Dirk Wylie

“ Marquis unrolled a small chart, holding it so both Dorothy and Nick could see. “This,” he explained, “you can check at your leisure, though I’m a monkey’s uncle if you find anything wrong with it. To sum it up briefly, the Columbia is not only the largest space-ship ever made but also the fastest and most powerful.”
“Very nice,” replied Nick, “but that alone isn’t good enough. We can still be the fastest thing aspace and not be capable of a voyage to Alpha Centauri and back within the span of a lifetime.” ”

“ His voice was taut as he spoke. "It's your ship, Woller, but I'm taking it over. Woller—Alan Woller—look at me. Do you know who I am?"
Woller stared deep into the icy eyes confronting him. The doubt flared again in his own. His jaw dropped slack. His brows lifted and he whispered, "Nolan!"
Nolan didn't bother to nod. He said grimly, "Your hands—hold them where they are. You, too, Vincennes. I've come a long way for this and I don't mind killing. You taught me that, Woller. A man's life is nothing. ”

“ The song of power that came out of the skid's jets brought a quick, slight smile to her lips. Nolan caught a glimpse of her eyes reflected back at him from the plastic panel. Appreciative eyes.
He averted his look. Would there be another time when he could meet the gaze of a decent girl and answer it?
When Woller's dead, his subconscious answered him. Until then you're not a man, Nolan. You're a weapon!
The skid was climbing, hugging the side of one of the vast foothills to Annihilation Range itself, a hundred-foot chasm on one side and the cliff on the other. ”

“ When Dorothy came in, Nick gripped her hands and clung to her. There was no need for words. Silently they looked out of the port onto the scene of their prison, grey twilight world with its sky of starlit black.
Finally he straightened up, reached out and pressed the call-button which would summon all hands to the control room.
“There is nothing wrong with the rocket tubes, or the fuel,” he said softly when all had come. “Everything is working as it should work. Our rockets just aren’t strong enough to get us off.”
“But the contracels?” burst out Marquis bewilderedly.
Hartnett shook his head. ”

“ They’d prepared a sort of berth by splashing the terrain before them with blasts from the emergency rocket tubes, fore and aft, but the landing had still been rough, not the kind which would leave a ship in full dress paint.
Somewhere before them, precisely how far they could not know, was the lost Orion.
“I think,” mused Nick, “that the reason for the odd feeling is that we are so vitally aware of the planet’s rotation. After all, Earth is no laggard, either, but it’s so damned big in comparison to this, and so few people, relatively have been off it as yet. ”

“ Recovering from the shock of the skid's arrival it began to prepare for motion again. The head poked out toward the skid on a long, scrawny neck, examined it minutely. The big carapace shivered and rose slightly off the ground as the multitude of tiny legs took up the task of carrying it forward.
Nolan stood motionless. The creature moved ponderously toward him, ignoring him. In the dull mind of the creature an object as tiny as a man was nothing. Even the skid was merely another sort of boulder, against which it could lean, send it hurtling over to destruction, out of its way. ”

“ Paralyzed with mingled amazement and terror they stood, bracing themselves for an impact which would destroy them utterly, volatilize them and the ship with such titanic swiftness that their consciousness would be obliterated before any sensations of it could reach them. ”

“ And a tiny voice within his helmet said, "Don't move, Nolan. You can't get away now. You'll die if you try. Next time you play hide-and-seek with me, Nolan—don't leave your helmet radio on!"
If Woller had burned with rage before, now he was frozen. He was a blind man there before Nolan, his eyes swathed in thick white bandages. But the hulking Earthman with the pyro who stood by his side, and lean black Captain Vincennes at the controls, were eyes enough for him. ”

“ No concussion wave struck them, yet they saw the surface of Hastur cleft and crumpled before them, saw the monster bury itself in the planetoid. There was a flare of light which made them blink for an instant, and that was all.
“Veer away,” gasped Nick. “We don’t want to be tumbled into that chasm.”
Timbie’s fingers darted over the controls, and they were lurched side-wise as the Columbia went off at a tangent to their former course. The bewilderment of what they had just seen still lay upon them; their minds were numb with the incredibility of it.
Dorothy’s eyes met Nick’s. “Are we dead?” ”

