Maza of the Moon (14 page)

"That," replied the lunar scientist, thoughtfully stroking his long white beard, "depends wholly on the power of the ray projector which P'an-ku is employing. If powerful enough, the green rays will contract and destroy all matter which they come in contact. When nearly spent, they still have the power to remove much of the heat from everything they touch. I should say, off hand, that the area they reach at present is intensely cold--perhaps even uninhabitable for human beings."

Ted turned suddenly to Maza.

"May I have a glass helmet and a suit of insulated armor?" he asked. "My own suit is useless until I can fit a new helmet to it."

"You may, of course. Put where are you going?"

"To destroy that green ray projector."

"Ten thousand of my nak-kar cavalry will fly with you," she said.

"You are very kind to offer help," he replied, "but I prefer to go alone. This is my war and my people are being killed."

"You refuse?" He could see that she was nettled.

"I decline with sincere thanks, if you please. Time is precious, and in my vehicle I can reach the projector before your flying beasts are well on the way, thereby saving many lives which otherwise might be sacrificed by delay."

"Very well. It is your war now, because I have not yet officially declared war on P'an-ku. I will do so immediately. Then, if we cannot be allies, I will fight him in my way and you in yours."

She turned to one of the armored nobles who stood nearby.

"See that Ted Dustin is outfitted for surface flying at once," she commanded.

Fifteen minutes later. Ted stood on the roof of the place attired in the bell-like glass helmet and white, wooly, insulated armor of Maza's people. He fidgeted impatiently while a great nak-kar was being saddled in order that its rider might guide him up through one of the huge and tortuous air shafts which led from the subterranean city of Ultu to the ringed plain of Tycho above.

At his side stood Vanible Khan, stroking his long white beard and coolly supervising the preparations. When the flying dragon was saddled and its rider seated, the old scientist placed his hand on Ted's shoulder, and said:

"You are taking desperate chances, boy. It is doubtful if you will ever get near enough to the projector to destroy it, but if you do you will almost certainly be killed. I bid you farewell, and my prayers and those of our people go with you."

"I realize the chances and thank you for your good wishes. Goodbye," replied Ted, closing his visor, and turning to climb into his craft.

Just as he placed his foot on the lower step a hand was laid on his arm. He turned and saw Maza, flushed and panting from the exertion of hurriedly climbing to the roof. As he turned and looked down into her eyes he saw they were flashing with anger.

She reached up and raised his visor with dainty, pink-tipped fingers.

"How dare you leave me, Ted Dustin, without saying farewell," she said. "Why you might n-never come back."

A tear rolled down her velvety cheek, and she shook her fluffy head to dislodge it.

He started to bend over--to kiss her hand. Her eyes softened--drew him to the beautiful upturned face. Before he knew what had happened, he was kissing her, and she was returning his kiss with closed eyes, her arms around his neck, her small, lithe body close to his.

Suddenly he released her, leaped into the cab, and signaled the nak-kar rider that he was ready. He elevated his craft slowly while the great dragon clumsily lumbered forward with wings outspread--took to the air, and circled upward toward a dark opening above.

Although the flying reptile moved swiftly through the maze of passageways and caverns, evidently of volcanic origin, which led upward, it seemed to Ted that their progress was exceedingly slow. The nak-kar rider kept his bright head lamp lighted until they reached the surface, where it was no longer necessary. Then, with a wave of his hand, he indicated a vertical band of green light which emerged from the northeastern horizon, and made a circle of green light on the face of the earth.

With an answering wave of farewell, Ted seized the controls and gave the Lunite such an exhibition of speed as must have commanded his awe and wonder.

Flying high above the moon's surface in the tenuous lunar atmosphere, he traveled at a speed far surpassing that of the bullet cars which the Lunites used in traversing the glazed ray-valleys. As he progressed toward Copernicus he noticed that the valleys which radiated from Tycho grew fewer and further apart, and that there were other glazed valleys coming down from the north. While the former had appeared a glistening white in the sunlight, these latter were yellowish in appearance, evidently due to the fact that they were roofed with amber instead of clear glass. The great green ray, the projector of which it was his purpose to destroy, gave him the exact location of Copernicus and showed him that these yellow ray-valleys ramified from that place.

