The Skylark of Space

  CHAPTER IX

  Lost In Space

  For forty-eight hours the uncontrolled atomic motor dragged themasterless vessel with its four unconscious passengers through theillimitable reaches of empty space, with an awful and constantlyincreasing velocity. When only a few traces of copper remained in thepower-plant, the acceleration began to decrease and the powerful springsbegan to restore the floor and the seats to their normal positions. Thelast particle of copper having been transformed into energy, the speedof the vessel became constant. Apparently motionless to those inside it,it was in reality traversing space with a velocity thousands of timesgreater than that of light. As the force which had been holding themdown was relaxed, the lungs, which had been able to secure only airenough to maintain faint sparks of life, began to function more normallyand soon all four recovered consciousness, drinking in the life-givingoxygen in a rapid succession of breaths so deep that it seemed as thoughtheir lungs must burst with each inhalation.

  DuQuesne was the first to gain control of himself. His first effort torise to his feet lifted him from the floor, and he floated lightly tothe ceiling, striking it with a gentle bump and remaining suspended inthe air. The others, who had not yet attempted to move, stared at him inwide-eyed amazement. Reaching out and clutching one of the supportingcolumns, he drew himself back to the floor and cautiously removed hisleather suit, transferring two heavy automatic pistols as he did so. Bygingerly feeling of his injured body, he discovered that no bones werebroken, although he was terribly bruised. He then glanced around tolearn how his companions were faring. He saw that they were all sittingup, the girls resting, Perkins removing his aviator's costume.

  "Good morning, Doctor DuQuesne. What happened when I kicked yourfriend?"

  DuQuesne smiled.

  "Good morning, Miss Vaneman. Several things happened. He fell into thecontrols, turning on all the juice. We left shortly afterward. I triedto shut the power off, and in doing so I balled things up worse thanever. Then I went to sleep, and just woke up."

  "Have you any idea where we are?"

  "No, but I can make a fair estimate, I think," and glancing at the emptychamber in which the bar had been, he took out his notebook and pen andfigured for a few minutes. As he finished, he drew himself along by ahandrail to one of the windows, then to another. He returned with apuzzled expression on his face and made a long calculation.

  "I don't know exactly what to make of this," he said thoughtfully. "Weare so far away from the earth that even the fixed stars areunrecognizable. The power was on exactly forty-eight hours, since thatis the life of that particular bar under full current. We should stillbe close to our own solar system, since it is theoretically impossibleto develop any velocity greater than that of light. But in fact, wehave. I know enough about astronomy to recognize the fixed stars fromany point within a light-year or so of the sun, and I can't see a singlefamiliar star. I never could see how mass could be a function ofvelocity, and now I am convinced that it is not. We have beenaccelerating for forty-eight hours!"

  He turned to Dorothy.

  "While we were unconscious, Miss Vaneman, we had probably attained avelocity of something like seven billion four hundred thirteen millionmiles per second, and that is the approximate speed at which we are nowtraveling. We must be nearly six quadrillion miles, and that is a spaceof several hundred light-years--away from our solar system, or, moreplainly, about six times as far away from our earth as the North Staris. We couldn't see our sun with a telescope, even if we knew which wayto look for it."

  * * * * *

  At this paralyzing news, Dorothy's face turned white and MargaretSpencer quietly fainted in her seat.

  "Then we can never get back?" asked Dorothy slowly.

  At this question, Perkins' self-control gave way and his thin veneer ofdecency disappeared completely.

  "You got us into this whole thing!" he screamed as he leaped at Dorothywith murderous fury gleaming in his pale eyes and his fingers curvedinto talons. Instead of reaching her, however, he merely sprawledgrotesquely in midair, and DuQuesne knocked him clear across the vesselwith one powerful blow of his fist.

  "Get back there, you cowardly cur," he said evenly. "Even though we area long way from home, try to remember you're a man, at least. One morebreak like that and I'll throw you out of the boat. It isn't her faultthat we are out here, but our own. The blame for it is a very smallmatter, anyway; the thing of importance is to get back as soon aspossible."

