"_Those Devils Have Got Evelyn!_"
That night the three of them talked, on a high terrace with most of
the Golden City spread out below them. Over their heads, lights of
many colors moved and shifted slowly in the sky. There were a myriad
glowing specks of saffron-red about the ways of the city, and the air
was full of fragrant odors. The breath of the jungle reached them even
a thousand feet above ground. And the dull, persistent roar of the
machines reached them too. There were five people on the terrace:
Tommy, Denham, Smithers, Aten and the white-bearded old Keeper of
Foodstuffs. He looked on as the Earthmen talked.
"We're marooned," Tommy was saying crisply, "and for the time being
we've got to throw in with these people. I believe they came from
Earth originally. Four, five thousand years ago, perhaps. Their tale
is of a cave they sealed up behind them. It might have been a
primitive Tube, if such a thing can be imagined."
Denham filled his pipe and lighted it meditatively.
"Half the American Indian tribes," he observed drily, "had legends of
coming originally from an underworld. I wonder if Tubes are less your
own invention than we thought?"
Tommy shrugged.
"In any case, Earth is safe."
"Is it?" insisted Denham. "You say they understood at once when you
talked of dimension-travel. Ask the old chap there."
* * * * *
Tommy frowned, then labored with the question. The bearded old man
spoke gravely. At his answer, Tommy grimaced.
"Datl's gone looking for the cave their legends tell of," he said
reluctantly. "He's the lad who wanted the city to gas Earth with some
ghastly stuff they know of, and move over when the gas was harmless
again. But the cave has been lost for centuries, and it's in the
torrid zone--which _is_ torrid! We're near the North Pole of this
planet, and it's tropic here. It must be mighty hot at the equator.
Datl took a ship and supplies and sailed off. He may be killed. In any
case it'll be some time before he's dangerous. Meanwhile, as I said,
we're marooned."
"And more," said Denham deliberately. "By the time the authorities
halfway believed me, and Von Holtz could talk, there were more deaths
from the Death Mist. It wiped out a village, clean. So when it was
realized that I'd caused it--or that was their interpretation--and was
the only man who could cause it again, why, the authorities thought it
a splendid idea for me to come through the Tube. They invited me to
commit suicide. My knowledge was too dangerous for a man to have. So,"
he added grimly, "I have committed suicide. We will not be welcomed
back on Earth, Tommy."
Tommy made an impatient gesture.
"Worry about that later," he said impatiently. "Right now there's a
war on. Rahn's desperate, and the prisoners we took this morning say
Jacaro and his gunmen are there, advising them. Ragged Men have joined
in to help kill civilized humans. And they've still got aircraft."
"Which can still bombard this city," observed Denham. "Can't they?"
Tommy pointed to the many-colored beams of light playing through the
sky overhead.
"No. Those lights were invented to guide night-flying planes back
home. They're static lights--cold lights, by the way--and they
register powerfully when a static-discharge propeller comes within
range of them. If Rahn tries a night attack, Aten and I take off and
shoot them down again. That's that. But we've got to design gas masks
for these people, and I think I can persuade the Council to send over
and take all Rahn's aircraft away to-morrow. But the real emergency is
the jungle."
* * * * *
He expounded the situation of the city as he understood it. He labored
painstakingly to make his meaning clear while Denham blew meditative
smoke rings and Smithers listened quietly. But when Tommy had
finished, Smithers said in a vast calm:
"Say, Mr. Reames, y'know I asked you to get somebody to take me
through some o' these engine rooms. That's kinda my specialty. An'
these folks are good, no question! There's engines--even steam
engines--we couldn't build on Earth. But, my Gawd, they're dumb! There
ain't a piece of automatic machinery on the place. There's one man to
every motor, handlin' the controls or the throttle. They got stuff we
couldn't come near, but they never thought of a steam governor."
Tommy turned kindling eyes upon him. "Go on!"
