, then his own electro sent its beam.
Curt's arm went numb from wrist to shoulder, as the Martian's beam
caught his gun squarely and sent it spinning from his grasp. Curt
dived low, in a try for the radiant-rifle a few yards away. Again Tor
blasted. A spray of molten froth from the floor sent Curt tumbling
back. He poised for another try. To think of failure now was to think
of death!
But he had failed. This was death!
He heard Lorine cry out, heard Jeffers cursing behind him, as a rush of
feet came toward them down the corridor!
* * * * *
Jeffers was battling for his life. A score of men were converging upon
them. Jovian, Martian, Earthmen alike, they had but one purpose as they
rushed forward under Zemmd's mental command.
That purpose was to kill!
But it was they who died, as Jeffers swept his beam in a deadly
crossfire. Lorine had retrieved the electro, and she joined the battle,
crouching beside Jeffers in the narrow doorway. Luckily it offered a
measure of protection. A few of these men were armed. Beams slashed and
glanced from the walls. In a matter of seconds the place was a hell of
heat and blinding light.
Tor was intent upon the Tele-Magnum now. Curt sprang for the
radiant-rifle, came up with it, whirled to join the battle. But already
the men were falling back out of range! They left four of their dead
upon the corridor floor.
In the brief respite Curt remembered Landreth, and the _Energon-form_.
The same thing was happening now! The bodies coalesced with an inner
aura of electric-blue. Four _Energons_ emerged swiftly and hung poised,
spinning, crackling with angry radiance. Then they darted forward.
"Don't let them touch you!" Curt hurled Lorine aside, sprang forward
with rifle upraised. Before he could touch the firing stud, the
_Energons_ were tumbling back, wildly--as if in panic!