The Black Star Passes

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

It took the trio a little less than a quarter of an hour to make the
5,000 mile trip from New York to the battlefield of Canada. As they sped
through the air, Arcot told them what had transpired. The three were
passed through the lines at once, and they settled to the ground beside
one of the huge ships that lay half buried in the ground. The force of
the impact had splashed the solid soil as a stone will splash soft mud,
and around the ship there was a massive ridge of earth. Arcot looked at
the titanic proportions of this ship from space, and turned to his
friends:

"We can investigate that wreck on foot, but I think it'll be far more
sensible to see what we can do with the car. This monster is certainly a
mile or more long, and we'd spend more time in walking than in
investigation. I suggest, we see if there isn't room for the car inside.
This beats even those huge Kaxorian planes for size." Arcot paused, then
grinned. "I sure would have liked to mix in the fight they must have had
here--nice little things to play with, aren't they?"

"It would make a nice toy," agreed Wade as he looked at the rows of
wicked-looking projectors along the sides of the metal hull, "and I
wonder if there might not be some of the crew alive in there? If there
are, the size of the ship would prevent their showing themselves very
quickly, and since they can't move the ship, it seems to me that they'll
let us know shortly that they're around. Probably, with the engines
stopped, their main weapons are useless, but they would doubtless have
some sort of guns. I'm highly in favor of using the car. We carry a
molecular director ray, so if the way is blocked, we can make a new
one."

Wade's attention was caught by a sudden flare of light a few miles
across the plain. "Look over there--that ship is still flaming--reddish,
but almost colorless. Looks like a gas flame, with a bit of calcium in
it. Almost as if the air in the ship were combustible. If we should do
any exploring in this baby, I suggest we use altitude suits--they can't
do any harm in any case."

Three or four of the great wrecks, spread over a wide area, were burning
now, hurling forth long tongues of colorless, intensely hot flame.
Several of the ships had been only slightly damaged; one had been
brought down by a beam that had torn free the entire tail of the ship,
leaving the bow in good condition. Apparently this machine had not
fallen far; perhaps the pilot had retained partial control of the ship,
his power failing when he was only a comparatively short distance from
Earth. This was rather well to one side of the plain, however, and they
decided to investigate it later.

The ship nearest them had crashed nose first, the point being crushed
and shattered. Arcot maneuvered his craft cautiously toward the great
hole at the nose of the ship, and they entered the mighty vessel slowly,
a powerful spotlight illuminating the interior. Tremendous girders,
twisted and broken by the force of impact, thrust up about them. It soon
became evident that there was little to fear from any living enemies,
and they proceeded more rapidly. Certainly no creature could live after
the shock that had broken these huge girders! Several times metal beams
blocked their path, and they were forced to use the molecular director
ray to bend them out of the way.

"Man," said Arcot as they stopped a moment to clear away a huge member
that was bent across their path, "but those beams do look as if they
were built permanently! I'd hate to ram into one of them! Look at that
one--if that has anywhere near the strength of steel, just think of the
force it took to bend it!"

At last they had penetrated to the long tube that led through the length
of the ship, the communication tube. This admitted the small ship
easily, and they moved swiftly along till they came to what they
believed to be about the center of the invader. Here Arcot proposed that
they step out and see what there was to be seen.

The others agreed, and they at once put on their altitude suits of heavy
rubberized canvas, designed to be worn outside the ship when at high
altitude, or even in space. They were supplied with oxygen tanks that
would keep the wearer alive for about six hours. Unless the atmosphere
remaining in the alien ship was excessively corrosive, they would be
safe. After a brief discussion, they decided that all would go, for if
they met opposition, there would be strength in numbers.

They met their first difficulty in opening the door leading out of the
communication tube. It was an automatic door, and resisted their every
effort--until finally they were forced to tear it out with a ray. It was
impossible to move it in any other way. The door was in what was now the
floor, since the ship seemed to have landed on one side rather than on
its keel.

They let themselves through the narrow opening one at a time, and landed
on the sloping wall of the corridor beyond.

"Lucky this wasn't a big room, or we'd have had a nice drop to the far
wall!" commented Wade. The suits were equipped with a thin vibrating
diaphragm that made speech easy, but Wade's voice came through with a
queerly metallic ring.