“ Nolan grimaced and nodded. He picked his way over the jolting floor, blaster out, to the threshold. His groping hand encountered the lume switch, flooded the cargo hatch with light. It was almost empty. A few crates, the long casket-like object he had seen in the ship. Nothing behind which a man could hide.
Nolan turned to see the masquerader unzipping the folds of his heat suit with one hand while he guided the careening skid with the other. ”

“ It was a suicide job, but those suicides could keep the entire ship from being blasted to free electrons.
“They did. If you’d come from the other side, you’d have seen the great gaping crater and the hole in the ship.”
“I don’t understand. . . .” started Dorothy.
“I do,” spoke up Nick. “When the Orion left, the only rocket fuel which was any good was HZ 7. It had one fault, however. Let any atmosphere get at it and it would vaporize and seep through practically every known substance, except wax. And that vapor was about ten times as touchy as nitro. ”

“ Clogged feeders, Nolan thought as he felt the uneven vibrations. If he doesn't watch out he'll have a backblast.
The skid faltered past him, no faster than he could run. He looked away from the incandescent flare of the one tail jet, then that stopped too. Tall as a man, a dozen feet long, the skid lay waiting on the trail.
Waiting for Steve Nolan?
Anything was better than walking. Nolan walked up to the skid, not fast, and kicked solidly at the entrance. ”

“ It is not pleasant to see a strong man try to shriek in agony, and fail because the air has bubbled from his lungs.
The outer door of the skid was open, and the impostor trotted in. When Nolan was beside him he leaned on the lock control. Ever so slowly, the outer door closed; slowly the inner opened.
They burst into a chamber where a man was just rising from a telescreen, face contorted with consternation and hate, hand bringing up a pyro from a drawer in the chart table. ”

“ For caught now in one of the brilliant arms was a flattish many-legged thing, looking more like a centipede than anything else. It had a barbed tail like a scorpion, and was writhing and trying to spear the other desperately. But the hunter had calculated well and encircled its prey in such a manner that the barb could not reach it. Closer to the brilliant body the struggling thing was borne, then a slit appeared in the side of the victor, and a deep red orifice grew. ”

“ The ungainly skid shuddered, then drove forward. The stranger opened all jets to the limits of their power. Creaking and groaning, the skid responded. The dial of the speed indicator showed mounting acceleration, far beyond what the ship was designed for.
Nolan, clinging with one arm to a floor-bolted chair, threw back his helmet and yelled: "I'm ready any time! What's the story? Who the devil are you?" ”

“ We’ll take what we can from the Orion—and I suspect that you and your book, Steve, will be all—then scram away from here fast.”
He clasped Dorothy’s hand. “I only want a hole for one head in that little sweater.”
Joe Timbie turned to Hartnett and Nick with a despairing gesture. “See? All we do is slide along the ground. I’ve given her the best blasts we have and there’s the result.”
“A good thing they’ve found a new kind of rocket fuel in these last years.” ”

“ Vincennes said. "Pickle him in a sleep-box like—"
"Be still, Vincennes!" Woller's voice was sharp. "I'll ask for advice when I want it!"
A sleep-box—Nolan remembered suddenly what they were. Small coffins, large enough for a man, equipped with an atomic-powered generator that kept the occupant in a sort of half-death, not breathing or able to move, but capable of existing almost indefinitely without food.
Nolan wondered absently what they were doing with sleep-boxes, then gave it up. It didn't matter. He cursed the carelessness that had led him to leave the radio on in his suit. ”

“ Hastily they made their way down the decline, ran in awkward, elephantine steps toward it. As they approached they could see how beaten and scarred it looked.
They bounded to the port and breathlessly clanged upon it. It was shut tightly. Impatiently they beat upon it until finally it swooshed open and they filed into the airlock. Imperturbably the outer door snapped close behind them, clamlike, and painfully slow the inner port dragged itself open. ”

