CHAPTER VIII
"_Those Devils Have Got Evelyn!_"
That night the three of them talked, on a high terrace with most ofthe Golden City spread out below them. Over their heads, lights ofmany colors moved and shifted slowly in the sky. There were a myriadglowing specks of saffron-red about the ways of the city, and the airwas full of fragrant odors. The breath of the jungle reached them evena thousand feet above ground. And the dull, persistent roar of themachines reached them too. There were five people on the terrace:Tommy, Denham, Smithers, Aten and the white-bearded old Keeper ofFoodstuffs. He looked on as the Earthmen talked.
"We're marooned," Tommy was saying crisply, "and for the time beingwe've got to throw in with these people. I believe they came fromEarth originally. Four, five thousand years ago, perhaps. Their taleis of a cave they sealed up behind them. It might have been aprimitive Tube, if such a thing can be imagined."
Denham filled his pipe and lighted it meditatively.
"Half the American Indian tribes," he observed drily, "had legends ofcoming originally from an underworld. I wonder if Tubes are less yourown invention than we thought?"
Tommy shrugged.
"In any case, Earth is safe."
"Is it?" insisted Denham. "You say they understood at once when youtalked of dimension-travel. Ask the old chap there."
* * * * *
Tommy frowned, then labored with the question. The bearded old manspoke gravely. At his answer, Tommy grimaced.
"Datl's gone looking for the cave their legends tell of," he saidreluctantly. "He's the lad who wanted the city to gas Earth with someghastly stuff they know of, and move over when the gas was harmlessagain. But the cave has been lost for centuries, and it's in thetorrid zone--which _is_ torrid! We're near the North Pole of thisplanet, and it's tropic here. It must be mighty hot at the equator.Datl took a ship and supplies and sailed off. He may be killed. In anycase it'll be some time before he's dangerous. Meanwhile, as I said,we're marooned."
"And more," said Denham deliberately. "By the time the authoritieshalfway believed me, and Von Holtz could talk, there were more deathsfrom the Death Mist. It wiped out a village, clean. So when it wasrealized that I'd caused it--or that was their interpretation--and wasthe only man who could cause it again, why, the authorities thought ita splendid idea for me to come through the Tube. They invited me tocommit suicide. My knowledge was too dangerous for a man to have. So,"he added grimly, "I have committed suicide. We will not be welcomedback on Earth, Tommy."
Tommy made an impatient gesture.
"Worry about that later," he said impatiently. "Right now there's awar on. Rahn's desperate, and the prisoners we took this morning sayJacaro and his gunmen are there, advising them. Ragged Men have joinedin to help kill civilized humans. And they've still got aircraft."
"Which can still bombard this city," observed Denham. "Can't they?"
Tommy pointed to the many-colored beams of light playing through thesky overhead.
"No. Those lights were invented to guide night-flying planes backhome. They're static lights--cold lights, by the way--and theyregister powerfully when a static-discharge propeller comes withinrange of them. If Rahn tries a night attack, Aten and I take off andshoot them down again. That's that. But we've got to design gas masksfor these people, and I think I can persuade the Council to send overand take all Rahn's aircraft away to-morrow. But the real emergency isthe jungle."
* * * * *
He expounded the situation of the city as he understood it. He laboredpainstakingly to make his meaning clear while Denham blew meditativesmoke rings and Smithers listened quietly. But when Tommy hadfinished, Smithers said in a vast calm:
"Say, Mr. Reames, y'know I asked you to get somebody to take methrough some o' these engine rooms. That's kinda my specialty. An'these folks are good, no question! There's engines--even steamengines--we couldn't build on Earth. But, my Gawd, they're dumb! Thereain't a piece of automatic machinery on the place. There's one man toevery motor, handlin' the controls or the throttle. They got stuff wecouldn't come near, but they never thought of a steam governor."
Tommy turned kindling eyes upon him. "Go on!"
