The Lord of Space
_By Victor Rousseau_
[Sidenote: A Black Caesar had arisen on Eros--and all Earth trembledat his distant menace.]
"On the day of the next full moon every living thing on earth will bewiped out of existence--unless you succeed in your mission, Lee."
Nathaniel Lee looked into the face of Silas Stark, President of theUnited States of the World, and nodded grimly. "I'll do my best, Sir,"he answered.
"You have the facts. We know who this self-styled Black Caesar is, whohas declared war upon humanity. He is a Dane named Axelson, whosefather, condemned to life imprisonment for resisting the newworld-order, succeeded in obtaining possession of an interplanetaryliner.
"He filled it with the gang of desperate men who had been associatedwith him in his successful escape from the penitentiary. Together theysailed into Space. They disappeared. It was supposed that they hadsomehow met their death in the ether, beyond the range of human ken.
"Thirty years passed, and then this son of Axelson, born, according tohis own story, of a woman whom the father had persuaded to accompanyhim into Space, began to radio us. We thought at first it was somepractical joker who was cutting in.
_It was like struggling with some vampire creatures ina hideous dream._]
"When our electricians demonstrated beyond doubt that the voice camefrom outer space, it was supposed that some one in our Moon Colony hadacquired a transmitting machine. Then the ships we sent to the MoonColony for gold failed to return. As you know, for seven weeks therehas been no communication with the Moon. And at the last full moonthe--blow--fell.
"The world depends upon you, Lee. The invisible rays that destroyedevery living thing from China to Australia--one-fifth of the humanrace--will fall upon the eastern seaboard of America when the moon isfull again. That has been the gist of Axelson's repeatedcommunications.
"We shall look to you to return, either with the arch-enemy of thehuman race as your prisoner, or with the good news that mankind hasbeen set free from the menace that overhangs it.
"God bless you, my boy!" The President of the United States of theWorld gripped Nat's hand and stepped down the ladder that led from thelanding-stage of the great interplanetary space-ship.
* * * * *
The immense landing-field reserved for the ships of the InterplanetaryLine was situated a thousand feet above the heart of New York City, inWestchester County. It was a flat space set on the top of five greattowers, strewn with electrified sand, whose glow had the property ofdispersing the sea fogs. There, at rest upon what resembled nothing somuch as iron claws, the long gray shape of the vacuum flyer bulked.
Nat sneezed as he watched the operations of his men, for the commoncold, or coryza, seemed likely to be the last of the germ diseasesthat would yield to medical science, and he had caught a bad one inthe Capitol, while listening to the debate in the Senate upon thethreat to humanity. And it was cold on the landing-stage, in contrastto the perpetual summer of the glass-roofed city below.
But Nat forgot the cold as he watched the preparations for the ship'sdeparture. Neon and nitrogen gas were being pumped under pressure intothe outer shell, where a minute charge of leucon, the newly discoveredelement that helped to counteract gravitation, combined with them toprovide the power that would lift the vessel above the regions of thestratosphere.
In the low roof-buildings that surrounded the stage was a scene oftremendous activity. The selenium discs were flashing signals, and theradio receivers were shouting the late news; on the great power boardsdials and light signals stood out in the glow of the amylite tubes. Ona rotary stage a thousand feet above the ship a giant searchlight,visible for a thousand miles, moved its shaft of dazzling luminosityacross the heavens.
Now the spar-aluminite outer skin of the ship grew bright with the redneon glare. Another ship, from China, dropped slowly to its stage nearby, and the unloaders swarmed about the pneumatic tubes to receive themail. The teleradio was shouting news of a failure of the Manchurianwheat crop. Nat's chief officer, a short cockney named Brent, came upto him.
"Ready to start, Sir," he said.
* * * * *
Nat turned to him. "Your orders are clear?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Send Benson here."
"I'm here, Sir." Benson, the ray-gunner in charge of the battery thatcomprised the vessel's armament, a lean Yankee from Connecticut,stepped forward.
"You know your orders, Benson? Axelson has seized the Moon and thegold-mines there. He's planning to obliterate the Earth. We've got togo in like mad dogs and shoot to kill. No matter if we kill everyliving thing there, even our own people who are inmates of the Moon'spenal settlement, we've got to account for Axelson."
"Yes, Sir."
"We can't guess how he got those gold-ships that returned with neonand argon for the Moon colonists. But he mustn't get us. Let the menunderstand that. That's all."
"Very good, Sir."
The teleradio suddenly began to splutter: A-A-A, it called. Andinstantly every sound ceased about the landing-stage. For that was thecall of Axelson, somewhere upon the Moon.
"Axelson speaking. At the next full moon all the American Province ofthe World Federation will be annihilated, as the Chinese Province wasat the last. There's no hope for you, good people. Send out yourvacuum liners. I can use a few more of them. Within six months yourworld will be depopulated, unless you flash me the signal ofsurrender."
Would the proud old Earth have to come to that? Daily those ominousthreats had been repeated, until popular fears had become frenzy. AndNat was being sent out as a last hope. If he failed, there would benothing but surrender to this man, armed with a super-force thatenabled him to lay waste the Earth from the Moon.
Within one hour, those invisible, death-dealing rays had destroyedeverything that inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon. The ray with whichthe liner was equipped was a mere toy in comparison. It would kill atno more than 500 miles, and its action was quite different.
As a prelude to Earth's surrender, Axelson demanded that WorldPresident Stark and a score of other dignitaries should depart forthe Moon as hostages. Every ray fortress in the world was to bedismantled, every treasury was to send its gold to be piled up in agreat pyramid on the New York landing-stage. The Earth was toacknowledge Axelson as its supreme master.
* * * * *
The iron claws were turning with a screwlike motion, extendingthemselves, and slowly raising the interplanetary vessel until shelooked like a great metal fish with metal legs ending with suckerlikedisks. But already she was floating free as the softly purring enginesheld her in equipoise. Nat climbed the short ladder that led to herdeck. Brent came up to him again.
"That teleradio message from Axelson--" he began.
"Yes?" Nat snapped out.
"I don't believe it came from the Moon at all."