“ Woller could die before him now, and he would be avenged. But Woller alive could say the words that would wipe out the banishment, would return him to the green star that was home. Woller could be made to confess—
"I ought to blast you now," he said in a soft, chill tone that was like a whip to Woller, jerking him upright. "I ought to, and I will if I must. But you can live if you want to."
Woller was licking his lips, his face a mask, only his panic-stricken eyes alive.
"You can live," Nolan repeated. "A full statement about the Junta frame, in writing. ”

“ The wrinkled little man always sat in the noisiest spot he could find. This time it was a table right behind the four-piece orchestra, pride of the proprietor's heart.
Nolan stood silently for a moment behind the little man's chair to watch the play. He marveled at the ease with which Petersen's gnarled fingers handled the flying pasteboards. As usual, Petersen's pile of chips was low, and the set of his back was discouraged.
Nolan grinned. It was part of Petersen's stock-in-trade to look like the tail end of a losing streak. The sucker trade stays away from a winning gambler. ”

“ But we have to decelerate slowly or we’re basket cases, if anybody ever finds us at all.”
“Wherever they are,” mused Nick, “it’s going to be one sweet job finding the planetoid in this space. It’ll be practically invisible because of the distance from the sun. We may go by it a couple of times.” He jabbed a call button sharply then spoke into a mike. “Grenville? What’s doing? Oh, you are!” He turned to the others. “Our chemical engineer is turning his inventive genius to a superior blend of the rocket blast. How lovely.”
“Noble pastime,” put in Dorothy. ”

“ Nolan shivered, and absently turned up the heat control of his suit. He felt suddenly hopeless. One man against—what? His thoughts, unbidden, reverted to the girl he had left in Avalon, and to the sordid fear that she might be what she seemed. Nolan's cheek muscles drew tight, and his face hardened. Woller, partly protected by his heat suit, undoubtedly had lived through the instant inferno when the pyro charge went off. ”

“ All alone here—not strong enough to do much more than take care of myself, write, and send signals out. Didn’t go outside much after—”
Dorothy faced him, her eyes misty. “Don’t try to soften it Steve—I knew as soon as I came in the ship. Harry’s dead, isn’t he? Like all the others?”
Hartnett nodded. “Yes—like all the others.”
“There’s not much to tell,” said Hartnett slowly, after the meal had been finished. “We started out in the Orion much the same as you did in the Columbia, tested the contracels and decided everything was all right. ”

“ Nolan nodded and entered, but his thoughts were racing.
Paint the panels! It would take the whole crew, and they'd never get it off. If they opaqued with paint the ship would be blind for weeks. The filter shutters—great strips of polarized colloid—were the only solution to the problem of keeping out the worst of the sun's dread radiations, but admitting enough light to guide the ship. But they had to be put on externally, before the ship took off. Mars? This ship, ports transparent as they were, would never dare approach the sun's blinding energies closer than Jupiter! ”

“ Edgar turned to Nick. “It might—matter of fact, it should.”
Hartnett bit his lips. “It’s a long chance,” he said, “but still a chance. If the ship will hold together under the terrific punishment it would have to take, sliding along the ground on our rocket blasts, then we may be able to do it.”
“Okay,” declared Nick. “Everybody get into space suits, make sure the air-making apparatus is in order, and take your stations. We’ve got to have lookouts covering all sectors to spot any possible punctures of the hull. As soon as everybody’s checked from their posts, Joe, let her rip.” ”

“ In a moment it would be gone!
"Damn!" yelled Nolan, to the sole detriment of his own eardrums. Already the slight amount of air in his suit was nearly used up. But as soon as the web reached full focus the Dragonfly would blast off and Woller would be beyond reach for a long time!
Nolan swore fervently, then sealed his writhing lips to save air. He set off in a slow, heavy trot for the shimmering spaceship. He was breathing pure carbon dioxide and staggering nicely by the time he pushed his way through the thickening resistance of the grav-web to the massive outer door of the lock. ”

“ Dorothy’s nose wrinkled in puzzlement. “I was under the impression,” she said, “that the contracel formula was radioed to Earth mysteriously—only it was badly garbled, just fractions coming through. And you, Nick, were the only one who could make anything out of it.”
“Partly true,” he admitted. “The ‘mysterious’ radio message however was something I cooked up to keep the newspapers satisfied. I wanted to let out the publicity that the Hartnett expedition wasn’t completely done in, but I didn’t want to draw attention to wave n. The fewer people who know it exists, the better. ”