Arcot agreed somewhat absently, his attention directed toward their
surroundings. His hand light pierced the blackness, finally halting at a
gaping opening, apparently the entrance to a corridor. As they examined
it, they saw that it slanted steeply downward.

"It seems to be quite a drop," said Wade as he turned his light into it,
"but the surface seems to be rather rough. I think we can do it. I
notice that you brought a rope, Morey; I think it'll help. I'll go
first, unless someone else wants the honor."

"You go first?" Arcot hesitated briefly. "But I don't know--if we're
all going, I guess you had better, at that. It would take two ordinary
men to lower a big bulk like you. On the other hand, if anybody is going
to stay, you're delegated as elevator boy!

"Hold everything," continued Arcot. "I have an idea. I think none of us
will need to hold the weight of the others with the rope. Wade, will you
get three fairly good-sized pieces of metal, something we can tie a rope
to? I think we can get down here without the help of anyone else. Morey,
will you cut the rope in three equal pieces while I help Wade tear loose
that girder?"

Arcot refused to reveal his idea till his preparations were complete,
but worked quickly and efficiently. With the aid of Wade, he soon had
three short members, and taking the rope that Morey had prepared, he
tied lengths of cord to the pieces of metal, leaving twenty foot lengths
hanging from each. Now he carefully tested his handiwork to make sure
the knots would not slip.

"Now, let's see what we can do." Arcot put a small loop in one end of a
cord, thrust his left wrist through this, and grasped the rope firmly
with his hand. Then he drew his ray pistol, and adjusted it carefully
for direction of action. The trigger gave him control over power.
Finally he turned the ray on the block of metal at the other end of the
rope. At once the metal pulled vigorously, drawing the rope taut, and as
Arcot increased the power, he was dragged slowly across the floor.

"Ah--it works." He grinned broadly over his shoulder. "Come on, boys,
hitch your wagon to a star, and we'll go on with the investigation. This
is a new, double action parachute. It lets you down easy, and pulls you
up easier! I think we can go where we want now." After a pause he added,
"I don't have to tell you that too much power will be very bad!"

With Arcot's simple brake, they lowered themselves into the corridor
below, descending one at a time, to avoid any contact with the ray,
since the touch of the beam was fatal.

The scene that lay before them was one of colossal destruction. They had
evidently stumbled upon the engine room. They could not hope to
illuminate its vast expanse with their little hand lights, but they
could gain some idea of its magnitude, and of its original layout. The
floor, now tilted at a steep angle, was torn up in many places, showing
great, massive beams, buckled and twisted like so many wires, while the
heavy floor plates were crumpled like so much foil. Everywhere the room
seemed covered with a film of white silvery metal; it was silver, they
decided after a brief examination, spattered broadcast over the walls of
the room.

Suddenly Morey pointed ceilingward with his light. "That's where the
silver came from!" he exclaimed. A network of heavy bars ran across the
roof, great bars of solid silver fully three feet thick. In one section
gaped a ragged hole, suggesting the work of a disintegration ray, a hole
that went into the metal roof above, one which had plainly been fused,
as had the great silver bars.

Arcot looked in wonder at the heavy metal bars. "Lord--bus bars three
feet thick! What engines they must have! Look at the way those were
blown out! They were short circuited by the crash, just before the
generator went out, and they were volatilized! Some juice!"

With the aid of their improvised elevators, the three men attempted to
explore the tremendous chamber. They had scarcely begun, when Wade
exclaimed:

"Bodies!"

They crowded around his gruesome find and caught their first glimpse of
the invaders from space. Anatomical details could not be distinguished
since the bodies had been caught under a rain of crushing beams, but
they saw that they were not too different from both Terrestrians and
Venerians--though their blood seemed strangely pallid, and their skin
was of a ghastly whiteness. Evidently they had been assembled before an
unfamiliar sort of instrument panel when catastrophe struck; Morey
indicated the dials and keys.

"Nice to know what you're fighting," Arcot observed. "I've a hunch that
we'll see some of these critters alive--but not in this ship!"

They turned away and resumed their examination of the shattered
mechanisms.

