Triplanetary Read online

  Produced by Greg Weeks, V. L. Simpson, Flash Sheridan andthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttps://www.pgdp.net. This file is gratefully uploaded tothe PG collection in honor of Distributed Proofreadershaving posted over 10,000 ebooks.

  [Transcriber's note:

  Typographical errors have been corrected.

  This etext was produced from Amazing Stories January, February, March and April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

  _Triplanetary_

  By EDWARD E. SMITH, Ph.D.

  We are sure that our readers will be highly pleased to have us give the first installment of a story by Dr. Smith. It will continue for several numbers and is a worthy follower of the "Skylark" stories which were so much appreciated by our readers. We think that they will find this story superior to the earlier ones. Dr. Smith certainly has the narrative power, and that, joined with his scientific position, makes him an ideal author for our columns.

  Illustrated by MOREY

  CHAPTER I

  Pirates of Space

  Apparently motionless to her passengers and crew, the Interplanetaryliner _Hyperion_ bored serenely onward through space at normalacceleration. In the railed-off sanctum in one corner of the controlroom a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradleyfrowned as he studied the brief message upon the tape of the recorder--amessage flashed to his desk from the operator's panel. He beckoned, andthe second officer, whose watch it now was, read aloud:

  "Reports of scout patrols still negative."

  "Still negative." The officer scowled in thought. "They've alreadysearched beyond the widest possible location of the wreckage, too. Twounexplained disappearances inside a month--first the _Dione_, then the_Rhea_--and not a plate nor a lifeboat recovered. Looks bad, sir. Onemight be an accident; two might possibly be a coincidence...." His voicedied away. What might that coincidence mean?

  "But at three it would get to be a habit," the captain finished thethought. "And whatever happened, happened quick. Neither of them hadtime to say a word--their location recorders simply went dead. But ofcourse they didn't have our detector screens nor our armament. Accordingto the observatories we're in clear ether, but I wouldn't trust themfrom Tellus to Luna. You have given the new orders, of course?"

  "Yes, sir. Detectors full out, all three courses of defensive screen onthe trips, projectors manned, suits on the hooks. Every object detectedin the outer space to be investigated immediately--if vessels, they areto be warned to stay beyond extreme range. Anything entering the fourthzone is to be rayed."

  "Right--we are going through!"

  "But no known type of vessel could have made away with them withoutdetection," the second officer argued. "I wonder if there isn'tsomething in those wild rumors we've been hearing lately?"

 

  Now, systematically and precisely, the great Cone of Battle was coming into being; a formation developed during the Jovian Wars while the forces of the Three Planets were fighting in space.]

  "Bah! Of course not!" snorted the captain. "Pirates in ships faster thanlight--fifth order rays--nullification of gravity--mass withoutinertia--ridiculous! Proved impossible, over and over again. No, sir, ifpirates are operating in space--and it looks very much like it--theywon't get far against a good big battery full of kilowatt-hours behindthree courses of heavy screen, and a good solid set of multiplex rays.Properly used, they're good enough for anybody. Pirates, Neptunians,angels, or devils--in ships or on sunbeams--if they tackle the_Hyperion_ we'll burn them out of the ether!"

  Leaving the captain's desk, the watch officer resumed his tour of duty.The six great lookout plates into which the alert observers peered wereblank, their far-flung ultra-sensitive detector screens encountering noobstacle--the ether was empty for thousands upon thousands ofkilometers. The signal lamps upon the pilot's panel were dark, itswarning bells were silent. A brilliant point of white in the center ofthe pilot's closely ruled micrometer grating, exactly upon thecross-hairs of his directors, showed that the immense vessel wasprecisely upon the calculated course, as laid down by the automaticintegrating course-plotters. Everything was quiet and in order.

  "All's well, sir," he reported briefly to Captain Bradley--but all wasnot well.

