Setting the Trap
Inside of fifteen minutes we were on our way. A certain amount of
caution was sacrificed for the sake of speed, and the men leaped away
either across the forest top, or over open spaces of ground, but
concentration was forbidden. The Big Boss named the spot on the hillside
as the rallying point.
"We'll have to take a chance on being seen, so long as we don't group,"
he declared, "at least until within five miles of the rallying spot.
From then on I want every man to disappear from sight and to travel
under cover. And keep your ultrophones open, and tuned on
ten-four-seven-six."
Wilma and I had received our battle equipment from the Gear boss. It
consisted of a long-gun, a hand-gun, with a special case of ammunition
constructed of inertron, which made the load weigh but a few ounces, and
a short sword. This gear we strapped over each other's shoulders, on top
of our jumping belts. In addition, we each received an ultrophone, and a
light inertron blanket rolled into a cylinder about six inches long by
two or three in diameter. This fabric was exceedingly thin and light,
but it had considerable warmth, because of the mixture of inertron in
its composition.
[Illustration: The Han raider neared with incredible speed. Its rays
were both slanted astern at a sharp angle, so that it slid forward with
tremendous momentum.... Whenever the disintegrator rays flashed downward
with blinding brilliancy, forest, rocks and ground melted
instantaneously into nothing, where they played upon them.]
"This looks like business," Wilma remarked to me with sparkling eyes.
(And I might mention a curious thing here. The word "business" had
survived from the 20th Century American vocabulary, but not with any
meaning of "industry" or "trade," for such things being purely community
activities were spoken of as "work" and "clearing." Business simply
meant fighting, and that was all.)
"Did you bring all this equipment from the valley?" I asked the Gear
Boss.
"No," he said. "There was no time to gather anything. All this stuff we
cleared from the Susquannas a few hours ago. I was with the Boss on the
way down, and he had me jump on ahead and arrange it. But you two had
better be moving. He's beckoning you now."
Hart was about to call us on our phones when we looked up. As soon as we
did so, he leaped away, waving us to follow closely.
He was a powerful man, and he darted ahead in long, swift, low leaps up
the banks of the stream, which followed a fairly straight course at this
point. By extending ourselves, however, Wilma and I were able to catch
up to him.
As we gradually synchronized our leaps with his, he outlined to us,
between the grunts that accompanied each leap, his plan of action.
"We have to start the big business--unh--sooner or later," he said.
"And if--unh--the Hans have found any way of locating our
positions--unh--it's time to start now, although the Council of
Bosses--unh--had intended waiting a few years until enough rocket ships
have been--unh--built. But no matter what the sacrifice--unh--we can't
afford to let them get us on the run--unh--. We'll set a trap for the
yellow devils in the--unh--valley if they come back for their
wreckage--unh--and if they don't, we'll go rocketing for some of their
liners--unh--on the Nu-yok, Clee-lan, Si-ka-ga course. We can
use--unh--that idea of yours of shooting up the repellor--unh--beams.
Want you to give us a demonstration."
With further admonition to follow him closely, he increased his pace,
and Wilma and I were taxed to our utmost to keep up with him. It was
only in ascending the slopes that my tougher muscles overbalanced his
greater skill, and I was able to set the pace for him, as I had for
Wilma.
We slept in greater comfort that night, under our inertron blankets, and
were off with the dawn, leaping cautiously to the top of the ridge
overlooking the valley which Wilma and I had left.
The Boss scanned the sky with his ultroscope, patiently taking some
fifteen minutes to the task, and then swung his phone into use, calling
the roll and giving the men their instructions.
His first order was for us all to slip our ear and chest discs into
permanent position.
These ultrophones were quite different from the one used by Wilma's
companion scout the day I saved her from the vicious attack of the
bandit Gang. That one was contained entirely in a small pocket case.
These, with which we were now equipped, consisted of a pair of ear
discs, each a separate and self-contained receiving set. They slipped
into little pockets over our ears in the fabric helmets we wore, and
shut out virtually all extraneous sounds. The chest discs were likewise
self-contained sending sets, strapped to the chest a few inches below
the neck and actuated by the vibrations from the vocal cords through the
body tissues. The total range of these sets was about eighteen miles.
Reception was remarkably clear, quite free from the static that so
marked the 20th Century radios, and of a strength in direct proportion
to the distance of the speaker.
The Boss' set was triple powered, so that his orders would cut in on any
local conversations, which were indulged in, however, with great
restraint, and only for the purpose of maintaining contacts.
I marveled at the efficiency of this modern method of battle
communication in contrast to the clumsy signaling devices of more
ancient times; and also at other military contrasts in which the 20th
and 25th Century methods were the reverse of each other in efficiency.
These modern Americans, for instance, knew little of hand to hand
fighting, and nothing, naturally, of trench warfare. Of barrages they
were quite ignorant, although they possessed weapons of terrific power.