  "But how can we get back?" asked Perkins sullenly from the corner wherehe was crouching, fear in every feature. "The power is gone, thecontrols are wrecked, and we are hopelessly lost in space."

  "Oh, I wouldn't say 'hopelessly,'" returned the other, "I have neverbeen in any situation yet that I couldn't get out of, and I won't beconvinced until I am dead that I can't get out of this one. We have twoextra power bars, we can fix the board, and if I can't navigate us backclose enough to our solar system to find it, I am more of a dub than Ithink I am. How about a little bite to eat?"

  "Show us where it is!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Now that you mention it, Ifind that I am starved to death."

  DuQuesne looked at her keenly.

  "I admire your nerve, Miss Vaneman. I didn't suppose that that animalover there would show such a wide streak of yellow, but I was ratherafraid that you girls might go to pieces."

  "I'm scared blue, of course," Dorothy admitted frankly, "but hystericswon't do any good, and we simply _must_ get back."

  "Certainly, we must and we will," stated DuQuesne calmly. "If you like,you might find something for us to eat in the galley there, while I seewhat I can do with this board that I wrecked with my head. By the way,that cubby-hole there is the apartment reserved for you two ladies. Weare in rather cramped quarters, but I think you will find everything youneed."

  As Dorothy drew herself along the handrail toward the room designated,accompanied by the other girl who, though conscious, had paid littleattention to anything around her, she could not help feeling a thrill ofadmiration for the splendid villain who had abducted her. Calm and cool,always master of himself, apparently paying no attention to the terriblebruises which disfigured half his face and doubtless half his body aswell, she admitted to herself that it was only his example, which hadenabled her to maintain her self-control in their present plight. As shecrawled over Perkins' discarded suit, she remembered that he had nottaken any weapons from it. After a rapid glance around to assure herselfthat she was not being watched, she quickly searched the coat, bringingto light not one, but two pistols, which she thrust into her pocket. Shesaw with relief that they were regulation army automatics, with whoseuse she was familiar from much target practise with Seaton.

  In the room, which was a miniature of the one she had seen on theSkylark, the girls found clothing, toilet articles, and everythingnecessary for a long trip. As they were setting themselves to rights,Dorothy electing to stay in her riding suit, they surveyed each otherfrankly and each was reassured by what she saw. Dorothy saw a girl oftwenty-two, of her own stature, with a mass of heavy, wavy black hair.Her eyes, a singularly rich and deep brown, contrasted strangely withthe beautiful ivory of her skin. She was normally a beautiful girl,thought Dorothy, but her beauty was marred by suffering and privation.Her naturally slender form was thin, her face was haggard and worn. Thestranger broke the silence.

  * * * * *

  "I'm Margaret Spencer," she began abruptly, "former secretary to HisRoyal Highness, Brookings of Steel. They swindled my father out of aninvention worth millions and he died, broken-hearted. I got the job tosee if I couldn't get enough evidence to convict them, and I had quite alot when they caught me. I had some things that they were afraid tolose, and I had them so well hidden that they couldn't find them, sothey kidnapped me to make me give them back. They haven't dared kill meso far for fear the evidence will show up after my death--which it will.However, I will be legally dead before long, and then they know
thewhole thing will come out, so they have brought me out here to make metalk or kill me. Talking won't do me any good now, though, and I don'tbelieve it ever would have. They would have killed me after they got thestuff back, anyway. So you see I, at least, will never get back to theearth alive."

  "Cheer up--we'll all get back safely."

  "No, we won't. You don't know that man Perkins--if that is his name. Inever heard him called any real name before. He is simplyunspeakable--vile--hideous--everything that is base. He was my jailer,and I utterly loathe and despise him. He is mean and underhanded andtricky--he reminds me of a slimy, poisonous snake. He will kill me: Iknow it."

  "But how about Doctor DuQuesne? Surely he isn't that kind of man? Hewouldn't let him."

