The Sirius Takes a Hand
THE Sirius along through the at normal just the of Mars and a miles north of the plane. In the room, which had been into a complete laboratory, Norman Brandon up and down, his arms, his black on end, his friend and fellow-scientist, who sat and at ease.
"For cat's sake, Quince, let's busy! They're somewhere, since the police have every range of the power plants without a of them. We've got the power question right now—with these we can sixty thousand from radiation, which is more than we'll need. We haven't a from a plant in a month, and we've had to cut our to a to keep from out our accumulators. We can as as Neptune easy—we can go to Alpha Centauri if we want to. This thing of and around here's my cork, and for the ten thousand four hundred and sixty seventh time I say let's and now! In fact, I'm so of around doing nothing that I'm going out anyway, if I have to go alone in a lifeboat!"
The were from the ground and upward.
The were from the ground and upward.
Impetuous and as Brandon had always been, had he gone to such lengths as to a of the partnership; and Westfall, that Brandon, in his most moments, idly, long he replied.
"You will not go alone, of course. If you upon going without I will go too, no how I think such a to be. We have power, it is true, but in all other respects we are in no condition to meet an having of such as must be by those who the Arcturus. Our are inefficient, our of is crude, to say the least, and many other are still in the stage. We have not the idea or what we may encounter. It is all too that we would be away the of more good men. It is also from a viewpoint, for as you already know, we and our to be in position to study these than is any one else at the present time. However, I will with you. We can learn much in a month if you will try, of time in around the ship and in these tantrums. If you will and study the problems us for thirty days, we will set out at the end of that time, or not."
"All x. I to do it, but we've been together too long to it up now," and Brandon toward his bench. Scarcely had he it when a series of and from an amplifier. Both men for the which had so into sound, it just as it into silence, and from the tape of the they read the message.
"...h four seven point oh four seve...."
"That's Steve!" Brandon. "Nobody else an ultra-sender! Direction?"
"No need of calculating or direction. Ganymede is the third major of Jupiter."
"Sure. Of course, Quince—never of that. Dope enough—point oh four seven."
As Stevens had told Nadia, the message was to those for it was intended, and soon Brandon's answer was toward the satellite. He then started to call the officers of the Interplanetary Corporation, but was by his friend.
"It would be to wait a while, Norman. In a hours we will know what to tell them."
At high the Sirius toward the Jupiter-Earth-North plane, and Brandon calculated from his own and from the issue of the "Ephemeris" the time at which Stevens' reply should be received. Two minutes that time he was up and in of the ultra-receiver, and fifteen after it he snapped:
"Come on, Perce, busy! Shake a leg!"
"Oh, come, Norman; give him a minutes' leeway, at least," said Westfall, with tolerance. "Even if your calculations are that accurate—which of they are," he added at a from black eyes, "since we that message direct, of through one of our stations, Stevens has been it around for hours or days, looking for us, and the of from us at last might well have put him out of for a minute or two."
The into the receiver, Brandon's reply, closely by the they had been expecting. As soon as the had been told, and while Brandon was in the scientific of Stevens, Westfall called up Newton, Nadia's father.
"Nadia is alive, free, safe, well, and happy," he out without or greeting, as soon as the now of the upon the screen, and the into the of the Newton of old, as Westfall the of the castaways.
"They have not in any way," he concluded. "All that Stevens wants is some cigarettes, and your daughter's needs, while more than his, to be only clothes, powder, perfume, and candy. Therefore we need not worry about them. The of the others is still unknown, but there to be a possibility that some of them may yet be rescued. You may as much or as little of this as may desirable. Stevens is still sending data of a nature. We shall arrive there at 21:32 next Tuesday."
IN time the message from Ganymede ended and Brandon, with many pages of his notebook with and equations, off the power of the and to his bench. Gone was the storming, rebel; his was by the and brain of the scientist.
"He's great, that kid Perce! When I see him, I'm going to him on cheeks. He's got on them to them higher than Franklin's kite, and we'll those to the or I'm a polyp! He's than a in most of his hunches, but he's four of our biggest gaps. There is such a thing, as a ray-screen, you kill-joy, and there are also or rays—two I've been trying to out and that you've been me the Bronx on. The Titanians have had a for ages—he sent me complete on it—and the Jovians have got them both. We'll have them in three days, and it ought to be to out the opposite of a tractor, too—a or beam. Say, up the gang, will you, while I'm some of this into shape for you to tear apart? Where are Venus and Mars? Um ... m ... m. Tell Alcantro and Fedanzo to come over here pronto—give 'em a special if necessary. We'll up Dol Kenor and Pyraz Amonar on the way—no, them to Tellus, too. Then we'll action quicker. Those four are all I want—get else you want to come along."
