CHAPTER XV
_Escape_
That _Tarrano_ should thus defy the Earth, when by every law of rationalcircumstance the move seemed to spell only his own disaster, wascharacteristic of the man. He stood there in the instrument room at thepeak of the skeleton tower in Venia and rasped out to the Earth Councilhis defiance. Silence followed--silence unbroken save by the hiss andclick of the instruments as the message was sent.
And then Tarrano ordered thrown upon himself the lights and sendingmirrors so that his own image might be available to all of the publicand Earth officials who cared to look upon it. Within the circle ofmirrors he stood drawn to his full height; his eyes flashing, heavybrows lowered, and a sardonic smile--almost a leer--pulling at his thinlips. The embodiment of defiance. Yet to those who knew him well--as Iwas beginning to know him--there was in his eyes a gleam of irony, asthough even in this situation he saw humor. A game, with worlds andnations as his pawns--a game wherein, though he had apparently lost,with the confidence of his genius he knew that the hidden move he wasabout to make would extricate him.
"Enough," he rasped.
The mirrors went dark. He turned away; and still without appearance ofhaste he drew Wolfgar, Elza and me to the balcony. Together we stoodgazing over the lights of the city below us.
A cloudless, starry sky. Empty of air-craft; but to the north just belowthe horizon, we knew that the line of war vessels was hovering. Evennow, doubtless, they had their orders to descend upon us. Tarrano seemedwaiting, and I suppose we stood there half an hour. Occasionally hewould sight an instrument toward the north; and by the orders he gave atintervals I knew that preparations for action on his part were underway.
Half an hour. Then abruptly from below the northern horizon lights cameup--spreading colored beams. The Earth war vessels! A line of them asfar as we could see from left to right, mounting up into the sky as theywinged their way toward us--a line spreading out in a broad arc. Andthen, behind us, I saw others appear. We were surrounded.
It was a magnificent, awe-inspiring sight, that vast ring of approachingcolored lights. Red, green and purple--slowly moving eyes. Light-rocketssometimes mounting above them, to burst with a soundless glare of whitelight in the sky; and underneath, the spreading white search-beams,sweeping down to the dark forest that lay all about us.
Soon, in the white glare of the bombs, we could distinguish the actualshapes of the vessels. Still Tarrano did not move from his place by thebalcony rail. He stood there, with a hand contemplatively under hischin, as though absorbed by an interest in the scene purely impersonal.Was he going to give himself up? Stand there inactive while these armedforces of the most powerful world in the Solar System swept down uponhim?
Abruptly he snapped his instrument back to his belt. He had not used itsince the hostile lights had appeared. Previously, I knew, he had beenwatching those lights, with the curved ray of the instrument when thelights themselves had been below the horizon.
He turned now to me. "They are here, Jac Hallen. Almost here. And I amat their mercy." His tone was ironic; then it hardened into grimness. Hewas addressing me, but I knew it was for Elza's benefit he spoke.
"I came here to Earth, Jac Hallen, for certain things. I find them nowaccomplished. I belong here no longer." He laughed. "I would not forcemyself into a war prematurely. That would be very unwise. I think--weshall have to avoid this--engagement. I am--slightly outnumbered."
He called an order, quite calmly over his shoulder. I suppose, at thatmoment, the Earth war vessels were no more than five miles away. Thewhole sky was a kaleidoscope of darting lights. In answer to his order,from the peak of our tower a light bomb mounted--a vertical ray of greenlight. The bomb of surrender!
Tarrano chuckled. "That should halt them. Come! We must start."
He held a brief colloquy with a Venus man who appeared beside him. Theman nodded and hastened back into the instrument room. The green lightof our bomb had died away. The lights in the sky began fading--the wholesky fading, turning to blackness! I became aware that Tarrano had thrownaround our tower a temporary isolation barrage. For a few moments--whilethe current he had at his command could hold it--we could not be seen onthe image finders of the advancing vessels.
Tarrano repeated: "That should hold them--I have surrendered! Theyshould be triumphant. And outside our barrage, our men will bargain withthem. Ten minutes! We should be able to hold them off that long atleast. Come, Lady Elza. We must start now."
With a scant ceremony in sharp contrast to his courteous words to Elza,he hurried us off. Three of us--Elza, Wolfgar and myself, with oneattendant who still carried Elza's personal belongings. Hurried us intothe vertical car which had brought us up into the tower. It descendednow, down the iron skeleton shaft. Outside the girders I could see onlythe blackness of the barrage, with faint snapping sparks.
Silently we descended. It seemed very far down. And suddenly I realizedthat we were going lower than the ground level. The barrage sparks hadvanished. The blackness now was a normal darkness; and in it I could seeslipping upward the smooth black sides of the vertical shaft into whichwe were dropping. And the sulphuric smell of the barrage was gone. Theair now smelt of earth--the heavy, close air of underground.
