Latest / Famous Sci-Fi Stories Collection / 20 - Zehru of Xollar

Transcript

20 - Zehru of Xollar · Famous Sci-Fi Stories Collection

0:00
Speaker 1: Zeru of Zolor by hal k Wells. This is a
0:05
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
0:10
Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
0:17
Speaker 1: When the rolling thunder of Infrabase first came to their ears,
0:22
Speaker 1: Robert Blake and Helen Lawton were standing on the platform
0:25
Speaker 1: of a New York subway station, waiting for the arrival
0:29
Speaker 1: of an uptown express to bear them to their homes.
0:33
Speaker 1: They made a strikingly.
0:34
Speaker 2: Attractive couples they stood there.
0:37
Speaker 1: New York had not had time as yet to remove
0:39
Speaker 1: the bronze stand of an outdoor life from Blake's ruggularly
0:43
Speaker 1: good looking face. His tall, athletic figure was still conspicuous
0:48
Speaker 1: for the lithe strength that had made him an All
0:51
Speaker 1: Western tackle less than two years ago. Standing beside Blake's
0:56
Speaker 1: husky figure, Helen Lawton looked like a tiny, very perfect
1:00
Speaker 1: blonde doll with an exquisitely molded face, framed in curly
1:04
Speaker 1: bobbed hair that was the clear, golden amber hue of
1:08
Speaker 1: orange honey. There was a diamond sparkling on the ring
1:12
Speaker 1: finger of the girl's slim left hand.
1:14
Speaker 2: Placed there by Blake. It was well after.
1:18
Speaker 1: Midnight, and the only other passenger waiting on the station
1:21
Speaker 1: was a burly chap leaning against one of the white
1:24
Speaker 1: pillars on the other.
1:25
Speaker 2: Side of the platform.
1:27
Speaker 1: After a casual glance at the fellow with his derby
1:30
Speaker 1: hat shoved far back from a low forehead, his blatantly
1:34
Speaker 1: conspicuous clothing, and the suspicious bulge under one armpit, Blake
1:39
Speaker 1: had mentally set him down as a minor gangster, probably
1:43
Speaker 1: a strong arm man for some beer mob. Blake and
1:46
Speaker 1: Helen had been standing there but a few minutes when
1:49
Speaker 1: the strange sound first became audible. For a moment, Blake
1:52
Speaker 1: thought it was merely the rumbling roar of an express
1:55
Speaker 1: approaching far down the tunnel. Then he realized that no
1:59
Speaker 1: subway could possibly produce a sound effect so oddly disturbing
2:04
Speaker 1: and strangely alien. It was like no sound that Blake
2:09
Speaker 1: had ever heard before. Vibrant with colossal power, it suggested
2:13
Speaker 1: a sustained note struck from a giant organ, a note
2:17
Speaker 1: so low and pitched that it seemed to fall octave
2:20
Speaker 1: below the lowest base note ever struck.
2:24
Speaker 2: Whatever it was.
2:25
Speaker 1: The thundering vibration of infra base was coming nearer with
2:29
Speaker 1: startling swiftness. It was impossible to locate the source of
2:34
Speaker 1: the mighty pulsing note. It seemed to be coming simultaneously
2:38
Speaker 1: from all directions, like a great hollow sphere of invisible
2:42
Speaker 1: sound waves, closing in with the station platform as its
2:46
Speaker 1: central focal point. Helen's face was white with dread as
2:50
Speaker 1: she shrank closer into Blake's embrace. Blake noted that the
2:54
Speaker 1: gangster across the platform was standing tensely at bay, with
2:58
Speaker 1: his back against the pillar and his right hand thrust under.
3:01
Speaker 2: His coat as he stared wildly.
3:03
Speaker 1: About him in an effort to discover the cause of
3:06
Speaker 1: the disturbance. The rolling thunder closed in upon them with
3:11
Speaker 1: a final rush that brought it so near that their
3:14
Speaker 1: very bodies seemed to vibrate in harmony with that mighty
3:17
Speaker 1: note of shuttering bass. Then, with startling abruptness, the green
3:22
Speaker 1: net came out from the walls, and down from the
3:26
Speaker 1: roof spurted scores of quivering ribbons of blinding green flame. Swiftly,
3:32
Speaker 1: the radiant tendrils rushed in upon the shrinking three from
3:35
Speaker 1: every side, while the infra base thundered a mighty crescendo,
3:40
Speaker 1: Blake instinctively swept Helen close within the shelter of his
3:43
Speaker 1: arms in an effort to protect her with his own
3:46
Speaker 1: body against the searing menace of those on rushing green flames.
3:51
Speaker 1: The next moment, the fiery ribbons were upon them, lashing
3:54
Speaker 1: about their bodies, crossing and crisscrossing in the air above
3:58
Speaker 1: and around them in a great, tangled web of interlacing
4:01
Speaker 1: lines of flame that filled the entire platform With a
4:05
Speaker 1: shock of relief, Blake found that there was no heat
4:08
Speaker 1: in those strange flames, but his relief was short lived,
4:12
Speaker 1: as the next second brought him realization of the real
4:15
Speaker 1: menace of the radiant ribbons. There was a solidity in
4:19
Speaker 1: strength in those glowing streamers that held him as helplessly
4:23
Speaker 1: captive as though they were gripped in ribbons of steel.
4:27
Speaker 1: Dazed and helpless, the three struggled for a moment in
4:30
Speaker 1: the meshes of the weird net of flamelike fish caught
4:33
Speaker 1: in the strands of some giant cosmic saying. The trembling
4:37
Speaker 1: thunder of infrabase abruptly changed to a thin, whining note
4:42
Speaker 1: so high and pitched that it seemed the nearly soundless
4:44
Speaker 1: ghosts of a metallic scream. With the change in sound,
4:48
Speaker 1: Blake became aware of a new, an astounding change in
4:52
Speaker 1: his surroundings. The walls and roof of the stations seemed
4:55
Speaker 1: closing in upon him, as though he were growing in
4:59
Speaker 1: size at an incredible rate. The next moment, he shot
5:03
Speaker 1: through the roof, hurling on and.
5:05
Speaker 2: Upward with the velocity of a rocket.
5:08
Speaker 1: The sensation was one that his reeling brain could not
5:11
Speaker 1: even grasp. His body seemed to be inside every stone,
5:15
Speaker 1: iron bar, and lump of earth, yet at the same time,
5:19
Speaker 1: every exterior object seemed within his body. It was an
5:23
Speaker 1: eerie chaos of a dozen different dimensions blending to form
5:27
Speaker 1: a space in which there was no known dimension. As
5:31
Speaker 1: they flashed on out to the surface, Blake had one
5:34
Speaker 1: hazy glimpse of Manhattan's glowing lights spread all about them.
5:39
Speaker 1: Then the speed of their progress leaped into a new
5:42
Speaker 1: and terrible acceleration that blotted out every tangible sensation from
5:46
Speaker 1: Blake's brain. Time and space alike seemed to vanish as
5:51
Speaker 1: their hurling flight sent them rocketing on for distances inconceivably
5:55
Speaker 1: vast through a bleak and appalling nothingness where neither sight
5:59
Speaker 1: nor sound existed. Then abruptly, the speed of their flight
6:04
Speaker 1: seemed to be lessening. Sensation returned to Blake. He again
6:08
Speaker 1: heard the thin, high pitched, metallic wail, now swiftly deepening
6:13
Speaker 1: to the familiar growl of rolling base. He again noted
6:17
Speaker 1: the presence of the glowing green ribbons of the net that.
6:20
Speaker 2: Still encircled them.
6:22
Speaker 1: A blindingly brilliant purple mist was now closing in upon
6:26
Speaker 1: them from every direction, bringing with it a nameless and
6:30
Speaker 1: agonizing force that seemed to be shaking the very atoms
6:33
Speaker 1: of Blake's body asunder. Then they dropped swiftly down out
6:37
Speaker 1: of the purple mists, and the strange agony at once vanished.
