Vol Ii Part 97 (1/2)
”We can't stand here and see murder done!” I protested.
”It's not murder. Pete, those children aren't being hurt. They are being hypnotized so that they can be transported to Mercury.”
”Why are they taking them to Mercury?” I demanded.
”As nearly as I can make out, there is a race of men up there who are subject to these beetles. This s.h.i.+p is radium propelled, and the men and women are the slaves who work in the radium mines. Of course the workers soon become s.e.xless, but others are kept for breeding purposes to keep the race alive. Through generations of in-breeding, the stock is about played out and are getting too weak to be of much value.
”The Mercurians have been studying the whole universe to find a race which will serve their purpose and they have chosen us to be the victims. When their fleet gets here, they plan to capture thousands of selected children and carry them to Mercury in order to infuse their blood into the decadent race of slaves they have. Those who are not suitable for breeding when they grow up will die as slaves in the radium mines.”
”Horrible!” I gasped. ”Why are they taking children, Jim? Wouldn't adults suit their purpose better?”
”They are afraid to take adults. On Mercury an earthman would have muscles of unheard of power and adults would constantly strive to rise against their masters. By getting children, they hope to raise them to know nothing else than a life of slavery and get the advantage of their strength without risk. It is a clever scheme.”
”And are we to stand here and let them do it?”
”Not on your life, but we had better hold easy for a while. If I can get a few minutes more with that brute I'll know enough about running this s.h.i.+p that we can afford to do away with them. You have a pistol, haven't you?”
”No.”
”The devil! I thought you had. I have an automatic, but it only carries eight sh.e.l.ls. There are eleven of these insects and unless we can get the jump on them, they'll do us. I saw what looks like a knife lying near the instrument board; get over near it and get ready to grab it as soon as you hear my pistol. These things are deaf and if I work it right I may be able to do several of them in before they know what's happening. When you attack, don't try to ram them in the back; their backplates are an inch thick and will be proof against a knife thrust. Aim at their eyes; if you can blind them, they'll be helpless. Do you understand?”
”I'll do my best, Jim,” I replied. ”Since you have told me their plans I am itching to get at them.”
I edged over toward the knife, but as I did so I saw a better weapon. On the floor lay a bar of silvery metal about thirty inches long and an inch in diameter. I picked it up and toyed with it idly, meanwhile edging around to get behind the insect which I had marked for my first attentions. Jim was talking again by means of the notebook with his beetle friend. They walked around the s.h.i.+p, examining everything in it.
”Are you ready, Pete?” came Jim's voice at last.
”All set,” I replied, getting a firmer grasp on my bar and edging toward one of the insects.
”Well, don't start until I fire. You notice the bug I am talking to? Don't kill him unless you have to. This s.h.i.+p is a little too complicated for me to fathom, so I want this fellow taken prisoner. We'll use him as our engineer when we take control.”
”I understand.”
”All right, get ready.”
I kept my eye on Jim. He had drawn the beetle with whom he was talking to a position where they were behind the rest. Jim pointed at something behind the insect's back and the beetle turned. As it did so, Jim whipped out his pistol and, taking careful aim, fired at one of the insects.
As the sound of the shot rang out I raised my bar and leaped forward. I brought it down with crus.h.i.+ng force on the head of the nearest beetle. My victim fell forward, and I heard Jim's pistol bark again; but I had no time to watch him. As the beetle I struck fell the others turned and I had two of them coming at me with outstretched arms, ready to grasp me. I swung my bar, and the arm of one of them fell limp; but the other seized me with both its hands, and I felt the cruel hooks of its lower arms against the small of my back.
One of my arms was still free; I swung my bar again, and it struck my captor on the back of the head. It was stunned by the blow and fell. I seized the knife from the floor, and threw myself down beside it and struck at its eyes, trying to roll it over so as to protect me from the other who was trying to grasp me.
I felt hands clutch me from behind; I was wrenched loose from the body of my victim and lifted into the air. I was turned about and stared hard into the implacable crystalline eyes of one of the insects. For a moment my senses reeled and then, without volition, I dropped my bar. I remembered the children and realized that I was being hypnotized. I fought against the feeling, but my senses reeled and I almost went limp, when the sound of a pistol shot, almost in my ear, roused me. The spell of the beetle was momentarily broken. I thrust the knife which I still grasped at the eyes before me. My blow went home, but the insect raised me and bent me toward him until my head lay on top of his and the huge horns which adorned his head began to close. Another pistol shot sounded, and I was suddenly dropped.
