A Frigid Civilization
"HI, Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens!" Nadia into Stevens' room and him by the shoulder. "Are you going to sleep all the way to Saturn? You answered me when I on the partition with a hammer, but I don't that you up at all. Get up, you—breakfast will be all directly!"
"Huh?" Stevens opened one eye; then, as the full of the his consciousness, he came wide awake. "Lay off those names, ace, or you'll walking home!" he threatened.
"All x by me!" she retorted. "I might as well go home if you're going to sleep all the time!" and she her at him as she into the room. As she out she his door with a clang, and Stevens himself out of his one joint at a time, dressed, and himself presentable.
"Gosh!" he as he joined the girl at breakfast. "I don't know when I've had such a sleep. How do you by on so little?"
"I don't. I sleep a lot, but I do it every night, of for four days and nights on end and then trying to make up all those four nights' sleep at once. I'm going to you of that, too, Steve, if it's the last thing I do."
"There might be in it, at that," he conceded, "but sometimes you've got to do work when it's got to be done, of just sleeps. However, I'll try to do better. Certainly it is a to out of that mess, isn't it?"
"I'll say it is! But I wish that those were more like people. They're nice, I think, really, but they're so ... so ... well, so that it me the just to look at one of them!"
"They're gruesome, no fooling," he agreed, "but you used to like that. I just about a fit the time I saw a Martian, and the Venerians are in some ways—they're so and dead-looking—but now I've got friends on planets. One thing, though, me the pip. I read a a while ago—the latest best-seller thing of Thornton's named 'Interstellar Slush' or some such tr...."
"Cleophora—An Interstellar Romance," she him. "I it was wonderful!"
"I didn't. It's unsound. Look at our nearest neighbors, who came from the same original stock we did. A Tellurian can admire, respect, or like a Venerian, yes. But for one of them—wow! Beauty is purely relative, you know. For instance, I think that you are the most perfectly thing I saw; but no Venerian would think so. Far from it. Any Martian that hadn't many of us would have to go his after taking one good look at you. Considering what love means, it doesn't to that any Tellurian woman possibly in love with any man not of her own breed. Any is who in love and passions. They don't exist. They can't exist—they're against all instincts."
"Interplanetary—in this system—yes. But the Dacrovos were just like us, only nicer."
"That's what me the pip. If our own of the same are so to us, how would we be by of intelligence?"
"May be you're right, of course—but you may be wrong, too," she insisted. "The Universe is big enough, so that people like the Dacrovos may possibly in it somewhere. May be the Big Three will a means of travel—then I'll to see them myself, perhaps."
"Yes, and if we do, and if you see any such people, I'll that the of them will make your right up into a ball, too! But about Barkovis—remember how the were that he sent us? He our as being 'compact,' but I got the of his thoughts, as well. Didn't you?"
"Yes, now that you mention it, I did. He that we were white-hot, under-sized, overpowered, warty, hairy, and little monstrosities—thoroughly and distasteful. But he was friendly, just the same. Heavens, Steve! Do you that he read our thoughts, too?"
"Sure he did; but he is to make allowances, the same as we are doing. He isn't any more than we are. He that such are and cannot be changed."
BREAKFAST over, they a new sensation. For the time in months they had nothing to do! Used as they were to being by pressing tasks, they their for a hours. Sitting at the plate, they the with interest. Beneath them Jupiter was a not from the sun in appearance, which had already smaller and less bright. Above them, and to their right, Saturn refulgently, his visible. All about them were the of the firmament, which fail to the most observer. But soon to those two active spirits, and Stevens about their narrow quarters.
"I'm going to go to work I go dippy," he soon declared. "They've got of power, and we can up a unit to send it over here to our receptor. Then I can start the old Hope together without waiting until we to Titan to start it. Think I'll Barkovis to come over, and see what he thinks about it."
The Titanian the idea, and the was installed. Nadia that she, too, needed to work, and that she was too good a to waste; therefore the two again together, day after day. But the girl limited their hours of work to those of the day; and after Barkovis visited with them for hours. Dressed in his space-suit and supported by a well out of range of what to him by the of the Terrestrials, he along unconcernedly; while over the of the thought-exchanger he with the man and woman seated just the open door of their air-lock. The Titanian's for was insatiable—particularly did he to the earth and to the other planets, to him and to his kind. In return Stevens and Nadia came to know the of the of Titan.
