The Revolt of the Star Men
By RAYMOND GALLUN
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Wonder Stories
Quarterly Winter 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
[Illustration: A bulk dropped down on the nose of the craft. A pair of
hands gripped the barrels of the machine gun and tore them from the
mountings.]
* * * * *
THE REVOLT OF THE STAR MEN
_By the Author of "The Space Dwellers"_
[Illustration: RAYMOND GALLUN]
The creatures that people this exciting story of Mr. Gallun, may
seem at first blush to be impossible monstrosities. Yet, on
consideration, we must realize that they are not so far-fetched.
Even in our picayune little corner of the universe, we find in the
insect kingdom a form of life that has survived through every
possible earth catastrophe in the last 40,000,000 years. With their
skeletons on the outside of their bodies instead of on the inside,
insects are able to protect their bodies from heat, cold, and from
accidents that would kill us. If the insect's shell were harder and
thicker and made of heat-resisting material, it might conceivably
be able to live in space without other protection.
The point is that Mr. Gallun makes his Space Men so convincing that
we can do nothing but believe in them. And he has woven about them
such a thrilling story of adventure on two worlds that one will
have to read and reread it, to get from it the fullest enjoyment.
* * * * *
It was in the reading room of the Neilson-Aldebar space liner, _Ekova_,
that two young people came unexpectedly upon a third person who sat
alone, absently skimming through a copy of the _Interplanetarian_. When
the girl caught sight of him she uttered a little acclamation of
surprise. "Hekki-you!" she cried.
The one addressed looked up. A smile of greeting came over his swarthy,
aristocratic features. "Hello, Jan. It is I--none other," he said.
"Aren't you glad to see me?" Here he shot a quick glance at the girl's
companion.
"Why certainly I am, Hekki," she replied a trifle nervously. "But how
can it be? A week ago you left for the deepest, most mysterious part of
the Taraal desert on Mars, to collect objects of ancient art, and now
you are here. Where have you kept yourself during the voyage?"
The other smiled again--this time a cryptic, secretive smile.
"Business," he said mysteriously. "It called me to Earth at the last
moment, and since we left the docks at Taboor, it has kept me occupied
in my stateroom. This is but the third time I have ventured out of it.
Alka brought me my meals." Hekki arched his finely penciled eyebrows
slightly as he looked up at the lady's companion. "And you too have had
business, Janice," he added. "A new boy friend?" There was a hint of
something unpleasant in his tone, but the girl ignored it.
She nodded her golden head. "We met on the night of the departure from
Mars, and since then, we've had a happy week together. Austin," she
said, turning to the youth, "I want you to know Hekalu Selba of Taboor.
Hekki, this is Austin Shelby, who hails from Chicago. You ought to get
along well together, because you are both so interested in mechanics,"
she added. The men shook hands. For the past few moments Shelby had been
trying to analyze from the scanty data at hand the character of Hekki.
He saw the tapering, effeminate hands--one twiddled nervously a long
Martian cigarette--the dark straight hair and fine features; the mouth,
that could curl so insolently; the faultless, white silk clothing.
Shelby decided that he did not like Hekki. The reason at first seemed
obvious, but presently the young Earthman realized that his feeling
towards this child of the Red Planet was stronger than mere dislike.
What was the explanation? Was it because Hekki was a friend of Janice
Darell? Since he had met her aboard the _Ekova_ on this glorious return
to Earth, after having spent a whole Martian year at an engineering
school at Taboor, Shelby had learned to know love. Was he jealous of
this noble of another world? A little, perhaps. But this did not account
for the vague, sinister aura he sensed about Hekalu Selba.
Something in Shelby's brain was trying to surge its way to the surface
of his consciousness; he struggled with it, and it came out clear. Only
thirty-six hours before, during the period designated for sleep, he had
wandered into a seldom frequented passageway, high up in the hull of the
_Ekova_. Here there were portholes through which he could see the
curving metal expanse of the ship's huge form, gleaming dimly under the
stars of space. It had looked like the back of a great silver whale.