  * * * * *

  Danger--more serious far in that it was not external--was even then, allunsuspected, gnawing at the great ship's vitals. In a locked andshielded compartment, deep down in the interior of the liner, was thegreat air purifier. Now a man leaned against the primary duct--the aortathrough which flowed the stream of pure air supplying the entire vessel.This man, grotesque in full panoply of space armor, leaned against theduct, and as he leaned a drill bit deeper and deeper into the steel wallof the pipe. Soon it broke through, and the slight rush of air wasstopped by the insertion of a tightly fitting rubber tube. The tubeterminated in a heavy rubber balloon, which surrounded a frail glassbulb. The man stood tense, one hand holding before his silica-and-steelhelmeted head a large pocket chronometer, the other lightly grasping theballoon. A sneering grin was upon his face as he awaited the exactsecond of action--the carefully pre-determined instant when his righthand, closing, would shatter the fragile flask and force its contentsinto the primary air stream of the _Hyperion_!

  * * * * *

  Far above, in the main saloon, the regular evening dance was in fullswing. The ship's orchestra crashed into silence, there was a patter ofapplause and Clio Marsden, radiant belle of the voyage, led her partnerout into the promenade and up to one of the observation plates.

  "Oh, we can't see the earth any more!" she exclaimed. "Which way do youturn this, Mr. Costigan?"

  "Like this," and Conway Costigan, burly young first officer of theliner, turned the dials. "There--this plate is looking back, or down, atTellus; this other one is looking ahead."

  Earth was a brilliantly shining crescent far beneath the flying vessel.Above her, ruddy Mars and silvery Jupiter blazed in splendor ineffableagainst a background of utterly indescribable blackness--a backgroundthickly besprinkled with dimensionless points of dazzling brilliancewhich were the stars.

  "Oh, isn't it wonderful!" breathed the girl, awed. "Of course, I supposethat it's old stuff to you, but I--a ground-gripper, you know, and Icould look at it forever, I think. That's why I want to come out hereafter every dance. You know, I ..."

  Her voice broke off suddenly, with a queer, rasping catch, as she seizedhis arm in a frantic clutch and as quickly went limp. He stared at hersharply, and understood instantly the message written in her eyes--eyesnow enlarged, staring hard, brilliant, and full of soul-searing terroras she slumped down, helpless but for his support. In the act ofexhaling as he was, lungs almost entirely empty, yet he held his breathuntil he had seized the microphone from his belt and had snapped thelever to "emergency."

  "Control room!" he gasped then, and every speaker throughout the greatcruiser of the void blared out the warning as he forced his alreadyevacuated lungs to absolute emptiness. "Vee-Two Gas! Get tight!"

  Writhing and twisting in his fierce struggle to keep his lungs fromgulping in a draft of that noxious atmosphere, and with the unconsciousform of the girl draped limply over his left arm, Costigan leaped towardthe portal of the nearest lifeboat. Orchestra instruments crashed to thefloor and dancing couples fell and sprawled inertly while the torturedFirst Officer swung the door of the lifeboat open and dashed across thetiny room to the air-valves. Throwing them wide open, he put his mouthto the orifice and let his laboring lungs gasp their eager fill of thecold blast roaring from the tanks. Then, air-hunger partially assuaged,he again held his breath, broke open the emergency locker, donn
ed one ofthe space-suits always kept there, and opened its valves wide in orderto flush out of his uniform any lingering trace of the lethal gas.

  He then leaped back to his companion. Shutting off the air, he releaseda stream of pure oxygen, held her face in it, and made shift to forcesome of it into her lungs by compressing and releasing her chest againsthis own body. Soon she drew a spasmodic breath, choking and coughing,and he again changed the gaseous stream to one of pure air, speakingurgently as she showed signs of returning consciousness. Now, it wasClio Marsden's life.

  "Stand up!" he snapped. "Hang onto this brace and keep your face in thisair-stream until I get a suit around you! Got me?"

  She nodded weakly, and, assured that she could now hold herself at thevalve, it was the work of only a minute to encase her in one of theprotective coverings. Then, as she sat upon a bench, recovering herstrength, he flipped on the lifeboat's visiphone projector and shot itsinvisible beam up into the control room, where he saw space-armoredfigures furiously busy at the panels.