6:42
Speaker 1: Blake felt the downward progress come to an end with
6:45
Speaker 1: the gentle arrival of his feet upon firm ground. The
6:49
Speaker 1: encircling net of green flame glowed dazzlingly brighter for a
6:52
Speaker 1: brief moment, then swiftly vanished into thin air, while the
6:57
Speaker 1: butter of base vibrations simultaneously died way into silence. Blake
7:02
Speaker 1: staggered and nearly fell as the sudden released from the
7:05
Speaker 1: net strands again left his body free. He looked down
7:09
Speaker 1: at Helen as she stood huddled close beside him, still
7:12
Speaker 1: in the shelter of his arms. The girl's face was
7:15
Speaker 1: white with terror as she looked back up at him, Bob,
7:20
Speaker 1: what happened?
7:22
Speaker 2: And where on earth are we?
7:25
Speaker 1: Her voice trembled a little in spite of her plucky effort.
7:29
Speaker 2: To keep it steady.
7:30
Speaker 1: Blake's bewildered gaze was already roving around them, trying to
7:34
Speaker 1: comprehend the incredible details of their surroundings. I've no idea
7:41
Speaker 1: what happened, dear, he answered slowly, as to where we
7:45
Speaker 1: are now. I'm very much afraid it's nowhere on Earth.
7:52
Speaker 1: Then where's this hoped up layout anyway?
7:55
Speaker 2: Fellow?
7:56
Speaker 1: If it ain't on earth, broke in a voice with
7:59
Speaker 1: a decided twang. Blake quickly turned and saw that the
8:02
Speaker 1: gangster had remained with them in that eerie flight in
8:05
Speaker 1: the green net. There was an expression of dumbfounded amazement
8:10
Speaker 1: upon the man's heavy face, and he was obviously anxious
8:13
Speaker 1: to be friendly with the two who now represented the
8:17
Speaker 1: only link with the familiar world he had known. Gee,
8:21
Speaker 1: for a minute, I thought they had me on the
8:23
Speaker 1: spot in some new way. Sure, he chattered excitedly, as
8:27
Speaker 1: he came quickly over to join Helen and Blake. There's
8:31
Speaker 1: plenty of guys wantin to turn the heat on me
8:34
Speaker 1: there in the big town. I'm gil Mape see, but
8:39
Speaker 1: this ain't no frame up like any I ever heard of.
8:43
Speaker 1: What happened anyway, Fellow. For the moment, Blake did not answer.
8:47
Speaker 1: The three of them were silent as they stared about
8:50
Speaker 1: them with eyes that were dazed by the startling, unfamiliar
8:53
Speaker 1: aspect of every detail in their surroundings. From the twin
8:58
Speaker 1: purple suns that blazed down through the tenuous mists overhead
9:02
Speaker 1: to the barren, blue gray ground underfoot, there was not
9:06
Speaker 1: a single object familiar to earthly eyes. The huge enclosure
9:10
Speaker 1: in which the three of them stood was obviously the
9:13
Speaker 1: work of intelligent beings of some kind, but its mechanical
9:18
Speaker 1: details were products of a science different from any known
9:21
Speaker 1: to Blake. The purpose of the enclosure seemed to be
9:25
Speaker 1: to maintain an area of clear air in the midst
9:28
Speaker 1: of the swirling purple vapors that pressed in against it
9:31
Speaker 1: from the top and from every side. In shape, it
9:35
Speaker 1: was a great oblong sail, some fifty feet high, two
9:39
Speaker 1: hundred yards long, and about one hundred yards wide. The
9:44
Speaker 1: three captives stood near the center fencing in the enclosure.
9:48
Speaker 1: At twenty yard intervals, and reaching upward to the ceiling
9:51
Speaker 1: were slender posts of some lustreless black metal. Between these
9:55
Speaker 1: posts streamed unbroken, nearly transparent sheets of some unknown force,
10:00
Speaker 1: the only visible sign of which was the presence of
10:02
Speaker 1: countless millions of tiny shimmering golden flecks, which danced like
10:07
Speaker 1: dust moats in a ray of sunlight. It was obviously
10:11
Speaker 1: this thin sheet of unknown force that was keeping the
10:14
Speaker 1: purple mists at bay. For fan like antennae at the
10:18
Speaker 1: top of each post spread a similar shimmering sheet that
10:21
Speaker 1: formed a ceiling for the clear aired area. The three
10:25
Speaker 1: Earthlings were facing one of the side walls of the
10:28
Speaker 1: big enclosures. The purple mists outside made it hard to
10:31
Speaker 1: see clearly from many distance, but Blake had an impression
10:35
Speaker 1: that the surrounding terrain was featured by the same barren
10:38
Speaker 1: nearly desert bleakness that characterized the interior of the enclosure,
10:43
Speaker 1: where scattered clumps of dead, spiky black branches of shrub
10:46
Speaker 1: like vegetation were the only sign of plant life. Just
10:51
Speaker 1: within the distant end of the wall at their right,
10:53
Speaker 1: there was a low platform surmounted by a wide arch
10:57
Speaker 1: some ten feet in height, both constructed of silver colored metal.
11:02
Speaker 1: There was nothing between them and the end wall to
11:05
Speaker 1: their left, but they could see that the ground slope
11:08
Speaker 1: sharply upward from the barrier sheet, and on the crest
11:11
Speaker 1: of the ridge a gigantic cone shaped structure.
11:14
Speaker 2: A solid black could.
11:15
Speaker 1: Be seen dimly through the intervening mists. The cone building
11:19
Speaker 1: seemed to be the source of the power that kept
11:21
Speaker 1: the enclosure intact. Slender cables of black metal ran down
11:25
Speaker 1: the slope from it into the clear aired space, spreading
11:29
Speaker 1: out over the dusty, gray blue ground, to the base
11:32
Speaker 1: of each of the tall posts, with a heavier copper
11:35
Speaker 1: colored cable running on the silver arch. From within the
11:38
Speaker 1: windowless interior the cone, there was audible a low hum
11:42
Speaker 1: as of a tremendous power being generated there. Gee, what
11:47
Speaker 1: a rummy joint this place is. There was Frank Awe
11:51
Speaker 1: the gangster's.
11:51
Speaker 2: Voice, as he at last broke the silence.
11:55
Speaker 1: That guy with the green net sure took us for
11:57
Speaker 1: one sweet ride. Maybe we're on the moon now or
12:02
Speaker 1: mars huh Blake shook his head. No, we're completely out
12:09
Speaker 1: of our entire solar system. Those twin purple suns up
12:13
Speaker 1: there proved that we may even be in another universe
12:18
Speaker 1: or another dimension from our own.
12:22
Speaker 2: A piece of.
12:22
Speaker 1: Apparatus that could whisk us up through fifty feet of
12:25
Speaker 1: earth and masonry, as that green net did, obviously works
12:29
Speaker 1: in dimensions of which we've never dreamed. The only thing
12:33
Speaker 1: we're sure of is that we were brought to this
12:35
Speaker 1: purple world deliberately and intentionally by an intelligent being of
12:41
Speaker 1: some kind, scooped up like tadpoles from a mud puddle,
12:45
Speaker 1: and dumped here in this elaborate enclosure it had already
12:49
Speaker 1: prepared for us. Blake nodded to where the black coned
12:53
Speaker 1: building loomed through the purple mists outside the end wall.
12:57
Speaker 2: Whoever, or whatever the.
12:59
Speaker 1: Thing was that, I have a hunch it's there in
13:03
Speaker 1: that powerhouse watching us. I'd suggest that we walk down
13:07
Speaker 1: toward that end of the enclosure for a closer look.
13:11
Speaker 1: We may at least find out whether we're guests or prisoners.
13:17
Speaker 1: Listends good to me, fellow, agreed Mapes, flighting a hand
13:21
Speaker 1: up his shoulder holster and bringing out a squat black
13:24
Speaker 1: automatic pistol of heavy caliber. Well do a prowl over
13:30
Speaker 1: that way, and if his nibs tries any more funny business,
13:35
Speaker 1: maybe a few slugs out of this rod will change
13:37
Speaker 1: his mind for him. Ah, better go easy with that gun,
13:42
Speaker 1: Mapes advised Blake, as the three of them started slowly
13:46
Speaker 1: toward the cone building. From what we've already seen, there
13:50
Speaker 1: must be weapons in this world that would make your
13:53
Speaker 1: pistol look like a kid's pop gun. We'd better go
13:56
Speaker 1: easy till Oh wait, what's that.