I do not know how far down we went. A thousand feet perhaps. The thingsurprised me. Yet in those moments my mind encompassed it; and many ofTarrano's motives which I had not reasoned out before now seemed plain.He had come from Venus to the Earth, possibly several months ago. Hadcome directly here to Venia and set up his headquarters. His purpose onEarth--as he had just told me--did not lie with warfare. While he washere his forces had conquered the Great City of Venus, and just now, theHill City of Mars. He controlled Venus and Mars--but he was still farfrom ready to attack the Earth.
He had come to the Earth in person for several important purposes. Forone--he desired the Brende model and Dr. Brende's notes. He had themnow; they were, in reality, at this present moment in the Great City ofVenus. Also, with the Brende secret--to control it absolutely--he had tohave Georg Brende. Well, as I was soon to realize, Georg was now hiscaptive. And the Princess Maida? His purpose in holding her wastwo-fold. She had, now as always in the Venus Central State, atremendous sentimental sway upon her people. Tarrano had abducted her,forcibly to remove her from the scene of action, so that during herunexplained absence his propaganda would have more influence. He hadbrought her here to Earth; and now his plan was to have Georg Brende andher fall in love with each other. He still hoped to win Georg to hiscause, by giving him the Princess Maida, if for no other reason. Andwith Maida married to Georg--and Georg in Tarrano's service--Maidaherself would turn her influence in Venus to consolidate her people toTarrano.
These, in part, were Tarrano's present plans and motives. They wereworking out well. And--as he had said--the Earth did not concern him nowas a battle-ground. Later ... But even with this sudden insight whichseemed to come to me, I was inadequate to grasp what later he was toattempt.
While thus occupied with my thoughts, we were steadily descending intothe ground under Venia--dropping out of sight while above us, perhaps bynow, the eager warcraft of Earth were overwhelming the city. Tarrano hadnot spoken; but when at last our little car bumped gently at the bottom,he said smilingly: "We are here, Lady Elza."
We left the car, and passed into a dim-lighted cavern. I saw a lateralblack tunnel-mouth yawning nearby, with a shining rail at its top andbottom, one above the other. And between the rails was a metal vehicle.A long, narrow car; yet with its turtle-back and its propelling gas-tubeat the rear, with a rudder on each side of the tube, I realized that itwas designed also for sub-sea travel. A small affair. Ten feet at itsgreatest width, and fifty or sixty feet long.
There was nothing startling in this evidence of underground and sub-seatransportation. But that it should be here in primitive Venia surprisedme. Then I realized that Tarrano had been here perhaps many months.Quietly, secretly he had constructed this underground road. For hisescape, I could not
doubt it. Indeed, I did not doubt but that the manhad anticipated practically every event which had occurred.
We found in the car, or boat if you will, a variety of attendants andpersonal belongings. Tara was there; I saw her sitting alone on one ofthe distant rings of seats. And Argo was among us--and others whom I hadlearned to know by sight and name. It was the party and equipment whichTarrano had probably originally brought with him from Venus. We, thelast arrivals in the car, took our places. The doors slid closed. Thecar vibrated slightly; purred with its forward motors. We were started.
It was not a long trip. How far we went I have no means of knowing. Butafter a time, by the changed motion and sounds, I realized that we weretraversing water. Then above us after another interval, they opened ahatchway. The pure fresh air of night streamed in upon us. Every lightin the boat had been extinguished. At Tarrano's command I followed himup the small spider incline and through the hatchway. We stood on alittle circular space of the turtle-deck, well aft--an observation spaceenclosed by a low metal rail. A few feet below us dark glossy water wasslipping past.
At a lazy hasteless pace, we were passing along what I saw to be a broadriver. The Riola Amazonia[16] I afterward learned it to be. Heavy banksof luxurious foliage, dark and silent. Inundated in places. And after afew moments we slackened, turned sharply into one of the inundated covesand nosed slowly amid a tangle of the jungle bank.
[Footnote 16: Evidently the upper Amazon.]
And then I saw, hidden here in the recesses of this pathless forest, asmall inter-planetary flyer, painted a hazy grey-blue. Around and overit the vegetation had been carefully, cunningly trained. A few cautiouslights illumined it now; but without them, and even in daylight, I knewthat from above it could never be seen.
Our party entered it--a small but surprisingly luxurious vessel. Thefoliage from above it was cut away by ready workmen; and in half an hourmore we were rising from the forest. Straight up, into that cloudlesssky. The land dropped away beneath us; visually concave at first as thecircular horizon seemed to rise with us. The sky overhead fortunatelywas empty--nothing in sight to bar our outward flight. And we carried nolights.
In a moment or two, so swiftly did we gather velocity, the lights ofVenia--a distant patch of them--were visible. Then, further away, Ipresently saw the grey expanse of open sea. And as we mounted, thesimulated concavity of the Earth turned convex. I had never seen itthus--had never been so far above its surface before. A huge grey balldown there which was our Earth. Outlines of sea and land. Thencontinents and oceans, enveloped by patches of cloud area. Agrey ball, changing to a glowing, vaguely dull red; then silver.Dwindling--gleaming brighter silver on one side where the sunlightstruck it.
We were in the realms of outer, inter-planetary space!