XVI
Below the _Ancient Mariner_, the great buildings of the alien cityjutted up in the gray light of this gray world; their massiveness seemedonly to accentuate the depressing light.
On the broad roofs, they saw hundreds of people coming out to watch themas they moved across the city. According to Torlos, they were the firstfriendly strangers they had ever seen. They had explored all the planetsof this system without finding friendly life.
The buildings sloped up toward the center of the city, and the mass ofthe great central building loomed before them.
The fleet that was leading the Earth ship settled down to a widecourtyard that surrounded the building. Arcot dropped the _AncientMariner_ down beside them. The men from Torlos' ship formed into twosquads as they came out of the airlocks and marched over to the greatshining ship of Earth. They formed two neat rows, one on each side ofthe airlock.
"Come on, Morey," said Arcot. "We're wanted. Wade, keep the radio goingat full amplification; the building may cut out some of the power. I'lltry to keep you posted on what's going on, but we'll probably be busyanswering questions telepathically."
Arcot and Morey followed Torlos out into the dim light of the gray sky,walking across the courtyard between the ranks of the soldiers fromTorlos' ship.
Before them was a heavy gate of solid bronze which swung on massivebronze hinges. The building seemed to be made of a dense, gray stone,much like granite, which was depressing in its perfectly unrelievedfront. There were no bright spots of color as there were on all Earthlyand Venerian structures. Even the lines were grimly utilitarian; thereseemed to be no decoration.
Through the great bronze door they walked, and across a small vestibule.Then they were in a mighty concourse, a giant hallway that wentcompletely through the structure. All around them great granite pillarsrose to support the mighty building above. Square cut, they lent butlittle grace to the huge room, but the floor and walls were made of ahard, light green stone, almost the same color as foliage.
On one wall there was a giant tablet, a great plaque fifteen feet high,made of a deep violet stone, and inlaid with a series of characters inthe language of this world. Like English letters, they seemed to readhorizontally, but whether they read from left to right or right to leftthere was no way of knowing. The letters themselves were made of somered metal which Arcot and Morey didn't recognize.
Arcot turned to Torlos and projected a thought: "What is that tablet?"
"Ever since the beginning of the war with the other planet, Nansal, thenames of our mighty leaders have been inscribed on that plaque in therarest metal."
The term "rarest metal" was definite to Torlos, and Arcot decided toquestion him further on the meaning of it when time permitted.
They crossed the great hall and came to what was evidently an elevator.The door slid open, and the two Earthmen followed Torlos and hislieutenant into the cubicle. Torlos pushed a small button. The door slidshut, and a moment later, Arcot and Morey staggered under the suddenterrific load as the car shot upward under an acceleration of at leastthree gravities!
It continued just long enough for the Earthmen to get used to it, thenit snapped off, and they went flying up toward the ceiling as itcontinued upward under its own momentum. It slowed under the influenceof the planet's gravitation and came to a stop exactly opposite thedoorway of a higher floor.
"Wow! Some elevator!" exclaimed Morey as he stepped out, flexing hisknees as he tried to readjust himself. "That's what I call a violent wayof getting upstairs! It wasn't designed by a lazy man or a cripple! Iprefer to walk, thanks! What I want to know is how the old people getupstairs. Or do they die young from using their elevators?"
"No," mused Arcot. "That's the funny thing. They don't seem to bebothered by the acceleration. They actually jumped a little off thefloor when we started, and didn't seem to experience much difficultywhen we stopped." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, whenTorlos was bending that crowbar back there in the ship, I picked up acurious thought--I wonder if--" He turned to the giant alien. "Torlos,you once gave me the thought-idea 'bone metal'; what is that?"
Torlos looked at him in surprise and then pointed mutely to a heavy belthe wore--made of closely woven links of iron wire!
"I was right, Morey!" Arcot exclaimed. "These men have _iron bones_! Nowonder he could bend that crowbar! It would be as easy as it would foryou or me to snap a human arm bone!"
"But, wait a minute!" Morey objected. "How could iron grow?"
"How can stone grow?" countered Arcot. "That's what your bones are,essentially--calcium phosphate rock! It's just a matter of differentbody chemistry. Their body fluids are probably alkaline, and iron won'trust in an alkaline solution." Arcot was talking rapidly as theyfollowed the aliens down the long corridor.