A careful examination was impossible; they were wrecks, but Arcot did
see that they seemed mainly to be giant electrical machines of standard
types, though on a gargantuan scale. There were titanic masses of
wrecked metal, iron and silver, for with these men silver seemed to
replace copper, though nothing could replace iron and its magnetic uses.

"They are just electrical machines, I guess," said Arcot at last. "But
what size! Have you seen anything really revolutionary, Wade?"

Wade frowned and answered. "There are just two things that bother me.
Come here." As Arcot jumped over, nearly suspended by his ray pistol,
Wade directed his light on a small machine that had fallen in between
the cracks in the giant mass of broken generators. It was a little
thing, apparently housed in a glass case. There was only one objection
to that assumption. The base of a large generator lay on it, metal fully
two feet thick, and that metal was cracked where it rested on the case,
and the case, made of material an inch and a half thick, was not dented!

"Whewww--that's a nice kind of glass to have!" Morey commented. "I'd
like to have a specimen for examination. Oh--I wonder--yes, it must be!
There's a window in the side up there toward what was the bow that
seemed to me to be the same stuff. It's buried about three feet in solid
earth, so I imagine it must be."

The three made their way at once to where they had seen the window. The
frame appeared to be steel, or some such alloy, and it was twisted and
bent under the blow, for this was evidently the outer wall, and the
impact of landing had flattened the rounded side. But that "glass"
window was quite undisturbed! There was, as a further proof, a large
granite boulder lying against it on the outside--or what had been a
boulder, though it had been shattered by the impact.

"Say--that's some building material!" Arcot indicated the transparent
sheet. "Just look at that granite rock--smashed into sand! Yet the
window isn't even scratched! Look how the frame that held it is
torn--just torn, not broken. I wonder if we can tear it loose
altogether?" He stepped forward, raising his pistol. There was a thud as
his metal bar crashed down when the ray was shut off. Then, as the
others got out of the way, he stepped toward the window and directed his
beam toward it. Gradually he increased the power, till suddenly there
was a rending crash, and they saw only a leaping column of earth and
sand and broken granite flying up through the hole in the steel shell.
There was a sudden violent crash, then a moment later a second equally
violent crash as the window, having flown up to the ceiling, came
thumping back to the floor.

After the dust had settled they came forward, looking for the window.
They found it, somewhat buried by the rubbish, lying off to one side.
Arcot bent down to tilt it and sweep off the dirt; he grasped it with
one hand, and pulled. The window remained where it was. He grasped it
with both hands and pulled harder. The window remained where it was.

"Uh--say, lend a hand will you, Wade." Together the two men pulled, but
without results. That window was about three feet by two feet by one
inch, making the total volume about one-half a cubic foot, but it
certainly was heavy. They could not begin to move it. An equal volume of
lead would have weighed about four hundred pounds, but this was
decidedly more than four hundred pounds. Indeed, the combined strength
of the three men did not do more than rock it.

"Well--it certainly is no kind of matter we know of!" observed Morey.
"Osmium, the heaviest known metal, has a density of twenty-two and a
half, which would weigh about 730 pounds. I think we could lift that, so
this is heavier than anything we know. At least that's proof of a new
system. Between Venus and Earth we have found every element that occurs
in the sun. These people must have come from another star!"

"Either that," returned Arcot, "or proof of an amazing degree of
technological advancement. It's only a guess, of course--but I have an
idea where this kind of matter exists in the solar system. I think you
have already seen it--in the gaseous state. You remember, of course,
that the Kaxorians had great reservoirs for storing light-energy in a
bound state in their giant planes. They had bound light, light held by
the gravitational attraction for itself, after condensing it in their
apparatus, but they had what amounted to a gas--gaseous light. Now
suppose that someone makes a light condenser even more powerful than the
one the Kaxorians used, a condenser that forces the light so close to
itself, increases its density, till the photons hold each other
permanently, and the substance becomes solid. It will be matter, matter
made of light--light matter--and let us call it a metal. You know that
ordinary matter is electricity matter, and electricity matter metals
conduct electricity readily. Now why shouldn't our 'light matter' metal
conduct light? It would be a wonderful substance for windows."

"But now comes the question of moving it," Wade interposed. "We can't
lift it, and we certainly want to examine it. That means we must take it
to the laboratory. I believe we're about through here--the place is
clearly quite permanently demolished. I think we had better return to
the ship and start to that other machine we saw that didn't appear to be
so badly damaged. But--how can we move this?"