"Hell," said Smithers, "gimme some tools an' I'll go through one shop
an' cut the workin' force in half, just slammin' governors, reducin'
valves, an' automatic cut-offs on the machines I understand!"
Tommy jumped to his feet. He paced up and down, then halted and began
to spout at Aten and the Keeper of Foodstuffs. He gesticulated,
fumbling for words, and hunted absurdly for the ones he wanted among
his written lists, and finally was drawing excitedly on Aten's
black-metal tablet. Smithers got up and looked over his shoulder.
"That ain't it, Mr. Reames," he said slowly. "Maybe I...."
* * * * *
Tommy pressed the stud that erased the page. Smithers took the tablet
and began to draw painstakingly. Aten, watching, exclaimed suddenly.
Smithers was drawing an actual machine, actually used in the Golden
City, and he was making a working sketch of a governor so that it
would operate without supervision while the steam pressure continued.
Aten began to talk excitedly. The Keeper of Foodstuffs took the tablet
and examined it. He looked blank, then amazed, and as the utterly
foreign idea of a machine which controlled itself struck home, his
hands shook and color deepened in his cheeks.
He gave an order to Aten, who dashed away. In ten minutes other men
began to arrive. They bent over the drawing. Excited comments,
discussions and disputes began. A dawning enthusiasm manifested
itself. Two of them approached Smithers respectfully, with shining
eyes. They drew their tablets from their belts, rather skilfully drew
the governor he had indicated in larger scale, and by gestures asked
for more detailed plans. Smithers stood up to go with them.
"You're a hero, now, Smithers," Tommy informed him exultantly.
"They'll work you to death and call you blessed!"
"Yes, sir," said Smithers. "These fellas are right good mechanics.
They just happened to miss this trick." He paused. "Uh--where's Miss
Evelyn?"
"With Aten's--wife," said Tommy. This was no time to discuss the
marital system of Yugna. "We were prisoners until this morning. Now
we're guests of honor. Evelyn's talking to a lot of women and trying
to boost our prestige."
* * * * *
Smithers went over to the gesticulating group of draftsmen. He settled
down to explain by drawings, since he had not a word of their
language. In a few minutes a group went rushing away with the sketch
tablets held jealously to their breasts, bound for workshops. Other
men appeared to present new problems. A wave of sheer enthusiasm was
in being. A new idea which would lessen the demands of the machines
was a godsend to these folk.
Then Denham blew a smoke ring and said meditatively:
"I think I've got something too, Tommy. Ultra-sonic vibrations. Sound
waves at two to three hundred thousand per second. Air won't carry
them. Liquids will. They use 'em to sterilize milk, killing the germs
by sound waves carried through the fluid. I think we can start some
ultra-sonic generators out there that will go through the wet soil and
kill all vegetation within a given range. We might clear away the
jungle for half a mile or so and then use ultra-sonic beams to help it
clear while new food-plants are tried out."
Tommy's eyes glowed.
"You've given yourself a job! We'll turn this planet upside down."
"We'll have to," said Denham drily. "This city may believe in you, but
there are others, and these folk are a little too clever. There's no
reason why some other city shouldn't attack Earth, if they seriously
attack the problem of building a Tube."
Tommy ground his teeth, frowning. Then he started up. There was a new
noise down in the city. A sudden flare of intolerable illumination
broke out. There was an explosion, many screams, then the yelling
tumult of men in deadly battle.
* * * * *
Every man on the tower terrace was facing toward the noise, staring.
The white-bearded man gave an order, deliberately. Men rushed. But as
they swarmed toward an exit, a green beam of light appeared near the
uproar. It streaked upward, wavering from side to side and making the
golden walls visible in a ghostly fashion. It shivered in a hasty
rhythm.
Aten groaned, almost sobbed. There was another flash of that
unbearable actinic flame. A thermit-thrower was in action. Then a
third flash. This was farther away. The tumult died suddenly, but the
green light-beam continued its motion.
Tommy was snapping questions. Aten spoke, and choked upon his words.