For a minute or two he had stared absently through the little circular
window, and then, hearing footsteps down the corridor, he had turned to
see two figures some hundred feet distant moving away from him. They had
obviously entered from a side passage and had probably not seen him. One
had been this very Hekalu Selba; Austin was sure of it. Beside him had
moved a shadow. The Earthman had not seen it clearly, for the
illuminating globes burning here during the sleep period were dim and
far between.
He had but a vague fleeting impression of a huge knotty form, bent and
grotesque. Its arms were so long that its big hands almost dragged on
the floor. Its head was very large and bulbous. The pair had seemed to
carry something heavy between them, but Austin had not seen what it was.
In a moment the Martian had opened a door in the side of the passage
and the two had vanished into it.
When Austin had returned to his stateroom, he was not quite sure he had
really seen the monstrous horror. Surely nothing like it was known to
exist within the orbit of Jupiter! Shelby had thought of reporting the
incident to the commander of the vessel, but he had dismissed the idea
as too pointless. Now, however, the memory of that vague black form was
haunting him. He knew that it was the key, in part at least, to his
feeling toward Hekalu Selba.
The Martian had cast his magazine aside. He was patting the soft
cushions of the divan on which he was lounging. "Sit here, my friends,"
he said in his smooth, precise English. "We shall talk, and then perhaps
we shall have a little refreshment." The two complied.
"It will be only for a moment," said the girl. "The ship lands in an
hour, and I haven't gathered my things together yet."
Shelby was intensely interested in this queer individual, about whose
personality there lingered a strangely indefinable web of mystery--of
evil, almost.
"So you too have a passion for mechanics," he said. "Somewhere I am sure
I have heard of you before. Kelang Aggar, an instructor of mine at
Taboor, spoke occasionally of a young Martian student--"
"Kelang Aggar is my friend," Hekki broke in. "He assisted me with
several experiments. But they were nothing--a new alloy, very hard, and
having a high point of fusion. The heads of the Space Ship Construction
Company said it was ideal for rocket nozzles, but they paid me a mere
pittance for the invention. This, and a few even lesser ones are my sole
accomplishments in the line of mechanics." Hekalu Selba laughed lightly.
"Let us talk of other things, my friends," he continued. "Let us allow
our minds to ramble. See those two beautiful potted palms over
there--children of the deserts of Earth, and beside them the slender
graceful stem of the purple Kelan, dug from the marshes along the Selgur
waterway of my own planet. I have seen them both in their native
habitat, waving their fronds as though in cadence with some great silent
symphony of the universe. See that tapestry over yonder, with the beast
woven into it?"
* * * * *
Here Janice Darell pointed up toward the flattened glass dome that
roofed the room. "There is old Mother Earth looking down at us, and the
sun is peeping around her rim," she said. "See how the light of Sol
sifts through the terrestrial atmosphere. There is a streak of red, of
gold, of opal, and beyond are the stars and the blackness of space."
"The contrast of the forces of darkness with those of light," Shelby put
in softly.
Hekki was smiling absently. "There are many contrasts," he mused. "The
contrast of life and death, of power and weakness, of nightmare and
reality."
Words popped into Austin Shelby's head, and, carelessly, he uttered them
without thinking: "You often walk with your nightmares, don't you,
Hekalu?"
A hard light came into the Martian's eyes as he stared straight at the
Earthman. "Perhaps," he said, "and you, Mr. Shelby, often walk in your
sleep!" But apparently the incident was immediately forgotten.
Austin wondered how much the girl knew about the luxurious Hekalu. A
quick glance of intelligence passed between them.
"I'll have to pack now," Janice said. "Won't you boys walk along with me
a little ways?" She took Austin's arm as they arose. Hekki fell in
beside them. At the entrance to the corridor which led to the girl's
stateroom they paused.
"My business will occupy me tonight and tomorrow," said Hekalu, "so I
shall bid you goodbye until, let us say, the following evening, Jan, but
if you like I shall have Alka take you home."
"Mr. Shelby has asked permission to perform that little service, you
industrious old business man," she replied mischievously. And again that
dark shadow flickered momentarily on the Martian's features.
