The Copper-Clad World Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  _Last of the Rulans_

  Bathed and fed and attired in dry clothing provided by Dantor, theEarth man and Rulan maiden were much refreshed and heartened when,together, they finally faced the aged scientist in the laboratory ofthe secret apartment. He hadn't allowed them to talk as yet.

  Blaine glanced at the ragged opening where the stone door had beenblown away. "We are safe from intrusion here?" he asked.

  Dantor shrugged expressive shoulders. "The Tritu Anu is empty of life,"he said; "a sepulchre. Those of our people who were not completelydisintegrated lie blackened corpses in the chambers and corridorsoverhead. The gas grenades, you know. The guards went to Ianito withFarley and reported you dead: lost in the jungle from which nonereturn."

  "Farley!" Blaine shouted. "He is alive?" A wild hope sprang into being,intensified to a certainty as Dantor nodded.

  "Why, yes. I thought you knew. They captured him very soon after theescape, but were unable to find you and Ulana. Ianito has mechanizedhim; he is in a hypnotic state of complete subjection to the Dictator.A quantity of k-metal has been taken to the laboratory at the breech ofthe great rocket-tube, and Farley now works there with Ianito's crew,initiating them into the mysteries of the metal's uses. Things lookvery bad."

  "Wh-a-at!" Blaine lost his elation over the knowledge that his friendwas alive. Tommy was doomed, anyway. They all were doomed. "Why did youbring us back?" he asked, turning away. Blaine felt it was better tohave died in the jungle than to face this certainty of lingeringtorture. Ianito had triumphed; the universe was fated for utterannihilation and Ulana would suffer for weeks, perhaps months, beforethe final swift dissolution.

  * * * * *

  Understanding, Dantor smiled gravely. "My boy," he said, "we stilllive, and while we live there is hope. That is the reason I brought youback. Tiedus' message came to me as his spirit left the body and I madehaste to come here as soon as the Zara released me and I knew the coastwas clear."

  "What hope can there be?" Appalled by the enormity of the disaster thatthreatened the solar system, certain of the ultimate fate that would bemeted out to Tom Farley, and convinced of their own helplessness,Blaine was gloomily unenthusiastic.

  "That remains to be seen, Carson. I confess it seems impossible ofremedy, but the situation must be faced and studied carefully.Insignificant as we are in the vastness of the cosmos, we may yet proveto be the ones to circumvent the mad plans of the Llotta and preventthe catastrophe which is inevitable if they succeed. We must not giveup while we still breathe."

  The indomitable spirit of the old scientist glistened in his keen eyes,and he stepped to the controls of the crystal sphere.

  "He will not give up, oh Dantor," Ulana exclaimed loyally. "He is withus to the end. Do I speak truth, my Carson?"

  Her arm slipped through his and he thrilled anew at her fragrantnearness. Give up? Never! Not with Ulana to fight for. Blaine noddedwordless agreement, silenced by the expression of Dantor's face as thecrystal vibrated to a musically throbbing note.

  * * * * *

  There in the crystal ball was pictured a vast underground workshopsomewhat like the one in the great dome through which they had enteredthe copper-clad world. In place of the telescope there was the butt ofa gigantic cannon-like tube that towered and was lost in the shadows ofthe vaulted chamber. Tom Farley, moving jerkily and staring with glazedunseeing eyes, was working there with a cube of the glittering k-metal.In the open breech block of the tube was a heaped-up cone of dry soil,the material they would disintegrate in producing the blast ofelectronic forces. Blaine groaned as his friend called for theequivalent of a milligram of radium. Though his voice was listless andhis movements uncertain, Tommy knew what he was doing and was givingaway the secret, powerless to resist the command Ianito had implantedin his completely subjective mind.

  "Ah," Dantor breathed: "progressive annihilation of energy: a thing wenever have accomplished. You excite ordinary material such as this drysoil by means of atoms exploded from this k-metal which is in turnexcited by ordinary radium that can be used over and over as theprimary excitant. Am I correct?"

  "You are. There are precise ratios of atomic weights to be considered,of course, but it looks as if my friend is being extremely accurate inspite of his dazed condition. Man alive! There is enough material thereto provide power for the entire planet Venus for a month!"

  "And enough to start Antrid from her orbit," Dantor returned. "Enoughto send her on her fatal journey sunward?"

  "Only for the first acceleration. A vast amount of energy is needed,Carson, since the gravitational attraction of the planet you callJupiter is enormous. Antrid will be speeded up in its orbit and theincreased centrifugal force will cause it to take up a new and largerorbit where the forces will equalize. Several charges will be requiredin order to free her entirely from the mother body."

  * * * * *

  "There's time then!" Blaine exclaimed excitedly. "What can we do to puta stop to the thing? Something to counteract this control by Ianito; tocause Tommy to err in his proportions."

  "Yes, that would do it--temporarily at least," Dantor agreed, his browwrinkled in thought; "and there are the invisible cloaks. It is a barechance if you want to take it. I can show you the way to thisunderground laboratory, and, in invisibility, you might even be able tochange the ratios yourself. Yes, yes, it is a very good idea." Thescientist brightened in renewed hope.

  "Of course I'll chance it. When do I start?"

  Dantor grinned in appreciation and Ulana looked up at him starry-eyed."I'm going with you," she stated simply.

  "Not on your life! There'll be danger. I won't have it!"

  "Nevertheless, I'm going. There's another cloak and besides the dangerwould be greater if I were alone. Where you go I go, and if you die Idie with you--gladly." She twined her fingers with his and gazed at himappealingly.

  "Dantor! This can't be!" He turned to the scientist for support.

