The Black Star Passes

J >> John W Campbell >> The Black Star Passes

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"Always peace followed--a futile peace. A few brief centuries or a few
millennia, and again war would flame. It would end, and life would
continue.

"But slowly there crept into the struggle a new factor, a darkening
cloud, a change that came so gradually that only the records of
instruments, made during a period of thousands of years, could show it.
Our sun had changed from bright red to a deep, sullen crimson, and ever
less and less heat poured from it. It was waning!

"As the fires of life died down, the people of the three worlds joined
in a conflict with the common menace, death from the creeping cold of
space. There was no need for great haste; a sun dies slowly. Our
ancestors laid their plans and carried them out. The fifteen worlds were
encased in shells of crystal. Those that had no atmosphere were given
one. Mighty heating plants were built--furnaces that burned matter,
designed to warm a world! At last a state of stability had been reached,
for never could conditions change--it seemed. All external heat and
light came from far-off stars, the thousands of millions of suns that
would never fail.

"Under stress of the Great Change one scarcely noticed, yet almost
incredible, transformation had occurred. We had learned to live with
each other. We had learned to think, and enjoy thinking. As a species we
had passed from youth into maturity. Advancement did not stop; we went
on steadily toward the goal of all knowledge. At first there was an
underlying hope that we might some day, somehow, escape from these
darkened, artificial worlds of ours, but with the passing centuries this
grew very dim and at length was forgotten.

"Gradually as millennia passed, much ancient knowledge was also
forgotten. It was not needed. The world was unchanging, there was no
strife, and no need of strife. The fifteen worlds were warm, and
pleasant, and safe. Without fully realizing it, we had entered a period
of rest. And so the ages passed; and there were museums and libraries
and laboratories; and the machines of our ancestors did all necessary
work. So it was--until less than a generation ago. Our long lives were
pleasant, and death, when it came, was a sleep. And then--"

"And then," Taj Lamor interrupted, a sharp edge of impatience in his
tone, "some of us awakened from our stupor!"

The Elder sighed resignedly. "You cannot see--you cannot see. You would
start that struggle all over again!" His voice continued in what Taj
Lamor thought of as a senile drone, but the younger man paid scant
attention. His eyes and thoughts were centered on that brilliant yellow
star, the brightest object in the heavens. It was that star, noticeably
brighter within a few centuries, that had awakened a few men from their
mental slumbers.

They were throwbacks, men who had the divine gift of curiosity; and
sparked by their will to know, they had gone to the museums and looked
carefully at the ancient directions for the use of the telectroscope,
the mighty electrically amplified vision machine, had gazed through it.
They had seen a great sun that seemed to fill all the field of the
apparatus with blazing fire. A sun to envy! Further observation had
revealed that there circled about the sun a series of planets, five,
definitely; two more, probably; and possibly two others.

Taj Lamor had been with that group, a young man then, scarcely more than
forty, but they had found him a leader and they had followed him as he
set about his investigation of the ancient books on astronomy.

How many, many hours had he studied those ancient works! How many times
had he despaired of ever learning their truths, and gone out to the roof
of the museum to stand in silent thought looking out across the awful
void to the steady flame of the yellow star! Then quietly he had
returned to his self-set task.

With him as teacher, others had learned, and before he was seventy there
were many men who had become true scientists, astronomers. There was
much of the ancient knowledge that these men could not understand, for
the science of a million centuries is not to be learned in a few brief
decades, but they mastered a vast amount of the forgotten lore.

They knew now that the young, live sun, out there in space, was speeding
toward them, their combined velocities equalling more than 100 miles
each second. And they knew that there were not seven, but nine planets
circling about that sun. There were other facts they discovered; they
found that the new sun was far larger than theirs had ever been; indeed,
it was a sun well above average in size and brilliance. There were
planets, a hot sun--a home! Could they get there?

When their ancestors had tried to solve the problem of escape they had
concentrated their work on the problem of going at speeds greater than
that of light. This should be an impossibility, but the fact that the
ancients had tried it, seemed proof enough to their descendants that it
was possible, at least in theory. In the distant past they had needed
speeds exceeding that of light, for they must travel light years; but
now this sun was coming toward them, and already was less than two
hundred and fifty billion miles away!