He was less than a hundred miles from his objective when the spherical bulk of a lunar flying globe suddenly loomed ahead. A deadly green ray instantly shot toward him, but Ted was now ready to profit by his first experience with the war globes of P'an-ku.

Instead of continuing on his course, he suddenly dropped for a thousand feet, and while manipulating his atomotor with his left hand brought a degravitor gun into play with his right. His aim was true, and the forward revolving disc of the flying Globe flashed and disappeared when struck by the invisible rays. The globe instantly made a half turn and commenced a swift nose dive groundward. Before the aft disc could be reversed, Ted aimed his degravitor at this, also, destroying it instantly. A half dozen green rays shot out from various parts of the globe, flashing like the spokes of a giant wheel as the craft hurtled to the ground--then disappeared as a lurid explosion announced the destruction of the ship.

Fearing that, having been seen by the aerial patrol, his presence had been announced by radio, Ted decided to attack at once. He therefore aimed his craft as if it had been a projectile, in a curved trajectory which would carry him at a height of about ten miles over the huge rim of Copernicus, and downward toward the central source of light. With both forward degravitors turned on and the atomotor running at the maximum speed possible in the presence of the tenuous atmospheric gases, the craft instantly became a terrific missile of destruction.

So swiftly did it fly that the view of the rugged, crater-pitted landscape beneath became blurred, despite the great size and sharp detail of the major formations.

Ted spotted his objective before he was above the great outer ring of Copernicus. It was the tallest of the five great central mountain peaks which project upward from the floor of the crater. The great green ray which was trained on the earth was coming directly from the tip of this peak, and the entire crater of the mighty ring mountain was bathed in a weird green light, evidently reflections of the ray from the glistening walls and peaks.

In a moment Ted was directly over the southwest rim of the huge crater. Instantly, he pointed his craft downward, and the invisible rays of the two forward degravitors struck the peak of the tallest inner mountain--still more than thirty miles away. Even at that distance the telltale flash from the mountain top told him that his aim was true. Then, with degravitors set rigidly in position, he dived straight for his target.

From one of the pits beneath, a green ray of ordinary dimensions suddenly burst forth. Others flashed out, searching the sky for the marauder who had dared this attack on the mighty ray projector of P'an-ku. But Ted was flying so swiftly and his craft was so high in the air and so small that it was not easy for the Lunites to locate him. At the moment they only knew of his presence because the tip of the mountain peak which surrounded their green ray projector was rapidly melting away under the attack of his invisible rays.

As he progressed toward the central peak, Ted noticed that the searching green rays grew thicker and thicker. Suddenly one sheared away the stern of his craft, and with it the rear atomotor outlets. The crippled vehicle was carried forward for a few seconds by its own momentum, but gradually succumbing to the insistent pull of gravity it deviated from its course--wobbled unsteadily, and began to fall groundward.

Releasing his now useless atomotor controls, Ted concentrated his attention on the two forward degravitors. As his ship fell, wobbling this way and that, he kept his two ray guns steadily pointed at the mountain top from which the great green ray emerged. His craft was falling with terrific speed when he had the satisfaction of seeing the green ray wink out, and the section of the mountain top containing what was left of the projecting machinery, topple over, hurtle down the mountainside in an avalanche of debris, and crash to the ground in an enormous cloud of dust and smoke.

But he had not noticed his own proximity to the crater floor. There came a sudden shock that smashed the keel of his craft like an egg shell-then oblivion.

STANDING BEFORE the big radiovisiphone of the President of the United States, in Washington, Roger Sanders waited impatiently for the silencing of all terrestrial stations that he might be tuned in with Ted Dustin's powerful superstation which was to relay a message from the moon.

Presently the signal: "All clear," came through, and Roger, looking into the disc of the President's instrument, saw, as if reflected in a mirror, the huge disc of Ted's radiovisiphone with the operator seated before it manipulating the dials.

