Part 3 (1/2)
”Rockets,” grinned Morey. ”Our first s.h.i.+p was part rocket.”
Zezdon Fentes smiled. ”But that is all. We have brought you warning, and our plea. Can you help us?”
”We cannot answer that. The Interplanetary Council must act. But I am afraid that it will be all we can do to protect our own world if this enemy attacks soon, and I fear they will. Since they have a base in this universe, it is impossible to believe that all s.h.i.+ps did not report back to the home world at stated intervals. That one is missing will soon be discovered, and it will be sought. War will start at once. Three months it took you to reach us--they should come soon.
”Those men who left will be on their way back from the home world from which they came. What do you call your planet, friend?”
”Ortol is our home,” replied Zezdon Inthel.
”At any rate, I can only a.s.sure you that your world will be given weapons that will permit your people to defend themselves and I will get you to your home within twenty-four hours. Your s.h.i.+p--is it in the system?”
”It waits on the second satellite of the fourth planet,” replied Zezdon Afthen.
”Signal them, and tell them to land where a beacon of intense light, alternating red and blue, reaches up from--this point on the map.” Arcot pointed out the spot in Vermont where their private lake and laboratory were.
He turned to the others, and in rapid-fire English, explained his plans.
”We need the help of these people as much as they need ours. I think Zezdon Fentes will stay here and help you. The others will go with us to their world. There we shall have plenty of work to do, but on the way we are going to stop at Mars and pick up that valuable s.h.i.+p of theirs and make a careful examination for possible new weapons, their system of speed-drive, and their regular s.p.a.ce-drive. I'm willing to make a bet right now, that I can guess both. Their regular drive is a molecular drive with lead disintegration apparatus for the energy, cosmic ray absorbers for the heating, and a drive much like ours. Their speed drive is a time distortion apparatus, I'll wager. Time distinction offers an easy solution of speed. All speed is relative--relative to other bodies, but also to time-speed. But we'll see.
”I'm going to hustle some workmen to installing the biggest spare power board I can get into the storerooms of the _Ancient Mariner_, and pack in a ray-screen. It will be useful. Let's move.”
”Our s.h.i.+p,” said Zezdon Afthen, ”will land in three of your hours.”
Chapter IV
THE FIRST MOVE
The Ortolians were standing on a low, green-clad hill. Below them stretched the green flank of the little rise, and beyond lay ridge after ridge of the broad, smooth carpet of the beautiful Vermont hills.
”Man of Earth,” said Zezdon Afthen, turning at last to Wade, who stood behind him. ”It took us three months of constant flight at a speed unthinkable, through s.p.a.ce dotted with the t.i.tanic gems of the Outer Dark, stars gleaming in red, and blue and orange, some t.i.tanic lighthouses of our course, others dim pinpoints of glowing color. It was a scene of unspeakable grandeur, but it was so awesomely mighty in its scope, one was afraid, and his soul shriveled within him as he looked at those inconceivable ma.s.ses floating forever alone in the silence of the inconceivable nothingness of eternal cold and eternal darkness. One was awed, suppressed by their sheer magnitude. A magnificent spectacle truly, but one no man could love.
”Now we are at rest on a tiny pinpoint of dust in a tiny bit of a tiny corner of an isolated universe, and the magnitude and stillness is gone.
Only the chirpings of those strange birds as they seek rest in darkness, the soft gurgling of the little stream below, and the rustle of countless leaves, break the silence with a satisfying existence, while the loneliness of that great star, your sun, is lost in its tintings of soft color, the fleeciness of the clouds, and the seeming companions.h.i.+p of green hills.
”The beauty of boundless s.p.a.ce is awe-inspiring in its magnitude. The beauty of Earth is something man can love.
”Man of Earth, you have a home that you may well fight for with all the strength of your arms, all the forces of your brain, and all the energies of s.p.a.ce that you can call forth to aid you. It is a wondrous world.” Silently he stood in the gathering dusk, as first Venus winked into being, then one by one the stars came into existence in the deepening color of the sky.
”s.p.a.ce is awesomely wonderful; this is--lovable.” He gazed long at the heavens of this world so strange, so beautiful to him, looking at the unfamiliar heavens, as star after star flashed into the constellations so familiar to terrestrians and to those Venerians who had been above the clouds of Venus' eternal shroud.
”But somewhere off there in s.p.a.ce are other races, and far beyond the power of our eyes to see is the star that is the sun of my world, and around it circles that little globe that is home to me. What is happening there now? Does it still exist? Are there people still living on it? Oh, Man of Earth, let us reach that world quickly, you cannot guess the pangs that attack me, for if it be destroyed, think--forever I am without home--without friends I knew. However kind your people may be to me, I would be forever lonely.
”I will not think of that--only it is time your s.h.i.+p was ready, is it not?”
”I think we had better return,” replied Wade softly, his English words rousing thoughts in his mind intelligible to the Ortolians.
The three rose in the air on the molecular suits and drove quickly down toward the blue gem of the lake to the east, nestled among still other green hills. Lights were showing in the great shop, where the _Ancient Mariner_ was being fitted with the ray-s.h.i.+elds, and all possible weapons. Men streaming through her were hastily stocking her with vast quant.i.ties of foods, stocks of fuel, all the spare parts they could cram into her stock rooms.
When the men arrived from the hilltop, the work was practically done, and Wade stepped up to Morey, busily checking off a list of required items.