They would pass that other star in about seventy years. That was
scarcely more than a third of a man's lifetime. They could make the
journey with conceivable speeds--but in that brief period they must
prepare to move!

The swift agitation for action had met with terrific resistance. They
were satisfied; why move?

But, while some men had devoted their time to arousing the people to
help, others had begun doing work that had not been done for a long,
long time. The laboratories were reopened, and workshops began humming
again. They were making things that were new once more, not merely
copying old designs.

Their search had been divided into sections, search for weapons with
which to defend themselves in case they were attacked, and search for
the basic principles underlying the operation of their space ships. They
had machines which they could imitate, but they did not understand them.
Success had been theirs on these quests. The third section had been less
successful. They had also been searching for secrets of the apparatus
their forefathers had used to swing the planets in their orbits, to move
worlds about at will. They had wanted to be able to take not only their
space ships, but their planets as well, when they went to settle on
these other worlds and in this other solar system.

But the search for this secret had remained unrewarded. The secret of
the spaceships they learned readily, and Taj Lamor had designed these
mighty ships below there with that knowledge. Their search for weapons
had been satisfied; they had found one weapon, one of the deadliest that
their ancestors had ever invented. But the one secret in which they were
most interested, the mighty force barrage that could swing a world in
its flight through space, was lost. They could not find it.

They knew the principles of the driving apparatus of their ships, and it
would seem but a matter of enlargement to drive a planet as a ship, but
they knew this was impossible; the terrific forces needed would easily
be produced by their apparatus, but there was no way to apply them to a
world. If applied in any spot, the planet would be torn asunder by the
incalculable strain. They must apply the force equally to the entire
planet. Their problem was one of application of power. The rotation of
the planet made it impossible to use a series of driving apparatus, even
could these be anchored, but again the sheer immensity of the task made
it impossible.

Taj Lamor gazed down again at the great ships in the plaza below. Their
mighty bulks seemed to dwarf even the huge buildings about them. Yet
these ships were his--for he had learned their secrets and designed
them, and now he was to command them as they flew out across space in
that flight to the distant star.

He turned briefly to the Elder, Tordos Gar. "Soon we leave," he said, a
faint edge of triumph in his voice. "We will prove that our way is
right."

The old man shook his head. "You will learn--" he began, but Taj Lamor
did not want to hear.

He turned, passed through a doorway, and stepped into a little
torpedo-shaped car that rested on the metal roof behind him. A moment
later the little ship rose, and then slanted smoothly down over the edge
of the roof, straight for the largest of the ships below. This was the
flagship. Nearly a hundred feet greater was its diameter, and its mile
and a quarter length of gleaming metal hull gave it nearly three hundred
feet greater length than that of the ships of the line.

This expedition was an expedition of exploration. They were prepared to
meet any conditions on those other worlds--no atmosphere, no water, no
heat, or even an atmosphere of poisonous gases they could rectify, for
their transmutation apparatus would permit them to change those gases,
or modify them; they knew well how to supply heat, but they knew too,
that that sun would warm some of its planets sufficiently for their
purposes.

Taj Lamor sent his little machine darting through the great airlock in
the side of the gigantic interstellar ship and lowered it gently to the
floor. A man stepped forward, opened the door for the leader, saluting
him briskly as he stepped out; then the car was run swiftly aside, to be
placed with thousands of others like it. Each of these cars was to be
used by a separate investigator when they reached those other worlds,
and there were men aboard who would use them.

Taj Lamor made his way to a door in the side of a great metal tube that
threaded the length of the huge ship. Opening the door he sat down in
another little car that shot swiftly forward as the double door shut
softly, with a low hiss of escaping air. For moments the car sped
through the tube, then gently it slowed and came to rest opposite
another door. Again came the hissing of gas as the twin doors opened,
and Taj Lamor stepped out, now well up in the nose of the cruiser. As he
stepped out of the car the outer and inner doors closed, and, ready now
for other calls, the car remained at this station. On a ship so long,
some means of communication faster than walking was essential. This
little pneumatic railway was the solution.