"But you will let me see you the day after tomorrow?" he asked. "I have
found a little paradise out at Oak Park patterned after the fairy
palaces of my own planet, and besides, I have a new jewel to show you."
"Fie on your jewels, Hekki," she smiled, adopting the stiff trite speech
the Martians often fell into. "But anyway, perhaps I shall favor you
with my incomparable company. The time you mention is still a ways away.
_Sidi yadi_,[1] my friend. Remember I shall be expecting a view-phone
call from you soon." Then turning to Shelby: "I'll meet you in the
lounge right after the boat lands. Don't fail me!"
[Footnote 1: Martian farewell.]
"You needn't worry about that, Jan," he assured her.
In a moment she was hurrying up the corridor in the pink glow of the
lights. As Austin gazed after her, he could not help but think how
wonderful was this fluffy little wisp of blonde beauty. Was she for him?
Over her he felt there lurked a dark shadow, but this only strengthened
the spell she had cast over him, for it gave to him the pleasure which
virile males experience when they know that their loved one requires
protection.
Hekki cleared his throat to attract the attention of his companion. When
Shelby turned toward him he was fumbling in one of the voluminous sleeve
pockets of his blouse. Presently he drew forth a very thin rectangle of
a substance resembling ivory, and handed it to the Earthman. Shelby
glanced at it. It was one of the name cards commonly used by Martian
men. It bore the legend in the interplanetary symbols:
Hekalu Selba, Akar
414 Teldasa
Taboor, P. 4.
Beneath in small letters appeared Hekki's Chicago address.
"I shall want to see you again soon, my friend," said the Martian
cordially. "There are many things at my establishment which I would like
to show you--much that we can talk about."
Austin Shelby accepted the card and handed Hekki his own. Here was an
opportunity to get some first hand information on the mysterious man of
Mars and his more mysterious, perhaps sinister doings. The idea that he
might be placing himself in a dangerous position, Shelby gave scarcely a
moment's thought, for he had in him the spirit of the adventurer.
"Thank you, Akar Hekalu. I shall get in touch with you. And in the
meanwhile you can reach me at my address through the view-phone at
almost any time for I shall be working on a new mechanism there. _Sidi
yadi._"
"_Sidi yadi_, my friend."
The two men parted.
* * * * *
Fifteen minutes later a rustling whisper was audible throughout the
_Ekova_, above the steady purr of the forward-pointing decelerating
rockets. It became a deep-toned soughing which rapidly increased in
volume to a loud roar, and then to a screeching hiss. The ship swayed
and rocked a little. It was tearing its way into the terrestrial
atmosphere.
In the conning tower forward, the pilot and his assistant were working
calmly and cooly over the bewildering array of controlling mechanisms.
Getting those thousands of tons of metal safely lowered into a space
ship's cradle on the landing stage, was a difficult task, but the
experience and efficiency of the two men was quite competent to cope
with it.
Far below was a vast sea of winking lights--Chicago, its colossal
skyscrapers looming up severe and white and beautiful in the glow.
The pilot's nimble fingers turned a small horizontal wheel at his side.
The liner dipped and dropped slowly earthward toward an area of white
light. A mass of cloud poured over the huge hull for an instant and then
passed by. The outer shell of the great silvery whale which had been
chilled to a degree from absolute zero, by the cold of space had been
warmed but slightly by the rapid passage through the atmosphere and now
gleamed with jewel-like hoar frost.
Down, down it floated until it was only three hundred feet above the
landing stage. A red signal light gleamed suddenly on a panel within the
control room, and the wizard of that eerie chamber shifted a tiny lever.
The space ship halted and hung motionless supported by its repulsion
plates. On the ground in the glare of floodlights white-clad men hurried
about. Four mighty arms of metal groped upward from a mass of heavy
framework. They clutched the craft with a grating noise, and then, with
the slow deliberation of a sleepy giant, they drew it gently down into
its cradle.