  "Dirty work at the cross-roads!" he blazed to his captain, man toman--formality disregarded, as it so often was in the Triplanetaryservice. "There's skulduggery afoot somewhere in our primary air! Maybethat's the way they got those other two ships--pirates! Might have beena timed bomb--don't see how anybody could have stowed away down therethrough the inspections, and nobody but Franklin can neutralize theshield of the air-room--but I'm going to look around, anyway. Then I'lljoin you fellows up there."

  "What was it?" the shaken girl asked. "I think that I remember yoursaying 'Vee-Two gas.' That's forbidden! Anyway, I owe you my life,Conway, and I'll never forget it--never. Thanks--but the others--howabout all the rest of us?"

  "It was Vee-Two, and it is forbidden," Costigan replied grimly, eyesfast upon the flashing plate, whose point of projection was now deep inthe bowels of the vessel. "The penalty for using it or having it isdeath on sight. Gangsters and pirates use it, since they have nothing tolose, being on the death list already. As for your life, I haven't savedit yet--you may wish I'd let it ride before we get done. The others aretoo far gone for oxygen--couldn't have brought even you around a fewseconds later, quick as I got to you. But there's a sure antidote--weall carry it in a lock-box in our armor--and we all know how to use it,because crooks all use Vee-Two and so we're always expecting it. Butsince the air will be pure again in half an hour we'll be able to revivethe others easily enough if we can get by with whatever is going tohappen next. There's the bird that did it, right in the air-room! It'sthe chief engineer's suit, but that isn't Franklin that's in it. Somepassenger--disguised--slugged the chief--took his suit andprojectors--hole in duct--p-s-s-t! All washed out! Maybe that's all hewas scheduled to do to us in this performance, but he'll do nothing elsein this life!"

  "Don't go down there!" protested the girl. "His armor is _so_ muchbetter than that emergency suit you are wearing, and he's got Mr.Franklin's Lewiston, besides!"

  "Don't be an idiot!" he snapped. "We can't have a live pirateaboard--we're going to be altogether too busy with outsiders directly.Don't worry, I'm not going to give him a break. I'm taking a Standishand I'll rub him out like a blot. Stay right here until I come backafter you," he commanded, and the heavy, vacuum insulated door of thelifeboat clanged shut behind him as he leaped out into the promenade.

  Straight across the saloon he made his way, paying no attention to theinert forms scattered here and there. Going up to a blank wall, hemanipulated an almost invisible dial set flush with its surface, swung aheavy door aside, and lifted out the Standish--a fearsome weapon. Squat,huge, and heavy, it resembled somewhat an overgrown machine rifle, butone possessing a thick, short telescope, with several opaque condensinglenses and parabolic reflectors. Laboring under the weight of the thing,he strode along corridors and clambered heavily down short stairways.Finally he came to the purifier room, and grinned savagely as he saw thegreenish haze of light obscuring the door and walls--the shield wasstill in place; the pirate was still inside, still flooding with theterrible Vee-Two the _Hyperion's_ primary air.

  He set his peculiar weapon down, unfolded its three massive legs,crouched down behind it and threw in a switch. Dull red beams offrightful intensity shot from the reflectors and sparks, almost oflightning proportions, leaped from the shielding screen under theirimpact. Roaring and snapping, the conflict went on for seconds; then,under the superior force of the Standish, the greenish radiance gaveway. Behind it the metal of the door ran the gamut of color--red,yellow, blinding whiter--then literally exploded; molten, vaporized,burned away. Through the aperture thus made Costigan could plainly seethe pirate in the space-armor of the chief engineer--an armor which wasproof against rifle fire and which could reflect and neutralize for somelittle time even the terrific beam Costigan was employing. Nor was thepirate unarmed--a vicious flare of incandescence leaped from hisLewiston, to spend its force in spitting, crackling pyrotechnics againstthe ether-wall of the squat and monstrous Standish. But Costigan'sinfernal machine did not rely only upon vibratory destruction. At almostthe first flash of the pirate's weapon the officer touched a trigger;there was a double report, ear-shattering in that narrowly confinedspace; and the pirate's body literally flew into mist as a half-kilogramshell tore through his armor and exploded. Costigan shut off his beam,and, with not the slightest softening of one hard lineament, staredaround the air-room; making sure that no serious damage had been done tothe vital machinery of the air-purifier--the very lungs of the greatspace-ship.