And until my recent flash of inspiration, no one among them, apparently,
had ever thought of the scheme of shooting a rocket into a repellor beam
and letting the beam itself hurl it upward into the most vital part of
the Han ship.
Hart patiently placed his men, first giving his instructions to the
campmasters, and then remaining silent, while they placed the
individuals.
In the end, the hundred men were ringed about the valley, on the
hillsides and tops, each in a position from which he had a good view of
the wreckage of the Han ship. But not a man had come in view, so far as
I could see, in the whole process.
The Boss explained to me that it was his idea that he, Wilma and I
should investigate the wreck. If Han ships should appear in the sky, we
would leap for the hillsides.
I suggested to him to have the men set up their long-guns trained on an
imaginary circle surrounding the wreck. He busied himself with this
after the three of us leaped down to the Han ship, serving as a target
himself, while he called on the men individually to aim their pieces and
lock them in position.
In the meantime Wilma and I climbed into the wreckage, but did not find
much. Practically all of the instruments and machinery had been twisted
out of all recognizable shape, or utterly destroyed by the ship's
disintegrator rays which apparently had continued to operate in the
midst of its warped remains for some moments after the crash.
It was unpleasant work searching the mangled bodies of the crew. But it
had to be done. The Han clothing, I observed, was quite different from
that of the Americans, and in many respects more like the garb to which
I had been accustomed in the earlier part of my life. It was made of
synthetic fabrics like silks, loose and comfortable trousers of knee
length, and sleeveless shirts.
No protection, except that against drafts, was needed, Wilma explained
to me, for the Han cities were entirely enclosed, with splendid
arrangements for ventilation and heating. These arrangements of course
were equally adequate in their airships. The Hans, indeed, had quite a
distaste for unshaded daylight, since their lighting apparatus diffused
a controlled amount of violet rays, making the unmodified sunlight
unnecessary for health, and undesirable for comfort. Since the Hans did
not have the secret of inertron, none of them wore anti-gravity belts.
Yet in spite of the fact that they had to bear their own full weights at
all times, they were physically far inferior to the Americans, for they
lived lives of degenerative physical inertia, having machinery of every
description for the performance of all labor, and convenient conveyances
for any movement of more than a few steps.
Even from the twisted wreckage of this ship I could see that seats,
chairs and couches played an extremely important part in their scheme of
existence.
But none of the bodies were overweight. They seemed to have been the
bodies of men in good health, but muscularly much underdeveloped. Wilma
explained to me that they had mastered the science of gland control, and
of course dietetics, to the point where men and women among them not
uncommonly reached the age of a hundred years with arteries and general
health in splendid condition.
I did not have time to study the ship and its contents as carefully as I
would have liked, however. Time pressed, and it was our business to
discover some clue to the deadly accuracy with which the ship had
spotted the Wyoming Works.
The Boss had hardly finished his arrangements for the ring barrage, when
one of the scouts on an eminence to the north, announced the approach of
seven Han ships, spread out in a great semi-circle.
Hart leaped for the hillside, calling to us to do likewise, but Wilma
and I had raised the flaps of our helmets and switched off our
"speakers" for conversation between ourselves, and by the time we
discovered what had happened, the ships were clearly visible, so fast
were they approaching.
"Jump!" we heard the Boss order, "Deering to the north. Rogers to the
east."
But Wilma looked at me meaningly and pointed to where the twisted plates
of the ship, projecting from the ground, offered a shelter.
"Too late, Boss," she said. "They'd see us. Besides I think there's
something here we ought to look at. It's probably their magnetic graph."
"You're signing your death warrant," Hart warned.
"We'll risk it," said Wilma and I together.
"Good for you," replied the Boss. "Take command then, Rogers, for the
present. Do you all know his voice, boys?"
A chorus of assent rang in our ears, and I began to do some fast
thinking as the girl and I ducked into the twisted mass of metal.
"Wilma, hunt for that record," I said, knowing that by the simple
process of talking I could keep the entire command continuously informed
as to the situation. "On the hillsides, keep your guns trained on the
circles and stand by. On the hilltops, how many of you are there? Speak
in rotation from Bald Knob around to the east, north, west."
In turn the men called their names. There were twenty of them.
I assigned them by name to cover the various Han ships, numbering the
latter from left to right.
"Train your rockets on their repellor rays about three-quarters of the
way up, between ships and ground. Aim is more important than elevation.
Follow those rays with your aim continuously. Shoot when I tell you, not
before. Deering has the record. The Hans probably have not seen us, or
at least think there are but two of us in the valley, since they're
settling without opening up disintegrators. Any opinions?"
My ear discs remained silent.
"Deering and I remain here until they land and debark. Stand by and keep
alert."
Rapidly and easily the largest of the Han ships settled to the earth.
Three scouted sharply to the south, rising to a higher level. The others
floated motionless about a thousand feet above.
Peeping through a small fissure between two plates, I saw the vast hulk
of the ship come to rest full on the line of our prospective ring
barrage. A door clanged open a couple of feet from the ground, and one
by one the crew emerged.