Tommy swore in a sudden raging passion and then turned a chalky face
toward the other two men from Earth.
"The prisoners!" he said in a hoarse voice. "The men from Rahn! They
broke loose. They rushed an arsenal. With hand weapons and a
thermit-thrower they fought their way to a place where the big
vehicles are kept. They raided a dwelling-tower on the way and seized
women. They've gone off on the metal roads through the jungle!" He
tried to ease his collar. Aten, still watching the green beam, croaked
another sentence. "Those devils have got Evelyn!" cried Tommy
hoarsely. "My God! Aten's wife, and his...." He jerked a hand toward
the Councilor. "Fifty women--gone through the jungle with them, toward
Rahn! Those devils have got Evelyn!"
He whirled upon Aten, seizing his shoulder, shaking the man as he
roared questions.
"No chance of catching them." Far away, in the jungle, the infinitely
vivid actinic flame blazed for several seconds. "They've sprayed
thermit on the road. It's melted and ruined. It'd take hours to haul
the ground vehicles past the gap. They're got arms and lights. They
can fight off the beasts and Ragged Men. They'll make Rahn. And
then"--he shook with the rage that possessed him--"Jacaro's there with
those gunmen of his and his friends the Ragged Men!"
* * * * *
He seemed to control himself with a terrific effort. He turned to the
white-bearded Councilor, whose bearing was that of a man stunned by
disaster. Tommy spoke measuredly, choosing words with a painstaking
care, clipping the words crisply as he spoke.
The Councilor stiffened. Old as he was, an undeniable fighting light
came into his eyes. He barked orders right and left. Men woke from the
paralysis of shock and fled upon errands of his command. And Tommy
turned to Denham and Smithers.
"The women will be safe until dawn," he said evenly. "Our late
prisoners can't lose the way--aluminum roads that are no longer much
used lead between all the cities--but they won't dare stop in the
jungles. They'll go straight on through. They should reach Rahn at
dawn or a little before. And at dawn our air fleet will be over the
city and they'll give back the women, unharmed, or we'll turn their
own trick on them, by God! It'd be better for Evelyn to die of gas
than as--as the Ragged Men would kill her!"
His hands were clenched and he breathed noisily for an instant. Then
he swallowed, and went on in the same unnatural calm:
"Smithers, you're going to stay behind, with part of the air fleet.
You'll get aloft before dawn and shoot down any strange aircraft. They
might try to stalemate us by repeating their threat, with our guns
over Rahn. I'll give orders."
He turned again to the Councilor, who nodded, glanced at Smithers, and
repeated the command.
"You, sir," he spoke to Denham, "you'll come with me. It's your right,
I suppose. And we'll go down and get ready."
He led the way steadily toward a door. But he reached up to his
collar, once, as if he were choking, and ripped away collar and coat
and all, unconscious of the resistance of the cloth.
* * * * *
That night the Golden City made savage preparation for war. Ships were
loaded and ranged in order. Crews armed themselves, and helped in the
loading and arming of other ships. Oddly enough, it was to Tommy that
men came to ask if the directing apparatus for the Death Mist should
be carried. The Death Mist could, of course, be used as a gas alone,
drifting with the wind, or it could be directed from a distance. This
had been done on Earth, with the directional impulses sent blindly
down the Tube merely to keep the Mist moving always. The controlling
apparatus could be carried in a monster freight plane. Tommy ordered
it done. Also he had the captured planes from Rahn refitted for flight
by replacing their smashed propelling grids. Fresh crews of men for
these ships organized themselves.
When the fleet took off there was only darkness in all the world. The
unfamiliar stars above shone bright and very near as Tommy's ship,
leading, winged noiselessly up and down and straight away from the
play of prismatic lights above the city. Behind him, silhouetted
against that many-colored glow, were the angular shapes of many other
noiseless shadows. The ornithopters with their racket would start
later, so the planes would be soaring above Rahn before their presence
was even suspected. The rest of the fleet flew in darkness.
