Collected Short Fiction, page 440
The blade cut through, but his strength was ebbing. His aching lungs tried to breathe and found no air. A froth of blood and expanding oxygen strangled him. The metal walls seemed to recede. Black splotches blotted out his sight.
He worked on blindly. He tried to grin Clayton’s hard grin, for no audience at all. He lifted the tool and brought it down, again and once again.
One bar was out of the way, then another. The tool dropped out of his frozen hands, but perhaps the space was large enough.
He thrust himself into it. Dimly he knew that hands had grasped him. With all that was left of his strength, he kicked and squirmed and pushed.
He slipped through the valve. It came to him, with a sense of far dim wonder, that he was Outside—where no naked human animal could live.
CHAPTER XVII
Man Outside!
HIS lungs still feebly tried to breathe. All the pain had gone. There was only wonder left and a comfort in the nearness of oblivion. He did his best to see, but his eyes were almost past seeing.
There was the terrible, black sky over cruel, dead mountains that had been the bottom of the sea. There was some low, sledlike machine near him. It must be night, for the machine was not much more than a blot of shadow. There were two bulky figures in air-suits.
Who could they be?
Queerly that question lingered in his ebbing mind, even after he had forgotten the need to breathe. But it was dark, or else his eyes had grown too dim to see. He knew that they were slipping a helmet over his head. He felt them wrapping him in the stiff fabric of an air-suit. Oxygen hissed into his lungs. It seared his throat and burned like fire in his lungs, but he labored to breathe.
Then he was in a white bed. Through small, heavy windows he could see a rocky landscape, glaring strangely bright under the Outside’s ominous sky. Two or three miles away, he saw the flat, gray dome of New Dover. He knew he was in one of the smaller structures, outside the dome-city.
He moved a little and Atlantis Lee came silently around the bed. A shaft of sunlight, as she passed it, turned her hair to sudden red glory. But her face looked tense and white and her smile was grave.
“Feel better?” she asked, her voice low and musical.
Shane tried to speak. His throat felt as if iron hooks had torn it. “Don’t talk, if it hurts,” she soothed.
“You’ll feel better in a few minutes. Dr. Wolf just looked you over. There’s nothing wrong that a little rest won’t fix.”
He managed a faint, painful whisper.
“Didn’t know—a man could live—Outside.”
“The combined oxygen in the blood is enough to keep life going for several minutes. The main danger was rupture of the lungs or blood vessels. Dr. Wolf says you didn’t suffer anything serious.” Her tense smile reflected her admiration. “Cutting those bars must have taken courage and strength.”
“Thanks,” he whispered. “It was you who got me out?”
“With the help of some friends,” she said.
“How did you know—”
A COUGH choked off his question and his throat burned with intense misery again.
“Dr. Wolf left this for you.” She held a glass of something to his lips. It had a sharp biting taste, but immediately he felt better. “We had a friend in touch with Barlow’s plot. He learned about the warrant for my arrest and your refusal to sign it. We had planned the escape beforehand, in case one of us went to the vacuum cell.”
“Us?” whispered Shane.
“There’s just a handful of us,” she said, “all that’s left of the old democratic opposition to the Black Star. We’ve kept together a little underground organization, hoping somehow to prevent the destruction of the Barrier and bring peace between New Britain and America.”
“Where are we?” Shane inquired, looking across the dead miles to New Dover.
“Lee Observatory,” she said, her eyes watchful.
“Thanks, beautiful.” Shane remembered he was Glenn Clayton and tried to grin. His throat felt slightly better. “Nice of you to help an old enemy.”
“Don’t be an idiot!” She came close to the bed and her worried violet eyes looked down at him. “If you feel able to talk, tell me who you are.”
SHANE tried not to look astonished.
“Could you forget me, darling?”
“I haven’t forgotten Clayton.” Her voice seemed to indicate that she wished she could. “You look the part—almost, but you just don’t know the lines. You’ve made half a dozen blunders. The worst one was getting caught by Barlow. Clayton had been watching Barlow set his trap for two years, planning to catch Barlow himself in it, whenever it was sprung.” She glanced at the window. “And Clayton wouldn’t have asked where we are.”
“All right,” Shane yielded. But Clayton’s green-eyed grin seemed natural now. “I’m Barry Shane, American. We caught Clayton before he could smash the Barrier. I came out in his place.”
“That was foolish.” Her grave eyes smiled again. “But I like you for it.”
Shane watched her face.
“Don’t you want to know what happened to him?” He had to catch his breath before he could go on. “It was I who captured him. When I left, he was awaiting execution for attempted escape.”
For a long period she looked past him. Then her red head shook slightly.
“It would have mattered once,” she said softly, “but things have changed.” Shane felt relieved.
“I’m glad,” he told her huskily. “I was afraid you would hold me responsible for his death. You see, he was carrying your picture.”
“You thought that—and still you told me?” Her white face smiled. “I think you’re all right, Barry Shane. Glenn wanted me to marry him. I might have done it once, if he hadn’t insisted that I must join the Black Star and abandon our little opposition party.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. You knew he was leader of the Black Star?”