"You don't? You think it's somebody playing a hoax on Earth? You thinkthat wiping out of China was just an Earth-joke?"
"No, Sir." Brent stood steady under his superior's sarcasm. "But I waschief teleradio operator at Greenwich before being promoted to theProvince of America. And what they don't know at Greenwich they don'tknow anywhere."
Brent spoke with that self-assurance of the born cockney that even thecenturies had failed to remove, though they had removed the cockneyaccent.
"Well, Brent?"
"I was with the chief electrician in the receiving station whenAxelson was radioing last week. And I noticed that the waves of soundwere under a slight Doppler effect. With the immense magnificationnecessary for transmitting from the Moon, such deflection might beconstrued as a mere fan-like extension. But there was ten times themagnification one would expect from the Moon; and I calculated thatthose sound-waves were shifted somewhere."
"Then what's your theory, Brent?"
"Those sounds come from another planet. Somewhere on the Moon there'san interce
pting and re-transmitting plant. Axelson is deflecting hisrays to give the impression that he's on the Moon, and to lure ourships there."
"What do you advise?" asked Nat.
"I don't know, Sir."
"Neither do I. Set your course Moonward, and tell Mr. Benson to keephis eyes peeled."
* * * * *
The Moon Colony, discovered in 1976, when Kramer, of Baltimore, firstproved the practicability of mixing neon with the inert new gas,leucon, and so conquering gravitation, had proved to be just what ithad been suspected of being--a desiccated, airless desolation.Nevertheless, within the depths of the craters a certain amount of theMoon's ancient atmosphere still lingered, sufficient to sustain lifefor the queer troglodytes, with enormous lung-boxes, who survivedthere, browsing like beasts upon the stunted, aloe-like vegetation.
Half man, half ape, and very much unlike either, these vestiges of aspecies on a ruined globe had proved tractable and amenable todiscipline. They had become the laborers of the convict settlementthat had sprung up on the Moon.
Thither all those who had opposed the establishment of the WorldFederation, together with all persons convicted for the fourth time ofa felony, had been transported, to superintend the efforts of thesedumb, unhuman Moon dwellers. For it had been discovered that the Mooncraters were extraordinarily rich in gold, and gold was still themedium of exchange on Earth.
To supplement the vestigial atmosphere, huge stations had been set up,which extracted the oxygen from the subterranean waters five milesbelow the Moon's crust, and recombined it with the nitrogen withwhich the surface layer was impregnated, thus creating an atmospherewhich was pumped to the workers.
Then a curious discovery had been made. It was impossible for humanbeings to exist without the addition of those elements existing in theair in minute quantities--neon, krypton, and argon. And the ships thatbrought the gold bars back from the Moon had conveyed these gaseouselements there.
* * * * *
The droning of the sixteen atomic motors grew louder, and mingled withthe hum of gyroscopes. The ladder was drawn up and the port holesealed. On the enclosed bridge Nat threw the switch of durobronze thatreleased the non-conducting shutter which gave play to the sixteengreat magnets. Swiftly the great ship shot forward into the air. Thedroning of the motors became a shrill whine, and then, growing tooshrill for human ears to follow it, gave place to silence.
Nat set the speed lever to five hundred miles an hour, the utmost thathad been found possible in passing through the earth's atmosphere,owing to the resistance, which tended to heat the vessel and damagethe delicate atomic engines. As soon as the ether was reached, thespeed would be increased to ten or twelve thousand. That meant atwenty-two hour run to the Moon Colony--about the time usually taken.
He pressed a lever, which set bells ringing in all parts of the ship.By means of a complicated mechanism, the air was exhausted from eachcompartment in turn, and then replaced, and as the bells rang, the menat work trooped out of these compartments consecutively. This had beenoriginated for the purpose of destroying any life dangerous to manthat might unwittingly have been imported from the Moon, but on oneoccasion it had resulted in the discovery of a stowaway.
Then Nat descended the bridge to the upper deck. Here, on a platform,were the two batteries of three ray-guns apiece, mounted on swivels,and firing in any direction on the port and starboard sidesrespectively. The guns were enclosed in a thin sheath of osmium,through which the lethal rays penetrated unchanged; about them, thickshields of lead protected the gunners.
He talked with Benson for a while. "Don't let Axelson get the jump onyou," he said. "Be on the alert every moment." The gunners,keen-looking men, graduates from the Annapolis gunnery school, grinnedand nodded. They were proud of their trade and its traditions; Natfelt that the vessel was safe in their hands.
The chief mate appeared at the head of the companion, accompanied by agirl. "Stowaway, Sir," he reported laconically. "She tumbled out ofthe repair shop annex when we let out the air!"
* * * * *
Nat stared at her in consternation, and the girl stared back at him.She was a very pretty girl, hardly more than twenty-two or three,attired in a businesslike costume consisting of a leather jacket,knickers, and the black spiral puttees that had come into style in thepast decade. She came forward unabashed.
"Well, who are you?" snapped Nat.
"Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," she answered,laughing.
"The devil!" muttered Nat. "You people think you run the WorldFederation since you got President Stark elected."
"We certainly do," replied the girl, still laughing.
"Well, you don't run this ship," said Nat. "How would you like a longparachute drop back to Earth?"
"Don't be foolish, my dear man," said Madge. "Don't you know you'llget wrinkles if you scowl like that? Smile! Ah, that's better. Now,honestly, Cap we just had to get the jump on everybody else ininterviewing Axelson. It means such a lot to me."
Pouts succeeded smiles. "You're not going to be cross about it, areyou?" she pleaded.
"Do you realize the risk you're running, young woman?" Nat demanded."Are you aware that our chances of ever getting back to Earth aresmaller than you ought to have dreamed of taking?"
"Oh, that's all right," the girl responded. "And now that we'refriends again, would you mind asking the steward to get me somethingto eat? I've been cooped up in that room downstairs for fifteen hours,and I'm simply starving."
Nat shrugged his shoulders hopelessly. He turned to the chief mate."Take Miss Dawes down to the saloon and see that Wang Ling suppliesher with a good meal," he ordered. "And put her in the Admiral'scabin. That good enough for you?" he asked satirically.