Indistinct figures appeared a number of times in the pellucid depths of the great disc, and there were a few unintelligible sounds. Then it suddenly cleared, and Roger and President Whitmore were dazzled, as before, by the appearance of the beautiful Maza with two armored guards and the aged scientist, Vanible Khan.

To the surprise of both, Vanible Khan addressed them in English.

"Despite the powerful interference waves broadcasted by P'an-ku, we have at last succeeded in breaking through," he said. "Do I address friends of Ted Dustin?"

"You are speaking to his superior, President Whitmore of the United States of America, and also to his assistant, Roger Sanders," replied Roger.

"That is indeed fortunate," said the old scientist, smiling. "I am Vanible Khan, chief scientist of Ma Gong, and speak for Her Imperial Majesty, Maza an Ma Gong. She bids me inform you that Ted Dustin left Ultu, her capital, which is situated beneath the crater which you on Du Gong call 'Tycho,' two revolutions off your planet ago. He went with the avowed intention of destroying the projector of the great green ray which was turned on your world. It appears that he has succeeded in destroying the ray, but as he has not returned we assume that he has either been killed or captured.

"The ray, as you are no doubt aware, was projected from a central peak of the ring mountain which you call Copernicus. Beneath this mountain is the capital city of P'an-ku, which is called Peilong.

"Since the departure of Ted Dustin, Her Majesty has declared war on P'an-ku. Tonight she will personally conduct a mighty army which will march on Peilong through the subterranean forests. She has not thought it wise to use her nak-kars--the flying beasts which can live for nine of your days without air-because of their slowness and inefficiency compared to P'an-ku's flying globes.

"She intends to attack Peilong in five of your days. If you, the friends of Ted Dustin, have a way to simultaneously strike from above, it is possible that we may save him or avenge his death, and subdue P'an-ku, thus bringing about peace between the peoples of Du Gong and the yellow race of Ma Gong.

"Her Majesty awaits your answer."

"I have a way," replied Roger, half turning toward the President as he spoke. "The powerful interplanetary battleship we are building will be ready in four days. With your permission I will then leave for the moon, and will attack Peilong in conjunction with the army of Her Majesty."

"But what of the flying globes of P'an-ku?" asked the President. "He may have hundreds of them, in which case your task will be hopeless, and we'll have nobody left to run the Dustin factory."

"The factory can run under the directions of our superintendents whether Ted and I are present or not," replied Roger, "and there will be no let-down in production if we never return, as long as money and materials are supplied. As for flying globes, if P'an-ku has thousands of them, I will still be glad to go, counting it a small sacrifice to risk my life in this mighty battleship when Ted has braved the same dangers in his tiny, one-man flier."

"Go then, with my best wishes for a glorious victory and a safe return," replied the President. "If it were not for the demands of the nation which especially require my presence in this crisis, I should like to go with you."

"You may tell Her Majesty," said Roger, addressing Vanible Khan, "that I will attack P'an-ku from above in five days."

Maza evidently understood his reply, for she smiled and spoke for the first time during the interview.

"In five days, then, Roger Sanders, I will meet you in the imperial palace at Peilong, and may we be in time to save Ted Dustin."

The disc suddenly became blank, and Roger, after bidding farewell to President Whitmore, hurried away to his electroplane, which Bevans had ready for the trip to Chicago.

PROFESSOR EDERSON was small but wiry, and it took him but a moment to squirm from the grasp of the Lunite who had seized him from behind after he dropped a note addressed to General Fu Yen from the bridge of the flying globe. Turning, he beheld Lin Ching, his features contorted with rage. He whipped out a sword, and in his great anger would surely have beheaded the professor then and there, bad not Kwan Tsu Khan appeared on the scene and seized his sword arm from behind.

"What's this, Lin Ching?" he asked. "Has the prisoner attempted to escape, that you threaten his life?"

"Worse than that, my lord Kwan Tsu Khan," replied Lin Ching. "The miserable worm just dropped something to someone in the crowd and refuses to tell me what it was."