Battle With A Monster
: Wanted 7 Fearless EngineersMinutes passed, while the earthmen hardly dared breathe. Their ebbing
heartbeat seemed to almost echo in their breasts. Then the object
appeared at the opening, hesitated, and was thrust in!
The hammer was a head!!! It swayed back and forth, like the head of a
huge caterpillar, and every gun fired in unison. Shot after shot pumped
into the head with rapid and unerring accuracy.
The giant hea
peered around. It didn't know enough to draw back from the danger zone,
but muscular reaction finally moved it out of sight.
Dick crept forward, motioning for the others to wait until he
investigated. There was no need for all of them to enter the danger
zone.
He turned the flashlight on, that had been strapped to his waist, and
played it around the jagged opening, then climbed to the next level and
searched again.
When he crawled to the outer surface, the creature was writhing a few
feet away. He motioned, and the other men soon joined him, where they
could watch the creature.
They were standing almost on the direct center of the dome, where it was
almost flat. The flashlights penetrated the mists enough to mark out the
shape of the attacker, when they were all centered.
Suddenly they felt sick to their stomachs.
It was a caterpillar! As loathsome a creature as they could have
imagined with its curled body, and the farthest possible thing from a
human being. A form of life that existed in the poison gases, where men
would die within minutes. The muscles of the creature had to be
terrifically strong, to move against the gravity of the huge globe.
Even at the center of the dome, they felt less effect of the neutralized
gravity of the interior. It required effort to stand on their feet. Some
effect of the neutralizers in the giant pillars, which eliminated most
of the weight of the dome, enabled them to handle their bodies.
The creature before them was accustomed to normal gravity of the heavy
planet, and even the metal of the dome was not beyond the pounding of
its hammer. What they had mistaken for a battering ram, was the brown
tip of the mammoth insect. From end to end it measured over sixty feet.
The men finally turned away in disgust, as it writhed in muscular
reaction.
John McCarthy was climbing into the opening behind the other men, when
he happened to glance back. His flashlight dimly lighted the spot where
the monster had been, and it was gone!
He hesitated with one foot in the air, then realized what had happened.
The movement of the body had moved it farther and farther from the
center of the dome. It had reached a place where the curve was
sufficient to let it slide on the smooth metal. A moment later, a slight
jar was felt through the entire structure--it had slid from the man-made
mound, to crash on the ground below. Memory of that sight made a sober
return to the interior.
Before they dared rest, metal sheets were carried to the opening and
blocked in place. Then dome men welded them to the solid metal. They
didn't want to see any of those creatures in the cities!
Twelve hours had passed by the time the opening was sealed, and the
earthmen dragged their tired forms through the maze of supports for the
last time.
They were almost asleep before they could reach their own apartments,
and tumble onto comfortable beds. They had conquered the first problem.
Dick was awakened by an excited man, talking faster than he could
understand the new language. When he grasped what the other was saying,
he leaped from bed wide awake.
Every dome had been attacked!!! The caterpillars were pounding many
spots on each one. They seemed to be trying to get at the creatures that
had destroyed one of their number.
* * * * *
In that moment Dick felt like an old man. He thought of the space ship;
the only way of attacking from the outside, and gave that up. There
wasn't enough fuel to handle it, and the blasts might injure the metal
domes. His mind searched frantically for some way of fighting all of
the creatures--and knew it couldn't be done.
He was racing across the open ground, while thousands of people gazed at
the banging overhead. Suddenly he stopped, then turned back toward his
apartment, running just as hard. There was a system of communication
between the domes--that sometimes worked! It was not efficient, but if
he could get in touch with the others immediately, there was one
chance!
He tried frantically to get a connection, but it wasn't until one of the
natives helped with the intricate system of signals, that he heard the
voice of Andrew Smith. A few moments later Philip Jones answered, then
Jerold Brown and Peter Yarbro. Each man was given quick, yet explicit,
instruction.
When Dick turned away from the phone, John McCarthy entered the room,
followed by George Martin. The noise in the city had finally aroused
them from their slumber.
John started to smile, but the expression on Barrow's face drove all
thought of greeting away.
"What is it? I thought the people were doing a day's work--but
you----!!!" His face turned ashen as he ran to the balcony, George
Martin only a step behind. After gazing up for a moment, McCarthy turned
slowly to face Dick.
"The worms? It sounds like hundreds of them! We better work fast, or
they'll have the whole roof down around our ears."
"No, John. We can't fight them with guns. They have attacked every dome
on the planet!"
When full realization came to the big Irishman, he sank slowly into a
chair. "Then what? Have you got any plan--or are we helpless?"
"We've got work to do and plenty of it. There's a slight chance of
saving the cities. I've already instructed the others."
As the three men raced toward the power plant, Dick explained. John and
George were to do the work, while he traveled from dome to dome to make
sure the people were prepared, and see that the power plants were used
as he intended.
By the time they reached the entrance of the building, John nodded, and
Barrow turned back as the other men entered the door. The first dome
people that Dick saw were told to remove everyone from the buildings,
and gather them in the open spaces of the parks. Leaving no one within
any structure!
The expression on his face scared them even more than the pounding of
the worms, and they hurried to obey.
Dick jumped into the nearest ground car. He couldn't be bothered
traveling on the railroads. This happened to belong to the assistant
head of the dome, whom he dispossessed. It jerked crazily across streets
and parks, while he learned to handle the controls.