  "I've never met him before, but from what I heard of him in the office,he's even worse than Perkins, but in an entirely different way. There'snothing small or mean about him, and I don't believe he would go out ofhis way to hurt anyone, as Perkins would. But he is absolutely cold andhard, a perfect fiend. Where his interests are concerned, there'snothing under the sun, good or bad, that he won't do. But I'm glad thatPerkins had me instead of 'The Doctor,' as they call him. Perkins raisessuch a bitter personal feeling, that anybody would rather die than giveup to him in anything. DuQuesne, however, would have tortured meimpersonally and scientifically--cold and self-contained all the whileand using the most efficient methods, and I am sure he would have got itout of me some way. He always gets what he goes after."

  "Oh, come, Miss Spencer!" Dorothy interrupted the half-hysterical girl."You're too hard on him. Didn't you see him knock Perkins down when hecame after me?"

  "Well, maybe he has a few gentlemanly instincts, which he uses when hedoesn't lose anything by it. More likely he merely intended to rebukehim for a useless action. He is a firm Pragmatist--anything that isuseful is all right, anything that is useless is a crime. More probablyyet, he wants you left alive. Of course that is his real reason. He wentto the trouble of kidnapping you, so naturally he won't let Perkins oranybody else kill you until he is through with you. Otherwise he wouldhave let Perkins do anything he wanted to with you, without lifting afinger."

  "I can't quite believe that," Dorothy replied, though a cold chillstruck at her heart as she remembered the inhuman crime attributed tothis man, and she quailed at the thought of being in his charge,countless millions of miles from earth, a thought only partlycounteracted by the fact that she was now armed. "He has treated us withevery consideration so far, let's hope for the best. Anyway, I'm surethat we'll get back safely."

  "Why so sure? Have you something up your sleeve?"

  "No--or yes, in a way I have, though nothing very definite. I'm DorothyVaneman, and I am engaged to the man who discovered the thing that makesthis space-car go...."

  "That's why they kidnapped you, then--to make him give up all his rightsto it. It's like them."

  "Yes, I think that's why they did it. But they won't keep me long. DickSeaton will find me, I know. I feel it."

  "But that's exactly what they want!" cried Margaret excitedly. "In myspying around I heard a little about this very thing--the name Seatonbrings it to my mind. His car is broken in some way, so that it willkill him the first time he tries to run it."

  "That's where they underestimated Dick and his partner. You have heardof Martin Crane, of course?"

  "I think I heard his name mentioned in the office, together withSeaton's, but that's all."

  "Well, besides other things, Martin is quite a wonderful mechanic, andhe found out that our Skylark was spoiled. So they built another one, alot bigger, and I am sure that they are following us, right now."

  "But how can they possibly follow us, when we are going so fast and areso far away?" queried the other girl, once more despondent.

  "I don't quite know, but I do know that Dick will find a way. He'ssimply wonderful. He knows more now than that Doctor DuQuesne will everlearn in all his life, and he will find us in a few days. I feel it inmy bones. Besides, I picked Perkins' pockets of these two pistols. Canyou shoot an automatic?"

  "Yes," replied the other girl, as she seized one of the guns, assuredherself that its magazine was full, and slipped it into her pocket. "Iused to practise a lot with my father's. This makes me feel a whole lotbetter. And call me Peggy, won't you? It will seem good to hear my nameagain. After what I've been through lately, even this trip will be avacation for me."

  "Well, then, cheer up, Peggy dear, we're going to be great friends.Let's go get us all something to eat. I'm simply starved, and I know youare, too."

  * * * * *

  The presence of the pistol in her pocket and Dorothy's unwavering faithin her lover, lifted the stranger out of the mood of despair into whichthe long imprisonment, the brutal treatment, and the present situationhad plunged her, and she was almost cheerful as they drew themselvesalong the hand-rail leading to the tiny galley.

  "I simply can't get used to the idea of nothing having any weight--lookhere!" laughed Dorothy, as she took a boiled ham out of the refrigeratorand hung it upon an imaginary hook in the air, where it remainedmotionless. "Doesn't it make you feel funny?"

  "It is a queer sensation. I feel light, like a toy balloon, and I feelawfully weird inside. If we have no weight, why does it hurt so when webump into anything? And when you throw anything, like the Doctor didPerkins, why does it hit as hard as ever?"

