Triplanetary

er's P

there, seeking even the narrowest avenue of escape. Before she could act, however,

shes," the guide informed her somberly, snapping off the instrument in her

a long corridor. "The sooner you realize that you must do exac

g!" Clio declared, with a flash of sp

nd pray for death, but you will not die unless Roger wills it. I was like you once. I also struggled, and I became what

essly and utter silence descended as a pall. Not an ordinary silence, but the indescribable perfection of the absolute, complete absence of all sound. In that silence Clio stood motionless. Tense a

ondition. I command you to rest; and, to insure that rest, you may pull that cord, which

nt of gasping, strangling, but rebellious sobs. Then again came a voice, but not to her ea

sked. "Don't

of her being thrilled into new hope at the d

u must have noticed a sort of rough, sandpapery feeling under that necklace I gave you? Since he's got an ether-wall around you the beads are dead now. If y

gotten, she was her old, buoyant self again. "So that w

rn you of any spy-ray in the ether, and the watch will detect anything below the level of the ether. It's dead now, of course, since our t

ou don't

ed to find our instruments, but it never occurred to me that I might have a clear field to use them in! I can't quite believe it yet, but I haven't been able t

tch feels th

he whole place. He's got so much stuff that we've never heard of that I supposed of course he'd have ultra-wave, too; but if he hasn't, that

, then the soundless, b

ue willies isn't alive--she's full of the pret

f thanksgiving and relief. "It was so unutterably horrible, thi

ent. But don't get too cocky, either. Plenty has happened to plenty of women here, and men too--and plen

oward other scenes. In his pockets his hands manipulated tiny controls, and through the lenses of those goggles Costigan's keen and highly-trained eyes studied every concealed detail of mec

hey're undoubtedly connected direct to Roger's desk, and will give an alarm at the first hint of abnormal performance. We can't do a thing until he leaves his desk. See that black panel, a little below the cord-switch to the right of your door? That's the conduit cover. When I give you the word, tear that off and you'll see one red

lmost an hour. "Now as soon as we find out where he's going, we'll start something ... he'

you two have been getting on all during th

he makes a pass at her I'll get him if I have to b

bly: they had forgotten that there were three instruments in the circuit. "If there's a chance for you to get

. They didn't find our specials when they searched us, you know, and we're going to do plenty of damage right soon now. Roger probably isn't a fast worker--more the cat-an

...." Her voice ceased as Roger broke the ether-wall of her apartment and walked

ne disturbing him in that room. But I'm holding my beam on that switch--it's as good a conductor as metal--so that the wall is on, full strength. No matter what we do now, he can't get a war

nd he'll stop whatever he's doing and send ou

he shield switch

and the Triplanetary cap

ur armor!"

a millimeter until you've closed Clio's ether-wall switch. If I take this ray off it for a second we're sunk. Five floors up,

d away at a pace to be equaled

sure that no warning signal from his desk or his servants could reach Roger within it, the tw

dley, short of breath from the many flights of

ring through walls with his spy-ray, Costigan had seen two men approaching, blocking an intersecting corridor into which they must turn. "Two of 'em, a man and

tor upon him. Reacting automatically, Costigan swung his unconscious opponent around in front of him, so that it was into that insensible body that the vicious ray tore, and not into his own. Crouching down into the smallest possible compass, he straightened his powerful body with the lashing force of a mighty steel spring, hurling the corpse straight at the flaming mouth of the projector. The weapon crashed to the floor and dead pirate and living went do

eapons. They come to grips only when it cannot possibly be avoided, but when they are forced to fight in that fashion they go into it with but one grim purpose--to kill, and to kill in the shortest possible space of time. Thus it was that Costigan's opening soon came. The pirate launched a particularly vicious kick, the dreaded "coup de sabot," which Costigan avoided by a

s Bradley finished blinding and deafening the robot. Costigan picked up

ough-house the way you do," Bradley excla

er and maybe some faster than you are," Costigan explained briefly, penetr

beam of the projector of the dead pirate they were riven into nothingness, and the two officers sped on to the room which Costigan had located from afar. The three suits o

right with one or two, but that generator room is full of grief, and we won't have any too much stuff as it is. We've got to take

unleash the frightful forces at his command, and who profanely wondered at his unwonted silence--but the enemy beams were impotent against the mighty ether-walls of that armor; and the pirates, without armor in the security of their own planet as they we

herous and unmoral mechanism of flesh and blood, acknowledging no authority, ruled by nothing save his own scientific drivings and the almost equally powerful urges of his desires and passions! She had fought with every resource at her command. She had wept and pleaded, she had stormed and raged, she had feigned submission and had played fo

ld him just a second longer, sweetheart!"

