CHAPTER III
"That Worlds May Live"
Silence, like the brooding hush of impending doom, fell over the chamber as the significance of his words drove home. For a breathless moment all speech seemed to falter in abeyance, then every voice raised as one.
"Cosmic rays!" gasped Dr. Bryant.
"A weapon which shoots gamma radiation?" echoed the cherubic Eurasian, Dr. Anjers. "Fantastic!"
Muldoon and the girl said as a single person, "Gary, you can't really believe—"
Earth receded into an ominous distance.
Earth receded into an ominous distance.
Earth receded into an ominous distance.
"Imustbelieve," corrected Gary, "what my eyes tell me. There is only one conceivable explanation. As our chief here pointed out, the periodicity of gamma ray bombardment is one of the few invariables known to Man. Its constancy matches the monotonous regularity with which uranium transmutes to lead.
"Scientists have traveled all over the world ... east, west, north, south ... but in every latitude and clime their Geiger counters measure the same tempo of cosmic ray bombardment. They have delved into the deepest mine-pits miles below ground, descended in bathyspheres to the ocean's floor, and detected no change. They have climbed the highest mountains, traversed space to our neighboring planets ... yet everywhere the rate of bombardment remains the same.
"But here, here in this tiny room where, for an instant, a Geiger counter was bathed in the backwash of a strange, new, all-devouring flame, that instrument has registered the impact of a thousand direct hits! The conclusion is obvious. That radiation was—must have been—a concentrated discharge of cosmic rays."
Dr. Bryant passed a hand through his white hair.
"What you say is true, Gary. And it is certainly logical. Still—"
"It is not so much the logic of our young friend's deductions I question," interrupted the other older scientist, "as the fantastic corollaries which necessarily follow his premise. To admit his rightness is to concede that somewhere, someone, for some unfathomable reason, designs the deliberate destruction—"
"Of Earth!" said Nora Powell. "Not only of Earth, but of all the planets which circle our Sun. For as Gary has said, all these are bombarded, too, by cosmic rays.
"Gary, there must be some mistake. There must be some freak coincidence—"
Lane's eyes narrowed. "That's just what it cannot be. The coincidence is too striking. Consider. For thousands of years men lived in blissful ignorance of the fact that they and their world were daily being bombarded by rays which science now has reason to believe are lethal.[2]During the past few hundred years men have beenawareof this radiation, but unable to do anything about it. They can neither analyze it, duplicate it in their laboratories, nor—indeed—determine its exact nature.
"But—" And his voice tightened—"but two days ago, for the first time, a clue was found as to the possible nature of these rays; pictures were taken which may pave the way toward an understanding of this ancient mystery. And then what happened? Was it sheer coincidence that almost immediately Flick Muldoon, who hasn't an enemy in the world, should be murderously assaulted here in the heart of his own bailiwick? And that an attempt should be made to destroy this incriminating evidence?
"No! That coincidence is too great for me to swallow. It only strengthens my belief that it is not simply blind nature which is responsible for the doom to which our galaxy is being driven."
Muldoon was an easy-going man. In the tightest spots his carefree nature was wont to assert itself in gibe and cheerful banter. But now his laughter-crinkled eyes were wide with awe and wonderment. He made a vague, sweeping gesture.
"You mean, Gary, that out ... there ...somethingorsomeone—?"
Gary nodded. "Yes. That is what I am forced to believe. ThatThey—whoeverTheyare, and wherever They may exist—are making a deliberate effort to destroy us."
"But," interpolated the ever-cautious Dr. Anjers, "you cannot be sure of these things, my young friend. You cannot prove them."
"Not now, no. But by the gods, I'm going to try!"
"Going to—!" Dr. Bryant looked at his young assistant, startled. "Going to try, Gary? What do you mean?"
Lane spoke slowly, putting into words for the first time the idea which had been growing within him ever since he and Muldoon had, upon Luna, chanced upon their amazing discovery.
"I mean I'm goingout there, as Flick put it, in search ofThemand of that weapon which is slowly but surely bringing death to our civilization. I am going to leave Earth and this galaxy and hunt in the dark depths of the Beyond for the reason conspiring against us."
"Oh, but now wait a minute, Gary," said his friend and constant companion, "I'm your buddy. I'll string along with you on almost anything. But this is going a littletoofar. Talking of leaving the galaxy. Good Lord, man, you must be out of your mind! Oh have you forgotten how to count? The fastest spaceship ever built travels at a rate of only about 7,000 miles per minute. And the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about four light-years away. At that rate, all that would be left of you by the time you got there would be a little heap of dried-up dust."
Lane smiled thinly. "Don't worry about that. We'll be alive when we get there."
"What!We!Where do you get the community spirit?"