As Taj Lamor stepped out of the tube, a half-dozen men, who had been
talking among themselves, snapped quickly to attention. Following the
plans of the long-gone armies of their ancestors, the men of the
expedition had been trained to strict discipline; and Taj Lamor was
their technical leader and the nominal Commander-in-Chief, although
another man, Kornal Sorul, was their actual commander.

Taj Lamor proceeded at once to the Staff Cabin in the very nose of the
great ship. Just above him there was another room, walled on all sides
by that clear, glass-like material, the control cabin. Here the pilot
sat, directing the motions of the mighty ship of space.

Taj Lamor pushed a small button on his desk and in a moment a gray disc
before him glowed dimly, then flashed into life and full, natural color.
As though looking through a glass porthole, Taj Lamor saw the interior
of the Communications Room. The Communications Officer was gazing at a
similar disc in which Taj Lamor's features appeared.

"Have they reported from Ohmur, Lorsand, and Throlus, yet, Morlus Tal?"
asked the commander.

"They are reporting now, Taj Lamor, and we will be ready within two and
one half minutes. The plans are as before; we are to proceed directly
toward the Yellow Star, meeting at Point 71?"

"The plans are as before. Start when ready."

The disc faded, the colors died, and it was gray again. Taj Lamor pulled
another small lever on the panel before him, and the disc changed,
glowed, and was steady; and now he saw the preparations for departure,
as from an eye on the top of the great ship. Men streamed swiftly in
ordered columns all about and into the huge vessels. In an incredibly
short time they were in, and the great doors closed behind them.
Suddenly there came a low, dull hum through the disc, and the sound
mounted quickly, till all the world seemed humming to that dull note.
The warning!

Abruptly the city around him seemed to blaze in a riot of colored light!
The mighty towering bulks of the huge metal buildings were polished and
bright, and now, as the millions of lights, every color of the spectrum,
flashed over all the city from small machines in the air, on the ground,
in windows, their great metal walls glistening with a riot of flowing
color. Then there was a trembling through all the frame of the mighty
ship. In a moment it was gone, and the titanic mass of glistening metal
rose smoothly, quickly to the great roof of their world above them. On
an even keel it climbed straight up, then suddenly it leaped forward
like some great bird of prey sighting its victim. The ground beneath
sped swiftly away, and behind it there came a long line of ships,
quickly finding their position in the formation. They were heading
toward the giant airlock that would let them out into space. There was
but one lock large enough to permit so huge a ship to pass out, and they
must circle half their world to reach it.

On three other worlds there were other giant ships racing thus to meet
beyond their solar system. There were fifty ships coming from each
planet; two hundred mighty ships in all made up this Armada of Space,
two hundred gargantuan interstellar cruisers.

One by one the giant ships passed through the airlock and out into
space. Here they quickly reformed as they moved off together, each ship
falling into its place in the mighty cone formation, with the flagship
of Taj Lamor at the head. On they rushed through space, their speed ever
mounting. Suddenly there seemed to leap out of nowhere another mass of
shining machines that flew swiftly beside them. Like some strange,
shining ghosts, these ships seemed to materialize instantly beside and
behind their fleet. They fell in quickly in their allotted position
behind the Flagship's squadron. One--two more fleets appeared thus
suddenly in the dark, and together the ships were flashing on through
space to their goal of glowing fire ahead!

Hour after hour, day after day the ships flashed on through the awful
void, the utter silence relieved by the communications between
themselves and the slowly weakening communications from the far-off home
planets.

But as those signals from home grew steadily weaker, the sun before them
grew steadily larger. At last the men began to feel the heat of those
rays, to realize the energy that that mighty sea of flame poured forth
into space, and steadily they watched it grow nearer.

Then came a day when they could make out clearly the dim bulk of a
planet before them, and for long hours they slowed down the flying speed
of the ships. They had mapped the system they were approaching; there
were nine planets of varying sizes, some on the near and some on the
far side of the sun. There were but three on the near side; one that
seemed the outermost of the planets, about 35,000 miles in diameter, was
directly in their path, while there were two more much nearer the sun,
about 100,000,000 and 70,000,000 miles distant from it, each about seven
to eight thousand miles in diameter, but they were on opposite sides of
the sun. These more inviting and more accessible worlds were numbers two
and three of the planetary system. It was decided to split the
expedition into two parts; one part was to go to planet two, and the
other to three. Taj Lamor was to lead his group of a hundred ships to
the nearer planet at once.