Within the _Ekova_ all was abustle. Its doors, built solidly like the
breeches of big cannons, swung open, permitting the cool night air to
enter the ship, which for seven days had been a world sufficient unto
itself. Gangplanks were let down, and the passengers, jesting gaily with
one another began their leisurely descent to the ground. Customs
officials worked feverishly. A webby derrick arm pointing out from an
opening in the side of the liner, was unloading mail and costly material
and equipment sent to Earth from the Red Planet.
The routine processes of debarkation over, Shelby and Janice Darell
entered the covered causeway which led to the great terminal building of
the Space Travel Company.
The two had caught but a fleeting glimpse of Hekki. He was talking
earnestly to a white-clad official, and had not seen them; nor had they
tried to attract his attention. Conspicuous among the Martian's numerous
possessions was a large basket of metal wickerwork, such as were
commonly used to convey dogs and similiar pets from place to place. The
sight of that basket had aroused again in Shelby's mind that peculiar
sense of the presence of something sinister. Was the monster he had seen
in Hekalu Selba's company hidden within that case of woven wire?
Within the causeway was a moving walk which carried Shelby and his
companion to the depot. Here the intermittent whirring of pneumatic
tube-cars operating in a vast network throughout the city was audible.
The young Earthian pair, and the two attendants bearing their light
luggage entered an elevator, which carried them swiftly to the landing
platform for atmospheric craft on the roof of the building.
Shelby presented his identification tag and gave the number of his plane
to the official in charge. The man led the way to a hangar at the side
of the platform. Shelby had sent an order by radio to the Sutherland
Aircraft Company a few hours before, and, complying with his request, a
bright new flier had been delivered and housed here, awaiting his
arrival.
The official closed a switch on the wall of the building, and the hangar
door rolled open. While the two Earthians were entering the craft the
attendants quickly placed the luggage into the load compartment.
Shelby fumbled with the destination mechanism and pressed the starting
lever. The propellers, whirled at high speed by the soundless atomic
motor, thrummed softly. In a moment, the plane, unguided by human hands,
hoisted itself almost vertically into the night and was off. Unerringly
it would carry its occupants to their destination.
CHAPTER II
A Strange Story
Shelby looked down at his companion. For a time she had been strangely
quiet. Could it be that there was just a hint of a troubled look on her
beautiful face? The young engineer felt himself drawn to her more than
ever. He wanted to know more about his new Martian acquaintance, but he
disliked to ask a direct question concerning him, for he feared vaguely
that it might give her offense.
"Jan," he said, "you look worried. Is anything wrong?"
She shook her head, slowly, absently, without looking at him. "No, I was
just thinking." She paused, and then in the same absent manner she
continued: "Only Hekalu Selba is back, and I thought I was rid of him."
Reassured somewhat by her words, but still taking care to conceal any
hint of the menace he had sensed about the Martian, Shelby asked: "What
possible difference can his presence in Chicago mean to you? He seemed
to me to be a very ordinary Martian nobleman--evidently supplied with
plenty of money, and having no other motive in life than to enjoy
himself, and perhaps to help others enjoy themselves. A perfectly
harmless individual."
Janice's face grew serious. "You say those things because you do not
know Hekki," she said. "Shall I tell you about him? It would relieve me
to share my knowledge with someone."
The young man nodded but made no comment.
"Two years ago," she began, "I went to Taboor on Mars to study
sculpture. Not long after my arrival at school, in the company of a
number of other art students, I attended a ball given at a glorious old
palace in the heart of the ancient Martian quarter. Our gracious host
was Hekalu Selba himself. I met him, danced with him, and talked with
him. From the first he was attracted to me and I to him, and so we were
often together.
"Though some of his peculiar affectations were obnoxious to me, I
thought that his good qualities far overbalanced his failings. He seemed
always kind and considerate in his dealings with all about him; he was
well informed on almost every possible subject; he painted pictures and
played various musical instruments with a skill that was little short of
genius, and his tales of his travels and adventures in the little-known
region beyond the orbits of the minor planets could not fail to delight
any listeners. Dreamer and brilliant artist--that was Hekki as I saw him
then. Effeminate--yes, but brave and resourceful too.