She nodded. “He told me when he asked me to marry him. In fact, a good many people knew, besides Barlow and his gang. Clayton had a few trusted subordinates. It’s impossible to keep such information really secret. Somebody must know where the Black Star’s orders come from.” Shane sat up in the bed.
“What’s the situation now?” he asked. “Barlow will be desperate when he finds out I was rescued. Now that he has shown his hand, he knows he’ll have to win or die. Can he find me here?”
Anxiously he watched her face. “Probably,” she answered. “Most of the opposition to the Black Star exists among our scientists and engineers. The observatory has been a headquarters for our small group. Barlow and his henchmen will know where to look. A rocket took off from the city before sunrise. It’s probably Barlow’s Avenger.”
Shane looked out again, across the dead, harshly lit miles to New Britain.
“What about weapons and defenses?” he pursued. “If Barlow’s ship should attack, or his men on the ground, have we the weapons to hold them off?”
ATLANTIS shook her head. “There are two dozen men of our group here at the observatory now—astronomers, engineers and members of the League council. Dr. Winston called them in a secret meeting here to inform them about a recent discovery of his.”
Her white face looked grave as she mentioned the doctor’s discovery.
“But we have no weapons,” she went on. “We can’t hold out against the Black Star. The extremist element of the party has been wanting for years to wipe us out. Clayton restrained them only, I think, because of his old friendship for me. That was one of the arguments Barlow used in getting recruits for his plot.”
She shrugged unhappily, yet her lovely red lips did not tremble.
“I don’t see what we can do,” she concluded. “Barlow and his extremists will doubtless order an attack on us at once. Admiral Gluck can destroy the observatory and all of us, with one rocket-load of bombs.”
“Admiral Gluck?” Shane repeated. “Is he in on the plot?”
“I don’t think so. Our friends in the Black Star party are certain he knew nothing about it. He is loyal to the party. If orders come to him, stamped with the Black Star Seal, he will obey them without question. Barlow will order him to attack the observatory and he will do so promptly.”
Shane grinned. He caught the girl’s arms, pulled her to him and set a kiss on her startled face. His triumphant whoop was checked by the pain of his raw throat.
“Then we’re all right, beautiful!” he croaked breathlessly. He liked that word of Clayton’s—for Atlantis Lee. “We’ll just send an order to Admiral Gluck—and have Barlow and his gang taken care of for the traitors they are.”
He slipped the massive ring off his finger, pressed the tiny stud to uncover the black, scintillating starshaped jewel. He waved it under her eyes.
“There it is. I’ve still got the Seal!”
Her violet eyes failed to light with his own elation. Her white face smiled a little, but it still seemed tense with dread. The shadow of fear was still dark in her eyes.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Do you think Barlow will attack before we have time to send an order to Admiral Gluck?”
“That’s possible,” she admitted. “Barlow and his men must be desperate. They will do everything they can, without any delay. We might be betrayed by others in the plot that we don’t know of. But there’s something else, something much more serious.”
Shane caught his breath.
“I thought there must be something,” he whispered. “You look so pale and anxious.” He caught her hand and found it cold. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Her red head turned away.
“If you feel able to stand some dreadful news,” she said. “I told you Dr. Winston had made an important discovery. I called our group together to hear about it. He is going to make his announcement in a few minutes.”
“What is it?” asked Shane.
“I’ll let Dr. Winston tell you.” Her voice was hushed and ominous. “When you’ve heard it, the Black Star and Captain Barlow’s plots won’t matter very much.”
CHAPTER XVIII
Mad Moon
SHANE was rapidly recovering from his ordeal Outside. Atlantis Lee wanted to take his arm, but he walked without her aid into the small lecture room, where two dozen scientists and engineers—the chief opponents of the Black Star—were waiting for Dr. Winston’s grave announcement.
Atlantis introduced him before they sat down.
“This is Captain Clayton, just back from America.”
Quick hostility flashed on several faces.
“We don’t want a Black Star leader here!” a spectacled man said angrily.
“Captain Clayton’s viewpoint changed after his recent visit inside the Barrier,” the girl said. “He is now a friend of America and one of us.”
“That’s right,” Shane added in his hoarse, painful voice. “I’m going to use my power in the Black Star to try to prevent any attack on America, or on any of you. But I have enemies in the Black Star. Miss Lee just saved my life. There will be trouble.”
A bearded man shook his head.
“You don’t know how much trouble, Clayton, until you have listened to Dr. Winston.”
An ominous, expectant silence settled over the room as a tall, gray-faced man came through a door behind the speaker’s platform. He looked over the room with troubled, preoccupied eyes.
“Dr. Winston,” Atlantis Lee breathed.
The tall man cleared his throat and his pale, nervous hands took metal foil documents out of a brief-case. In a low, grave voice, he began simply.
“Thank you for coming here. A few of you have received some hints about this discovery, but I waited, before making any formal announcement, until two of my associates had checked my work. The check has just been completed. There is no escape from the truth.”
A breathless stir swept the room.
Somebody made a little stifled outcry. One man rose and stalked out silently, white-faced.
“Go on,” Shane whispered hoarsely.
