Astounding Stories of Super-Science, December 1930 Part 20

"Head straight out to sea and full speed ahead!" he shouted. "Don't try to pull us in; tow us!"

The ball swayed as the _Minneconsin's_ mighty engines responded to his orders and the cliff wall disappeared.

"As long as they know we're here, we might as well announce our presence in good style," said the doctor grimly as he closed a switch and threw all of the sphere's huge lights into action. He had turned on the lights just in time, for even as he did so a mighty tentacle shot out of the darkness and wrapped itself around the ball. For a moment it clung there and then was withdrawn.

"The thing can't stand light," remarked the doctor as he threw off the switch. "That sub was herding it like a cow by the use of a light beam.

As long as we are lighted up we are safe from attack."

"Then for G.o.d's sake turn on the lights!" cried Carnes.

"I want it to attack us," replied the doctor calmly. "We have no offensive weapons and only by meeting an attack can we harm the thing."

As he spoke there came a soft whisper of sound from the vitrilene walls and they were thrown from their feet by a sudden jerk. Dr. Bird stumbled to the switch and closed it, and the ball was flooded with light. Two arms were now on them but they were slowly withdrawn as the lights glared forth. The huge outlines of the beast could be seen as it followed them toward the surface. Its great eyes glared at them hungrily. The submarine was visible only as a speck of light in the distance.

The _Minneconsin's_ speed was picking up under the urge of her huge steam turbines, and the ball was nearing the surface. The sea was light enough now that they could see for quite a distance. The telephone bell jangled and Dr. Bird picked the receiver from its hook.

"h.e.l.lo," he said. "What's that? You can? By all means, fire. Yes, indeed, we're well out of danger; we must be thirty or forty feet down.

Watch the fun now," he went on to Carnes as he replaced the receiver.

"The beast is showing above the surface and they're going to sh.e.l.l it."

They watched the surface and suddenly there came a flash of light followed by a dull boom of sound. The huge octopus suddenly sank below them, thras.h.i.+ng its arms about wildly.

"A hit!" shouted Dr. Bird into the telephone. "Get it again if it shows up. I want it to get good and mad."

He turned off the lights in the ball and the octopus attacked again. The sh.e.l.l had taught it caution and it kept well down, but three huge arms came up from the depths of the sea and wrapped themselves about the ball. The forward motion stopped for a moment, and then came a jerk that threw them down. The ball started to sink.

"Our cable has parted!" cried the doctor. "Turn on the lights!"

Carnes closed the switch. The ball was so covered with the huge tentacles that they could see nothing, but the light had its usual effect and they were released. The ball sank toward the bottom and they could see the huge cephalopod lying below watching them. Blood was flowing from a wound near one of its eyes where the _Minneconsin's_ sh.e.l.l had found its mark.

Toward the huge monster they sank until they lay on the bottom of the ocean and a few yards from it. In an instant the sea became opaque and they could see nothing.

"He has shot his ink!" cried the doctor. "Here comes the real attack.

Strap yourself to the wall where you can reach one of the motor switches."

Through the darkness huge arms came out and wrapped themselves around the ball. The heavy vitrilene groaned under the enormous pressure which was applied, but it held. The ink was clearing slightly and they could see that the sphere was covered by the arms. The ma.s.s moved and the huge maw opened before them. The pipes projecting from the sides of the ball were buried in the creature's flesh.

"Good Lord, he's going to swallow us!" gasped the doctor. "Quick, Carnes, the motor switch."

He closed one of them as he spoke, and the powerful little electric motors began to hum, forcing forward the piston attached to the tank connected to the hollow rods. Steadily the little motors hummed, and the tank emptied through the rods into the body of the giant cephalopod.

"I hope the stuff works fast," groaned the doctor as they approached closer to the giant maw. "I never tried giving an octopus a hypodermic injection of prussic acid before, but it ought to do the business.

There's enough acid there to kill half New York City."

Carnes blanched as the ball approached the mouth. One by one the arms unwound until only one was holding them and the jaws opened wider. They were almost in them when the motion stopped. They could feel a shudder run through the arm which held them. For a moment the arm alternately expanded and contracted, almost releasing them only to clutch them again. Another arm came from the depths and whipped about the ball, and again the vitrilene groaned at the pressure which was applied. The arms were suddenly withdrawn and the ball started to sink.

"Drop the lead, Carnes!" cried the doctor. With the aid of the detective he operated the electric catches which held the huge ma.s.s of lead to the bottom, and the sphere shot up through the water like a rocket. It leaped clear of the water and fell back with a splash. A half mile away the _Minneconsin_ was swinging in a wide circle to head back toward them. They turned their gaze toward the sh.o.r.e.

As they looked a giant arm shot a hundred yards up into the air, twisting and writhing frantically. It disappeared, and another, and then half a dozen flashed into the air. The arms dipped below the surface. A huge black body reared its bulk free from the water for a moment, and the sea boiled as though in a violent storm. The body sank and again the arms were thrown up, twisting and turning like a half dozen huge snakes.

The whole creature sank below the waves and the ball tossed back and forth, often buried under tons of water and once tossed thirty feet into the air by the huge waves.

A momentary lull came in the waves. Carnes gave a cry of astonishment and pointed toward the sh.o.r.e. With an effort, Dr. Bird twisted himself in his las.h.i.+ng and looked in that direction. The huge body had again come to the surface, and three of the arms were towering into the air.

Grasped in them was a long, black, cigar-shaped object. As they watched the object was torn into two parts and the fragments crushed by the enormous power of the octopus. Again the arms writhed in torment, and then they stiffened out. For a moment they towered in the air and then slowly sank below the surface of the sea.

"The cyanide has worked," cried the doctor, "and in its last agonies the creature has turned on its creator and destroyed him. It is a shame, for Saranoff was a brilliant although perverted genius, and besides, I would have liked to have learned his method. However, I may find something when we open the land end and raid the cave; and really, he was too brilliant a man to hang for murder. Once we open the cave and I get any data that is there, my connection with the case will end. Trailing down the gold and recovering it is a routine matter for Bolton, and one in which he won't need my help."

"What about that creature we saw in the cave, Doctor? Won't it hatch into another terror of the sea like the thing that destroyed the s.h.i.+p?"

"The trochosphere? No, I'm not worried there. It won't try to leave the cave for some days yet, and by that time we'll have the land end opened and the floodlights turned on. They will keep it there and it will starve to death. We could send down a sub to feed it a torpedo, but there's no need. Nature will dispose of it. Meanwhile, I hope the _Minneconsin_ rigs up a jury tackle pretty soon and takes us on board.

I'm getting seasick."

_IN THE NEXT ISSUE_

THE FIFTH-DIMENSION CATAPULT

_A Novelette of an Extraordinary Interdimensional Rescue_ _By_ Murray Leinster

THE GATE TO XORAN

_A Thrilling Story of a Metal Man's Visit to Earth_ _By_ Hal K. Wells

THE EYE OF ALLAH

_A Story of the Tracking Down of a Mysterious Scientific Killer_ _By_ C. D. Willard

THE PIRATE PLANET

_Part Three of the Outstanding Current Novel_ _By_ Charles W. Diffin

----_AND OTHERS_!