Wandl the Invader

  10

  The room was so large that it seemed almost the entire interior of thebuilding. It was a globular room, a hundred and fifty feet or more indiameter. The inner surface was crowded with people. It was a huge,hollow interior of a ball; and upon its concave surface a throng ofthe brown-shelled workers were gathered. They sat on low seats at thecurved bottom of the room, where we entered, and up the sides and uponthe slopes and the top, like flies in a globe, hanging head downward.There was no up or down here; the slight gravity made littledifference.

  I gazed up amazed to where, a hundred and fifty feet above me, headdownward, the crowd of figures were calmly seated. These wereclinging, of course; the pound-weight of each of them would drop themdown if they let loose. But it required only a slight effort.

  Between the tiers, there were narrow open aisles bearing glowlights atintervals. With Molo leading us, we stared up the curving incline ofone of these aisles.

  "Gregg! Good Lord, it's weird!" Snap said. "Where are we going to sit?Don't speak to the girls yet."

  "Have you spoken to them?"

  "Yes. A little, on the ship. They're watching for an opportunity butwe have to be cautious. Gregg, I've got so much to tell you, but nochance. The brains can just about hear your thoughts."

  We went only a short distance up the incline. There were vacant seatsseemingly held ready for us. Our passage created a commotion among thefigures. Some leaped up and over us to get a better look. I found thatwe were clinging to the mound-like convex surface of a smallhalf-globe. It raised us some ten feet above the floor. There were lowseats with arms against the side-pull of gravity. I found Anita closebeside me. Her hand touched me, but she did not turn her head orspeak.

  Molo was on my other side. I chanced to see his feet. They wereplanted firmly on the floor. He wore wide-soled shoes equipped withsuction pads, no doubt, which would enable him, like the Wandlites,to walk and stand upon the upper inner surfaces of buildings.

  As during the moments when Snap and I stood on the landing esplanade,there was so much here that at first I could not encompass it. But nowI began to grasp other details of the strange scene.

  Poised in mid-air, almost exactly in the center of the huge globularroom, was a metal globe of some thirty feet in diameter. It was held,not by any solid girders, but by four narrow beams of light whichmounted to it from widespread points of the convex room.

  Upon the entire surface of this thirty-foot globe, a group of masterswere seated, in little, cup-like seats upon resilient stems. Theyswayed and nodded with movement. There seemed to be glowing wires andgrids and thread-like beams of light carrying current. Light-threadsshot from the mechanisms to the heads of the seated brains. All thedevices were evidently in operation; and upon this poised centralglobe the attention of the audience was directed.

  Molo bent over me. "The Great Intelligence soon will see you."

  Snap, from the other side of Molo, whispered: "What are they doing upthere?"

  The faint hiss and throb of the devices were audible. I stared, tryingto understand. Images, and sounds, invisible and inaudible were beingreceived from across the millions of miles of space, and they werebeing transmuted within the brains themselves. I saw that discs werefastened upon the bulging foreheads of the brains, upon which the tinylight-beams carrying the vibrations impinged.

  These brains, receiving "waves" of some unknown variety were, withinthe mechanism of the brain-cell, transmuting, translating thevibrations into things knowable. They were not seeing, not hearing,but _knowing_ what went on millions of miles across space!

  Again Molo bent over me. "They are about to show this audience what ishappening on the three worlds."

  Upon the thirty-foot globe I saw now a dozen or so balls of aboutthree-foot diameter. These had been dark and I had not noticed them.Now they began glowing, not from wires carrying the current, but fromthe little hands of the brains touching them.

  I stared at the brain nearest me. His flabby little arm was extended;his hand touched the image-ball; gave it light and color, like afortune-teller of Earth with a crystal before her.

  Even though I was some sixty feet from it, I could see the movingimages clearly, and recognized the scene. The Tappan InterplanetaryStage. Ships were rising; two of our spaceships mounting.

  And all in an instant the scene blurred, took form again. Thered-green spires and minarets of Ferrok-Shahn. The Central Canalextended like a gash across the foreground; the "Mushroom Mountains"were in a line upon the horizon. Three Martian space-flyers slid upwhile we watched.