14:00
Speaker 2: The thin, high pitched.
14:02
Speaker 1: Wine, followed promptly by the familiar growling thunder of infabase,
14:06
Speaker 1: had again become audible. At the same moment, a long,
14:09
Speaker 1: pencil like beam of green light glowed into visibility, extending
14:13
Speaker 1: from the tip of the cone to a point high
14:16
Speaker 1: within the enclosure just back of them. As they halted
14:19
Speaker 1: abruptly and watched, they saw the interlacing meshes of the
14:23
Speaker 1: green flame net materialized. Suddenly at the end of the beam.
14:27
Speaker 1: The beam curved into an arc that dropped the net
14:30
Speaker 1: swiftly to the ground some thirty yards from them. Its
14:33
Speaker 1: meshes were packed nearly full of dark, writhing figures. Looks
14:38
Speaker 1: like some more tadpoles arriving for our pond, Apes exclaimed,
14:43
Speaker 1: I want a wet part in the Yawk as Nibs
14:45
Speaker 1: yanked these babies from Blake's answer died on his lips
14:50
Speaker 1: as the net and beam glowed blindingly brighter for a
14:53
Speaker 1: brief second, then disappeared, leaving the dark figures in full view.
14:59
Speaker 1: Helen choked back a gasp of horror. Mapes swore in consternation,
15:03
Speaker 1: and hurriedly swung his pistol into line with those writhing shapes.
15:08
Speaker 1: The Nest's latest captives were not from New York, nor
15:11
Speaker 1: were they from any other part of the planet Earth.
15:14
Speaker 1: Hideous spawn of some unknown world out in the black
15:18
Speaker 1: void of space, they writhed for a moment in a
15:21
Speaker 1: nightmare chaos of countless brown, furred bodies, then swiftly disentangled
15:26
Speaker 1: themselves before the staring eyes of the three Earthlings. The
15:31
Speaker 1: things were apparently too low in the mental scale to
15:34
Speaker 1: have any reaction to their situation other than a blind
15:38
Speaker 1: instinct to attack any other living being within reach, for
15:42
Speaker 1: they promptly headed for the three captives from Earth. As
15:46
Speaker 1: the creatures came shambling rapidly forward on powerful bowed legs
15:50
Speaker 1: and with the tips of their long, hairy arms, brushing
15:52
Speaker 1: the ground. They looked like grotesquely distorted apes. The crowning
15:57
Speaker 1: horror of those shambling figures, however, lay in the fact
16:00
Speaker 1: that they were completely headless. Even when the things approached
16:06
Speaker 1: to a distance of less than ten feet before halting
16:09
Speaker 1: in momentary indecision, Blake could detect no sign of any
16:13
Speaker 1: normal skull, and the blunt space at the top of
16:16
Speaker 1: the powerful hairy torso there was a furry lipped mouth
16:20
Speaker 1: opening of some kind in the hollow between the bulging shoulders,
16:24
Speaker 1: but of eyes, ears, nose, or brain cavity there was
16:29
Speaker 1: no discernible trace. For a long moment, the headless ape
16:33
Speaker 1: things and the three human beings stood silently facing each other.
16:38
Speaker 1: Mape's pistol was leveled point blank at the nearest of
16:41
Speaker 1: the creatures, but their overwhelming numbers made the gangster hold
16:45
Speaker 1: his fire. There were two distinct groups of the things.
16:50
Speaker 1: At least twenty members of each group were in the
16:52
Speaker 1: crowd facing the earthlings. To the rear of these attackers,
16:56
Speaker 1: two oddly repulsive objects were carried and careful shielded by
17:00
Speaker 1: picked guards a four unusually large and powerful ape things.
17:06
Speaker 1: The nature of those two guarded objects puzzled Blake. They
17:09
Speaker 1: looked like large eggs of dirty gray jelly about a
17:13
Speaker 1: yard in length. They were obviously alive, for their gelatinous
17:18
Speaker 1: masses quivered and trembled in constant activity. Blake noted that
17:22
Speaker 1: there seemed to be a curious connection between the ebb
17:25
Speaker 1: and flow of pulsations in the Egge masses and the
17:28
Speaker 1: movements of the ape things. His attention was abruptly recalled
17:32
Speaker 1: to the headless things in front of him, as they
17:35
Speaker 1: suddenly began shambling forward again. There was no possible mistaking
17:39
Speaker 1: the intention of those advancing horrors. They were moving to
17:43
Speaker 1: the attack. They reached barely to Blake's shoulders, but he
17:47
Speaker 1: realized that their enormous numbers and hooked, taloned hands would
17:51
Speaker 1: make the result of the battle almost a foregone conclusion.
17:55
Speaker 1: The fact that the headless things were without eyes was
17:58
Speaker 1: no handicapped to them. The swift certainty of their movements
18:02
Speaker 1: proved that they had a sense of sight of some
18:04
Speaker 1: kind that was in every way as efficient as eyesight.
18:08
Speaker 1: Blake looked hurriedly around him, seeking a place where they
18:11
Speaker 1: might be at the best possible advantage in the impending battle.
18:16
Speaker 1: There was a small, dense thicket of spiky dead branches
18:19
Speaker 1: half a dozen yards to the right. At Blake's low command,
18:23
Speaker 1: the three made a dash for the thicket. Arriving there,
18:27
Speaker 1: they ranged themselves against it, with their backs at least
18:30
Speaker 1: partially protected from attack. The maneuver seemed to puzzle the
18:34
Speaker 1: ape things for a moment. They stood passively watching the
18:38
Speaker 1: retreat of the three until they had reached the thicket.
18:41
Speaker 1: Then the creatures again began slowly closing in upon them.
18:45
Speaker 1: Blake snatched up a dead branch from the ground near
18:48
Speaker 1: the thicket, and was delighted to find that his weight
18:50
Speaker 1: and tough fiber made it an excellent club. He stripped
18:54
Speaker 1: off his top coat and passed it back to Helen.
18:58
Speaker 1: Its tough fabric, heavily rubberized for proof against rain, might
19:01
Speaker 1: guard her head and face at least momentarily from those
19:05
Speaker 1: ripping talents. If the headless attackers came to close quarters,
19:09
Speaker 1: with Helen safely behind them, Blake and Mapes turned grimly
19:13
Speaker 1: to face the enemy. The attack was prompt and coming,
19:17
Speaker 1: moving with the perfect synchronization of a single unit. One
19:21
Speaker 1: of the main groups came shambling in, followed an instant
19:25
Speaker 1: later by the other group. Mape's pistol sent a bullet
19:28
Speaker 1: crashing squarely into the nearest attacker. The creature staggered momentarily,
19:33
Speaker 1: then came lurching on again, apparently not even crippled. Blake
19:37
Speaker 1: swung his heavy club in a whistling arc that sent
19:40
Speaker 1: two of his adversaries broken and writhing to the ground.
19:44
Speaker 1: He heard Mape's pistol bark four times more as the
19:47
Speaker 1: things closed in. The gun was knocked from the gangster's
19:50
Speaker 1: grip by a groping talent armed hand. Mapes tried to
19:54
Speaker 1: batter back his assailants with his naked fists, but the
19:58
Speaker 1: flailing arms of the hoard knocked him from his feet.
20:01
Speaker 1: His limp body was promptly tramped into unconsciousness by the
20:04
Speaker 1: milling feet of the.
20:05
Speaker 2: Close packed group.
20:07
Speaker 1: Blake lashed the heavy club about him with a burst
20:10
Speaker 1: of savage fury that for the moment sent the furred
20:14
Speaker 1: horse reeling backward. Their retreat ended after a scant two yards.
20:19
Speaker 1: Reforming their ranks, they again began cautiously shambling forward in
20:23
Speaker 1: a new attack that Blake realized would probably mean the end.