"Oh that'll be fine," answered the girl enthusiastically. "And I shallrely on you to keep me posted about everything that's going on. And alittle later I'm going to take X-ray photographs of you and all thesemen." She smiled at the grinning gunners. "That's the new fad, youknow, and we're going to offer prizes for the best developed skeletonsin the American Province, and pick a King and Queen of Beauty!"
* * * * *
"A radio, Sir!"
Nat, who had snatched a brief interval of sleep, started up as the manon duty handed him the message. The vessel had been constantly incommunication with Earth during her voyage, now nearing completion,but the dreaded A-A-A that prefaced this message told Nat that it camefrom Axelson.
"Congratulations on your attempt," the message ran, "I have watchedyour career with the greatest interest, Lee, through the medium ofsuch scraps of information as I have been able to pick up on theMoon. When you are my guest to-morrow I shall hope to be able to offeryou a high post in the new World Government that I am planning toestablish. I need good men. Fraternally, the Black Caesar."
Nat whirled about. Madge Dawes was standing behind him, trying to readthe message over his shoulder.
"Spying, eh?" said Nat bitterly.
"My dear man, isn't that my business?"
"Well, read this, then," said Nat, handing her the message. "You'relikely to repent this crazy trick of yours before we get muchfarther."
And he pointed to the cosmic-ray skiagraph of the Moon on the curvedglass dome overhead. They were approaching the satellite rapidly. Itfilled the whole dome, the craters great black hollows, the mountainsstanding out clearly. Beneath the dome were the radium apparatus thatemitted the rays by which the satellite was photographedcinematographically, and the gyroscope steering apparatus by which theship's course was directed.
Suddenly a buzzer sounded a warning. Nat sprang to the tube.
"Gravitational interference X40, gyroscopic aberrancy one minute 29,"he called. "Discharge static electricity from hull. Mr. Benson, standby."
"What does that mean?" asked Madge.
"It means I shall be obliged if you'll abstain from speaking to theman at the controls,"
snapped Nat.
"And what's that?" cried Madge in a shriller voice, pointing upward.
* * * * *
Across the patterned surface of the Moon, shown on the skiagraph, ablack, cigar-shaped form was passing. It looked like one of theold-fashioned dirigibles, and the speed with which it moved wasevident from the fact that it was perceptibly traversing the Moon'ssurface. Perhaps it was travelling at the rate of fifty thousand milesan hour.
Brent, the chief officer, burst up the companion. His face was livid.
"Black ship approaching us from the Moon, Sir," he stammered."Benson's training his guns, but it must be twenty thousands milesaway."
"Yes, even our ray-guns won't shoot that distance," answered Nat."Tell Benson to keep his guns trained as well as he can, and open fireat five hundred."
Brent disappeared. Madge and Nat were alone on the bridge. Nat wasshouting incomprehensible orders down the tube. He stopped and lookedup. The shadow of the approaching ship had crossed the Moon's disk anddisappeared.
"Well, young lady, I think your goose is cooked," said Nat. "If I'mnot mistaken, that ship is Axelson's, and he's on his way to knock usgalley-west. And now oblige me by leaving the bridge."
"I think he's a perfectly delightful character, to judge from thatmessage he sent you," answered Madge, "and--"
Brent appeared again. "Triangulation shows ten thousand miles, Sir,"he informed Nat.
"Take control," said Nat. "Keep on the gyroscopic course, allowing foraberrancy, and make for the Crater of Pytho. I'll take command of theguns." He hurried down the companion, with Madge at his heels.
* * * * *
The gunners stood by the ray-guns, three at each. Benson perched on arevolving stool above the batteries. He was watching a periscopicinstrument that connected with the bridge dome by means of a tube, aflat mirror in front of him showing all points of the compass. At oneedge the shadow of the black ship was creeping slowly forward.
"Eight thousand miles, Sir," he told Nat. "One thousand is our extremerange. And it looks as if she's making for our blind spot overhead."
Nat stepped to the speaking-tube. "Try to ram her," he called up toBrent. "We'll open with all guns, pointing forward."
"Very good, Sir," the Cockney called back.
The black shadow was now nearly in the centre of the mirror. It movedupward, vanished. Suddenly the atomic motors began wheezing again. Thewheeze became a whine, a drone.
"We've dropped to two thousand miles an hour, Sir," called Brent.
Nat leaped for the companion. As he reached the top he could hear theteleradio apparatus in the wireless room overhead begin to chatter:
"A-A-A. Don't try to interfere. Am taking you to the Crater of Pytho.Shall renew my offer there. Any resistance will be fatal. Axelson."
And suddenly the droning of the motors became a whine again, thensilence. Nat stared at the instrument-board and uttered a cry.
"What's the matter?" demanded Madge.
Nat swung upon her. "The matter?" he bawled. "He's neutralized ourengines by some infernal means of his own, and he's towing us to theMoon!"
* * * * *
The huge sphere of the Moon had long since covered the entire dome.The huge Crater of Pytho now filled it, a black hollow fifty milesacross, into which they were gradually settling. And, as they settled,the pale Earth light, white as that of the Moon on Earth, showed thegaunt masses of bare rock, on which nothing grew, and the longstalactites of glassy lava that hung from them.
Then out of the depths beneath emerged the shadowy shape of thelanding-stage.
"You are about to land," chattered the radio. "Don't try any tricks;they will be useless. Above all, don't try to use your puny ray. Youare helpless."
The ship was almost stationary. Little figures could be seen swarmingupon the landing-stage, ready to adjust the iron claws to clamp thehull. With a gesture of helplessness, Nat left the bridge and wentdown to the main deck where, in obedience to his orders, the crew hadall assembled.
"Men, I'm putting it up to you," he said. "Axelson, the Black Caesar,advises us not to attempt to use the Ray-guns. I won't order you to.I'll leave the decision with you."
"We tried it fifteen minutes ago, Sir," answered Benson. "I toldLarrigan to fire off the stern starboard gun to see if it was inworking order, and it wasn't!"
