The Whispering Spheres

  CHAPTER V

  AN ESCAPE

  Taylor ordered Pember and Norden to bury Orkins where he had beendigging, then the officer took Masters aside.

  "We've got a weapon," Taylor announced.

  Masters grunted:

  "Yeah? Indians had bows and arrows, too. Look at what happened tothem."

  "This is different. A new weapon. We can beat the spheres throughtheir emotions."

  "You mean fear, love, hate--all that stuff? How do you know thesespheres have emotions?"

  "What is life but a series of sensations and emotions? If thespheres are alive, they must have something which correspond toemotions. The emotions may be different from ours, but they'll beemotions just the same. Orkins died of fear. Of course, you cancall it heart attack, but fear brought it on. That sphere thathad me cornered in the plant died, too. Do you see?"

  "Was the sphere afraid of you or the tunnel?"

  "Don't be flippant. The emotion wasn't fear. It might not havebeen any emotion we have, but an emotion that we'd expect acreature made of energy to have. An emotion of frustration! Ithad me cornered. I escaped. The energy sphere met resistance.When energy meets resistance it changes!"

  "I don't get it."

  "Look, Masters. If the spheres are mixtures of energies, like weare mixtures of chemicals, death means extinction, just asbiological death means the extinction of the chemical action inour lives. Theologians say we don't die--that there's a changeand we go on existing in a spiritual life. Now let's take a peepat what science tells us about energy: Newton says energy isnever extinguished. When it ceases in one form, it changes toanother. What happens when you run electricity through aresistance coil?"

  "It turns to heat, of course!"

  "And when you enclose light where it can't escape?"

  "It turns to heat!" Masters' face brightened. "And if you pen upheat, it turns to light. I learned that in school. Resistancecauses a change. But what do the spheres turn to?"

  "Radio energy, Masters! Something absolutely harmless to man.These living, energy spheres will change to radio energy whenthey meet resistance. Frustration is resistance. Frustration isan emotion. An overwhelming emotion for the spheres! The sphereis frustrated--meets resistance--it disappears. In other words,it dies!"

  * * * * *

  From the city came screams and cries. The spheres had attacked atlast.

  The men in the wooded field could see the darting balls sendingtheir searing bolts down on the heads of hapless victims. Thecrashing roar of the slaughter sounded like distant thunderstorms.

  Streets were jammed with panic-stricken human beings, fleeingfrom the unknown menace which slashed with bolts of heat energy.

  From the hole in the factory roof poured more spheres to join thedestruction.

  "They breed fast, the devils!" said Masters.

  A figure in khaki approached Taylor. It was Pember with bloodrunning from a cut on the side of his head. He saluted briskly.

  "Norden escaped, sir!" he blurted. "The dirty so-and-so crackedme over the head with the trench tool and got away!"

  "I never thought he'd turn yellow," Masters said. "Well, maybeit's a good thing he's gone. I never trusted him anyhow."

  "Which way did he go?" Taylor asked.

  "He went toward the factory, sir!" Pember replied. "He didn'tknock me out. Just a glancing blow. I was too dazed to stop him,but I saw him running toward the factory."

  "He'd rather take it that way than the firing squad, I guess,"Masters decided.

  "Masters," Taylor said. "We overlooked something. Norden knowssomething we don't know. He was around Orkins most of the timeafter we left the plant. He listened to what Orkins said. Orkinswas in the factory when the spheres first appeared. I overlookedOrkins as having an answer to the problem. I thought I knew itall, but I was wrong! Orkins knew more than I know about thespheres."

  "Sure! I should have thought of it, too. How did Orkins get awaywhen everyone else got killed? I never asked that. I just took itfor granted that he got away by accident. Orkins might have knownenough to help Norden get the spheres on his side!"

  Taylor already was running toward the factory. At his heels cameMasters and Pember.