"The thing that confirms my theory is that elevator. It's merely aniron cage in a magnetic beam, and it's pulled up with a terrificacceleration. With iron bones, these men would be similarly influenced,and they wouldn't notice the acceleration so much."
Morey grinned. "I'll be willing to bet they don't use cells in theirprisons, here! Just magnetize the floor, and the poor guy could neverget away!"
Arcot nodded. "Of course, the bones must be pure iron; their bonesevidently don't retain any of the magnetism when they leave the field."
"We seem to be here," Morey interrupted. "Let's continue the discussionlater."
Their party had stopped just outside a large, elaborately carved door,the first sign of ornamentation the Earthmen had seen. There were fourguards armed with pistols, which, they discovered later, were powered bycompressed air under terrific pressure. They hurled a small metal slugthrough a rifled barrel, and were effective over a distance of about amile, although they could only fire four times without reloading.
Torlos spoke briefly with the guard, who saluted and opened the door.The two Earthmen followed Torlos into a large room.
Before them was a large, crescent-shaped table, around which were seatedseveral men. At the center of the crescent curve sat a man in a grayuniform, but he was so bedecked with insignia, medals, ribbons, anddecorations that his uniform was scarcely visible.
The entire assemblage, including the leader, rose as the Earthmenentered. Arcot and Morey, taking the hint, snapped to attention anddelivered a precise military salute.
"We greet you in the name of our planet," said Arcot aloud. "I know youdon't understand a word I'm saying, but I hope it sounds impressiveenough. We salute you, O High Muckymuck!"
Morey, successfully keeping a straight face, raised his hand and saidsonorously: "That goes double for me, bub."
In his own language, the leader replied, putting his hands to his hipswith a definite motion, and shaking his head from side to side at thesame time.
Arcot watched the man closely while he spoke. He was taller than Torlos,but less heavily built, as were all the others here. It seemed thatTorlos was unusually powerful, even for this world.
When the leader had finished, Arcot smiled and turned to project thisthoughts at Torlos.
"Tell your leader that we come from a planet far away across the vastdepths of space. We come in peace, and we will leave in peace, but wewould like to ask some favors of him, which we will repay by giving himthe secret of our weapons. With them, he can easily conquer Nansal.
"All we want is some wire made from the element lead and someinformation from your astronomers."
Torlos turned and spoke to his leader in a deep, powerful voice.
Meanwhile, Morey was trying to get in communication with the ship. Thewalls, however, seemed to be made of metal, and he couldn't get throughto Wade.
"We're cut off from the ship," he said quietly to Arcot.
"I was afraid of that, but I think it'll be all right. Our propositionis too good for them to turn down."
Torlos turned back to Arcot when the leader had finished speaking. "TheCommanding One asks that you prove the possibilities of your weapons.His scientists tell him that it is
impossible to make the trip that youclaim to have made."
"What your scientists say is true, to an extent," Arcot thought. "Theyhave learned that no body can go faster than the speed of light--is thatnot so?"
"Yes. Such, they say, is the fact. To have made this trip, you must, ofnecessity, be not less than twenty million years old!"
"Tell them that there are some things they do not yet know about space.The velocity of light is a thing that is fixed by the nature of space,right?"
Torlos consulted with the scientists again, then turned back to Arcot."They agree that they do not know all the secrets of the Universe, butthey agree that the speed of light is fixed by the nature of space."
"How fast does sound travel?" Arcot asked.
"They ask in what medium do you mean?"
"How fast does light travel? In air? In glass? The speed of light is asvariable as that of sound. If I can alter the nature of space, so as tomake the velocity of light greater, can I not then go faster than innormal space?"
"They say that this is true," Torlos said, after more conversation withthe men at the table, "but they say that space is unalterable, since itis emptiness."
"Ask them if they know of the curvature of space." Arcot was becomingworried for fear his explanation would be unintelligible; unless theyknew his terms, he could not explain, and it would take a long time toteach them.
"They say," Torlos thought, "that I have misunderstood you. They sayspace could not possibly be curved, for space is emptiness, and howcould empty nothingness be curved."
Arcot turned to Morey and shrugged his shoulders. "I give up, Morey;it's a bad case. If they insist that space is nothing, and can't becurved, I can't go any further."
"If they don't know of the curvature of space," said Morey, "ask themhow they learned that the velocity of light is the limiting velocity ofa moving body."