20:28
Speaker 1: It was easy enough to batter the things to ground,
20:31
Speaker 1: but it seemed impossible to seriously hurt them. Their incredible
20:35
Speaker 1: vitality and their overwhelming numbers made them almost invincible. Grimly,
20:41
Speaker 1: Blake set himself to battle as long as he could.
20:44
Speaker 1: In that last desperate effort to keep the hoards at bay,
20:47
Speaker 1: he noticed idly that the two groups still kept their
20:50
Speaker 1: oddly separated formation behind them. The two egg masses of
20:54
Speaker 1: jelly were now seething a new activity. After a brief
20:57
Speaker 1: lessening of their goosome shivering, Blake now saw that there
21:01
Speaker 1: was a direct and unmistakable connection between the activity of
21:05
Speaker 1: the jelly and the corresponding activity of the ape things.
21:09
Speaker 1: Realization of the facts and a sudden flash of inspiration
21:13
Speaker 1: flaming through Blake's weary brain, correlating the real significance of
21:16
Speaker 1: a dozen different things he had been subconsciously noting ever
21:20
Speaker 1: since the first appearance of the weird beasts. Those attacking
21:24
Speaker 1: things were not hordes of individual animals. They were merely
21:28
Speaker 1: two complete organisms, with the members of each organism controlled
21:32
Speaker 1: by its nucleus through invisible lines of nervous force, as
21:35
Speaker 1: the various individual cells of the human body are linked
21:38
Speaker 1: by nerve fibers. No wonder, the creatures themselves were blind.
21:43
Speaker 1: The egg mass that was the nucleus of each of
21:45
Speaker 1: the two groups was eyes, brain, and seat of life
21:49
Speaker 1: for every ape thing in the group. With a swift
21:52
Speaker 1: surge of hope, Blake realized the way to conquer the things.
21:56
Speaker 1: If he could only shatter those flaccid masses of jelly,
21:59
Speaker 1: he would destroy this warming dozens of beasts at the
22:02
Speaker 1: same time. Reaching the jelly ovoids seemed at first consideration
22:07
Speaker 1: to be an impossible task. They were carefully guarded far
22:11
Speaker 1: in the rear of the attacking groups. Blake knew that
22:14
Speaker 1: he had scarcely a chance in a hundred of battering
22:16
Speaker 1: his way through the intervening ape things. Then he remembered
22:21
Speaker 1: the gangster's pistol. His searching eyes found it immediately there
22:25
Speaker 1: on the ground, nearly under the feet of the ape things.
22:28
Speaker 1: As they again shambled.
22:30
Speaker 2: Forward to the attack.
22:31
Speaker 1: Blake staked everything upon a last desperate sortie against the
22:35
Speaker 1: advancing things. With his club, whistling around his head and
22:39
Speaker 1: crashing blows that wrought murderous havoc in the close packed hords,
22:43
Speaker 1: He drove them back for one breathless moment that gave
22:46
Speaker 1: him time to leap forward and snatch up the pistol.
22:49
Speaker 1: The ape things were already springing back upon him as
22:52
Speaker 1: he swung the pistol into line with one of the
22:55
Speaker 1: jelly masses. He barely pressed the trigger before the charging
22:59
Speaker 1: brutes knocked him from his feet. As he went down,
23:03
Speaker 1: he flung his arms over his head to protect his
23:05
Speaker 1: face from the expected attack of those hooked talons, but
23:10
Speaker 1: none came. A body thutted down upon him, then slid
23:15
Speaker 1: limply off again without making any move to attack. Blake
23:19
Speaker 1: scrambled to his feet, writing upon the ground. All around
23:23
Speaker 1: him were ape things in their death agonies. On the
23:26
Speaker 1: ground beyond them, quivering and broken. In the midst of
23:29
Speaker 1: its dying guards, was a vised mass of loathsome gray jelly.
23:34
Speaker 1: Blake shot had apparently struck home squarely in the center
23:37
Speaker 1: of that vulnerable blob. Even as he watched, the gelatinous
23:41
Speaker 1: mass shuddered in a last convulsion, then became quite still.
23:46
Speaker 1: At the same instant, the last sign of life vanished
23:49
Speaker 1: from the writhing ape things on the ground. A good
23:53
Speaker 1: half of the attacking creatures were included.
23:55
Speaker 2: In the dead bodies.
23:57
Speaker 1: The other half, Blake now saw, had retreated to cluster
24:00
Speaker 1: and wild panic about the remaining blob of jelly. Realizing
24:04
Speaker 1: exultantly that his single shot had slain one of the
24:07
Speaker 1: two weirdly disassociated organisms, Blake, with pistol in hand, advanced
24:12
Speaker 1: toward the other, trying to get a clear shot of
24:15
Speaker 1: the jelly through the furry bodies clustering around it. The
24:19
Speaker 1: group promptly turned and fled in blind panic. Blake sent
24:23
Speaker 1: the pistol's last shot crashing into the mass without any
24:26
Speaker 1: appreciable effect. Then the thing stampede carried them hurtling on
24:30
Speaker 1: through one of the gold flecked sidewalls out into the
24:33
Speaker 1: swirling purple mists. The gold flecked sheet flowed together again
24:38
Speaker 1: so swiftly behind the things that a fraction of a
24:41
Speaker 1: second later there was not even the slightest indication in
24:45
Speaker 1: its shimmering, unbroken surface to show that it had ever
24:48
Speaker 1: been pierced. For thirty yards, the fleeing aped things sped
24:52
Speaker 1: on into the purple vapors. Then disaster struck them with
24:57
Speaker 1: bewildering swiftness. They stopped and flight, shuddered for a moment,
25:02
Speaker 1: then slumped to the ground with their limbs writhing in agony.
25:05
Speaker 1: In their center, the jelly ovoids quivered badly. In the
25:08
Speaker 1: same strange torture, tiny patches of vivid purple appeared at
25:14
Speaker 1: a hundred different points upon the dying creatures. The patches
25:17
Speaker 1: spread and merged with lightning rapidity, until a solid sheet
25:21
Speaker 1: of livid purple covered the writhing mass. Swiftly, that mass
25:26
Speaker 1: lost both movement and shape as it melted down into
25:29
Speaker 1: a pool of turgid purple slime. Then the slime vaporized
25:35
Speaker 1: into purple mists that blended into the surrounding vapors, and
25:39
Speaker 1: all trace of the ape Thans in their jelly nucleus
25:42
Speaker 1: had vanished. Stunned by the incredible speed of this general dissolution,
25:49
Speaker 1: Blake realized for the first time the real reason for
25:51
Speaker 1: the presence of the gold flaked walls of force. Without
25:55
Speaker 1: those shimmering walls, the captives would not have lived for
25:58
Speaker 1: a minute in the deadly purple atmosphere of this weird
26:01
Speaker 1: world beneath the twin suns. The gold fleck walls were
26:05
Speaker 1: both their protection and their prison. The swirling purple mists
26:10
Speaker 1: outside those walls held the earthlings as effectively and hopelessly
26:15
Speaker 1: prisoner in their conclosure as goldfish in a bowl of water.
26:20
Speaker 1: Blake turned back to the thicket to see how Helen
26:22
Speaker 1: and Mapes had fared in that terrific battle with the
26:25
Speaker 1: headless things. He was relieved to see that the girl
26:29
Speaker 1: had apparently escaped without even a scratch. She was kneeling
26:33
Speaker 1: beside mapes prone figure, doing what she could to revive him.
26:37
Speaker 1: The gangster was badly battered, but he seemed to have
26:40
Speaker 1: no serious injuries. He was already beginning to stir weakly
26:45
Speaker 1: and show signs of returning life.
26:48
Speaker 2: Blake started his step over to the two.