I grasped my bar as I fell and leaped up. The flyer was a shambles. Dead insects lay on all sides while Jim, smoking pistol in hand, was staring as though fascinated into the eyes of one of the surviving beetles. I ran forward and brought my bar down on the insect's head, but as I did so I was grasped from behind.
”Jim, help!” I cried as I was swung into the air. The insect whirled me around and then threw me to the floor. I had an impression of falling; then everything dissolved in a flash of light. I was unconscious only for a moment, and I came to to find Jim Carpenter standing over me, menacing my a.s.sailant with his gun.
”Thanks, Jim,” I said faintly.
”If you're conscious again, get up and get your bar,” he replied. ”My pistol is empty and I don't know how long I can run a bluff on this fellow.”
I scrambled to my feet and grasped the bar. Jim stepped behind me and reloaded his pistol.
”All right,” he said when he had finished. ”I'll take charge of this fellow. Go around and see if the rest are dead. If they aren't when you find them, see that they are when you leave them. We're taking no prisoners.”
I went the rounds of the prostrate insects. None of them were beyond moving except two whose heads had been crushed by my bar, but I obeyed Jim's orders. When I rejoined him with my b.l.o.o.d.y bar, the only beetle left alive was the commander, whom Jim was covering with his pistol.
”Take the gun,” he said when I reported my actions, ”and give me the bar.”
We exchanged weapons and Jim turned to the captive.
”Now, old fellow,” he said grimly, ”either you run this s.h.i.+p as I want you to, or you're a dead Indian. Savvy?”
He took his pencil and notebook from his pocket and drew a sketch of our Hadley s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p. On the other end of the sheet he drew a picture of the Mercurian s.h.i.+p, and then drew a line connecting the two. The insect looked at the sketch but made no movement.
”All right, if that's the way you feel about it,” said Jim. He raised the bar and brought it down with crus.h.i.+ng force on one of the insect's lower arms. The arm fell as though paralyzed and a blue light played across the beetle's eyes. Jim extended the sketch again and raised the bar threateningly. The beetle moved over to the control board, Jim following closely, and set the s.h.i.+p in motion. Ten minutes later it rested on the ground beside the s.h.i.+p in which we had first taken the air.
Following Jim's pictured orders the beetle opened the door of the Mercurian s.h.i.+p and followed Jim into the Hadley. As we emerged from the Mercurian s.h.i.+p I looked back. It had vanished completely.
”The children, Jim!” I gasped.
”I haven't forgotten them,” he replied, ”but they are all right for the present. If we turned them loose now, we'd have ninety reporters around us in ten minutes. I want to get our generators modified first.”
He pointed toward the spot where the Mercurian s.h.i.+p had stood and then toward our generators. The beetle hesitated, but Jim swung his bar against the insect's side in a vicious blow. Again came the play of blue light over the eyes; the beetle bent over our generaters and set to work. Jim handed me the bar and bent over to help. They were both mechanics of a high order and they worked well together; in an hour the beetle started the generators and swung one of the searchlights toward his old s.h.i.+p. It leaped into view on the radium coated screen.
”Good business!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jim. ”We'll repair this door; then we'll be ready to release the children and start out.”
We followed the beetle into the Mercurian s.h.i.+p, which it seemed to be able to see. It opened a door leading into another compartment of the flyer, and before us lay the bodies of eight children. The beetle lifted the first one, a little girl, up until his many-faceted eyes looked full into the closed ones of the child. There was a flicker of an eyelash, a trace of returning color, and then a scream of terror from the child. The beetle set the girl down and Jim bent over her.
”It's all right now, little lady,” he said, clumsily smoothing her hair.
”You're safe now. Run along to your mother. First Mortgage, take charge of her and take her outside. It isn't well for children to see these things.”
The child clung to my hand: I led her out of the s.h.i.+p, which promptly vanished as we left it. One by one, seven other children joined us, the last one, a miss of not over eight, in Jim's arms. The beetle followed behind him.
”Do any of you know where you are?” asked Jim as he came out.