  Dismounting the Standish, he lugged it back up to the main saloon,replaced it in its safe and again set the combination lock. Thence tothe lifeboat, where Clio cried out in relief as she saw that he wasunhurt.

  "Oh, Conway, I've been so afraid something would happen to you!" sheexclaimed, as he led her rapidly upward toward the control room. "Ofcourse you...." she paused.

  "Sure," he replied, laconically. "Nothing to it. How do you feel--aboutback to normal?"

  "All right, I think, except for being scared to death and just about outof control. I don't suppose that I'll be good for anything, but whateverI can do, count me in on."

  "Fine--you may be needed, at that. Everybody's out, apparently, exceptthose who, like me, had a warning and could hold their breath until theygot to their suits."

  "But how did you know what it was? You can't see it, nor smell it, noranything."

  "You inhaled a second before I did, and I saw your eyes. I've been in itbefore--and when you see a man get a jolt of that stuff just once, younever forget it. The engineers down below got it first, of course--itmust have wiped them out. Then we got it in the saloon. Your passing outwarned me, and luckily I had enough breath left to give the word. Quitea few of the fellows up above should have had time to get away--we'llsee 'em all in the control room."

  "I suppose that was why you revived me--in payment for so kindly warningyou of the gas attack?" The girl laughed; shaky, but game.

  "Something like that, probably," he answered, lightly. "Here we are--nowwe'll soon find out what's going to happen next."

  In the control room they saw at least a dozen armored figures; not nowrushing about, but seated at their instruments, tense and ready.Fortunate it was that Costigan--veteran of space as he was, though youngin years--had been down in the saloon; fortunate that he had beenfamiliar with that horrible outlawed gas; fortunate that he had had thepresence of mind enough and sheer physical stamina enough to send hiswarning without allowing one paralyzing trace to enter his own lungs.Captain Bradley, the men on watch, and several other officers in theirquarters or in the wardrooms--space-hardened veterans all--had obeyedinstantly and without question the amplifiers' gasped command to "gettight." Exhaling or inhaling, their air-passages had snapped as thatdread "Vee-Two" was heard, and they had literally jumped into theirarmored suits of space--flushing them out with volume after volume ofunquestionable air; holding their breath to the last possible second,until their straining lungs could endure no more.

  Costigan waved the g
irl to a vacant bench, cautiously changed into hisown armor from the emergency suit he had been wearing, and approachedthe captain.

  "Anything in sight, sir?" he asked, saluting. "They should have startedsomething before this."

  "They've started, but we can't locate them. We tried to send out ageneral sector alarm, but that had hardly started when they blanketedour wave. Look at that!"

  Following the captain's eyes, Costigan stared at the high powered set ofthe ship's operator. Upon the plate, instead of a moving, living,three-dimensional picture, there was a flashing glare of blinding whitelight; from the speaker, instead of intelligible speech, was issuing aroaring, crackling stream of noise.

  "It's impossible!" Bradley burst out, violently. "There's not a gram ofmetal inside the fourth zone--within a hundred thousand kilometers--andyet they must be close to send such a wave as that. But the Secondthinks not--what do you think, Costigan?" The bluff commander,reactionary and of the old school as was his breed, wasfurious--baffled, raging inwardly to come to grips with the invisibleand undetectable foe. Face to face with the inexplicable, however, helistened to the younger men with unusual tolerance.

  "It's not only possible; it's quite evident that they've got somethingwe haven't." Costigan's voice was bitter. "But why shouldn't they have?Service ships never get anything until it's been experimented with foryears, but pirates and such always get the new stuff as soon as it'sdiscovered. The only good thing I can see is that we got part of amessage away, and the scouts can trace that interference out there. Butthe pirates know that, too--it won't be long now," he concluded, grimly.