“ The skid slewed crazily, its side crunching against the cliff as it halted.
"What the—" snarled Nolan, hand leaping to the concealed pyro he wore under his shirt. Then he saw.
Ahead of them was an immense rounded bulk, dome-shaped, black as the frozen night. A crawler ... but what a crawler! Its horny shell was half again the height of a man, filling the trail from cliff to chasm brink. There was no passing that beast. No wonder there had been no traffic from Avalon!
Mutely the girl turned to Nolan. He grinned sourly, then clambered into the heat suit he'd just put off. ”

“ We found that the only way we had of getting off this planetoid was by rockets, and rockets weren’t enough. We just slid along the surface, battered up the ship, then stopped.
“Then we began to find out things about this world. Some of them were interesting, and some—” he broke off suddenly. “Nick, you or none of your party have been out without full suits have you?”
Nick shook his head.
“Good. Don’t. This little world is full of radiations, a good deal of which are undetectable, but nasty nonetheless. ”

“ Woller was saying, "is whether to blast you now or save you for a little later, when I'll have more time."
"Sure," said Nolan tonelessly. "If you want my vote, it's for now. Get it over with."
Woller nodded. "That would be much pleasanter for you. I think I'll save you." He nodded slowly. Then, to the mate, "Take him below!"
Back down the corridor, the mocking stars still bright through the crystal underfoot. Back and down, till they came to the gray room, where the pulsing, whining generators spun their web of anti-gravitational power. ”

“ To get that speed you have to accelerate like hell. And human bodies aren’t equipped to take the acceleration required.
“Well, what Dad did was to figure out a counter-acceleration device, which he called the ‘contracel’ for short. All I know is that it blankets the effects of really terrific acceleration so far as our feeling it goes.”
“Have you any idea, Nick,” asked Dorothy Gilbert, suddenly serious, “where the Hartnett party is?” ”

“ The girl—the one from the skid, the one he'd encountered in Annihilation Range! She had no more of a look at him than he at her, and she had been sleep-dazed, staring up at the light. Perhaps she hadn't recognized him—
"Hold still," he hissed—there is no personality to a whisper. "Where's Alan Woller?"
"Who are you?" the girl's voice came, a trifle unsteady. Good—she hadn't recognized him!
Nolan laughed voicelessly. "I'm the man with the gun," he replied. "I ask the questions. Where's Woller?" ”

“ The equator of the world seems to be moving, flowing along the ground.”
“Yow!” exclaimed Edgar. “Lorentz-Fitzgerald stuff!”
“Huh?”
“Simple,” he went on. “The speed of rotation of this planetoid at the equator approaches the speed of light, believe it or not. So the equator contracts. Its diameter remains the same, mind you, since it isn’t moving along the line of the diameter, but the circumference grows smaller. And that my friends,” he concluded, “makes the mathematical ‘pi’ a variable so far as Hastur is concerned. ”

“ The destruction of the dome was complete.
Nolan turned away. "Quite a sight," he said slowly. "They deserved to die, of course...."
"Steve."
Nolan's eyes narrowed suddenly. He looked at Petersen. "Yes?"
Petersen, for once, seemed almost at a loss for words. He licked his lips before he spoke. "Steve—there are one or two other things. Did you know that Ailse wasn't Woller's daughter by blood?"
Nolan looked at him unbelievingly. "Not his daughter?"
Petersen shook his head. "Woller married a widow. A wealthy one, with a daughter. They didn't get along too well. The woman died. ”

“ The important thing, now, is to get off Hastur. These radiations are what got most of us—doesn’t make too much difference with me, because I’m old. But I’m assuming,” he looked at Dorothy and Nick, “that you two will be wanting to pair off pretty soon. And I don’t think Dorothy would care to start knitting little sweaters with holes for three heads in them after she’d had x-rays taken.”
“We’ll get off,” declared Nick. “Our rockets are powerful enough, I think. ”

