EARTH'S DEFENSES
"I am sorry, Arcot. I did not know, for I see I might have helped, but to me, with my ideas of horror, it was as you said, amusement," said Torlos. They were now in Arcot's study at the cottage; Arcot, his father, Morey, Wade, Torlos, the three Ortolians and the Talsonian.
"I know, Torlos. You see, where I my mistake, as I have said, was in that in doing as I did, horror, like a rolling, it would greater. The idea of horror, started, my mind pictured one, and it horror, which in turn on my all too apparatus. As you said, the as you watched, themselves as my mind them, under its own and the of all those others. It was a very thing to do, for that last Thing—well, it was, it existed, and the idea of and it was by my mind, but my mind picture what it would do, if such were its emotions, and it would do them my mind pictured them! And nothing it!" Arcot's was white once more as he of the he had run, of the terrible possible of that 'amusement.'
"I think we had best start on the ship. I'll go some sleep now, and then we can go."
Arcot the way to the ship, while Torlos, Morey and Wade and Stel Felso Theu him. The Ortolians were to work on Earth, in the of by means of their of the enemy.
"Well—good-bye, Dad. Don't know when I'll be back. Maybe twenty-five thousand years from now, or twenty-five thousand years ago. But we'll somehow. And we'll clean out the Thessians!"
He entered the ship, and rose into space.
"Where are you going, Arcot?" asked Morey.
"Eros," Arcot laconically.
"Not if my mind is right," Wade suddenly. All the others were tense, for sounds.
"I agree," Arcot. The ship about, and toward New York, a hundred thousand miles now, at a speed many times that of light as Arcot into time. Across the void, Zezdon Fentes' call had come—New York was to be by the Thessians, New York and Chicago next. New York the of their two were over that city in a minutes!
They were in the atmosphere, through it as their in the Heaviside layer, then was through be done. The screen was up.
Scarcely a minute after they passed, the entire into light, the of above them, great rent the upper air for miles as clashed.
"Ah—they are sending they have against that screen, and it's hot. We have ten of our biggest on it, and more in, to our total of thirty, but they have two forts, and Lord how many ships.
"I think me I'm going to them some worrying."
Arcot the ship, and up again, now at a speed very low to them but as they had the time-field up, very great. They passed the screen, and a the ship. Everything in it was shielded, but the was still great to them some trouble as the time-field and electric fought. But the time-field, of its very nature, work faster, and they through undamaged, though the for many minutes as they slowly past it. Slowly—at fifty miles a second.
Out in space, free of the atmosphere, Arcot out to the point where the Thessians were congregating. The of their ships and the of the were visible from Earth save for the air's distortion.
They a Milky Way, their on Earth.
Then the Thessians that the was in action. A ship with the ray, the of under visible on its walls. It for its while its slowly yielded. It it in time, and the ship put up its screen.
The set to work, they had at the Thessian giants, but the Thessians had ships, and tubes. More power was for them. Inevitably, when the Sun's the shield—
About that time Arcot arrived. The nearest toward the with an that it against no less than ten of its own ships they so much as move.
When the way was clear to the other fort—and that had moved, the started off a new tack—and six more on its side.
Then Thett's Arcot. The screen was up, and the Negrian which Arcot had used was through it. The screen here and there and under the full of the Thessian fleet, as Arcot had it would. But the same that it a that on the space control, and Thett's energy off to space.
"We them, then our and it in after us, as usual, but it, we can't them!" said Arcot disgustedly. "All we can do is them, then go where it's perfectly safe, in artificial—" Arcot stopped in amazement. The ship had been under such space that space was in about them, and they were motionless. The had a point, the had zero, and they there with only the very slow of the Sun's and that of the planet's on the ship. Suddenly the had leaped, and the the in the banks had moved them toward zero.
"Hey—they've got a in here and are out our hole. Turn on all the generators, Morey." Arcot was all action now. Somehow, though it was, the Thessians had them, and got some means of them, despite their position in another space!
The were on, power into the coils, and the surged, stopped, and so slowly. They should have jumped under that charge, heavy. For thirty they climbed, then they started at full speed!
Arcot's hand to the time field, and it on full. The jerked, swung, then back, and started in with the dials, stopped, and climbed. All swiftly, more rapidly. With what a jerk, the time over, and back, as Arcot opened the switch. They were free, and the on the space was now.
"By the Nine Planets, did they drink out our energy! The energy of six of lead just like that!"
"How'd they do it?" asked Wade.
Torlos silent, and helped Morey replace the of lead wire with others from stock.
"Same way we them," Arcot, studying the instruments, "with the ray! We all along that out the energy—they it out than we pump it in, and used four different on us doing it. Which speaks well for a little ship! But they off the on one room here, and it's a wreck. The in it. Looks like something bad," called Arcot. The room was Morey's, but he'd that out himself. "In the meantime, see if you can tell where we are. I got from their by going on the high speed time-field and the space at full, with all going full blast. Man, they had a on us that time! But wait till we that new ship out!"