"I am measure to have you," Barkovis mused, one night. "Your proves that there is truth in mythology, as some of us have always believed. Your visit to Titan will create a in scientific circles, for you are incarnate—personifications of the preposterous. In you, had commonplace. According to many of our scientists, it is for you to exist. Yet you say, and it must be, that there are millions upon millions of beings. Think of it! Venerians, Tellurians, Martians, the of the space-ship, and us—so mentally, yet physically how different!"
"But where the come in?" Nadia.
"We have which say that once Titan was hot, and that our were beings of fire, in ran water of blood. Since our recorded history goes some of thousands of Saturnian years, and since in that long period there has been no in us, of us have in the at all. They have been the of a barbarous, of the sun. However, such a condition is not in with the of cosmogony, and since there actually such a as yours—a actually are of water—those must have been upon truth.
"What an evolution! Century after century of slowly temperature—one to the to a environment. First they must have to maintain their high temperature by and their cities.—Then, as died, they must have into their plants the ability to use as purely chemical liquids, such as our present natural fluids—which also may have been then—instead of the water to which they had been accustomed. They must have the atmosphere; must have it more reactive, to for the temperature at which must take place. As Titan and they their and deeper; until came to that it must itself or utterly.
"Then we may picture them as in their chemistry. For thousands, and thousands of years there must have gone on the of blood and to more and more liquids, and to and still temperatures. This must have until Titan at the condition which has now for ages—a condition of with space upon one hand and upon the other the sun, which only in millions upon millions of years. In at last—with our and at their present values, which as low to you as yours appear high to us. Truly, an to contemplate!"
"But how about power?" asked Stevens. "You to have all you want, and yet it doesn't to that there be very much upon a so old and so cold."
"You are right. For there has been but little power produced upon Titan. Many ago, however, our scientists had rocket-driven space-ships, with which they our satellites, and Saturn itself. It is from power plants upon Saturn that we energy. Their was difficult in the extreme, since the had to work in of the of gravity. Then, too, they had to be protected from the pressure and of the air, and from a temperature above the melting point of water. In such heat, of course, our material, water, not be employed...."
"But all our have that Saturn is cold!" Stevens interrupted.
"Its surface temperature, as read from afar, would be low," Barkovis, "but the surface of the is hot, and is volcanic. Practically none of its is of the great and of its atmosphere, which for many hundreds of your kilometers. It many thousands of and many years of time to and those power plants, but once they were in operation, we were of power for many of thousands of years to come."
"Our of power is more or less like yours, but we haven't anything like your range. Suppose you'd be to teach me the of your fields?"
"Yes, we shall be to give you the formulae. Being an older race, it is natural that we should have as yet unknown to you. But I am, I perceived, you from your time of rest—goodbye," and Barkovis was toward his globe.
"What do you make of this chemical blood of theirs, Steve?" asked Nadia, the of the Titanian captain.
"Not much. I may have mentioned that there are one or two, or three men who are than I am. I that it is something like a and something like a hydrocarbon, and yet different from either in that it in combination. I think it is something that our Tellurian haven't got yet; but they've got so many now that they may have it, at that. You see, Titan's isn't nearly as as ours, but what there is of it is pure dynamite. Ours is a little oxygen, mixed with a of ingredients. Theirs is oxygen, with flourin. It's reactive, no fooling! However, something must be necessary to on at such a temperature as theirs."
"Probably; but I know less about that of thing than you do. Funny, isn't it, the way he thinks 'water' when he means ice, and always thinks of our water as being molten?"
"Reasonable when you think about it. Temperature are logarithmic, you know, not arithmetic—the his temperature and ours is than that ours and that of melted iron. We think of iron as being a liquid, you know."
"That's right, too. Well, good night, Steve dear."
"'Bye, little queen of space—see you at breakfast," and the Forlorn Hope dark and silent.
DAY after day the toward Saturn, with the of the Forlorn Hope in tow. Piece by piece that was together and in place by the Titanian tractors; and slowly but steadily, under Stevens' projector, the together, once more to a seamless, structure. And Nadia, the electrician, close the welder. Wielding torch, and with hand, she repaired or cut out of the and the ends of each power lead. Understanding Nadia's work thoroughly, the Titanians were not particularly in it; but Stevens his way along an seam, he had a large and gallery. Everyone who possibly secure permission to the did so, each upon his own pencil of force, and over to watch the welder. They did not come close to him—to fifty of that slow moving spot of brilliance, in a space-suit, meant death—but, around him in space, they with shuddering, amazement, the being in ran water of blood; was already so that it while without protection, upon metal!
