Vol Ii Part 97 (2/2)
”I do, sir,” said one of the boys. ”I live close to here.”
”All right, take these youngsters to your house and tell your mother to telephone their parents to come and get them. If anyone asks you what happened, tell them to see Jim Carpenter to-morrow. Do you understand?”
”Yes, sir.”
”All right, run along then. Now, First Mortgage, let's go hunting.”
We wired our captive up so securely that I felt that there was no possible chance of his escape; then, with Jim at the controls and me at the guns, we fared forth in search of the invaders. Back and forth over the city we flew without sighting another s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p in the air. Jim gave an exclamation of impatience and swung on a wider circle, which took us out over the water. I kept the searchlights working. Presently, far ahead over the water, a dark spot came into view. I called to Jim and we approached it at top speed.
”Don't shoot until we are within four hundred yards,” cautioned Jim.
I held my fire until we were within the specified distance. The newcomer was another of the Mercurian s.p.a.ce-s.h.i.+ps; with a feeling of joy I swung my beam until the cross-hairs of the screen rested full on the invader.
”All ready!” I sung out.
”If you are ready, Gridley, you may fire!” replied Jim. I pressed the gun b.u.t.ton. The crash of the gun was followed by another report from outside as the radite sh.e.l.l burst against the Mercurian flyer. The deadly explosive did its work, and the shattered remains of the wreck fell, to be engulfed in the sea below.
”That's one!” cried Jim. ”I'm afraid we won't have time to hunt up the other right now. This bug told me that the other Mercurians are due here to-day, and I think we had better form ourselves into a reception committee and go up to the hole to meet them.”
He sent the s.h.i.+p at high speed over the city until we hovered over the laboratory. We stopped for a moment, and Jim stepped to the radio telephone.
”h.e.l.lo, Williams,” he said, ”how are things going? That's fine. In an hour, you say? Well, speed it up as much as you can; we may call for it soon.”
He turned both stern motors to full power, and we shot up like a rocket toward the hole in the protective layer through which the invaders had entered. In ten minutes we were at the alt.i.tude of the guard s.h.i.+ps and Jim asked if anything had been seen. The report was negative; Jim left them below the layer and sent our flyer up through the hole into s.p.a.ce. We reached the outer surface in another ten minutes and we were none too soon. Hardly had we debouched from the hole than ahead of us we saw another Mercurian flyer. It was a lone one, and Jim bent over the captive and held a hastily made sketch before him. The sketch showed three Mercurian flyers, one on the ground, one wrecked and the third one in the air. He touched the drawing of the one in the air and pointed toward our port hole and looked questioningly at the beetle. The insect inspected the flyer in s.p.a.ce and nodded.
”Good!” cried Jim. ”That's the third of the trio who came ahead as scouts. Get your gun ready, First Mortgage: we're going to pick him off.”
Our s.h.i.+p approached the doomed Mercurian. Again I waited until we were within four hundred yards; then I pressed the b.u.t.ton which hurled it, a crumpled wreck, onto the outer surface of the heaviside layer.
”Two!” cried Jim as we backed away.
”Here come plenty more,” I cried as I swung the searchlight. Jim left his controls, glanced at the screen and whistled softly. Dropping toward us from s.p.a.ce were hundreds of the Mercurian s.h.i.+ps.
”We got here just in time,” he said. ”Break out your extra ammunition while I take to the hole. We can't hope to do that bunch alone, so we'll fight a rearguard action.”
Since our bow gun would be the only one in action, I hastily moved the spare boxes of ammunition nearer to it while Jim maneuvered the Hadley over the hole. As the Mercurian fleet came nearer he started a slow retreat toward the earth. The Mercurians overtook us rapidly; Jim locked his controls at slow speed down and hurried to the bow gun.
”Start shooting as soon as you can,” he said. ”I'll keep the magazine filled.”