"Hell," said Smithers, "gimme some tools an' I'll go through one shopan' cut the workin' force in half, just slammin' governors, reducin'valves, an' automatic cut-offs on the machines I understand!"
Tommy jumped to his feet. He paced up and down, then halted and beganto spout at Aten and the Keeper of Foodstuffs. He gesticulated,fumbling for words, and hunted absurdly for the ones he wanted amonghis written lists, and finally was drawing excitedly on Aten'sblack-metal tablet. Smithers got up and looked over his shoulder.
"That ain't it, Mr. Reames," he said slowly. "Maybe I...."
* * * * *
Tommy pressed the stud that erased the page. Smithers took the tabletand began to draw painstakingly. Aten, watching, exclaimed suddenly.Smithers was drawing an actual machine, actually used in the GoldenCity, and he was making a working sketch of a governor so that itwould operate without supervision while the steam pressure continued.Aten began to talk excitedly. The Keeper of Foodstuffs took the tabletand examined it. He looked blank, then amazed, and as the utterlyforeign idea of a machine which controlled itself struck home, hishands shook and color deepened in his cheeks.
He gave an order to Aten, who dashed away. In ten minutes other menbegan to arrive. They bent over the drawing. Excited comments,discussions and disputes began. A dawning enthusiasm manifesteditself. Two of them approached Smithers respectfully, with shiningeyes. They drew their tablets from their belts, rather skilfully drewthe governor he had indicated in larger scale, and by gestures askedfor more detailed plans. Smithers stood up to go with them.
"You're a hero, now, Smithers," Tommy informed him exultantly."They'll work you to death and call you blessed!"
"Yes, sir," said Smithers. "These fellas are right good mechanics.They just happened to miss this trick." He paused. "Uh--where's MissEvelyn?"
"With Aten's--wife," said Tommy. This was no time to discuss themarital system of Yugna. "We were prisoners until this morning. Nowwe're guests of honor. Evelyn's talking to a lot of women and tryingto boost our prestige."
* * * * *
Smithers went over to the gesticulating group of draftsmen. He settleddown to explain by drawings, since he had not a word of theirlanguage. In a few minutes a group went rushing away with the sketchtablets held jealously to their breasts, bound for workshops. Othermen appeared to present new problems. A wave of sheer enthusiasm wasin being. A new idea which would lessen the demands of the machineswas a godsend to these folk.
Then Denham blew a smoke ring and said meditatively:
"I think I've got something too, Tommy. Ultra-sonic vibrations. Soundwaves at two to three hundred thousand per second. Air won't carrythem. Liquids will. They use 'em to sterilize milk, killing the germsby sound waves carried through the fluid. I think we can start someultra-sonic generators out there that will go through the wet soil andkill all vegetation within a given range. We might clear away thejungle for half a mile or so and then use ultra-sonic beams to help itclear while new food-plants are tried out."
Tommy's eyes glowed.
"You've given yourself a job! We'll turn this planet upside down."
"We'll have to," said Denham drily. "This city may believe in you, butthere are others, and these folk are a little too clever. There's noreason why some other city shouldn't attack Earth, if they seriouslyattack the problem of building a Tube."
Tommy ground his teeth, frowning. Then he started up. There was a newnoise down in the city. A sudden flare of intolerable illuminationbroke out. There was an explosion, many screams, then the yellingtumult of men in deadly battle.
* * * * *
Every man on the tower terrace was facing toward the noise, staring.The white-bearded man gav
e an order, deliberately. Men rushed. But asthey swarmed toward an exit, a green beam of light appeared near theuproar. It streaked upward, wavering from side to side and making thegolden walls visible in a ghostly fashion. It shivered in a hastyrhythm.
Aten groaned, almost sobbed. There was another flash of thatunbearable actinic flame. A thermit-thrower was in action. Then athird flash. This was farther away. The tumult died suddenly, but thegreen light-beam continued its motion.
Tommy was snapping questions. Aten spoke, and choked upon his words.Tommy swore in a sudden raging passion and then turned a chalky facetoward the other two men from Earth.