Finally the was done. The space was and its vacuum—outer and were bottle-tight. The two of as they their and to repair what of their machine had been by the plane of which had so the Forlorn Hope into sections.
"Say, big fellow, you're the guy that the ink, ain't you?" Nadia her and up to Stevens, hands on hips, her walk an roll. "Write me out a long walk. This job's all played out, so I think I'll me a good job on Titan. I said give me my time, you big stiff!"
"You didn't say nothing!" Stevens in his bass, playing up to her lead as he always did. "Bounce back, cub, you've a fence! You on for and you'll stick—see?"
Arm in arm they over to the nearest plate. Flipping the switch, Stevens the and Titan upon the screen; so close, that it no longer a moon, but was a world toward which they were with an velocity.
"Not close to make out much detail yet—let's take another look at Saturn," and Stevens the out toward the planet. It was now an full moon, almost five in diameter,1 its visible surface an of what they to be cloud, white in the sunlight, only by a dark band.
"Those were such a a little while ago!" Nadia mourned. "It's a that Titan has to be right in their plane, isn't it? Think of this close to one of the most in the Solar System, and being able to see it. Think they know what they're missing, Steve?"
"We'll have to ask Barkovis," Stevens replied. He the toward Titan, and Nadia shuddered.
"Oh, it's hideous!" she exclaimed. "I that it would as we got closer, but the we can see it, the it gets. Just to think of beings, such cold-blooded ones as those over there, upon such a moon and it, me the shivers!"
"It's bleak, no fooling," he admitted, and through the of the telescope, studying the surface of the they were so approaching.
Larger and larger it loomed, a cratered, of indescribable; of sheer, cold and palpable; of stark, contrasts. Gigantic craters, in no of had been for of time, were by to the level of a sea. Every object a of blackness, which the weak light of the sun a glare. The ground was either a white or an black, by half-tones.
"I can't hand it much, either, Nadia, but it's all in the way you've been up, you know. This is home to them, and just to look at Tellus would give them the pip. Ha! Here's something you'll like, if it look so cold that it makes me like a of coils. It's Barkovis' city the one we're for, I think. It's close now so that we can it on the plate," and he set the upon the of Titan.
"Why, I don't see a thing, Steve—where and what is it?" They were toward the center of a plain of white, and desolate; and Nadia in disappointment.
"You'll see directly—it's too good to by telling you what to look for or wh...."
"Oh, there it is!" she cried. "It is beautiful, Steve, but how frightfully, cold!"
AFLASH of color had the girl's eye, and, one thus to her sight, there had into view a city of crystal. Low of shape, in patterns, mile upon mile. From the of the heavenward; inter-connected by long, out of all to the of their construction. Buildings, spires, and designs, at which Nadia in delight.
"I've just of what that me of—it's snowflakes!"
"Sure—I it was something familiar. Snowflakes—no two are alike, and yet every one is and hexagonal. We're going to land on the public square—see the crowds? Let's put on our and go out."
The Forlorn Hope in a park, and near it the Titanian had also come to rest. All about the little plot the of crystal, and in its center played a fountain; a series of clear and of liquid jewels. Under there spread a thick, soft of vegetation. Throngs of the citizens of Titania were to the space-ships; close about the vessel, but a from the Terrestrial wedge. All were and congratulations—shouts which Stevens as as his own native tongue.
"Why, I can every word they say, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed, in surprise. "How come, do you suppose?"
"I can, too. Don't know—must be from using that telephone of theirs so much, I guess. Here comes Barkovis—I'll ask him."
The Titanian had been in with a group of fellow-creatures and was now walking toward the Terrestrials, the headsets. Placing them upon the white sward, he away, the two visitors to them up.
"It may not be necessary, Barkovis," Stevens said, slowly and clearly. "We do not know why, but we can what your people are saying, and it may be that you can now us."
"Oh, yes, I can your English perfectly. A development, but perhaps, after all, one that should have been expected, from the very nature of the device we have been using. I wanted to tell you that I have just news, which makes it for us to help you immediately, as I promised. While we were gone, one of our two power-plants upon Saturn failed. In consequence, Titan's power has been cut to a minimum, since our at that great a large of the of the other plant. Because of this lack, the Sedlor were to such a point that in of the Guardian's assurances, I think trouble is inevitable. At all events, it is of the that we repairing the unit, for that is to be a indeed."