I swung the gun until the cross-hairs of the screen rested full on the leading s.h.i.+p and pressed the b.u.t.ton. My aim was true, and the shattered fragments of the s.h.i.+p fell toward me. The balance of the fleet slowed down for an instant; I covered another one and pressed my b.u.t.ton. The s.h.i.+p at which I had aimed was in motion and I missed it, but I had the satisfaction of seeing another one fall in fragments. Jim was loading the magazine as fast as I fired. I covered another s.h.i.+p and fired again. A third one of our enemies fell in ruins. The rest paused and drew off.
”They're retreating, Jim!” I cried.
”Cease firing until they come on again,” he replied is he took the sh.e.l.ls from the magazines of the other guns and piled them near the bow gun.
I held my fire for a few minutes. The Mercurians retreated a short distance and then came on again with a rush. Twenty times my gun went off as fast as I could align it and press the trigger, and eighteen of the enemy s.h.i.+ps were in ruins. Again the Mercurians retreated. I held my fire. We were falling more rapidly now and far below we could see the black spots which were the guard s.h.i.+ps. I told Jim that they were in sight; he stepped to the radio telephone and ordered them to keep well away from the hole.
Again the Mercurian s.h.i.+ps came on with a rush, this time with beams of orange light stabbing a way before them. When I told Jim of this he jumped to the controls and shot our s.h.i.+p down at breakneck speed.
”I don't know what sort of fighting apparatus they have, but I don't care to face it,” he said to me. ”Fire if they get close; but I hope to get out of the hole before they are in range.”
Fast as we fell, the Mercurians were coming faster, and they were not over eight hundred yards from us when he reached the level of the guard s.h.i.+ps. Jim checked our speed; I managed to pick off three more of the invaders before we moved away from the hole. Jim stopped the side motion and jumped to the radio telephone.
”h.e.l.lo, Williams!” he shouted into the instrument. ”Are you ready down there? Thank G.o.d! Full power at once, please!
”Watch what happens,” he said to me, as he turned from the instrument.
Some fifty of the Mercurian flyers had reached our level and had started to move toward us before anything happened. Then from below came a beam of intolerable light. Upward it struck, and the Mercurian s.h.i.+ps on which it impinged disappeared in a flash of light.
”A disintegrating ray,” explained Jim. ”I suspected that it might be needed and I started Williams to rigging it up early this morning. I hated to use it because it may easily undo the work that six years have done in healing the break in the layer, but it was necessary. That ends the invasion, except for those ten or twelve s.h.i.+ps ahead of us. How is your marksmans.h.i.+p? Can you pick off ten in ten shots?”
”Watch me,” I said grimly as the s.h.i.+p started to move.
Pride goeth ever before a fall: it took me sixteen shots to demolish the eleven s.h.i.+ps which had escaped destruction from the ray. As the last one fell in ruins, Jim ordered the ray shut off. We fell toward the ground.
”What are we going to do with our prisoner?” I asked.
Jim looked at the beetle meditatively.
”He would make a fine museum piece if he were stuffed,” he said, ”but on the whole, I think we'll let him go. He is an intelligent creature and will probably be happier on Mercury than anywhere else. What do you say that we put him on his s.h.i.+p and turn him loose?”
”To lead another invasion?” I asked.
”I think not. He has seen what has happened to this one and is more likely to warn them to keep away. In any event, if we equip the guard s.h.i.+ps with a ray that will show the Mercurian s.h.i.+ps up and keep the disintegrating ray ready for action, we needn't fear another invasion. Let's let him go.”
”It suits me all right, Jim, but I hold out for one thing. I will never dare to face McQuarrie again if I fail to get a picture of him. I insist on taking his photograph before we turn him loose.”
”All right, go ahead,” laughed Jim. ”He ought to be able to stand that, if you'll spare him an interview.”
An hour later we watched the Mercurian flyer disappear into s.p.a.ce.
”I hope I've seen the last of those bugs,” I said as the flyer faded from view.
”I don't know,” said Jim thoughtfully. ”If I have interpreted correctly the drawings that creature made, there is a race of manlike bipeds on Mercury who are slaves to those beetles and who live and die in the horrible atmosphere of a radium mine. Some of these days I may lead an expedition to our sister planet and look into that matter.”
<script>