CHAPTER V
_Outlaws of Earth_
Three days later three footsore, weary, hungry men skulked in the edgeof the woods near a little clearing in the Ramapos. For three daysthey had ducked and dodged and literally burrowed into the ground byday, traveling only at night. Above and around them the noise ofpursuit rolled. The Mercutians were persistent.
Speedy one-man fliers patrolled the airways, their search beamscasting invisible rays in wide sweeping arcs over the uneven terrain.Wherever they touched, the ground sprang into vivid illumination,crystal clear to depths of ten to fifteen feet. Several times thecrystal swath swept breathlessly close to the place where thefugitives crouched in covert. The conveyors carried back and fortharmed companies of guards. The Mercutians were making a mighty effortto capture their prey.
But somehow the Earthmen had won through, and eager eyes searched thelittle glade. Hilary exhaled sharply. The _Vagabond_, stanch andfaithful companion of all his travels, rested immovably on the deepgreen grass. It had escaped the questing eyes of the Mercutians. Thetravel lanes did not touch this secluded spot.
"So that's your space ship, eh?" said Grim, surveying the tarnished,pitted spheroid with something of awe.
"Yes," said Hilary lovingly as he unlocked the outer port side. Ahasty glance around inside showed that nothing had been touched.Everything was orderly, methodical, just as he had left it.
Grim and Wat examined with interest the banked controls, thepolarization apparatus that set up repulsion waves and literallykicked the ship out into space away from the planet against which ithad been set.
"Time enough to inspect," Hilary warned them. "Never can tell whenthose damned Mercutians may spy on us."
* * * * *
He set the polarization controls so that the mere pulling of a switchwould send the flier careening off into space. He surveyed theapple-pie order of the interior with vast satisfaction.
"Now let them come," he said, "the _Vagabond_ can show anything thatflies a clean pair of heels. Let's eat."
He dragged an aluminum box out of its locker, opened it to disclose agray funguslike mass. He cut off huge slices and offered it to hiscompanions.
They looked at it doubtfully.
"Ugh," Wat shuddered violently, "I never saw stuff like that before.It doesn't look good." The little man, they soon discovered, hadviolent discriminations in food.
"Try it." Hilary assured him. "It's a Martian growth, and delicious.We had to live on the land so to speak, on our journey. Our Earth foodgave out long before the finish."
Wat looked at it with manifest distaste, but Grim was already wolfinghis portion and making little pleased sounds. Wat bit into a portiongingerly, found it tasted somewhat like truffles, and soon was not farbehind in gulping it down.
* * * * *
When their appetites had been appeased, Hilary called a council ofwar.
"First of all," he told them, "we'll have to find a hideout. Thatpresupposes two things: a place large enough to store the _Vagabond_,and hidden from view, either from the naked eye or their searchbeams."
"That sounds like a large cavern lined with lead," said Grim.
"Exactly."
"And there are none such in this territory," Grim replied quietly.
"I will not move too far from New York," Hilary spoke withdetermination; "there is Joan...."
Grim looked blank. There was Joan, of course.
Wat got up suddenly. "I know a place," he said, "within a mile ofhere, and it's not a cave. Come on; I'll show you. I was a Ranger inthe Ramapo Game Preserve in the old days."
Hilary asked no more. The polarization switch made contact, and the_Vagabond_ left the Earth with a swift rush. It maneuvered with theease of an Earth flier. Wat directed him, scanning the ruggedtree-clad mountains with eager eye.
"There," he said finally, "set her down right there. Easy."
Hilary saw no break in the uninterrupted line of the mountain, but hefollowed directions. He had come to have an abounding faith in thelittle red-haired man.
The space flier eased gently down. Just as it seemed as if it wouldperforce come to rest upon serrated tree tops, a faint glimmer showedamid the darker green. There was an opening, just barely room for the_Vagabond_.
* * * * *
Hilary jockeyed skilfully through, kept on descending into a narrowcleft in the slope. The walls rose almost perpendicularly on eitherside. About fifty feet down there was a sharp turn and the gorgeangled downward for another fifty feet. When the flier came to rest atthe bottom, it was securely hidden in a slanting cleft, some fortyfeet wide and several hundred long. A mountain brook brawled at oneside, assuring plentiful water. The outside world was absolutelyinvisible. Perpetual twilight reigned; only a pale dim religious lightfiltered through.