"Yes, it will take time," Stevens, what the Titanian captain had told him the of those plants—generators which had been in and operation for thousands of Saturnian years.
"It will take more than time—it will take lives," Barkovis, gravely. "Scores, hundreds, of us will again breathe the clear, pure air of Titan. In of all and all possible and insulation, man after man after man will be by his own weight, by the heat, by the atmosphere, or will into at the touch of some from the with which we shall have to work. A fate, but we shall not for volunteers."
"Sure not; and of you would go. And I of the a would have on you—your would be inflammable. But say, I just had a thought. Just how is the air at those plants and just what is the pressure?"
"According to the records, the temperature is some of your above the melting-point of water, and the pressure is not of two of your of mercury. I it almost to think of as a liquid, however."
"You it impossible, since you use it as a metal, for in and so on. But plus forty, while warm, isn't impossible, by any means; and we our air pressure for a while. Both my partner and I are and we've got a line of machine tools, such as you not possibly have here. We'll give it a whirl, since we you something already. Lead us to it, ace—but wait a minute! We can't see through the fog, so couldn't the plants, and your would if I touched them."
"I of your helping us," Barkovis. "The idea of any being in that has always been unthinkable, but the you mention are slight. We have already in our to yours, and radio sets. With these we can you and the plants to you as you work, and our will be of to you in moving objects, at such from the surface as we Titanians shall have to maintain. If you will set out a of your atmosphere, we will it, for the has come to me that perhaps, being planet-dwellers yourselves, the air of Saturn might not be as to you as it is to us."
"That's a thought, too," and, the news broadcast, it was not long until the two ships into the air, to the of the and of a multitude.
IN a wide they toward Saturn. Passing so close to the that the almost be with the eye, they on and on, long they approached the upper surface of the of cloud. The space-ship stopped and Stevens, into his screen, the Forlorn Hope mile after mile, under Barkovis' direction, and power from time to time as the Titanian's voice came from the at his elbow. Slower and slower the descent, until finally, almost upon the broad, of the power-plant, Stevens saw it in his plate. Breathing in relief, he upon a pavement, his controls, and to Nadia.
"Well, old golf-shootist, we're here at last—now we'll go out and see what's gone with the works. Remember that is about normal here, and accordingly."
"But it's to be only about nine-tenths," she objected.
"That's at the surface of the atmosphere," he replied. "And it's some atmosphere—not like the thin we've got on Tellus."
They into the airlock, and Stevens air until their to collapse. Then, face-plate cracked, he cautiously, opening his wide. Nadia and the man laughed as she her nose in as two faint, but her nerves.
"I particularly for and dioxide, either," he her, "but they aren't to us in the time we'll be here. Those Titanian know their stuff, though."
He opened the slowly, then opened the door and they upon the smooth, solid floor, which Stevens carefully.
"I so, from his story. Solid platinum! This whole plant is of platinum, iridium, and alloys—the only that will last forever. Believe me, of my bosom, I don't wonder that it cost them to it—with their conditions, I don't see how they got it at all."
Before them rose an immense, flat-topped of metal, upon the top of which was the power plant. Twelve supported a roof, but permitted the air to the one great room which the machinery. They a of stairs, passed two pillars, and about them. There was no noise, no motion—there was nothing that move. Twelve of checkerwork, with wide fins, almost the hall. From the center of each great leads out into a clear space in the middle of the room, there in mid-air to one bus-bar. This bar, than a man's body, had originally to the of an of bars. Now, however, it was in and the two ends toward the floor. Above their heads, a in the metal of the roof, and a had been in the floor. The had been and these had been by some body, a meteorite, with velocity.
"This is it, all right," Stevens spoke to Barkovis. "Sure there's nothing on this beam? If it should be and I should or it with my body, it would be just too bad."
"We have sure that nothing is to it," the Titanian him. "Do you think you can do anything?"
"Absolutely. We've got that'll than that, and after we it the will be easy, but I'll have to have some metal. Shall I cut a piece off the outside?"
"That will not be necessary. You will stores of metal at the of each pillar."
"All x. Now we'll the jack, Nadia," and they to their vessel, that upon Saturn, their was to the tool along the floor.
"Stand aside, please. We will place it for you," a voice in their ears, and a the from the floor, and as it to its place the bus-bar and it there while Stevens and plates of its base.