  And now Grebhar. The silver forest in all its shining beauty, whereVenza was born. The sunlight sparkled on the river. A spaceship wasrising in the distant sky over the shining forest.

  Beyond Anita, I heard Venza murmuring, "Home! If only we were there."

  I could feel Anita move to silence her.

  Molo was whispering: "They come. But we will be ready for them."

  Another image: mid-space. The allied ships gathering, waiting forothers to arrive. A group here of about ten of our ships from thethree worlds: poised, waiting.

  I was aware that upon the mound-like protuberance of the room-floorwhere we were sitting, a door was opening. It slid, or melted away. Atour feet was an opening downward into the small interior of the mound.

  Molo whispered, "The great Master. Sit quiet! He will talk to us."

  Over us now a barrage came with a hiss, a circular curtain ofinsulation. The huge globular room faded. We were alone on the mound,Snap, Molo, myself, Anita, Venza and Meka upon the end of our bench.Behind us stood our single Wandlite guard, with a weapon in hisshoulder hand.

  At our feet an opening yawned into the mound-interior. It was a tiny,lighted room. In a cup-like seat a brain was perched, just below thelevel of our feet: the great Master Brain of Wandl. He was alone here.Not attended by retinue; no pomp and ceremony to usher us into hispresence; no underlings obsequiously bowing to mark him for a greatruler.

  We stared down, and the great brain stared up at us, seemingly equallycurious. His head was a full four feet in diameter; the little bodysat in the cup, with dangling legs. The clothes were ornamented: therewas a glowing device on the chest.

  He spoke with a measured rumble, in Martian. "You are Molo, ofFerrok-Shahn."

  "Yes," said Molo.

  "You must say, 'Yes, Great Master.'"

  "Yes, Great Master."

  "I know about you. I know that we trust you."

  The huge round eyes next fastened upon me. Then to Snap, and back tome. The words were English this time. "Men of Earth, are you decided,like the Martian, to join with us?"

  I tried with sudden vehemence to still my thoughts, or to change themso that they lied. Fear surged upon me. Could this vast mechanism ofhuman mind here at my feet interpret the vibrations of my thoughts?Could this Great Master of Wandl see into my mind?

  The brain said, "You are uncertain. You do not want to die?"

  "No Great Master," we both answered.

  "You shall not, unless you attempt to cause us trouble. Your thoughtsare black." He addressed Molo. "Have they ever been read?"

  "No, Great Master."

  "When opportunity comes, have them read." He added to Snap and me: "Iplan to take prisoners. My Supreme Rulers, rulers of a neighboringmore powerful planet, which sent Wandl upon her mission of conquest,ordered it. When your worlds are vacant of life, those who command mewill want some of you left alive to be studied. Your thoughts are veryblack, Earthman. I think when they are carefully read you will proveno great advantage to us."

  There was irony in the voice, and upon the monstrous bulging face camethe horrible travesty of a grin.

  The grin on the brain's face faded. His interest went again to Molo."That is your sister." The eyes swung to Meka and back.

  "Yes, Great Master."

  "She is caring for this Earth-girl and this girl from Venus?"

  "Yes, Great Master. I am fond of them. I have plans."

  "They are in
your charge, Martian; I will not interfere with you. Butguard them well. I trust you and your sister. These others...."

  "The Earth and the Venus girl can be of help to me, Great Master."

  "How?"

  "They knew young men who were in the Spaceship Service. They can tellme the armament of men and weapons on most of the spaceships whichEarth will send against us."

  Did Molo really believe that? Probably not, but he wanted the girlswith him. Again came that grotesque smile. "Let them not bother you,Martian. You have work to do. Listen carefully. There will be abattle. Earth, Mars, and Venus may perhaps have a hundred ships. Icannot bring destruction upon those three worlds in a day. We soonwill make contact with the light-beam you placed on Earth. That I willshow you. But the rotation cannot be stopped at once. It will taketime.

  "The enemy ships might dare to come to Wandl, but I shall not wait forthat. All my spaceships are very nearly ready. If there is to be abattle, it shall be far from here, in the neighborhood of the enemyworlds. We are at this time about sixty-two million of your miles fromthe Earth, a third less than that from Mars, and about a third morefrom Venus. I understand, Martian, that you are skilled in spacewarfare."