  He spoke truly. Before another word was spoken the outer screen flaredwhite under a beam of terrific power, and simultaneously there appearedupon one of the lookout plates a vivid picture of the pirate vessel--ahuge, black globe of steel, now emitting flaring offensive beams offorce. Her invisibility lost, now that she had gone into action, she layrevealed in the middle of the first zone--at point-blank range.

  Instantly the powerful weapons of the _Hyperion_ were brought to bear,and in the blast of full-driven beams the stranger's screens flamedincandescent. Heavy guns, under the recoil of whose fierce salvos, theframe of the giant globe trembled and shuddered, shot out their tons ofhigh-explosive shell. But the pirate commander had known accurately thestrength of the liner, and knew that her armament was impotent againstthe forces at his command. His screens were invulnerable, the giantshells were exploded harmlessly in mid-space, miles from theirobjective. And suddenly a frightened pencil of flame stabbed brilliantlyfrom the black hulk of the enemy. Through the empty ether it tore,through the mighty defensive screens, through the tough metal of theouter and inner walls. Every ether-defence of the _Hyperion_ vanished,and her acceleration dropped to a quarter of its normal value.

  "Right through the battery room!" Bradley groaned. "We're on theemergency drive now. Our rays are done for, and we can't seem to put ashell anywhere near her with our guns!"

  But ineffective as the guns were, they were silenced forever as afrightful beam of destruction stabbed relentlessly through the controlroom, whiffing out of existence the pilot, gunnery, and lookout panelsand the men before them. The air rushed into space, and the suits of thethree survivors bulged out into drumhead tightness as the pressure inthe room decreased.

  Costigan pushed the captain lightly toward a wall, then seized the girland leaped in the same direction.

  "Let's get out of here, quick!" he cried, the miniature radioinstruments of the helmets automatically taking up the duty oftransmitting speech as the sound disks refused to function. "They can'tsee us--our ether wall is still up and their spy-sprays can't getthrough it from the outside, you know. They're working from blue-prints,and they'll probably take your desk next," and even as they boundedtoward the door, now become the outer seal of an airlock, theannihilating ray tore through the space which they had just quitted intheir flight.

  Through the airlock, down through several levels of passengers' quartersthey hurried, and into a lifeboat, whose one doorway commanded the fulllength of the third lounge--an ideal spot, either for defense or forescape outward by means of the miniature cruiser. As they entered theirretreat they felt their weight begin to increase. More and more forcewas applied to the helpless liner, until it was moving at normalacceleration.

  "What do you make of that, Costigan?" asked the captain. "Tractorbeams?"

  "Apparently. They've got something, all right. They're taking ussomewhere, fast. I'll go get a couple of Standishes, and another suit ofarmor--we'd better dig in," and soon the small room became a veritablefortress, housing as it did, those two formidable engines ofdestruction. Then the first officer made another and longer trip,returning with a complete suit of triplanetary space armor, exactly likethose worn by the two men, but considerably smaller.

  "Just as an added factor of safety, you'd better put this on,Clio--those emergency suits aren't good for much in a battle. I don'tsuppose that you ever fired a Standish, did you?"

  "No, but I can soon learn how to do it," she replied, pluckily.

  "Two is all that can work here at once, but you should know how to takehold in case one of us goes out. And while you're changing suits you'dbetter put on some stuff I've got here--Service special phones anddetectors. Stick this little disk onto your chest with this bit of tape;low down, out of sight. Just under your wishbone is the best place. Takeoff your wrist-watch and wear this one _continuously_--never take it offfor a second. Put on these pearls, and wear them all the time, too. Takethis capsule and hide it against your skin, some place where it can't befound except by the most rigid search. Swallow it in an emergency--itgoes down easily and works just as well inside as outside. It is themost important thing of all--you can get along with it alone if you loseeverything else, but without that capsule the whole system's shot topieces. With that outfit, if we should get separated, you can talk tous--we're both wearing 'em, although somewhat different forms. You don'tneed to talk loud--just a mutter will be enough. They're handy littleoutfits, almost impossible to find, and capable of a lot of things."