"The prisoners!" he said in a hoarse voice. "The men from Rahn! Theybroke loose. They rushed an arsenal. With hand weapons and athermit-thrower they fought their way to a place where the bigvehicles are kept. They raided a dwelling-tower on the way and seizedwomen. They've gone off on the metal roads through the jungle!" Hetried to ease his collar. Aten, still watching the green beam, croakedanother sentence. "Those devils have got Evelyn!" cried Tommyhoarsely. "My God! Aten's wife, and his...." He jerked a hand towardthe Councilor. "Fifty women--gone through the jungle with them, towardRahn! Those devils have got Evelyn!"
He whirled upon Aten, seizing his shoulder, shaking the man as heroared questions.
"No chance of catching them." Far away, in the jungle, the infinitelyvivid actinic flame blazed for several seconds. "They've sprayedthermit on the road. It's melted and ruined. It'd take hours to haulthe ground vehicles past the gap. They're got arms and lights. Theycan fight off the beasts and Ragged Men. They'll make Rahn. Andthen"--he shook with the rage that possessed him--"Jacaro's there withthose gunmen of his and his friends the Ragged Men!"
* * * * *
He seemed to control himself with a terrific effort. He turned to thewhite-bearded Councilor, whose bearing was that of a man stunned bydisaster. Tommy spoke measuredly, choosing words with a painstakingcare, clipping the words crisply as he spoke.
The Councilor stiffened. Old as he was, an undeniable fighting lightcame into his eyes. He barked orders right and left. Men woke from theparalysis of shock and fled upon errands of his command. And Tommyturned to Denham and Smithers.
"The women will be safe until dawn," he said evenly. "Our lateprisoners can't lose the way--aluminum roads that are no longer muchused lead between all the cities--but they won't dare stop in thejungles. They'll go straight on through. They should reach Rahn atdawn or a little before. And at dawn our air fleet will be over thecity and they'll give back the women, unharmed, or we'll turn theirown trick on them, by God! It'd be better for Evelyn to die of gasthan as--as the Ragged Men would kill her!"
His hands were clenched and he breathed noisily for an instant. Thenhe swallowed, and went on in the same unnatural calm:
"Smithers, you're going to stay behind, with part of the air fleet.You'll get aloft before dawn and shoot down any strange aircraft. Theymight try to stalemate us by repeating their threat, with our gunsover Rahn. I'll give orders."
He turned again to the Councilor, who nodded, glanced at Smithers, andrepeated the command.
"You, sir," he spoke to Denham, "you'll come with me. It's your right,I suppose. And we'll go down and get ready."
He led the way steadily toward a door. But he reached up to hiscollar, once, as if he were choking, and ripped away collar and coatand all, unconscious of the resistance of the cloth.
* * * * *
That night the Golden City made savage preparation for war. Ships wereloaded and ranged in order. Crews armed themselves, and helped in theloading and arming of other ships. Oddly enough, it was to Tommy thatmen came to ask if the directing apparatus for the Death Mist shouldbe carried. The Death Mist could, of course, be used as a gas alone,drifting with the wind, or it could be directed from a distance. Thishad been done on Earth, with the directional impulses sent blindlydown the Tube merely to keep the Mist moving always. The controllingapparatus could be carried in a monster freight plane. Tommy orderedit done. Also he had the captured planes from Rahn refitted for flightby replacing their smashed propelling grids. Fresh crews of men forthese ships organized themselves.
When the fleet took off there was only darkness in all the world. Theunfamiliar stars above shone bright and very near as Tommy's ship,leading, winged noiselessly up and down and straight away from theplay of prismatic lights above the city. Behind him, silhouettedagainst that many-colored glow, were the angular shapes of many othernoiseless shadows. The ornithopters with their racket would startlater, so the planes would be soaring above Rahn before their presencewas even suspected. The rest of the fleet flew in darkness.