  "It's mass or inertia or something like that. A thing has it everywhere,whether it weighs anything or not. Dick explained it all to me. Iunderstood it when he told me about it, but I'm afraid it didn't sink invery deep. Did you ever study physics?"

  "I had a year of it in college, but it was more or less of a joke. Iwent to a girls' school, and all we had to do in physics was to get thecredit; we didn't have to learn it."

  "Me too. Next time I go to school I'm going to Yale or Harvard or somesuch place, and I'll learn so much mathematics and science that I'llhave to wear a bandeau to keep my massive intellect in place."

  During this conversation they had prepared a substantial luncheon andhad arranged it daintily upon two large trays, in spite of thedifficulty caused by the fact that nothing would remain in place by itsown weight. The feast prepared, Dorothy took her tray from the table ascarefully as she could, and saw the sandwiches and bottles start tofloat toward the ceiling. Hastily inverting the tray above the escapingviands, she pushed them back down upon the table. In doing so she liftedherself clear from the floor, as she had forgotten to hold herself down.

  "What'll we do, anyway?" she wailed when she had recovered her position."Everything wants to fly all over the place!"

  "Put another tray on top of it and hold them together," suggestedMargaret. "I wish we had a birdcage. Then we could open the door andgrab a sandwich as it flies out."

  By covering the trays the girls finally carried the luncheon out intothe main compartment, where they gave DuQuesne and Perkins one of thetrays and all fell to eating hungrily. DuQuesne paused with a glint ofamusement in his one sound eye as he saw Dorothy trying to pour gingerale out of a bottle.

  "It can't be done, Miss Vaneman. You'll have to drink it through astraw. That will work, since our air pressure is normal. Be careful notto choke on it, though; your swallowing will have to be all muscular outhere. Gravity won't help you. Or wait a bit--I have the control boardfixed and it will be a matter of only a few minutes to put in anotherbar and get enough acceleration to take the place of gravity."

  He placed one of the extra power bars in the chamber and pushed thespeed lever into the first notch, and there was a lurch of the wholevessel as it swung around the bar so that the floor was once moreperpendicular to it. He took a couple of steps, returned, and advancedthe lever another notch.

  "There that's about the same as gravity. Now we can act like humanbeings and eat in comfort."

  "That's a wonderful relief, Doctor!" cried Dorothy. "Are we going backtoward the earth?"

  "Not yet. I reversed the bar, but we
will have to use up all of this onebefore we can even start back. Until this bar is gone we will merely beslowing down."

  * * * * *

  As the meal progressed, Dorothy noticed that DuQuesne's left arm seemedalmost helpless, and that he ate with great difficulty because of histerribly bruised face. As soon as they had removed the trays she wentinto her room, where she had seen a small medicine chest, and broughtout a couple of bottles.

  "Lie down here, Doctor DuQuesne," she commanded. "I'm going to apply alittle first-aid to the injured. Arnica and iodine are all I can find,but they'll help a little."

  "I'm all right," began the scientist, but at her imperious gesture hesubmitted, and she bathed his battered features with the healing lotionand painted the worst bruises with iodine.

  "I see your arm is lame. Where does it hurt?"

  "Shoulder's the worst. I rammed it through the board when we startedout."

  He opened his shirt at the throat and bared his shoulder, and Dorothygasped--as much at the size and power of the muscles displayed, as atthe extent and severity of the man's injuries. Stepping into thegallery, she brought out hot water and towels and gently bathed away theclotted blood that had been forced through the skin.

  "Massage it a little with the arnica as I move the arm," he directedcoolly, and she did so, pityingly. He did not wince and made no sign ofpain, but she saw beads of perspiration appear upon his face, andwondered at his fortitude.

  "That's fine," he said gratefully as she finished, and a peculiarexpression came over his face. "It feels one hundred per cent betteralready. But why do you do it? I should think you would feel likecrowning me with that basin instead of playing nurse."

  "Efficiency," she replied with a smile. "I'm taking a leaf out of yourown book. You are our chief engineer, you know, and it won't do to haveyou laid up."

  "That's a logical explanation, but it doesn't go far enough," herejoined, still studying her intently. She did not reply, but turned toPerkins.