  "Thanks, Conway--I'll remember that, too," Clio replied, as she turnedtoward the tiny locker to follow his instructions. "But won't the scoutsand patrols be catching us pretty quick? The operator sent a warning."

  "Afraid the ether's empty, as far as we're concerned. They couldneutralize our detector screens, and the scouts' detectors are the sameas ours."

  Captain Bradley had stood by in silent astonishment during thisconversation. His eyes had bulged slightly at Costigan's "we're bothwearing 'em," but he had held his peace and as the girl disappeared alook of dawning comprehension came over his face.

  "Oh, I see, sir," he said, respectfully--far more respectfully than hehad ever before addressed a mere first officer. "Meaning that we both_will be_ wearing them shortly, I assume. 'Service Specials'--but youdidn't specify exactly _what_ Service, did you?"

  "Now that you mention it, I don't believe that I did," Costigan grinned.

  "That explains several things about you--particularly your recognitionof Vee-Two and your uncanny control and speed of reaction. But aren'tyou...."

  "No," Costigan interrupted, positively. "This situation is apt to getaltogether too serious to overlook any bets. If we get away, I'll takethem away from her and she'll never know that they aren't routineequipment in the Triplanetary Service. As for you, I know that you canand do keep your mouth shut. That's why I'm hanging this junk on you--Ihad a lot of stuff in my kit, but I flashed it all with the Standish,except what I brought in here for us three. Whether you think so or not,we're in a real jam--our chance of getting away is mightly close tozero. Now that I've gone this far, I might as well tell you that I don'tbelieve these birds are pirates at all, in the ordinary sense of theword. And it may be possible that they're after me, but I don't thinkso--we've covered up too...."

  He broke off as the girl came back, now to all appearances a smallTriplanetary officer, and the three settled down to a long and
eventlesswait. Hour after hour they flew through the ether, but finally there wasa lurching swing and an abrupt increase in their acceleration. After ashort consultation Captain Bradley turned on the visiray set and, withthe beam at its minimum power, peered cautiously downward, in thedirection opposite to that in which he knew the pirate vessel must be.All three stared into the plate, seeing only an infinity of emptiness,marked only by the infinitely remote and coldly brilliant stars. Whilethey stared into space a vast area of the heavens was blotted out andthey saw, faintly illuminated by a peculiar blue luminescence, a vastball--a sphere so large and so close that they seemed to be droppingdownward toward it as though it were a world! They came to astop--paused, weightless--a vast door slid smoothly aside--they weredrawn _upward_ through an airlock and floated quietly in the air above asmall, but brightly-lighted and orderly city of metallic buildings!Gently the _Hyperion_ was lowered, to come to rest in the embracing armsof a regulation landing cradle.

  "Well, wherever it is, we're here," remarked Captain Bradley, grimly.

  "And now the fireworks start," assented Costigan, with a questioningglance at the girl.

  "Don't mind me," she answered his unspoken question. "I don't believe insurrendering, either."

  "Right," and both men squatted down behind the ether-walls of theirterrific weapons; the girl prone behind them.

  They had not long to wait. A group of human beings--men and to allappearance Americans--appeared unarmed in the little lounge. As soon asthey were well inside the room, Bradley and Costigan released upon themwithout compunction the full power of their frightful projectors. Fromthe reflectors, through the doorway, there tore a concentrated doublebeam of pure destruction--but that beam did not reach its goal. Yardsfrom the men it met a screen of impenetrable density. Instantly thegunners pressed their triggers and a stream of high-explosive shellsissued from the roaring weapons. But shells, also, were futile. Theystruck the shield and vanished--vanished without exploding and withoutleaving a trace to show that they had ever existed.

