Empire Part 36

"We'll see," said Greg.

Back at the controls he threw out a gigantic tractor beam, catching the other s.h.i.+p in a net of forces that visibly cut its speed.

s.p.a.ce suddenly vomited las.h.i.+ng flame that slapped back and licked and crawled in living streamers over the surface of the _Invincible_. The engines moaned in their valiant battle to keep up the outer screen. The pungent odor of ozone filtered into the control room. The whole s.h.i.+p was bucking and vibrating, creaking, as if it were being pulled apart.

"So they don't want to fight, eh?" hooted Russ.

Greg gritted his teeth. "They snapped the tractor beam."

"They have power there," Russ declared.

"Too much," said Greg. "More power than they have any right to have."

His hand went out to the lever on the board and pulled it back. A beam smashed out, with the engines' screaming drive behind it, billions of horsepower driving with unleashed ferocity at the other s.h.i.+p.

Greg's hand spun a dial, while the generators roared thunderous defiance.

"I'm giving them the radiation scale," said Greg.

The _Interplanetarian_ was staggering under the terrific bombardment, but its screen was handling every ounce of the power that Greg was pouring into it.

"Their photo-cells can't handle that," cried Russ. "No photo-cell would handle all that stuff you're shooting at them. Unless ..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless Craven has improved on them."

"We'll have to find out. Get the televisor."

Russ leaped for the television machine.

A moment later he lifted a haggard face.

"I can't get through," he said. "Craven's got our beams stopped and now he has our television blocked out."

Greg nodded. "We might have expected that. When he could scramble our televisors back in the Jovian worlds, he certainly ought to be able to screen his s.h.i.+p against them."

He shoved the lever clear over, slamming the extreme limit of power into the beam. The engines screamed like demented things, howling and shrieking. Instantly a tremendous sheet of solid flame spun a fiery web around the _Interplanetarian_, turning it into a blazing inferno of lapping, leaping fire.

A dozen terrific beams, billions of horsepower in each, stabbed back at the _Invincible_ as the _Interplanetarian_ shunted the terrific energy influx from the overcharged acc.u.mulators to the various automatic energy discharges.

The _Invincible's_ screen flared in defense and the ten great engines wailed in utter agony. More stabbing flame shot from the _Interplanetarian_ in slow explosions.

The temperature in the _Invincible's_ control room was rising. The ozone was sharp enough to make their eyes water and nostrils burn. The vision gla.s.s was blanked out by the lapping flames that crawled and writhed over the screen outside the gla.s.s.

Russ tore his collar open, wiped his face with his s.h.i.+rt sleeve. "Try a pure magnetic!"

Greg, his face set and bleak as a wall of stone, grunted agreement. His fingers danced over the control manual.

Suddenly the stars outside twisted and danced, like stars gone mad, as if they were dancing a riotous jig in s.p.a.ce, some uproariously hopping up and down while others were applauding the show that was being provided for their unblinking eyes.

The magnetic field was tightening now, twisting the light from those distant stars and bending it straight again. The _Interplanetarian_ reeled like a drunken thing and the great arcs of electric flame looped madly and plunged straight for the field's very heart.

The stars danced weirdly in far-off s.p.a.ce again as the _Interplanetarian's_ acc.u.mulators lashed out with tremendous force to oppose the energy of the field.

The field glowed softly and disappeared.

"They have us stopped at every turn," groaned Russ. "There must be some way, something we can do." He looked at Greg. Greg grinned without humor, wiping his face. "There is something we can do," said Russ grimly. "We should have thought of it long ago."

He strode to the desk, reached out one hand and drew a calculator near.

"You keep them busy," he snapped. "I'll have this thing figured out in just a while."

From the engine rooms came the roar and hum of the laboring units and the _Invincible_ shuddered once again as Greg grimly hurled one beam after another, at the _Interplanetarian_.

The _Interplanetarian_ struck back, using radio frequency that flamed fiercely against the _Invincible's_ outer screen. Simultaneously the _Interplanetarian_ leaped forward with a sudden surge of acc.u.mulated energy, driving at the star that lay not more than three billion miles away.

Greg worked desperately, cursing under his breath. He pulled down the outer screen that was fighting directly against the radio frequency, energy for energy, and allowed the beam to strike squarely on the second screen, the inversion field that shunted the major portion of the energy impacting against it through 90 degrees into another s.p.a.ce.

The engines moaned softly and settled into a quieter rumble as the necessity of supplying the first screen was eliminated. But they screamed once again as Greg sent out a tractor beam that seized and held, dragged the _Interplanetarian_ to a standstill. Craven's s.h.i.+p had gained millions of miles, though, and established a tremendous advantage by fighting nearer to its source of energy.

"Russ," gasped Greg, "if you don't get that scheme of yours figured out pretty soon, we're done for. They've stopped everything we've got.

They're nearer the sun. We won't stand a chance if they make another break like that."

Russ glanced up to answer, but his mouth fell open in amazement and he did not speak. A streak of terrible light was striking at them from the _Interplanetarian_, blinding white light, and along that highway of light swarmed a horde of little green figures, like squirming green amebas. Swarming toward the _Invincible_, stretching out hungry, pale-green pseudopods toward the inversion barrier ... _and eating through it_!

Wherever they touched, holes appeared. They drifted through the inversion screen easily and began drilling into the inner screen of anti-entropy. Eating their way into the anti-entropy ... _into a state of matter which Russ and Greg had thought would resist all change_!

For seconds both men stood transfixed, unable to believe the evidence of their eyes. But the ameba things came on in ever-increasing throngs, creatures that gnawed and s...o...b..red at the anti-entropy, eating into it, flaking it away, drilling their way through it.

When they pierced the anti-entropy, they would cut through the steel plates of the _Invincible_ like so much paper!

And more were coming. More and more!

With a grunt of amazement, Greg slammed a beam straight into the heart of the amebas. They ate the beam and vanished as mistily as before, little glowing things that ate and died. But there were always more to take their place. They overwhelmed the beam and ate back along its length, attacked the screen again.

They ate through walls of force and walls of metal, and a rush of hissing air began to flame into ions in the terrific battle of energies outside the _Invincible_.

Russ was crouching over the manual of the televisor board. His breath moaned in his throat as his fingers flew.

"I have to have power, Greg," he said. "Lots of power."

"Take it." Greg replied. "I haven't been able to do anything with it. It isn't any use to me."