Lords of the Stratosphere Part 13

"There seems to be nothing we can do. If our friends are able, by some miracle, to do something, you know what that means to us?"

"It means we're as good as dead no matter what happens," replied Eyer.

"But we're only two--and there must be a million buried under the debris in New York City alone. If we can do anything at all...."

There he left it. The partners looked at each other. Each read the right answer in the other's eyes. When the showdown came they'd die as cheerfully as they knew how, hoping to the last to do something for the people who must still hope that, somehow, they would cause this bitter cup of catastrophe to pa.s.s from them. And there were thousands upon thousands whose blood cried out for vengeance.

The hours sped as the six planes fled upward. To the ears of the partners, through the audiphones, came the stern roaring of their motors. In their eyes they bulked larger and larger as the time fled away.

The sand in the hour gla.s.s was running out. When it was all gone, and the time had come, what could the helpless Jeter and Eyer hope to accomplish?

For an hour they studied the concerned faces of Sitsumi and the Three.

They were fearful of something.

What?

CHAPTER XI

_To the Rescue_

"Why should we run?" the voice of Sitsumi suddenly rang out in the control room. "Must we admit in the very beginning of our revolution that we are vulnerable? Must we confess the fears to which all humanity is heir? We had not thought ourselves liable to attack, but there still is a way to destroy these upstarts. To your places, everyone! We shall fight these winged upstarts and destroy them!"

The denizens of the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p were at their stations. Jeter and Eyer could imagine the minions of Sitsumi and the Three, below the floor of the white globe, standing-to on platforms about the unseen engines which gave life and movability to this s.h.i.+p of the stratosphere. How many there were of them there was no way of knowing. They had guessed two hundred. There might have been a thousand. It scarcely mattered.

Sitsumi's face was set in a firm mask. He, of all the "lords of the stratosphere," seemed to possess endless courage. His example fired the three.

"What do you plan?" asked w.a.n.g Li.

Jeter and Eyer listened with all their ears.

"We have only one weapon in this unexpected emergency," said Sitsumi quietly. "We cannot direct the ray upward or laterally: it is not so constructed. But we can attack with the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p itself! And remember that so long as our outer rind remains intact and hard we are invisible to attackers."

Jeter and Eyer exchanged glances.

"If only we could find the way to break or soften that outer rind," said Jeter.

"What can we do?" asked Eyer. "If it is impervious to the cold of these heights; if it is so strong that it is impervious to the tremendous pressure inside the globe--which must be kept at a certain degree to maintain human life--what can we do? We tried bullets. We might as well have used peas and pea-shooters. If our friends try bombs they will still be unsuccessful. If only we could somehow open up the outer rind or soften it, so that our friends could see the inner globe and reach it with their bombs!"

Jeter's face was now dead white. His eyes were aglow with excitement.

"Tema," he whispered, "Tema, that's their vulnerability! That's what they fear! They're scared that the outer rind may be broken--which would spell destruction to the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p and everybody in it."

"Including us," replied Eyer, "but, anyway--well, what's the odds? We're only two--and with this thing destroyed the nightmare will end. Of course there should be some way to raid the Lake Baikal area and destroy any other s.h.i.+ps in the making, besides ferreting out the secret of the invisible substance and the elements of the gravity inverter. If we somehow survive, and this s.h.i.+p is destroyed, that's the next thing to do."

Jeter nodded and signaled Eyer to cease whispering.

They devoted their attention now to the six planes. They were coming up in battle formation. They were in plain view and through the telescopes it could be seen that each was armed with bombs of some kind. Useless against the invisible s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p as matters now stood; but what would those bombs do to the inner globe?

It still lacked several hours of the time allowed in the ultimatum to Jeter and Eyer of Sitsumi and the Three, when the six planes leveled off within a couple of miles of the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p. They knew about where the stratosphere had swallowed up Jeter and Eyer. Now they were casting about for a sign, like bloodhounds seeking the spoor of an enemy.

Jeter and Eyer held their breaths as they watched. Now and again they stole glances at Sitsumi and the Three, who were watching the six planes with the intensity of eagles preparing to dive.

Naka stepped up close to Jeter.

"When the time comes," he said menacingly, "and it appears that we may be in difficulties with the fools who think to thwart Sitsumi and the Three and rescue you, it shall give me great pleasure to destroy you with your own automatic."

"Pleasant fellow," said Eyer. "Shall I smash him, Lucian?"

Jeter shook his head.

"Our friends out there will look after that, Tema," he said in a natural tone of voice. "I'll bet you two to one they get this s.h.i.+p within an hour. Not that a bet will mean anything, as they'll get us, too!"

"Your friends," said Naka, "will be destroyed. They will not even be given the opportunity you were given. Sitsumi and the Three will waste but little time on them!"

"What," said Jeter calmly "is Sitsumi's hurry? Why is he scared?"

"Scared?" Naka seemed on the point of hitting Jeter for the blasphemy.

"Scared? He fears nothing. We'll down your friends long before their motors--"

Sitsumi suddenly turned and looked at Naka. The look in Sitsumi's eyes was murderous, Naka went dead white.

"I think your master believes you talk too much, Naka," said Jeter, but Jeter's eyes were gleaming, too.

As soon as Sitsumi had turned back to his station Jeter's lips began to move.

"See?" he said. "It isn't their machine guns these people fear. It isn't their bombs--it's their motors! I wonder why...."

By now the six planes were flying abreast, in battle formation, almost above the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p, at perhaps a thousand feet greater elevation. A strange humming sound was traveling through the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p. The whole inner globe was vibrating, shaking--and vibration was a menace to gla.s.s or crystal!

"We've got the answer!" said Jeter. "The outer rind, while capable of being softened--in sections at least, with safety--for special reasons, such as happened when we were 'swallowed,' can be hardened to the point of disruption. It can be shattered, Tema, by vibration! That's why the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p keeps far above the roar of cities! The humming of countless automobile engines might shatter the rind! G.o.d, I hope this is the answer!"

In his mind's eye Eyer could picture it--the outer rind "freezing"

solid, and cracking with the thunderous report of snapping ice on a forest lake. No wonder Sitsumi and the Three must destroy the six planes.

"Now!" yelled Sitsumi. "s.h.i.+ft positions! The s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p will be hurled directly at the formation of planes! w.a.n.g Li, to the beam controls!"

w.a.n.g Li sprang to the table, pressed a b.u.t.ton. The humming sound in the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p grew to mighty proportions. The trembling increased.

Jeter and Eyer kept their eyes glued to the six planes above. Without tilting their noses the six planes seemed to plunge straight down toward the surface of the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p. Thus the two knew that the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p was in motion--itself being bodily hurled, as its only present weapon of offense, against the earthling attackers.