  "How are you, Mr. Perkins? Do you require medical attention?"

  "No," growled Perkins from the seat in which he had crouched immediatelyafter eating. "Keep away from me, or I'll cut your heart out!"

  "Shut up!" snapped DuQuesne. "Remember what I said?"

  "I haven't done anything," snarled the other.

  "I said I would throw you out if you made another break," DuQuesneinformed him evenly, "and I meant it. If you can't talk decently, keepstill. Understand that you are to keep off Miss Vaneman, words andactions. I am in charge of her, and I will put up with no interferencewhatever. This is your last warning."

  "How about Spencer, then?"

  "I have nothing to say about her, she's not mine," responded DuQuesnewith a shrug.

  An evil light appeared in Perkins' eyes and he took out a wicked-lookingknife and began to strop it carefully upon the leather of the seat,glaring at his victim the while.

  "Well, _I_ have something to say...." blazed Dorothy, but she wassilenced by a gesture from Margaret, who calmly took the pistol from herpocket, jerked the slide back, throwing a cartridge into the chamber,and held the weapon up on one finger, admiring it from all sides.

  * * * * *

  "Don't worry about his knife. He has been sharpening it for my benefitfor the last month. He doesn't mean anything by it."

  At this unexpected show of resistance, Perkins stared at her for aninstant, then glanced at his coat.

  "Yes, this was yours, once. You needn't bother about picking up yourcoat, they're both gone. You might be tempted to throw that knife, sodrop it on the floor and kick it over to me before I count three.

  "One." The heavy pistol steadied into line with his chest and her fingertightened on the trigger.

  "Two." He obeyed and she picked up the knife. He turned to DuQuesne, whohad watched the scene unmoved, a faint smile upon his saturnine face.

  "Doctor!" he cried, shaking with fear. "Why don't you shoot her or takethat gun away from her? Surely you don't want to see me murdered?"

  "Why not?" replied DuQuesne calmly. "It is nothing to me whether shekills you or you kill her. You brought it on yourself by your owncarelessness. Any man with brains doesn't leave guns lying around withinreach of prisoners, and a blind man could have seen Miss Vaneman gettingyour hardware."

  "You saw her take them and didn't warn me?" croaked Perkins.

  "Why should I warn you? If you can't take care of your own prisoner sheearns her liberty, as far as I am concerned. I never did like yourstyle, Perkins, especially your methods of handling--or rathermishandling--women. You could have made her give up the stuff sherecovered from that ass Brookings inside of an hour, and wouldn't havehad to kill her afterward, either."

  "How?" sneered the other. "If you are so good at that kind of thing, whydidn't you try it on Seaton and Crane?"

  "There are seven different methods to use on a woman like Miss Spencer,each of which will produce the desired result. The reason I did not trythem on either Seaton or Crane is that they would have failed. Yourmethod of indirect action is probably the only one that will succeed.That is why I adopted it."

  "Well, what are you going to do about it?" shrieked Perkins. "Are yougoing to sit there and lecture all day?"

  "I am going to do nothing whatever," answered the scientist coldly. "Ifyou had any brains you would see that you are in no danger. Miss Spencerwill undoubtedly kill you if you attack her--not otherwise. That is anAnglo-Saxon weakness."

  "Did you see me take the pistols?" queried Dorothy.

  "Certainly. I'm not blind. You have one of them in your right coatpocket now."

  "Then why didn't you, or don't you, try to take it away from me?" sheasked in wonder.

  "If I had objected to your having them, you would never have got them.If I didn't want you to have a gun now, I would take it away from you.You know that, don't you?" and his black eyes stared into her violetones with such calm certainty of his ability that she felt her heartsink.

  "Yes," she admitted finally, "I believe you could--that is, unless Iwere angry enough to shoot you."

  "That wouldn't help you. I can shoot faster and straighter than you can,and would shoot it out of your hand. However, I have no objection toyour having the gun, since it is no part of my plan to offer you anyfurther indignity of any kind. Even if you had the necessary coldness ofnerve or cruelty of disposition--of which I have one, Perkins the other,and you neither--you wouldn't shoot me now, because you can't get backto the earth without me. After we get back I will take the guns awayfrom both of you if I think it desirable. In the meantime, play withthem all you please."