  Costigan sprang to his feet, but before he could launch his intendedattack a vast tunnel appeared beside him--an annihilating ray had sweptthrough the entire width of the liner, cutting instantly a smoothcylinder of emptiness. Air rushed in to fill the vacuum, and the threevisitors felt themselves seized by invisible forces and drawn into thetunnel. Through it they floated, up to and over the buildings, finallyslanting downward toward the door of a great high-powered structure.Doors opened before them and closed behind them, until at last theystood upright in a room which was evidently the office of a busyexecutive. They faced a desk which, in addition to the usual equipmentof the business man, carried a bewilderingly complete switchboard andinstrument panel.

  Seated impassively at the desk there was a gray man. Not only was hedressed entirely in gray, but his heavy hair was gray, his eyes weregray, and even his tanned skin seemed to give the impression of graynessin disguise. His overwhelming personality radiated an aura ofgrayness--not the gentle gray of the dove, but the resistless, drivinggray of the super-dreadnaught; the hard, inflexible, brittle gray of thefracture of high-carbon steel.

  "Captain Bradley, First Officer Costigan, Miss Marsden," the man spokequietly, but crisply. "I had not intended you two men to live so long.That is a detail, however, which we will pass by for the moment. You mayremove your suits."

  Neither officer moved, but both stared back at the speakerunflinchingly.

  "I am not accustomed to repeating instructions," the man at the deskcontinued; voice still low and level, but instinct with deadly menace."You may choose between removing those suits and dying in them, here andnow."

  Costigan moved over to Clio and slowly took off her armor. Then, after aflashing exchange of glances and a muttered word, the two officers threwoff their suits simultaneously and fired at the same instant; Bradleywith his Lewiston, Costigan with a heavy automatic pistol whose bulletswere explosive shells of tremendous power. But the man in gray,surrounded by an impenetrable wall of force, only smiled at thefusillade, tolerantly and maddeningly. Costigan leaped fiercely, only tobe hurled backward as he struck that unyielding, invisible wall. Avicious beam snapped him back into place, the weapons were snatchedaway, and all three captives were held in their former positions.

  "I permitted that, as a demonstration of futility," the gray man said,his hard voice becoming harder, "but I will permit no more foolishness.Now I will introduce myself. I am known as Roger. You probably haveheard nothing of me yet but you will--if you live. Whether or not youtwo live depends solely upon yourselves. Being something of a student ofmen, I fear that you will both die shortly. Able and resourceful as youhave just shown yourselves to be, you could be valuable to me, but youprobably will not--in which case you shall, of course, cease to exist.That, however, in its proper time--you shall be of some slight serviceto me in the process of being eliminated. In your case, Miss Marsden, Ifind myself undecided between two courses of action; each highlydesirable, but unfortunately mutually exclusive. Your father will beglad to ransom you at an exceedingly high figure, but, in spite of thatfact, I may decide to keep you for--well, let us say for certainpurposes."

  "Yes?" Clio rose magnificently to the occasion. Fear forgotten, hercourageous spirit flashed from her clear, young eyes and emanated fromher slender, rounded young body, erect in defiance. "Since I am acaptive, you can of course do anything you please with me up to acertain point--but no further, believe me!"

  With no sign of having heard her outburst Roger pressed a button and atall, comely woman, appeared--a woman of indefinite age and of uncertainnationality.

  "Show Miss Marsden to her apartment," he directed, and as the two womenwent out a man came in.

  "The cargo is unloaded, sir," the newcomer reported. "The two men andthe five women indicated have been taken to the hospital," was thereport of the man.

  "Very well, dispose of the others in the usual fashion." The minion wentout, and Roger continued, emotionlessly:

  "Collectively, the other passengers may be worth a million or so, but itwould not be worth while to waste time upon them."

  "What are you, anyway?" blazed Costigan, helpless but enraged beyondcaution. "I have heard of mad scientists who tried to destroy the earth,and of equally mad geniuses who thought themselves Napoleons capable ofconquering even the Solar System. Whichever you are, you should knowthat you can't get away with it."

  "I am neither. I am, however, a scientist, and I direct many otherscientists. I am not mad. You have undoubtedly noticed several peculiarfeatures of this place?"