An hour later Dick was back at the powerhouse in the big dome. Every
city was ready. In several places the hammering heads had broken through
the outer layers, and were banging at the translucent inner ceiling. The
creatures had learned how to break through.
The first worm that attacked, while the space ship was away, either took
its time or didn't realize what was beneath the heavy metal. These
creatures were working in earnest.
Heavy insulated cables ran from the powerhouse to the nearest metal
pillars, where McCarthy and Martin were working desperately to fasten
them in place. The booming voice of the Irishman had kept the natives
back, although they crowded as close as they dared. They were really
afraid, when the hammering grew plainer with each passing minute.
When the cables were fastened, John shouted to Dick, who was waiting in
the powerhouse. He pulled a heavy switch, at the end of the wires.
The city was suddenly in complete darkness, then it flashed bright again
as power flowed back into the thousands of coils in the ceiling
material. Twice more it darkened, when the giant switch was thrown, and
the lights came on again. This time it stayed bright.
Dick ran to the doorway, and gazed at the dome above. It was silent!
The people were frightened, and moved restlessly about. Twice more he
turned the power into the metal, and after one long darkened period, the
city remained bright. No sound came from the dome! Either the worms
were dead--or frightened away!
Within a week the doors to the deserted city were opened, and the
earthmen passed through. When they glimpsed the interior, they stopped
in consternation, then started to laugh.
Huge worms covered the ground, and smaller editions of the same species,
crawled around them. They were using the dome for a hatching place!
They had only entered it to bring forth their young! It was not brains
that tempted them to attack the city, but the instinct to find a
protected place for their eggs. Since they had broken in, many of the
young had hatched, and were crawling around the ground.
Sight of the earthmen seemed to excite their feelings, and several of
the creatures started toward them. The men fired carefully, and the
forms squirmed on the ground. The ones that came behind stopped, and
some of the young tried to feed on the remains of their companions.
The sight was so sickening that the earthmen fired at every living thing
they could see. Several of the wounded creatures crawled up the huge
pillars, to disappear through the opening above, while the men shot at
their disappearing forms. When the last caterpillar lay dead, the entire
area appeared like a battlefield.
Three days later the gas had been expelled, and the hole in the dome
repaired. The population was returning to their homes, burying the
carcasses in the fields. The city was livable again, and they knew
electric current would stop any future attack of the strange creatures.
* * * * *
Ten years later, Dick Barrow sat on the balcony before his apartment.
His son John, eight years old, was playing with Dick McCarthy. While he
watched the boys, his mind swung back to the earth the little group had
left so many years before.
For three years they had talked of returning to their home planet, and
the evening before the conversation reached a climax. They were starting
in two months.
It no longer required years to manufacture fuel for one trip. All
machinery was working at top efficiency, and they could turn out enough
of the liquid in a month, to drive the ship back and forth several
times. Crews of workmen had been trained to care for all mechanical
equipment, and there was no longer need for the engineers from the
earth.
The day the little party (it now consisted of eighteen with the four
children), entered the space ship tears rolled down the cheeks of many
of the crowd. The dome people had learned to almost worship these
members of an alien race, and thought they would never leave. But when
they realized that their leaders were dissatisfied, and wanted to return
to their native planet, they aided in every way they knew how.
The ship was out of port for less than a week when the people became
restless. They hardly spoke, even at meal time, and for the first time
in ten years there were petty quarrels.
When Barrow called them to the main cabin, they came grudgingly, then
slowly the expressions changed. Smiles appeared on their faces, and
their heads moved with sheepish nods of assent.
"We're fools, and you all know it. We were happy in the domes, happier
than we ever were in our lives before. We didn't appreciate it and
longed to return to the earth. We wanted to leave, yet had everything
there to live for. We had comfort, every pleasure, and more friends than
we can possibly have on our own world. I feel ashamed!
"Right now we wish that we were back in our own apartments, and might
as well admit it. The earth is not what we want, we want the domes!
They are home!!!
"The best thing for us to do, now that we are on the way to the earth,
is establish commerce.
"We can create friendship between the planets, but we are natives of
Jupiter! Our interests will always be with the dome people. We have
almost become part of that race, and they have given us everything in
return. They even gave us our freedom when we wanted it. We belong
there!"
Ten years more passed, and John Barrow was beginning to help with his
father's work. Vacationing in Jupiter's domes had become so popular on
the earth that they were building another city to accommodate the
tourist trade. It was the third to be added to the original six.
Merchant ships were constantly discharging goods from the earth, and
carrying back rare metals.
Space ships from the earth, designed after the original Jupiter ship,
were searching the little known planets for minerals. Domes were being
built on three of the smaller globes, and pioneering humans migrated to
new worlds. There was danger, yes, but also fame and fortune for the
hardy people who would inhabit them.
The earth had changed a lot, since the visit of the space ship. They had
adopted the principle of controlling gravity, and tremendous structures
were the result. New buildings were several times as large as the
greatest structure of ten years before. Both planets had benefited from
the friendship, and both were happier as a result.
As Dick Barrow's mind ran over these facts, he smiled and spoke aloud to
himself. "And all of this in twenty years--it seems incredible!"
"What did you say, dear?" asked Dolores.
Dick smiled as he glanced at her. "It's nothing. I was just thinking.
Remember the night you fell in front of my table in the hotel? And I
thought it was accidental--you scheming gold-digger!"
The ruler of the domes ducked when his wife threw her book--but she
didn't throw it very hard.
More
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