At that moment the vessel settled with a slight jar into the clamps.Once more the teleradio began to scream:
"Open the port hold and file out slowly. Resistance is useless. Ishould turn my ray upon you and obliterate you immediately. Assembleon the landing-stage and wait for me!"
"You'd best obey," Nat told his men. "We've got a passenger toconsider." He glared at Madge as he spoke, and Madge's smile was alittle more tremulous than it had been before.
"This is the most thrilling experience of my life, Captain Lee," shesaid. "And I'll never rest until I've got an X-Ray photograph of Mr.Axelson's skeleton for the Universal News Syndicate."
* * * * *
One by one, Nat last, the crew filed down the ladder onto thelanding-stage, gasping and choking in the rarefied air that lay like ablanket at the bottom of the crater. And the reason for this was onlytoo apparent to Nat as soon as he was on the level stage.
Overhead, at an altitude of about a mile, the black ship hung, andfrom its bow a stupendous searchlight played to and fro over thebottom of the crater, making it as light as day. And where had beenthe mining machinery, the great buildings that had housed convicts andMoon people, and the huge edifice that contained the pumping station,there was--nothing.
The devilish ray of Axelson had not merely destroyed them, it hadobliterated all traces of them, and the crew of the liner werebreathing the remnants of the atmosphere that still lay at the bottomof the Crater of Pytho.
But beside the twin landing-stages, constructed by the WorldFederation, another building arose, with an open front. And that frontwas a huge mirror, now scintillating under the searchlight from theblack ship.
"That's it, Sir!" shouted Brent.
"That's what?" snapped Nat.
"The deflecting mirror I was speaking of. That's what deflected theray that wiped out China. The ray didn't come from the Moon. Andthat's the mirror that deflects the teleradio waves, thesuper-Hertzian rays that carry the sound."
Nat did not answer. Sick at heart at the failure of his mission, hewas watching the swarm of Moon men who were at work upon thelanding-stage, turning the steel clamps and regulating the mechanismthat controlled the apparatus. Dwarfed, apish creature, with tinylimbs, and chests that stood out like barrels, they bustled about,chattering in shrill voices that seemed like the piping of birds.
It was evident that Axelson, though he had wiped out the Moon convictsand the Moon people in the crater, had reserved a number of the latterfor personal use.
* * * * *
The black ship was dropping into its position at the secondlanding-stage, connected with the first by a short bridge. Thestarboard hold swung open, and a file of shrouded and hooded formsappeared, masked men, breathing in condensed air from receptacles upontheir chests, and staring with goggle eyes at their captives. Each oneheld in his hand a lethal tube containing the ray, and, as if bycommand, they took up their stations about their prisoners.
Then, at a signal from their leader, they suddenly doffed their masks.
Nat looked at them in astonishment. He had not known whether thesewould be Earth denizens or inhabitants of some other planet. But theywere Earth men. And they were old.
Men of sixty or seventy, years, with long, gray beards and wrinkledfaces, and eyes that stared out from beneath penthouses of shaggyeyebrows. Faces on which were imprinted despair and hopelessness.
Then the first man took off his mask and Nat saw a man of differentcharacter.
A man in the prime of life, with a mass of jet black hair and
a blackbeard that swept to his waist, a nose like a hawk's, and a pair ofdark blue eyes that fixed themselves on Nat's with a look ofLuciferian pride.
"Welcome, Nathaniel Lee," said the man, in deep tones that had acurious accent which Nat could not place. "I ought to know your name,since your teleradios on Earth have been shouting it for three dayspast as that of the man who is to save Earth from the threat ofdestruction. And you know me!"
"Axelson--the Black Caesar," Nat muttered. For the moment he was takenaback. He had anticipated any sort of person except this man, whostood, looked, and spoke like a Viking, this incarnation of pride andstrength.
Axelson smiled--and then his eyes lit upon Madge Dawes. And for amoment he stood as if petrified into a block of massive granite.
"What--who is this?" he growled.
"Why, I'm Madge Dawes, of the Universal News Syndicate," answered thegirl, smiling at Axelson in her irrepressible manner. "And I'm sureyou're not nearly such a bold, bad pirate as people think, and you'regoing to let us all go free."
* * * * *
Instantly Axelson seemed to become transformed into a maniac. Heturned to the old men and shouted in some incomprehensible language.Nat and Madge, Brent and Benson, and two others who wore the uniformsof officers were seized and dragged across the bridge to thelanding-stage where the black ship was moored. The rest of the crewwere ordered into a double line.
And then the slaughter began.
Before Nat could even struggle to break away from the gibbering Moonmen to whom he and the other prisoners had been consigned, the agedcrew of the Black Caesar had begun their work of almost instantaneousdestruction.
Streams of red and purple light shot from the ray-pistols that theycarried, and before them the crew of the ether-liner simply witheredup and vanished. They became mere masses of human debris piled on thelanding-stage, and upon these masses, too, the old men turned theirimplements, until only a few heaps of charred carbon remained on thelanding-stage, impalpable as burned paper, and slowly rising in thelow atmospheric pressure until they drifted over the crater.
Nat had cried out in horror at the sight, and tried to tear himselffree from the grasp of the Moon dwarfs who held him. So had the rest.Never was struggle so futile. Despite their short arms and legs, theMoon dwarfs held them in an unshakable grip, chattering and squealingas they compressed them against their barrel-like chests until thebreath was all but crushed out of their bodies.
"Devil!" cried Nat furiously, as Axelson came up to him. "Why don'tyou kill us, too?" And he hurled furious taunts and abuse at him, inthe hope of goading him into making the same comparatively mercilessend of his prisoners.
Axelson looked at him calmly, but made no reply. He looked at Madgeagain, and his features were convulsed with some emotion that gave himthe aspect of a fiend. And then only did Nat realize that it was Madgewho was responsible for the Black Caesar's madness.
Axelson spoke again, and the prisoners were hustled up the ladder andon board the black vessel.
* * * * *
"The Kommandant-Kommissar will see you!" The door of their prison hadopened, letting in a shaft of light, and disclosing one of thegraybeards, who stood there, pointing at Nat.