* * * * *
The flight above the jungle would have been awe-inspiring at another
time. There were the stars above, nearer and brighter than those of
Earth. There was no Milky Way in the firmament of this universe. The
stars were separate and fewer in number. There was no moon. And below
there was only utter, unrelieved darkness, from which now and again
beast-sounds arose. They were clearly audible on board the silent air
fleet. Roarings, bellowings, and hoarse screamings. Once the ships
passed above a tumult as of unthinkable monsters in deadly battle,
when for an instant the very clashing of monstrous jaws was audible
and a hissing sound which seemed filled with deadly hate.
Then lights--few of them, and dim ones. Then blazing fires--Ragged
Men, camped without the walls of Rahn or in some gold-walled courtyard
where the jungle thrust greedy, invading green tentacles. The air
fleet circled noiselessly in a huge batlike cloud. Then things came
racing from the darkness, down below, and there was a tumult and a
shouting, and presently the hilarious, insanely gleeful uproar of the
Ragged Men. Tommy's face went gray. These were the escaped prisoners,
arrived actually after the air fleet which was to demand the return of
their captives.
Tommy wet his lips and spoke grimly to his pilot. There were six men
and many Death-Mist bombs in his ship. He was asking if communication
could be had with the other ships. It was wise to let Rahn know at
once that avengers lurked overhead for the captives just delivered
there.
For answer, a green signal-beam shot out. It wavered here and there.
Tommy commanded again. And as the signal-beam flickered, he somehow
sensed the obedience of the invisible ships about him. They were
sweeping off to right and left. Bombs of the Death Mist were dropping
in the darkness. Even in the starlight, Tommy could see great walls of
pale vapor building themselves up above the jungle. And a sudden
confused noise of yapping defiance and raging hatred came up from the
city of Rahn. But before dawn came there was no other sign that their
presence was known.
* * * * *
The ornithopters came squeaking and rattling in their heavy flight
just as the dull-red sun of this world peered above the horizon. The
tree-fern fronds waved languidly in the morning breeze. The walls and
towers of Rahn gleamed bright gold, in parts, and in parts they seemed
dull and scabrous with some creeping fungus stuff, and on one side of
the city the wall was overwhelmed by a triumphant tide of green. There
the jungle had crawled over the ramparts and surged into the city.
Three of the towers had their bases in the welter of growing things,
and creepers had climbed incredibly and were still climbing to enter
and then destroy the man-made structures.
But about the city there now reared a new rampart, rising above the
tree-fern tops: there was a wall of the Death Mist encompassing the
city. No living thing could enter or leave the city without passing
through that cloud. And at Tommy's order it moved forward to the very
encampments of the Ragged Men.
He spoke, beginning his ultimatum. But a movement below checked him.
On a landing stage that was spotted with molds and lichens, women were
being herded into clear view. They were the women of the Golden City.
Tommy saw a tiny figure in khaki--Evelyn! Then there was a sudden
uproar from an encampment of the Ragged Men. His eyes flicked there,
and he saw the Ragged Men running into and out of the tall wall of
Death Mist. And they laughed uproariously and ran into and out of the
Mist again.
His pilot dived down. The Ragged Men yelled and capered and howled
derisively at him. He saw that they removed masklike things from their
faces in order to shout, and donned them again before running again
into the Mist. At once he understood. The Ragged Men had gas masks!
Then, a sudden cracking noise. Three men had opened fire with rifles
from below. Their garments were drab-colored, in contrast to the vivid
tints of the clothing of the inhabitants of Rahn. They were Jacaro's
gunmen. And a great freight carrier from Yugna veered suddenly, and a
bluish flash burst out before it, and it began to flutter helplessly
down into the city beneath.
The weapons of Tommy's fleet were useless, since the citizens of Rahn
were protected by gas masks. And Tommy's fighting ships were subject
to the same rifle fire against their propelling grids that had
defeated the fleet from Rahn. The only thing the avenging fleet could
now accomplish was the death of the women it could not save.