Part 13 (1/2)

In a moment Georg and the girl had boarded the helicopter. She was silent; she had hardly said a word throughout it all.... The helicopter mounted straight up; its whirling propellers above sent a rush of air downward.

”These batteries,” said Georg. ”The guards in Venia can't stop us. An aero--even if we had it--I doubt if we could get power for it. They've shut off general power by now, I'm sure.”

She nodded. ”Yes--no doubt.”

As they mounted upward, the city dwindled beneath them--dwindled to an area of red and green and purple lights. It was silent up here in the starlight; a calm, windless night--cloudless, save for a gray bank which obscured the moon.

Ten thousand feet up. Then fifteen. The city was a tiny patch of blended colors. Light rockets occasionally mounted now. But their glare fell short. Georg's mind was busy with his plans. Had the helicopter been seen? It seemed not. No rocket-light had reached it; and there was no sign of pursuit from below.

Maida crouched beside him. He felt her hand timidly upon his arm; felt her shy, sidelong glance upon him. And suddenly he was conscious of her beauty. His heart leaped, and as he turned to her, she smiled--a smile of eager trust which lighted her face like a torch of faith in the spire of a house of wors.h.i.+p.

”You are planning?” she said. ”You know what it is we must do?”

He said: ”I think so. The _volan_[12] out there is large enough for two.

You'll trust yourself to it with me? You're not afraid, are you?”

[Footnote 12: A small winged board without power, used for emergency descents by volplaning down from disabled aeros.]

”Oh, no,” she said. ”What you say we must do, we will do.”

”We must go higher, Maida. Then, you see....”

He told her his plans. And mounting up there into the silent canopy of stars, his fingers wound themselves into the soft strands of her hair which lay upon him; and his heart beat fast with the nearness of her.... Told her his plans, and she acquiesced.

Twenty thousand feet. The cold was upon them. s.h.i.+vering himself, he wrapped her in a fur which the basket contained. At 25,000, they took to the _vol plan_. It was a padded board a dozen feet long and half as wide. Released, it shot downward; a hundred feet or more, with the heavens whirling soundlessly. Then Georg got the wings open; the descent was checked; the stars righted themselves above, and once again the earth was beneath.

They had strapped themselves to the board, and now Georg undid the thongs. Together they lay p.r.o.ne, side by side, with the narrow, double-banked wings beneath the line of their shoulders, and the rudder-tail behind them. Flexible 'planes and tail, responding to Georg's grip on the controls.

Fluttering, uncertain at first, like a huge bird of quivering wings, they began their incline descent. A spiral, then Georg opened it to a straight glide northward--rus.h.i.+ng downward and onward through the starlight, in a wind of their own making which fluttered the light fabric of Maida's robe and tossed her waves of hair about her.

A long, silent glide, with only the rush of wind. It seemed hours, while the girl did not speak and Georg anxiously searched the sky ahead.

Underneath them, the dark forests were slipping past; but inexorably coming upward. They were down to 5,000 feet; then Georg saw at last what he had hoped, prayed for, but almost despaired of. A beam of light to the northward--the spreading beam of an oncoming patrol. It was high overhead; but it came forward fast. A sweeping, keenly searching beam, and finally it struck them. Clung to them.

And presently the big patrol vessel was almost above them. It hung there, a dark winged shape dotted with colored lights. A signal flash--a sharp command to Georg, but, of course, he could not answer. Then the Director's finder picked him out. The _volan_ was fluttering, spiralling slowly as Georg struggled to hold his place.

And then the patrol launched its tender. It came darting down like a wasp. A moment more, and Georg and Maida were taken aboard it. The _volan_ fluttered to the forest unguided and was lost in the black treetops, now no more than a thousand feet below.

Surrounded by amazed officials, Maida and Georg entered the patrol vessel. Georg Brende, escaped safely from Tarrano! The Brende secret released from Tarrano's control! The Director flashed the news to Was.h.i.+ngton and to Great London. Orders came back. A score of other vessels of this Patrol-Division came das.h.i.+ng up--a convoy which soon was speeding northward to Was.h.i.+ngton with its precious messenger.

CHAPTER XI

_Recaptured_

In Was.h.i.+ngton during those next few days, events of the Earth, Venus and Mars swirled and raged around Georg as though he were engulfed in the Iguazu or Niagara. Pa.s.sive himself at first--a spectator merely; yet he was the keystone of the Earth Council's strength. The Brende secret was desired by the publics of all three worlds. Even greater than its real value as a medical discovery, it swayed the popular mind.

Tarrano possessed the Brende secret. The only model, and Dr. Brende's notes were in his hands. Was.h.i.+ngton had ordered him to give them up, and he had refused. But now the status was changed. Georg held the secret also--and Georg was in Was.h.i.+ngton. It left the Earth Council free to deal with Tarrano.

During those days Georg was housed in official apartments, with Maida very often near him. Inactive, they were much together, discussing their respective worlds. The Princess Maida was hereditary ruler of the Venus Central State--the only living heir to the throne. When Tarrano's forces threatened revolution from the Cold Country she had been seized by spies, brought to Earth, to Tarrano in Venia, and imprisoned in the tower from which Georg had so lately rescued her. Wolfgar for years had been her friend and loyal retainer, though he had pretended service to Tarrano.