"The--who?" Nat demanded.
"The Kommandant-Kommissar, Comrade Axelson," snarled the graybeard.
Nat knew what that strange jargon meant. He had read books about thepolitical sect known as Socialists who flourished in the Nineteenthand Twentieth Centuries, and, indeed, were even yet not everywhereextinct. And with that a flash of intuition explained the presence ofthese old men on board.
These were the men who had been imprisoned in their youth, withAxelson's father, and had escaped and made their way into space, andhad been supposed dead long since. Somewhere they must have survived.
And here they were, speaking a jargon of past generations, andignorant that the world had changed, relics of the past, dead as thedead Moon from which the black ship was winging away through theether.
"Don't go, Captain," pleaded Madge. "Tell him we'll all go together."
Nat shook his head. "Maybe I'll be able to make terms with him," heanswered, and stepped out upon the vessel's deck.
The graybeard slammed the door and laughed savagely. "You'll make noterms with the Black Caesar," he said. "This is the reign of theproletariat. The bourgeois must die! So Lenin decreed!"
But he stopped suddenly and passed his hand over his forehead like aman awakening from a dream.
"Surely the proletariat has already triumphed on earth?" he asked. "Along time has passed, and daily we expect the summons to return andestablish the new world-order. What year is this? Is it not 2017? Itis so hard to reckon on Eros."
"On Eros?" thought Nat. "This is the year 2044," he answered. "You'vebeen dreaming, my friend. We've had our new world-order, and it's notin the least like the one you and your friends anticipated."
"Gott!" screamed the old man. "Gott, you're lying to me, bourgeois!You're lying, I tell you!"
* * * * *
So Eros was their destination! Eros, one of the asteroids, those tinyfragments of a broken planet, lying outside the orbit of Mars. Some ofthese little worlds, of which more than a thousand are known to exist,are no larger than a gentleman's country estate; some are mere rocksin space. Eros, Nat knew, was distinguished among them from the factthat it had an eccentric orbit, which brought it at times nearer Earththan any other heavenly body except the Moon.
Also that it had only been known for thirty years, and that it wassupposed to be a double planet, having a dark companion.
That was in Nat's mind as he ascended the bridge to where Axelson wasstanding at the controls, with one of the graybeards beside him. Thedoor of his stateroom was open, and suddenly there scuttled out of itone of the most bestial objects Nat had ever seen.
It was a Moon woman, a dwarfish figure, clothed in a shapeless garmentof spun cellulose, and in her arms she held a heavy-headed Moon baby,whose huge chest stood up like a pyramid, while the tiny arms and legshung dangling down.
"Here is the bourgeois, Kommandant," said Nat's captor.
Axelson looked at Nat, eye meeting eye in a slow stare. Then herelinquished the controls to the graybeard beside him, and motionedNat to precede him into the stateroom.
Nat entered. It was an ordinary room, much like that of the captain ofthe ether-liner now stranded on the Moon. There were a bunk, chairs, adesk and a radio receiver.
Axelson shut the door. He tried to speak and failed to master hisemotion. At last he said:
"I am prepared to offer you terms, Nathaniel Lee, in accordance withmy promise."
"I'll make no terms with murderers," replied Nat bitterly.
* * * * *
Axelson stood looking at him. His great chest rose and fell. Suddenlyhe put out one great hand and clapped Nat on the shoulder.
"Wise men," he said, "recognize facts. Within three weeks I shall bethe undisputed ruler of Earth. Whether of a desert or of a cowed andsubmissive subject-population, rests with the Earth men. I have neverbeen on Earth, for I was born on Eros. My mother died at my birth. Ihave never seen another human woman until to-day."
Nat looked at him, trying to follow what was in Axelson's mind.
"My father fled to Eros, a little planet seventeen miles in diameter,as we have found. He called it a heavenly paradise. It was hisintention to found there a colony of those who were in rebellionagainst the tyrants of Earth.
"His followers journeyed to the Moon and brought back Moon women forwives. But there were no children of these unions. Later there weredissensions and civil war. Three-fourths of the colony died in battlewith one another.
"I was a young man. I seized the reins of power. The survivors--theseold men--were disillusioned and docile. I made myself absolute. Ibrought Moon men and women to Eros to serve us as slaves. But in a fewyears the last of my father's old com
patriots will have died, and thusit was I conceived of conquering Earth and having men to obey me. Forfifteen years I have been experimenting and constructing apparatus,with which I now have Earth at my mercy.
"But I shall need assistance, intelligent men who will obey me and aidme in my plans. That is why I saved you and the other officers ofyour ether-lines. If you will join me, you shall have the highest poston Earth under me, Nathaniel Lee, and those others shall be underyou."
* * * * *
Axelson paused, and, loathing the man though he did, Nat was consciousof a feeling of pity for him that he could not control. He saw hislonely life on Eros, surrounded by those phantom humans of the past,and he understood his longing for Earth rule--he the planetary exile,the sole human being of all the planetary system outside Earth,perhaps, except for his dwindling company of aged men.
"To-day, Nathaniel Lee," Axelson went on, "my life was recast in a newmould when I saw the woman you have brought with you. I did not knowbefore that women were beautiful to look on. I did not dream thatcreatures such as she existed. She must be mine, Nathaniel Lee.
"But that is immaterial. What is your answer to my offer?"
Nat was trying to think, though passion distorted the mental images asthey arose in his brain. To Axelson it was evidently incomprehensiblethat there would be any objection to his taking Madge. Nat saw that hemust temporize for Madge's sake.
"I'll have to consult my companions," he answered.
"Of course," answered Axelson. "That is reasonable. Tell them thatunless they agree to join me it will be necessary for them to die. DoEarth men mind death? We hate it on Eros, and the Moon men hate it,too, though they have a queer legend that something in the shape of aninvisible man raises from their ashes. My father told me that thatsuperstition existed on Earth in his time, too. Go and talk to yourcompanions, Nathaniel Lee."
The Black Caesar's voice was almost friendly. He clapped Nat on theshoulder again, and called the graybeard to conduct him back to hisprison.