“A few days ago,” resumed the tall astronomer, “our large telescope picked up a new object in the southern sky—almost in the same position where the passing Dwarf vanished, two hundred years ago, after it had stripped off the air and the seas of Earth. On observation, it proved to be no ordinary comet. It is a solid object, of almost planetary size.
“Although the astronomers of the time had stated that the return of the Dwarf was impossible, we supposed for a time that their observations had been in error. We thought the Dwarf was coming back! That is the report that some of you have heard. It was very alarming, because the object is heading directly toward an intersection of the Earth’s orbit.
“It will reach the point of intersection at exactly the same time Earth does. That means collision! Last night, studying the object, I made another discovery. Apparently the observations of the old astronomers were correct, after all. The approaching body is not the Dwarf.”
EXCITEMENT swept the little room again. Half the men were on their feet. Shane swayed upright, leaning on the desk in front of him.
“Then what is it?” somebody shouted. “Was it all a mistake about the collision?”
The lean astronomer put out his hand and breathless silence fell.
“It isn’t the Dwarf,” his low voice repeated. “It’s the Moon, the Earth’s old satellite, which followed the Dwarf into space. Evidently it was drawn into a very long cometary orbit, but it escaped the Dwarf’s attraction in the end. It is still a part of the Solar System. Now, after two hundred years, it is coming back to perihelion.”
“What about the collision?” Shane rasped.
“That doesn’t alter our other observations,” Winston said. “The Moon is moving toward collision with the Earth. It isn’t as heavy as Dwarf, of course, but that will make no difference to Earth. The impact will destroy everything alive—inside the Barrier or Outside.”
“How much time have we?”
“Here are my figures.” Winston’s gray, nervous hand held up a sheaf of pages. “You may go over them, if you like. They indicate that the collision will take place in twenty-two days.”
Most of the men in the room sat motionless, in stunned silence. One kept repeating that last phrase under his breath.
“Twenty-two days . . . twenty-two days.”
One made aimless scrawls on a metal foil sheet. Another rose and bolted through the door, as if the little room had suddenly become a deadly trap.
Shane went swaying down the aisle to the table where Winston stood. He waved aside the metal foil document. His painful voice rasped the question.
“What are you going to do about it?”
The spare astronomer shook his gray-streaked head.
“What can we do?” His lean shoulders shrugged. “If we had years of time, it might have been possible to outfit expeditions to colonize Mars or Venus. Our rockets have never reached such distances, but now there’s no time for anything, even that.”
Other men came up with questions. Shane took the sheets of gray foil and began to thumb through them.
Beside him, Atlantis Lee spoke softly.
“Dr. Winston is our best scientist. When he gives up, it means that we are beaten. New Britain can’t do anything to avert this disaster.” Her voice dropped to an urgent whisper. “Barry Shane, can America help?” Shane looked up from the gray metal sheets, stared into her troubled violet eyes.
“I’m sure America could do nothing alone,” he said hoarsely. “But I was just wondering—”
With brow furrowed, he looked again at Winston’s calculations. Softly the girl prompted him. “Wondering what, Barry?”
“New Britain can do nothing,” he said. “I’m sure America couldn’t, for want of power and industrial organization. But I was wondering what we both could do together.”
HER eyes lit with eagerness.
“You have a plan?”
“Not a plan yet.” He glanced at the gray sheets again. “Tell me, could one of your rockets go out to meet the Moon, say at a distance of a few million miles?”
“I suppose so.” Her tense fingers caught his arms. “Tell me, Barry, have you found a way?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “Let me ask a question.” His husky voice called to lean Dr. Winston: “Suppose that the Moon could be cut off from all gravitational forces for the last few million miles of its approach, what would be the result?”
The astronomer’s thin face grew sardonic.
“If it could!” he repeated with unhidden irony.
“Please, Dr. Winston,” Atlantis Lee said urgently. “This is serious.” Winston looked keenly at Shane. “Nobody can cut off gravitational forces,” he said. “But if you want a serious reply to a fantastic question, of course the curve of the Moon’s orbit would straighten. It would no longer be drawn toward the Sun. Consequently it would pass outside the Earth’s orbit.”
“How far outside?” demanded Shane.
“That depends on how long you imagine it it be cut off.”
“Suppose it could be done in ten days, would the collision be averted?”
Impatiently Winston scrawled symbols on his metal sheets.
“By a narrow margin, it would.” Suddenly he moved toward Shane and his gray eyes were piercingly intent. In a new, breathless voice, he blurted: “Is there a way to cut off gravity?”
“It might be done,” said Barry Shane, “if America and the Outside work together.”
At that moment, a lean, freckled youth with tangled red hair came running into the room.
He was breathing fast and he looked excited.
“That’s Tony,” Atlantis Lee told Shane, “my brother. He’s the one who helped me get you out of the vacuum cell. He has been on watch in the communications turret above, in case Barlow tries anything.” She called:
“What is it, Tony?”
THE panting boy thrust a trembling scrap of metal foil into her hands.
“A radio message!” he gasped. “Picked it up two hours ago, just before sunrise. Didn’t know it was important till I got it decoded. Read it, Lan!”