  The brain went on, "I have given you a vessel to command. You will besurprised to know its name: the _Star-Streak_."

  Meka gasped, "But you destroyed it, Great Master!"

  "Only wrecked it, Martian girl. It is repaired now. You, Molo--andyour sister to help you--who could command it to more advantage? Allyour own weapons, and ours of Wandl have been added. You may selectyour crew. Is it to your liking?"

  "Yes, Great Master."

  "You will be housed in this city, Wor, in the dwelling-globe youoccupied before. Keep your prisoners with you, if you like."

  "These two Earthmen...." began Molo, but he was interrupted.

  "Settle that later. I do not want the annoyance."

  I was dimly conscious of a great clanging, coming through the curtainof barrage which was over us.

  The brain added, "Keep Wyk with you, to guard the prisoners; he willalso attend your needs. In the battle, Martian, I expect great thingsof you and your _Star-Streak_."

  "Great Master, you will not be disappointed."

  "And prisoners, but not too many. Bring me a few young specimens likethese, representative of Venus, Mars and the Earth. I want both of thesexes, an equal number of each."

  "Yes, Great Master."

  "The warning signal is coming. You will now see our first contact."

  The light at our feet was fading. It clung last by the gruesome faceof the huge brain; the goggling eyes shone green, and as the light inthe little mound-room dimmed there was in a moment nothing left butthose lurid green pools of the brain's eyes.

  Then I was aware that the aperture at our feet had closed. Over us,the barrage curtain was dissipating, sight and sound coming in to us.The huge ball-shaped conclave room again became visible, the audiencecrowding its entire inner surface.

  I suddenly felt Anita's fingers twitching at my sleeve.

  "Gregg, darling, can you hear me?"

  "Yes. Be careful."

  But Molo was gazing up over our heads. The crowd was shifting, bendingso that they all seemed gazing at their feet. A dim white radiance,seeming to come from down here somewhere near us, lay in a splotch ona segment of the throng overhead. Molo was watching.

  I whispered, "All right, Anita. Quick, what is it?"

  "The great control station is not far from here. Venza and I have beentrying to find out where it is exactly."

  She stopped, evidently fearful of Meka. Then she added:

  "Gregg, we haven't been guarded very closely; they're not suspiciousof us."

  "Later, Anita. Can't talk now."

  "No. Watch our chance. Later."

  I turned toward Molo. "What's that up there?"

  "The transparent ray is opening the top of the globe."

  The clanging signal gong had stilled. The audience was hushed andexpectant. The white patch of light overhead spread until itencompassed all the top of the globe. The whole area was glowing. Thepeople were white, spectral shapes, transparent! And the top of theglobe was transparent; I saw the night sky, with the gleaming reddishstars.

  It was, in a moment, as though we were staring up at a huge squarewindow orifice cut in the top of the room. A broad vista of cloudlesssky and stars was visible. Across it, like a shining sword, was anarrow, opalescent beam.

  "The Earth-beam which I planted," Molo whispered triumphantly. "Ourcontrol station will contact with it now. The first contact!"

  Earth was below our angle of vision, but the beam from Greater NewYork, sweeping the sky with the Earth's rotation, was passing nowcomparatively close to Wandl.

  There was an expectant moment. Then into the sky leaped another ray,narrow, luridly green. It swung up from Wandl and darted into space.The hissing, agonized electrical scream from it as it burst throughthe Wandl atmosphere was deafening. I saw it strike the Earth-beam,grip it with a blinding burst of radiance up there in the sky,clinging, pulling against the rotation of the Earth with a lever sixtymillion miles long.

  A moment of screaming sound in the atmosphere around us, and thatconflict of light in the sky. Then the screaming suddenly stilled. TheWandl beam vanished.

  The Earth-beam still swept the heavens like a stiff, upstanding sword.But in that moment when Wandl gripped it, the axis of the Earth hadbeen changed a little. The rotation was slowed. By a few minutes, theday and the night on Earth were lengthened.

  It was the beginning of Earth's desolation.