26:50
Speaker 1: Then he stopped abruptly as he heard a sharp metallic
26:53
Speaker 1: clang from the cone building out in the purple mists
26:56
Speaker 1: beyond the end of the wall. He looked up quickly
26:59
Speaker 1: and saw that an oval window had opened in the
27:02
Speaker 1: structure near its tip. Framed in the opening was what
27:06
Speaker 1: seemed to be a large concave mirror. At one side
27:09
Speaker 1: of the mirror was a living being of some kind,
27:12
Speaker 1: but the intervening mists prevented Blake from making out any
27:16
Speaker 1: details beyond a hazy glimpse of a cluster of what
27:19
Speaker 1: seemed to be long, slender, snakelike black tentacles. The next moment,
27:25
Speaker 1: there spurted from the mirror a broad and swiftly spreading
27:28
Speaker 1: beam of red light, so brilliant that it glowed clearly
27:32
Speaker 1: even in the bright purple rays of the twin suns.
27:36
Speaker 1: Before Blake could shout at warning to Helen, the racing
27:39
Speaker 1: flood of ruddy radiance.
27:40
Speaker 2: Was upon them.
27:42
Speaker 1: The scene reeled in a blurred kaleidoscope of flaming colors
27:45
Speaker 1: before Blake's eyes. For a brief second, the incomplete oblivion
27:50
Speaker 1: swept over him. After an interval that seemed hours, consciousness
27:55
Speaker 1: returned to him as suddenly as it had left him.
27:59
Speaker 1: His first bewilder to look around him disclose the fact
28:02
Speaker 1: that startling changes had occurred in his surroundings during the
28:05
Speaker 1: period while he was under the anesthesia of the red ray.
28:09
Speaker 1: His first effort at movement brought realization that he was
28:12
Speaker 1: in the grip of a strange paralysis. His head and
28:15
Speaker 1: neck seemed quite normal in every way, but from the
28:18
Speaker 1: throat downward his body was completely dead as far as
28:22
Speaker 1: any power of voluntary movement was concerned. He twisted his
28:26
Speaker 1: head stiffly to one side and saw that Helen was
28:29
Speaker 1: standing there beside him. Just beyond here was the motionless
28:34
Speaker 1: figure a gill Mapes. Both the gangster and the girl
28:38
Speaker 1: were in the grip of the same strange paralysis like Blake.
28:42
Speaker 1: They were standing there, rigidly, motionless, facing the gold flecked
28:46
Speaker 1: barrier wall just in front of them. A moment's painful
28:49
Speaker 1: scrutiny of their position showed Blake that the post forming
28:52
Speaker 1: the wall of the enclosure at the end toward the
28:55
Speaker 1: cone had been brought in nearly one hundred yards toward
28:58
Speaker 1: them while they slept ammoring. Barrier sheet was now scarcely
29:01
Speaker 1: a yard from their faces. Yet they still stood near
29:05
Speaker 1: the thicket where they had battled the headless horrors. Blake
29:08
Speaker 1: saw his coat half buried in the blue gray dust
29:11
Speaker 1: near his feet, where Helen had discarded the garment to
29:14
Speaker 1: minister to Mapes. Their unseen captor had obviously made definite
29:18
Speaker 1: preparations for whatever his next purpose with them was to be.
29:24
Speaker 1: For a long wheeled platform had been brought to a
29:26
Speaker 1: position opposite them, just outside this shimmering gold flecked sheet.
29:31
Speaker 1: Blake noted the shattered remains of mapes pistol on the
29:35
Speaker 1: ground at one side of the platform. It had apparently
29:39
Speaker 1: been fished from the enclosure and rendered harmless after the
29:42
Speaker 1: captor had seen the weapons efficient use against the headless
29:46
Speaker 1: ape things. Clustered upon the wheeled platforms was an assemblage
29:51
Speaker 1: of intricately winding coils, glowing tubes, and other apparatus that
29:56
Speaker 1: conveyed no more meaning to Blake's bewildered gaze than a
30:00
Speaker 1: sight of the interior of a metropolitan powerhouse wood to
30:03
Speaker 1: a congo savage. There was only one piece of the
30:06
Speaker 1: apparatus regarding whose probable function Blake could even guess. This
30:12
Speaker 1: was a pair of long, slender arms that projected through
30:14
Speaker 1: the shimmering walls into the enclosure, supporting at their end
30:18
Speaker 1: a large, thin metal plate located just over the heads
30:22
Speaker 1: of the three earthlings. Blake was willing to wager that
30:25
Speaker 1: it was this overhead plate that was responsible for the
30:29
Speaker 1: odd paralysis that held them helpless.
30:33
Speaker 2: Then a figure came slowly.
30:34
Speaker 1: Into view from where it had been concealed by the apparatus,
30:38
Speaker 1: and Blake forgot all thought of the strange mechanisms as
30:42
Speaker 1: he watched the monstrous thing clamber stiffly from the platform
30:46
Speaker 1: and halt squarely in front of the captives to stare
30:49
Speaker 1: at them through the transparency of the intervening force sheet.
30:53
Speaker 1: The thing was a curious blending of human and bestial features.
30:58
Speaker 1: It stood barely five feet in height, yet its great
31:01
Speaker 1: scale armored skull was at least three times as large
31:04
Speaker 1: as that of a grown man. There was colossal metal power,
31:08
Speaker 1: a nameless evil glowing in the dark depths of the
31:12
Speaker 1: two abnormally large eyes that stared fixedly out from under
31:15
Speaker 1: the heavy forehead. The thing had no nose. The mouth opening,
31:20
Speaker 1: surrounded by a rosette of flabby gray skin, was a
31:24
Speaker 1: mere slit. The entire skull and face were covered with small,
31:28
Speaker 1: closely overlapping scales of lustreless gray. The head merged directly
31:33
Speaker 1: into the short black torso, nearly as white as the
31:36
Speaker 1: skull itself. From this trunk there writhed a score of long,
31:40
Speaker 1: black snakelike tentacles, each terminating in a flexible three fingered hand.
31:46
Speaker 1: The trunk was supported by two short, thick legs, armored
31:49
Speaker 1: with gray scales and ending in broad three toed feet. Greetings, earthlings.
31:57
Speaker 1: The voice that emanated from the grotesque mouth was surprisingly
32:00
Speaker 1: resonant in tone. Allow me to present myself. I am Zeru,
32:07
Speaker 1: Imperial Scientists of Zolar. The monstrosity seemed amused at the
32:14
Speaker 1: expressions of Blank's surprise upon the faces of his captives.
32:19
Speaker 1: I learned your crude language from your brain cells while
32:23
Speaker 1: you slept under the red ray, he explained. Also, I
32:28
Speaker 1: learned many other things regarding your planet Earth. I am
32:33
Speaker 1: glad to find your world so well adapted to my purpose.
32:37
Speaker 1: Within a few years after my arrival, there I shall
32:41
Speaker 1: be its unquestioned ruler. Blake started to voice the many
32:47
Speaker 1: questions that were surging through his mind, but an imperious
32:51
Speaker 1: gesture of an outflung tentacle stopped him. Silent Sertling, there
32:59
Speaker 1: was tolerant content, empt and Zabor's ringing voice. I will
33:03
Speaker 1: explain some of the things that puzzle you. There is
33:06
Speaker 1: no reason why I should trouble myself to do so.
33:10
Speaker 1: Yet it may while away the tedium of the short
33:13
Speaker 1: weight yet remaining before my apparatus becomes charged to the
33:18
Speaker 1: required point. Listen carefully, Earthling, for at best you will
33:23
Speaker 1: find many of my thoughts beyond the feeble limits of
33:26
Speaker 1: the word forms with which you have provided me. The
33:30
Speaker 1: world of Zolar, where you now are, is a planet
33:33
Speaker 1: in the Island universe, known to your astronomers as the
33:37
Speaker 1: Great nebula of Andromeda. Until a short time ago I
33:42
Speaker 1: was one of its ruling scientists. Then I sinned, and
33:47
Speaker 1: so grave was my sin according to the laws of
33:50
Speaker 1: this planet, that the Council of Three decreed my death.
33:55
Speaker 1: That death sentence upon Zolar is irrevocable, and no man
34:00
Speaker 1: has yet escaped it, no matter whereupon the planet he
34:03
Speaker 1: may be. When the appointed time for his execution commons,
34:08
Speaker 1: I was given the usual period of grace in which
34:11
Speaker 1: to put my affairs in order. Instead, I have labored
34:15
Speaker 1: unceasingly here in my laboratory, and my labors have borne fruit.