"Just the thing," Wat exulted. "We'll never be found here, no matterhow much they search, unless someone actually stumbles into theopening. There's almost eighty feet of solid rock above us, and theirsearch beams only penetrate about ten to fifteen."
"Splendid." Hilary said. "Now we've got to get to work."
For two days they toiled incessantly. A rope ladder was fabricated toinsure ease of entrance and exit without recourse to the ship. Wat, asthe least conspicuous, was delegated to scour the countryside andbring in stores of provisions. The bottom of the gorge was leveled offwith infinite labor. Rough wood shelters were erected. Spares andelectrical equipment to replace worn parts in the _Vagabond_ were alsopurchased by Wat, in cautious small purchases. It necessitated longtrekking through mountain trails, but there was no murmur from him.The search, he reported, seemed to be slackening. Only the routineguards whizzed by on the conveyors, and the usual Mercutian fliersthat kept to the regular air lanes.
At last even Hilary was satisfied. He was ready now for the plan thathad been slowly forming in his mind during the days of their flightand of work. He was going to attempt a rescue of Joan. She had neverleft his thoughts once; he was burning with inward anxiety, though hisface was a mask to cover his true feelings.
* * * * *
The last evening he sat with the others within one of the woodenshelters. A huge fire of fragrant pine knots blazed up a crude boulderchimney.
"I am going out now to find Joan," he told them quietly.
"When do we start?" asked Wat.
"I am going alone." There was a movement of protest. He checked it atonce. "You can understand the reasons. One man can worm his way wherethree men cannot. It isn't a question of force, of brute strength.Besides, if anything should go wrong, there are still the two of youto carry on--to be the focus of a new revolt. If all of us werecaught, there would be no further hope for the Earth."
"It's a hell of a note," Wat grumbled, unconvinced. "There's fightingto be done, and me cooped up here like a sick hen."
"Hilary's right," Grim interposed thoughtfully. "It's a one-man job.We'll have our chance later." He turned on Hilary. "But if anythingdoes happen to you, you understand we won't stay quietly. We'llcome--if you are still alive. Promise you will let us know--if youcan."
"I'll promise that," Hilary agreed. "There is a way."
He got up and went out of the hut. In a few minutes he was back,holding three small flat disks enmeshed in a spray of fine wires forthem to see.
"I've just removed the communication disks from our space suits.Strap them in position on your right shoulder blade, hook thewires--so--and you can talk to me or to each other over distances ofone hundred miles. Underneath your clothing they cannot be seen.Should I require your assistance, I'll call, and further, I'll showyou both how to run the _Vagabond_, in case...." His voice trailed.
"Yes, yes, of course," Grim interposed hastily, "but you'll be here torun it when the time comes."
"Perhaps," Hilary smiled faintly. Then he leaned forward. "I've gottena pretty good idea of what's happened on Earth since I went away, butno
w I need more details. Otherwise I'll run into things that willsurprise me, and that might not be so--pleasant."
They told him, interrupting each other, arguing over details, Hilaryinterposing questions every now and then.
* * * * *
About a year and a half after Hilary's departure into trackless space,a huge flat diskoid came hovering to the ground near Great New York.It carried a party of Mercutians on a friendly exploration, so theysaid, once communication could be established between Earth linguistsand themselves. They were welcomed, made much of. They seemed friendlyenough. At their own request they were whirled over the Earth in Earthplanes on a tour of inspection.
When they departed, with much protestation of friendship, they assuredPresident Peabody they would return some day, they and others of theirrace. Just what hidden threat there was in that promise, no one onEarth realized. It was taken at face value.
Just a year later, almost to the day, the by this time familiardiskoid was seen hovering once more over Great New York. TheMercutians were returning. The people of New York suspected nothing.No troops were rushed to the scene to repel invasion; no guns weretrained on the space ship. It was just another friendly visit, andhurried preparations were commenced for a rousing welcome on theirlanding.
What New York did not know was that simultaneously with the appearanceof the Mercutian flier over their city, a hundred others were eventhen hovering over the strategic capitals of the world. The firstMercutian ambassadors had put to good advantage that hurried tour ofinspection.
No one was alarmed. Each capital city thought itself signally honoredby the reappearance of the lone Mercutian over it. The plan wasclever, the timing perfect.
At a signal flashed through the ether, things started happening.