In a very brief time the great ships slanted down over what seemed to be
a mighty globe of water. They were well in the northern hemisphere, and
they had come near the planet first over a vast stretch of rolling
ocean. The men had looked in wonder at such vast quantities of the
fluid. To them it was a precious liquid, that must be made artificially,
and was to be conserved, yet here they saw such vast quantities of
natural water as seemed impossible. Still, their ancient books had told
of such things, and of other strange things, things that must have been
wondrously beautiful, though they were so old now, these records, that
they were regarded largely as myths.

Yet here were the strange proofs! They saw great masses of fleecy water
vapor, huge billowy things that seemed solid, but were blown lightly in
the wind. And natural air! The atmosphere extended for hundreds of miles
off into space; and now, as they came closer to the surface of this
world the air was dense, and the sky above them was a beautiful blue,
not black, even where there were stars. The great sun, so brilliantly
incandescent when seen from space, and now a glowing globe of
reddish-yellow.

And as they came near land, they looked in wonder at mighty masses of
rock and soil that threw their shaggy heads high above the surrounding
terrain, huge masses that rose high, like waves in the water, till they
towered in solemn grandeur miles into the air! What a sight for these
men of a world so old that age long erosion had washed away the last
traces of hills, and filled in all of the valleys!

In awe they looked down at the mighty rock masses, as they swung low
over the mountains, gazing in wonder at the green masses of the strange
vegetation; strange, indeed, for they for uncounted ages had grown only
mushroom-like cellulose products, and these mainly for ornament, for all
their food was artificially made in huge factories.

Then they came over a little mountain lake, a body of water scarcely
large enough to berth one of their huge ships, but high in the clear air
of the mountains, fed by the melting of eternal snows. It was a
magnificent sapphire in a setting green as emerald, a sparkling lake of
clear water, deep as the sea, high in a cleft in the mountains.

In wonder the men looked down at these strange sights. What a marvelous
home!

Steadily the great machines proceeded, and at last the end of the giant
mountain was reached, and they came to a great plain. But that plain was
strangely marked off with squares, as regularly as though plotted with a
draftsman's square. This world must be inhabited by intelligent beings!

Suddenly Taj Lamor saw strange specks off in the far horizon to the
south, specks that seemed to grow in size with terrific velocity; these
must be ships, the ships of these people, coming to defend their home.
The strangely pallid face of Taj Lamor tightened into lines of grim
resolution. This was a moment he had foreseen and had dreaded. Was he to
withdraw and leave these people unmolested, or was he to stand and fight
for this world, this wonderfully beautiful home, a home that his race
could live in for millions of years to come? He had debated this
question many times before in his mind, and he had decided. There would
never, never be another chance for his people to gain a new home. They
must fight.

Swiftly he gave his orders. If resistance came, if an attack were made,
they were to fight back at once, with every weapon at their disposal.

The strangers' ships had grown swiftly larger to the eye, but still,
though near now, they seemed too small to be dangerous. These giant
interstellar cruisers were certainly invulnerable to ships so small;
their mere size would give them protection! These ships were scarcely as
long as the diameter of the smaller of the interstellar ships--a bare
two hundred and fifty feet for the largest.

The interstellar cruisers halted in their course, and waited for the
little ships to approach. They were fast, for they drew alongside
quickly, and raced to the front of the flagship. There was one small one
that was painted white, and on it there was a large white banner,
flapping in the wind of its passage. The rest of the ships drew off as
this came forward, and stopped, hanging motionless before the control
room of the giant machine. There were men inside--three strange men,
short and oddly pink-skinned--but they were gesturing now, motioning
that the giant machine settle to the ground beneath. Taj Lamor was
considering whether or not to thus parley with the strangers, when
suddenly there leaped from the white craft a beam of clear white--a beam
that was directed toward the ground, then swung up toward the great
cruiser in a swift arc!