His hands playing over the keys of an calculating machine, Brandon was in a mathematico-physical problem; and to about him. Westfall, well that far-reaching results would Brandon's attack, sat at the of the communicator. He called Mars, the home of Alcantro and Fedanzo, the force-field of three planets; and was in no terms that those of were and to Brandon and Westfall might lead. Thence to Venus, where Dol Kenor, the wizard, and Pyraz Amonar, the master of mechanism, also to the expedition. He then called the General-in-Chief of the Interplanetary Police, a detail of two hundred men for the venture. These most calls out of the way, he was for over an hour long-distance so that would be in for the of the space-cruiser the Tuesday night.
Having against his and far-seeing mind envisage, he over to Brandon's and sat down, until the idea had been out in mathematical terms.
"Here's the of the screen, Quince. We a frequency, upon the wave. That's old stuff, of course. Here's the novelty, in 59. With two of force, set up from data 27 to 43, it will be possible actually to project a pure of such a nature that it will to de-heterodyne the at any distance. That, of course, sets up a against any of the band. Incidentally, an of the same idea will us to see we want to look—calculate a field."
"One thing at a time, please. That screen may be possible, but those will it. Look at 31, in which your are unsound. In order to make any at all possible you have negligible. Mathematically, it is of small to the power of the cosine, but of that type must be exact, and your neglect of the square is indefensible. Since you cannot with the term in place, your whole fails."
"Not necessarily. We'll go to 29, and put in one equal to z four. That us a in 30, and then we integrate...."
Thus the raged, and all the work was not too pressing around unobtrusively, for it was from just such as this that the ultra-radio and other epoch-making had come into being. Yard after of paper was with and computations. Weirdly were drawn, with at every point—arguments and from Brandon, from Westfall cold and precise, by calculations and with and from the many of reference, which by this time the bench and overflowed upon the floor.
It was in this work that the different and of the two scientists were revealed. Brandon still, but walked around jerkily, the of an and pipe, vigorously, the while his and mind was a way over, around, or through the which their path; by means of mathematical and physical improvisations, which no one not by have evolved. Westfall, seated at the calculator, Brandon's to ribbons, pointing out their many with his cold, and with calculations of the many involved. Then Brandon would a for each in turn and, when Westfall no longer a single in the structure, they would the problem upon a table and attack the next one with zeal. Brandon, in his light that the two one scientist, had the case—those two brains, each so powerful and each so perfectly the other, the master-scientist who was to science in a years.
To such good purpose did they labor that the calculations were by the time they the earth. There the ship was with a that spoke for the of her mission—even the Aldebaran, the gold-plated queen of the fleet, waited and on time while the entire of the Interplanetary Corporation upon the battle-scarred old of the Sirius. Brandon was when he saw the two of police, but without question the of any of his friend, and Inspector-General Crowninshield, only a year or so older than himself, but already in of a Division.
"Keen-looking bunch, Crown. Lot of different outfits—volunteers for special from the whole Tellurian force?"
"Yes. Everybody wanted to go, and there to be trouble over the selection, so we the from the whole Service. If there was such a thing as a force, we shall have it with us."
"What d'you mean, 'us'? You aren't going, are you?"
"Try to keep me from it! The names of all five of us I-G's were put in a hat, and I was lucky."
"Well, you may come in handy, at that," Brandon conceded. "And here's the big himself. Hi, Chief!"
"Ho, Brandon! Ho, Westfall!" Newton, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IPC, hands with the two scientists. "Your Martians and Venerians are in Lounge Fifteen. I that you have a of to out, so you may as well start now. Everything is being to—I'll take now."
"You going along, too?" asked Brandon.
"Going along, too? I'm this cruise!" Newton declared. "I may take from you on some and from Crowninshield on others, but I am in charge!"
"All x—it's a relief, at that," and Brandon and Westfall to join their fellow-scientists in the room of the space-cruiser.
WHAT a was there as the of three worlds met! All six men were of the same original stock or of a evolution—science has not, yet, the question definitely. Their minds were very much alike, but their had so their that to they had but little in common.