The great diskoids, hovering high in the stratosphere, suddenly blazedinto blinding light. To the dazzled onlookers below, a new sun seemedto have been born. A truncated cone of flame leaped downward. Thediskoid was the apex, the spreading base all of Great New York. Thesheeted brilliance enveloped the doomed city. It was a holocaust. NewYork became a roaring furnace. Stone and steel heated toincandescence.
The affrighted people had no chance for their lives. Like moths in aflame they died on the streets, in the ovens of their homes, in thesteaming rivers into which they had thrown themselves to escape theawful heat. There were few survivors, only those who happened to beinside the giant skyscrapers, protected by many thicknesses of crystaland steel.
* * * * *
As Great New York went, so went a hundred other cities. The Earth wascaught unawares, but the governments, the people, responded nobly.Troops were mobilized hurriedly, preparations rushed for warfare.
But the Earthmen did not have a chance. The great sinister diskoidsmoved methodically over the Earth, high in the stratosphere, where thefutile Earth planes could not reach them, and sent the terrible blazeof destruction down unerringly upon armies, cities, towns.
It was over soon. One after another, the Earth governmentscapitulated. America was the last--old Amos Peabody vowed he wouldrather go down to utter destruction than yield--but he was out-votedin Council. It was pure slaughter otherwise, without a chance to fightback.
At once the Mercutians set up their government. The Earth was turnedinto a colony. The leader of the invaders, the son of the Mercutianemperor, became Viceroy, with absolute powers. Sooner or later, it wastheir intention to transport the entire Mercutian race to the Earth,and make it their permanent home. Mercury was not an ideal place tolive on; in the restricted area around the poles where life waspossible, terrific storms alternated with furnace droughts, to whichthe hottest part of the Sahara was an Arctic paradise. No wonder thefirst Mercutian expedition had broached the subject of Earth as aneasy conquest when they returned.
The Mercutians treated the Earth people as slaves. Their rule wasbrutal and arrogant in the extreme. The Earth people revolted, underthe leadership of Amos Peabody. Weaponless, except for small hiddenstores of rifles and revolvers--the Mercutians had cannily disarmedtheir slaves--they fought desperately with axes, knives, clubs,anything, against the overlords.
The result could have been expected. The rebellion was smothered inblood and fire. The bravest of the Earthmen died in battle, or wereexecuted afterwards. The slaves, the weaklings, were left. Old AmosPeabody was treated as Hilary had seen. He was exhibited in city aftercity as a public warning.
* * * * *
Hilary's blood was boiling as the terrible narration went on and on.But his face was calm, immovable.
"How do the diskoids operate?" he asked.
"Something like the sun rays on the one-man fliers," Grim told him,"only vastly more powerful. They are not limited in range, for onething. It took only one, fifty miles up in the stratosphere, todestroy all New York. I saw the one that first spied on the Earth. Itwas about five hundred feet in diameter, made of the same vitreousmaterial, and shaped like a huge lens. No doubt, besides being a spaceship, it is just that. The sun's light flashes through it, isrearranged into terrible burning rays, and sears all in its path."
"Hm'm!" Hilary meditated. "So everything the Mercutians have in theway of weapons and armament depends directly on the sun's rays."
"Yes," Grim agreed. "After all, you must remember that with Mercuryexposed as it is to the fierce heat of the sun, it would be onlynatural for them to develop weapons that utilized its rays."
"Then the tubes and the fliers cannot operate at night?"
"Yes, because then they receive the reflected waves from the diskoidsthat are stationed out in space, in eternal sunlight."
Hilary considered this a moment.
"Where do you think it possible Joan was taken?" he changed thesubject abruptly.
"It is hard to say," Grim answered slowly. "But your best chance wouldbe with the Viceroy himself. There have been rumors--when pretty girlsdisappear."
Hilary's jaw set hard.
"I think I'll interview His Mercutian Magnificence," he said. "Whereare his quarters?"
"The Robbins Building."
"Good Lord, that's Joan's...." So that was why Joan was up in theBronxville suburb. "What happened to her father, Martin Robbins?"
"Executed after the revolt," Wat interposed. "Your girl must haveescaped, otherwise she'd have been treated then like the other girlswhose relatives had fought."
Hilary smiled unaccountably, the first smile since Joan had beentaken. He knew the Robbins Building well; he had been a frequentvisitor there in the old days. There were surprises in store for HisNibs the Mercutian....