"I think a ray may do the trick." Arcot drew his ray pistol, and stepped
back a bit, holding the weapon so the ray would direct the plate
straight up. Slowly he applied the power, and as he gradually increased
it, the plate stirred, then moved into the air.

"It works! Now you can use your pistol, Morey, and direct it toward the
corridor. I'll send it up, and let it fall outside, where we can pick it
up later." Morey stepped forward, and while Arcot held it in the air
with his ray, Morey propelled it slowly with his, till it was directly
under the corridor leading upward. Then Arcot gave a sudden increase in
power, and the plate moved swiftly upward, sailing out of sight. Arcot
shut off his ray, and there came to their ears a sudden crash as the
plate fell to the floor above.

The three men regained their ropes and "double action parachutes" as
Arcot called them, and floated up to the next floor. Again they started
the process of moving the plate. All went well till they came to the
little car itself. They could not use the ray on the car, for fear of
damaging the machinery. They had to use some purely mechanical method of
hoisting it in.

Finally they solved the problem by using the molecular director ray to
swing a heavy beam into the air, then one man pulled on the far end of
it with a rope, and swung it till it was resting on the door of the ship
on one end, and the other rested in a hole they had torn in the lining
of the tube.

Now they maneuvered the heavy plate till it was resting on that beam;
then they released the plate, and watched it slide down the incline,
shooting through the open doorway of the car. In moments the job was
done. The plate at last safely stowed, the three men climbed into the
car, and prepared to leave.

The little machine glided swiftly down the tube through the mighty ship,
finally coming out through the opening that had admitted them. They rose
quickly into the air, and headed for the headquarters of the government
ships.

II

A great number of scientists and military men were already gathered
about the headquarters ship. As Arcot's party arrived, they learned that
each of the wrecks was being assigned to one group. They further learned
that because of their scientific importance, they were to go to the
nearly perfect ship lying off to the west. Two Air Patrolmen were to
accompany them.

"Lieutenant Wright and Lieutenant Greer will go with you," said the
Colonel. "In the event of trouble from possible--though
unlikely--survivors, they may be able to help. Is there anything further
we can do?"

"These men are armed with the standard sidearms, aren't they?" Arcot
asked. "I think we'll all be better off if I arm them with some of the
new director-ray pistols. I have several in my boat. It will be all
right, I suppose?"

"Certainly, Dr. Arcot. They are under your command."

The party, increased to five now, returned to the ship, where Arcot
showed the men the details of the ray pistols, and how to use them. The
control for direction of operation was rather intricate in these early
models, and required considerable explanation. The theoretical range of
even these small hand weapons was infinity in space, but in the
atmosphere the energy was rather rapidly absorbed by ionization of the
air, and the dispersion of the beam made it ineffective in space over a
range of more than thirty-five miles.

Again entering the little molecular motion car, they went at once to the
great hull of the fallen ship. They inspected it cautiously from
overhead before going too close, for the dreadnought, obviously, had
landed without the terrific concussion that the others had experienced,
and there was a possibility that some of the crew had survived the
crash. The entire stern of the huge vessel had been torn off, and
evidently the ship was unable to rise, but there were lights glowing
through the portholes on the side, indicating that power had not failed
completely.

"I think we'd better treat that monster with respect," remarked Wade,
looking down at the lighted windows. "They have power, and the hull is
scarcely dented except where the stern was caught by a beam. It's lucky
we had those ray projector ships! They've been in service only about
four months, haven't they, Lieutenant?"

"Just about that, sir," the Air Patrolman replied. "They hadn't gotten
the hand weapons out in sufficient quantities to be issued to us as
yet."

Morey scowled at the invader. "I don't like this at all. I wonder why
they didn't greet us with some of their beams," he said in worried
tones. It did seem that there should be some of the rays in action now.
They were less than a mile from the fallen giant, and moving rather
slowly.

"I've been puzzled about that myself," commented Arcot, "and I've come
to the conclusion that either the ray projectors are fed by a separate
system of power distribution, which has been destroyed, or that the
creatures from space are all dead."