  "Has Perkins any more knives or guns or things in his room?" demandedDorothy.

  "How should I know?" indifferently; then, as both girls started forPerkins' room he ordered brusquely:

  "Sit down, Miss Vaneman. Let them fight it out. Perkins has his ordersto lay off you--you lay off him. I'm not taking any chances of gettingyou hurt, that's one reason I wanted you armed. If he gets gay, shoothim; otherwise, hands off completely."

  Dorothy threw up her head in defiance, but meeting his cold stare shepaused irresolutely and finally sat down, biting her lips in anger,while the other girl went on.

  "That's better. She doesn't need any help to whip that yellow dog. He'swhipped already. He never would think of fighting unless the odds werethree to one in his favor."

  * * * * *

  When Margaret had returned from a fruitless search of Perkins' room andhad assured herself that he had no more weapons concealed about hisperson, she thrust the pistol back into her pocket and sat down.

  "That ends that," she declared. "I guess you will be good now, won'tyou, Mr. Perkins?"

  "Yes," that worthy muttered. "I have to be, now that you've got the dropon me and DuQuesne's gone back on me. But wait until we get back! I'llget you then, you...."

  "Stop right there!" sharply. "There's nothing I would rather do thans
hoot you right now, if you give me the slightest excuse, such as thatname you were about to call me. Now go ahead!"

  DuQuesne broke the silence that followed.

  "Well, now that the battle is over, and since we are fed and rested, Isuggest that we slow down a bit and get ready to start back. Pick outcomfortable seats, everybody, and I'll shoot a little more juice throughthat bar."

  Seating himself before the instrument board, he advanced the speed leverslowly until nearly three-quarters of the full power was on, as much ashe thought the others could stand.

  For sixty hours he drove the car, reducing the acceleration only atintervals during which they ate and walked about their narrow quartersin order to restore the blood to circulation in their suffering bodies.The power was not reduced for sleep; everyone slept as best he could.

  Dorothy and Margaret talked together at every opportunity, and a realintimacy grew up between them. Perkins was for the most part sullenlyquiet, knowing himself despised by all the others and having no outlethere for his particular brand of cleverness. DuQuesne was alwaysoccupied with his work and only occasionally addressed a remark to oneor another of the party, except during meals. At those periods ofgeneral recuperation, he talked easily and well upon many topics. Therewas no animosity in his bearing nor did he seem to perceive any directedtoward himself, but when any of the others ventured to infringe upon hisideas of how discipline should be maintained, DuQuesne's reproof wasmerciless. Dorothy almost liked him, but Margaret insisted that sheconsidered him worse than ever.

  When the bar was exhausted, DuQuesne lifted the sole remaining cylinderinto place.

  "We should be nearly stationary with respect to the earth," he remarked."Now we will start back."

  "Why, it felt as though we were picking up speed for the last threedays!" exclaimed Margaret.

  "Yes, it feels that way because we have nothing to judge by. Slowingdown in one direction feels exactly like starting up in the oppositeone. There is no means of knowing whether we are standing still, goingaway from the earth, or going toward it, since we have nothingstationary upon which to make observations. However, since the two barswere of exactly the same size and were exerted in opposite directionsexcept for a few minutes after we left the earth, we are nearlystationary now. I will put on power until this bar is something lessthan half gone, then coast for three or four days. By the end of thattime we should be able to recognize our solar system from the appearanceof the fixed stars."

  He again advanced the lever, and for many hours silence filled the caras it hurtled through space. DuQuesne, waking up from a long nap, sawthat the bar no longer pointed directly toward the top of the ship,perpendicular to the floor, but was inclined at a sharp angle. Hereduced the current, and felt the lurch of the car as it swung aroundthe bar, increasing the angle many degrees. He measured the anglecarefully and peered out of all the windows on one side of the car.Returning to the bar after a time, he again measured the angle, andfound that it had increased greatly.

  "What's the matter, Doctor DuQuesne?" asked Dorothy, who had also beenasleep.

