The Revolt of the Star Men Part 10

"Here we have a contrast, Mr. Shelby," he said quietly, "triumph and disaster staring at each other!"

Shelby told him that he should be wreaking vengeance on the n.o.ble for the numerous wrongs he had done him, but the calm unflinching att.i.tude of the Prince of Selba made him almost like the captive.

Shelby waved the Martian's captors back and he stood free. "There is no contrast now, Akar Hekalu, for an outsider could not tell which was which!"

As Hekki's jailer led him away, Shelby, a.s.sisted by Janice Darell, busied himself with the ship's controls.

And so the battered _Selba_ escorted by five thousand s.p.a.ce Men set out for a certain minor planet where were ama.s.sed the forces of Telaba, insubordinate va.s.sal of the Black Emperor. And on another planet was Alkebar, the Black Emperor himself, ready to hurl his shock troops, a horde five million strong, at the planets.

CHAPTER IX

The Revolt of Alkebar

The light of a shrunken sun shone down coldly and ineffectually upon a jagged and distorted landscape. Along the horizon, which was strangely abrupt, twisted gray hills loomed up with harsh clearness against a black starlit sky. There was no atmosphere to soften their lines, nor to dull the needle-like points of deepest sable that were their shadows.

In the foreground, which was a fairly level plain, were hundreds of hemispherical shelters hastily built from loose fragments of rock. A vast horde of s.p.a.ce Men hemmed them in. The sunlight glistened on the ebony hides of the warriors and on their polished accouterments and weapons. Some of these rebels of the void were greedily drinking the purple radio-active liquid which meant life and strength to them, and attendants were hurrying about carrying large canisters of the food to each unit of Telaba's army. Most of the men crouched expectantly beside their discs, waiting.

In a small metal building, which the Man from the Fourth World had recently had constructed for his own use, four people were gathered. Two were s.p.a.ce Men, and two belonged to the green planet called Earth. One of the s.p.a.ce Men was talking, not with his mouth for he had no vocal cords, but by means of fine mental vibrations which caused a feeble high-pitched voice to speak within the minds of the Earthians.

"I owe you great debt of grat.i.tude, Mr. Shelbee--you help to save my son from Alkebar and Fourth World Man. Telaba do not forget this. I do what I can. But that is little. Black Emperor start to smash Earth and Mars soon. Perhaps right now. Perhaps in hour. Who know? Spy send signal any time now. We outnumbered ten to one. Alkebar crush us, wipe us out like that!" He slapped his palms sharply together. "But we do what we can, Earthman."

Shelby took Telaba's cold hand for a brief hearty handshake. "Thanks, Telaba," he said simply. "Jan and I certainly appreciate what you are going to do for us and our people, and I know that if we are successful, the worlds shall be mighty grateful too. They have ways of showing their grat.i.tude. But don't be so sure that we are going to fail. We have the _Selba_, you know, and a new weapon that has never before been used.

"Hekalu was good enough to construct an immense projector for us. Except for the resoldering of a few wires, and the insertion of a tiny but important crystal which I happen to be carrying with me, it was complete and ready for operation.

"The ship is fueled and ready for action at any moment. When the word comes and we set out, annoy the forces of Alkebar, but do not engage or mix with them any more than you have to. I'll be somewhere around, ready and glad to spray them."

"What do you mean, 'I'?" Jan put in. "It's 'we,' because I am going along!"

Shelby knew that the undertaking he had in mind was but an ace from certain death; but he did not argue with the girl. Her cool wit and nerve would be very helpful, and besides there was little choice, for death was grimly in pursuit of all of them.

"Right you are, soldier," he said laughingly. "My mistake!"

A red light bulb flashed on the wall, and then, without waiting for permission, a s.p.a.ce Man rushed into the room, his arms waving wildly, forming frantic signs of the Star People's deaf mute language. Bent in a half crouch, his great arms flexed, Ankova translated for the benefit of the Earthians:

"Fourth World Man escape--in _Selba_. We are betrayed--someone help him.

He out of sight already. Going to help Black Emperor. And now red star burns in s.p.a.ce--spy's warning--Alkebar forces start!"

Telaba rushed to a big lever and pulled it. Immediately a huge trip hammer began to pound ponderously on a metal plate set in the ground outside the building--sending vibrating pulsations out through the crust of the planetoid--the alarm signal which would be sensed by everyone of Telaba's men, telling them to be ready for instant action.

The four looked at one another. Each knew what this last move of the Prince of Selba meant, but no one thought for a moment of giving up the fight.

"It won't do any good to pursue the Martian," Shelby cried. "That ray projector of his--he'd blast us out of existence. All we can do is try to hinder Alkebar's invasion--seek to delay him. If I could only somehow get through to Mars with the secret of the Atomic Ray! Telaba, haven't you a ship capable of carrying a large enough oxygen supply to last me for the journey?"

"Never mind!" Ankova cut in. "I go! Many times I been to Mars. Give me plans. I go right away. I get them to fight."

