Triplanetary
enough to be worn collar-like by the Terrestrials, and the captives were
allowed to roam at will throughout the great vessel; only the
compartment in which was stored the dismembered pirate lifeboats being
sealed to them. Thus it was that they were not left long in doubt, when
another fish-shaped cruiser of the world was revealed upon their lookout
plates in the awful emptiness of interstellar space.
"That is our sister-ship, going to your Solarian system for a cargo of
the iron which is so plentiful there," Nerado explained to his
involuntary guests.
"I hope the gang has got the bugs worked out of our super-ship,"
Costigan muttered savagely to his companions as Nerado turned away. "If
they have, that outfit will get something more than a load of iron when
they get there!"
More weeks passed; weeks during which a blue-white star separated itself
from the infinitely distant firmament and began to show a perceptible
disk. Larger and larger it grew, becoming bluer and bluer as the flying
space-ship approached it, until finally Nevia could be seen, apparently
close beside her parent orb.
Heavily laden though the vessel was, such was her power that she was
soon dropping vertically toward a large lagoon in the middle of the
Nevian city. That bit of open water was strangely devoid of life, for
this was to be no ordinary landing. Under the terrific power of the
beams braking the descent of that unimaginable load of allotropic iron
the water seethed and boiled; and instead of floating gracefully upon
the surface of the sea, this time the huge ship of space sank like a
plummet to the bottom. Having accomplished this delicate feat of docking
the vessel safely in the immense cradle prepared for her, Nerado turned
to the Terrestrials, who, now under guard, had been brought before him.
"While our cargo of iron is being discharged, I am to take you three
Tellurians to the College of Science, where you are to undergo a
thorough physical and psychological examination. Follow me."
"Wait a minute!" protested Costigan, with a quick and furtive wink at
his companions. "Do you expect us to go _through water_, and at this
frightful depth?"
"Certainly," replied the Nevian, in surprise. "You are air-breathers, of
course, but you must be able to swim a little, and this slight
depth--but little more than thirty of your meters--will not trouble
you."
"You are wrong, twice," declared the Terrestrial, convincingly. "If by
'swimming' you mean propelling yourself in or through the water, we know
nothing of it. In water over our heads we drown helplessly in a minute
or two, and the pressure at this depth would kill us instantly."
"Well, I could take a lifeboat, of course, but that...." The Nevian
Captain began, doubtfully, but broke off at the sound of a staccato call
from his signal panel.
"Captain Nerado, attention!"
"Nerado," he acknowledged into a microphone.
"The Third City is being attacked by the fishes of the greater deeps.
They have developed new and powerful mobile fortresses mounting
unheard-of weapons and the city reports that it cannot long withstand
their attack. The inhabitants are asking for all possible help. Your
vessel not only has vast stores of iron, but also mounts weapons of
power. You are requested to proceed to their aid at the earliest
possible moment."
Nerado snapped out orders and the liquid iron fell in streams from
wide-open ports, forming a vast, red pool in the bottom of the dock. In
a short time the great vessel was in equilibrium with the water she
displaced, and as soon as she had attained a slight buoyancy the ports
snapped shut and Nerado threw on the power.
"Go back to your own quarters and stay there until I send for you," the
Nevian directed, and as the Terrestrials obeyed the curt orders the
fish-shaped cruiser of space tore herself from the water and flashed up
into the crimson sky.
"What a barefaced liar!" Bradley exclaimed. The three, transformers cut
off, were back in the middle room of their suite. "You can outswim an
otter, and I happen to know that you came up out of the old DZ83 from a
depth of...."
"Maybe I did exaggerate a trifle," Costigan interrupted him, "but the
more helpless he thinks we are the better for us. And we want to stay
out of any of their cities as long as we can, because they may be hard
places to escape from. I've got a couple of ideas, but they aren't ripe
enough to pick yet.... Wow! how this bird's been traveling! We're there
already! If he hits the water going like this, he'll split himself,
sure!"
With undiminished velocity they were flashing downward in a long slant
toward the beleaguered Third City, and from the flying vessel there was
launched toward the city's central lagoon a torpedo. No missile this,
but a capsule containing a full ton of allotropic iron, which would be
of more use to the Nevian defenders than millions of men. For the Third
City was sore pressed indeed. Around it was one unbroken ring of
boiling, exploding water--water billowing upward with searing, blinding
bursts of superheated steam, or being hurled bodily in all directions in
solid masses by the cataclysmic forces being released by the embattled
fishes of the greater deeps. Her outer defenses were already down, and
even as the Terrestrials stared in amazement another of the immense
hexagonal buildings burst into fragments; its upper structure flying
wildly into scrap metal, its lower half subsiding drunkenly below the
surface of the boiling sea.
The three Terrestrials involuntarily seized whatever supports were at
hand as the Nevian space-ship struck the water with undiminished speed,
but the precaution was needless--Nerado knew thoroughly his vessel, its
strength and its capabilities. There was a mighty splash, but that was
all. The artificial gravity was unchanged by the impact; to the
passengers the vessel was still motionless and on even keel as, now a
submarine, she snapped around like a very fish and attacked the rear of
the nearest fortress.