"Our intimacy grew. He made frequent proposals of marriage to me, but I
put him off, saying that I was not sure I loved him. I informed Father
back here in Chicago of our friendship. His next letter showed plainly
his enthusiasm over the idea of the possible marriage of his daughter
with this young noble of the ancient Martian house of Selba. 'Get him,
Jan,' he wrote. 'He'd be the catch of a lifetime. Why, his total assets
would make the treasure of Croesus look like a little piece of twisted
copper wire.' Poor practical old Dad! For once his business judgment was
in the wrong. It was well that I did not follow his advice."
At this point Jan's story was interrupted by the sudden dropping of the
plane. They had reached their destination. The craft descended
vertically and landed with a light impact in the center of a small
private roof garden at the summit of a great apartment building.
"Dad won't be home now," said Jan. "He was delayed in New York, and will
not appear until tomorrow. There isn't anyone else around here except
old Rufus, so we needn't go down stairs. Let's sit over there instead."
She pointed toward a quaintly wrought bench beside a splashing fountain.
The moon was shining, and the solitary cypress tree cast a spear-like
shadow over the pool. There was a faint fragrance of flowers in the
night.
Janice and Shelby seated themselves and the girl continued:
"Shortly after my meeting with Hekalu Selba rumors began to come to me.
Men died mysteriously, and there were people who made vague hints that
my noble friend was responsible. An uncle of Hekki's had made him the
principal heir to his fortune--shortly afterward the uncle contracted a
virulent disease and passed away. On both planets men that were
obnoxious to Hekki were murdered--capable business rivals and people who
perhaps 'knew too much.' Always the circumstances of their deaths were
peculiar. Frequently they were found in locked rooms to which an
assassin could scarcely have gained entrance without breaking his way.
But such violent methods had not been used. Never was there a shred of
evidence to implicate the noble.
* * * * *
"But I was beginning to see Hekalu's true color. The lavish display of
his wealth--his estates and his art treasures, and the endless round of
good times he sought to provide, were merely an attempt to cover up his
wickedness. One afternoon that I was with him, he was under the
influence of the Elar drug. His face was red and his eyes gleamed with a
wicked light. He proposed to me again, and when I made an angry refusal
he threatened me--said that if there was another whom I loved he would
destroy him and me too.
"That, I assured myself, was the end. Hekki tried to make up, but when
he found that I would have nothing to do with him he vanished. I think
he went off into the outer regions of the solar system again. He was
gone for a long time, and I devoted myself entirely to my studies.
"Then suddenly, out of the blue, I received a letter from Hekki. It came
from a small village far to the west of Taboor. A gift accompanied it.
Hekki informed me that in a valley far out in the unexplored Taraal
desert he had run across a ruined city built by the Melbar kings some
seventy-five thousand years ago. He hoped to make an enormous fortune
from the art treasures he had found there.
"The gift and the small photograph he sent me, I shall show you at the
first opportunity. They are packed away now. The former is a dagger with
a flexible blade of a shiny black substance unknown to me. It does not
seem to be metal. The hilt is a lump of platinum. It is carved to
represent some strange animal with scores of coiling tentacles. Hekki
says that the object is one of his treasures, found on the site of the
ancient city. But I have doubted this. I know something of the art of
the Melbar kings, and certainly the dagger does not resemble the
products of their craftsmen. The same is true of those wares of Hekki's
which my friends have bought. They are strange--belonging neither to
Earth nor Mars.
"The picture too is equally puzzling. It depicts a night scene in a
desert valley. Jagged hills in the distance and the nearer moon of Mars
in the sky. The floor of the valley is in shadow and things there are
indistinct. There are shapes there--vast shapes, odd and grotesque. And
there is something in the foreground which might be almost human!
"In his letter Hekki asked if he might see me again, and I immediately
wrote and told him that I would. To you, Austin, this probably seems a
crazy thing to do, but like most everyone who is young, I had a genuine
love for intrigue and mystery, even though they might be dangerous
things to meddle with.
