Triplanetary

es of

d-off sanctum in one corner of the control room a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradley frowned as he studied the brief message upo

out patrols st

oo. Two unexplained disappearances inside a month--first the Dione, then the Rhea--and not a plate nor a lifeboat recovered. Looks

time to say a word--their location recorders simply went dead. But of course they didn't have our detector screens nor our armament. Acco

uits on the hooks. Every object detected in the outer space to be investigated immediately--if vessels,

are going

hout detection," the second officer argued. "I wonder if there

coming into being; a formation developed during the Jovian War

No, sir, if pirates are operating in space--and it looks very much like it--they won't get far against a good big battery full of kilowatt-hours behind three courses of heavy screen, and a good soli

-the ether was empty for thousands upon thousands of kilometers. The signal lamps upon the pilot's panel were dark, its warning bells were silent. A brilliant point of white in the center of the pilot's closely ruled micromet

rted briefly to Captain Br

otesque in full panoply of space armor, leaned against the duct, and as he leaned a drill bit deeper and deeper into the steel wall of the pipe. Soon it broke through, and the slight rush of air was stopped by the insertion of a tightly fitting rubber tube. The tube terminated in a heavy rubber balloon, which surrounded a frail glass bulb. The man stood tense, one

stra crashed into silence, there was a patter of applause and Clio Marsden, radiant belle of

more!" she exclaimed. "Which way

of the liner, turned the dials. "There--this plate is lookin

very Jupiter blazed in splendor ineffable against a background of utterly indescribable blackness--a

old stuff to you, but I--a ground-gripper, you know, and I could look at it forev

tantly the message written in her eyes--eyes now enlarged, staring hard, brilliant, and full of soul-searing terror as she slumped down, helpless but for his support. In t

eat cruiser of the void blared out the warning as he forced his alr

e floor and dancing couples fell and sprawled inertly while the tortured First Officer swung the door of the lifeboat open and dashed across the tiny room to the air-valves. Throwing them wide open, he put his mouth to the orifice and let his laboring lungs gasp their eager fill of t

of it into her lungs by compressing and releasing her chest against his own body. Soon she drew a spasmodic breath, choking and coughing, and he ag

race and keep your face in this air-strea

one of the protective coverings. Then, as she sat upon a bench, recovering her strength, he flipped on the lifeboat's visiphone

mewhere in our primary air! Maybe that's the way they got those other two ships--pirates! Might have been a timed bomb--don't see how anybody could have stowed away down t

Vee-Two gas.' That's forbidden! Anyway, I owe you my life, Conway, and I'll

get done. The others are too far gone for oxygen--couldn't have brought even you around a few seconds later, quick as I got to you. But there's a sure antidote--we all carry it in a lock-box in our armor--and we all know how to use it, because crooks all use Vee-Two and so we're always expecting it. But since the air will be pure again in half an hour we'll be able to revive the others easily enough

is so much better than that emergency suit you are w

't worry, I'm not going to give him a break. I'm taking a Standish and I'll rub him out like a blot. Stay right here until I come back a

n. Squat, huge, and heavy, it resembled somewhat an overgrown machine rifle, but one possessing a thick, short telescope, with several opaque condensing lenses and parabolic reflectors. Laboring under the weight of the thing, he strode along corridors and clambered heavily

ed, burned away. Through the aperture thus made Costigan could plainly see the pirate in the space-armor of the chief engineer--an armor which was proof against rifle fire and which could reflect and neutralize for some little time even the terrific beam Costigan was employing. Nor was the pirate unarmed--a vicious flare of incandescence leaped from his Lewiston, to spend its force in spitting, crackling pyrotechnics against the ether-wall of the squat and monstrous Standish. But Costigan's infernal machine did not rely only upon

laced it in its safe and again set the combination lock. Thence to the

to you!" she exclaimed, as he led her rapidly upward t

ly. "Nothing to it. How do yo

just about out of control. I don't suppose that I'll be

parently, except those who, like me, had a warning and

it was? You can't see it, n

et it. The engineers down below got it first, of course--it must have wiped them out. Then we got it in the saloon. Your passing out warned me, and luckil

payment for so kindly warning you of the ga

ered, lightly. "Here we are--now we'll s

d the presence of mind enough and sheer physical stamina enough to send his warning without allowing one paralyzing trace to enter his own lungs. Captain Bradley, the men on watch, and several other officers in their quarters or in the wardrooms--space-hardened veterans all--had obeyed instantly and without question the amplifiers' gasped

ly changed into his own armor from the emergency su

ked, saluting. "They should hav

to send out a general sector alarm, but that had hard

ate, instead of a moving, living, three-dimensional picture, there was a flashing glare of blinding white

d 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

et 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

red upon one of the lookout plates a vivid picture of the pirate vessel--a huge, black globe of steel, now emitting flaring offensive beams

ll. 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 frightened penci

on the emergency drive now. Our rays are done for, and we

h the control room, whiffing out of existence the pilot, gunnery, and lookout panels and the men before them. The air rushe

toward a wall, then seized the gir

. "They can't see us--our ether wall is still up and their spy-sprays can't get through it from the outside, you know. They're working from blue-prints, and they'll probably take your

