Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930

o see and to know and be able to relate what transpired there and in the air above. For B

ne over and down in a dive that escaped the onrush of the great craft by a scant margin, and t

d he climbed faster: his ship outdistanced them in that tearing, scrambling rush for the heights. T

realize at first the net she was weaving. So thin was the gas and so rapid the circling of the enemy craft, they

that carried him around the inside of the great cage of gas and that sh

s eyes into unguided units. The formations melted: wings touched and locked; the planes fell dizzily or shot off in wil

The blast of pure gas in his face revived him for an instant, and in that instant of clear thinking his plan was formed. He threw his weight on stick and rudder,

t was force of will alone that compelled his hands to do their work. His brain, as he saw the gleaming roundness of observatory buildings beneath him, wa

ing back; he could not last long, he knew; ea

as so clear! There were the buildings, the

glide in ... he was losing speed ... the stick-must-come-back! The crashin

alysing effect of the gas still held him fast. He was lying on the ground, he knew: a door was open in a building beyond, and th

...." And then Blake remembered. And the tumbling, helpless planes came again before his eyes while he curse

the body lying helpless in the cool dark. McGu

ss his hate for that ship. And then, as if conjured out of nothing by his th

ed to call out, but no sound could be formed by his paralyzed throat. Doors opened in silence, swinging down from

g beings clustered upon them thick in the dark. Oh God! for an instant's release from the numbness that held his lips and throat to cry out on

; horrible staring eyes of glass in the masks about their heads, and each han

f the shoulders the man was reaching for a gun. One shot echoed in Blake's ears; one bulging figure spun and fell awkwardly to the ground; then the weapo

passed in safety to the room. Blake, bound in the invisible chains of enemy gas, struggled silently, futilely, to pit his will against this grip that held him. To lie t

re carried high on the shoulders of some of the invaders. They were going toward the platforms, t

or syllables, but to Blake it was familiar ... somewhere he had heard it ... and then he remembered the radi

ere loaded, he saw, with papers and books and instruments plundered from the observatories. Some made a second trip to take up the loot they had gathered. Then the bla

en a close friend and a good one; his ready smile; his steady eyes that could tear a problem t

ood-by Mac," he said softly; "you've shipped for a long cruise,

. It was some time before the grind of straining gears came faintly in the air to announce the coming of a car up the long grade. And still later he heard it come to a stop some distance beyond. T

side him. "Did they get

-". He did not need to complete the sentence. The silent canyons

sks," said the colonel; "your e

e from the ship, of their baggy suits, their helmets.... And he had seen a small generator on the back of each helmet. He

cluded; "carried him off a pr

id savagely, and it was plain that it was the invaders that filled his mind; "we'll go after t

ssenting hand. "We will have to go w

ed at him. "Well?" h

nel. That thing came here out of space. It has gone back; it is far beyond our air. I saw it go up out of sight, and I know. Those creatures were men,