Through thousands of the Martians had to a having little air, less water, and by from to cold: from light to almost darkness. Eight tall and massive, they against the of the Earth, almost three times as great as that of Mars, but the two Martian scientists to their as the Terrestrials entered.
"As you were, fellows—lie again and take it easy." Brandon in the common Interplanetarian tongue. "We'll be away from here very soon, then we can off."
"We our friends as long as we can stand," and, a full two above Brandon's own six-feet-two, Alcantro and Fedanzo in turn his hand in a thick-shelled and the of quadruply-shielded eyes. For the Martian skin is not like ours. It is of thickness; dry, pliable, rubbery, and without sensation: with and its with air-cells which make it an almost perfect non-conductor of and which prevent the of the of the body. For the same their and cat-like are exposed, but look through sealed, clear of membrane, over which may be at will one or all of four of lids—lids transparent, insensible, non-freezable, air-spaced insulators. Even the air they from their a minimum of the all-important and moisture, for the passages of their do not lead directly to the lungs, as do ours. They are the for a of a heat-exchanger, so that the air is in almost perfect with the supply in temperature and in content. A in color, and hairless—though now, out of to Terrestrial conventions, light of silk—indifferent to any of or cold, light or darkness: such were the two beings who to their Terrestrial friends, then again reclined.
"I that you have been to drink?" Westfall sure that they had been the of Mars.
"We have full deeply, thanks; and it was not necessary, for we three ago."
Brandon and Westfall then and the two Venerians, as different from the Martians as they were from the Terrestrials. Of stature, form, and strength, yet each was in a space-suit like a drum-head, and would live or in the special Venerian rooms of the as long as the should endure. For the of Venus is more than twice as as ours, is with water-vapor, an high of dioxide, and in their and rooms is at a temperature of one hundred and ten Fahrenheit. The of their were of heavy, yellowish-red composition, protecting their dead-white skins and red from all rays—for the Venerian upon the of an sea of and his thin epidermis, without pigmentation, and as at the least to light as ours at the touch of a red-hot iron.
Out in space at last, with the set at a point for the Martians, Westfall called the meeting to order and the them. Brandon then around of papers, upon which the Venerians the infra-red of the upon their helmets, thus them with the "light" to which their were most responsive.
"Here's the data," Brandon began. "As you see from Sheet 1, we can already any amount of power we shall need from alone...."
"Perpetual motion—ridiculous!" from the sending upon the of the master of mechanism.
"Not at all, Amonar," put in his Venerian, "any more than a turbo-generator at the of a is motion. Those we know not where, as a result of intra-atomic reactions. The of of our these radiations, as a water-driven the water. We use a of their energy them to go on, to we know not what end. Truly you have a in science, Tellurian friends, and we you upon its accomplishment. Please proceed."
"Upon the are the by the Jovians, as we shall call them until we out who or what they are. We will discuss these later. For each we have already calculated a screen, and we have also calculated other of our own, with which we to arm ourselves we Ganymede. The problems us are complex, since there are some nine thousand of the order in which we are working, each from all the others as much as from tension, or as much as red from green. Therefore we have to you for help, that we do but little alone. Alcantro and Fedanzo will the of the of the from these calculations. Dol Kenor will power and electricity to and with the fields. Westfall and I will help work out the as they arise. Pyraz Amonar, who can and a machine to perform any task, will help us all in the many we shall encounter. Discussion of any point is now in order."
STEP by step and after the calculations and plans were gone over, until every detail was clear in each mind. Then the men to their tasks; them not only the complete of that which was the Sirius; but also the full power of the of police—the very of the of the planet. Week after week the labor on, and little by little the of the with an and incredible. An in the and brain of a genius, only by the knowledge that such were already in somewhere; to by a precise, mathematical logician; into of by the experts; by the of an wizard; possible by the of the that three worlds had known! Thus it was that they approached Ganymede, ready, with screens full out, save for one narrow band, and with a keen-eyed at every plate. When the hyper-critical Westfall was that their were as complete as they be with the limited at hand, Brandon a upon the and off a message:
"stevens will arrive in about ten hours direct toward sun we can it and will it to you are sirius."
"ipv sirius," came the reply, "everything here, all x to see you thanks and stevens."
Brandon, at the controls, his screens narrowly, the to a mile or two of the point of of Stevens' without incident; then spoke to Westfall, at his side, with a grin.