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 re

t, Costigan?" asked the

ter 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

, Clio--those emergency suits aren't good for much in a batt

earn how to do it," s

nd wear this one continuously--never take it off for a second. Put on these pearls, and wear them all the time, too. Take this capsule and hide it against your skin, some place where it can't be found except by the most rigid search. Swallow it in an emergency--it goes down easily and works just as well inside as outside. It is the most important thing of all--you can get alo

toward the tiny locker to follow his instructions. "But won't the scout

rned. They could neutralize our detector screens

es had bulged slightly at Costigan's "we're both wearing 'em," but he had held his p

e addressed a mere first officer. "Meaning that we both will be wearing them shortly,

, I don't believe that I

arly your recognition of Vee-Two and your uncanny

at you can and do keep your mouth shut. That's why I'm hanging this junk on you--I had a lot of stuff in my kit, but I flashed it all with the Standish, except what I brought in here for us three. Whether you think so or not, we're in a real jam--our chance of gettin

downward, in the direction opposite to that in which he knew the pirate vessel must be. All three stared into the plate, seeing only an infinity of emptiness, marked only by the infinitely remote and coldly brilliant stars. While they stared into space a vast area of the heavens was blotted out and they saw, faintly illuminated by a peculiar blue luminescence, a vast ball--a sphere so large and so clo

we're here," remarked C

" assented Costigan, with a q

is unspoken question. "I don't

ehind the ether-walls of their terrif

heir frightful projectors. From the reflectors, through the doorway, there tore a concentrated double beam of pure destruction--but that beam did not reach its goal. Yards from the men it met a screen of impenetrable density. Instantly the gunners pr

um, and the three visitors felt themselves seized by invisible forces and drawn into the tunnel. Through it they floated, up to and over the buildings, finally slanting downward toward the door of a great high-powered structure. Doors opened before them and cl

ven his tanned skin seemed to give the impression of grayness in disguise. His overwhelming personality radiated an aura of grayness--not the gentle

, but crisply. "I had not intended you two men to live so long. That is a deta

ut both stared back at t

tinued; voice still low and level, but instinct with deadly menace. "You

ston, Costigan with a heavy automatic pistol whose bullets were explosive shells of tremendous power. But the man in gray, surrounded by an impenetrable wall of force, only smiled at the fusillade, tolerantly and maddeningly. Cos

mething of a student of men, I fear that you will both die shortly. Able and resourceful as you have just shown yourselves to be, you could be valuable to me, but you probably will not--in which case you shall, of course, cease to exist. That, however, in its proper time--you shall be of some slight service to me in the process

lear, young eyes and emanated from her slender, rounded young body, erect in defiance. "Since I am a cap

sed a button and a tall, comely woman, appeared--a w

ment," he directed, and as the

. "The two men and the five women indicated have be

the usual fashion." The minion went o

e worth a million or so, but it would not

ists who tried to destroy the earth, and of equally mad geniuses who thought themselves Napoleons capable

t many other scientists. I am not mad. You have undoub

hose screens. An ordinary ether-wall is opaque in one direction, and doesn't bar matter--your

trol the destinies of masses of futile and brainless men. I have, however, certain ends of my own in view. To accomplish my plans I require hundreds of millions in gold, other hundreds of millions in platinum and noble metal,

my devising. It is undetectable and invisible--your detectors do not touch it and light-waves are bent around it without loss or distortion. I am di

y man to make him join your outfi

delight in the society of young and beautiful women, and many men have that same taste; but there are other urges which I have found quite efficient. Greed, thirst for fame, longing for power, and so on, including many qualities usually regarded as 'noble.' And what I promise, I d

at is the a

ch, which is not progressing satisfactorily. It will result in your extinction, an

intended to give an unexpurgated clas

napped Costigan. "How

, I believe that I shall keep her for a time. She has it in mind to destroy herself, if I do no

ake what he started to say about you and run it

creatures entered the room. "Put these men into separate cells on the second level," he ordered. "Search them to the

oger had no inkling of the possibility of Costigan's "Service Special" phones, detectors and spy-ray--instruments of minute size and of infinitesimal power, but yet instruments which, working as they were, below the level of the ether, were effective at great distances and caused no vibration

Service had designated those communicators to pass any ordinary search, however careful, and when Costiga