They were to learn later, in their exploration of the ship, that the
invaders' ray projectors were fed from a separate generator, which
produced a special form of alternating current wave for them. This
generator had been damaged beyond use.

The little machine was well toward the stern of the giant now, and they
lowered it till it was on a level with the torn metal. It was plain that
the ship had been subjected to some terrific tension. The great girders
were stretched and broken, and the huge ribs were bent and twisted. The
central tube, which ran the length of the ship, had been drawn down to
about three quarters of its original diameter, making it necessary for
them to use their ray to enter. In moments their speedster glided into
the dark tunnel. The searchlight reaching ahead filled the metal tunnel
with a myriad deceptive reflections. The tube was lighted up far ahead
of them, and seemed empty. Cautiously they advanced, with Arcot at the
controls.

"Wade--Morey--where will we stop first?" he asked. "The engines? They'll
probably be of prime importance. We know their location. What do you
say?"

"I agree," replied Wade, and Morey nodded his approval.

They ran their craft down the long tube till they reached the door they
knew must be the engine room landing, and stepped out, each wearing an
altitude suit. This ship had landed level, and progress would be much
easier than in the other one. They waited a moment before opening the
door into the engine room, for this led into a narrow corridor where
only one could pass. Caution was definitely in order. The Air Patrolmen
insisted on leading the way. They had been sent along for the express
purpose of protecting the scientists, and it was their duty to lead.
After a brief argument Arcot agreed.

The two officers stepped to the door, and standing off to one side, tore
it open with a ray from their pistols. It fell with a clatter to the
rounded metal floor of the tube, and lay there vibrating noisily, but no
rays of death lanced out from beyond it. Cautiously they peered around
the corner of the long corridor, then seeing nothing, entered. Wade came
next, then Arcot, followed by Morey.

The corridor was approximately thirty feet long, opening into the great
engine room. Already the men could hear the smooth hum of powerful
machines, and could see the rounded backs of vast mechanisms. But there
was no sign of life, human or otherwise. They halted finally at the
threshold of the engine room.

"Well," Arcot said softly. "We haven't seen anyone so far, and I hope no
one has seen us. The invaders may be behind one of those big engines,
quite unaware of us. _If_ they're there, and they see us, they'll be
ready to fight. Now remember, those weapons you have will tear loose
anything they hit, so take it easy. You know something about the power
of those engines, so don't put them out of commission, and have them
splash us all over the landscape.

"But look out for the crew, and get them if they try to get you!"

Cautiously but quickly they stepped out into the great room, forming a
rough half circle, pistols ready for action. They walked forward
stealthily, glancing about them--and simultaneously the enemies caught
sight of each other. There were six of the invaders, each about seven
feet tall, and surprisingly humanoid. They somewhat resembled
Venerians, but they weren't Venerians, for their skin was a strange
gray-white, suggesting raw dough. It seemed to Arcot that these strange,
pale creatures were advancing at a slow walk, and that he stood still
watching them as they slowly raised strange hand weapons. He seemed to
notice every detail: their short, tight-fitting suits of some elastic
material that didn't hamper their movements, and their strange flesh,
which just seemed to escape being transparent. Their eyes were strangely
large, and the black spot of the pupil in their white corneas created an
unnatural effect.

Then abruptly their weapons came up--and Arcot responded with a sudden
flick of his ray, as he flung himself to one side. Simultaneously his
four companions let their beams fly toward the invaders. They glowed
strangely red here, but they were still effective. The six beings were
suddenly gone--but not before they had released their own beams. And
they had taken toll. Lieutenant Wright lay motionless upon the floor.

The Terrestrians scarcely had a chance to notice this, for immediately
there was a terrific rending crash, and clean daylight came pouring in
through a wide opening in the wall of the ship. The five rays had not
stopped on contact with the enemy, but had touched the wall behind them.
An irregular opening now gaped in the smooth metal.

Suddenly there came a second jarring thud, a dull explosion; then a
great sheet of flame filled the hole--a wall of ruddy flame swept
rapidly in. Arcot swung up his ray pistol, pointing it at the mass of
flaming gas. A mighty column of air came through the narrow corridor
from the tube, rushing toward the outside, and taking the flame with it.
A roaring mass of gas hovered outside of the ship.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17