"Well, here's where I as as the law allows. This is going to be work, girl—no fooling. It'd help a if this were sending out a thousand kilo-franks of idle."
"How would that help?"
"It's a heat-engine, you know—works by heat. The cold air sinks—I it nearly a the of this when it's working—and air in to take its place. I use a little right now," and Stevens, to the waist, to the of the powerful jack.
Beads of upon his back, to rivulets, and the girl about him.
"Let me help you, Steve—I'm husky, too, you know."
"Sure you are, ace, but this is a job for a truck-horse, not a tenderly-nurtured of the upper classes. You can help, though, by out that and it while I'm doing this to prepare for the welding."
Under the of that the ends of the bus-bar rose into place, while off in space the Titanians about their screens, watching, in almost amazement, the being who in that of and vapor—who almost and unprotected, himself from time to time with of water!
"All x, Barkovis—that's high, I guess." Stevens from his with a wet and his back. "Now you can put this away where we had it. Then you might me over of that metal to up this hole, and I'll put on my and and on this and the roof, to the of the metal I the bar."
The in the was with and soon were as the of Stevens' into the of metals; a smooth, solid where the had been. Then, with his and plates to the roof, the man repaired that also.
"Now I know about it to do a good job on the bar," he decided, and after of was into the crack, until only a that a had in that of metal.
"Give 'em the to power, and see if that's all that was the matter," Stevens instructed, as he in the of their room. "Whew, that was a warm job, Nadia—and this air of ours good!"
"IT was a job, and I'm it's done," she declared. "But say, Steve, that thing looks as little like a power-plant as anything I can imagine. How it work? You said that it on heat, but I don't see how. But don't and don't integrate!"
"No ordinary plant such as we use for centuries without attention," he replied. "This is a heat-engine—something like a thermo-couple, you know. This whole thing is the end, to the cold end on Titan by a of wires. When it's working, this metal must off something fierce. That's what the and are for—so that it can the maximum amount of from the of hot, air I spoke about. It's a sweet system—we'll have to up one Tellus and the moon. Or the Equator and the Arctic Circle there'd be to give us a kilofranks. We haven't got the all x yet, but it's working—look at it as it down!"
"I'll say it's sweating—the water is off it!" In their plate they saw that was already to upon the heat-absorber: the in and over the metal in sheets; which, into ice in the of the checkerwork, again at the of hot, wet Saturnian air.
"There's the signal—all x, Barkovis? By the way it's water, it to be again."
"Perfect!" came the Titanian's reply, "You two planet-dwellers have done more in three hours than the entire of Titan have in months. You have earned, and shall receive, the highest...."
"As you were, ace!" Stevens interrupted, embarrassed. "This job was just like fish a well, for us. Since you saved our lives, we you a yet. We're out—straight up!"
The Forlorn Hope upward, through mile after mile of fog, until at last she through into the light, clear atmosphere. Stevens the Titanian space-ship, and the two once more together through the toward Titan, he to his companion.
"Take the controls, will you, Nadia? Think I'll up the tube. I along a piece of from the power plant, and something that I think is from Barkovis' of it. With those and the we melted out, I think I can make we'll need."
Now that he had pure metal with which to work, the leads and was a task. Working over the hot-bench with and projector, he work of the leads through the almost plastic of the great and of them in place. The plates and presented more problems; but they were solved and, long Titan was reached, the was out in space, supported by a Titanian the two vessels. Stevens came into the shop, a McLeod which he had just taken from the of the tube. When it had come to equilibrium, he read it and yelled.
"Eureka, little fellow! She's to where I can't read it, on this big gauge—so hard that it won't need flashing—harder than any I got on Tellus, with a Rodebush-Michalek super-pump!"
"But how about and in the and so on when they up?" Nadia, practically.
"All gone, ace. I out-gassed 'em out there—seven times, almost to fusion. There isn't left in the whole thing to make a for a microbe."
He took up his and a him to the tube. There, in the of space, the last openings in the were sealed, and man and great were into the Terrestrial cruiser.
Hour after hour Titanian and crude-fashioned on through space, and it was not until Titan large them that the was by an call from Titan to the sphere.
"Barkodar, attention! Barkodar, attention!" from the speakers, and they Barkovis the call.
"The Sedlor have through and are upon Titania. The order has gone out for of every unit."
"There's that word 'Sedlor' again—what are they, anyway, Steve?" Nadia.
"I don't know. I was going to ask him when he it on us first, but he was then and I haven't of it since. Something serious, though—they've jumped their almost to Tellurian gravity, and none of them can live through much of that."