With the they see what was happening. The of was continuing, and the were locked now in a struggle, the of Earth and Venus and of Nansal, across the void. Many of the terrestrian, or better, Solarian ships, were with space apparatus, now, and had some measure of safety in that the of the Thessians not be so on them. In numbers was safety; Arcot had been he was alone at the time they attacked.
But it was that the Solarian was losing. They not with the ships, and now the of light that told of a ship in the new another danger.
"I think Earth is if you cannot it soon, Arcot, for other Thessian ships are coming," said Stel Felso Theu softly.
From out of the plane of the they were coming, across space from some other world, a of of them. They were visible as one after another into normal time-rates.
"Why don't they in time?" asked Morey, aloud.
"Because the that designed that didn't think of it. Remember, Morey, those ships have their time with their power so that the power has to the time continuously. They have no like ours. When they their time, they're every other way.
"We need that new ship. Are we going to make it?" Arcot.
"Take at best. What chance?" asked Morey.
"Plenty; watch." As he spoke, Arcot open the time controls, and the ship about. They off toward a point of light beyond. It toward them, with the of an bomb, and was a great, of a them, miles in extent.
"Eros," Wade to Torlos. "Part of an that was the time of man, or life on Earth. The got too near the sun when its was irregular, and old Sol it to pieces. This is one of the pieces. The other are the rest. All are up of great blocks; they aren't continuous, you know. Like of in a building, they can a on each other, but them till they with a and we have earthquakes. This is one of the blocks. We see Eros from Earth intermittently, for when this thing it a of light; on it not so much."
It was a of rock. Bare, airless, rock, of extent. It was and twisted, but there were no great in it for it was a single block.
Arcot the ship to the surface, and it with an at low concentration. There was no of on this of rock.
"Come on, to work. Space suits, and all the out," Arcot. He was on his feet, the power of the ship in now. Only the was on. In the possible time they got into their suits, and under Arcot's direction set up the on the as fast as it was out. In all, less than fifteen minutes were needed, yet Arcot was them more and more. Torlos' helped, on this world, for he more with his burdens.
At last it was up for operation. The was by power, and by operation, or by mathematical as they pleased. Immediately Arcot set to work. A a great through the thin, surface of the block, through twelve miles of solid rock—a of on a possible only to power. The cylinder, a mile across, a of matter. Then the swiftly, the matter, and it with the that its energy form. In it was a of cosmium.
A second smaller a from the rock, and on it. A of resulted. Now other set to work at Arcot's bidding, and cut pieces from his of materials, and literally, quick as thought, a great of them, in the solid of the planetoid.
Then a plane of formed, and the planetoid, two great pieces of were left where one had been—miles across, miles thick—planetary chips.
On the great that had been constructed, four tall of appeared, and each was a tube, up the center of which ran a of relux. At the of each mile-high was a great globe. Now in the were as Arcot's them—great of with element—huge of conductors, with but of cosmium.
Still, for all his of mind and of thought, he had to two mistakes in all his work. It was nearly an hour the thing was finished. Then, two hundred long, a hundred wide, and fifty in height, the great was completed, the tall from four of the that supported it.
Then, into it, Arcot the powers of the cosmos. The in the space and as though through a thick atmosphere. Tingling power ran through them as it into the coils. For thirty seconds—then the were as before.
At last Arcot spoke. Through the radio communicators, and through the thought-channels, his ideas came as he took off the headpiece. "It's done now, and we can rest." There was a crash from the apparatus. The them, and shifted, then were still, but the were changed. The sun weirdly, and the were altered.
"That is a time shifting on a larger scale," Arcot to Torlos' question, "and is designed to give us a to work. Come on, let's sleep. A week here should be a minutes of Earthtime."
"You sleep, Arcot. I'll prepare the materials for you," Morey. So Arcot and Wade to sleep, while Morey and the Talsonian and Torlos worked. First Morey the Ancient Mariner to the of the time apparatus, safely away from the four balls, of the time field. Then he off the ray, and himself in the operator's seat of the of the machine.
A plane of formed, and a of rose under its as it the apart. A great cleared, level space resulted. Other the rock, and the cut free were under pressure. In a moments a second of was formed.
For three hours Morey steadily, a of materials. Lux metal he did not make, but relux, the infusible, perfect conductor, and in masses, he did make. And he some great of from the rock, the atoms, and it on the plane, with liquid in tanks, and some that would be needed. Then he slept while they waited for Arcot.
Eight hours after he had down, Arcot was up, and ate his breakfast. He set to work at once with the machine. It didn't him, it seemed, and he a new tool, a small ship that move about, by a piece of matter, and the entire ship was a machine, with a power than before!
His thoughts, than hands move, up the of the new ship, and put in the rooms, and the members in less than twelve hours. A of eight-inch cosmium, a space, with of the same of heat, cosmium, and a two hull. A space in the hull, a space less than one thousand in was the and quarters.
