Speaker 1: Chapter three of The Vortex Master Makes War by E. E. Smith.
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter three,
Speaker 1: the Lamiters and Space Acts. Cloud wasted no time in swearing.
Speaker 1: He could swear and act simultaneously. He flashed his cruiser
Speaker 1: up near the lifeboat, went inert and began to match
Speaker 1: velocities even before the uhalians heat beam expired. Since his
Speaker 1: intrinsic was not very far off as such things go,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't take him very long, and he'd need all
Speaker 1: the time to get ready for what he had to do.
Speaker 1: He conferred briefly with the boat's Chickladorian pilot upon his
Speaker 1: visual then thought intensely. He would have to board the lifeboat.
Speaker 1: He didn't see any other way out of it. Even
Speaker 1: if he had anything to blast it with. He couldn't
Speaker 1: without killing innocent people, and he didn't have much offensive stuff.
Speaker 1: His crew was not a warship. She carried plenty of defense,
Speaker 1: but no heavy offensive beams at all. He had two
Speaker 1: suits of armor, a GP regulation and his Vortex Special,
Speaker 1: which was even stronger. He had his lamiters. He had
Speaker 1: four semi portables and two needle beams for excavating. He
Speaker 1: had thousands of duo deck bombs, not one of which
Speaker 1: could be detonated by anything less violent than the furious
Speaker 1: heart of a loose atomic vortex. What else nothing? Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: there was his sampler. He grinned as he looked at it,
Speaker 1: About the size of a tack hammer, with a needle
Speaker 1: point on one side and a razor blade on the other.
Speaker 1: It had a handle three feet long, a deceptive little thing, truly,
Speaker 1: for weighed fifteen pounds, and that tiny blade could shear
Speaker 1: through neocarbloi as cleanly as a steel knife slices through cheese.
Speaker 1: It was made of durium. That peculiar ure synthetic, which
Speaker 1: designed primarily for use in hyperspatial tubes, had become of
Speaker 1: wide utility. Considering what terrific damage a Valerian could do
Speaker 1: with a space axe, he should be able to do
Speaker 1: quite a bit with this. It ought to qualify at
Speaker 1: least as a space hatchet. He put on his special armor,
Speaker 1: set his dilameters to maximum intensity at minimum aperture, and
Speaker 1: hung the hatchet upon a hook at his belt. He
Speaker 1: eased off his blasts. There. The velocities matched a minute's
Speaker 1: work with needlebeam, tractors and pressers sufficed to cut the
Speaker 1: two smaller ships apart, and to dispose of the Uholian's
Speaker 1: magnets and cables. Another minute of careful manipulation and the
Speaker 1: cruiser had taken the Hoolian's place. He swung out, locked
Speaker 1: the cruiser's outer portal behind him, and entered the lifeboat.
Speaker 1: As Cloud stepped into the boat's saloon, he was met
Speaker 1: by a legal high intensity beam. He had not really
Speaker 1: expected such an instantaneous, undeclared war, but he was ready
Speaker 1: for it. Every screen he had was full out, his
Speaker 1: left hand held poised and ready at his hip a
Speaker 1: screened dilameter. His return blast was practically a reflection of
Speaker 1: Darjeeb's bolt, and it did vastly more damage, for the
Speaker 1: Uhalian had made an error. The hand which held a
Speaker 1: ray gun was the one which had been man handling
Speaker 1: the pilot, and the Monster had not had time quite
Speaker 1: to get it back inside his screens, and the fury
Speaker 1: of clouds repost gun in hand disappeared, as did a
Speaker 1: square foot of panel behind them. But Dharji p had
Speaker 1: other hands and other guns, and for seconds, blinding rays
Speaker 1: raved out against unyielding defensive screens. Neither screen went down.
Speaker 1: The Tellurian holstered his dilameter. It would not take much
Speaker 1: of this stuff, he reflected. To kill some of the
Speaker 1: passagers remaining in the saloon, he go in with his hatchet.