  "Yes, particularly the artificial gravity, which has always beenconsidered impossible, and those screens. An ordinary ether-wall isopaque in one direction, and doesn't bar matter--yours are transparentboth ways and something more than impenetrable to matter. How do you doit?"

  "You could not understand them if I explained them to you, and they aremerely two of our smaller developments. I have no serious designs uponthe earth nor upon the Solar System, nor have I any desire to rule over,or to control the destinies of masses of futile and brainless men. Ihave, however, certain ends of my own in view. To accomplish my plans Irequire hundreds of millions in gold, other hundreds of millions inplatinum and noble metal, and some five kilograms of the bromide ofradium--all of which I shall take from the planets of this Solar Systembefore I leave it. I shall take them in spite of the puerile efforts ofthe fleets of your Triplanetary League.

  "This structure, floating in a planetary orbit, was designed by me andbuilt under my direction. It is protected from meteorites by certainforces of my devising. It is undetectable and invisible--your detectorsdo not touch it and light-waves are bent around it without loss ordistortion. I am discussing these points at such length so that you mayrealize exactly your position. As I have intimated, you can be ofassistance to me if you will."

  "Now just what could you offer any _man_ to make him join your outfit?"demanded Costigan, venomously.

  "Many things." Roger's cold tone bet
rayed no emotion, no recognition ofCostigan's open and bitter contempt. "I have under me many men, bound tome by many ties. Needs, wants, longings and desires differ from man toman, and I can satisfy practically any of them. Personally, I takedelight in the society of young and beautiful women, and many men havethat same taste; but there are other urges which I have found quiteefficient. Greed, thirst for fame, longing for power, and so on,including many qualities usually regarded as 'noble.' And what Ipromise, I deliver. I demand only loyalty to me, and that only incertain things and for a relatively short period. In all else, my men doas they please. In conclusion, I can use you two conveniently, but I donot need you. Therefore you may choose now between my service and--thealternative."

  "Exactly what is the alternative?"

  "We will not go into that. Suffice it to say that it has to do with aminor research, which is not progressing satisfactorily. It will resultin your extinction, and perhaps I should mention that that extinctionwill not be particularly pleasant."

  "I say NO, you...." Bradley roared. He intended to give an unexpurgatedclassification, but was rudely interrupted.

  "Hold on a minute!" snapped Costigan. "How about Miss Marsden?"

  "She has nothing to do with this discussion," returned Roger, icily. "Ido not bargain--in fact, I believe that I shall keep her for a time. Shehas it in mind to destroy herself, if I do not allow her to be ransomed,but she will find that door closed to her until I permit it to open."

  "In that case, I string along with the Chief--take what he started tosay about you and run it clear across the board for me!" barkedCostigan.

  "Very well. That decision was to be expected from men of your type." Thegray man touched two buttons and two of his creatures entered the room."Put these men into separate cells on the second level," he ordered."Search them to the skin: all their weapons may not have been in theirarmor. Seal the doors and mount special guards, tuned to me here."

  Imprisoned they were, and carefully searched; but they bore no arms, andnothing had been said or thought of communicators. Even if suchinstruments could be concealed, Roger would detect their use instantly.At least, so would have run his thought had the subject entered hismind. But even Roger had no inkling of the possibility of Costigan's"Service Special" phones, detectors and spy-ray--instruments of minutesize and of infinitesimal power, but yet instruments which, working asthey were, below the level of the ether, were effective at greatdistances and caused no vibrations in the ether by which their use couldbe detected. And what could be more innocent than the regulation,personal equipment of every officer of space? The heavy goggles, thewrist-watch and its supplementary pocket chronometer, the flash-lamp,the automatic lighter, the sender, the money-belt?

  All these items of equipment were examined with due care; but thecleverest minds of Triplanetary's Secret Service had designated thosecommunicators to pass any ordinary search, however careful, and whenCostigan and Bradley were finally locked into the designated cells, theystill possessed their ultra-instruments.