Shelby drew from his sleeve pocket the black case containing information concerning the Atomic Ray which he had recovered from Hekalu Selba at the time of the Martian's capture. He opened it, and with his stylus added a brief message to the ma.s.s of notes inside, and wrote down the formula for a certain complex chemical compound. Then he handed the case to the s.p.a.ce Man.

"Take it to Alman Mak in the Checkald of Taboor if you can, Ankova. Good luck."

The son of the rebel chief hurried from the room with the missive in his hand. Shelby knew in his heart that to attempt to get Earth and Mars into action in time was a useless gesture, but he could not suppress a thrill of admiration for this wild son of the void. There was hard mettle in Ankova's makeup, hard and true. And most of them were like that--most of Telaba's men anyway.

"You two come with me," Telaba was saying. "We fight together. Put on s.p.a.ce suits." He was tapping an instrument resembling a telegraph key.

In unison with his movements the heavy signaling hammer sounded out orders and commands to his forces.

When the Earthians had eased themselves into their heavy protecting attire, Telaba led the way down a spiral stair and through an air lock, out into the open. Here everything was grim silent activity. Group after group of mounted s.p.a.ce Men poured skyward. Telaba's army was a mighty thing; with luck it might have beat down the resistance of either one of the two planets. But when compared with Alkebar's colossal horde, it paled into pitiful insignificance.

Nearby, a s.p.a.ce disc, which must have measured fully two hundred feet in diameter, rested. The three mounted the light ladder which led to the interior.

In the metal walls were mounted two heat-ray projectors of Martian design, as well as several torpedo catapults and machine guns. Two s.p.a.ce Men were inspecting them.

Telaba signaled to the driver who knelt with lever in hand. The great disc trembled and the propelling force which no human being had yet learned how to produce, sent it and its burden hurtling toward the stars. The minions of the rebel chief circled and swirled about their commander's ship in wild soundless salute.

Telaba was operating the signaling mechanism which fired lights of various colors up through the roof of the armored coach, and in reply to his flashing commands, his horde formed a monster cone which shot with ever increasing speed through the void.

A sickening giddiness came over the two Earthians, for there were no devices to produce artificial gravity here. It was the s.p.a.ce nausea which had made early interplanetary travel such a nightmare. The Star People, born where gravity is almost unknown, were of course not affected in the least.

Clinging to stanchions and hand grips to keep themselves from floating free, Janice Darell and Austin crept about the floor examining the weapons and scanning s.p.a.ce ahead for signs of the enemy. They disliked to admit to each other that they were very sick; but if they thought that it was possible to forget the retching pains in their stomachs by diligent devotion to other things, they were mistaken.

Their suffering continued until Jan remembered that the force of this almost forgotten malady could be reduced by lessening the amount of oxygen taken into the lungs. A few turns of the intake valves of their helmets accomplished this, and they soon felt much better.

It was a long time before there were any indications of the near presence of the enemy. Ahead, two asteroids glowed, a dull red. One was quite close; the other farther away. It was Shelby, peering steadily through his binoculars, who first discovered the glowing cloud, thin and faint like the nebulous substance of the Milky Way, pouring up like ghosts' hair from the rounded pate of the nearer asteroid. He knew that it was made up of countless points of light, too small to be detected individually. Not long afterward Telaba discovered a similar cloud coming from the second of the minor planets.

The rebel chief's greatest advantage, if he had any at all, was that of surprise. Because of its comparatively small size his force had probably not yet been discovered by the enemy.

Coolly he flashed the order for long-range bombardment formation.

Instantly the army spread out, forming a thin rectangle whose broadest surface was perpendicular to the line of firing between the opposing hordes.

A second or two later the first rocket torpedoes of the rebels went, spewing fire, toward their goal. In a steady swarm others followed them.

The missiles were not radio controlled and fitted with tiny television apparatus as were a few of the torpedoes employed by the Interplanetary Traffic Lane Patrol, but since the approximate range was known, it was easy to set the time fuses so that the atomic charges would explode in the midst of the densely-packed enemy.

Without asking anyone's permission, the Earthians had appropriated a pair of catapults and were working them like demons. As fast as they could cram the ten-pound rockets into the breeches of the tubes, the projectiles streaked out in flashes of green flame toward the nearest of the nebulous clouds.

Shelby was sweating furiously from the exertion, and the moisture absorption apparatus of his s.p.a.ce armor was putting in some tough service.

Occasionally he glanced at Janice working beside him. Her face, visible through the glazed front of her helmet, was white and set--almost hard.

And there was boundless determination in the firm curve of her little rounded chin. He liked her att.i.tude, but it was better to take it easy until the real fighting began.

"Slow up a bit, soldier," he remarked into his transmitter. "Powder your nose!"

Her face brightened as she turned toward him. "I wish I could powder my nose," she said, pouting. "Only I can't reach it!"

"Too bad. These s.p.a.ce suits rob a girl of so many of her exquisite little tricks."