Speaker 1: He lugged it up and leaped, driving straight forward at
Speaker 1: the flaming projectors with all of his mass and strength
Speaker 1: going into the swing of his weapon. The enemy did
Speaker 1: not dodge, merely threw up a hand to flick aside
Speaker 1: with his gun barrel the descending toy. Cloud grinned fleetingly
Speaker 1: as he realized what the other must be, thinking that
Speaker 1: the man must be puny, indeed to be making such
Speaker 1: ado in wielding such a tiny, trifling thing. For to
Speaker 1: anyone not familiar with Duriam, it is surely unbelievable that
Speaker 1: so much mass and momentum can possibly reside in so
Speaker 1: small a bulk. Thus, when fiercely driven cutting edge met
Speaker 1: opposing ray gun, it did not waver or deflect. It
Speaker 1: scarcely even flowed through the metal of the gun. That
Speaker 1: vicious blades sliced resistlessly, shearing off fingers as it sped
Speaker 1: and on down. Urged by everything, Cloud's powerful frame could
Speaker 1: deliver through armor. It punched through the bony plating covering
Speaker 1: the tremendous double shoulder, deep into the flesh and bone
Speaker 1: of the shoulder itself, so deep that its penetration was
Speaker 1: stopped only by the impact of the hatchets halft against
Speaker 1: the armor. Under the impetus of the man's furious attack,
Speaker 1: both battlers went down. The unwounded Tillurian, however, was the
Speaker 1: first to recover control. Cloud's mailed hands were still clamped
Speaker 1: to the sampler's grips, and using his weapon as a staff,
Speaker 1: he scrambled to his feet. He planted one steel boot
Speaker 1: against the helmet's dome, got a momentary stance with the
Speaker 1: other thrust into the angle between barrel body and flating leg,
Speaker 1: bent his burly back, and heaved. The deeply embedded blade
Speaker 1: tore out through bone and flesh and metal, and as
Speaker 1: it did so, the two rear cabled arms dropped limp useless.
Speaker 1: That mighty rear shoulder and its appurtances were thoroughly awed
Speaker 1: to combat. The monster still had one good hand, however,
Speaker 1: and he was still in the fight. That hand flashed
Speaker 1: out to seize the hatchet and to wield it against
Speaker 1: its owner. It was fast too, but not quite fast enough.
Speaker 1: The man strongly braced yanked backwards. The weapon's needle pointed
Speaker 1: keen blade, tearing through flesh and snicking off clutching fingers
Speaker 1: as it was hauled away. Then Cloud swung his axe
Speaker 1: aloft and poised, making it abundantly clear that the next
Speaker 1: stroke would be straight down into the top of the
Speaker 1: Uhalian's head. That was enough, the monster backed away, every
Speaker 1: eye a glare, and Cloud stepped warily over to the
Speaker 1: captive Luda. A couple of strokes of his trenchant sampler
Speaker 1: Game gave him a length of chain. Then, working carefully
Speaker 1: to keep his wounded foe threatened at every instant, he
Speaker 1: worked the chain into a tight loop around Darjeeb's deck,
Speaker 1: pulled it unmercifully taut around a stanchion, and welded it
Speaker 1: there with his dilameter. Nor did he trust the other
Speaker 1: monster unreservedly bound though she was. In fact, he did
Speaker 1: not trust her at all. In spite of family. Rouse
Speaker 1: Lake has a tendency to fight with like against a
Speaker 1: common foe, but since she was not wearing armor, she
Speaker 1: didn't stand a chance against a dilameter. Hence he could
Speaker 1: now take time to look around the saloon. The pilot,
Speaker 1: lying flat upon the floor, was beginning to come to
Speaker 1: not quite flat either, for a shapely Chickladorian girl wearing
Speaker 1: the forty one square inches of covering which was derri
Speaker 1: gere in her eyes, had his head cushioned upon one
Speaker 1: bare leg and was sobbing gibberish over him. That wouldn't help.
Speaker 1: Started toward the first aid cabinet, but stopped. A white
Speaker 1: wrapped figure was already bending over the injured man, administering
Speaker 1: something out of a black bottle. He knew what it was, goodieselin.
Speaker 1: That was what he had been going after himself, but
Speaker 1: he would not have dared to give a hippopotamus such
Speaker 1: a terrific jolt as she was pouring into him. She
Speaker 1: must be a nurse and a top ranker, but Cloud
Speaker 1: shivered in sympathy. The pilots stiffened convulsively, then relaxed. His
Speaker 1: eyes rolled. He gasped and shuddered, but he came to
Speaker 1: life and sat up groggily. What goes on here? Cloud
Speaker 1: demanded urgently in spaciol The Chickladorian's wounds had already been bandaged.
Speaker 1: Nothing more could be done for him until they could
Speaker 1: get him to a hospital, and he had to report
Speaker 1: before he blocked out entirely. I don't know. The pink
Speaker 1: man made answer, recovering by the minute. All the ape said,
Speaker 1: as near as I could get it was that I
Speaker 1: had to show him all about inertilessness. Then he spoke
Speaker 1: rapidly to the girl, his wife Cloud guest, who was
Speaker 1: still holding him fervently. The pink girl nodded, then, catching
Speaker 1: Cloud's eye, she pointed at the two monstrosities, then at
Speaker 1: the monarch and nurse standing calmly near by. Startlingly slim
Speaker 1: swathed to the eyes and billows of glamoret she looked
Speaker 1: as fragile as a reed, but Cloud knew that appearances
Speaker 1: were highly deceptive in that case. She too nodded at
Speaker 1: the Tellurian, then talked rapidly in sign language to a short,
Speaker 1: thick muscled woman of some race and entirely strange to
Speaker 1: the blaster. She was used to going naked, that was
Speaker 1: very evident. She had been wearing a light robe of convention,
Speaker 1: but it had been pretty well demolished in the Malay,
Speaker 1: and she did not realize that what was left of
Speaker 1: it was hanging in tatters. Down her brought back the
Speaker 1: squatty eyed, the gesticulating monarchan, and spoke in a beautifully
Speaker 1: modulated deep bass voice to the cickladorian Eiffel, who in
Speaker 1: turn passed the message along to her husband. The bonehead
Speaker 1: you had the argument with, says, to hell with you.