"Oh, Captain Lee, I'm so glad you're back!" exclaimed Madge. "We'vebeen afraid for you. Is he such a terrible man, this Black Caesar?"
Nat sneered, then grinned malevolently. "Well, he's not exactly theold-fashioned idea of a Sunday-school teacher," he answered. Of coursehe could not tell the girl about Axelson's proposal.
* * * * *
The little group of prisoners stood on the upper deck of the blackship and watched the Moon men scurrying about the landing-stage as shehovered to her position.
Axelson's father had not erred when he had called the tiny planet,Eros, a heavenly paradise, for no other term could have described it.
They were in an atmosphere so similar to that of Earth that they couldbreathe with complete freedom, but there seemed to be a lightness anda vigor in their limbs that indicated that the air was superchargedwith oxygen or ozone. The presence of this in large amounts wasindicated by the intense blueness of the sky, across which fleecyclouds were drifting.
And in that sky what looked like threescore moons were circling withextraordinary swiftness. From thirty to forty full moons, of allsizes, from that of a sun to that of a brilliant planet, and ridingblack against the blue.
The sun, hardly smaller than when seen from Earth, shone in thezenith, and Earth and Mars hung in the east and north respectively,each like a blood-red sun.
The moons were some of the thousand other asteroids, weaving theirlacy patterns in and out among each other. But, stupendous as thesight was, it was toward the terrestrial scene that the party turnedtheir eyes as the black ship settled.
A sea of sapphire blue lapped sands of silver and broke into softlines of foam. To the water's edge extended a lawn of brightest green,and behind this an arm of the sea extended into what looked like atropical forest. Most of the trees were palmlike, but towered toimmense heights, their foliage swaying in a gentle breeze. There wereapparently no elevations, and yet, so small was the little sphere thatthe ascending curve gave the illusion of distant heights, while thehorizon, instead of seeming to rise, lay apparently perfectly flat,producing an extraordinary feeling of insecurity.
Near the water's edge a palatial mansion, built of hewn logs and of asingle story, stood in a garden of brilliant flowers. Nearer, beyondthe high landing-stage, were the great shipbuilding works, and nearthem an immense and slightly concave mirror flashed back the light ofthe sun.
"The death ray!" whispered Brent to Nat.
Axelson came up to the party as the ship settled down. "Welcome toEros," he said cordially. "My father told me that in some Earth tonguethat name meant 'love'."
* * * * *
Never, perhaps, was so strange a feast held as that with which Axelsonentertained his guests that day. Dwarfish Moon men passed viands and asort of palm wine in the great banquet-room, which singularlyresembled one of those early twentieth century interiors shown inmuseums. Only the presence of a dozen of the aged guards, armed withray-rods, lent a grimness to the scene.
Madge sat on Axelson's right, and Nat on his left. The girl'slightheartedness had left her; her face grew strained as Axelson'smotives--which Nat had not dared disclose to her--disclosed themselvesin his manner.
Once, when he laid his finger for a moment against her white throat,she started, and for a moment it seemed as if the gathering storm mustbreak.
For Nat had talked with his men, and all had agreed that they wouldnot turn traitor, though they intended to temporize as long aspossible, in the hope of catching the Black Caesar unawares.
Then slowly a somber twilight began to fall, and Axelson rose.
"Let us walk in the gardens during the reign of Erebos," he said.
"Erebos?" asked Nat.
"The black world that overshadows us each sleeping period," answeredAxelson.
Nat knew what he meant. The dark companion of Eros revolves around itevery six hours; the day of Eros would therefore never be longer thansix hours, this without reckoning the revolution of Eros around thesun. But owing to its small size, it was probable that it was bathedin almost perpetual sunshine.
The sweet scent of the flowers, much stronger than of any flowers onearth, filled the air. They walked across the green lawn and entered ajungle path, with bamboos and creeping plants on either side, and hugepalmlike trees. Behind them stalked the guards with their ray-rods.
A lake of deepest black disclosed itself. Suddenly Madge uttered ascream and clung to Nat. "Look, look!" she cried. "It's horrible!"
* * * * *
Suddenly Nat realized that the lake swarmed with monsters. They wereof crocodilian form, but twice the size of the largest crocodile, andsprawled over one another in the shallows beside the margin. As theparty drew near, an enormous monster began waddling on its clawed feettoward them.
A mouth half the length of the creature opened, disclosing a purplishtongue and hideous fangs. Madge screamed again.
"Ah, so fear exists on Earth, too?" asked Axelson blandly. "That makesmy conquest sure. I suspected it, and yet I was not sure that sciencehad not conquered it. But there is no cause for fear. A magnetic fieldprotects us. See!"
For the waddling monster suddenly stopped short as if brought upsharply by the bars of a cage, and drew back.
Axelson turned and wheezed in the Moon language--if the gibbering ofthe dwarfs could be called speech--and one of the guards answered him.
"These primitive dwellers on Eros I have preserved," said Axelson, "asa means of discipline. The Moon animals are afraid of them. I keep asupply of those who have transgressed my laws to feed them. See!"
He turned and pointed. Two guards were bringing a gibbering,screeching, struggling Moon man with them. Despite his strength, heseemed incapable of making any resistance, but his whole bodyquivered, and his hideous face was contorted with agony of terror.
At a distance of some fifty feet they turned aside into a littlebypath through th
e jungle, reappearing close beside the Lake upon araised platform. And what happened next happened so swiftly that Natwas unable to do anything to prevent it.
The guards disappeared; the Moon man, as if propelled by someinvisible force, moved forward jerkily to the lake's edge. Instantlyone of the saurians had seized him in its jaws, and another hadwrenched half the body away, and the whole fighting, squirming massvanished in the depths.
And from far away came the screeching chant of the Moon men, as if ininvocation to some hideous deity.
And, moving perceptibly, the huge black orb of Eros's dark satellitecrept over the sky, completely covering it.
* * * * *
Axelson stepped forward to where Nat stood, supporting Madge in hisarms. The girl had fainted with horror at the scene.
"Your answer Nathaniel Lee," he said softly. "I know you have beenpostponing the decision. Now I will take the girl, and you shall giveme your answer. Will you and these men join me, or will you die as theMoon man died?" He spoke wheezily, as if he, like Nat, had a cold.