34:21
Speaker 1: I am the first man and Zolari in history to
34:24
Speaker 1: find a means of escaping the dread death penalty. Briefly,
34:30
Speaker 1: I discovered a way by which I can flee to
34:32
Speaker 1: your far distant universe, where not even the powers of
34:35
Speaker 1: the Council of Three can follow me. That way lies
34:39
Speaker 1: through the door of interdimensional space. In space, as you
34:43
Speaker 1: know it, the almost unthinkable distance of a million light
34:46
Speaker 1: years separates Zolar from the dwarf star you call your son.
34:51
Speaker 1: Yet traveling between space, the two planets nearly touch each other.
34:57
Speaker 1: The same situation of being near neighbors interdimensional space holds
35:02
Speaker 1: two with Zolar and at least seven other planets located
35:06
Speaker 1: in widely separated parts of your universe. Let me try
35:11
Speaker 1: to illustrate what I mean by traveling between space. We
35:16
Speaker 1: will assume a nearly two dimensional universe in the form
35:19
Speaker 1: of a circular piece of paper three feet in diameter.
35:24
Speaker 1: There is a dot on the exact center of each
35:26
Speaker 1: side of this paper. To a two dimensional creature forced
35:31
Speaker 1: to travel only on the surface of the paper, the
35:33
Speaker 1: distance between the two dots can never be less than
35:37
Speaker 1: thirty six inches. Yet by cutting between the two surfaces
35:42
Speaker 1: and going directly through the paper, the dots are less
35:45
Speaker 1: than one hundredth of an inch apart. Such is the
35:49
Speaker 1: case with Zolar in the planets in your universe, which
35:52
Speaker 1: are our immediate neighbors in interdimensional space. In order to
35:57
Speaker 1: reach those planets, I had only to develop a method
36:00
Speaker 1: of using sufficient force to cut between the three dimensions
36:05
Speaker 1: of intervening space. In solving this problem, I developed both
36:09
Speaker 1: an interdimensional net to bring beans from your universe to mine,
36:13
Speaker 1: and an interdimensional gait to permit beans to pass from
36:17
Speaker 1: here back to worlds in your galaxy. You have already
36:21
Speaker 1: seen the workings of the net. It was the devisive
36:24
Speaker 1: green fire that brought you here. The use of the
36:27
Speaker 1: net was a vital part of my plans, for without
36:30
Speaker 1: the use of a physical body from some world in
36:34
Speaker 1: your universe, I could not hope to live longer than
36:37
Speaker 1: a few minutes after leaving Zolar via the interdimensional gait.
36:42
Speaker 1: The inherent characteristics and basic elements of your galaxy and
36:46
Speaker 1: the Andromedin universe are so different in every way that
36:50
Speaker 1: an inhabitant of either star group cannot exist in the other.
36:54
Speaker 1: Zolar's purple atmosphere is characteristic of Andromedin worlds. Oxygen saturated
37:01
Speaker 1: air is typical of worlds in your galaxy.
37:04
Speaker 2: Just as Zolar's purple.
37:05
Speaker 1: Mists would be immediately fatal to you, so would your clear,
37:09
Speaker 1: oxygen tainted air be quickly fatal to me. Accordingly, my
37:13
Speaker 1: only chance of surviving in one of your worlds is
37:17
Speaker 1: to first transfer my intelligence to the body of one
37:19
Speaker 1: of the dwellers upon that planet. The seven planets within
37:24
Speaker 1: reach of my net, I found only two that promised
37:26
Speaker 1: to be at all suitable. One was your Earth, the
37:31
Speaker 1: other a minor planet circling the star you call Vega.
37:35
Speaker 1: I brought both you and the net load of vegans
37:38
Speaker 1: here to this oxygen field enclosure I had already prepared.
37:42
Speaker 1: The vagans were the headless things with the jelly nuclei.
37:46
Speaker 2: I watched your battle with.
37:47
Speaker 1: Them, and waited to choose as my vehicle the planetary
37:50
Speaker 1: type that proved the stronger you vanquished the vagans. So
37:55
Speaker 1: it is in the body of an Earthling that I
37:57
Speaker 1: shall leave Zolar, and it is to the planet Earth
38:01
Speaker 1: that I shall be hurtled through the interdimensional gait. Aside
38:05
Speaker 1: from the slight difficulty caused by having to keep my
38:08
Speaker 1: body and yours each in its proper element during the operation,
38:12
Speaker 1: the matter of transfer into one of your bodies is
38:15
Speaker 1: a simple one. It involves none of the clumsy brain
38:19
Speaker 1: surgery of your earthly science. We of Zolar have found
38:22
Speaker 1: that the real intelligence of a being is an invisible force,
38:27
Speaker 1: not at all dependent for existence upon the protoplasm through
38:31
Speaker 1: which it manifests. My intelligence can function quite as well
38:35
Speaker 1: in your brain cells as in my own. I require
38:39
Speaker 1: no assistant in the transfer. Zebru indicated an intricate piece
38:44
Speaker 1: of apparatus on the platform behind him. It was a
38:47
Speaker 1: massive cylinder of fluorescent metal with two long metallic cables
38:51
Speaker 1: running from its center, each cable ending in a sausa
38:55
Speaker 1: shaped disk. I have only to thrust one cable through
38:59
Speaker 1: the force water into your enclosure and place its disc
39:03
Speaker 1: upon one of your heads, then place the other disc
39:06
Speaker 1: upon my own head. The apparatus is entirely automatic. Three
39:11
Speaker 1: seconds after both discs are in place, my intelligence will
39:15
Speaker 1: course into the Earthling brain, driving out his intelligence and
39:19
Speaker 1: destroying it as mine enters. I will of course remove
39:24
Speaker 1: the selected body from under the paralyzing plate before I
39:27
Speaker 1: attach the disk. Then, when I am safely transferred to
39:31
Speaker 1: the Earthling body, I will have only to walk on
39:33
Speaker 1: through the enclosure to the silver arch at the far end,
39:37
Speaker 1: and leave Zolar forever. That silver arch is the interdimensional
39:42
Speaker 1: gate to your Earth. Its operation is slightly different from
39:46
Speaker 1: that of the net, where the net was capable of
39:49
Speaker 1: reaching under the surface of your planet, a preceding I
39:51
Speaker 1: tried when two attempts upon.
39:53
Speaker 2: The surface proved fruitless.
39:55
Speaker 1: The gate is so adjusted that it will place its
39:58
Speaker 1: passenger exactly upon the surface d your world. It requires
40:02
Speaker 1: no cooperation from this end. When I step under the arch,
40:06
Speaker 1: I merely close a black lever. There interdimensional force immediately
40:10
Speaker 1: catapults me to your earth. Then the automatic mechanism of
40:14
Speaker 1: the gate will, within a half minute of my departure,
40:17
Speaker 1: release an explosion that will shatter everything within a radius
40:21
Speaker 1: of a mile here, and so prevent the Council three
40:25
Speaker 1: from even guessing the method of my escape. But what
40:29
Speaker 1: are the two of us, whose bodies you do not
40:31
Speaker 1: need blake protested? Can you not at least take them
40:35
Speaker 1: through the arch gate with you back.
40:37
Speaker 2: To their home world?
40:40
Speaker 1: Why should I do anything so foolish as that, Zabru
40:44
Speaker 1: answered callously. They might easily be a menaced to my
40:47
Speaker 1: first attempts to establish myself upon your planet.
40:51
Speaker 2: Far better to.
40:52
Speaker 1: Lead them here, in their present state of paralysis, to
40:55
Speaker 1: be safely destroyed in the explosion of the gate. Zayu
40:59
Speaker 1: now thrusts three of his tentacles into a vat of
41:01
Speaker 1: milky fluid and withdrew them, coated with a silver sheen
41:05
Speaker 1: on the black flesh.
41:08
Speaker 2: The silver glaze.