Speaker 1: The pilot, translated finally into Spasil, says his mob will
Speaker 1: be out here after him directly, and if you don't
Speaker 1: cut him loose and give him all the dope on
Speaker 1: our bergs, he'll give us all the beam plenty. Luda
Speaker 1: was meanwhile trying to attract attention. She was bouncing up
Speaker 1: and down, rattling her chains, rolling her eyes, and in
Speaker 1: general demanding notice of all. More communication ensued, culminating in
Speaker 1: the one with a fancy work skull. She's a frail,
Speaker 1: but not the other bonehead's frail, I guess, says, pay
Speaker 1: no attention to the ape. He's a murderer, a pirate,
Speaker 1: a bum allows so forth, she says, says, to take
Speaker 1: your axe and cut his damn head clean off, chuck
Speaker 1: his carcass out the port, and get the hell out
Speaker 1: of here. As fast as you can. Blast Cloud figured
Speaker 1: that that might be sound advice at that, but he
Speaker 1: didn't want to take such drastic steps without more comprehensive data, why,
Speaker 1: he asked, But this was too much for the communication's
Speaker 1: relay to handle. Cloud realized that he did not know
Speaker 1: spaceiol at all well, since he had not been out
Speaker 1: in deep space very long. He knew that spaceiowl was
Speaker 1: a simple language, not well adapted to the accurate expression
Speaker 1: of subtle nuances of meaning, and all those intermediate translations
Speaker 1: were garbling things terrifically. He was not surprised that nothing
Speaker 1: much was coming through, even though the prettied up monster
Speaker 1: was by this time practically throwing a fit. She's quit
Speaker 1: trying to spin her yarn, the Cickladorian said. Finally, she
Speaker 1: says she's been trying to talk to you direct, but
Speaker 1: she can't get through. Says to unseal your ports, cut
Speaker 1: your screens, let down your barrier, something like that. Don't
Speaker 1: know what she does mean exactly, not of us does,
Speaker 1: except maybe the monarchin and she can't get it across
Speaker 1: on her fingers. Oh my thoughts, screen Cloud exclaimed, and
Speaker 1: cut it forthwith more. Yet the pilot went on after
Speaker 1: her time, she says, there's another one just as bad
Speaker 1: or worse. On your head, she says, No, on your headbone,
Speaker 1: what the hell skull? No inside your skull, she says, now,
Speaker 1: hell's bells. I don't know what she wants. Maybe I
Speaker 1: do keep still a minute. A telepath, undoubtedly like the monarchans.
Speaker 1: That was why she had to talk to her first.
Speaker 1: He'd never been around telepaths, much never tried it. He
Speaker 1: walked a few steps and stared directly into one pair
Speaker 1: of Luda's eyes, large expressive eyes. Soft, now and gentle,
Speaker 1: that's it, chief, now, blest, easy, baffle your jets. Relax,
Speaker 1: she means, open your locks and let her in. Cloud
Speaker 1: did relax, but gingerly he did not like this mind
Speaker 1: to mind stuff at all, particularly when the other mind
Speaker 1: belonged to such a monster. He lowered his mental barriers, skittishly,
Speaker 1: ready to revolt at any instant. But as soon as
Speaker 1: he began to understand the meaning of her thoughts, he
Speaker 1: forgot utterly that he was not talking man to man.
Speaker 1: The interchange was not as specific nor as facile as
Speaker 1: is here to be indicated, of course, but every detail
Speaker 1: was eventually made perfectly clear, I demand dar Jeeves's life,
Speaker 1: was her first intelligible thought. Not because he is my
Speaker 1: enemy and the enemy of all my race. That would
Speaker 1: not weigh with you. Because he has done what no
Speaker 1: one else, However, base has ever been so lost to
Speaker 1: shame as to do in the very capital of our city,
Speaker 1: upon Loon, he kindled an atomic flame, which is killing
Speaker 1: us in multitudes. In case you did not know about
Speaker 1: atomic flames, they can never be I know we call
Speaker 1: them loose atomic vort dises. But they can be extinguished.