"Nice the kid's got there, Quince. It's too bad—don't look like we're going to any action for our money a-tall. 'Sa shame, too—what's the use of it, now that we've got it all made?"
"We are not done yet," Westfall, and as he spoke an into clamor—one of their far-flung screens was telling the world that it had a frequency. The new ultra-lights along the line by the detector, and upon the closely screen of Brandon's there in natural color the image of a space-ship, them with speed.
"Men all stationed, of course, Crown?"
"Stationed and ready." Crowninshield, at his ears and at his lips, was into his own plate.
"Kinda think I'll do most of it from here, but you can't always tell. If they my you all know what to do."
"All x."
Expecting another such victory as the other Hexan had over the Arcturus, the small nearer and nearer that and football of steel. Within range, she her plane of energy, but this time that Jovian of did not and non-resisting steel. Upon the ray-screen, white into defense, the itself, and in the of the of the of flame, Brandon had gone into action. Switch after home, and one after another those of force, those of the minds of three planets, were out against the Jovian sphere. Driven as they were by the millions upon millions of in the of the Sirius they a of energy all around the enemy vessel, but their was at by the powerful screens of the smaller space-ship. But attack the Jovian not, every at her being necessary to off the counter-attack of her prey, and she in flight. Small and as she was, the of the Sirius any possibility of with the Jovian, but Brandon had no of maneuvering. Rapid as the of the were and as was her dodging, the of the of the Interplanetary Vessel her in an grip, and although she the Sirius and thither, she not escape.
"Hm ... m ... m," Brandon. "We to be fast. How much power we using, Mac, and how much have we got in?"
"Output eighty-five thousand kilofranks," MacDonald, the assistant. "Intake forty-nine thousand."
"Not so good—can't out at that rate. Shove out the screens to the limit and drive 'em. They a top of sixty thousand, but we ought to up a little from that out there. Drive 'em full out or up to sixty-five, comes first. Can't to his screens, so I we'll have to try something else," and a came over his as he slowly his hand toward another switch, with a at Westfall.
"Better not do that yet, Norman. Use that only as a last resort, after else has failed."
"Yeah—I'm to death of trying it, and it isn't necessary yet. He must have an open to work through, just as we have. I'll around for it a while."
"Is there any way of the new upon the frequency?"
"Hm ... m.... Never of that—it would be nice, too.... I think we can do it, too. Watch 'em, Quince, and if they start anything."
He his and the necessary the and the of his board. There was a violet-white from the plate as he closed the switch, and he with his hands over his eyes, blinded.
"Wow, that's stuff!" he exclaimed. "It works, all x, to the queen's taste," as he his ray-goggles and his place.
After making that the was and with the frequency, he up the power of that until it was using twenty thousand kilofranks. Then, by the and of his circuits, he slowly that of energy from to frequency, into the of his screen as he did so. After a minutes of search the screen somewhat, the image of the Jovian globe. Brandon into that one the entire power of his attack; the to the of the Jovians into the possible focus, that he had the open and that through it there was upon the enemy the full power of his terrible weapon.
In the of a second the Jovians the attack and close the slit, he saw a of the of their into white and in and of flaming, metal and of gases. But the thrust, as it was, had not been and the enemy instantly. Now that the of the full-coverage attack was for a moment, through another there a of energy equal to the Terrestrials' own—a of such power that the screen of the Sirius from red through the spectrum, to and the violet, and black in less than a second, and the screen had almost gone Brandon's hands the complete that so the of the enemy.
"Well, we're to the quo," Brandon, calmly. "It's a good they didn't have time to our slit—if they had pushed that through our open channel, we'd have up some around the edges. As it was, we got the on that exchange—take it from your Uncle Dudley, Quince, that bird that he's been nudged!"
AGAIN he the entire for an opening, but none. The enemy had retired into a closed of energy. The small no longer struggled, moved, but was passively.
"Not an open channel, not one for him to work through—he can't wiggle. Well, that won't him anything. We're so much than he is, that we can him and will him some time, since he's to out of power we do. I don't he can anything, sealed up as he is, and he can't have more than ours to make up the difference, can he, Quince?"
"It is possible. For instance, although we have of any progress being along such lines, it has been pointed out that of a radio-active of very high weight would an almost perfect accumulator—one many thousands of times as as ours in mass-to-energy ratio. Then, too, you realize, of course, that there is a possibility that intra-atomic energy may not be impossible."