  "We are being deflected from our course. You see the bar doesn't pointstraight up any more? Of course the direction of the bar hasn't changed,the car has swung around it."

  "What does that mean?"

  "We have come close enough to some star so that its attraction swingsthe bottom of the car around. Normally, you know, the bottom of the carfollows directly behind the bar. It doesn't mean much yet except that weare being drawn away from our straight line, but if the attraction getsmuch stronger it may make us miss our solar system completely. I havebeen looking for the star in question, but can't see it yet. We'llprobably pull away from it very shortly."

  * * * * *

  He threw on the power, and for some time watched the bar anxiously,expecting to see it swing back into the vertical, but the anglecontinually increased. He again reduced the current and searched theheavens for the troublesome body.

  "Do you see it yet?" asked Dorothy with concern.

  "No, there's apparently nothing near enough to account for all thisdeflection."

  He took out a pair of large night-glasses and peered through them forseveral minutes.

  "Good God! It's a dead sun, and we're nearly onto it! It looks as largeas our moon!"

  Springing to the board, he whirled the bar into the vertical. He tookdown a strange instrument, went to the bottom window, and measured theapparent size of the dark star. Then, after cautioning the rest of theparty to sit tight, he advanced the lever farther than it had beenbefore. After half an hour he again slackened the pace and made anotherobservation, finding to his astonishment that the dark mass had almostdoubled its apparent size! Dorothy, noting his expression, was about tospeak, but he forestalled her.

  "We lost ground, instead of gaining, that spurt," he remarked, as hehastened to his post. "It must be inconceivably large, to exert such anenormous attractive force at this distance. We'll have to put on fullpower. Hang onto yourselves as best you can."

  He then pushed the lever out to its last notch and left it there untilthe bar was nearly gone, only to find that the faint disk of the monsterglobe was even larger than before, being now visible to the unaided eye.Revived, the three others saw it plainly--a great dim circle, visible asis the dark portion of the new moon--and, the power shut off, they feltthemselves falling toward it with sickening speed. Perkins screamed withmad fear and flung himself grovelling upon the floor. Margaret, hernerves still unstrung, clutched at her heart with both hands. Dorothy,though her eyes looked like great black holes in her white face, lookedDuQuesne in the eye steadily.

  "This is the end, then?"

  "Not yet," he replied in a calm and level voice. "The end will not comefor a good many hours, as I have calculated that it will take at leasttwo days, probably more, to fall the distance we have to go. We have allthat time in which to think out a way of escape."

  "Won't the outer repulsive shell keep us from striking it, or at leastbreak the force of our fall?"

  "No. It was designed only as protection from meteorites and other smallbodies. It is heavy enough to swing us away from a small planet, but itwill be used up long before we strike."

  He lighted a cigarette and sat at case, as though in his own study, hisbrow wrinkled in thought as he made calculations in his notebook.Finally he rose to his feet.

  "There's only one chance that I can see. That is to gather up everyscrap of copper we have and try to pull ourselves far enough out of lineso that we will take an hyperbolic orbit around that body instead offalling into it."

  "What good will that do us?" asked Margaret, striving for self-control."We will starve to death finally, won't we?"

  "Not necessarily. That will give us time to figure out something else."

  "You won't have to figure out anything else, Doctor," stated Dorothypositively. "If we miss that moon, Dick and Martin will find us beforevery long."

  "Not in this life. If they tried to follow us, they're both dead beforenow."

  "That's where even you are wrong!" she flashed at him. "They knew youwere wrecking our machine, so they built another one, a good one. Andthey know a lot of things about this new metal that you have neverdreamed of, since they were not in the plans you stole."

  * * * * *

  DuQuesne went directly to the heart of the matter, paying no attentionto her barbed shafts.

  "Can they follow us through space without seeing us?" he demanded.

  "Yes--or at least, I think they can."

  "How do they do it?"

  "I don't know--I wouldn't tell you if I did."

  "You'll tell if you know," he declared, his voice cutting like a knife."But that can wait until after we get out of this. The thing to do nowis to dodge that world."