  The aged scientist studied the two a little while, and then saidquietly, "I'm afraid it is better as she wishes, Carson. I am unable toprotect her, my boy, and there is no one else who might give hershelter. We are the last of the Rulans, she and I. The very last."

  "Oh-h!" Ulana moaned, pale and distraught. "All--all are gone?"

  "All, my dear. In his rage the Dictator destroyed the Tritu Deanu andthe Tritu Raortu when he had finished here. Those were the lastsettlements remaining, you know. We alone are left behind, Ulana."Dantor bowed his head and the girl sobbed silently.

  "Good Heavens!" Blaine Carson was aghast at the revelation. A monstrousdeed, this last one of Ianito's. He was a fit master of a world gonemad. A monster in the twisted semblance of human form.

  * * * * *

  "He will be searching for you, oh Dantor," the girl said with suddenconviction. She had mastered her emotions and was instantly alert toevery angle of the situation.

  "That is true," said the old man gravely. "For myself I have nothing tofear, of course. Though insanely jealous of my accomplishments, hemaintains an armed truce with me. He dares not do otherwise as theSupreme Council is aware of his shortcomings and cognizant of mysuperior knowledge of science. But there is danger to you two. You mustmake haste."

  A trembling of the ground beneath them lent added emphasis to his finalwords. A quick glance into the crystal told them that the initialcharge was at work in the huge rocket-tube. The laboratory there at itsbase was in confusion indescribable, the workmen running hither and yonin the effort to escape the terrific heat that radiated from the redhot breech of the tube. They jammed the exits in their anxiety to beanywhere but near this monster source of energy whose pulsating roardrowned out all other sounds in the vast chamber.

  Already Antrid was accelerating in velocity. Her vitals were wrenchedand twisted, groaning in protest.

  "Quick now!" Bl
aine was adjusting one of the invisible cloaks forUlana. He'd _have_ to take her with him. And a silent prayer forher safety was on his lips.

  Invisible now, and hand in hand, they followed Dantor through thedeserted passageways to the lift which carried them quickly to theroof. A drumming sound came to their ears as they stood there lookingup into the blackness above the blue-white lights of Antrid. Vibratingto the tremendous roar of the rocket-tube, the copper shell emitted aconstantly increasing reverberation that was like a long drawn peal ofthunder on Earth or Venus. It was awe-inspiring, that sonorousbombilation; deafening.

  * * * * *

  Dantor was fumbling with the mechanisms of the remote control whichTiedus had used in returning the basket lift to the car that hadbrought the two Earth men from Ilen-dar. Again and again he returned tohis manipulations after peering anxiously upward. But the basket didnot respond to the call. They were marooned atop the empty shell of theTritu Anu!

  "Carson! Ulana! Where are you?" the aged scientist shouted above thedin, his face a tragic mask, his lips compressed with anxiety anddisappointment.

  They grasped him to reassure him, each taking a hand. Carson, placinghis lips close to the old man's ear, inquired anxiously, "What's thetrouble?"

  "The car does not respond. Something has happened to the motors,probably on account of the vibration. I can do nothing."

  And then, piercingly through the thunderings of the copper shell, avoice broke in--Ianito's voice. "Dantor!" it shrieked. "At last I havefound you. I need your help immediately. Wait there for the monorail."

  Dantor gripped them tightly to enjoin silence. Ianito had located thescientist with the searching ray and was still watching and listeningat his crystal. He seemed not to know that Blaine and Ulana were there.

  "Very well, oh Ianito. I shall wait," Dantor shouted.

  "It is good. There is important work to be done." Ianito's wordstrailed off into the maelstrom of sound that swirled about them.

  "He's cut off," the scientist yelled. "There is but one chance now. Youmust come with me, depending on absolute silence and your cloaks todeceive them. It is the only way."

  * * * * *

  Ulana clung to him there in the terrifying bedlam and Blaine's fingersstrayed to the comforting butt of the ray pistol. Whatever happenedthere were a few charges left; blasts of energy that would serve atleast to postpone the end for Ulana. Or, if worse came to worst--

  The sudden rush of a monorail car high overhead interrupted histhoughts. "Close to me now!" Dantor shouted; "but have a care lest oneof them touch you and discover--"

  A cable-hung cage dropped swiftly to the roof and they crowded inbeside the scientist. Quickly it whisked them aloft to the higherplane.

  In the monorail car Blaine held the girl close, and they trod softly asthey dodged the guard at the porthole and stepped into the passengercompartment. Two of Ianito's technical experts were there and a crew ofat least a dozen of the green-bronze giants. Unseen by any, the coupletiptoed to the farthest corner of the compartment and took seats in arecessed section.

  With a quick jerk and the rising whine of motors, the suspended vehiclestarted back in the direction of Ilen-dar. In earnest conversation withIanito's engineers, Dantor affected an air of nonchalance that wasartfully disarming. The Llotta suspected nothing as the car continuedon its way.

  And then there came an ominous grinding sound from underneath the veryseat occupied by the invisible fugitives. A puff of dense black smokefollowed and Ulana coughed spasmodically, uncontrollably. They werecoming now, two of the green-bronze ones, to investigate. There was noescape from this narrow space. And--Ulana was gone! She had slippedfrom his grasp in the coughing fit and he could not find her with hiswildly searching hands. Another betraying cough over there. Thegreen-bronze ones were between them. He saw one of them draw back inamazement, then clench his fingers and twist.

  The ripping sound of torn material followed and the girl's head andstartled face appeared: floating there, unsupported, her body and limbsas yet invisible. But they'd found her; she was lost!