taneously its thousands upon thousands of kilowatt-hours of stored-up energy. Through the delicately adjusted, complex mechanisms the destroying beams tore. At their touch armatures burned out, high-tension leads volatilized in crashing, high-voltage sparks, masses of metal smoked and burned in the path of vast force

.. Bradley would follow more slowly, bringing the girl's armor and tak

ght, girl?" Questioni

he ... found out that the ether-wall was up ... forgot all about me. He shut it off ... and seemed to go crazy,

the warnings at once and wants to get back to his board. But

'm so dizzy I can scarcely see ... my head is breaking up into li

very real present distress of mind and body. "I forgot that you're a ground-gripper--that's just a little touch of spa

ng that at the point of impact of each of those shells a small blast of destruction erupted. He missed the window a trifle, but that did not matter--his flaming Lewiston opened a way for him, partly through the window, partly through the wall. As he soared through the opening he trained projector and pistol upon Roger, now almost

nd all the power of his mighty right arm he swung the bar at the pirate's head. That fiercely driven mass of metal should have taken Roger's head from his shoulders, but it did not. That shield of force was utterly rigid and impenetrable; the only effect of the frightful blow was to set him spinning, end over end, like the flying baton of an acrobatic drum-major. As the spinning form crashed against the opposite wall of the room, Bradley floated i

feet and the three armored forms darted away toward their only hope of escape--an emergency boat which could be launched through the shell of the great globe. To attempt to reach the Hyperion and to escape in one of her lifeboats would have

d?" she asked, apprehensively. "And

, and he wouldn't like that. They'll have to get him down with an airship, and they know that we'll get them as fast as they come up. They can't

, of course--it'd be altogether too much like a rabbit capturing a wildcat. My Lewiston's about don

the void. Costigan, familiar with the mechanism of the craft from careful study from his prison cell, manipulated the controls. Through gate after massive

of circuit and spoke, his attention fi

t ... all right ... yes ... sure ... absolutely

stwhile first officer in amazement, and even Clio had often heard that mighty, half-mythical name. Surely that bewildering young man must

ral call-out," Bradley s

find it. Every vessel in seven sectors, clear down to the scout patrols, is concentrating on this point, and the call is out for all battleships and cruise

oners?" asked the girl. "They

urn out. We lack a lot of being safe ourselves yet, and it'

r own chance," Bradley assented.

w far away the nearest Triplanetary vessels are. Anyway, we've

ng, white and stricken--worn out by the horrible and terrifying ordeals of the last few hours. As h

uld cloud; who had proved over and over again that he was never at a loss in any emergency, however desperate--this quick-witted off

pause. "I did my share, but I won't hold you to it i

u don't need to hold me--I'm held for life. There never was a woman who meant anything to me before, and there n

ields, four hands met and tightly clasped; and her low voice thrilled with f

nd done things. You haven't. You haven't seen or done anything--you don't know what it's all about. And who am I to love a girl like you? A homeless space-flea who hasn't been on any planet three weeks in three years. A hard-boiled egg. A trouble-shooter and a brawle

The situation is out of control, and we both know it--and neither of us would change it if we could, and you know that, too. I don't know very much, I admit, but I do know what you thought you'd have to keep from me, and I admire you all the

think that?" he

but you must be so--and I never did like soft men, anyway. And you brawl in a good cause. You are very much a man, my Conway;

locked together even more firmly than before. "If we ever get out of this jam I'm going to kiss you, but this is no time to be taking off your helmet. In fact

tight, Costigan went over to jo

coming, Capta

. At least an hour, I'd say, befor

ey take hold of us with a beam or spear us with a ray. Probably a beam, though; this is one of their emergency lifeboats and they wouldn't want to destroy it unless they have to. Also, I imagine that Ro

the thought of facing again that unspeakable creature of gray. "Give me a gu

ut you don't want a gun. You might get nervous and use it too soon. I'll take care of you at the l

directions with his ultra-wave device. Suddenly he laughed, deepl

, of course, with this sub-ether spy, but they can't see us! I knew that they should have overtaken us before this. I've finally found them. They've passed us, and are now tacking around, wait

t seemed unchanged, then it began to glow redly, with a red that seemed to become darker as it grew stronger. Then the sharp outlines blurred, puffs of air burst outward, and the metal of the hull became a viscous, fluid-like something, flowing away in a long, red streamer into seemin

ything that had just happened. He continued his crisp report, neglecting not the smallest detail, while their tiny craft was drawn inexorably toward a redly impermeable veil; continued it until their