"Tellurians?" came the voice of Barkovis from the speaker. "We have just...."
"All x—we were on your and it," Stevens. "We're with you. What are those Sedlor, anyway? Maybe we can help you out something."
"Perhaps—but you do, do not use your heat-projector. That would start a over the whole country, and we shall have to do without fire. But it may be that you have other weapons, of which we are ignorant, and I can use a little time in we arrive. The Sedlor are a of life, something like your..." he paused, through his store of Earthly knowledge, then on, doubtfully, "perhaps some thing like your insects. They a of intelligence, and of their fecundity, themselves to their as as did man; and for they man's upon Titan. They vegetation, crops, animals, and mankind. After a world-wide campaign, however, they were exterminated, save in the neighborhood of one great crater, which they so that it is almost impregnable. All around that we have of force, by a of men as 'Guardians of the Sedlor.' These so into the ground and so high into the air that the Sedlor can neither them over them. They were being as as possible, and in a more years the would have been completely—but now they are again at large. They have an or a natural than the Guardians possible, so that when the were weakened, they came through in their millions, and undetected. They are now our nearest city—the one you know, and which you have called Titania."
"What do you use—those high-explosive bombs?"
"The were for use against them, but proved than useless, for we that when a Sedlor was to pieces, each piece into a new, complete creature. Our most are our rays—not yours remember—and gas. I must prepare our arms."
"Would our heat-ray actually set them afire, Steve?" Nadia asked, as the plate blank.
"I'll say it would. I'll you what means to them—showing you will be than any amount of explanation," and he the toward the city of Titania. Into a low-lying it went, and Nadia saw a Titanian in full operation. Men in were charging, tending, and great electric and crucibles; and their away as the hissing, melt into the from their long-handled ladles. Nadia the for a moment, interested, but unimpressed.
"Of it's there—foundries always are hot," she argued.
"Yes, but you haven't got the idea yet." Stevens again to the controls, the toward what was a line of battle. "That that they are melting and and that is so hot, is not metal, but ice! Remember that the of all life here, animal and vegetable, to our water, is more than gasoline. If they can't work on ice-water without of five-ply asbestos, what would a heat-ray do to them? It'd be about like our taking a into the sun!"
"Ice!" she exclaimed. "Oh of course—but you couldn't a thing like that without it, you? Oh, Steve—how horrible!"
THE "Barkodar" had into a line of sister ships, and had gone into action in against a of foes. Winged they were—centipedes six long, themselves along the ground and through the air in hordes. From the of force, at the touch of which the Sedlor in of vapor. Upon the ground and trucks, by soldiery, the same beam. From and there a and small in thousands among the foe; a red cloud of in which the and died. But for each one that was two came up from in the ground and the battle-line toward Titania, toward a long line of derrick-like which were force-rods into the ground in haste.
Stevens on his ultra-violet and it into the ranks of the enemy. In the many of the died, but the Terrestrial was with the of the Titanians, and Stevens, off the with a imprecation, the out toward the bare, black of the and it with care.
"Barkovis, I've got a thought!" he into the microphone. "Their is in that mountain, and there's millions of them in there yet, out along their tunnels. They've got all the away for miles, so there's nothing much left there to spread a fire if I go to work on that hill, and, I'll melt water to put out most of the I start. Detail me a of ships to your fire-foam on any little that may spread, and I'll give them so much to worry about at home, that they'll all about Titania."
The Forlorn Hope toward the crater, closely by two of the globes. They the until Stevens a point of attack—a of and crystal, upon the of which he his infra-red projector.
"I'm going to a of power," he the Titanians then. "I'm this gun she'll take."
He the in, and as that red the cliff's there was the of a of and pure upon such an world. Vast of fire aloft, helping Stevens, melting and the very ground as the of the Sedlor in that ant-heap into flames. Clouds of steam upward, into a rain which in upon the of the centipedes. As the ate and into the of the cliff, the itself to disintegrate; after off and into the flaming, boiling, which was the of that beam.
Hour after hour Stevens his into the great mountain, with Sedlorean life; and hour after hour a group of Titanian by, the plain with a of fumes, through which the not spread for of oxygen. Not until the was gone—not until in its there a lake, its surface hundreds of the level of the plain—did Stevens open his power and point the of the Forlorn Hope toward Titania.
1 (return)
The moon an of about one-half of a degree.