For fortresses they were; vast structures of green metal, plowing
forward implacably upon immense caterpillar treads. And as they crawled
they destroyed, and Costigan, exploring the strange submarine with his
visiray beam, watched and marveled. For the fortresses were full of
water; water artificially cooled and aerated, entirely separate from the
boiling flood through which they moved. They were manned by fish some
five feet in length. Fish with huge, goggling eyes; fish plentifully
equipped with long, armlike tentacles; fish poised before control panels
or darting about intent upon their various duties. Fish with intelligent
brains, waging desperate war upon a hated foe!
Nor was their warfare ineffectual. Their heat-rays boiled the water for
hundreds of yards before them and their torpedoes were exploding against
the Nevian defenses in one appallingly continuous concussion. But most
potent of all was a weapon unknown to Triplanetary warfare. From a
fortress there would shoot out, with the speed of a meteor, a long,
jointed, telescopic rod, tipped with a tiny, brilliantly shining ball.
Whenever this glowing tip encountered any obstacle, that obstacle
disappeared in an explosion world-wracking in its intensity. Then what
was left of the rod, dark now, would be retracted into the
fortress--only to emerge again in a moment with a tip once more shining
and potent.
Nerado, apparently as unfamiliar with the peculiar weapon as were the
Terrestrials, attacked cautiously; sending out far to the fore his
murkily impenetrable screens of red. But the submarine was entirely
non-ferrous, and its officers were apparently quite familiar with the
Nevian beams which licked at and clung to the green walls in impotent
fury. Through the red veil came stabbing tiny ball after brilliant ball,
and only the most frantic dodging saved the space-ship from destruction
in those first few furious seconds. And now the Nevian defenders of the
Third City had secured and were employing the vast store of allotropic
iron so opportunely delivered by Nerado.
From the city there pushed out immense nets of metal, extending from the
surface of the ocean to its bottom; nets radiating such terrific forces
that the very water itself was beaten back and stood motionless in
vertical, glassy walls. Torpedoes were futile against that wall of
energy. The most fiercely driven rays of the fishes flamed incandescent
against it, in vain. Even the incredible violence of a concentration of
every available force-ball against one point could not break through. At
that unimaginable explosion water was hurled for miles. The bed of the
ocean was not only exposed, but in it there was blown a crater at whose
dimensions the Terrestrials dared not even guess. The crawling
fortresses themselves were thrown backward violently and the very world
was rocked to its core by the concussion, but that iron-driven wall
held. The massive nets swayed and gave back, and tidal waves hurled
their mountainously destructive masses through the Third City, but the
mighty barrier remained intact. And Nerado, still attacking two of the
powerful tanks with his every weapon, was still dodging those flashing
balls charged with the quintessence of destruction. The fishes could not
see through the sub-ethereal veil, but all the rod-gunners of the two
fortresses were combing it thoroughly with ever-lengthening,
ever-thrusting rods, in a desperate attempt to wipe out the new and
apparently all-powerful Nevian submarine, whose sheer power was slowly
but inexorably crushing even their gigantic walls.
"Well, I think that right now's the best chance we'll ever have of doing
something for ourselves." Costigan turned away from the absorbing scenes
pictured upon the visiplate and faced his two companions.
"But what can we possibly do?" asked Clio, and
"Whatever it is, we'll try it!" Bradley exclaimed.
"Anything's better than staying here and letting them analyze us--no
telling what they'd do to us," Costigan went on. "I know a lot more
about things than they think I do. They never did catch me using my
spy-ray--it's on an awfully narrow beam, you know, and uses almost no
power at all--so I've been able to dope out quite a lot of stuff. I can
open most of their locks, and I know how to run their small boats. This
battle, fantastic as it is, is deadly stuff, and it isn't one-sided, by
any means, either, so that every one of them, from Nerado down, seems to
be on emergency duty. There are no guards watching us, or stationed
where we want to go--our way out is open. And once out, this battle is
giving us our best possible chance to get away from them. There's so
much emission out there already that they probably couldn't detect the
driving rays of the lifeboat, and they'll be too busy to chase us,
anyway."
"Once out, then what?" asked Bradley, eagerly.
"We'll have to decide that before we start, of course. I'd say make a
break back for our own Solarian system. We know the direction, from our
own observation, and we'll have plenty of power."
"But good Heavens, Conway, it's so far!" exclaimed Clio. "How about
food, water, and air--would we ever get there?"
"You know as much about that as I do. I think so, but of course anything
might happen. This ship is none too big, is considerable slower than the
big space-ship, and we're a long ways from home. Another bad thing is
the food question. The boat is well stocked according to Nevian ideas,
but it's pretty foul stuff for us to eat. However, it's nourishing, and
we'll have to eat it, since we can't carry enough of our own supplies to
the boat to last long. Even so, we may have to go on short rations, but
I think that we'll be able to make it. On the other hand, what happens