“ Nolan asked curiously.
"You'll need money," said Petersen. He finished unbuckling and dragged out an oiled-silk money belt. Without opening it, he tossed it to Nolan. "Here. You'll have to bid high to get passage on Woller's ship. This'll help."
Nolan nodded. "Thanks," he said. "Look, I—"
Petersen waved a hand airily. "Forget it. As long as there's enough radium on Pluto for prospectors to find, I'll have plenty money."
"Sure," said Nolan. "But the thanks still goes." He closed his eyes for a second, rubbed them. Then he blinked rapidly, took out his pyro and checked it. ”

“ A dim thread of light showed him the door to the hall. Catlike he crossed to it, then halted, petrified. Men were coming down the hall, several of them by the voices. He caught a snatch of a rasping complaint: "Old man Woller's tin soldiers, that's us. Who the hell does he—"
Nolan swore lividly under his breath. The end of the trail had come.
But he stepped back a pace and stood there, pyro up-tilted and ready. He would have a split-second's advantage. If only there were no more than two or three of them—
And then the sound was drowned out. ”

“ A voice said sharply:
"Attention, Junta! The man who claims to be the Chief is a masquerader. Kill him! This is the Chief speaking now!"
V
Doubt sprang into the eyes of every man present. It lasted only a second—for the masquerader's action proved the charge against him.
He grappled the pyro from dazed Vincennes, sprang back, fired a warning blast that smashed the telescreen.
"Don't move, anybody!" he ordered. "Nolan—take their guns!" ”

“ Nolan sighed. "Lady, I don't know you either. Believe me, all I want is a ride. It'll take me four hours to walk to Avalon. I can't spare the time if I can help it." He waited a second. No answer. He shrugged and finished his speech. "I'll make you a proposition. Let me in and I'll fix your jets. We'll be in Avalon in twenty minutes, I'll get out and we'll never see each other again. Don't let me in and I'll tear these ignition wires right out of the lock. ”

“ The mirror-faced helmet bobbed as its owner nodded. Then it turned toward Nolan. "What's this?" he asked, advancing.
Vincennes gestured with the pyro. "His name is Nolan," he said. "He tried to get rough with Mr. Woller. He's dangerous."
"Dangerous!" The blurred voice was angry. "Then why is he here? We have enough danger as it is. Give me that pyro!"
This was it, Nolan knew, and he tensed his body for the leap he had to attempt, though he knew it was useless. The man in the heat suit reached for Vincennes' pyro. ”

“ The second said, "Pay? You haven't got enough money to get you into the lock of that ship."
"Oh, I don't know," Nolan said easily. He took the money belt out of his pocket, flashed the contents for a second. "I meant it," he said. "I have to get to Mars. Name your price—I've got it."
The Venusian's eyes widened. Nolan saw, from the corner of his eye, a skid rocketing across the field. It halted by the Dragonfly, and the ship's lock opened. Two bulky, heat-suited figures hurried out of the skid, into the ship. ”

“ All set?" Every man was garbed, helmets down. "Ten seconds to seal them. One, two, three—"
He counted slowly and Nolan watched him with fascination. At five the gauntleted left hand came up to the butt of the pyro, worked the tiny chambering lever half a dozen times. Nolan gasped in spite of himself. There were seven lethal pyro charges in the chamber of that gun—enough to blast down a mountain!
The count was finished. Through Nolan's helmet radio, automatically turned on, the man's calm voice ordered, "All right, Nolan. Open the door and let them in!" ”

“ Talk is there are Junta men around. I wouldn't have to remind you, I guess, of what Woller can say about you if he sees you."
Nolan nodded. "He won't see me—in time for it to do him any good."
Petersen shivered. "You're building up trouble," he repeated. "Woller's pretty near running this place."
"'A louse,'" Nolan quoted, "'enthroned in luxury, will still a loathsome insect be.' That's Woller."
Petersen's wizened little troll-face gaped at him. "Lice bite," he said succinctly.
Nolan said soberly, "Live ones do. After tonight Woller may not be able to bite anybody. Dead lice have no friends." ”