* * * * *
The flight above the jungle would have been awe-inspiring at anothertime. There were the stars above, nearer and brighter than those ofEarth. There was no Milky Way in the firmament of this universe. Thestars were separate and fewer in number. There was no moon. And belowthere was only utter, unrelieved darkness, from which now and againbeast-sounds arose. They were clearly audible on board the silent airfleet. Roarings, bellowings, and hoarse screamings. Once the shipspassed above a tumult as of unthinkable monsters in deadly battle,when for an instant the very clashing of monstrous jaws was audibleand a hissing sound which seemed filled with deadly hate.
Then lights--few of them, and dim ones. Then blazing fires--RaggedMen, camped without the walls of Rahn or in some gold-walled courtyardwhere the jungle thrust greedy, invading green tentacles. The airfleet circled noiselessly in a huge batlike cloud. Then things cameracing from the darkness, down below, and there was a tumult and ashouting, and presently the hilarious, insanely gleeful uproar of theRagged Men. Tommy's face went gray. These were the escaped prisoners,arrived actually after the air fleet which was to demand the return oftheir captives.
Tommy wet his lips and spoke grimly to his pilot. There were six menand many Death-Mist bombs in his ship. He was asking if communicationcould be had with the other ships. It was wise to let Rahn know atonce that avengers lurked overhead for the captives just deliveredthere.
For answer, a green signal-beam shot out. It wavered here and there.Tommy commanded again. And as the signal-beam flickered, he somehowsensed the obedience of the invisible ships about him. They weresweeping off to right and left. Bombs of the Death Mist were droppingin the darkness. Even in the starlight, Tommy could see great walls ofpale vapor building themselves up above the jungle. And a suddenconfused noise of yapping defiance and raging hatred came up from thecity of Rahn. But before dawn came there was no other sign that theirpresence was known.
* * * * *
The ornithopters came squeaking and rattling in their heavy flightjust as the dull-red sun of this world peered above the horizon. Thetree-fern fronds waved languidly in the morning breeze. The walls andtowers of Rahn gleamed bright gold, in parts, and in parts they seemeddull and scabrous with some creeping fungus stuff, and on one side ofthe city the wall was overwhelmed by a triumphant tide of green. Therethe jungle had crawled over the ramparts and surged into the city.Three of the towers had their bases in the welter of growing things,and creepers had climbed incredibly and were still climbing to enterand then destroy the man-made structures.
But about the city there now reared a new rampart, rising above thetree-fern tops: there was a wall of the Death Mist encompassing thecity. No living thing could enter or leave the city without passingthrough that cloud. And at Tommy's order it moved forward to the veryencampments of the Ragged Men.
He spoke, beginning his ultimatum. But a movement below checked him.On a landing stage that was spotted with molds and lichens, women werebeing herded into clear view. They were the women of the Golden City.Tommy saw a tiny figure in khaki--Evelyn! Then there was a suddenuproar from an encampment of the Ragged Men. His eyes flicked there,and he saw the Ragged Men running into and out of the tall wall ofDeath Mist. And they laughed uproariously
and ran into and out of theMist again.
His pilot dived down. The Ragged Men yelled and capered and howledderisively at him. He saw that they removed masklike things from theirfaces in order to shout, and donned them again before running againinto the Mist. At once he understood. The Ragged Men had gas masks!
Then, a sudden cracking noise. Three men had opened fire with riflesfrom below. Their garments were drab-colored, in contrast to the vividtints of the clothing of the inhabitants of Rahn. They were Jacaro'sgunmen. And a great freight carrier from Yugna veered suddenly, and abluish flash burst out before it, and it began to flutter helplesslydown into the city beneath.
The weapons of Tommy's fleet were useless, since the citizens of Rahnwere protected by gas masks. And Tommy's fighting ships were subjectto the same rifle fire against their propelling grids that haddefeated the fleet from Rahn. The only thing the avenging fleet couldnow accomplish was the death of the women it could not save.