Triplanetary - E. E. Smith (phonics reader TXT) 📗

their air-passages had snapped shut as that dread “Vee-Two” was heard, and they had literally jumped into their armored suits of space⁠—flushing them out with volume after volume of unquestionable air; holding their breath to the last possible second, until their straining lungs could endure no more.

Costigan waved the girl to a vacant bench, cautiously changing into his own armor from the emergency suit he had been wearing, and approached the captain.

“Anything in sight, sir?” he asked, saluting. “They should have started something before this.”

“They’ve started, but we can’t locate them. We tried to send out a general sector alarm, but had hardly started when they blanketed our wave. Look at that!”

Following the captain’s eyes, Costigan stared at the high powered set of the ship’s operator. Upon the plate, instead of a moving, living, three-dimensional picture, there was a flashing glare of blinding white light; from the speaker, instead of intelligible speech, was issuing a roaring, crackling stream of noise.

“It’s impossible!” Bradley burst out, violently. “There’s not a gram of metal inside the fourth zone⁠—within a hundred thousand kilometers⁠—and yet they must be close to send such a wave as that. But the Second thinks not⁠—what do you think, Costigan?” The bluff commander, reactionary and of the old school as was his breed, was furious⁠—baffled, raging inwardly to come to grips with the invisible and indetectable foe. Face to face with the inexplicable, however, he listened to the younger men with unusual tolerance.

“It’s not only possible; it’s quite evident that they’ve got something we haven’t.” Costigan’s voice was bitter. “But why shouldn’t they have? Service ships never get anything until it’s been experimented with for years, but pirates and such always get the new stuff as soon as it’s discovered. The only good thing I can see is that we got part of a message away, and the scouts can trace that interference out there. But the pirates know that, too⁠—it won’t be long now,” he concluded, grimly.

He spoke truly. Before another word was said the outer screen flared white under a beam of terrific power, and simultaneously there appeared upon one of the lookout plates a vivid picture of the pirate vessel⁠—a huge, black torpedo of steel, now emitting flaring offensive beams of force.

Instantly the powerful weapons of the Hyperion were brought to bear, and in the blast of full-driven beams the stranger’s screens flamed incandescent. Heavy guns, under the recoil of whose fierce salvos the frame of the giant globe trembled and shuddered, shot out their tons of high-explosive shell. But the pirate commander had known accurately the strength of the liner, and knew that her armament was impotent against the forces at his command. His screens were invulnerable, the giant shells were exploded harmlessly in mid-space, miles from their objective. And suddenly a frightful pencil of flame stabbed brilliantly from the black hulk of the enemy. Through the empty ether it tore, through the mighty defensive screens, through the tough metal of the outer and inner walls. Every ether-defense of the Hyperion vanished, and her acceleration dropped to a quarter of its normal value.

“Right through the battery room!” Bradley groaned. “We’re on the emergency drive now. Our rays are done for, and we can’t seem to put a shell anywhere near her with our guns!”

But ineffective as the guns were, they were silenced forever as a frightful beam of destruction stabbed relentlessly through the control room, whiffing out of existence the pilot, gunnery, and lookout panels and the men before them. The air rushed into space, and the suits of the three survivors bulged out into drumhead tightness as the pressure in the room decreased.

Costigan pushed the captain lightly toward a wall, then seized the girl and leaped in the same direction.

“Let’s get out of here, quick!” he cried, the miniature radio instruments of the helmets automatically taking up the duty of transmitting speech as the sound disks refused to function. “They can’t see us⁠—our ether wall is still up and their spy-rays can’t get through it from the outside, you know. They’re working from blueprints, and they’ll probably take your desk next,” and even as they bounded toward the door, now become the outer seal of an airlock, the pirates’ beam tore through the space which they had just quitted.

Through the airlock, down through several levels of passengers’ quarters they hurried, and into a lifeboat, whose one doorway commanded the full length of the third lounge⁠—an ideal spot, either for defense or for escape outward by means of the miniature cruiser. As they entered their retreat they felt their weight begin to increase. More and more force was applied to the helpless liner, until it was moving at normal acceleration.

“What do you make of that, Costigan?” asked the captain. “Tractor beams?”

“Apparently. They’ve got something, all right. They’re taking us somewhere, fast. I’ll go get a couple of Standishes, and another suit of armor⁠—we’d better dig in,” and soon the small room became a veritable fortress, housing as it did those two formidable engines of destruction. Then the first officer made another and longer trip, returning with a complete suit of Triplanetary space armor, exactly like those worn by the two men, but considerably smaller.

“Just as an added factor of safety, you’d better put this on, Clio⁠—those emergency suits aren’t good for much in a battle. I don’t suppose that you ever fired a Standish, did you?”

“No, but I can soon learn how to do it,” she replied pluckily.

“Two is all that can work here at once, but you should know how to take hold in case one of us goes out. And while you’re changing suits you’d better put on some stuff I’ve got here⁠—Service Special phones and detectors. Stick this little disk onto your chest with this bit of tape; low down, out of sight. Just under your wishbone is the best place. Take off your wristwatch and wear this one continuously⁠—never take it off for a second. Put on these pearls, and