Speaker 1: That is my business putting them out. Oh, incredible but
Speaker 1: glorious news. Ludas's thoughts seed became incomprehensible. Then, after a
Speaker 1: space to win your help for my race, I perceive
Speaker 1: that I must be completely frank with you, she went on.
Speaker 1: Observed my mind closely, please, so that you may see
Speaker 1: for yourself that I am withholding nothing. DORJIEB wants at
Speaker 1: any cost the secret of your vessel. Speed with it.
Speaker 1: His race will destroy mine utterly. I wanted too. Of course,
Speaker 1: if I could obtain it, we would wipe out the Ouhullians. However,
Speaker 1: since you are so much more powerful than could be
Speaker 1: believed possible, I realize that I am helpless. I tell
Speaker 1: you therefore, that both d'arjib and I have long since
Speaker 1: summoned help. Warships of both sides are approaching to capture
Speaker 1: one or both of these vessels. Dharjieb's are nearest, and
Speaker 1: these secrets must not, under any conditions go to Uhal.
Speaker 1: Dash out into space with both of these vessels, so
Speaker 1: that we can plan at leisure. First, however, kill that
Speaker 1: unspeakable murderer you have scarcely injured him the way it is,
Speaker 1: or free me give me that so deceptive little axe,
Speaker 1: and I will be only too glad. A chain snapped ringingly,
Speaker 1: and metal clanged against metal. Only two of Dhartjieb's major
Speaker 1: arms had been incapacitated, his other two had lost only
Speaker 1: a few fingers a piece from their respected hands. His
Speaker 1: immense bodily strength was almost unimpaired. His feeding hand was untouched.
Speaker 1: He could have broken free at any time, but he
Speaker 1: had waited, hoping that he could take cloud by surprise,
Speaker 1: or that some opportunity would arise for him to regain
Speaker 1: control of this lifeboat. But now deeming it certain that
Speaker 1: the armored biped would follow Luda's eminently sensible advice. He
Speaker 1: decided to let innercilessness go for the time being in
Speaker 1: the interest of saving his own life kill him Ludas
Speaker 1: shrieked the thought, and Cloud swung his weapon aloft, but
Speaker 1: Darjy was not attacking. Instead, he was rushing into the
Speaker 1: airlock escaping go free pilot. Cloud commanded and leaped, but
Speaker 1: the heavy valve swung shut before he could reach it.
Speaker 1: As soon as the lock could be operated, the Tellurian
Speaker 1: went through it. He knew that Darjeeb could not have
Speaker 1: boarded the cruiser since every port was locked. He hurried
Speaker 1: to his control room and scanned space. There, the Ahalian
Speaker 1: was falling like a plummet under the combined forces of
Speaker 1: his own drive and the gravitations of two worlds. There
Speaker 1: also were a dozen or so spaceships too close for comfort,
Speaker 1: blasting upward. Cloud cut in his bergen Holme, kicked on
Speaker 1: his driving glass cut off and went back into the lifeboat.
Speaker 1: Safe enough now, he announced, they'll never get out here
Speaker 1: inert I'm surprised that he jumped. Didn't think he was
Speaker 1: the type to kill himself. He isn't. He didn't, Luda
Speaker 1: said dryly, huh, he must have. That was a mighty
Speaker 1: long flit he took, and his suit wouldn't hold air.
Speaker 1: He would stuff something into the holes if necessary. He
Speaker 1: could make it the whole distance without either air or armor.
Speaker 1: He is tough, he still lives. Curse him, but it
Speaker 1: is of no use for me to bewail that fact.
Speaker 1: Now let us make plans. You must extinguish that flame,
Speaker 1: and the leaders of our people will have to convince
Speaker 1: you that just a sec. Quite a few things we've
Speaker 1: got to do first, he fell silent. First of all,
Speaker 1: he had to report to the patrol so that they
Speaker 1: could get lensman and a battle fleet out here to
Speaker 1: straighten up this mess. With his short range communicators, that
Speaker 1: would take some doing. But wait, he had a double
Speaker 1: ended tight beam to the laboratory. He could get through
Speaker 1: on that. Probably even from here. He'd have to mark
Speaker 1: the lifeboat as a derelict and get those folks aboard
Speaker 1: his cruiser. No space tube. He had an extra suit,
Speaker 1: so he could transfer the women easily enough. But this
Speaker 1: louda don't worry about me, entity cut in sharply. You
Speaker 1: saw how I came aboard here, didn't you. I do
Speaker 1: not particularly enjoy breathing a vacuum, but I can stand it.
Speaker 1: I am as tough as Dargy Biz. So hurry, please, hurry.
Speaker 1: During every moment we delay, more of my people are dying.
Speaker 1: End of Chapter three,