"Hekalu came to Taboor, but I saw comparatively little of him. He seemed
always to be tremendously busy. Sometimes he would be extravagantly
jubilant, as though he had met with some tremendous success, or again he
would apparently be worried almost to the point of madness. What these
emotional changes meant, he would never tell me.
"Several times old Alka, his favorite slave, spoke to me. 'The Master is
not as he used to be, Miss Darell,' he would say. 'He works feverishly
with odd mechanisms, and every night when he is at home he stares out
into space toward the farther planets with his new super-telescope.
Always, what he sees makes his face turn white and hard; sometimes, he
smiles and sometimes his features look like a devil's mask.'
"And still Hekki's weird treasures continued, and still continue to come
from the Taraal.
"A group of men was sent by the heads of the Place of Knowledge out into
the desert to investigate. They disappeared. The officials of the
Planetary Patrol made only a hasty and unsuccessful investigation.
"On the day of my departure from Mars, after having finished my course,
I saw Hekki, believing that it was for the last time. He said he was
going back into the Taraal. And then he popped up on the liner. And
that, Austin, is all I know about Hekalu Selba. What do you make of it?
What is he trying to do out there in the desert?" She placed her hand
lightly on Shelby's arm and looked up appealingly into his face. "Can't
you offer some suggestions, Austin? You know that when suspicious events
are troubling you, a plausible explanation eases your mind even though
you cannot know the truth. And I am afraid, afraid that he is
deliberately following me to Earth!"
While Jan had been telling of her acquaintance with the Martian, Austin
had been staring at a very large Sadu moth which hovered, and leisurely
moved about on thrumming gorgeous wings, which spanned fully eighteen
inches. It moved from blossom to blossom in a nearby flower bed,
delicately sipping nectar. Always its great luminous eyes, which glowed
like coals of gleaming fire, were turned toward the pair. Shelby had
scarcely noticed it, for he was absorbed with the girl's account; but
now, when it edged closer towards them, and then made a sudden
mischievous swoop not six inches above their heads, its presence could
no longer be ignored. The girl gave an exclamation of revulsion and
shrank involuntarily toward her companion. He leaped to his feet, and
picking up a pebble from beside the fountain, hurled it at the night
prowler.
"You dirty eavesdropper!" he shouted angrily. "The man who brought your
kind from Mars for ornamental purposes must have been crazy!"
* * * * *
The moth buzzed up into the cypress tree and squatted there, silently,
apparently resting. Only its eyes continued to glare fixedly, almost
malignantly at the occupants of the garden. But they quickly forgot
about its presence.
"I don't know whether I can offer a sensible explanation for Hekalu's
actions or not, Jan," Shelby said. "However, as far as his activities in
the Taraal are concerned, it seems quite possible that he did discover
ruins there, and is trying to keep other fortune seekers away. The ruins
may of course not really belong to the Melbar dynasty. They might have
been built by some contemporary race. Just what he is doing among the
minor planets, we can't any more than guess at. Probably he's just
adventuring like a few other people. And as for his following you to
Earth--well, I admit that you _do_ seem to be popular!"
"You're making it sound awfully simple, Austin," said Jan. She paused
and thought for a moment, and then, with seeming irrelevance she
continued: "Haven't you heard of queer clusters of luminous specks
recently seen by astronomers not far beyond Mars? They called them
meteor clusters, but they drifted about here and there, not following
definite paths as meteors should do."
"You're trying to suggest that they are space ships, aren't you, Jan?"
She nodded.
"But they aren't," Shelby assured her. "They don't polarize the
reflected light of the sun as space ships do. Besides, where could they
have been built? Certainly not among the planetoids. And any place on
the planets, the Taraal desert for instance, would be an almost equally
impossible site for their construction.
"Think of the enormous crews of men and the vast supplies of food and
water and materials that would have to be taken out there into the
wilderness. Undoubtedly Hekalu could back such a project financially,
but he would be discovered before he had made a fair start, and the
Martian Planet Patrol would wipe him out of existence. Still, though I
don't think that the luminous specks are man-built vessels, I am equally
certain that they aren't meteors either."
"Then what are they?"