It was now on great springs, but Arcot was not by any means through. One man must do all the work, for one brain must design it, and though he the and help of Morey and the others, it was his brain that pictured the thing that was built.
At last the was completed. A single, tube, of bulk, a mile in length, a thousand in diameter. Yet nearly all of that great would be used immediately. Some room would be left for additional they might to install. Spare parts they did not have to carry—they make their own from the energy in space.
The enormous, was a thing of through now, but incomplete. The projectors were not mounted, but they were to be projectors of a type possible. Space is the of all rays, and it is in space that those energy exist. Arcot had to transfer the high energy level of the space-curvature to any of energy he wanted, and now, with the complete on it, he was able to do that directly. No tubes, no generators, only that the energy already there—the energy available!
The next period of work he started the space apparatus. That must go at the exact center of the ship. One coil, big for the Ancient Mariner to in easily! Minutes, and had it—then came thousands of the coils, by of one, and it many times! In ranks, rows, and they were into a great block, for power must be for use of this machine, while in the space when its normal power was not available, and that power must be tremendous.
Then the time apparatus, and after that the apparatus. Not the drive now, but an on their own ship, with projectors about the ship that it might move in every direction. And was for a force-drive by means of matter, of it pushing the ship where it was wanted. But with the attraction-drive they would be able to land safely, without of being by their own weight on Thett, for all its gravity.
The was now finally, with a series of about it, locking it in place, while smaller for the occupants.
Then the main apparatus—the power plant—was installed. The which handled, or better, space to as they directed, powers so great that whole be instantaneously, were put in place, and the that would make and direct their rays, their screen if need be, and their matter. Everything was installed, and all but a small space was occupied.
It had been six of work for them, for the mind of each was in this work, or directly, and it now.
"But, we need one more thing, Arcot. That land on any smaller than Jupiter. What is its mass?" Morey.
"Don't know, I'm sure, but it is of the order of a billion tons. I know you are right. What are we going to do?"
"Put on a tender."
"Why not the Ancient Mariner?" asked Wade.
"It isn't fitting. It was designed for use anyway," Morey. "I something more like this on a small scale. We won't have much work on that, think of every detail of the big ship on a small scale, with the of the furnishings. Instead of the decks, and so forth, have a large, single room."
"Good enough," Arcot.
As if by magic, a machine appeared, a "small" machine of two-hundred-foot length, in some parts, its flattened, and with an anchor. Then they were ready.
"We will the Mariner here, and it later. This won't be needed any longer, and we don't want the enemy to it. Our trial will be a fight!" called Arcot as he from his seat. The of the ship him, and he slowly toward it.
Into its open port he flew, the others him, their still on. The door them as Arcot, at the controls, closed it. As yet they had not the air supplies. It was airless.
Now the of air, and the of through it. The water in the as the came, through from the great heaters. In minutes the air and were normal the great bulk. There was air in power compartments, though no one was to go there, for the room alone need be occupied; vision-screens here viewed every part of the ship, and all about it.
The of the new ship were set in of the wall, and over them, protecting them, was an thin, but of matter, maintained. It was to all of from the Hertzian to the cosmics, save for the very narrow of visible light. Whether this protection would stop the Thessian that was so to and was not, of course, known. But Arcot it would, and, if that was energy, or material particles, it would.
"We'll our station here now, and the Ancient Mariner where it is. Of we are a long way out of the this planetoid followed, to the of the time apparatus, but we can note where it is, and we'll be able to it when we want it," said Arcot, seated at the great now. There were no now, or visible controls; all was mental.
A of formed, and toward the of the time machine outside. It the main switch, and space about them shifted, twisted, and returned to normal. The time was off for the time in six weeks.
"Can't that, and we can't it. It's of cosmium, and trying to it against the would just drive it into it. We'll see what we can do though," Arcot. A plane of just it, and it from its on the planetoid, through the anchors. The lifted, and the with it. A series of planes, a formed, and the was cut across again and again, till only small were left of it. Then these were rolled into a ball, and by a of all repair. The enemy would learn their secret.
A of cut a great from the plane that was left where the had been, and a of the same material up the Ancient Mariner, deposited it there, then it with and rock. A on the for an instant, and it was glowing, lava. The Ancient Mariner was under a hundred of rock, but which be away from its when the time came.
"We're to go now—get to work with the radio, Morey, when we to Earth."
The normal here as they walked about, no them as the ship forward, for all its great mass, like an arrow, then under time control. The sun was now, for six they had been traveling with the of Eros under time control. But with their time plant, and the space control, they the in very little time.
It to them that that still be waging, but it was. The ships of Earth and Venus, now as a last, stand, over Chicago, were attempting to stop the press of a great Thessian fleet. Thin, long Negrian, or Sirian ships had joined them in the hour of Earth time that the men had been working. Still, despite the reinforcements, they were back.
