itself the atmosphere of the invaders.
High over the surface of the planet sped the Chloran raider toward the nearest
Valeronian city, which happened to be only a small village. Above the unfortunate
settlement the callous monstrosity poised its craft, to drop its dread curtain of strangling,
choking death.
Down the screen dropped, rolling out to become again a hemispherical wall, sweeping
before it every milliliter of the life-giving air of Valeron and drawing behind it the noxious
atmosphere of Chlora. For those who have ever inhaled even a small quantity of chlorin it
is unnecessary to describe in detail the manner in which those villagers of Valeron died;
for those who have not, no possible description could be adequate. Suffice it to say,
therefore, that they -died horribly.
Again the wall of force rolled up, coming clear up to the outer skin of the cruiser this time,
in its approach liquefying the chlorin and forcing it into storage chambers. The wall then
disappeared entirely, leaving the marauding vessel starkly outlined against the sky. Then,
further and even more strongly to impress the raging but impotent Klynor Siblin:
“Beam it down!” the amoebus captain commanded, and various officers sent out thin,
whiplike tentacles toward their controls.
Projectors swung downward and dense green pillars of flaming energy erupted from the
white-hot refractories of their throats. And what those green pillars struck subsided
instantly into a pool of hissing, molten glass. Methodically they swept the entire area of
the village. All organic matter -vegetation, bodies, humus-burst instantly into wildly raging
flame and in that same instant was consumed; only the incombustible ash being left
behind to merge with the metal and stone of the buildings and with the minerals of the
soil as they melted to form a hellish lake.
“You monster!” shrieked Siblin, white, shaken, almost beside himself. “You vile,
unspeakable monster! Of what use is such a slaughter of innocent men? They had not
harmed you . . :”
“Indeed they have not, nor could they,” the Chloran interrupted callously. “They mean
nothing whatever to me, in any way. I have gone to the trouble of wiping out this city to
give you and the rest of your race an object lesson; to impress upon you how thoroughly
unimportant you are to us and to bring home to you your abject helplessness. Your whole
race is, as you have just shown yourself to be, childish, soft, and sentimental, and
therefore incapable of real advancement. On the contrary we, the masters of the
universe, do not sufer from silly inhibitions or from foolish weaknesses.”
The eye faded out, its sharp outlines blurring gradually as its highly specialized parts
became transformed into or were replaced by the formless gel composing the body of
the creature. The amoebus then poured himself out of the cup, assumed the shape of a
doughnut, and rolled rapidly out of the room.
When the Chloran captain had gone, Siblin threw himself upon his narrow bunk, fighting
savagely to retain his self-control. He must escape-he must escape-the thought repeated
itself endlessly in his mind-but how? The glass walls of his prison were his only defense
against hideous death. Nowhere in any Chloran thing, nowhere in any nook or cranny of
the noisome planet toward which he was speeding, could he exist for a minute except
inside the cell which his captors were keeping supplied with oxygen. No tooI — nothing
from which to make a protective covering-no way of carrying air-nowhere to go-helpless,
helpless-even to break that glass meant death . . .
At last he slept, fitfully, and when he awoke the vessel was deep in interplanetary space.
His captors paid no further attention to him-he had air, food, and water, and if he chose
to kill himself that was of no concern to them and Siblin, able to think more calmly now,
studied every phase of his predicament.
There was absolutely no possibility of escape. Rescue was out of the question. He could,
however, communicate with Valeron, since in his belt were tiny sender and receiver,
attached by tight beams to instruments in the laboratory of the Quedrins. Detection of
that pencil beam might well mean instant death, but that was a risk which, for the good of
humanity, must be run. Lying upon his side, he concealed one ear plug under his head
and manipulated the tiny sender, in his belt. “Quedrin Radnor-Quedrin Vornel . . .” he
called for minutes, with no response. However, person-to-person communication was not
really necessary; his messages would be recorded. He went on to describe in detail,
tersely, accurately, and scientifically, everything that he had observed and deduced
concerning the Chlorans, their forces, and their mechanisms.
“We are now approaching the planet,” he continued, now an observer reporting what he
saw in the view box. “It is apparently largely land. It has two polar ice caps, the larger of
which I call north. A dark area, which I take to be an ocean, is the most prominent
feature visible at this time. It is diamond-shaped and its longer axis, lying north and south,
is about one quarter of a circumference in length. Its shorter axis, about half that length,
lies almost upon the equator. We are passing high above this ocean, going east.
“East of the ocean and distant from it about one fifth of a circumference lies quite a large
lake, roughly elliptical in shape, whose major axis lies approximately northeast and
southwest. We are dropping toward a large city upon the southeast shore of this lake,
almost equally distant from its two ends. Since I am to be examined by a so called
`Council of Great Ones,’ it may be that this city is their capital.
“No matter what happens, do not attempt to rescue me, as it is entirely hopeless.
Escape is likewise impossible, because of the lethal atmosphere. There is a strong
possibility, furthermore, that I may be returned to Valeron as a messenger to our race.
This possibility is my only hope of returning. I am sending this data and will continue to
send it as long as is possible, simply to aid you in deciding what shall be ,.one to defend
civilization against these monsters.
“We are now docking, near a large, hemispherical dome of force . . . My cell is being
transported through the atmosphere toward that dome . . . It is opening. I do not know
whether my beam can pass out through it, but I shall keep on sending . Inside the dome
there is a great building, toward which I am floating . . I am inside the building, inside a
glass compartment which seems to be filled with air . . . Yes, it is air, for the creatures
who are entering it are wearing protective suits of some transparent substance. Their
bodies are now globular and they are walking, each upon three short legs. One of them
is developing an eye, similar to the one I descr . . .”
Siblin’s message stopped in the middle of a word. The eye had developed and in its
weirdly hypnotic grip the Valeronian was helpless to do anything of his own volition.
Obeying the telepathic command of the Great One, he stepped out into the larger room
and divested himself of his scanty clothing. One of the monstrosities studied his belt
briefly, recognized his communicator instruments for what they were, and kicked them
scornfully into a corner-thus rendering it impossible for either captive or captors to know
it when that small receiver throbbed out its urgent message from Quedrin Radnor.
The inspection and examination finished, it did not take long for the monstrosities to
decide upon a course of action.
“Take this scum back to its own planet as soon as your cargo is unloaded,” the Great
One directed. “You must pass near that planet on your way to explore the next one, and
it will save time and inconvenience to let it carry our message to its fellows.”
Out in space, speeding toward distant Valeron, the captain again communicated with
Siblin:
“I shall land you close to one of your inhabited cities and you will at once get in touch with
your Bardyle. You already know what your race is to do, and you have in your cage a
sample of the ore with which you are to supply us. You shall be given twenty of your
days in which to take from the mine already established by us enough of that ore to load
this ship-ten thousand tons. The full amount-and pure mineral, mind you, no base rock-
must be in the loading hoppers at the appointed time or I shall proceed to destroy every
populated city, village, and hamlet upon the face of your globe.”
“But that particular ore is rare!” protested Siblin. “I do not believe that it will prove
physically possible to recover such a vast amount of it in the short time you are allowing