  He searched the vessel for copper, ruthlessly tearing out almosteverything that contained the metal, hammering it flat and throwing itinto the power-plant. He set the bar at
right angles to the line oftheir fall and turned on the current. When the metal was exhausted, hemade another series of observations upon the body toward which they werefalling, and reported quietly:

  "We made a lot of distance, but not enough. Everything goes in, thistime."

  He tore out the single remaining light-wire, leaving the car in darknesssave for the diffused light of his electric torch, and broke up the onlyremaining motor. He then took his almost priceless Swiss watch, hisheavy signet ring, his scarf pin, and the cartridges from his pistol,and added them to the collection. Flashing his lamp upon Perkins, herelieved him of everything he had which contained copper.

  "I think I have a few pennies in my pocketbook," suggested Dorothy.

  "Get 'em," he directed briefly, and while she was gone he searchedMargaret, without result save for the cartridges in her pistol, as shehad no jewelry remaining after her imprisonment. Dorothy returned andhanded him everything she had found.

  "I would like to keep this ring," she said slowly, pointing to a slendercirclet of gold set with a solitaire diamond, "if you think there is anychance of us getting clear."

  "Everything goes that has any copper in it," he said coldly, "and I amglad to see that Seaton is too good a chemist to buy any platinumjewelry. You may keep the diamond, though," as he wrenched the jewel outof its setting and returned it to her.

  He threw all the metal into the central chamber and the vessel gave atremendous lurch as the power was again applied. It was soon spent,however, and after the final observation, the others waiting inbreathless suspense for him to finish his calculations, he made his curtannouncement.

  "Not enough."

  Perkins, his mind weakened by the strain of the last few days, wentcompletely insane at the words. With a wild howl he threw himself at theunmoved scientist, who struck him with the butt of his pistol as heleaped, the mighty force of DuQuesne's blow crushing his skull like aneggshell and throwing him backward to the opposite side of the vessel.Margaret lay in her seat in a dead faint. Dorothy and DuQuesne looked ateach other in the feeble light of the torch. To the girl's amazement,the man was as calm as though he were safe in his own house, and shemade a determined effort to hold herself together.

  "What next, Doctor DuQuesne?"

  "I don't know. We have a couple of days yet, at least. I'll have tostudy awhile."

  "In that time Dick will find us, I know."

  "Even if they do find us in time, which I doubt, what good will it do?It simply means that they will go with us instead of saving us, for ofcourse they can't pull away, since we couldn't. I hope they don't findus, but locate this star in time to keep away from it."

  "Why?" she gasped. "You have been planning to kill both of them! Ishould think you would be delighted to take them with us?"

  "Far from it. Please try to be logical. I intended to remove thembecause they stood in the way of my developing this new metal. If I amto be out of the way--and frankly, I see very little chance of gettingout of this--I hope that Seaton goes ahead with it. It is the greatestdiscovery the world has ever known, and if both Seaton and I, the onlytwo men in the world who know how to handle it, drop out, it will belost for perhaps hundreds of years."

  "If Dick's finding us means that he must go, too, of course I hope thathe won't find us, but I don't believe that. I simply know that he couldget us away from here."

  She continued more slowly, almost speaking to herself, her heart sinkingwith her voice:

  "He is following us, and he won't stop even if he does see this deadstar and knows that he can't get away. We will die together."

  "There's no denying the fact that our situation is critical, but youknow a man isn't dead until after his heart stops beating. We have twowhole days yet, and in that time, I can probably dope out some way ofgetting away from here."

  "I hope so," she replied, keeping her voice from breaking only by agreat effort. "But go ahead with your doping. I'm worn out." She drewherself down upon one of the seats and stared at the ceiling, fightingto restrain an almost overpowering impulse to scream.

  Thus the hours wore by--Perkins dead; Margaret still unconscious;Dorothy lying in her seat, her thoughts a formless prayer, buoyed uponly by her faith in God and in her lover; DuQuesne self-possessed,smoking innumerable cigarettes, his keen mind grappling with its mostdesperate problem, grimly fighting until the very last instant oflife--while the powerless space-car fell with an appalling velocity,faster and faster; falling toward that cold and desolate monster of theheaven.