"Nix on that, Quince. I'll for a lot, but not for that last idea! It's hard to say that anything's impossible, of course, so by or by being to facts, but the best work that intra-atomic energy is just about as as anything can well be. It has been that all ordinary is already in its most state, so that work must be done upon any ordinary to it. Besides, if he had either or intra-atomic energy, he would have cut us up long ago. Nope, the answer is that he's for help and is trying to out until it here," was Brandon's rejoinder.
"What can we do about it?" asked Quince.
"Don't know yet. I do know, though, that we aren't as for trouble as I we were. There's a dozen I want to do that I can't we haven't got the stuff. Don't say 'I told you so,' either—I know you did! You're the ground-and-lofty of the century. Alcantro!"
"Here!"
"Round up the gang, will you, and me out a screen and a set of that will an open band? We too much time around anyhow, and we're too to take one on the while we're doing it. Also, you ought to make it so it'll shoot a into the opening, while you're at it," said Brandon.
"We shall at once," and the Martian as he replied, over to the calculating machine.
"Well, Quince, we can't do much to him this way—he's into a and the in after him. Gosh, I wish we had more stuff!"
"After all, we have and have been in the light of our information. We can, of course, go further."
"You it! But we can't let this way or we'll our singed. We'll have to him with the slam, I guess."
"Yes, it as though the time for has arrived."
"Put on the center of the band?"
"That is the best to use in a case of this kind."
"He can't control, so we'll push him close to the ground we go to work on him—so we don't have so to if anything goes with the works. Here's nothing away!"
The Sirius, almost against the screens of the Jovian, and very close to the surface of the satellite, Brandon the power leads briefly, and coils, then touched the which the relays—relays which in turn home the that a and as yet weapon. Instantly released, the full seven hundred thousand of their of into the middle of the band, and Brandon's was in his mouth as he into the plate to see what would happen. He saw! Everything in the Sirius fast, and under the impact of the plane of force, the screens of the enemy into an more and in that same down, and all as the metal into two halves, as would an apple under the full of a broad-axe.
Brandon off his power and in into the of the ship of space, now open, and saw there figures, one or two of which were moving weakly. As he looked, one of these to a peculiar, something toward a body. Even as Brandon away the with a of force, he the captive.
"Great Cat, there's Breckenridge!" he gasped, and a upon the and prisoner. Rapidly, but carefully, he was through the and into the room, where his were cut away and where he soon under and treatment.
"Any more of you in there? Did I any of you with that beam?" Brandon, intensely, as soon as Breckenridge of understanding.
"King's in there somewhere, and there's a Callistonian being that you mustn't kill," the pilot replied, and with great in every word. "Don't that you direct, but the was bad." Having delivered his message, he back, exhausted.
"All x. Crown, give me a squad...."
"Not on your life!" the general. "This is my job and I'll do it myself. Your job is the Sirius—stay with it!"
"Not in seven thousand years—I'm in on this, too," Brandon protested, but was by Newton.
"You right here at this board, since no one else can it the way you can. Stay here!" he commanded.
"All right," the physicist, and the Sirius upright, with her needle-sharp a in the ground.
He the while Crowninshield and men from the service door in the ultra-light and upon the two of the enemy vessel. As no ensued, were and with at the the police the hemispheres, the still beings visible, and, after a of gas, into the metal partitions. After a time they and the ladders, forms, and Brandon spoke into his transmitter.
"King all x, Crowninshield?"
"I think so. Not being in the room he was not as by the passage of the as were Breckenridge and those you saw. The in the other rooms were about to fight, so we gave them a little of tritylamin, but Captain King will be as good as in a minutes."
"Fine business!" The police entered the Sirius, the service doors shut, and Brandon to Westfall.
"While they're up, I I'll up Perce and Miss Newton. We'd them and it, while we're all in one piece!"
But he send out the of his communicator, the voice of Stevens came from the receiver.
"Hi, Brandon and Westfall! We've the whole show. Congratulations, fellows! Welcome to Ganymede! You are in our valley—we're from you about three hundred meters; just the falls, on the side."
"All x," Brandon acknowledged. "We saw you. Come on out where we can you up. We've got to away from here, and away fast!"
"We'll off the pieces of that ship, too, Quince—we may be able to a of from it," and Brandon upon the of the Jovian vessel, then a of smaller to meet the two little across the green toward the Sirius.