And he put his arm around Madge.
Next moment something happened to him that had never happened in hislife before. The Black Caesar went down under a well-directed blow tothe jaw.
He leaped to his feet trembling with fury and barked a command.Instantly the old guards had hurled themselves forward. And behindthem a horde of Moon men came, ambling.
While the guards covered their prisoners with their ray-rods, two Moonmen seized each of them, imprisoning him in their unbreakable grasp.
Axelson pointed upward. "When the reign of Erebos is past," he said,"you become food for the denizens of the lake, unless you have agreedto serve me."
And he raised Madge in his arms, laughing as the girl fought andstruggled to resist him.
"Madge!" cried Nat, trying to run toward her.
So furious were his struggles that for a moment he succeeded inthrowing off the Moon men's grasp. Then he was caught again, and,fighting desperately, was borne off by the dwarfs through the shadows.
They traversed the border of the lake until a small stone buildingdisclosed itself. Nat and the others were thrust inside into pitchdarkness. The door clanged; in vain they hurled themselves against it.It was of wood, but it was as solid as the stone itself, and it didnot give an inch for all their struggles.
* * * * *
"Where is your Kommandant?" The whisper seemed in the stone hutitself. "Your Nathaniel Lee. I must speak to him. I am the guard whobrought him to the Black Caesar on board the ship."
"I'm here," said Nat. "Where are you?"
"I am in the house of the ray. I am on guard there. I am speaking intothe telephone which runs only to where you are. You can speak anywherein the hut, and I shall hear you."
"Well, what do you want?" asked Nat.
"You love the Earth woman. I remember, when I was a boy, we used tolove. I had forgotten. There was a girl in Stamford.... Tell me, is ittrue that this is the year 2044 and that the proletariat has not yettriumphed?"
"It's true," said Nat. "Those dreams are finished, We're proud of theWorld Federation. Tell me about Madge Dawes--the Earth woman. Is shesafe?"
"He has taken her to his house. I do not think she is harmed. He isill. He is closely guarded. There are rumors afoot. I do not know."
"What do you want, then?"
"If the Black Caesar dies will you take me back to Earth again? I longso for the old Earth life. I will be your slave, if only I can setfoot on Earth before I die."
"Can you rescue us?" Nat held his breath.
"The Moon men are on guard."
"They have no ray-guns and you have."
"The penalty would be terrible. I should be thrown to the monsters."
"Can you get us each a ray-gun? Will you risk it, to get back toEarth?" asked Nat.
A pause. Then, "My friend, I am coming."
Nat heard Benson hissing in his ear, "If we can surprise them, we canget possession of the black ship and return."
"We must get Madge Dawes."
"And smash the mirror," put in Brent.
After that there was nothing to do but wait.
* * * * *
The door clicked open. An indistinct form stood in the entrance. Itwas already growing light; the dark satellite that eclipsed Eros waspassing.
"Hush! I have brought you ray-rods!" It was the old man with whom Nathad spoken on the boat. Under his arm he held five metallic rods,tipped with luminous glass. He handed one to each of the prisoners."Do you know how to use them?" he asked.
Nat examined his. "It's an old-style rod that was used on earth fiftyyears ago," he told his men. "I've seen them in museums. It came intouse in the Second World War of 1950 or thereabouts. You slip back thesafety catch and press this button, taking aim as one did with thepistol. You fellows have seen pistols?"
"My father had an old one," said the chief mate, Barnes.
"How many times can they be fired without reloading?" Nat asked theold guard.
"Ten times; sometimes more; and they were all freshly loadedyesterday."
"Take us to where Axelson is."
"First you must destroy the guards. I sent the one on duty here awayon some pretext. But the others may be here at any moment. Talk lower.Are you going to kill them?"
"We must," said Nat.
The old fellow began to sob. "We were companions together. They seizedus and imprisoned us together, the capitalists, years ago. I thoughtthe proletariat would have won, and you say it is all different. I aman old man, and life is sad and strange."
"Listen. Is Axelson in the house?" demanded Nat.
"He is in his secret room. I do not know the way. None of us has everentered it."
"And Madge?"
"She was with him. I do not know anything more." He sank down,groaning, broken.
* * * * *
Nat pushed his way past him. It was fast growing light now. A ray ofsunshine shot from beneath the edge of the dark sphere overhead, whichstill filled almost all the heavens. At that moment the hideous faceand squat body of one of the Moon men came into view at the end ofthe path. The creature stopped, gibbering with surprise, and thenrushed forward, mewing like a cat.
Nat aimed his ray-rod and pressed the button. The streak of light, notquite aimed, in Nat's excitement, sheared off one side of the Moonman's face.
The creature rocked where it stood, raised its voice in a screech, andrushed forward again, arms flailing. And this time Nat got home. Thestreak passed right through the body of the monster, which collapsedinto a heap of calcined carbon.
But its screech had brought the other dwarfs running to the scene. Ina moment the path was blocked by a score of the hideous monsters,which, taking in what was happening, came forward in a yelling bunch.
The ray-rods streaked their message of death into the thick of them.Yet so fierce was the rush that some parts got home. Arms, legs, andbarrel chests, halves of men, covering the five with that impalpableblack powder into which their bodies were dissolving. Nat rememberedafterward the horror of a grinning face, apparently loose in the air,and a flailing arm that lashed his chest.
For fifteen seconds, perhaps, it was like struggling with some vampirecreatures in a hideous dream. And then, just when it seemed to Natthat he was going mad, he found the path free, and the huddledremnants of the Moon men piled up about him on every side.
He emptied two more ray-shots into the writhing mass, and saw it ceaseto quiver and then dissolve into the black powder. He turned andlooked at his companions. They, too, showed the horror of the strainthey had undergone.
"We must kill the guards now," Nat panted. "And then find Madge andsave her."
"We're with you," answered Brent, and together the five rushed intothe sunlight and the open.