"We," said Gary, "because you're going, too, Flick. I'll need you. And any of the others who want to come along. I think I can promise you the greatest adventure ever undertaken by human beings."
Dr. Bryant said, "Gary, what are you talking about? Muldoon is absolutely right. It would take centuries to reach the nearest star. How, then, do you expect—?"
"Centuries," acknowledged Gary, "if the ship in which we traveled had only the speed Flick mentioned. But you know as well as I that on another planet of this system dwells a race which knows the secret of achieving speed beyond that of the limiting velocity of light."
"You mean," asked Nora Powell, "the Jovians?"
"That's right."
"But they won't tell. It's their most cherished military secret. And with the entire solar system in the state of nervous unrest it has been in for years—"
"Theymusttell. It is to their benefit as well as ours. We will go to them and explain the enormity of the disaster which threatens our solar system. They are not creatures quite like ourselves, true; but they are intelligent beings. And they desire extinction no more than we. When they have learned the awful truth, I think they will lend us their secret."
Professor Anjers laughed mirthlessly. "You have much to learn about the races that people the planets, my young friend, if you think the Jovians will contribute their great secret to save the races with whom even now war threatens—"
"They will not be the only contributors. Each of the major planets will contribute its share to this adventure.Mustcontribute, for the ultimate good of all.
"From Earth—" Gary ticked the requisites off on his fingers as he spoke—"from Earth's government we must borrow the knowledge of the hypatomic drive which makes spaceflight possible. Venus must supply us withneurotrope, their super-efficient fuel, the only type sufficiently condensed to enable us to leave our galaxy. The Martian people must lend us their formula for building impenetrable force-fields about space vehicles, lest a stray comet or a hail of meteoric debris met in the outer darkness bring our flight to sudden ending. And from Jupiter must come the secret of transcendent speed, through which—andonlythrough which—can we hope to reach our goal."
Muldoon whistled softly. "That's a big order, Gary.Fourbig orders, in fact."
And Dr. Bryant said, "I'm afraid I can only repeat Dr. Anjers' words, Gary. You expect too much of our neighbors in asking them to give you—"
Of all his companions, only the girl, Nora Powell, offered any word of encouragement. Her eyes were shining with a great purpose, and with a great determination, too. With an almost indiscernible movement she seemed to leave the fellowship of his doubters and arraign herself at Gary's side. Her words were like the warmth of a friendly handclasp as she said:
"But theywillgive! Because they must! Dr. Lane—Gary—it's a great dream. One which we must see to fulfillment."
Gary glanced at her, pleased and gratified.
"We?" he repeated.
The girl nodded determinedly. "Yes, we. Because if you'll have me, Gary, I want to join your expedition."
"Well, now," drawled Flick Muldoon, "as far as that goes, I've been beefing a little, yeah. But on purely technical grounds. I didn't say I was going to pull a sneak on the shindig. Hell I'll try anything once. You can count me in, Gary, lock, stock, and barrel."
Gary said gravely, "Thanks both of you. And you Dr. Bryant?"
The older man smiled thinly.
"I won't deceive you, Gary. I confess I still have my doubts as to the practicality of your ambitions. Nevertheless, I'd be a poor scientist if I were to refuse to lend my small efforts to such a magnificent undertaking. Of course, you may count on me. Boris—" He turned to his Eurasian colleague—"I'm sorry our conversations are to be thus abruptly terminated by what may seem to you a somewhat impulsive decision. But there may be something in Dr. Lane's warning."
To the surprise of everyone, the rather easily-annoyed Dr. Anjers this time showed no annoyance whatsoever. Instead, his bland, cherubic face was puckered with thought, and when he spoke it was with firm decision.
"No, you are completely right, my friend. Dr. Lane has not convinced me—yet. But if heisright, this is no matter for slow ponderings. We must act at once. And I, too, if you will permit, would like to become a member of your party."
Gary Lane smiled, ashamed now of his earlier treatment of this staunch little scientist, of the near-accusations he had twice cast upon the little man. He said simply, "I would be proud and glad to have you with us, Dr. Anjers. Of course, we five will not be all. We must have a pilot, an experienced astrogator, and crewmen to handle the ship itself—"
"Which brings up," interpolated Flick Muldoon with devastating casualness, "the first important question. Where you going to get this ship, Gary? And how are you going to talk the kingpins of our planet into giving you what you want?"
Gary smiled. "Obviously, we must go to Geneva and there present our argument to the members of the World Council. But—" And his eyes took on a shining akin to that in the eyes of his feminine and first-spoken comrade—"but we cannot fail. What we do is not for ourselves alone; it is a completely unselfish thing without personal benefit or profit. A quest we must successfully fulfill—that worlds may live."
And the girl's voice echoed softly, "That worlds may live...."