As one, a dozen swift beams of pale red flared out from the giant and
bathed the pigmy craft. As they reached it, the white ray that had been
sweeping up suddenly vanished, and for an instant the ship hung poised
in the air; then it began to swing crazily, like the pendulum of a
clock--swung completely over--and with a sickening lurch sped swiftly
for the plain nearly five miles below. In moments there came a brief
flare, then there remained only a little crater in the soft soil.

But the red beams had not stopped with the little ship; they had darted
out to the other machines, trying to reach them before they could bring
those strange white rays into play. The cruisers obviously must win, for
they carried dozens of projectors, but they might be damaged, their
flight delayed. They must defeat those strangers quickly. The rays of
Taj Lamor's ship lashed out swiftly, but almost before they had
started, all the other ships, a full hundred, were in action, and the
flagship was darting swiftly up and away from the battle. Below, those
pale red rays were taking a swift toll of the little ships, and nearly
twenty of them rolled suddenly over, and dashed to destruction far
below.

But now the little ships were in swift darting motion. Because of their
small size, they were able to avoid the rays of the larger interstellar
cruisers, and as their torpedo-shaped hulls flashed about with
bewildering speed, they began to fight back. They had been taken utterly
by surprise, but now they went into action with an abandon and swiftness
that took the initiative away from the gigantic interstellar liners.
They were in a dozen places at once, dodging and twisting, unharmed, out
of the way of the deadly red beams, and were as hard to hit as so many
dancing feathers suspended over an air jet.

And if the pilots were skillful in avoiding enemy rays, their ray men
were as accurate in placing theirs. But then, with a target of such vast
size, not so much skill was necessary.

These smaller vessels were the ships of Earth. The people of the dark
star had entered the solar system quite unannounced, except that they
had been seen in passing the orbit of Mars, for a ship had been out
there in space, moving steadily out toward Neptune, and the great
interstellar cruisers, flashing in across space, away from that frigid
planet, had not seen the tiny wanderer. But he had seen those mighty
hulks, and had sent his message of danger out on the ether, warning the
men of Earth. They had relayed it to Venus, and the ships that had gone
there had received an equally warm reception, and were even now finding
their time fully occupied trying to beat off the Interplanetary Patrol.

The battle ended as swiftly as it began, for Taj Lamor, in his machine
high above, saw that they were outclassed, and ordered them to withdraw
at once. Scarcely ten minutes had elapsed, yet they had lost twenty-two
of their giant ships.

The expedition that had gone to Venus reported a similarly active
greeting. It was decided at once that they should proceed cautiously to
the other planets, to determine which were inhabited and which were not,
and to determine the chemical and physical conditions on each.

The ships formed again out in space, on the other side of the sun,
however, and started at once in compact formation for Mercury.

Their observations were completed without further mishap, and they set
out for their distant home, their number depleted by forty-one ships,
for nineteen had fallen on Venus.

I

The Terrestrian and Venerian governments had met in conference, a grim,
businesslike discussion with few wasted words. Obviously, this was to be
a war of science, a war on a scale never before known on either world.
Agreements were immediately drawn up between the two worlds for a
concerted, cooperative effort. A fleet of new and vastly more powerful
ships must be constructed--but first they must have a complete report on
the huge invading craft that had fallen in western Canada, and on Venus,
for they might conceivably make their secrets their own.

They called for the scientists whose work had made possible their
successful resistance of the marauders: Arcot, Morey and Wade. They
found them working in the Arcot Laboratories.

"Wade," called Arcot tensely as he snapped the switch of the
televisophone, "bring Morey and meet me at the machine on the roof at
once. That was a call from Washington. I'll explain as soon as you get
there."

On the roof Arcot opened the hangar doors, and entered the
five-passenger molecular motion ship inside. Its sleek, streamlined
sides spoke of power and speed. This was a special research model,
designed for their experiments, and carrying mechanisms not found in
commercial crafts. Among these were automatic controls still in the
laboratory stage, but permitting higher speed, for no human being could
control the ship as accurately as these.

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