* * * * *
There were no guards on duty at the entranc
e of the house, and thedoor stood wide open. Nat rushed through the door at the head of hismen. A single guard was in the hall, but he only looked up as theycame in. And it was evident that he was in no condition to resist, forhe was in the grip of some terrible disease.
His features were swollen so that they were hardly recognizable, andhoarse, panting breaths came from his lungs. He was so far gone thathe hardly registered surprise at the advent of the five.
"Where's Axelson?" demanded Nat.
The guard pointed toward the end of the corridor, then let his armfall. Nat led his men along the half-dark passage.
At the end of the corridor two more guards were on duty, but one wascollapsed upon the floor, apparently unconscious, and the other,making a feeble attempt to draw his ray-rod, crumbled into ashes asBrent fired. The five burst through the door.
They found themselves in the banquet-hall. The remnants of the mealwere still upon the table, and three Moon men, looking as if they hadbeen poisoned, were writhing on the floor. At the farther end of thehall was another door.
This gave upon a central hall, with a door in each of its four sides,and a blaze of sunlight coming through the crystal roof. The fivestopped, baffled. Then of a sudden Axelson's voice broke thesilence--his voice, yet changed almost beyond recognition, hoarse,broken, and gasping:
"Try the doors, Nathaniel Lee. Try each door in turn, and then goback. And know that in an instant I can blast you to nothingness whereyou stand!"
And suddenly there came Madge's voice, "He can't! He can't, Nat. He'sdying, and he knows it. I won't let him, and he hasn't got thestrength to move."
"Which door?" cried Nat in desperation.
"None of the doors. They're a trick," came Madge's voice. "Go forwardand press the grooved panel upon the wall in front of you."
* * * * *
Nat stepped forward, found the panel, and pressed it. The wall swungopen, like two folded doors, revealing another room within, perfectlycircular.
It contained a quantity of pieces of apparatus, some glowing withlight, some dark, and a radio transmitting set; it was evidently thesecret lair of the Black Caesar. And there he was, trapped at last bythe mortal illness that had overtaken him!
He was lying upon the couch, his great form stretched out, hisfeatures hideously swollen by the same disease that had attacked theguards.
Nat raised his ray-rod, but Axelson feebly put up his hand, and Natlowered the weapon. And, as the five gathered about the dying man,again Nat felt that strange sense of pathos and pity for him.
He had never known Earth life, and he was not to be measured by thecommon standards applicable on Earth.
"Don't fire, Nat," said Madge in a shaky voice. She was seated besideAxelson, and--the wonder of it--she was sponging the foam from hislips and moistening his forehead. She raised a crystal that containedsome fluid to his lips, and he drained it greedily.
"So--Earth wins, Nathaniel Lee," whispered Axelson hoarsely. "I amdying. I know it. It is the same dreaded disease that came to the Moonat the time of my father's landing there. Three-fourths of the Moonanimals died. It is mortal. The lungs burn away.
"My father told me that on Earth it is not mortal. He called it'cold'--but I am burning hot."
Then only did Nat understand, and the irony of it made him catch hisbreath and grit his teeth to check his hysterical laughter. The BlackCaesar, the terror of Earth, was dying of a common cold which hehimself had given him.
The coryza germ, almost harmless on Earth, among a populationhabituated to it for countless generations, had assumed the potency ofa plague here, where no colds had ever been known--among the Moon men,and even among the guards, after their lifetime in the germlessclimate of Eros.
"I've failed, Nathaniel Lee," came the Black Caesar's voice. "And yetthat hardly troubles me. There is something more that I do notunderstand. She is a creature like ourselves--with will and reason.She is not like the Moon women. She told me that she did not wish tobe queen of the Earth because she did not love me. I do notunderstand. And so--I am glad to go."
* * * * *
A gasp came from Axelson's throat as he raised his head and tried tospeak, but the death-rattle was already in his throat. A slightstruggle, and the massive form upon the couch was nothing butinanimate clay.
Madge rose from beside him, and the tears were streaming down herface.
"He wasn't a bad man, Nat," she said. "He was--gentle with me. Hedidn't understand; that was all. When I refused to be his queen, hewas overcome with bewilderment. Oh, Nat, I can never, never write thisstory for the Universal News Syndicate."
Nat led her, sobbing, from the room.
Soon he succeeded in getting into teleradio communication with Earth.He broadcast the news that the Black Caesar was dead, and that hispower for evil was at an end forever.
Then, in the few hours of daylight that remained, he set his men towork to smash the ray outfit that had destroyed China. There was someprinciple involved which he did not altogether understand, thoughBrent professed to have a clue to it, but it was evident that, exceptfor the ray, Axelson had possessed no knowledge superior to that ofthe Earth scientists.
Of the guards, a few were already recovering, principally those ofcomparatively younger age. Not a Moon man, on the other hand, hadsurvived the epidemic. As soon as Nat had got the guards out of thehouse, he reduced it to ashes by the aid of an old-fashioned box ofphosphoric matches.
As the dark satellite was again creeping over Eros, the black ship setsail.
* * * * *
But of the return journey to the Moon, where they transferred to theirown ship, of their landing at New York, and of the triumphal receptionthat was accorded them, this is no place to speak. Nat's journey withMadge from the center of the city, in what was the old Borough ofWestchester, to his home in the suburb of Hartford, was a continualovation.
Crowds lined the air-route, and every few miles, so thick was theair-traffic, he was forced to hover and address the cheeringmultitudes. Hartford itself was _en fete_, and across the main roadthe City Bosses had hung an old-fashioned banner, strung from house tohouse on either side, bearing the legend: For World President:NATHANIEL LEE!
Nat turned to Madge, who was seated beside him silently. "Ever hear of'getting married?'" he asked.
"Of course I've heard of it," replied the girl indignantly. "Do youthink I'm as dumb as that, Nat Lee? Why, those old-fashioned novelsare part of the public schools' curriculum."
"Pity those days can't come back. You ought to be a WorldPresidentess, you know," said Nat. "I was thinking, if we registeredas companionates, I could take you into the White House, and you'dhave a swell time there taking X-rays on visiting days."
"Well," answered Madge slowly. "I never thought of that. It might beworth trying out."