41:09
Speaker 1: Seemed to be an insulation against both the oxygen of
41:12
Speaker 1: the enclosure and the paralyzing force of the overhead disc
41:16
Speaker 1: for the Zolarian promptly thrust the three silver coated arms
41:20
Speaker 1: through the wall and began handling the bodies of Mapes
41:22
Speaker 1: and Blake in a painstaking process of examination. Again, Blake
41:28
Speaker 1: noted that the shimmering gold flecked wall closed quickly in
41:31
Speaker 1: and kept its surface unbroken, no matter how often objects
41:35
Speaker 1: were thrust through it. Completely Ignoring Helen, Zeru lifted first Mapes,
41:41
Speaker 1: then Blake, his tentacles probing, fingering, exploring there was enormous
41:47
Speaker 1: power the Zolarian's grotesque body.
41:49
Speaker 2: He lifted the.
41:50
Speaker 1: Men as though they were wooden dolls, bringing them close
41:53
Speaker 1: to the shimmering wall to pear at them, then setting
41:56
Speaker 1: them carefully down again on their feet under the disk.
42:00
Speaker 1: Blake wondered idly why their stiff bodies did not topple
42:03
Speaker 1: over when they were left unsupported, then decided that the
42:07
Speaker 1: paralyzing force of the disk probably left the automatic muscular
42:11
Speaker 1: balancing movements unimpaired, effecting only the powers of voluntary movement.
42:17
Speaker 2: Then, as Zeru set.
42:19
Speaker 1: Him down after one of the periods of examination, Blake
42:22
Speaker 1: noticed a new and startling change. The moment his feet
42:25
Speaker 1: touched the ground, his right leg and right arm were
42:29
Speaker 1: no longer dead. He hurriedly glanced down at the ground
42:33
Speaker 1: at his feet and promptly found what seemed to be
42:36
Speaker 1: the reason for his partial freedom from the paralysis. In
42:39
Speaker 1: setting his body down the last time Zeru had moved
42:43
Speaker 1: Blake slightly. His right foot now rested upon the corner
42:46
Speaker 1: of the discarded top coat, lying half buried there in.
42:50
Speaker 2: The blue gray dust. The heavily rubberised.
42:53
Speaker 1: Cloth apparently acted as an insulating sheet that prevented the
42:57
Speaker 1: effective grounding of the paralyzing force that streamed down through
43:01
Speaker 1: Blake's body from the overhead disk. Consequently, all portions of
43:06
Speaker 1: his body between the coat and the disk were free
43:09
Speaker 1: from the paralysis. For a moment, Blake wondered at Zayru's carelessness.
43:14
Speaker 1: Then he realized that the insulating qualities of rubber would
43:18
Speaker 1: naturally be unknown to a Zolarian. Noting that Zayru was
43:22
Speaker 1: busy at the moment with his work upon Mapes, Blake
43:25
Speaker 1: quickly grasped at the faint chance the presence of the
43:28
Speaker 1: rubberized cloth offered him. Working with infinite slowness and caution,
43:33
Speaker 1: he edged his right foot over an inch at a time,
43:35
Speaker 1: dragging the rest of his body with it. Luck was
43:39
Speaker 1: with him. Zau continued absorbed in his work upon Mapes.
43:44
Speaker 1: The Zolarian's telepathic powers apparently functioned only with the aid
43:48
Speaker 1: of the Red Ray, for he remained oblivious of Blake's actions.
43:53
Speaker 1: One final cautious dragging movement, and Blake's entire body was
43:57
Speaker 1: upon the cloth, and every muscle again vibrantly alive. Blake
44:02
Speaker 1: stood there, motionless, faking paralysis, while his brain raced in
44:06
Speaker 1: an effort to figure the best use to make of
44:08
Speaker 1: his present advantage. He was still trapped, not daring to
44:12
Speaker 1: reach even a hand beyond the protection of the cloth
44:15
Speaker 1: under foot. The first essential of any effort at escape
44:19
Speaker 1: would have to be a lunge of sufficient power to
44:22
Speaker 1: take him safely beyond the area of the disk's influence.
44:26
Speaker 1: Blake's first thought was to hurl himself through the barrier
44:29
Speaker 1: wall upon Zaoru, trusting to sheer surprise to overwhelm the Zolaryan,
44:34
Speaker 1: but he quickly dismissed that plan. It left too many
44:37
Speaker 1: elements in Zau's favor. There was a two black weapon
44:41
Speaker 1: thrust in a belt around Zayru's middle, and there were
44:44
Speaker 1: probably a dozen other different weapons lying handy to his reach.
44:49
Speaker 1: Among the apparatus on the platform. The deadly purple mists
44:53
Speaker 1: beyond the wall would alone, in all probability, overcome Blake
44:56
Speaker 1: before he could batter Zeru down by far. The best
45:00
Speaker 1: plan was to stage the battle inside the enclosure, where
45:04
Speaker 1: Blake would be in his own native elopment. If he
45:07
Speaker 1: could yank Zau inside the wall, he would have him
45:10
Speaker 1: away from the contact with his mechanical weapons and battling
45:14
Speaker 1: in an atmosphere inherently.
45:16
Speaker 2: Poisonous to him.
45:18
Speaker 1: Under those circumstances, Blake felt that he might have an
45:21
Speaker 1: even chance in a hand to hand combat with.
45:24
Speaker 2: A powerful, but slow footed Zolarian.
45:27
Speaker 1: Once Zau was eliminated, escape back to Earth should be
45:31
Speaker 1: a simple matter. The silver gate, with its automatic mechanism
45:35
Speaker 1: needing only the closing of a lever, was ready in
45:38
Speaker 1: waiting there in the enclosure behind them. For long tens minutes,
45:42
Speaker 1: Blake forced himself to remain rigidly motionless while Zau labored
45:47
Speaker 1: over mapes. Then, finally the Zolarian turned his attention briefly
45:51
Speaker 1: back to Blake and thrust two tentacles in to grip
45:55
Speaker 1: his body. No sooner had the tentacles crossed over the
45:58
Speaker 1: border of the cloth, then Zayo realized that something was wrong.
46:03
Speaker 1: He tried to whip his arms back again, but too late.
46:07
Speaker 1: Blake made a lightning snatch at a tentacle with both hands,
46:11
Speaker 1: and in the same lithe movement, turned from the barrier
46:14
Speaker 1: wall and flung himself headlong toward the center of the enclosure.
46:19
Speaker 1: Zaoru had no time to brace himself. He was jerked
46:22
Speaker 1: bodily through the shimmering wall and on after Blake's lunging body.
46:26
Speaker 1: One of the Zolarians, waving tentacles, grasped wildly at the
46:30
Speaker 1: overhead disc in an effort to stay his flight. The
46:33
Speaker 1: only result was to bring the entire disk and its supports,
46:36
Speaker 1: crashing in ruins to the ground upon the struggling figures
46:39
Speaker 1: of Blake and himself. Blake was upon his feet again,
46:43
Speaker 1: instantly snatching up a yard long scrap of metal from
46:46
Speaker 1: the wreckage of the disk. He flung himself upon Zayu,
46:50
Speaker 1: the Zolarian scene for the moment two days by his
46:53
Speaker 1: fall to fight back. With tentacles raised to guard his head,
46:57
Speaker 1: he staggered backward in retreat, every taking him farther away
47:01
Speaker 1: from the wall and the purple mists. Blake was vaguely
47:05
Speaker 1: aware that Helen and Mapes, freed by the wrecking of
47:08
Speaker 1: the disk were scrambling to their feet. Mapes was already
47:12
Speaker 1: running toward the combatants. Blake was glad at the prospect
47:15
Speaker 1: of an ally. Zayru's day's condition was swiftly passing. He
47:20
Speaker 1: had now stopped his retreat and was already fumbling a
47:24
Speaker 1: tentacle toward the tube weapon in his belt. Blake flung
47:28
Speaker 1: himself upon Zau in another effort to beat him down
47:31
Speaker 1: before he could draw that weapon, but his metal club
47:34
Speaker 1: glanced harmlessly off the tentacles Zayu raised to shield his head. Then,
47:39
Speaker 1: beyond Zaorru, Blake saw something that made him stop his assault.