The young man smiled and shrugged. "I don't know," he said. The
intuitive feeling that unknown, and not too beneficient forces were at
work in the ether about, was troubling him again, making his scalp
muscles tingle.
For a moment Shelby stared at the ground. "Jan," he said, "I didn't tell
you what I saw on the liner. I didn't tell anyone because I don't want
to be called a lunatic. But I guess it's all right to let you in on this
now. Briefly, during the sleep period, I came upon Hekalu Selba prowling
in a passageway aboard the _Ekova_, in the company of a vague thing that
may have been similar to that shape in the photograph--long arms, big
head, squat and muscular. If we knew what that thing was, and where it
came from, the snarl might be half untangled."
Janice Darell's face took on a sudden surprised look. "You actually saw
what you say you saw?" she cried. When her companion nodded, she
continued excitedly with wide-open eyes. "I still believe that Hekalu
knows something about the meteor cluster. And the beast figures in
somewhere too. Austin," she cried, "what if Hekki is trying something
really great? I know you don't take stock in any such idea, but just
supposing he is--what if--"
"Let him try!" the young man cut in. "I almost wish he would! I'm afraid
he would get the surprise of his life." He was staring straight at the
unwinking, malignant eyes of the Sadu moth.
"What do you mean?"
Shelby drew a small black case from his sleeve pocket and opened it. He
took from it a device which looked like a tiny pistol. There were
several other odds and ends of mechanisms in the case. "For a year I
have been working on a new weapon," he said. "All the parts are
completed, and tonight I shall finish assembling them. This little gun
is the projector for a new ray which I have discovered--an etheric
vibration of extremely short wavelength. A portion of the atomic energy
in any solid or liquid substance the ray touches is instantly released.
"You doubt whether it is effective? Well, I can't give you any proof
now; I can only say that when I was back on Mars, fooling with my first
cumbersome projector, which produced only the weakest of vibrations, I
blasted a big hole in the wall of my apartment, and nearly killed the
Martian physician who lived in the rooms next to mine. I had a devil of
a time explaining the explosion, and narrowly missed getting myself into
serious trouble. In a few days I shall try to sell the weapon to the
Earth Government. If they are convinced of its value, and I don't see
how they can help but be convinced, our friend from the Red Planet will
have to be very careful if he tries anything."
Shelby glanced at his wrist watch. "Eleven thirty--my bed time," he said
with mock seriousness. "But Jan, there's one favor I want to ask you
before I go. Try not to see anymore of Hekalu Selba, Akar."
Janice Darell made a valiant attempt to act the part of one whose pride
and sense of freedom had been deeply outraged. "Mr. Shelby," she said,
"what right have you to tell me what I shall or shall not do?" But a
light laugh broke from her lips and spoiled her bluff.
"There are two reasons," replied her companion seriously. "First,
because we both believe that Hekalu Selba is dangerous; second--because
I love you." He leaned closer toward her with the light of eagerness in
his eyes. "Oh, I know I'm crude, Jan," he said passionately. "I'm just a
clumsy engineer, not a poet or ladies' man. What I'm trying to say to
you must seem awfully trite, but anyway, I want you with me always."
"You mean--?"
He nodded.
"All right, Austin," she said quietly, looking straight into his eyes.
His arms crept around her, and now he drew her gently to him.
Some moments later, in the nearby pergola, the door which led to the
rooms below opened, and an ancient negro clad in gaudy pajamas and
bathrobe peered out into the garden. He saw the pair and recognized the
girl. A happy grin came over his wrinkled black face. "Well, if dat
ain't a mos' pretty sight to look at," he muttered. "My baby done come
back at las', and dat sho' am a han'some boy she got dar!" He turned,
and leaving the door open and the light burning on the stair, descended.
Very softly and wistfully he was crooning an old darky love song.
It was an hour later before Shelby's craft whirred up into the
moon-bathed night over the winking lights of the city. And at the same
time the big-eyed Sadu moth which had been crouching in the cypress
tree, rose on its velvety wings and sped away, as though some urgent
mission had suddenly claimed its attention.