Torlos translated and the scientists gave their reply. "They say thatyou do not know more of space than they, for they know that the speed oflight is ultimate. They have tested this with spaceships at high speedsand with experiments with the smallest particles of electricity."
The scientists were looking at Arcot now in protest; they felt he wastrying to foist something off on them.
Arcot, too, was becoming exasperated. "Well, if they insist that wecouldn't have come from another star, where do they think I come from?They have explored this system and found no such people as we, so I musthave come from another star. How? If they won't accept my explanations,let them think up a theory of their own to explain the facts!" Hepaused for Torlos to translate, then went on. "They say I don't know anymore than they do. Tell them to watch this."
He drew his molecular ray pistol and lifted a heavy metal chair into theair. Then Morey drew his heat beam and turned it on the chair. In a fewseconds, it was glowing white hot, and then it collapsed into a fieryball of liquid metal. Morey shut off the heat beam, and Arcot held theball in the air while it cooled rapidly under the influence of themolecular ray. Then he lowered it to the floor.
It was obvious that the scientists were impressed, and the Emperor wastalking eagerly with the men around him. They talked for severalminutes, saying nothing to the Earthmen. Torlos stood quietly, waitingfor a message to relay.
The Emperor called out, and some of the guards moved inside the door.
Torlos turned to Arcot. "Show no emotion!" came his telepathic warning."I have been listening to them as they spoke. The Commanding One wantsyour weapons. Regardless of what his scientists tell him about thepossibility of your trip, he knows those weapons work, and he wantsthem.
"You see, I am not a Satorian at all. I'm from Nansal, sent here manyyears ago as a spy. I have served in their fleets for many years, andhave gained their trust.
"I am telling you the truth, as you will soon see.
"These people are going to follow their usual line of action and takethe most direct way toward their end. They are going to attack you,believing that you, despite your weapons, will go down before superiornumbers.
"And you'd better move fast; he's calling the guards already!"
Arcot turned to Morey, his face calm, his heart beating like avibrohammer. "Keep your face straight, Morey. Don't look surprised.They're planning to jump us. We'll rip out the right wall and--"
He stopped. It was too late! The order had been given, and the guardswere leaping toward them. Arcot grabbed at his ray pistol, but one ofthe guards jumped him before he had a chance to draw it.
Torlos seized the man by one leg and an arm and, tensing his hugemuscles, hurled him thirty feet against the Commanding One with suchforce that both were killed instantly! He turned and grabbed anotherbefore his first victim had landed and hurled him toward the advancingguards. Arcot thought fleetingly that here was proof of Torlos' story ofbeing from Nansal; the greater gravity of the third planet made him agreat deal stronger than the Satorians!
One of the guards was trying to reach for Arcot. Acting instinctively,the Earthman lashed out with a hard jab to the point of the Satorian'sjaw. The iron bones transmitted the shock beautifully to the delicatebrain; the man's head jerked back, and he collapsed to the floor.Arcot's hand felt as though he'd hit it with a hammer, but he was fartoo busy to pay any attention to the pain.
Morey, too, had realized the futility of trying to overcome the guardsby wrestling. The only thing to do was dodge and punch. The guards weretrying to take the Earthmen alive, but, because of their greater weight,they couldn't move quite as fast as Arcot and Morey.
Torlos was still in action. He had seen the success of the Earthmen who,weak as they were, had been able to knock a man out with a blow to thejaw. Driving his own fists like pistons, he imitated their blows withdeadly results; every man he struck went down forever.
The dead were piling around him, but through the open door he could seereinforcements arriving. Somehow, he had to save these Earthmen; ifSator got their secrets, Nansal would be lost!
He reached down and grabbed one of the fallen men and hurled him acrossthe room, smashing back the men who struggled to attack. Then he pickedup another and followed through with a second projectile. Then a third.With the speed and tirelessness of some giant engine of war, he slammedhis macabre ammunition against the oncoming reinforcements with tellingresults.
At last Arcot was free for a moment, and that was all he needed. Hejerked his molecular ray pistol from its holster and beamed itmercilessly toward the door, hurling the attackers violently backwards.They died instantly, their chilled corpses driving back against theircomrades with killing force.
In a moment, every man in the room was dead except for the two Earthmenand the giant Torlos.
Outside the room, they could hear shouted orders as more of the Satorianguards were rallied.
"They'll try to kill us now!" Arcot said. "Come on, we've got to get outof here!"
"Sure," said Morey, "but which way?"