47:43
Speaker 1: It was Mapes, printing toward the silver arch gate at
47:46
Speaker 1: the other end of the enclosure. Blake's heart sank as
47:50
Speaker 1: he realized the gangster's treachery. If he once reached that arch,
47:54
Speaker 1: he could send himself safely hurtling back to Earth, while
47:57
Speaker 1: Blake and Helen would be left to perish with Zayas
48:00
Speaker 1: and the explosion that would immediately follow. It was too
48:04
Speaker 1: late for Blake to head the gangster off. He had
48:06
Speaker 1: already covered half the distance to the arch. Zau noted
48:10
Speaker 1: Mape's fleeting figure almost as quickly as did Blake. Swiftly,
48:15
Speaker 1: the Zolarian swung his tube weapon into line with the
48:18
Speaker 1: fleeing gangster. A thin pencil of dull yellow light of
48:22
Speaker 1: a peculiar density spurted from the tube toward Mapes. There
48:26
Speaker 1: was a flash of blinding flame as the light beam
48:29
Speaker 1: met the gangster's body. Then Mape's figure seemed to literally explode,
48:34
Speaker 1: as though blasted by dynamite from within.
48:37
Speaker 2: So devastating was the force of.
48:39
Speaker 1: That explosion that nothing remained a Mape's body beyond a
48:42
Speaker 1: few scattered fragments of shoes and clothing. Blake was still
48:47
Speaker 1: dazed at the cataclysmic suddenness of Mape's death as Zayru
48:51
Speaker 1: swung the tube around to train it upon him. Only
48:55
Speaker 1: a last minute, desperate effort upon Blake's part saved him.
48:58
Speaker 1: His wildly thrown metal club made a lucky hit on
49:01
Speaker 1: the tube itself, knocking it shattered and useless out of
49:05
Speaker 1: Zau's grasp. Unharmed, Zau faced Blake with his face contorting
49:11
Speaker 1: in agony. For a moment, the Zolarian swayed there, apparently
49:16
Speaker 1: trying to gather his failing strength for the next move.
49:19
Speaker 1: The deadly air of the enclosure was already taking hideous toll.
49:24
Speaker 1: The scaly flesh of his head and face was dissolving
49:26
Speaker 1: like melting butter. Zayu's strength was ebbing too swiftly for
49:30
Speaker 1: him to have any chance of gaining safety through either
49:34
Speaker 1: of the distant side walls. His only hope of fighting
49:37
Speaker 1: back to the Purple mists was to pass Blake and
49:39
Speaker 1: go through the nearby end wall through which he had
49:42
Speaker 1: originally been drawn. He came lunging forward in an attack
49:46
Speaker 1: whose sheer fury made Blake give ground before the menace
49:50
Speaker 1: of the lashing tentacles. Blake took another backward step, then
49:54
Speaker 1: staggered as his foot struck a rough spot on the ground.
49:57
Speaker 1: Zayru's tentacles were upon him before.
49:59
Speaker 2: He could rea cover himself.
50:01
Speaker 1: His club was jerked from his fingers and sent hurtling
50:04
Speaker 1: far out of reach. Half a dozen of the tentacle
50:07
Speaker 1: arms lashed around his throat in a strangling grip. He
50:11
Speaker 1: clawed wildly at the choking coils, but they failed to
50:14
Speaker 1: loosen even a fraction of an inch. Desperately, Blake sent
50:18
Speaker 1: his fists smashing into the gray face. The scale armor
50:22
Speaker 1: of Zayru's skull fast weakening in the liquefying influence of
50:25
Speaker 1: the oxygen gave way beneath that battering attack. He staggered,
50:31
Speaker 1: and his coiling tentacles relaxed slightly. Blake tore himself free.
50:36
Speaker 1: A final smashing blow with every ounce of his one
50:39
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety pounds behind it sent Zayu crashing to
50:42
Speaker 1: the ground. The Zolarian tried to rise, then feebly slumped back.
50:49
Speaker 1: His strength spent. Blake leaped forward to finish us upon it,
50:53
Speaker 1: but stopped as he saw that his efforts were not needed.
50:57
Speaker 1: The deadly air of the enclosure was now overwhelm Zeru
51:01
Speaker 1: with swift and hideous death. He was literally rotting before
51:05
Speaker 1: Blake's horrified eyes, the gray scaled skin sloughing off in
51:09
Speaker 1: streaming rivulets of palladus, and the entire body contorting in
51:15
Speaker 1: what was obviously a death agony. Sickened Blake's stepped back
51:20
Speaker 1: a pace or two. Zayu's tentacles feebly beat the ground
51:23
Speaker 1: around him. Then suddenly one of the writhing arms blundered
51:27
Speaker 1: upon a thin cable running along the ground. Before Blake
51:31
Speaker 1: could spring forward to stop him, Zayu, with a last
51:34
Speaker 1: surge of power ripped the fragile metal strand completely in two.
51:38
Speaker 1: It was the Zolarian's dying effort. He slumped in a motionless,
51:42
Speaker 1: nearly liquescent heap. But that last blind blow at the
51:46
Speaker 1: Earthlings threatened to.
51:48
Speaker 2: Be a deadly one.
51:49
Speaker 1: The severed cable led to one of the black posts
51:52
Speaker 1: surrounding the enclosure. With the cable's parting, an entire section
51:56
Speaker 1: of one of the gold fleck barrier walls vanished. Zo
52:00
Speaker 1: Olar's deadly purple mists were already surging in speed. Was
52:04
Speaker 1: the Earthling's only chance.
52:05
Speaker 2: Now.
52:06
Speaker 1: Helen was as quick to realize the danger as was Blake.
52:09
Speaker 1: Side by side, they started their mad race toward where
52:12
Speaker 1: the silver arch gate loomed, nearly a hundred yards away.
52:16
Speaker 1: They had covered barely half the distance when the air
52:19
Speaker 1: round them began to show a definite tinge of purple.
52:22
Speaker 1: With the appearance of the purple hue, there came a
52:24
Speaker 1: strange and swiftly increasing agony, a torturing vibration that seemed
52:29
Speaker 1: to be tearing every atom of their bodies asunder. They
52:33
Speaker 1: were within ten yards at the arch when Helen fell.
52:36
Speaker 1: Blake grabbed her up in his arms and stumbled on.
52:39
Speaker 1: There was no longer enough oxygen in the air to
52:42
Speaker 1: even breathe. Blake's lungs were on fire, every cell in
52:46
Speaker 1: his body seen vibrating in unbearable torment. It was all
52:51
Speaker 1: that he could do to struggle up on the low platform.
52:54
Speaker 1: He staggered across the space and under the arch. It
52:58
Speaker 1: took the last shred of strength in his orchard body
53:00
Speaker 1: for him to lift his hand and pull the black
53:03
Speaker 1: lever down in to place. Its action was instantaneous. The
53:09
Speaker 1: agony of the purple mists was blotted out, and a
53:11
Speaker 1: surging wave of mighty force that swept Blake and Helen
53:15
Speaker 1: up and away through a spaceless universe where black chaos
53:19
Speaker 1: reigned awesomely supreme. There was a long, terrible moment of
53:23
Speaker 1: hurtling through distances inconceivably fast. Blake's brain reeled in nausea.
53:30
Speaker 1: Then suddenly all motion ceased and everything was normal again.
53:35
Speaker 1: There was firm, grassy ground under his feet, and a
53:37
Speaker 1: cool breeze was blowing in his face. He opened his
53:41
Speaker 1: eyes and saw the gray half light of early dawn.
53:45
Speaker 2: After the first swift look.
53:46
Speaker 1: Around him, he sighed in mighty relief. To his left
53:51
Speaker 1: was the familiar skyline of Fifth Avenue. To his right
53:54
Speaker 1: was Central Park West. They were somewhere in Central Park,
53:58
Speaker 1: safe again in their own world, and somewhere in that
54:02
Speaker 1: other world beneath the twin purple suns, the time mechanism
54:06
Speaker 1: of the Silver Gate should even now be releasing the
54:09
Speaker 1: explosive that would forever blot out all traces of the
54:12
Speaker 1: evil handiwork of Zyu cosmic Fisher of Zolar, end of
54:19
Speaker 1: Zebru of Zolar by hal k Wells